Kids, Disney, Action! Extreme Trip (Report). Three-Peat and Done 7/11

[NAB]

Hey Amy is back...

Love all the pictures.

How special of the CM to put four rocking horses on for her birthday. And to have Snow White to write something nice in her book.

Hubby looked pretty happy too.

He is very protective of his family and that is a good thing, but I know how you feel about the meet too. Glad you got to meet up with everyone.

Hope this means your are going to finish, can't wait to here more.

 

[Grammyof2]

Amy - you are a good wife.

Beer is always good for the hubby on a hot day. Cause it was stinking hot!

And you know what parts crack me up

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Amy, great to see you back! I can;t believe I missed this, I just found this installment today.

Always fun to relive the meet, it was great meeting you too!
Great installment.

 

[Lil' Grumpy]

..i'm back!..actually if truth be known, i been here
several times...re-reading at least 5x. ..i know how many
dosen't matter...it always makes me happy!

so i feel obligatory to report my observations...a few.


that's the primary feeling i get every time!

we were right behind you guys, doing the 11dayer wonder.
wow! g. kity ..our next is the aug. repo...in 08. thank you
for posting that wonderful viking group pic! you guys looked
great! [well, the lady vikes did ]. & beloved shari
dac..giving them the whats & ifs..so cute and funny. where's
pluto pants hanging these days?

i still seeing how tight your lil' holding onto her
towel animal. why do i feel we're getting to see a glimpse into
your kitten's ways? and the trip your mother gave you? * my
idea is that a/any wdw trip is a parent's gift...that usually not
opened until adulthood...but then i am not one of conventional
thinking.

ha! ..i can't help it....seeing your lil'boy giving maryp. "his"
look! well ,she deserved that..dress in bows and ruffles! that told
me right there and then, he knows who his mommie is!

doing nothing! an insight before the wheels came off..we were in
the middle of worldshow case...the wine people were moving in..jordan
announced..enough! we ended our day and went "home"-contemp.,
undressed..and watched the water parade. pffft...is a feeling!

light speeder...wish i was there to take..several! so cute... some
of you..i swear..i can see the lil' girl coming out to play !

what i like most is how you let your kids be themselves..and yet, i
see you all ready to pounce on any danger.

so you are a lady georgia-dwag! [ when i think of georgia, there used
to be a family that vacation up near us...so us kids played together,
trading baseball cards..and braves vs reds fans...sports are supposed
to be fun..not life and death. greed is ruining alot of bowls games...
for everyone..so boring when there used to be excitment]

hey...your alice was there when we went..by herself and bored..so
i got to do a character interacting....he,he, she was so "traditional".


between me and you ...i don't think you gave your husband enough
credit.. ..after all , he let you and participated... .

 

[Lil' Grumpy]

amy...you see that pic of your lil girl with her mask [last one].
i thought what the hech does she has planted on top of her
head...

 

[Minnie_Moo]

So glad to see you back, Amy!

I just loved your photos, too. Especially the Shrimp's pose with and

 

[kpk89]

You sure know how to work the beer to your advantage, my friend. Good move. Also good move to keep to yourself the "crazy stranger drinking buddies" comment.

 

[Grammyof2]

Geez is coming

 

[kpk89]

Just checking for any little something new?

No?

You're mean.

 

[GeorgiaAristocat]

(Sorry for the long hiatus folks, I hope it won't be so long between the next chapters!)

Well, after our American Adventure, we just wandered around the World for a while. Looked through some shops. Grabbed a bottle of water. And then we came across the face painting at the African outpost.

NoFear was enthralled. Mesmerized. And demanding.

Well, of course her Grammy was right there!

And Daddy had the camera. We have a series of 14 pictures of the transformation. I won't torture you with all of them!

The beginning:

The middle:

The end product:

This began a theme that was to continue through the rest of the week (and probably the rest of her life). She wanted her face painted every day. Or twice a day if she saw two booths.

Grammy sat with the shrimp in the shade while NoFear was getting made up. He was happy as a clam.

Right when NoFear's face was finished, we received a phone call from NeatKid. We had checked on her several times that day, and she had indicated that she was going to come join us for supper. She was to call when she was heading out so that we could meet her at the front of Epcot. This was that call.

So we were off, like a herd of turtles. Because we went all of ten steps and got to the bridge over the canal. This is the canal where they bring the fireworks barges into the lagoon every evening. There is a drawbridge over the canal. The floating of the barges takes approximately five-teen years to go by, especially when one is stressing about one's thirteen year old niece alone at the front of Epcot.

But we had a good conversation with the CM manning the bridge. And a nice lady from England who was gushing over my bee-yoo-tee-ful children. Grammy went back to the shade.

Have I mentioned that Grammy and NeatKid live in Arizona? How can Florida be hot after Arizona? I know, I know. It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

So, anyway, the bridge finally lowered, the gate raised, and we headed to the front of the park. We found NeatKid, who was looking simply smashing. And she properly gushed over NoFear's face painting.

Since we were up in Future World anyway, and since NeatKid had missed everything that day, and since we still had extra Soarin' fastpasses, we headed to the Land. Because NoFear wanted to experience everything with NeatKid.

A good time was had by all.

But it was time to eat. So we headed BACK into the World Showcase to eat. But we were lucky enough to catch a boat, since Grammy's feet were tired.

I know we had a trivia contest on the ride across the lake. I know I stunk. It had to do with single word movie titles prior to computer animation. The boat eventually came up with them all.

We landed and headed to Alfredo's.

I had never eaten at Alfredo's, and had read both good and bad reports. But, we all like Italian so I wanted to try something different. I now regret that we hadn't tried it earlier, especially since it will be no more by the time I return.

There was nothing extraordinary either way about the decor. But it was blessedly cool. We were finally seated and taken care of.

I'm writing this episode without my notes, so I couldn't tell you exactly what we ate. I can tell you what we drank, since I took a picture:

I took a picture because this was WONDERFUL wine. Yummy. I have been looking for it ever since. I did find it online but am unwilling to pay the $26/bottle shipping rate. I need to find a local source for what could become an addiction.

Is recognizing the problem before it exists jumping the gun too much on the ten step program (or is it a twelve step program)?

Anyway. There were also comments about how cute the server/clearer was. He was adorable.

And my niece is thirteen.

And I ask again, as I did in the title, what good is it to bring a thirteen year old niece along if you can't embarrass them a little? The wine might have helped me a little . . .

I asked RICCARDO for a picture. He was so cute, he thought we wanted him to take a picture of us! I set him straight and had him put his arm around NeatKid. I don't know if you can tell, but she is blushing!

So, we ate our desserts, drank our coffees (good coffee - not that Nescafe carp that is served most places), and rolled ourselves out of Alfredo's. We were done for the night, and not sticking around for Illuminations (sorry my Maelstrom friends for skipping out on that!).

One of the last things to happen that night, I spotted this t-shirt, which tickled me pink!

How to Make a Birthday Special (Page 20, Post 299)

 

[NAB]

Amy is back!!!!!!!!

NoFear is so cute with her face painted. My kids never liked their face painted, I tried so many times.

What a strange thing to have written on the back of your shirt....but it is funny.

Can't wait to hear about the birthday bash.....

 

[kpk89]

NoFear is adorable! Glad to see you back, and really, who doesn't love refrigerators?

 

[Grammyof2]

Amy - I love refrigerators too!

The picture of Grammy and the little guy is perfect As is neatkid and a hunky CM I am sure she blushed and was thrilled at the same time.

Loved the face painting pictures.

Now what is going on with FREE dining?

 

[ZZUB]

I LOVE that shirt! Did you stop LaLa's husband and ask him where he got it from?

I'd fallen behind on your TR, but I'm properly caught up now. Just a few comments from the last several chapters.

(Or they could have everyone fly through in little planes. However, those tend to crash in the mountains, don't they? And we wouldn't want cannabilism at Disney. Seeing people turn on each other is simply . . .distasteful.)

Interesting. Kind of a Small World meets Pirates of the Carribean with a hint of Chef Mickey's.

After reluctantly leaving Aurora, I convinced Boost that we needed to see the film in France. Because, as crazy as it sounds, my major in college was FRENCH.

Really? I would have pegged you as a Russian major.

Then, bless her, Minnie tried to make it better by offering him stickers.

What is with Disney and those fakakta stickers?! They are not the answer to every problem. Or any problem at all.

I headed us off to FutureWorld to eat at Cosmic Rays, which was okay.

I'm sure someone else has already corrected your Disney geography so I won't bother. Except to say that no wonder y'all were so tired if you left the Magic Kingdom to head all the way to EPCOT for dinner at at Tomorrowland restaurant.

She decided to go outside to get some air. A few minutes later she came back to report that she had, well, zzubed in the flower bed outside.

Funny, I didn't realize your niece was a Disboard nerd who also hate crimes unsuspecting good guys by misappropriating their screenames as a euphemism for puke.

Other than the overt hate crime, I continue to enjoy your TR.

 

[LaLa]

This picture cracks me up. You seem like a really fun mom, GA. But why does this remind me of the whole let's see how many people we can cram in a VW bug contest?

As the Shrimp was yelling greetings to Minnie Mouse, Pluto decided to sneak up on him.

Note to Disney: this is a BAD idea with hesitant toddlers.

Now, it's not like Pluto set out to terrify my child, or said "boo" or anything like that. But he walked up behind the boy and touched his back. I noticed the incident when I heard the blood-curdling, terrified, panicked screaming coming from my son. And noticed Boost turning blue because the boy was clinging so tightly to his neck.

Why do they do this? We had a similar experience with Pluto at Garden Grill. He ran up to the girl on all fours and got all in her face. Scared her to death. DH almost backhanded him. We were a few seconds away from making the headlines. Or were we? And I don't blame your sweet little boy. I ran away from the Green Army Man too.

I cracked up at some of the similarities between your husband's ways and DH's ways. Hmm. I wonder why that is. I love all the pictures. You've got some beautiful children! I know I've said it before, but you're super talented. The dresses are gorgeous.

Thanks for taking the time to take us on your trip around the World. Just please don't make us walk around Future World looking for Cosmic Ray's with you again. I don't think DH can take much more. Especially with the bum knee and all. It's no wonder he loves refrigerators. GA's making him walk around in the heat!

I LOVE that shirt! Did you stop LaLa's husband and ask him where he got it from?

I'm numb at how shocked I am that you recognized him! But you're good people (or are you?) so I'm willing to help you out. He got it at the Hess station. They were giving them out for free with the purchase of a 2 piece Snak Pak and a fillup.

 

[GeorgiaAristocat]

I'm sure someone else has already corrected your Disney geography so I won't bother. Except to say that no wonder y'all were so tired if you left the Magic Kingdom to head all the way to EPCOT for dinner at at Tomorrowland restaurant.

Actually, you were the first. How humiliating. Thanks. Hiding under my rock now.

 

[jamal]

You are such a good Mom. No way I'm gettin inside Bruce. Uh-uh. He's been sneezed in too many times. I shudder to think about it.

The kids can go all they want. I'll take pictures. I'm never showing them your picture.

As Granny says, you are good people, GA.

 

[Trentmom]

Subscribing...


Great Start....only on page 5 I think....

Very sorry about your dog.....

DS wants to use the computer and want to make sure I can find this report later to finish....

 

[GeorgiaAristocat]

So, since I have misplaced my notes and am now writing based on memory and pictures, I forgot a few things at the conclusion of the last episode.

Namely . . . We did not immediately go back to the resort after our meal. Instead, we went to the Living Seas b/c NeatKid wanted a Nemo hat. And we knew they had them there. And Grammy wanted to buy the Shrimp something. Just because. And then we had a family pic taken in front of the golf ball.

And THEN we went back to the resort! We all needed our rest, because the NEXT day was NoFear's birthday. The big 4. Not to be confused with the big 4-0, which some of us are dreading. (Not that there's anything wrong with the big 4-0, other than it being higher than 3-9, or, better yet, 2-9. Hey, at least it is one step closer to AARP status, right? Yeah, I don't think it's much of a consolation either.)

ANYWHO, NoFear's Birthday. Proud Mama that I am, I couldn't think of ANY better way to celebrate a child's birthday than taking them to Disney World. I mean really, is that not a GREAT memory to carry into the future? So, I arranged our vacation for her birthday week, instead of the week before that would have been a bit less crowded. She's worth it.

I also planned some special stuff for her birthday. TWO character meals. A special t-shirt. A birthday cake. Her Grammy and cousin there to help celebrate. Oh, yeah . . .

And she knew it. She's not shy (at all) and loves to be the center of attention.

So, we arose, she got to put on her special birthday shirt, and we headed off for our PRE-PARK OPENING ADR at Crystal Palace. Since it is a proven fact that one the BEST park to spend your birthday in is the Magic Kingdom. At least if you're four.

(The t-shirt design was, by the way, courtesy of juliaandnick'smom - one of our talented DIS'ers!)

We arrived at the parking lot in plenty of time, and without any fanfare. We didn't even tour the Contemporary parking lot this time! AND, we were there EARLY. Because we had an 8:05 ADR. (Some of you are shaking your heads and wondering what I was thinking.)

Now, some people have children that sleep. A lot. Or even a little. I am not one of those people. I used to have a child that slept a lot. But then her little brother came along and those days are long, distant, but fond memories. Well, that's almost unfair. The Shrimp will sleep. soundly. as long as someone is holding him. Which, btw, somewhat prevents the person holding him from sleeping very comfortably.

Add to this my childrens' belief that "wake up time" is somewhere between 5:15 and 5:30. And, at the same time, please curse daylight savings time for me.

Upshot of all of that - we do not normally have ANY problems getting someplace early in the morning. Not at all. Just don't try to keep any of us up after 9:30. It can get ugly.

So. We were at the TTC by 7:25. We took the monorail. I asked to ride up front. But the people who got on at the Contemporary decided to ride up front all the way around. Maybe next time.

It was really a very pleasant ride over, and we were all happy, excited, in good moods, and ready to eat. I think B was happy because we had PLANS to eat this morning.

And we were rewarded with THIS! I love an empty Main Street!

EXCEPT. Horrors. Curses. WHAT was with the CRANE at the Castle? No perfect, empty Main Street Castle pixies for me, I guess. Maybe next time.

On to Crystal Palace. Which was yummy, and fun. NoFear loved seeing all the characters. The Shrimp loved seeing all the characters stay at least across the table from him so that he could wave.

I didn't love seeing the time tick tick tick by, knowing that my jump on beating the crowds was thinning. We needed to get to Dumbo. Stat.

But B decided he wanted pixies of the kids in front of the Castle. The same pixie's I tried to get him to take while I was checking into CP. Great idea.

But the kids were being SOOOO good. And NoFear was sharing so well with her brother, that a CM noticed her being sweet. And her birthday shirt. And it was the 3rd day of the Year of a Million Dreams, you know.

Don't get too excited. They weren't giving away nights in the Castle yet.

But this lovely CM Barbie decided that NoFear needed a PERSONALIZED Birthday button, since she only got the generic one at CP. AND, because NoFear was being so very nice to her brother, she also needed and extra-special pin. I happened to know what this pin was, and how special it was because one of my friends (Hi JavaMom!!!) had received one earlier in the week, and she had told me about it the day before.

I KNEW.

I was excited for NoFear, even if she didn't really grasp that she had been Wished!

Thanks Barbie - we looked long and hard for the rest of the week to find someone to bestow that pin on!

And from that point on, while I felt like we didn't get the start I wanted, and ended up waiting in lines and not making Toon Town opening and such, all I had to do was look at that pin on my little girl's shirt, and it JUST didn't matter anymore. It was her birthday. We were at the Magic Kingdom. It was ALL GOOD.

Up Next: The Inner Commando was at war with the Vactioner (Page 21, Post 313)

 

[NAB]

Great installment Amy.

And lots of magic too. Love the picture of the kids. You can see the magic in their eyes.

My kids are morning people too. And if they are up you should be up too, at least that is what they think. I would say I can't wait until they are teenagers but I think I will take the getting up early over that....