1st Trip Home AKV Adding Pictures page 2

[joech]

So tired and headed out by 7:30 for EMM. Got in by 7:45 and headed to Kilimanjaro Safaris. Thought it would have been busy by now but listed a ten minute wait. We got a fastpass first and got in line. The queue didn't stop moving and we got on fairly fast. Went on Triceratop Spin, Dinosaur (DD a little scared but dealt with it fine, DS played in Boneyard, watched Bugs Life, We went o the Panagi (?SP) walk and saw the new animal that will be at AKL. It was called an Okapi and it was a mix between a zebra and a giraffe. It belonged to the giraffe family and my son insisted it was a Zebra.

The kids thought it was cool to touch a Hippo's head too.

went back to Kilimanjaro, wathced Lion King and left.

Went to premium outlet and shopped for two hours. I did think their would be much better deals but bought some things for mostly the kids.

Got back to Epcot in time for our Coral Reed reservation. I had booked the Diver Sign and Menu with Debbi. I wanted to meet her and bring her a little something. Forgot the gift but she came to our table and we hugged and I thanked her for making our night special. This time around my DH knew about the surprise and had his camera tested and ready to take the shot.

Kids were surprised and thought the menus were magically put together. Our kids really really loved sitting next to the aquarium and seeing all the fish and divers go around.

Eyes fading fast and can't keep eyelids open. Night night

 

[Tinkerbellcrafter]

Take a rest...don't wear yourself out...go relax by the pool!!!! You are having beautiful weather!! There is a live cam from the poly...Magic Kingdom view, so we all can see. LOL!!! Take some notes and update later if you have to! I think it is great that you are doing this!! Since you are there until the 4th..sloooooooowwwww dowwwwwwwnnnnnnnn!!!

 

[Mom2m&k]

Sounds like you are having a wonderful time...enjoy!

 

[SunnieRN]

So enjoying your trip report, looking forward to more!

 

[KeepSwimmingDory]

Sounds like a wonderful vacation! Enjoy the rest and we'll look forward to reading more about it. Loved your calendar!

 

[joech]

Take a rest...don't wear yourself out...go relax by the pool!!!! You are having beautiful weather!! There is a live cam from the poly...Magic Kingdom view, so we all can see. LOL!!! Take some notes and update later if you have to! I think it is great that you are doing this!! Since you are there until the 4th..sloooooooowwwww dowwwwwwwnnnnnnnn!!!

Either you are reading my mind or I'm reading yours. We are going to sleep in tommorrow! My daughter made a request for Mickey Waffles and my DS has never had them. (I have a Cinderella waffle maker at home and he gets stuck with those only. By the way it works great and got it for $10 at the Dollar Store) We will walk around and enjoy the animals and go for a swim. We moved to our Savannah view room today and it faces the lobby of Kidani. I have to say at first I wasn't happy because we really enjoyed the Arusha savannah last time. But seeing Kidani for the first time was very very cool. We got back when it was dark so I will take pictures in the morning.

 

[joech]

So I'll keep going. I read that many people hated sitting right next to the tank because it is too too close and people keep coming next to you to take pictures of the tank. Last time we sat up at on the first level and enjoyed this as well. I have to say that I enjoyed sitting next to the tank this time. I have to read back up and make sure I'm not repeating myself.

 

[joech]

Well DD had macaroni with meat sauce,

DS had mahi mahi,

DH has New York steak,

and I had the seafood linguini. I decided to ask if there was anything else to drink other then pop and chocolate milk. Our awesome server said that we could get a strawberry drink with our dining plan. It was basically a virgin Margarita but it was a nice change.

I always hve a problem that I order something that the kids most likely will enjoy. My DS has a problem because he just loves shrimp. He would eat it all the time if he could.

For dessert the kids had build your own sundeas.

DH had the Mango Sorbet which was awesome. It was nice and light and had this light cookie in the shape of a seahorse.

Since both the kids were having something they enjoyed I chose the chocolate baileys (I think) mousse. It was delicious and barely had an alcohol taste. It was very nice and light too.

After eating we decided to go and watch Nemo and friends. Well there was no line and we got on as walk ons. We then went to Turtle Crush with Crush.

Watched Illuminations at Epcot still and discovered that DS was too scared. I went into the shop and until the fireworks are over.

 

[joech]

Honestly I can't remember what day it is. We tried to get up at 6:00 but just too tired. We got to DHS at about 7:50 which was just in time to go to Toy Story Mania. (Got a fastpass first though) We all loved it loved it and loved it some more. I thought the technology that went into the ride was so very cool. The queue area was also very neat to see. (I will try to post later)
Went to see HSM3 show and DD went out to dance when asked. At the end one of the guys came by to ask her a few questons and gave her a button that read "Star Dazzle Award" She wore this for the rest of the day. Then went on Lights, Motor, Action,and off to Beauty and the Beast.

Okay, sorry guys but my eyelids just don't have the energy to stay up. Talk to all of you soon.

 

[KeepSwimmingDory]

Out of my 4 boys one of them was very sensitive when he was little about loud noises--didn't like fireworks or loud music. He grew out of it so hopefully it won't be long until you can enjoy the fireworks as a family.

Glad to hear you are slowing down and getting some rest. The worst thing is to leave so exhausted that you need a vacation. Just tell yourself it is ok if you don't see everything because you know you will be back.

Enjoying hearing all about it. You can always write more detail when you are home.

 

[dgaston]

Glad you are not posting! Get some rest and enjoy the time in FL.

 

[joech]

Sounds like a wonderful vacation! Enjoy the rest and we'll look forward to reading more about it. Loved your calendar!

Thanks, I have to try to use my cricut machine for scrapbooking as much as possible because I got it from DH on Valentine's day. He would never admit it but he thinks it is a cool machine!

 

[joech]

I just wrote a whole long post from today and the internet booted me out. This time I will send it in a couple of different posts.

Well, I'm finished my update for Sunday and it seems like it was so so long ago.

We went to Beauty and the Beast (my DH favorite show other then Little Mermaid) So glad that he is not reading this at the same time. We really enjoyed this but DH thinks they changed it a little. I didn't know because I said that the last time I was too pre-occupied with DS and knew I missed things.

Took DD for the first time (for both) on Tower of Terror. I didn't know how she would respond to it. She is only five but seems to be mostly like me and is willing and daring to try anything once. I grew up watching Twilight Zone and enjoyed the ride. We waited 12 minutes before getting onto the ride (I don't know why people say that Christmas is not a good time to go) DD asked me why it was so dirty on this ride compared to everything else that was so clean. She said that the only thing she liked was the feeling of her stomach going up and down. We were on the sequence that went up four times and dropped.

 

[joech]

After this we went for lunch at Catalina Eddies and since I wasn't hungry (too hot) DD, DS and myself shared a Provolone ham sandwich and a cheese pizza. The cheese pizza tasted like McCains and the kids didn't really like it. They prefer the homemade ones we make at home. My DD swallowed the sandwich whole and thought it was really good. It had pesto sauce on it that tasted very yummy.
DH decided that for the first time he would try a turkey leg. Personally I just can't imagine the farm that houses these turkeys at them. My feeling is that they just must be some kind of mutated animal. The meat tasted like ham to me (yes ham not chicken)

We watched Block Party Bash and thought it was a pretty good show. I prefered the old parade with the cars though. I think it seemed like it was longer and more things to see. At the end they throw these small nerf balls.

At at Hollywood and Vine for the fantasmic package. DH loves loves loves his buffets (He likes the variety and he likes the idea of not having to wait for food. DS gets cranky when he doesn't eat. This time he fell asleep before eating. It was okay food and seems like it was the same as before. Our server Mary Ann was so good to us. I truly think that a good server makes the food taste better.

Headed to Fantasmic and we needed to get in at the front entrance of the show. We sat five rows from the front as far right as we could go. We all enjoyed the show and DS only jumped at the end with the last set of fireworks.

We went to see the Osborne Lights and the kids enjoyed eating the bubble. (yes, I know it's soap but they didn't care. ) We enjoyed seeing this but it was a little crowded when we got there.

Got back to AKL and had to feed DS. We got him the shrimp platter (He just loves loves shrimp. It came with fries and he ate all the shrimp but left couple for his sister.

Off to bed and getting to sleep in as late as the kids will allow.
Thanks for all the positive comments.

 

[joech]

Well DS slept in until 8:30. We decided to change our day a little bit from originally planned. We set up a photopass session for 30 minutes around the resort. Since it is our first trip home we decided that it would be nice to get some family photos. We sat outside and looked for animals that were not there. We figured that they must have been eating or getting medically checked. We went to the look out points and saw nothing again. A nice CM told us that they were in for two hours getting cleaned and checked. We went out to the night vision goggles place and found a few animals including the giraffe that DS just had to see. Went for breakfast in mara and had kids waffles with sausages and an adult bounty breakfast if that is what you call it. Got pictures taken that were pretty good considering my son has issues with taking pictures.
Off to send kids to bed and go to bed myself. Too too tired to write.

 

[KeepSwimmingDory]

Glad you took the time for the photography session.

Now that my kids are big (14 and up) I never say "Oh I took too many pictures!" My pictures from WDW are some of my favorites of my sons.

 

[Lexxiefern]

Thanks for sharing your trip! I hope you enjoy the rest of it!

 

[Tinkerbellcrafter]

That is great about the photography session...we have never done that. Hope you had a great New Year's Eve and Happy New Year!!!

 

[BraveMom3]

We moved to our Savannah view room today and it faces the lobby of Kidani. I have to say at first I wasn't happy because we really enjoyed the Arusha savannah last time. But seeing Kidani for the first time was very very cool. We got back when it was dark so I will take pictures in the morning.

I'm anxious to see any Kidani pics you are able to get. I just got my waitlist for Kidani in place of Jambo for our June trip. How is the construction looking? Sounds like you all are having a great time. We just returned from SSR Christmas Eve day and I'm looking forward to a better year in 2009, getting finished with college (very stressful for a mom of three/teacher of 4yos), and returning for our 2 week trip with much, much less stress!

 

[joech]

That is great about the photography session...we have never done that. Hope you had a great New Year's Eve and Happy New Year!!!

The photography session went very well and the pictures looked really good. It does help when the photographer is good with the kids.
We actually just stayed in on New Years Eve knowing how busy the parks would be. Plus my DS was scared of the fireworks from the TTC and said "TOO LOUD" "ME NO WATCH" so there was no reason to stay late.

I'll try to get up to date on the post