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Sometimes.....you just gotta stop & smell the Sharpie! Sept./Oct. 2015 at AKL ~ Updated 9/25 pg 10

Just found your report and am loving it! I am usually a lurker most of the time, but wanted to let you know I will follow! I have a boy who loves Star Wars. And yet he has never been bold enough to try Jedi training. Oh well, he loves everything else at HS! I hope you made it!
 
Joining in. I just found your report today. Seth has gotten so big. Our next trip (after our one in Sept) we will rent points and stay at AKL. Seth's face on TOT was so funny. He is so brave I can't get my daughter to ride and she will be 11 on our next trip.
 


Thanks for the traveling info/opinion!

As far as the FP, unfortunately we are only planning to be at DHS til about 1:15 and our last FP is 1-2. I've scheduled them back to back to back. We are really only going to see a couple shows we couldn't fit into our full DHS day and I decided it would be more advantageous to schedule our FP there than Epcot that night (we have another Epcot morning with scheduled FP). We do have the 15 min grace period and if we miss it, no biggie. We have another TSMM scheduled for Friday.

You're welcome! :thumbsup2

Wow, that was a short trip to Epcot, TT is fun, and worth the visit. It's too bad that boat ride is so slow, it should be more relaxing, but it is difficult to relax when you have reservations. I'm always tempted to walk, but I'm not really sure it is much faster?

Dawn, that was me that met you in Goofy's, good memory. Or maybe you've not had many random dis meets? I know I have not, but I don't really seek out people either. I love to read TR to get ideas for my trips, it sure comes in handy at times.

Yeah, we didn't have a ton of rushing around this trip but that was one day that we were cutting it close!

I'm glad I remembered correctly! I was thinking that was you. I've had maybe 6-7 random dismeets in all my trips. But those are awesome!

keep it coming just started follwing

Thanks so much for reading! :wave2:

Just found your report and am loving it! I am usually a lurker most of the time, but wanted to let you know I will follow! I have a boy who loves Star Wars. And yet he has never been bold enough to try Jedi training. Oh well, he loves everything else at HS! I hope you made it!

Thanks for reading! Your son and my husband would get along....Ray LOVES Star Wars. Seth does too but not like his daddy. I'm sure he will get more obsessed as he gets older. :rotfl:

Joining in. I just found your report today. Seth has gotten so big. Our next trip (after our one in Sept) we will rent points and stay at AKL. Seth's face on TOT was so funny. He is so brave I can't get my daughter to ride and she will be 11 on our next trip.

Thanks! Glad you found me. :goodvibes ToT is truly not a ride for everyone. I love it so I was really glad that Seth at least tried it once. Hopefully he will grow to love it too.

Can't wait to hear what comes next. Thanks for sharing your trip!

(This is my first post! :rolleyes: )

Yay!!!!! So glad you decided to say hello! :goodvibes:goodvibes
 
I love lunch at Sci Fi! I agree - it's a very peaceful little break from the parks. And wow - making it back over to Epcot in just a few hours! But it seems like Seth really enjoyed Test Track and you did get your Grey Goose Slushie so things always work out for the best! :thumbsup2
 


I love lunch at Sci Fi! I agree - it's a very peaceful little break from the parks. And wow - making it back over to Epcot in just a few hours! But it seems like Seth really enjoyed Test Track and you did get your Grey Goose Slushie so things always work out for the best! :thumbsup2

Yeah, I really hated that we couldn't spend more time at Epcot. But it is what it is. It was that or skip the Jedi Training Academy, and we actually asked Seth what he thought and of course he wanted to fight Darth Vader! Haha.
 
So sorry it’s been awhile since my last update. I’ve been swamped at work, and this update took forever to get uploaded (Photobucket stinks). Then we went out of town for a wedding last weekend so it’s just been crazy!

Here’s a couple of recent pictures I wanted to share before I get back to the TR. First, Seth is officially done with Pre-K and is headed to Kindergarten! His “bridging ceremony” was last Friday. It was really sweet. Here’s a video (click to play)….



This is Seth and his teacher, Mrs. Jones. We will really miss her, she’s wonderful!



First and last day of Pre-K. He looks a foot taller but I think the picture is deceiving b/c the angle is a bit different. But he did grow a ton.



Then here are some of the wedding he was in last Saturday. It was near Nashville (where I’m from) at Cedars of Lebanon Park. Very pretty! It was my cousin’s wedding. Here’s Seth’s big moment!

(Click to play.)



And here’s a couple more from the wedding day…..



(The big guy to the right of Seth is Robert Dinwiddie, who is a cousin by marriage and who played defensive end (and other positions) for the Vanderbilt Commodores in the early 2000's. Go 'Dores!!!pirate:pirate:pirate: (<---that's a pirate, which is sort of the opposite of a commodore, but you get the point.)






Okay, so back to the TR! When I last updated we were on a boat willing it to go faster to we’d make it in time for Seth’s Jedi Training Academy show. I *think* the show was at 4:10 and they had told us to be there by 3:40. And we were cutting it super close. Once we docked Ray took the backpack (so Seth and I could go through the no bag line) and Seth and I booked it over to the building to check in. Once inside the park Ray just went straight to the show area in front of Star Tours so he could get a good spot for the show.

I’m pretty sure we checked in at like 3:42. I was out of breath from speed-walking and carrying Seth (since he can’t speed-walk that fast) and when I got there the CM patted me on the back and said, “Relax, mama…you made it.” :faint:

So we got checked in and they told us to have a seat and they’d be with us in a minute. I believe the kids watched a short video while waiting. Then they had the kids each sit on a blue dot while they went over instructions and handed out their Jedi robes.











Once that was over, they had us all line up and we marched over to the stage near Star Tours. Everyone that passed us along the way was saying how cute the kids were in their robes.

I found Ray and sat down on the ground so I wasn’t blocking anyone’s view. I didn’t take any pictures of the show b/c I knew we’d have a good bit of photopass pics and Ray videoed the whole thing. The video was just over 15 minutes long, so I broke it up and just included the parts worth watching.

(Click to play all these videos.)

Here’s the opening to the show. When they show the kids, Seth is near the back of the line. He’s one of the shortest ones there. He always has his hood up where most of the kids have taken theirs off….that’s an easy way to spot him!



Taking the Jedi Oath….



Activating the light saber…..it’s more complicated than it looks! Bless his heart. He had such trouble with that light saber. :lmao:



A little light saber practice, complete with flying light saber by Seth….



Darth Vader arrives (and my husband’s man crush goes into overdrive :laughing:). Seth was excited to see him, I think. He’s always called him “Dark Bader” and when I asked him what he was gonna do if he got to fight him, Seth said, “I’m gonna tell him he smells like a stinky sock.” :eek:



Darth Maul arrives! When I saw him I immediately knew he’d be going down to where Seth was, I kinda freaked a little bit. I knew Seth would be scared…let’s face it, he’s a scary looking guy! But he was so brave.

(The next few videos are in a different format - Photobucket was giving me problems so they are hosted on tinypic. You have to click the link to view them.)

View My Video

Seth v. Darth Maul. Darth Maul is now shakin’ in his boots!!!! :lmao: The Jedi Master told Seth to make his mean face before they started fighting…it was cute. And dang that stupid light saber!!! It was giving him fits.

View My Video

Here we hear Yoda tell the Younglings to resist the Dark Side. Watch when the other Master on the stage tells the kids to use The Force to hold them off. Seth gets serious and uses all his Jedi skills to hold off Darth Maul! :darth:

View My Video

And finally they call all the Younglings up to the stage to give them a few final thoughts and then wave to their adoring fans.

View My Video

Continued in next post: http://www.disboards.com/threads/so...updated-5-5-pg-5.3491817/page-6#post-55843950
 
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Here are the photopass pictures we have. They all turned out great!















This is where she told him to make a mean face. :mad:

















Receiving his certificate....



I’m glad we did it! Seth really loved it and it was great for him. I hated that we had such a late afternoon showtime but oh well…we’ll do more at Epcot next trip!

After we finished we were beat so we decided to head back to the resort to take it easy. That was our plan anyway…to have some pool time tonight! I made Ray stay in the room b/c he was still running a low grade fever and not feeling well. Seth and I grabbed our swimsuits and headed downstairs!

I took these on the way….





Those last 2 were taken from the bridge in the lobby. We took that bridg to the elevators every single time we entered or left the building, and every time Seth would make us tip-toe over the bridge. :tiptoe: I have no idea why.

Also on all elevators after ToT Seth would make crashing sounds and pretend we were ghosts. :rotfl:

We got down to the pool around 5:45 and the sky opened up right as we walked out from under the awning. Just our luck! :rolleyes2 We just sat at a table near The Mara and waited it out, and luckily the rain passed on pretty quickly. So we headed out to the pool and found a seat. Then I found this! :woohoo: It’s a blackberry lemonade (the adult version…with vodka).



Was yummy! Seth headed straight into the pool and had a blast.





I enjoyed my drink and some reading and then headed into the pool with him. We had a nice, relaxing evening swimming and just chilling out. I think I got one more of those drinks too.

Seth was a little apprehensive with going on the slide but he finally got up the courage to do it. I videoed him from my chair….

(Click to play.)



After that he went down it – no lie – at least a hundred times that night!

Around 7:15 we decided to get some dinner and head back up to the room to relax. Seth got a kids chicken finger meal….



And Ray and I split a BBQ chicken flatbread. It was so good!



We had a nice, early night in. Here’s a night shot of the savanna from our room….



Tomorrow…we hit MK again. And rain…who cares about rain?? Bring it on! :cool2:
 
Sorry you had such trouble uploading your videos! Glad you got another update in before I leave! ;)

I'm hoping AJ enjoys JTA. He's seen videos of it so he does know what to expect and he says its what he is looking forward to most. I just have to make sure he follows directions...which he does if he wants to! :sad2:

Great update!
 
Joining in late! The pictures of Seth at Jedi Training are great! Love that concentration in his face! Hope Ray woke up feeling better.
 
Great photopass pictures of Seth, it looks like he really enjoyed it too!
 
I love those two shots of the Savannah and the lobby from the bridge :love: Its making me very sad we're not staying there I. not., as excited as I am to try BCV. We just loved AKL SO much!!! I'm going to have to do everything in my power to make sure our next (well, next next lol) is there!
 
Sorry you had such trouble uploading your videos! Glad you got another update in before I leave! ;)

I'm hoping AJ enjoys JTA. He's seen videos of it so he does know what to expect and he says its what he is looking forward to most. I just have to make sure he follows directions...which he does if he wants to! :sad2:

Great update!

I think right this second you're at T-Rex! Although it seems later than it should be - it's like 8:30 here and you checked in there about an hour ago on Facebook. Is that right??

If you guys get to do it I hope he likes it too! If you don't get to it, it can be a "next time we'll do it" thing. I always have plenty of those!!

Joining in late! The pictures of Seth at Jedi Training are great! Love that concentration in his face! Hope Ray woke up feeling better.

Thanks so much for reading! Yes, Seth was really into the Jedi stuff. It was cute!

Great photopass pictures of Seth, it looks like he really enjoyed it too!

Thanks! He loved it!

Love JTA! Seth looked adorable!

Thanks! He really had fun!

I love those two shots of the Savannah and the lobby from the bridge :love: Its making me very sad we're not staying there I. not., as excited as I am to try BCV. We just loved AKL SO much!!! I'm going to have to do everything in my power to make sure our next (well, next next lol) is there!

I'll be back I'm sure, but next trip is probably gonna be SSR (possibly going in January with my friend Erica and her son and we are trying to save as much as we can) and then Ray has been adamant that the next trip he's on we'll stay at BLT. So we'll see!!
 
Hi, everyone! Time for another update!

We're on to Day 4! This was Tuesday, September 29th. Today was another MK day! My favorite. :earboy2:

Ray was still running a low grade fever and just feeling weird. It was very strange. I had slept with Seth the past 2 nights just to give him some space (and b/c I was trying to avoid getting sick too!) and I insisted that he take it easy that morning. He decided to listen this time and slept in for a bit while Seth and I got up and headed to MK. We got to the bus stop around 8:20 to encounter this.....



BUS PROBLEMS. :eek:

After just a few minutes standing there the line behind me got really bad too....



There was a CM with an iPad saying that they had a mechanical issue this morning but that 2 buses would be arriving soon. The long line scared me but I really think it was just that there was a bus issue because the park itself wasn't crowded at all!

We arrived to a very drizzly MK right at 9:00. No problem....we have ponchos! It sort of drizzled off and on all morning really, only really raining hard a couple of times. But it kept the crowds at bay and we had a very uncrowded park! :thumbsup2 I didn't take any pictures coming into the park - you tend to neglect that when you don't have a pack mule (Ray) or someone pushing your stroller for you!

I took this as we we were entering Adventureland at 9:20.



First stop was the Jungle Cruise! Wait time said 5 minutes but I think we probably waited about 10. Right after I took this picture the tarantula in that cage moved and scared the pants off Seth!:lmao:



Our not-so-funny-but-still-funny skipper....



Some obligatory Jungle Cruise photos that you've all seen before....











Here we are witnessing the back side of water....



Seth closed his eyes when we went in the cave. He didn't much care for that part. :scared:

After the Jungle Cruise we rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin but I didn't take any pictures. It wasn't raining during that time or I would have never got on it! Then we did the Tiki Room - again no pictures. I don't really like that attraction (yes, I said it....I'm not exactly a bird fan and my pictures are always horrible in there anyway) but there was no wait and Seth wanted to do it.

We didn't head over to Pirates because I knew Ray would want to be there for that. Same for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder (plus we had Splash FPs later) so we headed towards Haunted Mansion. Right before I got there Ray called and said he was at the gates. Seems he couldn't stay away very long. :rotfl: He still wasn't feeling that great but didn't want to sit in the room anymore. It had started raining at that point so Seth and I took cover under the stroller parking area near Haunted Mansion and waited for Ray. I took this while we waited. In case you don't know, 13 minutes on the standby sign at Haunted Mansions means no wait. :hmghost:



Once Ray found us, we hopped in the queue and didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes to get into the stretch room. Here's Seth checking out the graveyard.



I figured he'd freak out in the stretch room but he was fine. He made Ray hold him but he didn't get too scared. I snapped a couple of pictures of the ride that turned out kinda okay....





No head!



Seth LOVED the Haunted Mansion! He still talks about it. He said that and Test Track were his 2 favorite rides. I tried to get him to be a Haunted Mansion ghost for Halloween but he insisted on being a zombie. :confused3

Once we got out of Haunted Mansion we headed over to ride Big Thunder. I think the wait was like 15 minutes but we didn't wait that long. Seth liked it! He wasn't as much of a fan as Haunted Mansion but he did like it.

At that point it was about 10:45 and our FPs for Splash Mountain were ready.



Well, we're already damp from this drizzle anyway....so no biggie.

Of course Seth loved this. What kid doesn't? Here's our ride picture. Usually I wear a poncho because I hate walking around wet, but I had taken it off when we rode Big Thunder (it had stopped raining), and I was already wet anyway from the rain (even with a poncho it's inevitable) so I didn't mess with it.



Ray was peeved he got wet. Um....dude....it's raining! Why does it matter?? :rotfl2: I think the fever was affecting his reasoning.

We snapped a wet Splash selfie....



Next time....is the grey stuff really delicious???
 
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Well I signed AJ up for JTA but we got rained out! Definitely on the list for next year but I hate that I spent from 8:30-9:10 in line for something that was rained out.

We checked into T-Rex at 6 (yes we were late...a reoccurring theme this trip with Dad around) but I probably didn't check in on FB right when we got there....

Looks like a fun but semi-wet morning. I'm glad Seth liked so many rides. AJ just wasn't up for a lot this trip. Next year, I'll try again!
 
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Sounds like the advice to go to parks when it rains worked for you! Looks like you're speeding thru the rides! Seth is really brave :yay:
 
Glad you made it back in time for Jedi Training! It looks like he really enjoyed it and you got some great photopass pictures! All the running back and forth between parks stressed me out just reading it, but I'm sure the smile on Seth's face made it worth it! I'm so impressed that he was brave enough to try Haunted Mansion! Looking forward to your next update!
 

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