8 Parks in 9 months aka my first attempt at a trip report (with part one deleted)

[alyssa810]

I've decided to take my first stab at a trip report as we edge closer to our second Disney trip of the year, to DLP!
I'll start with some introductions~
I'm Alyssa, wife of Mike, mom to Joel. I work full time for a large investment bank headquarted in Boston; I work just south of Boston, and we live south of Boston as well. My DH works for a market research firm. My DS goes to day care/pre school close to my office. We are also long time Disney addicts; Mike and I took our first trip to WDW together back in 1997. We used to swear that we'd never stay onsite and our first trips were spent at some major Kissimmee crapholes (can I say that?) but after an almost 2 year hiatus from WDW we decided to take the plunge and stay onsite in 2002, and we've never looked back. We were engaged at MK on that very trip, and that was also when we got our first annual passes. We became DVC members the same year we got married, in 2004, and spent part of our honeymoon at DLP. We have close to 30 trips combined to WDW, DL, and DLP.
We started taking our son to WDW when he was 12 weeks old, and he's been to WDW 9 times in his 2.5 years, and this June we'll be taking him across the pond!
To explain my title, we had planned on taking a trip to DL sometime this year to check out the new villas at the Grand Californian, the big decision was if we'd go in May for (US) Mother's Day, or in late September. As it turned out for both our DVC points, flight schedules, and vacation budget in general, September won out. That gave us a big, huge gap between trips; there was no way we'd go from January to September without a trip!:scared1: We were going to try to go to WDW for Mother's Day in May, since DL was postponed, but due to Mike's boss's conference schedule and our DVC points (we have a June use year) and the lousy flights from our area to Orlando, it just wasn't working out:sad2:
Then came that 40% off at DLP deal!:yay: Mike had really wanted to go back to DLP; we had such high expectations that first trip that really weren't met- we were comparing DLP to DL and WDW and you just can't do that. He argued that now we know what to expect (and what not to expect), and the cost for us to go to WDW and get the same package at one of the value resorts was about $500 MORE than going to DLP. AND we had frequent flyer miles approaching the "use them or lose them" stage. AND he said he wouldn't bug me about going back to DLP for at least another 6 years if we went this time. AND if we did go, we'd be hitting EIGHT Disney parks in 9 months, and how cool is that?! We first thought we'd stay at Santa Fe but I said if we were going, I'd rather stay somewhere nicer since we don't go often, so we finally decided on Sequoia Lodge. We stayed at Newport Bay on our honeymoon, and were really disappointed- Yacht & Beach Club it was not. We are looking forward to SL though.

Again, back to the title:
I'm skipping a TR for our most recent WDW trip for the following reasons (besides the fact that we go all the time):
The trip was one catastrophe after another starting the night before we left.
:mad:I lost an earring down the bathroom sink, broke a glass nail polish bottle in said bathroom making our vanity look like a murder scene.
We had problems with our home alarm system after Mike tripped it running back into the house as we were leaving:eek:
At the airport, Mike ran up the escalator and fell, getting a huge gash on his finger and overall achiness (we had plenty of time, there was no need to rush):headache:
Joel decided to test his independence and our patience and was a run-awayer and bad listener, (really a typical 2 year old), a no sitting in his high chair overall freshy.pirate:
Mike ended up with some stomach bug on the day we drove out to visit his godparents in Tampa and we ended up cancelling and he was super cranky overall (but like I said he was sick) :sick:and we also missed a breakfast at Cape May; I ended up bringing Joel to MK by myself for the evening.
I was finally able to get an ADR for ohana, which I had been trying to get for a few years, and when we went Joel was really poorly behaved and we didn't really enjoy the meal.:mad:
Getting home went ok but Mike got into a car accident on the Monday he went back to work:eek: luckily he wasn't hurt and his car was fixed but overall, it was the lousiest trip we've had in a while, because in all honesty, even a bad trip to WDW is better than no trip to WDW, right?

So here we are, back to 8.5 weeks away from Disneyland Paris!:woohoo: While I'm not looking forward to the long flight from Boston to Paris, or practicing my miniscule French vocabulary, I am looking forward to seeing what's new and the same from 6 years ago. I'm excited to take my son to a new (to him) Disney park. I'm looking forward to all I can eat croissants at the resort breakfast:lmao: but most of all, just getting back!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the ride!

[Mum to Belle]

Hope you have a great trip! :goodvibes

Good luck with the journey :thumbsup2

[Booknut]

Gosh I didn't realise your last trip to WDW was so pants!!!

I've not stayed at the Sequoia Lodge but the photos of the pool area look fab. I did go have a snoop around last time (which you'd know if I'd ever managed to finish my trip report from last October lol!) and had a Glowtini in the bar there and then we sat outside in their lovely comfy deck chairs with a gorgeous view, very relaxing :)

Remind me closer to the time as I have lifetime fastpasses for DLP (which means you'll be able to use your park tickets to get one fastpass and then my ticket to get another one) and I can lend them to you if you think you'll need them, no idea how busy it will be in June.

Am so excited for you guys, really looking forward to your trippie :banana:

[ExpatDisneyLover]

:banana:popcorn:: I am so excited to read your trippie - hope you have a great time! Enjoy the planning!:woohoo::surfweb: I returned in March from my first trip in a long time to DLP. Every morning I would walk by the Sequoia Lodge (from the SF) and I loved the smell of the redwood trees! It looked lovely!

[alyssa810]

Today we are 8 weeks away from leaving! :goodvibes

In preparation, today I visited the Disney store near me that is closing this month. I was hoping for really good buys, but I made do with what was there. In the meantime, I've also been getting into Brit's guide to DLP (thanks Booknut!!!) and I've starting to think about how and what do pack. We're still not fully decided on transportation from the airport, and there's a possibility that we might still rent a car. Otherwise we'll take the TVG. I'm just not sure how I feel about lugging luggage and a sleepy toddler in a stroller but we'll see soon enough.:surfweb:

[metalis4ever]

Good stuff, can't wait to follow :thumbsup2

[jog58]

Count me in! :cool1:

[xxciaraxx]

wow you are so lucky to be visiting all those parks! I have been to WDW 3 times so I am very excited to visit DLP this September, it will be really hard not to start comparing it to WDW so I am really going to try and go with a fresh outlook and hope to get a special experiance from DLP. Can't wait to read your report!:lovestruc

[alyssa810]

We are 3 weeks away from being at DLP!! Woo hoo! :yay:

I'm trying not to think about the volcanic ash and whether it's going to give us any trouble. I'm also trying to finish up with the Brit's Guide, so if I come across any questions I'll be sure to ask before we leave. I'm also trying to get a mental packing list going, because these next few weeks are going to fly!

It looks like we're going to take the TVG and nix getting a car altogether. Mike needs to get the stroller/aka pushchair/aka pushcart?? all set- we have some safely pieces that were supposed to be put on it months ago...and we've settled on 2 suitcases that we need to pre pack...:rolleyes1

[IsobelJackmummy]

how exciting!

I hope you all have a great time, and the journey isn't too bad!

[disney_princess_85]

Not long to go now! :goodvibes

[alyssa810]

Just realized my whole last post didn't post!:headache:

Anyway, here's an update:
We booked our flights to DL for September this week! Woo Hoo!:banana::yay: but DLP still comes first!

This weekend, we are setting up our dads with our airport info, as they are driving us to and from. We had an "incident" a few years back where my FIL & MIL were picking me up from the airport, and they went to Boston instead of Providence to get me, so we like to make sure they have all the details:rotfl:
The packing still hasn't begun. The weather at home has been quite warm, so I don't want to pack up any shorts, plus the long range forecast for the DLP area didn't look as warm, so I'd rather wait until the end of the week to really get going. Mike still hasn't decided what he wants to bring for pins either. I also need to decide what to bring in Joel's carry on bag, although I am hoping that he falls asleep right after dinner!
We've also started potty training with Joel, so we'll be bringing diapers (nappies:lmao:) and pull ups (I don't know what the Brit equiv is to that!). Do the WCs at DLP have little kid sized toilets there? I'm not sure how successful we'll be there, but figure we need to keep trying anyway. Maybe some pixie dust will help our cause:wizard:
My plan for the weekend is to finish up the Brit's guide too!
Off to my mental packing lists, and to enjoy this glorious long weekend!

[Mum to Belle]

Not long now!!! :banana:

We had just potty trained our DD before her first trip to DLP as well! We took pull ups with us (just in case!) and she used the toilets whenever she needed to go. We had a toilet seat with us which we used in the room but other than that she just used the normal toilets, I don't remember seeing childrens ones but some of them did seem to be much lower to the ground!

Once we were in a queue to meet Jasmine when she needed to go and I had to run off to the toilets with her as she wouldn't go in her nappy! Luckily Daddy saved our place and we still got to meet her favourite princess! :cloud9:

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Wow almost there!:woohoo:Have a great trip! I'll be there shortly after you- I look forward to the TR! Good luck with the potty training.:wizard: I really enjoy the imagineering details and small size of DLRP - hope you find your own treasures and enjoy yourselves!:goodvibes

[alyssa810]

Packing has begun! :banana:I can't believe I only have 2 more days of work!:banana: We've continue to follow the weather to make adjustments on our pants/short/sweatshirts ratios:laughing: but I think we'll probably stick with as few jeans as possible as they take up so much room in the suitcase.
I finally finished the Brit's Guide too, and now I'm just going back through it for things I want to remember.
I'm very curious to see how the baby switch goes on rides; we've never actually done it in WDW because it seems like if we both get fastpasses, we just take a turn, where from what I read in the book and what I've been reading on the boards, it seems like we can all wait together? Guess we'll find out in a few short days!!! I also just realized that there's EMH every day!:yay:

[Booknut]

Ooh its so close now!!! I'm so excited for you guys, I can't believe you're going to be so near and we can't see each other! Well, nearer than Boston anyway :rotfl2:

Have a marvellous time, will try to write email tomorrow and enthral you with my potty training tales of woe :rotfl: (huge emphasis on the word 'woe' in that phrase...

I think the weather is going to be in your favour btw, at least here its going to be around 20C for the next week or so which is great news, hope you get lots of lovely sunshine :)

[jog58]

Packing has begun! :banana:I can't believe I only have 2 more days of work!:banana: We've continue to follow the weather to make adjustments on our pants/short/sweatshirts ratios:laughing: but I think we'll probably stick with as few jeans as possible as they take up so much room in the suitcase.
I finally finished the Brit's Guide too, and now I'm just going back through it for things I want to remember.
I'm very curious to see how the baby switch goes on rides; we've never actually done it in WDW because it seems like if we both get fastpasses, we just take a turn, where from what I read in the book and what I've been reading on the boards, it seems like we can all wait together? Guess we'll find out in a few short days!!! I also just realized that there's EMH every day!:yay:

I am so jealous! Be safe and have fun!

[alyssa810]

[QUOTE=Booknut;36856326]Ooh its so close now!!! I'm so excited for you guys, I can't believe you're going to be so near and we can't see each other! Well, nearer than Boston anyway :rotfl2:
QUOTE]

If I'm a awake, I will wave over British airspace!

[alyssa810]

We about 6 hours away from leaving for the airport! The bags are packed (and we're trying to rearrange the big one so it's not as heavy), the back packs are good to go, and we've decided to go with the big stroller instead of the Maclaren.
The only issue so far is that I can't find the Brit's guide! I had it over the weekend and can't for the life of me remember where I put it! Also, Joel was a little sick over the weekend....he threw up at the mall on Saturday, then at home later in the afternoon, and again yesterday morning. He seems much better today, and has eaten and kept everything down. He didn't have a temp either, so I'm hoping it was just the heat getting to him.
He still doesn't know what's in France or why we're going and what we're going to do there:banana: We were talking about what animals he wants to see there, he said a mouse, doggies and a giraffe. I asked him if he think Mickey Mouse is in France, and he said no. He is definitely in a for a surprise!!!

[thelittlemermaid83]

I hope you have a fantastic time!!

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Have a great trip!!:wizard::goodvibes

[alyssa810]

End of story: we cut the trip short:sick:

But alas, this wouldn't be a trip report without word about the trip. The flight over was OK; the food was really good on the plane! Joel got a kids meal which he ate a little- but it was his favorite stuff- chicken fingers, french fries, and corn! He had a messy diaper on the plane, which we changed as soon as we landed, and he had leaked out of his shorts.:sad1:
We finally made it through customs and to our luggage and worked our way over to the TGV station, and were on the wrong track when the train came. We were able to take next train, but Mike had paid the extra for the 7:25 train. Also, no one came to take or check our tickets. Joel still had no idea where we were going. When we arrived at the train station, he noticed a Mickey Mouse but nothing was clicking. Then we were walking past the park entrance on the way to the village, and he didn't even notice the castle picture. We walked through the village with our luggage to the Sequoia Lodge and fought the breakfast crowds to get to the elevator to get up to the lobby, and finally made it to check in. We left our baggage at the hotel, and then walked all the way back to get to the park. Between all the airport walking and back and forth to the hotel, we were pretty pooped before we even got into the park - and all this was before 9 AM!!! However, it was like magic- once we got inside the park, the stress melted away:lovestruc

When we were going through bag check (which was a joke compared to WDW or DL) Joel realized where we were! He said "we're at Disney World!" and we said "No, we're at Disneyland Paris!" and he said "Disney World Paris!":rotfl:

More on day one later!

[metalis4ever]

Hi Alys :wave:

What do you mean in the begging with "End of Story: We cut the trip short" ? Please don't tell me the Sick at Disney Curse has continued!!! I swear both of our families have had nothing but bad luck as of late with our trips....

In any case I will wait for the rest of your trip report for the full details, but sounds good so far :goodvibes

[alyssa810]

Day one continued....
I still can't get over the fact that there aren't a zillion CMs taking photos as you walk into the park; it seems like such an easy money maker...needless to say, we didn't do a family picture but Mike and I both took lots of pictures as we walked in. Joel was pretty psyched to see the castle, so our first stop was to see the dragon. He was not psyched about that, not one bit.:rotfl:
we then headed into Fantasyland. It was still EMH, so we figured we should take advantage. Mike went off to get us Peter Pan fastpasses while Joel and I went on the carousel. He of course wanted a big brown horse, and i did my best to oblige him. From there we hit iasw, Joel was singing along! I was amazed at how bright and vibrant the colors seemed- it really is a lovely ride!
I can't remember the exact order of how things happened, but at some point, Joel started giving off a horse manure-y low tide scent, so time for a diaper change. He blew out of his shorts, but I still had an extra pair, so that was no big deal. We were still out of sorts of meals and the time, but we kept on chugging. We knew we couldn't check into our room until 3, so we stayed at the park. We hit up POTC- Joel was so excited to go on! The walk to the ride was a little scary to him, but he was yo ho yo ho-ing all the way down! we pointed out the restaurant, and told him Mommy & Daddy at there on their honeymoon. He seemed a little scared during the first stretch of the ride, but he wasn't bothered by the lift hill or the drops. He definitely seemed to relax once we hit the village scene- he recognized it! After POTC we went back toward fantasyland and jumped on Peter Pan and Pinnocchio. we had lunch at the Hyperion cafe and enjoyed cartoons more than lunch. The burgers were pretty blech...but the sprite tasted like heaven LOL! We grabbed fast passes for Buzz Lightyear, but decided to head back to the hotel to see if we could check in, as it was after 2 and we were really fading fast on energy.
We were in luck! We were able to get right into our room. We had requested a high floor, but ended up on the 3rd floor....way down almost to the end of the wing. when I tried putting the key in, the door wasn't opening...:mad:but after several attempts it finally worked. I was pleased with the room - we had 2 doubles, and there was a crib/pack & play already set up with a blanket. We washed up a little, and decided to take a little nap. We were still having some diaper issues...:eek:
We got up around 6:30, and decided to do some exploring for supper options. We didn't think about the fact that the parks both close at 7, and then everyone pours into the hotels and the village. Mike really wanted to check out all the resorts, so we took a very long walk to Hotel cheyenne, where we hoped to eat until we saw the line at the buffet, so we then walked over to Santa Fe and hoped to eat there, but again, when we saw the line at the buffet...we decided we'd try the village. Since we hadn't done enough walking all day, we went all the way to Annette's, and decided to do take away. We had done this the last time, and i had remembered it seemed like it took forever to get the food, and this time was no different. Joel was seeming out of it, but was asking for food. I ordered chicken nuggets for myself, and a hot dog for him. Mike got a chicken sandwich. when our food finally came, they had forgotten my nuggets, so when the guy brought them out, I got another order of fries. joel had no interest in his hot dog, but wanted my fries and chicken, so i shared. Then the hands went to the mouth, and he threw up everything he had eaten.:eek: We decided it was a good time to go back to the room and call it a night.

[Michael623]

Spoiler alert! This is Mike and I'm at work in Framingham right now.

[alyssa810]

Mike might also want to mention that while I spent a good chunk of the day on Sunday and Monday looking for the Brit's guide, it was sitting in his backpack, which he discovered in the hotel.
Just to wrap up day one, once we got back to the hotel our sleeping was all out of whack. Joel was up watching playhouse disney until the wee hours; he was looking for "the monkeys" Ooh and Ahh, which are on the American version, instead of the people that were on.
There was also a diaper situation that I won't go into details because, well, this is a family friendly board. It was gross. Let's just leave it at that.

[thelittlemermaid83]

Oh no poor Joel!

Looking forward to hearing more.

[alyssa810]

Day 2!
We'll chalk it up to sleep deprivation and excitement of being on vacation, at check-in Mike thought that an 8:15 breakfast in the park every day was the way to go. He didn't think about what our sleeping situation would be, so Wednesday morning, I was up around 7:30, Joel woke up shortly thereafter, Mike snored away. I tried to get Joel to wake Mike up but he kept saying "Daddy's still sleeping" and doing this funny hand thing- like leave him alone!
Mike finally woke up, and we decided we'd still try to eat in the park, and if they wouldn't honor our breakfast ticket, we'd just get something somewhere in the park. Luckily, the hostess took our ticket with no problems. it was getting close to breakfast ending time though by the time we got in, but we loaded up on croissants and fruit, yogurt, and ham for Joel, which he ate like crazy. He ate some of the fruit too, and had some milk and juice. Once we finished breakfast, we were off again...so we thought.

We got to the little sitting area by the Aladdin walkthrough, and we could smell that Joel had gone again...and in the stroller, and leaked on his legs...it was so smelly!! I worked on cleaning up Joel and Mike worked on cleaning the stroller. Of course at Joel's request, we hit POTC again. he was getting tired though, and for a kid who loves to run, he just wanted to be carried, so we knew he must not be feeling well. Mike really want to go on Phantom Manor, so we got in line and waited and waited and waited and got out line to find out that the ride was experiencing difficulties. :headache: We started talking about cutting the trip short with Joel not keeping anything in...

We headed back toward discoveryland, and I found a CM with a UK flag pin so I asked her if she thought we could use a phone at City hall to call the airline. She thought so, so we headed that way. Davy from City Hall was very helpful with letting us use the phone; it took a few different numbers before I was finally able to get to the right one, but when I finally got the right spot, we found out the price to change our flight, and made the switch to go home Thursday night. Davy also suggested we go to First Aid to see if there was something we could get for Joel, so we headed there next. The nurse working there was very nice; she checked Joel's temperature, which he still had none (good), but when she asked us his weight in kilos, we both blanked! He weighs about 36 or 37 pounds, and he was 12 kilos on the scale. She fixed him up a special drink that was some kind of powder that was supposed to stop the diarrhea and ease his tummy, but of course he refused to take it. We put it in his cup, and he took a teeny, tiny sip and that was it. We then went back down Main st. and decided to take the train. it was raining, and we thought it would be a good sit down stay covered activity. Turns out we weren't the only ones who thought so and -I'm ashamed to say- we waited almost an hour to ride the train.:crazy2: By the time we finished there, we went to the train station to get a calling card to call our folks to let them know we were coming home early, to get our return trip tickets, and then we figured we'd better head over to the studios to grab a bite to eat, and check out a few things so we didn't miss it.
At the studios, it was close to closing time so we were able to zip onto the carpet ride - Joel was thrilled, and then we headed over to the lightning ride- once i saw what it looked like I was sure that Joel would be hurling. But alas! The kid LOVED it! He was roaring! I think he would have gone again if I let him. Then we were going to try to hit the last show of Animagique but Mike misread the time and it already happened. we watched the crush coaster go by and decided to pass because Joel was too short and we didn't want to wait, and Mike's not a big fan of backwards coasters or spinny rides.

We also thought we'd eat supper at the buffet, since Joel would be free, we wouldn't have to order for him specifically if he wasn't up to eating...but we forgot it was lunch only :mad: so we went back to the Restaurant en coulisse. I was tired of burgers so I opted for the pizza. Mike and joel had burgers. Joel ate most of the ham off my pizza, and very little of his burger. It was not the greatest pizza I have ever had. we headed back to the hotel from there; we had packing to do and a little stinker in desperate need of a bath. We had done some shopping along the way today too; I picked up some t-shirts for Joel, postcards, a magic towel, magnet, and a stuffed rex. Back at the hotel I wrote up postcards and took a stroll down to the store for stamps and snacks. I ended up without snacks but i did treat myself to a Minnie & Mickey wedding pin, and all my postcards mailed!

[Booknut]

I am so gutted for you guys but am glad you didn't lose out too much money/points wise. You have had a bit of bad luck with the Disney parks the last few times but i'm sure its all done now, the Disney Curse has evaporated because you've left it in France ;)

That's kinda funny about the book...Naughty Mike! It drives me nuts when Phil does stuff like that :laughing:

[Mum to Belle]

Oh no, your poor little man! Hope he's better now :hug: It's incredible how the Disney magic helps them to enjoy their trip even when they are so poorly :wizard:

Where have the monkeys gone - haven't seen them on Playhouse Disney for a while... :confused3

[Booknut]

Where have the monkeys gone - haven't seen them on Playhouse Disney for a while... :confused3

I know!! I miss them, Matilda loves them. Thank goodness for Sky+ as I still have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse taped with Ooh and Aah on it - the one when they are cleaning their room! They were so cool :thumbsup2

[alyssa810]

Oh no, your poor little man! Hope he's better now :hug: It's incredible how the Disney magic helps them to enjoy their trip even when they are so poorly :wizard:

Where have the monkeys gone - haven't seen them on Playhouse Disney for a while... :confused3

HAHA!! The monkeys are on here in the States in the morning, in fact it took me a minute to figure out what Joel was talking about when he kept asking where the monkeys were!! It was funny to see Little Einsteins with British accents too!

Since Mike and I both have had trips to the hospital in Anaheim and the valley on DL trips, we're hoping that we're done with "incidents."

Joel does seem back to himself today. He's been eating like a champ, and he's napping comfortably now, after being a little hellion at the supermarket!
More on the end of the trip later!

[jog58]

HAHA!! The monkeys are on here in the States in the morning, in fact it took me a minute to figure out what Joel was talking about when he kept asking where the monkeys were!! It was funny to see Little Einsteins with British accents too!

Since Mike and I both have had trips to the hospital in Anaheim and the valley on DL trips, we're hoping that we're done with "incidents."

Joel does seem back to himself today. He's been eating like a champ, and he's napping comfortably now, after being a little hellion at the supermarket!
More on the end of the trip later!

Glad to hear Joel is feeling better. :)

[Mum to Belle]

I know!! I miss them, Matilda loves them. Thank goodness for Sky+ as I still have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse taped with Ooh and Aah on it - the one when they are cleaning their room! They were so cool :thumbsup2

I have that on Sky+ too!! I also love the "What's this banana?" with the banana hammer!! :rotfl2:

HAHA!! The monkeys are on here in the States in the morning, in fact it took me a minute to figure out what Joel was talking about when he kept asking where the monkeys were!! It was funny to see Little Einsteins with British accents too!


I bet - I ordered a Christmas Little Einsteins DVD and they have their original American accents which was a surprise!!

Glad he's on the mend! :thumbsup2

[alyssa810]

In the days leading up to the trip, I kept talking to Joel about the animals we might see; a mouse, ducks, dogs, etc., and even after he knew where we were, he still didn't get my animal references, and kept asking to see animals. He especially liked seeing the fish in the fish pond, and the fake beavers building a dam by the walk to the SL pool. Because of that, we decided to take a trip to one of the local zoos near us so he could get his animal fix! And of course, since we're home, he's totally fine healthwise. Phew!
Onto our last day!
I wasn't sure what Mike was thinking when he made all those 8:15 breakfasts in the park reservations, but after getting in late on Wednesday, we figured we'd try our luck again. We had packed up and dropped the luggage off at the baggage hold, and walked -in the rain- back to the park. We were able to get into breakfast, and I think it was close to 9:30 by the time we got there. Same old fare: croissants, ham, fruit, yogurts...Joel still didn't seem to feel right, and he fell asleep on the bench in the restaurant while Mike and I ate. Seeing how he still seemed out of it made us feel better about our decision to come home early. After breakfast he was more awake and again asking to go on POTC pirate: so we did. Mike still didn't want to miss Phantom Manor so we went there next, and had a much, much shorter line than the day before. We also passed Davy, the nice CM from city hall, who recognized us and asked how Joel was doing. Joel also started asking for his ham from breakfast, and of course we didn't take any with us, but started looking for somewhere that had a ham sandwich. We ended up getting him the sandwich duo from the mexican-ish restaurant; he only ate a little, but he was managing to keep everything in. After that, Mike wanted to take some more pictures, and I wanted to go on space mountain. We opted for the baby switch there, which was one of the best things of the trip, done better than I've seen in WDW. The way I've seen it in FL is that one person waits, and the other person gets a fastpass and has to wait in the FP line. Usually, Mike and I just both get fastpasses and take turns on those kinds of rides. Here though, I rode, and then Mike was waiting with Joel by the ride's exit, and once my ride was over, he just had to wait one car to ride. It was great, and I still think DLP's Space Mtn is THE BEST of all 3 I've been on....except that I haven't been on it in DL since about 2001. Mike continued to take pictures too. We started working our way out during the stage show, and the chaos in leaving the area again put their organization -or lack thereof- to shame. CMs weren't really paying attention to where people were walking, or where ways were supposed to be clear...it was like they weren't even there. Anyway, we headed out around 2:15; we had to get our luggage and then head back to the train station to catch the 3:48 train to CDG. Joel was whining about wanting to go into stores -something he never wants to do. I ended up waiting with him by the Ben & Jerry's while Mike got the suitcases so we both didn't have to go all the way back to the hotel. We made it back to the train station with plenty of time, and of course Joel decided he was hungry & thirsty again, and he wanted milk. No place seemed to have it! I ended up getting it at the cafe shop in the train station, and I got him a mini ham & cheese sandwich. I always have to laugh when they question if I want cold milk. Joel was also concerned about the birdies in the train station, and he wanted to feed them. He was very upset that they wouldn't eat his bread:laughing: Anyway, we made it on the right train with no issues this time, except for squeezing into the entryway. Thank goodness it's just the one stop!
At the airport, we took some wrong turns before finally getting to the right area to check in, and then again to our gate. The gates we went through were really quiet; no line at security...one of Joel's toy cars was questioned in Mike's bag though. Since we were there fairly early, we took turns walking around with Joel, and finally getting him some snacks. He was really eating much better, which was a relief. Mike also bought some Aquavit at one of the duty free shops, which he's been dying to try. It was much cheaper than buying it at Norway in Epcot too. (we actually tried it last night and it's really disgusting, IMO, and I only had the teeniest taste) On the plane, we had the whole middle section to ourselves, but unfortunately, the arms between my seat and Joel's didn't go up. We were hoping to give him extra room to lay down. We were on one of the Airbuses that has the individual TVs in the seats, which was so awesome! I set Joel up with finding Nemo, and Princess & the frog for me! He fell asleep pretty quickly though. We weren't able to get him a kids meal for this flight, but he did pretty well with the regular meal. Mike and I never ended up getting lunch so we were both pretty hungry once the meal was served. Joel went right for the chocolate mousse and loved it! The flight seemed a little bumpier to me, but we got in early, which is always nice. I called my FIL when we landed, and he had just arrived to the cell phone lot at the airport. unfortunately again, we weren't able to get our stroller at the gate, so I had to carry Joel - who was half asleep- off the plane, down the gate and through customs. Mike also had to go to the bathroom really bad when we first got off the plane, and in doing so, a ton of people got ahead of us in the customs line. Once we made it through though, Mike got the stroller first (YAY) and then our suitcases came out really quick. I called my FIL again to tell him we were ready, and we went outside to meet him. He had my car so I got to drive us home, and remarkably, we had NO traffic getting home! It was great to be home, even though the trip was cut short. We didn't bring anything in the house, we pretty much got him, cleaned up, and hit the sack.
Now as I finish up this bit, i need to go through pictures and see what I missed. I've also been thinking of some overall thoughts on the trip and the parks, and I'll put them together too. For now, thanks again for reading, and 3.5 months to DL!:yay:

[alyssa810]

As I move on to enjoy a long, busy summer ending with a trip to DL, I went through our pictures over and over. It's tough to say how different our trip might have been had Joel not been sick, but since we can't change that, we have to stick with what happened. We both still agree that DLP is a beautiful, picturesque park, and we have the photos to prove it. Some of the rides (that were open) are absolutely primo: Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, and it's a small world top the list.

I really can't comment on the food, since we didn't really eat anything exciting. I really missed that~ I remember the food being excellent last time. Joel really seemed to love the ham at breakfast though:rotfl:!!!

I still can't get over the lack of *disney spirit* with a majority of the cast members. Not every cast member, but so many, just didn't seem like happy campers, and that can wear on a Disney park lover for sure.

Mike said he's had his fill and doesn't want to return to DLP, but he's still talking about his 40th birthday plans and a trip to Monte Carlo (in 3 years) and whether it would be worth it to go back....

Hopefully the finale of our 8 parks in 9 months will be much less eventful and much more pleasant than the first 2 (and maybe Joel will even be potty trained in time for the last part!).

Thanks again for reading, and check out the finale on the DL trip report pages!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=37117909#post37117909
pixiedust: