The I waited too long to write our trip report REPORT. Final Updates & TRIP VIDEO up!

[TheDisneyBunch]

Yeah, not the first time I have done that. I think I am so sad when we come home from Disney that I can't bring myself to write out the report. Then, this happens... I wait so long, get ready to share and realize I don't remember enough of the day by day info to do a full report!

I have been browsing the boards a lot over the last few days and have taken a look at several other trip reports so it really made me want to share at least a little bit of one with you guys!

I have a ton of pics from our trip that I'd love to share so I will use this thread to post those. A picture is worth 1000 words, right? Lets hope so because I don't have 1000 words for you right now.



A little info---

Who-
ME-Amanda-Mom-Wife-Disney Fanatic, Photography nut and collector of way too much!
DH-Chris-Daddy-Husband and big kid at heart!
DS-Ethan- My little man and lover of all things Disney and a HUGE Star Wars fan.
DS-Landon- My "baby" boy. 4 year old struggling with autism but a total joy in life!


When- Mid November 2010

Where- This was a 3 Resort stay trip!
Port Orleans Riverside (3 days)
Disney Boardwalk Villas (5 days)
Animal Kingdom Villas (2 days)




So we have the basics out of the way so on to the report and pics!


Here is the video from the trip for those who would like to watch without browsing the whole thread to find the link.

http://youtu.be/Eqoi7bjhdmE

 

[mickeystoontown]

Looking forward to seeing your pics!

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

So, as I said, we were staying in 3 different resorts this trip. This was the first time we had done this and were a little nervous about it shortening the trip but also excited at the same time to try a couple of places we had not tried before.

It turned out great! We loved all of the resorts! We had the BEST luck with getting great rooms at all three. Seriously, great views, great locations, etc. We could not have been happier. I am worried we are spoiled now though.


A little back info---

My youngest son is autistic. Luckily he is high functioning but we still have daily struggles with him. We took him to Disney with us as an infant but in the two years following he stayed behind with the grandparents as we (and his therapists) were worried it would be just too much for him to take in. Then, in 2009 we decided to take him with us as he seemed to be at a place where he might enjoy the trip. No such luck! He did not care for it at all. By the last day he did start to come around and we were thrilled but then it was time to come home. After coming home I decided to make a photo/video montage of our trip. He LOVED watching it. He asked daily to watch it and seemed more and more interested in all things Disney. Over last summer he made a HUGE amount of progress (started talking, handling situations better, etc) so we decided after much talk to try and take him again. So, the trip was planned! Ethan and Landon were both really excited. It was the most excited I had seen Ethan about a trip thus far. It was great and we had a blast planning it out.

MUCH to our surprise it was one of our BEST trips ever! The weather was awesome throughout the entire trip. We had always gone in Sept/early Oct in the past and it had been SO HOT! Mid November weather was amazing. I will never want to go in Sept again! The kids had a BLAST during the whole trip. We had so many special moments on this trip that we will always remember. For about 85% of the time you would not have had any idea that Landon struggled with autism at all. It was wonderful. Nothing compares to watching the joy in your children's eyes when they are truly amazed by something!

Here is just one little clip that melts my heart! This was our very night there and we were in the MK to watch Wishes. He was in awe! I had tears just listening to him. Then, at the end I look down at Ethan who also has the most amazed look on his face. He has seen Wishes several time but still has that look on his face. It brings the biggest smile to my face.


Amazed by Wishes!


Many pics to come!!!

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

As I said, I have TONS of pics to share. I will try to narrow them as much as possible as I don't want the thread to take 30 minutes just to open them all up!

The timing here was great! He was just hanging out while we were talking about what to do next and I turned to look that way. I thought he looked so cute standing there with his balloon so I snapped a couple of shots during which time the fireworks went off.

This is a ride the boys ADORE! They have so much fun on the teacups. They both start spinning and laughing! You can't help but smile when they are having so much fun... even if you are !

One of my favorite things to photograph!! I love shots of people on Dumbo. I tried so hard to get the perfect shot of them but I never got exactly what I was going for. haha I want to get them totally in the shot, slightly above me and with the castle behind them. Ah well, I tried and I still love these few.

more to come.

 

[rndmr2]

That Wishes video is precious, I also watched the montage video you have posted over there and you did a good job with it, your boys are so cute! Can't wait to see more pics and hear more about your trip.

ETA: I just saw your post above, you must have posted while I was watching the video! Great pics so far!

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

That Wishes video is precious, I also watched the montage video you have posted over there and you did a good job with it, your boys are so cute! Can't wait to see more pics and hear more about your trip.

ETA: I just saw your post above, you must have posted while I was watching the video! Great pics so far!

Aww, thanks so much! I appreciate the nice words!

More pics to come.

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

These pics have been loaded so randomly! Excuse my jumping around with them.


I was trying to snap some shots the Electrical parade one night when I looked over and saw the boys sitting there just LOVING the whole thing. They were waving and smiling at everyone. I stopped and realized that THAT is what I should be photographing so I got behind them and snagged a few. They are so blurry but I absolutely love them!

Here are a few I did get of the parade itself during the two times we watched it that night.

waiting...

More to come!

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

This board moves so fast! I was almost on page 3.


Getting some more pics ready to upload in just a few.

 

[Sooze]

Your pictures are amazing!!! Can you share how the edges got rounded? Is that something you did on your photo-site? Or something you did before you uploaded them? I love how it gives an 'old school' feel to the pictures.

Beautiful boys, too! I'll be waiting for more pictures!

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

Your pictures are amazing!!! Can you share how the edges got rounded? Is that something you did on your photo-site? Or something you did before you uploaded them? I love how it gives an 'old school' feel to the pictures.

Beautiful boys, too! I'll be waiting for more pictures!

Thank you so much!

I do the rounded edges in photoshop before loading them online. If you use photoshop I'd be glad to give you the link where you can get the action to run on your photos.

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

We have stayed at Riverside Several times so I did not take as many photos of the room there as I typically would b/c I figured we had them all already.

I did take one of the boys playing with the Mr Potato Head before the went to sleep one night.

I did take several of the Boardwalk Villas since it was out first time there. We really loved it there. It is my favorite Disney Resort. We could not have asked for a much better view. We were right near the elevator on the 5th floor. I was stunned when I walked into the room and saw the view. Seriously, I was in love!

It was night time when we got to our room so I waited until the next day to get better pictures but I do have this one from the night we checked in.

and then these...

The boys having a quick bite to eat on the balcony. They loved eating out there.

The View was awesome during the day and during the night!

and who does not love the Bakery?

Next up ---

Our visit to Sci-Fi and a some Animal Kingdom Villas Pics.

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

We had wanted to try Sci-Fi on every single trip we have been on but it just never seemed to work out so we finally got around to going. The kids really seemed to enjoy the experience although I was a little bummed that we were sitting right beside the entrance with everyone coming in right beside and in front of our car. It pulled from the feel just a bit but we still really enjoyed it.
We just had the basic burgers here which were good.

At one point I look back at Landon while he is watching the old clips and this was the look I saw on his face...

We spent 2 nights at AKV. This was our first time trying this resort as well. We checked in and were given our room pretty quickly. We were staying in Kidani Village. Our room was about 5 rooms down from the lobby so that was very convenient. We really loved the room as well as the view. Going over every morning/night to check and see which animals were out was so much fun. One moment I will always remember is the first night we were there we came back after a night at Epcot and Ethan heads over to look out on the balcony. We had not really seen animals out there when we had checked in that day so he was hoping he might see something that night. He steps out onto the balcony and I hear him SQUEEL "momma, there is a GIRAFFE right here". I thought he must be kidding so I went over to look and sure enough there was a giraffe right at our balcony. He was SO CLOSE! It was quite cool. That moment made the whole stay there well worth it. It was great. We also really enjoyed the pool and jacuzzi area here. We spent both nights out there and it was wonderful. There was another couple out there and we all sat out there one night until almost 2am!!

My ONE complaint with AKV... the bus service was so slow! One day we waited for 40 minutes for a MK bus and missed our lunch reservation at Liberty Tree. We saw every other bus go through 3 times at least while waiting on that MK bus.


Here are some pics of our room/view there.

More to come in a bit.

 

[ChattaAlley]

Loving your photos.....Great job. Your boys are adorable.

 

[407-W-DISNEY]

Hi! Your boys are adorable! looks like they had a fantastic time...great pics as well....love the rounded edges...gives it a neat look.
can't wait to see/read more!

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

Loving your photos.....Great job. Your boys are adorable.

Hi! Your boys are adorable! looks like they had a fantastic time...great pics as well....love the rounded edges...gives it a neat look.
can't wait to see/read more!

YAY! Welcome! Thank you both so much for the compliments. I wish I could remember the day by day info to give a more in depth report but I thought this was better than nothing.

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

New pics are loading. I need to push this to page two so page one does not have SOOO many on it.

 

[Sooze]

You have inspired me to take more pictures of my kids' reactions to things!! I just love the shot of your boys on the balcony from behind. It really captures what YOU see, not just what they are seeing!

 

[Rayvn]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

Leslie

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

You have inspired me to take more pictures of my kids' reactions to things!! I just love the shot of your boys on the balcony from behind. It really captures what YOU see, not just what they are seeing!

I love doing that. I definitely recommend stopping to just capture reactions. I actually feel like I don't do it enough some times. I wish I had more video footage of them on rides. I got some last year but I'd love to get more. It is some of my favorite footage.

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

Leslie

Thanks for dropping in.

 

[lbuzz52]

Great pictures! I especially love the one behind your boys at MSEP.
Thanks for sharing!