Sorry....starting a trip report around the holidays is just difficult to get to. It hasn't even been a month, but I miss being there so much! Luckily, Mom and Dad want help planning a trip to WDW for our entire family of 20+ of us for June of 2012! I am happy to help, but to think that our next trip won't be for a year and a half makes me sad! Also, not to be back during the holiday season will be tough, but I will have to focus on the Christmas Day surprise 2011 for all of the kids!!!
Anyway...back to our story...finally!
I do not sleep well now a day, but this morning was no problem for me. I awoke excited and fresh...holy crap it's still only 6 a.m. (That is 5 a.m. Chicago time...)
Oh well I will have jump start on everyone else and get them up and moving. It was back to MK this morning and I wanted to make rope drop! Well everyone was easy to get moving except for the Princess of the family and I don't mean the 4 year old. DH does not move very quickly while on vacation and this morning was not different. So I headed off for our "Holy Grails" (refillable mugs) and my first day of Tonga Toast!!!!
We tend to eat breakfast in the room because Captain Cooks is to small to accomodate the number of guests especially if it's bad weather. So why even try...so back to the room I go. Everyone finished their breakfast and the Tonga Toast was wonderful as usual. Jeffrey, Hannah and I split the Tonga Toast while my husband and Marisa had their own favorites. Do you think Princess was ready yet....heck no! So what else is there to do as I added pressure on DH???
Photo op time!!! Yes - my two older kids are rolling their eyes at me, but at least Hannah is still a ham for the camera.
Beautiful Christmas Tree
Beautiful Kids
Sister cuddle time...
Oh...look who finally decided to show up!!!!
I love this picture of the two of them!
So we finally made it to the MK, but as we are walking down the monorail ramp we could hear and see from a distance the Welcome show.
My DH is thinking see...we made it on time.
Ah....no we did not. Now I will not share this with my family because they already think I'm nuts. But it is my dream someday to open the MK with my family....I should have done that before I had a teenager, but I didn't know any better. Oh well....
Now this being our 5th year in a row (9th trip for the family) we know where we need to head....Me: Fantasyland DH: Tomorrowland
So we normally try not to split up much, after all this is a family vacation, but Hannah was the only one excited to go on Dumbo. Okay one ride and then we will get back together. So DH, Marisa and Jeffrey headed off to the mad dash to SM and Hannah and I to Dumbo! (Oh! I could try to get some footage of the construction!) So who would get on their ride first???
Oh, yeah! Person with the proof wins!!! Sorry DH - no camera, no proof!!!
Look no crane!!!!
It will show up later in the trip and is in a lot of our background shots. But that is okay, a little piece of history that we were there while it was under construction.
Hannah loving the view and thrilled to be in WDW again!
The construction is coming along the way, but it was still just a lot of dirt. I am excited that we will be back when it will be completely done. I just hope Hannah will still love her princesses. She will only be 6, but as I have already learned they grow up to fast.
So Hannah and I get off Dumbo and "Um...SM is only a 10 minute wait. Do you mind if we go on again???" Yeah - you might as well. We will conqour Fantasyland without all of you!!!!
So where do we head next...time to try to get on Cinderella's "supposed" horse...but no luck this time. Some other little kids got it and probably didn't even realize it!!! It's okay, we get over the fake tears and find an okay horse...
After we get off I get another phone call. "Okay we are here....where are you?" I can see Marisa on her cell phone. DH refused to bring his...I was so proud. He usually gets slammed with work phone calls and it takes away from the trip.
Well what Marisa doesn't realize is that I can see them, so I decide to start playing a game....
Your getting warmer...warmer...oh colder...okay back to warm. "Mom - where are you??" Then she finally opens her eyes and there I am waving her down. I got a little giggle....I made a teenager smile. Point one for me....
It was already getting warm outside and we were excited for another 80 degree day!!! We all decided to go to my favorite ride ....
Mickey's Philharmagic!!! Now I guess you are not supposed to videotape this show....but I did. I need to hear it from time to time and it will be a great thing to show the family to get them excited about the trip in 2012. I know it is on YouTube, but it's just not the same thing. God - I love this show! This makes me smile and I had my whole family there with me.
After Mickey's Philharmagic...it's off to PPF. On the way my DH mentions that IASW is no different. I point out that it definately is...you see I read it on the DISboard....oh god here we go....
Yes - honey...you see the exit is now the entrance and the entrance is now the exit. "No it's not - you see..." and he starts pointing..."Oh ...oh...yeah..." No I was right ...no the DISboard was right. He just quitely changed the subject with no admittance of me and the DISboard being right. He is off to a great start!
Wow it's really starting to get warm and with a weather report saying that the cold weather is on the way...what is it time for???
POOL TIME!!!
So we decide to head out and on the way we run into a quick parade!!!
Mickey - finally up close!
We decided to take the boat back since we were in a rush to get to the MK, but not in a rush to get back to the Poly. So time for a relaxing ride....
And a quick snap shot for the family to show BLT for 2012 planning...
Now my Mom asked before we left to see if we could go and checkout a few hotel options for 2012. Um...we only have 11 days...this is as good as it's going to get. I have a video if you would like from Disney. That and these few pictures will have to do.
View of the Poly and GF.
Cuddle sisters again...they can be so sweet togehter and then the teenager wakes up.
Me and my gang...you see I can get in the photos from time to time.
We finally arrived back at the Poly and the pool was already busy. So I grabbed some chairs while DH took the kids back to the room to change. My goal this trip was to try to get at least one nap in by the pool. Was today going to be the day???
We all got settled in and it was time to go say hi to the bartender! A nice cold Banana Cabana and a Mai Tai for DH....oh so relaxing.
So did I get my nap in??? No not today....the family had other plans. While in the pool with everyone I made the mistake of telling DH and Marisa that I had never been down the volcano pool slide since I was a little girl on my first trip to the Poly. Now this was the old pool, but still the pool. Their jaws dropped!!!! After my adult experience at Blizzard Beach (which we did not miss this trip) and the giant wedgy...I decided I was getting to old for waterslides.
All day I had been watching these older adults having a blast going down (no kids with them either). Well at least I could use my kids as an excuse for going down. After a few cocktails, I decided it was time to look like an idiot. So I closely followed Hannah pretending to be a concerned parent taking her down. But she soon blew my cover instructing me on what I needed to do....
Everyone wanted to go down first to witness me coming out the other end. Now remember this was Hannah's second year at the Poly. So she was only 3 when she went on this for the first time....HOLY CRAP was this slide fast!!!! I have to admit to all of you...not my family...I was a little worried at one point (maybe two, maybe three)...oh no I was about to hit the water...prepare to unwedge!
Luckily, no one in my family thought to grab a camera and I can pretend that this never happened. But Mom was being fun and everyone was laughing at me...I need another cocktail.
It was a fantastic afternoon again by the pool! It was relaxing, entertaining, and just fun. I love the pool side games, music, and well yes cocktails. This is our little paradise!
But it was time to get ready for our evening adventure. At this point we had barely seen much of any of the parks. We had only been to MK at this point, so where to next???
We decided to get to Mission Space, Test Track and then to the other side for Soarin, Nemo and Turtle Talk. We needed to keep the big kids happy and the little one.
Oh wait, Mom has to check the wait times on her phone...so DH and I raced to see who would get the information first. I of couse won again, but you knew he had to make a comment about it probably be inaccurate. We got to the board and what do you know....nope. It was correct!
Well TT was a 50 minute wait!!!!
Yeah, we don't wait in those kinds of lines. But we really wanted to go on it so Hannah could go on her first big kid ride. For something we were so excited about doing and measuring Hannah for all year long...we still had not taken her on anything yet. So I ran and got some fast passes and the first group went on Mission Space while I stayed behind with Hannah.
They came out and asked if I was going to use my child swap. You see last year I had just gotten over Vertigo. But this summer we went to Great America and I went on King Kaos...my DH laughed at me because he said I looked like I was going to throw-up. I told him no, I was trying to make sure my brain didn't come sliding out of my mouth.
So back to Mission Space....I was ready for my mission!!! We went on the Orange side (hard side right?) and I prepared myself. Marisa kept barking orders at me and I made sure I had one child to each side just in case I tossed my cookies. Then I got into annoying button pushing...okay Mom that's enough...Mom I said that's enough...
"Is that annoying you? Is that annoying you?" I had to give them a taste of their own medicine.
So I made it...it wasn't that bad and I was able to walk-off on my own.
It was still not time for our fastpass, so of course DH had to take another break and next thing I knew we were shopping. I need him to start pitcing in the packing for this trip...he has no idea and doesn't think...how am I going to pack that because he purchased two of these things...
The kids were having so much fun though playing Jedis!
I told you Hannah is my ham for photos...
We then headed over to Test Track. Hannah's first big kid ride. We reminded Jeffrey that when he was 7 he cried because he did not want to go on this ride...okay bawled!!! But we got him on when he was 8 and it is one of his favorite rides. We told her it may sound scary, but it is really fun. There was not one ounce of panic in her face.
We got our own car...Hannah, Marisa and I in the front and DH and Jeffrey in the back. Hannah giggled through the the bumping around and speeding up and then it was time to hit the wall. We told her this is where she had to put her arms up and that Mommy would keep one arm on her and then we took off. I wish I had the camera on...she was laughing the whole way...screaming a little bit to out of excitement. It's a great family photo, but unfortunately I don't have my photopass cd yet. So I will update later.
We then headed over to Soarin.....90 minutes....bye bye. We will do it another day. So we then headed over to Nemo and then Turtle Talk with Crush. But first a little side trip to France....
For what??? A Grand Monie (sp?) of course....yummy. Okay now Nemo...
Then off to TTWC...Hannah enjoyed watching the sting rays before the show.
We then needed to explain to Jeffrey that he was getting to big to sit up front. However, Hannah would not sit up front without him. So we instructed him to sit to the side and help Hannah, but that he needed to let the little kids talk to Crush. Jeffrey loves this show because he has been picked three times to talk to Crush in the past.
Hannah was still to scared to talk to Crush so we just enjoyed the show. Afterwards we were all getting exhausted since no one had a nap (aka Mom and Hannah) so it was back to the Poly for the night.
Coming up next: Day 3 - Holy Crap! We're going back where?