900 Miles, 5 Parks, 2 Resorts, 6 ADR's, and 3 days of Celebration!!! Update 3/8/13

[lovethattink]

Merry Christmas!

Great update. We missed Star Wars 1313. But we did get to Star Wars in 60 seconds! That was an awesome show. My pictures from that show got really blurry. I had no pictures of Jabba and had actually forgotten about him. LOL. Now that image is back in my head, rofl.

AoA has such awesome theming, but a lousy food court for picky eaters, huh?

That's aweful that you forgot your battery. I would have hoped that house keeping would have found them before someone checked into the room. I hope there is a happy ending to the extra battery and charger.

 

[angwill]

It looks like you went on a Star Wars spending spree. I thought it was funny about the way he reacted to his mini star wars game and all I could think of is the guys from Big Bang Theory. lol

Also that Dr. Who robe. I asked on FB but didn't get and answer so I will ask here does it come with a remote for the wife to have the ability to go to press a button and warp him into another demention if he gets on your nerves? lol

I am glad you will soon be able to relax and get back to your trip report.

I am editing after seeing the latest info. Did you ever get your battery and charger back? It doesn't sound like it. Oh and when we were at POFQ they put us in the same room we had in the past so we asked for a room in another buidling for a different experience and they told us all the rooms were filled when we knew they weren't since we could see many empty rooms when we walked around late that night. I think sometimes they just tell you whatever comes to mind not to have to do extra work.

I love the pictures of Jacob sleeping on the job that is something Will would do too. Thanks for sharing your AOA pics. The resort looks beautiful.



Ang

 

[scottny]

I love the AT&T Walker.

I hope you got it back and they found it in the room.

 

[thumperjr9]

Happy Hoildays! I'm sure you are looking forward to things calming down at work after all the holiday shopping/returns season is over! BTW I love Kohls. We have one at a plaza near us....it has saved me many trips to the crowded malls.

Hoping too that there's a happy ending to the charger/battery issue.

So we decided on POR. I was worried that the rooms at POP would feel too cramped. I wanted to keep the budget for the resort under $1000 for 6 nights....so that works! We've stayed at POR before so I'm sure we will be happy there.

Maybe you remember how I was worried about the heat for our Aug. trip. well now I'm worried about the weather for the end of Jan. But not the Florida weather....even if it's cool we can handle that. We live in Webster (Rochester) NY and our flights are out of Buffalo NY, a little over an hour away. So I will be praying to mother nature that the snow stays away on the days of our flights!!

 

[chipper10]

I just found your trip report. Our oldest DS is on the spectrum and was recently diagnosed with ADHD. . I am interested to see how your trip goes. DS was recently put on medicine that makes him not hungry for most of the day. I'm curious to see how this will work when we go in May.

I can't wait to hear more.

 

[lovethattink]

Jmskinner, just a heads up that I started my SWW PTR http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3038356 , I know I still haven't finished my Celebration VI TR.

 

[jmskinner]

Yet again I am aplogizing for not working on this TR. Thanks for sticking with me. I am currently sitting here waiting for a contractor to give us an estimate on repairing our porch and I thought "gotta work on that TR."

Merry Christmas!

Great update. We missed Star Wars 1313. But we did get to Star Wars in 60 seconds! That was an awesome show. My pictures from that show got really blurry. I had no pictures of Jabba and had actually forgotten about him. LOL. Now that image is back in my head, rofl.

AoA has such awesome theming, but a lousy food court for picky eaters, huh?

That's aweful that you forgot your battery. I would have hoped that house keeping would have found them before someone checked into the room. I hope there is a happy ending to the extra battery and charger.

I apologize for putting that image in your head.

Unless AoA changes their menu, we won't being staying there with Jacob. Part of the reason I love staying onsite is being able to get to the resort late and stopping for some food. That late, Jacob is always hungry.

Afraid there isn't a happy ending with that battery and charger.

It looks like you went on a Star Wars spending spree. I thought it was funny about the way he reacted to his mini star wars game and all I could think of is the guys from Big Bang Theory. lol

Also that Dr. Who robe. I asked on FB but didn't get and answer so I will ask here does it come with a remote for the wife to have the ability to go to press a button and warp him into another demention if he gets on your nerves? lol

I am glad you will soon be able to relax and get back to your trip report.

I am editing after seeing the latest info. Did you ever get your battery and charger back? It doesn't sound like it. Oh and when we were at POFQ they put us in the same room we had in the past so we asked for a room in another buidling for a different experience and they told us all the rooms were filled when we knew they weren't since we could see many empty rooms when we walked around late that night. I think sometimes they just tell you whatever comes to mind not to have to do extra work.

I love the pictures of Jacob sleeping on the job that is something Will would do too. Thanks for sharing your AOA pics. The resort looks beautiful.



Ang

Well, you were nice to think of the "guys" from Big Bang when picturing Jonas running after that game, I thought of a little girl. The image still makes me laugh.

Nope, never found that battery and charger. Mousekeeping could have overlooked it since it was in the outlet under the table. Someone was either able to use or knew you could sell the two for about $100.

I thought I did respond about the remote on the Dr. Who robe, but obviously it didn't since he is still here.

I know what you mean about people saying what they want just so they don't have to do any extra work. To be honest, I may have done that once or twice myself.

I love the AT&T Walker.

I hope you got it back and they found it in the room.

Afraid not. That walker was cool.

Happy Hoildays! I'm sure you are looking forward to things calming down at work after all the holiday shopping/returns season is over! BTW I love Kohls. We have one at a plaza near us....it has saved me many trips to the crowded malls.

Hoping too that there's a happy ending to the charger/battery issue.

So we decided on POR. I was worried that the rooms at POP would feel too cramped. I wanted to keep the budget for the resort under $1000 for 6 nights....so that works! We've stayed at POR before so I'm sure we will be happy there.

Maybe you remember how I was worried about the heat for our Aug. trip. well now I'm worried about the weather for the end of Jan. But not the Florida weather....even if it's cool we can handle that. We live in Webster (Rochester) NY and our flights are out of Buffalo NY, a little over an hour away. So I will be praying to mother nature that the snow stays away on the days of our flights!!

I'm guessing you are on your trip now. Hope the weather wasn't too bad. I'm sure you are colder than us, and we have been below freezing all week.

Glad you chose POR, I so love that resort. When I booked the trip in September this year that we probably won't go on, I asked Jonas if he would prefer POR or stay at CBR, since that is the host resort of the Mustang event. He chose POR.

Kohls has been my primary shopping spot for many years, so working there just made sense. And the fact the management works to work with our schedules is fantastic. Would you believe I have been shopping in any malls except the outlet mall while here?

I just found your trip report. Our oldest DS is on the spectrum and was recently diagnosed with ADHD. . I am interested to see how your trip goes. DS was recently put on medicine that makes him not hungry for most of the day. I'm curious to see how this will work when we go in May.

I can't wait to hear more.

How old is your DS? I know how hard that decision to start meds is. Jacob's been on them for 10 years now. We don't pressure him to eat during the day and don't mind stopping at 8pm or later to get him some chicken nuggets. Probably a bad mom, but if the child is welling to eat some ice cream during the day, I let him, as long as he eats good that night and he always seems to at WDW. He loves the chicken nuggets there, but only the adult ones, not those nasty things they serve on the childs plates. I have a great story coming up about getting him some chicken nuggets.

Jmskinner, just a heads up that I started my SWW PTR http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3038356 , I know I still haven't finished my Celebration VI TR.

Ok, I need to go check this out.

 

[jmskinner]

We made our way over to the convention center. Decided to park where we had previously done so. I always have fun taking pics while walking in.

Jonas said I should get this outfit.


I need to work out, but I just might get one.

Previously I mentioned how we were lucky the day before and avoided the long line to get in. Not this day, we were early enough to be part of the it



And the people behind us (Jacob had the camera at this point)




You can see this is a very large room set up just for this, but makes it very manageable and nobody tries to cut in and is very patient. Not like at WDW.

One of the main halls


Just to give you an idea how big this is


And another one of the main halls


We did more of the panels this day. And I don't have many photos, so guess we did more waiting around than anything else. I think we were waiting on the Lego panel here


Interesting little panel discussing Star Wars Lego. It was here we first learned that they were working on a Star Wars Miniland at Legoland in Florida. Jacob was very upset he wouldn't get to see it.

From there we went to the Star Wars Clone Wars Red Carpet Event. We got there a couple of hours early and were told the first 150 people would get a special surprise. I left to find some food and saw these guys


I had seen them before, but didn't realize they were Lego characters until now.

The line for the premiere was long and it reached a point where they wouldn't allow anyone else into the hall. We were overhearing that people outside the hall planned to jump the line to get in. Eventually they closed the doors and wouldn't even allow people out to go to the bathroom. This is when it really did feel a little crazy and eventually they escorted people to the restroom. They allowed the first 150 people and we didn't make it. We were 6 people back from making it. Before our trip, I purchased a special batter charger because I knew our phones would die. It was $100, but worked so well. We were able to charge our two Iphones, Jacob's Ipod, and even the guy behind us asked us to charge his Iphone, at the same time. Fantastic little device and it has helped us out in power outages too.

Not sure what those "special" people got that made it in, but I know they did get to actually walk the red carpet probably got to meet all the stars there.

When we finally got to go in, this is the red carpet part we got to see.





The guy in the black t-shirt looked so familiar to us and when we found a seat and starting talking about him, a nice guy in front of us told us he is Sam Witwer, the actor who does Darth Maul's voiceover in Clone Wars and was the actor used for the Star Wars Force Unleashed games. But then we figured out he is also in the US version of Being Human from the SyFy channel.

Inside the digital theater where the premier was taking place.


Why does my camera never cooperate


All of the actors walked right past us, but this is the only decent picture I got. I'm not one to run to the front like a lot of people to take the pics.

There was a nice little interview before they premiered the first episode of the next season of Clone Wars, it wouldn't air on TV for another month.


I have to say, I had never watched Clone Wars, but it was very good. They actually showed the last episode of the previous season, and then new one so I knew what was going on.

A question and answer period followed, but it was time to head to our ADR at one of our favorite places to eat on property. Will there be "KKKeeeetttcccchhhhuuuuppp?"

 

[jmskinner]

I'm really not far from finishing this TR. Life getting in the way yet again.

So we left the convention center and headed to WDW. Of course we hit traffic and we were all worried about making our ADR. I'm sure if you read the last chapter you know that we were eating here



We love this place and have always had a great time. I can't say that this time was so great. I asked the waittress if they could get Jacob some chicken nuggets, but not the kids ones, but the adult ones. I thought we understood each other. But nope, she did exactly what the guy at 50's Primetime did, brought out a double order of the kids chicken nuggets. We sent it back and let Jacob have just a chocolate milkshake to get him through the night.

We ordered what we like to call "the plate o meat".


As usual it was all very good. But the service was really lacking. We got none of the fun entertainment, guess I scared our waitress complaining about the chicken nuggets. Thought I was very nice about it.

We paid for our meal and headed to MK for the night. Figured we could get Jacob some chicken nuggets at Cosmic Rays.

Jacob got me coming through the gates


We headed straight to Cosmic Rays to get the boy some chicken nuggets. We got there and the side with chicken was closed. I couldn't believe it. We saw a CM standing to the side and asked if there was any place we could get chicken nuggets, and only the adult ones. She got on her radio and one of the managers there at Cosmic Rays said she would put some on for us, but it would take about 10 minutes. I went up to pay and then stepped up to the counter. The CM that took my receipt looked at it and I could see that he knew they didn't serve chicken nuggets. He started to get the attention of the cashier, but I stopped him and said they were a special order. Let me tell you, once those chicken nuggets were done, I watched to make sure they didn't goof and give them to someone else. We sat down to let Jacob enjoy his chicken nuggets and he ate them all. After he was done, I made it a point to find that CM and thank her. The night was saved.

After this, Jacob mentioned he would like to go in the Laugh Comedy Floor. We weren't the only ones


This wasn't just a bug, it was a BUG. This thing was about 4 inches long. There were kids crying after the seeing the thing, it was hilarious. Even grown people were staying clear of this thing. I wish I had gotten video. Finally they opened the doors and we went in, along with the BUG. We showed it to the CM standing at the door and she ran into one of the CM only doors, we were all laughing, well except for those still in tears. While watching the little intro video we overheard the CM's discussing how the BUG was no more. I don't know what they did, but I could not have stepped on the thing, I really think it would have grabbed my foot and pushed me down.

For whatever reason, we didn't get a lot of pics this night. I think it started raining. We of course rode HM, PoTC and that was about it. We were all tired and still needed to pack for the next morning.

 

[jmskinner]

Our last day we got up and loaded up the car. Learned a few things here, call for help next time; get a cart; and having a parking lot view isn't bad when it means you are close to your car, which we didn't have. We looked like we had been in the pool by the time we got that car loaded. One CM in a cart offered to at least take the ice chest for me, but I was stubborn, plus I was so close at that point.

We made it to Celebrations along with everyone else



Now, I had wanted to go to the panel about Clone Wars, I had a feeling someone special would be there, but the boys just wanted to shop. And they talk about women shopping.

We headed to the R2 room first,



















We ran into these guys




Love seeing the R2 units out enjoying the show


Now this is probably one of my favorite memories. We were waiting to see a 3D movie produced by a school





Jacob had no idea that trooper was behind him. I'm still about it.



Had to check out the Lego build.





This is completely off topic


Not sure why it was there.

 

[jmskinner]

I had read about this booth


Seems there is a Star Wars museum and they had shipped a portion to Celebrations for everyone to enjoy.















Chalk Art




Had to swing by the Greater Florida Lego Users Group display since it wasn't complete on the first day




Now Jacob has a Lego Super Destroyer, but this was a SUPER
















Ahhh, a baby shower.


Ok, that is about it for our trip. I want to save the best costume for last, so my next update will include it and the trip home.

Anyone in the path of Nemo stay safe!

 

[lovethattink]

Love the updates. We must have been so close to each other the last day. We have pictures of so many of the same things that last day.

Where was Dee Bradley Baker for the red carpet? I remember getting texts from you about how full that room was getting. That sure was full. If I remember correctly, we went back to the resort after Warwick Davis's panel because JJ was way over stimulated with all the people. He would have never made the Red Carpet crowd.

 

[natebenma]

Good to see you back posting! Catch you in another month.

Wow, the Star Wars Celebration is unbelievable! Interesting, crowded and Lego-tastic! Star Wars in 60 minutes sounds like it was hilarious and your picture of Jabba backs that up!

for some fun purchases.

Boo! For just missing out on the red carpet event entrance.

I'm sorry to hear about your missing battery and charger. It must have been really frustrating because you knew EXACTLY where you left it!!!

Liked your tour of AoA. What great theming!

Also annoying that you had so much trouble getting Jacob the chicken nuggets he wanted. I love that a CM went above and beyond to help you out!!!

Your BUG story cracked me up!!! It's tough to be a bug! We had an encounter with a cockroach while in line at Soarin' with the middle schoolers on the class trip.

Thanks for the well wishes for "fighting Nemo" We were very lucky. We did get about 2 feet of snow, and no school on Friday or today, but we never lost power. Some of the coastal communities in our area were hit pretty hard.

 

[ScotsMinnie]

All caught up with your report! The world of Star Wars is a mystical one for me since I have 2 girls but it looks like you had an amazing time!

How much has Jacob grown? He looks so grown up and tall! Has it been so long since I started reading your reports?

Hope things are going well. Any more WDW trips planned?

 

[scottny]

All caught up.

I would love to go one day to this.

Really nice of them to make you the nuggets.

Funny pic of the trooper.

 

[jmskinner]

Good to see you back posting! Catch you in another month.

Wow, the Star Wars Celebration is unbelievable! Interesting, crowded and Lego-tastic! Star Wars in 60 minutes sounds like it was hilarious and your picture of Jabba backs that up!

for some fun purchases.

Boo! For just missing out on the red carpet event entrance.

I'm sorry to hear about your missing battery and charger. It must have been really frustrating because you knew EXACTLY where you left it!!!

Liked your tour of AoA. What great theming!

Also annoying that you had so much trouble getting Jacob the chicken nuggets he wanted. I love that a CM went above and beyond to help you out!!!

Your BUG story cracked me up!!! It's tough to be a bug! We had an encounter with a cockroach while in line at Soarin' with the middle schoolers on the class trip.

Thanks for the well wishes for "fighting Nemo" We were very lucky. We did get about 2 feet of snow, and no school on Friday or today, but we never lost power. Some of the coastal communities in our area were hit pretty hard.

I really don't know if I should or since it has been a month, boy you know me. Sorry about that.

I wonder what the people in our room would have thought if I just showed up asking if they found that charger and battery?

Glad you didn't lose power during Nemo. What about this last storm? We had a lot of snow, and I called in early thinking it was going to get worse and then the streets cleared. Felt horrible for missing work, so much to do too.

All caught up with your report! The world of Star Wars is a mystical one for me since I have 2 girls but it looks like you had an amazing time!

How much has Jacob grown? He looks so grown up and tall! Has it been so long since I started reading your reports?

Hope things are going well. Any more WDW trips planned?

Jacob really grew the first year we were here in Virginia. No more shopping in the boys area.

I thinking about a trip, will discuss in this next post, which should be the last for this TR.

All caught up.

I would love to go one day to this.

Really nice of them to make you the nuggets.

Funny pic of the trooper.

When I hear about the next Celebration after this Summer Europe, I'll let you know if it is going to be in Orlando. I heard they signed a three year lease.

Love the updates. We must have been so close to each other the last day. We have pictures of so many of the same things that last day.

Where was Dee Bradley Baker for the red carpet? I remember getting texts from you about how full that room was getting. That sure was full. If I remember correctly, we went back to the resort after Warwick Davis's panel because JJ was way over stimulated with all the people. He would have never made the Red Carpet crowd.

You got to see George Lucas, didn't you? I was so mad because I had planned on going to that panel.

Dee Bradly Baker was there, along with the rest of the cast, they just weren't on stage and me and the camera weren't liking each other at the moment...ok, I just couldn't figure out how to get the pic I needed.

 

[carissanboys]

I'm here!

I read your introduction. I don't think I knew that Jacob was diagnosed with Asperger's in VA? I think you remember we wondered about Connor for a long time. I'm still not sure, but if he has it, he would be very highly functioning. He outgrew a lot of the issues he had when he was younger that made us think he might have it (the sensory stuff). I'm glad you found some doctors who are on top of things.

I was showing the boys my pins the other day and I was telling them about the Stitch pin from the Studios you gave me.

I will try to catch up on all your updates soon.

 

[jmskinner]

Has it really been a month since I last updated this? Sorry it has taken me so long. Work has been crazy with markdowns, inventory, etc. Then we were trying to clean up the basement so we could get someone in here to give a quote on finishing it and also possibly redoing our bathroom. The basement looked like a storage room, but after someone had opened every box and laid everything out. (Jonas looking for one or two things. )

My boys are at a gaming convention in Lancaster, PA. I decided to stay home and save some money on kenneling the dog. Last time I just laid in the hotel room because I didn't feel well.

Ok, back to the TR and I realized I missed some info from the night at MK. I knew there were more pics, but I couldn't find them.

We did ride Buzz that night and here are the pics to prove it:



Jonas does take this stuff seriously. I wish they had ride pics of TSMM because I can only imagine how he looks when I am always beating him. Jacob usually wins on Buzz.

And here's me, just having some fun


And the other pics I didn't post were Photopass pics in front of the castle. For some reason Jonas got mad at me and walked on ahead. I couldn't catch him for the pics, so Jacob and I posed.



The boy had just stepped on my toe.


Now back to our leaving. Oops, I promised a pic of the best costume at Celebrations, here you go:



If you have only seen the movies and not Clone Wars, you probably don't know that Darth Maul lived, but lost his legs. Isn't this just the coolest costume!

We saw Darth Maul as we were leaving Celebrations about 1pm on Saturday. While riding in the very front of the bus to the parking lot. Overheard the driver talking to somone on his cellphone how he had no instruments, the whole dashboard was messed up. Glad he was only driving around the convention center.

We got in the car and hit the road. Planned to stop for food outside of Orlando. Before we got out of town, this is what I was dealing with





I believe we stopped at Wendy's and so did a lot of people that looked like they were coming from WDW.

Hit the road again, and it was a very uneventful trip which was nice after the accident on the way down. Which I can't remember if I posted, but his mother called us by accident (she was trying to call the policeman that wrote the report), and we learned the young man on the motorcycle was going to be fine. Dislocated shoulder and very scratched up.

We did see a lot of these because there was a hurricane heading for southern FL. Can't remember the name of the storm.



Now, I do have one last funny story to tell, and it is probably only going to be funny to me, but during the drive, Jonas was asleep and he woke up. But he woke up and did this funky stretch. It looked like Tom Hanks in the Moneypit when he is trapped in the floor and wakes up. The way he did his eyes and fingers, and is exactly how Jonas did his when he woke up. Didn't stretch out his arms. I crack up everytime I think about it.

Also, when driving, don't believe those little computers about how many more miles you can go with what gas you have left. We thought we were going to run out. The sad thing is, both of us have done it again in that car since this trip.

Ok, I guess that is it. We had a great trip and I would love to do it again.

Someone asked if we had anymore planned. Well, Labor Day weekend is booked, but still don't know if we are going. Jonas may be deployed...to Crystal City. If any of you know the DC area, that is in VA, just an hour away from our home. Actually closer than where he works now. We think it is just called a deployement so they don't have to replace him in his current office. But what it does mean is he couldn't go on leave for six months, so no trips for him. I am seriously thinking of going Labor Day weekend, just me and Jacob. See, that weekend is Mustangs at the Mickyard, the Mustangs of America Nationals. Plus, there is also another car show going on at CSR. And the really bad part is we had learned that Jacob's orientation for Freshman year was going to be on Thursday. Jacob and I could go to it, and Jonas could catch the Autotrain with the Mustang. Jacob and I would then fly down to Orlando. Now it looks like if we go, we will just fly down and I am seriously thinking of not doing the parks. Is everyone ok after reading that? Yes, I am drinking a margarita right now, but thinking we can walk around and look at cars. Maybe go to Disneyquest, which Jonas doesn't like to do, maybe walk around the resorts and take pics. Jacob will be happy just going into the different arcades. Maybe even a water park. So, what do ya'll think?

Again, thank you for sticking around for this long, drawn out TR. I've really enjoyed sharing with all of you.

 

[jmskinner]

I don't know why some of the photo links aren't working? I have tried several times to correct them.

 

[jmskinner]

I'm here!

I read your introduction. I don't think I knew that Jacob was diagnosed with Asperger's in VA? I think you remember we wondered about Connor for a long time. I'm still not sure, but if he has it, he would be very highly functioning. He outgrew a lot of the issues he had when he was younger that made us think he might have it (the sensory stuff). I'm glad you found some doctors who are on top of things.

I was showing the boys my pins the other day and I was telling them about the Stitch pin from the Studios you gave me.

I will try to catch up on all your updates soon.

When we saw the Pediatrician, he recommended we see a Developmental Pediatrician and so did the Child Psychiatrist. Jacob is very high functioning and has grown out of a lot it, but we are still working with him. At therapy there is a little girl that is a sensory seeker, she loves to touch and hug and will walk up to Jacob and hug him and then just hang on him. He just looks at me, with a look of "What should I do or this is odd?" I was telling his therapist 5 or so years ago he probably would have just pushed her away. The Developmental Pediatrician said she really didn't have to do the questionnaire, she could tell within just a few moments. I'm just glad to have it because I hope it will help with his education, both high school and in college.

I forgot about the Stitch pin. Sure wish I was still down in FL to meet all your boys.

You have a great trip!