Mission Impossible: Will he even like Disney this time? Our June 2012 TR

[BridgetR3]

O.k. so I'm frustrated because I uploaded all of the pictures from the rest of our trip onto Photobucket in order to speed up my posting process and then Photobucket decided to change designs and somehow all of my pictures that were rotated correctly have become unrotated again. So I'm back to rotating....in the meantime......


GUESS WHAT???! DH was sitting on the couch tonight flipping channels and came across Walt: The Man behind the Myth. He actually stopped on that channel and we are now watching it together while enjoying the fire from the fire place.

He's hooked!

 

[Deesknee]

O.k. so I'm frustrated because I uploaded all of the pictures from the rest of our trip onto Photobucket in order to speed up my posting process and then Photobucket decided to change designs and somehow all of my pictures that were rotated correctly have become unrotated again. So I'm back to rotating....in the meantime......


GUESS WHAT???! DH was sitting on the couch tonight flipping channels and came across Walt: The Man behind the Myth. He actually stopped on that channel and we are now watching it together while enjoying the fire from the fire place.

He's hooked!

Oh yeah, you got him now. Just to ensure, I suggest Santa bring him a Walt book. Some of the Imagineering ones are great, but I would suggest one about Walt himself. So amazing he overcame such obstacles and accomplished so much.

I wish we had a fire place. That sounds so nice!

 

[BridgetR3]

Animal Kingdom Fun

So we wake up fairly early on this special morning to make rope drop at AK. Only problem - rope drop is at 8 a.m. because it's Magic Hours day or something and my DS6 is NOT getting up!!! Finally we convince him that yes he can get out of bed so we can board the bus.

At 8:20 a.m., we see......

Why oh why are there dragons on the sign and no dragons inside?!?!? We as a family LOVE dragons and the tales that accompany them. We would LOVE to have a fantasy/dragon part of AK. Anyways......

This picture has a bit of a "wild" look to it. lol.....

We made our way all the way to

First stop on our list?? Safari of course!! I found out today that this is one of my husband's favorite things at Disney. Crazy I know!! He did say though that he rathers the older story with the poachers and saving Little Red (?) the elephant instead of the newer version.

The boys waiting for our turn. Those are the shirts that I created for them before we left.

It took us about 20 minutes to get through the line. While in line a gentleman noticed my husband's LSU shirt and red backpack. The man picked at DH because Alabama's colors are the same colors as his backpack and every LSU fan hates Bama. So the man asked if DH was confused and why he was supporting both teams. ROFL.....Let's just say that although that was our Disney backpack and was used for our two previous trips, it is now a banned item and we need a new backpack!

DS6 enjoying the wait. I think everyone was fine with the wait except for Poppa. He was really upset about the lines everywhere. We found the crowds lighter than the last time we had gone (March) but for Nannia and Poppa the crowds were much much heavier than when they had last gone (September).

Here's some of the pictures from our ride through the wilds of Africa.....

The giraffes were right next to our car at points.

King of the hill.....

Ostrich eggs I think.....

So we end our 2 week safari and go back to the start of the ride to find our stroller only to see that it's gone. All of the strollers from the entrance of the safari are missing. No, there was not a stroller parking sign there but there were about 20 strollers there when we got in line so I assumed it was stroller parking. Well I assumed WRONG!!

I ask the nearest CM if he knew where the strollers had been moved to and he gave me the most helpful answer ......."Oh I think they moved them over there (he points) to the stroller parking area." Now I remembered that stroller parking was way back by the exit to the ride so I tell everyone else that I'll be right back and take off to find it.

First stroller parking area searched and no stroller......second stroller parking area searched and still no stroller.....text back to the family to see if they see it by the front of the ride somewhere that maybe it was hiding.....receive text that says no but please hurry....... .....third stroller parking area searched and still no stroller.....remember why I call it stroller hell.......I returned all the way back to the front of the ride again to exasperated faces of disbelief. They were ready to leave the stroller where ever it may be. I was not ready to carry DS6. I asked the CM again about the strollers and he gives a new answer, "Oh yeah, sometimes they put them by the train." HUH????

By the train? You mean past that LLLLLLOOOOONNNNNNGGGG line of people!?!?! Yep that's where. O.k. so off I go again....excuse me.....pardon me......excuse me......pardon me......pardon me.....nope not trying to cut......excuse me, just looking for lost stroller......STROLLER!!! I HAVE FOUND THE STROLLER!!! I HAVE IT!! WOOOHOOO!!!!

With that, I return to my family exhausted but happy and we move on. One ride down.......

Up next.....another first for us. Where did we go?

 

[BridgetR3]

I realize that two pictures are now crooked again but when I went back to fix them, photobucket isn't even showing that they exist. I hope they finish "upgrading" the site soon! In the meantime, you may have to look sideways. SORRY!

 

[Deesknee]

sleepy children at Disney... we get that, only ours are 21! (the 9 yo also)

too funny about the backpack. You need one that screams Disney. DH always laughs because we have about 3 backpacks that are Mickey related. Of course HE is the only one that wears one there. But, this trip I saw more than one DH carrying the wifes Vera Bradley backpack, so I pointed out I could ask him to carry a very feminine one. He's good with the Mickey ones.

Dragons...hmmm.. never noticed that. That would be cool.

Great picture of the lion!!!

Stinks about the stroller, but at least you found it.

The lines I hear are nonexistent in Sept. No parents willing to take kids out of school right when they start apparently.

Looking forward to reading more. Thanks for the update!

 

[BridgetR3]

After finally finding the stroller, we begin walking discussing where we are headed next. The boys find the bongos and go to play.

Were we headed ......

to Bug's Life? Nope we had seen that show last time so that's not where we are headed.

What about.......

Everest? Well sorta, the men stop in to ride but the rest of us kept walking to......

Yep, Dinorama was where we ended up. Last time we visited Disney, we had dinner reservations on this evening and did not finish seeing Animal Kingdom. It was also our first day at Disney EVER and I think we were slightly overwhelmed even with all the DIS help I had so we missed this whole section as well as Finding Nemo. This trip, we are trying to make sure we do both.

We had walked slow enough that the men were able to catch up and meet us as we entered. (I'm thinking we had stopped for potty breaks or something.) My boys love playing carnival games so we let them play a few.

First, they raced each other's wooly mammoths.......

Very close race....

They were very into it. In the end with no prodding by other me or hubby, DS10 allowed DS6 to win the race. This does NOT happen often. Actually it doesn't happen at ALL so we felt like good parents finally and moved on.

Since we had given them each two games, there was still hope of DS10 winning something but honestly, he doesn't care for stuffed animals anyway so it was a nice thought to let his brother win.

Next, DS6 chose to throw the balls in the little cups. I hate this game because it seems impossible but the boys love it so we let him play knowing he had already won a prize.

He had fun playing but did not win.

DS10 wanted to race someone on the watergun game but no one was around to play against him. He patiently waited and finally this little girl came up.

You can see her in this picture. Her dad was explaining how to use the water gun to her.

She was actually pretty decent at it once she found the target but DS10 had found the target right away and pulled ahead for the win. I felt bad for her but she already had one animal at least from playing games so I figured it was ok for DS10 to get one too.

Here's a pic of the boys and their animals...

DS10 won the shark and DS6 won the wooly mammoth. Notice how DS6 is holding both?? Yep I don't think DS10 ever touched his again. DS6 now has both in his bed.

DS10, Ds6, Nannia and I decided to ride Triceratop Spin. The men were going to ride Primeval Whirl but decided not to because of the 40 min wait. So instead they grabbed Dinosaur fast passes and looked around the area while we rode.

Here's some pics of the boys waiting in line....

And we're are on the ride...

DS10 rode with Nannia

I rode with DS6.

After riding, we headed over to the play area so that the grownups could ride Dinosaur.

Based on the number of smiles I have in this park for DS6, I'm beginning to think it's his favorite.

I followed DS6 around for a while until I made sure that there were no other exits to this play area and then I went sit down. It was hot!!

Somehow, I ended up not riding Dinosaur. Either DH or Nannia told me that it was pretty rough and may cause me to get motion sick so I did not ride it. I regret it now but at the time I was just hungry and hot.

It was well after 11 a.m. by the time we finished playing and decided to find a place to eat.

Next up - Where were we heading? What did we finally decide?

 

[Deesknee]

great update! Your sons look so cute together. Very nice of your 10y/o to let his brother win, and then give him his prize. NICE!

DD loves the digging playground. I on the other hand...

Too bad you missed out on Dinosaur, but I'm sure you will have other trips to give it a shot. It's my DD favorite. Primeval Whirl is a crazy ride. Will definately affect motion sickness IMO. But hopefully whoever wants to try it will get the chance next trip.

 

[BridgetR3]

great update! Your sons look so cute together. Very nice of your 10y/o to let his brother win, and then give him his prize. NICE!

DD loves the digging playground. I on the other hand...

Too bad you missed out on Dinosaur, but I'm sure you will have other trips to give it a shot. It's my DD favorite. Primeval Whirl is a crazy ride. Will definately affect motion sickness IMO. But hopefully whoever wants to try it will get the chance next trip.

DS10 isn't always so nice to his little brother. However, he doesn't collect or play with stuffed animals so he wasn't that interested in winning. Sometimes he can be nice!

I didn't mind the playground as it gave my legs a rest but it was HOT!!!

There's no way I would ride Primeval Whirl. However, I do plan to ride Dinosaur next time.

Thanks for sticking around with me!

 

[BridgetR3]

So...where were we headed?? To Flametree Bar-b-Q of course.

We loved it on the first trip so we figured we would share our find with Nannia and Poppa. They had eaten somewhere else in AK on their first trip that was nasty in their opinion so they were open to any suggestions.

Here's a pic of our food....

Look at poor DS10's face. He looks exhausted.

Last year we were able to get a table right on the water but this year they were all taken. We were still able to enjoy the view but I had to get up from our table to get this picture.

Lunch was good. It was a scorcher outside. We wanted to escape the heat for a while so we began looking for a show to go see but both Lion King and Finding Nemo were "off" at the moment and wouldn't start for about 45 mins. So what would we do to avoid the heat?? Watch Tough to be a bug of course!!

Here are some pics of the tree from our walk....

Hate that they have netting up everywhere. I understand why it's there and I know it's necessary. I mean I wouldn't want part of the tree to hit me in the head but I really rather it without.

This show was a first for Nannia and Poppa. On their last trip, they didn't see that you could go down the trails or into the show. They enjoyed the show. The boys were able to actually watch the show this time as they weren't quite so scared of what was coming next.

After the show, we headed over to Festival of the Lion King for a favorite of ours. I'm really sad to hear rumors that this might be closing for good or at least be closed on our next trip. We really really enjoyed this both times we have seen it.

The monkeys are some of the boys' favorites.

After the show,we decided to shop for a little while. While shopping, we traded Vinylmations.

We had a little while before it was time for the Finding Nemo show so we let the boys play in the Dinoland playground again.

A few pics from the show....

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST.....

 

[BridgetR3]

Leaving the show, we tried to get to the back to Kali River Rapids but....we ran into this.....

It was nice but it was about 100* and we were FAR back so someone was always having to hold the boys up to see.

This picture shows how far back we were.

We didn't last long. We decided that if we had to be hot, we may as well be hot while the boys play. So we went back to Dinoland.....the men went to ride Expedition Everest while the boys played. They could get there by going back by Nemo instead of down the middle road.

DS6 climbing up....

Finally, it was time for our Kali fastpasses.

Unfortunately for us, the fastpass line was as long as (or longer than) the regular line. It was UNREAL!!!! We waited for 45 minutes to get on the ride. I would not normally ever wait this long because the kids drive us crazy but it was hot and we were desperate so we waited anyways.

Was it worth it??

You betcha!!!!

Leaving the ride, we stopped at the little gift shop and found these....

Love them!!

There were a lot of little things set up at AK for the summer party celebration. At this station, the boys were shown how to write their name in Chinese.

Notice Poppa and his cool Star Wars backpack... No more red one.

A few more pics of our walk out of the park....

Almost there...unfortunately we got there JUST as the bus was pulling away. So we took a seat on the benches and waited.

There's my dragon friend again.

The day is still young. It's only 5 p.m. How would we spend the evening?

 

[Deesknee]

Wow, you really don't mind dinoland. haha I don't know why I have issues with it.

I love Festival of the Lion King! This time we didn't go over to it, but I won't miss it again! Last time one of my son's was picked to do the elephant noises.

We have never seen the Nemo show. How did you all like it? I have heard, not such great things about it.

I personally love Kali. DH (who always gets soaked) isn't a big fan. But in all fairness we usually go in Nov. so it takes a bit longer to dry off. Looks like your boys LOVED it!! How totally awesome. (why do I feel I should've added dude to that sentence?).

I truly am enjoying your TR.

 

[BridgetR3]

Wow, you really don't mind dinoland. haha I don't know why I have issues with it.

I love Festival of the Lion King! This time we didn't go over to it, but I won't miss it again! Last time one of my son's was picked to do the elephant noises.

We have never seen the Nemo show. How did you all like it? I have heard, not such great things about it.

I personally love Kali. DH (who always gets soaked) isn't a big fan. But in all fairness we usually go in Nov. so it takes a bit longer to dry off. Looks like your boys LOVED it!! How totally awesome. (why do I feel I should've added dude to that sentence?).

I truly am enjoying your TR.

No I don't mind Dinoland at all because I get to sit and the boys run around and around wearing themselves out while I rest.

We enjoyed the Nemo show. I would really like to try to get up closer next time we go but it is a cute show. Unlike Festival of the Lion King, it is a retelling of the Nemo movie. There is no crowd interaction part on this one if I remember correctly but it's still great to watch. You guys should go to it next time you are in AK.

Kali was totally awesome dude! I figured I should say it since you didn't. It was SOOOOO hot that day that my boys were DRY (completely dry) before we got to the bus stop and we went from the ride straight out of the park with one stop at the name writing station.

I'm home under the weather today so I'll post another update in a little while. I'm hoping to finish my TR soon so that I can start my PTR!! Almost time to make reservations!

 

[BridgetR3]

Our bus home arrives and we hop on. It seemed to take forever (it took about 15 minutes) because we had big plans for this evening. It's another first for us and something we planned to do last trip but never got to with DH being sick.

Finally, we were "home". I love how the Disney buses tell you that they are taking you "home". Quite often while we are not on our vacation someone will say, "Sit back and relax as we take you home" while we are coming home from town or church or whatever. It keeps the Disney magic alive at least a little.

First, to our room to grab our mugs for dinner and let Nannia change because she was still wet from the Kali ride. She was our person who got SOAKED.

We had enjoyed dinner at the resort so much the night before that we ate it again on this evening. I think that even though we won't be staying at POFQ on the next trip, we may have to make a trip there to have dinner one evening. It just feels like home.

Our home for the week......it's a great resort and really gives that New Orleans feel but for us it was too much like home and not enough like vacation. DH is a beach person so he in the end rathered Caribbean Beach Resort even though it was spread out.

Our boys were NOT happy about our plan, but vacation isn't just about the kids! So what was our plan for the evening? Well we decided to head to the Boardwalk for an evening of entertainment and hopefully, a kitchen sink!!

So we boarded a bus to Hollywood Studios to catch a friendship boat over to the Boardwalk. This was MUCH easier last year when we had a car and just drove ourselves over to Yacht Club or Beach Club for meals. We arrived at Hollywood Studios and saw that the boat was there so we all made a mad dash to get on the boat. We ran the whole way and got on the boat just as he was about to leave. He picked up his ropes and we were off. Perfect timing!

The ride to the Boardwalk was great until......"Mom?" "What?" "I REALLY have to potty." CRUD!! So we got off at the first stop to find a restroom and I'm really glad we did. The first stop was the Swan and Dolphin Resorts. We chose the Swan to use the restroom in because it was closer to our destination. Here are some pics I got while the boys went to the restroom....

And we're off to find the Boardwalk. We decided to just walk there since it seemed to be pretty close. I took three pictures of the Boardwalk sign but none came out. This is the best I could get.....

More pics from our walk...

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST......

 

[BridgetR3]

I had heard about the Boardwalk here on the Disboards but I really didn't know much about it. Unfortunately as soon as we entered under the sign, everyone looks at me and says, "O.k. what do we do now?" This was the one thing that frustrated me during the trip. I was the planner of it all which I didn't mind but I felt like it was my responsibility to make sure that every minute was planned and still somehow allow everyone to have some say in it. My answer to their questions on this night were that we could walk around and see what was there because I had never been here either. We did just that and the Boardwalk didn't disappoint!

The entertainers were AWESOME!

This guy was good but we only caught half of his show because he was just about done when we walked up.

This guy was amazing and hilarious!!!

Check out those shoes!

So the sun went down during his show and although we could still see, my pics are REALLY dark. If you can find him here, he is on a board that is on a tin can thing, on a board that is propped up on the other boards juggling. Most days I can't walk straight without tripping over something invisible in the cement and he is doing all of that at the same time!! He was great. He was funny. We will be back to see him again.

He chose this kid out of the audience to throw some pins at him for him to juggle while he balanced up there.

A pic with the performer....

I realized later on that I never thought of tipping him for the great show. I know, selfish of me but then again I never saw a tip jar anywhere around there either. Are they paid by Disney?

Everyone looks at me with "O.k. what next?" looks on their faces. Well I had a few more surprises up my sleeve. I was saving the best for last so we headed around the lake away from Beach/Yacht Club.

Next up we found these.....and we rode them......yes all six of us......in one.........after a day at the parks.......talk about muscle burn!!!!

I have never laughed so hard in my life as I did on that bike. We would finally get it up to a decent rolling speed and then someone would step out in front of us and we would ring our bell LOUDLY to no avail. We were SOOOO out of control of that bike that half through the circle DH gave up driving and let me drive in hopes that I would do better. NOPE! It was just as bad.

I uploaded a short video of DS6 sitting in the front of the buggy trying to move everyone out of the way. He was a nervous wreck! You can hear us in the background.

http://youtu.be/msSrJjLYC6o

We were in front of the Yacht club when something wonderful happened. It turned 9 p.m. and Illuminations started. We stopped the buggy at one of the little wharf sections and watched Illuminations from the Boardwalk. A little bit of pixiedust I wasn't expecting....

We finally made it back to where we started and proceeded to walk around the Boardwalk again. Next stop......

.....for??? Bathrooms of course!! I tell you, we learned the location of every bathroom everywhere at Disney I think.

Finally we were almost to the Beach Club and to the kitchen sink I had talked up to DH. We had even watched a tv show on how they are made. We were so excited but first we have to find it. So we went in the first open Beach Club door we could find (now that I think about it, it may have been the Beach Club Villa door we walked in). And we walked....and we walked....and we walked....hey their giftshop....I know let's ask someone..."Excuse me, where is Beaches and Cream?" "Oh that's next door at the Yacht Club."

Along the way we marveled at the sand "paintings/sculptures" by Cape May Cafe. The lighting was not really good for my camera so it's hard to see.

We walked up finally to the podium only to find out that it was a 45-60 minute wait. I knew there was no way we could wait that long at 10 p.m. with the little ones. So we settled for ice cream to go. Not the same at all but I have something to look forward to this year!

Sorry for the dark pics but the flash would have blinded us all.

So after our ice cream, we have to find a way back "home". This was SOOOO much easier when we had a car. We were going to ride a DTD bus and then switch to POFQ at DTD. All parks were closed except MK which closed at midnight. We waited and waited and waited......FINALLY 15 minutes later, an MK bus drives up and we hop on. O.k. so we will just switch at MK instead of DTD. Bad idea!! I think maybe MK had just finished fireworks or the last parade of the evening or SOMETHING because we ran into this.......

Holy smokes, Batman! This is insane!!!! The first two buses for POFQ left full and without us. We were able to squeeze onto the third one and become the standing room only folks but that's o.k. because it got us home!!

I will say that this is the night I think we all enjoyed the most. It is the night we still talk about when we sit down as a big family together. We really enjoyed the ride and the entertainers.

 

[BridgetR3]

We have been a little busy around home. I had to start a new reading series at school (LONG LONG story) so doing that in November makes for long nights and weekends trying to prepare. Also, I got a really cool small embroidery machine for my birthday which I of course have been playing with. Lastly our break from soccer practice is over and the boys started up again Thursday night so it's back to the old grind. Here's hoping I can update soon!

In the meantime have a great week!

 

[Deesknee]

great update!! If you love the Boardwalk, & going "home" you are going to be GREAT DVC members!

So cool your boys were picked to participate in one of the shows! That is such a great experience. You have to go back to Beaches & Cream, there burgers are pretty good also!

 

[MissSabrinaLee]

Hi! Joining in really late. Looks like you guys had a blast! Really glad that DH started drinking the kool-aid =] You guys got so much done on your HS day!

 

[BridgetR3]

Hi! Joining in really late. Looks like you guys had a blast! Really glad that DH started drinking the kool-aid =] You guys got so much done on your HS day!

Thanks for joining us! It's mostly just me and Dee here so no worries on joining late!! I'm glad he drank the koolaid too!

 

[BridgetR3]

So the next morning we slept late. We had decided after coming in so late the night before that we really didn't care if we rode Toy Story Mania or not but we needed some sleep! Yes I know, I cringed too but it was a group decision and I went with it. I REALLY REALLY wanted to ride TSM but I knew how tired our group was. So we slept in and arrived at Hollywood Studios around 10 a.m.

My Disney line app showed that there were still FPs available for TSM but we weren't sure if that was accurate so DH and Poppa ran for FPs while the rest of us walked into the park.

Here is a pic of DS10 and the crowd......DS6 was a grouch as always and would not take a pic.

We stopped to watch Disney Channel Rocks and if you look off to the left you can see my little brunettes in their navy shirts sitting on the ground.

They love the Disney channel music and enjoyed the show.

Sorry for the people in all of the photos. Bad photography skills right there!!!

DH and Poppa came back with FPs for Toy Story (YAY!!!) and we were off after the show.

First up, something we had never done before.....The Muppets!

Now while we all enjoyed the show, it wasn't one of our favorites.

After the show everyone except Andrew and I rode Star Tours.

It was a VERY short line so there was no real wait. Then it was time for lunch already. We decided to try out Backlot Express.

On our first trip we had only found the outdoor quick service places so finding these restaurants with a/c were a nice surprise!!! While enjoying our lunch and the a/c we tried to decide what to do next. It was too early to catch Indiana Jones so we decided to go back to One Man's Dream to watch the movie we missed the first time.

I really enjoyed the movie and knew a lot of the story behind it after reading some biographies about Walt Disney but DH was pretty impressed with the whole story.

After exiting One Man's Dream, we headed back over to Indiana Jones but it was still a bit early so the boys (except Andrew) decided to ride Star Tours one more time. Nannia stayed with us. This time the line was longer and we almost missed the Indiana Jones show. Luckily we skipped in at the last minute. Here are some pics....

Well that's all I have for now....DH is pestering me to go to the store. I don't know why I need to go. It's not like we need milk, bread, eggs, coke, ketchup, meat, potatoes, etc...........................................who needs to eat when you can live on Disney dreams??

 

[Deesknee]

geesh... shopping, cleaning, school work, bills, why do they all have to get in the way of our disney dreaming?

Looks like you had another great day at DHS! awesome you got FP's for TSM. We used to love the Muppets, but honestly, I would rather just sit outside and listen to that music. It makes my heart flutter. The show, I could skip every other trip or so.

Hope things are calming down a bit. If not at least you will probably have a little break for Christmas break won't you? Enjoying your updates as usual.