"Don't cry over spilled milk" Sept 2009-1st family trip w/ a 4 and 2 year old

[mommyof2Pirates]

:welcome: to my first ever Trip Report. For all the newcomers you may view my pre-trip report by clicking the link below:
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2245374&page=16
To skip over the lengthy planning and get right to the nitty gritty here is a quick over view of the cast of our dream vacation.

There is me....
Lindsay (30) hard working, fun loving, disney fanatic, and best wife and mother in the world. (That comes straight from my dh's mouth on our disney vacation) All my planning and obsessions really paid off and made our vacation run so smooth even with a Pre-ker and a Toddler.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0565.jpg

Next up is my DH.....
Mike (31) who wanted to relax on this vacation:rotfl:. He did not make one decision about our trip. When asked he would reply with "whatever you think". Surprisingly he came around on this trip and really carried his weight. He had a wonderful time and thanked me immensly for all the hard work I put into our trip......This has now given him the title of "Best husband and father in the world". Ive always thought that about him but in the weeks leading up to our vacation, I could have given him some other titles that werent as nice.:lmao:

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0563.jpg


Now onto the main characters of our trip....
Ryan (4) will be five in a few weeks. This trip was mainly designed with him in mind. He loves everything disney. Currently his favorites are star wars, phineus and ferb, and power rangers. He also loves the playhouse disney shows too. He loved this vacation and is already talking about going back with his memaw and pop pop.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0587.jpg


Nick (2 1/2). Although we werent sure how nick would be on this trip we knew he would just go along with the flow. He has such an easy going personality. We were surprised how much he really loved this trip and how much he really understood about it. He had a blast and was amazingly well behaved too.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0588.jpg

My husband and I Disneymooned in Oct. 2003 and stayed at the AKL. We said then that our dream would be to come back one day when we have 2 children and let them experience the happiest place on earth......

So thats what we did!:woohoo:

9/20 - 9/26 at All Star Sports on the deluxe dining plan.

So grab your snacks popcorn:::cake:and drinks of choice :drinking1 and enjoy our journey as we saw it through the eyes of our children!

[mommyof2Pirates]

All morning I was preparing for our trip. Cleaning, packing, dh was mowing the grass. We had put on the last sticker on our count down chart. The kids were all psyched to go. The mail man arrived for our last delivery before vacation and what did he bring.................

Mickey Mail for both of the boys!
The boys were so excited that Mickey sent them special postcards saying he cant wait to see them real soon! (Thank you so much again Jana for the wonderfully planned out surprise)

Here is a picture of them in front of our countdown calendar holding their cards.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0058.jpg

Well we were all packed and ready to go by 1:15 pm. Off to the renissance hotel in philadelphia. Here are the boys anxiously pulling their luggage to the car.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0059.jpg

We were expecting a 90 minute drive and had planned to stop at Walmart along the way for a pack of boxer shorts for mike. He thought he would have enough but waited until the last minute to check out how many pairs he really had. :headache: Well it was a good thing we were planning on stopping because 10 minutes into the drive I realized I had forgotten my sunglasses.:eek: Yeah and I thought I had it all together. oops!

The GPS was taking us a different route that we had in mind and it turned out we would not be passing a walmart or anything similar along the way. We thought not a big deal we would just find a place in philly near the airport when we go out to get dinner.

The ride was good and the kids were excited. They only slept a for a few minutes on the way which was fine with us because we wanted them to go to bed early anyway. Here they are with their special mickey's in hand.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0060.jpg

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We arrived at the hotel at 2:30pm. Earlier than check in but it wasnt a problem. We got our room on the 7th floor. The lady who helped us out was very nice but took a phone call while getting our information together. We no longer seemed to be her priority. She gave us our keys and told us the elevators were to the right. No other info about the shuttle to the airport or where to park your car or anything. Before getting on the phone she was nice enough to give us directions to a kmart. Real easy she said. Go out of the parking lot and make a left then turn left on Island Ave. We thought that sounded easy enough to remember. We headed up to check out our room.

Room 713 overlooking the indoor pool. How cool! So we thought...........
We got our swim suits on and took the kids to the pool for awhile. 1st accident of the trip. Ryan gets out of the pool and tries to run over to the other side to jump in and slips and falls directly on his back. :scared1: I thought oh no here it comes a broken arm for disney. Luck was on our side and he was fine and swimming again in minutes. 1st disaster averted.

After swimming we got changed and headed out for dinner. Ryan kept asking if someone was going to steal the hotel. Meaning our room. He was so worried about our stuff. He didnt quite understand that it was locked and ok to leave our things there. He must of said that 20 times. "No one is going to steal our hotel right?"

We thought we would go to the kmart first. We went out of the parking lot but you could only make a right or go straight and make a left. So we did and we drove...and drove.....and drove.....no Island Ave.
So we turned around and went the other way and that drove us straight into the airport. Easy directions huh! I said I have an idea :idea: why dont we turn on the GPS. Duh! We did and it got us to a kmart on Island Ave. No where near the directions that were given to us. There was a McDonalds there as well. So we decided to eat first.

It was crowded and only 1 person was working the register. I waited in line for 20 minutes. Everyone was either complaining about the food or getting the wrong items. I just started giggling thinking I hope this is not a sign of how our vacation will be. I finally did get our food and we ate it quickly.

We then headed over to the kmart which was a little scarry. It was a mess inside but all we needed was boxers and sunglasses. It served its purpose. As we are driving away Mike asks me if I packed his belt. I said "NO you didnt tell me you needed a belt" He gets all mad saying there is no way he can wear the shorts he bought without a belt. I told him to turn around and I would go in and get him a belt. He didnt feel like doing that so he just keeps driving. :mad: Now at this point I am absolutely irritated with him. I said what are you going to do and he said he would just buy one in disney.:mad: Yeah cause there is so many belt choices in disney right? I finally got him to agree that we needed to get a belt tonight and not wait.

We already made it back to the hotel by this time so I searched in the GPS and found another shopping center. After many turns and traffic stops later we come across a strip mall with no store that would sell a belt. There was a dollar general and I nicely offered to check it out just in case and I got the dirtest look ever. :rotfl: I was just trying to see the comedy in this situation. We then searched again and followed directions to the Macdade Mall. I prayed that there would be a kmart or something in there. The kids were getting ansy and I could tell my husband had been pushed to the limits. We followed the GPS through many turns and stop signs and what does it do.....Bring us to the back side of the mall with no street leading into it.:lmao: At this point I can see my husband fuming out of his ears and all I could do was laugh which just made it worse. It was easy enough to get around to the front and low and behold there was a much nicer kmart. I ran in and purchased a nice belt for 12.99. Mission Completed.:yay:

We headed back to the hotel. I checked back in with the front desk at the hotel about the shuttle. It ran every 20 minutes. The guy recommended us take the 5:40am shuttle...our flight leaves at 7? He said we would have plenty of time. I decided to still go with my instinct and we planned to take the 5am shuttle. I also asked what to do when we return. He gave me a number to call when we get our bags and that they will have a driver come pick us up. Well its a good thing I asked. Then my husband said "where should I park my car" They said "just put your parking pass on the mirror and park in the long term parking lot". What pass....we didnt get a pass.....Good thing we asked cause otherwise our car probably would have gotten towed.

After that we gave the kids a bath. And had them in bed by 7:45pm. Ryan kept saying how much he loved the hotel and we said oh just wait until you see the hotel tomorrow. They both slept well. Mike and I did not. We heard people yelling and screaming in the pool until 10:30pm. Yeah that nice view wasnt so nice anymore. Then at 1:00am the people next to us were laughing and talking loud for like what seemed to be an eternity.

The wake up call came at 4am. I got showered and dressed then mike did the same. At 4:30am we woke up the kids. Here is ryan.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0062.jpg

now realizing what we are saying. He yells to his brother to hurry and wake up cause its time for disney world.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0063.jpg
Here is nicks reaction
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0064.jpg
I never saw ryan get dressed so fast. We were soon out the door and loaded onto the shuttle.

We arrived at the airtran check in at 515am. They did not have curb side check in so we had to wait in line even though we checked in online. We were checking in one bag. We waited for 50 minutes in that line.:eek: The kids were getting whiny and miserable. Not the way I planned on starting the trip. We talked with people around us, got lots of compliments on our Eagles Mickey shirts, and prayed that our suitcase would pass the normal size of 61 inches or under rule. It did by 1/2 inch. No extra fees :banana: We finally were on our way to security. This always makes me so nervous. We went through with no troubles. There was no one waiting and it only took seconds to go through. By this point I was a nervous wreck. I hate flying and all things involved with it. It wasnt long before we boarded the plane. Its a good thing I went with my instincts and took the 5am shuttle huh? While waiting the kids were growing more and more miserable. Not a good sign. Nick ended up having a crying fit right before we boarded. The first of many. The good news was our 2 carry ons for mike and I turned out to be too big. They recently just changed the size limit and they said it was no problem they checked it in with no extra charge. :yay: Now we had 2 bags less to carry. Great!

We made our way to our seats and settled in..........

Up next................. Plane Ride and Arriving in Disney

[MickeyisBeast]

Joining in!
Your sons are too cute!

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Hey chickie!!! Great start!!! I was literally laughing out loud about your journey around Philly and the suburbs! :lmao: I should have PM'ed you my number in case you needed anything! The MacDade Mall is 2 minutes from my house, and yes, the KMart on Island Ave. is a scary, scary place. My doctors office is in that area. I try to avoid it at all costs! :rotfl:

Can't wait to read more! I too was alittle annoyed that they did not have curbside check in when we left! I wonder if it has something to do with all the construction that is going on in the terminal?

[mommyof2Pirates]

Joining in!
Your sons are too cute!

Thank you and thanks for joining along.

[mommyof2Pirates]

We boarded the plane and got into our seats. Ryan got the window. Nick was in the middle, and I was on the aisle seat. Mike sat in the aisle seat directly across from me. This worked out great. The kids were very excited. The airplane started to drive to the runway and nicholas started going "pat..pat..pat...pat..." Then Ryan put his arms in the air and said "BLAST OFF". Too funny. That got a few laughs from the very nice people sitting around us. I think we had a full plane of eagles fans. All of which by the way commented on our awesome t-shirts. I should have brought a pile of them with and I bet I could have made some extra disney money!

Here are the boys getting ready for take off:

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0068.jpg

While on the plane they were very well behaved. They played with their action figures and colored for awhile.

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Ryan fell asleep for a short while. Unfortunately Nick did not.

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Then we landed after a very smooth flight. I told the kids we were finally in disney world:yay: Here was there reaction.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0074.jpg

Nick kept asking "where disney world". All that he could see was an airport so he was a little confused.:laughing:

It was very easy and everyone moved quickly to get off the plane. We made a quick bathroom stop. The kids both insisted on pulling there own suitcases so we moved slower than I would have liked to the ME area. This is when I realized this trip would be a little different pace this time around.

We finally made it to the ME check in. There were alot of people there but the line went fast. While checking in this gentleman asked where I got my shirt. I told him I made it and he asked if I sell them. :laughing: I am telling you I could have made a fortune! I told them I got the design off the disboards. I told him If he wanted to give me his email address I would email him the design and told him what he had to do to make the shirt. He shortly came running after me with his email address. :rotfl2: Mike thought this was hysterical and said I should start a website. I told him there already is one! disboards.com.:laughing: Anyway there was a long line to wait for the bus but it only took about 10 minutes and a mears bus pulled up. We got on and were on our way. 1st stop All Star Sports.:yay:

Mike and Ryan on the ME bus:
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0076.jpg

Me and Nick on the ME bus: (at this point nick decided he no longer wanted to pose for pictures)
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0078.jpg

The boys loved the video. Nick stood up when he saw the characters and started yelling HI to them. It was really cute and I knew he was going to love this trip. Pretty soon we saw this sign!
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0079.jpg

I again announced to the kids we are in disney world! Nicks reply was "where". "where disney world". Poor kid just didnt get it.

We arrived to ASSports around 10:30am. Only an hour after landing. Awesome! The lobby was very crowded. We got in the online check in line. I am so glad we did this because there was a long line for regular check in. In minutes we were being helped. We got our folder. We got the 1st visit buttons. Our room was ready!!!!!!! but did we get the room/building we wanted?........................................... ............................................



Why sure we did! We got the surf's up building. 3rd floor. Facing away from the pool so it is nice and quiet. PERFECT! Room 6346. Here is a picture of the building we were in.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0573.jpg

Our room was perfect. Nice and clean. Close to the elevators and the pool/food court/bus area. We could not ask for anything better from a value resort. Here are some room pics.

This is what was there when we arrived. I was the only one excited by this!

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Here is a picture of the room and ryan destroying the mickey head towel arrangement.

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Our tv and table for the week.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0134.jpg

UP NEXT: DAY ONE- LUNCH AT FOOD COURT- MAGIC KINGDOM- DINNER AT THE PLAZA!

[mommyof2Pirates]

Hey chickie!!! Great start!!! I was literally laughing out loud about your journey around Philly and the suburbs! :lmao: I should have PM'ed you my number in case you needed anything! The MacDade Mall is 2 minutes from my house, and yes, the KMart on Island Ave. is a scary, scary place. My doctors office is in that area. I try to avoid it at all costs! :rotfl:

Can't wait to read more! I too was alittle annoyed that they did not have curbside check in when we left! I wonder if it has something to do with all the construction that is going on in the terminal?

I even said to mike that I should have asked you for your cell #. The area around the macdade mall is very nice. I was assuming thats where you lived. I was glad to have made it out of the kmart in one piece. :laughing: I am used to some crazy places where we live too so it didnt bother me that much, but when your in a place you dont know its a little nerve racking. Thanks for joining in! I am off from work still today so I am trying to post a bunch now. Once I start back to work tomorrow reality will take over again. :sad1:

[crocko]

Hey there! I had been following your PTR and am now looking forward to following your Trip Report. We were there the same time so will be interesting to see how everything went that week for your family.

:thumbsup2

[jana616]

I'm here and LOVING it so far! I'm so glad those cards got there when they did, and that they liked them. We still have the ones our fairy godmailer sent us on our fridge. I'm loving all of your pictures, esp. of the boys. You can see the excitement on their faces! I can't wait to read more!

[DevonsDisneyMom]

I even said to mike that I should have asked you for your cell #. The area around the macdade mall is very nice. I was assuming thats where you lived. I was glad to have made it out of the kmart in one piece. :laughing: I am used to some crazy places where we live too so it didnt bother me that much, but when your in a place you dont know its a little nerve racking. Thanks for joining in! I am off from work still today so I am trying to post a bunch now. Once I start back to work tomorrow reality will take over again. :sad1:

Loving the update!!! That's too funny, that you were right around the corner from me!!! I love the little area I live in, it's so close to everything! Can't wait for the next update! hoping to gey mine started soon. Trying to get out of vacation mode... It ain't easy! Lol!! :rotfl:

[mommyof2Pirates]

Once we got our room situated we headed down to the food court. It was 10:50am so we waited until 11 to order so we could each lunch food. Meanwhile I purchased our 3 refillable mugs which came with the deluxe dining plan. I couldnt believe the total was like 41$ wow! For 3 mugs. If we were not on the deluxe plan 2 would have been enough for us but since it was included why not! I filled them up and poured the kids juice into there own sippie cups. Or at least I tried. Ryan whined that he wanted to drink from the mug and then nick started to cry when I told him he would need to use his sippie cup. Quick thinking on my part I used the mickey stickers that the CM gave them when we checked in. I put them on the sippie cup and nick was now happy! You definitely need creative thinking to help in these situations.

By this time it was 11. I got back in line and waited about 15 minutes while they made a grilled cheese and chicken breast nuggets. Then I had to go into a seperate line to get mike his chicken wings. That was another 10 minutes. Uhh! :headache: I was starting to get irritated. This was not a good start to the trip. The food court was so crowded. Once I got all the food to the table I felt better. Here is what we ate.

Mike- Buffalo Wings and choc. swirl cheesecake
Lindsay- Chicken breast nuggets, and fries
Ryan- Grilled Cheese, fries, and choc pudding
Nick- Shared my nuggets, fries, grapes and choc pudding. (yes I gave up my dessert for him)

The food was good and mike said the wings were the best he ever ate. He thinks that may be because he was starving. We hadnt eaten anything all morning.

Mike and Nick took the mugs back to the room and Ryan and I went to get the stroller we rented. It was a double stroller from Orlando Stroller Rental. I have to say this was the best 85$ spent the whole trip. The stroller was comfortable, easy to use and close, and plenty of storage space. The only downfall was no cup holder but we dealt with that.

Once we got the stroller we met mike and nick in the lobby. I decided to call my parents and check in on how donovan (our dog) was doing. I couldnt get a hold of them anywhere. Even their cell phone went to voice mail which is unusual. I called my Nana since thats where my family congregates on a sunday. She tells me they had to take my pop pop to the ER the night before. He was really confused and couldnt walk. He had fallen a few times during the day. It turned out they admitted him and he had a horrible Urinary Tract Infection. His kidneys are just about to shut down. He has an infection in his eyes. :eek: Ok I tried not to panic. Now for all of you who read my PTR you would know that a few days before we left Mikes Nana was in the hospital for a blood clot in her leg. She is doing well and was sent home the day we went to philly. Now I had to worry about my pop pop. He is 90 years old and has been frail for a few years now. He has melanoma pretty bad and had 2 aortic aneurysms repaired a few years ago. So he isnt the healthiest of the bunch. All I could do is pray.:angel:

After that news I tried to stay positive and move on. We got to the bus stop for MK. We waited about 15 minutes which I felt was long and it was scortching hot outside. The bus finally arrived and we were on our way.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0080.jpg Our first bus ride. Nick as you can see is not wanting to cooperate for pictures!

We arrived at MK about 12:25pm. Right on schedule.:woohoo:
We walked in and I said to Nick we are finally in disney world. His reply...I bet you can guess...."where". He's so cute. So we headed in and turned the corner and yes we see it. THE CASTLE!!!!!
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0081.jpg

Now this was the emotional moment Ive been waiting for. I say "kids there it is the big castle" Ryan's response: yep! and Nick says "where". I say "right there nick straight ahead" he responds with "oh yeah". Well thats all folks. No emotions behind this one.

We moved along into tomorrowland. Ryan has been saying for months the first thing he wanted to do was ride Buzz Lightyear. I told him it may be too long of a wait and we may have to do it another day. I was crossing my fingers as we turned the corner. BINGO....5 minute wait. Yahoo!!!!:cool1: We got right in line. Mike and Ryan rode together and I rode with Nick. Here are some pics.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0090.jpg I was surprised how much nick enjoyed this ride.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0089.jpg You can see the fear in ryan's eyes. He got a little scared of Zurg
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Ryan wouldnt even go near this. Nick could care less.
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Nick was having a blast taking these pics.

As we came out of the ride. We saw buzz light year himself. We got in line. The kids were so excited. We waited for about 5 minutes and buzz had to leave. They said he would be back shortly but we decided to keep moving since we only had a few hours planned to be at MK. Next up......................
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This was our first time doing this attraction. We couldnt think of a joke fast enough to text in so we just waited and watched the cute show they play in the waiting room. Here is Ryan waiting by the cool bubble tube.
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That show was so funny. Ryan really liked it too. They put mike on the screen in the very beginning saying this guy could really use a hug! We cracked up at that.

We then headed over to fantasyland. Everything was at least a 30 min wait or longer so we decided to do Mickey's Philharmagic which was only 10 min. That was so awesome. It was our first time doing that as well. Nick kept trying to grab at the everything. Then he would take his glasses off to try to figure out what was going on. He really liked it. Ryan was a little freaked out by some of the squirting but otherwise enjoyed it. He kept his glasses off most of the time.

We had a about a 1/2 hour left before we wanted to get to a spot for the parade so we hopped in line for It's a small world.... It said 10 minute wait. While we were waiting the boats stopped for like 10 minutes. Once they started up again it moved fast but it did take us about 25 minutes to get on the ride.

We then headed to a spot to watch the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It, street party parade. We stood right in front of the castle. Great spot although there was no shade anywhere. We were roasting and sweating buckets standing in the sun. I could not believe how hot it still is in Sept. What was I thinking? Anyway while mike waited with the kids I went to find some refreshments.

I did call my parents on the way and updated them on how the kids were doing. They also said my pop pop should be ok. He was started on 2 different antibiotics and they are thinking he will recover Ok. I was happy to hear that report. It helped me not to worry to much about him and just enjoy the trip.

I stood in line at Enchanted Grove to get a frozen lemonade which looked so good. About 3 or 4 people got them ahead of me so by this point I was probably salivating. I ordered 2. What happens....................................
The darn machine freezes up. I couldnt find anywhere else close by to get a frozen lemonade so I had to settle for 2 waters instead. :mad: Boy was I irritated.

Anyway I got back to my family and nicholas had fallen asleep in the stroller. Here is a picture of the boys while we were waiting. Notice how hot and sweaty they are.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0097.jpg

The parade started and we thought ryan could just sit in the stroller under the shade and enjoy it but no......Some disney crazed women with no kids squeezes in between our stroller and the people next to us and blocks ryans entire view. Unless he only wanted to see the parade as its passing him. That annoys me more than anything about people.:mad: So mike housted him up on his shoulders to watch. Which was great for Ryan but not so good for mike. Given the fact that the sun was beating down on us. I think he excreted about a gallon of sweat during that parade.:laughing: The things we do for our children!

CONTINUED ON NEXT POST

[mommyof2Pirates]

Here are some parade pics. Ryan did get to Hi Five Pluto and Mr Smee which was awesome. Nick slept through the entire thing.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/th_IMG_0098.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=IMG_0098.jpg) http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/th_IMG_0099.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=IMG_0099.jpg) http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/th_IMG_0100.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=IMG_0100.jpg) http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/th_IMG_0102.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=IMG_0102.jpg) http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/th_IMG_0103.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=IMG_0103.jpg) http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/th_IMG_0105.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=IMG_0105.jpg) http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/th_IMG_0106.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=IMG_0106.jpg) http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/th_IMG_0109.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=IMG_0109.jpg)
After the parade we walked through the Emporium to cool down. Ryan tried on some hats. Here is a goofy one.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0115.jpg

Ryan also saw a buzz lightyear shooter gun. He said this is cool and put it back on the shelf. This will come into play in a few minutes.
Nick finally woke up and we decided to go to the baby care center to change him. I got him all changed around and he went pee on the potty.:yay: This he did alot this trip so once he gets back on his BM routine I am going into potty training boot camp mode! I get back out to the stoller and there is ryan having a meldown. I asked what he is screaming about. Mike said he is crying that he wanted the buzz lightyear shooter gun. We told him we can get it after dinner and this caused a huge commotion. Ryan usually does not act like this for things so we knew the fatigue was setting in.

We made it over to the plaza to checkin early it was 3:50 and our ADR was for 410. We got nick a powerade because I thought he was looking a little dry in the mouth and boy did he gulp that thing right down. I guess all the sweating during his nap took everything out of him. He sure perked up after that. Mike walked over while we waited and got the buzz lightyear gun. This now made ryan a happy camper.

Our buzzer went off at 410pm. We got a window seat! Here is our beautiful view!

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0123.jpg

Our waitress was from philly so she loved our shirts and was happy to wait on us. Even thought the eagles lost :sad2: Her name was Maryanne. She was so nice to the kids. We told her we were on the deluxe dining plan and that the kids would be sharing a meal. She told ryan he could choose an appetizer either salad or tomato soup. Ryan answers in a very grown up manner. My brother nick over there will have the salad w/ ranch dressing and I will have the tomato soup. We almost busted out in laughter. Not only from the way that he answered but the fact that he wanted tomato soup. This kid never eats anything but grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza, and cheeseburgers. We told him he could only pick one but the waitress said not to worry he could have both. She also gave nick a drink and a seperate dessert for no extra charge. She was the one and only waitress with the disney magic:wizard:. We loved her.

So here is ryan eating....yes eating his tomato soup. We couldnt believe it. It had croutons in it and he kept saying "I cant wait to tell my meemaw I am eating tomato soup with french toast in it" :rotfl:

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0116.jpg

and here is nick with his salad. This was the funniest picture. I laugh every time I look at it. He is such a silly character.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0120.jpg

Mike got a bacon cheeseburger with mushrooms and fries.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0122.jpg

He said it was good but the burger was a little dry.

I got the tuna croissant with fries.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0121.jpg

This was awesome. The best tuna croissant I ever had.

and now for the report title.......while we were eating nick kept fiddiling with the lid on his cup and oops...there it goes. It fell right on the floor and chocolate milk splashed everywhere. I cleaned it all up myself and just told the waitress about it so they could scrub the floor later. I think a little splashed onto the guys legs behind me.:eek: This is only the beginning of the many spills that we had on this trip. Not only drinks but glasses and bodies as well. Stay tuned for more interesting stories. It only gets better.


Here is the kids dessert.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0126.jpg

and we got cookies and cream ice cream. yummy!

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0127.jpg

overall we gave this place a 9 out of 10. If the burger wasn't dry we would have given it a 10.

After our meal we headed out of the park. Here is the exit. So cute and festive.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0128.jpg

As we were leaving we stumbled across these characters.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0131.jpg

Nick calls them "chicken dale".

We waited for about 15 minutes for the bus again. We got back to the resort about 600pm. Mike and Ryan played in the arcade a little. Nick and I refilled our mugs at the food court and looked around the resort. We got the kids baths and were in bed by 8pm. Ryan and Nick fought over who they were sleeping with. In the end Ryan won and got to sleep with me and Nick slept with mike. They fell asleep quickly. Mike slept well too. As for me....I must have been so excited for the upcoming days, I tossed and turned all night.

Overall we had a great and pleasant first day.

Favorites of the day:
Mike- Parade
Lindsay- Philharmagic
Ryan- Parade
Nick- giving "chicken dale" a Hi five.

UP NEXT: DAY 2- HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS AND SKIPPING A NAP....SEE HOW THAT TURNED OUT!

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Seems like you all had a great first day!!! Even at the age of 7 1/2 Devon still had a meltdown or 2 or 3 or 4! :rotfl2: Think it was a combination of the heat and the long days! :goodvibes

[jana616]

What a great first day!!! I love the story about Ryan ordering at the Plaza and then actually eating the tomato soup...so cute! That parade looks fun-the only daytime parade we saw was the one at the AK (which was really good), and of course parts of whatever parade it is at the MK that happens every 20 minutes-we could not escape that one!

Good for you guys for getting to bed early. I really wish we had done it your way instead of trying to nap and stay for Spectro. Don't get me wrong, Spectro was really cool, but I don't know that it was worth the late night after such an early start. I think you had the right plan!

[lbuzz52]

Soundslike a good start. Your title reminded me of my nephew who drops everything he touches.

[crocko]

Good 1st day....that kids' dessert at the Plaza looked mucho yummy.

[pamjb]

So glad I found your TR. It has been a loooong time since I traveled with little ones, trust me.....it will get better. But there will still be spillage. :rotfl:
Living vicariously through your report since I had to postpone my Sept trip due to my son's surgery.
I have to give you credit on trying to find a Kmart near PHL. My knowledge of Philly is limited to the airport, Citizens Bank Park, and Children's Hospital. Your telling of the story reminds me of when we tried to find any kind of store between WDW and Port Canaveral to find Duct tape to repair a suitcase. That was before GPS. From now on, we travel with duct tape. Come to think of it, duct tape would of corrected your DH's belt situation.
And I always, always, always forget my sunglasses. Never fails. I consider my Disney sunglasses my "souvenir"
I made DH and my best friend's DH Drinking around the World shirts for our trip in June. I collected 5 emails addresses to send them to.

[Charlefours]

We are taking our daughter for the first time next September and I am enjoying reading you and Jana616's PTRs and TRs--we are heading down around the same time as you both did.

Good to know how hot it might end up being--for some reason I thought September would be decent but I guess not! :rotfl: I just won't pack up DD summer clothes as early as I do.

Looking forward to reading more.

[mommyof2Pirates]

Seems like you all had a great first day!!! Even at the age of 7 1/2 Devon still had a meltdown or 2 or 3 or 4! :rotfl2: Think it was a combination of the heat and the long days! :goodvibes

:rotfl:even at 30 I felt like having a meltdown somedays.:rotfl: I don't blame them at all. I was hoping if we take them back in a few years when ryan is 7 we would avoid the meltdowns but I guess not huh?

[mommyof2Pirates]

What a great first day!!! I love the story about Ryan ordering at the Plaza and then actually eating the tomato soup...so cute! That parade looks fun-the only daytime parade we saw was the one at the AK (which was really good), and of course parts of whatever parade it is at the MK that happens every 20 minutes-we could not escape that one!

Good for you guys for getting to bed early. I really wish we had done it your way instead of trying to nap and stay for Spectro. Don't get me wrong, Spectro was really cool, but I don't know that it was worth the late night after such an early start. I think you had the right plan!

Well at least you got to see spectro cause if you didnt you may have regretted not doing it. I too thought it wasnt worth the hassle we went through to sit and watch it. (more of this will be told on my day 5 report to come in the future). I love spectro but I think maybe after seeing it so many times it may be getting old. :confused3 I remember before it seemed like more characters walked in it and shook hands and give Hi fives and stuff. The kids seemed to enjoy it but not as much as the others. The day parade at MK was great. We caught all the parades. It was one of the things the kids love to do. This was the last night we got to bed early too. After that I came to the conclusion that there was too much to see and do. The kids did well overall but I am glad we made the first night an early one.

[mommyof2Pirates]

Soundslike a good start. Your title reminded me of my nephew who drops everything he touches.

thank you. Yes that is the new thing our YDS developed was the dropsies on this trip. By the end it got a little old. I also forgot to put in that he spilled orange juice down his shirt on the plane ride down to disney. At least he had a sweat shirt on so it only got a little on his eagles shirt I made him.:rotfl:

[mommyof2Pirates]

Good 1st day....that kids' dessert at the Plaza looked mucho yummy.

It was very yummy they pretty much ate it all. I put the ice cream inside of the cones for them so they ate it like an icecream cone instead of a sundae. That was there favorite dessert this trip.

[mommyof2Pirates]

So glad I found your TR. It has been a loooong time since I traveled with little ones, trust me.....it will get better. But there will still be spillage. :rotfl:
Living vicariously through your report since I had to postpone my Sept trip due to my son's surgery.
I have to give you credit on trying to find a Kmart near PHL. My knowledge of Philly is limited to the airport, Citizens Bank Park, and Children's Hospital. Your telling of the story reminds me of when we tried to find any kind of store between WDW and Port Canaveral to find Duct tape to repair a suitcase. That was before GPS. From now on, we travel with duct tape. Come to think of it, duct tape would of corrected your DH's belt situation.
And I always, always, always forget my sunglasses. Never fails. I consider my Disney sunglasses my "souvenir"
I made DH and my best friend's DH Drinking around the World shirts for our trip in June. I collected 5 emails addresses to send them to.

glad you found my report. I am sorry to hear about your son having to have surgery and that you had to postpone the trip. The shirts sound awesome. I laughed about the duct tape. I always say how did we ever live without cell phones now I have to add GPS's too.:laughing:

[mommyof2Pirates]

We are taking our daughter for the first time next September and I am enjoying reading you and Jana616's PTRs and TRs--we are heading down around the same time as you both did.

Good to know how hot it might end up being--for some reason I thought September would be decent but I guess not! :rotfl: I just won't pack up DD summer clothes as early as I do.

Looking forward to reading more.

thanks so much for joining in. I too thought septmber would be a little more cooler than it was. For me the heat was almost unbearable at certain times. I was still sweating at night with no sun. Mostly due to the humidity. The worst though was when your standing with no shade and the sun is beating down on you.:eek: We have hot summers here but to me the weather was not enjoyable. My dh and I honeymooned 6 years ago in the middle of october and I remember the weather being perfect then. Not to hot or cold....just right. Just remember to pack tank tops and shorts and bathing suits. We also said if we go next time in hot weather we will pack light colored shirts. We often had on darker colors which I think made it so much worse. If you have any other questions I would be happy to help. I will have to check out your PTR.

[mommyof2Pirates]

Hi everyone. Sorry I havent been here for a couple days. I will work on another report soon. Unfortunately the morning after we got home a dear family friend of ours passed away. It was my parents neighbor who I lived next to since I was one until I moved out 6 years ago when I got married. He had fought bone cancer for the past 2 years and ended up having a brain aneurysm burst sunday morning. I had the services today so between that and getting back to work its been a little crazy. Keep watching I will try to post day 2 soon.

[Charlefours]

:hug: sending hugs your way! I hope your family can find comfort in the days surrounding your lost.

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Hey Lindsey, I am so sorry... Just wanted to let you know I am thinking of you!!! :hug:

[oregonmommyof2]

I am here! I am late, but I am here...

SO sorry about the neighbor! :hug:

[Macduffy]

I love your Trip Report! It's amazing how trips with a Preschooler and toddler can be SO similar!
Ben was screaming at the top of his lungs when he saw the castle - "OMG it's DISNEY WORLD"! other then that we had so many similarities! Can't wait to see more!!!

[Gabes_mommy]

Hi Lindsey! I'm here!! Sorry it took so long for me to check in - I have barely had time to Dis lately. :sad2:

Your boys are so cute!!! And they look so happy and well behaved! Maybe you can have them talk to Gabe for me about obeying? :rotfl:

It sounds like you really had an adventure looking for Kmart - I'm glad you made it out safely. :laughing:

Yay for a great first day. I love the Surf's Up buildings at ASSports - they are so cute. I stayed in a Surf's Up building a few years ago and I loved it. :thumbsup2

I love all the pictures from the parade. Can you believe how hot it was in Sept? I really was not expecting that. The heat was a killer.

I am so sorry to hear about your friend. :hug:

I can't wait for more. :goodvibes

[Disneychix]

Hello! I'm very sorry for the loss of your friend. :hug:

I just found your TR. I'm loving it so far. We are headed back in 2 months with our 2.5 yr old. I'm looking forward to hearing more!

I can see many spilled drinks in our future. DS is in the stage where he likes to ditch the straw and top and he loves eating ice. This equals many many spills!!

[mommyof2Pirates]

I am here! I am late, but I am here...

SO sorry about the neighbor! :hug:

thank you and I am glad you are here. I havent had much time to post lately so you didnt miss much. I still need to make my way over to yours too.

I love your Trip Report! It's amazing how trips with a Preschooler and toddler can be SO similar!
Ben was screaming at the top of his lungs when he saw the castle - "OMG it's DISNEY WORLD"! other then that we had so many similarities! Can't wait to see more!!!

What an awesome reaction! I started to read yours but got side tracked so I hope to be able to catch up soon.

Hi Lindsey! I'm here!! Sorry it took so long for me to check in - I have barely had time to Dis lately. :sad2:

Your boys are so cute!!! And they look so happy and well behaved! Maybe you can have them talk to Gabe for me about obeying? :rotfl:

It sounds like you really had an adventure looking for Kmart - I'm glad you made it out safely. :laughing:

Yay for a great first day. I love the Surf's Up buildings at ASSports - they are so cute. I stayed in a Surf's Up building a few years ago and I loved it. :thumbsup2

I love all the pictures from the parade. Can you believe how hot it was in Sept? I really was not expecting that. The heat was a killer.

I am so sorry to hear about your friend. :hug:

I can't wait for more. :goodvibes

Thank you so much. I know what you mean about having the time. It has been insane lately. Yes the heat was almost unbearable at some points.:eek: I did not expect that at all.

Hello! I'm very sorry for the loss of your friend. :hug:

I just found your TR. I'm loving it so far. We are headed back in 2 months with our 2.5 yr old. I'm looking forward to hearing more!

I can see many spilled drinks in our future. DS is in the stage where he likes to ditch the straw and top and he loves eating ice. This equals many many spills!!

Thank you so much for joining. My DS 2.5 is into the same thing. Chewing the tops of the straws and getting angry when nothing will come out, taking lids off and digging ice out with his dirty hands:eek:. I am really amazed we made it home with no illnesses. I bet you are so excited for your trip.

[mommyof2Pirates]

I apologize for taking so long to continue this TR, without further a do here it goes:

I had left off as we were drifting off to la la land after an amazing first day at disney. I was still having trouble sleeping real well. I was sharing a bed with ryan and he was constantly rolling around in his sleep, and at one point I woke up to his hand covering my face.:laughing: I finally dozed back into a pretty deep sleep when.....BOOM :eek: there is nick laying face down on the floor he had rolled over and fell right out of bed. Luckily he did not hit the night stand and he cried for a little and then was fine. I think it startled him more than hurt him. At this point it was 5:45am. The worse part of it was that he woke us all up and now no one wanted to go back to sleep. Well except mike and I of course. So here we are day 2 and awake before the sun came up. This should lead to an interesting day............................

We had reservations for Hollywood and Vine at 8:05am so we were off to the bus stop to head to hollywood studios. We got to the bus stop at 7:10am.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0136.jpg

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0137.jpg

The bus came within minutes. A lady on the bus kept referring to the park as MGM and the bus driver kept correcting her. She must have said it like 3 or 4 times during a phone call conversation she was having. It was really ticking the bus driver off. My husband kept doing the same thing prior to this even after I corrected him but after the bus drive there he started using the correct terminology.:laughing: We arrived at DHS at 730am much earlier than I thought we would.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0140.jpg

We waited in line for awhile. The kids were being very patient and just hanging in the stroller. This family waiting behind us on the other hand was not as composed as we were. There 3 kids were running circles around everyone and it was making the mom crazy. She told the kids to stop and stand right with her or that they would have to go back to the hotel....Well apparently the MIL told the kids to come with her and walked away with them letting them continue to run around like crazy animals. Now I am all for letting the kids run and play but I would have to agree with the mom....the kids were going nuts. pushing each other and screaming at the top of their lungs. Well this MIL must of really ticked off the mom because her husband came over and she ripped him a new you know what. She was in tears saying she would spend the rest of the trip in the hotel room and he can enjoy the f****** vacation with his parents. I almost had to laugh at this.:laughing: Then he went and said something to the MIL. the mom must of called her own mom and she was crying telling her how horrible her MIL was and that she was so tired of her taking over with the kids. In the end it reminded me why I stuck to my guns and told my parents to stay home for this trip. I felt really bad for this family though. You pay so much money that you shouldnt have to deal with all the drama on a nice vacation. Anyway enough about that........shortly after this caos the gate was opened and we went into the park. Here is a shot of the big hat with no one around.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0141.jpg

We checked in at H&V and were seated by greg the waiter promptly at 8am. I thought this was cute right when you walk in....

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0142.jpg

We got a table by the aisle right where the waiter said they do the dancing.:woohoo: We quickly went up and got plates of food and as we were sitting down goliath came out. He went to the tables behind us but as soon as nick saw him come our way he started screaming hysterically. :scared1: Ok not the reaction I hoped for....being that this was our first up close character encounter and we had a few more character breakfasts scheduled. Ryan liked him though and gave him a hug. I didnt even get a picture.:guilty: We were to busy trying to calm nick down. This nice southern waitress came over and was talking to nick so calmly and telling him goliath was her friend but he wanted no part of it. He sat on our laps the entire meal. Next up was JO JO. Nick was not as scared and didnt scream but held on tight to mike. Ryan got her autograph and posed for a quick picture. You can even see in the pictures nick got hives all over his face. I think from being so nervous. By the time breakfast was over they were all gone.:lmao:

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0143.jpg He needed mike there with him. He wasnt afraid but I think nick might of freaked him out a little.

Then we saw june.....Well nick was mesmerized. He was yelling Hi june, and when june was thinking she was posing for the pic nick was trying to give her a high five. When she didnt cooperate he started hitting her in the head yelling high five..high five... She finally got the picture and gave him a high five which made him very happy.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0144.jpg

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0146.jpg

Next came leo and they thought he was pretty cool too.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0147.jpg

I thought overall the characters were very rushed but they did come around quickly and we didnt have to wait for any of them. The dance shows they do every 15 or 20 minutes were really cute. We had a front row view but neither of the boys wanted to participate. They clapped along and were content to just watch everyone else.

Right before we left while we were waiting for the check nick wanted to keep with tradition and as he tried to pick his cup up by the straw he dropped it and yes as you can guess the milk splashed everywhere!:headache:

We quickly cleaned it all up, signed the check and made for the exit. We had more important things to do......get FP's for TSM!

Overall we would rate H&V a 4 out of 5. The food was great...especially the potatoe casserole and the ham was nice and moist. The characters were good, and the service was fine but nothing special other than the nice lady who tried to calm nick.

UP NEXT: ROPE DROP AND A MAD DASH TO TSM

[jana616]

OMG, Griffin fell out of the bed onto the floor our first night too!!!! What is it with these kids, honestly! I'm sorry you guys didn't have a better experience at H&V. We had the opposite, the characters were so attentive, and sat with us, played with the kids, etc. But we had an 11 am lunch ADR, so it was probably a lot less crowded. Can't wait to read more!

[oregonmommyof2]

Oh, poor Nick had a rough start that day...

Hollywood and Vine is the only character meal we have not done yet, besides CRT...

Can't wait for more...

[mommyof2Pirates]

OMG, Griffin fell out of the bed onto the floor our first night too!!!! What is it with these kids, honestly! I'm sorry you guys didn't have a better experience at H&V. We had the opposite, the characters were so attentive, and sat with us, played with the kids, etc. But we had an 11 am lunch ADR, so it was probably a lot less crowded. Can't wait to read more!


yes I think it was very crowded 1st thing in the morning so that could be. I also thought maybe they noticed nick screaming when we 1st came in too. :laughing: They probably thought they shouldnt push there luck by hanging around the table. I know the boys sleep in single beds at home so I am not sure how they manage to fall out of be on vacation.:rotfl: After that I used the comforter each night to ball up next to nicks side of the bed. We called it his "drop zone" :lmao:

Oh, poor Nick had a rough start that day...

Hollywood and Vine is the only character meal we have not done yet, besides CRT...

Can't wait for more...

Yes he sure did. I would recommend H &V. It was fun and especially if your kids like Little einsteins. The food was great tasting your usual breakfast buffett.

[mommyof2Pirates]

When I left off we were at rope drop approx. 5 minutes to go. After we came out of the resturaunt we were guided to this side walkway. We didnt get to see the show but we were told we would have an advantage because soon as the opening cast members got to us our rope would drop so we could filter into the front of the crowd.:woohoo: Now, I am new to this rope drop thing.....I made myself look really stupid while waiting I asked a cast member which way is the fastest to get to TSM. He gave me this stupid look and said just follow everyone else. Like duh! :rotfl: Afterwards I laughed about how dumb I really sounded.

So the rope drops and I swear hundreds of people came funneling into the park. It was like running with the bulls.:lmao: We got to TSM within minutes and the wait was already 20 minutes. Mike got in line for FP instead of waiting. Here he is still looking around in amazement.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0152.jpg

We had return times of 10am to 11am.

While we were running in like crazy nuts we passed donald duck in the area of the big hat. We decided to head back there and we got in line. After about 2 minutes a CM came over and told us that donald needed to leave and will be back in 30 minutes. This seemed to happen to us often throughout the week. We were always a day late and a dollar short.......

Next we headed in the direction of Star Wars since we knew the Jedi Training Academy started shortly. Ryan really wanted to get picked for this. The Star Wars ride was only a 5 minute wait so Mike and Ryan rode while nick and I walked around the gift shop. Ryan loved it except while waiting in line CPO3 made a loud steam like noise and scared ryan to pieces. He was in tears until he made it in the ride. He came out and said "Man, that was totally awesome".:lmao: Being in the Jedi spirit Ryan decided he was ready to make his own light saber. We had talked about this for months; it was definitely one of many things he was looking forward to doing. So we let hime pretty much go to create whatever his little heart decided. I do love it how the CM asks the 4 year old child if he wants a single or a double. Well what do you think hes going to say......of course a double! The darn thing is a long as me. He really enjoyed making it so that is all that matters. Nick didnt want one so he just picked a star wars baseball, which later that night he said he bought it for ryan. He is such a sweet little brother. :hug:

Well after the ride and some shopping we stood right at the rope waiting for the JTA to start. At this point the sun was starting to blaze down on us and I felt as if I was going to melt to my death. They should somehow try to shade that area! The jedi master finally came out and all the kids started going crazy. Mike was holding ryans arms up and pulling him up and down screaming pick him...pick him...... A little obnoxious! Do ya think. The darn guy picked just about everyone else around ryan. I told mike I think he went a little overboard and the guy probably thought he was nuts. I cant blame mike though. He loves starwars and it was his favorite thing as a child. I think he was reliving his childhood. No luck this time. Ryan was really disappointed but I did prepare him that this might happen. We told him we would try back again.

It was approaching 10 am by now time to head back over to TSM. :yay: On the way we came across these characters.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0155.jpg

Ryan and I love mater so we were so excited to see them.
I also got this cool picture with the radiator springs sign in the backround.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0156.jpg
After some quick pics we made it over to pixar place. This area is so cool and by far my favorite place in the park. I am sad I didnt take more pictures of it. I think I was just so amazed by all the cool props I had forgotten to take out my camera. Here is the only one I took.......
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0153.jpg
We parked our stroller and were just about to get in the FP return line when we spotted woody and buzz. We got in line and realized it swirled all around the building. We decided to wait; which were we glad we did because we had fun with all the props to take pics with. There mostly of ryan because nick fully began to protest taking anymore pictures.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0157.jpg

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http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0165.jpg

and finally what we all have been waiting for.............................................

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Ryan got really into taking these pictures which was so cute. He was also really excited to have buzz stamp his autograph book. Nick loves woody and was happy to give him the usual high five. This whole process took 30 minutes but well worth the wait.

Next up was TSM. The only bad part about the FP line is you dont get to see all the fun stuff they have while your waiting. We basically walked right on without a wait. No complaints about that. I did manage to take a few pics but my husband was so excited for this ride he was pratically running and dragging the kids behind him.:rotfl2: For someone who wanted to relax on this vacation he was always full of energy and ready to go go go!

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We loved this ride. It was so much fun. Even nick got the hang of pulling the string after awhile. I did have to hold on tight to him that cart really moves. Our final scores were: Mike 162,000 Lindsay 100,200 Ryan 30,000 and nick 4,300. Not bad for our first try. We thought we would get to ride again but it was 30-45 min wait the rest of the day and everytime we were by there to get a FP it was always times we couldnt return. It was one of our favorite rides of the week.

Next we got some drinks and waited in line for Playhouse Disney Live which started at 1120am. While waiting we caught a glimpse and got a wave from handy manny. Another favorite of ours! We never did get a pic with him.:sad1: The line was always super long.

We thought the show was fun except for sitting on the floor. We made the wrong move by sitting close to the front and had a hard time seeing most of the characters except for the tops of their heads. All in all we enjoyed the show and loved the music. It was super cool in there too which was a huge bonus!

We had lunch ADR's at Mama Melrose for 1230pm. We made our way there and took a few pics along the way.

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We looked in the little christmas shop by the resturaunt and this is when I realized shopping on this trip would be extremely difficult. The kids just dont have the patience for it. You got 5 minutes top to decide what you want out of a million things to choose from. Not so easy for me. I am still amazed we came home with as much stuff as we did. I guess since most of it is the kids it all makes sense now.

We checked in at Mama Melrose and were seated promptly. The atmosphere was nice but nothing special. It reminded me of a fancier Olive Garden. I would have to say the same about the food too. It was good but nothing more than average. Here is what we ate:

Lindsay: Mixed greens with gorgonzola cheese. "yummy"
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Mike: Cesar Salad (ate it before I could get a pic). Said it was fine.

We both had chicken parmagaina. (average...We've had much better)
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The kids got spaghetti with meat sauce and between both of them ate 4 bites. They did nibble on bread but must not have been really hungry. We chose to skip dessert. Nothing thrilled us on the dessert menu. Our waitress named dezirae was nice but not very attentive and really didnt have any magic to offer in her personality. Overall she was very blah! We would rate this place a 3 out of 5. I have to admit I was a little disappointed since Chicken Parm. is my favorite food.

At lunch we had decided to skip going back to the resort for a nap since the parade and show times are mostly during the earlier hours. We crossed our fingers and hoped and prayed that the kids would be able to make it without complete meltdowns. Either way we were sticking with the new plan........ UP NEXT: Another try at JTA will it be Ry's turn?

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Hey Lindsey!!! Long time no talk!!! Do you have a good time at the Eagles game on Sunday?? How about those Phillies???

Anyway, awesome update!!! I can't believe your like gut fell out of the bed!!! So sad :eek: :eek:And the story about about the mom and MIL have be laughing out loud!!! To funny!!! :rotfl:

[jana616]

Great update! You got so many cute pictures of DHS. I swear, we were always rushing to the next thing, I missed a lot of the little details. Oh well, next time, right? Great scores on TSM. We did it four times and I don't think I ever broke 100,000. Cooper couldn't figure out the pull thing, but the one time he rode with me he got 1,200 all by himself. Still not sure how that happened! I can't wait to see if Ryan got picked for JTA-my fingers are crossed!!!

[Charlefours]

Great updates! I hope your sleeping got better as the trip went along. Having to share a room with my dad during the trip--oh my goodness, I need to buy ear plugs for me and DD! :rofl:

So you liked Hollywood and Vine? I am really considering it as a good option. DD likes the Playhouse Disney characters (some of them anyways) that I think it would be a lot of fun. I am leaning more towards lunch though since I think we will try to get an ADR at CP for breakfast and possibly Akershus. Did you go there?

Love that you were able to get pictures with Buzz and Woody! Hopefully DS got chosen for Jedi Training at some point along your adventure.

[mommyof2Pirates]

Hey Lindsey!!! Long time no talk!!! Do you have a good time at the Eagles game on Sunday?? How about those Phillies???

Anyway, awesome update!!! I can't believe your like gut fell out of the bed!!! So sad :eek: :eek:And the story about about the mom and MIL have be laughing out loud!!! To funny!!! :rotfl:

Yes it was quite funny to listen too their argument. I am so psyched for the game tomorrow. Hope the phillies can do it again!

Great update! You got so many cute pictures of DHS. I swear, we were always rushing to the next thing, I missed a lot of the little details. Oh well, next time, right? Great scores on TSM. We did it four times and I don't think I ever broke 100,000. Cooper couldn't figure out the pull thing, but the one time he rode with me he got 1,200 all by himself. Still not sure how that happened! I can't wait to see if Ryan got picked for JTA-my fingers are crossed!!!

Yes I also felt so rushed all the time too. Or if I did stop and notice things I then felt rush to take the pics cause the kids were getting restless. I guess the older they get the easier it will be. I was amazed by the kids scores too since they really didnt seem to completely get the idea other than just pulling on the cord. I am hoping to update tonight so keep watching to see if Ryan became a Jedi or went home disappointed. I havent seen any updates on your report in awhile, have you been super busy?

Great updates! I hope your sleeping got better as the trip went along. Having to share a room with my dad during the trip--oh my goodness, I need to buy ear plugs for me and DD! :rofl:

So you liked Hollywood and Vine? I am really considering it as a good option. DD likes the Playhouse Disney characters (some of them anyways) that I think it would be a lot of fun. I am leaning more towards lunch though since I think we will try to get an ADR at CP for breakfast and possibly Akershus. Did you go there?

Love that you were able to get pictures with Buzz and Woody! Hopefully DS got chosen for Jedi Training at some point along your adventure.

Oh I would not be able to deal with a snoring family member that is the worst. One night nick started snoring so loud when he first fell asleep. I think he was just so exhausted. We were able to laugh at that though since he is only 2. Good luck with that.

I would recommend H&V it was fun especially if she likes leo and june. Jo Jo and Goliath are not on anymore so I wonder if most kids even know them.:confused3 You would think they should update it with the newer characters like handy manny or special agent oso. Anyway overall I would say give it a try. Im sure lunch would be just as good too. I had dinner at CP a number of years ago but never breakfast but I remember loving the character interaction even at age 18. We never did the akershus.

[Gabes_mommy]

Great update!!! It looks like you guys had a great morning at HS.

I'm anxious to hear how your afternoon went since you decided to skip nap time. I hate that all the parades fall right during my DS's naptime since I know he would love them. :guilty:

[jana616]

Yes I also felt so rushed all the time too. Or if I did stop and notice things I then felt rush to take the pics cause the kids were getting restless. I guess the older they get the easier it will be. I was amazed by the kids scores too since they really didnt seem to completely get the idea other than just pulling on the cord. I am hoping to update tonight so keep watching to see if Ryan became a Jedi or went home disappointed. I havent seen any updates on your report in awhile, have you been super busy?



I know, whenever I tried to take a second and just enjoy the details, the kids got so bored we had to start moving. And they were totally over taking pictures by the 2nd day, esp. in the afternoons. I promise to update my report soon-probably tomorrow while the boys are at school. It takes so much time to upload the photos, write out the details, add in the pics...it can be hard to get the motivation! But I want to finish, partly so that I'll have a detailed report for myself, since I'm already forgetting things!

Oh, and whoever was wondering about H&V for lunch, if you see this, we did that meal there and loved it. Details are in my trip report!

[Charlefours]

I know, whenever I tried to take a second and just enjoy the details, the kids got so bored we had to start moving. And they were totally over taking pictures by the 2nd day, esp. in the afternoons. I promise to update my report soon-probably tomorrow while the boys are at school. It takes so much time to upload the photos, write out the details, add in the pics...it can be hard to get the motivation! But I want to finish, partly so that I'll have a detailed report for myself, since I'm already forgetting things!

Oh, and whoever was wondering about H&V for lunch, if you see this, we did that meal there and loved it. Details are in my trip report!

I asked about lunch at H&V since I knew you went to it (I am reading your TR too :) ). Based on these two accounts, it seems like an early lunch would be good to allow for more character interactions.

I think that will be hard to balance my need to take lots of pictures and keeping DD happy! Any tips on the juggling act? I guess DH will have to walk with her and I will catch up if need be. Also the photopass system seems like it would help to ensure I get group shots.

[mommyof2Pirates]

I left off as we finished lunch and decided to skip the nap and break for the day. While I waited for the bill; Mike decided to take Ryan to wait for the JTA to start again. After paying the bill I gathered nick and our back pack and headed out of the resturaunt. I looked all over for the stroller but did not see it anywhere. I called mike on his cell phone and he said he had it. I had to bite my tongue. Now why would he need a stroller for our 4 year old...who most likely walked next to the stroller while mike pushed it. Men! Nick and I made our way very slowly over to the JTA area. I saw mike and ryan were up in the front again. I quickly put the back pack in the stroller and got into the crowd behind them. The sun was once again beating down on us. I was holding nick who was starting to get tired and hot too. Shortly out came the Jedi Master. He went around picking out kids. This time I told mike to not be so obnoxious and just let ryan try to get picked on his own. So Ryan stood in the front yelling me....me... with his arms in the air. I crossed my sweaty fingers and hoped this would be our lucky moment............................................ .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ........

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Yes he made it.....Ryan got picked. He was put on a circle and given his brown jedi robe. Poor Ry he couldnt figure out how to get it on. I think mainly he was nervous but if you could have seen the worry on his face. I almost wanted to cry. He asked the Jedi Master to help him but he was still busy picking out more kids so he told him it was his first challenge to figure out how to do it. I kept yelling to him telling him its like a jacket but he couldnt hear me. Finally mike got his attention and he ran over and mike quick threw it on him. Whooo. What a stressful moment. By now I was sweating so bad. I swear at one point I thought I was going to pass out.

The Jedi Master had his group take the jedi oath. Then he handed out official light sabers.

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He showed the kids how they would fight darth vader. Left...Right....Up.....Duck......and stab him in the face. Wow this is just what you want your 4 year old to learn in disney right? Here is Ryan doing the routine.
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Now here come the storm troopers and darth vader

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The boy in front of Ryan got scared and started crying and didnt want to fight darth vader so the lady helping said its ok he didnt have to he can just watch. Well I think ryan was a little scared too and saw this so he decided to tear up a little and tell her he was too scared and didnt want to fight him either. She took both kids to the back of the line. Now let me just say we are not mean parents who push our kid into things they dont want to do but with ryan he often needs a little push to get him over his anxiety and usually he turns out to like it and is proud of himself for doing it. So we are yelling to him that its ok not to be scared that he can do it. He seemed like he was getting up some more courage until the they got back to the front of the line. The Jedi Master told them it was ok because they learned their special routine to beat darth vader and that he would be right there with them. The little boy wouldnt go and we were telling ryan to go and we would be so proud of him. The lady helping told us to stop talking to him because we were going to make him cry. I was like what! Now this lady was very nice and compassionate with the kids but I could of popped her one. We were only trying to encourage our child to overcome his fear. I was really annoyed at her.
To finish DV off the group had to point there lightsabers at him all together to finally get rid of him once and for all. Ryan did this and refers back to this moment often in his memory of JTA. He makes sure everyone knows that even though he didnt fight DV he had a part in defeating him.

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They all became official Jedi's and got a special diploma.
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Ryan was very proud of himself and so were we!

Toward the end of the program the clouds began to look black. The Indiana Jones show was about to start so we headed in to watch. Just as we got under cover it began to pour. The boys really liked the show and it was just the right thing to do while it rained. By the time it was finished the rain had stopped. We got out to the stoller which was a little wet. I had forgotten about the extra ponchos I had brought to cover it if it was going to rain. At least I remembered the hand towels. I dried off the stroller and used the towels for the kids to sit on. Good thinking huh! I have to say my husband was quite impressed.

It was still drizzling a little and was very windy so we waited under the big hat for awhile. The kids found some pressed penny machines to keep them occupied. Once it looked clear we got a parade spot right in front of the hat.

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Mike took ryan in the gift shops. This nice lady that was standing next to us offered to watch my stroller if I wanted to go along with them. I said thank you and started walking along but quickly decided I didnt want to go to far. I took nick and we got popcorn and drinks. Soon Ryan and Mike came back and we waited for the block party bash to begin. Well we waited and waited and waited. They kept making announcements that due to the weather the parade was being delayed.

Finally after 20 minutes it started. We thought it was very cute and fun. I loved the music and dancing. We almost caught a bouncy ball at the end. The kids seemed to love it too. We had gotten a spot the faced directly down the street the parade was coming from, so they were able to sit in the stroller and see perfectly.

Here is nick dancing in the stroller.

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and a few of my favorite pics from the parade:

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After the parade we headed back to TSM it was a 50 minute wait and FP were gone. We took a bathroom break and got some more to drink.

We made our way over to Lights Camera Action...Motor Stunt Show. At this point we were second guessing the skipping the nap idea. The kids were getting whiny and you could see they were so tired. The walk from where you park the stroller to the entrace was so long and the stairs you have to climb to get a seat are unbelievable. I carried nick and a huge lemonade up them and I thought I was going to die. It was so hot sitting on the bleachers and the kids were being so clingy. Ryan insisted on sitting on my lap and then nick was crying and yelling at him because he wanted to sit with me too. This was our moment of meltdown at DHS. It felt like hours while we waited for the show to begin but once it did the kids seemed to enjoy it. It was an awesome show and the stunts they do are amazing. I did not take one picture mainly because of the meltdowns that occured but hopefully we will be able to see it again someday. After the show we walked the 3 miles to get out.

At this point we all were tired and hot. We walked to the area close by where the power rangers were due to be soon. We waited under a tree and sat in the shade to try to cool down. While we were waiting ryan started to climb on the concrete wall around the tree, nick got up on it too. Mike told ryan to move over cause he wasnt sure what this kid was doing and his parents werent watching him. This kid that he was talking about was nick. I said to mike "that's nick" and we laughed so hard. I think we were both delirious from the heat. Mike didnt even know his own child and he was the parent that wasnt watching his kid. How funny!

Minutes later the power rangers showed up in this cool vehicle with their theme music playing.

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Ryan really got into character for these pics.

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We really had fun with the power rangers and they turned ryan's frown upside down.

We then did the 3D Muppet show. The kids liked it. Its such a classic! Then we went to Pizza Planet to grab some dinner we all were starving. We got there about 610pm and realize it closed at 530. Now how did I not know this? We were a little disappointed. Ryan was looking forward to it since his favorite movie is toy story. We let them play in the arcade for a little then decided that we were all so tired and got alot of what we wanted to done. We headed out of the park but not before stopping in a gift shop. Ryan got buzz lightyear oversized gloves and Nick got a package of rubber cars from the movie. We boarded the bus pretty quickly and were back to our resort by 715pm.

Mike took the kids to the room to get our mugs while I ordered and got our food. The food was delicious as usual. I think we were so hungry I didnt even take the time to get a picture of it.
Mike had Penne Alfredo w/ chicken and chocolate cake
I had Pepperoni Pizza
Kids shared a cheese pizza/carrots/pudding

The kids by this point were over the whiny stage and onto the I am so tired Im silly stage. They were cracking us up and everyone else around us. The poor people behind us. Ryan was talking there ear off. I think they got our whole trip report so far in a 10 minute conversation. They were really nice and I think they enjoyed his stories just as much as he did telling them.

After dinner we went swimming for a short while. We did decide to rent the life jackets so they could swim in the big pool on their own. Ryan loved it and even learned to swim under water. It was amazing he used to be so afraid to go under and now he was doing it over and over again. We had a great time in the pool that night.

It was getting late so we headed back to the room. Ryan clucked like a chicken and flapped his arms all the way back and we knew the night was over. He had officially reached the point of no return.:rotfl:

We got the kids in their PJ's and ryan had to try on his new gloves. He coordinated so nicely with his buzz PJ's.

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I think we got to bed by 9pm. The kids fell asleep quickly. Nick was snoring so loud. Mike and I laughed so hard we were shaking trying not to wake them up. I had to move nick around a little but finally got him to stop.

Favorites of the day:

Mike: Star Wars Ride/TSM
Lindsay: Watching Ryan become a Jedi and acting like a power ranger/TSM
Ryan: Becoming a Jedi/TSM
Nick: Parade

UP NEXT: DAY 3- ANIMAL KINGDOM/DOWNTOWN DISNEY

[pamjb]

Personally, I am glad that you are a little slow in updating. Just got back from our Southwest Splendor Adventure by Disney (Wonderful!!) and wanted to keep up with you.
Is that your stroller or a rental? DH's aunt is taking her grandchildren in March and I want to give her options on strollers. I know those Disney rental prices are killer.
I will tell you what my mother-in-law told me when my kids were little...."Remember these times". My kids are 15 and 19 now and those trips to WDW when then were little are but a memory. But a memory that I will always cherish.

[Gabes_mommy]

Great update!!!

That is so cute that Ryan likes to remind people that he was part of taking DV down. :cutie:

I love Ryan's Buzz jammies - where did you get those?

[mommyof2Pirates]

Personally, I am glad that you are a little slow in updating. Just got back from our Southwest Splendor Adventure by Disney (Wonderful!!) and wanted to keep up with you.
Is that your stroller or a rental? DH's aunt is taking her grandchildren in March and I want to give her options on strollers. I know those Disney rental prices are killer.
I will tell you what my mother-in-law told me when my kids were little...."Remember these times". My kids are 15 and 19 now and those trips to WDW when then were little are but a memory. But a memory that I will always cherish.

Well I am glad I am going slow then. ;) How was your trip? Welcome back. The stroller was a rental from orlandostrollerrentals.com the double was 85$. It was the best 85$ spent. The stroller was extremely light weight and easy to use. It had plently of storage space and the canopy tops came so far over that during the heat of the day the kids were almost perfectly shaded. My dh did not once complain about getting it onto the bus which is the number one seller! I can not recommend this company more. They drop it off on your arrival day at the luggage area of your resort and that is where you return it on the day you leave. They also have single strollers and sit and stands available as well.

I will always cherish the memory of our first disney vacation. It was truly magical to see my children enjoy it.

Great update!!!

That is so cute that Ryan likes to remind people that he was part of taking DV down. :cutie:

I love Ryan's Buzz jammies - where did you get those?

We got the PJ's at kohls. It came in a set with buzz and woody. They are adorable!

[dusten]

:welcome: to my first ever Trip Report. For all the newcomers you may view my pre-trip report by clicking the link below:

To skip over the lengthy planning and get right to the nitty gritty here is a quick over view of the cast of our dream vacation.

There is me....
Lindsay (30) hard working, fun loving, disney fanatic, and best wife and mother in the world. (That comes straight from my dh's mouth on our disney vacation) All my planning and obsessions really paid off and made our vacation run so smooth even with a Pre-ker and a Toddler.

Next up is my DH.....
Mike (31) who wanted to relax on this vacation:rotfl:. He did not make one decision about our trip. When asked he would reply with "whatever you think". Surprisingly he came around on this trip and really carried his weight. He had a wonderful time and thanked me immensly for all the hard work I put into our trip......This has now given him the title of "Best husband and father in the world". Ive always thought that about him but in the weeks leading up to our vacation, I could have given him some other titles that werent as nice.:lmao:

Now onto the main characters of our trip....
Ryan (4) will be five in a few weeks. This trip was mainly designed with him in mind. He loves everything disney. Currently his favorites are star wars, phineus and ferb, and power rangers. He also loves the playhouse disney shows too. He loved this vacation and is already talking about going back with his memaw and pop pop.

Nick (2 1/2). Although we werent sure how nick would be on this trip we knew he would just go along with the flow. He has such an easy going personality. We were surprised how much he really loved this trip and how much he really understood about it. He had a blast and was amazingly well behaved too.

My husband and I Disneymooned in Oct. 2003 and stayed at the AKL. We said then that our dream would be to come back one day when we have 2 children and let them experience the happiest place on earth......

So thats what we did!:woohoo:

9/20 - 9/26 at All Star Sports on the deluxe dining plan.

So grab your snacks popcorn:::cake:and drinks of choice :drinking1 and enjoy our journey as we saw it through the eyes of our children!


I got a laugh after reading your entire trip report and then thinking back to where you wrote "he has such an easy going personality". My daughter (2 1/2 years) throws screaming fits where she tries to bite and scratch us, but she actually performed about the same on our trip in September. It was also about 93 each day with extreme humidity and 95-100 degree "feels like" temperatures. I have noticed that when on vacation everything is magnified so the slightest comments can set off an argument. Tension seems greater and wait times for everything also seem to be magnified. We are lucky because we live within 35mi driving distance of an airport with direct flights to Orlando. We probably would not have went if we had to take connecting flights or even stay the night at a hotel near the airport. Packing/unpacking is such a hassle with a toddler. Congratulations on getting your family down there. The expression on my daughter's face (in pictures) when she met the characters is priceless.

[dusten]

Here are some parade pics. Ryan did get to Hi Five Pluto and Mr Smee which was awesome. Nick slept through the entire thing.

After the parade we walked through the Emporium to cool down. Ryan tried on some hats. Here is a goofy one.

Ryan also saw a buzz lightyear shooter gun. He said this is cool and put it back on the shelf. This will come into play in a few minutes.
Nick finally woke up and we decided to go to the baby care center to change him. I got him all changed around and he went pee on the potty.:yay: This he did alot this trip so once he gets back on his BM routine I am going into potty training boot camp mode! I get back out to the stoller and there is ryan having a meldown. I asked what he is screaming about. Mike said he is crying that he wanted the buzz lightyear shooter gun. We told him we can get it after dinner and this caused a huge commotion. Ryan usually does not act like this for things so we knew the fatigue was setting in.

We made it over to the plaza to checkin early it was 3:50 and our ADR was for 410. We got nick a powerade because I thought he was looking a little dry in the mouth and boy did he gulp that thing right down. I guess all the sweating during his nap took everything out of him. He sure perked up after that. Mike walked over while we waited and got the buzz lightyear gun. This now made ryan a happy camper.

Our buzzer went off at 410pm. We got a window seat! Here is our beautiful view!

Our waitress was from philly so she loved our shirts and was happy to wait on us. Even thought the eagles lost :sad2: Her name was Maryanne. She was so nice to the kids. We told her we were on the deluxe dining plan and that the kids would be sharing a meal. She told ryan he could choose an appetizer either salad or tomato soup. Ryan answers in a very grown up manner. My brother nick over there will have the salad w/ ranch dressing and I will have the tomato soup. We almost busted out in laughter. Not only from the way that he answered but the fact that he wanted tomato soup. This kid never eats anything but grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza, and cheeseburgers. We told him he could only pick one but the waitress said not to worry he could have both. She also gave nick a drink and a seperate dessert for no extra charge. She was the one and only waitress with the disney magic:wizard:. We loved her.

So here is ryan eating....yes eating his tomato soup. We couldnt believe it. It had croutons in it and he kept saying "I cant wait to tell my meemaw I am eating tomato soup with french toast in it" :rotfl:

and here is nick with his salad. This was the funniest picture. I laugh every time I look at it. He is such a silly character.

Mike got a bacon cheeseburger with mushrooms and fries.

He said it was good but the burger was a little dry.

I got the tuna croissant with fries.

This was awesome. The best tuna croissant I ever had.

and now for the report title.......while we were eating nick kept fiddiling with the lid on his cup and oops...there it goes. It fell right on the floor and chocolate milk splashed everywhere. I cleaned it all up myself and just told the waitress about it so they could scrub the floor later. I think a little splashed onto the guys legs behind me.:eek: This is only the beginning of the many spills that we had on this trip. Not only drinks but glasses and bodies as well. Stay tuned for more interesting stories. It only gets better.

Here is the kids dessert.

and we got cookies and cream ice cream. yummy!

overall we gave this place a 9 out of 10. If the burger wasn't dry we would have given it a 10.

After our meal we headed out of the park. Here is the exit. So cute and festive.

As we were leaving we stumbled across these characters.

Nick calls them "chicken dale".

We waited for about 15 minutes for the bus again. We got back to the resort about 600pm. Mike and Ryan played in the arcade a little. Nick and I refilled our mugs at the food court and looked around the resort. We got the kids baths and were in bed by 8pm. Ryan and Nick fought over who they were sleeping with. In the end Ryan won and got to sleep with me and Nick slept with mike. They fell asleep quickly. Mike slept well too. As for me....I must have been so excited for the upcoming days, I tossed and turned all night.

Overall we had a great and pleasant first day.

Favorites of the day:
Mike- Parade
Lindsay- Philharmagic
Ryan- Parade
Nick- giving "chicken dale" a Hi five.

UP NEXT: DAY 2- HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS AND SKIPPING A NAP....SEE HOW THAT TURNED OUT!

While eating at Whispering Canyon Cafe (Wilderness Lodge) my daughter knocked off her plate of food and it went all over the guy at a table next to us. I found myself wiping off the shirt of a total stranger and feeling really bad for him. I also told the waitress so she could get him something to wipe off with. So much is acceptable at Disney that would be totally unacceptable anywhere else. Also, gives us adults a chance to be kids again...

[Charlefours]

:cheer2: Yay for getting chosen for JTA! I'm glad he still remembers it fondly despite being a little worried at the beginning of it. Adorable pictures with the Power Rangers!! Ryan looks like he cheered up :)

Did you nap at all during the day (forgive me, I cannot keep all the TR straight--I am not even reading that many of them)? That is one of my biggest concerns at this point. DD is going through a spurt now where she does not want to take one but desperately needs one towards 5:00ish. With the hours Disney has in September, this may or may not be an issue. With the excitement, all the walking, sights, sounds and lets not forget the HEAT--she may need one regardless of whatever her schedule is here at home. What did you find overall?

I am looking forward to hearing about your experience at Tusker House.

[mommyof2Pirates]

While eating at Whispering Canyon Cafe (Wilderness Lodge) my daughter knocked off her plate of food and it went all over the guy at a table next to us. I found myself wiping off the shirt of a total stranger and feeling really bad for him. I also told the waitress so she could get him something to wipe off with. So much is acceptable at Disney that would be totally unacceptable anywhere else. Also, gives us adults a chance to be kids again...

so funny about your daughter. :rotfl: yes there is alot more that is acceptable in disney. I am all for adults being kids again, I know how excited when just the two of us went on our honeymoon. What I dont like is being disrespectful. I would never stand in front of people that have been sitting and waiting patiently to see a parade and then block someone elses view. I would not allow my kids to do that either. So I guess thats just the point I was trying to make. I hope no offense was taken.

:cheer2: Yay for getting chosen for JTA! I'm glad he still remembers it fondly despite being a little worried at the beginning of it. Adorable pictures with the Power Rangers!! Ryan looks like he cheered up :)

Did you nap at all during the day (forgive me, I cannot keep all the TR straight--I am not even reading that many of them)? That is one of my biggest concerns at this point. DD is going through a spurt now where she does not want to take one but desperately needs one towards 5:00ish. With the hours Disney has in September, this may or may not be an issue. With the excitement, all the walking, sights, sounds and lets not forget the HEAT--she may need one regardless of whatever her schedule is here at home. What did you find overall?

I am looking forward to hearing about your experience at Tusker House.

We were surprised at how much we skipped the naps. On our hollywood studios day we did skip the naps and the kids only had one short part of the day where they were acting miserable but we found that there were enough things to keep their mind occupied. It is hard with the early hours to take breaks. Especially if you also want to see the parades and shows because we found that most of them were in the middle of the day. We did notice by the middle of the week the naps were needed, so my advice would be to make sure you schedule in a nap/rest time at least a few times that week. You will see too that no matter how much you plan once you get there it might change a little depending on how your child is handling it all.

[Charlefours]

We were surprised at how much we skipped the naps. On our hollywood studios day we did skip the naps and the kids only had one short part of the day where they were acting miserable but we found that there were enough things to keep their mind occupied. It is hard with the early hours to take breaks. Especially if you also want to see the parades and shows because we found that most of them were in the middle of the day. We did notice by the middle of the week the naps were needed, so my advice would be to make sure you schedule in a nap/rest time at least a few times that week. You will see too that no matter how much you plan once you get there it might change a little depending on how your child is handling it all.

DD is going through a spurt where she really does not want to take a nap right now at home :scared1: She may end up deciding for us that she is not going to need one by then. I noticed when I looked at September's park hours from this year that parade times seemed to be in the middle of the day. We want to catch them so we will probably just see how the day is going. Those are one of the things that can easily be cut out of this trip. I have been thinking we will want a break in the middle of day to cool off and to rest. Like you said above, I probably will anticipate at least a couple of the days taking a break in the middle such as the night we go to MNSSHP. Its good to know how other kids around DD's age reacted as it helps me anticipate a few things (or at least makes them on my radar). :thanks:

[mommyof2Pirates]

DD is going through a spurt where she really does not want to take a nap right now at home :scared1: She may end up deciding for us that she is not going to need one by then. I noticed when I looked at September's park hours from this year that parade times seemed to be in the middle of the day. We want to catch them so we will probably just see how the day is going. Those are one of the things that can easily be cut out of this trip. I have been thinking we will want a break in the middle of day to cool off and to rest. Like you said above, I probably will anticipate at least a couple of the days taking a break in the middle such as the night we go to MNSSHP. Its good to know how other kids around DD's age reacted as it helps me anticipate a few things (or at least makes them on my radar). :thanks:

glad to be able to help give you an idea of what to expect. I would highly recommend not planning much for the day of MNSSHP we used it to sleep in, swim, play at the arcade, and take a good nap. I think it really paid off. The kids were in a great mood that night from the time we got to MK at 430 until the time we got back to the resort at 1245pm. It was awesome.

[mommyof2Pirates]

Hi everyone! I am sorry once again for the delay. Life always seems to get in the way of completing these reports. My kids have been battling the swine flu since monday:sick: I have finally found energy to download my pics and am ready to type away.

Day 3 we had planned to do Animal Kingdom and then just relax and swim at the resort at night. As the day went on our plans seemed to change quite a bit.

Grab your drinks :surfweb: and continue along with me on our journey through animal kingdom........................

Here we go!

We woke up nice and early at 645am. Nick was the first one awake as usual. I had run down to the food court to get some drinks and a snack for everyone since our ADR for Tusker House wasnt until 1010am. I grabbed some croissants for all to share and quickly got back to our room. We decided to just have the kids jump in the shower with us to quickly wash up. Now let me say they are not big fans of showers, but Ryan got in with mike with no problem and he was geared up and ready to go by the time mike was even done showering. Nicholas on the other hand was not so happy and eager. He cried the entire shower and gave us such a hard time getting him dressed. We did manage to get him ready and out the door on time. Not the most fun way to start the day.

We got to the bus stop at 8am.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0214.jpg

The bus was there within 5 minutes and we were off to Animal Kingdom.
Here is nick being silly again. He just did not want to smile nice for pictures on this vacation.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0215.jpg
We arrived at AK about 830am. There were already lines forming and since we were not in a huge hurry this day we decided to take time to explore and take some pictures.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0218.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0219.jpg

This was taken by Ryan....Not a bad pic huh?
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0220.jpg

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0221.jpg

We then got into line. Slopped on the sunscreen and waited. I was surprised that they began letting people in 10 minutes before the park opened. I thought wow this is great. Then I realized we were just led to the rope. :laughing: I did think this was a great rope drop ceremony. We loved seeing the characters. Here was our view.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0222.jpg

Once the celebration was through we made our way to Kilimajaros Safari. My favorite ride in the park. I was nervous to see how long the wait was since I was hoping to get this done before our 1010am reservation at Tusker. We arrived in front of the safari and saw this.......................
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0223.jpg

I was a little worried since it was already 915 and I couldnt remeber how long the safari actually lasted but we got in line anyway. It was basically a walk on. We only had to stop for a minute or two close to where you hand off your strollers.

Here is Nick waiting patiently. You can see he is already so sweaty. The humidity was horrible on this day.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0224.jpg

We got the front seat on the jeep so mike and I sat on seperate sides with the kids on our lap. It worked out great.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0231.jpg

We saw so many animals on this ride. Here are some of my favorites.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0236.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0238.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0240.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0242.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0243.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0244.jpg

Ryan got a little scared when the CM pretended the bridge was breaking. I guess at his age that all seems so real.

We made it out of the safari safe and sound, and headed over to Tusker House to check in. We had all worked up quite an appetite already. We got there to see the whole outside waiting area packed with people and a line of about 15 people to check in.
It went faster than I thought and we had our buzzer by 10 am. We got a little table to relax at and let the kids run around.
I took this picture of nick and did not realize what the pole said on it until we got home. It looks like nick is saying "yeah, I finally found the beer". We cracked up at this picture.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0246.jpg

It was about 1015 and we were starving. We heard the family next to us say finally as there buzzer went off. My husband asked how long they were waiting and they said they had a reservation for 930. :eek: This was not looking good. We normally have breakfast by 8 and since this was the only reservation I could get we thought we would take the chance but with the kids being so hungry we decided to cancel our reservation. The CM felt bad and said we would be seated by 1040 but I could not see wasting the time waiting. We were sad but we traveled on. :sad2:

We went to Pizzafari. They had a breakfast platter with eggs, hashbrown, biscuit, bacon or sausage and you got 2 drinks. The kids had french toast, applesauce, and grapes. I dont know if we were just so hungry or if it was really that good but we loved every bite of it.

With our tummy's full we headed over to Camp Minnie and Mickey. The Lion King show was about to start.

Here the kids are waiting patiently
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0248.jpg

The show was so amazing. I think Mike and I enjoyed it more than the kids. They seemed to like it but were not over thrilled.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0250.jpg

As the show was letting out we saw pocohontas but no one wanted a picture with her except me but since I am the only girl I was out voted and we moved on.

Next we came across the entrance for Its tough to be a bug.
We contemplated doing this ride since I remembered there being lots of squirting and loudness. My dh talked me into it and said it wont be so bad if the kids get scared they can just take their glasses off.

Here they are looking so cute in their bug glasses.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0256.jpg

Ok well lets just say I didnt quite remember this ride being so dark and scary and the big crazy bug coming out of the wall. Poor Ryan was so traumatized. He cried so hard and was yelling "get me out of this place". Nick just clung to me and hid his face. I felt so bad and so did mike for saying it would be fine. oops. The kids recovered quickly and seemed fine once we left the theatre.

Next up: Dino Land.....Nausea.......Near concussions......and learning about Dung!

[mommyof2Pirates]

So after the excitement from the bugs we made our way to Dinoland. Right before the entrance we saw Winnie the pooh and the gang were at the character spot.

I must say this was the greatest place to meet the characters. You got to see all three without waiting in seperate lines and there was shade while you waited. I dont have the greatest pics since the portrait ones were taken by the photopass guy. Here are some candids I got.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0258.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0260.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0263.jpg

We then got into dinoland and that is where the meltdowns begin....
We get in line to ride Triceratop spin. A 20 minute wait in the blazing sun. 10 minutes into it Ryan decides he doesnt want to ride it. So I take him out of line. We go and get a frozen lemonade. Then we return to find mike and nick just getting on the ride.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0264.jpg

Ryan starts to get upset saying that now he wanted to ride it. I told him since we got out of line and now have the frozen lemonade we cant go on right now. This brings out the full blown tears! I just let him sit there and cry and I felt like everyone was looking at me thinking I was being a horrible mom.

Here he is sulking in his misery.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0265.jpg

Of course by the time mike and nick got off the ride he had stopped crying and when mike asked him what was wrong he said "nothing".

So mike thought it would cheer him up to take him into the bone yard to play. Since you cant take drinks in I stayed out with nick who was enjoying the frozen lemonade. I thought nick was nice and content in the stroller so I decided to call to see if I could get a reservation for thursday morning to go to Ohana's. Since we missed Tusker I wanted to replace it with another TS meal. Of course as I was on the phone Nick decides its his turn to throw a fit and he keeps hoping in and out of the stroller knocks over the lemonade and now hes crying hysterically. I managed to make the reservation. 745am at Ohanas on Thursday morning the day we are planning on spending at MK. Great. Now I just had to get nick back together and all would be good.

I get him calmed down and we go into the barnyard to find Ryan and Mike. I noticed Ryan right away climbing on this jeep, as I am walking towards him....he is waving to us and walking backwards. He thinks there is something to lean on but oops there is nothing and there he goes falling backwards about 4 feet off this jeep. Luckily the floor of the bone yard is the mushy stuff otherwise I think he definitley would have needed some medical attention. It took another 10 minutes to calm him down. At this point I was getting tired. I was hot. and I felt like I was going to throw up.

We walked into a gift shop to cool down. Nick got a pair of big mickey gloves and Ryan got a Jessie and bullseye figurine set.
Here is Ryan being a scary pirate.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0267.jpg
He loved trying on all the hats in the stores.
I was starting to feel a little better but I was in need of some more food. It was about 1230pm by this point.

We got some pics with this guy.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0268.jpg

We tried to find a CS resturant that we could eat inside but everywhere we tried was packed. We opted to just get some ice cream treats and sit in a shady spot. The kids loved that idea.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0271.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0272.jpg

It was enough to settle my stomach so we moved on.

We traveled next to Pangini Forest Exploration. We walked into the reptile house and I couldnt believe my eyes. These turtles were gettin wild at Animal Kingdom. I felt like I had to cover my kids eyes.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0273.jpg

We quickly moved on to the next exhibit. The Gorilla's my favorite! We saw this guy who wasnt looking to happy.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0274.jpg
I could of stood there and watched him all day.

I also got this beautiful picture on our walk.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0275.jpg

When we got to the end there was a really nice CM waiting and she started asking the kids questions about footprints.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0277.jpg
She was really great with the kids and in the 10 minutes she had their attention she taught them alot. They learned all about Rhino's. At one point she started to tell them about there dung. There was this big pile of fake dung sitting there and nick walked over and touched it. She yelled oh no you just touched poop. Well nick thought she was serious and he got so upset. He was crying so loud. She felt so bad but continued on with Ryan.

When nick gets upset and cries he often yells for someone who is not with him. Like for instance if Mike has him and I am not around he will cry for mommy. Well nick started yelling...I want donald....I want donald. This got us lauging even harder at the situation. Poor guy.

Ryan really enjoyed talking to the CM and he even got a discovery card to keep with a rhino stamp on it. She said we could find another CM in Jungle Trek to learn about another animal so we headed there next.

The kids really enjoyed these two areas of AK the most.

We got into Jungle Trek and Ryan grabbed a map to direct us which way to go.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0283.jpg

First stop the bats. These things were so creepy. I never saw a bat so big before and so many at one time.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0285.jpg

Then we came across this beautiful animal.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0286.jpg

We made it to the end with no CM in sight. We were disappointed that Ryan couldnt get anymore stamps on his card.

We were all getting a little tired and hungry. We thought we would try to get in early to Yak and Yeti. We had ADR's for 430pm and it was only 245pm. We thought we could eat and then catch the parade. No luck it was about a 40 minute wait.

We decided to just walk around and see what else we could discover. The kids played some bongo's.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0278.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0279.jpg

and we got a nice family picture.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0280.jpg

We came across Terk from Tarzan.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0281.jpg

Then we decided to just sit and relax at a table in the shade. We all needed a water break too. It was swealtering out.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0289.jpg

We then made our way to the area in front of Yak and Yeti. They had the area roped for the parade and we were the first ones there. We sat down and relaxed. The kids sprayed each other with the water fan. I called my mom to check in on how everyone was doing. She said my pop pop was doing ok but that she had to go to the doctor. Apparently she had mastoiditis which is and infection in the bone of your ear. The Dr said she had to start the antibiotic but if her fever did not go away by the next day she would need to be admitted and put on IV antibiotics. Well this is not what I wanted to hear. I was already worried about my pop pop now I was worrying about her. I tried to put it out of my mind and luckily the parade started shortly after.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0290.jpg

It was an awesome parade but once again we had this guy who was sitting next to us that decided to stand up and position himself right in front of ryan's view from the stroller. I nicely asked him if he could just stand back a little when he was done taking a photo but I dont know if he didnt understand me or just didnt care because he kept standing in the same spot. Ryan and Nick jumped out of the stroller and sat in our laps and were able to see the parade just as it passed us. I dont know why this always happens to us. Every parade. It drives me insane.

Immediately after the parade was over we hoped right into Yak and Yeti. It was so nice and cold in their. It was the best feeling all day. We were seated quickly and our waitress was very nice. Her name was Jeanine from NY. She initially told me I would have to pay extra for Nick's drink which I thought was crappy considering so far everyone else just gave it for free. In the end she said it was on her. Yeah like she really paid for it. I was appreciative of her not charging me.

The menu choices were excellent. It was hard to decide.

Me: Egg rolls with plum dipping sauce
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0294.jpg
and chicken lo mein
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0295.jpg
I skipped dessert since nothing appealed to me.

Mike: Fried Green beans with some kinda sauce
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0296.jpg

and he had crispy honey chicken which he loved but ate it too fast before I could get a picture.

Mike had Fried WonTons for dessert which he said were the best things he ever ate. I am sorry I didnt get a picture I was in the bathroom when it came out.

The kids had cheeseburger, fries, and applesauce and topped it off with ice cream. The fries were really shriveled and dry.

We give Yak and Yeti: (on the scale of 1 to 5 being the best)

Atmosphere: 5
Service: 4
Food: 5 except the kids fries.

While eating dinner we decided that we just didnt want to end our day with this. We decided we would go back to the resort. Take a quick swim. and head to downtown disney. We wondered if the kids would make it again with no nap, but we thought it would be worth a try. I was starting to worry we wouldnt have enough time at MK so this would give us friday morning to go to MK if needed since we originally planned to do downtown disney that morning.
UP NEXT: A fun Swim...and what the market place is closed?

[Charlefours]

Hi everyone! I am sorry once again for the delay. Life always seems to get in the way of completing these reports. My kids have been battling the swine flu since monday:sick: I have finally found energy to download my pics and am ready to type away.

Oh no!! I am sorry the kids are sick!! How are you and DH doing? Hopefully you all are not sick too. :sick:

It was about 1015 and we were starving. We heard the family next to us say finally as there buzzer went off. My husband asked how long they were waiting and they said they had a reservation for 930. :eek: This was not looking good. We normally have breakfast by 8 and since this was the only reservation I could get we thought we would take the chance but with the kids being so hungry we decided to cancel our reservation. The CM felt bad and said we would be seated by 1040 but I could not see wasting the time waiting. We were sad but we traveled on. :sad2:

We went to Pizzafari. They had a breakfast platter with eggs, hashbrown, biscuit, bacon or sausage and you got 2 drinks. The kids had french toast, applesauce, and grapes. I dont know if we were just so hungry or if it was really that good but we loved every bite of it.

Ah no! That's what you alluded to about TH! Darn! I am hoping to get an ADR there--I think I will be shooting for an early morning one! Hopefully they would not be far behind. Of course, I need to narrow down our list so perhaps we will bypass TH all together. It has gotten great reviews on other TR though. Hmmm.....:confused3

I'm glad you got good food at Pizzafari!!

Here they are looking so cute in their bug glasses.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0256.jpg

too cute!

Ok well lets just say I didnt quite remember this ride being so dark and scary and the big crazy bug coming out of the wall. Poor Ryan was so traumatized. He cried so hard and was yelling "get me out of this place". Nick just clung to me and hid his face. I felt so bad and so did mike for saying it would be fine. oops. The kids recovered quickly and seemed fine once we left the theatre.

We are definitely planning on bypassing ITTBAB b/c I don't like them either!! I am glad the kids recovered quickly!!



So after the excitement from the bugs we made our way to Dinoland. Right before the entrance we saw Winnie the pooh and the gang were at the character spot.

I must say this was the greatest place to meet the characters. You got to see all three without waiting in seperate lines and there was shade while you waited. I dont have the greatest pics since the portrait ones were taken by the photopass guy. Here are some candids I got.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0258.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0260.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0263.jpg

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]Sounds like a great spot! We definitely have to be on the look out for it when we are traveling. Did you order the photopass cd?

I managed to make the reservation. 745am at Ohanas on Thursday morning the day we are planning on spending at MK. Great. Now I just had to get nick back together and all would be good.

I need to program the numbers in my cell phone so I have them. I'm glad you were able to replace TH with Ohana's. I will be looking forward to seeing what you think of there. :surfweb:

When nick gets upset and cries he often yells for someone who is not with him. Like for instance if Mike has him and I am not around he will cry for mommy. Well nick started yelling...I want donald....I want donald. This got us lauging even harder at the situation. Poor guy.

:rotfl: Sorry but I could not help but laugh at this!

We were all getting a little tired and hungry. We thought we would try to get in early to Yak and Yeti. We had ADR's for 430pm and it was only 245pm. We thought we could eat and then catch the parade. No luck it was about a 40 minute wait.

What are your thoughts on the DDP? Did it work well for you and your family? I am wondering if you felt tied to it too much like I have read on other threads.

and we got a nice family picture.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0280.jpg

Great family photo!

We then made our way to the area in front of Yak and Yeti. They had the area roped for the parade and we were the first ones there. We sat down and relaxed. The kids sprayed each other with the water fan. I called my mom to check in on how everyone was doing. She said my pop pop was doing ok but that she had to go to the doctor. Apparently she had mastoiditis which is and infection in the bone of your ear. The Dr said she had to start the antibiotic but if her fever did not go away by the next day she would need to be admitted and put on IV antibiotics. Well this is not what I wanted to hear. I was already worried about my pop pop now I was worrying about her. I tried to put it out of my mind and luckily the parade started shortly after.

I hope your family is feeling better!

It was an awesome parade but once again we had this guy who was sitting next to us that decided to stand up and position himself right in front of ryan's view from the stroller. I nicely asked him if he could just stand back a little when he was done taking a photo but I dont know if he didnt understand me or just didnt care because he kept standing in the same spot. Ryan and Nick jumped out of the stroller and sat in our laps and were able to see the parade just as it passed us. I dont know why this always happens to us. Every parade. It drives me insane.

I don't know if the adults are so keen on getting pictures they forget to be respectful of others--especially kiddos since they are so much smaller than them. It drives me insane too!

We give Yak and Yeti: (on the scale of 1 to 5 being the best)

Atmosphere: 5
Service: 4
Food: 5 except the kids fries.

Love the rating system btw! It such a nice summary of thoughts on the restaurant.


glad to be able to help give you an idea of what to expect. I would highly recommend not planning much for the day of MNSSHP we used it to sleep in, swim, play at the arcade, and take a good nap. I think it really paid off. The kids were in a great mood that night from the time we got to MK at 430 until the time we got back to the resort at 1245pm. It was awesome.

MNSSHP if it falls the same next year as it does this year, we are planning on attending it on our last night at Disney. I think it will be a great way to send us off. We are tentatively thinking of going to a park in the morning briefly than leaving at lunch so we can rest before heading back to MK.

Another question for you: Did you have Park Hoppers? I am really considering dropping them off though I will probably wait until closer when we go to decide.

[mommyof2Pirates]

Charlefours

I think you may be the only one left reading so thank you for at least giving me responses. I think I have taken too long that Ive lost everyones attention. I will keep going with the report though so try to hang with me.

My kids are starting to feel better. I am ok so far but did get the vaccine last friday since I am a healthcare worker. my DH is feeling crappy but no fever so hopefully he will be better soon too. Thanks for asking.

Yes we were disappointed about TH. I would still recommend getting an ADR just try to get it early especially if you are early risers and breakfast eaters. We will try it again next time for sure I will just try to get earlier ressies. I am glad we decided to add in ohana's I cant wait to tell you about it.

The character spot with winnie and gang was right before entering dinoland. Its on the right but easy to miss. It is on the map under the character locations. Its a great spot to hit. Unfortunately I did not order the photopass Cd we only had 40 pics on their and only about 10 I really wanted. I didnt think it was worth the money for so little pictures. It was hard for us to use photopass much just cause the kids were getting so tired of taking pictures and making them get out of the stroller a million times was irritating them. The heat was so bad too which didnt help.

I would not recommend doing deluxe dining if you are paying for it fully but we upgraded from the free dining so we didnt pay that much more than we had planned before the promo came out. So for us I thought it was great since we usually eat 3 good meals a day. We got 3 refillable mugs too. I did find it hard to try to juggle TS meals and doing everything else we wanted to do especially with the early hours of the parks in sept. I tried to get in 2 TS meals a day. There were some days we didnt. I do not regret it at all and I dont feel like it was too much food but next time we most likely will do basic.

We did park hopper but I can say we did not hop once. I think in sept with the hours being early we didnt really need it. Next time I will only do it if we go during summer hours where parks are open until midnight. It depends on how your planning. I tried to keep all meals in the park or near it per day. So for us I think I wasted money. Now I know for next time though.

Doing MNSSHP on the last night is a great idea. It worked out great for us. We had an amazing time and it was a night to remember. The perfect way to cap off our trip and the next day our flight didnt leave until 4pm so we were able to sleep in. It all worked out awesome.

[Lamping3]

I'm still reading! I think I am going to have to scratch ITTBAB off my list. It bums me out though because Amelia really likes "Bugs"....that is what she calls the movie.

Love the pics of the boys with their bug eyes on!

Can't wait for more!

[mommyof2Pirates]

I'm still reading! I think I am going to have to scratch ITTBAB off my list. It bums me out though because Amelia really likes "Bugs"....that is what she calls the movie.

Love the pics of the boys with their bug eyes on!

Can't wait for more!

oh good I am glad you are still reading too. I actually thought my kids would find it funny. Especially the stink bug scene where he passes gas and then it smells. I thought for sure the boys would have found that hysterical. But I was wrong. oops. I dont know what other people have said about it but I would probably skip it if your unsure. Thanks again for reading. I will try to post another update soon. But now I have to get back to the Phillies game. Nothing...not even disney can interupt the world series when the phils are playing.

[jana616]

I'm here too!!! For some reason I never got a notice that you'd updated, so I missed all your AK posts. But I am caught up, and I LOVED this update! Your day sounds a lot like ours there, just replace the kids names when they were having a meltdown with Chad's and mine! What is it about Dinoland that brings out the tears, honestly! Maybe the heat?

I am so sorry you didn't have a chance to do Tusker House! We love, love, loved it, but we had an 8 am ADR. It sounds like that made all the difference, since they didn't have time to get behind yet. I hope you liked 'Ohana instead. We had a really good time there too(at both breakfast and dinner, lol!).

Oh, and I loved your pics in this update. I can't believe you only took 400+ and got so many great shots that really epitomize a WDW vacation. That's awesome!

[mommyof2Pirates]

I'm here too!!! For some reason I never got a notice that you'd updated, so I missed all your AK posts. But I am caught up, and I LOVED this update! Your day sounds a lot like ours there, just replace the kids names when they were having a meltdown with Chad's and mine! What is it about Dinoland that brings out the tears, honestly! Maybe the heat?

I am so sorry you didn't have a chance to do Tusker House! We love, love, loved it, but we had an 8 am ADR. It sounds like that made all the difference, since they didn't have time to get behind yet. I hope you liked 'Ohana instead. We had a really good time there too(at both breakfast and dinner, lol!).

Oh, and I loved your pics in this update. I can't believe you only took 400+ and got so many great shots that really epitomize a WDW vacation. That's awesome!

oh good I am so glad your still here. I did notice that dinoland seemed so much hotter than everywhere else to me. Maybe it was the time of day we went there but maybe thats really the case. :rotfl: Yes I was sad about tusker but I think the timing does make a difference. We were just so starved by 1010 that I couldnt imagine waiting anymore.

With my pics, at the end of each day I would go through what I had already taken and delete the ones that werent good. So I guess overall I did take maybe 50-60 more than I originally figured. Yes I am pleased though with alot of them. Cant wait to hear more from you.

[mommyof2Pirates]

When I left off we were just finishing dinner at Yak and Yeti. We made our way out of the park and got stopped in this crowd of people. Apparently they have a closing ceremony as well. It was minnie and goofy in the safari jeep seeing everyone off. The only bad part was getting stuck in the crowd of people all heading to the bus stops. We waited over 20 minutes for the bus.

We got back to our resort about 6pm. We walked up to our room and saw this in the window...........

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0297.jpg

and this on the tv center.......

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0298.jpg

The kids thought this was great. I am disappointed we did not get more of these magical things on our trip.

We all got changed into our swim suits and headed to the pool to cool off and I will shamely say to rinse the kids since we were heading out to downtown disney.

I decided to go to the arcade and rent them life vests so they could be more independent in the big pool. Mike let them play in the kiddie pool and once I got back with the vests we all jumped in the big pool. Ryan amazed us on this trip. He was always very afraid of going under the water but it must of been disney magic because he would go under and swim for minutes at a time. He loved it and we were so happy for him. Nick also loved to jump in without one of us catching him since the vest would just pop him right up.

We swam for about 30 minutes and then returned to our room to get ready. We got to the bus stop for downtown disney around 745pm. The kids usual bedtime.:eek:

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0299.jpg

you can see from their facial expressions how this night is going to turn out!

The drive to downtown disney seemed to take forever. When we pulled into the parking area the bus driver announces that the marketplace is closed for the week. Everyone on the bus was like, what? The people across from us had reservations for dinner and asked the bus driver if they can still go. The bus driver said...and I quote "yes, the resturuants are open but, the marketplace is closed". We were so mad since that is all we wanted to do their. The bus driver again says....."Pleasure Island is open, just the marketplace is closed". The other family on the bus was so upset as well. They were promising their child the whole time to go to the lego store. So the bus pulls up and we decided to just get off and walk around anyway since we already made the drive. The family next to us was just riding the bus back to the resort.

We start walking around looking at the resturaunts and I noticed people walking with lego bags. I told my dh we should still walk over to check it out. Sure enough everything was open. The bus driver failed to say the marketplace bus stop was closed. I dont even think after the reaction we all gave him that he realized what he was saying to us. We were happy that we still got off the bus!

Ryan was so excited to look around at the Lego store which was quite crowded so I took nick and the stroller to get a snack at mcdonalds. Nick and I shared some fries and a drink.

We then walked around World of Disney. This is where I noticed the big difference in traveling with kids. I couldnt look at anything for more than a few seconds. We in the end got some stuff for MNSSHP. Pirate hats & hooks. I got the kids cool mickey pirate dinner plates. Ryan got a star wars figure set for 12$ which was so worth the money. He plays with those guys for hours.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0300.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0301.jpg

We checked out Team Mickey, the christmas store, and goofy's candy shop. Mike went into the Tshirt store and spent 25 minutes creating a shirt that said Fly..Eagles...Fly with Mickey holding a football and then underneath is said on the road to Victory..... He went up to pay for it and they told him he couldnt make it because it was NFL related. He was so mad. What a waste of time. By this point Nick had fallen asleep. Ryan saw a mickey mouse back scratcher at a kiosk and decided to buy that for my mom. She had one from our trip years ago and ryan broke it, so we felt obligated to get her a new one.:laughing:

Ryan got a bucket of popcorn and we walked back to the bus stop. Got right on the bus and took the long ride back to the resort. We got to our room around 1040pm. Nick was fast asleep and barely moved when I got him into his pj's. Ryan on the other hand got his 2nd wind. Mike was hungry so he went to the food court. He got a cheesedog and fries. He couldnt belive that the lady made him get a dessert. He kept telling her he really didnt want anything but she insisted. He said she left the register and went and got him a fruit cup. We laughed about that for awhile, and finally after ryan had the giggles for 15 minutes we all were fast asleep.

Favorites of the Day:

Mike: Deep Fried Wonton Dessert
Lindsay: Kilamajaro's Safari
Ryan: Swimming
Nick: Triceratop Spin

UP NEXT: DAY 4 CHEF MICKEYS, EPCOT, CAPE MAY BUFFET, MORE EPCOT!
THE DAY THAT HAD US WONDERING IF THIS REALLY WAS A GOOD IDEA!

[Gabes_mommy]

I'm here! I'm here!!! For some reason I didn't get an email about the AK updates, but now I'm all caught up. :goodvibes

Thank you so much for telling me where you got the Buzz jammies. I went to Kohl's for the first time ever and bought Gabe a set. He officially LOVES them. The first time he wore the Buzz jammies he ran and got his Buzz toy and said "Look Buzz, I look like you". :rotfl: I also fell in love with Kohl's in general and spent way too much money, but that's another story. :rolleyes1

Great updates!!! Why is it that AK is always so darn hot? :confused3 Yak & Yeti sounds yummy - I'll have to try it someday.

[Jenvenza]

I just started reading, but I love it! You boys are too cute!! Cannot wait for the next update!

[Charlefours]

Charlefours

I think you may be the only one left reading so thank you for at least giving me responses. I think I have taken too long that Ive lost everyones attention. I will keep going with the report though so try to hang with me.

I will be here until the end! :thumbsup2 I lke reading about your experiences. I am sure there has to be others still reading.

My kids are starting to feel better. I am ok so far but did get the vaccine last friday since I am a healthcare worker. my DH is feeling crappy but no fever so hopefully he will be better soon too. Thanks for asking.

I hope DH is doing better and the kiddos are still on the upswing.

Yes we were disappointed about TH. I would still recommend getting an ADR just try to get it early especially if you are early risers and breakfast eaters. We will try it again next time for sure I will just try to get earlier ressies. I am glad we decided to add in ohana's I cant wait to tell you about it.

Looking forward to your Ohana's review!

The character spot with winnie and gang was right before entering dinoland. Its on the right but easy to miss. It is on the map under the character locations. Its a great spot to hit. Unfortunately I did not order the photopass Cd we only had 40 pics on their and only about 10 I really wanted. I didnt think it was worth the money for so little pictures. It was hard for us to use photopass much just cause the kids were getting so tired of taking pictures and making them get out of the stroller a million times was irritating them. The heat was so bad too which didnt help.

I am really not looking forward to how HOT it seems like it is going to be there. :faint: I don't know why I did not initial think how hot it was going to be. Oh well, we will deal with it!! I am definitely going to be looking for those cooling mist fans. I know the zoo has them around here but I am hoping I can catch it at a regular store because I am sure it will be cheaper there.

I will just have to wait and see about the photopass cd. I was curious about your experience with it. I don't blame you for not paying all the money for the few good photos! You got a lot of great shots yourself.

I would not recommend doing deluxe dining if you are paying for it fully but we upgraded from the free dining so we didnt pay that much more than we had planned before the promo came out. So for us I thought it was great since we usually eat 3 good meals a day. We got 3 refillable mugs too. I did find it hard to try to juggle TS meals and doing everything else we wanted to do especially with the early hours of the parks in sept. I tried to get in 2 TS meals a day. There were some days we didnt. I do not regret it at all and I dont feel like it was too much food but next time we most likely will do basic.

We are definitely not doing the DxDP--I do not think DD would have the patience to want to sit there that long. It is a lot of extra money too especially if we are paying OOT. I do wish the mugs were included, but I am anticipating us paying for one or two OOP.

We did park hopper but I can say we did not hop once. I think in sept with the hours being early we didnt really need it. Next time I will only do it if we go during summer hours where parks are open until midnight. It depends on how your planning. I tried to keep all meals in the park or near it per day. So for us I think I wasted money. Now I know for next time though.

See, that's what I am thinking. It is $150 for PH so I am thinking we could probably drop them. DH is leaning towards us wanting to keep them because he remembers us eating at Epcot the our only time down to Disney. We would be in one park for the morning that switch around lunch or for dinner to Epcot most days. With having DD, it being super hot, and I want to try other places to eat :thumbsup2 I think we could drop them. We are holding off making that decision until late July since our final payment is not due until July. It gives us time to weigh our options. :scratchin

Doing MNSSHP on the last night is a great idea. It worked out great for us. We had an amazing time and it was a night to remember. The perfect way to cap off our trip and the next day our flight didnt leave until 4pm so we were able to sleep in. It all worked out awesome.

I can't wait for your MNSSHP recap! I think it will be a great way to cap off our time at Disney. We may swing by DTD on our way out but it will depend on how we are doing by that point. Looking forward to your next report. popcorn::

[Charlefours]

Another great update! I am bummed they did not let DH make his shirt :( Probably just because it said Eagles. I wonder if you had changed "Eagles" to a picture of an eagle if they would have said anything? :confused3

You think the bus drive would have realized the mistake! At least you were still able to go and look for a few things. Did you manage to find anything for yourself?

[thegreggersmom]

OMG, Griffin fell out of the bed onto the floor our first night too!!!! What is it with these kids, honestly! I'm sorry you guys didn't have a better experience at H&V. We had the opposite, the characters were so attentive, and sat with us, played with the kids, etc. But we had an 11 am lunch ADR, so it was probably a lot less crowded. Can't wait to read more!

When I saw the first photo of Nick tucked between two pillows in the Philly hotel I started thinking maybe I could do the same with Gregory and save a few bucks on the crib rental (b/c there's NO way he'll sleep in the pack n' play). Now that I've read both Nick and Griffin took a dive, never mind! :scared1: Poor babies!

Loving this report! (And Jana -- did you see Amazing Race this week?!?!)

[mommyof2Pirates]

I'm here! I'm here!!! For some reason I didn't get an email about the AK updates, but now I'm all caught up. :goodvibes

Thank you so much for telling me where you got the Buzz jammies. I went to Kohl's for the first time ever and bought Gabe a set. He officially LOVES them. The first time he wore the Buzz jammies he ran and got his Buzz toy and said "Look Buzz, I look like you". :rotfl: I also fell in love with Kohl's in general and spent way too much money, but that's another story. :rolleyes1

Great updates!!! Why is it that AK is always so darn hot? :confused3 Yak & Yeti sounds yummy - I'll have to try it someday.

I am glad your still reading too. I thought I had lost everyones attention. I am so glad you were able to find the PJ's. They are so cool and yes kohls is a great store. I do most of our christmas shopping their on black friday they have the greatest sales ever, you have to check it out then too.

I just started reading, but I love it! You boys are too cute!! Cannot wait for the next update!

Thanks for joining!

Another great update! I am bummed they did not let DH make his shirt :( Probably just because it said Eagles. I wonder if you had changed "Eagles" to a picture of an eagle if they would have said anything? :confused3

You think the bus drive would have realized the mistake! At least you were still able to go and look for a few things. Did you manage to find anything for yourself?

It gave us a good laugh anyway. I kept saying to my dh that their is no way the marketplace could be closed because I would have heard about that on here.

When I saw the first photo of Nick tucked between two pillows in the Philly hotel I started thinking maybe I could do the same with Gregory and save a few bucks on the crib rental (b/c there's NO way he'll sleep in the pack n' play). Now that I've read both Nick and Griffin took a dive, never mind! :scared1: Poor babies!

Loving this report! (And Jana -- did you see Amazing Race this week?!?!)

I blame nick falling out of the bed on my dh. After that night I slept with him and kept him close to me with a bunch of room to his other side to move. We put one of the blankets bunched up on the floor just in case he would fall again too. It really did work out ok in the end....and it made for a good story too.

[Charlefours]

I just realized you must be in heaven that the Phillies are in the World Series. :cool1: :cool1: Sorry, not a baseball person here so I just dawned on me that you love the Phillies!!

BTW: MNSSHP--I love the ears and shirt you are wearing (page one, your intro pic). I was thinking of dressing up but I am thinking it is going to be roasting so I might make a shirt instead and let DD dress up. Who knows, I could change my mind again. :rotfl: Who did your shirt?

Looking forward to the next update. popcorn::

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Hey Girl!!! Long time not talk!!! Been MIA for a while!!! Went back to work!!! Woo Hoo and now I am just trying to jungle everything again!!!

Loving the updates that I've missed!!!

How about them Phils??? Lets hope that they can pull off a win tomorrow!

Talk soon! T

[mommyof2Pirates]

I just realized you must be in heaven that the Phillies are in the World Series. :cool1: :cool1: Sorry, not a baseball person here so I just dawned on me that you love the Phillies!!

Yes I am hoping they can still pull off another world series victory.

BTW: MNSSHP--I love the ears and shirt you are wearing (page one, your intro pic). I was thinking of dressing up but I am thinking it is going to be roasting so I might make a shirt instead and let DD dress up. Who knows, I could change my mind again. :rotfl: Who did your shirt?

I actually made the shirt myself. I got the design off of the disboards but I dont remember who's it was. The ears I bought while in disney. I would recommend cool light costumes. I dont know what I was thinking but we bought a buzz and woody costumes for the boys and even took them along with the shirts as back up. My children would have died had I let them wear them. I was disappointed but they looked cute as pirates too.
Looking forward to the next update. popcorn::

Hey Girl!!! Long time not talk!!! Been MIA for a while!!! Went back to work!!! Woo Hoo and now I am just trying to jungle everything again!!!

Loving the updates that I've missed!!!

How about them Phils??? Lets hope that they can pull off a win tomorrow!

Talk soon! T

Hey Reese, Ive missed ya on here. Is philly going banana's or what. We are so excited and hope they can pull off another victory tomorrow too. The eagles looked good last sunday with a win over the giants. I hope they come to play next week against the cowboys. We will see.

[tinkgurl]

Just found your TR and lovin' it!

Love how he called them "chicken dale"! When I was little, I called them, "chip and dip". :rotfl2:

[mommyof2Pirates]

Just found your TR and lovin' it!

Love how he called them "chicken dale"! When I was little, I called them, "chip and dip". :rotfl2:

thanks for joining. "chip and dip" thats funny!

[jana616]

Ugh, this is driving me crazy-I am not getting any notification of updates on your TR!!! So I'm always a few days behind!!!

Great update. I can't believe that stupid bus driver! How he could not realize what he was saying once everyone got so upset? I'm glad you still got off and tried it! I also can't believe how well your kids did that late at night. That's awesome!

Can't wait to hear about your Epcot day. That was our worst day by far!

We had so many similarities, it makes me laugh. We also got stopped by the closing ceremony at AK, and the whole crowd was about ready to revolt. By the end of the day, when you are hot, tired, and dealing with even hotter and more tired kids, they really need to let you just LEAVE!

Greggersmom-with your son being so little, I'd definitely think about the crib rental over the regular bed. But Cooper was 26 months, and he slept in the pack n play fine (well, he hopped out here and there, but not during the night or anything). And yep, saw the Amazing Race! Still definitely rooting for the Globetrotters, but I actually like most of the teams and wouldn't mind if any of them won (not a huge fan of Miss America, but really I'd probably be a lot like her!)

[BlueEyes78]

I just got caught up but have been reading all along. There seems to be a lot of us that went recently with two young boys - we went the 2nd week of August with our 4 1/2 year old and 21 month old, and had a ball! Ryan actually sounds very similar to my older son, Caden. I think they'd be buddies!
Caden loves Toy Story so much, he was Buzz Lightyear for Halloween, and so we had Connor be one of the little green aliens. Caden has a serious problem with Zurg, though, we couldn't get him near that cage with Zurg at the end of Space Ranger Spin!
Animal Kingdom was a tough day for us, too, for some reason the boys were up at 5:30 that day and were practically DONE with the day before rope drop! You are a brave woman, going napless! :eek:
LOVE the turtle picture. That was cracking me up!! No, honey, they're playing leap frog!! :rotfl2:

[AdamsPrincess]

I am loving your trip report. I feel like it is an insite to what is coming up. I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old, we have taken them both before but seeing what your 2.5 year old is doing I am hoping that is what mine is kind of going to be doing, minus the falling off the bed, which totally happens to us too.

Thank you!!

[mommyof2Pirates]

Ugh, this is driving me crazy-I am not getting any notification of updates on your TR!!! So I'm always a few days behind!!!
thats ok at least your still here.
Great update. I can't believe that stupid bus driver! How he could not realize what he was saying once everyone got so upset? I'm glad you still got off and tried it! I also can't believe how well your kids did that late at night. That's awesome!
oh yeah but wait until you hear how the next morning goes.
Can't wait to hear about your Epcot day. That was our worst day by far!
Some of our worst moments happened there too. I cant wait to tell you about it.We had so many similarities, it makes me laugh. We also got stopped by the closing ceremony at AK, and the whole crowd was about ready to revolt. By the end of the day, when you are hot, tired, and dealing with even hotter and more tired kids, they really need to let you just LEAVE!

It is funny how similar our trips and pre trip planning was. Yes I thought it was just a dumb idea.
Greggersmom-with your son being so little, I'd definitely think about the crib rental over the regular bed. But Cooper was 26 months, and he slept in the pack n play fine (well, he hopped out here and there, but not during the night or anything). And yep, saw the Amazing Race! Still definitely rooting for the Globetrotters, but I actually like most of the teams and wouldn't mind if any of them won (not a huge fan of Miss America, but really I'd probably be a lot like her!)

I just got caught up but have been reading all along. There seems to be a lot of us that went recently with two young boys - we went the 2nd week of August with our 4 1/2 year old and 21 month old, and had a ball! Ryan actually sounds very similar to my older son, Caden. I think they'd be buddies!
Caden loves Toy Story so much, he was Buzz Lightyear for Halloween, and so we had Connor be one of the little green aliens. Caden has a serious problem with Zurg, though, we couldn't get him near that cage with Zurg at the end of Space Ranger Spin!
Animal Kingdom was a tough day for us, too, for some reason the boys were up at 5:30 that day and were practically DONE with the day before rope drop! You are a brave woman, going napless! :eek:
LOVE the turtle picture. That was cracking me up!! No, honey, they're playing leap frog!! :rotfl2:
thanks so much for reading. Yes our boys sound like they would get along great. Can you believe those turtles. :eek: that was hilarious.

I am loving your trip report. I feel like it is an insite to what is coming up. I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old, we have taken them both before but seeing what your 2.5 year old is doing I am hoping that is what mine is kind of going to be doing, minus the falling off the bed, which totally happens to us too.

Thank you!!

Yes our 2 1/2 year old actually was great. He really loved the trip and for the most part understood alot of what was going on. Thanks for reading along.

[mommyof2Pirates]

After a late bedtime I unfortunately had to wake up at 630am. Luckily the kids continued to sleep. Mike and I both got showered and dressed and woke the boys up at 7am. They were very cooperative getting ready and we were to the bus stop by 715.

We were taking the MK bus and then hopping on the monorail to the contemporary. We had Chef Mickey ADR's for 835am. The bus came quickly and we were on our way. We got off at the Magic Kingdom and walked up to the monorail. This was the boys first monorail ride.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0324.jpg

We arrived quickly at the contemporary resort and made our way down the elevator to Chef Mickey's.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0302.jpg

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0303.jpg

We checked in at 815am. It seemed so crowded in the waiting area. I thought we would be sitting there forever. I was having flashbacks from Tusker House the day before.

The waiting area was really cool with the modern seating and the flat screen tv's with the playhouse disney channel on. Ryan was enjoying this part.

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Our buzzer went off at 845am. Not bad! We got our family photo (which I cant believe the price of those things.) We were seated at a table in the upper section but we were right by the stairs with easy access to the buffett.

We quickly went up and filled our plates before the characters got close to our table. The food was great. Lots to choose from.

We returned to our table and nick was getting nervous because donald was on his way. He got on my lap and while doing so knocked the whole plate of food out of my hand and it went everywhere. :eek: I quickly picked it up as donald was approaching the table.

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after a quick autograph and picture I reloaded our plate. The characters came really quickly and seemed pretty rushed to move along. Except good old Mickey.

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I love minnie. She is my favorite.

After these characters came by we got to clap along to the celebration song. Ryan thought it was so cool that he was allowed to wave his napkin around in the air.

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All we had left to do was to wait for mickey. We were finishing up our drinks and we saw him coming. Nick must of either got nervous or a little to excited because he dropped the glass he was drinking from only about 4 inches onto the table. The entire glass shattered in his hands. I actually had to pick out slivers of glass from his hands and I do not know how but he did not have one cut or I drop of blood on him. The waitress was just getting back with our bill and couldnt believe her eyes. We got it all cleaned up just in time to have some fun with the big cheese himself. MICKEY!

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Nick was pointing to his nose because mickey kept poking him in the nose. Mickey also pointed to the OJ on the table and showed the boys his muscles. After the game of cherades we realized what he was trying to say. That OJ makes your muscles big. Thanks Mickey!

We were all done with our breakfast by 930am. Not bad timing. We took a bathroom break and hopped back on the monorail to start our day at EPCOT.

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We got into Epcot and it was so hot we could barely stand it. The sun was out in full force that day.

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We went right to test track to get fast passes. I got the FP and then ryan started saying he didnt want to go on it anymore. We couldnt understand why. He talked about this for months. He started crying so we told him he didnt have to go on if he didnt want to. Mike decided to quick take a ride since the single rider line was only a 5 min wait.

While we waited for him I phoned home to check on everyone. My mom was feeling better and my pop pop was improving as well. We were glad to know everyone was now doing ok. No more worries hopefully.

Mike got off the ride and said it was great. Ryan still didnt change his mind so we just canned the idea. Maybe next time.

We went over to the seas with nemo. This is where we realized this day was not going as planned. Ryan started crying and he said he didnt want to ride nemo either. He was afraid the shark would get him. Now we started putting it all together. It was the darn Its tough to be a bug ride.....It traumatized him!

We decided to push ryan past his fears because we knew nemo wasnt scary. I went and parked the stroller and was carrying ryan (all 50 lbs of him). As I am parking the stroller I hear someone call my name. OMG I ran into a patient of ours from the office I work in. How funny is that. We got in line with them. Of course I would run into them when my 4 year old is on the verge of a meltdown.

Well ryan made it through nemo with his head burried in my lap. He didnt cry until the shark came on the screen at the end. He realized by the end that it wasnt scarry. We started looking at the aquariums and said we would do turtle talk next. That started the meltdown. He kept crying and yelling that he wanted to go home.

Ok now I have to admit. I am not proud of this moment. I turned into the parent I said I would never be. I got angry and fustrated with him and told him he is ruining his trip and we paid too much money to bring him to disney world to just walk around all day. yes I know. I still feel horrible that I reacted like that. It did calm him down and he agreed to go to turtle talk.

He really enjoyed looking at the sting rays and all the stuff in the waiting area. Nick was enjoying it all too. I almost feel bad that ryan's emotions had taken our attention off nick and he was just loving it all. Nemo is one of his favorites. We were one of the first families to go into the turtle talk room. I was excited that the boys could choose a spot on the floor. Nope not this time. Ryan wanted to sit with us and that made nick nervous so he stayed with us as well. We sat more towards the back to give other families room to sit with there kids who were on the floor. I thought Crush was so cool. Amazing the way disney does these interactive shows. Ryan got a little teary at the end with the shark but otherwise said he liked it. Although he looked pretty unsure of it the whole time.

Next up was Figment. One of my all time favorites. It took some coaxing but ryan agreed to ride. He wasnt too thrilled on it. There were alot of loud parts. Especially at the end where it kinda blasts the air at you. He even got scared in the smelly room. I think it brought back memories of the stink bug. We were so mad at ourselves for taking him in its tough to be a bug. Up until then ryan wasnt afraid of anything. Oh well when life gives you lemons make lemonade right?

We walked through innoventions which has so much stuff to do. The kids were getting tired so we didnt spend too much time in here. I would have liked to look around more. They did enjoy the fire truck.

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and playing on this carpet.

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Once we got outside we said we would do spaceship earth. Ryan started crying again and nick was crying because he wanted a pretzel. I couldnt find soft pretzels anywhere. We just decided to call it quits and headed to the bus stop.

Sorry I didnt have many pictures from the morning. With the heat and everyone not being happy I didnt really feel like capturing much of these moments.

We got back to our resort. I ordered lunch while mike got the kids situated at a table.

Mike: Chicken/Cheese Quesadillas
Lindsay: Hot Wings
Kids: Nuggets, Carrots, Grapes, and Chocolate Cake
All the food was delicious. The FC has such great food.
The kids made a mess. The whole table was covered in chocolate cake.

This quite honestly was our worst day so far. We did not enjoy epcot much at all. I felt bad for snapping. Ryan was just an emotional mess. Nick was tired. Mike was tired. The only thing we enjoyed so far was chef mickey's

We cleaned up everything and headed to the room. We let the kids play for a little and unwind. They seemed alot happier just to play with their new toys. You could tell they just needed a break.

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After playing for a little the kids quickly fell asleep. Mike and I were quick to follow. Hopefully the evening will go better.

UP NEXT: Nick's turn to meltdown. Would our evening be any better?

[Charlefours]

Awe, sorry you had such a rotten day at Epcot. At least Chef Mickey's was good. :goodvibes You can always try to go back to Epcot next go around. You are not a bad mommy because you lost your cool for a moment! We have all been there and done that. :) I think Disney must intensify all the emotions plus you had been going pretty nonstop all week, it was HOT :sunny: and so off a normal routine.

Looking forward to the next round popcorn::

[tinkgurl]

Oh wow, that t.v. in the waiting area is new! How nice! :)

Chef Mickey's is a favorite for us!

[mommyof2Pirates]

Awe, sorry you had such a rotten day at Epcot. At least Chef Mickey's was good. :goodvibes You can always try to go back to Epcot next go around. You are not a bad mommy because you lost your cool for a moment! We have all been there and done that. :) I think Disney must intensify all the emotions plus you had been going pretty nonstop all week, it was HOT :sunny: and so off a normal routine.

Looking forward to the next round popcorn::
yes I know we definitely needed a break. It was unbearable hot too which doesnt help when your tired either. At least this was the lowest point of the vacation and it didnt last long. It could of been worse; everyday could have been like this:scared1:
Oh wow, that t.v. in the waiting area is new! How nice! :)

Chef Mickey's is a favorite for us!

Yes the TV was great and kept the kids more than occupied since we havent watched much tv all week. Chef Mickeys was one of our favorites too. It will defintely be on our list for next trip. Have you done dinner there before? We were thinking of trying that next time.

[mommyof2Pirates]

I had left off with us all resting our heads for a long mid day nap. I awoke first so I decided to take a nice relaxing shower since I didnt feel rushed with having the kids running all around. Next Mike got ready. We got ryan and nick up so they could get a bath. Ryan was happy and gearing to go but nick on the other hand was not. He was crying and miserable. I couldnt put him down. I got ryan into the tub but nick refused. He screamed bloody murder everytime I tried putting him in. Now if you can remember; nick is our easy going happy as can be child. This was so unlike him. I figured it had to do with the fact that he hadnt pooped since sat. morning and now its wednesday afternoon. He usually goes 1-2 times daily. So it was a struggle getting him ready. I gave up on the bath which I thought was gross but was at a loss of what to do. We managed to get to the bus stop at 440pm. We had reservations at Cape May Buffett at 530pm. We planned on taking the bus to Epcot and walking to Beach Club. Luckily the bus arrived quickly. We got off at Epcot..went through the gates and power walked to the international gateway. Let me tell you. We were so hot and sweaty by the time we finally arrived at the Beach Club. I had no idea how long the walk really was. It would not have been bad if we werent rushing but we were drenched in sweat and totally stressed from the day we were having. None the less we arrived at BC and checked in at 532pm. Not bad considering what we just went through.

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While waiting the kids sat and watched tv. This is such an awesome resort. It has such a relaxed and peaceful feeling to it. Just what we needed!

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We were seated fairly quickly. The boys were starting to get a little rowdy so I quickly went up and got salad and a cup of new england clam chowder. I grab the boys the typical kids stuff. Mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza, and rolls. I got back to our table and then mike took his turn. I quickly ate because I could just see the look in nick's eyes that it was only a matter of time until another meltdown begins.

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He was just looking crazy.

As I am scarffing down the delicious chowder. The hostess seats a family next to us and is apologizing to them. She said she is sorry that they were seated near such a loud family and hoped this table would work out better. The lady said thank you and that she normally doesnt complain but since this is such a nice dinner they preffered not to sit next to a table of screaming children. :lmao:

I was like OMG and there sitting them next to us.....not only that but our booth seating was actually connected so we were literally right next to them. I began to have heart palpitations just picturing my kids going crazy.

Anyway, Mike went up a few times and enjoyed everything he ate. I took the kids to the bathroom and let them run in the hall a little. I came back and Mike and Ryan went up and got me a bucket of clams.

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These were the best clams I ever ate. They came with garlic herb butter. yummy! The neatest part is the bucket they came in.
Mike and the kids had some desserts, I think brownies and oreo truffles which mike said were to die for. Just as they were finishing Nick announced that he had to poop. Oh thank the lord. Mike took him outside while ryan and I went up so I could get some more food.

I got a chicken, ribs, prime rib, mac and cheese, and a brownie. I finished everything on my plate it was so delicious. I was stuffed. Ryan was content coloring on the table. They use a thick white paper as the table covering and the kids are given crayons to draw on. Great Idea!

I would have to say by far this is the best food we ate. There is so much variety and everything tasted so good. The only not so good part were the lines for the buffett. We had to wait in lines about 20 people long. Not the easiest thing to do with young children. Our waitress also had no personality. I actually dont know if she said much of anything the whole time we were there. She did bring drink refills quickly so I cant complain.

Overall Rating: Atmosphere-5
Service-3 (could have been more friendly)
Food- 5+

I met up with mike and he said nick hid behind a bush and pooped. Yipee never thought I would be so excited to change one of those diapers. I took him inside to the restroom and got him all cleaned up. He seemed like a new kid after that.

We walked around the beach club for a little admiring the scenery. Here are some pics we took.

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We loaded the boys in the stroller and this time took a leisurely walk back to epcot.

I dont know if it was dinner or nick pooping or what but for some reason our trip had changed. Mike and I just felt so relaxed. We took a moment to breathe and we didnt feel so stressed over where we had to be and what we had to get done. It was like something came over us that said just slow down and enjoy the ride.

We got to the doors of the International Gateway....took another potty break and headed into Epcot to start round 2.

UP NEXT: THE COUNTRIES AND ILLUMINATIONS

[thegreggersmom]

Poor Nick!! I bet he DID feel like a new man. And going behind the bush -- too funny! Amazing how your kid's digestive schedule can hold so much power. :lmao:

Adorable photos, btw. Glad the Epcot day improved.

[AmyBWV99]

Great report!

We have 4 & 2 year old boys and can totally relate. I've had the 'I can't believe I just said that to my child' moments. The heat, the stress I mommy-meltdowns can happen.

We've had to slow down on our pre-kid touring and take a day here and there in our trips to allow the kids 3 hour naps to catch up on sleep. It's usally every 3rd day or so.

[mommyof2Pirates]

Poor Nick!! I bet he DID feel like a new man. And going behind the bush -- too funny! Amazing how your kid's digestive schedule can hold so much power. :lmao:

Adorable photos, btw. Glad the Epcot day improved.
He was in that stage of hiding to go poop, I knew he was ready to start potty training but held off to after vacation. Now hes totally potty trained and still needs his privacy. He makes me leave the bathroom if he has to poop. :rotfl2: It hysterical.
Great report!

We have 4 & 2 year old boys and can totally relate. I've had the 'I can't believe I just said that to my child' moments. The heat, the stress I mommy-meltdowns can happen.

We've had to slow down on our pre-kid touring and take a day here and there in our trips to allow the kids 3 hour naps to catch up on sleep. It's usally every 3rd day or so.

Thanks it makes me feel better to know I am not the only one. Yes we realized quickly that after day 3 that was about our limit. It did get better from this day on. Thanks for reading.

[mommyof2Pirates]

As we crossed the gates of the International Gateway we saw a small shop selling light up toys. We let both of the boys pick there own. Ryan got some kind of light up stick that makes different designs. Nick got one with two big mickey ears that light up and spin around.

We began to walk through the countries. We unfortunately did not have a large amount of time to spend so I know we missed alot and that is the only part of the trip I regret. I didnt realize how much fun the kids would have here.

First place we stopped was good ole america. The kids found the first kidcot station and made their masks.

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Next stop was Italy where I taught the boys to say Caio and Gratzi. The gentleman at that kidcot was very nice and appreciated the boys speaking his language. They got a tie on piece which was a mask and a stamp.

We checked out Germany. Could not find the kidcot station. Mike was going to get a beer but after seeing the prices he decided against it.

We stopped at a small Kiosk and saw a bunch of little mickeys all dressed in different country attire. Nick got an italian mickey and ryan got a UK mickey. They have slept with these every night since.

While I was paying I heard someone yell my name. OMG another family that brings their children to the doctor I work for. I couldnt believe it. They also have a 4 and 2 year old. They were saying how the kids were miserable and not sleeping and they think they made a mistake by coming with them being so young. I think they were in the middle of their meltdown moment because when I talked to them after returning they seemed to still manage to have a good time. After talking with them for a little we moved along.

We stopped in China. This was the neatest kidcot. The lady asked what year they were born and told them what the chinese year meant. Ryan was born in 2004 and he was the year of the monkey. He got a monkey stamp and she wrote his name on the back of the mask in chinese. Nick was born in 2007 and he was the year of the pig. She said that is very lucky. I guess thats why he is such a good child.:laughing: He got a pig stamp and his name written in chinese as well.

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after we walked around the store for a little. Ryan found this guy and yelled for us to take a picture. At first he was holding its **** but we made him move his hand.:laughing:

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Ryan had found this cane and was pretending to be his great-pop pop. He cant walk well so he uses a cane and walks really slow and shaky. It gave us a chuckle as he yelled "look at me Im pop pop george".

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We stopped and looked around mexico. Ryan wanted to buy a sombrero but he understood that its to big to bring on the plane.

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We also saw these cute puppets along the way.

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We made sure to stop and ask someone to take our picture too.

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We really enjoyed just taking it all in and enjoying what the countries have to offer. It is so beautiful there at night. I definitely will plan more time during the day in the countries next time around.

We took a potty break and while waiting for mike; nick and ryan did some kind of song and dance that had everyone around laughing at them. They started to get really silly. Better than grumpy and whiny.

We got a soft pretzel. (Finally for nick) and some slushies. We got a spot along the fence and waited for Illuminations to start.

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What an amazing show. It almost brought a tear to my eye. It had turned out to be such a great evening. I am glad Mike convinced me to stick with the plan. I told him after dinner we should just go back to the resort.

I wish I could say Illuminations was a perfect ending to the night but, then you have to walk out of the park and get on the bus.

This was not so perfect. We had gotten ryan a box of popcorn while we were walking out of Epcot. Nick was starting to throw a fit and kicked ryan's popcorn out of his hand. Ryan was now crying hysterically. We just kept walking. Before you know it now nick is crying. We realized ryan grabbed nicks hand and pulled it through the center of the stroller. Oh my. We got them to stop fighting and walked as quickly as possible to the bus stop.

We waited about 20 minutes and got on a very packed bus back to our resort. Everyone was asleep by about 1045pm.

Favorites:

Mike: Test Track
Lindsay: Chef Mickey's and Cape May Buffett
Ryan: Illuminations
Nick: Nemo ride

UP NEXT: DAY 5- OHANA'S....MK...WHISPERING CANYON CAFE.....MK....SPECTROMAGIC......WISHES.....NO NAPS!

[tinkgurl]

Yes the TV was great and kept the kids more than occupied since we havent watched much tv all week. Chef Mickeys was one of our favorites too. It will defintely be on our list for next trip. Have you done dinner there before? We were thinking of trying that next time.

Yep, we do dinner there every trip! We usually try to make it for our first night because it's such a fun way to start the trip. The food is pretty good, but we always look forward to the dessert station! YUM! :rotfl:

[Charlefours]

Hmm...I had not even been considering Cape May buffet. It seems like you have like this the best thus far. :confused3

I am glad the evening got better for you and you were able to have some fun in Epcot!

[jana616]

OK, that was a great update! I'm sorry your morning didn't go better, but I love that you gave the good, bad, and ugly. It helps me to know that we weren't alone in our meltdown moments! I love the picture of Ryan at the Beach Club after dinner-he looks so handsome! I also had to laugh at how he grabbed the statue in an inappropriate place-all of our pics from character meals, Griffin has his hand "right there"-poor Leo from LE, he really got molested!!

I forgot that Nick wasn't potty trained yet, so when you said he went behind a bush to poop...let's just say my jaw hit the floor!! LOL, I did figure it out quickly! Isn't it funny how something like pooping can make or break the vacation?!!

Can't wait to read more! I am hoping to get wild and finish my last two days later this week. My MIL is taking the kids overnight on Thursday, so I want to bust it out then. Griffin has his 5th birthday party on Saturday, and I have to make 14 Jedi vests and light sabers, but I want to get the TR done too!

[Gabes_mommy]

Oh no, I am so sorry you had a rough time at The Seas too. :hug: Don't feel bad about your "bad mommy" moment. Even though WDW is a magical place it still seems to bring out those type of moments. :grouphug:

Only a mommy can understand the importance of poop. :cutie: I am so glad to hear that Nick pooped! Gabe used to get so constipated that DH and I would literally cheer when he finally went. :rotfl:

Oh my, I would have died if a couple who had just gotten moved after complaining about noisy kids got seated right next to us during a meltdown moment . What irony. :rolleyes1

Thanks for the heads up about Black Friday at Kohls - I will definitely check it out. :thumbsup2

ETA - you look so cute in your Epcot pictures - that top and skirt (is that a skirt or bermudas?) look really good on you.

[mommyof2Pirates]

OK, that was a great update! I'm sorry your morning didn't go better, but I love that you gave the good, bad, and ugly. It helps me to know that we weren't alone in our meltdown moments! I love the picture of Ryan at the Beach Club after dinner-he looks so handsome! I also had to laugh at how he grabbed the statue in an inappropriate place-all of our pics from character meals, Griffin has his hand "right there"-poor Leo from LE, he really got molested!!

I forgot that Nick wasn't potty trained yet, so when you said he went behind a bush to poop...let's just say my jaw hit the floor!! LOL, I did figure it out quickly! Isn't it funny how something like pooping can make or break the vacation?!!

Can't wait to read more! I am hoping to get wild and finish my last two days later this week. My MIL is taking the kids overnight on Thursday, so I want to bust it out then. Griffin has his 5th birthday party on Saturday, and I have to make 14 Jedi vests and light sabers, but I want to get the TR done too!

Haha I didnt realize, I should of specified in his diaper. Wow I guess that would have given you a good laugh. I that point I wouldnt of cared if he did just poop behind the bush.:lmao: It is amazing how not pooping makes a kid act.

I know I am trying to get this finished up with too before I forget all the details. It does bring back such good feelings though as I write this. It makes me really miss disney and making me anxious to go back.

That sounds like an awesome party griffen is having. We had ryans at a sports academy place on sat. It was alot of trampolines and foam pits and all that fun stuff. The kids had a blast. The best part is I didnt have to do to much to put it all together. Last year we had a pirate party and my dad actually made a pirate ship out of wood for the kids to play inside. We spent so much money on decorations and goody bags, pinatas etc. This year I was like lets take the easy way out. If you are on facebook and you remember my last name from when you mailed the kids postcards send me a friend request. I will soon have all my pics posted on their. If your interested?

Hope to read your up dates soon. Ive been dying to hear the rest.

[mommyof2Pirates]

Oh no, I am so sorry you had a rough time at The Seas too. :hug: Don't feel bad about your "bad mommy" moment. Even though WDW is a magical place it still seems to bring out those type of moments. :grouphug:

Only a mommy can understand the importance of poop. :cutie: I am so glad to hear that Nick pooped! Gabe used to get so constipated that DH and I would literally cheer when he finally went. :rotfl:

Oh my, I would have died if a couple who had just gotten moved after complaining about noisy kids got seated right next to us during a meltdown moment . What irony. :rolleyes1

Thanks for the heads up about Black Friday at Kohls - I will definitely check it out. :thumbsup2

ETA - you look so cute in your Epcot pictures - that top and skirt (is that a skirt or bermudas?) look really good on you.

your welcome for the black friday tip. I had off today for ryans 5th bday. I let him stay home with me and nick went to daycare. We had time to kill before the movie we were seeing so we walked around kohl's for like 1hr. I was scoping out what I am hoping to find on sale.

Thanks for the compliment. It actually was a jean skirt. I thought he outfit made me look really heavy so thank you for saying it looked nice. I insisted that since we were eating at a nice resort we all had to dress nice. Otherwise the whole week was mostly mesh shorts and t shirts. With the hot weather I was so glad I planned it that way. I dont know how you stand living in FL. That heat and humidity is a killer.

[jana616]

Haha I didnt realize, I should of specified in his diaper. Wow I guess that would have given you a good laugh. I that point I wouldnt of cared if he did just poop behind the bush.:lmao: It is amazing how not pooping makes a kid act.

I know I am trying to get this finished up with too before I forget all the details. It does bring back such good feelings though as I write this. It makes me really miss disney and making me anxious to go back.

That sounds like an awesome party griffen is having. We had ryans at a sports academy place on sat. It was alot of trampolines and foam pits and all that fun stuff. The kids had a blast. The best part is I didnt have to do to much to put it all together. Last year we had a pirate party and my dad actually made a pirate ship out of wood for the kids to play inside. We spent so much money on decorations and goody bags, pinatas etc. This year I was like lets take the easy way out. If you are on facebook and you remember my last name from when you mailed the kids postcards send me a friend request. I will soon have all my pics posted on their. If your interested?

Hope to read your up dates soon. Ive been dying to hear the rest.

OK, I hopefully just sent you a friend request on facebook. It wasn't the exact city I was thinking it was, so if you don't get it, let me know! I'd love to keep in touch on there-I miss "talking" with you so much from the PTRs!;)

I hope Griffin's party goes well. We have been to 7 parties in the past two months, and all of them have been at a party place of some kind-Bouncertown, Incredible Pizza Company, bowling, etc. It seemed so expensive when I priced it out, esp. for as many kids as we were inviting, and paying for parents too. But now I feel a lot of pressure to make his party cool too. We're doing a Jedi Training Academy. I cut out the vests tonight-I just made no-sew v-neck vests out of brown felt, and then bought some shiny ribbon to tie around their waists and keep them together. We're making light sabers out of foam pipe insulation. They get to wear that for the party and take it home, and then we're having some "training missions" (ie games and an obstacle course). Their final mission is to defeat Darth Vader (pinata). It seems really cool in my head, but I don't know if they'll think so! I have realized though that all the time and money spent on this will come close to the cost of a party place! Plus it's supposed to rain here that day, so we have to do all of this in our house. I definitely think you have the right idea doing it somewhere else!!! Then you actually get to enjoy it too! A pirate party sounds so cool, and I can't believe your dad built them a ship! That's awesome, do they still have it?

[Gabes_mommy]

I dont know how you stand living in FL. That heat and humidity is a killer.

It can be miserable for sure! Orlando is actually way more hot and humid than where I live near the coast. I don't think I could handle living in Central FL. All I can say is thanks goodness for central A/C. :laughing:

[mommyof2Pirates]

OK, I hopefully just sent you a friend request on facebook. It wasn't the exact city I was thinking it was, so if you don't get it, let me know! I'd love to keep in touch on there-I miss "talking" with you so much from the PTRs!;)

I hope Griffin's party goes well. We have been to 7 parties in the past two months, and all of them have been at a party place of some kind-Bouncertown, Incredible Pizza Company, bowling, etc. It seemed so expensive when I priced it out, esp. for as many kids as we were inviting, and paying for parents too. But now I feel a lot of pressure to make his party cool too. We're doing a Jedi Training Academy. I cut out the vests tonight-I just made no-sew v-neck vests out of brown felt, and then bought some shiny ribbon to tie around their waists and keep them together. We're making light sabers out of foam pipe insulation. They get to wear that for the party and take it home, and then we're having some "training missions" (ie games and an obstacle course). Their final mission is to defeat Darth Vader (pinata). It seems really cool in my head, but I don't know if they'll think so! I have realized though that all the time and money spent on this will come close to the cost of a party place! Plus it's supposed to rain here that day, so we have to do all of this in our house. I definitely think you have the right idea doing it somewhere else!!! Then you actually get to enjoy it too! A pirate party sounds so cool, and I can't believe your dad built them a ship! That's awesome, do they still have it?


Yes we do still have the boat. We had put it outside for a little in the summer but now its taken apart and stored in our shed. Your party ideas sound great. I am sure the kids will love it. I didnt get your friend request so it must have been the wrong person. I will PM you my info. I would love to keep in touch too.

[mommyof2Pirates]

Its been a month or so since Ive been on here and I am surprised to see that there are no updates on any of the reports I was following.:sad1: But I am determined to finish this report. This trip was too good to stop in the middle. I dont know if anyone is still reading but either way I will finish.

Ok with that being said lets move on to Day 5.

If you remember we decided to cancel our reservation at the Tusker House due to the long wait on tuesday. So in place of that TS credit we were lucky enough to get a reservation for breakfast at Ohana's. Our reservation was at 7:45am.

We got up bright and early at 6am. We showered and got everyone together and were at the bus stop by 650am. The bus was just sitting there waiting for us. We stepped right on and were on our way. We had the entire bus to ourselves. The day seemed to be going smooth so far. Much better than the previous day.

We arrived at MK around 715 and walked up the ramp to the monorail. We waited 15 minutes before a cast member made an announcement that the monorails currently were closed. They said to wait at bus stop #11 and a bus will take us to the polynesian. So we treked back down the ramp and got to bus stop 11 which had no sign labeling where that bus takes you. The line soon became crowded with people fully annoyed at the situation. Buses kept driving by us and no one was stopping. Finally around 745am a bus finally stopped and asked why everyone was waiting there. He was surprised at the situation but loaded us up and took us over to the poly. We got to ohana's at 8am. I was hoping there would not be a huge wait since we were late to our ressie. Apparently a bunch of other families had the same trouble too. No problems. We were given our buzzer and we waited patiently.

Ryan was already complaining of being tired. I was crossing my fingers that today would be better than our epcot ordeal.

Here he is lounging while we waited.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0384.jpg

We only waited about 10 minutes. We were seated by a very nice cousin who asked me what Ohana meant and can you believe I didnt know the answer. How embarrasing. I guess since Ohana was not on my initial list of ressies that I didnt pay much attention to the information about the resturaunt. I never watched the whole lilo and stich movie either. oops.
Anyway at least I learned something new.

This by far was my favorite breakfast of the trip. I was surprised how much I liked the bread they serve. I dont like coconut and I am not a huge fan of raisins but the bread was to died for. The passion punch or whatever they called it was also so delicious. I also liked how they served it family style vs. buffett. The food was excellent. The kids ate alot which tells ya it must of been good.

Here is ryan just about cleaning his plate.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0387.jpg

Pluto and Mickey came around pretty quickly. Actually they even came to our table twice.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0385.jpg

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0386.jpg

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0397.jpg

Then the parade started. Ryan was very excited to participate. He got a maraca and paraded around. We were proud of him. This was a moment that made me a little teary. He looked like he was just having such a great time and it made me so happy just to be able to bring my kids to the greatest place on earth. Nick stayed on my lap. Although he was getting less fearful of the characters he was in no way ready to leave the comfort of his table.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0390.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0392.jpg

At the end of the parade Lilo gave Nick her maraca and that made him happy. We waited about another 15 minutes and neither Lilo or Stitch were close to getting to our table so we decided to leave without seeing them. We were anxious to get to Magic Kingdom.

We took the ferry which the kids enjoyed.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0398.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0400.jpg

We arrived at MK by 915am. We walked to Fantasyland and saw Peter Pan was only a 20 min wait. We just about got in line when Ryan started crying because he was scared. I thought here we go again. I took him to the side and tried to calm him down. He wasnt hysterical so I thought it would be best to just force him to go on. He didnt give me a fight but was crying on/off throughout the wait. I know people were looking at us thinking I was being ridiculous but I didnt care. I know whats best for my kid and with Ryan if you let him be scared he would be afraid of everything. Once he realizes its ok he wants to do things a million times. So we get on Peter Pan and he did good until we passed over london. He was afraid of seeing the crocodile and also thought the real captain hook would be there. Once he saw it was all fake he calmed down and enjoyed it. Nick loved the whole ride and thought it was really cool.

We did the Tea Cups next since it was only a 5 min. wait.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0402.jpg

This ride was so much fun. The kids spun it so fast and we laughed and giggled like crazy. Mike skipped this since he gets motion sickness pretty easily.

We then walked right onto winnie the pooh. It was fun and one of nicks favorites of the day. Ryan's fears were starting to settle down too.

We got some drinks since it was starting to get really hot. We took this picture which really is perfect for these two.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0401.jpg
Next the kids wanted to ride Tomorrowland Speedway. Believe it or not this was my first ride on it as well. This was by far the kids favorite ride in MK. They loved that they could drive. I rode with Nick who gave me whiplash. Ryan rode with mike and got a drivers license at the end. He still is telling people about it. He is very proud that he has a drivers license.

We then walked over to tomorrowland.

The water globe was a huge hit. We stopped many times throughout the next two days to touch it.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0404.jpg

The kids wanted to ride AstroOrbiter. It was a 25 min wait. We did it because its what the kids wanted to do. We also got one of those cards to carry with us to see how long the wait actually was.

By this point the kids were looking tired and ryan even laid on the railing for a little.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0405.jpg

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0406.jpg

This ride defintely spins you around good. Mike and I were a little dizzy after this one.

We got a picture with this cool robot.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0408.jpg

It was time to head out of the park and over to Wildreness Lodge for our 1215 lunch reservation at Whispering Canyon Cafe.

This was the kids being silly while we waited for the Ferry Boat.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0410.jpg

So far the morning had gone pretty well. We were still unsure if we should take a break after lunch and go back to the resort for awhile or just go right back to Mk for the night. We decided to see how the kids did at lunch and then make a decision depending on their moods.

UP NEXT: LUNCH AT WCC.....COULD ANYTHING BE BETTER THAN OUR BREAKFAST!

[jana616]

I'm still reading, I promise!!! Things have just been so busy with the holidays, I haven't even been on these boards since November! Your morning sounds great so far-we loved Ohana breakfast too. I seriously dream about the eggs, and I normally hate scrambled eggs. The Speedway was one of my boys' favorite rides too; Cooper LOVED that he got to drive. Please keep going, and I promise I'll keep reading!!! Hope your Christmas was great!

[Charlefours]

Hello,

I missed the notice that said you had updated. I filtered out a few subscriptions into a "favorites" folder and did not check it for a few days. I know I have been hit or miss for the last month and half too finishing up school for the semester, getting over been sick and the holiday rush.

Great update! I am glad it seems like Ryan is getting over being scared of rides. Parents know their children best, so who cares what others think! :thumbsup2

Looking forward to the next update. :surfweb:

Happy Holidays!! I hope they have been wonderfully magical! :wizard:

[mommyof2Pirates]

I'm still reading, I promise!!! Things have just been so busy with the holidays, I haven't even been on these boards since November! Your morning sounds great so far-we loved Ohana breakfast too. I seriously dream about the eggs, and I normally hate scrambled eggs. The Speedway was one of my boys' favorite rides too; Cooper LOVED that he got to drive. Please keep going, and I promise I'll keep reading!!! Hope your Christmas was great!
We are definitely trying dinner at ohanas next time and maybe even another breakfast too. We are letting my parents come next trip so I know they would love that breakfast. I am trying hard to finish this report. Maybe over the weekend I will squeeze in an update. Are you still going to complete yours? Are christmas was wonderful, How was yours? Hope you have a happy new year!
Hello,

I missed the notice that said you had updated. I filtered out a few subscriptions into a "favorites" folder and did not check it for a few days. I know I have been hit or miss for the last month and half too finishing up school for the semester, getting over been sick and the holiday rush.

Great update! I am glad it seems like Ryan is getting over being scared of rides. Parents know their children best, so who cares what others think! :thumbsup2

Looking forward to the next update. :surfweb:

Happy Holidays!! I hope they have been wonderfully magical! :wizard:

Thanks for still reading. I am trying to complete the report dont worry I wont give up. Its funny how before your trip you put everything on the back burner to be on here but now I have to reprioritize.:laughing:

I bet your excited because on Saturday you can say "we go to disney this year"! I remember last new years eve after the ball dropped I yelled that to the boys. My husband just looked at me like I was nuts. Thats when he realized he was in for a long ride of disney excitement.

Hope your holidays were great as well. Happy New Year!

[OhMari]

Bump to finish. Please.

[tncplace]

I was so glad to find your trip report today. We are taking our soon to be 5 DD to WDW in May and reading your boys reactions to things has given us insight to our visit. We are also flying Air Tran out of Philly (we live in NJ) - did you stay at the Sheraton by the airport? We are trying to figure out our pre-night plan as we have a 7am flight I believe.

I also hadn't been planning on going to Cape May but after reading your report I tink my aunt and HB will love it especially the pails of clams. I loved your shirts as well. I see people talk about the design boards but have not been able to find them myself yet.

Anyway, please finish your report - I am eagarly awaiting...

[Charlefours]

Thanks for still reading. I am trying to complete the report dont worry I wont give up. Its funny how before your trip you put everything on the back burner to be on here but now I have to reprioritize.:laughing:

I bet your excited because on Saturday you can say "we go to disney this year"! I remember last new years eve after the ball dropped I yelled that to the boys. My husband just looked at me like I was nuts. Thats when he realized he was in for a long ride of disney excitement.

Hope your holidays were great as well. Happy New Year!

I completely missed you replied back! I understand about it having to fit in--I am just looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip. :goodvibes I hope you get to post an update soon!! :surfweb:

I was so glad to say that!! LOL it took me a couple days to let it sink it but it will be here before I know it!! :scared1: :woohoo:

[mommyof2Pirates]

I was so glad to find your trip report today. We are taking our soon to be 5 DD to WDW in May and reading your boys reactions to things has given us insight to our visit. We are also flying Air Tran out of Philly (we live in NJ) - did you stay at the Sheraton by the airport? We are trying to figure out our pre-night plan as we have a 7am flight I believe.

I also hadn't been planning on going to Cape May but after reading your report I tink my aunt and HB will love it especially the pails of clams. I loved your shirts as well. I see people talk about the design boards but have not been able to find them myself yet.

Anyway, please finish your report - I am eagarly awaiting...

thanks so much for reading. I am so glad I could help. I know it helped us tremendously to hear other stories from families with same aged children. I had a hard time finding the designs at first too. You just have to really search around. To find them go to the home page, then scroll down and you see the list of all the different boards. There is one called DiSigns. Click there and then you just have to read the headings. Click on the ones that say tshirt designs. If you need any other help let me know.

Unfortunately our home computer has gotten a worm. We are trying to get our pics off of it and then we will just totally wipe it out and restore it. Hopefully soon again I can return to my report. At least I was able to send back some comments from my work.

I completely missed you replied back! I understand about it having to fit in--I am just looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip. :goodvibes I hope you get to post an update soon!! :surfweb:

I was so glad to say that!! LOL it took me a couple days to let it sink it but it will be here before I know it!! :scared1: :woohoo:

See the above comment. There is always something getting in the way of me finishing my report. I promise in the end I will finish. Hopefully before you go. :rotfl: At least the computer didnt crash during my planning stages. :eek: That would have been a disaster.

[tncplace]

Hope you are able to save your pictures and are up and running gain soon.

I found the design boards and am completly addicted, lol.

Looking forward to the rest of your trip report.:surfweb:

[nateryan]

I just read your TR throughout the day TODAY! I have 2 boys and the last time we were there, they were 5 and 2 so I feel your pain and excitement. :lmao: Reading about your dinner at Cape May Buffett makes me want to go back there - guess I need to look at my Itinerary again. ;) We love 'Ohana's for breakfast - it is now the only Character Meal we do. I hope you get your computer up and running again as I would like to read how the rest of your trip went.

[Charlefours]

Unfortunately our home computer has gotten a worm. We are trying to get our pics off of it and then we will just totally wipe it out and restore it. Hopefully soon again I can return to my report. At least I was able to send back some comments from my work.

See the above comment. There is always something getting in the way of me finishing my report. I promise in the end I will finish. Hopefully before you go. :rotfl: At least the computer didnt crash during my planning stages. :eek: That would have been a disaster.

Hello! I am sorry your computer got a worm!! I hope you are able to save your pictures!! That is one of my worst fears, computer crashing and losing everything. We almost did once but luckily DH is a software engineer so he went in through the DOS system to get everything off. We were lucky so I hope you are too!!

:rotfl: I have just over 6 months before my trip, you have time!! ;)

[GoofyaboutMickey]

OH NO! I finnaly caught up don't stop now :) I hope your computer gets fixed soon, I've enjoyed your tr

[mommyof2Pirates]

OH NO! I finnaly caught up don't stop now :) I hope your computer gets fixed soon, I've enjoyed your tr

I am so glad you enjoyed reading. My computer should be fixed this week. I am hoping to get this report finished up soon. I cant wait.

[mommyof2Pirates]

So finally my computer is fixed. So without further waiting....Here it goes!

Lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe

So I left off with us waiting for the ferry boat to go over to the Wilderness Lodge. We didnt have to wait long at all and it was a very relaxing ride.
Heres Nick pointing at the castle.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0412.jpg

The Wilderness Lodge is so beautiful, definitely somewhere I would love to stay. We looked around a little and then checked in at the WCC around
1215. We waited a little for a table but that was not a problem at all.....the kids loved the area to play with the lincoln logs!
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0413.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0414.jpg

While we waited they announced that if you were celebrating any occasion to sing along to "If your happy and you know it clap your hands". Nick thought this was great....he kept yelling "there playing my song"

Here ryan is yelling "Horray" during the song.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0417.jpg

We were seated around 1240pm. We had an awesome waitress named MT. She was quite a rough lady! Full of lots of character! For all of you who have been to eat here you would understand what I mean by that! We had lots of good laughs throughout this meal.

The food was delicious, another one of our favorites! Heres what we ate:

Lindsay's Appetizer: Chicken Chowder- Pretty Tasty!
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0419.jpg

Mike's Appetizer: BBQ Pork Rolls- Awesome!
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0418.jpg

They also bring out corn bread and coleslaw before your meals.

Lindsay's Meal: Delicious!
Grilled chicken sandwich and fries-I forgot to take a picture of this. It was too good I ate it before I even realized I had forgotten.

Mike's Meal: Delicious and Filling!
The "all-U-can-eat" Canyon Skillet. It had sausage, chicken, potatoes, baked beans. It was alot of food!

The kid's Shared a cheesburger and fries meal! We were excited about the plate it came on!
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0420.jpg

We also splurgged at this meal and got them lightning mcqueen cups with the light up car clipped to the straw.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0421.jpg

and now for the best part of the meal.....DESSERT!

I had the smores cheescake which was out of this world..
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0428.jpg

Mike had the apple pie which was awesome too!
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0429.jpg

The kids got chocolate chip cookies with their meal which they loved!

Shortly after dessert they announced that the kids could join in for the Hobbie Horse Parade. The kids loved this and were not shy at all.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0423.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0424.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0426.jpg

Thank goodness this was at the end of the meal because they had a hard time sitting still after that.

Overall it was a great lunch....Great food, Great laughs, and lots of entertainment. It was a marked favorite by all!
Overall Rating: 1 being worst.....5 being best
Food=5
Service=5
Atmosphere=5

Next up: Back to MK....NO NAP....and I ran out of diapers :eek:

[mommyof2Pirates]

so once again we decide to forget the nap. There was just too much we wanted to see and we thought its better to do it all today and then just rest tomorrow. So thats what we did!

Before leaving the WL we did make a pit stop at the potty and I changed nicks diaper. I realized I only had 1 diaper left. We had really planned to head back to the hotel after lunch so I only stuck a few in the bag. Well my Dh did not want to waste time going back to the hotel so we decided to cross our fingers and hope 1 would be enough.

We hopped on the ferry boat and got back to MK around 2pm. By the time we walked through the gates both kids were fast asleep in the stroller.:worship: at least we could have some quiet time walking around.

We went in a few shops and then headed over to tomorrowland. I rode COP by myself since this is my favorite thing to do at MK. I had a wonderful 20 minutes of alone time and then right when I came off I saw the 2 crazy kids up and running around again.

We went to adventure land and got fast passes for BTMRR. Ryan was saying he was not going on but we figured we could convince him by the time we got back. It looked like a definite no for splash mountain though.....I could see the fear in his eyes. I know the limits!

So we just took our time and walked around adventureland. We got to see the pirates league. Neither of the kids got picked but it was fun to watch. The kids did not want to do POC or Haunted Mansion. We didnt want to force the issue because to me these would be scarry at their age. We went in the gift shop at POC and filled a skull with items that they can use for their pirate costumes that we were putting together for MNSSHP. They both got swords and hats. Then being in the pirate mood we ran into this scary pirate.........
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0435-1.jpg

but dont worry....We have a brave pirate to fight him off and make him surrender.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0436-1.jpg

then finally after the duel we got a nice picture.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0437-1.jpg

this was the best character interaction yet. I was so surprised ryan did not get scared of captain hook! He talked about him for months prior to the trip. He kept saying he was definitely not getting a picture with him. You can see nick was having no part of even being in the picture. :laughing:

then we got to see some other favorites.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0432.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0431.jpg
Nicholas was completely love struck by wendy!
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0430.jpg

Nick would not stop talking to them....we basically had to pull him away. It was so cute to see him finally feel comfortable in a picture with characters. I guess they looked like real people to him so it wasnt so bad.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0433.jpg

After the fun with the characters we rode aladdin's carpet ride and my husband got squirted by the camel. He didnt know really what happened but he was saying how he got wet at the end and he was hoping someone didnt throw up or spit out the side of the ride. I just laughed but I had to be honest and tell him it was the camel. He felt better knowing that it wasnt someone elses bodily fluids. :laughing:

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0438.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0441.jpg

Coming off the ride I noticed nick was walking funny. OMG his diaper was so soakin wet. Now it really only had been about 2 hours since the last diaper change but he had been drinking alot since it was so hot out. We stopped to change him into his last diaper and we just crossed our fingers that he wouldnt poop or totally soak through it. I figured we could find the baby station if needed to see if they had any diapers to buy. We just took our chance and went along our merry way.

We headed to the front of the castle to get a spot to watch the dream along with mickey show. While the boys waited I went to find us a refreshing treat. Well I hit the jackpot! I got us liberty swirls to share. They basically were just red and blue mixed slushi's. They hit the spot on a hot day. The cutest part is they put a smily face on the top of the blue ice using the red ice. What a magical touch!

Here is nick waiting and enjoying the slushie.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0446.jpg

The show was very cute and the kids really enjoyed it. They were under their shades from the stroller so they seemed ok but for me and mike sitting on the ground under the hot sun was exhausting. Boy I still cant believe how hot it was in late september. Here are some snapshots from the show.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0447.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0454.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0461.jpg

after the show we headed back to Adventure land to use our FP for BTMRR. On the way we saw this guy.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/IMG_0444.jpg

UP NEXT: WILL RYAN RIDE BTMRR.....WILL NICK BE TALL ENOUGH FOR GOOFY'S BARNSTORMER......AND WILL WE SURVIVE THE CROWDS AT SPECTROMAGIC!

[Charlefours]

:yay: for your computer being fixed--I hope you did not lose anything.

WL--I just love looking at pictures from there. It definitely is high on my list of places I would like to stay. Yummy! WCC looks like it would be a great place to try--I will have to mark it down on our list of places to try.

MK: I sure hope we have luck with Lilian napping in the stroller--I would love it if we could have some quiet browsing time too. :cloud9: Seeing as she hardly ever takes a nap now though, I am not planning on it. What a cute picture with Captain Hook and Smee!! I love Mike is smiling and happy too. Those slushies look like they were nice and refreshing during the hot september weather.

I am glad you are back to posting. Looking forward to reading more! popcorn::

[jana616]

Yay for the update! I'm so glad you weren't a TR dropout like me; I am loving hearing about the rest of your trip! Sounds like your afternoon is going well, and I am so hoping Ryan went on BTMRR. It was Griffin's very favorite ride. Keep going, you're almost done!

[mommyof2Pirates]

:yay: for your computer being fixed--I hope you did not lose anything.

WL--I just love looking at pictures from there. It definitely is high on my list of places I would like to stay. Yummy! WCC looks like it would be a great place to try--I will have to mark it down on our list of places to try.

MK: I sure hope we have luck with Lilian napping in the stroller--I would love it if we could have some quiet browsing time too. :cloud9: Seeing as she hardly ever takes a nap now though, I am not planning on it. What a cute picture with Captain Hook and Smee!! I love Mike is smiling and happy too. Those slushies look like they were nice and refreshing during the hot september weather.

I am glad you are back to posting. Looking forward to reading more! popcorn::


yes the nap was great but it was short lived. I was able to get my pics off the computer so that is all I worried about. I am glad to be back and I am determined to finish. Watch for the next post soon.
Yay for the update! I'm so glad you weren't a TR dropout like me; I am loving hearing about the rest of your trip! Sounds like your afternoon is going well, and I am so hoping Ryan went on BTMRR. It was Griffin's very favorite ride. Keep going, you're almost done!

Hey Jana, thanks for reading. It is quite a job to finish the TR. I guess before the trip you just are not thinking of anything else but after its almost sad to write the report because its all over. I cant wait to go back again. I have already been talking about it even though we probably wont go until summer of 2012. :laughing: I think my parents are rethinking coming along because they know how I plan out every little detail.

[mommyof2Pirates]

After seeing rafiki we went over to BTMRR. Ryan gave us a little bit of a hard time but we promised him popcorn for the parade. He went on and seemed to really enjoy it but when I asked if he would ride with me next he said no. At least we got him on once!

Next we went on the Jungle Cruise where we had a really great and funny driver. I dont remember ever going on this ride before. Mike and I thought it was cute but the humor was very real to ryan so he freaked out a little here and there. It made us laugh even harder....I know horrible parents arent we.

We decided to do toontown next.

I had measured nick before leaving and he was just at 36 inches with his shoes on. I thought he would make the cut for the barnstormer but no luck. As we walked up the CM stopped to measure him. The stick they use touched his hair but she was able to move it over his head. She said in order to ride your head has to stop the stick. Ok I am all for safety but come on. 1 more centimeter and he would be fine. Well this got nick into a full blown temper tantrum. One of the only ones on the trip! I quickly deverted to minnies house and it got him happy again.

Here are some pics:
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009345.jpg

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009334.jpg

We then watched for ryan and mike. I was able to at least get mike on the picture....he seems to be having a blast.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009336.jpg

Here is ryan rubbing it in to his brother that he went on the barnstormer.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009338.jpg

We then explored minnie and mickeys houses again so ryan and mike could check them out.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009339.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009340.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009344.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009341.jpg

the kids played in donald's playground area. Nick enjoyed this part.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009342.jpg

We stopped by Pete's garage....Ryan is a big fan of pete's.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009332.jpg

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009333.jpg

We originally were suppose to do the story book character reading at 530 but decided to skip it. We figured the boys really wouldnt care that they missed hearing a story from a princess.

We made our way back to main street and got a spot outside of casey's corner. It was about 630pm the spectromagic parade started at 8. I went and got us dinner at caseys and we sat and ate hotdogs/fries and the kids had corndog nuggets. Casey's is always a must have when we are in disney. When we finished eating it was getting a little crowded. People were packing in to see the parade. While we waited they handed out hula hoops. Here is ryan being a little silly!
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009346.jpg

This was the last picture I took this night because by 730pm the place got nuts. Not to mention nicholas spilled an almost full large lemonade all over me while we waited. So due to the stress of the evening I gave up the camera:guilty: Ok now your probably thinking what kind of stress can I be talking about. Well......Lets start with the part that while the kids were up playing and out of their stroller a couple sat next to us and then decided to move the stroller back and sit in front of it. I said excuse me my children are going to be sitting there to watch the parade....they held there hands up and started speaking spanish and said no hablo ingles. I pointed to the stroller and pointed to the kids and made a motion to move with my hands and they sat there and ignored me. Ok now I am a pretty calm person. I just gave up and thanked god that my husband had walked into the stores minutes before they did this. I am almost sure my husband would have physically moved these people out of the way. So now we decided to let 2 young kids and their mom sit with us where the stroller still was since there was enough room for them. So we folded up the stroller and sat it behind where we were sitting. I am not sure why I didnt just move down and let my kids sit between us but I think I was so annoyed with these people that I wanted to be away from them. So we waited and waited until the parade finally started. Mike and I had the kids on our laps. By the time the parade started my legs and butt were asleep. Mike has a herniated disc in his back so from sitting on the curb so long he was very uncomfortable he had his legs bent and out a little and the CM came by and said he had to move them closer to the curb. Then at one point during the parade he had ryan stand up for not even 30 sec. so he could switch his legs around and the CM ran back over and said you have to sit him down for safety. OMG. I have to be honest and saying Ive seen this parade many times and this was the only time I wished it would be over. We manage to keep our frustration inside so the kids could at least enjoy it..and they did...so in the end that is all that matters.

After the parade we walked over to tomorrowland and watched the fireworks. They are the greatest fireworks display I ever saw. It gets me teary eyed every time. The kids loved them too. After they were over we saw the crowds pour down main street. I was afraid for my life. :laughing: We decided to hang out for a little. We used the bathroom and then ventured down main street. Our plan worked it was not that crowded anymore!

We walked out of the park and I couldnt believe my eyes. That entire crowd I saw on main street was now at the bus stops. We waited 45 minutes. The kids both fell asleep in the stroller. Luckily there was a couple of guys in front of us and we realized they had tshirts on with our city on the back. We told them we were also from their hometown. It turned out they played in the same softball league as mike. They were nice enough to carry our stroller on the bus for us so we could each carry a sleeping child. That was some magic!

We got back to the hotel by 1030. Nick was still sleeping so I pushed him in the stroller and we got soda refills at the food court. Ryan woke up and got a 2nd wind and wanted to go swimming. So thats what they did. Mike and Ryan had a great time.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009348.jpg

We all were in bed and fast asleep by midnight. What a long day!

Favorites:
Me- Whispering Canyon Cafe
Mike- Swimming with Ryan
Nick- Speedway
Ryan- Barnstormer

ps. nick made it with his last diaper! It was pretty wet by the time we got back but it lasted.

UP NEXT: A DAY OF REST AND MNSSHP

[lbuzz52]

Great updates! You guys got a lot done. I'm dreading one child being big enough and one not during our next trip. You seemed to divert it well though.

Where did you get those liberty swirls? They look right up dd's alley.

And don't worry- you aren't the only one who's still working on a fall trip;)

[Charlefours]

:( what a couple lousy experiences at MK. Do you think Nick would like Barnstormer?


Thank you for hanging in there and finishing your TR!! I am learning so much about what I could possibly expect from my DD by reading the TRs. :goodvibes

[mommyof2Pirates]

:rotfl:Great updates! You guys got a lot done. I'm dreading one child being big enough and one not during our next trip. You seemed to divert it well though.

Where did you get those liberty swirls? They look right up dd's alley.

And don't worry- you aren't the only one who's still working on a fall trip;)

thanks for reading along and now I dont feel so bad with taking forever to complete my report. Actually I am going to be sad when I finish because I wont have anything left to talk about.:rotfl: We got the swirls at a snack stand in liberty square close to the castle. They were so refreshing. Having the boys at different sizes was only a problem for a few things. Most rides have so much around them that the little one can be easily distracted. I am hoping my younger son will at least be 40 when we go next. He is only in the 36 range now. How did you like staying in a villa was it worth it?:( what a couple lousy experiences at MK. Do you think Nick would like Barnstormer?
we did have a few stressful moments but overall the day was great. I tried not to let them bother me too much. The parade experience was the only real painful part. I think next time I will back off of the parade preparation and just try to catch them if we can. We were always finding a spot like an hour before they started. I always tried to get at the front too which I think is the more crowded watching area. I do think nick would have loved barnstormer. He is a thrill seeker.

Thank you for hanging in there and finishing your TR!! I am learning so much about what I could possibly expect from my DD by reading the TRs. :goodvibes

I am so glad to help you and thank you so much for continuing to read along.

[lbuzz52]

there were definite perks to having the villa- especially with the baby. we liked the kitchen and that there were babysitters in the room if dh and i wanted to leave the room for a minute. but truthfully, i just prefer my own space and would have rather done multiple connecting rooms if disney would have guarenteed them. when we made the reservations though, we weren't sure if dad was going to get to go, and it just didn't make a lot of sense for mom to sit in a room by herself and my sister to sit in a room by her self.

[mommyof2Pirates]

there were definite perks to having the villa- especially with the baby. we liked the kitchen and that there were babysitters in the room if dh and i wanted to leave the room for a minute. but truthfully, i just prefer my own space and would have rather done multiple connecting rooms if disney would have guarenteed them. when we made the reservations though, we weren't sure if dad was going to get to go, and it just didn't make a lot of sense for mom to sit in a room by herself and my sister to sit in a room by her self.

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking villa since at least we would have our own room but the more I think about it a regular room probably would be nice and a little more private. I can understand in your situation why the villa was a good choice. the kitchen itself had to be a big bonus with the baby. Oh and I applaud you for taking your 9 month old. I would have been too afraid to attempt taking baby. I would have such anxiety about feedings and naps and the heat. It seems like you handled that like a pro.:thumbsup2 Did you ever think it would be that hot in oct? I never did!

[thegreggersmom]

Loving your report!!

[jana616]

Hey Jana, thanks for reading. It is quite a job to finish the TR. I guess before the trip you just are not thinking of anything else but after its almost sad to write the report because its all over. I cant wait to go back again. I have already been talking about it even though we probably wont go until summer of 2012. :laughing: I think my parents are rethinking coming along because they know how I plan out every little detail.[/QUOTE]

I know, I have been trying to convince Chad to do a super budget, last minute trip THIS YEAR! Griffin is really, really into Star Wars now, and I so want to go for the first weekend of SW Weekends. We would stay off-site, try to eat lunch in the room and bring lunch in with us, that kind of budget trip. I almost had him convinced when we could still get the GAD Ticket and upgrade them, but then they stopped it before we could volunteer. I'm still covertly trying to get him to go. We got Disney DVD Bingo for Christmas, and Cooper LOVES all the characters now and gets super excited when he sees them anywhere, so I think he'd have an even better time. We'll see!:rolleyes1

[mommyof2Pirates]

Hey Jana, thanks for reading. It is quite a job to finish the TR. I guess before the trip you just are not thinking of anything else but after its almost sad to write the report because its all over. I cant wait to go back again. I have already been talking about it even though we probably wont go until summer of 2012. :laughing: I think my parents are rethinking coming along because they know how I plan out every little detail.

I know, I have been trying to convince Chad to do a super budget, last minute trip THIS YEAR! Griffin is really, really into Star Wars now, and I so want to go for the first weekend of SW Weekends. We would stay off-site, try to eat lunch in the room and bring lunch in with us, that kind of budget trip. I almost had him convinced when we could still get the GAD Ticket and upgrade them, but then they stopped it before we could volunteer. I'm still covertly trying to get him to go. We got Disney DVD Bingo for Christmas, and Cooper LOVES all the characters now and gets super excited when he sees them anywhere, so I think he'd have an even better time. We'll see!:rolleyes1[/QUOTE]

keep working on him...he might finally just give in.:laughing: Nick asks at least 3 times a week if we can go to disneyworld again. I am surprised he still remembers it enough to want to go again. We had to stop talking about our next trip (even though its not for awhile I often will say "when we go to disney again we should _________") Ryan kept telling the kids at school and his teachers that we are going to disney soon. I would have parents say to me.....oh I hear you guys are going to disney and I am like "yeah in another year or so" So since he cant understand the difference between next week and a year I try not to say much around him. I am thinking of keeping the next trip quiet until 30 days out. Well see. Keep me posted if you convince him to go.....

[mommyof2Pirates]

Loving your report!!

thanks for reading!

[mommyof2Pirates]

We decided to take it easy and just hang at the resort for the 1st half of today since it was our MNSSHP night.

We all got up around 815am which is the lastest we slept the whole trip. It was a well needed rest. I went and got us breakfast at the FC. We ate in our room and let the kids watch cartoons and play with their new toys some more.

I ate a plain croissant
Mike- French Toast w/ Sausage
Kids- Chocolate chip pancakes and bacon.

All yummy as usual...I have to say the all star cafe is my favorite food court!

While the kids played and mike rested I of course cleaned our room and started packing....who else was going to do it right?

Mike eventually got out of bed around 1030am and got the kids in their swim gear. They went swimming and I finish up packing and went and joined them. We had a great time and were really amazed at how well ryan was doing with swimming under water.

We got changed around and went to the arcade and played a little. We then had lunch at the food court. I cant remember what we had for lunch but I know it was yummy since there were no bad meals!

Here are the kids at lunch.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009352.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009352.jpg)
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009351.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009351.jpg)Nick is looking like he needs a nap.

and thats exactly what we did. We all took a good long nap!

We got up..got ready....and were at the bus stop by 4pm. We got on the bus within minutes and were on our way to MNSSHP! I was so excited for this. This is what my husband and I said on our honeymoon we couldnt wait to do with our kids someday and here we were.

We had brought the kids costumes with which were buzz lightyear and woody but somehow I did not imagine how hot it would be. So we talked them into being pirates!

Here they are.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009353.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009353.jpg)
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009354.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009354.jpg)

We arrived at MK around 430pm and I was so thrilled to see all the CM's around. Gosh it was amazing how many they have. Everyone was saying hello and talking about the pirate stuff the boys had. It was such a nice greeting.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009355.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009355.jpg)

all the CM's were lined up down main street. All saying happy halloween! The signs they held were so cute. Coming in said Welcome to MNSSHP and going out it said See Ya Real Soon. How clever!

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009356.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009356.jpg)

We looked around the shops for a little and checked out all the beautiful halloween decorations. I am upset I didnt take more pictures of all the awesome stuff.

Next we headed to do some rides we didnt get on yet. 1st stop Dumbo. It was only a 10 minute wait which was much better than the other day (45min).
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009359.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009359.jpg)
It was enjoyable for all!

Next up- a first for us all....Cinderella's Carousel
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009360.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009360.jpg)
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009361.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009361.jpg)
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009363.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009363.jpg)

then Ryan tried to show us his muscle by pulling the sword out of the stone.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009364.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009364.jpg)
No luck...we told him to keep eating his veggies and maybe next time he will get it out!

We also rode the speedway again! This was the all time favorite! at least thats what I thought.....I will explain in a little!

By this point it was about 630 so we decided to stop at cosmic rays for dinner. Mike was not feeling well. He had a headache and a sorethroat/hoarse voice. He was getting a little grumpy!

Mike and I had burgers and fries and the kids shared yet again....chicken nuggets and fries. I really enjoy the fixing bar they have there. Its always been a favorite of mine. After we ate mike felt a little better and we headed out just as the party was starting.

Here is one of many awesome decorations.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009365.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009365.jpg)

We walked into fantasy land and saw donald and daisy in costume and they were having a dance party.

Nick and I joined in but Ryan and Mike decided to sit this one out.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009368.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009368.jpg)
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009369.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009369.jpg)
Nick really enjoyed dancing and Ryan did join in at the end. He very quietly walked over to us and shook his tush a little. I looked at mike and we both cracked up. He's always the shy one and it just was so funny. He was so serious about his moves.

Once the kids were done dancing we walked toward frontierland. We stopped at a bunch of candy stands and trick or treated along our way. We got a spot for the boo to you parade. Ryan had to use the potty so I took him and along the way we met this guy.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009373.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009373.jpg)
We got back to the spot and shared some popcorn and drinks and then we saw it....The headless horseman! It was amazing.
I didnt get the greatest pictures of the parade so I wont post them. I still need to figure out the right setting for night time on my camera. I can honestly say it was the most amazing parade I ever saw. It was the best parade experience the whole week and I just cant say enough about it. I would recommend MNSSHP just for this. The neatest part was goofy's candy float. It gave off a sweet candy smell as it passed us.

After the parade we walked towards the castle for the fireworks. Along the way we hit up some character spots. There were so many to see and very short lines. We did not wait more than 5 min at any of them.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009393.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009393.jpg)
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009394.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009394.jpg)
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009397.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009397.jpg)

We stood in the walkway off to the left side of the castle to watch the fireworks. Heres the kids waiting and playing with their new light up toys. Yes we paid the ridiculous price for the toys. I remember as a kid getting a light up toy was always the highlight of my trips so I broke down and bought them.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009399.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009399.jpg)
The fireworks didnt even start yet but nick was covering his ears just in case.

While we waited we admired how awesome the stores and castle looked all lit in spooky colors.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009398.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009398.jpg)
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009403.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009403.jpg)
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009404.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009404.jpg)
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009405.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009405.jpg)
The fireworks then started and were just as amazing as the parade. The music and the light show on the castle added a special touch. It was by far the best firework show we have been too and we see alot of fireworks.

After the fireworks it was around 930pm. The stage show at the castle was starting at 945pm so we grabbed a snack of dibs and drinks and parked ourselves in front of the castle.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009402.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009402.jpg)
The villian show was ok. Nothing compared to the parade and fireworks. The villians come into the audience to take pictures and sign autographs. They immediately were surrounded by a large amount of people so we decided to skip out and take advantage of the wait times. We chose our favorites which started with Monsters Inc. (we did wait 15-20 min) we must of just miss the show because we were the first ones waiting. I love that ride! We did speedway twice! At this point it was 1115pm.

I said to ryan what is your favorite ride in this whole park and we will make it our last ride...........he says......................are you ready for this one...........
"ITS A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL". Now I know this is one of my favorites but its not what I expected from him.

We did it though. We finished of our dream vacation by riding IASWAA.

We stopped at the Emporium and did some last minute shopping. I bought us all Disney 2009 shirts. The kids each picked a pluto stuffed animal. We checked out at 1159pm. I would of never imagined we would have made it so late. The kids were so well behaved....not one temper tantrum.....not any tears....It was the best night ever.

We waited at the bus stop for at least 30 minutes. It was crowded but not quite as bad as the night before. The kids were fast asleep on the bus. Mike and I sat in silence as we thought about the amazing vacation we just had and how lucky we were to bring our children here. It was a bitter sweet feeling as we took our last night time bus ride back to the resort.

We got back and quickly got to bed. Ryan woke up and had the giggles for a little but we all fell quickly asleep.

Favorites:
Mike: Parade and Character Greetings
Lindsay: Parade and Fireworks
Nick: Speedway
Ryan: Parade, IASWAA

UP NEXT: DEPARTURE DAY :sad1:

[Charlefours]

I am so excited after reading your report about MNSSHP--I sure hope the dates work out for us (seems like they are going to based on the hours posted). :goodvibes

[mommyof2Pirates]

I am so excited after reading your report about MNSSHP--I sure hope the dates work out for us (seems like they are going to based on the hours posted). :goodvibes

You will love it. Its so worth the extra money. My advice would be to try to go a little early and do some rides and get a bite to eat so that by 7pm your ready to party. Then focus on seeing all the stuff that the MNSSHP offers. Hit the rides after the parade and fireworks. Try to rest early so you can make it until midnight. In my opinion the castle show is not worth waiting for if you really have other things to do. It only lasted 5-10 minutes and then the villians came into the crowd. I would recommend if you are absolutely set on getting there autographs to go early and stand near the front steps of the castle. This is where they walk down at. This plan seemed to really work for us but everyone is different I just thought I would share it with you. I am excited to hear all about your trip. Your dates are getting closer. They will be here before you know it.

[mommyof2Pirates]

We woke up around 830am. We all slept so good. I got us breakfast again at the FC and brought it back to the room. The kids ate and watched cartoons while mike and I packed us up. It was a bittersweet morning. We were pretty exhausted from all we did and we were ready to just get home and relax in the comfort of our own home, but we also were sad that our awesome vacation with our kids was ending. I knew it will be a little while until we can return so it was sad to think the next time we come to disney our kids will most likely be totally different. :sad2: I can almost tear up thinking about it.

We checked out of our room at 1055am. We waited until the last possible moment we had. I tried to call airtran prior to leaving the room to pay for the extra bag we were checking in on the way home. I kept getting a busy signal. So while Mike went to the check out desk and took care of that stuff. I returned the swim vests to the arcade and the stroller to the luggage area and tried to check in our bags and get our boarding passes. This was the only part of the trip that did not go smoothly. Luckily the staff at the baggage area were very helpful and got through to airtran on their cell phone. They handed me the phone and I was able to pay for our luggage. I then handed the phone to another gentleman who also was having trouble. I thought that was great service!

We met back up at the food court and had our last disney meal together. I forgot to right down what we got but it was yummy Im sure. We did not have anything bad from there.

We had some time to spare since the ME would not be picking us up until 2pm. We walked around the resort and took some pictures.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009416.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009411.jpg

My photo session didnt last too long because it was so darn hot out we were dying. We decided to wait in the lobby instead.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009418.jpg
Now this worked better. Mike was happy and no longer complaining about the heat.....Ryan is a huge tv buff so he was happy sitting and watching the cute cartoons they play.....and for nick?????????????
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009417.jpg
Well he was happy sitting with the kids too until....he fell off the side of the bench! He cried for about 20 minutes:headache: I think out of embarassment more than anything. I am still amazed that we made it home with out any medication or doctors visits needed. It's a miracle :wizard:

About 145pm we headed out to wait for the ME.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009419.jpg
Can you tell how sadly they were walking? :sad1:

We chatted with another couple that was also waiting and we were talking about the weather. They were from AZ and said that they were flying home to 103 degrees. :eek: and I thought orlando was rough! We were happily flying home to the 60's :) One positive part of going home!

The ME bus arrived promptly and loaded everyone on. I teared up a little while watching the video and my husband looked at me like I was crazy....deep down I know he wanted to cry too :laughing:

We arrived at MCO and went to the security check point. The lines were ridiculous. We waited for 40 minutes to get through. The kids were getting miserable. Nick was laying on the floor and when I tried to get him up he was making himself like a wet noodle. Then I told them to take off their shoes and Ryan decided to throw a fit about that because he would just have to put them right back on again. Their moods plus having to carry my carry on plus the back pack and trying to move the kids carry on's along just about put me over the edge. At this point I felt ready to go home. I was done!

We did make it through all in one piece and without TSA drama. We took a potty break and got some dinner at burger king. We waited for a while until they called our boarding number. We were one of the first sections boarded on the plane. Good I thought right?............well maybe not so much. The kids did not want to sit still. They were getting board. They were tired. I thought this would be a horrible flight!:guilty: and then as we were rolling onto the runway the best thing I could have ever asked for happened..........

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009422.jpg

They both fell asleep. :cloud9: I was able to relax and read my magazine and mike listened to his I pod and took a snooze. The flight was uneventful except for the poor pregnant lady 2 seats behind me that was getting sick every 30 minutes. The poor thing. I felt so bad for her.
The kids woke up about 10 minutes before landing. Nick cried so hard on the descent this time. He kept saying his belly hurt but I still wonder if his ears were bothering him because once we landed he was fine.

We got off the plane and made a pit stop in the bathroom. As we walked to get our luggage mike looked at me and said....Well we survived our first family vacation.....and I almost cried again. :lovestruc

We waited outside for our shuttle to take us back to the hotel. We now had to put our jackets on as it was only 55 degrees. What a change.

We went back to our hotel got into our car and were home and snug into our comfy beds by 930pm.

UP NEXT: FINAL THOUGHTS AND THANK YOU'S

[mommyof2Pirates]

My Final Thoughts.

PERSONLIZED TSHIRTS
Definitely order Amy's transfer paper. Its worth the extra money and they work so much easier. Have fun making your own shirts. Everyone loves them and you will get so many comments

EARLY PLANE FLIGHTS
Leaving early in the a.m on arrival day worked out better than I thought. If anyone else is worried about getting the kids up so early dont be. They will be so excited once you get there it will work out fine. The advice I would say is to plan for an early night.

ORLANDO STROLLER RENTAL
This by far was one of the best things ideas I was given on these boards. It was so easy to order online. The stroller was ready when we got to the hotel. It was a great double stroller. Easy to use. Plently of room. The shades are phenominal and shaded almost the kids entire body. The stroller closed up easily and was not hard at all to get on and off the bus. My husband did not complain once and thats how I know it was convienent. Believe me he complains a lot.:rotfl: The double stroller was 85 dollars for 7 days. It was easily returned to our baggage area at the resort. I cant say enough about this company it was great.

ALL STAR SPORTS RESORT
This was a great value resort if your not looking for anything fancy. I would recommend paying for a preferred room so your close to the pool/bus stop/food court. I also recommend requesting a room on the top floor and towards the back. It was so quiet. We didnt hear anything when we were in our room. It seemed like the rooms in the front by the pool may be a little noisy. The other plus was that we always were the first stop for the buses on the way out and the way back.

ONLINE CHECK IN
This is a must do! It saves so much time.

DELUXE DINING
We decided to upgrade to the deluxe dining since free dining was already offered. I liked the idea of not being restricited to only one TS a day and it did offer 3 meals a day and 2 snacks. We also had appetizers included in the TS meals and 3 travel mugs from the FC. I defintely dont have any complaints about the deluxe. We used every credit we had. (yes we do love to eat) I dont really think it was necessary though. I think next time we will go with the basic dining plan and it will be just fine too.

DINING RECOMMENDATIONS
For all of you families with young kids I would recommend the following places as "don't miss".
CHEF MICKEY'S BREAKFAST
OHANA'S BREAKFAST
WHISPERING CANYON CAFE
For any traveler's to the world I would say "don't miss".
PLAZA RESTRAUNT
YAK AND YETI
CAPE MAY BUFFETT (DINNER)

PARK ADVICE
Do not under estimate EPCOT for kids. I thought it would be boring and the kids would hate it and it turned out to be one of the best evenings we had on our trip. I will plan for this so much better next time. Make sure to hit the kidcot areas!
If you have young children plan at least 2 days at MK. " " you may only need 1/2 day at AK.
Plan to spend the whole day at HS if you want to see all the shows the times seemed to all be in the late morning to early afternoon making a mid day break impossible.

WORDS OF WISDOM(I dont know if you would call it wisdom:laughing:)
Enjoy your children....plan ahead to be prepared but dont be crazy if its not going as planned. If its your first time traveling with kids be aware that what you think may take 10 minutes will take 20. The trip will be slower paced than it was with only adults. Most of all remember you are there to have fun and see your kids having fun. Focus on that when the stressful times pop up it will get you through those times. Know when to take a break dont continue to push yourself and your kids, it will only make your trip more unpleasant and what you want to stay and do will not be pleasurable anyway. Document your trip because you will forget the little details as time goes on. I noticed reading my journal months after returning there were funny and cute moments I had forgotten about....at the time I thought I would remember them forever.

THANK YOU!
Thank you for all of you awesome people who have continued to read along and comment on my trip. It is so great to share these wonderful memories with all of you. Thank you to all of you who followed my PTR and gave me such valuable advice. There were so many great ideas that were given to me that helped make our trip so much more enjoyable.

I look forward to starting a PTR as it gets closer to our next trip. We are planning for summer of 2012. It seems like an eternity but Im sure the time will fly. I hope to still see you all on here then.

so for now I will just have to say.....SEE YA REAL SOON! ::MickeyMo

[lbuzz52]

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking villa since at least we would have our own room but the more I think about it a regular room probably would be nice and a little more private. I can understand in your situation why the villa was a good choice. the kitchen itself had to be a big bonus with the baby. Oh and I applaud you for taking your 9 month old. I would have been too afraid to attempt taking baby. I would have such anxiety about feedings and naps and the heat. It seems like you handled that like a pro.:thumbsup2 Did you ever think it would be that hot in oct? I never did!


I think that if there had been one more bedroom, the villa would have been amazing. Then those who needed to get things around in the kitchen, or who wanted to sit up and realx by the tv etc could have. It was such a pretty place.

I'm not sure that i would have been brave enough to take the baby if it was just my husband and I on our first trip. i was greatful for extra hands. but now that i've done it, i'd do it again. we hope to have one more eventually, and we knew that if we waited until that one was old enough, that dd would miss out on it while it was magical. and, for me, it worked as a perfect time to continue weening from nursing. at home, he cried everytime he saw me, but at WDW he had way too much to distract him! Myabe we were lucky, becuase he really was good on the trip, but i haven't heard too many stories of people wishing that they hadn't taken the baby.

and no, i didn't think it would be that hot. in fact, when we lef the house, the weather channel had told us it was going to be much cooler.





then Ryan tried to show us his muscle by pulling the sword out of the stone.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009364.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009364.jpg)
No luck...we told him to keep eating his veggies and maybe next time he will get it out!


http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/disneyvacation2009399.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/mommyof2pirates/?action=view&current=disneyvacation2009399.jpg)
The fireworks didnt even start yet but nick was covering his ears just in case.


UP NEXT: DEPARTURE DAY :sad1:


Good thinking on the fly with the costumes!

I loved loved loved MNSSHP too. And i love the way you toured it. Its pretty much how my day would have gone if we had stuck to the plan.


I 200% feel you about departure day. i haven't even left for my next trip and am already sad to leave it!

Wish i could have seen the boys dancing. the serious moves sound so cute! we loved that area too.

i didn't notice that goofy's candy truck smelt like candy. i think i need to go back and check that out! i wish i had seen the parade twice the night we went.

Did the veggie line work?

My kiddos did that with fireworks too.

you guys got to do a lot at MNSSHP. glad to hear the villian show wasn't much. we missed out on that.

all the kids in my group loved IASW too, much more than i expected.

[lbuzz52]

My Final Thoughts.


EARLY PLANE FLIGHTS
Leaving early in the a.m on arrival day worked out better than I thought. If anyone else is worried about getting the kids up so early dont be. They will be so excited once you get there it will work out fine. The advice I would say is to plan for an early night.

i totally agree- as long as you set the alarm clock! if you arrived late, you wouldn't be able to sleep anyway with the anticipation!

ORLANDO STROLLER RENTAL
This by far was one of the best things ideas I was given on these boards. It was so easy to order online. The stroller was ready when we got to the hotel. It was a great double stroller. Easy to use. Plently of room. The shades are phenominal and shaded almost the kids entire body. The stroller closed up easily and was not hard at all to get on and off the bus. My husband did not complain once and thats how I know it was convienent. Believe me he complains a lot.:rotfl: The double stroller was 85 dollars for 7 days. It was easily returned to our baggage area at the resort. I cant say enough about this company it was great.

i might have to try this next time.

ONLINE CHECK IN
This is a must do! It saves so much time.

this too

DELUXE DINING
We decided to upgrade to the deluxe dining since free dining was already offered. I liked the idea of not being restricited to only one TS a day and it did offer 3 meals a day and 2 snacks. We also had appetizers included in the TS meals and 3 travel mugs from the FC. I defintely dont have any complaints about the deluxe. We used every credit we had. (yes we do love to eat) I dont really think it was necessary though. I think next time we will go with the basic dining plan and it will be just fine too.


not sure about deluxe, but i was so greatful to be able to eat without worrying about the cost adding up. definitely easier for budgeting

DINING RECOMMENDATIONS
For all of you families with young kids I would recommend the following places as "don't miss".
CHEF MICKEY'S BREAKFAST
OHANA'S BREAKFAST
WHISPERING CANYON CAFE
For any traveler's to the world I would say "don't miss".
PLAZA RESTRAUNT
YAK AND YETI
CAPE MAY BUFFETT (DINNER)

wcc looks like fun

PARK ADVICE
Do not under estimate EPCOT for kids. I thought it would be boring and the kids would hate it and it turned out to be one of the best evenings we had on our trip. I will plan for this so much better next time. Make sure to hit the kidcot areas!
If you have young children plan at least 2 days at MK. " " you may only need 1/2 day at AK.
Plan to spend the whole day at HS if you want to see all the shows the times seemed to all be in the late morning to early afternoon making a mid day break impossible.

i wish we had spent more time at Epcot too. I thought that too about the scheduling at DHS.



WORDS OF WISDOM(I dont know if you would call it wisdom:laughing:)
Enjoy your children....plan ahead to be prepared but dont be crazy if its not going as planned. If its your first time traveling with kids be aware that what you think may take 10 minutes will take 20. The trip will be slower paced than it was with only adults. Most of all remember you are there to have fun and see your kids having fun. Focus on that when the stressful times pop up it will get you through those times. Know when to take a break dont continue to push yourself and your kids, it will only make your trip more unpleasant and what you want to stay and do will not be pleasurable anyway. Document your trip because you will forget the little details as time goes on. I noticed reading my journal months after returning there were funny and cute moments I had forgotten about....at the time I thought I would remember them forever.


yes! document!


THANK YOU!
Thank you for all of you awesome people who have continued to read along and comment on my trip. It is so great to share these wonderful memories with all of you. Thank you to all of you who followed my PTR and gave me such valuable advice. There were so many great ideas that were given to me that helped make our trip so much more enjoyable.

I look forward to starting a PTR as it gets closer to our next trip. We are planning for summer of 2012. It seems like an eternity but Im sure the time will fly. I hope to still see you all on here then.

so for now I will just have to say.....SEE YA REAL SOON! ::MickeyMo


comments in purple


And thanks for sharing :thumbsup2

[mommyof2Pirates]

lbuzz: thanks for the comments. I can say that the veggie line did not work at all. He still only eats corn :laughing:

[jana616]

Lindsay, I'm so impressed that you finished your TR! Way to not be a TR dropout like me, lol! The end of your trip sounds fabulous, and I love how you did your MNSSHP day/evening. Your departure day sounds like it went much better than ours (if you remember, we missed DME and I ended up making my MIL cry-yikes!)

Yay for 2012. We are trying for baby #3, so if that happens soon, then I think we are planning for early fall of 2013-Griffin will be almost 9, Cooper will be 6, and the baby would be just under 3 (so still free!). Unless I can convince Chad to go in May-still working on that, without much success!

I'm so glad we got to "tag along" on each other's planning and trips. See you on facebook!

[mommyof2Pirates]

Lindsay, I'm so impressed that you finished your TR! Way to not be a TR dropout like me, lol! The end of your trip sounds fabulous, and I love how you did your MNSSHP day/evening. Your departure day sounds like it went much better than ours (if you remember, we missed DME and I ended up making my MIL cry-yikes!)

Yay for 2012. We are trying for baby #3, so if that happens soon, then I think we are planning for early fall of 2013-Griffin will be almost 9, Cooper will be 6, and the baby would be just under 3 (so still free!). Unless I can convince Chad to go in May-still working on that, without much success!

I'm so glad we got to "tag along" on each other's planning and trips. See you on facebook!

Thanks jana. Good luck on the baby making. I hope it all goes well. Keep me posted on your next trip....I would love to plan together again. I think you should finish your report because I would love to hear how the rest went. You didnt have too much more to go. Do a shortened version. Ok thats my motivational speech for ya. :rotfl:

[Charlefours]

Thank you for the tips on MNSSHP! I will jot them down to remember because the dates worked out for us to go! I think we are going to buy the tickets next week. The photo of your three guys leaving is so cute (sad, but cute!). Awe, poor little guys were exhausted! I am glad that they settled down for you and took the much needed nap on the way home. Definitely am planning on using Amy's transfer papers. Everyone who uses them just raves about them. I am so excited to try Plaza--I changed to it the day we made our ADRs as an alternative. I think the menu looks so yummy.

I would love for you to pop over to my PTR/TR if you get a chance! I know you are crazy busy but I would love your feedback. :goodvibes:

[mommyof2Pirates]

Thank you for the tips on MNSSHP! I will jot them down to remember because the dates worked out for us to go! I think we are going to buy the tickets next week. The photo of your three guys leaving is so cute (sad, but cute!). Awe, poor little guys were exhausted! I am glad that they settled down for you and took the much needed nap on the way home. Definitely am planning on using Amy's transfer papers. Everyone who uses them just raves about them. I am so excited to try Plaza--I changed to it the day we made our ADRs as an alternative. I think the menu looks so yummy.

I would love for you to pop over to my PTR/TR if you get a chance! I know you are crazy busy but I would love your feedback. :goodvibes:

Thanks for all the comments and for reading along. I think you definitely would be happy with the plaza I loved it. and Amy transfers too. It was so simple. I will definitely check out your ptr/tr. I am now back on the disboards more again. I am training to do the princess 1/2 marathon next march and my mom and I are going to spend a couple days in disney that weekend. :yay: So I have been on the W.I.S.H boards alot and have started a weight loss journal. I will most likely do a PTR a little closer to booking the trip. I will be glad to give you feedback and comments along the way. Im so excited that you can get your MNSSHP tickets soon. Thats awesome the dates worked out. You all will love it!

[Charlefours]

Thanks for all the comments and for reading along. I think you definitely would be happy with the plaza I loved it. and Amy transfers too. It was so simple. I will definitely check out your ptr/tr. I am now back on the disboards more again. I am training to do the princess 1/2 marathon next march and my mom and I are going to spend a couple days in disney that weekend. :yay: So I have been on the W.I.S.H boards alot and have started a weight loss journal. I will most likely do a PTR a little closer to booking the trip. I will be glad to give you feedback and comments along the way. Im so excited that you can get your MNSSHP tickets soon. Thats awesome the dates worked out. You all will love it!

:woohoo: for doing the half-marathon! One day I would like to do it. I am going to go check out your W.I.S.H journal! :goodvibes Your and Jana616's PTR were two of the first threads I started reading and I was hooked! We are traveling the same time as you did so I wanted to see what it was like for you and with small children, they both were good fits! I enjoyed reading them!!

[mommyof2Pirates]

thank you so much I am glad you enjoyed it and hopefully I was able to pass along some good tips. I know Jana helped me out alot. She was the guinea pig!

[danaw11]

I stumbled upon your trip report and found it so helpful. We are taking our boys on their first WDW trip in Sept 2010 and since their ages are close to your boys (they will be 4 1/2 and almost 3) it was really good to read your report.

I think I really need to plan for the heat but than I was so thanks for that.

I have used Avery's t-shirt transfers before with luck so I was wondering if you know how they compared with Amy's transfers.

I have also been planning to rent from Orlando's strollers so I'm gladed you liked them. Did you pay for the rain cover and insurance?

Thanks!

[mommyof2Pirates]

I stumbled upon your trip report and found it so helpful. We are taking our boys on their first WDW trip in Sept 2010 and since their ages are close to your boys (they will be 4 1/2 and almost 3) it was really good to read your report.

I think I really need to plan for the heat but than I was so thanks for that.

I have used Avery's t-shirt transfers before with luck so I was wondering if you know how they compared with Amy's transfers.

I have also been planning to rent from Orlando's strollers so I'm gladed you liked them. Did you pay for the rain cover and insurance?

Thanks!

glad I could give you some helpful tips. I bet you will have a wonderful time taking your boys. Their ages are perfect for a magical vacation.

I am not sure how amy's transfers compares since I have never used avery's. If you had luck before with avery's I would stick with it or at least see which one is cheaper.

I did not rent the stroller cover but instead took a few 99 cent ponchos from walmart in case of rain to cover the stroller, We didnt need it except the one day we were in a show and it rained. the stroller got wet but luckily I had packed a few hand towels in our park bag. We wiped down the strollers and the kids sat on dry towels. The stroller dried quickly. I also decided not to purchase the insurance and took my chances.

If you need any other advice feel free to ask away.
Have a great trip!

[Charlefours]

I stumbled upon your trip report and found it so helpful. We are taking our boys on their first WDW trip in Sept 2010 and since their ages are close to your boys (they will be 4 1/2 and almost 3) it was really good to read your report.

I think I really need to plan for the heat but than I was so thanks for that.

I have used Avery's t-shirt transfers before with luck so I was wondering if you know how they compared with Amy's transfers.

I have also been planning to rent from Orlando's strollers so I'm gladed you liked them. Did you pay for the rain cover and insurance?

Thanks!

Looks like we will be there around the same time! :goodvibes This TR is one of my favorites, it really helped me as well as I have been planning my daughter's first trip.

[danaw11]

@mommyof2pirates - Thanks again!!

@charlesfour - yes, our trip is 9/14 to 9/21 at Pop!!!

[mikamah]

Hi Lindsay. I've just finished day two and am loving your trip report. You are inspiring me to maybe start one of my own. We've been 4 times, and each time I start a journal, and the first time was the only time i journalled the entire trip. I always think about doing a trip report, but never fit it in.

Your boys are just adorable. I love Ryan and the power rangers, and Nick doing the carriage dance. So cute. Michael turned 5 on our first trip, and there were quite a few meltdowns from him and my niece too. It's funny how different kids are. He loved the characters and wanted to meet and hug them all. He was scared of most rides, wouldn't sit on a horse on the carousel and was scared of winnie the pooh, wouldn't go on small world, but we had so much fun just meeting characters, parades, and the shows.

We're staying at all star sports in aug. So excited. It looks great. I love the values, and think with young kids, there's not much benefit to moving up to a moderate.

Thanks for the link to your great trip report. I'm looking forward to finishing it tomorrow.

[mommyof2Pirates]

Hi Lindsay. I've just finished day two and am loving your trip report. You are inspiring me to maybe start one of my own. We've been 4 times, and each time I start a journal, and the first time was the only time i journalled the entire trip. I always think about doing a trip report, but never fit it in.

Your boys are just adorable. I love Ryan and the power rangers, and Nick doing the carriage dance. So cute. Michael turned 5 on our first trip, and there were quite a few meltdowns from him and my niece too. It's funny how different kids are. He loved the characters and wanted to meet and hug them all. He was scared of most rides, wouldn't sit on a horse on the carousel and was scared of winnie the pooh, wouldn't go on small world, but we had so much fun just meeting characters, parades, and the shows.

We're staying at all star sports in aug. So excited. It looks great. I love the values, and think with young kids, there's not much benefit to moving up to a moderate.

Thanks for the link to your great trip report. I'm looking forward to finishing it tomorrow.


Thanks Kathy, ASsp was wonderful and I agree you dont need to spend any more with the young ones. We really loved it. I really hope you decide to do a TR. It is so fun now to look back and re-read about our trip. Believe it or not there are some parts I forget about until I read the report and then Im like "oh yeah remember that". I would love to hear about your trip when you get back. Have fun reading the rest.