Let's face it, this trip can't be any worse than the last one! **New 11/14, PG 2**

[MommyMX3]

Hi everyone! My name is Sara, and I'm a newbie around here. This is my first PTR, and I'm super excited for our first extended WDW vacation! A little about my family, I'm a mommy to three wonderful (most of the time...) kiddos, Landon (5), Abby (3), and Grace (1), and wife to Scotty. I'm a full time student in what feels like my 10th year in college for Geography and City planning.

Our first trip to the World was addictive and not nearly long enough (only 1 day!), and I had a need to go back. We spent 10 days driving from our home in the frozen North the day after Christmas to Florida and back to visit my dad and his family and took one day, New Years Eve, to spend in the world. Now, travelling for 8 days at that point with three young kids, we were all exhausted, and the night before we arrived, I wound up with sick with a fever, my best guess from the lack of down time from the 7 days before.

Having spent the first 8 years of my life or so being told by my biological mother (I'm adopted, but we had contact until I was 10) that we would go next year, but next year never came, I was not about to let a measly old fever stop this day from happening. I packed my purse full of Ibuprofen and felt like I was going to die all day, but we did it, and I cried the whole time.

Kids see the castle (cry), meet Rapunzel (cry), teacups (cry), Jack Sparrow talks to baby (cry), the least emotional things all day (cry). Maybe it was the fever talking, but still.

That was the inspiration for my scheming to get the hubby to agree. We haven't ever really taken a "big" vacation especially one without kids, other than visiting family, so I started hinting. I would leave the website up, or mention a trip for just us. So when the free dining promo showed up for September, I went in for the kill... Out of knowhere, he actually agreed.

We're all set and booked for POR and all the ADRs done... Babysitters found for the kiddos, and the hubby and I are off! 44 days and counting until the crying starts all over, atleast with my luck. Hope you enjoy reading about our new adventures!

 

[BearcatsFan]

to the DIS!

I'll be reading.

 

[shalom]

Welcome to the Dis!

Wow, a trip with just your hubby -- where's the green-with-envy smilie?

Just in case it wasn't the fever, you should invest in a Disney hankie for the tears. Then when you get back, you can hang it up and call it your Disney Memory Catcher.

 

[MommyMX3]

Thanks guys! @BearcatsFan-Love the username! We're big UC fans, when UofM isn't on! (FIL graduated UC BS Engineering '78.) In that case, its Go Blue around here

 

[BearcatsFan]

Thanks guys! @BearcatsFan-Love the username! We're big UC fans, when UofM isn't on! (FIL graduated UC BS Engineering '78.) In that case, its Go Blue around here

Thank you! Glad to see another UC fan, albeit part-time. Whereabouts in the Mitten are you? We have a good friend who used to live up in the UP.

 

[MommyMX3]

Thank you! Glad to see another UC fan, albeit part-time. Whereabouts in the Mitten are you? We have a good friend who used to live up in the UP.

We're from West Michigan, near the pinkie if you will

 

[MommyMX3]

So, We’ve been back for about, oh a day, and I have a need to get this all out of my head and down so I don’t forget anything much. It was a hectic weekend leading up to leaving, between coordinating babysitters and cleaning house for house guests, and then all the crazy things that go along with vacations, it was a little intense.

My niece Rae was coming to watch the kids the night before we left so they could stay home with us as long as possible. I was running around frantically packing the odds and ends, and making lists, trying to finish as much homework as possible, while DH sat on his butt watching our Wolverines. Apparently he was already on vacation. Sadly, they lost, by like ten thousand. I was less than enthused by the lack of help and DH was mad about the loss. This would be a great way to start the trip.

Finally, it was about 10:30, and time to *try* and sleep. We had to be up at 3:30 to make it to the airport by 5. It was the hardest thing for me to leave that morning. I couldn’t leave my babies. Especially the Baby, Grace. I think I snuck in her room about 10 times before DH decided it was time to drag me out of the house. Our flight left GRR at 6:30, and DH slept almost the whole way to ATL. The flight wasn’t so bad, easy ride, no turbulence. We had an hour and a half to kill in Atlanta before our connection, so we thought Dunkin Donuts would be a good choice. So did everybody else. We settled on our first meal of the trip…. Poptarts! They kind of count as food…

So finally we get called to board, and being only the second ever flight of my life, perhaps I am misguided when it comes to flying. My thought is that people should follow the rules for carry-on baggage. When the size of an allowed carry-on bag is clearly stated, bigger bags should be checked, am I right? Nope. On this full flight, people had carry-ons the size of my checked luggage full of a week’s worth of things for two people AND an extra bag crammed in there to bring home anything else we bought. It just seems a little ridiculous to me… I digress.

So flight goes as planned, no monsters on the wing or anything, and we didn’t need those oxygen masks the flight attendants seemed so enthusiastic about. We land, and collect our luggage, and head off to the rental car counter. Now, I’m completely a proponent of public transportation, but I really didn’t want to take any chances of missing our early morning reservations, and we weighed taxi options with renting, and between the two, the rental car was the option for us.

We arrived at the Enterprise counter, with our reservation for something similar to our car at home, a Ford Fusion. Check in, pay, go pick it up. When we walk over to pick it up, the guy (of course!) offers us an upgrade at a reduced “manager’s special rate.” Being the budget conscious consumers we are, of course we said no… Until he offered up a Mustang convertible. So our guy radios up to the guy to bring one down. The only problem is, they don’t have any left. Like an instinct, the guy recognizes he’s losing the upgrade, and instantly offers up a Camero. Not only was it a Camero, it was a 2013 convertible with less than 5000 miles on it.

Now, DH is completely a Ford guy all the way, but there was no way he was about to pass this up. We dot the I’s and cross all the t’s, and head out of the parking garage. The rental car guy had previously given the warning that “she’s not a space ship, she’s a car, treat her good.” So DH and I begin cruising down the highway to the World, and almost get run off the road less than 5 minutes in by a ME bus. DH claims he didn’t see the merge sign, but I’m not sure I believe that. I think he just wanted to get in front of the bus. That drama aside, we arrived to our next destination:
Port Orleans Riverside.

I'm only a little excited... Can you tell?
So upon arrival, we check in and get everything scored away to check out our room.
Just because NO ONE on here has ever seen this before

I had to play with the fiberoptics. They made for a good nightlight while trying to get around in the dark

We got things taken care of in the room, changed out of our cold weather gear and into some Florida clothes, headed off to get our mugs and let the camera battery charge for a while before heading off to our final destination of the evening.

Where would this pretty red rocket take us?? Tune in next time!!

 

[shalom]

Wow, that is quite the car!

I had to play with the fiberoptics. They made for a good nightlight while trying to get around in the dark

I'd seen pics of the new rooms but hadn't seen the fiberoptics yet. What fun!

Riverside is our first choice should we ever stay moderate (which is to say, should there ever be few of us going we'd fit in one room!).

First monsters of the wing of the plane, and then the rental guy telling you it's "not a space ship" -- pretty s-f post, there!

 

[MommyMX3]

Thanks for reading! The best is yet to come

 

[heatherlekay]

Great tr so far! I'm following along on your journey!

 

[MommyMX3]

Thanks for reading!

 

[MommyMX3]

Since it was our first time being in control of the convertible top, I believe this week I uttered more times than was necessary the phrase “drop it like its hot.” In my defense, it was hot, and it was much cooler riding with it down than up with the air on. We cruised down the road, and finally arrived to the first (and most important) destination: my happy place, The Magic Kingdom.

That bench was HOT!

We arrived just in time to catch the end of the Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it parade, and DH was awed to see Abu and Jafar. Our first stop was to get our Photopass+ card. The CM working had no clue what I was giving her (the voucher) and wasn’t sure what to do with it. :-\ Another helped her and we got it remedied rather quickly. Next we stopped in to Le Chapeau to get him a hat, since he had been insistent before we left that he would not need his sunglasses. Being a loving wife, I chose to respect his wishes and didn’t pack them. Or perhaps I left him to suffer his own choice. You decide



Moving along, we had received the FastPass+ cards a week or two earlier, and made our choices. First up: Space Mountain.

Now, I must say, being the thorough planner that I am, I did my research on rides, restaurants, shows, EVERYTHING. DH had no clue what he was in for. We walk in, have a little problem with his card, it wouldn’t read. So the CM at the entrance gave us one to show if there was a problem. No problem, it read right, and we were on in less than 5 minutes. The standby time was I think 45 minutes at that point. We are seated in our rocket, I guess, and discovered one of my favorite rides. DH, however, HATED it. He claimed it was the worst ride of his life, and freaked him out beyond belief. I was rather amused by this. The guy who will ride any rollercoaster, (for those familiar) he’s rode everything at Cedar Point and would willingly do them all again. Except Space Mountain. Following the Mountain, we did Stitch’s Great Escape, and we both wouldn’t do that again, except for the kids. If they had to, I guess.

Our next stop was for dinner. We had an ADR for the Crystal Palace. We figured when we made all of our ADRs that we weren’t planning on stopping for meet and greets, so we would just do a few character meals. We had a great server, Gustavo, and an okay meal. At this point, I hadn’t remembered to take pictures of our food, and this would be a struggle the rest of the week. We do get better at it though. Before we had finished our meal, we did get to see Piglet. DH was wearing his Ferris State shirt, and Piglet pointed it out. DH kept asking if Piglet went there. He didn’t get it, that Piglet lives in the 100 Acre Wood, and didn’t go to college, another recurring theme. Piglet then caught a glimpse of my wedding rings, and decided that we had just gotten married. Not quite, but I’m not about to argue with the little guy. He’s just too cute. So Piglet poses us, and we get I think one of the most interesting character pictures of our trip.

After we finished, we still hadn’t seen the others, but we didn’t feel like waiting since they had just gone off for the parade(?) or something, so we left. We weren’t outside for a minute when they went right back to where we had been sitting, and DH tried to get me to go back in, but I said no, and off we went to Adventureland.

Once we got to Adventureland, it was a pirate’s life for me.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and eventually would go back to see it again. I loved the ceiling in the ship room. I still don’t get how they made it look so real. I guess it’s just that Disney Magic at work

We had some time to kill before our next FastPass+, so we headed off to a dream of mine, every since I heard the song on a Disney cd I got in the 7th grade. The Enchanted Tiki Room. And for the first time this trip, I cried. To be completely honest, I expected to be a hot mess from the moment the plane touched down, but hey, the Tiki Room did me in.

Our next FastPass+ was about ready, so we headed to the Jungle Cruise. We had a really enthusiastic tour guide, Kaylee. She was either a really good actress, or she REALLY enjoyed her job.

Look, its the Jungle Book!

Since the walkway through the castle was open, and it hadn’t been on our last trip, I was dying to walk through it. Amazing. I loved the mosaics, and couldn’t wait for our breakfast there later this trip.

We eventually arrived at Winnie the Pooh, a favorite from the last trip. It was really different getting to experience this without having the kids on my lap and primarily focusing on them. I think it will continue to be one of my favorites.

Next we moved on to do what in my opinion is the epitome of Disney World rides: It’s a Small World. DH flat out refuses to ever do it again. I would, but only for the kids. It truly is a once in a lifetime experience. You only ever need to do it once.

DH was happy before it started...

We attempted to use our FastPass+ at the next attraction: Spalsh Mountain. Unfortunaly, it was down at this time, so we moved the time back to 9-10. We had time, why not, right?

Moving on, we went to our last location for the FastPass+, the Haunted Mansion. Now, I realize it wasn’t supposed to be a “haunted house” per se, but I was kind of expecting to be a little more spooked than I was. There was a lot of laughing. Maybe that’s because I’m older than 6, or maybe it’s because I knew it wasn’t real. Not sure, but it was still fun.

Now, in my original planning, I didn’t think the MSEP was supposed to be that night, but I wasn’t at all disappointed that it was. I had been planning on watching it later in the week, but it would save us from hopping to Epcot for dinner and back later on. All I really wanted to see was the “Hookah Smokin’ Caterpillar” and I did. Shortly thereafter, the camera battery died.

After the parade, we went back to Splash but it was still down. We opted to wander back up front, or at least closer to for Wishes. Now here comes the drama.

I found a spot just behind a family with a young child not in a walkway next to a tree and near the Crystal Palace where we could both see most of the show and the castle. Just as the show starts and Tinkerbell flies across the sky, DH decides we can move forward and get closer. GENIUS. He starts walking, and I try and explain that he can’t stop, it’s a walkway. CMs keep telling people to keep moving, and don’t stop. Common sense, right? So we keep going, and he’s trying to take pictures with the for-whatever-reason-is-now-working camera. I keep going, he keeps getting told to keep going. Finally, we’re halfway up Main Street and he says, here, let’s stop here. Great idea, DH, but I refuse to stop directly in front of a family with small kids in the stroller. I keep going. We are now ¾ the way up Main Street, and there is a gap large enough we won’t be blocking anyone and its out of traffic. We catch the last 3 minutes or so of fireworks, and DH feels guilty that he made me miss most of it.

I allow him to wallow in it until we get on the tram back to the beautiful Camero. By the time we get there, I do feel bad about being mad, but he didn’t plan this trip, I did, and he should have the common sense to know that I know what I am doing. He did learn from this, that he should just listen to me and follow directions, so we did make some ground that evening Finally, by about 10:30 and two wrong turns taking us to DD, we wind up back where we started at the POR. After being up for almost 20 hours, we both passed out within minutes, alarm set bright and early for 6:45am.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Kids see the castle (cry), meet Rapunzel (cry), teacups (cry), Jack Sparrow talks to baby (cry), the least emotional things all day (cry). Maybe it was the fever talking, but still.

OMG, you are me! It wasn't the fever... Last trip even the Hall of Presidents made me cry. I've become a total disney wuss, I don't cry in real life, just there.

 

[MommyMX3]

OMG, you are me! It wasn't the fever... Last trip even the Hall of Presidents made me cry. I've become a total disney wuss, I don't cry in real life, just there.

Glad to know I'm not the only one! Thanks for reading!

 

[MelMel11]

Count me in!!!

 

[bluejasmine]

Love the start!!!!!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[shalom]

Next we stopped in to Le Chapeau to get him a hat, since he had been insistent before we left that he would not need his sunglasses. Being a loving wife, I chose to respect his wishes and didn’t pack them. Or perhaps I left him to suffer his own choice. You decide

I call toss ups like that "Loving Wife Logic." Did I do it because he deserves to be allowed to make his own stupid choices since he's a grown up, or did I do it to let him learn from the consequences -- even I don't know, but either way, my choice is clear!

DH kept asking if Piglet went there. He didn’t get it, that Piglet lives in the 100 Acre Wood, and didn’t go to college, another recurring theme.

I am hoping that my 12 yo (who has always hated costumed characters) does not spend the entire trip muttering, "That's just a guy in a stupid costume." She's a big reason this is our first family trip to the parks. *sigh*

By the time we get there, I do feel bad about being mad, but he didn’t plan this trip, I did, and he should have the common sense to know that I know what I am doing.

Some people just can't help themselves, I swear. We've been traveling long enough (not to mention married long enough!) that hubby knows full well that, if I have done some research, things go better when we follow the plan. And he freely admits this -- after the fact or when we're not facing a choice. It does seem like it's only once per trip we go through that anymore. I think it's that I'm normally willing to explain my reasoning "on the fly", but when we're on vacation I feel like there's a time crunch, and I'm all "my way or the highway." So the first time I flatly state, "the time for discussing this was before we got here," he's kind of thrown, then after that he gets in the groove.

 

[MommyMX3]

Count me in!!!

Thanks! Glad to have you along!! Hope you enjoy reading!

 

[MommyMX3]

Love the start!!!!!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Thanks for joining along! Hope you enjoy it!

 

[MommyMX3]

I call toss ups like that "Loving Wife Logic." Did I do it because he deserves to be allowed to make his own stupid choices since he's a grown up, or did I do it to let him learn from the consequences -- even I don't know, but either way, my choice is clear!

Love it! I think I may have to use that in the future!

:
I am hoping that my 12 yo (who has always hated costumed characters) does not spend the entire trip muttering, "That's just a guy in a stupid costume." She's a big reason this is our first family trip to the parks. *sigh*

The good news is, by the end of the trip, he was getting used to talking to the characters and not the people portraying them. Hope it works out for your 12yo!

:


Some people just can't help themselves, I swear. We've been traveling long enough (not to mention married long enough!) that hubby knows full well that, if I have done some research, things go better when we follow the plan. And he freely admits this -- after the fact or when we're not facing a choice. It does seem like it's only once per trip we go through that anymore. I think it's that I'm normally willing to explain my reasoning "on the fly", but when we're on vacation I feel like there's a time crunch, and I'm all "my way or the highway." So the first time I flatly state, "the time for discussing this was before we got here," he's kind of thrown, then after that he gets in the groove.

DH did eventually learn that his DW knows best, and that a happy wife means a happy trip.