Plans are made to be broken … aren’t they? Our first trip home to AKV

I just read your TR from the beginning and I love it! Your son is too adorable, and the food grandmas crack me up! We are staying at AKV in August/Sept so I am appreciating all the pictures. I can't wait to read more...
 
Welcome back! Still subscribed to your thread. :)
 
Yay, you're back! Love the updates and can't wait for more!!

Yes, I am back. Thank you for sticking with me.

I just read your TR from the beginning and I love it! Your son is too adorable, and the food grandmas crack me up! We are staying at AKV in August/Sept so I am appreciating all the pictures. I can't wait to read more...

Welcome and thank you! I was glad the grandmas brought the food. We were never hungry and we spent less money on food.

Welcome back! Still subscribed to your thread. :)
Thank you. I am glad you still subscribe to the thread.
 
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Magic Kingdom Day 2– Determination Prevails
The Plan:
Leave AKV around 8:15 a.m. to be at the park opening at 9:00 a.m. Lunch at the Crystal Palace at 12:55 p.m.

What happened:
Today I was determined to follow the plan. Even though going with the flow was okay. I wanted to see at least some aspect of my plan in action. Commando Mommy was in full swing. We will be there when the park opens. We will make our ADR. We will follow the plan. All who are not with me are against me and will be treated as such. Onward march!

Not everyone went with us to MK. Though my mother’s foot was feeling a little better, she was not up to walking too much. DF and DU decided to stay with her and enjoy the day at their on pace. They went to Downtown Disney and did a little browsing and shopping.
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DH, DMIL, DS, & I headed off to MK. DFIL & DMIL2 were supposed to leave with us but since they were not ready they told us they would meet us in the park. We arrived at MK right before the train pulled off from the station with the characters and the “special” family. We entered the park to waving CMs and bubbles. DS loves bubbles.

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We headed to Tomorrowland. On our way we stopped for some pictures.
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DS would not look at the camera

We continue to Tomorrowland
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Rode Buzz Lightyear. We were able to walk right on and we were able to stay on the ride to ride it again. See what happens when you stick to a plan. After exiting the ride we saw that Stitch was out signing autographs. We were going to take a picture with him but he had to take a potty break so we decided to ride the Carousel of Progress. After that ride, DFIL & DMIL2 called to say they were headed our way. We spotted them on our way to Transit Authority. We all boarded and rode that ride.
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After that we went to see Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. It was a cute show. DFIL was “that guy” and received a sticker afterwards.
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Next was the Winnie the Pooh Ride. DS enjoyed the ride. After the ride, both sets of grandparents decided to purchase something for their grandson. DFIL purchased him a stuffed Winnie the Pooh which DS sleeps with to this day. DMIL purchased a Tigger hat which DS liked very much. It is the only hat that he will wear for an extended period of time.
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We stopped and rested at the tables near the Winnie the Pooh ride and had a snack. DH & I had churros with chocolate sauce. They were not as good as I remembered. Part of DH’s churro fell on the ground where a bird was happily waiting to gobble it up. DH was not happy so I gave him the rest of mine. DS was munching on some gummie bears that DFIL had purchased (see pictures above). Later I would discover that they were sugar-free causing DS to play a melody with his toot flute (he had a lot of gas).

While we were sitting a CM walked over to us and started a conversation. I forget his name but he was very friendly. He told us that we were at the park at the best time of the year. He went on to tell us not to come during the summer or holidays because it is way too crowded. He enjoyed working at the park and had worked in all of the parks. He showed us his Jiminy Cricket pin for 25 years of service. He has seen a lot of changes.

Once we were done conversing with the CM we headed to the train station and took the train to Main St. We proceeded down Main St. and headed to Crystal Palace. Of course we stopped to take some pictures along the way.
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When we arrived at Crystal Palace, we were early but they took us right away. DS enjoyed his lunch at the Crystal Palace even though he did not each much and the characters seemed to be attracted to DH. The characters signed autographs and Tigger signed DS’s Tigger hat. This time DS was showing Tigger a little more love than he had shown the previous day.
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The food was good. I did not take any pics of the food. I did take pics of our desert plate.
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Couple of more pics from Crystal Palace.
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After our lunch, DS needed to be changed. Luckily, we were near a baby care center. It was very nice inside and spacious. Once DS was fresh and clean, we headed out of the park. On our way out, we spotted Pluto so we stood in line to get a picture.
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Wow, loving your trip report!! Your son is SO cute and you can tell he is just eating up all that gramma and grampa love!!! Speaking of which, can I borrow your Mom and MIL for our first trip home in Sept. this year??!! I would love to have a yummy thanksgiving dinner while we're there!! Too cool!!

I think you have done wonderfully well going with the flow! You should be proud of yourself!! What dates in Sept are you going to be at AKV? We will be there the 20-29. I see you are going on the member cruise! I hope to do that one day!!:goodvibes

Looking forward to more!!
 
Wow, loving your trip report!! Your son is SO cute and you can tell he is just eating up all that gramma and grampa love!!! Speaking of which, can I borrow your Mom and MIL for our first trip home in Sept. this year??!! I would love to have a yummy thanksgiving dinner while we're there!! Too cool!!

I think you have done wonderfully well going with the flow! You should be proud of yourself!! What dates in Sept are you going to be at AKV? We will be there the 20-29. I see you are going on the member cruise! I hope to do that one day!!:goodvibes

Looking forward to more!!
:welcome: & thank you. DS loves the attention he gets from his grandparents most of the time. It was so nice to have them there. I really loved our family vacation. I hope to do it again. An added bonus was that the grandmoms were willing to cook.

I know you will ove your first trip home. We will be there the beginning of Sept. We will be spending 2 days before the members cruise at BCV & 2 days after the members cruise at AKV - Kidani. I am so excited. This will be our first members cruise. I will let you know how we liked it. From what I hear it is a great experience.
 
Once back at the resort, we said our goodbyes to DFIL and DMIL2 since they were headed back to their home. After they left, DS went down for his nap & I told DH that I wanted to go to “Welcome Home Wednesdays” which is a presentation for DVC members at the Atlantic Dance Hall on the Boardwalk which started at 4:00 p.m. DH wanted to rest for a little while and watch some Maury. I told him we needed to leave in plenty of time since we had to catch two buses. DH wasn’t ready to leave the room until about 3:15. Two bus rides later we arrived just as the show was letting out. Although we missed the show, we did get a DVC hat. Since we had come all this way, we decided to walk along the Boardwalk and get some funnel cake. Here are some pictures we took along the way.
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On our way to Downtown Disney to catch the second bus.
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After our funnel cake, we decided to hop the ferry to Epcot. It was a nice boat ride.
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Once at Epcot, we rode Journey Into Imagination with Figment. Walked through ImageWorks, tried to ride Soaring but the wait was 90 minutes, rode Living with the Land, and watched the Circle of Life. By that time, Future World was closing. We did not want to stay and watch Illuminations. We were ready to get back to AKV. Here are some pictures we took during our time at Epcot. We did not take a lot.
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The bus for AKV took forever to come so I took some pictures of Spaceship Earth from the bus stop.
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Once the bus finally came, I called my parents to let them know we were headed back to the resort. I told them to meet us in the lobby since they still had not taken any pictures in the lobby. Once we arrived, all of our party was in the lobby. DS was about to march around the lobby but once DH called his name, he came running over to us and did not want to join the parade. I told DH not to call him. DMIL told us that after DS woke up from his nap, they explored the resort. DS even sat in on story time. Once the parade stopped, we had our nightly photo session.
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After our photo session, we headed back to our rooms to enjoy the rest of the evening.
 
Love your photopass pictures!!! I wonder if they have a photographer there every night or only sometimes? Since we will have some family members there I would love to get pictures when we're not all hot and sweaty from park touring.;)
Glad you made it in time to get DVC hats!! I'll be looking forward to hearing about the members cruise!! We are hoping to go in 2011!!
 
Love your photopass pictures!!! I wonder if they have a photographer there every night or only sometimes? Since we will have some family members there I would love to get pictures when we're not all hot and sweaty from park touring.;)
Thank you. We were so thrilled when we learned that the Photopass photographers were going to be in the lobby every night. We took our pics when we were refreshed. One said that it was something new they were trying out. I don't know if they are still there.

Glad you made it in time to get DVC hats!!
We made it just in time. People were walking out the door when we were headed to the building.
I'll be looking forward to hearing about the members cruise!! We are hoping to go in 2011!!
I am looking forward to the members cruise. From past reports it sounds like fun.
 
This will be a mini report. Since DS is back (he spent a week with my DM & DF) I have been busying enjoying spending time with him.

You know it’s a bad sign when GMA is doing a live remote from DHS
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Disney Hollywood Studios
The Plan:
Leave AKV around 8:15 a.m. to be at the park opening at 9:00 a.m. Dinner at ‘Ohana at 5:05 p.m.

What happened:
While watching Good Morning America, I noticed that Sam Champion, the weatherman, was broadcasting live from a familiar place, DHS. He was talking about the new attraction at DHS, American Idol Live. This should have been my first clue that not all would go as planned. Amazingly, everyone was up and ready to go on time and we left at a party decent time. Second sign something is amidst. We arrived at DHS right after park opening. I was excited until I got into the park. The main street at DHS was roped off making the park look crowded than it actually was. Everyone had to use the sidewalks and there were only certain sections where one could cross the street. On top of that, we were directed down a side street because they were about to do a street performance. There goes my plan for getting a Fastpass for Toy Story Mania right away. The street we were headed down led to the Tower of Terror. I heard DBIL trying to psych himself up to ride the ride. DH was laughing at his little brother. (We will see who will be laughing later.) He told him that he would go on the ride with him. They practically walked on the ride. The rest of us waited by the monitors to see their picture when they first dropped. We waited and waited and finally saw this:
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I laughed until I cried. If that was not the funniest picture – two grown men looking like they were about to pee their pants.

Stay tuned there is more to come ...
 
After our good laugh at Tower of Terror, we headed over to Toy Story Mania. On our way we took the opportunity to stop for pictures and meet some characters.
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While waiting in line to meet the characters, I grabbed everyone’s tickets and headed over to get fastpasses for Toy Story Mania. We had a return time of 1:00 p.m. So, after our photo session with the characters, we hoped in line for the second showing of Disney Playhouse Live on Stage. The grown-ups in the party found seating on the limited bench space while DS & I found seating on the floor.
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Once the show started, DS was enthralled. He loves to watch Playhouse Disney on the weekends & knows all of the characters. Here is a little snippet from the show.

And some pictures:
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After the show, we stood in line to meet the Little Einsteins. While waiting in line, DS started having a meltdown. He was not in good mood but he also wanted to see the characters. We did manage to meet two – Quincy & June – and had them sign our autograph cards.
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The photopass photographer took notice of the personalized autograph cards, commented that it was nice, and pointed it out to June.
 
Since DS was not having a good day, I asked DMIL to take him home which she was more than willing to do. My parents & uncle also went with her. DH, DBIL, and I decided to grab some lunch since we still had time before our Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania. On our way to lunch, we spotted the Power Rangers. They are some limber people.
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We ate at the Studio Catering Company and received some Disney Magic. We received a free dessert since we were the lucky ones to receive the special blue tray. The dessert was good. The food was alright. Both DH & I ordered the BBQ Pull Pork Sub. They were a little dry. We had to doctor them up with mayo. DBIL said his Chicken Caesar Wrap was good. After lunch, we took a bathroom break and then headed over to Toy Story Mania. We had to wait two minutes before we could use our passes. While waiting, we noticed some guests being accompanied by CMs. They were just getting off the ride and wanted to ride again. When we were on the ride we saw them again. They had just finished riding for the second time. I believe they were past AI contestants but since I stopped watching the show a long time ago I would not know. We enjoyed the ride.
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I wanted to ride again but also wanted to go home to check on DS. So, I gave the extra FPs to DH and proceeded out of the park. DH & DBIL stayed and watched the stunt show.

On my way out, I called my parents to discuss dinner plans for the night. My DM told me that she did not want to go to dinner which upset me greatly. I told her before we even left for Disney that having dinner at ‘Ohana’s was a must since this would be our last dinner together at Disney. In addition, DH’s father was driving down from Tallahassee to have dinner with us. DM did not relent. She told me to go and have fun. She knows what buttons to push. While I was on the phone with my DM, a CM told me to smile. I was not in the mood. I just wanted to get off the phone. I politely told DM goodbye and hung up the phone. I don’t argue with her because she is still my mother and no matter how old I get I would never hang up on her, yell at her, or curse at her like I see some other children do. Anyway, I did manage to take a picture
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And, then I stopped along the way and looked in some stores but it was just too crowded on the sidewalks and in the stores so I did not stay long. I hopped a bus to AKV after it seemed like I waited forever. The bus first made a stop at Blizzard Beach. When I got back to AKV, I noticed that I had a missed call. It was from DF trying to smooth things over. He left a message stating that they would be going to dinner. I headed to their room but they weren’t here. On my way to search for them, I took some more pictures of the resort.
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I finally saw my parents & uncle when I was taking pictures of the resort. We met up and headed back to my room where DS had just woke up from his nap. DH & DBIL called to say they were on their way back from DHS and that their dad was headed to AKV.
 
Once everyone gathered in the room, we headed to the bus for MK, and then hoped on the monorail to the Polynesian Resort. We waited about 15 minutes and was led to our table. Cousin Joe was our waiter. The food was DELISH. Everyone had a favorite. DBIL enjoyed the wings, DU enjoyed the noodles, DH enjoyed the dumplings, DMIL enjoyed the mixed veggies and salad, I enjoyed the bread pudding. Everyone was satisfied. The entertainment was fun. DS & I even participated. I was glad he was in a better mood. Here are a few pictures
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After dinner we explored the resort. The Polynesian is a beautiful resort. I would love to go back to explore during daylight hours. Here are some of the pictures that we took.
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After exploring, we hopped the monorail back to MK and then took a bus back to AKV. All in all it was an enjoyable evening. Of course, when we arrived back at AKV we had to do our nightly photo session.
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After our photo session, I took DS to the room to change his diaper and then headed to my parents’ room. They were about to watch a movie so DS & I joined them. Then DS & I did some exploring of our own. When we got back to the room I started doing laundry and just relaxed. It was a nice and restful evening.
 
Hey Marsha. Lovin the report so far. All your pictures are wonderful. Can't wait to read more.
 
Wow sounds like you had an awesome time at OHanas. That is one of the restaurants that I haven't tried yet. I agree with you on the Poly. I went there last year to have dinner at Kona and just loved the resort.
 
:woohoo: Ladies - that is my dream resort and we are staying there after the DVC member cruise in September! :yay: I have wanted to stay there since our honeymoon in 1990. So, it has been a long time in coming! And I just can't wait. We go there every time we are at Disney to have a drink in the bar. Just because, it wouldn't be a trip to Disney without a trip to the Poly! :goodvibes
 
Hey Marsha. Lovin the report so far. All your pictures are wonderful. Can't wait to read more.

Chris, thank you & :welcome: I am happy that you came to visit me. Now, we can chat in two places and get to know each other more before the cruise.
 
Wow sounds like you had an awesome time at OHanas. That is one of the restaurants that I haven't tried yet. I agree with you on the Poly. I went there last year to have dinner at Kona and just loved the resort.

We had a wonderful time at 'Ohanas. It was great having a big dinner with the family. The food was wonderful, very tasty and plentiful. You definitely have to give it a try.

:woohoo: Ladies - that is my dream resort and we are staying there after the DVC member cruise in September! :yay: I have wanted to stay there since our honeymoon in 1990. So, it has been a long time in coming! And I just can't wait. We go there every time we are at Disney to have a drink in the bar. Just because, it wouldn't be a trip to Disney without a trip to the Poly! :goodvibes
I really do want to visit the Poly again to explore the resort. Maybe I will get a chance to do so either before or after the members cruise.
 

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