A long awaited Disney return, this time with kids of my own! Update: 1/20

[Rebecuberduber]

Alright, I feel bad. I started a trip report last year and did not finish it. I since then went back and saw that I had over 700 readers, and while that’s not a huge number, and I still have no groupies (common, people, is it too much to ask to make one lousy, “Rebecuberduber Rocks” T-shirt?), I still cannot bare the fact that in only 26 years of life I’ve already let over 700 people down. I’ve decided to pick up where I left off and finish it.

We are also preparing for an all-new trip in January, so I’d better get this one out of the way because in a couple months I’ll have an all-new trip report to flagrantly disappoint with. (I promise this next time, though, I’ll at least finish it.)

For those of you who missed out and were not among the flagrantly disappointed, I suppose I could just spare you, but instead I will provide you with a link to the start of my old unfinished trip report, here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1977967

And now, without further adieu, I will pick up where I left off: day 3 (I know, pathetic).

Last you heard, we finished up at DHS with an inordinately large group of people and one sick 3-year-old (DS, Dash). Well, the morning of day 3 he was doing much better, and I gave him a maternal diagnosis of ‘fully recovered’. We all slept in, today. Yes, after only 3 days, we were already starting to feel the burn. Even the big kids skipped out on Early EMHs. My uncle’s family are locals, though, so they were already on Florida time. They also had only one half day in the park, and therefore were not as exhausted as the rest of us wimps. So they went on ahead to our designated park of the day: Epcot.

We all ate separate breakfasts. I had a chocolate muffin and an espresso from my new treasured find: the Shades of Green espresso stand. When we were all ready, we sauntered all the way next door to my parents room and the whole kit and caboodle of us went to catch the bus to the TTC. From there we hopped the monorail to Epcot. At least, I think that’s how it went. I wasn’t the navigator; my father was, so I don’t fully remember. I’m not even sure if that’s the proper use of a semi-colon in that last sentence, but my grammar checker insists, and it won’t shuddup until I put one in.

The monorail approaching Epcot was a magical experience. I love the way it takes you around about through the park before entering the station. It is so picturesque and exhilarating to look down on those gardens and pass by the big ball on your way in. My heart was all aflutter.


the big balll

We were scheduled to meet my uncle’s family at the America pavilion in Epcot. That’s how late we slept in: the world showcase was already open. I know, you Disers are probably rolling over in your computer chairs, right about now. I know what rope-drop fanatics you are. But we can’t help it. We’re from Alaska. It’s dark most of the year. We’re used to hibernating.


Auntie Wendy and Dash by the fountain. I just threw that on e in there, it really has nothing to do with my story, here.

On our way over to America, we happen to see the faint glimmer of the dream squad in the middle of one of the bridges between Test Track and Mexico. They appear to be handing out YOMD Mickey ears to unsuspecting passers by. We ‘accidentally’ wander past them, and, completely to our unsuspecting amazement, the little ones are suddenly adorned with bright blue-and-silver shiny mouse ears. Well, all except Snow White who popped hers right off, and refused to wear it the rest of the trip, for some weird, one-year-old-brained reason. We stopped over in Mexico to take some pictures of the kiddos in their new accoutrement. Well, all except Snow White who was too hoity-toity to wear mouse ears, I guess.


Hiney shot of us approaching Mexico





We also snapped some pictures of the World Showcase lagoon. I believe we were killing time while my dad went to grab a park schedule, or something.




We made it to America just in time to see the drummers and fifers outside the American Adventure show.



Snow White got some snuggle time with my cousin.



We then proceeded inside the pavilion for the show all about America. I grew up my whole life in America, but apparently you really haven’t seen a place until you see it at Epcot. Before the show we were serenaded by the Voices of Liberty.



They were very good. I felt very liberated.


Dash felt liberated so much, he took a snooze

And after the American Adventure show I was just about ready to sell my soul to Uncle Sam.

First, though, we were getting hungry. We ate some burgers at the Liberty Inn restaurant. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The restaurant was crowded, and the service was pretty lousy. Something about not letting mom trade the carrots for grapes. But that burger was yummy.


Auntie Jasmine catching some R&R. You grab it where you can with Dad as the guide.

Plus, we got to enjoy round two of the fifes. Living my whole life in America, I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen a real true-to-life fife, before, either. Heard it, sure, but never have I seen it blown in person. I guess it was everything I expected a fife to be.

Next up was Maelstrom. On the way over, we stopped off to watch Dash’s favorite thing in the world: trains!






And we also snapped some pictures of China:



That’s Dash, Auntie Violet, and Auntie Cinderella across the bridge.

Then it was on to Maelstrom. Reuben loved Maelstrom. How do I know? Because it’s the first ride he said that he liked. Up until this point, he played it cool. Throughout the ride his face would be full of magic and wonder. We’d come off the ride, however, and ask him if he liked it, and he’d answer, “nah”. This time, though, we asked him and the answer was, “yeah”. He liked it! He really liked it!

We spent some time in the Norway gift shop, trying on braided lady hats and posing with the troll, then we departed for Mexico.




I really liked the Mexico pavilion. It seems like we spent a lot of time in here, waiting for something, but I don’t remember what. That’s what I get for waiting a year to write my trip report. Don’t worry, I remember the important things. Probably someone just had to visit the loo. I bought a mini sombrero for Ava’s little doll that she got on the airplane. I don’t think I mentioned that, did I? Remember, I wrapped little surprises for the kids on the airplane? Well, one of Ava’s was one of those little 2-dollar drug store dolls. She treasured that thing. She wanted to bring it along everywhere. Best 2-dollar’s I’d spent. And now it was complete with a sombrero.

The Mexico boat ride was fun.



Our big group waiting in line for the boat ride.

I wasn’t too offended that they added Donald and the Three Caballeros. I always enjoyed that movie, growing up, so I appreciated Disney giving them an attraction of their very own. I watched that movie again, as a grown up. It had been a while since I’d seen it. I enjoyed that it was Walt’s tribute to his family trip to Mexico. He apparently wanted to make a movie to commemorate his favorite parts of the trip to share with boys and girls, and it was chock full of hot Mexican mamasitas. The running theme of the movie was Donald chasing around the ladies. I wonder how Mrs. Disney felt about that.

Ok, more of Epcot in the next installment.

[Rebecuberduber]

Epcot part II

After the Mexico boats (Gran Fiesta Tour, I guess it’s called), we decided it was high time to split up, again. My uncle’s family went to enjoy an attraction in their new-found favorite dimension: the third. (For those too lazy to read the first half of my report, they had never tried a 3D attraction until they saw the Muppets in DHS the day before. They thought it was nifty beans.) They headed towards Honey I Shrunk the Audience.

Meanwhile the other side of the family (mine) broke off to experience what would soon become DH, Donald’s favorite attraction: Club Cool. Two things Donald happens to love, ‘free’, and ‘soda’ all rolled into one, air-conditioned package. He had found his Shangri-la.







Here, here, chaps! Cheers to free soda!

Of course, we were promptly brought back down to earth when Mom handed Auntie Cinderella a Beverly. Poor, unsuspecting Cinderella. It’s a sad thing to be so harshly awoken to the abominations of the world at the innocent age of 6.

Once Cinderella was recovered, we thought a travel through time was in order. We all saddled up and headed for Spaceship Earth.


Donald and Dash decided just to walk

I like what they did with it. We got a kick out of the descent with the pictures of our future. Maybe it is just cute and it a cheap way to liven up the attraction, and all those other things that people are saying about it, but hey, it worked for us. We were not appraised of this new addition to the ride and got a few good chuckles out of it. I had Snow White on my lap and her expression in the picture they took was so confused. She looked very perplexed in her space suit, driving our solar powered vehicle. Maybe she needed a map. Anyway, it was cute.

Upon returning to the present-day, we decided it was probably about time to meet back up with my uncle and cousins. First, though, we took a quick bathroom break.


Er, maybe not so quick

Then we went to play in the jumping fountains until Honey I Shrunk the Audience let out.


Auntie Violet and Dash waiting to get smacked in the face with a jumping spray of water








I took a pretty picture


Snow White awaited the kiss of her handsome prince


The aftermath of the jumping fountains

Well, that seems as good a place as any to leave off, for now.

Up Next: (since everybody likes a good cliffhanger) Will we ever find my cousins, again? Will they be back to their normal size? Will they even recognize us now that Dash and Cinderella are drenched to their britches? All that and more to come.

[Rebecuberduber]

Well, I just can’t stand to leave you in suspense over that cliffhanger any longer. Just when we were starting to suspect that my cousins were permanently shrunken and we’d never see them again, they came skipping out of the Honey I Shrunk the Audience theatre. Normal size and everything. Though, they did complain once or twice that their clothes felt slightly baggier.

We deliberated briefly upon where to go next, but only briefly because my Dad can’t stand deliberation. In fact, you have to rewind the home movie and watch that part again in slow motion to even catch the moment of deliberation. It was just that fast before he proclaimed we would do Journey through the Imagination with Figment and took off in that direction, leaving the rest of us to chase after. My Dad has amazing faith in our ability to keep up with him. You have to watch him like a hawk because he’ll all of a sudden just zoom off in a certain direction and we all have to clamor after. With a double stroller, none the less. He never looks back even once to check if we’re still there. After all, that would slow him down. He’s in Disney World. He’s got place to go, things to see. And if some of us happen to get lost along the way it will just be that much easier for him to get around. Come to think of it, maybe that was his plan all along. Here I thought he had such faith in us that we would be there, but maybe he was secretly hoping we wouldn’t. All that time he was trying desperately to shake us.

At any rate, we all arrived panting at the queue to Journey Through (Into?) the Imagination (the Figment ride). This ride was very different from the last time I rode it. Just as annoying, for which I’m grateful, because it wouldn’t be the same ride if it weren’t. I thought it was actually kind of neat. My standards are just that low, I guess.


Wee! A ride photo!

Once we had that song completely stuck in our brains, the ride let off and we found ourselves in the Kodak labs. Here is the incredible graphically high-tech photo editing job that Auntie Violet and Auntie Jasmine threw together as though they do this exact same thing and more everyday at home with photoshop:




After we were sufficiently wowed by the modern advancements in photo editing technology, we decided we had a hankering to dangle our feet over an orange grove, so we headed toward Soarin’ (er, rather, Dad told us to go there, so we went). Dash was too short for this ride, so we decided just me, Donald, my uncle, aunt, cousins, and sisters over the age of ten would go. That left Dad, Mom, Dash, Snow White, Auntie Wendy, and Auntie Cinderella to watch the Circle Of Life across the way. Wow, that’s the first time, I think, that I’d ever had to list us all out like that. Whew, I’m exhausted.

My aunt, (not to be confused with the younger aunties who are my little sisters), was terrified of this ride. All through out the line we had to reassure her that it was a gentle ride. The only reason there was a height restriction was so the little guys didn’t fall out of their restraints and plunge 40 feet to their death. For some reason this didn’t work to calm her and she continued to be a basket case the entire wait. She settled into the ride, though (apart from the hand imprint she left on the bar restraint from her iron crushing grip). I think it was a hit. I, personally, (of course), love this ride. It feels so real you can just about taste the flies stuck in your teeth.

Next up was a quick dinner at Sunshine Seasons. I had the veggie stir fry, since the veggies are supposed to be good, here. I’m sorry, I don’t remember if they were. I can say, though, that it didn’t stick in my head as one of the best meals like that burger from earlier in the day did. Of course, how can veggie anything compete with a burger? Here are a bunch of pictures to make up for my lack of helpful food commentary:


Donald and Dash negotiating how many more bites Dash should eat. Looks like they settled on 5. I think Dash might have a future ahead if him on the debate team as this negotiation process is his favorite part of any meal.


Auntie Cinderella, Auntie Wendy, and Dash keeping watch.


Auntie Jasmine and one if our cousins.


Auntie Cinderella


My dad, one of my cousins, and my uncle’s orange back.

With our bellies stuffed and veggies coming out our ears our trusty navigator led us on to The Seas with Nemo. I don’t know how we managed to snap pictures on the way and keep up with Dad, but somehow we did:




I tried to get Snow White to pose with them, but she just kept wanting to wave to the fishy.

Warning: This next paragraph is going to get whiney. For those with sensitive ears, you might want to skip on ahead.
The most exciting and interesting part of the Nemo ride was the queue. I was impressed with such an elaborately decorated queuing area for such a half- (well, I was about to put in the word for donkey, here, but thought it might be better to consult the thesaurus for a less-offensive term) er, cursory ride. Then I was told that the queue was already there from before. So, the ride: all the brains and brilliance of the Disney imaginers and this was all they could come up with? They might as well of put little Nemo window clings on the aquariums. I mean, that’s basically what it was, except, I guess, the window clings swam around a little. I don’t know, I guess it’s better than what it used to be. I don’t actually remember what the Seas used to be. I think it was just a walk-through aquarium, right? Like the veggie stir fry, it didn’t withstand the test of time in my memory. And maybe I can give the imaginers the benefit of the doubt that they were working with some kind of area constraint, or something. I don’t know. I just wasn’t impressed. And then I was disappointed when we got to the other side that Turtle Talk with Crush was closed or we missed the show or something. Something happened that we didn’t get to experience it, and I was actually kind of looking forward to it.

Ok, the whiney portion of this trip report installment is over. Now, it is time for Illuminations. This is my favorite firework show, so I was super-duper psyched. Donald and Dash killed time while we were waiting by playing with Snow White’s harness.




I know baby harnesses are controversial, but I was so happy to have this on our trip. Snow White had such a tendency to just wander, especially as she got more comfortable with the crowds and the intimidating magnificence of Disney. We especially needed it in the lines and places where we had to park the stroller. She also, occasionally, would get a hankering to get out of her stroller, so it was nice to have the harness as a back-up to keep her close when she wanted to walk. She’s not into the whole hand-holding thing. She demands her space and independence.

A lady sitting next to us had a whole batch of glow bracelets. It was her last day in the parks, so she was kind enough to bestow them unto us. The kids were thrilled with them. They were just the ticket to keep them occupied while we were waiting, and then also throughout the show, too. Snow White felt that fireworks were old hat, by now, and wasn’t impressed this time around. She was more enthralled with her glow bracelet.

“And now, on behalf of Walt Disney World, the place where dreams come true, we welcome all of you to Epcot and World Showcase. We gather here tonight as people of all lands have gathered for thousands and thousands of years before us to share the night and to share a story, an amazing story as old as time itself, yet still being written. And though each of us has our own individual stories to tell, a true adventure emerges, but we bring them all to gather as one. We hope you enjoy our story, tonight: Reflections of Earth. ::Whoo::”
(No, I did not memorize all of that. I googled it, silly.)


Aaaaaaaaaaaah!






Up next: Evening EMH in Epcot

[Rebecuberduber]

Before I begin, I have sad news. I have no pictures of our Extra Magic Hours in Epcot. Zero, zilch, nada. I’m very sorry. Nevertheless, the story must go on. I have a tale to tell and tell it I must.

We loved Illuminations as always. The music is awesome. The fireworks are just awesome. Donald didn’t get the whole progression through time thing, so he was kinda confused most of the time. He liked the pretty lights, though. And afterwards I explained it to him, and then in retrospect, with his new understanding he thought it was pretty awesome. My dad pointed out that the closing message seemed a little anti-climactic, though. “We go on.” Not, “things improve”, or “good prevails”, we simply go on. Where? On? Forever? Like this? Kinda depressing when you think about it. Oh well, I can understand the limitations of an uplifting message when you’re trying to be PC all the time. In PC terms, ‘going on’ is quite the triumph.

Hmm, well, we were packing up, leaving the world showcase, getting ready for EMH when we noticed something was not quite right about Snow White. Did her eyes always glow in the dark? Nooo…. Then we noticed the broken glow bracelet in her hand and the rest of the glowy juice all down the front of her. Oh no! Is that stuff safe to get in a one-year-old’s eye? We decide to head to first aid.

They assured us that the stuff was harmless, and they went ahead and flushed her eyes out to be safe. Mainly so she stopped looking like demon hell spawn with her glowing eyes. We should have taken a picture. D’oh! I guess when your baby might be in grave danger of losing her eyesight forever you don’t think to stop and snap some pictures. Oh well.

With the fiasco du jour out of the way, it was time to exploit those Extra Magic Hours. We (Dad) decided Test Track would be a good ride to start with. I was fervently hoping that they would let Dash on board. He was just barely 40 inches, so it was a toss up whether or not they’d let him ride. When I measured him at home, my tape measurer strongly favored the 40” mark, but by the Disney measurement devices he seemed to be just shy of it. It was very heart-rending. And, yet again, he came up just shy of 40 inches. So, he got to explore the gift shop with my parents, Snow White, and I think Auntie Cinderella was with them, too. She probably could have ridden, had she wanted to, but she was not quite sold on the big rides, yet.

Test Track was really fun. I just kept thinking the whole time, though, how much Dash would have loved this ride. He wound up having a great time in the gift shop, though. The Test Track gift shop is quite large, and probably one of the best ones in Disney, if you ask me. At least it had some of the most unique boy toys that I’d seen. We thought we’d come back later in the trip and make some purchases, but we didn’t get the opportunity. We ended up finding some neat loot for the kids at other places.

We were losing steam (particularly the little ones), so we decided to do one more ride after Test Track. We chose Mission Space to do with my cousins. They wussed out, however, and rode the green side. Donald and I decided to do the real ride and went orange. We did our best not to rub it in to the others that they were wimps. It wasn’t easy. But somehow we managed. I was the commander and I made sure Donald called me such as long as possible. (Which wasn’t even once. He couldn’t even humor me.) Donald was the pilot, and let me tell you, he did a lousy job. He nearly crashed us into mars and flung us over a cliff. I, however, released the rockets seamlessly, as instructed.

His ride was a very interesting experience. First of all, it’s the first ride I’ve been on that offers you a barf bag. Secondly – wow – what a feeling. It was exhilarating and nauseating, and while I never want to go again, I’m glad I tried it once. It was pretty amazing. And now I know I never want to be an astronaut.

Well, nothing like a bumpy journey through outer space to make you wiped out. We were all very bushed, even after sleeping in that morning. We pretty much just went straight to bed at this point.

Tomorrow is our last day with my aunt and uncle. And just to make things even more confusing, my other aunt and uncle will be joining us for the day, with their two granddaughters. It was a fun day and I can’t wait to share it.

[Rebecuberduber]

Today we let the little ones sleep in, again, while Dad took Auntie Violet and Auntie Jasmine to early EMH at the Magic Kingdom. Here is a glimpse at some of the fun they had without us:











I remember those care-free days with no little ones where you could speed around the park with no one holding you back. The world is at your feet and the big scary rides are at your fingertips. Good times. It’s a whole new ball game, now, with my own little children. I still love it. There’s nothing like watching the magic through their little precious eyes. It’s just a different world than the one I left behind nine years ago, as a teenager going with my family. In those days it was my brother and I doing early EMH with my dad while Violet and Julia slept in with Mom at the resort.

Once the little ones woke up, we moseyed on over to the MK to join the rest of the family. My dad showed up to join us. My sisters decided they were having fun and wanted to keep living it up enjoying the freedoms of teenagerhood. The rest of us breakfasted on Main Street. First we stopped in at the Main Street Bakery, but the line was long and moving sloooow. I happened to notice that the ice cream shop next door, however, was completely empty. So, we opted for waffle cones for breakfast, instead. Hey, they’re waffles, right? Mmm, that was yummy. It may have been the best breakfast I’ve ever had, because I just don’t remember having a waffle cone sundae for breakfast ever before.

We met up with my uncle’s family at the ice cream parlor. It was down to just my uncle, aunt, and youngest cousin. The older two cousins had to get back to work and school. My uncle had fast passes for Splash Mountain, so they ditched us for the ol’ frontier (land). We went and let the little ones play at Pooh’s Playful Spot. Sorry for lack of pictures. As you can see from above, Auntie Violet had the camera that morning, and we had not met up with them, yet. After playing with Pooh (I phrased it that way just for you, Donald), we jumped in line for Snow White’s Scary Adventures. I was afraid our little Snow White would be afraid of this ride. She loves Snow White (well of course, she was named after her), and I was somewhat afraid this ride would change her perspective. Fortunately, she found some more “chickens” on this ride, and I guess that was enough of a distraction from the scary stuff. (Again, for those of you too lazy to go back and read, Snow White was calling all birds chickens, on this trip, and was very fascinated by them.)

After Snow White (the ride), we still hadn’t heard from Auntie Violet or Auntie Jasmine, yet. Mom was starting to get pretty worried. They weren’t answering Auntie Violet’s cell phone. We weren’t sure what to do, however, except to keep trying. At this point my Aunt and Uncle caught back up with us. They had not experienced the laughter and cheer of It’s a Small World, yet. Well, we weren’t about to let that one slide. Next stop: Small World.

Mom continued to try calling the girls all through the line. I think, up towards to loading area, they finally called. I wasn’t near my mom, so I didn’t get the whole story, but my sister’s phone battery died. I believe she eventually ran into my other uncle, though, the one who would be meeting us there later, and was able to use his phone to hook back up with the family.

So after the ride, we finally got some pictures because there was Auntie Violet and Auntie Jasmine at the exit bridge, snapping photos.


Here we are in the second third and fourth rows. Look how happy Mom was to see the girls.

And there we go

Now that we were all happily reunited, we decided to split up, again. My uncle and aunt whisked there daughter off somewhere while we went to ride Splash Mountain which I had not been on, yet. On our way, we picked up fast passes to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Donald took Dash up to be measured for Splash, and, sadly, he came up short. My mother took him, Auntie Cinerella, and Snow White to ride the riverboat, instead. The rest of us got in line for Splash. I was pretty sad they weren’t going to let him on this one. Then again, I wasn’t sure if he was quite ready for it, yet. He’d never ridden a ride with any sort of hill, up to this point. So, I sucked it up and trudged onward. It wasn’t that hard, because Splash Mountain is my absolute favorite ride. You just don’t get that mix of happy-go-lucky and thrill anywhere else. I love it all.

After Splash, it was already time for our fastpasses on BTMRR. We met back up with my mom and the little ones, and I was really keeping my fingers crossed that they’d let Dash ride this one. Dash loves trains, and he’d already watched the Big Thunder ride throughs on You Tube so many times. With much trepidation, we took him up to be measured. We coached him, ‘stand up real tall’, and, ‘look as grown up as you can’, and all of that. We also told him, though, that they might not let him ride and if they didn’t, that would be ok because we could ride the steam train around the park, and also there was Goofy’s Barnstormer which is a rollercoaster we knew he could go on. Turns out, though, all of the premature condolences were superfluous because they let him on, no problem! Yippee!! I was so excited about this. I know that this was Dash’s first rollercoaster, and I wasn’t entirely certain if he would like it, but I was feeling pretty confident that he would. After all, it’s just a little rollercoaster. It’s nothing too scary.

Once we were boarded and got rolling, though, I was surprised just how wild the wildest ride in the wilderness really was. I mean, it’s no Kingda Ka, or whatever that really big coaster is in Six Flags, but it’s still a fast little wiper-snapper and jerks you around quite a bit. I kept glancing back at Dash to make sure he was ok. He looooved it. He came off just beaming, and of course wanted to ride it again. The line was a little too long, though, and we needed to meet up with my Aunt and Uncle. He soon forgot about it, anyway, because Auntie Cinderella and Snow White who were, respectively, too afraid and too little to ride, were sharing popcorn. Dash was easily distracted by this unexpected treat. We met up with my Aunt and Uncle and decided to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, next.

Oh, but first, the bucket of popcorn was pretty much making all of our mouths water and we decided it was time for some snacks. I stayed by Pirates, though, with the kiddies and stole bites of their popcorn. While we were waiting, a very heart-rending occurrance, well, occurred. My sister, Auntie Jasmine is a fellow Peter Pan lover. We both go to sleep each night dreaming that Peter Pan will come to our window. Well, you’ll never guess who we saw right next to his arch nemeses the Pirates of the Caribbean. Ok, maybe you did guess. That’s right, there was Peter Pan, sparkling in all his pixie-dusted glory. Auntie Jasmine got in line to get his autograph and a picture to curl up with each night, but, (this is the sad part), what did Peter’s handler say? It wasn’t, “Welcome, Auntie Jasmine! Peter has been waiting for you. Now, you must think happy thoughts and fly with him off to Neverland!” No, what she said was (actually hollered in a loud voice to all passersby not just my sister) “This is the last autograph!” (meaning the people who were already there) “Peter has to go join the parade!” Alas, Julia’s heart was shattered, right there, on that spot. I don’t think she will ever be the same. Here is her sad face to prove it:


Does not that jerk the tears from your eyes? It does mine. And just look at the happy family there posing with Peter. She was that close. That close.

Well, it took a long time for everyone to get their snacks and join back up. I think they stopped and watched the parade on the way back, or something. So, I will leave you here waiting, as well. Next installment, we will finally ride pirates, and meet up with my other uncle whom I’ve been enticing you with and not following through.

[Rebecuberduber]

While we were waiting, we called my other uncle (I’ll call him Uncle D. The one who has been with us I’ll call Uncle T from now on, to avoid confusion) and decided it was high time we met up. He had been touring the MK with his wife and grandkids all morning, and we were ready to spend some time together. It was decided that he’d come find us once we got out of Pirates.

Eventually everyone else came back with their snacks. They did get railroaded by a parade on their way, so we were waiting for quite some time. I think they figured out a way around it, eventually, so we didn’t have to wait through the whole thing. As soon as we were all back together, we jumped in line for Pirates. The line was very short. It just kept moving. That was cool, except that this is one of those rides I kind of like waiting for. There’s so much to see in the lines that it’s kind of a shame to just whiz right past it all. That’s ok, though. I wasn’t too torn up about it. It’s the ride itself, of course, that’s the real attraction.

Dash loved Pirates of the Caribbean. Who doesn’t really? Even Auntie Cinderella was ok with this one, I think. I don’t think she liked the little hill too well, but the rest of the ride was just fun enough not to be too scary. And Snow White did quite well, too. She was pretty quiet and sat with me (Mommy) the whole time, but she was ok. It was fun to see the Capt. Jack updates. They looked pretty real! We enjoyed perusing the gift shop, afterwards. Definitely another one of the best in park gift shops, IMHO. Pirate stuff is always cool, right?

After this it was time for lunch. We got burgers and cheesy fries from Pecos Bill across the way and ate them at the Adventureland tables across from Pirates. This took me forever to figure out, just now, because I know we were eating in Adventureland and I know we had burgers, but there are no burger counter services anywhere in Adventureland. I forgot to write down the name of the place we got our burgers from. Pecos Bill’s is right across from Pirates, though, just facing the wrong direction into Frontierland. So, mystery solved.

While we were eating, who should appear but Uncle D. Right on schedule. I’d never met his grandkids. It’s really very infrequent that we manage to get together since we live on opposite sides of the continent. They were such sweet little girls. I forget their ages, exactly, but I think they were around 4 and 6, or thereabouts. Their grandma bought them each some princess dresses they were wearing proudly. They looked so cute.

We decided to ride the Haunted Mansion next. We got some fast passes for Peter Pan on the way. My Uncle D really wanted to ride Haunted Mansion, but my aunt didn’t think the grandkids were quite ready for it, yet. We tried to convince her that it was Disney and really not that scary, but she might have been right. Some kids just aren’t used to the scary rides. So she did some more shopping around Liberty Square with the two little girls while the rest of us rode.

After HM it was time to use our fast passes for the Peter Pan ride. We all did this one. After Peter Pan, my Uncle D wanted to ride Space Mountain. He hadn’t been on it since he was a teenager. He and Auntie Jasmine managed to talk my cousin (Uncle T’s daughter) into riding. She doesn’t like roller coasters, but she rode Splash Mountain and BTMRR and like those, so she thought she might give SM a shot. We split up so that Uncle D, my sisters Auntie Violet and Auntie Jasmine, and I went on SM while everyone else rode TTA. The wait to SM was pretty long, though. Like 45 minutes, I want to say. I decided, after I was already in line, that maybe it wasn’t the best idea to be separated from Snow White for that long. She was pretty attached to me, this trip, and I didn’t want to cause her unnecessary distress. After all, it’s her vacation, too, even if she’s only 1-year-old. I decided to back out of SM and met up with the others at the exit of TTA. I felt bad missing out on SM, as I do love Disney coasters, but it was fun to be the rest of the family, anyway.

We had lots of time to kill while my Uncle D and the others were doing Space Mountain. We decided to ride the Carousel of Progress, next. Happily, Snow White had fallen asleep so Donald sat out with her and didn’t have to endure Carousel, again. The rest of us love Carousel of Progress, so I was happy to go a second time. Unfortunately, Snow White being asleep also meant I could have gotten away with riding SM after all. Oh well. Double unfortunately, Carousel of Progress was experiencing some technical difficulties so it wasn’t meant to be. At this point we just decided to wait around the exit of Space Mountain for the others.

I’m almost ashamed to relate this next story, because I can just hear the groaning coming from the rest of you Disers, already. While we were waiting, a member of the dream team approached me, carrying a clip board. He asked me how many people we had in our party. I thought maybe he was just taking a survey, or something. I briefly counted off in my head that we had about 17 people. He said, “Wow, that’s a large number. And you’re all together? Because I’m trying to select a smaller party of about 4 or 5.” I answered yes. He kind of stood there like, “Are you sure” for a while, and then shrugged and wandered off to try someone else. Now, looking back, I think he was expecting me to say we could be broken up, or something, but I’m not at all good at thinking on my toes and totally missed the signals. D’oh! I still don’t know what he was giving away, if anything. It was odd that he was just by himself. You usually see them in groups, right? Anyway, it’s been killing me ever since. Both the curiosity at what we may have missed, plus my stupidity in being so rigid about not breaking up the party. We could have easily split up for a little bit if it was something cool. Ugh. Rrrgh. It hurts to remember. But, alas, it also was not meant to be and I must put it behind me.

Ok, I’m going to leave off here, for now. I’m so sorry I don’t have pictures to go with that entry. I blame Auntie Violet, again. Next trip I promise I will bring my own camera and snap pictures of every single trivial pointless activity so there will be tons upon tons of pictures for you all. This was only my first report and it’s a good practice to learn what to include the next go round, which isn’t that far off! Anyway, back to the report at present: this was a big full day and there’s lots more to tell, so, if you’re listening, don’t touch that dial! Stay tuned for the next installment coming (hopefully) shortly. And there will be more pictures in the next installment.

[lklasing]

Hi - I followed you over here from a link from your post in my TR. I wasn't following your first part of the TR, but I am enjoying the second part! You look like you have a great family. Traveling with a big group is a challenge sometimes, but can be lots of fun, which it looks like y'all are having.

Looking forward to more!

Leslie

[GreatBiscuit]

I'm late, I'm late! Sorry...must have overslept from EHM again! Signing on for an official T-shirt! Haven't had time to read it all yet, but I'll pick it up again here next time I'm on.

[GreatBiscuit]

Caught the first two Day 3 postings. Loving it so far! The big family group reminded me of my family reunion trip back in high school. And your dad's commando touring style was truly an inspiration. I'll be back...

[Rebecuberduber]

Originally Posted by lklasing

Hi - I followed you over here from a link from your post in my TR. I wasn't following your first part of the TR, but I am enjoying the second part! You look like you have a great family. Traveling with a big group is a challenge sometimes, but can be lots of fun, which it looks like y'all are having.

Looking forward to more!

Leslie

Originally Posted by GreatBiscuit

Caught the first two Day 3 postings. Loving it so far! The big family group reminded me of my family reunion trip back in high school. And your dad's commando touring style was truly an inspiration. I'll be back...

Awesome, I'm so glad I finally have some real readers! Hey, lklasing, guess what? We just booked the Fort Wilderness cabins for our trip in January! We were going to do Treehouses and Shades of Green, again, but then they came out with a special book 4 nights get three free in a Disney resort, so we switched on over to the Cabins! I'm so excited, we haven't gotten to stay in them since I was in middle school!! We've always had such a fondness for them, though. So, we booked two, just like you had suggested.

GB, I'm honored to have you reading my report! Thank you so much for checking it out and please do stay tuned, I am fully motivated to update soon, now that i know people are reading!

[wdwtwins]

I LOVE your pics!!

[lklasing]

Originally Posted by Rebecuberduber

Awesome, I'm so glad I finally have some real readers! Hey, lklasing, guess what? We just booked the Fort Wilderness cabins for our trip in January! We were going to do Treehouses and Shades of Green, again, but then they came out with a special book 4 nights get three free in a Disney resort, so we switched on over to the Cabins! I'm so excited, we haven't gotten to stay in them since I was in middle school!! We've always had such a fondness for them, though. So, we booked two, just like you had suggested.

Oh, I'm soooooooooooooo jealous! I saw that promo come out and was wishing we could take advantage of it. Hopefully it will stay around till later in the year when hopefully we'll have a chance to go.

Have a great time!! I know you will!

[Rebecuberduber]

Originally Posted by wdwtwins

I LOVE your pics!!

Thanks! I think a good chunk of them were taken by my sister, "Auntie Violet", so I'll be sure to pass that along!! I only wish we had taken more. We'll do better this next time around. Thanks for reading, by the way!!

[GreatBiscuit]

Originally Posted by Rebecuberduber

It feels so real you can just about taste the flies stuck in your teeth.

As opposed to Test Track on which you actuallly CAN!

Originally Posted by Rebecuberduber

Of course, how can veggie anything compete with a burger?

Thank you! Now that's what I've been trying to tell people! Spread the word my friend, spread the word.

Originally Posted by Rebecuberduber

Donald and Dash negotiating how many more bites Dash should eat. Looks like they settled on 5. I think Dash might have a future ahead if him on the debate team as this negotiation process is his favorite part of any meal.

Glad I'm not the only "bite negotiator" out there.

Originally Posted by Rebecuberduber

I don’t know, I guess it’s better than what it used to be. I don’t actually remember what the Seas used to be. I think it was just a walk-through aquarium, right? Like the veggie stir fry, it didn’t withstand the test of time in my memory. And maybe I can give the imaginers the benefit of the doubt that they were working with some kind of area constraint, or something. I don’t know. I just wasn’t impressed. And then I was disappointed when we got to the other side that Turtle Talk with Crush was closed or we missed the show or something. Something happened that we didn’t get to experience it, and I was actually kind of looking forward to it.

The first portion of the ride is pretty much the same. In the old verision, you first watched a cheesey "history of the planet" film, the boarded "Hydrolators" that simluated taking you to the bottom of the ocean. Once there, you boarded the same omnimover (sans clam-shells and pink paint) and rode past the same windows. They really couldn't do much to change that portion of the due to the way the tank was designed. Sorry you missed Turtle Talk. It was my favorite thing in the pavilion.


Loved the illuminations picutres. It was raining when we watched it so I didn't get any photos.

[GreatBiscuit]

Originally Posted by Rebecuberduber

Hmm, well, we were packing up, leaving the world showcase, getting ready for EMH when we noticed something was not quite right about Snow White. Did her eyes always glow in the dark? Nooo…. Then we noticed the broken glow bracelet in her hand and the rest of the glowy juice all down the front of her. Oh no! Is that stuff safe to get in a one-year-old’s eye? We decide to head to first aid.

I would have been officially freaked out at that point.

Originally Posted by Rebecuberduber

I was fervently hoping that they would let Dash on board. He was just barely 40 inches, so it was a toss up whether or not they’d let him ride. When I measured him at home, my tape measurer strongly favored the 40” mark, but by the Disney measurement devices he seemed to be just shy of it. It was very heart-rending. And, yet again, he came up just shy of 40 inches.

That's where being a girl helps. We could poof up my youngest daugher's hair in a pony tail and she squeaked by.

Originally Posted by Rebecuberduber

But somehow we managed. I was the commander and I made sure Donald called me such as long as possible. (Which wasn’t even once. He couldn’t even humor me.) Donald was the pilot, and let me tell you, he did a lousy job. He nearly crashed us into mars and flung us over a cliff. I, however, released the rockets seamlessly, as instructed.

Originally Posted by Rebecuberduber

Tomorrow is our last day with my aunt and uncle. And just to make things even more confusing, my other aunt and uncle will be joining us for the day, with their two granddaughters. It was a fun day and I can’t wait to share it.

To quote The Governator, I'll be Back.