08 was so Great at the Poly...TR-NEW 2/3 Time to say Good-bye (final post) / pics

[mom of 2 princesses]

I am so sorry you did laundry all afternoon. I always save mine for when we get home and spend a couple of days doing it.

Can you give me more information on the Cooking Adventure? I didn't know the kids could do this. It sounds great!

 

[mousescrapper]

Sorry you had to spend so much time indoors! I'm hoping to not have to do laundry. We have always had laundry in our condo so we've always washed clothes - a few loads over the week. We want to pack light this time, but without the laundry... I'm sure we'll be fine - I just have to plan accordingly. I guess I need to have DH see what he has for shorts - he tends to wear the same few pairs over & over.

I'm glad Margaret got her nap. The cooking thing sounds like it was a lot of fun for the girls! I hope you guys ventured out and enjoyed the evening.

Laundry isn't fun I agree, I did it the last time when we were there in 05 and I didn't remeber it taking as long, but then again now we have 1 extra family member and becuase it was so hot, it was hard to recyle the bottoms. I see laundry in my furture on other trips, but hopefully I can do it over the course of a couple days vs in 1 long chunk. The cooking thing was great for the girls!

p.s. Where are pix of your scrapbook pages?! I wanna see!!

Very soon I promise, I just did 3 1/2 more layouts yesterday afternoon, I will start uploading the pictures and have DH help w/ a link in my siggie.

Thank you for reminding me that I never what to do laundry on vacation.

Your welcome

 

[mousescrapper]

I am so sorry you did laundry all afternoon. I always save mine for when we get home and spend a couple of days doing it.

Can you give me more information on the Cooking Adventure? I didn't know the kids could do this. It sounds great!

sorry Mom of 2 princesses...I didn't see your post w/ my 1st reply....


The Cooking Adventure is for kids only ages 4-12 I believe. It is held at the Grand Flordian Resort. I think it roughly costs $30 for each child (don't have those notes in front of me) and it cludes a lunch snack plus a cooking experience. I think it has changed over the years. Like I said my girls made strawberry shortcakes and passed them out to other guests in the Lobby of the GF.

Plus they made those great souvenir aprons and hats. BTW the cotton aprons are a very nice quality fabric.

for more info go on the UG's site and click on Disney Dining, scroll down to Disney Dining for Kids and you'll see a link for Grand Adventures in Dining

You need to book it in advance through 407-WDINE and it works like an ADR as a ressie, but you give your CC # ahead of time and our charged then that day.

If you have the time to let your girls have a special Disney Moment to themselves I do recommend it. During our 05 trip, Aldine then just 6 did the tea party w/ Alice and the Mad Hatter [Wonderland Tea Party]. She really enjoyed that too. I just hung out at the GF and had lunch, since we were staying at the POR then.

hope that is helpful.

 

[mousescrapper]

Once back in our room DH & I realized that Michael, Mae, & Margaret were just too tired to go anywhere and besides Michael had heard us discussing at dinner the thought of watching a movie and he attached himself to that and there would be no budging.

But I after being cooped up all day was just itching to do something! So guess what?

DH says to me: “why don’t you go out…..”​

Me: shock

DH and I then think together and say: “Hey Aldine want to go to MK w/ Mom tonight, just the 2 of you?”

Jump for joy!


Do you all remember me saying way back at the beginning of the PTR about my wishes for each of the kids….that I was hoping Aldine and I could have some special Mother-Daughter time?

Well we certainly got it and on a perfectly magical night!

After a quick gathering of our things we headed over to the monorail for our special night out!

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We had no difficulty getting over to the park and had no major crowds to weed our way through like DH and I had earlier in the trip.

We first headed over to BTMRR (one of her and my favorite rides) and got FP’s to return later to ride after 10 pm.

Then we walked over to the HM and got straight on! We had a fun conversation w/ a little boy and his Dad about the ride. I think the boy thought we had never been on it before and was trying to reassure us it wasn’t that scary….it was cute.

Up next were IASW and then her first time riding SWSA, which she liked… (I’m sure DH will be thrilled, since it’s one of his Fav’s)

After that we went in Tinkerbelle’s Treasures gift shop and looked around at stuff for a while (we didn’t get anything though)

Then on to Toontown and we rode GBS, which she didn’t like at all….hmmmm? go figure that later she would have a blast riding BTMRR ??

BTW to Heidi, as I write this I’m reminded of how you were having a hard time enjoying the rides since Liam was scared and how much that disrupts how you enjoy the ride. Same thing here. It just shows how big our Mother’s Heart is and don’t feel bad whether they’re 18 mo. Or 9 yrs old…(and older I’m sure) they get scared, good thing we’ll be there!

We didn’t hang around long here, since I knew we’d be visiting this area the next day…up next we went back into FL and went on the Carrousel.

As we were sitting on our horses waiting for the ride to start, I saw some little girl waving at us, like she really knew us, and then her Dad too. It took a few minutes but then I and Aldine realized

Hey we do know them.

It was a family from our church back home that we knew. I thought I had heard they were going to Disney too, but had no idea our trips crossed. After we got off, we walked around to find them on the ride and stopped to say hi and stuff, before heading back out.

We both thought that was pretty cool to see a friend here.

Up next we winded our way back around into Adventureland and rode AFC for the first time for the both of us. While we were in line the fireworks began and we got to see several of them as we rode the ride, it was cool!

Then we headed back over to BTMRR and went up through the FP line and we got the 1st train car, front row right, behind the engine. COOL!

(At first I was a bit nervous after our experience on GBS, but knowing she has been on this before I hoped for the best) No worries…we both had a BLAST! Aldine just loved riding in the front car and her face after the ride was full of joy, vs DH when I took him on the ride….
Anyhow that was my 2nd time riding it in the dark this trip and man that is the way to do it!

We stopped in the shops back toward JC area, which was basically empty over here…and then we went to a Jibbitz kiosk and she picked out 2 new Disney ones for her shoes, MM ears and a HSM chalkboard.

I put in a quick call to DH to let him know we were heading out of the park now; it had to be after 10:30 by now. DH was half asleep when I called and something sounded wrong but I wouldn’t find out till later….

We headed back down MainStreet to catch the Monorail back to the Poly, boy it was super CROWDED on that!

We got back to the room after 11 pm and she went right to bed. But unfortunately I had to go back out again to my not so fav place the mat

I was seriously hoping DH would have taken care of this…and at the moment I was mad. How could my great night be spoiled now? I didn’t mention this before, but remember when DH laid a very tired and cranky Margaret to bed for the very much needed nap….

Well she was still in her swim diaper, and as every mom knows they don’t hold MUCH! She had an accident and now her swim shirt, and blanket were soaked with #1. We didn’t have time to clean it before we left for our dinner besides rinsing in the tub. (Mousekeeping came and brought us a clean crib sheet and took the wet one earlier). I just knew we couldn’t go home w/ pee-pee wet things…stinky!

In hindsight I should have let it go till the next day and went to bed but well no. I cleaned that and wasn’t in bed till after midnight.

I will add this now too instead of later, but the next day I found out why DH sounded "off" when I called to check in and why he forgot about the dirty laundry. Shortly after Aldine and I had left, he got a call from his sis back home and a close family friend suffered a massive heart attack and passed away.

I hate to leave this installment on a low note because the night out w/ Aldine was so wonderful I really wish I had a picture to show you from the night, but I don’t know if I didn’t bring the camera or never ended up asking someone to take our picture, and there wasn’t the cool PP guys around by the castle like when DH and I went. But here is a picture that we actually took on the next day at MK, of her and I in front of AFC:

Up Next Day 7) and our fabulous Marathon Day in the Magic Kingdom!

Thanks for reading

J-

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm so glad you got to have a big girls night out! What a great experience for the two of you.

Glad to see you are cranking out the updates!!

(Sorry about your family friend who passed away.)

 

[KathyRN137]

Do you all remember me saying way back at the beginning of the PTR about my wishes for each of the kids….that I was hoping Aldine and I could have some special Mother-Daughter time?

... I most certainly do! How lovely for you both; a very special memory!


Kathy

 

[MRYPPNS]

Your night just sounds lovely! ....well except for the stinky blanket.....

It must have been so 'freeing' to just run around with Aldine and not have to worry about the stroller or potty breaks and all that jazz.

 

[mousescrapper]

I'm so glad you got to have a big girls night out! What a great experience for the two of you.

Glad to see you are cranking out the updates!!

(Sorry about your family friend who passed away.)

Thanks and thanks!

... I most certainly do! How lovely for you both; a very special memory!


Kathy

It was! It will be up there in my highest and foundest memories of WDW and I hope for Aldine as well

Your night just sounds lovely! ....well except for the stinky blanket.....

It must have been so 'freeing' to just run around with Aldine and not have to worry about the stroller or potty breaks and all that jazz.

It actually was quite cool! Nothing like touring at night under the stars.

 

[mousescrapper]

Glad to see you are cranking out the updates!!

And speaking of that:

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Day 7) Another Great and Magical day in the Kingdom.​

So today we finally made it out of our resort and to the park before rope drop and got to see the opening/morning show. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen this so it was a special treat:

Unfortunately we still were on the other side of the turnstiles so it did take a few minutes to actually get in the park. But once in they had several characters in that front court area and we saw Jiminy Cricket, we stopped since none of the 3 kids have ever gotten his autograph before.

Here is DH trying to get Margaret to go up by him w/ the other kids, but it was a no go.

The other 3 each got his sig and then a picture:

Up next we headed over to the Main Street Bakery, it was a bit crowded, but not terrible. We found a small table to squeeze around and I took the 3 kids in line w/ me to order some breakfast yummies off the menu, specifically using up some of our snack credits. I remember though DH ordered some French toast thing and that was NOT on the DDP. Michael got a cinnamon roll man those are HUGE! And Mae got another PB &J round…at least she ate it. (she really likes them at home too... OT I bought the round sandwich press from that specialty kitchen gadget catalog to make my own, but wouldn’t you know she really prefers the store bought ones…go figure)

As we ate, the older girls needed a PB, so I went around the corner of the last MS building to the restrooms w/ them. While I was gone we missed this:

And here is a funny picture of Margaret, DH said she just flipped up her blanket and sat like that for almost the 10 minutes while we were gone…

On the way back to meet up w/ the others I noticed this family walking down MS toward the castle and I think I know them. Well what do you know, I DO! Another family from my church back home. I call out her name and at first she is quite confused, but then realizes it’s me. We exchange hugs and chat super quick. I also take a picture of their family in front of the castle.

How crazy is that to run into TWO families from back home?

I'm not sure exactly where in the timeline this pictures was taken but here you go:

man does Margaret's head look small...

So then it was off to Toontown via the “secret path” (well I guess it’s not really a secret, but it was empty besides us...(Thanks for the tip KathyRN)

We parked our stroller in the stroller lot and then headed around to look at things. The older kids went in Donald’s Boat, but were a bit disappointed it wasn’t cooler…We hoped Margaret would want to play in the tot playground area, but she wasn’t too interested. We then checked out Mickey and Minnie’s houses.

at least somone's kitchen is messier than mine....

This is really MRYPPNS's garden....JK

the kids didn't think Pluto could fit in there...

Even Mickey recylces!

This first one will be one of my new “take every visit picture” It is my plan for over the years to try and take several pictures of the kids as they grow in a few of the same spots and then when I have LOTS of these pictures (I do plan to go LOTS!) I’ll have a great growing memory. The other 3 are the whole family w/ Mickey, the kids in front of the AK sign before the main area and in front of the castle…though unfortunately I missed this one on this trip…duh!

We all enjoyed looking into their rooms and the girls liked peeking around in Minnie’s kitchen, but Michael was a bit antsy at this point. We also did check how long the line was w/ Mickey, but it was too long to wait to try and get Margaret alone w/ him (hindsight she probably wouldn’t have gone for it anyways so good thing we didn’t wait)

Before leaving the area we visited the County Bounty, the Princess Wait line was like 40 minutes ALREADY, so we decided we’d come back during Spectro and hope it was shorter…we’ll see. We picked up some souvenirs before leaving. We filled up to of those boxes w/ Disney inspired Little Pony pieces and Mr. Potato Head parts. When I first went up to pay the CM was like “no fill them up even more”…OK! Michael and I dug hard in those little bins looking for various parts and sets of 4 shoes for the ponies.

We ended up coming home with several shoes, clothes, a bed, accessories for the ponies and many new Mr. Potato head accessories. It’s hard to remember now though to list it all. But if you have never done the Mr. Potato Head parts before I highly recommend it. Don’t by the potato (get one somewhere else) just fill up the box to your heart’s content w/ such fun things BTW it costs aprrox $20 w/ tax

We then headed over to the train station and waited a few minutes to catch it.

She enjoyed sitting on this. To bad not on the buses….

 

[MRYPPNS]

Oh how I wished that our garden looked as good as Mickey's!

And what is it with little kids and trains???? Liam is also very good with riding in a train.

 

[mousescrapper]

We got off in Adventureland and DH took the twins on Splash Mt (he was not thrilled about doing this as he really hates Roller Coasters, as a coaster enthusiast I don’t consider this a true one w/ just the one main drop, I figured he could manage it. I don’t care for this ride, as if I’m gonna get wet, I’d better be in my swimsuit or in the shower KWIM?

I in the meantime needed to find a place to change Margaret’s very stinky diaper and it was so crowded down by the rest room I figured I could find a quiet corner and just do it in her stroller, but the only one I could find was a designated area. PUEY! Sorry for any smokers out there…so I quickly did the deed and disposed of the diaper, I cleaned my hands w/ some sanitizer and we walked or really squeezed our way back over the bridge to see if we could see them come down. I don’t know why but it seemed highly congested over here.

I don’t remember if we saw them go down, but I do remember seeing the boat make the turn around after the drop and DH’s face was not in a happy place. I owe him!

It seemed to take a real long time for them to emerge and I was worried I had missed them or something and he didn’t have his phone, I did…finally we found each other…they had to take a PB, but then of course Mae needed to go now, so that took even longer.

Did I mention how crowded it was over there…..

We decided to go over to TSI next. The wait was a bit long and it was already horribly HOT! Once on the raft, sorry if this is TMI but you could just feel the sweat dripping off every part of your body. I was so glad to get on the island and off that HOT direct in the sun raft….

I had thought there was a small restaurant on the island where you could get lemonade or a cool drink, so we decided to go there first…but it was closed/under construction or something We just had to make due w/out it and went on in our adventure. It actually for the most part was a lot cooler here amongst the trees and shade.

We climbed through mines & caves

Over bridges

And all over the island.

Here is a view of the HM from the island


But when it came time to explore the fort, I was beat! The heat was really getting to me and I felt faint. We found a cool place for me to sit and Margaret stayed w/ me while DH took the older 3 off to explore.

(BTW I really think now whatever was settling in my system to “help” me get pneumonia upon our return [for new readers 3 days after our return home I was diagnosed w/ pneumonia] was happening probably right now.

Here are some pictures of the Fort:

When we met up again we made one more PB stop and Michael struck up a conversation w/ some lady about dogs and they had a sweet time talking and Margaret turned up her cuteness level for us and this lady too:

Then we headed off the island, too bad we couldn’t swim across…

We decided it was time to eat lunch now and it was a bit later than I had hoped, so of course it was packed! As DH went w/ Aldine to find a table we saw Woody and the Gang starting up their “Ho-down” and I thought Michael would be thrilled to see it I said come on let’s get a closer look but he was just not able to join in the fun. Oh well.

DH came back and had found us a table; it was too crowded to take the stroller through so we left it behind. Oh we decided to eat at Pecos Bill’s Place (can’t remember the exact name). We all ordered food, 2 A and 3 C meals, w/ desserts and drinks. Actually Aldine got tacos or a quesadilla from the Pirate/Pireta place. DH ordered the food and came back w/ the trays and a very nice CM helped him because it was two and then he came back a few minutes later w/ a tray full of fixings and sides for us. It was very nice! Mae refused to eat, and it took some major coaxing and time to get her to do so. Plus in the restaurant they have the ceiling fans and probably some other form of A/C cranked way up that at first it is a glorious relief from the heat, but next you are freezing…no wonder why I got sick!
Toward the end of our meal, Aldine noticed Peter Pan and Wendy walking by to a meet & greet area. So we sent her and Michael off to get in line, while DH retrieved our stroller from the other side of the restaurant. I moved the girls and me then to an outside table under a balcony to actually get warmer… and I could see the twins better. Mae got to go too once she finally ate some more food and drank some of her drink. Nothing like Peter Pan & Wendy to coax some food into a kid :wink:

Oh and while I sat w/ Margaret in her stroller dozing in the shade I heard some “crowing” I had a hunch that was my husband crowing w/ his new BFF “laugh”

Here are some pictures the PP guy took:

 

[mousescrapper]

Oh how I wished that our garden looked as good as Mickey's!

And what is it with little kids and trains???? Liam is also very good with riding in a train.

I just had to put that line in there after reading about how your DH is trying to grow the MM veggies....

 

[DisMomAmy]

Great updates!! I want to get to TSI this time. It sounds like a great place to run off some steam - but I'll remember to get drinks BEFORE we head over.

I know you said that the lines were long to meet the characters, but it doesn't look like it was very crowded when you were touring the houses. We have barely spent any time in ToonTown - we've only been on the Barnstormer and the kids played a little in one of the wet play areas (Donald's Boat?).

Sorry you were starting to get sick...

 

[MRYPPNS]

Aunt Polly's Snack Shack or whatever it's called on TSI is hardly ever open from what I can tell.

I love Pecos Bill's. We go there every trip.

 

[mousescrapper]

Great updates!! I want to get to TSI this time. It sounds like a great place to run off some steam - but I'll remember to get drinks BEFORE we head over.

I know you said that the lines were long to meet the characters, but it doesn't look like it was very crowded when you were touring the houses. We have barely spent any time in ToonTown - we've only been on the Barnstormer and the kids played a little in one of the wet play areas (Donald's Boat?).

Sorry you were starting to get sick...

Hadn't been to TSI since I was proably 10-11 yrs old. so it was fun, but I kept having visions of that Disney Sing-Along video w/ the Jamboree Bears running around in the fort....

Yes the lines for the Mickey & Minnie houses were not that bad and we did go pretty much first thing. Minnie's is more crwded becuase you can touch more things and such, especially the kitchen. It was to busy and loud for Michael he got out quick.

Aunt Polly's Snack Shack or whatever it's called on TSI is hardly ever open from what I can tell.

There was new decking over there, so I wonder if they are trying to re-vamp the site?

I love Pecos Bill's. We go there every trip.

Yes, whatever sandwich I got was very YUMMY! don't remeber what I ate, but I know it was

 

[mousescrapper]

Ok I just had to spill the BEANS...

Sorry KathyRN I got a ticker back before you....

But yes we are going back. No I haven't been hiding this for months just a week...MRYPPNS & DisMomAmy knew but in the course of 48hrs last week, my Mom says:

"I'm thinking about going back to WDW for my Birthday!"

"Do you DH, and the kids want to come w/?"



So Yes I made a ressie and everything just last Wed 1-21. I was originally going to finish off the Poly-June TR then spill the beans but I just coulnd't contain it all to myself anymore.

To keep my head straight. I will start the PTR for the trip after I finish up this TR, so please hang-on tight I'm going to be speeding through it...

Thanks!

J-

 

[DisMomAmy]

Yay!! Now it's officially official!

 

[mousescrapper]

Up next I took the twins over to see Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. This was a lot of fun! We waited a bit but luckily mostly in the shade. We kept asking Mae to join us but for some reason she was just to nervous to go by them. When it was our turn Aldine called Captain Hook “an old Codfish” that made Hook a little miffed. Both kids thought it was hilarious and then to add to the funnies, that both started going “tick-tock” while they got their pictures taken. As well both characters really got into to it and played and had fun w/ the kids. It was a great character meet & greet!

Here are some of the great pictures:

While we were in line for Hook & Smee, we saw a larger crowd behind us filling up next to POC and then I realized they were there for Capt. Jack’s Pirate Tutorial and at the end we saw Jack running away.

We next went to ride the JC and our boat Captain’s name was Julie. Funny The ride was as campy but classic as ever. I tried looking for some hidden Mickeys but I more enjoyed watching Margaret and the kids enjoy the ride. Here are a few pictures:

Once off, we stopped in Agrabah for Aldine to buy something with her DD$ that she had saw the night before w/ me. She picked out an Aladdin and Jasmine figure play set.

DH contemplated by these:

….boy I’m glad he didn’t!

And then one of the funnier pictures we took, it speaks for itself:

We then headed back over to the POC area to wait for CJPT. We sat in the shade until his mate came out w/ some gear and then we moved to stand in this like circle formation until Jack came out. It was terribly HOT during this point. But the little show was wonderful. Worth the heat and the wait. Jack really looked like Jack, it was amazing! The twins and DH & I especially enjoyed it. Plus the twins got chosen to be part of Capt. Jack’s crew at the end and received a cool “free” Pirate crew cert.

Here are a few pictures from it:

And here are some pictures by POC and the twins holding up their certificates:

BTW the cert says:

Be it Known and Beware
The bearer of this article has earned the rank of
Apprentice Pirate
and is pledged to the crew and therefore
under the shelter and protection of the one and only
Captain Jack Sparrow
Those failing to accord the bearer safe passage and their due respect will answer
personally to me and may expect swift retribution for insult or injury inflicted
Cordially,
[signed]Captian Jack Sparrow​

We also went through the gift shop for Michael to look around and he picked out another Disney car and a Pirate book. I also took Margaret into the restroom there and wiped her down and put some baby powder on to help wick away the moisture. It was getting late now and would be time for our dinner ADR at Tony’s TSR soon so we never made it out of the park for a rest. I felt pretty sticky and icky by this point. We stopped and got some drinks on our way over there. I had a very refreshing cup of pineapple juice.

Before heading back to MS we saw this PP guy and he took these really COOL! pictures:

Mae didn't want to do it...you didn't even see HOOK you just had to pretend, we hoped Margaret could stand there just by herself, but the PP guy said she was too small. This picture turned out just as nice:

 

[DisMomAmy]

Cool pictures - I've seen a bunch of the special effects PP pictures - but I've never seen that one. I joined a PP share through TourGuideMike for only $20 so we'll try some of those things out. I didn't want to pay for the whole thing because I'm not sure how many pictures we'll get out of it. We'll see... Hopefully it works out well.

 

[Cutefeet]

I wish I could go to the poly as well. Looks like a lot of fun. My parents can't afford to go there but we are saving up. Glad u had fun