3 kids, blazing heat, and more snack than we could eat!

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For dinner we had reservations at Ohana. We had heard mixed reviews about Ohana but decided we wanted to give it a try. Boy, am I glad we did! This was one of the best meals of our trip. When we first arrived they had a hard time finding our reservations. So, luckily I found our reservation number so they honored it. While we were waiting for our table Chris got a lapu lapu.

He was not a huge fan of it because hes not a huge drinker and it was a little strong for him.

Once we were seated they brought out pineapple bread and then a salad with some kind of vinaigrette. Followed by chicken coriander wings and fried dumplings. I can't even begin to tell you how many of these bad boys I ate. Then they bring out stir fry veggies and noodles. Then (yes, there is more) chicken, pork, steak, and shrimp. Just when you think you cant put one more bite they bring out a huge thing of bananas foster bread pudding with vanilla bean ice cream. I found the recipe for the bananas foster bread pudding on allears.net and I made it here at home. I made it for my FIL on memorial day(my MIL and FIL are going to Disney with us in June 2013) and he loved it so much he cant wait to got to Disney. Yeah, the daughter in law earned major brownie points for that one!

During our meal the kids were given leis learned howto hula.

After dinner we decided to walk out to the beach at the Polynesian and watch wishes. They have a laser parade on the water prior to the fireworks starting. My hubby pulled up the music for wishes and we watched the fireworks from Magic Kingdom while relaxing on the beach! It was great!

 

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Landon and Kk playing with Meeko.

Landon and Kk playing with Mommy and Daddy's phone while Addie slept and Daddy rode expedition everest!

Addie chilling out waiting on Daddy, Kk, and Landon to get back from Kali river rapids.

It is impossible for my kids (and husband) to pass these drums without playing them!

 

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Landon kept telling Mr. Smee to pull down his shirt that his belly was showing!

 

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We had breakfast reservations at Akershus. So, we were able to get into Epcot early. Well, my Husband had heard that sometimes if you are the first family to check in that sometimes they do something special so we of course had to try and get there first.... and the kids and I had to beat Daddy there also. My legs were burning so bad with all of the power walking! This was the point of the trip when I was regretting not hitting the treadmill more The kids and I beat Daddy there and we were the first family to arrive. It turned out to be just a rumor...there was no special treatment for being first. Except of course beating my husband there. That was fun rubbing in the rest of the day!

look at how empty Epcot was...

When we first arrived Belle came out and took a picture with us and then we received an 8x10 and a few 4x6s also if I remember correctly. The pictures were included with the price of our meal which was cool. They had a buffet of fruit and pastries and then they brought sausage, bacon, eggs, hashbrown casserole to the table. Then the princesses started arriving!

I'm sure you noticed Landon didn't make any appearances in the pictures. He was hiding under the table. When pretty girls talk to Landon he gets a little shy...its too cute! Since last year he has become quite the little ladies man. He calls girls babes now! lol. So, we will see how he acts next year.

In my opinion, this was not my favorite.Kk and I aren't big breakfast eaters we really were only going for the meet and greet anyways. Meeting the characters and getting a picture was great but I want to say our bill was around $130 We were on the dining plan but I guess I just expected a little more than just bacon, eggs, hash browns, and danishes for that price. The kids loved it though and that is all that matters!

 

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Another really cool experience in Epcot is watching the show in Japan of the woman making candy animals. It is truly amazing what this woman can do with candy. All of the people watching just call out animals and she creates these beautiful animals out of candy. She made a unicorn and shark at Landon and Kk's request. When Kk and Landon were told them they couldn't keep them they looked like they had been slapped! lol! She does a really wonderful thing with all of the candy that she makes. She takes them to the children's hospital and gives them to the kids. I bet that puts a huge smile on their faces!

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Another thing the kiddos really liked was the Figment ride. They also love the interactive music area at the end. All of my babies love to sing and dance! This is always a ride we do several times while we are in Epcot.

I am sure I have mentioned this before but we love the dining plan because we love to eat. My Husband and I are usually total penny pinchers. I coupon a lot and we very rarely pay full price for anything. I'm sure I would be that way even if we were millionaires lol. So, to us the dining plan is worth the money because if it wasn't for the dining plan we probably wouldn't eat at as many of the restaurants and get as many snacks. Well, in my opinion one of the best things about vacation is eating at places and eating things you normally wouldn't on a day to day basis. Well Disney is great about having really good snacks and they are normally big enough to share. In 2009 we would get each of the kids their own snack every time and they would never finish it and most of it would get wasted. So, this time we would get a few snacks and we all would share them and if they were still hungry then we would go get something else. It not only wasted less but it gave us a chance to try more things. Like I mentioned before there are several things you can get at the caramel shop in Germany for a snack credit that are definitely big enough to share (caramel popcorn, rice krispy treat, etc.). Well, the point of that long rant was that is where part of the title of my report came from..."more snacks than we could eat". We only had 2 more days in Disney and still tons of snack credits! So, we got to walk around the world showcase and get a snack from pretty much every country. We actually ended up having so many left we grabbed snacks for the ride home too.

 

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Something that we always get excited about is the Disney Visa meet and greet. My Husband actually had this card and had no idea about this meet and greet until 2009. He had this card for like 2 yrs and had no idea. lol! It is located in the Innoventions East building. You check in with the lady at the podium, show her your card, and then you get to do a meet and greet with the two "surprise characters" behind the curtain. They are very hush hush about who is in there too! lol! The wait is usually very short and the best part is its in the A/C. One year we had Mickey and Pluto and the other time it was Minnie and Goofy. You even get a free 5X7 of one of the photopass photos that are taken. The characters spend a fairly good amount of time with you too.

One of the funniest things that happened is when Kk jumped in the stroller to leave and Goofy came over and started pushing Kk around the room and then waved by and tried to leave with her.

Landon absolutely loves Goofy and he kept tickling Landon during the pictures. He loved it!

In my opinion, this is one of the best things about having a Disney Visa.

 

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In 2009, we tried Coral Reef for the first time together. I had swordfish for the first time also and I absolutely loved it. The kids of course loved looking at all of the animals in the tank. Every time a shark swam by they would hide under the table! Something that I haven't decided if its cruel or funny yet is we are all sitting there eating fish while the fish are watching us eat it. Its like eating a big hamburger while sitting on a fence watching cows.

So, in 2010 we made reservations again for Coral Reef. We were not impressed this time around. They did not have swordfish this time for starters. I had been craving it for over a year and they no longer served it. Our waiter wasn't very good at all. This was actually the only time in Disney that our waiter wasn't really nice. It took him a while to come by our table and then when he did we gave him our drink orders he wanted our entree and dessert orders too. We had not even looked at the dessert menu at this point so we had to quickly decide what we wanted. Then he brought our check when we got our food. I know that they have a lot of people waiting but we made our reservations 180 days in advance and paid good money to eat there. So, it was a little irritating being rushed through our meal.

Addie's face was too funny in this pic!
To make a long story short the service was bad and the food was not good.

 

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On our last day we went to Hollywood studios. As soon as they did rope drop everyone made a mad dash for TSM. Since we were pushing a double stroller and a single stroller it would have been crazy to try and push them through the crowd to go get fast passes. So, we decided Chris would stay with the kids and I would run ahead to get fast passes. We then headed to rockin roller coaster. In our trip in 2009 Addie was only 11 weeks old so I didn't ride a lot of rides and this was one that my hubby had been telling me I definitely needed to ride this time.

The kiddos waiting on Daddy to get off the ride.

When we were walking from the rockin roller coaster back towards the movie ride we heard some CMs singing "perry". My Husband was wearing a perry shirt. We watch a lot of Phineas and Ferb in this house.... It was really funny! My Husband had suggested that I should do the American Idol Experience. Well, this was our last day and I did not want to spend the day all about me. Of course my hubby being as sweet as he is got the kids to tell me that they wanted mommy to go sing on the stage. I agreed to do it. I didnt think I would get far but I couldnt say no to all my kids. Well I picked out two songs from the list and I made it through the first round of judges and then through the second round. I was in auditions for a long time and my poor hubby had to keep 3 hot kids entertained. Did I mention I have the best husband in the world?

This is what they gave me telling me when to come back for my show.

They then filmed a small segment and told me to come back at the scheduled time for hair, makeup, and to run through my performance with the vocal coach before the show.

We went and rode the great movie ride and went to TSM and then I had to be back to get ready for the show. Well, to make a long story short it was really fun and I came in first place in the semi finals. I was then scheduled to come back for the finale that evening. When we left the stage it was really neat they had a film crew follow us and my kids were so funny they kept showing the film crew their toys and acting really goofy. I felt like a celebrity so many people recognized me because apparently the whole show was seen on a big screen outside also.

We headed for lunch at toy story pizza planet and we didnt like it at all. The arcade part was neat but the food wasnt that great. We have yet to find a quick service in hollywood studios that we have liked. Landon kept telling us that he wanted to ride the Tower of Terror and luckily we were able to talk him out of it. That is one of those things that your kids think they want to do but once they are buckled in they look at you like you are a horrible parent for listening to them and they never forget it. lol! We then went to meet Phineas and Ferb.

It was really neat how they keep the kids entertained while they are waiting on the characters to come out. Landon got chosen to be in "the movie" they were filming. Kk got really shy and wanted no part of it!

Then Chris and the kids rode star wars a few times and then it was time for me to get back for the finale. I didn't win the finale but it was a lot of fun. I did enjoy doing the American Idol experience I just hated being away from my family all day on our last day of vacation. That being said chris and the kids were total troopers and cheered on mommy the whole way!

 

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I have commented on several restaurants throughout my report but I wanted to give my input on a few ones I left out!

Earl of Sandwich: This is one of our all time favorite places to eat in Disney. I absolutely love the Full Montagu! DH and I have always said that if we hit the lottery or ever came into some money we would open a franchise of Earl of Sandwich here. It would do great where we live. Something really neat that we found out while we were there is if your family is on the dining plan your kids can get ANY sandwich they want they do not have to order off the kids menu. Which is great for many reasons not only are there more choices but they are much bigger! So, we got each of our kids an adult sandwich and they shared one and guess what mommy and daddy had for a midnight snack.... Even if you are not on the dining plan this place is very reasonably priced!

Liberty Tree Tavern: We really love this place. We have only went for dinner but I have heard their lunch is good also.You get a lot of food! You get a salad, turkey, beef, pork brisket, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, stuffing, and green beans (or whatever is their seasonal vegetable) and dessert. The best part its all you can eat! You can also purchase the same glasses they have at the restaurant for $5 which is a really cool souvenir. (we have several at home)

 

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My husband and I were sitting here looking at some videos from our last trip and I remembered a really funny story that I had to tell you all about! I had packed the kids some nutter butter cookies before we left the resort one morning and we were sitting outside of soarin and I passed them out to the kids when Chris went to get some fast passes. Well there were some squirrels eyeing the kids cookies. Well Landon broke off a piece of his cookie and held it out for the squirrel and it came over and snatched it and then ran off and stuck the whole thing in its mouth!

 

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I have learned a lot from my fellow Disers that has been very useful on our trips to Disneyworld. I hope that this information can help other families too!

Shoe Organizer: Buy a shoe organizer and put it over the back of your bathroom door to help organize all of your stuff and free up the little bit of space you have. Once you get home you can take the shoe organizer and put barbies or action figures in it.

Mist Fans: Don't get me wrong I think the ones in Disneyworld are adorable but when you have 4 kids the fans can add up! So, we go to walmart and let the kids pick out a fan and then we let them personalize them with Disney stickers. I personally prefer to get the fans with plastic blades. The foam blades seem to always get destroyed by my kids.

Hand Sanitizer: Bring a bottle of hand sanitizer. My kids have to touch everything they see so hand sanitizer isnt a bad idea in my opinion.

Wipes: Bring plenty of wipes!!! You can never have too many wipes imo.

Drinks: Fill a cooler with drinks! When it is really hot you drink a lot and that can add up really quick. We always pack a bunch of water but we get the little crystal light packets and koolaid packets to change it up a bit!

Strollers: We rented a double stroller from magic strollers and it was great! It reclined and my kids said it was very comfy. They also recline and have a shade that comes down really far so that the kids could sleep without the sun getting in their eyes. I want to say it cost around $90 to rent a double stroller for a week compared to the roughly $200 for a week of the hard plastic stroller from Disney. They also will deliver it to your resort and pick it up. Well worth the money!

Dishwashing soap: If you have kids with sippy cups or bottles make sure and grab dishwashing soap before you leave for your trip so that you can clean them in your room.

Sippy cup "leash": If you have a child that has a sippy cup go get one! It attaches to the stoller on one end and around the cup with the other. So, if your child tries to throw it...guess what....mommy and daddy arent chasing it around Disney I found it at kohls believe it or not and it was one of the best things i bought for the trip. Also, pacifier clips are a good idea too. Any of you parents that have had a paci baby you know what hell it is if you lose it!

Travel bags: If you make a "travel bag" for the kids with fun stuff to entertain your kids on the way down give them a few things every hour or so instead of all at once. My kids would get their bags and play with everything the first hour and then they were bored for the next 6 hours.

If you are traveling with young kids arrive at rope drop and stay until after lunch or so and go back to the hotel and let the kids take naps, swim, etc. and then go back to the parks later. This keeps the kids from getting so cranky by the time fireworks start.

Bring back up outfits for your kids because if they get wet they wont want to walk around all day like that.

Put deodorant on your inner thighs to help reduce chaffing when your inner thighs rub together while you are walking.

Bring band aids for blisters! With all of the walking it is really easy to get blisters.

Thats all I can think of right now but im sure ill remember more later!

 

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we will be updating this tonight, so stay tuned