saraschoening
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2014
I think that your writing is wonderful, beautiful family by the way!!
“They gave us an extra trash basket!” A Surprise Trip 6 day POR. Nov and Dec 2014. Updated 2/8
- Thread starter Nazran
- Start date
Nazran
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2007
Yes I think there is a limit to the amount of 5 Hour energy and for me it is 3!
I was amazed at the greenery of POR!
Thank you!
I will hopefully get another post up tonight!
Thank you . I am truly blessed!
Nazran
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2007
Walking Up!
So here we are walking up to Port Orleans Riverside! I should be exhausted! I was up all night driving, but I was feeling nothing but happiness! All of the Christmas decorations were amazing. (Christmas decorations are a big deal in my house)
I was pleasantly surprised to see Birdie. I had read a lot about this sweet man but had no idea if he worked on weekends. Well he was there today. He was chatting with some guests but I could tell he was on the lookout for children it seemed. I was carrying Mattie across the little street from the parking lot because there were a lot of buses at the moment. As we approached the doors he made a beeline to us and handed Mattie and Nathan a stack of stickers which Mattie was happy to take!
So we walked in an two things amazed me. First how crazy busy it was in the lobby. It was about 10:30AM on Saturday. Not sure if that was families checking in or checking out or both or the holidays. The second amazing thing was...
What a tree!
Checking In!
I had opted to do the Online Check In from the internet. I forget exactly the pros and cons about online checkin now but even though I had a metric ton of research on what building I wanted in Alligator Bayou I think I ultimately figured since it was my first trip there I didn't really care about the building location because I knew that A) we had the van so bus service was not a worry B) I knew we would not be doing breakfast at food court as we were going to be eating in room. I think I ended up asking for a first floor room as I did not want to carry bags up stairs. I am glad I decided to do it because there was one person in line at the online check in and a really long line of at least 20 waiting in the regular check in line.
What WAS I Celebrating?!
Check In was my first experience with a Disney Cast Member in person besides Birdie. I don't remember her name but she was really good. Very sweet. She pulled my reservation up and asked me very matter-of-factly. "What are you celebrating?" I said "umm I don't know?... my Birthday was last week?" She told me "Happy Birthday!" then lead me on with.. "Any anniversary's, honeymoon's, etc?" I had nothing... It all made sense when a moment later she handed me 5 My First Visit pins and a It's My Birthday pin.
She let me know that the room was not ready ( We were 4 hours before check in time
) but that I would be texted when it was. I was given all of my documentation and I went over to a window seat where Jen was keeping the kids busy.
Mattie started to make good use of the stickers Birdie gave her.
Exploring Port Orleans!
Port Orleans is a very pretty resort. I felt the immersion factor and with a small amount of imagination I felt like I was transported back in time to the deep south. I had seen so many of the structures in other s photos it was really cool to finally see them up close!
Jen taking a photo of me taking a photo!
We decided to head over to the bridges that go to the Waterwheel and then over to O'l Man Island.
We got to the Water Wheel and took a few photos
The Most Uncomfortable Moment of Trip!
OK so here we are about to turn around and head back down this ramp from water wheel when I heard someone yelling. A family was coming up the ramp towards us. Fast moving angry yelling Father in front, followed by embarrassed preteen girl, older teenage boy looking down at his phone while walking, and a very sad looking mother who was trying to stop crying.
Michael like a lot of kids on the spectrum will 'stem'. In his case that means there is a lot of walking around in sort of random small circles with an action figure or something in his hands, he will make some some noises and talk to himself. In his head a great adventure or important battle is happening where he is guiding this action figure through it. To an outsider most of the time he is someone not paying attention and in his way.
Of course Mattie is three and always in someones way. Well when I saw this very angry animated man storming up the walkway I thought to myself 'I need to get the kids out of his way'. They were near railing by water wheel and I was on the other side. I quickly shot across and rangled Michael and Mattie to the railing but at that moment Nathan darted across back in front of this guy. He had to stop short of tripping on Nathan. He let the world know that Nathan had further ruined his day by letting out a "G.D.M.F'r" in front of my kids.
I try not to judge people nor am I very prone to jump in to anyone's personal family business. There was a time maybe ten years ago I would have reacted VERY badly to this but I just apologized loudly as he kept on walking and advised Nathan to make sure he was not running out in front of people. His daughter and son walked past and then his wife. Through tears she said "I am sorry about that" or something similar.
By this time, Angry man had made it to the turn (you can see it in picture above) and he stopped to wait on his family with a loud "Come ON!". The daughter was there in a sec and son 5 seconds later. The son never stopped looking at his phone. When the son got close to the father at the turn I heard. "And You with this F'ng phone!" He then open handed punch/pushed his sons shoulder and it caused him to drop the phone. His wife erupted at this point yelling at him to 'Stop ruining everyone's day!" and "You look like an A'hole". Father was already storming around the other side of the building with family in tow.
Jennifer mouthed "WOW!' at me and Nathan had no idea what was going on and asked why he was so mad. I told him I didn't know. At the time I made a half hearted joke about "The Happiest Place on the Earth", but later decided to ask God to give him grace and patience.
A Little More Resort Exploring...
We headed back over the big bridge to Ol' Man Island. The pool was pretty awesome although for some reason I thought it would be bigger. The kids asked if they could swim and I said sure, when we come back from a break at the parks one day we would go. We brought swim suits for all of us.
We walked around and ended up at some hammocks.
We continued walking until we got to the little outdoor bar at the pool. I decided to turn us around because we had not checked out the gift shop. So we hiked back to the lobby and went in to gift shop.
Mattie loves Chip n Dale. Sadly every meet n greet or appearance they were already gone by the time we got there!
Jennifer wanted some of these charm bracelets but even she thought they were too expensive. We had to save our meager souvenir budget. (or at least that was the plan)
Jennifer had me take a photo so that her matching Minnie Mouse fingernails were displayed!
Your Room is Ready!
About this time ( a whole 40 minutes later ) we got the text the room was ready. I had some ideas about which buildings I would like to stay in. I didn't whip the check in lady with building requests. I was booked on the standard room so I expected to get a parking lot view.
We were upgraded a bit by to a Garden View. Building 38 room 3801. First Floor. I was excited we got a small upgrade and that first floor because at my size unpacking our massive travel load of luggage and toting it upstairs had very little appeal.
In my mind I really didn't care where the building was as I had said already because I had my own transportation and given my families general tardiness and the fact I wanted to make rope drop on multiple days I knew we would not be going to the food court.
We purchased three autograph books at the gift shop and loaded back in to the van to go find our room. I looked at the map and saw where 38 was located so we drove around. When we got there I had to park fairly far away from room buildings in the back of the lot. The last section we were in was packed with cars.
So as we walked to building 38. While I am a die hard NASCAR fan now I had played many a football game and was remarking in my head that the distance from back of parking lot to room was over 100 yards easily. I was right it is about 150 yards.
We opted to just get out of van and walk to room to check it out first. We did not have to be at Epcot until our first Fastpass and 3:20pm. It was barely noon. I didn't get a lot of pictures of the room because we would probably mess it up in 30 minutes. We were greeted with a towel Mickey. At this point I explained what hidden Mickey's were and sent the kids looking around the room.
The pull down murphy style bed was tucked up but you could see some white sheet sticking out. It had a handle and after a while Nathan couldn't figure out what it was he asked. I explained to him without pulling it down is that it was where he would sleep. I could tell he thought I was talking about the little cushion bench seat. He started to get a little mad and asked "Why can't I sleep in a bed?!" I pulled it down at that point and he got SO excited! He felt very special that this was his OWN bed. Michael would sleep with me and Mattie with Jen.
At this point the quote for the trip report title was uttered. Nathan will sometimes make a super big deal out of something that he thinks his big brother would like. As we are pointing out cool things around the room and I commented on how I liked the would plank tile in the shower we hear a sudden, excited... "OOOOOHHHHH!!!" from Nathan. He lifts up the trash can from near the table and says... "Michael look! They gave us an extra trash basket!" He was sooo excited he thought he found something so cool! Jennfier and I giggled because Michael went over and picked it up fully expecting it to be something amazing and just said... "Nathan, its just a trash basket..." Nathan said "Yeah but we have two!"
Our Magical Gift from Lesli... I Mean Mickey!
Y'all didn't forget we were meeting our friends and trip mates for Dinner at Coral Reef at 5:50PM? Well as I was on my 3rd of 4 trips from van to building I got a call from Leslie. They had arrived and checked their bags at Art of Animation and went to have Breakfast at AKL and then had been at Epcot all day.
Leslie had been fretting all the many months of planning that my kids would not get a special souveniors because we had a limited budget so she had arranged for Disney Florist to deliver to our resort 3 Mickey Ears with each of the kids names monogrammed on to the back. The plan was that they would have been waiting in the room at our resort when we got there from The Big Cheese himself!
Leslie was calling to see if the kids liked them. I had forgotten about the hats and let her know that there were none in our room. I volunteered to go to the gift shop to see if they had been delivered. I finished unpacking at 1:30 and drove back around to the gift shop. They were not there. I called Leslie and let her know. They were trying to order counter service from somewhere in Epcot and she started to panic. I told her to eat and I would go to front desk.
These cast members are awesome. I explained the situation to the concierge cast member and 10 minutes later she had tracked them down to them having been to Leslie's room at AOA. They had not been to room yet so they had no idea. The cast member then called Leslie and asked permission to enter room and retrieve our hats and have them driven over to POR. They would be in our rooms by the evening! Amazing service! I stopped at the food court and picked up our resort mugs and headed back to room.
When I got back the kids were watching old Disney Cartoons and Jennifer was on the phone with our realtor. After three months on the market and dropping price a few times we had a legit interested buyer for our current house! The offer sort of low but we accepted with the idea that regardless of home inspection we would not pay a dime in to fixing any issues. It was happy news. They had viewed our hose 2 times and wanted a 3rd showing!
I took a shower to feel human and laid down at 1:30and caught about 30 minute nap as much as you can do with three kids in a 300ish sq ft room can do. I got up and we all changed clothes and to head to Epcot.
Up next... Surprising Kids and Sea Base is Very Cool!
So here we are walking up to Port Orleans Riverside! I should be exhausted! I was up all night driving, but I was feeling nothing but happiness! All of the Christmas decorations were amazing. (Christmas decorations are a big deal in my house)
I was pleasantly surprised to see Birdie. I had read a lot about this sweet man but had no idea if he worked on weekends. Well he was there today. He was chatting with some guests but I could tell he was on the lookout for children it seemed. I was carrying Mattie across the little street from the parking lot because there were a lot of buses at the moment. As we approached the doors he made a beeline to us and handed Mattie and Nathan a stack of stickers which Mattie was happy to take!
So we walked in an two things amazed me. First how crazy busy it was in the lobby. It was about 10:30AM on Saturday. Not sure if that was families checking in or checking out or both or the holidays. The second amazing thing was...
What a tree!
Checking In!
I had opted to do the Online Check In from the internet. I forget exactly the pros and cons about online checkin now but even though I had a metric ton of research on what building I wanted in Alligator Bayou I think I ultimately figured since it was my first trip there I didn't really care about the building location because I knew that A) we had the van so bus service was not a worry B) I knew we would not be doing breakfast at food court as we were going to be eating in room. I think I ended up asking for a first floor room as I did not want to carry bags up stairs. I am glad I decided to do it because there was one person in line at the online check in and a really long line of at least 20 waiting in the regular check in line.
What WAS I Celebrating?!
Check In was my first experience with a Disney Cast Member in person besides Birdie. I don't remember her name but she was really good. Very sweet. She pulled my reservation up and asked me very matter-of-factly. "What are you celebrating?" I said "umm I don't know?... my Birthday was last week?" She told me "Happy Birthday!" then lead me on with.. "Any anniversary's, honeymoon's, etc?" I had nothing... It all made sense when a moment later she handed me 5 My First Visit pins and a It's My Birthday pin.
She let me know that the room was not ready ( We were 4 hours before check in time
) but that I would be texted when it was. I was given all of my documentation and I went over to a window seat where Jen was keeping the kids busy.
Mattie started to make good use of the stickers Birdie gave her.
Exploring Port Orleans!
Port Orleans is a very pretty resort. I felt the immersion factor and with a small amount of imagination I felt like I was transported back in time to the deep south. I had seen so many of the structures in other s photos it was really cool to finally see them up close!
Jen taking a photo of me taking a photo!
We decided to head over to the bridges that go to the Waterwheel and then over to O'l Man Island.
We got to the Water Wheel and took a few photos
The Most Uncomfortable Moment of Trip!
OK so here we are about to turn around and head back down this ramp from water wheel when I heard someone yelling. A family was coming up the ramp towards us. Fast moving angry yelling Father in front, followed by embarrassed preteen girl, older teenage boy looking down at his phone while walking, and a very sad looking mother who was trying to stop crying.
Michael like a lot of kids on the spectrum will 'stem'. In his case that means there is a lot of walking around in sort of random small circles with an action figure or something in his hands, he will make some some noises and talk to himself. In his head a great adventure or important battle is happening where he is guiding this action figure through it. To an outsider most of the time he is someone not paying attention and in his way.
Of course Mattie is three and always in someones way. Well when I saw this very angry animated man storming up the walkway I thought to myself 'I need to get the kids out of his way'. They were near railing by water wheel and I was on the other side. I quickly shot across and rangled Michael and Mattie to the railing but at that moment Nathan darted across back in front of this guy. He had to stop short of tripping on Nathan. He let the world know that Nathan had further ruined his day by letting out a "G.D.M.F'r" in front of my kids.
I try not to judge people nor am I very prone to jump in to anyone's personal family business. There was a time maybe ten years ago I would have reacted VERY badly to this but I just apologized loudly as he kept on walking and advised Nathan to make sure he was not running out in front of people. His daughter and son walked past and then his wife. Through tears she said "I am sorry about that" or something similar.
By this time, Angry man had made it to the turn (you can see it in picture above) and he stopped to wait on his family with a loud "Come ON!". The daughter was there in a sec and son 5 seconds later. The son never stopped looking at his phone. When the son got close to the father at the turn I heard. "And You with this F'ng phone!" He then open handed punch/pushed his sons shoulder and it caused him to drop the phone. His wife erupted at this point yelling at him to 'Stop ruining everyone's day!" and "You look like an A'hole". Father was already storming around the other side of the building with family in tow.
Jennifer mouthed "WOW!' at me and Nathan had no idea what was going on and asked why he was so mad. I told him I didn't know. At the time I made a half hearted joke about "The Happiest Place on the Earth", but later decided to ask God to give him grace and patience.
A Little More Resort Exploring...
We headed back over the big bridge to Ol' Man Island. The pool was pretty awesome although for some reason I thought it would be bigger. The kids asked if they could swim and I said sure, when we come back from a break at the parks one day we would go. We brought swim suits for all of us.
We walked around and ended up at some hammocks.
We continued walking until we got to the little outdoor bar at the pool. I decided to turn us around because we had not checked out the gift shop. So we hiked back to the lobby and went in to gift shop.
Mattie loves Chip n Dale. Sadly every meet n greet or appearance they were already gone by the time we got there!
Jennifer wanted some of these charm bracelets but even she thought they were too expensive. We had to save our meager souvenir budget. (or at least that was the plan)
Jennifer had me take a photo so that her matching Minnie Mouse fingernails were displayed!
Your Room is Ready!
About this time ( a whole 40 minutes later ) we got the text the room was ready. I had some ideas about which buildings I would like to stay in. I didn't whip the check in lady with building requests. I was booked on the standard room so I expected to get a parking lot view.
We were upgraded a bit by to a Garden View. Building 38 room 3801. First Floor. I was excited we got a small upgrade and that first floor because at my size unpacking our massive travel load of luggage and toting it upstairs had very little appeal.
In my mind I really didn't care where the building was as I had said already because I had my own transportation and given my families general tardiness and the fact I wanted to make rope drop on multiple days I knew we would not be going to the food court.
We purchased three autograph books at the gift shop and loaded back in to the van to go find our room. I looked at the map and saw where 38 was located so we drove around. When we got there I had to park fairly far away from room buildings in the back of the lot. The last section we were in was packed with cars.
So as we walked to building 38. While I am a die hard NASCAR fan now I had played many a football game and was remarking in my head that the distance from back of parking lot to room was over 100 yards easily. I was right it is about 150 yards.
We opted to just get out of van and walk to room to check it out first. We did not have to be at Epcot until our first Fastpass and 3:20pm. It was barely noon. I didn't get a lot of pictures of the room because we would probably mess it up in 30 minutes. We were greeted with a towel Mickey. At this point I explained what hidden Mickey's were and sent the kids looking around the room.
The pull down murphy style bed was tucked up but you could see some white sheet sticking out. It had a handle and after a while Nathan couldn't figure out what it was he asked. I explained to him without pulling it down is that it was where he would sleep. I could tell he thought I was talking about the little cushion bench seat. He started to get a little mad and asked "Why can't I sleep in a bed?!" I pulled it down at that point and he got SO excited! He felt very special that this was his OWN bed. Michael would sleep with me and Mattie with Jen.
At this point the quote for the trip report title was uttered. Nathan will sometimes make a super big deal out of something that he thinks his big brother would like. As we are pointing out cool things around the room and I commented on how I liked the would plank tile in the shower we hear a sudden, excited... "OOOOOHHHHH!!!" from Nathan. He lifts up the trash can from near the table and says... "Michael look! They gave us an extra trash basket!" He was sooo excited he thought he found something so cool! Jennfier and I giggled because Michael went over and picked it up fully expecting it to be something amazing and just said... "Nathan, its just a trash basket..." Nathan said "Yeah but we have two!"
Our Magical Gift from Lesli... I Mean Mickey!
Y'all didn't forget we were meeting our friends and trip mates for Dinner at Coral Reef at 5:50PM? Well as I was on my 3rd of 4 trips from van to building I got a call from Leslie. They had arrived and checked their bags at Art of Animation and went to have Breakfast at AKL and then had been at Epcot all day.
Leslie had been fretting all the many months of planning that my kids would not get a special souveniors because we had a limited budget so she had arranged for Disney Florist to deliver to our resort 3 Mickey Ears with each of the kids names monogrammed on to the back. The plan was that they would have been waiting in the room at our resort when we got there from The Big Cheese himself!
Leslie was calling to see if the kids liked them. I had forgotten about the hats and let her know that there were none in our room. I volunteered to go to the gift shop to see if they had been delivered. I finished unpacking at 1:30 and drove back around to the gift shop. They were not there. I called Leslie and let her know. They were trying to order counter service from somewhere in Epcot and she started to panic. I told her to eat and I would go to front desk.
These cast members are awesome. I explained the situation to the concierge cast member and 10 minutes later she had tracked them down to them having been to Leslie's room at AOA. They had not been to room yet so they had no idea. The cast member then called Leslie and asked permission to enter room and retrieve our hats and have them driven over to POR. They would be in our rooms by the evening! Amazing service! I stopped at the food court and picked up our resort mugs and headed back to room.
When I got back the kids were watching old Disney Cartoons and Jennifer was on the phone with our realtor. After three months on the market and dropping price a few times we had a legit interested buyer for our current house! The offer sort of low but we accepted with the idea that regardless of home inspection we would not pay a dime in to fixing any issues. It was happy news. They had viewed our hose 2 times and wanted a 3rd showing!
I took a shower to feel human and laid down at 1:30and caught about 30 minute nap as much as you can do with three kids in a 300ish sq ft room can do. I got up and we all changed clothes and to head to Epcot.
Up next... Surprising Kids and Sea Base is Very Cool!
I_Luv_Stitch
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2008
I've loved reading your TR, and all that hard work and planning you've have been doing has paid off! Love the simplicity of the big reveal and how Mattie wanted to wear her band straight away!!!
I love how you are doing a joint trip with your friends but mainly having the meals together!
Can't wait to read about the next surprise, your children are very lucky with all these surprises!!
I love how you are doing a joint trip with your friends but mainly having the meals together!
Can't wait to read about the next surprise, your children are very lucky with all these surprises!!
disneyfan61
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 1, 2005
Enjoyed your arrival! Wow that mad Dad was a jerk. Why to people act like that in Disney World for everyone to see???
How nice that your friend ordered the kids Mickey ears!! I bet they loved them!
How nice that your friend ordered the kids Mickey ears!! I bet they loved them!
Vernie822
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2014
I just love your report so far. It is so nice to see that you all had such a great time! Cracking up at the trash basket comment, hahaha. It's the little things!!
Way to go on powering through the entire drive. I am the oldest of 5 and the only way my family could get to WDW growing up was via our suburban.. we made it an overnight trip and it usually took a day and a half from Pittsburgh!
I also love the pictures from Michael's big day - what a special time in his life! You must be so proud.
Riverside looks so nice! I stayed at POFQ recently but Riverside has always been on my list. It's great that you got to take the time to look around that day.
I can't wait to read more about your trip, especially your first park visit!!
Way to go on powering through the entire drive. I am the oldest of 5 and the only way my family could get to WDW growing up was via our suburban.. we made it an overnight trip and it usually took a day and a half from Pittsburgh!
I also love the pictures from Michael's big day - what a special time in his life! You must be so proud.
Riverside looks so nice! I stayed at POFQ recently but Riverside has always been on my list. It's great that you got to take the time to look around that day.
I can't wait to read more about your trip, especially your first park visit!!
misspickle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2006
Can't wait to read the next chapter
Backstage_Gal
<font color=darkorchid>Let me rephrase the dog ste
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2005
Wonderful report, love it. I work at Port Orleans for 3 years, so I am happy you had a great experience (so far, anyway)
Nazran
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2007
I've loved reading your TR, and all that hard work and planning you've have been doing has paid off! Love the simplicity of the big reveal and how Mattie wanted to wear her band straight away!!!
I love how you are doing a joint trip with your friends but mainly having the meals together!
Can't wait to read about the next surprise, your children are very lucky with all these surprises!!
The two families together really did work out well. We basically ended up hanging out between meals but took off to do our own things too.
Leslie and Chad are great friends who would do anything for our kids!
We are already planning a 2017 trip and I don't think I will try to drive through night again. We will stop somewhere.
I will try before Friday night!
I had really no complaints at all about POR at all. Great resort!
allybabba98
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2013
I am loving your trip report! I am interested to hear how you found staying at POR with three kids. I am considering staying there next time with my three boys as even though it is a moderate it is still cheaper than a family suite at AofA. Looking forward to hearing more. So happy for you and your family that you were able to experience it.
ForeverAlice
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2014
Excellent trip report!!! Love it!!dutchdisneyfamily
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2010
I love all your pictures! Especially of the trundle bed. It gives me an idea of the size. You handled the angry man with grace and dignity. Sad for that family though.
Nazran
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2007
This was precisely our issue. The AoA Family suite probably would have been more appealing to the children for more of a 'Disney Themed' experience however we could not afford it. POR room size was fine for us. I will elaborate about that in the trip report. Jen and I appreciated the decor of POR, and the Garden View upgrade was nice because it reminds you every bit of bayou and Louisiana. One thing I didn't mention was that we got a corner room which means we had windows on two sides of room. That let in a lot of light because the room could be a bit dark with the heavy colors.
I think in 2017 though we are going to shoot for the Poly. I fell in love with Poly while we were at Ohana. If the Poly is not in the financial cards then AOA probably won't be either. If that is the case we will stay at POR happily!
Thank you!
It is 60" long I believe. More then enough room for Nathan. He really liked the special 'his bed' aspect. Being the middle child he sometimes has to compromise a lot. We were afraid Mattie would want to sleep there but she preferred to sleep in the big bed with Jen.
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dutchdisneyfamily
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2010
Thanks for letting me know how long they were. My youngest has definitely outgrown it then.
pooh2001
been there, done that, TRYING to go back
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2000
You have a lovely family
I hope you enjoy another Disney vacation in a few years.
We also are in your boat of spending money on bills and not saving in a vacation fund.
We put $25 a week away - so it takes a few years to save up the money - but it is well worth it.
Congrats on the Baptism and the Church looks lovely.
We are in our first starter house, 1900 sq feet, and will continue to be in this house. Our yard is large, but the rooms are small.
Hey it's a place to live.
It's the love in the family that counts and some fairy dust helps too !
Please continue with your vacation story.
I really enjoy reading it - my disney fix till 2018 or 2019.
I hope you enjoy another Disney vacation in a few years.
We also are in your boat of spending money on bills and not saving in a vacation fund.
We put $25 a week away - so it takes a few years to save up the money - but it is well worth it.
Congrats on the Baptism and the Church looks lovely.
We are in our first starter house, 1900 sq feet, and will continue to be in this house. Our yard is large, but the rooms are small.
Hey it's a place to live.
It's the love in the family that counts and some fairy dust helps too !
Please continue with your vacation story.
I really enjoy reading it - my disney fix till 2018 or 2019.
RockinDisney
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2007
AWESOME so far!! and for your next trip you could maybe look into buying DVC points, i was surprised when someone suggested this for my Oct trip...it is a FANTASTIC deal!!
Nazran
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2007
No problem!
I hope you have a great trip!
I will take a look at it!
Nazran
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2007
Heading to Epcot and Chad and Leslie's Day.
I left off with us getting ready to to go to Epcot. While the events of the day were unfolding for us Chad and Leslie and their kids had been on property since an early breakfast at AKL and then they went to AoA to check in around 9AM I think, and needless to say their room would not be ready for a while so they went to Epcot and left bags at front desk to be in room. Let me recap our friends. Chad and Leslie have two boys Christoper (CJ for short) and Jonathan (JD for short) are fraternal twins and were 11 at time of trip. Zane was two and some months. (Like us they had a late life baby that was a total surprise!) Chad and the boys like thrill rides and Leslie does not do thrill rides. My boys had NEVER been on a roller coaster, so I have no idea how they will react. Michael is quite timid and has a huge fear of heights like his Mom. Jen does not do any thrill rides. I like any ride that does not spin or loops. I get motion sickness real easy. Needless to say Chad and the boys did the Orange Mission Space. I wouldn't even DARE step on the ride. Green or Orange! They walked around 1/2 of World Showcase and then rode boat across to the other side. That is all I know for sure that they rode and I know they were doing the Character Spot Greet. Both sets of kids still had NO IDEA they were going to meet in a few short hours!
We all got dressed in our Disney clothes. Jennifer and I went a bit nuts on Disney attire for the kids and a few things for us. We all donned our My First Visit buttons and I put on my It's My Birthday button too (even though it was not really my birthday, but Mama said it's just a little white lie so it wouldn't hurt nobody). I did forget to mention in the previous update that I rented a stroller from Kingdom Stroller's. It was at the baggage check at POR just like they said. We got the stroller because up until this trip Mattie was a RUNNER. She has run away from us in stores, parks, etc. We were even considering the dreaded kid leash. (I have no judgement on your parenting skills! Whatever keeps your kid safe and makes you feel better!) We decided to see if just being in a stroller would be enough. More on her behavior as the trip report progresses. The stroller was a City Elite Single. It was a jogger stroller. My main complaint was the smaller storage basket under it. The rest of it was spot on especially the folding procedure. The storage was compensated by Leslie's genius idea/pinterest idea to use shower curtain rings to attach bags to the handle bar. This was a very nice idea!
We were on our way to Epcot I guess around 2:45p to 3:00P when we got text from Chad and Leslie that their room was ready. They were leaving Epcot to drive to AoA and check in and check out their room. My planner radar went off and anxiety set in! We have a 5:45PM Coral Reef reservation for 10. I had great concerns they were underestimating the time to get load up, leave park, drive to AoA, get showers, get dressed, and get back on the road and back in Park and finally to Coral Reef by 5:45p. Turns out I am like a future telling Oracle when it came to this!
So as we are driving up to Epcot Mattie looks over and she sees Spaceship Earth from the road. "Are we going to the big golf?" she asked. Yes and so from then on she referred to it as the Big Golf. We park and get out and start heading up to entrance. Jen snapped a few shots. Mattie had no problem with the stroller. She was excited about having one.
I am not sure if my family is like others but it is darn near impossible to get all three kids to look at the camera and smile. Invariably one of them will blink, look to the right, pick nose, or not smile! If I uploaded the other pictures from the group shot that made the one pictures this post would be huge! Anyways more pics from the way in...
We had a bit of difficulty getting the concept of Magic Bands for Nathan and Mattie. They thought the spinning color meant they were good to go. They would not wait to let it turn green or ding. Took about 4 or 5 times to get it right.
Jennifer and I stopped and took a few more pics by the Christmas character topiary. Again... 20 shots to get 1 or 2 semi usable ones!
I am fascinated by Spaceship Earth. I took a photo of it from all angles and all lighting while I was there. However this was my first photo of Spaceship Earth. Nothing super special about it but it is so very special to me now!
Selfie!
Our First Character Greet
I had subscribed to touringplans to get park crowd factors. I think Epcot was predicted a 7 and that was busiest all days there with a 5 and mostly 3's or 4's. (More on THIS topic much later!). We knew time was pressed for Dinner but we used our first Fastpass+ on the Character Spot greet and I am glad we did. The regular line was backed up pretty good from what I could tell. We walked right up to door almost and were in. Michael being very black and white had to have Fastpass+ explained to him 2 or 3 times because he thought he was breaking a rule about line cutting
Mattie didn't know what we were doing when we went in to the building and got in the very short line but when the "Red Sea of People" parted for her and she saw Mickey Mouse she got soooo very happy! We had no idea how she would react to a character in life size! She would have run right up to him if I had not been holding her hand telling her we have to wait our turn, but soon it was her turn! She ran to Mickey to give him a big hug!
We got our autograph books already for Mickey to sign while the kids were saying hi. After all books were signed it was time to get a group shot. Mickey accidentally knocked Mattie's Mickey Ear's off and he reached in front of her to grab them. When he did she thought he wanted another hug which she happily obliged him!
A picture of all were made. Actually about 20 but none of mine were that great and Jen's phone was a little blurry.
Next up was Goofy and another hug!
Finally was Minnie! Mattie as you can tell LOVES Minnie, and Minnie was VERY impressed with Mattie's Minnie dress!
So that went off with out a hitch! it took about 20 minutes to get through so it was close to 3:45 to 4ish. By this time both Jen and I needed some...
Our first snack credit... (I think?) it was much needed for me! We then made our way over to this area... we would stay here until Dinner exploring!
Caught a Monorail!
Photo Op!
We went inside and was amazed at how big this complex of aquariums are! Our first ride was The Seas with Nemo and Friends. I didn't get any good photos because it was so dark.
Next Up was Turtle Talk with Crush. The kids sat down at the front and we were kinda in the back so not a lot of good photos. You can see Mattie in the front! Crush was pretty funny!
Michael LOVES Oceanography so this was right up his alley! He stayed at each location reading each fish type or staring in to the tanks.
Hidden Mick.... SHARK!
Guess Who is Coming to Dinner!?
So now we are up to about 30 minutes to Dinner. I called Leslie and they had JUST left AoA. I got real nervous and went inside and the Coral Reef Reception area was a ZOO! it took several minutes to get someones attention and she assured me it would be Ok that we would not lose our reservation as long as some of us were here. So we hung out inside because it was getting cold outside. 5:45 rolls around and Chad and Leslie and kids are just passing Spaceship Earth. I let the cast member know they were almost here but she would not check us in until we were all there. So after months of planning and kids having no ideas about the other kids I finally spotted Chad and Leslie and kids at door.
First Leslie. She spotted me immediately.
Then Chad and Boys
So I turned sideways facing the line before her kids saw me and kinda put my hat covering my face. CJ got to this point right be side me and I said...
"HEY CJ!"
He looked at me and yelled "Mr. B!?"
They all saw each other and many hugs were passed around and a lot of happy kids!
This surprise went so well! I was stoked. We checked in and then about 15 minutes later whisked away to our booth... I had a pretty amazing late birthday dinner by the way... more about that in next post.
I left off with us getting ready to to go to Epcot. While the events of the day were unfolding for us Chad and Leslie and their kids had been on property since an early breakfast at AKL and then they went to AoA to check in around 9AM I think, and needless to say their room would not be ready for a while so they went to Epcot and left bags at front desk to be in room. Let me recap our friends. Chad and Leslie have two boys Christoper (CJ for short) and Jonathan (JD for short) are fraternal twins and were 11 at time of trip. Zane was two and some months. (Like us they had a late life baby that was a total surprise!) Chad and the boys like thrill rides and Leslie does not do thrill rides. My boys had NEVER been on a roller coaster, so I have no idea how they will react. Michael is quite timid and has a huge fear of heights like his Mom. Jen does not do any thrill rides. I like any ride that does not spin or loops. I get motion sickness real easy. Needless to say Chad and the boys did the Orange Mission Space. I wouldn't even DARE step on the ride. Green or Orange! They walked around 1/2 of World Showcase and then rode boat across to the other side. That is all I know for sure that they rode and I know they were doing the Character Spot Greet. Both sets of kids still had NO IDEA they were going to meet in a few short hours!
We all got dressed in our Disney clothes. Jennifer and I went a bit nuts on Disney attire for the kids and a few things for us. We all donned our My First Visit buttons and I put on my It's My Birthday button too (even though it was not really my birthday, but Mama said it's just a little white lie so it wouldn't hurt nobody). I did forget to mention in the previous update that I rented a stroller from Kingdom Stroller's. It was at the baggage check at POR just like they said. We got the stroller because up until this trip Mattie was a RUNNER. She has run away from us in stores, parks, etc. We were even considering the dreaded kid leash. (I have no judgement on your parenting skills! Whatever keeps your kid safe and makes you feel better!) We decided to see if just being in a stroller would be enough. More on her behavior as the trip report progresses. The stroller was a City Elite Single. It was a jogger stroller. My main complaint was the smaller storage basket under it. The rest of it was spot on especially the folding procedure. The storage was compensated by Leslie's genius idea/pinterest idea to use shower curtain rings to attach bags to the handle bar. This was a very nice idea!
We were on our way to Epcot I guess around 2:45p to 3:00P when we got text from Chad and Leslie that their room was ready. They were leaving Epcot to drive to AoA and check in and check out their room. My planner radar went off and anxiety set in! We have a 5:45PM Coral Reef reservation for 10. I had great concerns they were underestimating the time to get load up, leave park, drive to AoA, get showers, get dressed, and get back on the road and back in Park and finally to Coral Reef by 5:45p. Turns out I am like a future telling Oracle when it came to this!
So as we are driving up to Epcot Mattie looks over and she sees Spaceship Earth from the road. "Are we going to the big golf?" she asked. Yes and so from then on she referred to it as the Big Golf. We park and get out and start heading up to entrance. Jen snapped a few shots. Mattie had no problem with the stroller. She was excited about having one.
I am not sure if my family is like others but it is darn near impossible to get all three kids to look at the camera and smile. Invariably one of them will blink, look to the right, pick nose, or not smile! If I uploaded the other pictures from the group shot that made the one pictures this post would be huge! Anyways more pics from the way in...
We had a bit of difficulty getting the concept of Magic Bands for Nathan and Mattie. They thought the spinning color meant they were good to go. They would not wait to let it turn green or ding. Took about 4 or 5 times to get it right.
Jennifer and I stopped and took a few more pics by the Christmas character topiary. Again... 20 shots to get 1 or 2 semi usable ones!
I am fascinated by Spaceship Earth. I took a photo of it from all angles and all lighting while I was there. However this was my first photo of Spaceship Earth. Nothing super special about it but it is so very special to me now!
Selfie!
Our First Character Greet
I had subscribed to touringplans to get park crowd factors. I think Epcot was predicted a 7 and that was busiest all days there with a 5 and mostly 3's or 4's. (More on THIS topic much later!). We knew time was pressed for Dinner but we used our first Fastpass+ on the Character Spot greet and I am glad we did. The regular line was backed up pretty good from what I could tell. We walked right up to door almost and were in. Michael being very black and white had to have Fastpass+ explained to him 2 or 3 times because he thought he was breaking a rule about line cutting
Mattie didn't know what we were doing when we went in to the building and got in the very short line but when the "Red Sea of People" parted for her and she saw Mickey Mouse she got soooo very happy! We had no idea how she would react to a character in life size! She would have run right up to him if I had not been holding her hand telling her we have to wait our turn, but soon it was her turn! She ran to Mickey to give him a big hug!
We got our autograph books already for Mickey to sign while the kids were saying hi. After all books were signed it was time to get a group shot. Mickey accidentally knocked Mattie's Mickey Ear's off and he reached in front of her to grab them. When he did she thought he wanted another hug which she happily obliged him!
A picture of all were made. Actually about 20 but none of mine were that great and Jen's phone was a little blurry.
Next up was Goofy and another hug!
Finally was Minnie! Mattie as you can tell LOVES Minnie, and Minnie was VERY impressed with Mattie's Minnie dress!
So that went off with out a hitch! it took about 20 minutes to get through so it was close to 3:45 to 4ish. By this time both Jen and I needed some...
Our first snack credit... (I think?) it was much needed for me! We then made our way over to this area... we would stay here until Dinner exploring!
Caught a Monorail!
Photo Op!
We went inside and was amazed at how big this complex of aquariums are! Our first ride was The Seas with Nemo and Friends. I didn't get any good photos because it was so dark.
Next Up was Turtle Talk with Crush. The kids sat down at the front and we were kinda in the back so not a lot of good photos. You can see Mattie in the front! Crush was pretty funny!
Michael LOVES Oceanography so this was right up his alley! He stayed at each location reading each fish type or staring in to the tanks.
Hidden Mick.... SHARK!
Guess Who is Coming to Dinner!?
So now we are up to about 30 minutes to Dinner. I called Leslie and they had JUST left AoA. I got real nervous and went inside and the Coral Reef Reception area was a ZOO! it took several minutes to get someones attention and she assured me it would be Ok that we would not lose our reservation as long as some of us were here. So we hung out inside because it was getting cold outside. 5:45 rolls around and Chad and Leslie and kids are just passing Spaceship Earth. I let the cast member know they were almost here but she would not check us in until we were all there. So after months of planning and kids having no ideas about the other kids I finally spotted Chad and Leslie and kids at door.
First Leslie. She spotted me immediately.
Then Chad and Boys
So I turned sideways facing the line before her kids saw me and kinda put my hat covering my face. CJ got to this point right be side me and I said...
"HEY CJ!"
He looked at me and yelled "Mr. B!?"
They all saw each other and many hugs were passed around and a lot of happy kids!
This surprise went so well! I was stoked. We checked in and then about 15 minutes later whisked away to our booth... I had a pretty amazing late birthday dinner by the way... more about that in next post.
ArwenMarie
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2013
Enjoying your trip report! Your family seems so sweet
I love the Character Spot pictures. I think that is such a great character meet, lots of space and you get plenty of time to interact.
I love the Character Spot pictures. I think that is such a great character meet, lots of space and you get plenty of time to interact.
Backstage_Gal
<font color=darkorchid>Let me rephrase the dog ste
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2005
Another great update, thanks. Glad you made it to dinner.
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