ibedancin824
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2009
Heyy I don't know if I have commented yet but I have been lurking around and just caught up with your trip report! 
Loving it...
Loving it...
"Stop drinking out of that puddle!"-our first family trip with 2 and 4 year olds!
- Thread starter jana616
- Start date
Thanks and Welcome!!!!Heyy I don't know if I have commented yet but I have been lurking around and just caught up with your trip report!
We really did have a great day at DHS. I had heard all the horror stories of 90 minute TSM lines, etc. so I was shocked at how easy it was to do it so many times. One of many things that convinced me I love going in September!
Thanks, I like that picture too, but I wish Griffin looked just a little happier in it. I swear he really had a super fun day!
They both liked the play areas at all of the parks, but not as much as I expected. We usually did those in the afternoons, when Cooper had just woken up and Griffin was kind of getting tired. So not the best times for them to experience them. My boys have always been sleepers like that too-they do not stay asleep to transfer them into the house at all. I did not try Beverly, but others of us did (not to give much away!). But it won't be in the next installment, due to some schedule wiggling.
Yay, I hope you like it as much as we did! Boma sounds SOOO good too. Chef Mickeys was great at dinner, so I'm sure their breakfast would have been good too. Have you tried the trade/cancel threads on the restaurant board? Maybe someone on there can help you get CM. Although if you keep H&V, I bet breakfast will be good. How hard can it be to make eggs, Mickey waffles and bacon, right?So I loved your update about H&V sooooo much I booked it for our trip!Since we are flying now I had to cancel our Boma reservation for our departure day and I needed one more reservation for our free dining. I wanted to get Chef Mickeys for breakfast another day but I had no luck. Amelia has been getting into Little Einsteins lately and after I read your report I decided we had to try it! Hopefully breakfast will be decent food too!
Yeah, I took a few of him conked out in the stroller-he was just so sweet looking. (Aren't they always when they're asleep?
) Poor baby, he got so sweaty sleeping in there though. We'd try to find fountains for him to splash in after he woke up because he'd be drenched. I loved DHS, and I think Cooper had fun there. If he likes cars, definitely do the Stunt show, and if he likes Playhouse Disney, definitely do that show. Those were Cooper's faves there. I promise Epcot soon, but I still have to upload pics for that one. Plus my MIL gave me a CD with her 600+ photos on it too, so now I have even more to choose from!
mommyof2Pirates
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
just got caught up on your report. I actually thought I posted this already but when I went back and looked it wasnt there. I dont know I guess my brain is still on vacation. Anyway. I love the report so keep the updates coming. Your pics are so great. I only took 430 pics so I think thats where a few extra hands would of helped out. It was hard making sure the kids were happy, going in the right direction, and taking pictures along the way. We also loved DHS too. You guys got so much done in one day there. Thats awesome. I cant wait to read more!
PS- we also counted swimming in the pool as the nightly bath once or twice.
PS- we also counted swimming in the pool as the nightly bath once or twice.
MousekaMaddi
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2006
we also love food and interaction at H and Vine, and have for a few yrs.......never had anything but FUN there!
Fun stories and cute pix, adorableoys and clothing!
Looking forward to MORE!
Fun stories and cute pix, adorableoys and clothing!
Looking forward to MORE!
Yeah, it definitely helped to have the extra hands! Quite a few times I thought that there was no way we could have handled the two kids, two strollers, and "stuff" by ourselves. I can't believe you only took 430 pictures-your TR has so many great ones!just got caught up on your report. I actually thought I posted this already but when I went back and looked it wasnt there. I dont know I guess my brain is still on vacation. Anyway. I love the report so keep the updates coming. Your pics are so great. I only took 430 pics so I think thats where a few extra hands would of helped out. It was hard making sure the kids were happy, going in the right direction, and taking pictures along the way. We also loved DHS too. You guys got so much done in one day there. Thats awesome. I cant wait to read more!
PS- we also counted swimming in the pool as the nightly bath once or twice.
Glad to help! I definitely thought DHS was a better boy park than the others, hopefully your son agrees!
Thanks and welcome!we also love food and interaction at H and Vine, and have for a few yrs.......never had anything but FUN there!
Fun stories and cute pix, adorableoys and clothing!
Looking forward to MORE!
OK, I've finally got my Epcot photos uploaded and I am ready to go! This has been such a pain to do-I use Adobe Photoshop for all my photos, and for some reason over the last few weeks it has gotten ridiculously slow and been almost unusable. Not good when all I want to do is go through pictures! And it's kind of fitting that doing the Epcot installment has been trouble, since that's kind of how our day there went as well. I don't know all of the reasons why (fatigue was definitely reason #1), but we had our worst day of the whole trip this day. Griffin started off cranky (and ended it cranky-more on that below!), and I think we all were mad at each other at some point in the day. Bummer. But don't let this delightful intro deter you, we still had lots of fun too, and I promise not to be a downer the whole installment! Here we go...
We had decided the night before that it wasn't as important to get to Epcot at rope drop as it had been at the other parks, so we decided to let the kids act as our alarm and get up whenever they did. Of course, Cooper decided 7 was a perfect time, so we ended up getting up even earlier than if we'd set the alarm! We took some time getting ready, and got to Epcot just after 9 am. We sent Chad ahead to Soarin to get fast passes, and we were going to make our way there with the strollers. Well, as we passed the Character Spot, none other than Donald Duck himself knocked on the window and invited us inside to meet him! Apparently the line was non-existent, so we decided to take advantage and see the Big 5 to start our day. I am so glad we did-it was nice and air conditioned, and I am so happy we got photos with them other than at the meals. Plus it didn't feel rushed at all.
First up was Mickey...
I LOVE this one!
Then Pluto...
Then Minnie...
Then Donald...
And finally Goofy...
I am SOOO glad we stopped to do this! The very best part was that we got group shots with each character. Usually at the meals, we just got the kids in the pictures, so I'm happy that we have so many nice group shots as well. If you go during a slower time when lines won't be too bad if you wait a little while to ride rides, then I would highly recommend visiting the Character Spot first thing in the day.
We were done by 9:30, and headed over to Soarin. The line was only a few minutes long, so we held onto the fast passes and rode standby. Chad, Sue, and Griffin went first while my mom and I played with Cooper. It's so funny to me, he had a blast while we waited, just riding the escalator up and down and running around. Who needs rides?! When they were done, we switched kids and my mom and I went with Griffin again. Honestly, I was a little underwhelmed. I had heard how amazing it was, and I thought it was good but not amazing. (Shhh...I hope they don't take my DIS badge away!). Chad and his mom found a Kidcot station for Cooper to play at, so he made a badge of some sort
. I don't know, but he looks so grown up to me in this picture!
Then they headed over with Cooper to get fast passes for Test Track.
When we got off the ride, we headed toward TT as well, but stopped to watch the Jamminators. They are SO cool! When we met up at Test Track, Sue and I took Griffin on while my mom and Chad took Cooper to play around in all the cars. I had made Griffin a driver's license for the ride, and he was so excited to use it. This is why Disney is so great. As we walked onto the ride, he kind of held it out to the attendant. Right away (even though I'm sure she had no clue what he was doing), she made a huge fuss over him having it, and pointed us to the first car so he could "drive". He loved it!
After our ride, Griffin went on it again with my mom and Chad, and Sue and I took Cooper over to the Seas pavillion.
We were looking for the aquarium to kill time until the rest of them met up with us, but accidentally ended up on the Nemo ride. Oh my goodness, did Cooper love this ride!!! He kept calling, "Nemo, are you?" (where are you?) It was the first ride he truly loved. We visited the aquarium afterwards, and saw this frogfish, which is so weird and cool.
The plan had been to have them meet us at the Seas, but I realized our 11:45 lunch ADR was fast approaching. I called Chad and told them to meet us at Innoventions so we could get a fast pass for a Kim Possible mission later. Griffin was totally in love with Innoventions, but we needed to get to lunch, so I promised him we'd come back later. (This will be important later).
Right on time, we arrived here for lunch
As I had mentioned, Griffin was just off this morning. He was cranky, tired, and hot, and made sure we all knew it. I can't complain, we'd had 3 very long, busy days so far with mostly great behavior from him, but he was being a real stinker. He got restless waiting to be called, so Chad took both boys out to walk around until it was our turn. About ten minutes later, we were seated. Our waitress was great, and Griffin's mood improved a bit when he learned he could have a milkshake for his drink. Chad got the sirloin, which was great, and the grandmas and I all got the mushroom filet, minus the mushrooms, with cream cheese mashed potatoes. Oh my goodness, it was all so good. I thought Le Cellier lived up to every word of hype I'd read. The boys split a hot dog and fries, despite my attempt to get them to choose a steak instead. We also got the cheese soup for the appetizer, and then dipped the breads into it-YUM! I would highly recommend Le Cellier, although it was by far the least kid-friendly place we went (no booster seats, heavy silverware to drop, etc.) So many of the desserts sounded good, but the boys were done by that point (looking at my picture time stamps, it looks like the whole meal only took an hour). So we got milkshakes and smoothies to go for our desserts. I was a little disappointed, but it was very necessary. Guess I'll just have to go back to get the chocolate on chocolate cake some other time!
So, this is where the day kind of fell apart. Up until now we had actually had a great morning (writing this was a great way for me to realize that and feel a little better about our day!). My plan all along had been to head back to the resort for the afternoon, let the kids nap, and then come back in the evening to tour the World Showcase and see Illuminations. Well, my mom started mentioning how she thought we'd be better off just staying and having the kids nap in the strollers while we walked around WS. Despite the nagging feeling that this would never work, I agreed to do this. Big mistake...
(Continued in next post-too many pictures!)
We had decided the night before that it wasn't as important to get to Epcot at rope drop as it had been at the other parks, so we decided to let the kids act as our alarm and get up whenever they did. Of course, Cooper decided 7 was a perfect time, so we ended up getting up even earlier than if we'd set the alarm! We took some time getting ready, and got to Epcot just after 9 am. We sent Chad ahead to Soarin to get fast passes, and we were going to make our way there with the strollers. Well, as we passed the Character Spot, none other than Donald Duck himself knocked on the window and invited us inside to meet him! Apparently the line was non-existent, so we decided to take advantage and see the Big 5 to start our day. I am so glad we did-it was nice and air conditioned, and I am so happy we got photos with them other than at the meals. Plus it didn't feel rushed at all.
First up was Mickey...
I LOVE this one!
Then Pluto...
Then Minnie...
Then Donald...
And finally Goofy...
I am SOOO glad we stopped to do this! The very best part was that we got group shots with each character. Usually at the meals, we just got the kids in the pictures, so I'm happy that we have so many nice group shots as well. If you go during a slower time when lines won't be too bad if you wait a little while to ride rides, then I would highly recommend visiting the Character Spot first thing in the day.
We were done by 9:30, and headed over to Soarin. The line was only a few minutes long, so we held onto the fast passes and rode standby. Chad, Sue, and Griffin went first while my mom and I played with Cooper. It's so funny to me, he had a blast while we waited, just riding the escalator up and down and running around. Who needs rides?! When they were done, we switched kids and my mom and I went with Griffin again. Honestly, I was a little underwhelmed. I had heard how amazing it was, and I thought it was good but not amazing. (Shhh...I hope they don't take my DIS badge away!). Chad and his mom found a Kidcot station for Cooper to play at, so he made a badge of some sort
. I don't know, but he looks so grown up to me in this picture!
Then they headed over with Cooper to get fast passes for Test Track.
When we got off the ride, we headed toward TT as well, but stopped to watch the Jamminators. They are SO cool! When we met up at Test Track, Sue and I took Griffin on while my mom and Chad took Cooper to play around in all the cars. I had made Griffin a driver's license for the ride, and he was so excited to use it. This is why Disney is so great. As we walked onto the ride, he kind of held it out to the attendant. Right away (even though I'm sure she had no clue what he was doing), she made a huge fuss over him having it, and pointed us to the first car so he could "drive". He loved it!
After our ride, Griffin went on it again with my mom and Chad, and Sue and I took Cooper over to the Seas pavillion.
We were looking for the aquarium to kill time until the rest of them met up with us, but accidentally ended up on the Nemo ride. Oh my goodness, did Cooper love this ride!!! He kept calling, "Nemo, are you?" (where are you?) It was the first ride he truly loved. We visited the aquarium afterwards, and saw this frogfish, which is so weird and cool.
The plan had been to have them meet us at the Seas, but I realized our 11:45 lunch ADR was fast approaching. I called Chad and told them to meet us at Innoventions so we could get a fast pass for a Kim Possible mission later. Griffin was totally in love with Innoventions, but we needed to get to lunch, so I promised him we'd come back later. (This will be important later).
Right on time, we arrived here for lunch
As I had mentioned, Griffin was just off this morning. He was cranky, tired, and hot, and made sure we all knew it. I can't complain, we'd had 3 very long, busy days so far with mostly great behavior from him, but he was being a real stinker. He got restless waiting to be called, so Chad took both boys out to walk around until it was our turn. About ten minutes later, we were seated. Our waitress was great, and Griffin's mood improved a bit when he learned he could have a milkshake for his drink. Chad got the sirloin, which was great, and the grandmas and I all got the mushroom filet, minus the mushrooms, with cream cheese mashed potatoes. Oh my goodness, it was all so good. I thought Le Cellier lived up to every word of hype I'd read. The boys split a hot dog and fries, despite my attempt to get them to choose a steak instead. We also got the cheese soup for the appetizer, and then dipped the breads into it-YUM! I would highly recommend Le Cellier, although it was by far the least kid-friendly place we went (no booster seats, heavy silverware to drop, etc.) So many of the desserts sounded good, but the boys were done by that point (looking at my picture time stamps, it looks like the whole meal only took an hour). So we got milkshakes and smoothies to go for our desserts. I was a little disappointed, but it was very necessary. Guess I'll just have to go back to get the chocolate on chocolate cake some other time!
So, this is where the day kind of fell apart. Up until now we had actually had a great morning (writing this was a great way for me to realize that and feel a little better about our day!). My plan all along had been to head back to the resort for the afternoon, let the kids nap, and then come back in the evening to tour the World Showcase and see Illuminations. Well, my mom started mentioning how she thought we'd be better off just staying and having the kids nap in the strollers while we walked around WS. Despite the nagging feeling that this would never work, I agreed to do this. Big mistake...
(Continued in next post-too many pictures!)
We left Le Cellier after stopping to feed the ducks
and get a picture in front of the waterfall and the masks
We began to make our way counter clockwise around the World Showcase. I don't remember why, but Chad and I were already mad at each other, and then he started pushing the stroller super fast, totally flying past everything with no time to enjoy it. It really ticked me off, and we had a little argument. We pretty much stayed mad at each other until France. I think one of our mistakes was telling Griffin if he didn't take a nap we wouldn't stay for fireworks. As we were walking, we kept telling them both to lay back and relax, to nap...well, that worked as well as you can imagine. Finally, we decided to stop and watch the movie in France. We figured that would bore them to sleep-wrong!!! Apparently our kids love the French culture-who knew? They totally enjoyed that movie, I couldn't believe it!
At this point we decided not to push the nap thing so much and just see what happened. I was tired of telling them to lay down, and thought it would take the pressure off, which it did. We walked around France, and the boys loved the fountains.
We went through Morocco, but I don't remember any of it. In Japan we stopped to watch these people play
We flew through America and Italy. I had wanted to see the singing group in America, but we missed them. We then headed to Germany, where the boys really liked the model trains.
We stopped to get some Photopass pictures taken, and I don't think you'd know how cranky we were all feeling at this point!
We headed over to China, and Cooper fell asleep at this point. After just a few minutes, we went into Norway to pick up our Kim Possible Kimmunicator. We needed to head back to China for our mission, but first though, we stopped at the bakery in Norway. This lead to another argument. I wanted schoolbread, and my mom also wanted schoolbread. I told her Chad and I were splitting one, but she was welcome to a few bites. She didn't want to get her own since she also wanted to try the sweet pretzel. Well, I turn around and she has gotten a schoolbread instead of a pretzel because I wouldn't share enough with her, but she was mad about it. Ugh... I was seriously ready to just pull my hair out at this point.
Instead of doing that, I sent Chad and Griffin back to Japan to get a Kaki Gori. Griffin loved that, but it was a very unappealing color by the end! Afer our snack break, we headed to China for the mission. We stopped to watch the acrobats first.
And then we ran into Mulan with no one even near her. Griffin had been adamant about avoiding princesses, but I think the swords and dragon in her movie let her squeak by!
I was so impressed with her. She had asked his name while she signed his book. When we left China at least 30 minutes and many kids later, she called out, "Bye Griffin!" How do they remember these things?!
Griffin found this puppet, which he loved, but I just didn't think he'd ever play with it at home, so it stayed there.
We saved the world from bad guys (the mission was just okay, in my opinion), and then Griffin found this little guy.
I mentioned in my PTR that Chad is a veterinarian. So of course, he has instilled a huge love of animals in the kids. They loved all of the animals they saw on this trip, and we had to stop for every lizard we came across!
As we left China a full hour after we started the mission (we were way slow), we saw them raise the drawbridge to move the globe in for Illuminations. This was pretty cool to see!
Unfortunately, Cooper had slept through everything from the snacks to this, so he missed it.
Cooper finally woke up as we went back to Norway, so we rode the Maelstrom and then got this classic photo op. This is one of my top 10 pictures from the whole trip.
At this point it was about 5:15, and Chad and I still wanted to do Mission Space. So the grandmas took the boys to Mexico to do the boat ride, and we headed off to outer space. They listened to a mariachi band after the ride.
I really liked Mission Space. We did the easy side, and it was a nice, relaxing ride. I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was growing up, so it held a special place in my heart.
After this we met up and headed over to the Seas. (Continued in next post!)
and get a picture in front of the waterfall and the masks
We began to make our way counter clockwise around the World Showcase. I don't remember why, but Chad and I were already mad at each other, and then he started pushing the stroller super fast, totally flying past everything with no time to enjoy it. It really ticked me off, and we had a little argument. We pretty much stayed mad at each other until France. I think one of our mistakes was telling Griffin if he didn't take a nap we wouldn't stay for fireworks. As we were walking, we kept telling them both to lay back and relax, to nap...well, that worked as well as you can imagine. Finally, we decided to stop and watch the movie in France. We figured that would bore them to sleep-wrong!!! Apparently our kids love the French culture-who knew? They totally enjoyed that movie, I couldn't believe it!
At this point we decided not to push the nap thing so much and just see what happened. I was tired of telling them to lay down, and thought it would take the pressure off, which it did. We walked around France, and the boys loved the fountains.
We went through Morocco, but I don't remember any of it. In Japan we stopped to watch these people play
We flew through America and Italy. I had wanted to see the singing group in America, but we missed them. We then headed to Germany, where the boys really liked the model trains.
We stopped to get some Photopass pictures taken, and I don't think you'd know how cranky we were all feeling at this point!
We headed over to China, and Cooper fell asleep at this point. After just a few minutes, we went into Norway to pick up our Kim Possible Kimmunicator. We needed to head back to China for our mission, but first though, we stopped at the bakery in Norway. This lead to another argument. I wanted schoolbread, and my mom also wanted schoolbread. I told her Chad and I were splitting one, but she was welcome to a few bites. She didn't want to get her own since she also wanted to try the sweet pretzel. Well, I turn around and she has gotten a schoolbread instead of a pretzel because I wouldn't share enough with her, but she was mad about it. Ugh... I was seriously ready to just pull my hair out at this point.
Instead of doing that, I sent Chad and Griffin back to Japan to get a Kaki Gori. Griffin loved that, but it was a very unappealing color by the end! Afer our snack break, we headed to China for the mission. We stopped to watch the acrobats first.
And then we ran into Mulan with no one even near her. Griffin had been adamant about avoiding princesses, but I think the swords and dragon in her movie let her squeak by!
I was so impressed with her. She had asked his name while she signed his book. When we left China at least 30 minutes and many kids later, she called out, "Bye Griffin!" How do they remember these things?!
Griffin found this puppet, which he loved, but I just didn't think he'd ever play with it at home, so it stayed there.
We saved the world from bad guys (the mission was just okay, in my opinion), and then Griffin found this little guy.
I mentioned in my PTR that Chad is a veterinarian. So of course, he has instilled a huge love of animals in the kids. They loved all of the animals they saw on this trip, and we had to stop for every lizard we came across!
As we left China a full hour after we started the mission (we were way slow), we saw them raise the drawbridge to move the globe in for Illuminations. This was pretty cool to see!
Unfortunately, Cooper had slept through everything from the snacks to this, so he missed it.
Cooper finally woke up as we went back to Norway, so we rode the Maelstrom and then got this classic photo op. This is one of my top 10 pictures from the whole trip.
At this point it was about 5:15, and Chad and I still wanted to do Mission Space. So the grandmas took the boys to Mexico to do the boat ride, and we headed off to outer space. They listened to a mariachi band after the ride.
I really liked Mission Space. We did the easy side, and it was a nice, relaxing ride. I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was growing up, so it held a special place in my heart.
After this we met up and headed over to the Seas. (Continued in next post!)
We met the grandmas and kids as they came over the International Gateway, and we all headed to the Seas around 6 pm. We snuck into a Turtle Talk show just as it was getting ready to start.
This was really cute, but can you see that older girl right next to Griffin? She had to be 13, and she was really too old to sit down there, in my opinion. She kind of hogged answering all of the questions, and blocked Griffin's view. She spent most of the time texting. I think if you're old enough to text, you're too old to sit with the kids.
Of course whoever chooses the kids to call on couldn't even see Griffin, so he never got called on (and we never got an answer to his question, "Why do turtles swim?" Bummer!) and he was pretty disappointed.
I think this lead to another cranky period for him. Cooper had had a nap, so he was well-rested and happy, but Griffin was most definitely tired. We did the Nemo ride again, which Cooper lead us to yelling, "Nemo! Nemo!" and then headed to the aquarium so Griffin could see everything.
This is where Griffin started acting so badly, I had to grab him, take him to a corner, and give him a timeout. I was so ticked off! After his timeout, I handed him over to Chad, and my mom and I went to find Cooper some kind of Nemo souvenir to commerate his new love. I didn't really like any of the souvenirs, so I grabbed two Nemo marshmallow pops with snack credits. Good deal! I still have them here to give them sometime we need a treat!
Chad and his mom took the boys up to the second story, where they ran into this diver. Pretty cool.
We took one more picture outside the Seas, and then headed over to Club Cool.
Here is the worst part of the day. We got to Club Cool at 7:10, and it was closed. This is when it dawned on me that Innoventions would be closed too. Remember earlier in the day, when I promised Griffin we'd do Innoventions later? Whoops. He was SO upset, and I felt terrible. We decided to let Cooper splash in the fountains, and Griffin and I ran to make sure it was indeed closed. It was. Mommy guilt lead me to promise him a present from Mousegears. Luckily, we found a $5 Carnotaur car, so I got off cheap! Griffin cheered up a lot after that, so we went to join the rest at the fountains.
The boys splashed for a while,
and things were going well. We were trying to decide if we wanted to stay for Illuminations, when Griffin stubbed his toe and turned into this:
Poor baby, he was done. We got them changed into dry clothes, and headed to the bus, stopping for a quick photo.
Chad and I had really wanted to see Illuminations, and the grandmas knew this, but neither had suggested that they take the boys back to the hotel and we stay. This was fine, but finally my mom brought it up as a possibility while we were leaving the park, only to decide against it. For some reason, this just totally pushed me over the edge. I was so sad about how the afternoon and evening had gone. Then as we got on the bus, they changed their mind and said we should stay, but it was too late, the bus was pulling away. I was just so bummed at the whole situation. Ugh...
The boys were good on the bus, thank goodness, and we decided that we would pick up a pizza from the food court and eat in our room. Finally, a good decision! It was great to just let the boys run around, and we ate right on the floor while watching the NFL season opener. Just what we needed, some serious downtime!
The kids burned off some energy by jumping from the bed into the pack n play
.
Quick baths and showers, and we were in bed by 9:45. Not the best day, but hopefully our next day at the Animal Kingdom would be better!
This was really cute, but can you see that older girl right next to Griffin? She had to be 13, and she was really too old to sit down there, in my opinion. She kind of hogged answering all of the questions, and blocked Griffin's view. She spent most of the time texting. I think if you're old enough to text, you're too old to sit with the kids.
Of course whoever chooses the kids to call on couldn't even see Griffin, so he never got called on (and we never got an answer to his question, "Why do turtles swim?" Bummer!) and he was pretty disappointed. I think this lead to another cranky period for him. Cooper had had a nap, so he was well-rested and happy, but Griffin was most definitely tired. We did the Nemo ride again, which Cooper lead us to yelling, "Nemo! Nemo!" and then headed to the aquarium so Griffin could see everything.
This is where Griffin started acting so badly, I had to grab him, take him to a corner, and give him a timeout. I was so ticked off! After his timeout, I handed him over to Chad, and my mom and I went to find Cooper some kind of Nemo souvenir to commerate his new love. I didn't really like any of the souvenirs, so I grabbed two Nemo marshmallow pops with snack credits. Good deal! I still have them here to give them sometime we need a treat!
Chad and his mom took the boys up to the second story, where they ran into this diver. Pretty cool.
We took one more picture outside the Seas, and then headed over to Club Cool.
Here is the worst part of the day. We got to Club Cool at 7:10, and it was closed. This is when it dawned on me that Innoventions would be closed too. Remember earlier in the day, when I promised Griffin we'd do Innoventions later? Whoops. He was SO upset, and I felt terrible. We decided to let Cooper splash in the fountains, and Griffin and I ran to make sure it was indeed closed. It was. Mommy guilt lead me to promise him a present from Mousegears. Luckily, we found a $5 Carnotaur car, so I got off cheap! Griffin cheered up a lot after that, so we went to join the rest at the fountains.
The boys splashed for a while,
and things were going well. We were trying to decide if we wanted to stay for Illuminations, when Griffin stubbed his toe and turned into this:
Poor baby, he was done. We got them changed into dry clothes, and headed to the bus, stopping for a quick photo.
Chad and I had really wanted to see Illuminations, and the grandmas knew this, but neither had suggested that they take the boys back to the hotel and we stay. This was fine, but finally my mom brought it up as a possibility while we were leaving the park, only to decide against it. For some reason, this just totally pushed me over the edge. I was so sad about how the afternoon and evening had gone. Then as we got on the bus, they changed their mind and said we should stay, but it was too late, the bus was pulling away. I was just so bummed at the whole situation. Ugh...
The boys were good on the bus, thank goodness, and we decided that we would pick up a pizza from the food court and eat in our room. Finally, a good decision! It was great to just let the boys run around, and we ate right on the floor while watching the NFL season opener. Just what we needed, some serious downtime!
The kids burned off some energy by jumping from the bed into the pack n play
Quick baths and showers, and we were in bed by 9:45. Not the best day, but hopefully our next day at the Animal Kingdom would be better!
thegreggersmom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2009
Great update! I really appreciate and enjoy your honesty because we have ALL been there. Don't know that I would last as long as you did if I had my mom along.
LOVE the Viking picture and OMG, how did Griffin manage to catch, much less hold on to that tiny lizard>!
LOVE the Viking picture and OMG, how did Griffin manage to catch, much less hold on to that tiny lizard>!
Vacation arguments! Don't worry most families have them. Not being used to being around each other 24/7 (and in a tiny hotel room also) can eventually lead to everyone on each others nerves!
Love the viking photo!
I am worried about naptime for Amelia.....if she does not get a good enough nap.....watch out! We fully saw the beast arise this weekend when we went to Dave's parents lake house. Naptime is a must!
Love the viking photo!
I am worried about naptime for Amelia.....if she does not get a good enough nap.....watch out! We fully saw the beast arise this weekend when we went to Dave's parents lake house. Naptime is a must!
mommyof2Pirates
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
It is so funny because epcot was our meltdown day as well. I feel like we hardly did anything there. It seemed that in the long run you did get to do alot. I love the character pics. Great idea to stop there. I also love the pic from norway of chad and the boys. I cant believe how many lizards we saw on the trip. I love the pic of griffin holding one. Dont you love sometimes how your parents tell you to go once its too late. I think they plan it that way so they dont look bad for not offering but yet they know there is no way you can take them up on your offer. You have now made me hungry by talking about LeCellier. It was one place I had on my list but decided against it. The cheddar cheese soup sounds delicious. The photopass pic of the family is great too. You all defenitely look happy so I dont think anyone will be able to tell the spats you were having with each other.
Cant wait to hear more.
You have now made me hungry by talking about LeCellier. It was one place I had on my list but decided against it. The cheddar cheese soup sounds delicious. The photopass pic of the family is great too. You all defenitely look happy so I dont think anyone will be able to tell the spats you were having with each other. Cant wait to hear more.
Howellsy
:)
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2005
I totally agree with you about Soarin' being a bit disappointing first time round, though I have to admit I enjoyed it slightly more this time. I think lots of people really like it so I expected it to be one of my favourites too, but I just don't find it exciting enough!
Thanks for another great update
Thanks for another great update
Charlefours
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2009
I am having a great time reading your TR! I am way too excited for our vacation--we have so long left before it goes but I don't care! I am sure DH thinks I am crazy b/c I am already beginning the planning. But with my DD, graduate school and keeping up on all of the other SAHM duties I need to begin so I am not crazy come next summer with plans!!
I added the water misters on our must have list prior to going to Disney! I was thinking we would not need them but I can see how wrong I was about that.
Too bad about not liking Soarin'--I loved it my first time around there. I thinking DD will be tall enough to ride it too when we go.
Looking forward to the next addition!
I added the water misters on our must have list prior to going to Disney! I was thinking we would not need them but I can see how wrong I was about that.
Too bad about not liking Soarin'--I loved it my first time around there. I thinking DD will be tall enough to ride it too when we go.
Looking forward to the next addition!
MouseKTeer
back to reality
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2009
Great photos of the boys in the Seas and with the Fab Five!
Do you think your moms were just too tired themselves to imagine caring for the boys? They may have realized that would resolve things, but think they didn't have the energy to carry through on such an offer. Just wondering...
Do you think your moms were just too tired themselves to imagine caring for the boys? They may have realized that would resolve things, but think they didn't have the energy to carry through on such an offer. Just wondering...
ladybugmom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2008
Sorry you had a crummy day but your pics are fabulous!! Ya'll don't look disgruntled at all! Glad to hear that you liked Le Cellier--it's definitely on our list for our next trip!! And Mulan--WOW!! We just loved her, too!! GREAT interaction! That's awesome that she remembered Griffin's name!! Sorry you didn't get to see Illuminations--we missed it too on our trip (b/c it was POURING that night)! Can't wait to hear more!!
I am so sorry I haven't been updating lately. I promise to get back to work on it tomorrow. I only have 3 Disney days left to do!!
Yeah, we did good job faking like we liked each other, didn't we? Not to give too much away, but we did actually get to see it later, so that is helping a little bit as I remember how bummed I was that day!
Thanks! I know they were exhausted, we all were. And it was their vacation too, it's not like they were paid nannies or anything. I totally get that, and I wasn't expecting them to resolve the problem. But my mom was all worried about having to feed the kids without us there, and then Sue (who as I mentioned is super sweet but a little dense!), thought that my mom was worried about having to open and close the strollers, and she kept saying she didn't know how to do that (this was not an issue at all, FYI), and on and on...it was a total miscommunication that resulted from all of being tired and cranky. But it really was fine, and we ended up having some nice quiet time in the room.
Thanks! We really did get a lot done, I was thrilled with what we did and saw. But again, I wish we had slowed down at times and just enjoyed the experience. Probably a common rookie mistake!
I know, when we booked our trip we had 10 months til we went, and everyone got very sick of me talking about it. But I was so glad I had done so much research and planning. For me, that was a large part of the fun! I hope you have as much fun as we did (well, have more fun than us on your Epcot day!)
Yep, I know that was my problem. I kept hearing how amazing it was, so I had pretty high expectations. It was cool, but not as neat as I'd built it up to be. Plus, we were in not so great seats, with lots of legs dangling above us.
From reading other TRs, it seems like Epcot leads to lots of meltdowns. Who knew?! I can't overstate how yummy Le Cellier was. It was seriously the best steak I've ever had. That was one that did live up to all the hype I read before we went. We had almost gone with Tutto Italia instead, and I am so glad we didn't. Glad to know our spats didn't translate to our pictures!
OK, thanks, you've made me feel a little better! I was surprised how well Cooper did in regards to naps. I think he was operating at "super tired" level all week, which allowed him to conk out in the stroller every afternoon. Griffin was the one who needed a nap several days but never took one. (We did fix this our last two days!)
Ha, ha!! My mom is usually awesome, but there were a couple times on this trip where I was ready to pull my hair out. Mostly it was good, though!
Griffin has some kind of connection to animals, I swear it. He can catch almost anything. Those lizards made his day!
Update coming soon, I promise!
Yeah, we did good job faking like we liked each other, didn't we?
Not to give too much away, but we did actually get to see it later, so that is helping a little bit as I remember how bummed I was that day!Great photos of the boys in the Seas and with the Fab Five!
Do you think your moms were just too tired themselves to imagine caring for the boys? They may have realized that would resolve things, but think they didn't have the energy to carry through on such an offer. Just wondering...
Thanks! I know they were exhausted, we all were. And it was their vacation too, it's not like they were paid nannies or anything. I totally get that, and I wasn't expecting them to resolve the problem. But my mom was all worried about having to feed the kids without us there, and then Sue (who as I mentioned is super sweet but a little dense!), thought that my mom was worried about having to open and close the strollers, and she kept saying she didn't know how to do that (this was not an issue at all, FYI), and on and on...it was a total miscommunication that resulted from all of being tired and cranky. But it really was fine, and we ended up having some nice quiet time in the room.
I am jealous of your trip!!!! I can't believe all the things you got done - my itinerary went out the window as soon as we hit the parks LOL!
Your report is definitely inspiring me to book a trip for next year - keep up the good work LOL!
Thanks! We really did get a lot done, I was thrilled with what we did and saw. But again, I wish we had slowed down at times and just enjoyed the experience. Probably a common rookie mistake!
I know, when we booked our trip we had 10 months til we went, and everyone got very sick of me talking about it. But I was so glad I had done so much research and planning. For me, that was a large part of the fun! I hope you have as much fun as we did (well, have more fun than us on your Epcot day!
)I totally agree with you about Soarin' being a bit disappointing first time round, though I have to admit I enjoyed it slightly more this time. I think lots of people really like it so I expected it to be one of my favourites too, but I just don't find it exciting enough!
Thanks for another great update
Yep, I know that was my problem. I kept hearing how amazing it was, so I had pretty high expectations. It was cool, but not as neat as I'd built it up to be. Plus, we were in not so great seats, with lots of legs dangling above us.
It is so funny because epcot was our meltdown day as well. I feel like we hardly did anything there. It seemed that in the long run you did get to do alot. I love the character pics. Great idea to stop there. I also love the pic from norway of chad and the boys. I cant believe how many lizards we saw on the trip. I love the pic of griffin holding one. Dont you love sometimes how your parents tell you to go once its too late. I think they plan it that way so they dont look bad for not offering but yet they know there is no way you can take them up on your offer.
From reading other TRs, it seems like Epcot leads to lots of meltdowns. Who knew?! I can't overstate how yummy Le Cellier was. It was seriously the best steak I've ever had. That was one that did live up to all the hype I read before we went. We had almost gone with Tutto Italia instead, and I am so glad we didn't. Glad to know our spats didn't translate to our pictures!
OK, thanks, you've made me feel a little better! I was surprised how well Cooper did in regards to naps. I think he was operating at "super tired" level all week, which allowed him to conk out in the stroller every afternoon. Griffin was the one who needed a nap several days but never took one. (We did fix this our last two days!)
Great update! I really appreciate and enjoy your honesty because we have ALL been there. Don't know that I would last as long as you did if I had my mom along.
LOVE the Viking picture and OMG, how did Griffin manage to catch, much less hold on to that tiny lizard>!
Ha, ha!! My mom is usually awesome, but there were a couple times on this trip where I was ready to pull my hair out. Mostly it was good, though!
Griffin has some kind of connection to animals, I swear it. He can catch almost anything. Those lizards made his day!
Update coming soon, I promise!
Gabes_mommy
Hoping to convert her DS into a fellow Disney fana
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2009
I'm all caught up.
Great updates! What is it about Epcot that brings out the grouchies in people? I agree with you about Soarin' - the first time I rode it I was like, that's it? I do like it better now. I think when things are really popular they don't always live up to the hype. I felt that way about TSMM too. 
I love the pictures of the boys playing in the fountain. They look so happy and cute.
I'm so sorry you didn't get to see Illuminations.
My mom is one of my best friends, but she drove me a bit nuts on our trip too so I can understand your frustrations.
I can't wait to hear about your day at AK.
Great updates! What is it about Epcot that brings out the grouchies in people?
I agree with you about Soarin' - the first time I rode it I was like, that's it? I do like it better now. I think when things are really popular they don't always live up to the hype. I felt that way about TSMM too. I love the pictures of the boys playing in the fountain. They look so happy and cute.
I'm so sorry you didn't get to see Illuminations.
My mom is one of my best friends, but she drove me a bit nuts on our trip too so I can understand your frustrations.
I can't wait to hear about your day at AK.
Alright, I've taken a long enough break, back to the report!
When we left off, we had survived a rough day at Epcot, and finished our evening with pizza and football back at the hotel. While we were eating, I called down to the front desk to ask when we would need to catch a bus for our 8 am ADR at Tusker House. We were told we should be there at 7 am (yikes!), since the buses only come every 20 minutes or so that early.
We got up around 6:30, dressed and headed to the bus stop, but it was 7:10 before we got there. So of course, there was no bus in sight, and no one in line-we must have just missed it. We waited...
and waited some more, and finally at 7:40 a bus pulled up. I can't complain, this was our only long wait of the whole trip, and it was our own fault for getting there late. But it did make me start the morning feeling stressed that we'd be late. I hate being late!
Luckily, POP is very close to AK, so we got there around 7:50. Something had malfunctioned, and there was a huge line of people waiting at the character breakfast entrance-no one had been let in yet at all! When we got to the front of the line, they couldn't find our name on the list, but let us in anyway. Of course, now I freaked out that they wouldn't have our ADR, and I hadn't brought our confirmation number. More stressing out, again for no reason as they had our reservation at the restaurant. We skipped the line for the picture (thanks to the Dis for letting us know we could do that!), and got seated right away.
Let me say, we loved this meal! The food was delicious, the juice was yummy, the parade was fun, and the characters were very good. We didn't have the best interaction of any meal (that was H&V), but it was far from the worst (CP). I would highly recommend this meal to anyone. My favorite food item was the raisin bread pudding with vanilla sauce, but everything was really good. The kids loved that they had Krispy Kreme doughnuts!
We saw Mickey first (but my pic didn't upload), then Donald.
Next came Daisy, who was so sweet and cute. I don't know how a huge fuzzy head can be pretty, but she was!
Then came Goofy. We had such good luck with Goofy (all the Goofys) being super playful with the kids.
They did a parade, with Goofy leading the way. I was happy that both boys jumped right in to participate!
The one thing that was kind of odd was at the end of the meal. My birthday was noted on every ADR we made. Some of the meals did something, some didn't, and it was all fine by me. At this one, the server came up to me, and asked if I wanted my birthday cupcake or not. I thought this was kind of weird, and told her I was fine without it, although the boys probably would have thought eating dessert at breakfast was cool! But I didn't like being asked, you know? Oh well, we had a wonderful meal so I can't complain!
We paid the bill and headed out to the rope into Africa, anxious to beat the crowd onto the safari. While we waited (the rope drop was a little late), this gentleman played music and invited the kids to grab an instrument. Cooper loves music, so he was in heaven.
Finally, the rope was dropped and we raced to the safari. We got on the second vehicle, in the very back row. I really wish we had asked to wait for the next one. We were so squashed, and I was right in the middle of the row, as was Griffin, who couldn't see anything. Cooper was freaked out by the bumpiness, so overall, we didn't love it like I thought we would.
Some pictures from the safari:
When we were done, we started to walk along the Pangani Trail. We spent forever looking at this guy
and then realized we couldn't do anymore if we wanted to make it to the 10 am Lion King show. We made it with just a few minutes to spare.
I
this show! I am a huge Lion King fan, and I remembered this as one of my favorite things at any of the parks. I really thought Cooper would love it, but he was kind of bored and had a hard time sitting still. Luckily Sue kept him entertained!
After the show was over, Chad ran over to Dinoland to get Dinosaur fast passes while we made our way to Kali River Rapids. While I waited for Chad, Sue, my mom, and Griffin went on KRR. Chad met up with us while they were gone and told me they weren't even giving out FPs for Dinosaur, so he got them for Expedition Everest instead (and since just he and I wanted to do that one, we now had 2 sets!)
We found some fountains for Cooper to splash in. When they got off the ride, my mom was the only one soaked. But what drove me nuts is that she was mad about it! She kept saying she knew she might get wet, she just wanted others to get wet too. Honestly!
We switched, and Chad and I took Griffin on again. It was fun, and none of us got very wet, which I was happy about!
After the ride, we realized we were going to miss the Flights of Wonder show if we didn't run (do you sense a trend here?!). So we raced over to the show, and got great seats right in the front, but off to the side. I knew we'd all love this show, and we did. Griffin loves birds. We stayed after to ask questions of the trainers, and Griffin got a picture with the owl, since he's in the "Owl" class at school.
Up next: The Boneyard almost leads to our divorce...
When we left off, we had survived a rough day at Epcot, and finished our evening with pizza and football back at the hotel. While we were eating, I called down to the front desk to ask when we would need to catch a bus for our 8 am ADR at Tusker House. We were told we should be there at 7 am (yikes!), since the buses only come every 20 minutes or so that early.
We got up around 6:30, dressed and headed to the bus stop, but it was 7:10 before we got there. So of course, there was no bus in sight, and no one in line-we must have just missed it. We waited...
and waited some more, and finally at 7:40 a bus pulled up. I can't complain, this was our only long wait of the whole trip, and it was our own fault for getting there late. But it did make me start the morning feeling stressed that we'd be late. I hate being late!
Luckily, POP is very close to AK, so we got there around 7:50. Something had malfunctioned, and there was a huge line of people waiting at the character breakfast entrance-no one had been let in yet at all! When we got to the front of the line, they couldn't find our name on the list, but let us in anyway. Of course, now I freaked out that they wouldn't have our ADR, and I hadn't brought our confirmation number. More stressing out, again for no reason as they had our reservation at the restaurant. We skipped the line for the picture (thanks to the Dis for letting us know we could do that!), and got seated right away.
Let me say, we loved this meal! The food was delicious, the juice was yummy, the parade was fun, and the characters were very good. We didn't have the best interaction of any meal (that was H&V), but it was far from the worst (CP). I would highly recommend this meal to anyone. My favorite food item was the raisin bread pudding with vanilla sauce, but everything was really good. The kids loved that they had Krispy Kreme doughnuts!
We saw Mickey first (but my pic didn't upload), then Donald.
Next came Daisy, who was so sweet and cute. I don't know how a huge fuzzy head can be pretty, but she was!
Then came Goofy. We had such good luck with Goofy (all the Goofys
) being super playful with the kids.
They did a parade, with Goofy leading the way. I was happy that both boys jumped right in to participate!
The one thing that was kind of odd was at the end of the meal. My birthday was noted on every ADR we made. Some of the meals did something, some didn't, and it was all fine by me. At this one, the server came up to me, and asked if I wanted my birthday cupcake or not. I thought this was kind of weird, and told her I was fine without it, although the boys probably would have thought eating dessert at breakfast was cool! But I didn't like being asked, you know? Oh well, we had a wonderful meal so I can't complain!
We paid the bill and headed out to the rope into Africa, anxious to beat the crowd onto the safari. While we waited (the rope drop was a little late), this gentleman played music and invited the kids to grab an instrument. Cooper loves music, so he was in heaven.
Finally, the rope was dropped and we raced to the safari. We got on the second vehicle, in the very back row. I really wish we had asked to wait for the next one. We were so squashed, and I was right in the middle of the row, as was Griffin, who couldn't see anything. Cooper was freaked out by the bumpiness, so overall, we didn't love it like I thought we would.
Some pictures from the safari:
When we were done, we started to walk along the Pangani Trail. We spent forever looking at this guy
and then realized we couldn't do anymore if we wanted to make it to the 10 am Lion King show. We made it with just a few minutes to spare.
I
this show! I am a huge Lion King fan, and I remembered this as one of my favorite things at any of the parks. I really thought Cooper would love it, but he was kind of bored and had a hard time sitting still. Luckily Sue kept him entertained!
After the show was over, Chad ran over to Dinoland to get Dinosaur fast passes while we made our way to Kali River Rapids. While I waited for Chad, Sue, my mom, and Griffin went on KRR. Chad met up with us while they were gone and told me they weren't even giving out FPs for Dinosaur, so he got them for Expedition Everest instead (and since just he and I wanted to do that one, we now had 2 sets!
)We found some fountains for Cooper to splash in. When they got off the ride, my mom was the only one soaked. But what drove me nuts is that she was mad about it! She kept saying she knew she might get wet, she just wanted others to get wet too. Honestly!
We switched, and Chad and I took Griffin on again. It was fun, and none of us got very wet, which I was happy about!After the ride, we realized we were going to miss the Flights of Wonder show if we didn't run (do you sense a trend here?!). So we raced over to the show, and got great seats right in the front, but off to the side. I knew we'd all love this show, and we did. Griffin loves birds. We stayed after to ask questions of the trainers, and Griffin got a picture with the owl, since he's in the "Owl" class at school.
Up next: The Boneyard almost leads to our divorce...
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