* The Many Adventures of Andy-Roo and Blakers * 5/7 * The End! *

[jc040404]

:welcome: to our second year of Disney and my second TR!

After much debating, I’ve found I kinda miss working on one of these. :)

If you didn’t read my first TR (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2489099), check it out! NOTE- I think I've messed up my photobucket and ruined the pics on that one. :sad: You can see how this all began. The mega run-on sentence short story is that I found an incredible deal that resulted in a free stay at Pop which inspired our first WDW APs that lead to an amazing year of fun, almost forcing us to buy another set and do it all over again! Got that? ;)

This will be a TR in progress, as we’re currently in week 15 of our Disney year. I already have 13 days to share and will tell the story of the beginning of this year in a bit. I may or may not let the updates catch up to the current day. I can’t decide yet. We are masters of the day trip, so much has consisted of those. We’ve stayed at Pop, CBR, and ASMu so far on this set.

Since we’re just finishing the first quarter of our year, I have no idea where things will go from here! We managed 42 days at Disney last year and really want to try to top that this time around. This year is big for us because Andy-Roo will be starting school at the end and we want to pack as much fun as we can into his last year as my baby.

So who are we? Living about 90 minutes from Mickey’s house, the cast of this TR is my little family. In case you skipped looking at the last one, here we are again.. ;)

Jessica, aka ME. I’m the mom. I’ve been Disney obsessed for as long as I can remember. My first visit was our honeymoon in 2004. I’ve now spent 65 days of my life at a Disney park or resort. Yes, I’m keeping count. It’s all a little unbelievable to me still. I never thought I’d make it there at all when I was a child. I love pretty much everything about WDW and can’t pick a favorite ride.
*Up to 83 Days as of April 19th, 2011!!*

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/misc/CIMG44051.jpg
same pic as the last TR because I am not a fan of having my picture taken at all! I feel all twitchy and nervous when someone puts a camera in my face. (..and yeah, I may have put on some weight since then ;) )

John, the husband and father. His first visit was also our honeymoon. He probably spoils me a little too much. All I have to do is say I want a Disney Day and he says he’s ready to go. Lucky for me, he really loves going to Disney too. He says his favorite ride is the Indy Speedway. :confused3 He’s weird..

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/misc/DSC089181.jpg

Andy-Roo, Andrew, or Brother.. But NEVER call him Andy! This is my sweet, social four year old. He hasn’t met a stranger yet and never seems to stop talking. He’s still completely in love with Alice and all things Peter Pan. He’s really getting into taking pictures, so I’ll be posting some of his work along the way. He took the one of his Daddy and Blake above. :) His favorite ride is Splash “Water” Mountain.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/CAKE/CIMG9588.jpg

Blakers, Blaker, or just Blake. He’s our two year old baby, but thinks he can do everything brother does. He has a fun game of suddenly saying, “I forty inches ‘ready!” out of nowhere now. He's ready for the big kid rides, especially Splash Mountain. Blakers is a very shy and serious little guy, the total opposite of big brother. His favorite character is Eeyore and he’s a bigger Peter Pan fan than Andy-Roo. His favorite ride right now is Pooh, but that changes from day to day.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/CAKE/CIMG0991.jpg


Interested in following along? I hope you do! I’m pretty sure I could be crowned queen of the lurkers at times, but please hop on and let me know you’re out there! I’d love some suggestions along the way to make this the best Disney year ever!




Coming Soon!! Part One. The Beginning. We learn that we'll never learn. Plans just don't work for us.

[jc040404]

How it began. So much for plans. Again. (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38771054&postcount=4)

JULY 2010 (AKA - The worst visit of our AP year.. I'd skip the first two days ;) )
day one * MK *1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38776625&postcount=11) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38785450&postcount=16) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38785530&postcount=17) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38789760&postcount=22) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38808949&postcount=26) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38830519&postcount=32) 7 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38865807&postcount=43) 8 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38883197&postcount=51) 9 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38883537&postcount=53)
day two *EPCOT - MK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38936024&postcount=68) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38940233&postcount=69) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=38987792&postcount=79) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39095129&postcount=103) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39103111&postcount=107)

AUGUST 2010
day three * MK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39117421&postcount=112) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39125881&postcount=119) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39132187&postcount=125) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39132225&postcount=126) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39135767&postcount=129)
day four * MK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39169711&postcount=146) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39169730&postcount=147) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39201341&postcount=156) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39201362&postcount=157) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39218444&postcount=163)
day five *MK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39227437&postcount=169) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39356834&postcount=187) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39356958&postcount=188) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39357126&postcount=189) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39357411&postcount=190)
day six * MK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39425885&postcount=201) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39425975&postcount=202) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39426064&postcount=203) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39439477&postcount=212) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39439611&postcount=213) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39464139&postcount=220) 7 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39464243&postcount=221) 8 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39506748&postcount=228)
day seven * AK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39556174&postcount=234) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39556240&postcount=235) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39584995&postcount=246) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39595872&postcount=249)


SEPTEMBER 2010
day eight * DHS - MK *1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39642912&postcount=267) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39794660&postcount=279) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39872585&postcount=285) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39872642&postcount=286)
day nine * EPCOT *1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40164514&postcount=301) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40191232&postcount=309)
day ten * EPCOT * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40332189&postcount=320) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40366014&postcount=332) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40373742&postcount=333) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40373933&postcount=334)

OCTOBER 2010
day eleven * DHS * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40429796&postcount=339) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40435854&postcount=340) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40437820&postcount=341) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40442819&postcount=346) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40443717&postcount=352) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40444536&postcount=354)
* Flashback! MNSSHP 2009 * (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40471094&postcount=357)
day twelve * MNSSHP * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40482111&postcount=362) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40482196&postcount=363) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40507690&postcount=368) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40507816&postcount=369) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40565226&postcount=376) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40613958&postcount=385) 7 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40617788&postcount=389) 8 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40617830&postcount=390) 9 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40630517&postcount=396)
day 12 1/2 * ASMu * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40646847&postcount=398) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40646910&postcount=399)
day thirteen * MK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40684235&postcount=405) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40684302&postcount=406) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40698193&postcount=414) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40698290&postcount=415) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40706069&postcount=419) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40706139&postcount=420)

NOVEMBER 2010
day fourteen * MK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40749832&postcount=432) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40749843&postcount=433) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40765893&postcount=439) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40841566&postcount=464) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40841619&postcount=465) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40893799&postcount=479) 7 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40893846&postcount=480) 8 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40920408&postcount=482) 9 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40920446&postcount=483) *video* (http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m527/journey613/ridingwithalice/th_3135bb2c.jpg)

DECEMBER 2010
day fifteen * MK-AK-DHS * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40943697&postcount=488) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40943723&postcount=489) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40963473&postcount=494) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40963632&postcount=495) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40993074&postcount=500) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40993138&postcount=501) 7 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41007098&postcount=502) 8 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41007618&postcount=503) 9 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41022940&postcount=507) 10 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41022989&postcount=508) 11 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41023017&postcount=509)
day sixteen * MK-EPCOT * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41103849&postcount=521) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41103880&postcount=522) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41103903&postcount=523) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41261604&postcount=530) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41281692&postcount=539) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41295787&postcount=544) 7 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41303447&postcount=550)
day seventeen * MK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41373237&postcount=565) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41373377&postcount=566) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41393290&postcount=571) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41394450&postcount=572) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41398470&postcount=573)


JANUARY 2011
day eighteen * DHS * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41435632&postcount=580) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41435678&postcount=581) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41565948&postcount=591) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41575606&postcount=598) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41592243&postcount=604) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41605662&postcount=609)
day nineteen * AK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41639352&postcount=616) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41639513&postcount=617) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41652194&postcount=622) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41673570&postcount=628) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41673708&postcount=629)

FEBRUARY 2011
day twenty * MK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41719480&postcount=634) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41773655&postcount=641) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41839576&postcount=646) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41839603&postcount=647)
day twenty-one * MK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41896946&postcount=661) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41911259&postcount=666) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41951151&postcount=672)
day twenty-two * MK * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42061203&postcount=693) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42092842&postcount=701) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42106817&postcount=705)

What I Forgot To Remember. (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42123438&postcount=712)

MARCH 2011
day twenty-three * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42203522&postcount=729) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42216675&postcount=734) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42266355&postcount=744)
day twenty-four * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42279510&postcount=750) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42292641&postcount=756) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42327786&postcount=767) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42336078&postcount=776) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42336243&postcount=777)
day twenty-five * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42422867&postcount=791) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42422986&postcount=792) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42466124&postcount=803) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42490366&postcount=808) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42512121&postcount=816) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42512316&postcount=817)
day twenty-six * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42542526&postcount=823) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42583047&postcount=828) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42611743&postcount=833) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42718044&postcount=843)
day twenty-seven * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42740976&postcount=849) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42744256&postcount=853) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42744301&postcount=854) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42818871&postcount=861) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42889322&postcount=866)
day twenty-eight * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42894689&postcount=870) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42904154&postcount=874) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42904259&postcount=875) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42904388&postcount=876)
day twenty-nine * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42940180&postcount=877) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42940229&postcount=878) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43011640&postcount=904) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43011660&postcount=905)
day thirty * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43080637&postcount=915) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43080663&postcount=916) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43159483&postcount=922) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43171146&postcount=925) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43171203&postcount=926)

APRIL 2011
day thirty-one * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43235830&postcount=938) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43262832&postcount=945) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43266110&postcount=948) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43266213&postcount=949) * Sneak Peek (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40799279&postcount=456) *

MAY 2011
day thirty-two * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43363361&postcount=959) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43363677&postcount=960)
day thirty-three * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43377299&postcount=965) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43377377&postcount=966) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43387329&postcount=972) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43387534&postcount=973)
day thirty-four * 1 (www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43399622&postcount=976) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43404489&postcount=981) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43407197&postcount=982) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43415398&postcount=989)
day thirty-five * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43482432&postcount=1001) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43524385&postcount=1009) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43540731&postcount=1012) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43540898&postcount=1014) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43547686&postcount=1018)

JUNE 2011
day thirty-six * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43560358&postcount=1022) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43561289&postcount=1023) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43577108&postcount=1028)
day thirty-seven * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43602705&postcount=1032) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43637483&postcount=1038)
day thirty- eight * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43644451&postcount=1042) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43688592&postcount=1045) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43703283&postcount=1049) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43744236&postcount=1052) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43773089&postcount=1062)

JULY 2011
day thirty-nine * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43849733&postcount=1071) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43868851&postcount=1074) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43879569&postcount=1077) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43883661&postcount=1078)
day forty * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44033015&postcount=1087) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44052745&postcount=1098) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44052879&postcount=1099) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44062341&postcount=1106) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44078337&postcount=1114) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44081476&postcount=1119) 7 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44089109&postcount=1123) 8 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44092514&postcount=1128)

Happy Valentine's Day! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44033104&postcount=1088)

Wanna know a secret..? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44147972&postcount=1140)


BONUS!! A "mini" Adventure of Andy-Roo & Blakers..
*December 2011*
day one * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44289603&postcount=1158) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44305791&postcount=1164)
day two * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44612290&postcount=1188) 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44623100&postcount=1193) 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44642896&postcount=1197) 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44681169&postcount=1207) 5 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44741702&postcount=1209) 6 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44798042&postcount=1219)
day three * 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44816083&postcount=1224)

:wave:

[AprilRenee]

Yay! K...now I kinda look like a creeper! But I'm so excited that you're doing another report. Yours was/is my favorite to read..well, maybe it's tied with Riglee's. Either way, yay for another year!

[jc040404]

Once upon the last day of a golden summer..


Or maybe it was dinner time on a hot and humid Monday in July? My little family was at the table chatting about the day’s events and our plans to go to DTD the next to shop. We didn’t have APs and they weren’t in the plans again until October. The boys were sad about no park time, but I continued to chatter on about all the fun stuff we could still do at Disney without them. I’d even made an ADR for ‘Ohana. We’d cancelled so many attempts there in the last year.

Then my wonderful husband said the words everyone wanted to hear..

“Why don’t you just go ahead and buy the annual passes now?”

“You can’t be serious..”

I thought he was kidding. The boys burst into cheers and I wished he hadn’t said that in front of them. We all wanted to get back to Disney, but there was a plan. We’d talked it out before and agreed that waiting would be best for our schedules right now.

“You want to go. The boys want to go. Why wait? We’d have the next day free to recover.”

Getting them now was silly though. We’d already broken our plan not to get APs at all. We were supposed to be doing Universal and Sea World instead. We couldn’t toss another plan and get them just yet. John always wants to give me what I want though, so it was up to me to be the adult and be reasonable. Disney wasn’t going anywhere, but I did really want to go back. The boys made it pretty clear that they now wanted to go to MK instead of DTD, too.

“Let’s just get APs now and do MK tomorrow,” he said with that smile. It said that he wanted to go to a park now, too.

I kept trying to talk it out, and he just kept telling me that it was now 100% my choice. Ugh. This is supposed to be a team thing. I didn’t like having final say and being the one to crush the boys if I decided against this. I still hadn’t made up my mind when we finished clearing the dishes. John got the boys’ shoes on their feet and said he’d take them for a walk to let me think about it. They gave me those big puppy eyes and smooches before going out the door.

With a quiet house and visions of the Magic Kingdom dancing in my head, I sat down at my desk to think. Maybe that wasn’t the best spot to make such a decision. It was covered in Disney with my last book of notes, old unused fastpasses, park maps, and DISboards left up on my screen. In less time than it would’ve taken a pizza to get to our door, I was printing out our AP eCertificates. We’ve never been very good at plans. Someday I’ll realize this.

With some more exploring of Disney’s website after the little guys were tucked into bed, I saw that there was AM EMH the next day for MK. This just wouldn’t do. MK is our favorite park and the boys wanted to start the year off here. Minutes later, I was taking advantage of the next two work free days and the FL Resident rate for Pop Century.

Here we go!!


And Soon... Day One - In Which The Adventures begin and we start to wonder if we've made a very large mistake..

[jc040404]

Yay! K...now I kinda look like a creeper! But I'm so excited that you're doing another report. Yours was/is my favorite to read..well, maybe it's tied with Riglee's. Either way, yay for another year!

Wow. You soo do! Just kidding! :rotfl:

I'm so glad you're here already! It's nice to know someone is following along already. :goodvibes Font okay? I wanted something different on this one. :rotfl: I started typing it up a few days ago, but couldn't make up my mind about it. Guess it's done now!

[*Meagan*]

YAYAYAYA!!!! subbing! yipppeeee! :)

[jc040404]

YAYAYAYA!!!! subbing! yipppeeee! :)

:yay:

:welcome: to our new year!

[karebear23]

I'm here! So happy you are doing another TR!!! :cool1:


I promise I will be starting one soon! Life keeps getting in the way :goodvibes!

[jen22984]

YAY!!!! I am so glad that you decided to do another one for this year! It seems like, with everything we had going on this summer, I havent heard too much about the beginning of this Disney year so I am so excited to get to follow along! Aryanna loves looking at the pictures of her "2 boy friends that ate at the umbrella store with her." And she wants to come visit again because she needs to "tell the big one with the red hair that she lost the leaves he gave her to feed the dinosaurs."

[jc040404]

I'm here! So happy you are doing another TR!!! :cool1:


I promise I will be starting one soon! Life keeps getting in the way :goodvibes!


I've been wondering what happened to you! I can't wait to read about your trip, but I totally understand the "life getting in the way" thing. Glad you jumped on with my new TR! :goodvibes

YAY!!!! I am so glad that you decided to do another one for this year! It seems like, with everything we had going on this summer, I havent heard too much about the beginning of this Disney year so I am so excited to get to follow along! Aryanna loves looking at the pictures of her "2 boy friends that ate at the umbrella store with her." And she wants to come visit again because she needs to "tell the big one with the red hair that she lost the leaves he gave her to feed the dinosaurs."

Those poor herbivores! What are they supposed to eat now?? :rotfl: He loves those dinosaurs! LOL @ the umbrella store, too! :rotfl: She's too funny.

It does seem like we haven't talked much about this year so far, but we'll catch up! You've had a big year. I do remember hopping on to send a message to you when John said to get the passes though. :rotfl: I really didn't know what to do! I am planning to hold back on my TR until yours' is done, btw. I wanna read what you write about our Epcot day together first! :lmao:

[jc040404]

The excitement and late night planning left little time for sleeping. It didn’t matter much. I don’t think I would’ve slept anyway. Thankfully, something about Disney makes it easier to run on less rest. I got up with the alarm and was ready to go before waking the boys. Andrew actually wanted to stay in bed and sleep! When I reminded him of where we were going, he jumped to his feet to get dressed. Blake would follow soon after.

In no time at all, we were watching the sunrise on that familiar journey to Disney!

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I LOVE this picture.

The drive went as well as could be expected. Blakers decided to go back to sleep, which always makes a longer ride easier. Andy-Roo, though still needing rest, refused to allow himself to drift off. There were Disney clues to be found and he wasn’t about to miss a one of them. As each passed by his window, he knew we were getting closer to our magical destination. He stayed awake and counted them all.

Blakers started to stir as we made it into the TTC. The boys hopped into their stroller and we were standing in line to get our brand new set of Walt Disney World Annual Passes by 8am. EMH was just beginning and the crowd in the area was outrageous. Thankfully, the line for tickets was mostly empty.

Our excitement kept growing as we neared the window. I presented our printed certificates and the process began. The very boring process with the very monotone CM. She didn’t seem to have jumped out of bed nearly as excited as we did. I wasn’t expecting any sort of wild fanfare for our return to the huge passholder family, but a few smiles would’ve made my morning that much brighter. I tried to ignore how she was acting. I'm sure she'd be perkier as the day went on. When she started to pass our new APs through the window, Andy-Roo went wild. He had to know who was on his pass!

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He got Goofy this time around. Before, he had been Pluto. I always call him by his AP character when I get the passes out at the turnstiles, and he was thrilled at the idea of being Goofy for a year. It suits him. John was Minnie, and I got Mickey. Andy-Roo and I poked fun at who the Minnie pass went to, but John didn’t mind at all. He laughed at Goofy’s jokes. Who wouldn’t want a cute girl like Minnie on his ticket anyway?

We were all walking on air, knowing that we would soon be stepping into MK once again. That is, until we made it out of the ticket lines. As I’d mentioned before, it was AM EMH at MK this day. On the other side of the quiet ticket lines there was a sea of offsite guests waiting to make the same journey. A CM stood guard at the entrance, checking room keys and not allowing anyone to pass without them.

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Getting our APs this time had been a faster process than expected. It was only just after 8am still. We knew we’d be waiting, but hadn’t thought this through. It makes perfect sense not to allow offsite visitors onto transportation to MK during EMH. Imagine how backed up things would be for onsite guests then! We weren’t upset over that at all. We just didn’t know what to do with ourselves now. For a short moment, we considered rushing over to Pop to get our room keys, but knew we’d not make it back until regular opening anyway.

Andrew took us into the shop and we browsed around a bit. He started a little game with Blake. Andy-Roo would hold out a plush Disney character and ask his baby brother who it was. Blakers got every one His favorite, and the one he asked to cuddle, was Winnie the Pooh.

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He was completely adorable loving and talking to Pooh bear. I really had to hold back my urge to buy it for him. If you could see the mess of stuffed toys at the foot of that child’s bed each night, you would know why he didn’t need another!

Back outside again, Andy-Roo entertained everyone with some singing and running games before we joined the crowd waiting to cross the lagoon.

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For some reason, I didn’t take any pictures of this mess, so you’ll have to imagine. We managed to find a spot in the herd closer to the side with the ferry to wait. CMs were standing guard at just about every exit, trying to keep everyone in line. There were a few tour groups mixed in and it was quite noisy. Lucky for us, our section was one of the first to open, so we moved in the mass to the ferry. It began about fifteen minutes before park opening. I thought we were in for a longer wait here when I saw that everyone was being directed this way, with no one allowed up to the monorail.

As we moved along, I held tight to John’s arm. I wasn’t about to get separated in this. I don’t do that well in really big crowds. I start feeling anxious with so many people so tight against me. You’d think I wouldn’t be such a huge WDW fan due to that, but I don’t think you really have to deal with this much if you plan things out. We just didn’t know what to expect here. I began to wonder if we should've waited afterall. It was July and today was going to be HOT. We'd be melting in about an hour. The tour groups were out with the summer crowds. It just didn't seem like things were going to end well.

As I clung to my husband’s arm, a CM started calling to me and a few others behind. We weren’t pushing the strollers, so we needed to leave our party and join the other line. I looked at how long that line was now and was suddenly terrified. There were so many people! I blurted out that I’d never see my family again and the CM glared at me. Maybe she thought I was being rude? I was really just worried! This morning wasn’t exactly going as I’d hoped. Thankfully, we were close enough to the gate and I was allowed to squeeze into the group in the regular line beside us. I am sooo thankful for those nice people!

As it often happens at Disney, most of the crowd fit on the ferry. I’m always amazed how many people they can pack into things. We’ve yet to use a Disney bus, but I’ve watched them load. It’s completely nuts to me. We were somewhere in the middle.

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In case you’ve ever wanted to know, there are more than enough life vests for the number of guests they squeeze onto the ferry. I had always wondered, so dh once asked a CM about it. :) I just forget the numbers now. I don’t see a Titanic accident happening in the Seven Seas Lagoon, but you never know!

The heat and humidity were rising when we made it through the turnstiles for the first time with our new passes. The rushing crowd began to thin a bit as we took our first few steps on that magical ground of our most favorite place in the world.

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I wanted to bottle every second. The boys were waving at each CM we passed, and talking away about what they were going to ride first. I almost wanted to cry as I realized I was now taking my first castle picture at the start of our brand new Disney adventure.

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“Cackle!” Blake squealed from the stroller.

We were back.


Coming Up!! Yay!! We're at MK again!!! So what do we do now?

[CAStevens218]

Yay I'm here! I'm so excited you started a new trip report, I enjoyed your last one!!!! Reading this will help the time pass to my December trip!!!

:thumbsup2

[AprilRenee]

Wow. You soo do! Just kidding! :rotfl:

I'm so glad you're here already! It's nice to know someone is following along already. :goodvibes Font okay? I wanted something different on this one. :rotfl: I started typing it up a few days ago, but couldn't make up my mind about it. Guess it's done now!



LOL!!! :lmao:
Font looks good to me! :thumbsup2

[jen22984]

Those poor herbivores! What are they supposed to eat now?? :rotfl: He loves those dinosaurs! LOL @ the umbrella store, too! :rotfl: She's too funny.

It does seem like we haven't talked much about this year so far, but we'll catch up! You've had a big year. I do remember hopping on to send a message to you when John said to get the passes though. :rotfl: I really didn't know what to do! I am planning to hold back on my TR until yours' is done, btw. I wanna read what you write about our Epcot day together first! :lmao:


Gosh! I took pretty good notes the whole trip EXCEPT that day! I have nothing written down in my book at all!!! I'll have to hope I took pictures, my memory is NOT as good as yours!

[jc040404]

Yay I'm here! I'm so excited you started a new trip report, I enjoyed your last one!!!! Reading this will help the time pass to my December trip!!!

:thumbsup2

Woo Hoo!! Welcome to year two! :yay::yay::yay:

Your trip is almost here! That's the first or second week of December, right? I can't wait until the Christmas stuff goes up in the parks. We missed out on so much last year, but I'm going to try to make up for it this time.

LOL!!! :lmao:
Font looks good to me! :thumbsup2

Hooray for font success! :rotfl:

Gosh! I took pretty good notes the whole trip EXCEPT that day! I have nothing written down in my book at all!!! I'll have to hope I took pictures, my memory is NOT as good as yours!

Who needs notes when you're hanging out with such an unforgettable group of people like us?? :lmao: You'll figure it out! ;)

Now get updating! The race to September 13th is officially on! :banana:

[jc040404]

Despite how much we missed the world, we found ourselves in the same issue as the month before. What do you wanna do? It was a little funny. Blake called for Pooh, so we decided to follow routine. Our journey took us straight to Fantasyland, turning right by the castle, of course. As we rounded by the Mad Tea Party, we were greeted with the sad sight of work being done on Pooh’s ride.

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Andrew's favorite girl!

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I like taking a pic of this area. It kinda tricks your mind into thinking the park is dead, when there's really just no reason to hang out here!

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John and I are debating this.. Did they cut some of Pooh's tree away? I think they did, but he says my pic angle doesn't give you enough to tell..

This was the only moment the construction and refurb work being done on the park had ever really bothered me. Before, I’ve always kept in mind how wonderful something will be when they’re finished and not thought much about it. This time was different. This was our Pooh ride, and I seemed to care more about how it looked than I previously realized. The tree had been moved when we were there last, but now the entrance was covered up and it was tough to even tell the ride was hiding behind that wall. The tarps in other areas still try to show you what is hiding behind. This is just an ugly wall! I wasn’t alone in my thoughts. My baby Blake was sad, too. :(

There wasn’t too much of a line, but we were in for more of a wait than expected. Pooh’s honey pots were having trouble and the ride was stopped for a short bit. The boys were excited and having fun so it went quickly. Off into the 100 Acre Wood, I remembered it’s what’s inside that counts. The ride was the same, even if it looked icky outside. When my sweet little men both shouted “Hooray!” at the end, I knew this day would only get better.

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I try to take a picture of this EVERY single time we ride Pooh now. Expect to see it a lot. Haha..

The boys loaded into the stroller again after our ride and we headed to the PPF FP machine. We got a 10:30 return time, which wasn’t too bad considering the AM EMH, if you ask me! Blake had been such a huge IASW fan in the last Disney year, so we had to run in that direction next.

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The right side was roped off.

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I was so excited to watch my baby sing and dance along with the dolls on his favorite ride again. He broke my heart instead. I think my little man is starting to grow up. IASW was still fun, but he wasn’t as into it as he’d been before. No dancing. No silly copying the dolls’ movements. Nothin. He just watched. He did still point out "mommy's doll" at the end.

Blakers did start to get excited when our boat neared the end. Our timing was good again and we got to watch the clock open just above us! Hooray! He smiled and pointed.

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And now you know what time it is and how little we’ve accomplished so far Hahahaha!

The heat was getting rough already and we needed water refills again. You’ll never guess where we went! CHH isn’t serving until 10:30, but you can go in and get cups of ice water earlier. This is where we were going next. On the way, Andy-Roo had a bit of a meltdown. We were all starting to suffer his decision not to rest on the drive to WDW. After some water, a snack, and a little talk, he opted to sit and cool off with Daddy for a bit. Blake and I were on to the Haunted Mansion!

We were the last allowed in before the doors closed and moved to the stretching room. Blakers did his usual scream when the lights when out. I was laughing so much! He’s not scared at all. He still just thinks this is what you’re supposed to do in there. It’s so cute!

We moved on and hopped into our doom buggy. I always read about little ones being afraid of this ride, and my older child is one of them at times. Blakers is on the other side and is a huge Haunted Mansion fan now! I love riding this with him. The only moment that bothered him was when we started going down backwards. He tries to fight it and hold himself up, instead of just resting back like I show him. As soon as we were down and he saw the dog in the graveyard, he was barking at it and smiling again.

We got stuck for a few minutes in the cemetery at the end. I think we always end up pausing in there. I don’t like the heads that keep popping up. They just don’t seem to fit the ride in my mind. Too cheesy or something?

A hitch hiking ghost along with us, we joined a much happier Andy-Roo outside. He asked if we could stay “just a little bit longer” before checking in at Pop. We agreed to stick around until lunch, but then it was definitely nap time!

Still too early for food, we looked for an indoor activity to fill the time. It was so icky out now and we wanted to stay out of the sun if we could. I gave Andrew his choices. Hall of Presidents or Country Bears? It was a tough decision for him.

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Hooray for the Country Bears! It’s such a silly show, but we love it. Blake was really enjoying it and quietly watched everything. Andrew wasn’t paying attention to much. Why? He said he was trying to figure out how all this worked. He kept staring at the ceiling and commenting on everything. I’m glad he was whispering. He kept asking if we could go upstairs? He wanted to know where the bear in the ceiling went when they pull it back up. Blakers wasn’t so good at keeping his voice low. All of a sudden, he made a big announcement to everyone around us.

“I poop!”

Eek. My children do so love to embarrass mommy! No wonder he was so quiet though, right? Haha.. Lucky for me, the show was at the end so I didn’t have to run out in the middle and make more of a show of us. Blake gets these things backwards, but he still needed a change.

Back outside, I took the boys to the rest room while John made a BTMRR FP run. We had no plans to stay long enough to use them, but wanted a set for when we came back later. When we were all back together, it was lunch time!

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For a moment, I wasn't sure which child this was!

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We ate at CHH, of course. Did you expect anything else? The only difference this time is you’re going to see what we got! Crazy, huh? I have made an effort to take some food pics now and then this time around! I'm only bothering when we do TS mostly and I get brave enough.

Andrew got the kids’ mixed greens with grapes, a cookie and Mickey millk. This is his favorite thing on the menu here and it actually makes a pretty decent little salad when you get it out of the little cup. By the time he's through with this, he usually doesn't want the cookie!

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John always gets the same things here. Clam Chowder. He’s from New England and loves this icky stuff. He says it’s really not too bad at CHH. The second part of his routine is coffee. Yes, you read that right. Even in this brutal heat, my husband drinks coffee. :rolleyes:

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Blakers and I aren’t always so predictable. He went with the kids’ mac & cheese this time. I’ve stolen a bite now and then when testing the temp. It isn’t bad. It is way too much for him to eat though. He wouldn't touch the apple sauce.

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For me, fried yumminess. The fish basket. This tastes so much better than it looks and might help explain why I’ve gained so much weight with our increase in Disney visits...

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We were eating just before eleven and CHH was packed. Check out our fellow diners!

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Okay, so maybe no one else got up as early as we did! It did mean our food was super hot and fresh.

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I think he was watching BTMRR from this window.

When lunch was cleaned up, we planned to be head out to check in at Pop for naps. When have we ever managed to stick with a plan though? We decided to use up those PPF FPs before leaving, just in case we didn’t actually come back to MK later.

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FP master! He loves being in charge of handing these over!

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The standby wait time was at 40 minutes now, so we were thankful for the FP. We’d just missed our return time, but that’s never an issue of course. We were flying over Neverland in no time! We split up on this one. John usually takes Blakers because Andy-Roo always wants to ride this with me. Peter Pan is big in our house and they both love every minute of this!

When we had almost neared the end, the ride came to a very sudden stop. I was preparing to get out, so it tossed me into the bar. Ouch! The CM beside us just gave me a funny look. Andrew asked if I was okay. I think I survived. ;) It started in a second or two and we were able to exit. John and Blakers weren’t so lucky. The ride stopped again and they were stuck!

...next post...

[jc040404]

They weren't stuck very long, but PPF seemed to be having some weird moments today! I wish we'd gotten stuck in the nursery if they were going to do this! We always get stuck in the most boring parts of a ride. :sad1: I'm still waiting to be walked off something!

When our family was in one piece again, it was officially time to head out of the park and get checked in. The heat was bad and the crowds were getting worse. IASW was up to twenty minutes already! I think that says a lot.

If you were at the stroller parking on that end of Fantasyland, which direction would you go to leave MK? If you’re my husband, you somehow end up beside POTC! Hmm.. It isn’t that he doesn’t know his way around the parks by now. He could probably have you out of that park faster than most, but somebody must’ve been in the mood for another ride before leaving. I thought it was kinda cute and didn’t comment when I realized where we were really going.

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POTC is getting to be so much fun as Blake has gotten older. He absolutely loves this thing! He’ll sing along..

“Ho-ho! Ho-ho! Pirate life meeee!!”

Maybe Santa likes pirates too? We’re working on the lyrics. ;)

We’re really leaving now. Off to the front of the park, the ferry vs monorail battle was back! It was icky sticky hot, so John didn't want to push the monster stroller up to the monorail. I said I'd do and grabbed it away. We were taking the express monorail to the TTC.

I started off running up the ramp since everyone else was at the top already. Wow. I can see why John doesn't like the monorail ramps with this stroller! We're starting to skip the double and let Andy-Roo walk more now.

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We almost never take the Express over the resort monorail. The other is faster, IMO. Also, we always get stuck on the Express! Nearly every chance we’ve tried it, they’ve had to shut it down for “one minute” as soon as we board. It says one minute, but it’s never only one minute. This day was no different. John said we should’ve raced again. The ferry definitely would’ve beaten Team Monorail this time! He thinks he’s a funny guy. We did have fun waiting. Blake was being silly and playing a clapping game during most of it. Since we were alone in this section of the monorail, Andrew changed his seat dozens of times before deciding to stand. They were both in goofy moods.

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Twenty minutes later, we made it back to the TTC! On the walk back to the car, the tron-o-rail went by! I love to call out “tronorail!” when I see it. Andy-Roo is quick to correct me.

“It’s the TRON Monorail, Mommy!”

He’s no fun. :rolleyes:

Next Up!! Will Andy-Roo get his “Forties” request at Pop Century?? :lmao:

[CAStevens218]

I just got home from work and was excited to see your update! Your boys are so adorable!!! It sounds like a great first half of the day at MK!!

All of your talk about CHH has created a neeeeeed for me to try it on my upcoming trip! It is definitely in the plans!!!!! Do you have a favorite meal there?? (Also, I'm with your husband...:thumbsup2:thumbsup2 for New England Clam Chowder, from a New England girl!!!).

[snowmanlover]

Jessica ~ I am so glad you decided to write another trip report!! :dance3:

Never stayed at the Poly, it's DH's dream to stay there someday though! I sure hope his dream comes true!! :rolleyes1 We have stayed at Wilderness Lodge twice and really liked it! It was nice taking the boat instead of buses all the time, but the buses were not crowded and came often! That was in 2001 and 2003. We've also stayed at POFQ, POR and ASM.

Love all your pictures! :worship: Like your DH, my MIL drinks coffee no matter the temperature!

Next time your family needs to get to CHH earlier to miss the crowds!! :laughing:

I'll be around when I can to read your trip report! I'm busy packing for our move to OH! :scared:

[Dugette]

:yay::yay::yay: for another Year of Disney trip report! I'm so glad we get to see the boys grow up some more. Love the sunrise pic...beautiful! With the ride breakdowns you had that first morning, you'd almost think we were there to break the rides! ;) I can't wait to hear how the rest of your year unfolds! And the Poly...:cloud9:

[jc040404]

I just got home from work and was excited to see your update! Your boys are so adorable!!! It sounds like a great first half of the day at MK!!

All of your talk about CHH has created a neeeeeed for me to try it on my upcoming trip! It is definitely in the plans!!!!! Do you have a favorite meal there?? (Also, I'm with your husband...:thumbsup2:thumbsup2 for New England Clam Chowder, from a New England girl!!!).

To be honest, I do really love that fish basket! When it's fresh anyway. I'll get odd cravings for it out of nowhere sometimes, even though I should be cutting back on the bad-for-you stuff. :rolleyes: I could go for some right now, at 1am.. Wow, I stay up way too late sometimes..

Jessica ~ I am so glad you decided to write another trip report!! :dance3:

Never stayed at the Poly, it's DH's dream to stay there someday though! I sure hope his dream comes true!! :rolleyes1 We have stayed at Wilderness Lodge twice and really liked it! It was nice taking the boat instead of buses all the time, but the buses were not crowded and came often! That was in 2001 and 2003. We've also stayed at POFQ, POR and ASM.

Love all your pictures! :worship: Like your DH, my MIL drinks coffee no matter the temperature!

Next time your family needs to get to CHH earlier to miss the crowds!! :laughing:

I'll be around when I can to read your trip report! I'm busy packing for our move to OH! :scared:

I don't know what will happen with the Deluxe thing. I reeeeeally wanna try some "nicer" resorts, but I am soo cheap. err..frugal? I have such a tough time with spending so much on a room and always think in terms of how many days that would be at a lesser place. We really loved CBR though. I hope I justify a deluxe, but if not, that mod isn't bad. The boys just want to stay at the values!

Glad you're still following along! Have fun with that move. Where in Ohio are you going?


:yay::yay::yay: for another Year of Disney trip report! I'm so glad we get to see the boys grow up some more. Love the sunrise pic...beautiful! With the ride breakdowns you had that first morning, you'd almost think we were there to break the rides! ;) I can't wait to hear how the rest of your year unfolds! And the Poly...:cloud9:

Hmmm.. Now that you mention it.. Are you sure you guys weren't hanging around WDW at the end of July?? I just checked your dates in your siggy over to be sure. :rotfl: We were having the worst luck with stuff that day!!

Welcome to year two!!

[jc040404]

Finally off the monorail and in the car, we started the short drive to check in at Pop! The conversation went like this..

“Mommy, did you request anywhere this time.”

“Nope. Why?”

“I want to stay in the forties!”

“Andrew, there aren’t any 40's buildings.”

“Yes, there is! I’m going to ask for the Forties this time!”

Okay, Andrew. You do that. I decided it wasn’t worth going on about, but saw some trouble in our future over this request.

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We're baaaacckkk!!

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For some odd reason, that is Andrew’s favorite Pop sign. He made me take a pic!

We parked the car and the boys were ready to run. Blake just wanted some freedom, but Andy-Roo was still stuck on this forties thing. He had to find a CM and get his request in. “Before they put us somewhere yucky, like the seventies!” Silly boy. I kinda liked the seventies buildings!

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As you can sorta see in the pic, we were in for a teeny bit of a wait. I hadn’t done online check in this time. I hadn’t put much into this stay at all really. We hopped in the line to wait our turn. Blake loves the sparkling floor at Pop, so the wait is always fun here. Andrew kept his eyes open for a CM until he finally found one.

I’m not sure what exactly they’re doing, but there’s almost always a CM wandering around the line. They’ve checked us out before when I didn’t realize you could add a card for check out purposes only and not charging. This is who Andrew was now chatting with. He told her right away that he really wanted to stay in the 40's!

This CM was good. It didn’t trip her up at all. She simply apologized to Andrew by telling him that they were no longer going to finish the Legendary Years and there wasn’t going to be a 40's building at all. No tears. No attempt to argue. He believed what she said and went with it. I was slightly annoyed that he believed her and not me. :rolleyes: I suppose this is how children work though. However, he did say he was “very sad to hear this.” (Where do they pick this stuff up?) She told him not to worry. She would find something awesome for us instead.

Our turn in line came next, but we were asked to wait one moment. She went up to whisper something to the CM who would be taking care of us. Hmmm.. I was wondering what my silly Andy-Roo had gotten us into this time!

And then we got the once in a lifetime chance to spend the night in Cinderella’s castle!! :banana::banana::banana:


Did you believe that? I didn’t think so. How about this? She made our stay “awesome” by requesting that we be put in the Sixties buildings so we would be closest to the best pool, Classic Hall, and the buses. ;)

If you read my last TR, you know that we aren’t fans of the sixties buildings at all. We drive, and this is as far as you can get from your car! Pop isn’t as big as they like to make it seem on here, so walking from any part of the resort to Classic Hall isn’t much of a journey to us. The parking lot from the Sixties is the only walk that gets annoying. I’d really have preferred somewhere else. Andrew found this amazing though. They picked the best building just for him! We had to stick with it.

The CM getting us checked in was so much fun. I don’t remember his name, but I had such a great time. It might’ve been in part because of the accent. I admit it. I am such a sucker for certain accents, and he had one of ‘em! He poked fun at my signature being so big and dared me to try to sign my room key. I did. We all laughed and then another CM jumped in to say that he didn’t really have to make guests sign their cards. Fun over. My husband made a point to laugh at me over it later.

We said goodbye to sexy accent Pop Century guy and went in search of our room. We were going to be sleeping in #4339, on an icky side of the Play Doh building. The room really sucked. I think it was third floor, which meant an elevator journey. No work had been done on this section of Pop yet, so it was an old room. :( It was also facing a bunch of trees and another side of the same building. I’m glad we were only there for the night. Being stuck back here for any length of time would’ve just been depressing!

Did the boys care about any of this? Of course not! They were thrilled to be staying the night at Disney and rushed in to start the most important part of staying at a Disney resort...

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It was time for Stacy! Or Stacey! Or Staci? I don’t know how you spell her name correctly. I really think they race to see who can get the television on first sometimes.

Blake was occupied with Disney advertising, so John and Andy-Roo went on the long journey to grab our bags from the car. I started cleaning and inspecting our room.

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Everything looked great. I’m more than a little paranoid about bed bugs and general ickiness when we’re away from home. It was nice to relax about that part.

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This is my horror movie moment. I’m always kinda terrified to pull the shower curtain away at first! I do it really quick, as if I’ll scare the bad guy maybe? It’s like a bandage, I suppose. Just pull it fast and get it over with. Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen.

No one was hiding. No scary mangled bodies. It wasn’t full of snakes or spiders either. Nothing. The bathroom was very clean. Then I peaked behind the door..

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Hmm.. What is this?? :eek:

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Perhaps a horror movie did play out in this bathroom? It was at the same level as the door handle, so it was obvious how it happened. However, whoever did this put some work into it. I tried pushing the door back to see how hard you’d need to shove it to bust through the wall. Scary. I decided I better make a call so we didn’t get blamed for it!

On the phone, I was simply told not to worry about it. Thanks for calling. Have a magical day!

Huh? That was it?? :confused3 They didn't want to see? No details needed? Maybe she didn't hear the words "big hole in the bathroom wall" when I said it?

John and Andrew walked in as I put the phone down. Andrew was carrying something that threw me off and I didn’t mention the wall at first. He had a small towel animal bear. It was pretty cute, but I had to ask where it came from. I could totally see him grabbing it without John noticing!

Andrew wasn’t a thief. On the journey back to the room, they had passed a mousekeeper. In true Andrew form, he had to call out to her.

“You’re doing a great job!”

John told me how her face had lit up at those words and she dropped everything to talk to Andrew a bit. He must’ve made her day. She gave him that little bear and told him to keep it forever for being such a wonderful little boy. Andrew amazes me.

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Yes, he did bring this one home with us. It’s still sitting on top of his little book shelf in his room.

With the towel animal explained, I told John about our fun in the room. He said he’d call about it again and soon we were waiting for someone to come look at the room. Thankfully, they didn’t take long to show up.

After looking at the wall, this CM said it was pretty bad but common. He has to fix stuff like this all the time, but whoever did this did a great job at it. It was too deep for his easy fix and asked if we’d like another room. We opted to just stay here. It wasn’t that big of a deal. The CM seemed to be hoping we'd stay, too. It would've been a hassle for all to move now over something so small. We just didn’t want to end up paying for it!

Everyone was finally ready to settle down for a break when I realized we’d never bothered to request bed rails for Blakers. Oops! Instead of another long wait before naps, we improvised a bit. I'd nap with Blake instead of the boys sharing a bed. Some pillows, the chairs, the stroller and our bags..It was a work of art really. :rotfl: Blake never falls out of bed anyway and it would work for nap time.We’d get the bed rail by the night. When he’s sharing a bed with me, there’s usually about ten feet of free space on the other side of him anyways. :lmao: The boy likes to cuddle with mommy! He wouldn’t come close to any of it. It was fine and we were all more than ready to finally get a little break!


Next Up!! The rest of the day is problem free! Okay, so it gets worse.. waaayyyy worse..

[jen22984]

That little bear is so cute! Andrew is always so polite!

I know the feeling about the bed rails! We had no idea you could get bed rails last year so I was so worried that Aryanna would fall out of bed in the middle of the night. McKenna slept in the pack n play last year though so I dindt have to worry about her. Luckily, you mentioned them in your last TR and I remembered to request them last trip!

I cant wait to hear about what happens next!

[jc040404]

That little bear is so cute! Andrew is always so polite!

I know the feeling about the bed rails! We had no idea you could get bed rails last year so I was so worried that Aryanna would fall out of bed in the middle of the night. McKenna slept in the pack n play last year though so I dindt have to worry about her. Luckily, you mentioned them in your last TR and I remembered to request them last trip!

I cant wait to hear about what happens next!

Andrew makes me wonder. Is he really just a polite and sweet little boy, or is he playing the entire world? Everyone falls instantly in love with him. He can get groups of strangers to stop and listen to him wherever we go. It's completely insane.

Yay for my TR showing you to ask for bedrails! I feel like I have a purpose now. I've helped someone else's Disney experience. :rotfl: To be honest, I only learned about 'em from reading DISboards when I was planning Andy-Roo's first birthday trip!

You kinda know what happens next.. A certain MK restaurant experience and a woman that shares a name with one of my mother's sisters.. (I won't be posting her name on here though!)

[onescgirl]

Hi, I'm in! I'm trying to get caught up reading your 1st TR (I think I'm on day 4 or 5?) then I'll start on this one! It's my nighttime ritual to read the TR's every night. :)

First, your family is beautiful, what cute boys!

The 1st haircut pictures are priceless! I'm hoping as I'm reading your 1st TR that your DH finally found his wallet. I'll see!

[jc040404]

Our nap was short, but everyone woke up with a lot more energy. We decided it was time to start thinking about finding some dinner. I hadn’t made an ADR for anything, but we wanted a TS meal somewhere. Can you get a same day dinner ADR in a park in the middle of summer? We were about to find out!

We started packing up the stroller and getting our things together while Andrew did something very important.

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He wrote his name on the back of his AP. He was so proud of this! We were at the stage of his learning to write where he was beginning to mix capital and lower case letters.

Rather than call Dining from the room, we were going to do some Pop exploring and check it out in Classic Hall. I took a bunch of pictures along the way!

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Blake started another towel animal safari as we walked around the building..

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In all of our Pop stays, can you believe we’ve never actually walked across that bridge?

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I like how these two watch over the pool.

When we made it to the ground, something new was spotted!

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Hooray for recycling at Pop! These hadn’t been around the month before and we were pretty excited over it.

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Because this is where we were sleeping.

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Wow. It look like that child is posing for my picture. I didn't even see him until I started this update!

We finally made it to the lobby and got in line for the concierge. Our turn came and a happy CM greeted us. When I said we just wanted to check for a dinner ADR somewhere at MK, his super huge smile got even bigger.

“Dining is my specialty!”

I looked at his name tag. He was Alfredo and food was his thing. He suggested Tony’s when I said we were looking for dinner at MK. Wow. I had such a rough time not making a joke in that moment. I asked for something at The Plaza. We’d never tried that one before and thought something new would be fun. Lucky us, he found something in seconds and we left with less than an hour to be to dinner. Who says you have to plan your meals 180 days ahead!! Haha..

Saying goodbye to Alfredo, we were once again back in our car and on the way to MK!

Ferry beats monorail this time!!

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Inside the park, we headed straight to The Plaza to check in and wait.

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The castle stage show was going on when we first arrived, so we were able to catch a bit of it from far off. It made things fun for the boys. They love that Peter Pan has such a part in it!

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Blakers thought it was a phone. ;)

While we waited, CMs from inside The Plaza kept gathering around the podium outside to complain about all the guests they’d seen today. This was interesting but sooo inappropriate. I had trouble believing what my ears were hearing! If I’d only known what was to come..

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The “Move it! Shake it! Celebrate it!” fun came dancing down Main Street after a bit, so I picked up Blakers to watch. Then we were finally called back in. Did you notice the couple in the background of my pictures? They had been there much longer than us and had to sit even longer for their table. I felt kinda bad that we were brought in first!

Inside, we were about to have the most interesting dining experience in all of our Disney visits I am not going to share our server’s name. She never introduced herself to us at all, but I’ll never forget it. This woman was clearly having a rough day and we were about to pay for every horrible moment she’d had so far.

Next Up!! A note about this year's TR.. and then Dinner!

[jc040404]

Hi, I'm in! I'm trying to get caught up reading your 1st TR (I think I'm on day 4 or 5?) then I'll start on this one! It's my nighttime ritual to read the TR's every night. :)

First, your family is beautiful, what cute boys!

The 1st haircut pictures are priceless! I'm hoping as I'm reading your 1st TR that your DH finally found his wallet. I'll see!

Welcome to our story!! I have the same ritual. ;) Dh works kinda late right now, so I always find myself sitting here reading TRs when the boys get to bed. I've been loving yours'. Andrew begged me to try to make that Mickey pumpkin after I showed it to him! Maybe next year.. :rotfl:

You'll find out more about that lost wallet. It's just going to take a while to turn up! :rotfl:

[CAStevens218]

:cool1: So many updates!!

First of all, your Andrew is so sweet! I love how he told the Mousekeeping CM that she was doing a great job!

Second, I can't wait to hear about this dinner!!!!!

[*Meagan*]

Ohh man patiently waiting Im dying to hear this!!!!! (well read)

[joyfulDisneytears]

Subbing! I'm so glad you're doing another extended TR! I loved the last one, you definitely had me tearing up countless times.

You already got me once here with Blake's 'CACKLE!' screech. Ah, Disney through the eyes of a child! :cloud9:

[jc040404]

:cool1: So many updates!!

First of all, your Andrew is so sweet! I love how he told the Mousekeeping CM that she was doing a great job!

Second, I can't wait to hear about this dinner!!!!!

Ohh man patiently waiting Im dying to hear this!!!!! (well read)

Dinner should be up tomorrow. Momentarily lost my TR typin drive! :rotfl: I was on a roll for a bit though! I'm not bothering to finish whole days before posting this time around, as I'm sure you noticed. ;)

Subbing! I'm so glad you're doing another extended TR! I loved the last one, you definitely had me tearing up countless times.

You already got me once here with Blake's 'CACKLE!' screech. Ah, Disney through the eyes of a child! :cloud9:


Welcome to year two!!

Writing about some of this stuff gets me tearing up!

Isn't he sweet? I am so loving doing these Disney days and visits for them. Watching my babies take it all and have fun is the BEST part of WDW!

[jc040404]

It started as soon as we saw her. Our waitress acted bored and upset with us from the second we walked in. She looked tired and ready to pounce on the next to upset her. After all the complaining outside and finally meeting who would be taking care of us, I had a horrible feeling about this meal. A part of me wanted to turn and run.

bad stuff happened

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Check it out. Our neighbors waiting outside turned out to be our table neighbors inside, too!

We got our drinks and I tried to ignore what I’d just heard. It was back to having fun with these menu activities. I leaned in to help Andrew with something, probably a maze. This was one of the rare times he didn't insist on bringing the menu home with us so I can't check. :rotfl:

more stuff happened

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ask for manager stuff happens..

He had been kneeling by our table and stood to leave. He said he’d like to give us some FPs to help make the rest of our evening better. :headache: I now felt that he was not planning to do a thing about the waitress. Perhaps they got complaints about her all the time and didn’t care either way. I was about to refuse them when Andrew interrupted.

“Now we can ride Thunder Mountain! ”

The manager smiled and said that was exactly right. He said he'd be back in a moment and walked away. I told John I needed some air and took Blake outside to let them finish everything up without me.

Worst. Meal. EVER!

I can understand having a bad day. However, this is NEVER an excuse to treat someone this way. I’m still upset over it and we won’t be returning to The Plaza again. We just couldn’t go in there without remembering this meal.

Coming soon.. Will this day ever improve???

[jen22984]

I am soooo sorry that you had such a bad experience there! I know though, that this waitress is just how you described her! We had her for our Plaza ADR this trip too! She was the worst waitress/waiter we encountered on our entire 12 night trip!!! The only reason our meal wasnt a horrible-never to return again meal was because of the interaction we had from some of the other CMs. I hope that the rest of your day got better, I mean, it has to right? Can it get WORSE than that?

[snowmanlover]

Please, please tell me your day got better!

You and your DH sound just like DH and I!! It takes alot for me to speak up when something is not right and I'm kicking him under the table or giving me "the look"!

We all have bad days, but that waitress needs to vent somewhere else!!

Love the picture of Andrew concentrating on signing his name, so sweet!

We are moving to Ravenna. Do you know where that is? Where in OH are you from again?

Smilies for your sweet boys!

:sulley: :tigger: :dance3: :yay: :banana:

[onescgirl]

Love the teddy towel animal!
Sorry that your meal didn't go good. My kids at that age would have been very upset seeing other kids with Mickey sprinkles & they didn't get any. What a crazy waitress!

[CAStevens218]

Oh my goodness, I am devastated for you! What a horrible waitress! Out of the whole thing (which is all upsetting), the lack of sprinkles on the ice cream got me the most! I'm glad you decided to say something!

I'm sure the day will get better with a ride on BTMRR, can't wait to hear about it!

[melnbil]

Hi!! Joining in. Really enjoyed your first TR and liking this one so far. That waitress was horrible. You can disappoint me and make me angry all day long but DON'T mess with my baby. I know most parents feel this way. I hope your day got better, can't wait to see how this year turns out!!

Melody

ps Your boys are adorable

[joyfulDisneytears]

Ugh, what a terrible meal. I feel so bad for you! You have to hurry up and tell us that your day got better (I sincerely hope!)! :goodvibes

I let a lot of stuff slide when dining, or if I have to make a comment or correction of some kind I try to be super nice about it. I don't even want it to occur to somebody to mess with my food! I am constantly scolding my mom to be nice to the server...if you want your entree spit on, whatever, but I don't want that particular garnish on mine, so calm down!

Clipping you across the face with the plate though, and not even giving an apology, however insincere? Wow... I don't even know how I would handle that. I know CMs don't get paid particularly well, but how can this chick get away with that stuff? Disney is supposed to have THE best customer service anywhere.

I'm sure she's earning some *great* tips to supplement her low hourly pay acting like that (which I bet helps her mood out a lot). /sarcasm off. Self-perpetuating cycle: bad service begets poor tips begets worse service. I wonder which came first, the chicken, or the egg? :laughing:

[*Meagan*]

Oh my gosh!!!! I never speak up either when needed.. but Im sure glad you did! Man I wish you tripped her! LOL!
And Andy-roo.. that is just too sad! and frsutrating!!!!!

Im glad you spoke up. but what a witch!

[jc040404]

I am soooo sorry that you had such a bad experience there! I know though, that this waitress is just how you described her! We had her for our Plaza ADR this trip too! She was the worst waitress/waiter we encountered on our entire 12 night trip!!! The only reason our meal wasnt a horrible-never to return again meal was because of the interaction we had from some of the other CMs. I hope that the rest of your day got better, I mean, it has to right? Can it get WORSE than that?

It kinda can, but not today! ;) It’s bad, but it made me feel a bit better to know that you had similar problems with her. I didn’t like knowing you got the same waitress, but I know it wasn’t just us now. KWIM? Hope it wasn’t too bad for you and I’m glad the other CMs made it nicer!

Please, please tell me your day got better!

You and your DH sound just like DH and I!! It takes alot for me to speak up when something is not right and I'm kicking him under the table or giving me "the look"!

We all have bad days, but that waitress needs to vent somewhere else!!

Love the picture of Andrew concentrating on signing his name, so sweet!

We are moving to Ravenna. Do you know where that is? Where in OH are you from again?

Smilies for your sweet boys!

:sulley: :tigger: :dance3: :yay: :banana:

So funny about you and your dh being the same. I think most couples kinda have to have that balance or things would get crazy!

I’ve heard of Ravenna, but wasn’t sure. I googled it. ;) My little sis used to live around Akron, and I think we might’ve done band stuff up around there in high school. Nifty. I’m from straight south of there kinda, in Monroe County. It was a nice place to grow up, but there’s not really anything there now. My husband likes to tell people that I’m from Mayberry. He’s not far off! :rotfl: I've only been back up to Ohio a few times since I came down here and I doubt I'll be back anytime soon. I still have lots of family there and all, but without my mother there.. Well, I don't even want to think about it right now..

Love the teddy towel animal!
Sorry that your meal didn't go good. My kids at that age would have been very upset seeing other kids with Mickey sprinkles & they didn't get any. What a crazy waitress!

Right! Sprinkles are everything when you’re four. And MICKEY spinkles at that! What was she thinking?

Oh my goodness, I am devastated for you! What a horrible waitress! Out of the whole thing (which is all upsetting), the lack of sprinkles on the ice cream got me the most! I'm glad you decided to say something!

I'm sure the day will get better with a ride on BTMRR, can't wait to hear about it!

Me too! The ice cream really did it. I guess she thought she could get away with anything with us at that point though.

BTMRR can fix any problem for Andrew, but we didn't end up using those yellow passes on it. You'll see soon! :goodvibes

Hi!! Joining in. Really enjoyed your first TR and liking this one so far. That waitress was horrible. You can disappoint me and make me angry all day long but DON'T mess with my baby. I know most parents feel this way. I hope your day got better, can't wait to see how this year turns out!!

Melody

ps Your boys are adorable

Welcome to year two! Glad you’re following along!!

Wasn’t she? You’re so right, too. I think we all turn into momma bears when it comes to our kiddos. She picked the wrong thing to throw at us that time. His sad little face and those words broke my heart. The funny thing about it all is that he isn’t bother at all. He saw the pic up on my screen earlier and just said it would’ve been “cooler” with sprinkles. That was it. He ran off to play. Gotta love them. The whole thing still upsets me, but the little ones get over it quickly.

ps Thanks!

Ugh, what a terrible meal. I feel so bad for you! You have to hurry up and tell us that your day got better (I sincerely hope!)! :goodvibes

I let a lot of stuff slide when dining, or if I have to make a comment or correction of some kind I try to be super nice about it. I don't even want it to occur to somebody to mess with my food! I am constantly scolding my mom to be nice to the server...if you want your entree spit on, whatever, but I don't want that particular garnish on mine, so calm down!

Clipping you across the face with the plate though, and not even giving an apology, however insincere? Wow... I don't even know how I would handle that. I know CMs don't get paid particularly well, but how can this chick get away with that stuff? Disney is supposed to have THE best customer service anywhere.

I'm sure she's earning some *great* tips to supplement her low hourly pay acting like that (which I bet helps her mood out a lot). /sarcasm off. Self-perpetuating cycle: bad service begets poor tips begets worse service. I wonder which came first, the chicken, or the egg? :laughing:

Don’t even get me thinking about someone spitting in my food! That is fear #1 when we’re out and a part of why I didn’t want to say anything. I was already worried about what was going on once she made it out of the room. I tried to block that thought from my mind. Yet another reason not to go back to The Plaza. People remember us, it seems. I’d be nuts the entire time, wondering what was said when we left and how they’d mess with our stuff! :scared1:

The plate is too nuts. I really just had to convince myself it was an accident. I don’t quite see how that was possible with the way I was leaning to Andrew, but okay. I didn’t know how to react to it, and since I don’t like saying anything as it is.. Well, I was lost. :confused3 It's not really something you'd expect to happen at dinner.

I wish her well with the tips thing. You're so right. If that were the reason for her bad day, treating people like this certainly won't help things!

Disney is *supposed* to have the best customer service, but it is a business with low paid employees. I hate to say it, because I absolutely cannot handle reading negative things about my favorite place, but there’s so many unhappy folks working there. I try to ignore and cut them out of my memory, but you’ll probably notice a few this year. I planned to address this in my “TR note” that I didn’t actually do. :rotfl:



Oh my gosh!!!! I never speak up either when needed.. but Im sure glad you did! Man I wish you tripped her! LOL!
And Andy-roo.. that is just too sad! and frsutrating!!!!!

Im glad you spoke up. but what a witch!

You sound like my honey with that tripping her comment! Thinking I won't try that one though. :rotfl:

This was really rough, especially dealing with the ice cream thing, but Andrew got over it, so I'm going to let it go too. Still, no Plaza though!

[Dugette]

Thank goodness WDW has so many good places to eat that you shouldn't have any need to go back to the Plaza again. (And, really, why bother when CHH is nearby? :rotfl:)

That is one crazy meal! I can't believe that she hit you with a plate! :eek:

It reminds me of our worst waitress ever (not WDW). A place locally called Steak & Ale (closed down now, this was a few years ago). Given the name of the place, DH expected there might be some interesting Ale to try. No list at the table, so he asked the waitress. She acted like he was some demanding freak for wanting to know what kind of Ales they had. :confused3 We were seated just inside of the entrance to our section of the restaurant. So, we got to overhear all of our waitress' rude comments (including swearing) about the customers seated in our section. Apparently, she thought that if she had one foot in the hallway, no one could hear her. Either that or she just didn't care. Same thing as yours, loudly complaining about her job and her customers, etc. I think I've blocked out most of the memories (although I know she did not hit us with a plate), but I'm pretty sure we did not leave a tip for her either (and we're usually decent tippers). So, I understand!

I hope your day got better! I'm glad that the boys handled things well. Did they ever bring another one with sprinkles? Or just stick with the plain one?

[jc040404]

Thank goodness WDW has so many good places to eat that you shouldn't have any need to go back to the Plaza again. (And, really, why bother when CHH is nearby? :rotfl:)

That is one crazy meal! I can't believe that she hit you with a plate! :eek:

It reminds me of our worst waitress ever (not WDW). A place locally called Steak & Ale (closed down now, this was a few years ago). Given the name of the place, DH expected there might be some interesting Ale to try. No list at the table, so he asked the waitress. She acted like he was some demanding freak for wanting to know what kind of Ales they had. :confused3 We were seated just inside of the entrance to our section of the restaurant. So, we got to overhear all of our waitress' rude comments (including swearing) about the customers seated in our section. Apparently, she thought that if she had one foot in the hallway, no one could hear her. Either that or she just didn't care. Same thing as yours, loudly complaining about her job and her customers, etc. I think I've blocked out most of the memories (although I know she did not hit us with a plate), but I'm pretty sure we did not leave a tip for her either (and we're usually decent tippers). So, I understand!

I hope your day got better! I'm glad that the boys handled things well. Did they ever bring another one with sprinkles? Or just stick with the plain one?


That's crazy about the Steak & Ale waitress too! We've had some interesting people before, but nothing even close to this.

They didn't bring another one for him. Thinking about it now, I don't think bringing another was even brought up again after I asked for a manager. I think Andrew ate the ears off of the one he had and some of the cone while all this was going on, but that was it. Once the manager brought up those annoying FPs, I don't think he cared to eat anything else anyway.



The day does get better! I'll probably have something up tonight when the boys get to bed. :goodvibes

[jc040404]

I stood outside watching Blake run around near the Tomorrowland Terrace. He was so happy and having such a great time. As far as he was concerned, the chicken was yummy so his dinner was a success. I envied him for a moment, but was really just glad nothing bothers my baby. He doesn’t realize how lucky he is. He ran around and I chased him while we waited. It felt like we played for hours in that little area before John and Andrew joined us, even though it was only about five or ten minutes.

After buckling Blakers into the stroller, my husband put his arms around me and held me tight. I really could’ve stayed like that for the rest of the day. The stress of our mealtime adventure was melting away and I reaffirmed my commitment to having a good time at Disney. She may have succeeded in upsetting me, but that incident wasn’t going to be the focus of my MK evening! The boys weren’t so excited about the idea of standing here all night though.

“Let’s get moooooving!!”

Andrew just doesn’t appreciate these little moments. :lmao:

We made it into Tomorrowland and paused to get Buzz FPs before honoring Andrew’s request to be measured at Space Mountain again. You never know. He could’ve grown in the few weeks we’d been away, right?

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Sorry, Andy-Roo. You’ve still got a long way to go!

As Andrew came back to us to leave, I spotted a little girl in a Tinker Bell costume attempting the same measurement. She had obviously been to BBB earlier, as she was sporting one of those cute little buns on the top of her tiny head. (We’re done, but how Disney makes me wish for a little princess of my own to play dress up with!) That bun was the only thing to clear the 44 inch mark.

Her mother was so excited despite and said how she knew the little girl was tall enough now. Huh?? The father wasn’t playing this game. He said she wasn’t tall enough, and that it was only the hair. They shouldn’t try this. This went back forth a little before mom won. They walked over to the FP line, where a CM was standing guard. I told John that there was no way this little girl was going to be let on the ride, so we moved more of a distance away to see how this would play out.

Sure enough, the CM showed how Tink just wasn’t tall enough to ride yet. Her head was below the mark. That bun didn’t count. Mommy wasn’t happy about it and went round with him now. So what do you think happened next?

The CM let her get in line to ride! :confused3

I still can’t believe it. Maybe a CM closer to loading turned her away, but Mommy had intimidated this one enough that he just let her go. Unbelievable, right? This was truly the day of scary people at Disney!

We moved on and John said we should use one of the two FPs from dinner on Dumbo. The boys loved this idea, but I didn’t want to use them at all. I do really think these are given out to quiet the guest instead of fixing a real problem. It took a bit, but John finally convinced me to use it. He walked up to handicap entrance and told the CM what he had. I was staying back with the boys, so I have no clue what was said, but he and the older male CM talked forever! John came back and told us to go get in that line. The CM wasn’t going to collect the FP at all.

“Save it for something better.”

I think I’ve heard this before and I don’t know why they don’t think Dumbo is good enough to collect them. We were allowed into the little Dumbo holding area and waited one cycle before it was our turn. The boys were so excited to be in the air again!

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I took some picture of the Fantasyland construction while we were up there. I do this everytime we ride Dumbo now and will keep a separate section in my “Linky Business” post with links to all posts I make of them. It’s for my benefit, too. ;) I wanna watch how that area changes over our Disney year! I didn’t know exactly what I was taking pictures that day, so I just tried to get the whole area.

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From Dumbo, we walked over to PPF and presented our Dinner FP again. They let us through the FP line without collecting it here either. Does this sound super familiar to you? If nothing else, should you ever find yourself dealing with an unfortunate situation resulting in one of these things, you can see that Fantasyland is the best place to go with it.

We headed to Pooh’s ride next and thankfully the CM collected it this time. It is nice to skip the lines like this, especially with the insane waits of that hour. However, everytime John showed the yellow pass, I was reminded of dinner again. I just felt guilty for using them too, as if I’d done something wrong by complaining about how we were treated. It all goes back to my trouble speaking up in situations like that, I suppose. Even typing about using them, I worry that one of you super silent lurkers is sitting there thinking what awful people we are.

Back on topic!!

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Blake’s new waiting in line spot.

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Pooh’s tree.

The ride was so much fun. It always is. I always tried to get a decent shot of Eeyore at the beginning for Blakers and think I managed an okay one this time, too.

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“Hooray!” I warned you.

When we were back to the stroller after riding Pooh, Andy-Roo was furious. He said he was very, very, VERY upset with us. That man at dinner had said that yellow pass could be for BTMRR and we just wasted it on "three stupid rides." Keep in mind that Andrew had laughed, smiled, agreed with, and completely enjoyed every minute of what we’d been doing up until that point. John reminded him that he’d been given two of these special passes, not that it mattered anyway. We still had a set of FPs from that morning for BTMRR. We had to go that direction next.

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my pic makes his face look so red

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Andrew is so much fun on this ride. Near the end of our last year, we had cut back riding this for a bit because he was always trying to hide behind me. He saw another child crying over how scary it was and somehow got that stuck in his own head. He’d never been afraid of this until then. It’s about the same story as Haunted Mansion. I was thrilled to see that this wasn’t going to be going on anymore so we could ride again and have fun!

John used the time we were on BTMRR to change Blakers and refill our waters again. It was so hot and we were going through so much water that day. We just get the free cups of ice water at CS spots. We all met up at the exit and headed back to Fantasyland to ride IASW for Blake. Maybe he’d be into it now?

Set up was already going on for the 9:00pm MSEP at the time, so we hurried back to FL. We really try to avoid this area of the park during parades. You get stuck back by Splash and BTMRR with really no place to go. It gets nasty. VERY nasty. All the late comers and rudeness while waiting for parades is nothing compared to what can happen back here to trapped parade skippers. Just wait..:sad2: We made it back to FL around nine and were soon in line for our most interesting ride on IASW yet!

Next Up!! TR Note (for real this time!) & see if you can figure out what's different about IASW before our boat did!

[onescgirl]

awwww, that's so sweet about JOhn's hug after your meal. I alwasy say a :hug: cures everything!

You just need to buy Andrew a wig to put on him when getting measured for SM!

[jc040404]

awwww, that's so sweet about JOhn's hug after your meal. I alwasy say a :hug: cures everything!

You just need to buy Andrew a wig to put on him when getting measured for SM!

That is too funny about the wig! :rotfl: Mainly because he had a similar suggestion.. I hate giving away what happens in future Disney visits though, so I'll hush about it for now. ;)

[eeyore7360nc]

Just finished reading your first trip report in one sitting. Your little men are too cute. Last year was my first with an annual pass but it did not get nearly as much use as yours. Something about driving for 11 hours or paying for airfare kind of cuts down on the number of "use days".:rotfl:

[Dugette]

I hope Andrew grows enough to try Space Mountain soon! Blake sure looks like he was enjoying Dumbo! I love that you are getting pictures over the construction wall! I was thinking we might have to ride Dumbo just to take a peak over there! Andrew's smart for liking BTMRR...still one of my very favorites! :thumbsup2

[CAStevens218]

Don't feel guilty for using those fast passes!! Although you are right, they are clearly just a way to try to distract you from the true problem (the waitress in this case), you did nothing wrong!

I love that you are taking pictures of the Fantasy Land construction! It will be so cool to see the progress!!!

[GaRain]

Wow, I bet yáll will never stray from the CHH again.
Oh, but you are so much better than me!
If that plate had hit my head, oh it would be ON like Donkey Kong.
She and I would have had words....there is no reason for your attitude to bring down my day! Manager, here now....:headache:
But things look like they improved, even if you wasted your FP's on 3 dumb rides - LOL! :rolleyes1

[jc040404]

Just finished reading your first trip report in one sitting. Your little men are too cute. Last year was my first with an annual pass but it did not get nearly as much use as yours. Something about driving for 11 hours or paying for airfare kind of cuts down on the number of "use days".:rotfl:

I think being eleven hours away would've cut down on our "use days" too! That's a bit far for our day trips! :rotfl:

I can't believe you read that in one sitting. I've tried to read it over a couple times and never make it very far. I did see that my links are a bit of a mess in the beginning. (day six or seven? and I totally forgot to link the day jen22984 and I met up! Oops!) Thanks for the sweet comment on my babies!

I hope Andrew grows enough to try Space Mountain soon! Blake sure looks like he was enjoying Dumbo! I love that you are getting pictures over the construction wall! I was thinking we might have to ride Dumbo just to take a peak over there! Andrew's smart for liking BTMRR...still one of my very favorites! :thumbsup2

I have a feeling he may not make it to Space Mountain for a long while unless he hits a big growth spurt. He's been stuck around 42 inches for ages! In Disney measuring weirdness, he does seem closer to 44 at EE than at SM! :rotfl:

Hope you take a ride on Dumbo! I read that they put trees up around there now though. I really hope it doesn't cut down on the view too much!

Don't feel guilty for using those fast passes!! Although you are right, they are clearly just a way to try to distract you from the true problem (the waitress in this case), you did nothing wrong!

I love that you are taking pictures of the Fantasy Land construction! It will be so cool to see the progress!!!

Blah. I feel guilty over everything! :rolleyes:

I think it'll be fun to watch it change back there. I need to get some of these pics printed and make a flip book or something. :rotfl: I think it would be nifty anyway!


Wow, I bet yáll will never stray from the CHH again.
Oh, but you are so much better than me!
If that plate had hit my head, oh it would be ON like Donkey Kong.
She and I would have had words....there is no reason for your attitude to bring down my day! Manager, here now....:headache:
But things look like they improved, even if you wasted your FP's on 3 dumb rides - LOL! :rolleyes1

:lmao: Believe it or not, but we'll be doing TS at MK on the next visit, too! It's went sooo much better than this, but still.. We should stick with CHH for sure!

[jc040404]

IASW turned out to be a very nifty experience this night. When we made it into the first scene, something just looked different. It was tad confusing at first..

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Yes, my pics kinda suck.. But note, I was NOT using flash.

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Finally someone in our boat says, “The lights are on!”

It seems we weren’t the only ones confused by this. Haha..I find it pretty funny now that nobody could figure out why the ride was so bright! Never before or since have we been on this one with those extra lights going. It was neat.

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^My favorite part^ (Not counting my girl!)

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My girl. :)

Since the light was different, I had to share them. I'm guessing it gets brighter than this, but we'd never see any lights on before. Hope you enjoyed your ride!

Near the end of the ride, John had started checking his watch repeatedly. I count on him for the time. After Andrew was born, I soon realized I’d never be on time for anything again in my life. Wearing a watch just seemed pointless. I did have a super cute Tigger watch before. People were always commenting on how adorable it was.. Hmm.. Maybe I'll start wearing it again.. Back on topic!! When I asked what was going on, he told me it was almost time again. We stuck around IASW and waited for the clock to open! This is Blake’s favorite part!

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As it usually happens this time of night, Snow White’s Scary Adventures didn’t have a line. They’d already blocked off the area behind the castle for fireworks. I wonder if people just think it is closed during this time? This is our favorite time to go ride! We were off in that direction now.

Suddenly, we were cut off by a double Disney stroller. She was in a BIG hurry. So much of a hurry that she just stopped the stroller at the entrance to line and left it there. We stopped and stared. A CM standing here did as well.

“I dare you to go park it by IASW.”

He started laughing sooo hard at what I said and admitted that this was a tempting idea for what she’d done. I felt good for making him laugh and smile. He looked bored as we walked up. :) He didn’t do it though. Sadness. John actually moved it over into the stroller line. Oh well! Ours’ was parked next and we walked over to the empty line.

The CM in the middle of the Snow White line was shining a blue light back and forth on the ground to move guests in the right direction. The line does look a little funny when they have so much roped off. This has to be the reason for no wait. Andy-Roo was mesmerized by this and stopped walking to watch. He’s adorable. Mommy got to say it this time..

“Let’s get mooooooving!”

On to Snow White!

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At some point of this night, we’d collected FPs for Pooh’s ride, I’m guessing it must’ve been before we went to BTMRR. The return window was now open, so we left the stroller by Snow White and walked over. The night had taken a HUGE turn for the better. It was almost like we were repeating that amazing last night in June as I watched Blakers run with big brother ahead of us. Only this time I wasn’t near tears and dreading the end of each ride. We’d forgotten about the troubles of our day and were just having fun.

Andrew was the FP master again and ran up to the entrance. The CM didn’t want them and we’ve still got ‘em. There was no line! We walked right through and jumped in a honey pot!

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“Hooray!” Tell me when you get sick of it..Not that it will stop me! Hahaahahaha!!

We came out to see there still wasn’t a wait. We were going again! A few people did join the line before us, but that turned out pretty nice in the end. In front of us was a young boy riding all alone. He was wearing a birthday button, so I pointed it out to Andrew. He wished a very loud “Happy Birthday!” to the boy before reading the button. This boy’s name was Andy! Well, it was really Andrew, but he liked being called Andy. They had a cute little talk before the boy was off in his honey pot. It was a little sad to me that Andy was riding alone on his birthday, and I hoped that there was someone waiting outside for him that simply couldn’t ride this one. Or, maybe he really wanted some solo time for a bit? I suppose I’ll never know.

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I tried another picture of this Eeyore for Blakers on the second ride through. It was while taking this picture that John commented on what Eeyore was saying. (Something about Pooh not reaching the tree? Anyone know exactly??) You’re not going to believe this one, so I hope you’re sitting down. (Who reads TRs standing?) In the many, many times I’ve been on the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, I had never looked up to see Pooh hanging from the balloon! Blake is such a big Eeyore fan that I’ve always been busy waving with him and now trying to take a picture. I couldn’t believe I’d missed this! Andy-Roo found it hilarious!

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In my defense, Kanga does say “Hang on tightly, Roo!” pretty loud. That is what always caught my attention after Eeyore and I’d look to see Roo flying like a little kite. I do have the urge to go through all my pictures to see if I've managed to photograph this and still not realize it's there. How do you miss Pooh and that balloon?? It's only one of the BEST stories and I LOVE the Little Black Rain Cloud song!

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“Hooray!”

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"Hooray for Pooh, too!" (Just to mix it up a bit!)

Out of the 100 Acre Wood, we ran back to the stroller and decided to do one more ride on PPF with that second yellow FP from dinner. This time I wasn’t so upset over using it. For what we’d put up with, I suppose this was okay. (I still do NOT like the yellow fast pass thing though!) We split up and flew into the air. The night was perfect now. It was late, but this always seems to be when my little family has the most fun.

It would only get better, for when we stepped off the ride, we were greeted by the sounds of Captain Hook trying to take over the castle! What amazing timing we’d just had! The fireworks were bursting in the sky and we soon heard Miss Tinker Bell saving the day. We joined quite the crowd to stand in awe and stare.

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My song started and it was pointless to try not to cry. All those nights of rocking my babies to that song will forever have me tearing up whenever it’s played at Disney. “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes..” Disney knows how to play with your emotions, huh? My husband noticed I was wiping away the tears and put his arm around me.

“Silly girl.”

It probably sounds kinda dumb, but I melt everytime he calls me that. I love that man and snuggling against my honey during the fireworks is the best. :love: Forgive me if I’m sharing too much mush this TR, but this was memorable for me! That moment was how I wanted to remember the first day of our new Disney adventure, ridiculously happy with my little family in the Magic Kingdom. The boys were squealing and pointing at the sky. It was perfect. Despite being his turn again, Andrew didn’t yell at us to get moooooving this time either! :rotfl:

The crowd around us cheered when the fireworks ended. Andrew pretended he was crashing cymbals together and Blake roared like a lion. I didn’t even attempt to understand that one. :confused3

We decided it was now about time to get out of the park. However, there wasn’t much of a wait for anything now...

....Wait for it.. I'm soo finishing this day tonight! ;) Maybe..

[jc040404]

Ick. I messed up my TR. The stuff about seeing Pooh hanging from the balloon happened in the first ride through Pooh, not the second after we met Andy. I'm sooo big on keeping my details straight but I didn't notice I put it in the wrong ride. Please forgive me. I'm not going back to fix it now. ;)

[jc040404]

I believe we stopped for a spin on the tea cups before heading into Tomorrowland. We still had those Buzz FPs from earlier to use up before going back to Pop. John decided on another distraction before we made it there. It was race time!

That night at the Indy Speedway would mark the first, and only, time I’ve ever stood up to a line cutter. As we walked to the line, half of a party cut off the family walking into the line before us, while the other half of that group called to them to wait from at least twenty feet away. Once in the line, the group ahead kept telling those after to just come ahead.

I pretended to not hear it at first, and then said I wasn’t allowing it. A man started yelling at me for forcing his family to be split up in the ride. Yep, it was all me when he ignored them earlier. :rolleyes: This didn’t go well and turned into a fun argument between me, my husband, the man in the family in front of us, and that nasty guy from the group. I admit it. I probably shouldn't have tried this and just let them go ahead.

John said to just let them go. It wasn't worth it. Man in front of us was with me on this.. at first. He switched sides when nasty guy got super nasty. I gave up then, too. The second half of the group ended up passing ahead and their leader spent the rest of the wait winking and smiling at me! Can you believe this?? John and I spent the line going back and forth on the line cutting issue, when he should've kicked that guy's butt instead. Okay, not really.. but he was seriously winking and smiling at me!! It was a short wait, but that certainly made it seem longer! I give up completely on line cutters. They can just go ahead from now on.

The ride was still lots of fun, but I really think I saw a CM texting from one of the little spots along the track. (Unless they’re supposed to have some sort of communication out there? I’d never noticed it before this night anyway.) The boys wanted Buzz so we walked on to that before leaving. No FP needed again! Andrew and I ride together, so we usually get pictures of our scores now. John takes Blake.

Our scores..

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http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/JULY/072710/CIMG8466.jpg

I got 46800, Andrew got 2200, Blake actually hit 1200, and nobody could remember what John got by the time I did my notes. Yeah, we totally sucked that night! Thanks to some posts on Dugette’s TR, I’m just about obsessed with this ride now. Watch my score go up and up in the future!

That was it! We joined a super long line to the monorail and headed back to the car at the TTC. The boys fell asleep before we made it out of the parking lot.

It was a loooonngg, interesting day. John wanted some coffee before bed, but we knew the food court would be closed before he could get over there. We headed to McDonalds off property instead. They do have really good coffee. I ran into a CVS for a couple things on the way.

This simple run through to get a cup of coffee turned out to be pretty weird in itself. We ordered at the little McDonalds box and pulled ahead. Before we made it to the window, where you would usually pay, someone came walking up to our window to collect the money instead. Ever heard of this? If we hadn’t already seen him walking back and forth from the window, I would’ve been scared to give him anything. He took the money back to the window and brought our receipt. Too weird!

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/JULY/072710/CIMG8467.jpg

It was a peaceful ride with both of the boys asleep in the car. I caught a pic as we made it back on property. I love how this looks at night!

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/JULY/072710/CIMG8473.jpg

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We made back to Pop and managed to get our sleeping babies out of the car and into the double without waking them. Then it was on to the long journey back to our special 60's building. As we walked along the path, John suddenly stops.

“Look! It’s my wallet!”

Such a funny man..:rolleyes: The boys woke up in the room and everyone got ready for bed.

Tomorrow!! Some new adventures at Epcot and the worst MK ending I hope to ever have!!

[onescgirl]

I love your IASW pictures. It's one of my favorite rides & it was closed when we were there.
I hate it when people line cut. You don't want to let them get away with it, but at the same time you feel like it's just not worth it. You should've took the pic of the guy winking at you & posted it ;).

[jen22984]

I love your IASW pictures. Do you know if they have the same dolls in the one at DL? I never noticed any that looked like "your girl" but I might have overlooked it. We have yet to ride IASW in WDW!

I'm going to have to read Dugettes TR to get some pointers on scoring for Buzz! I always do so horribly on that ride!

I'm almost up to the day we met up in my TR!!! Its really going to test my memory because I didnt write down anything. I'm sure you are going to remember a ton more than I do!

[slightly_obsessed]

Even typing about using them, I worry that one of you super silent lurkers is sitting there thinking what awful people we are.


As a super silent lurker, let me assure you the thought never crossed my mind!

I have enjoyed your reports and think your boys are absolutely adorable. I will probably return to lurking because I am terrible about keeping up with TRs, but thank you for doing a report on your second year!

Also, a Sonic near my old house would send someone out to take money and deliver orders if the lines were particularly long, especially if people were only getting drinks. But I admit, it would have weirded me out more if it were nighttime the first time I saw it.

[pookersmom]

I am in! :cool1:

Your first TR was the first one I ever read. I wouldn't miss further adventures with Andy-Roo and Blakers. No way!

So I haaaaaate tension and conflict with other people, and felt myself cringing while reading about your experience with that horrid waitress. The way you described it made her sound a lot like this woman I work with. EUGHHHH. It's so frustrating.

We all shout "Hooray!" at the end of the Pooh ride too. :laughing:

[jc040404]

I love your IASW pictures. It's one of my favorite rides & it was closed when we were there.
I hate it when people line cut. You don't want to let them get away with it, but at the same time you feel like it's just not worth it. You should've took the pic of the guy winking at you & posted it ;).



I can only imagine what would've happened had I pulled my camera out in the middle of all that! :eek: Nooo thank you. It's a little funny that you say this because I have taken a picture of rude people, without them knowing, twice now. :rolleyes1 I'd never post anything like that though!

I love your IASW pictures. Do you know if they have the same dolls in the one at DL? I never noticed any that looked like "your girl" but I might have overlooked it. We have yet to ride IASW in WDW!

She has super long hair. I never seem to catch the pic just right for it. I'm not sure if DL is the same. I know you have the characters in it out there. Your pics were so cute! You need to keep your TR going all the way to CA!


I'm going to have to read Dugettes TR to get some pointers on scoring for Buzz! I always do so horribly on that ride!


I think it was in the Star Wars TR she did, but you can google and find lots of tips. I only knew about one "cheat" spot, but seem to do better on the others. I've been driving Andrew nuts with this ride. :rotfl: I can't wait until we get back to MK!!


I'm almost up to the day we met up in my TR!!! Its really going to test my memory because I didnt write down anything. I'm sure you are going to remember a ton more than I do!

I can't wait to read your post about our day together! I'm so linking it when I post mine when I get that far. ;) I can't believe it's almost been two months already. It seems like yesterday!


As a super silent lurker, let me assure you the thought never crossed my mind!

Soooo glad to read this. I think I've been reading the theme parks board too much. They get so nasty over every little thing and there are so nutso "Disney can do no wrong!" people that have me worried about posting anything less than happy on here.

I have enjoyed your reports and think your boys are absolutely adorable. I will probably return to lurking because I am terrible about keeping up with TRs, but thank you for doing a report on your second year!

Thanks for the sweet comment about my boys! I think so, too. ;)
Have fun lurking, but thanks for popping in to say you're out there!


Also, a Sonic near my old house would send someone out to take money and deliver orders if the lines were particularly long, especially if people were only getting drinks. But I admit, it would have weirded me out more if it were nighttime the first time I saw it.

Interesting.. Our Sonics here are year round on roller skates, so this was totally new to me. Despite how often we do coffee now, we're not fast food people at all really so I had wondered if it was a common thing during busy time. It was crazy for how late it was.


I am in! :cool1:

Your first TR was the first one I ever read. I wouldn't miss further adventures with Andy-Roo and Blakers. No way!

:yay::yay::yay: Glad to have you for year two!!


So I haaaaaate tension and conflict with other people, and felt myself cringing while reading about your experience with that horrid waitress. The way you described it made her sound a lot like this woman I work with. EUGHHHH. It's so frustrating.

I couldn't imagine dealing with someone like her all the time. :scared: That has to be frustrating!



We all shout "Hooray!" at the end of the Pooh ride too. :laughing:

This really made me smile. :goodvibes




Check it out.. I did the nifty "break up the comments & reply" thingy I keep seeing others use.. It looks weird. I probably won't do that much work again. :rotfl:

[Sleeping*Beauty]

I'm so glad you decided to do a report about your second year of Disney. However, I am sorry that your first day wasn't as magical as it could have been. I hope the rest of your year is truly magical!

[jc040404]

I'm so glad you decided to do a report about your second year of Disney. However, I am sorry that your first day wasn't as magical as it could have been. I hope the rest of your year is truly magical!

Welcome to year two!!


Bad days are bound to happen, I guess. Hopefully we don't have to deal with anything quite like this visit again though. The next day ends in a bad way also, but we haven't had to go through anything too rough since. :goodvibes

[jc040404]

Today I heard radio ads for MVMCP FOUR times. (Andrew loves Radio Disney) Then we drove by billboards advertising F&W twice. Mickey wants us back! We've been three weeks without a dose of WDW magic and I'm going nutty. This is truly an addiction, I guess. :rotfl:


Back to the TR soon! :goodvibes

[jen22984]

Today I heard radio ads for MVMCP FOUR times. (Andrew loves Radio Disney) Then we drove by billboards advertising F&W twice. Mickey wants us back! We've been three weeks without a dose of WDW magic and I'm going nutty. This is truly an addiction, I guess. :rotfl:


Back to the TR soon! :goodvibes

Do you think you'll end up doing a MVMCP? I really wish they had one at DL, we would SOOO be there! Our whole family is feeling the need for a Disney day! I can not wait!!! We've got a little over 3 weeks before we get back. I am so excited to see the Christmas decorations!

[jc040404]

Do you think you'll end up doing a MVMCP? I really wish they had one at DL, we would SOOO be there! Our whole family is feeling the need for a Disney day! I can not wait!!! We've got a little over 3 weeks before we get back. I am so excited to see the Christmas decorations!

Doubtful. I'm not really seeing enough of a reason to put the money out for that one. Unless I'm missing something, it's just the parade, fireworks, and hot chocolate/cookie stops? I would really love to see the holiday fireworks, but they start doing that every night after the last party. That's how we saw the parade last year. I'm working on talking John into doing the 23rd, despite the crowds, just for that.

I am soo nuts without Disney right now. We were just talking about going tomorrow, but there's a mile long list of things to get done. Silly real life keeps butting in on my WDW fun! :rotfl: Aren't you doing DL next week? We're definitely doing one day next week. One of them is going to be really rough for me, so I'm planning to keep my mind occupied with WDW instead of that.

[onescgirl]

I would LOVE to see the Christmas decorations one day!

[always]

I'm glad you've decided to write a TR for this year. :goodvibes I'll be following along again. :)

[jen22984]

Doubtful. I'm not really seeing enough of a reason to put the money out for that one. Unless I'm missing something, it's just the parade, fireworks, and hot chocolate/cookie stops? I would really love to see the holiday fireworks, but they start doing that every night after the last party. That's how we saw the parade last year. I'm working on talking John into doing the 23rd, despite the crowds, just for that.

I am soo nuts without Disney right now. We were just talking about going tomorrow, but there's a mile long list of things to get done. Silly real life keeps butting in on my WDW fun! :rotfl: Aren't you doing DL next week? We're definitely doing one day next week. One of them is going to be really rough for me, so I'm planning to keep my mind occupied with WDW instead of that.


Nope, we arent going until Dec 5th & 6th. I wish we were going next week!

[jc040404]

I would LOVE to see the Christmas decorations one day!

I'm so hoping we get to enjoy them this time. Everything gets so nuts this time of year and we didn't manage enough Disney time before. We didn't even see Epcot at all. I hope you get plan a visit for Christmas someday!

I'm glad you've decided to write a TR for this year. :goodvibes I'll be following along again. :)

:welcome: to Year Two!! So glad to have you along!!

Nope, we arent going until Dec 5th & 6th. I wish we were going next week!

Weird.. I have no idea why, but I really thought you were going next week. I must've read that wrong.. :rotfl:

[jc040404]

July 28th, 2010 - Wednesday - Day Two

A ringing phone ripped me from my sleep so much earlier than it should have. I’d completely forgotten about that wake up call I set the afternoon before. We have dealt with more than a couple unreliable alarm clocks, so we always go the phone route for wake ups. In no rush to move this morning, I simply picked it up, and sat it back down. I didn’t even listen to see who was waking us this time. Back to dreamland I went!

“One for Blake.”

“No. I have one right here.”

“Sorry. I didn’t know that.”

This is what woke me up two hours later. I found their little conversation adorable and scribbled it down on the tiny notepad always left in the room. Reading it now.. Well, I guess you had to be there. :rotfl: On my quick run into CVS the night before, I’d grabbed a chocolate bar for myself, but decided I didn’t want it. It seems I hadn’t put it out of reach of the two sneaky little boys who were now enjoying a candy breakfast. Andrew was trying to quietly give his baby brother another square before they woke us.

Breakfast changed from the Hershey bar to the yummy zucchini muffins I’d brought along and everyone got ready to start this day. John ran off to get coffee and juice while I took care of the boys. It was such a nice morning. We weren’t in rush and really had no plans yet.

After throwing everything back into our bags, we loaded into the car and decided Epcot would be our destination this day. Andrew was missing his girl, so we had to plan a stop there. Knowing how we play in the parks, we did realize we’d just end up at MK by the end of the day anyway. We’d now go to the TTC and monorail where we wanted to go. It is the most fun way to travel!

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Parked and walking to the monorail, the TTC was nowhere near the mess it had been the day before. Thank goodness for that. Everyone seemed to be moving in one direction.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/JULY/072810/CIMG8487.jpg

We turned toward our goal instead and weren’t met with much of a line!

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I was especially glad we weren’t going into MK when I turned and saw a singing tour group filling the entire ramp to the MK monorail. That had to be a fun ride. Glad I missed it!

Riding the monorail into Epcot is too much fun. I love being able to to watch over everything. When we go over the TTC parking lot on the way back, Andrew always has to try to find our car. It’s too funny. The boys started pointing out everything we pass and what they want to do once we made it into the park. That trip into the park is an attraction by itself to my little men.

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It was nearly eleven when we finally made it into the park and things were a bit busy here. Check out the mess to Spaceship Earth!


http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/JULY/072810/CIMG8496.jpg

That was just nuts. We’d pass by it completely and go in search of some Soarin’ FPs for later. I knew the line would be close to insanity if SE was like this and standby was not going to happen.

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Even Living with the Land was at twenty minutes at this time. Andrew and I took care of our Soarin FP project and had a return time of 4:24. We all decided to stay in The Land and check out LWTL, despite the wait. It’s always fun to read the walls in line here anyway and the boys behaved. Andrew wasn’t so thrilled about doing this ride, but didn’t argue about it.

Once in our boat, Andy-Roo completely turned his feelings towards LWTL around. He LOVED every minute and came home saying how this was his favorite part of the entire visit. He couldn’t wait to get back and try it again. His favorite part was the tomato trees and insisted we someday try to grow one at home. Blake just sat quietly and took everything in. He liked the fishies. Great ride!

We planned to check out the Circle of Life show next, but time for Andrew’s girl was drawing near and I didn’t think we could fit it in. We’ve yet to take the boys in there. John and I saw it once and I remember not caring much for it. I don’t remember why anymore. The kids might enjoy though, so we’ll get to it yet. :)

As we debated on what to do to fill the bit of time before Alice, Blake spotted this!

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/JULY/072810/CIMG8515.jpg

We took a restroom break and everyone had a snack. It was a packed snack as I always have bars and fruit snacks in my bag. If you haven’t tried Cascadian Farms organic vanilla chip granola bars, you must! We’re all addicted to them, so they’re a Disney staple now. Then it was off to check out Figment.

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Can you believe there was actually a bit of a line here?

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Blake LOVES this ride! He likes the disappearing butterfly and Figment’s upside down house the best. I think the whole thing is completely adorable. And now I might have that song stuck in my head..

With more time to kill before going to the UK, we were just going to hang out in here and have fun for a bit. Andrew gets a little nervous after his “getting lost” incident in the last Disney year, but still has a great time. The Melody Maker was up first!

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Baby Blake would wave his little arms around as much as he could, but Figment must not have been able to really see him. It didn’t exactly work on his own, so Andrew came to the rescue on his side. It’s so sweet to watch him looking out for his baby brother.

When we decided it was time to give someone else a turn, the boys ran over to play and get some energy out. John and I stood guard and nobody escaped this time. ;) I can’t go in this area without thinking of the day we “lost” Andrew for a bit now.

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The time had come, so everyone headed back out in search of the stroller. Our time so far hadn't been all that exciting, but we were having a nice visit. Most of our park time doesn't have much of a plan, and we love it that way. However, Alice was due to come soon now and we needed to journey to WS!

Next Up!! Does Andy-Roo get to see his love? And more plan free fun @ Epcot!

[jc040404]

It was a short journey back to the UK, but we were melting by the time we made it there. July in Florida is such a joy, huh? Since we were a bit early, I decided to pop into the tea shop and make sure she’d be out. It would’ve been nuts to stand here and wait for no reason. John and the boys waited outside.

Inside the shop, I was greeted by a super happy CM named Chris. I asked him if Alice would be coming out today and he started to say yes but then stopped. He wanted to be sure and asked if he could make a call. No problem for me. I looked around at the cute Alice in Wonderland themed tea set while he was on the phone. I so want this, but I have no idea what I’d do with it!

I heard sadness in his voice as he thanked whoever he’d been talking to and knew it wasn’t happening. I was right. It turned out that Alice wasn’t going to be out today. :( He told me that the Mad Hatter had far too much tea the night before and Alice was taking care of him. :rotfl: I thanked him and went back outside to tell Andrew the terrible news.

Andy-Roo was working on a jumping game with Blake outside and was heartbroken to hear this. He wouldn't be getting a visit with his girl this day. :sad1: He did think it was good that she was taking care of the Mad Hatter though, so he wasn’t terribly upset. We did now plan to hop in the toy store to get out of the heat and visit Pooh.

We found ourselves waiting again inside the store, but this time we knew a character was ahead. Pooh and Tigger were here this day, and we learned that Eeyore was at MK! That made me pretty sad. On our last visit, we’d been told the only place to see Blake’s favorite guy was AK or Crystal Palace meals. Too bad. We stood by the rope and waited.

The CM here started a little game with Andrew and the magnet on the rope. Andrew got more into this game than she did and soon she was obviously bored with it. She tried to just ignore Andrew instead of calling off the game. It was the funniest thing really. She seemed to think turning around all of a sudden would just end it. I guess she doesn’t have much experience with small kids, despite the job she has. I told Andrew the game was over and distracted him by pointing things out in the room ahead. He says he really wants a globe for Christmas this year, thanks to this!

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/JULY/072810/CIMG8549.jpg

Our turn came soon and Andrew headed straight to that globe! We had to direct him back over to the characters and he ran to Tigger next. They wrapped their arms around each other in a great big hug. Andrew likes Tigger best of all the Pooh characters because he’s so bouncy and wild. It suits him. Blake was true to his own character this day and walked cautiously up to Pooh bear before giving a sweet cuddle.

After a moment of chatting, they switched characters and posed for one of my favorite pictures of the new Disney year!

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We called it lunch after our visit and went in search of a quick CS meal. I need to do some more looking into CS spots in World Showcase. I really don’t know what all is out there that we would enjoy. We opted to go to the Electric Umbrella based on the distance and not having to fight the crowds in our first choice, Sunshine Seasons.

Lunch was uneventful. I got a bacon cheeseburger that actually kicked the Plaza burger’s butt. I was impressed. John got some sort of meatball sub, I believe, and the boys went with chicken wraps. They love those things and eat every bite. I’m keeping all of our receipts to total up how much a year of Disney *really* costs, so I should be able to track food pretty well this time. I am a bit scared to see that total at the end next July. :scared1: I did a quick add up a couple weeks ago. Interested in where we’re at so far?

After lunch, we were off to another of Blake’s favorites, Nemo and friends!

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The ride was the usual fun. I took Blake ahead and John rode with Andrew. I’ve been hoping to catch Peach saying how much time is between clam mobiles, but haven’t had much luck since making that goal. This day she was complaining about how they never stop singing that song! I love the song at the end, but if you had to listen to it all day, I suppose it would get annoying. ;)

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We stayed out of the heat and checked things out in The Seas. Blake was particularly drawn to the manatees this day. We have lots of manatees around here, but I’ve never been lucky enough to see one “in the wild” yet. John has a few times. I think they’re the ugliest things, but we spent many hours before having children just cuddling by the water in hopes that I’d be as lucky. Thank goodness for Disney, right? We stayed around here and let Blake watch them while Andrew asked questions about sea cows. He was amazed at how they use their “arms” to grab things. I have to admit that I find that pretty cool, too. :) He also wanted to know why they're so big and fat if they eat lettuce! :lmao: I had no answer to that one.

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We moved back outside and found that we would have been better off staying in there. It was hot and miserable out there, but that’s how it goes this time of year. We decided to head over to Innoventions to stay out of it.

[IheartDDuck]

I just found you report! Your two boys are so adorable. Looks like you are having fun so far. I don't know if I would have had the patience that you did at the Plaza Restaurant. Very commendable. Me, probably wouldn't have been so nice. ;)

[Sleeping*Beauty]

Okay, I'll bite how much have you spent so far?

[CAStevens218]

Sounds like a fun day at EPCOT so far! I have to agree with you about the Circle of Life show...I don't remember why we didn't like it, but we won't be back!!

Also, that picture with Pooh and Tigger is adorable! Too bad about Alice, but such a funny reason!

[*Meagan*]

OoO Im going to be in WDW on the 5th and 6th of December~ any ideas where you are headed? where your staying?

[jen22984]

OoO Im going to be in WDW on the 5th and 6th of December~ any ideas where you are headed? where your staying?

Me?? We're going to be at Disneyland, not WDW. :sad1: I wish we were going to be at WDW though!

[onescgirl]

Cute picture with Pooh & Tigger.

I am very interested to see the total of the receipts at the end of your year!

[Lisa29]

I just saw the title of this TR and knew it was yours!!!

Just last Friday got back from our trip (it was amazing and I am so so sad to be home :sad1:) so hadn't caught up with all the TR's I was reading before we went. Just finished yours, which the last post made me want to cry, and I am so happy you are doing a second. For someone that only gets to go every couple of years, I really enjoy reading yours as you live so close and I would love that.

Will catch up on the new report over the next day or so - it will be interesting to see if we were there on any of the same days.

Can't wait! :cool1:

[jc040404]

I just found you report! Your two boys are so adorable. Looks like you are having fun so far. I don't know if I would have had the patience that you did at the Plaza Restaurant. Very commendable. Me, probably wouldn't have been so nice. ;)

:welcome: Things only get better. This first first was rough, but I have a feeling it'll only get better. I kinda wish I hadn't been so "nice" about it, but oh well. I can't help but let some things go. I'm over this now. No more Plaza, but over it. :goodvibes

Okay, I'll bite how much have you spent so far?

Wish I knew.. I didn't write it on the envelope like I thought I did. Sorry.

Sounds like a fun day at EPCOT so far! I have to agree with you about the Circle of Life show...I don't remember why we didn't like it, but we won't be back!!

Also, that picture with Pooh and Tigger is adorable! Too bad about Alice, but such a funny reason!

I so want to do Circle of Life again now, simply to find out why I don't want to do it again! :rotfl: We've got to get to that eventually.

I love the reasons they come up with when characters aren't coming out, or are leaving. Sometimes they don't make much sense though.. Just wait til the next time Alice isn't around at MK! :rotfl:

OoO Im going to be in WDW on the 5th and 6th of December~ any ideas where you are headed? where your staying?

Me?? We're going to be at Disneyland, not WDW. :sad1: I wish we were going to be at WDW though!

You two are so talking to each other. :goodvibes I WISH I were going to be at WDW or DL then though! We're planning the week before Christmas.


Cute picture with Pooh & Tigger.

I am very interested to see the total of the receipts at the end of your year!

It should be interesting! I'm a "cheap" coupon cutting, bargain seeking kind of person, so I try to do the parks with that in mind. I'm sure it shows on here. We've done well so far, I think.. But there's a lot of year left to get through!

I just saw the title of this TR and knew it was yours!!!

Just last Friday got back from our trip (it was amazing and I am so so sad to be home :sad1:) so hadn't caught up with all the TR's I was reading before we went. Just finished yours, which the last post made me want to cry, and I am so happy you are doing a second. For someone that only gets to go every couple of years, I really enjoy reading yours as you live so close and I would love that.

Will catch up on the new report over the next day or so - it will be interesting to see if we were there on any of the same days.

Can't wait! :cool1:

:welcome: to year two!!

Getting home from Disney is the worst, huh?

Are you going to do a TR about your visit? (Hope I haven't just missed it and look silly asking that..) We haven't been since October, so I'm pretty sure we didn't pass in the parks. :rotfl:

[jc040404]

I NEED A DISNEY DAY!!

If you were going to a WDW park tomorrow.. Which one would you pick??? :confused3

[jc040404]

We wandered back over to Innoventions. Inside, John said he’d go change Blake while Andrew and I tried something new. Andy-Roo had been asking for this one since our last visit.

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I didn’t have a clue what we’d be doing, and didn’t really think Andrew would be old enough to enjoy it. If you read much on the DIS, Innoventions is sometimes made out to be for bigger kids. I thought we’d go with it because he wanted to and see what happened.

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While waiting in line, a very nice CM came over to chat with us. She asked Andrew his age.

“I’m four, but I’m usually three. I had a birthday.”

She was crazy over this and wished him a happy birthday. She said she’d get him a button to wear. I couldn’t help but laugh. I explained that his birthday was the previous month. He just wasn’t quite used to being older yet. He was telling people this “but I’m usually three” story until September.

She just grinned and told me it was no problem. He could still wear a birthday button to celebrate at Disney. They really push these things, huh? Andrew actually declined before I could say it, by telling her that he’d already gotten one on his REAL birthday to Disney! It was too funny. Guess you can celebrate your birthday whenever when it comes to Disney. :confused3

We didn’t wait long after this before what we’d be doing was explained and we were choosing our goal. Andrew decided we’d be working towards the extreme bedroom make over. The picture made it so fun for him. What little boy wouldn’t want to slide out of his bed every morning?

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The game turned out to be sooo much fun for both of us! There wasn’t really much Andrew couldn’t understand after I explained it. I don’t think he really got the investment moving game, but you didn’t have to understand the reason behind it to get how it is played. He did such a great job. We made his goal and Andy-Roo earned his bedroom makeover. Hooray!

John and Blake had returned in the middle of our game and cheered us on from the side. We all gathered together to try a family activity next. Our destination was Slap Stick Studios!

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We were early and no one else was waiting at first. I thought this was going to be interesting, but it was the same story of not knowing what to expect. More people joined as we waited and soon it was time to begin. Andrew had been super excited over whatever was about to happen and tried to steal the show. She entertained him by having him turn a light or microphone on. I can’t remember which, but something was turned on We all moved inside for the show.

This show was so adorable and I learned sooo much about hook and loop fasteners! The boys were invited on stage with another group of brothers to participate in a challenge. Each group had to stack their shapes and whoever’s side was higher would win.

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As the other group was made up of much older boys, our side looked doomed to lose this race. One of our CMs referred to them as the “vertically challenged” team and hopped in to help out. In the end, my babies could’ve had this without her help. The other team knocked theirs’ over! Yay Andy-Roo and Blakers! You win! They were so excited All of the children were given special stickers for playing.

Next up came a game for the daddies. John was called up with the father of the other group of boys. The wheel was spinning and a game was soon ready. It was soo funny! Both dads had to wear velcro aprons.

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The dads would be racing to see who could change the most diapers and stick a doll with its bottle to their apron before time ran out. I knew we had this won! My husband has always been an awesome helpful daddy and has lots of diaper changing experience. On top of that, the other team’s children were long out of the diaper stage.

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Guess who won!

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The man who would probably not be too happy to know I’m sharing these pictures! :rolleyes1 He got a special sticker for playing, too. When we left, he told me his strategy. He was only doing one side of the diaper and flipping the other on when he stuck it to the apron. He was so proud of his plan. It was adorable to listen to how proud he was of that win. :goodvibes

At the end of the show, both of our hosts stopped us to go on and on about our little heartbreaker Blakers. He was all smiles and eating up the attention. We all had such a great time at this. We’d never even thought about trying it before, but I’m so glad we did!

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From there, we headed over to “Where’s the Fire?” and saw that Blake would have to sit this one out. John said he’d entertain the little guy with the fire engine, so Andrew and I got in line. It turned out to be another hit! The CM inside was so familiar to me, but I couldn’t place him. He must’ve thought I was crazy with the way I kept staring at him. We made eye contact way too many times. :lmao: I’m not nuts! I was just trying to figure out where I’d seen you before. ;) I eventually put it together and realized he was who had lead the Timon and Pumbaa home safety show we did earlier in the year.

Where's the Fire was a bit more difficult than the Piggy Back Adventure for Andy-Roo. It was a coordination thing. We had to shine our flashlights on the same hazard at the same time and push the button. It made things rough, but we still had fun. We did end up starting a fire in just about every room though! :lmao:

When time was up and everyone was called back to the front, I thought our side was doomed. We consisted of a couple families with small children, while the other side was big kids and adults. The CM set us up and the other team jumped and cheered as they thought they were victorious. THEN, he announced that they were the losers. Our side had won! Yay for the little kids!

Andy-Roo ran to find daddy to tell of our amazing victory. We found a sleeping Blakers and had to turn our excitement down a little. The timing was actually quite good because our Soarin’ FP time was up. John took Blake to our secret getaway spot while Andrew and I ran to The Land!

We didn’t have much of a wait at all once we made it to the FP line. Yay! Unfortunately, we were given row three. Yuck. I don’t mind two. In fact, I actually prefer two. I notice too much of the edges of the screen in row one. Three was a bit too icky for us. We did both still enjoy it and had a great time flying over California.

Blake was still napping when we joined our family, of course. So we all called it break time and just relaxed in here for a bit. Andrew ran around and took pictures. We all talked about our day and where our adventure would go next. The car was at the TTC, of course, so we made plans to move on to MK now.

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On the journey back to the monorail, Spaceship Earth now had no line Those crazy people from earlier should’ve just waited a while, huh? John thought I was joking when I asked Andrew if he wanted to ride it, but we were soon running through the line.

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Andrew decided he doesn’t really care for this and wished they would put something "cooler" in the golf ball. Oh well. We still had fun with the ending and rushed back outside.

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On to the monorail! We made it up the long ramp and Blake was still sound asleep in the stroller. It was a good thing. We had plans for a long night at MK! Andrew insisted that we wait for the Tron monorail so we did just that.

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Coming soon! The wosrt MK ending EVER! I told you I was wondering if we’d made a big mistake..

[snowmanlover]

Why not let the boys pick! Do they know your going tomorrow?!!

I bet the boys would like Animal Kingdom!! :banana: DO try the Circle of Life again!! We really like it and I bet the boys would too!

HAVE FUN and let us know which park you decided on!

OH, shouldn't you be geting some rest for your big day tomorrow?!!

[jc040404]

Why not let the boys pick! Do they know your going tomorrow?!!

I bet the boys would like Animal Kingdom!! :banana: DO try the Circle of Life again!! We really like it and I bet the boys would too!

HAVE FUN and let us know which park you decided on!

OH, shouldn't you be geting some rest for your big day tomorrow?!!

Andrew said, "Epcot! No, MK! No, Animal Kingdom!! Oh, or Hollywood Studios!"

He's not much help. :lmao:

But yeah, they always know. I'd love to do surprise day, but I can't keep a secret!

I should be resting, huh? Soon!

[snowmanlover]

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: We posted at the same time!!

LOVED your last update!! I was laughing at John in his apron with the babies!! I bet your boy's thought their Dad was funny! :rotfl2: Your secret is safe with me!

Loved your pictures as usual! The boys are down.right.adorable, but Blakers in the picture of them on the steps is the cutest!

OM MY, How sweet Andrew's comment about the Birthday button was...way to cute!!!

[Dugette]

Nice update. Love all those Innoventions things! Dug won that baby-velcro-ing thing too! :rotfl:

I'm scared of how your MK night ends! :scared1:

You're going tomorrow!? That's too cool! I don't know which park, maybe you can do all four? :idea:

Have a wonderful day! :goodvibes

[onescgirl]

I LOVE the picture of John with the babies attached all on him! That is hilarious!:lmao:

[IheartDDuck]

I NEED A DISNEY DAY!!

If you were going to a WDW park tomorrow.. Which one would you pick??? :confused3

That would be the Magic Kingdom for me!

[jc040404]

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: We posted at the same time!!

LOVED your last update!! I was laughing at John in his apron with the babies!! I bet your boy's thought their Dad was funny! :rotfl2: Your secret is safe with me!

Loved your pictures as usual! The boys are down.right.adorable, but Blakers in the picture of them on the steps is the cutest!

OM MY, How sweet Andrew's comment about the Birthday button was...way to cute!!!

The boys thought the velcro game was awesome. Andrew was cheering along the entire time. It was too funny!

Blake on the steps was one of my favorite pics from that day! :goodvibes

Nice update. Love all those Innoventions things! Dug won that baby-velcro-ing thing too! :rotfl:

I'm scared of how your MK night ends! :scared1:

You're going tomorrow!? That's too cool! I don't know which park, maybe you can do all four? :idea:

Have a wonderful day! :goodvibes

I don't think we'll ever get that "4 in one day" thing accomplished! I didn't even consider it for this day trip!

Awesome about Dug winning too!! :rotfl:

I LOVE the picture of John with the babies attached all on him! That is hilarious!:lmao:

It was too funny! I'm glad he doesn't mind going along with stuff like this. He's still proud of that win! :rotfl:

That would be the Magic Kingdom for me!

Me too!! This is where we just spent the day!! When Andrew realized that we weren't going to be park hopping, he was 100% MK. He said it has the most fun rides for him in one spot. Smart kiddo!

We had sooo much fun!! Perfect weather, no icky people, and we didn't really have a wait for anything. I wish I had my updates caught up so I could share it already. The boys had some super special moments today! We all really want to do MVMCP after seeing the holiday decorations! I'm working right now to see if we can fit it in next month sometime. ;)

[Dugette]

We had sooo much fun!! Perfect weather, no icky people, and we didn't really have a wait for anything. I wish I had my updates caught up so I could share it already. The boys had some super special moments today! We all really want to do MVMCP after seeing the holiday decorations! I'm working right now to see if we can fit it in next month sometime. ;)

Can't wait to hear about the magical day! We're going to MVMCP on 12/12...maybe we'll see you there! ;)

[snowmanlover]

Andrew is a smart boy! :thumbsup2

Can't wait to hear about your day and so glad to hear it was a good one! :banana:

[Lisa29]

:welcome: to year two!!

[SIZE="3"][FONT="Georgia"]Getting home from Disney is the worst, huh?

Are you going to do a TR about your visit? (Hope I haven't just missed it and look silly asking that..) We haven't been since October, so I'm pretty sure we didn't pass in the parks. :rotfl:

Not sure if I had done this quote right - bet it comes out wrong. :confused3

I really didn't want to come home this time and knowing it will be a couple of years before we can go again made it worse.

I would really like to do a trip report but I don't think I could dedicate enough time to doing it. It's not that I have a really busy social life, just that I watch far too many TV programmes! :rotfl2: I think it would take me months and months to finish it.

I have been to Epcot on each of my trips and didn't know there was so much to do there! Our trip was split up quite a bit this time with two nights at Vero Beach and we had a car for a week in the middle so that is when we did Universal, Islands, Seaworld and shopping so we didn't do as much disney as I'd like. Next time I will maybe only have a car for 2 or 3 days to do some shopping (I love that I can get my daughter clothes that no one at home is wearing) and will spend the rest of the time in disney.

I'm really enjoying how you are doing the trip report and if you don't mind posting costs, it would be interesting to see how much it does cost when you add it up.

Roll on the next installment of the boys' adventures!

[haven_alise1997]

:worship: I finished reading your previous TR today and enjoyed it so much! I love all the extra pixie dust :wizard: moments your boys got to experience!

Hate that your first TS of the new year was bad and agree with others don't feel guilty about saying something and using those extra perks you deserve it after what you put up with!

Look forward to more of your lil families adventures for this year. popcorn::
Thanks for letting us live vicariously thru your fun.

[GaRain]

Just wondering when your next Disney day would be?
Me and the parental units will be down there next week, Dec 2-6.....would be so cool to have a Blakers or Andy-Roo sighting! :cool1:

[snowmanlover]

Wishing you and your family a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

[AprilRenee]

So I know it's Thanksgiving and I've barely had time to CHECK disboards this week...but I miss having my Andrew and Blake update! :-) Hope you're having a good holiday season!

[jc040404]

Can't wait to hear about the magical day! We're going to MVMCP on 12/12...maybe we'll see you there! ;)

Have fun! We're back to probably not doing it again. I have too much I want to accomplish in December and not enough time for it! The only day that *might* work is the 16th, but that's so close to Christmas anyway. I may stick with trying after the parties for everything, despite the crowds. The boys have already shown they don't mind living on Main Street for a few hours. John says he's up for whatever I want to plan! :woohoo:

Andrew is a smart boy! :thumbsup2

Can't wait to hear about your day and so glad to hear it was a good one! :banana:

Can't wait to tell about it! If I ever get back to work on this TR! :rotfl:

Not sure if I had done this quote right - bet it comes out wrong. :confused3

I really didn't want to come home this time and knowing it will be a couple of years before we can go again made it worse.

I would really like to do a trip report but I don't think I could dedicate enough time to doing it. It's not that I have a really busy social life, just that I watch far too many TV programmes! :rotfl2: I think it would take me months and months to finish it.

I have been to Epcot on each of my trips and didn't know there was so much to do there! Our trip was split up quite a bit this time with two nights at Vero Beach and we had a car for a week in the middle so that is when we did Universal, Islands, Seaworld and shopping so we didn't do as much disney as I'd like. Next time I will maybe only have a car for 2 or 3 days to do some shopping (I love that I can get my daughter clothes that no one at home is wearing) and will spend the rest of the time in disney.

I'm really enjoying how you are doing the trip report and if you don't mind posting costs, it would be interesting to see how much it does cost when you add it up.

Roll on the next installment of the boys' adventures!

That still sounds like an awesome trip, even if you didn't get as much WDW as you wanted! Are you already in planning the next visit? It would be rough to have to wait a couple of years. At least you have the DIS for the time between, right? I'm going to be completely nuts when June shows up again next year. I don't know how we're doing July since Blake will be three and need a ticket then. Andrew will be starting school, so APs will be silly at that point. Ugh.. I'm already depressed!

I don't mind posting the costs at all. I think it's fun. I warn you though. I am soooo cheap.. err.. FRUGAL, as dh says, I guess. We don't do a ton of shopping since the merchandise hasn't changed much and I don't allow the boys much junk food beyond the meals so not much on snacks with us. I think our total costs won't be too bad. I keep feeling like I'm cheating them when we're there, but they're spoiled enough, I suppose. :goodvibes I'll probably do an add up soon since the receipt are starting to fade and I feel silly for not writing it down.


:worship: I finished reading your previous TR today and enjoyed it so much! I love all the extra pixie dust :wizard: moments your boys got to experience!

Hate that your first TS of the new year was bad and agree with others don't feel guilty about saying something and using those extra perks you deserve it after what you put up with!

Look forward to more of your lil families adventures for this year. popcorn::
Thanks for letting us live vicariously thru your fun.

Welcome to year two!! I really need to get writing and get away from that meal. :rotfl: It was terrible, but the more time that gets between that and now, the less it matters to me. :goodvibes (Still.. No Plaza!) We've had sooo much fun already on this Disney year! So glad to have you along!

Just wondering when your next Disney day would be?
Me and the parental units will be down there next week, Dec 2-6.....would be so cool to have a Blakers or Andy-Roo sighting! :cool1:

Hmmm.. We are probably going to be in the parks at the same time! ;) I haven't made up my mind on where or when yet, but we need to get Andrew a new stocking. He's been set on a silly Rudolph stocking he spotted when just a little guy and it's not going to make it another year. He picked out a couple possibles in the parks and I want to have them up by next weekend.

Wishing you and your family a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Thanks! Hope you had a wonderful holiday, too! Ours' was interesting. It seems my children aren't big fans of eating turkey suddenly. :rotfl: Still a great day!

So I know it's Thanksgiving and I've barely had time to CHECK disboards this week...but I miss having my Andrew and Blake update! :-) Hope you're having a good holiday season!

I miss writing, too! Real life update in the next post. Hope you had a great holiday!

[jc040404]

Something terrible has happened!

I have some sort of virus on my computer. :sad: I have no idea how I picked this up, but I'm placing the blame on playing farmville on facebook! :lmao: My computer started acting funny after a bit of that and slowly got worse. After making sure everything important was safe, I haven't really touched it since. Hopefully John can get it back to normal soon! I really can't stand the keyboard on his, so typing isn't so thrilling. I'd switch 'em, but he has the same feelings towards mine! haha..

In happier news.. I love this time of year! We just got our Christmas tree up. That was such a project with my two little helpers involved! :rotfl: I think we did a nice job. Andrew is super proud of his work so I might post some pics later. Last year, Blake broke six ornaments, including his own "First Christmas" one. :sad: Here's hoping this year goes a little better! ;)

In super happy news, John and I will be celebrating TEN YEARS together on Sunday! :love: Just thought I'd share. :rotfl:

Hope everyone had a happy turkey day! Hoping to get my TR writing drive (And my own computer!) back soon! I'd so hoped to catch up to today before the holidays so I could post about some holiday visits during the holidays. So much for that! :lmao:

[firechick139]

Just got done reading your first year TR and am now moving on to the second. I am usually a total lurker, but I just have to say that I so appreciate all the pics you post. We (7 yo dd and I) started our Disney obsession 2 years ago, and just by chance, we were able to go again last year when my daughter's dance class was invited to dance there. Unfortunately, that's going to be it for a while, and I'm going through major Disney withdrawal. Seeing your pics helps me a little with my obsession, lol. We vow to go every 3 years because that's all we can afford at the moment, and the wait is agonizing!! :crazy2:

[jc040404]

Just got done reading your first year TR and am now moving on to the second. I am usually a total lurker, but I just have to say that I so appreciate all the pics you post. We (7 yo dd and I) started our Disney obsession 2 years ago, and just by chance, we were able to go again last year when my daughter's dance class was invited to dance there. Unfortunately, that's going to be it for a while, and I'm going through major Disney withdrawal. Seeing your pics helps me a little with my obsession, lol. We vow to go every 3 years because that's all we can afford at the moment, and the wait is agonizing!! :crazy2:

:welcome: to year two!

Awesome that your dd was invited to dance there! :banana: That must've been quite the experience for you both.

So glad to hear that you've been enjoying our WDW fun. I hope it does help a bit with the wait. :goodvibes I'm in need a Disney fix soooo bad right now myself! I know it's nowhere near the same with the wait you have though. :( Are you in planning anything yet? I totally get you on the money/saving issue. If we weren't as close as we are, I know we wouldn't be able to manage all this. Hope it goes fast and you get back sooner than you expect!

[*Meagan*]

Hmmm.. We are probably going to be in the parks at the same time! ;) I haven't made up my mind on where or when yet, but we need to get Andrew a new stocking. He's been set on a silly Rudolph stocking he spotted when just a little guy and it's not going to make it another year. He picked out a couple possibles in the parks and I want to have them up by next weekend.





OoO I hope we have an andy-roo and blakers sighting!!! We will be there the 1st-7th!:goodvibes

[firechick139]

Awesome that your dd was invited to dance there! :banana: That must've been quite the experience for you both.

It really was! They were originally supposed to dance at the small stage at MK in Tomorrowland, but Disney switched it to the stage in DTD. There were TONS of people watching them. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience!



Are you in planning anything yet?

LOL, I am CONSTANTLY planning! That's part of the fun for me. I love to read the boards and jot stuff down in my Disney notebook. :laughing: that we missed or just HAVE to do. Like in Innoventions, you posted that pig game and the other game, I had no idea about those. I didn't even see them the last time we were there. So, they're on my list! I haven't booked anything yet, but I know we will be staying at Pop. That was our plan at the end of last trip. I'm glad to see you have had positive experiences there. I CAN'T WAIT TO GO!!

[jc040404]

OoO I hope we have an andy-roo and blakers sighting!!! We will be there the 1st-7th!:goodvibes

Awesome! Have a great trip! I'm so completely jealous! I wish we could plan a long visit this week!! Not knowing when I can plan a longer trip is driving me nuts! I need to start working on it soon so dh can put in for time off at the start of the year. I just can't decide when! :rolleyes:

I had to check out your PTR just now to see what ya look like. ;) We've run into a couple people from here on the new Disney year. Ya never know!

It really was! They were originally supposed to dance at the small stage at MK in Tomorrowland, but Disney switched it to the stage in DTD. There were TONS of people watching them. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience!




LOL, I am CONSTANTLY planning! That's part of the fun for me. I love to read the boards and jot stuff down in my Disney notebook. :laughing: that we missed or just HAVE to do. Like in Innoventions, you posted that pig game and the other game, I had no idea about those. I didn't even see them the last time we were there. So, they're on my list! I haven't booked anything yet, but I know we will be staying at Pop. That was our plan at the end of last trip. I'm glad to see you have had positive experiences there. I CAN'T WAIT TO GO!!

That is too amazing. Andrew would be so jealous. He's always pretending to dance at WDW and says he wants to be a CM when he gets older. Sooo glad your dd got to experience that! :cool1:

You've got to try the Piggy Bank Adventure! Everything in Innoventions has been so much fun and we've not even manged to try it all yet. I still don't understand some of the stuff in there. When I'm writing my TR, I'm constantly wondering if I should explain something or just assume everyone knows what I'm talking about. That was one of them actually. As I first typed it up, I had a LOT more detail, but went back to delete it. I figured I would look silly because everyone knew what it was!

Pop is a great resort! The more I read the DIS, the more I start thinking we need to try something "better" but I don't know why. Pop is perfect and we always have such a great time there! Wanna share some planning help? ;) If you read above, I'm having some big issues trying to figure out when to plan our longer stay next year! I can't decide the best based on weather, crowds, etc.. I want to do something before May(maybe? I'm thinking temps start to get bad then), but not during Spring Break, but not when it's still super cold. I don't think there's anything that works! :lmao:

[GaRain]

[COLOR="Blue"]Hmmm.. We are probably going to be in the parks at the same time! ;) I haven't made up my mind on where or when yet, but we need to get Andrew a new stocking. He's been set on a silly Rudolph stocking he spotted when just a little guy and it's not going to make it another year. He picked out a couple possibles in the parks and I want to have them up by next weekend.

I will send you a PM before we leave on Wednesday and let you know where we will be. I would love to say hi and tell you how much I love your TR in person! You would have to be ok with a picture though - :rotfl2:

[jc040404]

I will send you a PM before we leave on Wednesday and let you know where we will be. I would love to say hi and tell you how much I love your TR in person! You would have to be ok with a picture though - :rotfl2:

Sounds great! We're looking at going Saturday, but it's still back and forth on the park choice. I want to start packing all this holiday stuff in before Christmas!

Ummmm.. a picture? :scared1: :eek: :scared1: I'm already getting twitchy at the thought. I don't like cameras! :)

[jc040404]

Blake woke up on the ride to the TTC. The poor guy was so confused and didn’t understand where we were at first. When Andrew told him we were headed to MK now, the confusion was gone and Blakers was nothing but smiles. They both watch out the windows and tried to spot our car as we passed over the parking lot.

The monorail came to a stop, and we let the few others exit before us. We would then meet one of the most polite TTC CMs yet. His name was Joe and he couldn’t do enough to help us out. He was super friendly, even for a Disney cast member, and even ran ahead to hold the gate for the stroller. This has never happened before or since. Ever. I was amazed. They’re never anything to complain about, but TTC CMs have never really struck me as the friendliest bunch. They're here to move guests from one location to another and that's about it. Joe really stuck out with how helpful and friendly he had been. We made plans to stop at GS and leave a compliment.

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Since we’d just been on this long journey from Epcot, the ferry vs monorail battle didn’t happen this time. Andy-Roo was perfectly fine with letting daddy have a boat ride. :) On the walk over, the boys spotted something that slowed things down.

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I had unfortunately zoomed in too much for my little camera, so the picture is poor. Can you spot what they saw? It was a bunny. ;) All the fun of MK was put on hold as the boys watched this little guy (girl?) hop around for a bit. We have more than a couple rabbits that pop up now and then here. Since we hadn’t seen any of them in quite a while, Andrew was certain that this must be one of them on vacation. :rotfl:

We finally made it to the ferry and the fun boat ride across to the MK. Our first stop was GS to leave some happy compliments about awesome Joe at the TTC. Our bag check person was named Joe this day too. I just remembered that. Too weird. The CM we spoke with was thrilled to hear something so happy and took down all the info. I hope Joe got some special recognition from it! :thumbsup2

Our hungry family only had one destination in mind next!

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Bet you can’t guess where we were eating! :rolleyes1 The meal was about the usual, except the boys both wanted nuggets and split the adult option. Total was 25.09. I actually wrote this one in my notes. I guess I had planned to keep track of spending by writing it in. Too bad I didn’t keep it up! Going through all those receipts isn't very exciting to me right now..

Our tummies full, Blakers asked for Pooh’s ride first. We started the walk over into Fantasyland and checked out the waits on the things we’d pass..

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Twenty minutes for IASW? It was a busy day!

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Looks like we’ll be skipping PPF tonight! FPs were gone. :(

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No Dumbo either..

Pooh wasn't exactly walk on, but we were going for it. John asked if I wanted to take the boys alone while he got BTMRR FPs for later. With the crowded park, we figured this was a good idea or we would be passing that one, too. His tummy wasn't up for bouncing with Tigger at the time either. I hopped in line with the boys.

The wait was already going to be a bit, but turned out to be even longer than expected. Pooh’s honey pots must’ve been having some big issues that week. The ride would break down and the line stopped. For a bit, Andrew and Blake played with the children in a family behind us. The little girl had a peace sign on her shirt and this started a long discussion about Pop Century’s Sixties buildings.

Next it was discovered that the little boy’s name was Andrew! He was also four years old, just like Andy-Roo. It was nifty being stuck in line with another Andrew again. This boy was super shy and not really into talking so this didn’t last long. This does show that the name doesn’t make a personality type, right? They were total opposites!

With nothing to do in line, the long wait felt even longer. I kept watching to see when John would make it back, as I debated skipping this one. I decided we’d leave if he made it back before the line moved. I watched a few people give up and exit. Luckily, the ride started up and we stuck around. The total wait time was thirty minutes. Not terrible, but pretty boring with how most of the area was blocked off then

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Hooray!

We all had fun, but it was too weird riding without John. I was glad to join him again after. Entertaining two bored kids alone in line was exhausting! Andrew is great with waits, but Blake was getting crazy. We took things slow for a bit now and eventually found ourselves in that IASW line. It was still a bit long, but I had line help this time.

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No luck on the clock this ride. Our timing was off.

BTMRR FP time had come, so we said goodnight to FL and moved on to what would be our last stop of the day.

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Hooray for those FPs! Sixty minutes standby!

Andy-Roo and I were off into the line while John and Blake watched the trains. The ride was lots of fun because we both prefer this one when it’s dark. It’s all in my head, I know, but it seems so much faster!

After our wild ride, we joined our waiting family at the worst time to be in Frontierland.



Coming Soon! This day doesn't end well..

[onescgirl]

So cute that your boys said the bunny was on vacation too!

I love how ya'll took the time to go to CS to give CM Joe some recognition. I'm sure they mostly just hear complaints from people, so it was very kind for ya'll to do that.

I don't think I've ever been on the Winnie the Pooh ride. Somehow we missed doing it on both of our trips.:confused3

[GaRain]

Sounds great! We're looking at going Saturday, but it's still back and forth on the park choice. I want to start packing all this holiday stuff in before Christmas!

Ummmm.. a picture? :scared1: :eek: :scared1: I'm already getting twitchy at the thought. I don't like cameras! :)

Can't have a Dis meet up without cameras being involved! Maybe I can convince Andy-roo to take a pic with me, even though I am not Alice.

Oh - and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! :lovestruc

[jc040404]

So cute that your boys said the bunny was on vacation too!

I love how ya'll took the time to go to CS to give CM Joe some recognition. I'm sure they mostly just hear complaints from people, so it was very kind for ya'll to do that.

I don't think I've ever been on the Winnie the Pooh ride. Somehow we missed doing it on both of our trips.:confused3

They say the cutest things when they're little, huh? I love the stuff the boys come up with, but it scares me not to know what they might say next sometimes!

We do really try to stop in and make the awesome stuff known as much as we can. A lot of the time we'll break up for this as we leave. John and Andrew go in while I change Blake at the restroom next door or something, so I don't always remember it.

Can't believe you've never done Pooh's ride though! It's one of the best! Our last visit was the day before they opened up the new area. I was so sad to read we missed it by so little and can't wait to get back and check it out!

Can't have a Dis meet up without cameras being involved! Maybe I can convince Andy-roo to take a pic with me, even though I am not Alice.

Oh - and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! :lovestruc

Thanks!

That is actually one of my big Disney fears right now. :rotfl: We unexpectedly ran into Queenofallthings at Epcot and she asked about a pic before we parted. I had a mini panic attack inside and declined. I felt soooo bad the rest of the day for not wanting a picture. Still do actually.. I need to get over this camera issue!

[jc040404]

We all wondered what to do next. It was the awful hour again. The MSEP had already started and had this area in parade lockdown. There was only one way out, and it wasn’t one I was interested in trying. If you take the path along the water, you’ll eventually hit the handicap access to the river boat. We’re pretty sure that’s what it is. I’m just going to refer to it as the “ramp” now, but I’m sure most know where I’m talking about anyway. From here, you can possibly make it around the parade. I do not think anyone should really try this though!! Andrew and I did once and just got stuck.

I wanted to stay by BTMRR now, or go down by Splash to kill the time. John said we might as well check it out. We wouldn’t go all the way to that ramp, and the area didn’t seem very busy.

“Let’s just see how far we can get.”

I followed my silly husband along the water and was shocked to see it was mostly empty. Nifty. I thought that maybe we’d have a nice wait and be able to see the top of the parade floats before leaving MK for the night. I was only right about part of that.. :sad2: Though we had started as only one of a few walking around here, we were suddenly surrounded. I still don’t quite understand how it happened so fast. A flood of people were on top of us and the madness began!

The problem seemed to be that ramp. From listening to guests yelling at each other, a couple scooters and strollers were battling over who would be allowed to pass about halfway into it. There is only enough room for one of these at a time. Other guests were just trying to walk over them. A man pushed by us and told John there was no way our stroller would make it through there. Duh? We hadn’t planned to go that far anyway. John just thanked him and we floated in this sea of very unhappy, trapped guests. I use “floated” because that’s really how it felt. With the pushing and shoving, just staying to the side of it all wasn’t an option. I tried to move us over and we were pushed right back into it. It was nuts!

As people discovered they really weren’t going to be getting anywhere, the levels of anger and frustration grew. Swearing dominated the yelling and everything got bad pretty fast. The pushing looked ready to turn violent. John even watched a stroller ahead try to pass ON TOP of another! A woman up by that ramp had climbed on the wall to watch the parade instead. I still can’t believe she wasn’t accidently pushed off into the water with all that was going on. I checked again to make sure the boys were still doing okay and wondered.. Why are no cast members back here? I realize we should've known better than to be here, but this just wasn't safe.

I was eventually pushed up against a wall or a fence, I’m not so certain, but I was stuck. John was amazingly still behind me and I told him I felt ill. Even in the darkness, I could see the little girl beside me turn white. I guess the idea of me getting sick didn’t appeal to her either! :lmao: I looked over the crowd to check the parade’s progress and saw there was still a long wait ahead. They were only about half way through. Checking the boys again, I closed my eyes for a moment to try to calm my stomach.

The mob only got worse and much louder. I could barely hear the MSEP over them. Opening my eyes, I first saw the man in front of me clenching his fists at his sides and knew something bad was about to happen. He was at his breaking point and glaring at another man blocking his way. I saw him start to move it upward and my heart raced. This was it. Reacting without thinking, I reached out to him to stop this. I still can’t believe I did it.

“Don’t do something you’ll regret.”

It really felt like someone else was speaking, but those five simple words quickly escaped my lips. We all know this just isn’t me, and I really wished I hadn’t seen this. Thankfully, he simply put his hand down and stared at me.

Looking back, I suppose I’m pretty lucky that what would happen next occurred instead of something much worse. I could have very well been the new receiving end of that fist. Instead, the woman he was with decided to go nuts. She started screaming at me and then took off with him towards the ramp, shoving anyone in their path. I couldn’t even reply. Should I have just watched him punch the other man? My head hurts whenever I think about it all. What would you have done??

This is how it went until the parade was over. We managed to get back a bit and the boys saw some of the tops of the parade floats. I told you I was right about part of that. ;) The nastiness never died down, but it didn’t get any worse in our area either. I think most of our neighbors just decided to stay put after that woman’s screaming fit, but weren't shy about sharing their unhappiness. I feel sorry for anyone on that ramp and hope nothing worse happened. I can only imagine what it must’ve been like in the middle with the scooter/stroller battle.

We waited for the crowd to thin before trying to move out of here and weren’t the only ones with this idea in mind. Some around us stood to talk about how insane it had been for a few minutes. Everyone was really nice about it all and I felt better. Hugs from my honey always make things better, too. :goodvibes The crazies must’ve managed to push their way out.

The park was still packed, so even after the parade was long gone, moving to Main Street wasn’t easy. The fireworks were due soon and everyone was headed in the same direction. I insisted we stop into GS on the way out. Why aren’t there CMs in that area? If this had just happened, I’m sure much worse has happened before and would happen in the future. Shouldn't they close off that ramp if it's not big enough for people to safely pass? A couple CMs should be around to at least keep people from climbing the walls and fighting! We went inside and waited in line.

The CM we had given our Joe compliments to saw us walk in and asked how things were going. John simply said it wasn't so good right now. The entire time we were in here, that same CM would stand in the back smiling at us.

When the CM at the counter asked what we needed, I started to tell of what had just happened during the parade time. The more I shared of how unsafe it all felt, the worse I felt. I held myself together in the middle of that chaos, but it was all getting to me now. It didn’t help that this CM didn’t seem to care at all about looking into how dangerous this area really is. I felt like I was getting the scripted responses used to make guests go away and half expected that ridiculous pad of FPs to appear any minute. I wonder if they hear this often and just don’t care to look into it? I've read some nasty things since about CMs ignoring guests just short of beating each other up along the parade route. As I started feeling worse, she offered us the VIP room and hurried off to make sure it was available.

I felt so stupid when she made that offer and told John as much. The stress of the whole thing had my hands shaking and stomach a mess. She probably thought I was nuts. :rolleyes: I didn’t even know what she was talking about, but wished we hadn't bothered to say anything. Was this going to put me on some "ignore this crazy guest" list at Disney? My husband just laughed, hugged me, and said I was fine. They should have some sort of crowd control back there. He then suggested we get out of the park before the fireworks ended. The crowds leaving would be nuts then. We thanked the CM, even though she insisted we use the room, and headed to the monorail.

On the walk, I said those words.

“We made a huge mistake.”

This was and still is the worst visit we’ve ever had to WDW. The craziness at the TTC from the first moment, the wall at Pop, The Plaza!, the line cutters at Indy, and now the parade madness...It was a bit much. The good just didn’t seem to be enough to beat the bad this time. We’d planned to wait until October to start this over again and I now knew this was one plan we probably should’ve stuck with. In that moment, I didn’t care to visit the parks again for a very long time. Yeah, you can laugh at that.. How quickly the problems at Disney are forgotten, right? ;)

We had a short wait and were soon on the resort monorail to the TTC. The fireworks had started and Tink saved the castle before we made it into the Contemporary. All was forgiven already. I think I even simply posted that people were nasty but we had fun when we got back. :rotfl:

Everyone loaded into the car and we started our journey home. That “very long time” until we came back to the parks would amount to only seven Disney free days.

Next Up! Let's start this over! A day trip turns into an overnight when we do Disney with a plan!

[jc040404]

If anyone happens to try to go through this area during a night parade, I would love to hear about it. Have they made any changes or added a CM back there? I'd love to know, but I have ZERO desire to check it out myself!

[Dugette]

Wow!!! :scared1: I know the area you are talking about, but I guess I've never been through it when it's crowded. Yikes! That sounds scary! I don't know what I would have done in that situation, either.

I'm glad you have a do-over trip so soon after. I hope it is significantly more magical! pixiedust:

[IheartDDuck]

Oh my goodness, I honestly don't know what I would have done either if I was in your position!

I am constantly amazed at how rude people are, and how out of hand they can get. I simply don't understand it. Everything turns into a fight somehow. I'm really sorry that you had to go through that. :eek:

[jc040404]

Wow!!! :scared1: I know the area you are talking about, but I guess I've never been through it when it's crowded. Yikes! That sounds scary! I don't know what I would have done in that situation, either.

I'm glad you have a do-over trip so soon after. I hope it is significantly more magical! pixiedust:

Am I right about it being the the handicap access to the boat? We've never walked through there again to figure it out. I keep checking out maps, but I'm still a little confused about where exactly everyone is headed.

The next visit is much better. So are the rest of them so far! This visit was nuts, but I know we were just super unlucky to experience all of this. Thank goodness it wasn't a first visit. I'd never have wanted to return!

Oh my goodness, I honestly don't know what I would have done either if I was in your position!

I am constantly amazed at how rude people are, and how out of hand they can get. I simply don't understand it. Everything turns into a fight somehow. I'm really sorry that you had to go through that. :eek:

Right! Remember this was late July and crazy hot & humid, too. Everyone was just too tired and hot from the day to handle anything that late, I'm betting. That always makes things sooo much worse! It's so nuts how you can feel the difference in the guests and CMs as the weather cools down.

They do really need to look into that area though. I was just about terrified. Everyone says how Disney has such amazing security that you don't even notice. They definitely weren't in that area! I don't understand how some of this can go on and really wonder if they're not simply ignoring it until something serious does happen. KWIM?

[jc040404]

August 5th, 2010 - Thursday - Day Three

It didn’t take long before we were ready to try the parks again. The first visit had been rough, but we’d experienced enough fun to know this wasn’t how things usually go. We planned a simple Disney Day, but it was going to have to be a Thursday. This meant AM EMH at MK, so the plan was changed to another park. The boys really wanted MK again, so things here were moved around enough to make an overnight visit work! Hooray! We were headed back to Pop the very next week.

This morning would come VERY early. I had the crazy idea of checking in at Pop early enough to make it to AM EMH! With a 90 minute drive and the park opening at 8, this was going to be interesting. Amazingly, the boys went right back to sleep in the car and we missed all the icky traffic in Tampa, too! Our day was already magical! :lmao:

I had done online check in, with requests for 90's and ground floor. When we walked into the lobby at Pop Century just after 7:00am, no one was waiting in line to check in. Shocker, huh? We did find ourselves waiting for a CM to help us though. The first to call us over was having computer issues and then sent us to someone else. This CM was more than a little annoyed with it and wasn’t too pleasant. He basically ignored me and never spoke to us, but I refused to let anything spoil this visit. Soon enough we had our cards and a room in the 90’s. (#8117) We were shocked to learn that our room was ready this early! No one cared much to see it yet though. :laughing: We were off to MK!

At the TTC, we got a second row parking spot and were soon waiting to make the next journey to the park. This early, only the resort monorail was running and the line of onsite guests waiting to make AM EMH was pretty long. We learned an important lesson. You really need to be here much earlier than this! We’d stand and wait in line for thirty minutes. It seemed a little crazy to me. Most of our EMH time was spent entertaining the boys in this line at the TTC.

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Blake was very insistent on riding Dumbo before anything else, so this is where we were headed once we made it into the park. We were totally wild and went right through the “cackle” to get there!

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Exciting, right?

Blake didn’t quite get his first ride Dumbo wish though. We grabbed some PPF FPs before going over there. Soon enough, we were all in line. John was even going to come, too!

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The line was far from short and we spent most of the rest of our AM EMH experience here. We couldn’t have managed a shorter wait any later in the day, so it wasn’t an issue for anyone. The boys go nuts over those clowns and mirrors so the wait is kinda fun in spots. I can't wait to see how this works when the expansion is done.

Blakers picked me as his Dumbo buddy, and we ran to be in front of John and Andy-Roo. If my spinny ride avoiding husband was going to get sick on Dumbo, I wanted pics to taunt him with after. ;)

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Looooook at meee!! I kept calling and waving at them, but they were not cooperating with this. I gave up and caught some more Fantasyland Expansion pics. You never know what could’ve changed in a week, right?

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It doesn’t look like much changed, huh? I just saw lots of dirt..

It was a hot and humid day already, so we all took a little water break after our flight. Then it was off to the 100 Acre Wood!

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You know it’s coming...

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/080510/CIMG8752.jpg
“Hooray!”

I would sooo love to get a picture of the boys at that table. :)

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After hopping back on the stroller, Andy-Roo made a carousel request. We got a little off track when Snow White’s Scary Adventures didn’t have much of a wait though. The morning was going GREAT! This was how Disney is supposed to be. We were all laughing and smiling as we walked around Fantasyland. Forget the last week, our year now starts today! :thumbsup2

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I was ovbiously in a picture taking mood this day! You can nearly trace our every step on some of these visits with all the stuff I'd snap a pic of.

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That is how John does Blaker control in the lines now. It’s too funny. Blake likes to dance around a lot, especially at IASW. That is NOT something I’d want on my shoulders! Dh says it’s the easiest way to keep the little guy entertained and not running off. Works for me!

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Poor Andy-Roo. He so wants to be able to pull this up. I’ve never seen it happen at all. :(

On to the carousel!!

[AprilRenee]

An update! "Hooray!"
So I just got on and looked at my User CP and you were the last poster on all 3 of my subscribed trip reports. Haha!

[jc040404]

An update! "Hooray!"
So I just got on and looked at my User CP and you were the last poster on all 3 of my subscribed trip reports. Haha!

Too funny! I guess we're into the same stuff on here then? ;) I've been reading a ton of them lately. I love finding stuff to do or see in these that I didn't know about. It's also super nifty when I know I was at the same park at the same time as someone on here! :goodvibes

[IheartDDuck]

Sounds like you were having a good morning so far! :thumbsup2

I wish I lived close enough to take day trips to Disney...

[jc040404]

Sounds like you were having a good morning so far! :thumbsup2

I wish I lived close enough to take day trips to Disney...

Yeppers! This was a good one. I'll have another update in a bit. It's soooo cold here today, so we've just been hanging out here and watching Christmas dvds. I got some typing done. :)

As for living close.. John and I have talked about moving closer to WDW sooo many times. Maybe not all the way there, possibly near Lakeland or something. We're not big fans of Polk County though, but you'll find out why in a later update. :lmao: I don't know Florida well enough to really look into it. I do wish we were close enough to just go whenever we felt like it. I almost had him talked into heading to MK for dinner a few days ago, but I still feel far enough away that it takes some planning. It's still three hours total in the car to go and come back. Not such an easy project with the boys. :sad1:

[IheartDDuck]

Yeppers! This was a good one. I'll have another update in a bit. It's soooo cold here today, so we've just been hanging out here and watching Christmas dvds. I got some typing done. :)

As for living close.. John and I have talked about moving closer to WDW sooo many times. Maybe not all the way there, possibly near Lakeland or something. We're not big fans of Polk County though, but you'll find out why in a later update. :lmao: I don't know Florida well enough to really look into it. I do wish we were close enough to just go whenever we felt like it. I almost had him talked into heading to MK for dinner a few days ago, but I still feel far enough away that it takes some planning. It's still three hours total in the car to go and come back. Not such an easy project with the boys. :sad1:

Oh man, I wish I had your kind of cold in Florida. It's 25 by me today! :scared1:

[jc040404]

Oh man, I wish I had your kind of cold in Florida. It's 25 by me today! :scared1:

:lmao: Yeah, I should probably keep quiet about the "cold" here, huh? I don't think I could survive that right now! It's 46 right now. We were all in shorts a couple of days ago. I'm not ready for it yet!

[jc040404]

I took the boys on the carousel while John ran for more water. Pics aren’t too great for some reason. I do really worry about stepping away from Blake to do these anyway though.

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The magic numbers...

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When we met up with John again after, it was getting pretty icky out. We were standing right beside it, so a break from the heat into Mickey’s Philharmagic was up next.

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This show is so much fun. Both boys jump at the scenes and try to reach for the jewels. John always ends up holding Blake. I’m a little jealous that I miss those reactions, but Andy-Roo insists on sitting beside me most of the time. You’d think he’d be sick of me with how much time we spend together. Guess not!

Andrew talks about this show quite a bit now and one of his stocking choices is Mickey with his “Philharmagic” hat. You know what he means. I don’t really care for that one, so I hope he goes with something else. It doesn’t really look like a stocking, just Mickey holding onto that upside down hat. Oh well. It’s his choice, so we’ll see what he picks soon enough!

The boys were so excited over Donald flying over us to the back of the theater that we had to go check out where he landed in the shop!

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Too funny!

We stayed in here and browsed a bit. Nobody bought anything, but it was still fun to look. I did find myself chasing after a bouncing ball a couple times. Thanks, Blake! They both always go nuts over the spinning and light up toys right when you walk in from the show. Having some experience with how long those don’t last, I don’t see them getting any more. After a bit of convincing, Andrew agreed to try on a hat for me.

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He didn’t like it. I suppose it is probably the ugliest one they sell, right?

We eventually left the shop in search of more water. The last round hadn’t lasted very long. We set the destination to our favorite spot and hoped to run into Stacey today. She hadn’t been around when we were here the week before, but other CMs let Andy-Roo know she was still working at CHH.

Along the way, this sad sight came into view..

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Blake was devastated! He pointed and wanted to know why this was in front of his favorite ride. Even though he hadn’t had a big reaction to it the last visit, it was obviously still his favorite. I explained that Mickey was just fixing it up for him and the ride was going to be closed for a bit.

“Small World not closed!”

He’d repeat those little words a few times when we passed the area. I couldn’t help but tear up a bit as he did it. His cute little chin would quiver as he tried to convince me that the ride was still working. Poor baby.

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I glanced over to check standby at PPF. Not bad, but we had those FPs for later. ;)

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I don’t think I’ve ever gone in there.

We took a mini break across from CHH after getting water. Sadly, Stacey wasn't around that morning.

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Blakers was going nuts over the sky. What did he see?

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The moon! This is what my family calls a “Cheshire cat” moon. The kids go nuts anytime it’s so small because of this. Even though he says it’s the moon, Blake really seems to think it’s that cat being silly and smiling at him!

As we talked about the moon and Alice for a bit, plans to try Haunted Mansion came up next. There were a few people headed in that direction, but Andrew was even into it in time. He only had one condition to get in the line. He was allowed to take some pictures!

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Andrew’s..

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We had to pick him up so he could take a couple. It’s rough to only be forty inches sometimes.

The Haunted Mansion was fun, but we didn’t get stuck anywhere. Blake screamed in the stretching room, and barked in the graveyard. Nothing super exciting, but it was a nice ride.

Our PPF FP time had already come up so this is where we were headed next. Our FP master Andy-Roo took the passes and pointed the way. We didn’t bother moving the stroller. We figured lunch would be next on the agenda and there wasn’t much point in it. We’d be right back. Blakers loves being a “walking boy” at Disney, so this was a big treat for him.

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As we approached the FP line, I saw there was a bit of a problem going on between the line guarding CM and some guests. I didn’t catch quite what was going on, but the CM was becoming visably upset with the guests. We stood behind them to wait our turn. When the problem guests were finished, I started to step forward. The CM looked at me and called another couple who were just walking up to go ahead of us. :confused3

Huh? Why had he just ignored us after we’d been waiting calmly through all of his guest troubles. He knew we were there and had glanced at the FPs in Andrew’s hand already. Maybe he just didn’t want to deal with a child? I don’t even know. John was annoyed and started to speak. It was kinda funny, but this CM was NOT behaving well.

“Hi..” is all my husband got out as we started to pass into the FP line.

“It’s all the same line!!” the unhappy CM shouted at him. No joking. He cut off dh and shouted this. That only annoyed John more.

“We were..” John tried to say more.

“It’s all the same line!!” the CM interrupted again. It was almost comical, although extremely rude. I’m guessing the man knew he had done wrong and didn’t want to deal with whatever dh had to say. Perhaps he wanted a fight, too. I have no idea.

“You’re kidding..” comes from my husband.

“It’s all the same line!!” he interrupted again.

I tapped my husband's shoulder, telling him to let it go. He simply told the CM to have a better day and we just got on the ride. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m not going to be shy about posting bad experiences with guests or CMs in this TR. However, I won’t be sharing names or pics from these incidents. Posting that kind of stuff just seems wrong to me. This CM is at PPF a lot, and the other CMs say he’s like this all the time. We didn’t bother with GS about this, figuring the previous guests just got to him. This was wild, but we all have bad moments. Learning he’s always a jerk to guests kinda makes me wish we had. Oh well. Off to Neverland!

I rode with Andy-Roo, of course. He is definitely Mommy’s boy at WDW! We both started waving to Hook at the end on this visit. Haha.. Then it was time for an early lunch. Back to CHH!

As we passed by the FP line, our happy CM friend was still there. He seemed to put a lot of effort into turning away from us as we neared. I had my camera out at the time. Perhaps he thought I was going to take his pic. Like I said, I won't be sharing it, but I did totally get the back of the guy's head. hahaha.. Something about reading the DIS just makes you take pics of rude people, I guess. I never would've done this kind of stuff before!

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Busy day, huh?

I took a bad pic of the menu this time.

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Once inside, everyone gave me their lunch desires so I went to get our order. I had some cash with me, which is pretty rare, so this is how I paid. My change came back in nothing but gold dollars. What’s with that? I’ve found that CHH gives gold dollars as change quite a bit. I started telling the boys these are Disney pirate gold and we had quite the collection for a while. Does it have something to do with the time period of Liberty Square? I have no idea. I do wonder if they do it so you’ll want to spend them right away. Who wants to carry around a pocket of heavy coins all day?

When I got to the counter, a very sweet CM started up a conversation. It seems that she vacations where we live! She even said that her sister met her husband on one of the beaches here. They were both Canadians. Nifty stuff. I’ve had this same conversation with her three or four times now, without her realizing she’s seen me before. Maybe I’m bad, but I find it hilarious. I’m sure she’s talks to lots of people, so it would be tough to recall this stuff. It is kinda nice not to be remembered, too. I don’t know what it is exactly, but people always seem to remember my family! The age thing? Andrew? I don’t get it. I’ve only reminded her once that we’ve met quite a few times now.

I thought my little family was getting a table ready while I was up here. I turned around to see this instead..

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They were all coloring right behind me!

We all had a nice little lunch, but I don’t remember what we got that day. I could search my envelope for the receipt, but I don’t want to. ;)


Up Next!! Andrew becomes an inventor! My family tried something we’d never done before!!

[IheartDDuck]

Hee hee, I love that Blake screams in the stretching room. I do too....:rolleyes1

[jc040404]

Hee hee, I love that Blake screams in the stretching room. I do too....:rolleyes1

That is too funny! :rotfl: Soooo, are these walls actually stretching? Or, are we going down, like an elevator? I can't make up my mind on this. I tried to drag my feet to check out if the carpet had a break in it, but everyone is always pushing you so much. I haven't figured it out!

[jc040404]

I was just working on the next part of this day and starting thinking about the music from the street party at MK. I decided to look it up on youtube and clicked on a video someone had uploaded. The date on it was a day we were at MK, so I started watching.. We're in it! I couldn't believe it! I had to share. I'll post it when I get to that day. I thought it was hilarious and made John watch. They caught a teeny second of Andrew dancing. I can't believe how fat I look in it though. But yeah, I've gained a lot this year. Is it possible to do WDW often while dieting? I'm going to start finding out as I've been working on this for a few weeks now.

I guess you never know where you might see yourself when you go to WDW!

[CAStevens218]

Great update! I got so sad when Blake was upset about Small World! I'm glad you had a better trip this time! Except that PPF guy! There's no excuse for behavior like that!!

[jc040404]

Great update! I got so sad when Blake was upset about Small World! I'm glad you had a better trip this time! Except that PPF guy! There's no excuse for behavior like that!!

Poor Blakers, huh? He was really upset over that being closed down. :(

PPF guy was nuts. It was the weirdest thing to have him keep interrupting and shouting that over dh. It's all the same line? I have no idea what was in his head, but I did really want to laugh, too. He always looks kinda grumpy when I've noticed him working there.

[jc040404]

Finished up with lunch, we had plans to try something new this visit. I’d read about something in the MK that was about to go away forever. We couldn’t let that happen without checking it out first!

We headed towards the castle, stopping first to grab another round of PPF FPs for later in the day. Going all the way round the castle, we parked the stroller and found seats in Fairytale Garden. Figure out what we’d doing yet? It was almost time for Storytime with Belle!

It was already filling up fast in here and we were on the center of the last row of benches. We were quite early, and our wait would be a lot of fun. The CMs here were awesome and kept coming over to talk to the boys. We had a great spot on the end of the row that they could easily walk to. The boys were loaded up with stickers before anything would begin. One CM spent a ton of time talking to Andrew about his shoes. They were those light up types with a Toy Story theme. We were lucky enough to find a matching pair at Rack Room Shoes at the mall for Blakers, too. The boys are nuts over those things. They bounced a lot and talked about everyone’s favorite character. The CM was a big Claw fan.

While we were waiting, a group of children around Andrew’s age filled up the side of benches. Their shirts had something about a daycamp on them. How lucky are these kids?? They had two younger girls watching over them, when they weren’t playing with their phones anyway. I was shocked at how well behaved most of them were, considering their leaders weren’t really paying much attention to them.

In time, Belle’s helpers (whatever they’re called, I’ve forgotten) came out first and walked around the audience. One came up to Andrew first.

“I can’t wait to see Belle!” he exclaimed.

I’d given Andy-Roo a bit of info on what was to happen and he was hoping to get picked for the show. After the helper moved on to other children, he was certain she liked him and he’d be in it. I hoped he would, but did work on letting him know that we don’t always get picked for everything. He has a rough time with that.

Storytime soon began and Belle was on the stage! This was sooo cute and I so wish they hadn’t stopped it for the Tangled stuff. (FWIW, we haven’t checked out the new stuff yet though.) Belle would call up children to play the different characters and told her story. So completely adorable, and super funny! She asked a father from the front row up to play the Beast. He was awesome and got into it. We laughed so much

Sure enough, my Andy-Roo was right. He was picked first to play a part!

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Andrew is Belle’s father!

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Belle’s helpers had the children hold hands on stage. Cute way to keep ‘em under control.

Four of the kids picked to be part of the show were from that day camp. (blue shirts) I was a little annoyed by it because there were so many familes sitting around. I dunno. I just seemed like they should've picked more from the rest of the group instead of just concentrating on these kids. :confused3

When the story was over, most of the guests left the area, but a CM told us Belle would stick around to meet with the kids. We hopped in the line to wait. Andrew was so excited to ask her how he’d done.

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She said he did great and was the best Maurice yet! I loved how sweet she was with him. It made his day.

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Blake joining in.

We had such a great time! I'd love to be able to go see it again.

After the storytime, we all decided it would be best to finally check out that room and get a break. The boys were tired and the temp was only rising. We headed back to Main Street to leave, but hit another distraction before we could get out of the park..

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Hi Mickey!

We couldn’t pass up the chance to join the celebration!

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It’s Baloo, the bear! Do they say that in The Jungle Book? I always think those words when I see him.

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Hi cowboy!

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Blake’s favorite!

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We aren’t Incredibles fans.

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In everything you do, celebrate YOU!

My boys LOVE that song and are constantly singing it around here.

When the party was just about over, we made our way down Main Street to the ferry. After a detour to Publix for breakfast goodies and bottled water, it was time to check out our room.

We pulled into the lot and looked for the best spot to park for our room. We were in #8117, 90's building. This turned out to be the perfect room for us this visit. It was on the tree/parking lot side of the building and very close to 80's parking. When I look at a Pop map, they really try to make the path from the building to the parking lot looking so much longer than it really is. I don’t get it. This was heaven for going in and out of the room and I would’ve loved spending a week here. We got our first floor request, too.

Room pics!

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The boys had mission when we opened the door. The race to see who could get Must Do Disney going first was on!

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Andrew always wins this battle, but they both loved watching a few minutes of that while we got the room settled. It was time for naps right away and everyone snuggled into their beds. (Someone had dropped our bedrails just inside the door while we were at the park.) I didn’t feel much like sleeping, so I turned on Ghost Whisperer reruns when everyone was snoring. Just being in the cool room and off my feet was the rest I needed. What happened to that show anyway? I used to really like it.

Blake was the first to wake. Since I knew Andy-Roo needed some more rest, I took my baby boy out for some Pop exploring.

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He loves that Potato head!

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....next post....

[jc040404]

We walked all the way over to Classic Hall and checked out Everything Pop for a bit. On the way back, other guests kept stopping me for directions. It was weird, but I guess I must look like I know where I’m going sometimes. After directing a woman and her daughter to Classic Hall, I watched them turn and go the opposite direction! Dunno what was with that. I think we might’ve had a little rain sprinkle on the way back, too. I remember the clouds being a little unhappy.

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Back at the room, John and Andrew were still sleeping. What bums, huh? Blake and I decided to head out again for some ice. While I was filling up on ice, Blakers played with a soda machine behind me.

“Mommy, a penny!”

I turned to my little man holding out a quarter and two pennies. Looks like someone forgot their change in the soda machine. I helped him put them in his little pocket, with the promise of pressing a penny later that night. It was adorable how excited he got over it.

Back in the room, our lazy men were now awake and watching Phineas and Ferb. Andrew wanted to stay in the room to watch cartoons the rest of the day at first! Geesh. Blake and I weren’t into this and said we’d head to the parks alone. Andrew’s shoes were on his feet in record time! :lmao:

Back to the Magic Kingdom! I'll probably finish this day when the boys are in bedtime. Naptime is now over!

[Dugette]

Am I right about it being the the handicap access to the boat?
You know, I'm not sure either. But that whole area was designed to bypass the parade, I thought, so it seems like they could have designed that part better!

I do wish we were close enough to just go whenever we felt like it. I almost had him talked into heading to MK for dinner a few days ago, but I still feel far enough away that it takes some planning. It's still three hours total in the car to go and come back. Not such an easy project with the boys. :sad1:
Where were you going to try for dinner? Just curious. How fun that would be to be close enough! I'd love it, but it would probably be dangerous (to our $$).

I was just working on the next part of this day and starting thinking about the music from the street party at MK. I decided to look it up on youtube and clicked on a video someone had uploaded. The date on it was a day we were at MK, so I started watching.. We're in it! I couldn't believe it! I had to share. I'll post it when I get to that day. I thought it was hilarious and made John watch. They caught a teeny second of Andrew dancing. I can't believe how fat I look in it though. But yeah, I've gained a lot this year. Is it possible to do WDW often while dieting? I'm going to start finding out as I've been working on this for a few weeks now.

I guess you never know where you might see yourself when you go to WDW!
That's pretty crazy! I had a similar experience. I ran across someone else's Star Wars Weekend TR on the Dis. Started reading and found some crazy coincidences: we were both from MN, we went to the same SWW, we were in a lot of the parks at the same times, etc. But the craziest part is that we were at the same Dessert Party and we were in one of their pics! Wild!

I totally don't get what that PPF CM meant about, "It's all the same line!" What was he trying to tell everyone? :confused3

[jc040404]

You know, I'm not sure either. But that whole area was designed to bypass the parade, I thought, so it seems like they could have designed that part better!

Definitely! It really doesn't work at all if this were the plan. The MK is old enough that it might've been okay before, I guess. Not so many people, strollers and wheelchairs/scooters to try to squeeze through. I don't quite know how they'd change the layout with the walls and water, but something has to be changed for safety.


Where were you going to try for dinner? Just curious. How fun that would be to be close enough! I'd love it, but it would probably be dangerous (to our $$).

We didn't get quite that far on the idea. Nowhere exciting, I'm sure. It sucks that you have to make ADRs so far in advance. I only had one in November and ended up having to cancel it for work reasons. (Via Napoli - With the bad reviews and Andrew's current boycott of anything with sauce on it, I doubt we try it anymore)


That's pretty crazy! I had a similar experience. I ran across someone else's Star Wars Weekend TR on the Dis. Started reading and found some crazy coincidences: we were both from MN, we went to the same SWW, we were in a lot of the parks at the same times, etc. But the craziest part is that we were at the same Dessert Party and we were in one of their pics! Wild!

How crazy! That's too nifty.
I totally don't get what that PPF CM meant about, "It's all the same line!" What was he trying to tell everyone? :confused3

I have no clue what that was supposed to mean, but he kept shouting it over and over. That one is always a grouch.

[jc040404]

Just remembered.. We'd gotten sandwiches from the Publix deli when we were there for dinner. That's why I got more ice. Totally forgot until I couldn't figure out what we had for dinner. Now ya know. They aren't that bad. ;)

..back to where we were..

We all loaded into the car and headed for the TTC. It was an exciting parking experience this time. Since it was so late in the day, the parking lot CMs were filling in spots closer to the front in the best section. Minnie perhaps? I never pay attention to what the different areas are called. So late in the day, there usually isn’t anyone directing cars at all. Maybe it was a high crowd season thing.

Anyways, it was exciting. The two CMs running this project were young guys and seemed more interested in talking to each than watching the cars. We got to see a near accident right in front of them! One car was backing out to line up in a spot while another was driving into the same row. It was so fast and so close! I braced for the crash, but they were lucky.

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Guess what won the ferry vs monorail battle this time.. ;)

Blake decided it was time for round two of naps and was out before we made it across to the park. Andrew and I took advantage of it by heading to BTMRR. The standby was listed at 20 minutes, so we got in line. The posted time was accurate. We were climbing into our train in exactly twenty minutes. I decided to time it. :goodvibes

We had some WDW newbies in the line ahead of us. It was a man and a son just a bit older than Andrew. They were awesome to be in line with and kept going on about how much fun they had been having. Andrew and I loved hearing all their stories. I'm usually a shy person and have trouble talking to new people, but you're almost forced to talk to strangers at Disney. It's been good for me and I've had some nifty conversations while we're there. This guy was hilarious. His wife and baby were back at the Poly. Lucky people! Their first visit and at a deluxe? I wanna stay there! Cross your fingers that I can finally justify the price in my mind next year!

BTMRR turned out to be another fun adventure for them because it was raining when we made it outside! When we made back into the station, the man turned around to me with a huge grin on his face.

“I thought that was part of the ride!”

:lmao: He was great. I guess it took a minute or two for them to realize it was actually raining. Too funny! Andrew and I thought it was hilarious to ride in the rain and laughed the entire time, too.

Luckily, the rain only seemed to last the length of our wild ride and was gone when we made it back to John and Blakers. Love that about Florida! Blake was awake from his little cat nap now so we moved on to Fantasyland.

Our first stop was the Pooh FP machines and then on PPF with our FPs from earlier in the day. Our friend was gone by now, of course. ;) The FP line was a bit odd this night, with a chained area to the side. We walked to the usual spot and then had to walk back. There wasn’t anyone watching the line either, which was nuts. We saw a couple enter the line and followed.

When we all made it to the FP collector where the lines join, we heard that the couple before us didn’t have FPs at all. CM tells them they need to go to the other line, but it doesn’t happen. Why? They claimed “he” told them it was okay to get in this line. Yes, there was a male CM at the entrance to the FP line now, but this story was totally made up. We’d seen them just walk into the line. They could’ve at least pretended not to know this was the FP line, but I’m pretty sure they did. I think the collector CM knew it, but didn’t want to fight over it. She told them to consider themselves “lucky” and let ‘em go ahead. What liars!

PPF was awesome, as usual!

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/080510/CIMG8950.jpg
pic back at stroller parking. Don’t I have such a handsome little man? He is growing up way too fast though. I couldn’t get over how much older he looked to me that night.

They were setting up for the fireworks, so Snow White’s line was empty. The wait sign was still showing 30 minutes. It was kinda funny. We went in that direction now. Our actual wait time was nothing. It was walk on. Silly sign.

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http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/080510/CIMG8955.jpg
blurrr.. My pics all suck, but you can see how empty the Snow White line is this time of night.

We moved on to Pooh’s ride next and found that it was walk on, too. As I keep mentioning, Andrew wants to be my buddy on every ride. This is one that I try to spend some time with Blake on and it sometimes turns into trouble. I don’t *always* sit with Blake, but this night we had already talked about it. Andy-Roo had a big melt down over not being the one to ride in the front of our honey pot with me anyway. He found himself sitting out the ride with dh by the stroller due to this outburst. It sucked.

I took Blake on the ride alone and we had to share a honey pot with a young couple behind us. They were soo annoying. Both guys took turns saying the character’s line just before them. I wanted to scream at them to stop, but just let it go. One seemed to be trying to impress the other with his Disney knowledge, so I let him have his moment. Annoying!

Back outside, Andrew apologized for his tantrum and we were buddies again. Think me a bad mom if you want, but this is the best way for us to handle that type of problem and his behavior improves after. He was my sweet little angel the rest of the evening. :goodvibes

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/080510/CIMG8956.jpg
more blurrr.. But these updates need more pictures!

Even though we could’ve all walked on to Pooh’s ride again, we moved on to Tomorrowland instead. It was getting too late for the boys and they both wanted to battle Zurg before calling it a night. There was next to no wait here at the time, too. It was a nice night for lines.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/080510/CIMG8957.jpg
My score is improving.

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I rode with Blakers. He didn’t do bad for a two year old, IMO.

John and Andrew were in front of us, so those other scores are theirs’. I thought it was pretty neat that I caught them all in one picture. It usually takes me a couple tries just to get one lit up. Andrew is the 26200, with John being the 163900. My husband has yet to beat me. Hahahahaha!! He claims it’s because I cheat, but I only knew about one of the cheat spots at that time. :)

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It looks a lot more crowded than it actually is in this one. Very close to walk on really.

That was it for us. Main Street was packed when we got there, but the side of the street by the bakery wasn’t bad. How tempting is the smell when you walk by here? Yummm.. We got out of the park in just a few minutes and picked the ferry as our transportation this night. It was verrry close to firework time and we had a plan. ;)

As everyone loaded onto the ferry, they were all pushing and shoving to get to the other side first. Not us! We simply stepped to the left as we crossed on the boat and let them push past us. When the ferry started to move, it was mostly empty back there.

Then the fireworks started! We had the best spot on the boat when the rest of the guests realized what was going on and rushed back. :lmao: It was so nice watching from back here. John turned the stroller so the boys could see and we cuddled between my picture taking. Perfect Disney moment. :love:

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Pretty nifty, huh? We loved it!

The fireworks weren’t over when we made it to the TTC and everyone wanted to stick around to watch. We were urged to leave the ferry and the crowd moved that direction. Waiting just outside the ferry, but before the gates would’ve been a nice spot, but we knew you aren’t allowed to stay there. It would create an interesting traffic jam. ;) It seemed that not everyone understood this though. A family with three or four kids had parked themselves to the side and refused to leave. We waited farther up near the monorail entrances to watch the rest of the fireworks.

The refusing family made quite a scene and we could hear it all the way where we were. A very nice CM kept telling them they had to move to the other side of the gate, but the father wasn’t having it. He pulled the “we payed x amount of money to be here, so we’re not moving” garbage on the amazingly calm CM. I was super impressed with this cast member and how he kept control the entire time this man yelled at him. Super impressed! That guy got nasty. Guests started laughing at this father and yelling at him to move instead.

“Don’t let the poor children watch the fireworks!” the man’s wife yelled back at them all. The attitude in her voice made me giggle. This family needed a break. I bet they'd been running in the park all day long. Poor children indeed. Hope they had a good night of rest and a better time the next day.

It was quite the experience! We didn’t stick around for the whole show and started the walk back to our car.

We made it back to Pop and the boys came to life. It’s nuts how they get so much energy as soon as we make it back! Andrew and John walked over to get some drinks and a late snack while I got Blakers ready for bed. The boys would then stay up way too late playing restaurant with the new curtains that Pop put up by the sink area. Silly kids. It was fun to watch. We eventually settled in to bed and the day was done.


Next Up!! Don't we have an ADR somewhere today?? :confused3

[jc040404]

I was supposed to be at Disney tomorrow, but dh is going to work extra instead. Silly man. His priorities are off. Who would choose work over Mickey! :confused3 I know a couple of you are there right now. :banana: Hope everyone is having fun!!

My next updates will be slow. I was on a roll, but that's all the pics I have uploaded. I cleared them all off my computer during the virus fiasco, so uploading is more work now. I think I've already messed up all the pics on my last TR playing around with photobucket, too. :sad:

Quick questions..

How's the TR so far? I feel like I'm being too detailed. Is it okay? Too many/too little pics? Am I favoring one child over the other? I'm worrying about that.. I'm thinking too much..

Have a great weekend!

[AprilRenee]

How's the TR so far? I feel like I'm being too detailed. Is it okay? Too many/too little pics? Am I favoring one child over the other? I'm worrying about that.. I'm thinking too much..

Have a great weekend!


It's great!! I like the details. Pics are good too. You're doing a good job of telling each days story and making it separate from last year. Like we get to hear about the little interesting stories that happened during each day and it's not just "We did this ride, then this ride, then this ride" You're good at putting in the right details.

I think you're doing well with giving both boys time. It's nice that Blake is a little older this year. It seems like he getting to ride more and you can do more things as a group instead of having to split up cause he's too little to ride things.

[IheartDDuck]

That is too funny! :rotfl: Soooo, are these walls actually stretching? Or, are we going down, like an elevator? I can't make up my mind on this. I tried to drag my feet to check out if the carpet had a break in it, but everyone is always pushing you so much. I haven't figured it out!

I am pretty sure that it's an elevator. If you pay attention, sometimes a cast member will start the elevator before the door actually closes completely, so you'll see that you start to go down.

Great update, love the pictures. I also love being there with people that have never been before. It's so great to see it through their eyes. It makes it feel new again.

[jc040404]

It's great!! I like the details. Pics are good too. You're doing a good job of telling each days story and making it separate from last year. Like we get to hear about the little interesting stories that happened during each day and it's not just "We did this ride, then this ride, then this ride" You're good at putting in the right details.

I think you're doing well with giving both boys time. It's nice that Blake is a little older this year. It seems like he getting to ride more and you can do more things as a group instead of having to split up cause he's too little to ride things.

Yay! Love the positive feedback. I can remember a lot more right now because it's so recent and I was making a point to remember it at the time. I didn't wanna come off overly detailed though. I know I got kinda overwhelmed with last year's TR and didn't slow down to share as much, too. Glad it looks good. Thanks! :goodvibes

I'm so glad that you think I'm giving them each time. It's rough to work that, especially at WDW. John can't ride the big kid stuff with Andrew, so I'm kinda forced into splitting up from Blake. Being a mom of two stresses me sometimes. I'm constantly worrying about who is getting more time and attention. I do hope this gets easier..

I am pretty sure that it's an elevator. If you pay attention, sometimes a cast member will start the elevator before the door actually closes completely, so you'll see that you start to go down.

Great update, love the pictures. I also love being there with people that have never been before. It's so great to see it through their eyes. It makes it feel new again.

I will definitely be watching next time for any button pushing. Do you think anyone would tell you if you asked? I'm tempted to, or at least tell dh to ask anyway, but figured they wouldn't spoil the magic with a real answer. I read on the theme parks board that DL has an elevator, but WDW doesn't. Then it turned into fighting, as they often do, and I never figured out who was right. I wanna know!

Spending time with WDW newbies is the best! We've met a few and they're usually so excited! LOVE it!

[jc040404]

Wanna peek into the future for a moment? Andy-Roo and Blakers just made an appearance in jen22984's TR (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39135967&postcount=60)! :goodvibes

[IheartDDuck]

I will definitely be watching next time for any button pushing. Do you think anyone would tell you if you asked? I'm tempted to, or at least tell dh to ask anyway, but figured they wouldn't spoil the magic with a real answer. I read on the theme parks board that DL has an elevator, but WDW doesn't. Then it turned into fighting, as they often do, and I never figured out who was right. I wanna know!

Spending time with WDW newbies is the best! We've met a few and they're usually so excited! LOVE it!

I've heard that it's one way in Disneyland and on way in Disney World, but I can never remember which one is which. And I've been to both, so that doesn't help the matter either! :rotfl: It is very possible I am confused. LOL.

[jc040404]

I've heard that it's one way in Disneyland and on way in Disney World, but I can never remember which one is which. And I've been to both, so that doesn't help the matter either! :rotfl: It is very possible I am confused. LOL.

This got me too curious. I've just been sitting here searching to find out what it is. :lmao:

From wikipedia, so I guess it could still be wrong! ;)


Disneyland and Disneyland Paris:
In the Disneyland version and the Phantom Manor, the room is, in fact, an elevator. The room is lowered slowly as the ceiling remains in place to give the illusion that the room is stretching. This brings the guests down to where the ride begins, below ground level. This elevator effect was necessary to lower the guests below the level of the railroad which circles Disneyland. The actual ride building of this attraction is located outside of the berm surrounding the park, and the Disney Imagineers developed this mechanism to lower the guests to the gallery leading to the ride building.

Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland:
Guests enter a chamber in which the floor is stationary while the ceiling itself rises, as do the portraits. As both rides (Florida and Tokyo) were built on stable ground, there was no need to lower guests down and out of the park.

[pookersmom]

Lots of great updates -- I've just been getting caught up. I was gone for most of November doing National Novel Writing Month. I dunno what I was thinking.

Anyway, I loved seeing Andrew and Blake in someone else's trip report. How fun!!

You could never include too much detail for me -- reading trip reports keeps me from annoying my husband and son until our trip in January. Hehe...

[arubio0801]

Yay!! So glad I found your TR I was missing it!! So happy you decided to do another one! Can't wait for an update!!:flower3:

[Lisa29]

Loving the updates so far. No need to change anything about them! :thumbsup2

[jc040404]

Lots of great updates -- I've just been getting caught up. I was gone for most of November doing National Novel Writing Month. I dunno what I was thinking.

Anyway, I loved seeing Andrew and Blake in someone else's trip report. How fun!!

You could never include too much detail for me -- reading trip reports keeps me from annoying my husband and son until our trip in January. Hehe...



National Novel Writing Month? Sounds interesting. Off to google in a sec. ;)

Glad you like the detail. I was seriously beginning to wonder if I hadn't started to come across as just annoying. :rotfl: January is almost here! When's your trip??

Yay!! So glad I found your TR I was missing it!! So happy you decided to do another one! Can't wait for an update!!:flower3:

Welcome to year two!! How was your trip?? I was wondering about you!

Loving the updates so far. No need to change anything about them! :thumbsup2

Thanks so much for the feedback. I'll continue on as I am then, at least until I can't remember quite so much. I never did notes for our last day trip in November.. I should probably get to that before I forget it all, huh? :rotfl:





Hoping to get another update finished in a few days. This TR seems to be moving so much slower than the last..

[pookersmom]

January is almost here! When's your trip??

We're driving down to Tallahassee the weekend of the 8th & 9th, spending one night with my husband's mom, then we're at CBR from the 10th through the 18th, and then we'll go back to Tallahassee to spend a few more days with her before we drive home.

We like to drive. Because we're insane. :rotfl2:

[IheartDDuck]

This got me too curious. I've just been sitting here searching to find out what it is. :lmao:

From wikipedia, so I guess it could still be wrong! ;)

That is likely right. It's possible that I saw the elevator action in Disneyland. Fun though the things that you find out. ;)

[jc040404]

We're driving down to Tallahassee the weekend of the 8th & 9th, spending one night with my husband's mom, then we're at CBR from the 10th through the 18th, and then we'll go back to Tallahassee to spend a few more days with her before we drive home.

We like to drive. Because we're insane. :rotfl2:

Wow! You must be! That would be kinda fun though, even the boys weren't so little. How old is your son? I don't think my family would survive a drive out of the state right now!

How awesome that your trip is so soon though! :banana: Gonna do a TR? I'm addicted to these things. I'm reading most of those that hit the first page. No wonder I can't find a moment to update my own! :rotfl: Oh well. I need a Disney fix soon. CBR is my favorite resort right now, but we've only stayed once for my birthday. I doubt I get that far in my TR before your trip. :lmao: Hope you have bunches of fun!!

That is likely right. It's possible that I saw the elevator action in Disneyland. Fun though the things that you find out. ;)

I like to research stuff. WDW and DISboards give so much to look into. So much fun!

So jealous that you've been to DL, btw.. I don't see us making it out there unless something huge happens. The price, distance, and the whole flying thing aren't things we're interested in. :sad1:



Sad news.. I ruined my last TR by trying to work on photobucket. I messed up all the pic links and turned into a bunch of unhappy "this pic doesn't exist" type boxes. :sad: It's gone now.

[onescgirl]

Andy looked so cute with Belle. I'm glad he was picked to be in the storytime.

That is so cool that you saw your family in the Youtube video! I can't wait to see it.

[jc040404]

Andy looked so cute with Belle. I'm glad he was picked to be in the storytime.

That is so cool that you saw your family in the Youtube video! I can't wait to see it.

I was so glad he was picked, too! Andrew was so sure that Belle's helper was going to bring him up. It was awesome that it worked out. Blake did get a little jealous during the show with big brother up there though. Poor little guy. I'm hoping whenever we try the new Tangled thing that they take younger ones, as well. I haven't really looked into to it enough just yet.

[jc040404]

August 6th, 2010 - Friday - Day Four

As in the last visit, the sound of a ringing phone woke me much earlier than I wanted to be up. It was the same story. I simply picked it up and sat it back down. I barely remember doing it, but our rope drop plans were gone. I don’t know why I bother to schedule those calls now!

A few hours later, everyone started to stir and our day began. We followed our usual WDW routine of muffins and juice in the room before making plans. Andrew desperately wanted some swimming time, so the boys changed for the water. Once the car was packed up, the boy grabbed some towels and we were off to the kids’ area by the Hippy Dippy pool. I walked with the boys while John moved the car over to Classic Hall.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/aug6/CIMG8997.jpg

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/aug6/CIMG8999.jpg
one last cell phone building pic!

We stayed in this area for a long while, just letting them run around and have fun. I had some fun taking pics of everything around us.

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morning mousekeeping at work!

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Blake is my little fishie!

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We watched this guy for a bit.

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While we were watching the boys play, something odd happened. There were people on golf carts riding around, working on the buildings I’m guessing. One of them stops just behind us and sits, watching the little kids play in the water. It was probably harmless, but made me uncomfortable. When I motioned for John to “check out this guy” finally, he hurriedly drove off. Super weird stuff.

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Blake kept running back to the table to ask if we were watching him!

Andrew was having some issues with the water this day. He was afraid to go near anything spraying up. He’d run over to us and back again. Finally, he decided he’d be brave. It was kinda funny because he usually loves playing in these. I’m not sure what was going on. I promised to take some pics..

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But Blake saw me with the camera and ran across to be part of brother’s pictures! We couldn’t stop laughing over it.

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When we decided the boys had enough for one morning, the journey took us inside for some cool drinks. I snapped more pictures along the way. There wasn’t a lot of excitement this morning, but I did manage bunches of pictures!

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Andrew requested this one because it’s where we slept!

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It wasn’t very busy in here. They split an orange soda.

Then it was time for shopping! Or browsing really. I don’t remember buying anything other than the sodas.

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We’d never noticed this before!

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/aug6/CIMG9097.jpg

....next post....

[jc040404]

Oops.. Someone might've finished off that soda. I was sent to buy another. ;)

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Had to take this one. At the time, there was another big thread about using old mugs and it was in my head!

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The ceiling is just nifty here.

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When I returned to my family, each boy had picked out something they wanted..

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Andrew said he “needed” this. He so loves Alice!

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Blake wanted a new “cereal” bowl! Yes, that’s what he called it!

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Andrew loves this train, but I don’t think we’ll ever get it. He has the monorail set and it is so poorly made. I don’t see this lasting very long.

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Neither of us really care for those things in the middle. John and I debated which one was the ugliest for way too long. Sorry if you like 'em, we just think they look like someone drove a big truck over the characters. They're all squished and weird!

We left without getting anything, but I did make lots of mental gift notes. ;) After a restroom stop to get the boys cleaned up and changed, it was time to go.

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I just had to walk over and take this one.

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When we were all loaded in the car, we had absolutely no idea where we’d go next! John asked about lunch and a thought hit me.

Don’t we have an ADR somewhere today??



Coming soon.. Do we make it on time? Do I even remember when "on time" is? Where are we eating anyway??

[GaRain]

I was supposed to be at Disney tomorrow, but dh is going to work extra instead. Silly man. His priorities are off. Who would choose work over Mickey! :confused3 I know a couple of you are there right now. :banana: Hope everyone is having fun!!

I did check the line of kids waiting to see Alice over at EPCOT, just in case.....sorry we didn't get to see ya!
Um, the donald hats? Heck yeah man, we bought 2, 1 for my brother and 1 for his son, I love them!!
We encountered a LOT of rude guests, but only 1 real, well, not rude, but not very good CM and that was when my room was flooded. I want to go back to my value resorts after this trip!!!

Andy-roo is looking like a boy in these pictures and not a baby anymore - they are growing up so fast!!! So cute!!!

Hmmmm, don't you have an ADR....

[CAStevens218]

Sounds like a fun morning! I was totally "shopping" while looking at your pictures! We leave tomorrow...what to buy??!!?

In the back of the picture you took with the lollipops I could see one of those things where you get the tube full of pure sugar. Ugghhh, sooo gross and my "grown-up" boyfriend always insists he neeeddds one! I've manage to talk him out of it in the past, but I have a feeling he might win this trip. Disgusting!

[Dugette]

Sounds like a nice morning at Pop. Except for the creepy person watching the kids at the pool.

Did Blake get the "cereal" bowl? I think I could eat cereal out of that...I like cereal! :rotfl:

Yeah, those squished animals are strange.

I can't wait to hear if you figure out the ADR!

[IheartDDuck]

I like to research stuff. WDW and DISboards give so much to look into. So much fun!

So jealous that you've been to DL, btw.. I don't see us making it out there unless something huge happens. The price, distance, and the whole flying thing aren't things we're interested in. :sad1:



Sad news.. I ruined my last TR by trying to work on photobucket. I messed up all the pic links and turned into a bunch of unhappy "this pic doesn't exist" type boxes. :sad: It's gone now.




Oh no, that's terrible about Photo Bucket! I totally did that once before too.

I definitely have not been to Disneyland as often as I have been to Disney World. I try to make it a goal to make it out there every few years. I'm waiting to go back in 2012 when the California Adventure remodel is finished! :banana: I have made it a personal goal to make it to all five Disney locations. Three down, two more to go! LOL.

I love researching stuff on Disney too. Sometimes I think I spend too much time on it...:rolleyes1

[jc040404]

I did check the line of kids waiting to see Alice over at EPCOT, just in case.....sorry we didn't get to see ya!
Um, the donald hats? Heck yeah man, we bought 2, 1 for my brother and 1 for his son, I love them!!
We encountered a LOT of rude guests, but only 1 real, well, not rude, but not very good CM and that was when my room was flooded. I want to go back to my value resorts after this trip!!!

Andy-roo is looking like a boy in these pictures and not a baby anymore - they are growing up so fast!!! So cute!!!

Hmmmm, don't you have an ADR....


Too bad that we didn't get to meet. I need to stop saying I'll be at WDW on a particular date. It never seems to happen! :rotfl: I really seem to be bad at planning and sticking to things.

I actually thought that Donald hat was kinda neat until Andrew told me his thoughts on it! :rotfl:

I totally read your comment wrong and thought you DIDN'T run into a lot of rude people. Sorry 'bout that. The boys were running around when I shouldn't have popped on DISboards. haha.. Yuck that you did! We did yesterday and did have a few that needed breaks, but it wasn't terrible. Hope you still had a nice time. Your room was flooded though?? Yikes. Are you doing a TR? This doesn't sound fun!


Sounds like a fun morning! I was totally "shopping" while looking at your pictures! We leave tomorrow...what to buy??!!?

In the back of the picture you took with the lollipops I could see one of those things where you get the tube full of pure sugar. Ugghhh, sooo gross and my "grown-up" boyfriend always insists he neeeddds one! I've manage to talk him out of it in the past, but I have a feeling he might win this trip. Disgusting!

:banana::banana::banana:

You're at WDW right now!!

Andrew so wants one of those sugar things. I'm with you. They look so nasty! He likes pixie sticks, so I'm sure he'll think they're great, if I ever let him have one. :rotfl:

Hope you're having a great time!!
Sounds like a nice morning at Pop. Except for the creepy person watching the kids at the pool.

Did Blake get the "cereal" bowl? I think I could eat cereal out of that...I like cereal! :rotfl:

Yeah, those squished animals are strange.

I can't wait to hear if you figure out the ADR!

Too funny! Blake didn't get the bowl, but I'm sure he could finish one off. Blakers is the little piggy right now and he's wild about Life cereal of all things! :rotfl:

Oh no, that's terrible about Photo Bucket! I totally did that once before too.

I definitely have not been to Disneyland as often as I have been to Disney World. I try to make it a goal to make it out there every few years. I'm waiting to go back in 2012 when the California Adventure remodel is finished! :banana: I have made it a personal goal to make it to all five Disney locations. Three down, two more to go! LOL.

I love researching stuff on Disney too. Sometimes I think I spend too much time on it...:rolleyes1

Love the goal! I have the same one! I'm not really thinking I get it accomplished anytime soon though. :rotfl: I've been looking at DL pics (thanks to jen22984!) today and I'm wanting to go soooo much right now for the holiday stuff! It looks like they put more into decorations there? Someday..

[pookersmom]

I love Blake's cereal bowl. Awesome! It's like how Jerry Seinfeld used to eat cereal on his show.

Actually, to be perfectly honest, we drive because my husband has Asperger's and we have learned that being in an airport, with all its many potential stressors, is just not worth it -- he stresses for days leading up to it, then stresses while on the vacation knowing we have to go through it again to go back home. So we figure if we ever want to go to Europe, we'll drug him up, but if it's any place we can drive, we'll drive.

My son is 9, and he's always done really well in the car -- we're road trippy people anyway, always heading out for the day on the weekends and just exploring. He sets himself up in the backseat with his portable DVD player, his Nintendo DS, and some books, and he's good to go for several hundred miles. Last time we drove down to Florida two years ago, we drove straight through (THAT was insane and I will never do it again!) and he slept most of the way because we left here around dinnertime on a Wednesday and arrived in Tallahassee around 2am the following night (Friday morning).

This time, I'm looking forward to a nice leisurely drive; we have taken two weeks off work. We've chosen some potential eateries from way too many viewings of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, and we're stopping in New Orleans to see some friends too. Less than a month away now! W00t!

[pookersmom]

Random -- that whole thing double posted. It was long-winded enough once!

[jc040404]

I love Blake's cereal bowl. Awesome! It's like how Jerry Seinfeld used to eat cereal on his show.

Actually, to be perfectly honest, we drive because my husband has Asperger's and we have learned that being in an airport, with all its many potential stressors, is just not worth it -- he stresses for days leading up to it, then stresses while on the vacation knowing we have to go through it again to go back home. So we figure if we ever want to go to Europe, we'll drug him up, but if it's any place we can drive, we'll drive.

My son is 9, and he's always done really well in the car -- we're road trippy people anyway, always heading out for the day on the weekends and just exploring. He sets himself up in the backseat with his portable DVD player, his Nintendo DS, and some books, and he's good to go for several hundred miles. Last time we drove down to Florida two years ago, we drove straight through (THAT was insane and I will never do it again!) and he slept most of the way because we left here around dinnertime on a Wednesday and arrived in Tallahassee around 2am the following night (Friday morning).

This time, I'm looking forward to a nice leisurely drive; we have taken two weeks off work. We've chosen some potential eateries from way too many viewings of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, and we're stopping in New Orleans to see some friends too. Less than a month away now! W00t!

I love Jerry Seinfeld!

That makes a lot of sense then. :goodvibes I'm glad your son is fine with long drives. It could be loads of fun! Driving straight down has to be insane. John and I did that once from Connecticut to here. It was soo exhausting. I've tossed a "never again" on that, too!

I love that you're taking notes from that Food Network show. I love that one and always tell dh that I wanna drive around and try all these places someday. How neat that you're going to try some of 'em!

Sounds like a fun trip!!

[jc040404]

Oops. This visit had started with a plan that quickly fell apart. I assumed we’d be at MK this day and made plans for Tony’s at lunchtime. Somehow, I managed to forget I’d done it. Unbelievable, right? I never forget anything. Seriously, my short term isn’t so hot. To make it worse, once I did remember, I couldn’t remember what time it was for. I was guessing around twelve or one, but really didn’t have a clue. We really could’ve checked out for sure then, but decided to just head to MK and see what happened. I was almost certain we’d still be early.

On to the TTC!!

After an uneventful parking experience, we headed to the ferry. It seemed to be winning quite a bit then. John assumed it wouldn’t have much of a wait compared to the monorail lines. Was he right? You tell me..

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We did get on the next boat and headed across the lagoon. I was being silly with the camera and actually recorded the water going by for a bit. It just makes me dizzy to watch now, so I’ll save you by not posting it. ;) Even in the crowd, we had a decent viewing spot on the ferry.

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The most memorable part of our ferry experience was this guy..

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I’m not sure what exactly he was supposed to be doing, but he kept rushing back and forth on that thing. It all looked so important, but really seemed to be nothing. No one else was around. Hurry up and go one way, then speed back the other. Too weird.

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People throw change at this thing?

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Once inside, we walked straight to Tony’s. When John parked the stroller so we could check inside, I saw two people turned away at the little outside podium. I felt horrible. I really hoped we hadn’t left a table sitting open while others were sent off for nothing.

Inside, I said we had an ADR, but I wasn’t sure what time it was for. After checking my name multiple times, even checking the spelling a few of a them, nothing was found for this day at all Huh? I know I had the restaurant correct, if nothing else! She said it was no problem, and they had open tables anyway. Really? Remember we’d watched people being turned away just moments before. I wonder what was going on with that..

When I got home, I checked my email and saw we most certainly did have an ADR for this day, for about 25 minutes later than the time we got there. I don’t know why she couldn’t find it. She checked the entire day and we weren’t on it? :confused3

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We found seats to wait for our name to be called. Just as the boys started to press a penny, we were called to our table.

We’d eaten at Tony’s on my birthday trip in 2005 and again on Andrew’s first birthday, but nothing since. Our server on Andrew’s birthday was awesome and put a lot into making it special. The entire room held their napkins in the air to wish him a happy birthday and we had fun. The food made me think Olive Garden really, nothing special. Andrew is completely opposed to most of the menu, so we just skip this one now. When I found out about some other options, another visit was planned last minute for this day. I’m glad I remembered.

Our experience this day could be best described as confusing. I was never really sure who our waitress was since we had three or four people come around during the course of the meal. Maybe they really didn’t have anything open? I wondered if it was a group effort for an unplanned table or something. In the end, we were taken care of and everyone was fed. It was just a little odd.

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We even managed some food pics this time.

Andrew went for the kids’ cheeseburger calzone. I thought it looked kinda gross, but he ate most of it. The only real feedback I got was that the salad had too many carrots in it. :rotfl:

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Blake is our pasta lover. He could eat it every meal of everyday and never complain. He got the Mickey shaped cheese ravioli.

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He didn’t really eat any of it. Interpret that however you'd like. ;)

I picked the Eggplant Catasta. I would’ve preferred more onion, as there really wasn’t much. It was okay.

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I have no pictures of whatever John got. He was happy with whatever it was though. :) He just said something about lasagna. Do they have lasagna? I have no idea.

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That was it for Tony’s. I’m pretty sure the boys had dessert, but we skipped it. I was stuffed after the meal. Though it isn't exciting, we'd come back if we wanted TS at MK and nothing else was open. (Well, we'd skip The Plaza even if it was open. haha..) Now it was time for some fun! We headed out into the park with a POTC destination.

...next post...

[jc040404]

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It was kinda busy..

When we made to POTC, the standby time was listed at twenty minutes. My husband gets a bright idea and offers to get BTMRR FPs for us while I take the boys on the ride. He thought he was being nice. I told him he was nuts if he thought I was waiting alone in line for twenty minutes with both kids this time of day. I finally sent him after FPs, but not for BTMRR. It was a secret from Andrew, so I'm keeping it for now. We let him believe it was still BTMRR. If you've followed my TRs, I'm sure you can guess where. ;) We’d stand outside the ride where the boys could play and wait for him.

The wait was exciting. Blake found a shell. Andrew found another shell. Then Blake found another one. See where this is going? About five minutes into it, I had a handful of teeny, tiny shells.

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"Give Peas a Chance"
How cute is this little outfit? I love it! You've probably noticed. I put it on him enough! ;)

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Andrew and I played with the camera..

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Blake spotted Goofy in his pirate costume, so my decision to not wait in a line alone with the boys turned into me waiting alone in a line with the boys. :lmao: Oh well. This was fun.

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John was taking forever to get back to us! I hadn’t sent him too far away and he walks fast. I was more than a little annoyed when we returned to our first waiting spot after Goofy. An eternity later, my husband finally walks up. I may have been a little less than pleasant about wondering why he’d been gone so long. He said he’d been trapped by the parade! Oops. I didn’t realize what time it was. Yes, I apologized. :rolleyes1

On to POTC! The wait was down to ten minutes now. I should’ve just gotten in line before, huh? We had a fun time. Blake is nuts over this one. I’ve probably said that already. He loves yelling for the redhead in the “wench for a bride” part and will randomly do it when we’re out and about. It’s hilarious that no one has a clue what he’s yelling about and just acts like it’s adorable baby talk. Hahaha.. If they only knew..

We walked out of POTC to see that the Pirates League Tutorial was just beginning! We’d never made plans to be around for this, so it was nifty to find something new. We were able to get nice spots right on the rope.

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Captain Jack Sparrow! I’ve yet to watch any of these movies..

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It was pretty hilarious. Other guests were annoying though. They kept pushing their kids up. One even instructed her child to just run up onto the stage after all the children had been chosen. How rude. He was allowed to stay, of course. Oh well. It was the worst at the end when they called more kids up for diplomas. Everyone wanted their child to rush the stage. Andrew was picked in that group, and spent the entire time using his diploma to sword fight a little girl. :rotfl:

When everything was done and the crowd ran off to more rides, Mac came over to give Blakers a diploma, too. How sweet was that? John had been holding him while we watched. Now that I’m posting this, I just realized that we’ve never unrolled these to see what they say? Anyone know? I'm going to go look after I post this!

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Standing in the sun for this had all of us roasting and in need of water. We stopped into Pecos Bill for some ice water and made plans to get out of the sun. All of our inside options considered, we picked our favorite..

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Andrew would’ve been fine with ANYTHING other than this. The rest of us really love it though! Blake even asks for it sometimes. He’s silly. It was a nice stop out of the sun and into some air conditioning.

Coming soon!! The rest of this day! We've been Christmas shopping today and I'm tired. ;) Figure out where the mystery FP is for?

[AprilRenee]

Yay an update!
You haven't seen Pirates!?!?! You have 2 little boys...how have you not seen pirates!? K...it might be a little scary...but it's SO good. Worth seeing with you and John after the boys go to bed. I refused to see it in theaters cause I thought it was probably overrated. Then we got it for Christmas the year it came out on DVD and I ended up watching it twice in a row on Christmas day...it was that good!

Side note, you planning any Disney days for Jan 3-9? We will be there then and I'd love to meet you and say hi if we ended up at the same park on the same day.

[IheartDDuck]

That is priceless that Blake yells at random times for the redhead wench! That's totally awesome, I have to admit.

We love CoP too. It's such a great way to have a break during the day.

You have to watch to Pirates movies. By far the first one is the best, but I do enjoy the other two as well. :thumbsup2

[jc040404]

Yay an update!
You haven't seen Pirates!?!?! You have 2 little boys...how have you not seen pirates!? K...it might be a little scary...but it's SO good. Worth seeing with you and John after the boys go to bed. I refused to see it in theaters cause I thought it was probably overrated. Then we got it for Christmas the year it came out on DVD and I ended up watching it twice in a row on Christmas day...it was that good!

Side note, you planning any Disney days for Jan 3-9? We will be there then and I'd love to meet you and say hi if we ended up at the same park on the same day.


Blame the Buccaneers. Everyone is so pirate crazy around here that I had no desire to see any of these when they came out. With how much my family loves that ride, we have planned to check them out but haven't gotten it yet. I've seen bits and pieces of one of them when it's been on television. I have no clue which one it was though. Some girl fell off a cliff and Johnny Depp saved her? That's as far as I got! :rotfl: We'll get to it soon!

We might be doing the 9th, but it'll depend on dh's schedule. Things are changing for him at the start of the year, but I don't know when exactly "the start of the year" is right now. :rotfl: I'll keep you updated! It'll be here before we know it!

That is priceless that Blake yells at random times for the redhead wench! That's totally awesome, I have to admit.

We love CoP too. It's such a great way to have a break during the day.

You have to watch to Pirates movies. By far the first one is the best, but I do enjoy the other two as well. :thumbsup2

Isn't it hilarious? He was doing it at the grocery store today even. "We wants the redhead!" It is kinda tough to understand when he uses his pirate voice. :lmao:

CoP is great. It'll grow on Andrew eventually. ;)

[jen22984]

[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="3"][FONT="Georgia"]Isn't it hilarious? He was doing it at the grocery store today even. "We wants the redhead!" It is kinda tough to understand when he uses his pirate voice. :lmao:



I think he was just calling for his 2 best girl friends! ;)

[jc040404]

I think he was just calling for his 2 best girl friends! ;)

I didn't think about that! :rotfl: Maybe you're right!

[jc040404]

One of Andrew’s odd favorites was up next..

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It’s the Peoplemover again! I love that it was changed back for the simple fact that it’s easier to say now. We hopped in the line and headed up to the ride. Andrew insists that we actually ride the moving walkway thing, whatever it’s called, instead of walking up. It’s the same thing on the way down. I think he really bugs people sometimes. Oh well!

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Happy Andy-Roo

And some crowd pics.. It was a busy day.

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I’d like to say the ride was fun this day, but it really wasn’t. A younger couple ahead of us was being so obnoxious. The girl would scream every few seconds at first, acting as if the ride were really scary and exciting. Then she started calling out names of the celebrities she pretended to see below.

“It’s Justin Bieber!!”

At the time, I had no idea who that was. :confused3

She was seriously screaming as loud as she could. I know she just wanted the attention and wouldn’t stop. Finally, John shouted at her to stop already. She just giggled, probably feeling as if she’d accomplished her goal, but did behave the rest of the ride. What a headache!

When we were back on the ground, the crowds had us uncertain where to head next. The FP time was still quite some time off, and it was important to use those. We were now able to get another round of FPs at this point, so we were off to Fantasyland and Blake's request. Andrew and I got a set for Pooh’s ride. I let him know that we had a special surprise for him coming up later. ;)

More time to kill, we needed a water refill before anything else. Of course, we stopped in CHH! Our favorite girl just happened to be working this day, too! The boys were so excited to see Stacy again, so we all had a nice chat just outside. She shared that her CP time was coming to an end, but she’d be back for MNSSHP. We were all sad to hear she’d be gone soon. Stacy was such a constant in our first Disney year and it wouldn't be the same without her. She was definitely one of WDW’s best! :thumbsup2

Andrew decided we needed a snack and Stacy offered up her suggestion, a funnel cake with strawberries and icecream, I believe. I love Disney funnel cakes, so it was on to Sleepy Hollow!

We didn’t go with Stacy's creation, just plain powdered sugar, and grabbed a quiet table to snack. Check out Andrew’s face as he was about to gobble it up!

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It seemed smaller than usual and a little overcooked, but the boys were loving it!

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Blake was a little sad when this was gone in record time. We chose to be completely ridiculous next and John went to buy another!

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This time we got a much yummier funnel cake, but couldn’t finish it. Andrew didn’t have any, despite saying he was up for more. He spent the time pretending to be a CM and helping clean up our table. The real table cleaning CM appreciated his help. :rolleyes1

On to the honey pots! We must’ve had a short return time. I think the FP machines had been moved over by Mickey’s Philharmagic then? I remember the return times being pretty fast just after they did that. I guess people didn’t want to walk so far away? Maybe they just didn’t read the sign, but I’m pretty sure that’s why we were able to use our FP so soon!

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Pooh’s tree! This area is sooo cute now that it’s completed! We finally got to see it last week!

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Hooray!

We all gathered back by the stroller after the ride to talk to Andrew. If you remember, we’d had some issues with him being upset over not riding with me on this one. During this ride, he was an angel and insisted that baby brother have a chance to ride something with mommy. What an awesome little man, right? For being such a great big brother, I pulled those mystery fastpasses out of my pocket. What were they for??

“SPLASH WATER MOUNTAIN!”

We were off in that direction next!

At the ride, Andrew literally ran through the FP line. I couldn't keep up! It took quite a bit before we bumped into anyone else on that side, but the standby wait was crazy. At loading, we were told to go to the last seat. I was excited about this, having forgotten how soaked we got in the last seat before. I figured we were in for a nice ride.

The loading CM then ran off for a break and a new sent a family to our spot. We were told to stand back and wait. How annoying. To make it more fun, we were then moved to the front seat! I was terrified before we ever climbed in! :scared1:

Andrew laughed at me for being worried when we got in our seat. He thought we’d have the best view this way. He even hoped we got soaking wet! What a crazy kid. I tried so much to enjoy this ride. It is really so cute and that music sticks with you. I am never able to relax on here, no matter how I try to focus on that. I spent every moment thinking about the big drop!

As we headed up in our log to plummet down into the briar patch, Andrew buried his head in my side. I can’t believe this child loves Splash so much! I’d read on the DIS that it was better to keep your eyes open, but I think those people are insane. I tried to keep mine wide and watch when we started down. It didn’t work. As soon as the drop began, they were closed tight! Who actually enjoys this thing?? I’m almost shaking just thinking about how much it scares me!

By the end of the ride, Andrew got his wish. We were completely soaked! He wanted to see our picture, but I rushed him through. We've never stopped to check out our Splash picture. I can only imagine what I must look like and would rather not be around when it goes on display!

John did snap some pics while waiting for us.

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Standby = 55 when we left!

That was it for us this day. Blakers had fallen asleep in the stroller while watching for us to come by on Splash. I was soo soaking wet and immediately needed a restroom break to dry off a bit. Andrew spent the time getting a pressed penny. I need to get him a book for those. They’re all over the place here! We’d then call this visit finished and journey out to the monorail.

Once in the car, Andrew was napping with his baby brother before we made it off Disney property again. The ride home was fun. John and I talked about ths kids and searched for things in the clouds. I took pictures of the things we found particularly interesting, but now I can’t figure how what we thought most of them were! :lmao: Check this one out.. Looks like someone eating to me, with a big open mouth!

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/aug6/CIMG9270.jpg

The sunset was gorgeous as we got closer to home.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/aug6/CIMG9275.jpg

The End!

Next up! Our first real Disney Day! To the World and back before dinner??

[GaRain]

Too bad that we didn't get to meet. I need to stop saying I'll be at WDW on a particular date. It never seems to happen! :rotfl: I really seem to be bad at planning and sticking to things.

I actually thought that Donald hat was kinda neat until Andrew told me his thoughts on it! :rotfl:

I totally read your comment wrong and thought you DIDN'T run into a lot of rude people. Sorry 'bout that. The boys were running around when I shouldn't have popped on DISboards. haha.. Yuck that you did! We did yesterday and did have a few that needed breaks, but it wasn't terrible. Hope you still had a nice time. Your room was flooded though?? Yikes. Are you doing a TR? This doesn't sound fun!
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="3"][FONT="Georgia"]:banana::banana::banana:

I do plan on doing a trip report. I am delayed due to illness - thanks DAD!!!
I did have a nice time and we got to do a lot.
Yup, flooded room - just what you want when you come back to your room at 10pm and all you want to do is shower and sleep.....and they didn't handle it well....

[AprilRenee]

We might be doing the 9th, but it'll depend on dh's schedule. Things are changing for him at the start of the year, but I don't know when exactly "the start of the year" is right now. :rotfl: I'll keep you updated! It'll be here before we know it!

Sounds good. Let me know! It IS coming up fast!! My brothers are FINALLY starting to get excited! Took them long enough. They just don't know what amazingness they're in for.

[onescgirl]

Great posts!
I can't believe you've never seen a Pirate's of the Caribbean movie or didn't know who Justin Beiber was. What's wrong with you? :laughing:

[IheartDDuck]

I love that Andrew likes to stand on the moving walkway up to the top of the Peoplemover. Here's my thing. Are people so impatient, that waiting for 1 extra minute to get to the top is an annoyance? A rhetorical question, obviously, because we all know how people are. But seriously, is our time really THAT important? Is anyone worth thousands of dollars per minute? :lmao: I certainly am not!

Oh, I'm sorry that Splash makes you nervous. I'm one of those weirdos. I love thrill rides, the taller and faster, the better they are to me. I do love all of the rides at Disney though, thrilling or not. I just have a little bit of an adrenaline problem.....:rolleyes1

[jc040404]

I do plan on doing a trip report. I am delayed due to illness - thanks DAD!!!
I did have a nice time and we got to do a lot.
Yup, flooded room - just what you want when you come back to your room at 10pm and all you want to do is shower and sleep.....and they didn't handle it well....

That stinks! Hope you feel better soon!

Glad you had a nice time, but this just sounds nuts. I'll definitely be following along on your TR! Let me know when you begin in case I miss it. :goodvibes

Sounds good. Let me know! It IS coming up fast!! My brothers are FINALLY starting to get excited! Took them long enough. They just don't know what amazingness they're in for.

I'm so excited for you, too! I'll definitely update you when he finds out for sure.

Great posts!
I can't believe you've never seen a Pirate's of the Caribbean movie or didn't know who Justin Beiber was. What's wrong with you? :laughing:

Yeah, I know.. I don't think I was missing much on the Justin Beiber thing though. :lmao: No offense to his fans or anything.. :goodvibes

I love that Andrew likes to stand on the moving walkway up to the top of the Peoplemover. Here's my thing. Are people so impatient, that waiting for 1 extra minute to get to the top is an annoyance? A rhetorical question, obviously, because we all know how people are. But seriously, is our time really THAT important? Is anyone worth thousands of dollars per minute? :lmao: I certainly am not!

Oh, I'm sorry that Splash makes you nervous. I'm one of those weirdos. I love thrill rides, the taller and faster, the better they are to me. I do love all of the rides at Disney though, thrilling or not. I just have a little bit of an adrenaline problem.....:rolleyes1

I think it's not so bad on the Peoplemover, but the one after POTC really seems to irritate people when we don't rush up. Is it really that important? :confused3

I so wish I liked Splash. I really do! Andrew loves it so, but I just can't get past that drop. I realize that it's completely safe and only lasts a couple seconds, but I just can't handle it for some reason. When you get to the top and can't see exactly where you're going because it's so straight down.. I just can't do it! That's the moment that gets me really. If I could see where I was going instead of feeling like I'm being tossed off a cliff, I could do this. Glad you like it though! I won't be holding up the line for ya! :rotfl:

[jc040404]

August 14th, 2010 - Saturday - Day Five

This Disney day began as so many in the past had. We got out of the house early and on the road in hopes of making rope drop. Where were we headed? The Magic Kingdom, of course! Much of the beginning of this Disney seemed to be spent there. It’s our favorite place. ;) I’m trying to break out of that routine, but we’ll see how it goes.

We made it to the TTC in what I felt was plenty of time. My husband threw the entire plan by needing a potty break. Oh well. We jumped on the monorail and had a section all to ourselves. As we neared the MK monorail station, we saw all the characters singing and dancing in the good morning show. We just missed it! No more coffee for John!

He suggested we race through bag check next. He took the stroller one direction and I took my bag the other. I lost. It was sad. Of course, John was a gracious winner and didn’t spend the entire walk back to Fantastyland rubbing this in. :rolleyes:

We took the routine, back around by the tea cups with plans for Pooh. John moved the stroller over by the wall and a CM walked up. He said the strollers were supposed to be down a bit, but we found a shady spot so he’d leave it. I don’t know why he shared if it was okay where it was, but thanks!

He and John started chatting. We learned he was from Clearwater and thought Saturday was the best day of the week to visit MK. It wasn’t the most exciting conversation, but he was a nice guy. We agree taht Saturdays are sometimes pretty nice days to visit. I guess most guests travel on the weekends. We were off to the honey pots next!

I know you’re going to be so disappointed. I didn’t take my “hooray” pic this time! We were having too much and I didn’t remember I was doing this until the ride was too far. :sad:

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When we walked back outside, our stroller had been moved into the sun! Another CM had been eyeing us the entire time John talked to Clearwater CM. I had a feeling she was waiting to pounce on it. :rotfl: She smiled as we turned to our now sunny stroller. It was so funny! She had this smug, victorious look on her face. John and I couldn’t stop laughing over it, despite saying we should humor her and act grumpy about it all. Too funny!

Andrew started begging to visit with Alice, but we knew we were much too early. A tea cup ride was suggested in place and he was fine with it. We could wait for Alice after. Blake decided to come along with us, too. John has never joined in on this one. I know he wouldn't make it with all that spinning!

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As the ride began, both boys insisted that I spin us as fast as I could. This early in the day, spinning didn’t sound good to me, but I started us moving as they instructed. Not a couple spins into it, Blake’s little face turned white. He wasn’t going to last this and I worried we were about to have a mess on our hands. I slowed us down and asked if he was alright.

“Spin faster, mommy!” my little boy yelled at me.

My children are crazy. I didn’t return to the fast spinning and Blake made it out alright. Thank goodness. I wonder how often guests get sick on the tea cups? I'm glad I've never noticed it!

We followed Andrew’s plan and found a spot to wait for Alice. The boys had a morning snack, while I took some pictures. Andrew took over my camera after that. We knew she’d be around near 9:30 and didn’t think we’d be waiting long. It was empty around here and nice wait.

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Our short wait turned into a much longer wait when Alice didn’t seem to be coming out this day. After taking Blake for a change, we spotted the White Rabbit walking alone. :( No Alice today. The CM with him said she was having tea with the queen this morning and couldn’t come visit. Huh?? Had he even seen the movie? Alice wouldn’t be having tea with the queen! Andrew couldn’t believe this story. The queen is the bad guy of Alice’s movie! The CM just laughed and couldn’t come up with anything. :lmao: Maybe he’ll think his reason through a little more next time!

We stuck around to visit with the White Rabbit and snap some pics.

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It was already starting to heat up outside and our waters were dry. Knowing we needed to get that taken care of first, the journey across FL began. We paused by PPF for FPs for later. Guess who was there! Our “It’s all the same line!” buddy from before! He was just as grumpy as the last time, too.

We moved on to our favorite spot, CHH, to get our ice water. They weren’t serving just yet, of course, but we’re always able to get water before. John just had to wait a few minutes first. While he did, I took some pictures!

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Proof that you can too use TS credits here! I must’ve been reading DDP threads before this visit..

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When John came back and had our bottles filled, that old question began again.

“What do you wanna do?”

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We just stood here for a few minutes asking this back and forth. Since this was right beside the Haunted Mansion, it was really easy to decide in the end. Andrew was even okay with it!

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Back to visit our buddy at the PPF FP line!

[pookersmom]

Me!! I love the drop on Splash Water Mountain!!

I can't do spinning, though. Not at all.

Now I'm sitting here at work with the Winnie the Pooh "Hip Hip Hooray" song stuck in my head...

[IheartDDuck]

I had no idea that CCH took table service credits. They must have a lot of people that feel they need to get rid of them. I always use my credits to the fullest! :rotfl:

Your conversation of what to do reminds me of us too....

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know....."



You understand.

[jc040404]

Me!! I love the drop on Splash Water Mountain!!

I can't do spinning, though. Not at all.

Now I'm sitting here at work with the Winnie the Pooh "Hip Hip Hooray" song stuck in my head...

Another crazy person! :rotfl: I'm not huge on the spinning either, but that's a little easier for me to take than Splash!

I had no idea that CCH took table service credits. They must have a lot of people that feel they need to get rid of them. I always use my credits to the fullest! :rotfl:

Your conversation of what to do reminds me of us too....

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know....."



You understand.

Using a TS credit at CHH would be completely nuts, but it's nice that they do for the people who don't plan. I still think you'd be able to get something before using them there though.

I always have to think of those silly vultures from The Jungle Book when we start playing that question game! :rotfl:

[jc040404]

We did three parks in a day last week to squeeze in some holiday fun. While at MK, the boys met Santa Claus! I usually skip buying photopass pics (because they SUCK!) but we got the free download card in the Mickey Monitor. I picked their Santa pic and it was available today! I thought I'd go ahead and share since I know there's no way I'll get to Christmas before Christmas at this point! :lmao:


http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/ectectectectectect/22759710000.jpg

He was definitely the best Santa we've met since Andrew was born!

[pookersmom]

That's a great Santa photo! They're so cute. (The boys. Not Santa. He's just okay.)

[AprilRenee]

LOVE the pic!!! SO cute!!! Blake's grin is adorable!!

[snowmanlover]

LOVE the photo of the boys with Santa, what a sweet picture!!

Are the boys excited about Christmas?

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your family! I know I'm early, but don't know when I will be here again.

[onescgirl]

That is the best Santa picture ever!:santa:

[jc040404]

That's a great Santa photo! They're so cute. (The boys. Not Santa. He's just okay.)

LOVE the pic!!! SO cute!!! Blake's grin is adorable!!

LOVE the photo of the boys with Santa, what a sweet picture!!

Are the boys excited about Christmas?

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your family! I know I'm early, but don't know when I will be here again.

That is the best Santa picture ever!:santa:

Thanks! I wish I'd dressed them in something cute, but that day was soo cold!

We're all super excited about Christmas. I think I might be most really. I can't wait to see them that morning. :yay::yay::yay: Hope everyone has a super happy holiday!! :goodvibes

We're doing MK thursday if anybody's going to be around. ;) Two days before Christmas even, with MK having AM EMH. It should be an adventure. :scared1: Touringplans has it at a 9.8. I'm terrified, but hoping we last until the fireworks. :rotfl: We haven't seen the castle lit up for the holiday yet, so I know we'll manage til then. I have no real park plan right now either, aside from waiting for the parade and stuff most of the day. Any advice?

[IheartDDuck]

Thanks! I wish I'd dressed them in something cute, but that day was soo cold!

We're all super excited about Christmas. I think I might be most really. I can't wait to see them that morning. :yay::yay::yay: Hope everyone has a super happy holiday!! :goodvibes

We're doing MK thursday if anybody's going to be around. ;) Two days before Christmas even, with MK having AM EMH. It should be an adventure. :scared1: Touringplans has it at a 9.8. I'm terrified, but hoping we last until the fireworks. :rotfl: We haven't seen the castle lit up for the holiday yet, so I know we'll manage til then. I have no real park plan right now either, aside from waiting for the parade and stuff most of the day. Any advice?

I love being there when the castle has the lights on it! I am going over New Years and have been there before. Just be prepared for a lot of people and have your patience with you and you should be fine.

[jc040404]

I love being there when the castle has the lights on it! I am going over New Years and have been there before. Just be prepared for a lot of people and have your patience with you and you should be fine.

I love the castle all lit up like that! We keep picking MVMCP days to go to MK so we haven't seen it yet this year. :sad: I can't wait until thursday!!

Since we aren't really trying to accomplish anything in the park beyond the parade and fireworks, I'm hoping there won't be any issues. Lines and stuff aren't important, thankfully. I keep reading how nasty people are being though and that worries me. Do you know if Mickey & Minnie are in their holiday outfits in Toontown this time of year, or was that just a MVMCP thing? I need to look it up. :confused3

[IheartDDuck]

I love the castle all lit up like that! We keep picking MVMCP days to go to MK so we haven't seen it yet this year. :sad: I can't wait until thursday!!

Since we aren't really trying to accomplish anything in the park beyond the parade and fireworks, I'm hoping there won't be any issues. Lines and stuff aren't important, thankfully. I keep reading how nasty people are being though and that worries me. Do you know if Mickey & Minnie are in their holiday outfits in Toontown this time of year, or was that just a MVMCP thing? I need to look it up. :confused3

Honestly, I don't know. The last couple of times I was there over the holiday, we didn't head over to Toontown, so I never got to check it out.

People do tend to be pushier during the holiday, I'm not going to lie. I think because you've got a lot of people there, people that don't go regularly, and maybe they get overwhelmed sometimes.


Or, the option that I like to go with is that they have a bug permanently stuck up their butt. :rotfl:

[haven_alise1997]

popcorn:: anxiously awaiting to find out if the crowds and moods were bad on your close to Christmas visit. .... you'll have to give us just a lil preview without giving away too much since you aren't there in your TR though...hmmm. How to manage that one? lol. :confused3

[jc040404]

Honestly, I don't know. The last couple of times I was there over the holiday, we didn't head over to Toontown, so I never got to check it out.

People do tend to be pushier during the holiday, I'm not going to lie. I think because you've got a lot of people there, people that don't go regularly, and maybe they get overwhelmed sometimes.


Or, the option that I like to go with is that they have a bug permanently stuck up their butt. :rotfl:

It really wasn't all that bad. :thumbsup2 Thanks for the holiday WDW help!

popcorn:: anxiously awaiting to find out if the crowds and moods were bad on your close to Christmas visit. .... you'll have to give us just a lil preview without giving away too much since you aren't there in your TR though...hmmm. How to manage that one? lol. :confused3

Hmmm.. I dunno! I don't think it was even close to as bad as I'd been anticipating and we all had such a great time. We did have a few interesting moments with rude/crazy guests that I'll post about eventually. Even those were more funny (to us at least!) than a real bother. :rotfl:

[Queenofallthings]

I just realized you had started another TR...I have no idea how I missed that! I just spent the last hour reading the whole thing....great report!!

Jasmine would like you to tell Andrew that she says "Hi"!!!

[karebear23]

I love the Santa picture! So sweet!
We didn't get to see the castle lit up when we went I was bummed:sad2: .
Darn MVMCP! Oh well I guess next year!:goodvibes

I totally forgot they were taping the parade when we went it was horrible trying to get around...but neat to see the parts of the parade and how they do it!

Hope everyone had a good Christmas:goodvibes!

[jc040404]

I just realized you had started another TR...I have no idea how I missed that! I just spent the last hour reading the whole thing....great report!!

Jasmine would like you to tell Andrew that she says "Hi"!!!

Welcome to year two!! Andrew says "Hi!" back.. Or he probably will when I tell him tomorrow. :rotfl: Glad to have you along again!

I love the Santa picture! So sweet!
We didn't get to see the castle lit up when we went I was bummed:sad2: .
Darn MVMCP! Oh well I guess next year!:goodvibes

I totally forgot they were taping the parade when we went it was horrible trying to get around...but neat to see the parts of the parade and how they do it!

Hope everyone had a good Christmas:goodvibes!

When we watched the parade on Christmas day, I was so wishing we'd planned to be there during the taping! That had to be kinda neat, despite the trouble getting around. We kept noticing people filming stuff in the rose garden (?) on one of our Disney days, but I didn't recognize them. I wonder what that was about? :confused3

MVMCP was starting to get annoying for us with those castle lights, too. It seemed that every chance we had a free day to try WDW, they had a party that night! :rolleyes: I hope you make a visit to see it next year! :goodvibes

[jc040404]

We wandered back to FL to park the stroller in the big lot at the end. It’s such a nice little area, despite the strollers, so the boys ran around to play for a few minutes.

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When we made to back to PPF, we saw that our “It’s all the same line!” buddy was no longer around. Thank goodness!

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We entered the line and were paused right where the FP line meets the standby line. My goofy husband asked the CM there where our buddy was today. She just made a face showing how low her opinion of this man is. John laughed and then asked if he’s always so pleasant. I figured this would be the end of it, but she did go on a bit about how he’s always grumpy and rude to guests.

This stuff is just unbelievable to me at times. I’ll never stop being amazed by all the information CMs offer up that they probably shouldn’t be saying! As I said the last time, it was sorta nice to know that the nasty incident from before wasn’t just because of us somehow though! I can stop posting about him if you all would prefer me not to. I kinda make a game of updating in my notes which days we see him.

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FP barrel?

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I wish I was riding this right now!

Into the line, we were all off to Neverland! I rode with Andrew, as I usually do here, and John took Blake. I thought Blake was completely adorable at the end because he didn’t want to let his ship go off without him. He insisted on walking beside it until they really had to turn to exit. I thought it was sweet. He loves Peter Pan so much now!

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Andrew and I both needed a trip to the wildest ride in the wilderness next. Off to Frontierland! The plan was simply to grab some FPs for later, but the wait wasn’t bad at all. John offered to grab the FPs for us while we ran into standby.

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With twenty minutes posted, I thought we’d be in for a little bit of a wait. I snapped some pics along our path.

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busy day, right?

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Love it!

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We made it to this last picture in exactly FOUR minutes! So much for the posted wait time! Woo Hoo! We had a great time and couldn’t believe we’d gotten on a train so quickly. We were going again!

Andrew and I ran back into the BTMRR line. The posted wait time had not changed, but our line time was a little longer. It took six minutes from entering standby to stepping into our train. What awesome luck! I almost wanted to go around again, but thought we’d better find something that everyone could enjoy next.

....next post....hoping to finish up day five tonight!

[jc040404]

Where did we go??

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..still haven't seen any of 'em..

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There was no wait at all, despite the ten minutes. Yay! We were having a great time with lines. It was so empty inside that the CM even suggested we take two rows and split up if we'd like. No one else would be joining on our boat anyway. This was neat. I sat with Andrew, and John took Blake.

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Andrew started the ride off acting like he was going to sit on the other side of the bench. Usually the boys want to sit close to us on rides. I knew this big kid idea wouldn’t last very long though. As soon as we neared the dark before the drop, my little man was glued to my side again. :)

Blake had a good time riding alone with his daddy. John asked me to lean back and listen as Blake sang along with the pirates.

“Yo ho! Yo ho! Pirate life meeee!”

He got it! Well, sorta. Pirates were no longer Santa’s elves anyway. He’d dropped the “ho ho” lyrics. It's sweet and sad when they lose that cute baby way of saying things, isn't it? He's really breaking my heart with this growing up stuff lately.

We paused in the shop for a few pics with the barrels just as you exit. (This is where I ran into the scary “Is it he real or not??” Captain Barbosa the year before! If you missed it, he was real. And scary.)

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Everyone called it lunch time at this point so we made the journey back to CHH. Were you expecting somewhere else? It was the usual. We even had the same cashier taking our order as we always saw back then. She said she’d be moving over to EPCOT when the F&W fun began so we talked a bit about that. I’d read a lot about people getting drunk and being crazy, but she said she’s never experienced anything like this. She’d worked F&W the year before.

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Today we learned that you can only get Mickey milk in 1%. I'd never had anyone ask me if I wanted 1% or whole before and always went for "Mickey" milk. Exciting, right? If you want whole milk, you don't get to make fun Mickey pictures like this. ;)

A quiet lunch behind us, we just started walking. I had a picture project for the visit and needed a stop into Toontown. Soon our walking had us nearing the tea cups where we spotted someone’s favorite girl. Alice was now out, so we hopped in the line. The CM from before saw us and came over to say that he had hoped we’d make it back.

I suggested John head over to grab some FP for Buzz and waited alone with the boys. It made for an interesting experience this day because the people behind me were more than a little pushy. I’m not sure what they expected to happen, but I was getting bumped in the butt every couple of minutes. I turned to the woman, met her eyes for a moment, and asked that she not bump into me again. She knew exactly what she was doing, and I didn’t expect this would stop it.

Andrew had been moving around a bit, so told him to please keep to the front of the stroller. I didn’t want him getting bumped if she decided to keep it up. Instead of doing as I’d asked, my little man steps out to the side and looks at the guests behind us.

“Stop pushing my mommy!”

Hmmm. I know it’s wrong. He didn't listen at all. However, I was a little proud of my little knight in shining armor and found this adorable really. Yeah, I'm a bad mom. He makes a big deal of being “the man” when daddy isn’t around and must’ve felt he needed to protect mommy. I couldn't help but smile. He doesn’t seem to have my speaking up issues at all, huh? Hope that doesn’t get him into trouble later on! I did correct him and he hurried back to the stroller in front of me. Guess what though. They didn’t push me again. :rotfl:

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/14august10/CIMG9485.jpg
my hero

We were in line for quite some time before John made it back from Buzz. He said the lines there were insane and he’d been stuck waiting to get them. This Alice line wasn’t the shortest either. The crowds seemed to be picking up a bit as the day went on.

Soon enough, the boys had their visit with Alice. Andrew asked if she remembered him, but of course she didn’t. She did play along and comment on how tall he had grown since the last time she saw him. I love how prepared they are for all these questions. It was too cute!

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After Alice, we were back to my goal for the day.

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Jen22984 had a trip coming up soon and we’d been talking about face painting options. I decided to snap some pics of the paint cans in Toontown so she could check them out before their trip. Here they are!

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I have to admit that a big part of me would love to get my face painted someday..

..maybe more..maybe not..

[jc040404]

Toontown wasn’t terribly busy, despite how that looked. Andrew requested the Barnstormer. Even though I think it’s such a short ride for the wait times, I am already missing this one so much. We’re all so sad about this one going away. It was Andrew’s first coaster. We waited outside the entrance and talked about how much we had been hoping it would be Blake’s first coaster, too. On this visit, the little guy wasn’t even close.

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“Mommy, you know this is just a train painted to look like an airplane, don’t you?”

While Andrew and I were crop dusting with Goofy, John and Blake had gone to explore Mickey’s house. We in that direction to find them now. Our stroller was parked just in front.

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Andrew said Mickey must be planning to watch a movie now. He made popcorn!

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I would so buy a Donald vs Mickey ping pong set!

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Okay, so I take way too many pictures when we’re in Toontown. I’m going to miss it!

We made it all the way through Mickey’s house with no sign of the rest of our family. I started to wonder if they might’ve gone in to visit with Mickey and Minnie, but didn’t think John would go for such a wait without letting me know first. We left Mickey’s garage and noticed our stroller was now missing.. Where did they go?

A man leaning against the fence asked me if I was looking for our stroller and pointed us towards Minnie’s. We started in that direction now and finally spotted our family. I didn’t think Toontown was big enough to lose someone before! We all decided to tour Minnie’s home next.

I took a bunch of pictures again, but I will control the urge to post them all!

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Doesn't that sound yummy...

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I suppose these houses are in pretty rough shape.

Before leaving Toontown, an AC break was much needed at this point. Andrew wanted to go see Tink, but that line is always crazy. He had recently seen Beauty and the Beast, so we decided to see if Belle was around. Bring on the princesses!! They only had a fifteen minute wait!

...I'm on a roll...

[jc040404]

Our wait was short. Since this was more to get out of the sun and into somewhere cool, it wouldn’t have mattered that much if it took the full fifteen. We just weren’t quite up for the 45+ to see Tink.

Our first visit was with Aurora. Neither of the boys have seen her movie yet. Andrew tried to pretend that he knew who she was until she asked what his favorite part was.

Uhhhhh..

She just laughed and said it was okay. He could watch it and then come back to tell her next time. He’d probably like the dragon best, so be sure to check out that part. They pretended to be knights and then pirates before posing for a group picture. She was so sweet!

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Our next visit was with my favorite princess, Cinderella! I love her in the movies, but I’m not huge fan of how she’s played in the parks. I think that big castle must’ve gone to her head? She was still fun though! She told both of the boys how gorgeous their big blue eyes are and gave them kisses.

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Andy-Roo doesn’t look so into this, but he really loves princess kisses!

Not interested in being left out, Blake had to smooch her back.

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Our last visit was with Belle. Andrew talked about the Beast and they pretended to be him.

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Before we could go, Andy-Roo decided to play a little trick on Belle that Alice had taught him during the last Disney year. He told her that he had a “secret” to share and asked her to lean close. Then he kissed her! Sneaky little guy, huh? She loved it and said it was the best secret she’d heard all day. Haha..

That was it for our Toontown experience and everyone was starting to get tired from our early morning. We decided a spin over to ride Buzz with our FPs would be our last stop of this Disney day.

Or so we thought..

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When we made it over to the ride, stand by was at 70 minutes! The FP line snaked back and forth and looked to have quite the wait itself. This was completely wild. I’ve never seen Buzz backed up so much. Instead of jumping into this mess, we decided a Peoplemover break was needed instead!

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Crazy!

I don’t know why I uploaded this.. Enjoy some Peoplemover video?
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/14august10/th_CIMG9607.jpg (http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/14august10/?action=view&current=CIMG9607.mp4)

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So funny, Andy-Roo.. He wasn’t really asleep, of course!

When we made around to the end, Buzz was still a mess but stand by had dropped to 50 minutes. We asked to stay on for another ride and never had to leave our seats.

This time we did exit at the end. Buzz looked nuts, but the Peoplemover actually had a line and we didn’t want to hold anyone up. Down to join the FP line craziness!

I’ve never seen the lines here like this again. It was back and forth in the area and guests were not happy about it. I watched a CM getting yelled at for not allowing a family to the front of the line when their FP time came due. That was just wild. The man kept quoting “little or NO wait” and said he demanded to be let ahead. Tough for him. The CM stuck to the rules and made him join the end of the FP line.

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Blake wasn’t working with me on the picture thing, so brother jumped in to help. Haha.. Poor Blakers. He wasn’t upset though.

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I rode with Andrew again, of course. And the scores...

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Go Andrew!!

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Mine..

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We will all agree to forever ignore the fact that my husband actually beat my score this time, right??

This was it for us. I thought about a Sleepy Hollow stop for our favorite MK treat, the funnel cake, but the lines were wild there. We grabbed some water in Casey’s instead and waited on Main Street for a bit. It was now time for the 3pm parade! Full day for only being three now, if you ask me!

The street was packed, so we didn’t have amazing views. I held Blake and John put Andrew on his shoulders. They could see just fine and had a fun time. Blake went wild over the Beast, Ariel and Eric. How funny. He’d never shown any interest in these characters before.

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That’s all folks! We rode the ferry to the TTC and hopped in the car for home. The boys fell asleep in no time at all. I even napped this time! We didn’t stay late, but we had a great time. We were back ihome in time for dinner. Well, in time to order pizza for dinner anyway!

Next Up!! We try a new resort for my birthday!!

[AprilRenee]

Yay!! Lots of updates!! I've missed you guys! I check my subscriptions every day hoping for one.

Hope you had great Christmas!

[jc040404]

Yay!! Lots of updates!! I've missed you guys! I check my subscriptions every day hoping for one.

Hope you had great Christmas!

The holidays kinda made me lose my interest in TR writing. I am reading a ton of them though! :goodvibes

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, too! Is it Disney time yet?? Only a couple more days for you, right?? :woohoo: We'll most likely be doing a park on thursday, if I'm feeling better. :sick: Andrew wants AK or DHS right now. Think we'll cross paths?

[jc040404]

party: HAPPY NEW YEAR!! party:

I have a weird theory that even numbered years are destined to suck. Something rough always happens in them and that idea really held true this year. Thank goodness for WDW to keep me sane sometimes. :goodvibes I am so happy to finally see 2010 end! I fully believe that 2011 is going to be the best year ever. Hope it's a great one for everyone!!

[AprilRenee]

The holidays kinda made me lose my interest in TR writing. I am reading a ton of them though! :goodvibes

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, too! Is it Disney time yet?? Only a couple more days for you, right?? :woohoo: We'll most likely be doing a park on thursday, if I'm feeling better. :sick: Andrew wants AK or DHS right now. Think we'll cross paths?



I'm sorry you're feeling sick! :-P No fun!
Yep, we leave EARLY EARLY Monday morning. Almost done packing and ready to go!
Thursday might work out perfectly! That's our AK day and then we're hopping over to DHS for Fantasmic that evening. I'll PM you my cell number and maybe we can "accidentally" end up in the same ride line at the same time! :-)

[onescgirl]

Happy New Year!

Great pictures of the boys with Alice & princesses.

I say get your face painted next time you're in WDW!!!!!

[PirateKate]

Your boys are so adorable!! You guys are so lucky to live that close.

I can't believe there was a line for the PeopleMover! How strange.

Can't wait to read more!

[karebear23]

Wow! That line for Buzz was CRAZY!!

I took lots of pics the last few visits to toontown. Even if there isn't much there I will miss it. Lots of memories with the kids :goodvibes.

That was sneaky of Andrew to kiss Belle ;). I'm sure she loved it!

I need a disney fix soon...it's been awhile...

Can't wait to read more!
Happy New Year :goodvibes

[jc040404]

I'm sorry you're feeling sick! :-P No fun!
Yep, we leave EARLY EARLY Monday morning. Almost done packing and ready to go!
Thursday might work out perfectly! That's our AK day and then we're hopping over to DHS for Fantasmic that evening. I'll PM you my cell number and maybe we can "accidentally" end up in the same ride line at the same time! :-)

Hope you're having fun!

Happy New Year!

Great pictures of the boys with Alice & princesses.

I say get your face painted next time you're in WDW!!!!!

Thanks!

I think I'll leave the face painting for the kids though! ;)

Your boys are so adorable!! You guys are so lucky to live that close.

I can't believe there was a line for the PeopleMover! How strange.

Can't wait to read more!

I soo wish we lived closer! Thanks for the comment on my kiddos!


With Buzz so backed up, I'm guessing others were just jumping on the same idea with the Peoplemover. It was crazy down there!

Wow! That line for Buzz was CRAZY!!

I took lots of pics the last few visits to toontown. Even if there isn't much there I will miss it. Lots of memories with the kids :goodvibes.

That was sneaky of Andrew to kiss Belle ;). I'm sure she loved it!

I need a disney fix soon...it's been awhile...

Can't wait to read more!
Happy New Year :goodvibes

I wonder if the ride had been down or something? It was really weird how the FP line was even running back and forth. I know it was busy, but I don't recall anything else being this crazy long.

I'm with you on the Disney fix! Dh's work has me completely stressed right now with time off. I want to plan more than a Disney Day! I'm hoping to start getting things moving for longer stays soon. :yay: I do not see us topping the 42 days of last year's APs though. :sad1: There just isn't enough time lately.. Got anything in planning for this year yet?

[karebear23]

Hope you're having fun!

I wonder if the ride had been down or something? It was really weird how the FP line was even running back and forth. I know it was busy, but I don't recall anything else being this crazy long.

I'm with you on the Disney fix! Dh's work has me completely stressed right now with time off. I want to plan more than a Disney Day! I'm hoping to start getting things moving for longer stays soon. :yay: I do not see us topping the 42 days of last year's APs though. :sad1: There just isn't enough time lately.. Got anything in planning for this year yet?

No offical plans right now. I'm hoping to go sometime this month. I'm waiting for my parents to say when they can go. I also have to renew all of our passes :eek:.
At least my Parents did mine as my christmas gift!!

Well I hope you get your fix soon!

[jc040404]

No offical plans right now. I'm hoping to go sometime this month. I'm waiting for my parents to say when they can go. I also have to renew all of our passes :eek:.
At least my Parents did mine as my christmas gift!!

Well I hope you get your fix soon!

An AP renewal for Christmas? Okay, you have the most awesome parents ever. Seriously. :thumbsup2

Hope you get back this month. I have a good feeling that we'll be there very, very soon. ;)

[jc040404]

August 28th, 2010 - Saturday - Day 6

I knew we had to be at WDW for my birthday. How could we not? We just didn’t have much of a clue how it was going to work out. All of our plans were done last minute, without any planning at all really. We’re good at that. This is actually how we chose the resort..

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Pop, ASMo, and CBR were all available at about the same rate. (Remember, I’m cheap.) I told Andrew to pick one and that would be our choice. He then proceeded to pick and re-pick until he came up with CBR! It was too funny.

I really wasn’t so thrilled with it at the time. I liked the Nemo idea, but a beach themed resort didn’t sound that interesting. I see sand and palm trees everyday, so why would I pay more for that? KWIM? I went with though. We booked one night for 116.28. Pretty nifty, IMO. I’d never seen CBR so low, but I suppose I'd never really priced it either..

On to WDW! We took the usual “up early and hope for rope drop” routine. A monorail ride after and we were waiting in front of the Mickey floral for the welcome show. As excited as we all were to have made it in time to see this, John and I were completely distracted by something else..

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A butterfly! It was really quite funny. We kept watching the little guy flutter back and forth, hoping to catch a pic on Mickey’s nose.

“Over there!”

“No! It's over there now!!”

It was great. We were both having way too much fun tracking this butterfly while everyone danced and sang above. I hope we didn’t annoy anyone. :rolleyes1

On to the rides! You have to be getting bored by now.. Really. We were doing MK A LOT back then, still do, and it’s all so routine. I promise we’ll do something new this day. I do!

My growing Buzz obsession took us straight into Tomorrowland to start our day.

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Me - gettin better?

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Andrew = still asleep, I think

Then it was around to Pooh. Blake took off running as soon as he climbed off the stroller and Andrew ran to catch him.

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A PPF FP stop and a little cruise into the Haunted Mansion later, we were ready for our morning snack break. I have no idea what I brought this day, probably those Cascadian Farms bars again, but we took a little break near Harper’s Mill. I love taking pictures of that for some reason.

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While we were snacking and bird watching, I asked the boys where we should head next. It was a unanimous vote for.. Aladdin’s Magic Carpets? I guess they wanted to mix things up a bit this day. Haha.. We took a path through some buildings that had me completely confused and somehow ended up where we needed to be. Yes, I get lost in MK, despite how much of our WDW time we seem to spend in that park!

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We had been too late to see Aladdin and Jasmine, but John stayed in the area to see if they were coming back. He said he had a fun time watching a CM battle a tarp while he waited. It was an exciting day.

Coming out of the exit, we were having the worst time getting Blake to stand up and walk with the rest of us. I couldn’t figure out what had his interest on the ground, but reacted in mommy style telling him not to pick it up, whatever “it” was. Looking down, my baby was fascinated with something he couldn’t quite get a hold on.

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Nifty! I’d never really paid much attention to the coins stuck in the ground here, but we spent quite a bit of time treasure hunting now.

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Crowd pics!!

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It wasn’t exactly busy yet. We moved on to the logical choice and checked in on Blake’s redhead. Or, we started to. There were puddles to jump in first.

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Because I’m posting the same pictures over and over and over.. Here’s a new one! Stroller Parking. They need a new sign. This one is getting kinda beat up.

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POTC was at five minutes, as it usually is. Love that ride!

When we came out, I noticed quite a few halloween items that were new to the shop. We spent some time browsing around, but didn’t seen anything we really wanted. It was all the exact same stuff as the year before, so we already had some things packed away at home. At the time, we were beginning a quest to find a costume for MNSSHP. I hoped we might get lucky in the Emporium instead before we left. The selection wasn’t that great in here.

...one more coming right up!

[jc040404]

Andrew and I wanted a ride on BTMRR while the waits were low next.. It was only ten minutes, but John grabbed FPs for later.

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I don’t think I’ve ever posted a picture of the ground before.

Andrew was more than a little anxious to get checked in at CBR, so we agreed to one more ride before heading out. Our PPF FP had come due already, so back to FL we went!

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Pause for a very serious Andrew vs Blake checkers game. Trust me, it was intense.

PPF was up to a twenty minute wait now. We were happy to have those FPs I suppose twenty isn’t bad for this one, but we’d never wait for it anymore.

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Andrew didn’t care about the ride at all. He kept going on about when we’d be checking in and couldn’t wait to get back in the stroller to get out of here!

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The boys walked ahead and beat us to the stroller parking. Then my sweet little man did something my sweet little man loves to do.

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Blakers picked me a birthday flower! Andrew sometimes has issues with picking flowers and told Blake he just killed a plant. He’s so sweet, huh? I don’t want my kiddos destroying the parks, so I suppose I’m glad Andrew wasn’t pulling them off, too. Unprompted, my baby gave me that little purple flower and wished me a happy birthday. It was too adorable! I tucked it in my bag and still have it today.

The boys hopped back in their seats and we were now on to the exit. John pushes the stroller, of course, but suddenly stopped short. (Don’t worry!! No one was close to bump into us! We’re not “those” stroller people!!)

“Hey! It’s a hidden Mickey!”

“Babe, I don't think these are exactly hidden. They’re pretty much everywhere.”

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Don’t step on the hidden Mickeys!

I had to take a picture of it and then point out all the “hidden Mickeys” on our journey out of FL. Haha..

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As we crossed by the Christmas Shop, John started poking fun at me and my Prince Naveen crush. He even circled over to see if it was “my” Naveen that day. I never shouldn’t admitted how much I loved that guy’s face! Oh well. He really is too perfect though, IMO.. I just wish John would let it rest already!

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I can't remember why I took this picture..

Andrew temporarily forgot about his rush to get to CBR when we walked right into the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party! The area was pretty empty, so we grabbed a spot to watch and let the boys dance.

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One of my favorites of the boys at WDW. I wish I hadn’t been playing with the date/time stuff then! My camera likes to change the date/time sometimes, and I have no idea why.

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Who did Blake see?

..one more tonight.. hit the pic limit again..

[jc040404]

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Sebastian He would not turn for me to take a picture

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Blake was being a little shy with King Louie.

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He tried a peek-a-boo game, but it didn’t really go anywhere.

Okay.. Time to go! We’d pop into the Emporium on the way out to check for costumes. No luck. They hadn’t put any halloween merchandise out yet. The CMs inside said they were clueless about when it would go out and hadn’t noticed any waiting yet either. Oh well. Next time!

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Before we could get completely out of the park, there was one last stop and that “new” thing I promised that we did this day.

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Popcorn! Yep, we had never tried Disney’s popcorn before! Blake was really too little for it and it just didn’t seem fair to him to get it yet. He’d given it a try a couple times before, so we decided to go with it. I even bought the souvenir bucket. The boys insist I use it everytime we watch a movie, too I don’t know if we were all just really hungry or what, but it was sooooo yummy!!

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monorail pic!

Since we had a snack along, the ferry won the transportation battle. We were able to sit and snack while we waited.

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They were so excited!

John decided to take both boys on the upper deck this day. They had such a blast doing this and I more than enjoyed my little quiet moment down with the stroller. :goodvibes

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We're here! Blake was ready to go!

Off to CBR!!

Coming soon! I fall in love with a resort I never wanted to try!

[Dugette]

Great updates! Nice work on Buzz! Love that Blake gave you a birthday flower! Can't wait to hear about CBR!

[AprilRenee]

[QUOTE=jc040404;39421203]Hope you're having fun!


We are! :-) hoping to run into you guys tomorrow. Not sure how likely it'll be but I'll keep my eyes pealed! Have fun!!!

[karebear23]

Yeah for trying a new resort! I can't wait to see what you think :).

[GaRain]

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/bday28/CIMG9745.jpg
I don’t think I’ve ever posted a picture of the ground before.

I think it is great that you posted that. Does anyone really pay attention to the ground as they walk through the park? Disney does such a great job with ambience that you don't really notice how the ground changes as you walk from land to land.
After taking the Keys to the Kingdom Tour - I notice this a bit more.

Love the birthday update!

[jen22984]

Great updates!!!

The picture of Blake on the Magic Carpets is too cute! Love him!!!

I love John's hidden Mickey!

And I love how excited Andrew was to get to the new hotel! I want to try a new resort next time we make it down there, but I'm sure it will be awhile now. ;) Not sure next year is going ot be in the cards for us now!

[jc040404]

Great updates! Nice work on Buzz! Love that Blake gave you a birthday flower! Can't wait to hear about CBR!

I don't know if I was using the cheats yet then? I can't remember when I read that in your TR. Not as good as Dug did though!

[QUOTE=jc040404;39421203]Hope you're having fun!


We are! :-) hoping to run into you guys tomorrow. Not sure how likely it'll be but I'll keep my eyes pealed! Have fun!!!

:sad: VERY unlikely now. We're not even there. Blake was up all night. When we woke up to that storm, a family vote was taken. That resulted in us finding something else to do today and trying again another day. :sad: I'm beginning to think that posting about a Disney Day kinda jinxes us! I hope you all are having a magical time! :goodvibes

Yeah for trying a new resort! I can't wait to see what you think :).

You'll find out soon! Okay, I did kinda give it away that I really love CBR now. :rotfl:

I think it is great that you posted that. Does anyone really pay attention to the ground as they walk through the park? Disney does such a great job with ambience that you don't really notice how the ground changes as you walk from land to land.
After taking the Keys to the Kingdom Tour - I notice this a bit more.

Love the birthday update!

I would LOVE to do some of those tours! It's from reading on here that I started paying attention to the changes from land to land. It is really interesting how much work they put into the details!

Great updates!!!

The picture of Blake on the Magic Carpets is too cute! Love him!!!

I love John's hidden Mickey!

And I love how excited Andrew was to get to the new hotel! I want to try a new resort next time we make it down there, but I'm sure it will be awhile now. ;) Not sure next year is going ot be in the cards for us now!

I point out those hidden Mickeys all the time now, too! Hmm.. I guess I'm just as bad as he is sometimes. :rotfl:

Can't imagine why WDW isn't looking so good for you now. ;) You've always got DL, right?

[Sleeping*Beauty]

I am now craving Disney popcorn, I swear it is the best popcorn ever. I'm glad you guys liked it too.

[jc040404]

I am now craving Disney popcorn, I swear it is the best popcorn ever. I'm glad you guys liked it too.

I think I'm craving some right now, too. ;) The smell of that stuff was enough to have me wanting to try it. Blake is probably technically still too little eat to be eating popcorn, but he does fine with it so I'm glad we can finally add this to our snack options!

[jc040404]

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We’re here! I totally forgot to get my camera out to catch a pic before there.

We found Custom House and parked the car. Inside, it was packed. I couldn’t believe the line to check in and had never seen such a mess in all of our Pop stays. The regular check in line was super long and lots of people were gathered around a television waiting. I was more than a little thankful for doing online check in. We were able to walk right up!

The CM that helped us was cheerful and nice, but nothing special sticks out about the experience. The boys said hello and she gave them both “I’m Celebrating” buttons for my birthday. I was surprised to learn that our room was ready. With the number of people just sitting around in here, I assumed we’d be in for a bit of a wait. We were given Jamaica 44, and the CM told me this was a preferred location. I hadn’t done a lot of research with this resort pick, but I did know this building isn’t really preferred. This was the area I was hoping for after a quick scan of the CBR thread, so it was perfect for me. I guess it’s the “preferred” area of the standard buildings maybe?

We gathered the boys from their cartoon watching and headed back out to the car to find our new home for the night.

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Up to this point, I wasn’t terribly thrilled with the place. I thought the pink buildings actually looked kinda ridiculous. The yellow was a little better, but still not super amazing. We had a corner room, and Andrew was in charge of letting us in..

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And...

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I was in love. I thought this room was so bright and cheerful. The colors were perfect. There was just enough Nemo to make it adorable, but not a living cartoon. Of course, since we always stick with values, the size was a plus as well. I took too many pictures.

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Blake loved it!

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Too cute!

There were only a few things I wasn’t super thrilled with. First, the carpet was kinda boring and felt worn under your feet. I love the new carpet at Pop right now.

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Second, we had that “smoking area” view. I was not a fan of that and would’ve asked for something else had I known. This doesn’t seem like the best spot for one of these really. The way it’s surrounded by the buildings, the smoke has nowhere to go. You’re forced to walk into it. These should really be placed a little farther away from the buildings so it's not trapped. It was nasty and I really don’t want my family walking into that everytime we leave our room. Thankfully, we were just here this night and only had to deal with it once. In the last few years, I’ve lost way too many people to what I truly believe were smoking related issues so I have quite the opinion on it. I'll stop before someone is offended..

Then there was this problem..

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Blake suddenly HAD to wash his hands every few minutes! It was cute, but on a longer stay might’ve driven me nuts after a bit. He thought it was awesome, of course.

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We decided to just hang out in our comfy cute room and finally have lunch. (We grabbed sandwiches before heading to CBR. I forgot that part.) Everyone was loving it and we're hoping to make this our longer stay resort in a couple of months. (I don't think I'm going to be able to justify a deluxe in my mind. I'm just too cheap for them. :sad1:)

After eating and a couple episodes of “Sonny with a Chance”, we couldn’t wait to check out more of this place. Blake hopped in the stroller and we were off to explore!

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Finding I loved the room, the buildings grew on me as soon as I saw them again. Well, all except the pink ones. Still not a big fan of those. ;)

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Andrew loved the space. I didn’t love the running off. Snakes and alligators are all I could think about as he ran in that direction. We live beside a lake that happens to be home to about a six foot gator. I’m constantly worried about these things and the boys are never allowed around there. I have no idea why he thought it was okay to do this that day! John called for him to run back.

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We found that our building was a much shorter walk to the bridge than the resort board would have you think. If we hadn’t been looking around so much, it would’ve only been a couple of minutes!

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...next...

[jc040404]

Our goal had been to find Old Port Royale and go check out the kids’ pool. That was what had Andrew so excited to get to the resort. We managed to get lost somehow, but eventually found our way. It was so hot that day and the pool area was packed. There wasn’t a chair that hadn’t been claimed yet and lots of “too big” kids were running the area. I don’t think we picked the best time of day to check this out!

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Blake’s first water slide! He was fearless.

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Blake was thrilled with it all and had so much fun splash and playing. Andrew wasn’t a fan and didn’t want to play here. He was terrified of the giant bucket that dumped water all over them! This is why you’re not seeing any pictures of Andrew playing. He wasn’t! We didn’t end up staying very long because of that and were soon headed back to the room for a break.

That was the plan anyway. The boys weren’t interested in resting at all. They did both really try. Maybe WDW excitement had them that day. They had a bit of quiet time, but I decided to take them out to play so John could sleep. He was snoring away with no problem!

Sadly, it didn’t look like this was going to last very long. Check out that sky! It looked rough, but we stuck around for about ten minutes anyway.

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Andrew said he was on top of the world! Isn't that from Titanic? He's never even seen it!

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I love that one of Blakers.

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Little drops of rain started to fall, so we all ran back to the room to stay safe and dry. John was getting ready to come find us when we walked in. He had unpacked all of our stuff while we were gone and had some fun news for me.

"You know you didn't pack any more socks for yourself, right?"

Silly question. I couldn't believe I did this. Who manages to remember everything but their socks? My wonderful husband did offer to let me borrow some of his. :rolleyes:

"We're going shopping!"

We also had to figure out something for dinner anyway. The rain was reeeeally coming down, so none of this was all that appealing. Despite how cute our room was, we couldn't just sit there all evening, so off into the storm we went! John ran to bring the car closer while the boys and I waited under cover,against the building.

As we stood there, I noticed a WDW van driving around. She must've noticed us and saw John driving over with the car. The CM actually jumped out of the van with an umbrella and ran over to us! We all ran together under the umbrella to where John was waiting for us. How awesome was that? I wish I'd remembered her name to send some happy compliments. It was so nice!

Coming soon.. I get socks for my birthday! :lmao:

[CAStevens218]

WOW, I have been MIA for a while since my trip! I'm finally back on and caught up with your trip report!

I love that you tried Caribbean Beach! We are thinking about a split stay between a moderate and deluxe for our honeymoon (not until 2012, but still thinking already, lol!!), and CB is one of the options! Glad to see you ended up loving it!

I know how you feel about not wanting to spend the extra money though! It hurt just to think about it! But we decided that we would do a more relaxed trip with a lot of pool/resort time, so its a little easier for me to justify!

Can't wait to keep reading!!!

[PirateKate]

Caribbean Beach looks great! That is the one moderate resort we have never stayed at. Now, I'm seriously considering it for our next trip. I think my boys would love playing in the water. Is it supposed to be for little kids only? I hate it when there are big kids in toddler play areas.

[jc040404]

WOW, I have been MIA for a while since my trip! I'm finally back on and caught up with your trip report!

I love that you tried Caribbean Beach! We are thinking about a split stay between a moderate and deluxe for our honeymoon (not until 2012, but still thinking already, lol!!), and CB is one of the options! Glad to see you ended up loving it!

I know how you feel about not wanting to spend the extra money though! It hurt just to think about it! But we decided that we would do a more relaxed trip with a lot of pool/resort time, so its a little easier for me to justify!

Can't wait to keep reading!!!



Welcome back!! How was your trip??

It was really nice there. I need to remember that. I really started working on our longer trip last night. It's going to be early March or May, depending on when he can get free from work. I tried sooo hard to justify the Poly, but it just wasn't working. I can't make the jump in my mind when I know there are so many other options that cost less. With AP room only, it was 2062 for six nights and CBR is only 779. BIG difference! I considered a split stay, too, but we'll stick with here. What deluxe are you looking at? Might I live through a TR next year instead? ;)

Caribbean Beach looks great! That is the one moderate resort we have never stayed at. Now, I'm seriously considering it for our next trip. I think my boys would love playing in the water. Is it supposed to be for little kids only? I hate it when there are big kids in toddler play areas.

I don't remember exactly how it was set up in that area, but I think it might've been by height. I just recall a lot of kids that shouldn't have been running wild in here getting pushy at the top of those slides. It made me uncomfortable letting Blake up there much. (John was following him to watch.) I'm with you about big kids being in toddler areas. That drives me nuts! There aren't a lot of safe places for the little guys to get out and run as it is.

Hope you try out CBR! We haven't managed to get back there yet, but everyone really enjoyed what we did see. I think there's even a new playground since we've been. I have some CBR FAQ thread reading to do! :goodvibes

[Dugette]

Glad you loved CBR! Looks really nice. Love the double sinks. I'm with you on Pop's carpet being nicer, though! That kids pool area looks like fun!

Can't wait to hear about your birthday socks! :rotfl2:


I tried sooo hard to justify the Poly, but it just wasn't working. I can't make the jump in my mind when I know there are so many other options that cost less. With AP room only, it was 2062 for six nights and CBR is only 779.
I totally understand how you couldn't justify it. We actually paid under $2k for 9 (okay 8 1/4:rotfl:) nights at the Poly and we could only justify the length of time we stayed because we knew we had Club Level! A few days as part of a split stay is a little easier to justify. But do it in the low season! (And ask for a non-connecting room, there are very few and they might just put you in Hawaii :rolleyes1)

[CAStevens218]

Welcome back!! How was your trip??

It was really nice there. I need to remember that. I really started working on our longer trip last night. It's going to be early March or May, depending on when he can get free from work. I tried sooo hard to justify the Poly, but it just wasn't working. I can't make the jump in my mind when I know there are so many other options that cost less. With AP room only, it was 2062 for six nights and CBR is only 779. BIG difference! I considered a split stay, too, but we'll stick with here. What deluxe are you looking at? Might I live through a TR next year instead? ;)





Our trip was fabulous! We had a great time AND we got engaged!! Ben proposed at the California Grill during the fireworks! That, and we rode Tower of Terror 12 times over the course of the trip, which makes it a success in my book!!

The only down side of the trip was that it was freezing!! We were just as cold if not colder than we are here in Connecticut!

We are thinking about the Beach Club. We are really between Beach Club and Animal Kingdom Lodge, but the location of Beach Club helps it pull head, in my opinion. However, this is just at this point and could change significantly over the coming months!!!!! We fell in love with the Polynesian when we ate there on this trip, so who knows what will happen!! The only reason we are even thinking of anything beyond value is because we are probably going to register for the honeymoon rather than for gifts. But we shall see...

I'm not sure about doing a trip report...still thinking about it!!

[jc040404]

Glad you loved CBR! Looks really nice. Love the double sinks. I'm with you on Pop's carpet being nicer, though! That kids pool area looks like fun!

Can't wait to hear about your birthday socks! :rotfl2:


I totally understand how you couldn't justify it. We actually paid under $2k for 9 (okay 8 1/4:rotfl:) nights at the Poly and we could only justify the length of time we stayed because we knew we had Club Level! A few days as part of a split stay is a little easier to justify. But do it in the low season! (And ask for a non-connecting room, there are very few and they might just put you in Hawaii :rolleyes1)

I can't wait to read that TR!

I'm not sure how I feel about split stays really. It seems like a hassle to pack up in the middle of a stay. John is reeeeally working on me about this poly stay. I think I've heard how this will be our last big trip before Andrew starts school at least half a dozen times. "And we won't be getting APs again.." :sad: Andrew just wants to stay at Pop Century. :confused3 I do want to try the Poly and I'm completely conflicted over it all. It is my "dream" resort, but I have sooo much trouble spending money! How bad is just going with garden view? I guess I should do some research. This would all be a little easier if he could give me some dates to work with though! :rolleyes:

Our trip was fabulous! We had a great time AND we got engaged!! Ben proposed at the California Grill during the fireworks! That, and we rode Tower of Terror 12 times over the course of the trip, which makes it a success in my book!!

CONGRATS!!! How exciting!! During the fireworks like that sounds so incredible! Ben sounds amazing already.

But seriosuly.. twelve times on Tower of Terror?? :scared1:


The only down side of the trip was that it was freezing!! We were just as cold if not colder than we are here in Connecticut!

Did I know you were in CT? That's where my honey is from actually. ;) I absolutely love it up there. Such a pretty state! It did get crazy cold for a bit though. Glad you still had fun despite the freeeeziness.


We are thinking about the Beach Club. We are really between Beach Club and Animal Kingdom Lodge, but the location of Beach Club helps it pull head, in my opinion. However, this is just at this point and could change significantly over the coming months!!!!! We fell in love with the Polynesian when we ate there on this trip, so who knows what will happen!! The only reason we are even thinking of anything beyond value is because we are probably going to register for the honeymoon rather than for gifts. But we shall see...

I love the idea of registering for a honeymoon instead of gifts! I would have totally done that had we gone the big wedding route. :thumbsup2


I'm not sure about doing a trip report...still thinking about it!!

LMK if you do! I'd love to read all about it, especially that fireworks proposal!

[jc040404]

“Does Disney sell socks?”

I’m sure they have to sell socks somewhere, right? We didn’t know where to look and didn’t want to spend the entire evening searching. Our journey took us off property to the magical world of Target. ;) They have lots of socks. The boys spotted a bunch of silly pairs, so I left with some interesting gifts. Happy Birthday to me! (FWIW, my birthday is really the next day.)

It was still raining, but not quite as bad. We sat in the Target parking lot trying to make a dinner decision. This is what Disney dreams are made of, right? Would we stay off property or go to a park? A park won, despite off property probably being the easier choice at the time. MK was open until midnight, so we were off in that direction.

At the TTC, the rain was coming down a bit more. We hadn’t prepared for this, so I did something new and exciting. We stopped in the shop and bought Disney ponchos. Well, for me and Andrew anyway. Blake was dry in the stroller and John refused to wear one. He told me I was crazy. We did the entire first Disney year without buying ponchos. He then said I wouldn’t wear that thing for more than thirty minutes, if it lasted that long. Andrew and I were ridiculously excited over these silly things that day, so I didn’t care. John just laughed at our silliness and stood by his belief that I’d never use these things again.

“You smell like a cheap shower curtain.”

He’s such a charmer, but I suppose he was right. They were pretty gross, but they were Disney ponchos!! It is sad that I’ve secretly always wanted a reason to buy one? :rolleyes1

We headed up to the monorail next and the rain started to lighten a bit. That wasn’t good. After my husband’s smart comments, I wasn’t about to take it off I wore it on the ride over and all the way to CHH. It kept raining, but became more of a light sprinkle. I really didn’t need the poncho at all and soon pulled the hood down. Andrew had his off before we neared the castle. When we parked the stroller, I did finally admit he was right. I hate when that happens. For the record, the ponchos have been in the back of my car ever since! I do own a Disney poncho now though and isn’t that all that really mattered? ;)

It was nearing 8pm at this point, and our tummies were rumbling. The day’s activities really had our eating thrown off. The boys snacked a lot on fruit and crackers in the room, but we know we really should’ve gotten to dinner much earlier than this. We were ready to finally eat! Lucky us, CHH was PACKED that night. It was too wild and I didn’t expect it at all. In the end, we all had full tummies and it completely cleared out before we finished.

Walking out of CHH, that super light sprinkle had even gone away. The rain was over. I quietly stuffed our ponchos into a bag and we went in search of some fun in Fantasyland!

First stop.. Dumbo! Even though the rain had stopped, it seemed that no one was really interested in riding. We walked all the way through the line and immediately joined the group waiting for the current ride to end. I have never been on Dumbo so fast!

In our short wait, Blake was insisting that we get a yellow Dumbo and look what happened..

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He got his yellow Dumbo! You even get to see a picture of me. Scary..

We joined John at the exit and he pointed us to Snow White. No line there either ! I sometimes use “no line” to refer to just a few in line, but this is 100% literal. There was no one riding at all. The CM in control even held it up so we could hop in. John suggested something different and we went with it. The boys rode alone in the seat in front of us. I loved cuddling with my honey while we both watched them point things out to each other.

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This Snow White ride proved to be pretty nifty. We were being paused in every scene for a few seconds. The first couple of times I thought the ride was having issues or they were slow loading, but then it started to seem intentional. Every new scene, we would stop. How awesome is this? I pulled John’s camera out again for pics later on.

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Best Snow White ride ever! The CMs around here all seemed to be in such amazing moods that night. Everyone was full of smiles and laughing. It was so nice to seem them all having fun, too!

We wandered over to grab FPs for Pooh next, but found the machines were shut down. Oh well. We’d just check out standby or skip it. To the 100 Acre Wood we went!

Once there, the standby wait turned out to be.. Nothing. There were only a few people ahead of us! Yay! We did find ourselves waiting for just a short bit. Pooh was still having honey pot issues. I’m not certain what was going on, but quite a few people did show up to help out on that one.

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Soon we were on our way..

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“Hooray!”

We hit another walk on and took a spin in the tea cups..

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Then it was race time! The Indy Speedway was at ten minutes, but it turned out to be about fifteen or twenty. We were in that line for a very long time. I kept wondering why they weren’t opening one side of the track if the line were building up so much. As we neared our turns, I noticed they were removing cars from the track! Huh? The park was still open for another two hours. I didn’t understand this at all..

Andrew and I rode off ahead of Blake and John. We won the race, of course. It wasn’t like the rest of our family could pass or anything.. :lmao: Then waited for them at the end. I watched as a CM would jump in each car when it returned and drive it around to another area, off the track. Now I was super confused. What was going on with the race cars?

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“The park closes at ten tonight,” my husband said when we were all back together again.

Oops! I had the hours all wrong. So much for our late night at MK! Everything was closing up and CMs were urging everyone towards Main Street. We started in that direction, knowing Wishes would be beginning soon and found a nice spot where Tink would fly over our heads. It was neat to how the CMs all lined up to stop guests from going back into Tomorrowland. They were very intimidating! Okay, not really, but it was interesting.

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With Wishes over, everyone was in the crazy rush to leave the park. We just stayed in our spot and enjoyed watching the castle change colors.

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Don’t turn around! You’re not allowed in there anymore!

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This was one of those perfect Disney moments. The boys were in the best moods and we were all so in awe of that castle. We’d never been around here to see the stars and moon on it before. Andrew was especially interested in finding out how many times the castle would change colors. Blake squealed everytime one would fade out for the next. He even called out the new color..

“Yellow!”

Hmm. It seemed that every change produced a new “yellow” castle. Guess it didn’t really matter what Dumbo we got earlier, right? He still doesn’t totally get colors. We’re working on it.

...next...

[jc040404]

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Are those hearts??

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My goal was to catch a bit of video of the stars falling. We had the perfect view. There was no one around beyond some guests on a bench and a CM sweeping the ground. At the very second I pressed the video button on my camera, this guy shows up!

Video:
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/bday28/th_CIMG0075.jpg (http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/jc040404613/AUGUST/bday28/?action=view&current=CIMG0075.mp4)

Figures, right? I will try this again! We thought about staying longer but moved towards the exit instead.

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still quite a few people leaving..

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Outside of the gates, our fun wasn’t over just yet. We were just in time to see the Electrical Water Pageant Parade in the distance! (I hope that's what this is called. I'm not totally sure as I type this now..)

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When all the pretty lights on the water had passed, it was time to move on. We walked down to the ferry and were on our way back to the TTC. It was time to head back to CBR, but the excitement isn't over yet!

Coming Soon! We meet a brand new character at the TTC! Bet you've never met this guy.. :rolleyes1

[CAStevens218]

This sounds like a great night! I laughed so many times while reading this update!

Gotta love birthday socks!! And LOL @ Disney Magic in the Target parking lot while trying to figure out dinner!

We also bought ponchos this trip, but not because it was raining. Ben desperately wanted to ride Kali River Rapids and while the day we were there was much warmer than any other we had, we still didn't want to be soaked! So, $14 for two Disney ponchos and down the River we went! Then we passed them on to some people who were just getting in line because I DID NOT want to carry them around!!!

I love the story about the yellow Dumbo and castle! Too cute!!!!

I can't wait to read about the "character" at the TTC!!

[onescgirl]

We loved staying at the CBR. Too bad Blake didn't like the pool & big bucket. My kids wanted to stand under the big bucket so bad, but the lifeguards wouldn't let them in that area because of their height.

Yay for getting a Mickey poncho!!! :yay:

[karebear23]

CBR looks awesome! Oh how I want to stay on property!

Looks like you had fun at MK too! I love the castle lit up..it's so neat when they project the images on it!

[jc040404]

This sounds like a great night! I laughed so many times while reading this update!

Gotta love birthday socks!! And LOL @ Disney Magic in the Target parking lot while trying to figure out dinner!

We also bought ponchos this trip, but not because it was raining. Ben desperately wanted to ride Kali River Rapids and while the day we were there was much warmer than any other we had, we still didn't want to be soaked! So, $14 for two Disney ponchos and down the River we went! Then we passed them on to some people who were just getting in line because I DID NOT want to carry them around!!!

I love the story about the yellow Dumbo and castle! Too cute!!!!

I can't wait to read about the "character" at the TTC!!

Birthday socks are awesome!! :woohoo: They were definitely my favorite gift!

Love that you passed your ponchos on! I've never tried that ride out yet. John took Andrew once, but I can't remember how wet they got. Is it really bad??

TTC "character" coming up!

We loved staying at the CBR. Too bad Blake didn't like the pool & big bucket. My kids wanted to stand under the big bucket so bad, but the lifeguards wouldn't let them in that area because of their height.

Yay for getting a Mickey poncho!!! :yay:

Too bad that they didn't get to play. There were lots of bigger kids in that area when we were there. I'm kinda surprised that they weren't allowed in anyway. I'm guessing by the time Andrew is comfortable with that area, he'll probably be too big for it too. :confused3

CBR looks awesome! Oh how I want to stay on property!

Looks like you had fun at MK too! I love the castle lit up..it's so neat when they project the images on it!

You need to plan something! I'm half afraid of staying off property for some reason though. It's kinda silly. I read too much of the DIS.. :rotfl:

Have they started the memories images on it yet? I'd almost forgotten that is part of this year's theme, right?

[karebear23]

[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="3"][FONT="Georgia"]You need to plan something! I'm half afraid of staying off property for some reason though. It's kinda silly. I read too much of the DIS.. :rotfl:

Have they started the memories images on it yet? I'd almost forgotten that is part of this year's theme, right?

Well I had talked my hubby into using some of our tax return and maybe do a Disney Cruise soon. I really want to go on the Dream!!!! Sooo badly...but I can't pay $2200 for a 3 day cruise! At least not now when I could use the $$ toward something else.

So I have been looking to stay on property the last few days. The problem is the kids do not sleep well with us in the same room. They will stay up all night!!!!!

Luckily I talked to my dad today and he says they have a free week of their timeshare they need to use up before the end of December. I'm going to look at dates tonight and see when would be good. No staying on property again.

But hey I get a free condo!

Now we can use the tax $$ to pay for bills and all of that responsible adult stuff :lmao:.

[jc040404]

Well I had talked my hubby into using some of our tax return and maybe do a Disney Cruise soon. I really want to go on the Dream!!!! Sooo badly...but I can't pay $2200 for a 3 day cruise! At least not now when I could use the $$ toward something else.

So I have been looking to stay on property the last few days. The problem is the kids do not sleep well with us in the same room. They will stay up all night!!!!!

Luckily I talked to my dad today and he says they have a free week of their timeshare they need to use up before the end of December. I'm going to look at dates tonight and see when would be good. No staying on property again.

But hey I get a free condo!

Now we can use the tax $$ to pay for bills and all of that responsible adult stuff :lmao:.


Nothing wrong with a free condo! You're so lucky to have that! Ever look into doing a short stay, overnight or something, alone with your daughter? (Think we talked about that before maybe) I wanted to do one with Andrew, but I don't see it happening anymore. With discounts, it wouldn't be too bad to try something, right?

I can also understand the shared room thing though. I was big on co-sleeping and all that fun stuff when mine were babies so luckily they're okay with it. (Actually prefer it, it seems.. I find myself putting someone back in their own bed just about every night! :rolleyes:) We just have to all go to bed at the same time at WDW. Not a huge deal for us since we're all so exhausted at the end of the day anyways. You'll get your on property stay yet! :goodvibes

2200 for a three day cruise?? :scared1: Honestly, I have no idea how much cruises usually cost though. ;) I'd thought about looking into those once..Not thinking so now!

BTW, being a responsible adult kinda sucks, doesn't it? :sad:

[jc040404]

Before we could make it to the TTC, we had some excitement yet to go. We were last to board and stayed near ropes. Another group was making their way over, so the CM who had started to rope it off was first told to let them go ahead and paused. Before the family made it down, whoever was in charge declared that there wasn’t enough time and let him know he should’ve closed it. This wasn't good.

I can understand the back and forth game with that family probably annoyed him, but I have NEVER seen a CM so upset as this guy was that night. :scared1: The words that came from his mouth would probably have him fired in a second if they were shared. I told John not to let me look at his name tag when he walked on board, but I did anyways. I didn’t want to say anything since he was a little justified in being annoyed. However, this was just BAD. He was clearly at the end of a very rough day and pushed through the crowd to the other side of the ferry. I felt bad for him and tried to block it out. Unfortunately, I could pick him today.. Ugh.. I hope he had the next day off to recover.

Andrew was talking nonstop on our ride. He rambled on about the fireworks, the rain, the rides, and finally said he had something “very important” to ask us. I couldn’t wait to hear what was going to come out of his little mouth next. He had suddenly gotten so serious and there’s no telling what he might come up with. His question turned out to be very simple, but forever changed how I look at part of the MK.

“Is it Christmas right now?”

This was so random, even for Andy-Roo. John replied that it was only August and Christmas was still quite some time off. Why did he want to know that?

“Then why does Mickey always have Christmas lights on the tree in front?”

I was a little confused until we thought this through a bit. Yes, there are lights on the trees at the front of the park. He has a point, I suppose. Why are they there all the time? John responded again, saying something about them just being for decoration, I think.

“Well, I think they’re ridiculous!”

I can’t look at the ridiculous lights in those trees without seeing his serious little face and thinking Christmas now. :laughing: The world is such a confusing place when you're only 41.5 inches tall, right? ;) He’s too silly.

Once at the TTC, one of us was desperate for a restroom break. Me! I told John to wait and ran up the ramp. Funny site, I’m sure. My family wandered into that little walled in area just outside the ferry on the right. When I went in search of them after, Andrew was going crazy calling for me.

“We found something!! We found something!!”

I walked over and soon wished I hadn’t. The boys had found a new “character” alright. He was named the “Disney Bug” and they begged me to take pictures.. Gross! I have no idea what this is or if it’s dangerous, but I did take some pics for my bug loving babies.

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Yuck! I have never seen a bug like that around here before. Thank goodness. I'd lose my mind. What is it??

I convinced them to quickly get out of here and we began the walk to the car. Blake fell asleep before we made it back to CBR.

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It was so peaceful when we returned. I’m not sure that we ever really noticed anyone around these buildings. We had neighbors, but we never noticed them until we left. I was falling more and more in love with CBR with every step. The air was still damp and I could hear noisy bugs in the distance. It was so peaceful. It felt like the entire world was tucked into bed already. Pop is NOT like this at night!

We made it back into the room and managed to change Blake and get him into bed without much issue. His bath could wait until morning. My baby was worn out! Andrew, of course, became the opposite! He was bundle of pure energy and wouldn’t settle. I’m not joking about the “never stops talking” bit in my intros. He can go on and on for hours if you let him. We just let him go for a bit while we got ready for bed! We were planning to just walk the resort in the morning and sleep in anyway.

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Noticed my husband at my bag here.. After the unpacking earlier, we were packing up again already! :rotfl: I don't know why he bothered, but I'm glad he did! I wouldn't have those nifty birthday socks otherwise!

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So cute!

Despite his big brother’s endless chatter, Blakers only stirred a moment to make a request for his best buddy to cuddle.

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Sweet Eeyore. I worried how long he's going to last Blakers and I haven't been able to find a replacement. By far, this little thing is my favorite purchase from the first Disney year. He loves it!

Everyone settled into bed, it was finally time to sleep. This was definitely one of my favorite Disney Days. :goodvibes

Guess What! Tomorrow is my birthday!

[CAStevens218]

[FONT="Georgia"]
Love that you passed your ponchos on! I've never tried that ride out yet. John took Andrew once, but I can't remember how wet they got. Is it really bad??

FONT]

We didn't get too wet, but the family who was with us got soaked! They had ponchos on too though, so they were fine! They were actually really cute! It looked to be a grandfather, a mother and two kids. They were speaking Spanish and had already ridden once when we got on, I guess they asked to around again and the whole ride, every time we would get away from a bad spot without getting soaked he would laugh at us and say "Wait, wait!!!!" He was too cute! They rode AGAIN when we got off!!

Now on to your latest update! I can only imagine what that guy on the ferry said! Regardless of how frustrated he was, when you work in customer service, ESPECIALLY at Disney World, you must have the ability to mask any negativity and keep the magic going for the guests around you. He should have been able to hold it in until he got "off stage".

Just looking at that "character" made me feel like I need a shower! It is HUGE!!!!! :scared1:

One of my younger cousins used to talk like you described Andrew doing when she was little. Once she was given a t-shirt that said "Help, I'm talking and I can't shut up!!" :lmao:

[karebear23]

Nothing wrong with a free condo! You're so lucky to have that! Ever look into doing a short stay, overnight or something, alone with your daughter? (Think we talked about that before maybe) I wanted to do one with Andrew, but I don't see it happening anymore. With discounts, it wouldn't be too bad to try something, right?

2200 for a three day cruise?? :scared1: Honestly, I have no idea how much cruises usually cost though. ;) I'd thought about looking into those once..Not thinking so now!

BTW, being a responsible adult kinda sucks, doesn't it? :sad:

Yes I have thought about just taking her for a night or 2. I really would like to go w/some girlfriends & stay on property. I think it would be fun.

Disney cruises are usually a bit more expensive. The problem is all of the less expensive staterooms are booked! So not many options. I was trying to fit it in after Alex's bday & before school starts in the fall.

Oh well maybe a cruise next year :goodvibes.

CBR looks nice. I love the nemo accents in the room. I love that picture of Blake w/Eyeore! So sweet.

Well I'm off to sew an "Ariel" dress for dd's friends birthday.

[Dugette]

Yikes on that huge bug and the upset CM! :scared1:

That is an adorable picture of Blake with his Eeyore!

[Sleeping*Beauty]

That bug is super scary looking. I would have a fit if he was in my house.

[jc040404]

We didn't get too wet, but the family who was with us got soaked! They had ponchos on too though, so they were fine! They were actually really cute! It looked to be a grandfather, a mother and two kids. They were speaking Spanish and had already ridden once when we got on, I guess they asked to around again and the whole ride, every time we would get away from a bad spot without getting soaked he would laugh at us and say "Wait, wait!!!!" He was too cute! They rode AGAIN when we got off!!

Now on to your latest update! I can only imagine what that guy on the ferry said! Regardless of how frustrated he was, when you work in customer service, ESPECIALLY at Disney World, you must have the ability to mask any negativity and keep the magic going for the guests around you. He should have been able to hold it in until he got "off stage".

Just looking at that "character" made me feel like I need a shower! It is HUGE!!!!! :scared1:

One of my younger cousins used to talk like you described Andrew doing when she was little. Once she was given a t-shirt that said "Help, I'm talking and I can't shut up!!" :lmao:

Aww! Those people sound like such fun!

The ferry guy was out of line, but I did really feel bad for the guy, too. He so shouldn't have said any of that stuff though.

I think Andrew needs a shirt with a warning really. I sometimes think I should let others know not to start a conversation unless they have a few days to to listen. :rotfl: I love him to pieces, but that boy can be exhausting when he gets going! He has something to say about EVERYTHING!

Yes I have thought about just taking her for a night or 2. I really would like to go w/some girlfriends & stay on property. I think it would be fun.

Disney cruises are usually a bit more expensive. The problem is all of the less expensive staterooms are booked! So not many options. I was trying to fit it in after Alex's bday & before school starts in the fall.

Oh well maybe a cruise next year :goodvibes.

CBR looks nice. I love the nemo accents in the room. I love that picture of Blake w/Eyeore! So sweet.

Well I'm off to sew an "Ariel" dress for dd's friends birthday.

You sew? I wish I could get into that stuff! I don't exactly have a princess to dress up right now though. :laughing: Some of the custom outfits I see in TRs are just too cute!

Hope you get your cruise next year!

Yikes on that huge bug and the upset CM! :scared1:

That is an adorable picture of Blake with his Eeyore!

Yikes is definitely right! Thanks on the pic. They're both fast asleep & cuddling right now. He's too cute with Eeyore. :goodvibes

That bug is super scary looking. I would have a fit if he was in my house.

I'm with you! The first, and only, time I ever saw a palmetto bug, I told dh we needed to leave the state! :lmao: Bugs are sooo not my thing. I can't even handle those silly lizards most of the time. We had one get in while dh was at work once. I can only imagine what my neighbors must've thought that afternoon. There was sooo much yelling going on as the boys and I tried to get it out! :rotfl:

I tried searching what this thing is last night and it looks like it's just some kind of big water bug. I can't remember the name now.. It bites or pinches and I saw that they FLY! Sooooo glad it didn't decide to do that while we were looking at it. Everyone on WDW property would've heard me screaming for sure! :scared1::scared1:

[jc040404]

August 29th, 2010 - Sunday - Day 7

Happy Birthday to meeee!!!

This day is very special. It will mark the very last birthday I’m excited about celebrating! I’m turning 28 and while age has never meant much of anything to me, this year I was feeling a little old. Maybe it was more of wondering where the time had gone perhaps? Either way, I think I plan to stay 28 forever. Think it’ll work? ;) I have a feeling 29 is going to make me crazy..

Despite my plan to just explore the resort and sleep in, I did set a wake up call for this day. It was scheduled for eight, but didn’t exactly work out. I followed my routine of just hanging up when it started ringing. We all slept until just after nine. It was nice. The boys never sleep in unless we’re at Disney. Crazy, huh?

Everyone slowly got up and ready to go. We’d grabbed some breakfast goodies at Target the night before and enjoyed a couple episodes of Phineas and Ferb. The boys had fun playing in the room and we all had a very relaxed start to the day. It was wonderful!

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Blake says this means “No parking on beds!” so you better pay attention.

While the boys were playing, John and I started talking about food for later. I already had my birthday park choice made so I called Dining to see what was available. Lucky me, I was able to get a table at Yak & Yeti for 2:30 with no problem. (And now you know which park I picked. Bet you were expecting MK again, right? Haha!)

The boys spent a ton of time playing with this bench while I was on the phone and discovered that Blake actually fits inside. Not the best discovery, IMO, but they thought it was great. He said they could use it for bunk beds next time. I don’t think so!

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After one last hand washing from Blakers, it was time to head out..

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smoking area between the buildings I mentioned..

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Blakers leading the way!

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Gorgeous, right? I really like this place.

We decided to pack up the car first, of course. It was just about check out time. While there, Andrew spotted these nifty flowers.

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They’re only nifty because we have lots of them around here. He decided to pick one and gave it to me for my birthday. I know he was just copying little brother from the day before and it was adorable. Since we were about to walk around, I tucked it under one of the wipers on the car until we got back.

Now it was time to explore! I took quite a few pics, but I’ll try to control myself. I was loving just about everything about CBR that morning.

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Our wandering first took us back over to where our room was. I didn’t think I’d managed any pictures of the outside and wanted a couple. Our room was on the corner and I loved the windows. This is where we saw the first signs that we had neighbors!

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It seems our mysteriously quiet neighbors like pizza. (And leaving the boxes outside on the ground.) Andrew found these boxes amazing. We’ve only gotten pizza delivered to our room once, and that was a couple years before the boys came along. I didn’t think it was very good?

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Jump!

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the “ugly” buildings ;)

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Reminds me of a doll house maybe? I’m not into the color.

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The plan was to walk all the way around. When we made it here, we gave up. It was just too hot and sticky out already. Looking at how far we had to go, I knew it wouldn't happen. I wanted to check out Old Port Royale a little more, so we just went back to the bridge instead. While I’ve completely disagreed with those who claim Pop and CSR are big, the reviews that say this place is huge are definitely right!

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This really caught my interest. What was it? We later found some info and are planning to have Andrew try it when we go back.

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haha.. This bridge looks huge!

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I reeeeally don’t like sand..

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...next post...

[jc040404]

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I like this one.

We made it across and went inside to look around. The AC was much appreciated after that journey and we grabbed some water. It was pretty busy so we didn’t stay terribly long. We did some browsing in the shop and then played in the arcade. I was surprised how packed the it was.

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Big moment. I don’t know why, but it’s rare that I press a quarter. I suppose we don’t press pennies much either. Neither of us carry change. We only have three quarters, and this is one of them.

Before we left, Andrew started really checking out the pins. He wanted to get a lanyard and start trading. We thought about getting a set for him with his Christmas gifts, but never did get around to it. What age do kids usually start pin trading? He seems young to me still, but I know he'd be nuts over trading with CMs. I'm still divided. :confused3

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This just looked so neat! I started wishing we’d had more time to book a few days instead.

Time to go!

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We started a flower finding mission along the way..

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Bye Bye, Jamaica 44!!

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Bye Bye, CBR!!

It’s nice, right? I thought CBR was wonderful.

Coming Soon!! Loads of birthday fun @ AK!!

[eeyore7360nc]

CBR was the first on property resort we stayed at too many years ago. How nice to see it again. Thanks to your many raves over CHH we actually tried for the first time on this trip. Everyone agreed that it was as good as you said.
Looking forward to the birthday fun.

[Queenofallthings]

That bug is gross...we had our fair share of the bug encounters this past trip and it's never happened to us before either!! I decided very early in our vacation we would never ever ever ever stay on ground floor again....when they're in your room, it's quite difficult to sleep after:eek:

That pic of Blake with Eeyore....beyond sweet!

[IheartDDuck]

Man, I feel like I missed so many updates!

I'm glad that you enjoyed CBR. I've stayed there once before, and that was before they refurbished the rooms to me Nemo and Pirates. I would definitely stay there again. It is a lot quieter then you would think it should be.

That bug was absolutely frightening! I think I would have passed out if I saw it!

[Dugette]

CBR looks really nice! We only visited briefly once at night, so we didn't really get the full effect. Glad you found a nice birthday resort! Speaking of, 28 is still young! (it better be, or I'm really old...). I think 28 forever is a good plan! It's more believable than 29 forever. :rotfl:

Sweet that Andrew got you a flower too!

Ooooh, Pirate cruise for Andrew coming up?

I didn't know pressing quarters was even legal. Huh.

[jc040404]

CBR was the first on property resort we stayed at too many years ago. How nice to see it again. Thanks to your many raves over CHH we actually tried for the first time on this trip. Everyone agreed that it was as good as you said.
Looking forward to the birthday fun.


CBR seems like it would be such a great place for a first stay. Ours' was ASMo, before we had kids. :rotfl: I didn't know much about WDW back then. It was fun anyway.

So glad you liked CHH! I'm kinda missing that place right now.


That bug is gross...we had our fair share of the bug encounters this past trip and it's never happened to us before either!! I decided very early in our vacation we would never ever ever ever stay on ground floor again....when they're in your room, it's quite difficult to sleep after:eek:

That pic of Blake with Eeyore....beyond sweet!

I'm not looking forward to reading about bugs in your TR. It's kinda funny though. I try to always stay on the first floor for stroller reasons and we've never had any bug issues anywhere. I hope thinking this doesn't jinx us for the next visit!

Man, I feel like I missed so many updates!

I'm glad that you enjoyed CBR. I've stayed there once before, and that was before they refurbished the rooms to me Nemo and Pirates. I would definitely stay there again. It is a lot quieter then you would think it should be.

That bug was absolutely frightening! I think I would have passed out if I saw it!

It was pretty amazing in that respect. I always thought Pop wasn't too bad for noise, but this took it to a new level. I don't think it's that quiet on my street at night! We're decided on sticking with CBR for our longer stay now.. whenever that may be.. :rolleyes:

CBR looks really nice! We only visited briefly once at night, so we didn't really get the full effect. Glad you found a nice birthday resort! Speaking of, 28 is still young! (it better be, or I'm really old...). I think 28 forever is a good plan! It's more believable than 29 forever. :rotfl:

Sweet that Andrew got you a flower too!

Ooooh, Pirate cruise for Andrew coming up?

I didn't know pressing quarters was even legal. Huh.

28 forever is soo happening now! I talked to my father tonight and he actually thought I was still 27. I think I could make it work with him anyway! :lmao:

I hope there's a pirate cruise coming up! I think he'd really love it. I just need to come up with something for Blakers whenever we try it. Hopefully it'll be warm enough to swim then. I reeeeeeeeeeeeeallly hope we can do this before spring break season starts. Cross your fingers that I have some answers by the end of the week. Not knowing when I can plan a WDW trip is making me crazy!

Is the quarter comment going over my head? :confused3

[Dugette]

Cross your fingers that I have some answers by the end of the week. Not knowing when I can plan a WDW trip is making me crazy!

Is the quarter comment going over my head? :confused3


I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

On the quarter thing: I just have heard that destruction of coins is generally illegal, but that pennies are okay (because of their low value or something?) I just did a quick search, though, and maybe all coins are okay since they are being made into souvenirs? :confused3 Something like that at least, I didn't want to read through all the legal gibberish. That's all I was referring to!

[jc040404]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

On the quarter thing: I just have heard that destruction of coins is generally illegal, but that pennies are okay (because of their low value or something?) I just did a quick search, though, and maybe all coins are okay since they are being made into souvenirs? :confused3 Something like that at least, I didn't want to read through all the legal gibberish. That's all I was referring to!

Oh good. I'm not completely crazy because that's what I thought you meant. I was wondering if you were asking that or if this was a joke I was too dumb to understand! :rotfl: They're all over WDW, so I'm guessing they'd have to be, right? I'd be fine if they weren't. It's the cheap side of me again.. 1.25 to smash a quarter? A penny I can handle! ;)

[Dugette]

Oh good. I'm not completely crazy because that's what I thought you meant. I was wondering if you were asking that or if this was a joke I was too dumb to understand! :rotfl: They're all over WDW, so I'm guessing they'd have to be, right? I'd be fine if they weren't. It's the cheap side of me again.. 1.25 to smash a quarter? A penny I can handle! ;)
Yeah, I haven't checked out any of those machines myself, but I've seen so many TR where they press pennies...this is the first mention I've seen of pressed quarters, though, which is why I was surprised! Didn't know they had those!

[onescgirl]

28 would be a great year to stay forever! :) But, you'll see that you love every year from here on out!

You got a LOT of great pictures of CBR. You're right on how quiet it is. We never saw any of our neighbors either.

[jc040404]

Yeah, I haven't checked out any of those machines myself, but I've seen so many TR where they press pennies...this is the first mention I've seen of pressed quarters, though, which is why I was surprised! Didn't know they had those!

I'm really surprised you've never noticed these while shopping before. Something to watch for next time, I suppose.. Well, if you want to spend 1.25 on a quarter. ;)

28 would be a great year to stay forever! :) But, you'll see that you love every year from here on out!

You got a LOT of great pictures of CBR. You're right on how quiet it is. We never saw any of our neighbors either.

I'm sure it's only going to get better. I just can't believe I'm 28 "already" sometimes. Time really flies, especially since the boys came along!

I hope CBR stays this quiet the next time we stay there!

[jc040404]

When we arrived to AK, the lot had already started to really fill up. A tram had just arrived so we all hopped on. It was mostly full, too, so we were split between two benches. The boys were so excited to be riding one of these! It was so funny. I sometimes think those two would be just as happy riding Disney transportation all day. I know Blake would be wild over those buses.

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Blake excited to ride the tram! Think it was hot yet?

The tram ride itself turned out to be pretty funny, too. It was called to no longer board, but guests walking up simply ignored the instructions. They just kept hopping on. You could tell the CM was getting annoyed every time he had to shout “no boarding!” over again. Eventually, some approaching guests did actually stop, so the rest followed them. It took several minutes to get anyone to pay attention. I have no idea where all these people were squeezing on anyway. It was full.

A couple of horn toots and we were off! Well, we were supposed to be off. Instead, the tram just shut off. During the incident with the guests who couldn’t stop boarding, I was listening to the couple on our bench go on about how they should’ve just walked. This didn't help how they felt.

“This is a waste of time!”

The couple bolted off the tram just seconds before it started back up again. They literally hadn’t made it five feet away before it was working again. I couldn’t help but laugh. I could understand how they felt, but the timing was too perfect. They kept walking and never looked back. When I saw her face in the air as we passed, I felt bad for them. It was going to be a rough day in this heat if they didn't get over the tram fun. I hope they had a fun day once in the park. The tram beat them to the entrance, of course.

We unloaded and headed to bag check. The lady going through my stuff this time had a name tag showing she was from Largo, FL. We’re close to there and dh pointed it out. It started a long conversation about this area. I found it quite entertaining because it started making me wonder. Why do we find it so interesting to meet someone at Disney from where we live? I read this a lot in TRs, but find it even sillier when it happens to us. We’re not exactly that far away, so we’re bound to meet a few. Anyway, it just made me wonder.. And made me suggest John start asking people at the mall where they’re from. I bet him that a few are bound to be from here, too. ;)

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I need to plan to eat here sometime. Probably T-Rex.. One of ‘em anyways.

Andrew had convinced me to wear my birthday button this time. I’m not into attention for myself and the last time I tried one of these, it put a big hole my shirt. I wasn't planning to ever wear another. Kids can talk you into anything sometimes, I guess. I really started feeling its power as we walked into the park. EVERYONE was calling “Happy Birthday, Jessica!” to me as we passed. Guests would shout it, and CMs would smile and wave. I had this odd Twilight Zone feeling everytime someone said my name, momentarily forgetting about the button. How do they know who I am?? Oh yeah, I'm wearing it. I think I’ll skip it next time. :rotfl:

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Are you singing “The Circle of Life” yet? I can’t help but start thinking it when I see the tree..

We were all pretty hungry, but our ADR wasn’t until 2:30. It was just before one, but we headed to Asia anyway. We’d had luck in the last AP year with being able to check in to Yak & Yeti a couple hours early with no trouble. I guessed it might be the same today.

Once there, it was quite busy, but we were still able to check in early. I really don’t think this is one that fills the table with ADRs. I saw several walk ins having their information taken down to wait. It’s been the same each time, even when Disney Dining was showing it booked up. I think it’s a great idea, if they are leaving tables open. :thumbsup2 Not everyone knows how fast TS places fill and it helps guests like us. We don’t exactly plan all of our Disney days ahead!

With our 2:30 ADR, we were seated at exactly 1:01. I asked John what time it was. He told me to get a watch. I stole his. ;)

We had a nice table upstairs and met our server. If you followed along the last TR that no longer exists :(( you saw me go on about how much we love this place already. If not, we love Yak & Yeti! We were lucky enough to be seated upstairs on a slow day in May and got to watch the afternoon parade go by below. It was so perfect. The food was excellent. The service was great. I was in love. We’re big fans and this was the 4th time we’d eaten here in 2010.

Unfortunately, this meal didn’t exactly follow how the rest had gone. Service was pretty slow and the food wasn’t as exciting. It was still good, and we’d still eat here again. It just wasn’t as awesome as before.

I don’t have food pics this time. I got the crispy honey chicken and John went with the Shaoxing steak and shrimp. Andrew got a kids’ burger and Blake had a little of everything. He loves to steal shrimp off his father's plate. I did manage a pic of my drink though. It just looked too happy not to photograph.

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It’s a berry cherry limeade. Oddly, it wasn't as good as what you get at Sonic. I haven't eaten at Sonic in years, but I love stopping by for cherry limeades!

John and I both went with those yummy fried wontons for dessert. It was the same story. While good, they weren’t as impressive as the last time. Maybe it was just us. I don’t see how you can really change something like this. Andrew asked for pudding with the marshmallows on the side. After a significant wait, they brought him his pudding with marshmallows in it already. Blah. He didn’t eat any.

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Our neighbors this day were more than a little annoying, too. They had a little boy who looked to be between Blake and Andrew’s ages. That child was running around like a little wild animal. He kept stopping at everyone else’s table and touching things. We were lucky most of the meal, but then became his last victims. Why do I say his last? Because we were the only table to ask them to please watch their child. We were nice about it, I thought, but the mother seemed angry. I guess we were supposed to just find it cute and let him touch our lunch? I don't think so. She glared at us a lot, but did put him back in his seat after. I couldn’t imagine letting my boys run around a restaurant like this.

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One of my birthday wishes was to see Finding Nemo: The Musical, so we took a walk in that direction. I hadn’t checked showtimes and we really didn’t have much of a plan. I figured we’d just see what happened as we went.

On the way, we passed by EE. Andrew is wild about that ride and cannot wait to try it. I am so scared and admit to being perfectly fine with how far he is from 44 inches.

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When we made it to Nemo, we saw there was a show at 3:15. A line had already formed, but we skipped the wait and wandered over to Dinosaur. I was hoping to take Andrew on this again, and thought we might be able to squeeze it in. There’s never been a wait before, but today it didn’t work out. It was posted at 30 minutes stand by, so we grabbed FPs instead. Our return time was 3:25.

We still had a bit of time to fill before the show, so into the little shop in Dinoland we went. We figured the AC would be nice, if nothing else. Once inside, we remembered they don't exactly cool this store. I suppose dinosaurs didn't have AC either, but it would've been nice. We shopped a bit anyway.

I learned something amazing here this day. When you stuff a Mr Potato Head box, you don’t have to buy the body! You can just buy accessories!! Since we already have three or four Mister Potato Heads, I was jumping on getting them some cute Disney gear. I NEVER knew you didn’t have to buy that huge body, but it seems like everyone else already did.. Haha.. Oh well. We had fun filling up a box of eyes, ears, and hats for the boys. I think I did a pretty good job, too. I found out later that I somehow got way too many left arms and an odd number of ears, but there’s always next time to even things up. :rotfl: Then I headed to the register.

At the register, I waited behind a woman who had the same thing. She’d stuffed a box with just accessories. Okay, maybe OVER-stuffed is a little better. This thing had no hope being able to close. The ends wouldn’t even touch.

First, the CM told her that she needed to take some pieces out. The woman removed ONE. The CM again tells her that the box has to close completely. One more small piece was removed. This woman was really entertaining. She kept smiling and batting her eyes at the CM as she removed each piece, insisting that she could buy it now. The box still had too much in it. It took forever, but eventually she emptied it enough and the CM started to ring. The register area looked like someone stripped and butchered a Potato person. It was a mess of everything she was trying to cram into that already full box. To be honest, I think the CM was still letting her get away with a couple too many pieces.

You’d think it was over now, but this lady wasn’t done yet. She picked up a hat and started batting those eyes again. FWIW, the woman did have gorgeous eyes. She had looked over to me for support, I suppose, a couple of times. I have a feeling the CM probably doesn’t agree with that though! I really couldn’t believe she trying to push this again.

“It’ll be $2.67,” the CM said with a sigh. I started laughing. I am so sorry to both of them, but I couldn’t help it. It was funny from my view of things. The woman finally just paid and left without her potato princess hat.

Though my turn was next, someone actually tried to cut in line! After all the waiting I’d just done, I was shocked and didn’t speak right away. This CM snapped at them to please move behind me. Yay. I got to avoid conflict and the CM won even more points. I asked her if she was having a fun day and got a little laugh out of her. She said they try to cheat the Potato Head thing all day long. That must really suck. I hope her day got better. :)

It’s time to find Nemo!!

Nevermind the "next post" thing. I'm tired..haha.. Coming soon!! The rest of this day!

[CAStevens218]

Yayyy, Happy Trip Report Birthday!!! :upsidedow

We lovvveeddd Yak & Yeti when we ate there on this past trip! It was our first time and we will definitely be back if I have anything to say about it!!! I had the mahi mahi and it was fabulous!!!! Sorry yours wasn't up to par this time!

That woman with her Mr. Potato head sounds hilarious! I would have been laughing at her too! If you need the extra piece that badly, pay the $2.67!!

[jc040404]

Yayyy, Happy Trip Report Birthday!!! :upsidedow

We lovvveeddd Yak & Yeti when we ate there on this past trip! It was our first time and we will definitely be back if I have anything to say about it!!! I had the mahi mahi and it was fabulous!!!! Sorry yours wasn't up to par this time!

That woman with her Mr. Potato head sounds hilarious! I would have been laughing at her too! If you need the extra piece that badly, pay the $2.67!!



I do really wonder if it was just us that day when it came to Yak & Yeti. Maybe the icky sticky heat was messing with our taste buds. :confused3 Everything looked about the same. John said he thought the "newness and excitement" of the place had just worn off for us. Who knows.. We'll try it again eventually. Where else can you eat at AK anyway? I don't really care for Tusker House much.

Potato Head lady was pretty funny. I wouldn't pay 2.67 a piece though! We're going to do another box eventually. Blake loves playing with this stuff. I stuffed as much as I could, but there was still a lot we didn't get. I never seem to remember it which park is supposed to have the biggest selection. Maybe DTD? I'll figure it out. :goodvibes

[jc040404]

The show was starting at 3:15, and our Potato Head fun had us arriving at 3. I wasn’t planning to be super early, but this was a little later than I expected. We were still able to find seats, just somewhat higher than usual and had a few minutes to watch for Nemo in the bubbles. Blake goes crazy over this.

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The video from this day just had me teary. It’s too much to post, but the difference in how Blake talks from then to now is incredible. He kept saying “Pay ‘ttention, Mommy!” because I was missing Nemo swim by too much. I love him!

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Show time!!

I love this show. No. I really, really, really LOVE this show. :) I am Marlin. It’s sad, but I can completely relate to how he felt and acted when it came to Nemo in the beginning. I feel the same about my babies and worry way too much about the world. I am not looking forward to Andrew starting school this year. It has me so nervous, even though I know he’ll be just fine. The music of this show never fails to have me in tears.

You mean so much to me
I don’t know what I would do
In this big blue world
If something should happen to you

That’s it. From that part of the song, I’m a mess. Poor Marlin. After losing Coral and all of the other babies, I can only imagine how nuts this made him. You just can't keep 'em locked up safe in a sea anemone forever though.

This particular show, Marlin didn’t seem terribly into it at first. It was sad, but the show was still great. Crush was amazing as usual. I think he’s my favorite part. I was actually a little upset when the crowd didn’t go crazy over him at the end. He usually gets such a response. Oh well. I guess the heat was getting to everyone. I cheered for him anyway!

Our next stop was over to Dinosaur to use those FPs. John took Blake for a change and a walk while we headed to the ride. I fully expected the little guy would be napping when we made it out.

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We only had to wait a few minutes before we were in for the little pre-show. There were a couple of groups that seemed so nervous over this ride. Before we made it down to board, one of them had even chickened out and left! I’d never seen anyone leave a ride out of fear before.

The children around us weren’t doing much better. Their mother kept using Andrew as an example. If a little guy like him could ride it, they’d be just fine. He even joined in to encourage them and say how much fun it was. We didn’t get to share a car with them, but I still wonder how they did. This Dinosaur line wasn’t doing well today..

We got the third row of our car and were off. I know a lot of people are terrified of it, but I really like this ride. If you place your balance on your feet and not your butt, you aren't going to be thrown all over the place. Just sayin.. ;) It’s a little harder to do that when you’re little, but Andrew even loves this one.

Those riding with us weren’t fans. They screamed the entire ride.. What did I do?

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I could not stop laughing! Not at them, of course. I was having so much fun! I love how everyone else is hiding. :lmao: Andrew looks a little beat in the pic, but he's nuts over Dinosaur, too.

We came out of the ride at 4:30 and the park closed at 5. Andy-Roo begged to ride again, but this was all we were going to accomplish today. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a great birthday. We joined a sleeping Blakers and started out of the park.

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Crocodile stop
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Signs of how tired Andrew was started showing as we loaded into the car to head home. He suddenly started crying. Why? He said I didn’t get a birthday cake and now my birthday was ruined! My poor baby. I told him it was because I thought it would be more fun to make a cake with him at home and he calmed down. For now..

We started the journey home. Blake slept, but Andrew just stared out the window. He was tired but wasn’t letting himself sleep in the car. About halfway, a light rain started. John flipped on the windshield wipers. You can guess what happened next..

“Mommy’s flower!!" Andrew screamed from the backseat.

Yep, I’d completely forgotten about my special yellow birthday flower. I felt terrible. John started searching for a safe spot to pull over, but it was too late. We did keep reassuring Andrew that the flower would be okay and I hopped out of the car to save it.

The flower was long gone at this point, but I pretended to cradle it in the palm of my hand and put it in a safe place to dry. Andrew believed the flower was alright and drifted off to sleep. I was so glad it worked or this ride would’ve been rough.

I felt like such a bad mommy for leaving it on the window. Lucky for us, these flowers really do grow all over the place here so we were able to replace it without him knowing. John went for a short walk after the boys were tucked into bed that night and got another. Andrew couldn't tell the difference. I haven't decided if we'll one day let him know or not, but that flower is even more special for how it came to be. It’s pressed safely away forever with the little purple flower Blake gave me. :goodvibes

This was a birthday I’ll never forget.


Next Up!! The most expensive drive to Disney we’ve ever had! ;)

[Sleeping*Beauty]

I know how you felt about people you didn't know knowing your name. When I started working customers would call me by name and it caught me off guard for weeks. I'm glad you had a lovely Birthday at Animal Kingdom.