UPDATE 6/1 The magic (and not-so-magic) memories Jan29-Feb4 Disney/Universal

[sarahcor]

Hi and welcome to my first trip report! I stumbled upon the disboard trip reports four years ago when I decided we needed to do a Disney trip with our then 5 year old daughter, Mia. Our first trip was January 2009, booked with the buy 4/get 3 free plus $200 gift card promotion. It was a practically perfect vacation and I was hooked on the magic. I have enjoyed reading the reports and learning tips and secrets from everyone on the boards. I am mostly a lurker but I want to share our trip and preserve the memories while still fresh in my mind. Feel free to lurk along…

I convinced my mom and grandma to come with us the next year, January 2010:

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This was when the super cold weather hit Florida, but I still prefer freezing Disney to winter in PA.

We did another short trip right before school started in August 2010:
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We skipped Disney in 2011 because of our new addition:
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Suffering from major withdraw, planning began on a first trip for the new guy, Westin, and joining us this time would be my friend since fourth grade, her brother and her mom. Please relive the magic (and not-so-magic) memories with us!

[sarahcor]

Introductions
My husband Paul, his favorite thing about Disney is the food and drinks:
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Our daughter Mia, 8 years old, her favorite things about Disney are swimming and Figment, her least favorite would be Expedition Everest, Dinosaur or Bugs Life:
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Our son Westin, 8 months old, his favorite things about Disney were the characters and people watching:
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My best friend since fourth grade Bridget, her brother Rob and her mom Grace:
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They all have a wheat allergy (celiac disease) and Disney certainly went the extra mile as far as accommodating their food allergy. It was also interesting to experience the rides with Rob and see how the ride vehicles could fit his wheelchair. Not on all the rides but a lot had a dedicated vehicle so he wouldn’t have to transfer from his chair.

And me, Sarah, my favorite thing about Disney is how the real world disappears and it’s just me and my family. I love Disney tshirts and got my ears pierced two years ago just so I could wear Disney earrings. I also like this hat, it may be slightly dorky and Paul would rather I not wear it but it is so pink, plaid and happy I must!
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[KatMark]

Joining in.

[sarahcor]

Joining in.

My first reader, thank you so much!

[aadaneboy]

I'm a lurker too, but since we leave for WDW in a month from today, I'm getting very excited...so I'm joining in too! Can't wait to read more!--

Todd

[sarahcor]

I'm a lurker too, but since we leave for WDW in a month from today, I'm getting very excited...so I'm joining in too! Can't wait to read more!--

Todd

I love the weeks before a trip, there is so much to look forward to. Thanks for joining in!

[sarahcor]

The drive begins.
Rita found a nice spot to sit while I finished packing:
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I was loading the truck and Paul was trying to get some sleep because he was driving first. Westin is not a good sleeper and he woke up in the middle of loading the truck. I put him in the jump a roo and popped in his favorite tape, the next time I came through he was out:
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We stopped for a fill up before starting off at about 12:30a.m., hoping Mia and Westin could sleep about 8 hours
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They actually did very well on the drive down. Mia has her movies to watch and she also had a lot of homework to keep her busy. Westin stayed busy with toys and cookies.
Me super excited for the adventure ahead:
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Paul, not as excited for the drive ahead:
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We made it through the night, stopping along the way for gas and bathroom breaks. I almost didn’t want to take Westin out of his seat because he hated being put back in.
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We stopped for breakfast at McDonalds somewhere along the way and around 2:00p.m. we arrived at Kingsland, GA to check in at Days Inn, it was a good place to stop for the evening so we were fresh for our first day at Disney.
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Mia and I did our nails, hers were white with black mickey shapes and mine were the opposite. She wouldn’t cooperate for a picture but here is mine:
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We got a lot of comments on our mickey nails, even the check in guy at the Hard Rock Hotel in Universal liked them.
We had some dinner at a nearby chick-fil-a, Mia continued to work on her homework. We were all in bed by 7:00p.m., driving all night is very tiring, who would have thought!

Next up, we’re almost there!
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[cah5525]

You guys look like a fun bunch! Can't wait to hear more! We will be making the long drive down I-95 in 16 more days and I love reading trip reports...It fuels the excitement and anticipation...

[sarahcor]

You guys look like a fun bunch! Can't wait to hear more! We will be making the long drive down I-95 in 16 more days and I love reading trip reports...It fuels the excitement and anticipation...

I love trip reports too, it makes the time between trips more tolerable. Have a great trip!

[KatMark]

Great update; love the cat watching you pack. As much as I hate flying, I don't miss the drive.

[sarahcor]

Day 1
We were up and out of the Days Inn by 7:00 and off to start the fun. It took us about 3 hours until we turned in to:
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We have stayed at Pop twice. I really like that their buses have one stop at the hotel, we stayed at Port Olreans on our second stay and the loop around the resort seemed to take forever. However, with 4 people in our family now, I am thinking we may need to check out a different resort on our next stay. I would love to stay at the Poly or the Beach Club, not too sure if I can justify the price difference though.

We headed to check in:
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I had done the online check in a few days prior and was really hoping for our room to be ready…it wasn’t. Pop seemed very crowded, I guess that’s what happens during free dining. Oh well, off to the first park. We went out to the bus stop to catch a ride to Epcot.
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I had a touring plan for each day, some of our not so magical moments occurred when we didn’t follow the plan. Trying to keep everyone happy is hard because I want to go, go, go and do everything I can. Paul would rather take it slow. Mia wants to swim, all the time. Now, with our friends along, I wanted to show them the best of Disney. This would eventually lead to the major blow up of the trip, but that’s for another park on another day.
We made it through the finger scans and started off for Soarin fastpasses:
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Since we were in the Land we decided to try Sunshine Seasons
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I got the reuben, Paul and Mia both got chicken, and we had strawberry shortcake and chocolate mousse cake. I really liked the sandwich and would definitely get it again. Bridget, Grace and Rob were able to get the pork chop meal, none of the sauce had gluten. For their dessert they got packaged gluten free chocolate chip cookies and brownies. They really liked the meal but the dessert was like any packaged goodie they’d had. To let our food settle we did Living with the Land next.
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I got a new camera a few months ago, our old one broke. Taking pictures with a camera I am not familiar with while holding a wiggly baby don’t go together well. As a result, I don’t have a lot of on ride pictures, boo.
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We left the Land and headed to one of Mia’s favorites, what could it be?

[KatMark]

It is hard traveling with other people, even if friend because we all travel/vacation in our own way. Lunch looks yummy. U am guessing Nemo for where you headed next.

[sarahcor]

Great update; love the cat watching you pack. As much as I hate flying, I don't miss the drive.

We will definitely be flying next time. I didn't want to be that family with the screaming baby on the plane. The extra baggage charges for all of our luggage also deterred me from flying. I will have to become a better packer.

[Moodyzblu]

Joining in ! You have a cute family and I can't wait to hear about your trip! :banana:

[MelMel11]

Count me in!!!

[sarahcor]

Previously: We left the Land and headed to one of Mia’s favorites, what could it be?
Figment, yay! Mia loves this ride and was very excited to ride through the smelly part with Bridget, but Bridget caught on when Mia was plugging her nose.
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At this point we took a bathroom break and watched this little guy steal a bag right out of a stroller
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He didn’t like that we were watching him so he drug the bag behind the tree.
We did Nemo next
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Mia wanted to do Turtle Talk but Westin had fallen asleep on the Nemo ride and they wouldn’t allow me to bring the stroller inside. Paul and I took the opportunity to do a little shopping. I wish I had been there because she got picked to ask Crush a question! She asked him what his favorite food is and he told her sea kalp,that is what makes him green. He asked her what her favorite food was and she told him pasta, he then asked her if she was pasta colored, she told him no. Yay for Crush!
I had been looking for a Mickey ring to wear on my right hand. When Paul and I first started dating he gave me a girlfriend ring, I wanted to keep the girlfriend ring but mostly wear the Mickey ring. According to Paul, I love Mickey Mouse more than him anyways! I found one that I really liked but they had it zip tied onto a plastic card so it could hang on the wall display. We bought it and then Paul ripped it off the plastic card and bent the ring, it was now an oval. The cashier was very nice and told me to get another ring. She said the bad one would go to damaged goods. I don’t have picture but I’ll include one later.
We met back with the rest of the group and started over to club cool.
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We ran into this lovely lady with no line so we had to stop and say hi:
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Westin got to try some gingerale, Mia liked a pink drink but I don’t remember which country it was from:
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We went shopping again, Mia had some birthday and Christmas money that she was dying to spend, she got Duffy the bear and Westin got some rubber Cars toys for the bath.
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We wanted to try KimPossible so we got a ticket for later in the evening and then went for dinner at a new restaurant we had never tried, The Garden Grill.

[sarahcor]

Joining in ! You have a cute family and I can't wait to hear about your trip! :banana:

Thanks for joining, I just added a new update, hope you enjoy!


Count me in!!!

Thanks!

[KatMark]

Dang, I should have gone with my first instinct which was Figment over Nemo. So cool that DD got to ask Crush a question (the 5-year old I was traveling with earlier this month also got to ask Crush a question); it's such a great experience.

I love the picture of Westin with Aurora....such a cute baby.

We've not been to Garden Grill in probably 15 years so I can't wait to hear all about it.

[sarahcor]

[Dang, I should have gone with my first instinct which was Figment over Nemo. So cool that DD got to ask Crush a question (the 5-year old I was traveling with earlier this month also got to ask Crush a question); it's such a great experience.

I love the picture of Westin with Aurora....such a cute baby.

We've not been to Garden Grill in probably 15 years so I can't wait to hear all about it.

She was so excited about Crush, she counted it as one of her best parts of the trip.
Aurora was very nice, we felt bad for her because she was stuck off to the corner and no one seemed to notice her.
Garden Grill was good, I may have that up later tonight.

[jc040404]

I knew it would be Figment! I love that this is her favorite. And how awesome that she got picked by Crush, too.

Sounds fun so far. I'm in! :thumbsup2

[Moodyzblu]

My boys LOVE the Figment ride !! Then you get that song stuck in your head. :rolleyes:
They also love the area after the ride .. we spend an hour in there easy. :thumbsup2

LOVE to eat at Sunshine Seasons .. the pork chop is my favorite. :goodvibes

[sarahcor]

I checked in at The Garden Grill and had just enough time to change Westin’s diaper and then our pager went off. We were seated and our first visitor came along:
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I wasn’t sure how Westin would react, he loved them. He really wanted to eat all their noses. Kind of gross, hopefully they sanitize during breaks.
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The food here is served family style. There was unlimited beef, turkey, fish, vegetables, mashed potatoes with gravy, salad and rolls. Mia also got a kids meal with chicken, mac and cheese and sweet potato fries. The fries were a big hit with everyone. Bridget, Rob and Grace were able to eat all of the food except the rolls.
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For dessert we had an apple crisp with ice cream and for Mia it was a red cake decorated like a ladybug. For the wheat free they had the gluten free cookie and brownie warmed up and topped with ice cream. I was stuffed by this point but managed to make room for the crisp part of the dessert. It was pretty good but when I make apple crisp I like to put peanut butter in mine.
Our server was very nice but very talkative. I think we had almost 4 rotations in the restaurant before we were done. The characters were great and we all enjoyed our meals.
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[sarahcor]

We had test track fastpasses from earlier so I sat out with Westin and our bags while everyone else rode. We did the baby swap and Grace, Rob and Westin sat out on the next ride.
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Westin was fast asleep at this point so we ended the night with a nice, slow ride on Spaceship Earth
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[sarahcor]

I knew it would be Figment! I love that this is her favorite. And how awesome that she got picked by Crush, too.

Sounds fun so far. I'm in! :thumbsup2

Thanks, hope you enjoy!

My boys LOVE the Figment ride !! Then you get that song stuck in your head. :rolleyes:
They also love the area after the ride .. we spend an hour in there easy. :thumbsup2

LOVE to eat at Sunshine Seasons .. the pork chop is my favorite. :goodvibes

I like to listen for the Figment song played on the bus when we are pulling up to Epcot, can't wait for next trip when Westin will be able to play on the lighted floor.

[nickymaria]

Great TR! What gorgeous family & friends! Can't wait to read more...

[KatMark]

Love the review of Garden Grill. Just showed DH the pictures and he wants to go back. :)

Glad you could do the baby swap and all ride on Test Track.

[sarahcor]

Great TR! What gorgeous family & friends! Can't wait to read more...

Thanks so much! I should have another update this weekend.

[sarahcor]

Love the review of Garden Grill. Just showed DH the pictures and he wants to go back. :)

Glad you could do the baby swap and all ride on Test Track.

The baby swap worked great for us. Just saw your trip report link, I'll have to check it out.

[sarahcor]

The next morning was our second day at Epcot but our first full day. I tried to be at the bus stop by 8:30 each morning, the kids are ready to go:
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We had never done the character meet at Epcot with the Fab 5 so that was our first goal for this morning:
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My mom made a Minnie Mouse dress for Mia to wear and Mickey liked it a lot.
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Rob’s favorite thing was meeting the characters.
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Minnie was also very impressed with Mia’s dress:
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Goofy gave Mia a twirl before she got a big hug, he also like the dress:
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After the meet and greet Mia, Bridget and I did Mission Space – weenie side. Someday I may be brave enough to try the other side.
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Paul had a cinnamon-sugar pretzel while waiting for us to get off the ride, he really liked it. Mia had a Mickey ice cream bar and shared with Westin.
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We hadn’t gotten to Kim Possible the day before and really wanted to try it so we headed to World Showcase in search of a mission.
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[allisonmayi]

well what a BEAUTIFUL family...I may be a bit partial though
Sister, im ready for Disney whenever you are :love:

[sarahcor]

well what a BEAUTIFUL family...I may be a bit partial though
Sister, im ready for Disney whenever you are :love:

Hi Sister, can't wait to get you to Disney!

[sarahcor]

On our way to Kim Possible we ran into Duffy, Westin was sleeping so Mia was the only one to meet him:
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Since Westin was sleeping Paul sat out with him while the rest of us went to Mexico to ride with Donald. I left the camera in the stroller so I don’t have pictures of this ride. We continued around to Germany to try out Karamell-Küche. Mia and I split a caramel filled chocolate cookie, it was moist and delicious:
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We checked in to the KimPossible area and were sent to Japan
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Mia and Rob were sharing the phone, we should have gotten two phones. It was too hard for all of us to crowd around one phone. We got distracted by Miyuki and saw her make a giraffe.
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Bridget, Grace and Rob met Jasmine and Eric but Westin had woken up and he was hungry now. Today we had a late lunch at LeCellier so Paul and I pulled off to the side in Morocco to feed him his delicious baby food. Next we saw Belle and Beast but the line was way long so we didn’t wait to meet them.
Paul was waiting to see the France performers so we all took a bench and sat for a while. Mia got picked to sit in one of their chairs which made her day.
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We saw Marie with a short wait and this is when my camera card became full. I have few pictures from Bridget that I may scan in if I can figure out how that works.
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We saw Alice on our way to LeCellier so I erased one picture to get one of Westin meeting Alice:
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Lunch was great, I love the filet and risotto. Dessert was the whiskey chocolate cake, I didn’t enjoy this as much as the last time. It was not the same cake as last visit. Overall everyone loved their meals, the chef came out to talk to Grace, Bridget and Rob about their gluten allergy. I changed Westin in this bathroom and discovered when we got back to the hotel that I had forgotten the diaper wipes traveling container at the bathroom. Leaving lunch totally stuffed, we headed out for a break before coming back later that night for Illuminations.

[ortholablady]

Looks like fun so far! I was there the exact same dates as you. Wonder if we ever crossed paths? I started my first TR also. I haven't gotten too far yet but hope to do another update today.

[Moodyzblu]

Awesome pics and update ! Love Mia's dress. :love:

[sarahcor]

Looks like fun so far! I was there the exact same dates as you. Wonder if we ever crossed paths? I started my first TR also. I haven't gotten too far yet but hope to do another update today.
I'll have to check out your report. I wish I had done one sooner, it keeps the magic going once I'm home and missing Disney.

Awesome pics and update ! Love Mia's dress. :love:

Thanks, she really felt special in her dress. I see your trip will be coming soon, have a great time!

[sarahcor]

We arrived back at Epcot with plans to do Test Track again with our fastpasses from earlier, but never made it.
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I had to make another stop at the caramel shop for more goodies. Mia got another cookie and I got a shortbread cookie.
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We found a nice spot in front of Italy and waited for the show to begin. I love the grand marnier slush from France so I set off for my drink of the trip. Paul came with me and he got a beer at the American stand.
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While we waited we talked with a cast member who was guarding the handicap seating area where Rob sat. The cast member was very nice and was telling us all kinds of stuff like there are going to be two new countries added to the showcase, that Epcot almost closed a few years ago until some company stepped in to save it and how he hopes to be the operating manager of Epcot someday. I don’t know how factual his information was, but it helped to pass the time.
Mia was tired and actually fell asleep on the sidewalk. http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/q597/sarahcor/newcamera1019.jpg
I put our backpack down a little later and she used it as a pillow.
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I wasn’t having much luck with fireworks pictures so I put the camera away and enjoyed the show. Tomorrow was our day at Hollywood Studios.

[sarahcor]

posted twice

[sarahcor]

Hollywood Studios, how I love to hate you. On our past trips this has been Paul’s least favorite park and today would be no different. I rank HS as my third favorite park but I really enjoy the old-time movie feel of the “main street”. Our major blow up of a past trip happened here. We had eaten at Pizza Planet and we all had a cup of pop, soda, whatever. Paul had regular coke and Mia and I had diet. I thought he wouldn’t notice that I poured them all into one cup, but he did. You would have thought I did the worst thing ever. He actually left the park and Mia, my mom and I continued on our happy way. I think that Disney 24/7 gets to be a bit much for him.
Anyways, we showed up to the entrance about 15 minutes until 9:00. I had read that they quit the opening show and it was true. I actually prefer entering the park through the turnstiles and dispersing a few people at a time rather than a giant mass of people speed walking to Toy Story.
We started the day at Toy Story, Westin had fallen asleep so I didn’t get to focus as much as I would have liked, but I still did ok.
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We headed off next to Tower of Terror, well Bridget, Mia and myself. Paul was getting fastpasses for Rock n Roller Coaster. Bridget is a dance teacher and her students were betting that she would not ride TOT.
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13 minute wait time, scary!
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I love the line for TOT, here are some lobby pics:
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I tried to get a picture as we dropping/raising but it didn’t turn out.
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We lived to ride on!
We met up with Paul and Westin, I think Paul had a breakfast sandwich while waiting for us. He couldn’t get fastpasses because we had already gotten some for Toy Story. I think they changed the FP distribution. I remember being able to get a FP as long as it wasn’t for the same frame of time as a FP you already had. Well now it doesn’t matter if you have a FP for say 10:00-11:00 and you are trying to get a FP for 11:30-12:30, it says on the first FP what time you are eligible for your next FP. Boo! I hear they are changing FP soon and won’t let you come back after your time anymore either. That will be ok because I do feel like a cheater when I use an expired FP, no cheating in Disney!
We saw a little piggy on our way to the great movie ride.
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Paul hates The Great Movie ride and Mia is scared of the Predator part so they sat out while the rest of us rode. We stopped for a bathroom break and according to the itinerary up next was lunch. It didn’t play out like that…our plans changed and we had a major blow up instead.

[sarahcor]

So, instead of heading to Pizza Planet for lunch as planned, Bridget and family were dying to use the special front of the line passes they had received on the first day for the room inconvenience. They decided we should ride Star Tours.
Paul flipped out, he was hungry and not at all interested in doing Star Tours. I tried to calm him down, we would do Star Tours with the passes and then eat. Not good enough, he threw the park tickets/room keys down to the ground. He started to walk away but turned around and picked up his ticket and gave me the others. He had Westin in the stroller and said he had enough of this, don’t bother me, I’m gone and he took off toward the exit with Westin. He also had a few not very nice words to say, people were staring, it was the low point of the trip for sure.
I knew that our traveling party was starting to get to him. Being with family for a week straight is hard enough but adding a new group of people to be with all day long was too much to handle. They wanted to do and see everything, they might never be back again. Paul wanted to tour more relaxed, he knows he’ll be back again and wanted to take it slow. I was trying to make everyone happy and it backfired.
I decided we would ignore Paul and started towards Star Tours but the more we walked the worse I felt. I’m in my most favorite place anywhere and I felt like garbage. I started to cry behind my sunglasses and turned to Mia. “Do you want to come back with me or stay with Bridget?” of course, she chooses to stay at the park and I set off to see if I could catch Paul and Westin. During the time I was exiting Paul turned around and went back to find us, only to find that I had left to get him. I got to the Pop bus stop and it was empty. I sat on the bench and cried some more, I’ve ruined everybody’s vacation. After a few minutes I see Paul running down the sidewalk with Westin in the stroller. He explained that he needed some space and time away from everybody. I apologized and so did he. He knew he looked like a big, donkey, we’ll say. He wanted to go back in and apologize to Bridget/fam too. We met back up with them after they saw Indiana Jones. After all this craziness they didn’t even do Star Tours, Rob doesn’t like simulators and they didn’t realize that was what Star Tours was. AHH!!
Paul apologized but Bridget and Grace were acting odd, which then made him annoyed. We decided to eat lunch together and then split up. We needed some family alone time with just the four of us. Paul finally got his Pizza Planet, all was well with the world. After lunch we wanted to meet some characters. The line was too long for Phineas and Ferb so I snapped a paparazzi photo as we walked by.
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Westin met Lighting McQueen and Mater
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Mia sang in the rain
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We finally met Mike and Sully. This is favorite movie of ours and both Mia and I had on our Monster shirts. The photographer and handler mentioned our shirts and Mike noticed Mia’s shirt too.
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We headed back to the hotel for a little relaxation but Westin didn’t feel like relaxing.
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Paul took the kids swimming, I was in for a few minutes but it was too cold for me.
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With Westin not wanting to nap we decided to head back to the park until our dinner reservation at Kona. Bridget lived her dream of being a professional dancer for a song during the High Musical song show that was being performed.
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We decided to hit up Rock n Roller coaster before leaving for dinner. It was a rockin ride and Bridget actually liked it, she thought she’d be too scared to enjoy it.
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Dinner at Kona was great, unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures. Westin was sleeping almost the entire time so I didn’t have any available hands for the camera. The chocolate volcano desert was a favorite of Bridget/family, it is made with rice flour so they were able to have it. She said it was the best desert she has had since discovering her gluten allergy nearly ten years ago. We all had steak with sticky rice or mashed potatoes. Of course I ate too much of the delicious bread with the macadamia butter, that could be a meal by itself. Go Kona!
So, we caught the monorail to Magic Kingdom and waited for the bus. We probably should have rode the monorail to Epcot because Wishes had just finished so there was a large crowd waiting for the bus. We got on one bus and Bridget/family were on another because they load first with the Rob in the wheelchair.
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After a long, mentally challenging day I was glad to turn in for the night. Magic Kingdom was our destination for the next day. Being at Disney for three days and not yet seeing the castle was not our normal routine, I was extra excited to see it tomorrow!

[sarahcor]

We started the next day with some breakfast from the pop food court. Paul got me a cheese Danish and it was delicious until I got half way through, all of a sudden I felt nauseous. I sat for a while and started to feel better so we headed to the bus stop. Despite my nausea we made it for the opening show.
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Somebody’s coming around the bend.
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With Epcot and Hollywood Studios not having their morning opening show I was glad that Magic Kingdom still had theirs.
One of our favorite family movies to watch is Princess and the Frog, I was so excited to see Tiana on Main Street . I turned into a stalker and got an action shot of her.
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We then saw Jasmine and Aladdin ahead but they were going too fast for us to catch them.
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The castle! Of course I had a tear in my eye as we approached the hub, it is just so magical. Mia thinks this is extremely lame, of course. I later found out Grace also had some tears when she first caught a glimpse of Cinderella’s castle.http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/q597/sarahcor/disneyuni019.jpg
The Dapper Dans sang Happy Birthday to Rob.
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We did Peter Pan and then went to Snow White. I told Mia to take it all in because Snow White will be closed when we come back next time. She was never frightened of this ride and was bummed out this was her last time to ride.
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I wanted to take a lot of pictures on Snow White but I don’t know how to work my camera in dark places while moving so most of them turned out bad.
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Bye Snow White.
An empty Fantasy Land.
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Winnie the Pooh was next, Westin liked this ride. Prior to this he had been sleeping so he missed Peter Pan and Snow White.
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So excited for the completion of New Fantasy Land!
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Rob and Grace got in line to meet Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum and the White Rabbit while the rest of us rode the teacups, minus Paul, he doesn’t do spinning rides.
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Next we headed to Space Mountain and did the baby-swap. I sat out with Westin while Paul, Bridget and Mia rode. Mia had never done the speedway so she went on that next while Paul rode Space Mountain with me.
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I took too long getting my camera out to snag a picture of the picture so I tried to get one while exiting on the moving walkway.

[sarahcor]

-continued-

Last visit I had gotten a strawberry from the Main Street Bakery and it was really good. We got a strawberry/banana smoothie to share at Auntie Gravity’s. It was ok, but I preferred the all strawberry one. Westin really liked the smoothie, we took a bench break and soaked up some of the Tomorrowland atmosphere. Basically, we were all hungry and killing time before Cosmic Ray’s opened, that was our lunch destination.
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[pixidustmom]

Joining in. Have to say, I have had those melt downs with my DH before too. He makes an *** of himself and leaves. My girls and I cried and moved on.lol Thankfully my last trip with him and our grandson, he grew up and has realized it's not good to do and makes some bad memories. I also grew up and realized it's ok to not follow a plan. If he wants to go back and nap or whatever he can. We are not going to ruin much by not being with each other for everything as we both have a different idea of vacation.
I look forward to reading more.

[Moodyzblu]

Westin is such a cutie !! :love:

Congrats on making it to opening ceremony. I've yet to do that ! :rolleyes:

[sarahcor]

Joining in. Have to say, I have had those melt downs with my DH before too. He makes an *** of himself and leaves. My girls and I cried and moved on.lol Thankfully my last trip with him and our grandson, he grew up and has realized it's not good to do and makes some bad memories. I also grew up and realized it's ok to not follow a plan. If he wants to go back and nap or whatever he can. We are not going to ruin much by not being with each other for everything as we both have a different idea of vacation.
I look forward to reading more.

I'm comforted to know I'm not the only one who has an at-times crabby Disney hubby!

Westin is such a cutie !! :love:

Congrats on making it to opening ceremony. I've yet to do that ! :rolleyes:

Thanks! Making it for opening works best for us, we normally take an afternoon break, so I like to do as much as we can in the morning before the big crowds get there.

[sarahcor]

Cosmic Ray’s was our lunch destination, we grabbed a table with Sonny Eclipse while Paul got the food.
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I had a chili dog, it was ok but I’ll try something different next time.
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Mia had chicken and fries
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Paul had a burger
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Gross out alert…


Mia kept complaining that she smelled something so I checked Mr. Westin and he had a major diaper leak! It was all over his back and leaked through his pants too. I cleaned him up in the restroom the best I could with the wipes and changed him into his spare outfit. Diaper disaster #1 repaired!
We finished up with lunch and went to do some meets. Unfortunately, the Rapunzel line was crazy long so I snapped a picture from afar, maybe next time.
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While waiting in line we did some bird watching
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Tiana! She was very nice and liked our “little tadpole” Westin. He was intrigued with her dress and kept trying to touch the flower on her side.
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We heard some crowing so I knew that Peter Pan was nearby. Mia was embarrassed and wouldn’t come to meet Peter. The family before us had to crow as loud as they could and Mia did not want to do that in front of the whole park. Thankfully, he didn’t make us crow, was very nice and told everybody they should all have shirts like mine. ( I had my Peter Pan shirt on for this very occasion)
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After Peter we continued to Adventureland for a little pirate action.
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Mia, Westin and I got separated from the rest of the group because they exited Pirates on an elevator, since Rob was allowed to stay in his chair for the ride. Eventually we found them and decided to do Haunted Mansion.
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This ride was tricky for Rob since the walkway moves. This time, Grace and Rob were the ones that got separated from the rest of us. They had to go off to the side to avoid the stampede from the stretching room while everybody else boarded the doombuggies. We met back up with them outside and were almost stampeded again by a large group of girls. We saw them all over the park, I think they were celebrating their 15th birthdays. They all had bookbags with quincenera (spelling?) on them and they were foreign, not sure from where.
Westin had fallen asleep again so he and I waited on the Splash Mountain lookout area while the rest rode. I took about 15 pictures of random people coming down the big drop and just before they came out Westin woke up crying hysterically. I missed the drop shot but got them coming around the bottom part.
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Next up, most of us have a laugh with monsters while others have diaper problems again!

[sarahcor]

Westin and I did some shopping in the Splash shop while we waited for the others to come off the ride. I caved and bought a cute, red sweatsuit with the Cars characters. We met up and headed towards Tomorrowland.
On our way we did a little browsing in the Christmas Shop. I wanted to buy Westin a stocking but couldn’t decide between Mickey, Donald or Goofy so I didn’t get one at all.
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And had a photo shoot near the castle, trying to be romantic
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Mia does not approve!
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One of the three of us
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The castle show was on so we watched that for a while
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Mia loves Carousel of Progress so that was next. Always a nice way to relax.
We saw Buzz but he had a long line so we skipped him.
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[sarahcor]

On our last visit when we did Monsters Laugh Floor, Paul was chosen to “stand up and dance”
It was a great moment, and although he was slightly embarrassed he busted out an awesome move!
Mia wanted to try to text a joke for them to use during the show. She used “Why can’t animals take tests at the zoo?”


Answer:


Too many cheetahs!
I think she heard it on cartoon network. It actually got used in the show, she was so proud.
Unfortunately, Westin and I missed it. His diaper disaster from earlier…we had a second helping of diaper leak. This time it went through his clothes and onto the stroller seat too. YUCK! At this point I began to think he wasn’t feeling well.
Poor kid, I cleaned him up in the Tomorrowland bathroom near the smoothie place. He had to wear his new sweatpants, luckily I had bought them earlier or he would have been a weirdo baby not wearing pants!
We wanted to do something nice and easy, so to the TTA we went. No wheelchairs allowed on this one, Rob isn’t too good at walking, especially up a moving incline, so we decided against the TTA and started to exit.
We had a dining reservation to get to, so we decided to shop our way out, hitting up some of the shops on Main Street.
Pooh didn’t have a wait at all so we stopped to say hi.
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Westin loved this meet! We have a Pooh and gang mobile in his crib. I really think he recognized Pooh and Tigger from his crib. His legs were kicking and he was smiling so big. It was a great memory.

[sarahcor]

Chef Mickey’s here we come!
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Minnie was excited to see Mia’s dress
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We have always had a great time at Chef Mickey’s. I love the scalloped potatoes, they are so so good.

[sarahcor]

After our delicious dinner we headed back to Magic Kingdom to see Magic, Memories and You / Wishes. Mia had been eying a bookbag the whole trip. It has Mickey and gang in their nerdy look. We went to buy that for her before finding a spot for the fireworks.

We found a spot right in the center hub. Grace, Rob and Westin saved the spots. Mia, Bridget, Paul and I went to ride Splash Mountain. I hadn’t gotten to ride earlier so I was happy to make it on at least once.

We made it back just in time. Westin had been sleeping but he woke up and was freaking out. He’s not the familiar with Grace. I got him calmed down and he fell back asleep. It was very sweet to watch the show with my little man asleep in my arms.
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After Wishes we hung around for a while taking pictures, waiting for the crowd to thin out.
We tried for a nighttime shot at the castle.
Paul was trying to get Mia to have a daddy/daughter picture. Mia wasn’t into it and was making annoying faces.
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We abandoned the daddy/daughter picture taking and tried to get one of the two of us. Mia didn’t want us to have a picture either so she began dashing into the shot. Paul held his arm out to her and she fell on the ground. It was semi-funny but he felt bad.
Honestly, it had been a long day with no hotel break in the middle. We were all tired and Mia was starting to act up. We finally convinced her to get in the picture with us.

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Bridget and I wanted one too.
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I love this one website run by a husband/wife. They stay at the parks until close taking awesome pictures. I wanted to try for some night shots like I’ve seen them do.
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Here is a goofy picture of me and some tea
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I love pictures where there aren’t any people around.
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[sarahcor]

I took a few more crowd free pictures and we started towards the exit
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I really enjoyed staying behind and taking a slow exit. It certainly beat fighting with the mass exodus and waiting in a long bus line.
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We took one last look at Magic Kingdom. Today was my favorite day of the trip so far. Even with messy diaper disasters.
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It was lights out when we got back to the room. Our next day was Animal Kingdom. Would we have more diaper issues or will it be someone else having a “bathroom” issue?

[sarahcor]

Animal Kingdom day! I must admit, this is my least favorite park of the four. Not to say I don’t enjoy visiting here, I just don’t get the magical feeling here.
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We started our way to Expedition Everest.

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Paul is semi-happy. As Animal Kingdom is my least favorite, it is his favorite, go figure!

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I like the foot statue and have a picture of Mia from the past trip standing here. I’d like to get a picture here each time so I can compare past trips to see how much they’ve grown.
I should have taken Westin out of the stroller, but we were in a hurry.
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Mia did ride this last trip and she was very brave until it got to the dark parts. She is very afraid of the Yeti, even though he is a machine he is still scary, that’s what she tells me.
So, Mia did not ride. It was just Paul, Bridget and me.
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Bridget used to be scared of everything. She surprised herself and actually enjoyed the roller coasters, she claims she won’t do TOT ever again but I will still try to get her on when we do our next trip.

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Bridget and I were riding with each other so we got in the waiting area right before you get on the train and Paul was in front of us. The train pulled in and Paul jumped in with a single rider. We had to wait for the next ride. He was in the seat and looked up at us and then over at his ride partner before realizing he had gotten on the ride with a stranger. It was funny, he did get out and wait with us, he was so excited to ride he didn’t even realize what he was doing.

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We exited and met up with the others in the gift shop. Mia was such a sweetie and got me a bracelet while they were waiting.
It was at this point that I started to feel a little blah. It was probably just from riding Everest, right?

[sarahcor]

Mia had wanted to do Primeval Whirl in Dinoland so we headed in that direction. We said hello to some cute monkeys.
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We did the fake Dumbo ride first.
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Paul wasn’t interested in Primeval Whirl so he and Westin sat out while the rest of us rode.
Mia loved it so she rode again with Bridget. We browsed a little in the nearby shop.
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I love Dinosaur so I was excited to get Bridget on this ride.
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She liked it and managed to ride most of the ride without hiding her eyes. Mia, Grace, Rob and Westin sat out. Mia had a bad experience the first time we rode and she refuses to give it another shot. While we rode they did a bone activity in one of the booths, I think a puzzle of sorts.
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[sarahcor]

We decided it was time for lunch to we did the Restaurantosaurus. I was still feeling kind of blah, hoping that getting some lunch would help.
Westin was very hungry, so I have no food pictures since I was feeding him and me at the same time.
The chocolate parfait cup was nice and chocolatey though.

We watched this guy for a while so everyone could have a bathroom break.
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Westin was happy.
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As was Paul.
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We wanted to do Bugs Life next.

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Mia is afraid of Bugs Life too. The first time we saw this she was sitting next to a stranger and during one of the scary parts the lady next to Mia grabbed her leg accidentally. This freaked Mia out and she will not go back, I guess I can’t blame her. She was four at the time, it really made an impression on her.

So Mia, Westin and I sat outside of Bugs Life and waited for them. Actually, we spent most of the time in the restroom. I definitely wasn’t feeling bad because of the rides, I began to realize I had the flu. What bad timing, right? After my third attempt to leave the restroom area we asked the castmember at the entrance of Bugs Life where the exit let out. We made our way over to the exit and waited for the others.
Mia tried on some hats to pass the time.
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Westin decided to take a snooze.
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[sarahcor]

We spotted the others and they came over. Paul could tell I wasn’t feeling well. We were supposed to do Festival of the Lion King next but I knew I wouldn’t make it.

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I was actually worried I wouldn’t make it back to the room without having an embarrassing accident on the bus.
I’m sure you want to know, I visited the bathroom one more time before we exited the park. Bridget, Grace and Rob stayed for the Lion King show. Paul said he would take Mia and Westin swimming while I rested.
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Mia told me that I must not really be sick if I am well enough to take pictures.

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Possible TMI -
I rested most of the afternoon, not really able to sleep because my stomach was gurgling non-stop. I finally got some relief after spending a while in the bathroom. I’ll just say that I needed the toilet and the trash can at the same time, YUCK!
End TMI.

Tonight’s dinner reservation was for Whispering Canyon Café. Paul took Westin and Mia by himself and met Grace, Bridget and Rob there. The waitress brought Mia a giant mug of root beer and told her she better drink it all, and threw straws at her. Mia loved this and thought it was very funny. Paul brought me some leftovers but I didn’t want to even look at it. I still felt pretty sick.
What a bummer ending to our last day at Disney…but we had two days at Universal coming next. I hope I’m better in the morning.

[Moodyzblu]

Oh no .. Sick at Disney ?? What a bummer. I hope it was just a 24 hr bug.
My boys got traumatized their one and only time on Bugs Life and refuse to go back in it. Oh well ... Maybe one day !
Looking forward to hearing how Universal went. :goodvibes

[sarahcor]

Oh no .. Sick at Disney ?? What a bummer. I hope it was just a 24 hr bug.
My boys got traumatized their one and only time on Bugs Life and refuse to go back in it. Oh well ... Maybe one day !
Looking forward to hearing how Universal went. :goodvibes

Sick on any regular day is bad, but sick at WDW was the worst! I was mostly better the next day but I wasn't the only one to get sick.

I think Bugs Life traumatization is very common!

I really liked Universal, first installment will be up soon.

[sarahcor]

The next morning I woke up feeling much better. A little sore, but I think that was mostly from being in bed for so long.
Paul hauled all of our bags to the truck. If we ever drive again I am going to pretend we are flying. I way overpacked!
It was depressing to say goodbye to Disney, but we had more fun ahead at Universal. We’ve never been there so I was very excited to get there.
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We managed to follow the directions I had printed out and we pulled in to our mansion. We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel for the last two days of our vacation.

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They had all kinds of fancy cars parked at the entrance. I felt way out of my comfort level, this was way ritzier than I'd imagined.


We checked in and got our room keys. The room keys also served as our “express passes” so we didn’t have to wait in any lines. Our room wasn’t ready yet so we parked the car in the lot and followed the walking path to Universal.
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We had pretty much skipped breakfast so the first stop of our day was lunch. This was when I really appreciated the dining plan from Disney. It was kind of a shock to have to pay for food after 5 days eating for “free”.

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With lunch out of the way we began the walk to see Harry Potter.

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I can see it!

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Mia is a big Dr. Seuss fan and she was really excited to do these rides. So, before we could get to Hogwarts we experienced Seuss Landing.

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I still wasn’t feeling 100% so Bridget did the rides with Mia.
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[sarahcor]

We thought this was a cool statue.
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Pay no attention to that annoying smudge, I didn't realize it was there until later.

If I had been feeling more ambitious I would have tried to eat here, at Mythos. The best theme park restaurant 6 years in a row, there was a plack in front that said so.

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We were getting closer!

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There it is, yay!

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I have yet to read any of the books, but we are big fans of the movies. I really felt like I was in a different world.

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The crowds of vacationers quickly brought me back to reality.

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[Moodyzblu]

Weren't the crowds crazy ?? I found that if you go in the evening .. it's much better .. but I won't find that out until our second Universal day. :thumbsup2

My boys had very little interest in Suess Landing .. even though they LOVE the books .. we sort of just breezed by it all ! :confused3
I really do want to go back again and do it all at a slower pace !

[sarahcor]

Today was our day to look at the Wizarding World. I didn’t really expect to ride anything since we had gotten there late. Tomorrow morning we could get in an hour early since we were staying at one of the Universal hotels. I would have to wait until then to actually ride Forbidden Journey.
It was pretty crowded so we went to a different land. I sat out with Rob and Westin while everyone else rode Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls.

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They really liked it. Paul said it was like Rock n Roller coaster on the water. At this point I was starting to feel nauseous again and my back was really sore. Mia stayed with Bridget, Grace and Rob. Paul, Westin and I went back to the hotel for an afternoon nap.

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We were impressed with our room. Paul needed to rock out.

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The bathroom was a normal bathroom.

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Danger, stay away from the counter. They had boxes of snacks sitting on the counter and they were expensive. I didn’t tell Paul that I had the key to the mini bar.

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We slept for at least 2 hours. Mia came back to grab her suit and she did the pool with Bridget.

We woke up hungry and decided to head to City Walk to find a place to eat. Mia was starving, as we were getting ready to leave I looked on the floor and saw a black box sitting opened on the floor. Mia hadn’t been there when I announced no eating from the counter, she took a $10 box of chocolate covered cashews and was eating them. She said they were pretty good! They better be good!


We ate at Bubba Gump’s and it was ok. I’m not a huge seafood fan so I got a burger. Paul also got a burger and Mia had a platter that Paul helped her with. I don’t think we’ll need to visit again.

The nice thing about the Hard Rock was its location. It was a pretty short walk to City Walk/Universal or you could ride a shuttle boat. I found it was a little shorter to go through the pool area, but it was a little confusing.

We turned in for the night. Around 1:00 in the morning I woke up, Paul was in the bathroom and he wasn’t feeling well. Uh-oh.

[sarahcor]

Weren't the crowds crazy ?? I found that if you go in the evening .. it's much better .. but I won't find that out until our second Universal day. :thumbsup2

My boys had very little interest in Suess Landing .. even though they LOVE the books .. we sort of just breezed by it all ! :confused3
I really do want to go back again and do it all at a slower pace !

The crowds in Wizarding World were ridiculous! We didn't even try to get in the shops, they were packed. I want to go back too. I've heard the closed Jaws attraction in Islands of Adventure is going to be Wizarding World part 2, that would be very cool. Maybe when Westin is older and I can convince Mia to try Forbidden Journey. I made the mistake of telling her there were spiders and she refused to ride after she knew that.

[Moodyzblu]

The crowds in Wizarding World were ridiculous! We didn't even try to get in the shops, they were packed. I want to go back too. I've heard the closed Jaws attraction in Islands of Adventure is going to be Wizarding World part 2, that would be very cool. Maybe when Westin is older and I can convince Mia to try Forbidden Journey. I made the mistake of telling her there were spiders and she refused to ride after she knew that.

I know .. there was like an hour wait just to get IN the stores then once you get in you can't move because it's SO crowded in there. :mad:

There were spiders ?? I had my eyes closed through most of it .. I must have missed the spiders.:rotfl:

[sarahcor]

I know .. there was like an hour wait just to get IN the stores then once you get in you can't move because it's SO crowded in there. :mad:

There were spiders ?? I had my eyes closed through most of it .. I must have missed the spiders.:rotfl:

I think one of them spit on me! At least I felt water from somewhere.

[Moodyzblu]

I think one of them spit on me! At least I felt water from somewhere.

OMG you're probably right !! So, that's where the water came from ?? I told you I had my eyes closed ! :rotfl: It's all pretty much a blur.

[sarahcor]

OMG you're probably right !! So, that's where the water came from ?? I told you I had my eyes closed ! :rotfl: It's all pretty much a blur.

I only got to ride it once. There was so much to see, I really wish I would have ridden a few more times. Oh well...there's always next time!

[sarahcor]

So, Paul had caught the flu from me. He was up off and on throughout the night and was feeling pretty awful.

I was getting the backpack ready when I realized I had done something horrible. The ring I had gotten earlier at Epcot, I had taken off my other ring and wrapped it up in a napkin. I then stuck it in the backpack for safe keeping. Well, I totally forgot about it and when I had cleaned the backpack out a few days prior I had thrown all the napkins out too. I threw out my girlfriend ring!

BOO-HOO! I started to cry and was so upset. Paul had given me the ring when we became girlfriend/boyfriend and I had worn it for ten years. Dumb me! It now has a home wherever the Pop trash goes.

After recovering from the ring incident we said goodbye to Paul and got on our way to Harry Potter. I had seen it but didn’t get to ride it the day before.

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A few store windows, they are so detailed.

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Before riding we made a stop at the wand store. None of us had any interest in waiting for the wand show so we went directly in the wand shop and got our wands that way.
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Mia got Harry’s wand and we decided to get Paul the Sirius Black wand.

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The store had a bunch of wands to choose from. The staff was very helpful with Mia, she was having trouble deciding which to go with.

Wands at the ready, Bridget and I went to ride The Forbidden Journey!

[sarahcor]

I really liked the que, I think I liked it more than the ride. I felt like I was at Hogwarts, it was so realistic. The ride was pretty cool too. I was slightly disoriented from switching between the screen/video and then the real, set type parts of the ride. The part I remember the most was with the whomping willow, I thought it was going to hit my leg.


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I wish I could have ridden a few more times but we had other things to do. Also, I was feeling this ride for a while after. I was dizzy and starting to get a headache, when I get back for my next visit I will definitely bring some Dramamine.

Mia and I were hungry so we checked out The Three Broomsticks.

Mia was nice enough to get my picture with Harry and Hermione’s wizard ball outfits.
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Is it bad to wear a Disney shirt at Universal? The only time someone commented was in the elevator at the hotel. A bell boy was in the elevator with me. He told me I better watch out with a shirt like that, I could get beat up! Then he laughed and said just kidding.

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The theming in here was great. As we were in line in walks my Uncle, Aunt and cousins. My Aunt and I had talked about meeting up, but I didn’t expect to run right into them. We ate our breakfast with them. Mia, Westin and I split the pancake platter, it was good. We decided we would tour together.

Zoe and Mia are one year apart. Zoe is not a big fan of thrill rides and Mia loves Dr. Seuss, so off to the Seuss part of the park again.

We ran into this guy.

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This is my cousin Zack, Uncle Matt, Grinch, cousin Zoe, Mia and cousin Shelby.
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I don’t remember his name, but Mia was super excited to see him.
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Westin was also excited to meet him.
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The character interaction with the Seuss characters was great. There was also no one else waiting to meet them which was nice, we didn't feel rushed at all.

[Moodyzblu]

Is it bad to wear a Disney shirt at Universal? The only time someone commented was in the elevator at the hotel. A bell boy was in the elevator with me. He told me I better watch out with a shirt like that, I could get beat up! Then he laughed and said just kidding.


I don’t remember his name, but Mia was super excited to see him.
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Westin was also excited to meet him.
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We wore Disney shirts on our second day of Universal ! Spiderman even signed them. :hyper:

That is Sam I Am !!
We didn't see ANY Suess characters when we were there.
:confused3

[sarahcor]

We wore Disney shirts on our second day of Universal ! Spiderman even signed them. :hyper:

That is Sam I Am !!
We didn't see ANY Suess characters when we were there.
:confused3

We must have been there at the perfect time. We met 3 more before we left the Seuss part.

[sarahcor]

We went in a little store and these guys were sitting inside.

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Mia and Zoe were paying attention to the Cat in the Hat and Thing 2. Thing 1 was sad and he fell over.

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Thing 2 snuck over and started to tickle Thing 1 and motioned for the girls to join in.

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Mia loved this meet!

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Mia convinced Zoe to do One Fish, Two Fish with her. Zoe was scared because of the shooting water so Mia volunteered to sit on the outside of the fish.

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Zoe ended up really liking it.

We then did the cat in the hat couch ride, kind of like Winnie the Pooh. It was really cute. Then we did the High in the Sky trolley. That was a cute little ride too, with a nice view of the Seuss area.

Oh, I forgot, before we went to the Seuss rides we did do the Dragon Duel and Flight of the Hippogriff. Well, I rode Dragon Duel with Aunt Linda, no one else was up for it. We all did Hippogriff while Uncle Matt sat out with Westin.

Next we tried the Jurassic Park ride. The child switch worked really great. They had little areas off to the entrance area and we would wait there for the rest of the group. When they exited somebody stayed behind with the kids and everybody rode again. The team members didn’t say anything about our large group riding twice. It was like fastpass times two.

With Paul being sick at the hotel I didn’t use the camera a lot. I really regret that now. We were all hungry so we stayed at the dinosaur land part and ate in Thunder Falls Terrace. After lunch Mia wanted to try Pteranodon Flyers but the wait was 45 minutes so we passed on that.

Our last ride at Islands of Adventure was Spiderman. I thought this was a good ride. There was one part where it felt like you were falling. Again, I wish I had ridden it more than once.

I had told Paul I would check on him. Mia and Westin stayed at the park with Uncle Matt and Aunt Linda while I started back to Hard Rock. Halfway there I realized my ticket was in the backpack, which I had left in the stroller. I called Aunt Linda and they were on their way to Universal Studios so I walked to meet them so I could grab my ticket.

[sarahcor]

I got some Sprite on the walk back to the hotel. I hadn’t been able to find any pop machines at the hotel but today I got lucky and found the “grocery” store at Hard Rock. It was on the bottom level and we hadn’t paid any attention to it. Close to the pool. They had overpriced Cheerios, nothing else looked good for someone who was feeling sick. I grabbed 2 bowls of Cheerios for Paul.

He was feeling a lot better but not well enough to come to the park. I told him we’d be back before dinner.

I called Aunt Linda, they had just finished the Shrek 4d ride and were on the way to do Simpsons. Rats, I had wanted to try Shrek too. Mia was not a fan of Shrek, the seats moved up and down and it had biting spiders. At least, that is what she told me. I think it was too similar to Bugs Life, which she is terrified of.

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The Jaws ride had been closed for a few weeks already. I had read that the Jaws ride was dated but I would have like to try it anyways.

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I met up with everybody else at the Simpsons ride.

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Bridget had stayed off with Zoe and Westin.

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Mia liked the Simpsons ride, it didn’t scare her at all.

We did Men In Black next. I really like this one. I think it was way better than Buzz Lightyear. The guns are not attached to the vehicle, you can turn and point anywhere you want. With the child swap we rode this 3 times in a row.

We were able to convince Mia and Zoe to try it. They thought it would be scary, with aliens popping out from everywhere. I explained to Mia that it looked fake, the aliens were like cardboard cut-outs and were only there for you to shoot. She was glad she tried it.

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I had to pull my camera out for this guy! There were two mummy guys walking around on stilts. They didn’t talk, they would just stare at you.

There was an Egyptian lady walking around too.

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She pretended to pick stuff out of a lady’s hair. She didn’t speak either.

Unfortunately, Mummy was down for a while so we decided to do Beetlejuice’s Graveyard Revue to pass the time. I liked the show, it had some adult humor but it went over Mia’s head. She was scared to do this too, she thought it was a ride. We sat in the back of the theatre so we could escape if it was scary. She loved it! She is in dance and there is a lot of dance in this show. Dancing, singing and Beetlejuice told jokes. My only complaint was that it was sooo loud.

We checked on Revenge of the Mummy and it was open! All but the kids and Rob rode Mummy. I really liked this ride/roller coaster a lot! We rode 3 times. The first part was different scenes and then it shot you fast and the roller coaster part was towards the end. I can’t really describe it, but I really liked it.

[Moodyzblu]

My boys rode the Mummy ride !! It was intense. I'm not sure I would ride it again .. But may be forced to when we go back. :scared:

I would have loved to ride Jaws before they it for good. The boys were disappointed it was a closed as well. :(

Wonder what they are putting there ? :confused3

[sarahcor]

My boys rode the Mummy ride !! It was intense. I'm not sure I would ride it again .. But may be forced to when we go back. :scared:

I would have loved to ride Jaws before they it for good. The boys were disappointed it was a closed as well. :(

Wonder what they are putting there ? :confused3

I can't wait to ride it again, I really liked it. As for the Jaws replacement, I have read some rumors about the second phase of Harry Potter going there. That would be cool!

[Moodyzblu]

I can't wait to ride it again, I really liked it. As for the Jaws replacement, I have read some rumors about the second phase of Harry Potter going there. That would be cool!


YES .. that WOULD be cool !! :thumbsup2

[sarahcor]

We caught the end of the Blues Brother show. Mia loves Despicable Me, we saw a cart that had minion (the little yellow guys) shirts. She got one and we got one for Paul too. She immediately ripped the tags off and switched her shirt right there. We tried to be discreet, I’m sure no one noticed.

A lovely picture of the cousins, we were all getting tired at this point!

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I had to get some pictures with the Delorean.

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Back to the Future was one of the first vhs tapes we ever had. My dad had taped it off of HBO and my sister and I watched it over and over.

And the train! How perfect, we always loved Back to the Future parts one and three, but hated two. The second movie was dark and scary, I only like the part where Michael J. Fox plays Marty, the son and daughter too.

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Dancing in the streets.

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Ever since Mia was young she hated E.T. We watched the movie and she didn’t get scared watching the movie but after we would hold our pointer finger out and say E.T. phone home, in our best E.T. voice. This is what made her hate E.T. To this day I can still point my finger at her and say E.T. and she will begin to get a look of fear in her eyes. Is that a form of child abuse?
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Anyways, she absolutely refused to ride E.T. It was kind of like Peter Pan in the sense that you are flying over things. As soon as the ride started it reminded me of something. I couldn’t put my finger on it until almost the end when I realized. The smell of the ride reminded me of the YMCA pool. Chlorine, a lot of chlorine. That is one ride I don’t need to ride again, I wasn’t impressed.

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Scooby! Shaggy was a very questionable Shaggy, maybe too short and too wide to by Shaggy.
While we were riding E.T., Mia and Aunt Linda went to the Woody Woodpecker coaster. Mia thought it was pretty fun, similar to Goofy’s rollercoaster.
I used the restrooms while they were riding and they were gross. There was paper and trash all through the stalls, water on the floor. Gross. Disney definitely has the best bathrooms, pretty much of anywhere.

[sarahcor]

We realized that we had forgotten to check on meeting Sponge Bob. It was a few minutes before 4:00 and that was his last appearance. Mia was getting crabby and decided she was skipping Sponge Bob. Oh well, I wanted to meet him too. We sure have a lot to do on a future trip!

I think I will have good luck convincing Paul to do Universal again. He said he preferred Universal more than Disney. I should have expected that coming from him. Maybe when Westin is a few years older and Mia is a few years braver!

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Mia had been wanting a churro all day. We tried to get one at the Beetlejuice show but a big group had beat us to the stand and they got them all.

We were heading to the exit and saw one last churro stand. Mia was talking about how she couldn’t wait to get her churro. There was a guy in front of us and there was one churro left. I think he heard Mia talking because he got a pretzel instead. Uncle Matt thanked him and he smiled and nodded. There was some pixie dust in Universal too!

Mia ordered the last churro but surprise, there was a broken one on the bottom of the case, the clerk gave her that one too. She didn’t care and shared with Zoe.

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My aunt was at the ticket window, they decided to turn their one day ticket into a two day. I didn’t know you could do that but she was trying. They wanted to have another day at Universal. Their vacation was just beginning, ours was ending.

They are DVC members and were trying to persuade us to drive to the Contemporary and watch Wishes with them in the DVC viewing area at Bay Lake. I really wanted to but I knew Paul would not be up for it. I also didn’t want to drive by myself with the kids so we passed. Another thing to do “the next time”.

We said our goodbyes to my Uncle, Aunt and cousins. I had a great time with them and was so glad we could meet up.

A picture on the way out…

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/q597/sarahcor/disneyuni442.jpg

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/q597/sarahcor/disneyuni443.jpg

Bridget, Grace and Rob were going to get some dinner at Margaritaville. With Paul being alone all day at the hotel I decided we’d go back and hang with him. I think Bridget may have been upset at us skipping on dinner but I have to keep the family happy first.

[Sparkly]

Great trip report :) Eeek at the huge amounts of stomach bugs! I must have got it too, I spent most of our trip exploring the restrooms.

We were there from Feb 9-19th and we practically had Universal Studios/IOA to ourselves too! We stayed at the Royal Pacific- we could have saved our money and just stayed at the condo! The bathrooms at Disney are definitely the cleanest. Universal ones are a little grubby but I suppose it depends on where they are.

It's a shame about the construction works meaning most shots of Cindy Castle has a crane in the background. I can't wait for the new Fantasyland expansion either! Hope some of it will be open when we go next year.