3rd Trip: With 3 kids and an Entourage **3/24 Update - Final Thoughts

[BlueEyes78]

Welcome, BuckeyeBarb! I'm guessing you're from my neck of the woods (or just an OSU alum!).
Yeah, after staying offsite, I have to say it would be hard for me to go back to Disney property, but the new fastpass system may change my mind. I don't know how that will work out yet for those off-property.
I don't think you can go wrong with either WH or WP. Like I said, I personally liked Windsor Palms, I thought it was quieter and I loved the layout of the house. We only used the community pool at WH once, and the boys preferred our own pool anyway. Other than that, WP is just a tiny bit closer to the park, but the difference is really negligible.
I think a lot of the condo experience also depends on your rental company, and in case you cannot tell, I cannot say enough good things about Romancing the Mouse. I know they were going to downsize and get rid of a couple of their houses, but they are staying in business. The personal attention you get is unparalleled, from the welcome cookies to the "goodbye" chocolate-covered strawberries. And, on my last-day update, I think you'll get a good idea of how well they treat their customers.

 

[BlueEyes78]

Thanks for sticking around, schriverl. I know it's been a long haul, it's never taken me so long to write a report before (never done it with THREE kids before!). But I'm getting SO close to the end. Just one more park day and then departure day!

 

[BlueEyes78]

We woke up on Friday hoping against hope that Caden would have slept off whatever was ailing him. Unfortunately, the fever was still raging and he said his throat hurt. Usually that means strep in our house.
So Animal Kingdom would have to wait. Shawn took him to Urgent Care while the rest of us hung out waiting for a report. He got there early so they were the first ones in, but of course still had to wait for the rapid-strep test results.

A brave Caden awaits his fate:

The test was negative, but the doc gave us some antibiotics anyway, just in case he got worse before we got home. They were home around 9:30 so it wasn’t too late to head to AK, though we wouldn’t make rope drop today. AK is not Shawn’s favorite so he volunteered to stay home with sick-o and the baby so the rest of us could enjoy our day.

Shelli, Audrey, Connor and myself arrived just after 10, and of course, the Diamond lot was no longer an option. So other than Day 1 at Hollywood Studios, when we could enter the lot at any time of day, that pass really didn’t do anything for us. So glad we only paid $5 for it!
We were parked WELL away from the gate, and as we waited for the tram I noted that it was hard to see exactly which row was which – I just saw labels like “Dinosaur 33-38” which were half-painted over. It didn’t occur to me that I should figure out if we were in 33, or 38. Yet.

Once inside, I remembered from our last trip to ask about DeVine right away and not leave things to change. They said she was usually in Africa at that time, and our first goal was to get a safari FP anyway, so that was fortuitous. We headed back and found her almost immediately, just off the beaten path, near some drums that Connor enjoyed immensely!

Seeing her is always such a neat experience, and for Shelli and Audrey it was a first!

Back home, Megan eats puffs (cause you need to see her in each update):

We got our FPs, and then decided to hit up Kali River rapids while it was still fairly early. We only had to wait about 15 minutes which wasn’t bad at all. And Shelli got to try her Go-Pro which is waterproof. We got a brilliant video out of that ride! And I don’t mind getting wet first thing in the morning in August at Disney. You’re dry before you hit the next ride!

Next we checked out Everest, hoping for standby, but it was an hour long wait. So, since our FP window had opened up, we grabbed a couple of those and decided to try our luck on Dinosaur, which I had never ridden before. We’d done a complete loop around the park in a very hot part of the day and Connor was being a champ! It was totally worth it when we saw there was just a 5-minute wait for Dinosaur, and Shelli decided to take Connor on Triceratop Spin while they waited for us. While technically 40 inches, I wasn’t sure he could handle the live-action dinosaurs. Looking at this picture, I’m not sure Audrey could handle it either. She had been terrified of the ride on her last trip, and wanted to go to see if it was as bad as she remembered. I teased her that she looked like she was deep in prayer through out the ride!

After Dinosaur, we continued in our loop BACK to Africa for our safari ride. Connor was a bit whiny at this point because he saw the boneyard, but there is no way in HECK I will ever let my kids in there again (see previous two reports!!).

The safari ride was nice except I was sitting behind a goth, and man, I appreciate their commitment to darkness and angst, but it does not make for a pleasant smell in sweaty, humid temperatures! I was surprised by the “detour” at the end and the lack of the elephant poachers story. Is that gone for good now?

We were going to let Connor do some more drumming in Africa, but then I remembered in order to get parent swap (Shelli and Audrey were planning to come back in the evening), we needed to have him with us, so we dragged his poor little self BACK to Asia so we could ride Everest.

After that, we decided all our must-dos were done, except for FotLK, and we were pretty beat. It was around 1:30 and we had planned to go back for a late lunch, but as we walked by the FlameTree on our way out, I just couldn’t resist (even though I was saving my appetite for Boma). It smelled so good and there was nothing I wanted to do more than sit down and much on a pulled pork sandwich and have an icy coke! I was NOT disappointed, it was amazing!

So, all in all, a pretty good morning at Animal Kingdom, especially after having arrived late!

Shelli bought Connor some bubbles which he was delighted to play with on the tram ride back to rows 33-38. Smirk. Yes, you know where this is going. Anyone ever walked up and down 4 rows in the blacktop at 2:00 on a blazing Florida afternoon? It is definitely a level of hell. So, our loss for the day: our car. There are like a zillion black Dodge caravans at Disney World, too. And wherever ours was, it was too far for the “beep” when I tried the car keys. We even split up, and FINALLY , after 20 minutes of searching (and Connor near tears that we’d be lost forever), we found it. Not the most auspicious ending, but at least Shelli got her workout in!

Up next…BOMA!

 

[schriverl]

I love reading your updates because almost every single one has a moment in it that brings back a memory of our trip! This one would be the parking lot. Even though we had looked to see where we were parked at the end of the night the car just wasn't there. Almost 2 hours later and 2 security guards helping me the rental car was found. I had walked by it at least 10 TIMES!! I was looking for a white car and ours was silver. That was the moment I realized taking two kids to Disney by myself may not have been a great idea. But I would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

[schriverl]

Poor Caden No fun leaving a kid behind. Hopefully he got some extra swim time in!!

 

[BlueEyes78]

Two HOURS!! Holy cow. I would have been in tears! How old are your kids?

 

[BlueEyes78]

After our exciting morning at AK, we were thrilled to find out Caden’s fever had abated somewhat when we got home. He said he was up for going out to Boma (I think he was bored out of his mind), so we FINALLY got to keep a reservation we had planned! Shelli and Audrey decided to spend their last night at Downtown Disney, so just the five of us were going.
We had heard wonderful things about Boma and our kids (Caden especially) are VERY adventurous eaters. I hate that he has that nut allergy because he has to be so cautious and he LOVES to try everything. So while Boma does have a “children’s buffet” with nuggets and mac ‘n cheese, I’m glad to say my boys didn’t have anything on it.

We drove to the lodge, and parked just as it started to thunder (the evening storms were firing like clockwork that week!). We were seated quickly, and of course the boys spotted the light-up Buzz lightyear straw drinks (which are RIDICULOUSLY overpriced). It was our last night and we’d cancelled a couple of ADRs, so we splurged and got them the cups.

Shawn and Caden were given a “special tour” so they knew what NOT to touch, and in a timely fashion (so far, our experience at the Crystal Palace where we had to wait an hour for the tour was an aberration).

Now we’re all ready to dig in!

One thing I will absolutely do better on my next trip report is keep notes. Which was my goal on THIS trip, but things were pretty hectic. If nothing else, I will write down the foods we loved! What I remember 6 months later about Boma is the soups. I could not get enough of them. The first thing I did was go up and get a very small bowlful of each and sampled them all. The butternut squash was VERY good, and I expected it to be my favorite, but the crab soup was slightly better. I remember Connor loved the coconut curry seafood soup (which neither Shawn or Caden could eat), and it was good too.

Megan loaded up on fruit, as did the boys.

Connor is enjoying a chocolate covered-strawberry here:

The salmon was good, and I tried more new foods than I can remember now. I remember the bread as being amazing, and the Fufu (sweet potatoes with coriander and cinnamon) – and of course the Zebra domes for dessert. I liked the little cream things with the coffee bean on top also!

Dessert!

I think Boma does a wonderful job introducing African cuisine in a “comfortable” way to mainstream American diners. Nothing too crazy or outlandish, but definitely ethnic. It was pretty expensive, and I don’t normally like to pay that much for a buffet since there’s no WAY we ate $100 worth of food, but you are partially paying for the atmosphere and experience. So I’d definitely go again!
We had a great night, the kids were feeling good and behaving well, and we had fun talking about the past week and all that we’d enjoyed. And all that was left to do when we got home was pack….BOOO!

 

[WDWNext]

Love your trip report, and your humor.
I can be sure of you crying buckets when you see that picture 10 years from now, I know I would.

Someone tell Shawn how lucky he is !!

 

[BlueEyes78]

Aww, thanks, that's so sweet. I think he appreciates me most days!
Glad you enjoyed the report, I'm just sorry it's taken me so long to get the doggone thing done!

 

[BlueEyes78]

Ooo, forgot to mention this. When we got home from Boma, look who pulled up for the first time!

She had been SO close all week, and she finally did it! I forgot all about this till I was going through pictures for the report and found it. Also reminds me how long ago this was since she's running all over the place now!

Well, with AK cut short on Friday, we decided to do a “repeat” day. This time, I would be sitting out so I don’t have really detailed information about what happened at the park. To sum up, I heard that the boys were tired and whiny, and Caden didn’t want to do anything so Connor wouldn’t do anything either.

So here they are. Not doing anything.

But they bought stuff. I know Shawn got to ride Everest, because I saw this.

So here is what I get to report on today – Romancing the Mouse is AMAZING. Simply amazing. You see, when we’d originally booked our flights, we were going to leave around the same time we had arrived – late morning, early afternoon. It would mean skipping the morning nap, but we were counting on Megan taking a long afternoon nap once we got home. But when we reconfigured everything to get the direct flight, it meant leaving at 5. Wow. No way she’d last that long without becoming a nightmare. I immediately began brainstorming – could I get her to nap at the park? Do I know anyone in Orlando who would let me crash at their house? And then a lightbulb came on – what about just asking Mark and Holly if I could hang out at the condo while they prepped it for the next party… I even volunteered to help clean for the inconvenience!

They responded that the party arriving after us were “regulars” and were always there by noon…BUT no one was coming to the house just next store (also owned by them) till late afternoon, and I was welcome to move over to that house so Megan could get her morning nap in. Now, what hotel or other condo would do that for you? It was just so nice.

That morning as we were packing up I realized we had used Megan’s last regular diaper the night before, but we had some swimmies, so I put one of those on her and asked Shawn if he could pick up some diapers when he came to pick us up. One important fact – remember how Megan is ridiculously small? Well, the smallest swimmie they sell starts for 15-pounders. She is not quite there, but it was just a few hours, right?

So after my crew left and I did one last pass around the place (I was NOT leaving anything to chance after all that we had lost this week), I headed next door to where Holly was already cleaning. Mark moved her crib over, and THANKFULLY she drifted off fairly quickly and everything went marvelously.
I offered to help but Holly insisted that I was on vacation and I should just chill out and read. We had a nice chat and I learned a lot about vacation property management and some “insider” Orlando tips!

Right around noon Megan began to stir and the Animal Kingdom gang had let me know they were on their way back to pick me up. We then had our one “snafu” of the day when I went in to get Megan and realized her swimmie had done essentially nothing, and she had peed – all over her blanket, her outfit, and of course their baby crib. I felt terrible that this is how we paid them back for their kindness! And that poor Megan had a drenched “going home” outfit. Of course I didn’t have a spare on me! And had just one swimmie left. So I had to rinse her blanket and clean her off as best I could in the bathroom sink. I was petrified she was going to pee again while crawling around and get it on their floor, so I just wrapped her in a towel and held on to her while we waited for the cavalry to arrive.

Don't pee again naked baby!

Soon enough they got there and I was able to change her outfit, put her in a real outfit, and say a quick goodbye to our extremely gracious hosts, and then we were off for the airport. That whole process – dropping off the rentals, carting our ridiculous amount of gear in, and getting through security – took well over an hour. So we had lunch around two, and I was hoping with the huge week we had and the flight ahead, I could squeeze a little more sleep out of her! So I put Megan in a stroller, tipped the seat back, and went for a stroll. I just went in a giant circle, going down each terminal and back. There was one terminal that was pretty quiet so I spent a lot of time in there just walking her back and forth, until around 3:55 she drifted off.

What a sight for sore eyes!

Once she was out I headed back to our terminal and found a secluded corner to keep rocking the stroller. We decided to board at the end of the line to lengthen her nap, and on the last call we got in line. So she got about an hour in before we got on the plane.

Daddy’s turn to hold her!

The flight home was pretty uneventful, just how I like them. But we were one tired crew trudging through the Cincinnati airport that night! On our way home we texted my folks to let them know we were back, and they told us my Dad had stopped by our house a couple of days before to look in on things and the place smelled terrible. He found a bag of rotting radishes on our kitchen shelf. YUCK!! They had been under something else so we hadn’t pitched them and in the heat (we’d turned the air conditioning way down) they had actually liquefied. He did his best to mop up the mess and put them in the trashcan outside. I am so glad he happened to stop by – can you imagine coming home to that??

So when we came home, all smelled fine and the kids were happy to see their own beds.
Final thoughts coming up…

 

[schriverl]

Unfortunately I learned about swimmies the hard way also!! DS was 1 1/2 and sat in my lap with one on cause I ran out of regular diapers. I got soaked in McDonalds no less!! Haha!!

I tried so hard not to cry for the kids sake. DD is 9 and DS is 4. I felt the tears coming on a few times. I really thought the car was stolen. The security guard assured me a car hadn't been stolen on property in many many years. Also the very few breakins they get in the parking lots are from people leaving merchandise in plain sight. Will never rent a car without a keyless entry again! Lesson learned!!

 

[BlueEyes78]

Well, sitting here waiting for the White Death to bury us in Cincinnati, so I've got some time to wrap this up. I do love snow, but it's nearly April, Mother Nature. Let's move on, shall we??

I've interviewed all the members of our party as to the trip "highs" and "lows".

Shelli (aka SuperNanny): Audrey's lowlight: when Caden got sick
My lowlight: definitely throwing up on the plane...

Audrey's highlight: riding Rock 'n Roller coaster with Caden
My highlight: soooo many, it's really hard to choose, probably the very special one-on-one time I got to spend with Audrey. I'm slowly being edged out by friends and--yes, boyfriend. I knew that time was coming soon, so I made sure to appreciate those moments.
Right behind that: riding Peter Pan with Connor, magical prune moments with Megan, watching Raising Arizona on a ridiculously small screen, staying up late to talk about everything under the sun, walking behind the boys while they held someone's hand, etc. Disney was great, but the best part was doing it with friends. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true.

Shawn (AKA Super Husband): My highlight is easy. I went on a magical trip with family and great friends. There was never a dull moment.

My lowlight is related. There was never a dull moment – and I let the “un-good” moments detract from my chill for a while.

Caden: My favorite was Tower of Terror. I don't have a least favorite!!

Connor: My favorite was riding Splash Mountain. My least favorite was getting all the pictures taken at breakfast. Cause it was just pictures. Pictures. Pictures.

Guess someone was really into that breakfast buffet and didn't want to be interrupted!

Looking back, it was a trip of a lot of ups and downs, but what I mainly remember now is the ups. I think my least favorite moment was watching Shawn kick himself over that rental key and realizing that the trip he planned so carefully and with such joy was about to kick him in the pants. The day that went the best was probably our first day at DHS when everything just fell into place, minus one soaking thunderstorm.

Overall, it was a lot of fun traveling with friends for the first time; while it was nice to have the extra pair of hands, it was also wonderful having that time to get to know Shelli and Audrey better and enjoy our friendship. Shelli just exudes such joy and energy that she made it much easier to not get mired down in the "bad" parts of the trip, and I can't imagine a better choice for traveling buddies! Plus she's an awesome videographer so it was great to have those memories recorded forever (and sometimes set to music!). I'm glad that none of the drama on our trip was interpersonal despite the fact that there were seven of us to coordinate - all the drama was limited to losing stuff and throwing up and fevers! And the occasional leaky diaper.

While it was nice to take Megan down as a baby, I'm looking forward to our next trip, which will possibly be the first one we've ever taken without diapers or a stroller (though now I'm wondering where we'll keep all our food and stuff without the stroller!!). And the first one all THREE of our kids will remember. I'm also hoping we can do more ADRs and fit more in without naps to contend with. We don't know when it'll be yet, but I'm holding out for another off-season trip, because going in August once again cemented my love for the lack of crowds and more temperate weather of our November trip.

I also can't imagine staying anywhere except Romancing the Mouse. Two stays with them now and both experiences were just amazing. I can't recommend them enough!!

So....that's a wrap folks! I've really enjoyed writing down my memories during this LONG winter season and keeping our very hot summery trip close to my heart. Thanks to those of you who hopped aboard and stayed with me throughout the last six months!

 

[BookTrout]

That was a great trip report and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about all your adventures....the good and the bad, too. We once "lost" our car key while at the Magic Kingdom and after several hours of frantically looking everywhere and retracing our steps we found our key.....right where my DH had left it, hanging in the door lock on the handle of our car! That was one miserable experience but, we survived. And you all did, too. I can tell by the smiling faces in your wonderful photos. Thanks for writing and giving me some vicarious vacation time while I stare out at the snow.
Sharon

 

[BlueEyes78]

So glad you enjoyed it! I love to write the reports for my own family so they can relive the adventures and I'm more of a writer than a scrapbooker! But I'm also happy they can give others a smile too.