Ten Sleeps in Disney World!! - An Aug Trip Report *5/9 Departure Day & Final Thoughts

[SunnieRN]

Wow, love your freworks pictures and the ones on Zero to Heros trip report as well!!

What a great rest of the day you had!! You accomplished a lot for taking it easy!! Love the creepy looking HM picture. Before I scrolled down I was thinking, man in sure got dark quickly!

Looking forward to more!!

 

[cjackearl]

Argh, darn life and being away getting in the way. I missed TWO updates, both of which were fabulous. Oh my, you're a very patient nice wife to have been so calm when DH and boys showed up so late. Good for you!

This last trip I rode Splash for the first time and I have to agree with Demetri, it's a not to be missed. So funny that Alex dipped out of the shot!

Your MK day and night just sound so amazing.

Glad you didn't dance randomly on the Jungle Cruise.

I'm not going anywhere for a good long while now so I'm looking forward to keeping up.

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Wow, love your freworks pictures and the ones on Zero to Heros trip report as well!!

What a great rest of the day you had!! You accomplished a lot for taking it easy!! Love the creepy looking HM picture. Before I scrolled down I was thinking, man in sure got dark quickly!

Looking forward to more!!

Thank you! I love that HM turned out creepy!

Argh, darn life and being away getting in the way. I missed TWO updates, both of which were fabulous. Oh my, you're a very patient nice wife to have been so calm when DH and boys showed up so late. Good for you!

If we'd been anywhere other than WDW.......

This last trip I rode Splash for the first time and I have to agree with Demetri, it's a not to be missed. So funny that Alex dipped out of the shot!

Demetri's already asking "when are we going back Mommy?" I've even caught George a few times saying "when" we go ....

Your MK day and night just sound so amazing.

Glad you didn't dance randomly on the Jungle Cruise.

You know what Alex still says once in a while with a slow point?.... "follow the green line" ! So silly!

I'm not going anywhere for a good long while now so I'm looking forward to keeping up.

My kids are back to school this week so I've been dealing with the fun stuff that goes with that. I hope to get an update done in the next day or so.

 

[Disney Princess Jenn]

Looking forward to the next update!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

woo hoo for your Disney Magic/Pixie Dust, that is so great Demetri got to drive the Jungle Cruise. He must've been on

What a great first MK day, took me enough days to get caught up.

Life still happening over here Hope all is well in Canada, noticed you changed your avatar..... so Dec 2010 in your future maybe?????

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

I was on another TR-and I just had to tell you that I love your new avatar...:santa:!

 

[jenbear123]

Loving your report so far. Also really enjoyed the trash can video! So cute how Demetri gave it a hug!!!

How did you like staying for ten sleeps in Disney? My mom and I are taking our first 9 night Disney extravaganza in April 2010. CAN'T WAIT! We always found 7 nights just never enough so we've added 2 extra nights for our next trip AND a split stay It's crazy but we can hardly wait!

Anywho, LOVE the report so far. I hope you get back into the swing of things with the kids back in school TTFN

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Looking forward to the next update!

Hey there!

woo hoo for your Disney Magic/Pixie Dust, that is so great Demetri got to drive the Jungle Cruise. He must've been on

He had fun, but I could tell he thought that's what happened on every Jungle Cruise.

What a great first MK day, took me enough days to get caught up.

Making it last... and last... and last....

Life still happening over here Hope all is well in Canada, noticed you changed your avatar..... so Dec 2010 in your future maybe?????

Cross your fingers!

I was on another TR-and I just had to tell you that I love your new avatar...:santa:!

Thanks! On the last day of our trip, there was a bounce back offer in one of our rooms... my first one! I called and was given a quote for October 2010 at POR but I didn't confirm it before we left because it wasn't the right time. Yesterday we got Mickey Mail confirming the October 2010 trip and I made a comment that we'd better check our VISA and make sure they didn't charge the deposit by mistake. George says, "Why cancel it? You don't have to do that now." Baby steps!

Loving your report so far. Also really enjoyed the trash can video! So cute how Demetri gave it a hug!!!

Push was definately a fun find!

How did you like staying for ten sleeps in Disney? My mom and I are taking our first 9 night Disney extravaganza in April 2010. CAN'T WAIT! We always found 7 nights just never enough so we've added 2 extra nights for our next trip AND a split stay It's crazy but we can hardly wait!

We went with the ten sleeps to fit in the two waterparks and DisneyQuest for the first time. Was that a good call? You'll have to wait and see

Anywho, LOVE the report so far. I hope you get back into the swing of things with the kids back in school TTFN

It's been nuts for sure but things are almost settling down. Alex started high school on Tuesday, Ariana had a new teacher to meet on Wednesay and Demetri visited his kindergarten classroom with us today. He starts JK next Thursday and is soooo excited!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Please humor my digression before continuing with our regularly scheduled programming.

On Alex’s ninth birthday, we had a big pool party bash in our backyard with about twenty or so kids. Ariana LOVES to swim, LOVES birthday parties and so she was very much included in all of the festivities interacting with all the kids and swimming and having a jolly ole time. Kids were all over the place…. coming in and out of the pool, in the tree fort, on the swings, playing badminton, wonderful chaotic fun. About half way thru, George and I ran into one another and he asks me where Ariana is. I’d been doing quick scans of the backyard keeping tabs on her throughout the party, as was George, and she was always smiling and having fun. This time however, I wasn’t finding her in my quick scan. I didn’t worry, just started focusing on everyone individually. I didn’t find her. Now I was worried.

One of the mannerisms of Ariana’s autism is running. She’s not usually running to or from anything, she just likes to run. She can go from a walk to a run instantly and she is FAST. She also has trouble communicating and although she’s much better now, she would have been hard pressed on the day of Alex’s ninth birthday party to tell anyone any information that would have brought her home. So on this day, when I couldn’t find her in our backyard that had high fences and locking gates and only one way out, I was worried. When had she gotten past us? If she had, where had she gone? And how long ago? Was my little girl, in just a little orange two piece bathing suit, running the streets? Was she darting through traffic? I wouldn’t let my thoughts get any sinister than that….. George let out a whispered “Oh my God” and rushed to his truck to drive around the neighborhood and as calmly as I could, because none of the kids knew what was going on, I started to look into the nooks and crannies of the backyard. Five very long minutes later I was still looking for her and suddenly had an urge to check at the wood pile we had behind one of our two sheds. To get to this area, you had to turn sideways and shimmy between a shed and a chain link fence. I couldn’t shimmy very well being pregnant with Demetri but I didn’t care and slowly made my way down the side of the yard. I reached the end and looked around the corner because I couldn’t actually go around the corner, and there she was. She had a piece of firewood in each hand and as soon as she saw me, she said “fire?” My sweet little girl just wanted to have a bonfire and wanted to get the wood herself. I held out my hand for her to come to me and we shimmied back through the side of the yard and I calmly led her back to the front of the house where George had zoomed off in his truck. None of the kids had an inkling of what was going on still and I was trying desperately to keep it that way. Just as I reached the driveway with Ariana in hand, George zoomed back in to call the police when he saw us from the driver’s seat. He hung his head and cried. Away from all the kids, I finally let go and did too.

Boy that turned into a long story! Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to start this update on such a somber note, but I wanted to share a little bit about what our mindset is when it comes to Ariana. Alex’s ninth birthday party was unfortunately not the last time we’ve had to experience that fear. And on this trip, George and I had wondered what she would do in Disney World if she did slip away from us. Would she just keep walking around looking at everything? Would she try to go on rides? How long before a CM would notice the GAC card on her lanyard around her neck and approach her? Ok, enough of that…. back to the update!

Today we were going to Animal Kingdom. We have a love/hate relationship with Animal Kingdom. OK, hate is too strong a word but, you know. We’re always excited to go and ride Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids and also go to see the Festival of the Lion King and Nemo the Musical…. and I always go with the intention of slowly exploring the Tree of Life and its wonderful carvings. But our four trips have all been in August/September and HOT and we just lose steam very quickly. On our previous trips we hadn’t enjoyed the parade, there are no fireworks and the animals on the safari’s tend to be sleeping. If we get to go in December 2010, I’m really, REALLY hoping we get to see a completely different side of Animal Kingdom. Anyway on this day, we went in knowing it was likely going to be a half day even with the EMH and we had no ADRs booked so we could do whatever we felt like all day long.

My lazy bones family dragged themselves out of bed, got ready and grabbed a bus to Animal Kingdom, arriving at 10:30am. ( Told you we were lazy!)

We went thru and I got my first picture of the Tree.

We were already hot and decided to hit up Kali River Rapid right away to get cooled off.

I’ve heard this ride has an amazing line with a ton of cool things to do while you’re waiting but we’ve never seen it. If the line was not too bad I was hoping to check it out, but maybe another time. On our boat, we were on with another family of which the Dad was deaf and they signed to one another. Very sweet family in the short time we hung out (haha) When we approached our first dip, everyone was slowly building up their “whoaaaaa”s until we all screamed when the water hit. Looking around, I said, “Oh! I didn’t it!” just a split second before water splashed up over where I was sitting and smack dab over my head drenching me. The entire boat, sweet family included, uproariously laughed and pointed their fingers at me as I sat there soaked. Ha! A few short minutes later (they really need to make this ride longer or let you go around twice or something) most of the boat wasn’t too badly wet except for George and I and maybe Demetri a little bit too.

Sufficiently cooled down, they boys played a little bit in the fountain while George got the stroller, and we headed towards Expedition Everest. I knew that Demetri was 43 inches bang on and that EE was 44 inches to get on, but he was so wanting to ride it this time that we were hoping his shoes would boost him up a bit (or that he’d grown an inch very quickly). We went up to the height measurement thingie and the CM told him to stand straight like a soldier and put his nose a little bit up…. but no, he was thisclose but not close enough to ride. Man was he disappointed! But Daddy soon saved the day by secretly telling him he could have an ice cream while they were waiting for us to come off and he felt a little bit better. Just a little.

Our family calls EE the “Yeti ride”. I’ve been on a lot of roller coasters in my day, but for me, the Yeti ride is the second best I can remember being on. I really love it when there’s a theme to rides. Not just jump in a roller coaster, go up a hill, loop de loop and you’re all done. Nah! While thrilling, where’s the fun?! In the perpetual looping Stacy TV back in the rooms, when she’s riding EE and reaches the point where it stops because the Yeti has ripped up the track, she puts her fingernail in her mouth, looks to the camera and says, “we seem to have run out of track”. For whatever reason we always laugh crazily when she says this and so every time we ride it, we always turn to one another and repeat the line. Then, as if it’s our first time ever, we always shout, “now what?!?” and go waaaaaaaaa! when racing backwards. Then the Yeti makes his appearance and we shout crazily again to go forward again and then stop for another Yeti appearance and then race to the finish. On this ride, we always come back to the station with ear to ear smiles, ready to go again! Whoever imagineered this ride… well done!

We came out into the dump shop and was met by this over the top cute little bobble-head guy:

Isn’t he adorable??

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[Mickey_Mom]

We met up with George and Demetri and decided we wanted to see when the next Nemo show was. We’d continued with our no Times Guide theme so we headed that direction to see what we’d find. As luck would have it, they were filing in right then and there for the next showing that was to be in five minutes.

We weren’t concerned with the seats we’d get so we parked the stroller, got in line and just walked right in no wait. More great timing! We were one of the last families in and so we ended up being split into (at first) two groups. Then two CMs were a little confused and sent two families to the same set of seats and we ended up being split into three groups. We were OK with that, luck of the draw, what have you. Alex and Demetri scored with almost front row centre seats, Ariana and I were about halfway up on the outer end of the middle section and George was up close to the top by the exit. I took a few shots without a flash and they turned out pretty decent.

We love this show. It’s so colourful and graceful. The actors/characters are wonderful and when they run into the seating area we always ooh and aah. Bruce and Crush are amazing and even the Pelican is just incredible. What wasn’t so incredible however, is what led me to tell my story at the beginning of this update. Sigh. Earlier I said when I was looking for Ariana in our backyard, it was a very long five minutes before I thought to look for her in a certain spot. Well this time, it was a very long five minutes in which I had no idea where to look.

When the show was over, Ariana and I stayed where we were and waited for all of us to come back together. In the rush of getting seated before the show started, Ariana and I were the only ones sitting in a spot all five of us had been. Meaning I had no idea where the CM had taken Alex and Demetri to, nor did I know where George ended up. So when everyone was filing out, Ariana and I let everyone go by us and we waited for George and the boys to come find us. Well, one boy found us – Alex, by himself. He approached us alone and the first thing out of my mouth was, “where’s Demetri?!” After all, they’d gone down the stairs towards their seats and George had gone up. Ariana and I were sitting on the aisle and we knew he hadn’t gone past us up to George so where the heck was he?

Alex then does nothing to calm me down by saying, “He came up to you guys.” Amongst hundreds of people still filing out of the theatre, I have a slightly elevated voice at this point when I respond, “NO HE DIDN”T!” I looked Alex dead in the eye and said, “Go find him. Now.” I went to the nearest exit with Ariana and scanned each and every person that walked out of that theatre looking for my little boy. George was no where to be found, he’d found a seat right by the exit so when the show was over he’d walked out with a view of each exit and was just waiting for us all to come out.

Alex booted it back down to where they’d been sitting and five very long minutes later, both Alex and Demetri met us at the exit door. It seems as the performers were bowing and the show was wrapping up, he asked Demetri if he could see Mommy and Ariana sitting in our seats, Demetri said yes he could and with no one in the aisles, Alex sent him up to meet us. He watched him go up the stairs and turn into what he thought was our row. He gathered his stuff together and that’s when he came up to Ariana and I saying Demetri had come to us. When I sent Alex back to where they’d been sitting, my sweet, smart little boy was there waiting. He’d misjudged who Mommy and Ariana were when he left Alex and when he couldn’t find us, he’d gone back to Alex. Except Alex wasn’t there, so he stayed in one spot and waited. Oh. My. All my preaching to my kids about what to do if they got separated from us paid off. Crisis averted.

Hmmmm, isn't the name of this update asking where two of my children had gone? Ah, I’ve only told half the story.

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[ZeroToHero]

On the edge of my seat here! And I'm doing an update too... so hopefully yours will be done by the next time I check in!

Demetri's the best - I know I wouldn't have done that at his age... in fact, I think I remember intentionally getting lost in a store once, so I could have them page my mother over the intercom.

At least I knew what to do...

 

[Mickey_Mom]

The four of us came out of the theatre and met up with George. He of course, had no idea what had happened and we filled him in on the story. Alex then went to retrieve the stroller while the rest of us got some water and crystal shakie things together, and looked over the map to see where we wanted to head next.

Soon Alex was back and we were tossing a few items in the garbage when I looked up and stopped mid sentence asking, “Where’s Ariana?” George and I often ask this question of one another, snapping our heads around to find her and usually the other says, “Right here.” She’s in our sites constantly that if we lose site of her for even a fraction of a moment, we panic. She rarely stands still, her feet are always moving, so most times we’re telling her, “Over here Ariana.” Or “Stay with me, sweetie-girl.” Or something along those lines. This time, however, when I was putting things in the garbage and asked, “Where’s Ariana?” George didn’t answer right away. In fact, he started whipping around like I was and then we were all looking for her. None of us wanted to move anywhere because we’d had absolutely no idea which direction she’d stealthly gone in.

Questions were running through my mind in split second timing. Did she go back into Nemo? Did she go back to EE? What was she wearing again? Two children lost separately within ten minutes of each other? What kind of a mother am I anyway?

Alex suddenly shouted, “I see her!” and went sprinting off in the direction we hadn’t yet gone in. By the time he’d walked her back, my heart had returned to normal and and we all just took deep breaths and decided to move on. I think I might have made a general announcement to all that we should never wander away from each other. Ever. Again. Ever. Please.

We decided our next ride would be Dinosaur. Well, the next ride for Alex, Ariana and myself would be Dinosaur.

The next adventure for Demetri would be in the Boneyard!

He’d never been before and I knew he would have a blast. So the stroller was parked in the shelter of some trees and off we went our separate ways. Geez, weren’t we supposed to be staying together? Anyway, Dinosaur was a hoot....

Rawr!!

.... and once again Alex was a riot in the ride photo.

We came out of the ride and realized immediately that it had rained. First rainstorm of the trip and we’d missed it! After our great timing seemed to have run out on us for a little while, it had come back! But wait a minute; George and Demetri were in the Boneyard. The outdoor play area. Uh-oh.

We caught up to them and George let us know it had rained pretty hard but ended almost right away so they’d had plenty of time to play. George took a few pics of him playing but then pretty much relaxed on the benches by the single exit and just watched him.

Demetri had a blast but still was overjoyed when his big brother came back.

Time for a late lunch. I’d really wanted to try the Flame Tree BBQ (and hoped that any birds left us alone) but when we got outside the restaurant, once again George chickened out (pun not intended! ) and we went in search of something else. In the end we settled on Pizzafari and I’m kinda glad we did. We really enjoyed the pizza break with the salads and deserts and just chilled. We talked about what we still wanted to do at the park and then what we’d do the rest of the day. We decided dinner and a swim back at the resort would be perfect. First however, we had a show to see that Ariana couldn’t stop talking about the entire trip.

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Ariana loves the Lion King. Easily her favorite movie, even beating out Snow White which is, of course who Ariana is in her dreams. (ha!) For months at home before our trip, Ariana had been asking us off and on to go to the Lion King Musical in NY. She loves youtube and frequently watches clips of the musical. Being on WDW buses, each time she found the Lion King advertisement and would read it intently. Her favorite companion is of course, Baby Simba and from the moment we’d arrived at Animal Kingdom, she’d been looking forward to seeing the show. So off we went and with more great timing, we walked right in with a large crowd minutes before the show started.

We were in the Warthog section.

Don’t you love the look on her face when this guy is making a warthog snort?

The show was wonderful and Ariana was transfixed the entire time. Those silly monkees!

Timon cutting a rug.

This fire guy is crazy!

When these two dancers come on, Ariana is just in heaven. She loves the lifts and I have to agree, they’re beautiful. And when she goes up and flies around... breathtaking!

Final goodbyes and we were off for a jungle trek.

We hadn’t done this before so we were hoping to actually see some animals.

Did you see the animals? Nope, neither did we. To be fair, we did see the bats, but man those are some of the ugliest things I've ever seen. Blech!

By this time we were deciding how to wrap up the day and head back to the resort. We asked the kids and decided to go on Kali River Rapid one more time, then Rafiki’s train and pack it in.

This time, every single one of us got completely soaked! Alex was giving me this look on purpose for the camera, but Demetri was completely not impressed that I made him wait to take the picture.

Something struck Ariana as particularly funny when George was drying off and she just started laughing and laughing.

We’d opted not to do It’s Tough to be a Bug, it freaks Demetri out, but along with that went the chance to explore the Tree so I was bummed about that big time. Add that to the next time list.

We headed on over to the Wildlife Express to ride the train to and from Rafiki’s Planet Watch, but we don’t actually get off the train. We just stay on it as a ride in itself.

We started our slow walk to the front of the gates and I explored the shops. I picked out gold loop earrings with a Mickey Head floating in the centre of the loops and Ariana was eyeing the “Baby” choices to go along with her Baby Simba. She wasn’t favoring any particular “Baby” and in fact was wanting a second Baby Simba so we opted to see how she might choose later in the week.

Shopping done, we walked thru the Rainforest Café. I’d really wanted to schedule a dinner reservation here but it would have been out of pocket so we decided against it. In retrospect, that worked out for the better because it was so darn loud in there we wouldn’t have been able to hear ourselves. Man! We sure had fun looking at everything though!

We headed out just before six o’clock and the bus was waiting for us to head back to the Pop.

We walked briefly thru the Pop shop before going back to the rooms and ran into this guy.

Hello! I am Dug and I love you!

Back to the rooms before dinner and Demetri’s bunny had a new friend.

No need to worry, we separated them for the rest of the trip and we managed to still have only two bunnies before heading home!

It was now six thirty and it was a perfect time to go for a swim and have a late dinner.

Next Update: Teppan Edo... Crap!

 

[ZeroToHero]

Hahaha!!!!! Did you not like Teppan Edo?

Or does the Crap refer to something else about it?



I always seem to post in between updates...so then I have to post again at the end of them! I'm sorry!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

On the edge of my seat here! And I'm doing an update too... so hopefully yours will be done by the next time I check in!

Demetri's the best - I know I wouldn't have done that at his age... in fact, I think I remember intentionally getting lost in a store once, so I could have them page my mother over the intercom.

At least I knew what to do...

Did your mother kill you!?

Hahaha!!!!! Did you not like Teppan Edo?

Or does the Crap refer to something else about it?



I always seem to post in between updates...so then I have to post again at the end of them! I'm sorry!

Didn't think of that when I wrote it. It definately refers to something else about it!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

GREAT update Glad the kids were only lost for a short period, though I know short periods of lost children can feel like hours as I often find myself running in two different directions when my kids wonder, they can't wonder in the same direction

Bummed you didn't eat at Flame Tree, but Pizzafari sounds good too.

Can't wait to see what happens next.......

 

[mickeystoontown]

Holy smokes! I don't see how you stayed as calm as you did when you had not one but two children get lost in such a short period of time. Just when you think your children never listen to you, they do something that you've pounded into their heads.......stay put and wait for somebody to come get you. That's what I told our kids too.

We never have a real plan when we tour the Animal Kingdom either. Well, I take that back, we know that we need to get Fastpasses for Expedition Everest and go on the safari early in the day. But, other than that, we just kinda go with the flow too.

It looks like your love/hate relationship with the Animal Kingdom worked okay this trip. Like you said, you can always do the things you missed on your next trip.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[jenjolt]

Holy Moly...I don't have children of my own but after 11 years in childcare (started when I was 16) losing a kid is a very scary experience!! You handled it perfectly and it speaks highly of your parenting that Demetri listened and when back to the spot he was and stayed waiting for you guys!!!

I just love your attitude that you know what we didn't get to something this time we'll just have to do it next time (don't you just love having a next time LOL)

Your pictures of the FOTLK were amazing!! I haven't seen this show yet but I'm so seeing it in a couple of weeks I can't wait!! Thank you for posting those!!

 

[Happydog]

Okay, I have caught up now!!!

Finished MK day -- YOU GUYS WERE EVERYWHERE!!! buzz buzz buzz! Lots of great rides in and seems like a lot of fun was had by all, and you know I have never been to Columbia House either, but I hear it is good!!

You are really an excellent shot with that camera!! Nice photos of the fireworks, and "surprise" Spectro!

BUT in the AK, your photos of Nemo and FOTLK were fantastic!

Your day at AK looks wonderful too! Isn't Kali the best way to beat the heat??!! We were PRAYING to get soaked when we were there!! It was the best "cooling system" we could ask for!

Looking forward to Epcot dinner!! Never been to Teppan Edo!!

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Well the best I guess you can say for lost children is that when everyone is back together it does make a good story...

I think that I would have been gravitating between...trying to stay calm and collected on the outside and feeling hysterical on the inside...



The story of Ariana being lost when she was younger at Alex's 9th b-day...also a big... (One of the things with kids anywhere on the spectrum is that they are really so very trusting...they usually don't have a mean bone in their bodies...they assume everyone is like that as well...David assumes that everyone is well intentioned -until proven otherwise-wish that were true...)


So glad everyone finally got back together...

EE so fun-just did it for the first time...-sorry for Demetri-He's sure to make it next time...

Love Dino-too-scream like a baby on it...

Um...other the the trauma of losing Demetri-I'm glad you liked Nemo-I like it too-some people seem not to, I wonder if they thought it would be just like Lion King-both different, both excellent...

Looks like you guys took it on the chin...second time around on Kali-it's pretty easy to get soaked...

I love that Ariana loves Lion King so much...it makes you feel great as a parent when they find something that blissed them out that much...