Done Did Disney on a Dime (well...many dimes) LAH LAH's TR *Updated 3/17*

[Holly324]

Yay! Love, love, love the pictures! You have such a beautiful family!!! Sounds like a great time at Hollywood Studios. I have to tell you that typos always make me giggle, so thank you for the fun texts!

 

[hollyrose]

Beautiful family! Elsa is so cute hehe. Disney lost and found does sound awesome...haha!

 

[BellaBaby]

Wonderful update! Love all the pics! The kids are so cute with the characters.

 

[Curiouser&curiouser!]

What an excellent end to the day! Glad to hear Meema was feeling better.

I am seriously impressed at the amount of Olympic Coverage you managed to see while there!

 

[LAH LAH]

Yay! Love, love, love the pictures! You have such a beautiful family!!! Sounds like a great time at Hollywood Studios. I have to tell you that typos always make me giggle, so thank you for the fun texts!

Thank you! 80% of my mom's texts resemble that.

Beautiful family! Elsa is so cute hehe. Disney lost and found does sound awesome...haha!

Thank you!

Wonderful update! Love all the pics! The kids are so cute with the characters.

Elsa seriously was in love with Sully!

What an excellent end to the day! Glad to hear Meema was feeling better.

I am seriously impressed at the amount of Olympic Coverage you managed to see while there!

I was so sad when I saw our trip fell smack dab in the middle of the Olympics. We LOVE the Olympics, so we enjoyed every second of the Prime Time coverage we got to see! We had 200+ hours waiting for us when we got home.

 

[littlezar]

Glad Meema finally felt well enough to join the rest of the family!

Love the texting!

I did the animation class with my older two boys and we drew Stitch ~ my favorite! None of us has any artistic ability whatsoever but we totally had a blast. My husband did it with the younger two after they did some meet & greets in there and they ended up drawing Woody.

WOOHOO on Michael's flippie being found & returned!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Yay! Meema is better!!!! I hope it stays that way!

And how very cool that you got to meet the Penguins! I love the Animation Building too, the drawing class is awesome. I have NO talent in that area, yet my Disney character always comes out looking decent, they are so good at teaching!

 

[LAH LAH]

Glad Meema finally felt well enough to join the rest of the family!

Love the texting!

I did the animation class with my older two boys and we drew Stitch ~ my favorite! None of us has any artistic ability whatsoever but we totally had a blast. My husband did it with the younger two after they did some meet & greets in there and they ended up drawing Woody.

WOOHOO on Michael's flippie being found & returned!

We really enjoyed the animation class!

Yay! Meema is better!!!! I hope it stays that way!

And how very cool that you got to meet the Penguins! I love the Animation Building too, the drawing class is awesome. I have NO talent in that area, yet my Disney character always comes out looking decent, they are so good at teaching!

I never even thought about the penguins, I only have eyes for Miss Mary!

 

[LAH LAH]

Scattering Turned Out To Be Loads Of Fun​

Today was going to be a hodgepodge day! Michael, Elsa and I were scheduled to spend the day at Blizzard Beach and our evening at Down Town Disney's Disney Quest. Meema and Peepa were slated to spend the day at EPCOT, seeing as our Trio already spent our first day there. That's good and all, but I had hatched a plan! While I was floating around the Lazy River on our previous water park day, I kept thinking about how much Peepa would enjoy the water parks. Plus, Elsa would have someone to ride all the rides with. I wasn't really looking forward to another water park day, and truth be told, neither was Michael. Elsa's the only fish in our family.

I presented my plan to Meema and Peepa and they were more than ok with my little switcheroo! Peepa was actually really excited to see how Disney does water parks, and Meema is about as laid back with the Disney process as it gets. Maybe the most excited was Michael. This change meant he could spend ALL DAY at Disney Quest, every gamers dream. So Peepa and Elsa got an early start on the day and skedaddled on over to Blizzard Beach, Michael left after breakfast to head on over to Disney Quest, and Meema and I hung out in my room for a bit. It was nice to know that everyone was right where they wanted to be for the time being (and I didn't have to do another water park day!!!!!).

After a leisurely start, Meema and I headed on over to Down Town Disney for some shopping! We made it around 10:15 and I decided to let Meema take the lead, and of course she led us straight to the Christmas Shoppe. She loves this store.

We spent a lot of time in here. A lot. But that's ok, because like I said before, Meema really does just go with the flow. She's entitled to a bit of "her time"! Meema has a couple of fun Christmas traditions she does every year. She buys us all brand new jammies to wait for Santa every Christmas Eve, and she buys us each a special ornament every year. At Animal Kingdom she watched as Elsa sang her favorite part of the Nemo show over and over again. She LOVES when Crushes dad sings "go with the flow-oooooooooooo-ow". So when we came across the Nemo sea turtle ornament she knew she HAD to buy it for Elsa! It was quite a bit more expensive than what she would normally spend on one ornament so I told her I would forgo mine, and then it should just about even out. (fast forward to Christmas morning...and she LOVED it!!!!). Oh, we spent a lot of time in that store.

We wandered in and out of stores picking up things we never knew we needed, and just generally enjoying each other and the laid back nature of it all! I was excited to show her the lego store. I remember the first time I had ever seen it I was blown away, and that was with a lot of the outside creations under refurbishment. She loved it too and we took lots of pictures for the boys back home, especially the Toy Story ones!

We kept walking and finally made it to Disney Quest. Holy cow, I didn't realize just how big this building was! Michael was in there somewhere, but Meema didn't have a ticket so we took a picture and headed back to the buses.

We only made it back as far as the Lego store. Meema needed a break. She had severe foot surgery a few months back and despite being a huge trooper, she was hurting for certain. We sat down in some shade and did a bit of people watching. We weren't watching all that long when we spotted Michael walking by!!! We called him on over and enjoyed his company for a bit.

Apparently he was heading back to the room to get some lunch, so off he went. We rested a bit more and decided to check out a few more stores. This was Meema's favorite:

We had seen enough and headed back to the room for some lunch. Michael had been there and was gone by the time we made it back. Off for more games, I suppose. Meema and I lounged in the airconditioned room while waiting for the weary waterlogged warriors to return from Blizzard Beach. They came back around 1:30 and they had a blast!

My sun kissed beauty:

Peepa showered, changed, and then they headed on over for a shorter day at EPCOT together. Elsa and I opted for a nap! Of course we kept the Olympics on in the background, so we wouldn't miss anything.

We woke up refreshed and decided to head on down to Disney Quest for some good ol' gaming fun. I wasn't prepared for how spectacularly vast this place was! Games and experiences for everyone. Pay one entry fee and then have at it. Elsa took me around to see some of the things she had done and we decided to do the "create your own roller coaster" together. It was awesome! We virtually laid out the track, and then entered an enclosed pod, and Disney did the rest. It was great, a little too bumpy for my back, but it was fun!

We sat in an actual raft and used sensored paddles to row our way through the rapids, then we defeated some aliens while wearing some virtual goggles, and after that I schooled Elsa in Skeeball! You could spend all day here and not see half of what it has to offer. We were pretty excited to get the chance to do another animation class! The set up here was so cute:

It was getting late so we grabbed some dinner:

Elsa was being gracious, but it was obvious that she was starting to feel poorly. We finished up eating and decided to head back to our room. I thought we would run into Michael, but after stepping into the building and seeing how ridiculously huge it is, I wasn't too surprised we never saw hair nor hide of him while we were there.

Leaving Down Town Disney:

We got back to the room and Elsa finally admitted she wasn't feeling all that well. She was running a slight fever and her ear was so sore she couldn't even touch it. She said she had never felt ear pain quite like this. I felt so bad for her. I gave her some Tylenol and she crawled back into her rats nest and called it a night, at 8:45. I called down to the Concierge desk and asked what kind of options I might have for meds. They informed me if her pediatrician called in a script, there is a pharmacy that would be willing to deliver it right to our room for a measly $5 fee, even on a Sunday! I called her pediatrician's after hour answering service and left three (yes three) messages and never got a call back. Not so happy about that.

Michael made it back by the time we agreed on and told me all about his day. He spent about 9 hours at Disney Quest, and loved every minute of it! Of course we settled in to watch the Prime Time Olympic coverage. Meema and Peepa finished up at EPCOT and went straight back to their room, but they called us to fill us in on their day. We agreed to meet up at 9:30am for our final park day, as long as Elsa was feeling better. Michael and I both fell asleep well before the Olympic coverage was done, but the extra sleep was welcomed, and we all slept hard.

NEXT UP: Last Days Are Always Bitter Sweet!

 

[BellaBaby]

I never realized how huge Disney Quest was either, but it looks like a lot of fun!!

Hope Elsa is feeling much better for the last day!!

 

[ilovedisney1]

Can't wait to read more!

 

[LAH LAH]

I never realized how huge Disney Quest was either, but it looks like a lot of fun!!

Hope Elsa is feeling much better for the last day!!

I didn't even make to all the floors, but it was so big it was a bit overwhelming. Lots of classic arcade games, Chuck-e-cheese type games, loads of virtual games etc... It was amazing!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

What a wonderful day that everyone was able to do something that they liked. Even if it meant splitting up for a bit.

I hope Elsa got better for her last day.

 

[Curiouser&curiouser!]

It's just great when everyone gets a day filled with just what they want!

I hope Elsa is feeling up for the last day!

 

[wiigirl]

Love your pics!

 

[MisWal]

I have never left a comment on a trip report before, but just had to on yours. I am loving it! Love the pics and details!

 

[LAH LAH]

What a wonderful day that everyone was able to do something that they liked. Even if it meant splitting up for a bit.

I hope Elsa got better for her last day.

It was a nice day. I usually dread these go with the flow days, almost feels like a waste of a Disney day, but it was anything but!

It's just great when everyone gets a day filled with just what they want!

I hope Elsa is feeling up for the last day!

Slowing down isn't easy for me, but it was just what we all needed!

Love your pics!

Thanks!

I have never left a comment on a trip report before, but just had to on yours. I am loving it! Love the pics and details!

Thank you!

 

[LAH LAH]

Last Days are Always Bitter Sweet!​

Elsa slept hard, but woke up with a low grade fever and a lot of pain in her ear. I called my mom and we talked over the options of helping her feel better, quick! Since her pediatrician never got back to us, we were on our own. We were at a loss as what to do, and all of a sudden it hit us. The poor girl has water trapped in her ear! She's a total fish and has been in and out of the water all week. Why in the world hadn't we thought of this before?!! This has never happened to me, but Meema experienced this often as a little girl. She remembers sitting on her bed, crying with a warm cloth on her ear waiting for the pain to subside. I hoofed it on down to the commissary and picked up a bottle of Swim-Ear ear drops. I was really hoping this would work. I hate it when my kids are in pain. I gave her some Tylenol and ever so gently dropped in the ear drops, and tried not to hurt her while I massaged her ear like the package instructed. It sure was painful, but before we knew it the pressure and most of the pain subsided! She was feeling loads better and we were ready to tackle our last day at the Magic Kingdom!

She just loves this horse:

I just love the castle, don't you?!! There are very few things in this world that can elicit the type of emotion that this building does. It is not particularly spectacular, or grand, but it feels like home, and I love that! After our brief love affair with the castle, we moved on over to our standard first ride. If you've read any of our other trip reports you know it to be The Carrousel of Progress. We get a kick out of this every time and sing along, 'cause it just feels like the right thing to do.

We quickly made our way through Buzz Lightyear, Laugh Floor, Stiches Great Escape (1st time for Meema and Peepa, thumbs down for the stinky chilli dog burp!), and Space Mountain (for everyone but me, but that's ok, because I got to ride the People Mover and people watch).

Michael is obviously growing! He could barely fit through the bars this trip:

Michael's favorite place to eat is Cosmic Ray's. Seeing as we were already in the near vicinity, and we were hungry, and it was after 12pm, it worked out rather well to give him what he wanted. This was also one of Peepa's last chances to tease us about the Dining Plan. We tried to take it all in stride, but watching them get a dessert every meal when we were pinching pennies, made us want to hit him.

We ate a leisurely lunch, called the boys at home, and off to Fantasyland we went! Last trip Elsa was able to pull out the sword, and this made everyone want to give it all they had:

It was a no-go for all of us. It was hot as blazes and being at the high heat of the day, we were happy and relieved to slip into the best 3D experience WDW has to offer, Mickey's Phillharmagic:

Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and it's a small world were enjoyed by all:

We seem to have a system of how we tackle Magic Kingdom. We start with Carrousel of Progress, work our way through Tommorrowland, head on over to Fantasyland and ride everything there. Everything except Dumbo, the flying elephants. We just aren't drawn to this ride. I don't know why. I guess different strokes for different folks. We peeked as much as we could at the new construction and all agreed we have to try and make it back during 2013 when most of it will be completed! But for now we were just happy that Elsa was feeling loads better and everyone was ready to move on to enjoy more of the park.

NEXT UP: We Love The Magic Kingdom

 

[BellaBaby]

Sounds like a great day so far!!

Glad Elsa was feeling better; I will have to remember those drops if any of my kids experience water in the ears. They love to swim and that stuff sounds like a God-send!!

 

[LAH LAH]

Sounds like a great day so far!!

Glad Elsa was feeling better; I will have to remember those drops if any of my kids experience water in the ears. They love to swim and that stuff sounds like a God-send!!

It was great for her, not so much for me when I tried it on a non-swimming sore ear I had. Yowzers it burned for hours!!!! Make sure it's trapped water and not an infection. Hahahaha!