Bound, bound, bound and rebound - Sept 24-Oct 1st. 2011

[MamaJessie]

I kept thinking this vacation just wasn't going to happen. We changed plans so many times, faced so many challenges during 2010 that I started to give up home. But after almost a year from the original date we finally went. The challenges just kept coming :rolleyes: but we persevered and had a wonderful time.

Let's start at the very beginning (it's a very good place to start)...

I booked a vacation in March 2010. We had been back for 6 months and were jonesin' for another visit back to Mickey. Add to that the fact that I kept dreaming of Christmas with Mickey and we were ready to book!! I had already picked up odds and ends during Christmas clearance, planning for this trip. I was so excited :yay:

But then, two weeks later, my mom died. I was shattered. I had no urge to dream about Christmas present, I just wanted to think of Christmas past and remember what life was like when I had two parents, now that I was left with none. So we pushed the vacation off, figuring by February the holidays would be over and we would all be ready for some smiles.

Well, DH had been laid off in Sept 09 (the day we got back from our trip) and hehad worked on and off in his union, and kept being promised full time work, you know, just over the horizon. So we kept chasing the horizon and it kept eluding us. We knew there was no way we could go on vacation when work was so unpredictable. A week of work, a week off. Three weeks of work, 8 off. We were running out of $$$. So with tears we realized by Christmas that over a year of waiting for the next big job to break we had to face reality. And push the trip off.

But his work picked up :banana: and he went back to full time. Even picked up a part time job. Life was getting back on track and we decided to make the plans to move the trip to September. We changed plans a few times from off site to on site and back again but in the end decided on off site. The price was great and the condo looked awesome so we decided with our family of six, we should try a vacation with more space. Not to mention the fact that we were still making up for lost paychecks and had to balance our need for a vacation with some financial responsibility.

So................... these were the plans........
DH - 35 aka Rich , DD - 12 aka Sapphire, DS-9 aka Bastian DD - 4 aka Esme and DD - 2 aka Clara. Oh and me, 32 - mom aka Jessica - but I have no plans on referring to myself in the third person so that's probably not relevant....
This is the kids and I when we went in 09. I was going to crop it but find the kid wearing the die yuppy scum picture too funny to cut out.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_DSC01530-1.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=DSC01530-1.jpg)

Here is DH and Sapphire, Bastian and Esme before our MNSSHP in 09.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_DSC01576.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=DSC01576.jpg)

We had booked 304 at vacationcentralflorida. If you go on the site you can see the pics and take the tour.

*phew* well I finally started my first trip report. Next to figure out how to link the different posts all on one page..........

Index

Spidermanning (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42869887&postcount=5)
The World's Longest Trip to WDW (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42870044&postcount=6)
Finally!! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42873291&postcount=9)
Tusker House (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42880440&postcount=11)
Afternoon at DHS (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42908021&postcount=15)
Typhoon Lagoon (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42988660&postcount=16)
MNSSHP (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43183577&postcount=21)
Universal (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43296796&postcount=22)
Epcot (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43542319&postcount=25)
Magic Kingdom (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43674764&postcount=28)
DTD and some random thoughts... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43924566&postcount=30)

[ThereYouSeeHer]

Hey! I'm here!

Btw, to link posts, click on the # that's in the upper right-hand corner of a particular post. Highlight and copy the URL or web address that's displayed. If you're listing your posts in your first post, click "Edit" on your first post, and then add the post link the same way you added your TR to your signature.

Hope that makes sense! :goodvibes

[sjs314]

Just happened upon your TR and excited about reading along. My condolences on the passing of your Mother. I remember you from the November thread last year, see I too have postponed our trip first from last November to this October and now it has been pushed to March 2012.

[Marblies]

Excited to follow along!

[MamaJessie]

Spidermanning
This is a story about a nine year old. My nine year old. He is one of those kids that when you meet him you say things like "he's all boy". He moves slowly when he gets ready for school and is distracted easily. He likes climbing our hallway walls. We call it Spidermanning. He puts one foot and one hand on each side of the hall way and "Spidermans" up to the ceiling. It drives me nuts because he has smudged and dirtied and even made two small holes on the hallway walls. Anyway, the morning, yes - the morning we are going to start our 20 hour drive to Orlando he Spidermans when I tell him to get dressed for school and falls, immediately screaming that he cannot use his hand. I do not have a June Cleaver moment. I have a crazy loon moment. I just say over and over "You aren't serious right? Are you serious? Did you seriously just break your wrist? Is this seriously happening?" etc over and over. :sad2: So after calling my sister crying, her leaving work and coming to the house so she can watch my girls (and I could use her car) going to the pedi and then the ortho-whatever (and yes, getting to explain Spidermanning to every nurse and dr. there :rolleyes: ) we find out he has a buckle fracture and a separate crack in the bone across. It is actually out of whack too so he has to press on the bone to straighten it. The dr. was amazing and gave him a cast even though you should usually wait for swelling to go down. He told us because of the swelling he could not waterproof it, but sold us a cast protector. With the help of Dr. Awesome and my sister we were ready to rebound again...

[MamaJessie]

Ok so not really the worlds longest trip but by the end of it, it sure felt like it. We got out the door about two hours later than anticipated. The dr's visits really slowed us down. So we finally get in the car and about 15 minutes in my 4 yo had to pee :laughing: <--that is what I think now, at the time I was more like --> :headache: So after our charming detour in New Haven we got back on the road. And hit some traffic. The goal was to drive enough before we hit traffic that it would be dinner time. Well, that obviously didn't happen. So we moved at a snail's pace towards WDW. Thankfully most of the driving was uneventful., just poor DS complaining that his cast was feeling tight and his arm hurt :sad1: Poor guy. I drove the nightshift and stopped at South of the Border to switch off. So on we went with the napping and pee stopping and driving and realized we were way behind schedule. We had planned to go to the condo, drop off our stuff and then go visit DH's family on the other side of Florida, about 1 1/2 hours away. Well that was not going to happen and he really wanted to see his grandmother (she has been ill) so we drove straight there.
I have pictures of this but do not care to share them. My family had just spent 24+ hours in a car and we looked like... well, we looked like we had just spent 24+ hours in a car :scared1: but then finally it was time to head to the condo. And of course we got lost. This was my first "This would have been so much easier if we were just staying on site" moment. Drove up and down the road in the heavy rain and thunderstorms and might I add getting crankier and crankier with each passing second. The rain got so heavy we had to pull over in a parking lot and watch the rain. Oh man. I was feeling so jinxed.....

[ThereYouSeeHer]

SpidermanningI do not have a June Cleaver moment. I have a crazy loon moment. I just say over and over "You aren't serious right? Are you serious? Did you seriously just break your wrist? Is this seriously happening?" etc over and over. :sad2: So after going to the pedi and then the ortho-whatever (and yes, getting to explain Spidermanning to every nurse and dr. there :rolleyes: ) we find out he has a buckle fracture and a separate crack in the bone across. It is actually out of whack too so he has to press on the bone to straighten it. The dr. was amazing and gave him a cast even though you should usually wait for swelling to go down. He told us because of the swelling he could not waterproof it, but sold us a cast protector.
So we rebounded again....Oh my goodness! I couldn't even imagine that happening the day of our departure. I love your comment about not having a June Cleaver moment. I can totally relate!

[MamaJessie]

Hey! I'm here!

Btw, to link posts, click on the # that's in the upper right-hand corner of a particular post. Highlight and copy the URL or web address that's displayed. If you're listing your posts in your first post, click "Edit" on your first post, and then add the post link the same way you added your TR to your signature.

Hope that makes sense! :goodvibes
Thanks!

Just happened upon your TR and excited about reading along. My condolences on the passing of your Mother. I remember you from the November thread last year, see I too have postponed our trip first from last November to this October and now it has been pushed to March 2012.
Oh man I didn't realize you had to postpone again. Hope you have an awesome time in march to make up for all the postponing.

Excited to follow along!
Excited you are here :thumbsup2

[MamaJessie]

So after driving up and down 192, we finally found our street, and Windsor Hills. We dragged our tired selves up to our room and :goodvibes . The condo was much bigger than it seemed through the pics and video tour. We walked in and everyone pepped back up and started exploring our new digs. They have a lot of framed pics around the condo and the kids had fun checking them all out. The kids bathroom is gigantic!! I started to unpack in a frenzied kind of way since we had ADRs at 8am for TH. All in all I have to say we were impressed with the condo. I had a few issues but it was more with the management company and Windsor Hills management than with the owners or vacationcentralflorida.
-My complaints about the cleaning/management group are....
Our bed sheet had some sort of gummy/tacky/grayish streak on my side of the bed so I had to take them off. The only way to describe it is it looked like when I wash my kids clothes with a sticker on. It looked exactly like that.
-My 2 yo also found half a tube of toothpaste under one of the beds, and no it wasn't ours :sad2:
- Boy are they stingy with the paper products. I asked what I should bring and they said there would be enough to last a normal family a week :rotfl2: There was about 1/12th roll of toilet paper on each roll, 4 tissues and 3 paper towels. And then there was a note that said to make sure we replaced everything.
-And my final complaint , there was a sign over the washer that asked me to wash all the towels before we left :eek: I have two problems with this. The first is the fact that I was not planning on that and it specifically stated on the website if I felt like throwing in a load of towels it would be appreciated, but that was it. They did not have any detergent there and all I had for detergent was two purex sheets I got as a sample and I was not about to go out and buy detergent just to wash their towels, seeing as though I did pay a cleaning fee. Which leads me to the other problem I had with that, the towels we used were basically cleaned on the honor system? What if someone threw them in with no soap? :sick:

But the bed was comfy and after sleeping a few hours in the car seemed like heaven and we all slept soundly - ready for Animal Kingdom and DHS!!!

[MamaJessie]

Oh my goodness! I couldn't even imagine that happening the day of our departure. I love your comment about not having a June Cleaver moment. I can totally relate!
Yeah - I am not getting a nomination for mom of the year. Thanks for understanding :hug: it's hard to tell the world you had a crappy reaction to your kid breaking a bone.

[MamaJessie]

Tusker House

We woke up early and moved as quickly as we could to get out the door for our ADR. As we were getting our stuff together we realized I forgot the set of markers I bought for autographs :( So before we could go we made a quick stop at the 7-11 for some pens. The big kids had a sharpie for the vinylmation. So now we are finally on the road to AK and I am getting progressively more nervous because we still have to pick up Esme's ticket and I am worried we are going to be late. We get to the window to pay for parking and the CM, Allison, gives us a paper and tells us to follow the route on the right. We have never parked before so we didn't think anything of it until we pulled up front and someone came and questioned us until he saw our pass. He then showed us where to park for our magical moment. How cool!! Wish we had thanked Allison more but we didn't really grasp the special privilege she was giving us.

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_030-1.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=030-1.jpg)http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_034.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=034.jpg)http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_036.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=036.jpg)

DS wanted to know if you could buy the spears as a souvenir...
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_038-1.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=038-1.jpg)

So we finally got in and seated at TH. We had eaten there for lunch before but not breakfast. The food was so good.

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_035.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=035.jpg)

This specifically made me very happy. The hash with the cornbread baked on top. Oh my gosh, so very good. If you go have a dish of it for me!

So after we stuffed ourselves silly we went to hit the park!!

First off, everyone's favorite - the Safari!! We got right on and about 49 seconds in, we stopped. Apparently an ostrich was blocking the path. Since we were full and happy we chatted and talked and passed the time and in about 10 minutes we were ready to go! I will not bore you with the overwhelming amount of safari pics I have, but I will share a few :)

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_055.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=055.jpg) http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_056.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=056.jpg) http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_063.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=063.jpg)

I cannot remember the exact order of the rides we went on, but we tried Kali River for the first time and loved it. Clara had a great time splashing with Rich, and then me, while we utilized the rider swap. We went to TTBAB, another favorite of ours. Sapphire and I tried our first FP ever for EE and went with the family to Dinosaur while we waited. I made Rich go on it this time because he was wary last time but I knew he would love it. And he did!! I am so glad he tried it. And Sapphire and I LOVED EE. We had never rode it before and it we got the front car. I was terrified (in the best way) to be perched at the end of the track.

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_072.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=072.jpg) http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/th_068.jpg (http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/?action=view&current=068.jpg)

So we enjoyed our morning at AK and got ready to hop over to DHS.

[ShesAPirate]

Joining in! :goodvibes

[sillylily]

I'm here, Jess, sorry it took me so long!

[MamaJessie]

Joining in! :goodvibes
Welcome!

I'm here, Jess, sorry it took me so long!
Now it's a party :woohoo:

Better finish writing about my first day :rolleyes1

[MamaJessie]

So I am a good DISer. :goodvibes I read all the park tips and pay attention to them. About a week before vacation I picked DH up a pair of sneakers. i told him he should wear them so he has something comfy to wear on vacation. He didn't like the way they looked :cool2: and wanted those sandles with the nubby bottoms, Adidas slides. I tell him, maybe sneakers would be better. he ignores me :confused3 So he buys a pair of Adidas slides....

When we get in the car after AK DH informs his feet hurt. Not just tired aches but those nubby things are painfully digging in. :headache: Really, maybe those sneakers were a good idea after all... Well we were hot and tired and bastian's arm was getting swollen in his cast so we drove off property to get some cold drinks and enjoy the AC for awhile. Between the sore feet, cranky boy and snarky wife :rolleyes1 we were not our most charming when we started DHS. I really don't even remember walking in, I remember thinking we really could have used a day to acclimate before jumping into the parks. Apparently we need sleep and hydration to be happy people, who knew? :rolleyes: But because WDW is amazing :cheer2: about 20 minutes in we are back to our charming lovely selves :grouphug: We went to the Great Movie Ride first. We always love that ride and the little girls just watched Wizard of Oz recently so they thought that was awesome. Then we hit Star Tours. I was pretty sure we would just spend the rest of the day there :rotfl: . Clara was the only one who could not ride it so we swapped out and got have very different experiences. It was awesome. Rich and Sebastian did not want to leave, but I wanted to get to Playhouse Junior so I dragged them away. On our walk over, my son saw a CM standing outside of American Idol drop her pen, so he ran over, picked it up and gave it to her. Well this was apparently the sweetest CM on the planet. She said he was so awesome we should wait there a minute. I cannot lie. I was very excited. On the outside I looked like this :) but inside I was http://www.justmommies.com/forums/images/smilies/excited.gif I just had this feeling I knew what it was going to be. Well after a couple minutes DH says "What exactly are we waiting for?" and started to seem impatient. i told him to wait and whatever it was, was special to Bastian. She popped back out and asked how many were in our party, we told her and she went back in. She emerged about two minutes later with 6 Fastpasses for TSMM!! Honestly, I grabbed my chest, choked back tears and said "We never got to ride this last time and had no hopes of riding it today." She said she wanted to reward him for being so kind :yay: Woo hoo, raising my kids right is nice and all ;) but FASTPASSES?!?! Party bonus!! My son was on :cloud9: and kept telling us that it was great that he could save the day.

So we went to Playhouse Junior and DH said he would go pick up some fastpasses because Playhouse Junior is not his thing. We had an awesome time at Playhosue Junior, I love it. Well, ok I don't love it for me, I lvoe watching the kids watch it. There was a moment that absolutely melted my heart, and it was surprisingly my nine year old. He was singing along to the Jake and the Neverland pirates and said to me "Mom, I love singing these little kid songs. Thanks for bringing me here to let me sing with the little kids, it is so fun" :love: I love that little guy.

Then we went over to.. TSMM!! Woo hoo!! We are cruising through the FP line, we get to the part where you join the regular line and all of a sudden Clara declares "I have to potty RIGHT NOW!!!!" :eek: She means business so Rich hauls off backwards through the line and the kids and I hang out over to the side at the front of the line. Thankfully she made it to the potty, and it only took a few minutes. Just hope no DISers there thought DH was line cutting ;) First screen didn't work for us :confused3 but had fun on the rest of the ride. I have to say though if I didn't have a FP I would never, ever wait 80 minutes (that was the standby time when we got there) for that ride. Happy we got to experience it, thanks to Bastian :hug:

We then went back over to Star Tours. Bastian was nervous about riding anything crazy because he didn't want to jostle his arm too much so since he loved it that's where Rich got a FP for Sebastian and himself and Esme. Then Sapphire and I got to go on Rock n Roller coaster. She has really turned into a coaster lover :woohoo: So since everyone was getting tired from our day and the fact that we were still sleep deprived we knew it was going to be the last ride of the night. The story of the ride was good and I was looking for the special hand signal I heard Steven Tyler gives :rolleyes1 and then we got on and IT WAS FUN!! Then right before the ride is supposed to stop it jerked and stopped and the ride went silent. Now, if you asked me if I was claustrophobic before this trip I would have said no. But sitting there, with that huge head harness on, my head banging from the abrupt stop and slam into the headrest.. I started to sweat. Right behind my knees it started, little pinpricks. Then I felt this tingling in my legs and fluttering in my stomach. All i wanted to do was climb out of the seat, at any cost. i started to understand how an animal chews it's limb off to get out of a trap. I craned my head around to see how Sapphire was dealing with it and she was all smiles "Woo!! That was awesome!!" So we started talking about the ride which made me start to feel a little better. Honestly just writing it out now I feel all panicked all over again. *shudder* So then it finally starts up again and we pull in and the CM asked "Did you love it?!?!" and we were all silent. She says "That good huh?" and a woman in the back says "You could have at least let us know what was going on, there are real fears with people dealing with that you know" Some guy in a dress shirt comes out to talk to her and they never addressed it. Oh well, all's well that ends well I guess. And we were all ready for bed!

We apparently did not take a lot of pics there, but here are a couple action shots
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/084.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/081.jpg

[MamaJessie]

Monday morning we woke up and relaxed a little before going to the water park. We all got to sleep in relax in the morning before heading out to TL. We were all a little nervous about a water park day because of Bastian's cast but figured all would be well with the cast cover. So we headed out and grabbed some krispy kreme on our way. Finally had one of their hot glazed doughnuts I have heard so much about. It was much better than cold but still not my favorite.

We got there right around the time they opened, 10am, and headed straight to the little kids area so I could settle in for the day with the two little ones. I just love that play area. Esme and Clara loved it too. Honestly just remembering it makes me smile.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/088.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/085.jpg
The girls played with the water guns, the slides, used the mini tubes .. it is everything a vacation should be to me. Rich and the two older kids had headed out to the tide pool. Rich I think felt badly, like he was depriving me of the fun part. I have no secret urges to go swim with sharks or ride the crush and gusher or ride the waves in the wave pool. He loves it so it works out really well for us. Usually. About twenty minutes into our day they come back from the wave pool. Bastian had rolled around the floor of the wave pool and the floor was rough, causing a tear in his cast cover :sad2: So I have this bright idea to cover his cast with a wdw bag and try tucking that into the cast cover. Rich goes and buys a towel he wanted anyway (the seagulls from nemo, with the word "MINE" over and over :thumbsup2 ) and we try to "mickey mouse" ;) a new cast cover. I think I am brilliant :rolleyes1 We decide we want to go try the lazy river so we head over there. We are just no capable of lying there but we have fun cruising along the water. And then I notice Bastian's cast cover creation is filled with water :eek: so we get off the next exit and try again. We did all we could to try and make that thing work but nothing was helping. So we tried to put it together as best as we could and he played with me and the little girls while Rich and Sapphire went off to be daring. Bastian actually had a really good time in there for awhile. The water gun turrets are helpful like that. :rolleyes: But eventually that stopped working too and his arm was heavy and he just wanted to sit. So he relaxes in the shade for a bit and then Clara needs a potty break. So I track down Esme, grab Bastian and we walk over to the bathroom. That's where we spot Rich and Sapphire. Well let me back track. First we see these heads bobbing out in the deep part of the water and I am watching these people and thinking "those people are nuts - it is so deep and the water is so choppy" Bastian and the girls are loving watching the waves come in though so we hang there for awhile, watching the tides.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/096.jpg
Then the tide stop and it is jut rough choppy waters. And which two people are as far as you can go? Yup, Rich and Sapphire :scared1: That's when i realized it is better in my quiet kiddie pool, where I never see the things they do. This is why dad is way more fun :banana:

Rich and Sapphire are the two little dots all the way to the left. The sane people are everywhere else
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/091.jpg

Is this even fun? She looks like she is barely above water. Must.Stay.In.Kiddie.Area.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/093.jpg


Well I finally tore them away from watching the tide pool cause I was getting hot and wanted to go back to the water. As soon as we get back, Clara tells me she has to use the bathroom :laughing: Toddlers. So we go back to the bathroom and then back to the tide pool and guess what, Clara has to pee. I tell her to just go play figuring she just likes the treck back and forth. But no, she persists and we go back and she uses the bathroom again. Finally we get to go back and Bastian hangs out with his feet in the water while the girls play on the slide.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/097.jpg
There was a cm there that came over and talked to Bastian about his arm and I just have to say she was a sweetheart. She just chit chatted away with him and it was nice for him to talk about all the rides he did and still had to look forward to. He liked getting to think of something besides the water park because frustration was starting to set in... After the cm left and he sat down he started to get hot and bored as illustrated below.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/089.jpg

I wasn't sure what to do to help so I handed him my flip and told him to enjoy. Oh my gosh the kid had such a great time making movies. We have some short film classics such as "Bastian's Extreme Close Up Face While He Growls" and "This is What a Burp Looks Like" Eventually Sapphire and Rich came back and we all headed out, ready for some AC and a few gallons of ice water!

We headed back to the condo to change and then went to Golden Corral for dinner. I have no problem with buffet food, but I thought it was just "meh" as far as buffets go. Last time we went to one in FL was in 06 and it was on I-Drive. I know it is all the same food but I swear it was better than the one we went to, on Irlo Bronson.
Ah well, we weren't looking for gourmet fare anyway, just some dinner. After that we headed to the grocery store so I could grab breakfast food and snack food and drinks, drinks and more drinks. We needed to be better prepared and freeze some gatorades!!

And Rich and I talked about it on the ride over. We had planned on doing two water park days but with Bastian's cast cover not working, that just did not sound like a good idea. So instead of hopping from MK/Epcot, we decided to do one day of each. We had never spent a whole day at a park, without the "Conquer and Hop" mentality. It seemed like a good idea seeing as though we were going to try a slightly slower pace for the rest of the trip.

We finally got back to the condo and relaxed, getting excited for MNSSHP the next day!!!

[janabananas]

how did I miss your TR??? subbing:goodvibes

[MamaJessie]

how did I miss your TR??? subbing:goodvibes
:hug:

The more readers the more likely I am to finish it :rolleyes1

[janabananas]

You have readers anticipating more!

[MamaJessie]

I just finished loading my pics from MNSSHP onto photobucket and started writing about it but I must need some sleep because it wasn't making any sense :P It is on my to do list for tomorrow :thumbsup2

[MamaJessie]

The kids woke up that morning AMPED for the Halloween party. They were also pretty excited that we were going to spend the whole morning at the condo. So after a leisurely breakfast (and a late wake up for Rich) Esme and Sapphire went to the pool with Rich. Rich and the kids love swimming and they liked the pool at Windsor Hills. Rich enjoys hot tub time so he got to hang out in there too. I stayed upstairs with Clara and Bastian. Bastian did not feel like messing around with the cast cover and wanted to play the Star Wars game they had there for the PS2. I ended up cleaning out the backpack and trying to reorganize it for the party. We have found an organized backpack really makes a difference in the park for us.

So the morning was pretty uneventful and then around 1 or so we headed to Cici's. We figured if we had a big meal at lunch we could just bring some healthy snacks into the park instead of grabbing dinner. I had forgot how HOT September was and how when out at the parks in the heat, we just don't get as hungry. We headed on over to Cici's to use the groupon I had purchased and our expectations were low. Which was good. Because so was the quality ;) We were able to have a lot of fresh salad (your standard iceberg, shredded carrot, grape tomato salad) which is always good, and some funky pizza toppings. Sapphire liked the mac and cheese pizza, Bastian liked the bavarian cream dessert pizza the best (that boy has a sweet tooth) and Esme and Clara just picked. Rich doesn't really like pizza that much to begin with but the variety of toppings interested him. I was not expecting much and I have to say, it didn't even measure up to my low expectations. Lesson learned. Oh and at one point Esme said "This is the best pizza ever" That's when I realized we really need to go to Wooster Street in New Haven because that is the pizza by which all other pizza is judged and no child of mine should ever think Cici's was supreme :snooty: Ok, enough of that...

So after we ate we headed back to the condo to get dressed for the party :cool1:

Here is Clara, my Lime Green TinkerBell
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/008-2.jpg

Esme as Ariel
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/002-1.jpg

Bastian the pirate
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/005-1.jpg

Sapphire as Sally
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/004-1.jpg

Rich was a New Orleans Saints fan and I was the Queen of Hearts. We were all dressed and ready to go by a little after 3. We drove over to the TTC and headed to the window to exchange my print out for my ticket. There was one other window open and the family next to us was from the same town we are from. So of course I was stuck humming "It's a Small World" the whole monorail ride over ...

As soon as we arrived we headed over to the Princess area. This was new for us since we never waited for a character at a park before but since we had the two Vinylmations for the big kids and autograph books for the little kids we wanted to make sure we used them :) It was a very short wait and we were in! The CMs in there were all so nice. I cannot emphasize enough how much their cheerful disposition really makes this vacation for me. I love being surrounded by pleasant people, it is such a nice change from being in Connecticut :rolleyes1

The first photopass guy kept emphasizing to come back after 7 when everything changes. I am so glad he told us :) So during the 4 o'clock meet we saw Cinderella
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/013.jpg
Belle
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/018-1.jpg
and Aurora
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/023.jpg

Each princess was wonderful with the kids, but I have to say Aurora was able to tame two beasts which was an amazing feat in itself. As you can see Bastian was torn between wanting to fill up his vinylmation, and having to talk to princesses. He was handing the figurines over and not even making eye contact but Aurora managed to get him to sit on the bench with him (he was not pleased when he saw me taking a picture though :rolleyes1 ) and Clara was afraid of the Princesses but then sat in Aurora's lap! So Aurora (who, let's face it is not usually the coolest princess) became pretty awesome in our book :lovestruc

So after that we left and headed over to Laugh Floor. We had never done it before and after watching those WDW shows on Netflix the kids really wanted to try it. I do not know if the audience members are always so hysterical but we had one guy that was Sully that had me LOLing. And then for Boo they showed Clara. The whole audience "Awe"d. Seriously, if I could have bought a video of it they could have got even more $$ out of me. One of the sweetest memories I have of this trip. :cloud9:

So we wandered around, went to Buzz, did the People mover, Sapphire and Esme wanted to do Stitch and Bastian and Clara wanted the people mover again. Don't get me wrong I like the people mover, quite a bit, but I was surprised that Bastian liked it as much as he did.

So after that we went to the Speedway and the Carousel and tried our luck with the sword..
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/025.jpg

I was pointing out the circus tents in the horizon to the kids and we checked out the map and talked about the new Fantasyland (I like to lay the groundwork for a return trip with DH as early as I can lol)

Saw the wait at Winnie the Pooh (an hour? what the heck?) and moved right along to Dumbo. We had never done the Carousel or Dumbo so it was nice to ride the classics.

By the time we finished IASW trick or treating was starting so we hit the Werther's line. The caramel apple candies were awesome! ( The only other place we liked ToTing as much was by Splash Mountain, not for the candy as much as it was because it was it's own little trick or treat trail and moved quickly. )

By the time we made it over to the Haunted Mansion it was getting dark and the Mansion looked awesome. We walked by Madame Leota and Clara said "Oh that is a beautiful princess and this is her beautiful castle" :rotfl: I knew my sister would enjoy that, since Halloween is her favorite I knew she would agree... When we got off the haunted Mansion a CM asked Esme for her autograph. She was so cute and shy about it :lovestruc We kept moving and trick or treating around the party.


So the kids really wanted to go back to Tomorrowland for the dance party. I try to be flexible so that didn't bother me but man the crowd was crazy!! maneuvering the stroller was getting pretty hard!! We headed over there and Bastian laid down on the neck for a little while and took a couple tylenol. His arm was throbbing and the constant jostling was getting to him. The girls and Rich had fun dancing with the characters but I was unable to get any pics. I just hung out with my little man and we talked about the party and waited for the tylenol to kick in.

So the dance party ended and then..we did something stupid. We thought we could get over to Adventureland and rude rides over there during the fireworks. Did I mention it was crowded? I could not move my stroller. I get that people were staking out their spots but we were unable to move. All of a sudden the music started and we were STUCK. Literally, no one would let us through. I accidentally clipped someone's footwith my stroller and apoligized but she was already fuming, to make ti worse we ended up getting stuck next to her. I started to feel all claustrophobic and realized this would be our last party. I do not like that sardine in a tin can feeling. I knew in that moment I would probably never to go MVMCP or visit the world during peak times. Crowds like this are not my friend..

So unable to move we watched the fireworks behind the lady with the bouquet of giant mickey head balloons (it was our karma, for clipping the lady with the stroller) and then I expected the crowds to part but it was still slow going. We finally got over there, rode POTC and ToTed for awhile, but we were wiped and ready to go home...

So we were walking out when we remembered, duh, the princesses were going to change. I really did not know what that meant but thought maybe they were in costume (obviously did not do my homework) Rich and Sapphire, Bastian and Esme made their way in but Clara was hitting melt down mode so I decided to hold her and rock her for awhile since she did not want anything to do with the stroller. Clara quickly fell asleep in my arms and Sapphire popped out to tell me the wait was 45 minutes. I told them to knock their socks off and have a good time, I would watch the parade.

I actually really liked the parade. We don't often wait for them but it was a lot of fun! I decided I was going to try and talk the kids into a parade before our trip was over.

About 45 minutes later, they emerged, so very happy. They got to see Snow White, Cinderella and Rapunzel, all with their princes :love: The kids were so excited all they talked about the whole ride home was Flynn and his smoulder.

Sadly, no pics of that part. DH left the camera with me and did not realize and lost the photopass card. We will definitely preorder the Photopass next time and use it faithfully.

*phew* that was long. Hopefully I have this trip report done before 2012 :rotfl:

[MamaJessie]

Since the start of planning this trip one of the things we were looking to most was Harry Potter. Our whole family loves Harry so WWoHP was a must for us. I had bought some tickets at Costco and they were hoppers so I figured we could do both parks in one day. I mean we hop all the time at WDW right? :confused3

We arrived nice and early, our bags a little lighter than at the wdw parks because we didn't have pins and autograph books, markers and vinylmations which was nice. We headed over to US and took a right, heading to ET first. The kids all had a good time on that ride, as did Rich and I, though the name thing at the end is even more lame sounding than I remember...
We headed over to the Curious George play area and Bastian was already getting bummed because of all the things he couldn't play on, and because it was already getting HOT. So Rich, Sapphire and Bastian decided to go try MIB while Esme, Clara and I went to see Barney. The little girls had such a good time. Esme was a little hesitant at first but she really loved the show. They bought a Baby Bop and Barney stuffed doll when they left. Barney had worked his purple dino magic and managed to convert Esme. When we were done we met up in front of the Simpson's ride. They told us how much fun they had on MIB and Rich was a little hesitant about the Simpson's ride. So he sat out with Clara and the three kids and I went on. I have to say I am a WDW fan/nut but this was my favorite ride of the whole trip. I was getting enrvous right before we got in the car because they said the word claustrophobic so many times I started to think... maybe I AM claustrophobic?!? But by then I figured I would just give it a try and man am I glad I did. It was just so much better than I imagined. So when we were done I convinced Rich to go on and he agreed, best ride of the whole trip.
On our way over to jaws Esme got jealous that they went on MIB without her so they went on again while Clara and I had some clementines and water.. did I mention it was HOT? After they were done we walked over to Jaws and waited in one of the longest rides of our whole trip :headache: Jaws is a fine ride don't get me wrong, but it always kills me when you can walk on to something cool (Simpsons) then wait for mediocrity.. but Rich is a big fan of Jaws and the two older kids had watched the movie to prepare for the trip so we did it. The ride, like I said, was just ok, but the kid running the ride was awesome. Some of those people can really turn a ride from boring to FUN. He was one of those kids. Well after that everyone had to stop to refill the water bottles and wipe the sweat off of our faces and we checked the time and realized it was much later than we thought so we started walking a little quicker and went to Twister, since Rich remembered liking it a lot. It was fun :confused3 Clara HATED it. Apparently two year olds don't like to feel like they are in a tornado. I just liked the wind (So...Hot...) After that we went to a favorite of ours, Shrek 4D!! Very quick wait and we got to sit and relax in the AC. They could have played the boring movie at the end of the Maelstrom at that point and I would have been grinning. I love summer as much as I love any other season but that Florida sun was kicking my butt big time.

After Shrek we were getting our stuff together to head to the citywalk food court and Esme got a nosebleed, a gusher!! She never gets them and this thing was massive... soaked through her shirt in seconds, all over her face.. oh man :sad2: So I headed into the gift shop and bought her a new shirt to finish out our day in. On to the food court...

Went up the stairs (which in the heat felt like a million) and headed over to the Chinese place for the kids. Bought them the best deal there, a HUGE giant soda for cheap. And of course, on the walk over to the table my son asked if he could carry it.. and the whole thing fell on the floor :sad2: I went over to tell the manager so they could have it cleaned and he accused us of lyiing to try to get a free refill. At that point I almost lost my mind because I was tired and hungry and HOT and well, just irked. Why would I lie about the soda? Why not lie about the plate of food if I was trying to score a deal?? Anyway, he gave us a free refill and the kid mopping up the mess was very nice. Rich and I ate at Moe's. We had never tried a Moe's before and the staff there was AWESOME and the food was too!! Love Moe's and wish we had one close to us.

So after realizing we should never try to hop at Uni again we hauled off over to IOA. That's when my heart sank. After months of planning I had somehow slipped up :confused3 I thought they closed at five, but it was closing at four. That gave us hardly any time at all to race across the park and see the WwoHP :sad1: I nearly cried. So after a quick stop at Spiderman, we pretty much ran to WwoHP. My heart was sinking, feeling like there would just never be enough time to see it all. But when we got there and I saw the snow, and the castle and..and.. the BUTTERBEER all was well in the world. We went right to the cart and bought a frozen one and it was very, very good. Rich could ahve had a glass of just foam. It really helped my mood and put me in a better piece of mind. Rich and the older three wanted to try their luck at Olivanders but I just wanted to look around and soak in the ambience, not to mention I had no urge to stand in that line with Clara. So Clara and I wandered around while they tried the wand shop. They had a great time and each bought a wand (Sapphire - Sirius :lovestruc, Esme - Snape :sad2: and Bastian went with an original - fitting ;) ) Everything there was perfect :lovestruc. Except for FJ. It was down http://www.justmommies.com/forums/images/smilies/reaction.gif I really was crushed but we took the tour and that was truly amazing. Just more things to look forward to next time. So then we hightailed it through Dr. Seuss (:sad2: More sadness) since the park was closing. As sad I was to have missed so much, I was unbelievable excited to sit in the AC. Lessons learned, no Uni hopping and no more September. How do you August people do it??

All in all we had a great time at Universal and are extremely excited to go again!!

[janabananas]

Oh no FJ was down!?!? I would have had a major meltdown as well!!!!

[MamaJessie]

Oh no FJ was down!?!? I would have had a major meltdown as well!!!!

I was definitely kicking myself for saving WwoHP for the end of the day, but :confused3 what are you going to do. I have two more days on our Uni passes.. sometimes they randomly call out to me ...

Thanks for reading along :hug:

[MamaJessie]

Thursday morning we were able to get ready quickly as by that point we had found our vacation groove. Our backpack was packed and the kids were eager to get ready and go explore Epcot. I am not the biggest Epcot fan around but wanted to give it a fair shot this time. I think part of the reason I don't love it is we don't really drink on vacation, and we don't usually buy a lot of snacks. A lot of the appeal seems to be the eating and drinking around the world. And the aquarium area is nice but maybe I am just spoiled but I think the Aquariums around here are pretty great too. To be fair, we missed most of the big attractions the other times we went so I hadn't seen most of the popular rides. So we wanted to give Epcot a chance.. The kids though were stoked, my son loves "Apricot" and couldn't wait to get there....

So we showed up and had no line and headed to Spaceship earth right away. No line, like usual and we got right on. Now, this had been a very hard year for me and something about the vacation up to this point just seemed like something was lacking. Was I just bound to have that sadness follow me wherever? Was vacation tarnished? Was it because we were off site and it really was all about the Disney bubble? Either way I didn't have that :cloud9: feeling the whole trip... And here we were, at my least favorite of the four parks (which is like saying my least favorite sundae topping, they are all good, just varying degrees..) ANYWAY.. here we are on spaceship earth and the music is playing and the narrator well.. narrating and all of a sudden, I start crying. I start to feel that wonder, that amazement, that feeling I get when I see the world with optimism and it felt so good, andI was so full of hope that I was crying on spaceship earth.. It sounds a little corny, and a little nerdy but it really just did feel like "one big beautiful tomorrow" (I know... wrong ride, but it was how I felt) And then the magic was back for me :goodvibes

We headed to Sum of all Thrills (by Raytheon). My brother works for Raytheon and I told the kids it was Uncle James' ride ;) Sapphire and I were the only two that wanted to ride and there was actually quite a line for it, so Rich and the other three kids went to find something else to do and Sapphire and I hung out in line. We were behind another DISer :thumbsup2 She was there with her husband and was a real sweetheart. I really need to make some LGMHs because I was so excited to see someone else with one! Anyway that ride was a lot of fun!!

We also went to Club Cool for the first time to try our Beverly. No surprise to me but my husband is one of those weirdos that like it :sick: The rest of us liked Mexico.. and.. another one but I cannot remember which. Good fun and since it was so stinkin' hot, even early in the AM, that it was a nice break.

So after that we headed over to the Nemo area and went to Turtle Talk with Crush for the first time. Super cute and fun and we all enjoyed it. Visited the rest of the Aquarium area and had a good time. My family loves watching the fish and though it isn't necessarily my thing, I had a good time watching them enjoy themselves, and the A/C :cool2:

Then we headed over to Living with the Land, which I like. It was one of the ony WDW rides I remember going on with my parents and that made it extra special... I genuinely find all that fascinating though, it's like this perfect marriage of my tree hugger side, science nerd and disNUT, all in one ride :thumbsup2

And the line at Soarin' was too long for us and we did not feel like waiting in line and figured we would go back later (which never happened, so we will go back later, just a year or two later.. ;) )

We then headed over to the World Showcase and watched a show about King Arthur. It was funny, the guy they picked for Arthur was hysterical.

We went on the Three Cabalerros ride, and the Maelstrom ride and had fun like usual, and then I tried one of the snacks I really wanted. The almond pretzel from Kringla. I had seen so many pics of it and paying OOP we, err I planned which snacks were worth it and this made the list. It sounded so good. I got that, Sapphire wanted to try a school bread and Rich the rice cream so we found a spot to snack outside and share some snacks.

I just have to say, I like sweets more than I should and am not to picky... but that place was not good :sad2: The pretzel was grossly dry and the school bread? I felt like it was some sort of trick, like when you tell a kid Beverly is yummy. It was not good. The rice cream though was a winner. Cool and creamy and fruity. Really enjoyed it.

Now that we were refreshed we headed over to Test Track. I was so excited to try it that even the long line wasn't dampening my spirit. Esme, Sapphire and I went and had an awesome time. Then I switched out with Rich and he went with Esme and Sapphire. Bastian was afraid it would hurt his arm :( Fun ride and glad we finally tried it! We then went over to Mission Space. Rich had chickened out at the last minute when we went in 09 but wanted to try it this time. I am so glad he did. Clara and Esme and I had a good time playing in the sprinkler type area while they went on a couple times. I was just happy Bastian was having a good time. The broken arm was hard on him, poor guy...

By then we were exhausted and ready to go. I always underestimate how tired a day at WDW makes us and think we can do more than we really can.

I cannot remember for sure but I am pretty sure that was the night we had Giordano's for the first time. It was so good, especially for the cheese obsessed men in my family... Rich is usually not a pizza fan but he really liked it and declared it will now be on our list of things we have to do when we go to WDW.

Thanks for following along :hug: and for the reminder from a friend to keep on writing... :teacher:

And some pics...

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/009-1.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/014-1.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/016-2.jpg

[mommy2twinprincesses]

Thanks for following along :hug: and for the reminder from a friend to keep on writing... :teacher:


Yay!!!!!!! Sounds like a great day. The day we went to Epcot on our last trip we were there for rope drop. We, with the rest of the crazies, headed straight to Soarin...Kurt's favorite ride in all of Disney. It was going to be the girls' first time on it. The traffic to Soarin is fast and furious. Some lady had gotten ahead of her crowd and stopped dead in front of Kurt pushing the Disney stroller. He took her out. I swear to God. It wasn't pretty and he obviously didn't mean to, but hey...who stops dead in the crowd on the way to Soarin? A rookie, obviously :confused3

[MamaJessie]

Yay!!!!!!! Sounds like a great day. The day we went to Epcot on our last trip we were there for rope drop. We, with the rest of the crazies, headed straight to Soarin...Kurt's favorite ride in all of Disney. It was going to be the girls' first time on it. The traffic to Soarin is fast and furious. Some lady had gotten ahead of her crowd and stopped dead in front of Kurt pushing the Disney stroller. He took her out. I swear to God. It wasn't pretty and he obviously didn't mean to, but hey...who stops dead in the crowd on the way to Soarin? A rookie, obviously :confused3
Glad everyone is ok but that made me :laughing: Those things are big, heavy, on wheels and in a hurry - so yeah - it is good she learned not to stop right in front of one..

*better finish this tr up, considering it is 2012 already :lmao:

[MamaJessie]

Our last park day was a full day at the Magic Kingdom. This is hands down my favorite park and I love ending the trip there. We got there first thing in the morning and being the creatures of habit we are, headed straight to Tomorrowland, specifically Buzz Lightyear. We rode that a couple times and then Rich, Sapphire and Esme headed to Stitch. They really like that ride :confused3 Then some TTA and a frozen yogurt break (we had brought some tubes of go-gurt we froze and they wanted to eat them while they were still cold since it was already H-O-T!! I asked the lady at the cart near Cosmic Rays about the 40th anniversary and she confirmed what I had heard, there would be artists, special merchandise, more shows and most important to me, they were expecting big crowds. So we decided to stay on target and leave in the AM instead of spend the day at the parks before the drive home... After we chatted it up we hit some more rides.. trying to see the ones we missed during MNSSHP - and since it was already so stinking hot we went to Philharmagic. We hadn't been since 06 so nobody remembered it that well. I know this show doesn't always get the best reviews but we really liked it. And then of course we had to do IaSW again. I know it is so cliche but we really are that family - mom all sappy and grinning during the ride, dad trying not to sleep ;) and the kids humming along ... because who can hear that song and NOT want to sing along... It's a world of laughter
A world of tears, It's a world of hopes and a world of fears. There's so much that we share that it's time we're aware it's a small world after all ... and I know you just sang that last part in your head while you read it...

We left Fantasyland and went to Haunted Mansion. Where we got stuck :headache: This was Rich's view http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/020.jpg for (at least) the next ten minutes. And ten minutes does not seem like a long time. Unless you have a 2 year old in a little car with you who is starting to get freaked. And to your right you hear your 4 year old asking your 11 year old repeatedly "Why are we stuck? Can you just bring me to mom? I don't want this car anymore, could I go in dad's car? Are they going to start soon? Is it really the spooks?" Sapphire did a good job talking her sister down and Clara liked playing with the flip camcorder and after awhile some girls a few cars down started singing Justin Bieber songs. That would normally make me feel like this :headache: or even :sick: but since it was distracting Esme and Clara I really appreciated it. We finally started moving, for oh - 8 seconds - before we stopped again. This time our lovely singing friends sang the national anthem for us.. And finally we started moving again and the rest of the ride was uneventful, but when we left there were people everywhere and they were closing it down :confused3 so I am just glad we got to finish the ride and not have to get walked off or anything.

We had never been on BTMRR so Sapphire and Esme headed over there with me. Did not like the very long boring line (Disney spoiled me on almost every queue, this one is just plain and boring - and oh yeah it was HOT which makes everything a little less awesome) but the ride was ok. Esme ADORED it though. Sapphire had fun too :thumbsup2 We then headed to Splash Mountain and told Rich we would meet him after if he wanted to head over to the little play area there with Bastian and Clara (Bastian refused to get on Splash Mountain because while we were on Splash Mountain during MNSSHP it stopped a couple times and he did not like that at all and wanted no part of it) The girls and I rode and then looked for Rich :confused3 Not at the play area... Not back at Splash... Didn't answer his phone.. so we parked ourselves near the stroller and had a powerade and clementine break while I scanned the crowd. It was then that I realized - dressing the kids in red, and the girls in red/white polka dot skirts is like Disney camouflage. I kept seeing boys in red shirts or girls in minnie skirts and then realizing it wasn't them. I have to make sure I pack accordingly next time. Rich finally found us, they had waited to meet Jessie and Woody. Jessie signed Bastian's cast :lovestruc We were told characters could not sign casts and he was SOOO bummed, but it was awesome that one did. He tells everyone about it and has the cast on his dresser, right next to his signed vinylmation.

(I would also like to add that I should really have written this thing out earlier. I have the retention of an 89 year old.. I have to look at the map and try hard to remember the order of things and details, and it was only 4 months ago.. sheesh.. they make some sort of herbal supplement for memory.. I just keep forgetting what it is :rolleyes1 )

We did POTC, Tiki Room - which was a surprise hit, and the flying carpets. Bastian loved those. I know some of the things he loved seem a little young for him, but with his sore broken arm he was happy to take it easy.. and I was happy to have some time with my little guy :lovestruc He thought it was hilarious that the camel spit at us....

Andafter all my time on the Dis I knew I had to have a Dole Whip, but I didn't see the cart or something, so we went to Sunshine Tree Terrace and had vanilla soft serve in pineapple juice and chocolate in the iced coffee. Oh my gosh. I do not know if it was because it was so HOT (in case you haven't noticed, I am not a huge fan of the sweltering heat) or because they were so good but of all the things I barely remember, those are like a beacon - shining bright. I can practically taste it... After that we decided to head out, we were planning on having dinner at DTD and wanted to go back to the room and wash up before heading out for the night. As we were leaving, right before the exit, the parade headed our way. There were absolutely NO PEOPLE around so we decided to stand there and watch it go by. Honestly there is no better moment to finish the parks on, then a parade at MK. And with that, we bid adieu to the parks. :goodvibes

[MamaJessie]

Next - dinner at t-rex, DTD, and final thoughts...

[MamaJessie]

When we went in 06 we never went to DTD. I figured it was some glorified shopping area selling the same old stuff they sell everywhere. In 09 when we went we were at POR though and they have the boat ride over so we went there for dinner one night. I really like it there. Not only do they have a lot of good choices for food, but the stores were more fun that I imagined. And with a dd that pin trades and collects Vinylmation we knew we had to go back.

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/027-1.jpg http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/028-1.jpg http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/026.jpg

Rich, Bastian and Sapphire knew they wanted to go to TRex when they saw it last time so it was a must do for them this trip. When I was making ADRs I offered to make ADRs at 1900 and take Es and Clara and Rich could take the big kids to T-Rex since I never thought they would want to go to T-Rex, but no, the girls really wanted to go there. I had been showing the little girls videos of the place so they could get a feel for it and not be overwhelmed/scared. We go to Rainforest Cafe a few times a year and they love it, except for the gorillas - we cannot be anywhere near the gorillas. I figured if a gorilla is terrifying a dinosaur would be way worse. We showed up and were seated right away. Our server was awesome and honestly, I loved the food. I know sometimes Rainforest Cafe gets a bad reputation for food but I like it, and I liked T-Rex even more. The servings are massive and tasty. We took turns walking around with the kids and looking at all the dinosaurs and going into the ice room. Clara absolutely loved the dinosaurs. Kids are always full of surprises :thumbsup2

After we ate we walked around and of course, shopped. Sapphire collects pins and vinylmations so she had a lot on her 'to buy' list :cool2:

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa175/MamaJakaka/029-1.jpg

The girls right before we went in and bought the castle. Yeah the big bulky castle :sad2: One of those moments I really wished we were staying on site and could have had it sent over for us...

Final thoughts
Well, unless we take a long vacation, I don't know if we would try a condo off site again. There are definitely savings, especially when you compare at rack rate, but it just wasn't the same....

Oh and we were very glad we visited Rich's grandma
We had planned to go to the condo, drop off our stuff and then go visit DH's family on the other side of Florida, about 1 1/2 hours away. Well that was not going to happen and he really wanted to see his grandmother (she has been ill) so we drove straight there.

She passed away exactly one month after we saw her. I am so glad we got to see her when we did. Any time I wish we had done things differently I remember that we were able to see her and talk and that is extremely important to us.

Thanks for following along... And
:dance3:Yay! I finished my TR!!!!! Must be time for a PTR now :laughing: