10 of us together and whose taking bets on when the bus will get here! UPDATED 10/6

[bballbabe]

This is my first attempt at doing a trip report, so here goes nothing…

We went down to Disney as a family of 10 (yes 10) in April 2008 Granted it was a while ago, but I can still remember it as if it were yesterday. Because we had such a FABULOUS time we are ALL going down again in October. As a matter of fact I just made my ADRs this morning!

First off, I would like to introduce our cast of characters to you all (there were 10 of us so hopefully you will be able to remember who we all are)

Sheilagh - me - I’ll be the one doing the report
Ken – my loving husband
Rachel – twin 1
Meghan – twin 2
Kathy – my mom
Denny – my dad
Sharon – my sister
Frank – my bil
Beca – my niece
Lauryn – my niece

Talk of this trip started at Christmas of 2007 and was booked a couple of weeks later. Since I am the one who is OCD about trip planning, going to which park on which day was left up to me. I had planned which ride to go on, where to sit on those rides and the order that we did them in. Since 3 out of the 4 girls were picky eaters and were going to be considered adults on the dining plan, we did a lot of buffets. (next trip – NO BUFFETS was requested)

ADRs were made, the spreadsheet and notes were finalized and packing was done. We were all set to head out on our Magical Adventure. Now I do need to mention that this was the first trip to WDW for all 4 girls and also Frank. Not to mention this was a first plane ride for all of the girls. I’m not sure which was greater, their nervousness about being on a plane or the excitement of going to WDW. For my parents and my sister, they hadn’t been down to WDW since we went as a family in 1973! (I have a link below with pics posted from that trip). For Kenny and I, we were last there in 1992. Needless to say, a lot had changed since we had been down there last!

We all flew out of Dulles to overcast skies and a slight drizzle and landed in Orlando to 90 degrees and sunshine.

The 4 girls riding the tram at Dulles to get to the terminal - Meghan, Lauryn, Beca and Rachel

A little card playing while waiting for the plane

Rachel & Meghan getting on a plane for the first time

Next up: Will we ever get in our rooms!

 

[goofy's_gurl]

great start.

 

[bballbabe]

great start.

Thanks. I'm oping to get more up soon.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

I didn't realize you had started your report. Glad to see it. You had one more person than we had and you had a lot more younger people than we had. I struggled with the 10, 15 and 17 year old boys but the adults were a lot harder.

So far good start.
Ginny

 

[bballbabe]

I didn't realize you had started your report. Glad to see it. You had one more person than we had and you had a lot more younger people than we had. I struggled with the 10, 15 and 17 year old boys but the adults were a lot harder.

So far good start.
Ginny

It wasn't too badwith them. Since no one really knew what to do, they just did what I told them to.

I just caught up on your report. WE have been at Girl Scaout camp all week and I just got home so I thought I would try and catch up a bit before we head out to see Harry Potter. I love the pic of the whole family together. We have one like that in each of the parks.

 

[goofy's_gurl]

It wasn't too badwith them. Since no one really knew what to do, they just did what I told them to.

I just caught up on your report. WE have been at Girl Scaout camp all week and I just got home so I thought I would try and catch up a bit before we head out to see Harry Potter. I love the pic of the whole family together. We have one like that in each of the parks.

harry potter was a good movie loved it!

 

[bballbabe]

Hi All.

I am hoping to gey more of the report up tomorrow evening. I have been at a Girl Scout day camp all week with my girls and I am exhausted. We are heading out to see Harry Potter soon, and I didn't want to leave you all hanging.

 

[goofy's_gurl]

sounds like you could use some rest!!

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

It wasn't too badwith them. Since no one really knew what to do, they just did what I told them to.

I just caught up on your report. WE have been at Girl Scaout camp all week and I just got home so I thought I would try and catch up a bit before we head out to see Harry Potter. I love the pic of the whole family together. We have one like that in each of the parks.

We did in all of the parks but MK. Hate it we didn't get one there. Tell me about Harry. I haven't read the last book yet. It is on my to do list so I can't see the movie till I read.

 

[bballbabe]

sounds like you could use some rest!!

we just finished the last day today Last year of me doing this camp.

We did in all of the parks but MK. Hate it we didn't get one there. Tell me about Harry. I haven't read the last book yet. It is on my to do list so I can't see the movie till I read.

Harry was GREAT. Both my husband and I would have liked the ending of the movie to be more like the book.

 

[DVC_friend]

Ten, man. That's a bunch.

 

[bballbabe]

When I last left off we had just landed in Orlando. My Dad had asked the flight attendant if they still had wings to give to kids, and she said yes. So as the girls left the plane they each received a pair of wings from AirTran. (this was to be the first of MANY pins from this trip!)

We made our way to the ME bus and only had to wait about 15 minutes before we boarded and were on our way to Disney!

We arrived at Port Orleans Riverside in no time. We were all very excited. The lobby was beautiful, the girls couldn’t wait to check out the hotel grounds and everyone was having a fun time. And then the FUN STOPPED!! It took along time for us to check in because they messed up our room reservations. After about a good hour of my mother arguing, they were going to fix our rooms the next night. While the adults settled in and unwound a bit, the girls went exploring the hotel grounds. They had a lot of fun as you can see by the pictures they took!

We finally got all settled in and it was time to head over to the Poly to see the luau. Our reservation was for 8pm so we headed out to leave at 5:45. We thought this would give us plenty of time. WRONG! This was when we found out that Disney transportation was not as reliable as we had hoped for. It took us over 2 hours to get to the Polynesian Resort from Port Orleans! We were supposed to take a bus to the MK and then the boat over to the Poly. Well, we ended up taking a bus to Epcot, the monorail to the TTC transferred over to the monorail to the Poly and then walked through the hotel.

Rachel, Lauryn and my Mom waiting for the bus.

Lauryn, Rachel. Beca and Meghan FINALLY on a bus

Waiting for the monorail at Epocot

The food we had was delicious but the show was just okay. I’m not much on the whole Lilo and Stitch stuff. We all liked the traditional parts of the show. Meghan and Rachel got up and performed when they asked the kids to join them on the stage.

Beca, Lauryn, Meghan and Rachel

Rachel and Meghan on the stage

Although we had a fun evening, something Kenny ate upset his stomach and I got caught up in the heavy metal, low to the ground chairs and fell. Not only that, but Meghan and I were eaten alive by mosquitoes!

UP NEXT: First Day at MK

 

[tink1957]

Great report so far, DS & I went to the Luau last Sept & felt the same way as you did, food was good, entertainment ok but not worth a second try. Keep up the good work, I can't wait to read about your further adventures.

 

[bballbabe]

Great report so far, DS & I went to the Luau last Sept & felt the same way as you did, food was good, entertainment ok but not worth a second try. Keep up the good work, I can't wait to read about your further adventures.

Glad you are enjoying it so far. When we started planning our upcoming trip my niece Lauryn wanted to go back and 9 of us in a chorus went NO. Once was enough.

 

[bballbabe]

Day 2 and the MK

When I last left off we had just had a nice dinner at the luau and we were headed back to the rooms. When we got back to our room we found our luggage had arrived and was dumped right in the doorway. Rachel almost broke her ankle getting over it to use the bathroom. Needless to say between the room mess up, the transportation and now the luggage, we are not very happy.

After a good night’s sleep we were all up and ready to head for MK, except now we find out we have to wait for the bellman. If you remember when we got down here they had our reservation messed up, well they said that they could fix it if we moved to different rooms the next day and that while we were at the park they would go to our rooms, pick up our luggage and then move it to our new rooms. Before we left to go to MK, we let the front desk know that we were leaving for the park. They then informed us that we would have to wait until the bellman got there to pick up our luggage before we left and then when we returned from the park that day we would have to check in again at the front desk and then our luggage would be brought to our rooms. This did not go over well with my mother, but we were all saying we are on vacation together let’s just have fun and deal with it all. It took almost 30 minutes before someone came to get our luggage and we could finally be on our way. WRONG! We sat at our bus stop for 90 minutes waiting for a bus to take us to the MK. US waiting for the buses will be a continuing theme throughout this trip.



We FINALLY arrive at the MK at 10:30 and get our first site of the castle, The girls were all very excited.

As you can see by the pictures it was an overcast day. It was still warm and humid out but as the day went on the weather changed dramatically.

We are now in the park and I have my itinerary out and ready to head to Tomorrowland and Buzz.

We all LOVED that ride. When we came out of the ride, we encountered our first character, Stitch. He was fantastic with the girls. HE was doing funny thingsto them and just making them laugh.

Next ride up is Space Mountain. This will be as far as I will ever get to going on Space Mountain this trip

I have now been to Disney 3 times and have yet to be able to go on the ride. When we were first here in ’73 the ride was being built, in ’92 it was closed that week for it’s annual inspection and now Meghan doesn’t want to ride it, so I get to miss it. I end up taking her and my niece Lauryn back onto Buzz. One of these days I will get on that ride. And of course you all know I won’t be going on it again this year because of the renovations!

It is now time for lunch so we head over to Cosmic Ray’s to eat. They had a great selection of food there for everyone and we found that it was an enjoyable place to eat.

After lunch we head over to Toontown. The wait for the Princesses and Mickey is over an hour long so we decide to bag it and hop the train over to Fronteirland.

Cont in next post

 

[bballbabe]

continued

As we are on the train heading over to Fronteirland it begins to rain. We get off the train and grab FP for BTMRR. The girls take one look at Splash and decide not to do it. THey didn't like the look of the drop, so we head over to Pirates. We got in line here just in time, because now it is pouring and everyone is looking for some kind of shelter. We had about a 40 minute wait for the ride, which was fine beacuse we were out of the rain.

When we came out of the ride it had stopped raining and the girls saw Capt. Hook and Mr. Smee

We then headed over to the Jungle Cruise. The wit for this line is very deceiving, just when you think you are almost there, there is another turn.

Need to go, I was just called to breakfast.

 

[bballbabe]

back from breakfast

We get on the Jungle Cruise to a very entertaing CM driving the boat. She had quite a few funny jokes and one liners throughout our journey. Too bad I can't remember any of them! The one that I do remember was when we had finished the ride she goes "now get off the boat. oh excuse me, where are my disney manners, magically get off the boat". She had the girls repeating that phrase through out the day.

One of my favorite spots on the Jungle Cruise

When we got off the Jungle Cruise, it was time for our FPs for BTMRR. I finally get to go on a roller coaster. This was the first time that we used a FP and boy do we love it. IT was about a 5 minute wait for us to go on the ride.

Although we didn't go on Splash Mtn. I did get some shots of the ride.

After riding BTMRR we headed over to the Country Bear Jamboree. This is one of my favorite attractions. While we were waiting for the next show, we discovered it was time for the parade. It was perfect timing. We had a good spot right outside of the CBJ to watch the parade.

The parade ended just in time for us to go into CBJ. The girl's weer a little hestitant at first about seeing it it. They thought it was going to be boring, but they actually enjoyed it and are looking forward to doing it again when we return in October.

Cont. in next post

 

[bballbabe]

continued

We now head over to the Haunted Mansion. With the rain that we have had during the day a cold front has now come in and we are all getting a little chilly. So we stop and get some hot chocolate to drink while we are waiting on line for the HM.

Meghan was a little unnerved by the whole stretching room, but she got over it. My niece Rebeca wanted to go see TOm Sawyer ISland, so we headed over to that next, but not before we had this quick photo op

We had a lot of fun esploring over on Tom's island and the sun started to come out. I think everyone would agree the best part over there was the barrel bridge.

Ooops Meghan, watch your step

Since we were waiting for people to get out of the bathroom, we missed the raft to bring us back. My Dad and Lauryn made it though.

Here come the rest of the refugees

Coming up next: MK part 2 and what will happen when we get back to the hotel

 

[bballbabe]

Ten, man. That's a bunch.

We had a great time with the 10 of us. It was so much fun we are doing it again in Oct. for my sister's birthday.

 

[BlueBayou]

Great trip report. Thanks for taking the time to post it.