4.5 Newbies and a Whole Lotta Kleenex! Updated pg 10 8/21! finally!
- Thread starter sara74
- Start date
figmentfan704
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2005
- Messages
- 148
I love your report! Thanks so much for posting! I can't wait to read the rest!
AussieAngel
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2006
- Messages
- 1,318
..... Cutest family ever!!!!
I love your trip report!!
It makes me all excited for our trip in September!
Thankyou!! Can't wait for the next chapter!!
I love your trip report!!
It makes me all excited for our trip in September!
Thankyou!! Can't wait for the next chapter!!
So when we last left DH he was reading my copious Disney notes - complete with outlines, diagrams and outlined and highlighted maps! I got everyone's clothes ready for the next day and crashed next to DH.
We woke Monday morning before the wakeup call. This is a combination of having small children on the trip and having ME on the trip. I was an early bird in my whole childhood and still am for the large part. Used to be when I was a kid that my dad and I would get up, go out for breakfast and then bring donuts back for the rest of the family before they even woke up. So don't vacation with me if you feel like sleeping in - sleeping in is saved for when there is nothing better to do! And I think that everyone reading this would agree that there is plenty to do on a vacation to Disney! Our wakeup call was Stitch again - can't stand him still! I have read recently here on the Dis that his is the only wakeup call now, which explains why I couldn't seem to get any other characters, no matter what time I set the call for! We were a little into the groove this morning. I got both kids and myself dressed and DH, well, he spent a good deal of time taking care of himself. The stomach bug had not gone away over night! Packed the kids into the double stroller and handed a granola bar to each of them and we were off. Went to Roaring Forks to fill my mug with coffee and headed to the bus stop.
Murphy's Law of buses states that there will be 203 buses to the waterparks on a cold morning and .3 buses an hour to the park that you are actually trying to get to. But seriously, we didn't wait that long for a bus and I thought the buses were very nice. Convenient and we met quite a few nice people on them! It was so good to have DH there to wrestle the stroller while I wrestled the kiddos. Makes me laugh at how I must';ve looked when I got them onto the bus by myself!
In no time at all (it seemed) but just long enough to drink my one allowed cup of coffee a day, we were at EPCOT. We were the ones with the toddler who kept wanting to sip Mom's coffee. The little man can't get enough of the stuff! I kept wondering what other guests thought of us - what bad parents, letting him drink coffee. Well, thank me, because I was trying to keep the kid from throwing a tantrum on the bus with the rest of you! We were at EPCOT before they opened the turnstiles - just like I wanted, and picked a row to camp out in. When the turnstiles opened we made our way to the ropes over to the right side of the park, Soarin' was first on our list for the day. I had a strategy in mind, and had given DH my notes, so I thought we were all on the same page. I figured it was only fair that I got to ride first with DD, since DS is too small and DH got to ride BTMR and Splash with her the day before, which I was left out of due to the baby hitching a ride to WDW in my uterus. DD and I were in the first group on Soarin' and were both impressed. I couldn't tell you for sure if the floor went down or we went up or what happened but it was a very cool ride/attraction. I wish DS could have gone on it - but hopefully he can on our next trip! I will say that Philharmagic still outranked Soarin' to me...that was my #1 favorite of the whole trip. However, even coming in behid Philarmagic, I still teared up at Soarin'! I expected that DH and DS would ride the Living with the Land ride while we were in Soarin'. After all, it was in my notes to do that! I guess DH either fell asleep before he got to the second paragraph, or he was in a dehydrated delerium, but when we came out of Soarin', DS and DH were sitting on a bench looking miserable. Kicking, squirming and whining - and that was jsut DH! I could see it in their eyes, 'we got up and got dressed this early to come sit on a bench?' I took DS and went on the Living with the Land while DH used our baby swap on Soarin' with DD. Personally, I liked Living with the Land. I liked seeing the gardens especially the Mickey pumpkins. I wish DH had seen it, maybe next time he'll read my notes,you think?
We hit the Living Seas next and Turtle Talk. DS could have sat and watched the manatees all day. In fact, I think the whole family could have stayed in that pavilion all day! We went in to the Turtle Talk show and it was AWESOME! I was totally blown away, while DH just said 'yeah, it's some kind of computer program' So what if it is? It's a really cool one! Our second snafu of the day came when DD was a little shy and didn't raise her hand to ask Crush a question or give an answer. Show ends, DD looks up, sees the people leaving and throws a HUGE fit! She just started bawling that she didn't get to talk to Crush and she didn't know she wouldn't get a turn. Huge tears, boogies running down her face, she was devastated. And so was I. I mean, it is my job as Mommy to give her a good time, right? And even more so as the official Disney Guru of our little clan to ensure a great experience, right? Well, listen, Mama can only do so much and then the rest of them are on their own! I can set up the scene, but I can't play it out for them. So we both dried our tears and tried to move on. DD was still sniffling as we went into Imagination, but she slowly perked up. At the end of the ride part we sped DD past the area where there was a little audience participation thing going on since there was already a little girl up in front of everyone and we didn't want DD to get all started again!
We headed to the World Showcase to get our lunch. We had ADRs at Marrakesh - which were totally unnecessary. I think there were 10 people in the place! As uninvolved as DH was in planning, this was one of two restaurants that he really wanted to see. The other was California Grill which we hit later in the trip. As soon as we were seated, DH's cell phone rang. Not good. Only the office would call, only if there was a problem, and only if they really needed him. So he went to the lobby to answer it. Turns out it was a relatively minor thing (good!) but he was on the phone forever (bad!) I was fuming thinking of all the threads I had read that mentioned men on cell phones on rides, at shows, etc and how I had told myself - not MY DH! Well, there he was! I was about to tell him where to put the phone when I heard him saying how cool WDW was, and what a great time he was having. He was eating out of the palm of my hand, how could I stop his call? One more dirty look from me and he got the hint! Lunch was great, especially the lamb. We both had the Moroccan feast and the kids split the pasta. I kept ducking out to see if there were any characters and lucked out finding Jasmine out there with no one else in sight! I grabbed DD for her first princess encounter and she was awestruck! There was no line so Jasmine really took time to have a conversation with DD and it was just great!
We headed back to Future World and DH and DD went to Test Track while DS and I spent some quality time with the butterflies in the butterfly garden. He really liked the flowers and butterflies, but couldn't quite get the concept that they don't come when they are called - in other words, they behave much like our dog!
The Flower and Garden festival was quite impressive!
Ok, I am going to post here out of fear that I will hit the wrong key and lose everything I have done so far....
We woke Monday morning before the wakeup call. This is a combination of having small children on the trip and having ME on the trip. I was an early bird in my whole childhood and still am for the large part. Used to be when I was a kid that my dad and I would get up, go out for breakfast and then bring donuts back for the rest of the family before they even woke up. So don't vacation with me if you feel like sleeping in - sleeping in is saved for when there is nothing better to do! And I think that everyone reading this would agree that there is plenty to do on a vacation to Disney! Our wakeup call was Stitch again - can't stand him still! I have read recently here on the Dis that his is the only wakeup call now, which explains why I couldn't seem to get any other characters, no matter what time I set the call for! We were a little into the groove this morning. I got both kids and myself dressed and DH, well, he spent a good deal of time taking care of himself. The stomach bug had not gone away over night! Packed the kids into the double stroller and handed a granola bar to each of them and we were off. Went to Roaring Forks to fill my mug with coffee and headed to the bus stop.
Murphy's Law of buses states that there will be 203 buses to the waterparks on a cold morning and .3 buses an hour to the park that you are actually trying to get to. But seriously, we didn't wait that long for a bus and I thought the buses were very nice. Convenient and we met quite a few nice people on them! It was so good to have DH there to wrestle the stroller while I wrestled the kiddos. Makes me laugh at how I must';ve looked when I got them onto the bus by myself!
In no time at all (it seemed) but just long enough to drink my one allowed cup of coffee a day, we were at EPCOT. We were the ones with the toddler who kept wanting to sip Mom's coffee. The little man can't get enough of the stuff! I kept wondering what other guests thought of us - what bad parents, letting him drink coffee. Well, thank me, because I was trying to keep the kid from throwing a tantrum on the bus with the rest of you! We were at EPCOT before they opened the turnstiles - just like I wanted, and picked a row to camp out in. When the turnstiles opened we made our way to the ropes over to the right side of the park, Soarin' was first on our list for the day. I had a strategy in mind, and had given DH my notes, so I thought we were all on the same page. I figured it was only fair that I got to ride first with DD, since DS is too small and DH got to ride BTMR and Splash with her the day before, which I was left out of due to the baby hitching a ride to WDW in my uterus. DD and I were in the first group on Soarin' and were both impressed. I couldn't tell you for sure if the floor went down or we went up or what happened but it was a very cool ride/attraction. I wish DS could have gone on it - but hopefully he can on our next trip! I will say that Philharmagic still outranked Soarin' to me...that was my #1 favorite of the whole trip. However, even coming in behid Philarmagic, I still teared up at Soarin'! I expected that DH and DS would ride the Living with the Land ride while we were in Soarin'. After all, it was in my notes to do that! I guess DH either fell asleep before he got to the second paragraph, or he was in a dehydrated delerium, but when we came out of Soarin', DS and DH were sitting on a bench looking miserable. Kicking, squirming and whining - and that was jsut DH! I could see it in their eyes, 'we got up and got dressed this early to come sit on a bench?' I took DS and went on the Living with the Land while DH used our baby swap on Soarin' with DD. Personally, I liked Living with the Land. I liked seeing the gardens especially the Mickey pumpkins. I wish DH had seen it, maybe next time he'll read my notes,you think?
We hit the Living Seas next and Turtle Talk. DS could have sat and watched the manatees all day. In fact, I think the whole family could have stayed in that pavilion all day! We went in to the Turtle Talk show and it was AWESOME! I was totally blown away, while DH just said 'yeah, it's some kind of computer program' So what if it is? It's a really cool one! Our second snafu of the day came when DD was a little shy and didn't raise her hand to ask Crush a question or give an answer. Show ends, DD looks up, sees the people leaving and throws a HUGE fit! She just started bawling that she didn't get to talk to Crush and she didn't know she wouldn't get a turn. Huge tears, boogies running down her face, she was devastated. And so was I. I mean, it is my job as Mommy to give her a good time, right? And even more so as the official Disney Guru of our little clan to ensure a great experience, right? Well, listen, Mama can only do so much and then the rest of them are on their own! I can set up the scene, but I can't play it out for them. So we both dried our tears and tried to move on. DD was still sniffling as we went into Imagination, but she slowly perked up. At the end of the ride part we sped DD past the area where there was a little audience participation thing going on since there was already a little girl up in front of everyone and we didn't want DD to get all started again!
We headed to the World Showcase to get our lunch. We had ADRs at Marrakesh - which were totally unnecessary. I think there were 10 people in the place! As uninvolved as DH was in planning, this was one of two restaurants that he really wanted to see. The other was California Grill which we hit later in the trip. As soon as we were seated, DH's cell phone rang. Not good. Only the office would call, only if there was a problem, and only if they really needed him. So he went to the lobby to answer it. Turns out it was a relatively minor thing (good!) but he was on the phone forever (bad!) I was fuming thinking of all the threads I had read that mentioned men on cell phones on rides, at shows, etc and how I had told myself - not MY DH! Well, there he was! I was about to tell him where to put the phone when I heard him saying how cool WDW was, and what a great time he was having. He was eating out of the palm of my hand, how could I stop his call? One more dirty look from me and he got the hint! Lunch was great, especially the lamb. We both had the Moroccan feast and the kids split the pasta. I kept ducking out to see if there were any characters and lucked out finding Jasmine out there with no one else in sight! I grabbed DD for her first princess encounter and she was awestruck! There was no line so Jasmine really took time to have a conversation with DD and it was just great!
We headed back to Future World and DH and DD went to Test Track while DS and I spent some quality time with the butterflies in the butterfly garden. He really liked the flowers and butterflies, but couldn't quite get the concept that they don't come when they are called - in other words, they behave much like our dog!
The Flower and Garden festival was quite impressive!
Ok, I am going to post here out of fear that I will hit the wrong key and lose everything I have done so far....
Thank goodness for cell phones as I was able to locate DH when he came off of rides that I couldn't go on! I spent some time at the Kidcot station at Test Track with both kids while DH rode Mission Space. The kids loved coloring at the Kidcot stations, and while there was a part of me screaming "we didn't come here to color with half dried markers - let's get moving!", there was another part of me screaming to sit down for a few minutes (that part would be the uterus!) It was a nice break, the kids enjoyed it, and honestly, despite my excitement over the trip, we were there for the kids to enjoy it too! So color we did. DH liked M:S. It didn't make him sick at all, then again, after another day of constant walking in the Florida sun, he wasn't getting over his original ailment, so how was he to know if a ride upset his stomach or not? And cruel wife that I am, I handed him a nice cold cup of Beverly when we stopped at Ice Station Cool, just to make sure he enjoyed himself. Even with that, DH still loved the idea of getting something for free at WDW, even if it was a gross soda! Somehow I never got a chance to taste it!
We walked by the Character Connections building, which must be one of the best kept secrets of WDW! The whole classic Disney bunch was there for greetings, there were NO lines and there was air conditioning! Later in the week we saw a 40 minute line for Mickey! There were so few people at character connections that we sent the kids through and took their pictures with everyone and then we went through again as a family for group photos! This was DS's first character sighting, our MK day the day before was all about rides! So we weren't sure how he would handle things. I think from the photos you can see that he did just fine!
We had a great time!
After the characters, we walked out past a face painter. DD just had to have her face painted. Her birthday was in March, and her birthday party was in April, for logistical reasons. I have a patient that facepaints beautifully and had arranged for her to be at DD's party. Of course, DD told everyone she was coming, was so excited and the woman didn't show up. The horrible thing is that her teenage son was killed in an auto accident (on the way to religious school) the day before and, quite understandably, the last thing on her mind was DDs birthday. I didn't tell DD why she didn't come as DD is still very touchy about death as it is. We lost my dad to an accident 18 months ago and it is still affecting all of us. So, DD didn't really get why the facepainter didn't come and I figured that I owed her one. So we got her face painted.
retty good, I think!
We went back to the Living Seas, with the intention of seeing the fish and avoiding Crush, but we would up there at the perfect time to see another show. DH and I explained, in detail, what the word 'enthusiastic' meant to DD and she got the hint. She had her hand in the air from the moment we walked through the doors and she had this wide eyed,silly ear to ear grin, expression on her face the whole time to! It worked! Crush called on DD, she asked him what sea turtles like to do all day. He gave a quick answer and then asked what she liked to do all day. She told him she liked to play with her brother! And I have it all on video! So, someday when she can't stand her brother, I have proof that she once liked him at least just a little!
We wandered over to France, taking in the sights, for an early dinner. We ran into Belle and the Beast
Two princesses in one day and all the other characters too! Who says EPCOT isn't for kids?
I tried to remember some of my high school French to help DD order some quiche and chocolate cake for dinner. DH and I split a croissant sandwich. Normally both kids each quiche at home. I put tons of veggies in and they dive into it, but DS was tired and he's not used to being able to see dessert (chocolate cake) sitting right in front of him while he eats his dinner. So he did what any ordinary, normal and (un)reasonable almost 2 year old would do. He screamed. And yelled . And threw his plates. "No eggies! Want cocolate...cocolate cake...NOW" and the lovely "MY TURN COCOLATE NOW!" Of course we are tucked all the way in the back of France so I am carrying him to a more open, and hopefully less disruptive, place to have his fit. The Mommy walk of shame. The hope that other people realize that any other day, this sweaty, red faced shrieking demon is an otherwise adorable little angel. He stops to take a breather and I mistakenly think he might be done. Nope. Back to our table, we only had 3 chairs anyway, so I'm trying to get him to sit on my lap, and then I get to do the walk of shame a second time with DS. It isn't any prettier the second time. DH's stomach ailment, while still in full force all day, isn't keeping him from eating so he finishes our meal and a few bites of a cream puff. DD is eating nicely. She still likes 'eggie pie' and knows enough that she isn't getting cake just yet. And she knows to ignore her brother. I had even tried to let DS eat the cake before the quiche when we went back to the table, after all it is vacation! But he was just not going to calm down at all,so he ate nothing. He's over 30 pounds already, one missed meal won't affect him much!
The next few hours are blurry. I know we left EPCOT as fast as we could after the tantrum, which wasn't all that fast - it's a long walk, you know! THe kids both fell asleep on the bus. And somehow we were at the MK for Spectro that night... I think we hit the pool in the middle there. I'd have to go back to our photos to be sure, but I am on DH's laptop, with it perched on my big belly and too lazy to go check our 'real' computer. Let me blame all the typos on the baby kicking while I am thinking of it!
Spectro was great. We had front row seats on the circle in the front of the MK. That was ideal as we had no intention of staying for the fireworks. I had planned enough to know that the next night there was no Spectro and thus Wishes would be at 9 instead of 10. Given how DS was, it was a good idea! I have no decent photos of Spectro, so I will spare you all, this time!
Tuesday's report is on deck next, another day at the MK, starting with breakfast at CRT and ending with Wishes at CG! What a decadent day!
Thanks to everyone for reading all this rambling and sticking with me at my snail's pace...Have a great night everyone!!!!!
We walked by the Character Connections building, which must be one of the best kept secrets of WDW! The whole classic Disney bunch was there for greetings, there were NO lines and there was air conditioning! Later in the week we saw a 40 minute line for Mickey! There were so few people at character connections that we sent the kids through and took their pictures with everyone and then we went through again as a family for group photos! This was DS's first character sighting, our MK day the day before was all about rides! So we weren't sure how he would handle things. I think from the photos you can see that he did just fine!
We had a great time!
After the characters, we walked out past a face painter. DD just had to have her face painted. Her birthday was in March, and her birthday party was in April, for logistical reasons. I have a patient that facepaints beautifully and had arranged for her to be at DD's party. Of course, DD told everyone she was coming, was so excited and the woman didn't show up. The horrible thing is that her teenage son was killed in an auto accident (on the way to religious school) the day before and, quite understandably, the last thing on her mind was DDs birthday. I didn't tell DD why she didn't come as DD is still very touchy about death as it is. We lost my dad to an accident 18 months ago and it is still affecting all of us. So, DD didn't really get why the facepainter didn't come and I figured that I owed her one. So we got her face painted.
retty good, I think!We went back to the Living Seas, with the intention of seeing the fish and avoiding Crush, but we would up there at the perfect time to see another show. DH and I explained, in detail, what the word 'enthusiastic' meant to DD and she got the hint. She had her hand in the air from the moment we walked through the doors and she had this wide eyed,silly ear to ear grin, expression on her face the whole time to! It worked! Crush called on DD, she asked him what sea turtles like to do all day. He gave a quick answer and then asked what she liked to do all day. She told him she liked to play with her brother! And I have it all on video! So, someday when she can't stand her brother, I have proof that she once liked him at least just a little!
We wandered over to France, taking in the sights, for an early dinner. We ran into Belle and the Beast
I tried to remember some of my high school French to help DD order some quiche and chocolate cake for dinner. DH and I split a croissant sandwich. Normally both kids each quiche at home. I put tons of veggies in and they dive into it, but DS was tired and he's not used to being able to see dessert (chocolate cake) sitting right in front of him while he eats his dinner. So he did what any ordinary, normal and (un)reasonable almost 2 year old would do. He screamed. And yelled . And threw his plates. "No eggies! Want cocolate...cocolate cake...NOW" and the lovely "MY TURN COCOLATE NOW!" Of course we are tucked all the way in the back of France so I am carrying him to a more open, and hopefully less disruptive, place to have his fit. The Mommy walk of shame. The hope that other people realize that any other day, this sweaty, red faced shrieking demon is an otherwise adorable little angel. He stops to take a breather and I mistakenly think he might be done. Nope. Back to our table, we only had 3 chairs anyway, so I'm trying to get him to sit on my lap, and then I get to do the walk of shame a second time with DS. It isn't any prettier the second time. DH's stomach ailment, while still in full force all day, isn't keeping him from eating so he finishes our meal and a few bites of a cream puff. DD is eating nicely. She still likes 'eggie pie' and knows enough that she isn't getting cake just yet. And she knows to ignore her brother. I had even tried to let DS eat the cake before the quiche when we went back to the table, after all it is vacation! But he was just not going to calm down at all,so he ate nothing. He's over 30 pounds already, one missed meal won't affect him much!
The next few hours are blurry. I know we left EPCOT as fast as we could after the tantrum, which wasn't all that fast - it's a long walk, you know! THe kids both fell asleep on the bus. And somehow we were at the MK for Spectro that night... I think we hit the pool in the middle there. I'd have to go back to our photos to be sure, but I am on DH's laptop, with it perched on my big belly and too lazy to go check our 'real' computer. Let me blame all the typos on the baby kicking while I am thinking of it!
Spectro was great. We had front row seats on the circle in the front of the MK. That was ideal as we had no intention of staying for the fireworks. I had planned enough to know that the next night there was no Spectro and thus Wishes would be at 9 instead of 10. Given how DS was, it was a good idea! I have no decent photos of Spectro, so I will spare you all, this time!
Tuesday's report is on deck next, another day at the MK, starting with breakfast at CRT and ending with Wishes at CG! What a decadent day!
Thanks to everyone for reading all this rambling and sticking with me at my snail's pace...Have a great night everyone!!!!!
AussieAngel
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2006
- Messages
- 1,318
Yayyy, more trip report!
I love your DD's yellow dress!
And how nice to meet so many characters in one day!
Keep it coming!!
I love your DD's yellow dress!
And how nice to meet so many characters in one day!
Keep it coming!!
RyansMommy
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 34
Love this trip report!! Can't wait to hear more!!
I am laughing out loud at myself! DD and DS are dressed in the same outfits today that they were wearing in all of our EPCOT pictures! Seems like Mommy is re- living the trip a little today!
Thanks for reading, it is keeping the trip alive for me still!
AussieAngel - the yellow dress is from Gymboree (on clearance!) I shop their sales like mad but could never justify their full price.
Thanks for reading, it is keeping the trip alive for me still!
AussieAngel - the yellow dress is from Gymboree (on clearance!) I shop their sales like mad but could never justify their full price.
heaven2dc
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 26, 2003
- Messages
- 4,126
Your family is so adorable!!! I had to chuckle when you wrote "We were the ones with the toddler who kept wanting to sip Mom's coffee. The little man can't get enough of the stuff! I kept wondering what other guests thought of us - what bad parents, letting him drink coffee. Well, thank me, because I was trying to keep the kid from throwing a tantrum on the bus with the rest of you!" When my youngest was around 2, he started wanted sips of my coffee (we were living w/my inlaws at the time right after my husb died) and we'd sit in front of the wood stove in rockers (me, my sis-in-law & little David) and share stories & he'd want sips of our coffee. One morning I came out and she had bought David a little rocker and had a tiny cup with cooled coffee in it and they were having a blast. Now at age 13 he still orders coffee when we go out to restaurants & I get weird looks from the waitress lol. (no worries folks, it has always been decaf)
I'm really enjoying your report and love the pics!
I'm really enjoying your report and love the pics!
Great update - glad to hear that everyone had a great time. Glad that Crush was able to answer the question. Love the picture with Chip/Dale. disneymomej
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2006
- Messages
- 290
You have brought me out of that post disney depression. Perhaps I will start planning a 2nd trip!
Keep em coming!
Keep em coming!
catherines_mama
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2003
- Messages
- 1,950
I'm loving your report! I have so many things I'm like .. yeah.. yeah.. sounds like me! LOL
Cant wait to read more! Thanks!
Cant wait to read more! Thanks!
Here we are again! Monday night was where we left off. We had taken the kids to see Spectro that night and then back to the WL for the night. I forgot to mention that the marching band in Spectro on Monday night was from Londonderry NH, which is worth mentioning since I grew up near there and also since our best friends from dental school now live there! Shameless plug for Elliott Orthodontics in Merrimack NH (I promise we don't get any kickbacks!) DH also wanted me to mention that while DD and I were visiting with Jasmine at EPCOT we missed the belly dancer at Marrakesh. Let's just chalk that up to a father/son bonding experience and leave it at that!
I laid the clothes out for Tuesday morning, gave DH my notes to study, I mean, read, and then I went to bed.
We woke early again and got right up to get ready. Our ADRs for CRT were at 8:25 AM. I know there are a lot of people knocking CRT right now and pushing Akershus (did I spell that right?) but I did feel that for first timers eating in the castle was a must. And we had the dining plan. And agree with my choice or not, but we paid for all the kids meals OOP and used the extra credits to eat at CRT for breakfast and Cali Grill for dinner - all on the same day!!! So off to the castle we headed.
For the record, DH's intestinal problems.......still were a problem. He was holding up well but it was taking its toll on him. I was just thankful that none of the rest of us were affected. A testimony I guess to how many times a day two dentists on vacation wash their hands - and how often they make the kids wash too!!
We got to the WL boat dock early, and found out that there were no boats to the MK until 8:30! Five minutes after our ADR! Man, I thought these boats were convenient, until we actually had to use them. 2 days at the MK and 2 days of no boats. Granted, Sunday was on account of fog, but I was going nuts. Then along came our savior! There was a boat captain training another on docking and they told us they would take us to the CR and we could catch the monorail. So again we schlep the stroller and the kids up into the CR, up the escalators (still didn't find the elevator) to the monorail. Fine, we were able to roll right onto it. And then we got moving. Or so we thought.
Let me go on record here that we will never stay at the CR. Aside from the fact that I don't like the look of the place, I can't see the point in staying on the monorail when you have to make so many stops to get to the MK anyway! We stopped at the Poly and stayed stopped for at least five minutes (and yes, I did time it - kept asking Dh what his watch said) Seemed like we were about to leave and another family would come out so we would wait for them. Then same thing at the GF. Then we sat on the track between the GF and the MK for over 10 minutes! Just sat there. One time they announced that the train in front of us needed to clear and then we moved all of 50 feet and stopped again. Seriously, I have read the trip report about the buses, but we were on the monorail for over half and hour to go from the CR to the MK. IMO, ridiculous. Saves me a bunch of $ in the long run as the monorail no longer has a mystique or appeal to me at all. The volcano pool on the other hand... I may just have to get there some day!
So we didn't have the leisurely time walking into the MK like we had planned. We were already late for our ADR.
When we checked in at CRT they were very nice and mentioned that they already knew there was a monorail problem that AM, so we were relieved. We still had to wait quite a while. At least it was the morning, so the kids were ok with it. In our two days so far we had not waited longer than 5 minutes for a ride so we were fortunate, but it seemed like we were making up for it with our waits for meals!
DD had her photo with Cinderella. She had refused to let us wash the facepainting off so a little of it remained that we tried to make look the best we could. She wore her Belle dress from home. We had brought all her dresses: Belle, Cinderella, Tinkerbelle, Aurora and even though she claimed Aurora was her favorite, she wore Belle. The photo with Cinderella came out ok. My one complaint about CRT is that it is like Cinderella is held hostage there and you need to pay ransom to see her! Too bad she isn't available elsewhere to visit...
Breakfast was good. DS was free (yeah! This and all the free Beverly you can drink had el cheapo (err, DH) very happy!) and DD ate well. I had the healthy breakfast of yogurt, granola and fruit. The bowl was HUGE, the bananas were deliciously caramelized and the whole dish was quite nice. DH had the regular breakfast and a second serving too. Just what the Dr ordered for the upset tummy. No problems for him though! He just carried on. We had good visits with all of the princesses, Snow White, Aurora and Belle. DS had a good time with the magic wand. He is in the habit of walking around our house with a pencil (Unsharpened, please don't call child services!) and using it as a wand, saying Poof at everyone. So he was glad to have the wand to play with. Daddy was glad too as he was beaten over the head with it repeatedly!
DD gave CRT two thumbs up!
DH bolted out to ride Space Mountain, since none of the rest of us could go on it. I thought we were almost finished up, but as I was packing the kids up they announced the wishing ceremony would start in a few minutes. There was no way we could get out of there once they said that. So we waited for the ceremony. I waited, somewhat panicked. See, when we were just talking about a third child last September, DD announced that she only wanted a sister. We tried to explain that IF we decided to have one and IF we were lucky enough to have one THEN we didn't quibble about the gender, we were just happy to have a new baby. Then we went on a week's trip to Colorado without the kids. Left them with DMIL and FIL for a week. And when I returned DD told me that she and Nana had talked and they both decided they would be mad at me if I had another boy baby. Nice. Then we book the Disney trip and start planning. Find out we are PG, tell the kids, have the ultrasound and its a boy. DD announces that she is going to go to Disney and wish on a wishing star for a baby sister. Here we are at CRT and they hand the kid a wishing star and give the thing a %*$@ ceremony too! If ever there was a tense Mom at Disney, you should have seen me right then! Yadda, yadda, yadda, the ceremony was cute. Feigning disinterest I casually ask DD on our way out of the castle what she wished for. My palms are sweaty, my head is spinning as I think about her coming into the hospital room this summer, opening the baby's diaper and screaming that she wished for a girl baby and magic isn't real! She turns to me and answers 'an Aurora doll'. That's it? I'm thinking. Done. She couldn't have answered better and I made up my mind that she would wake up next to an Aurora doll the next morning. If for no other reason than to be able to tell her she had used her wish and would not be able to wish for a baby sister since she already got the doll!
DH called on the cell phone with a 'where are you?' so I told him to FP Buzz and we hustled over to him. There was little line so we walked on to Buzz,maybe 3 minutes wait. What a great ride! We all loved it! DH and I are a little competitive, so this was right up our alley! We got off and walked right back on again! Awesome! I could handle waiting for food if the ride lines stayed like this! Love you, TGM!!!! The kids and I went on the AstroOrbiter as DH took a potty break. We headed back to the center of the park to watch the Sword in the Stone ceremony. I discussed with DD that she might not get picked to try the sword. Just trying to head off another Turtle Talk meltdown. Merlin chose a young girl with a cast on her arm and DD turned to me and said "I think she needed a turn since she has a big ****oo" That is more like the DD we know! It was worth seeing and a cute good show. We hit Cinderellabration next and that too was good to see. We had a good view. It was horribly hot! At first I grabbed some paper towels from the bathroom when I was in there and soaked them. I put them on DH's neck to keep him from melting. We let DD use $17 of her spending $ on a water bottle squirter thing. Worth every penny! It kept us all cool and kept the kids entertained. We went to Splash and BTMR since they were such hits a couple of days ago. Still big hits today. DS slept in the stroller and I people watched, and tried to get a photo of DH and DD coming down Splash. No luck! It was too hard trying to judge when they would be coming and the wall was awfully high. I'm only 5'1" after all! Still blazing hot so we played in the water in the Tiki Fountains in Adventureland. Things like that were as much fun for us as the big rides were.
And I was not too shy to take a turn getting squirted. It was too hot to try and be all mature or something! Next we went to ride on Aladdin's magic carpets. I stayed off to take pictures and didn't get many good ones since the dads that were all taking pictures too were scaling a fence by the loading area and I didn't think that it was all that safe for an off-balance pregnant gal to do that! Anyway, a CM came over and chastised them, so I got to stand there and give my own disapproving stares at the fence climbers, since I wasn't able to be one of them! 
We stopped for a legendary Dole Whip to eat on our way out of the park. DD whined that she doesn't like pineapple - can you say, more for me? So we got the kids an orange popsicle to split. I got a float and DH got the other thing and we made our way out of the MK. Here I got a little grumpy. Now I know DH wasn't 100%, but he was the one eating two servings of CRT breakfast, wasn't he? And I know it was hot, but don't you think I was hot too? So I got to push the stroller with both kids in it AND carry the backpack and watch sadly as my DoleWhip melted in the Graco Duoglider's very convenient cupholder while the rest of my family enjoyed their frosty treats. A moment of pity for me please.
Ok, I'm better now. I snapped at DH just as we were exiting and he had finished his DoleWhip and reached for mine. I was having no more of it. His response is best summed up by this picture taken on the boat 4 minutes later.
DH has learned in 11 years that the best way to deal with me in a crabby mood is to avoid me until it blows over. So he fell asleep on the boat. That didn't do much for my crabby mood, but the kids playing on the boat did. Like the popsicle DS wore on his shirt??
And here I thought Mickey bars were messy!
We returned to the WL and took a dip in the pool. I left management of the munchkins to DH and swam a little by myself which made me feel better. I can still say that the three days we spent at CBR without DH weren't really that hard to manage, but it was tough holding DS in the pool the whole time and trying to take care of DD too. I let DH gain a little appreciation of that fact.
We got dressed and took the boat to the CR for dinner at the CG. We had an early reservation at 6 PM thinking the kids wouldn't be able to eat much later than that. It was a nightmare checking in downstairs and then being sent upstairs. The CM downstairs was clueless, didn't know what to do with us. There were 3 parties whose reservation cards he couldn't seem to find and he sent us up in the elevator without them, couldn't get the elevator to work, it was a mess. The kids fell asleep in the stroller. We got upstairs and things ran more smoothly. We had a table over near the sushi bar adn a great waiter named Bill. He is also a sommelier which was great as DH and I have taken a couple of wine courses and DH really wanted some nice wines with this meal. The kids? Sleeping in the stroller. We decided to make the best of it and let them sleep! I had the lobster/artichoke salad (amazing!) the something something steak (excellent) and the heirloom Braeburn apple tart (so flaky that Anna Nicole Smith could have taken a lesson from it!) DH had the Yoshi's deluxe sushi platter (wonderful!) rack of lamb (awesome) and something chocolate. I held DS while I ate dessert and it just felt so nice to snuggle the little angel while we sat there.
We ordered the kids a pizza to split figuring that when they woke up they would be starving. They woke up partway through our desserts so DH took them out to the deck while I ate. Do you think he was trying to make up for my ice cream meltdown earlier? Maybe- whatever, it worked for me!
The kids ate pizza on the observation deck, danced and were repeatedly herded away from a younger couple with no kids that was trying to have a romantic moment at dusk. The view from up there is amazing!
We stayed to watch Wishes. It was so nice to see from up in the air, but I would like to see it in the park next time as well. What was really nice was that there was no crowd pressing out of the CR as there must have been leaving the MK after the fireworks were over. Did Wishes make me cry? Of course it did, you silly! It was beautiful! The kids stayed awake for the boat back to WL and fed pizza crust to the ducks on the CR's dock. They had napped from 6 PM to 7:30 so they were still good to go. A few minutes of cartoons back in the room and they were asleep again! I snuck down to the gift shop to get an Aurora doll for DD. DH had snuck and bought a Buzz doll for DS while we were on the AstroOrbiter earlier in the day. We set them up next to the kids' pillows, reviewed the next day's notes and went to bed ourselves.
Next day (Wednesday) MGM!
Have a great day everyone!
I laid the clothes out for Tuesday morning, gave DH my notes to study, I mean, read, and then I went to bed.
We woke early again and got right up to get ready. Our ADRs for CRT were at 8:25 AM. I know there are a lot of people knocking CRT right now and pushing Akershus (did I spell that right?) but I did feel that for first timers eating in the castle was a must. And we had the dining plan. And agree with my choice or not, but we paid for all the kids meals OOP and used the extra credits to eat at CRT for breakfast and Cali Grill for dinner - all on the same day!!! So off to the castle we headed.
For the record, DH's intestinal problems.......still were a problem. He was holding up well but it was taking its toll on him. I was just thankful that none of the rest of us were affected. A testimony I guess to how many times a day two dentists on vacation wash their hands - and how often they make the kids wash too!!
We got to the WL boat dock early, and found out that there were no boats to the MK until 8:30! Five minutes after our ADR! Man, I thought these boats were convenient, until we actually had to use them. 2 days at the MK and 2 days of no boats. Granted, Sunday was on account of fog, but I was going nuts. Then along came our savior! There was a boat captain training another on docking and they told us they would take us to the CR and we could catch the monorail. So again we schlep the stroller and the kids up into the CR, up the escalators (still didn't find the elevator) to the monorail. Fine, we were able to roll right onto it. And then we got moving. Or so we thought.
Let me go on record here that we will never stay at the CR. Aside from the fact that I don't like the look of the place, I can't see the point in staying on the monorail when you have to make so many stops to get to the MK anyway! We stopped at the Poly and stayed stopped for at least five minutes (and yes, I did time it - kept asking Dh what his watch said) Seemed like we were about to leave and another family would come out so we would wait for them. Then same thing at the GF. Then we sat on the track between the GF and the MK for over 10 minutes! Just sat there. One time they announced that the train in front of us needed to clear and then we moved all of 50 feet and stopped again. Seriously, I have read the trip report about the buses, but we were on the monorail for over half and hour to go from the CR to the MK. IMO, ridiculous. Saves me a bunch of $ in the long run as the monorail no longer has a mystique or appeal to me at all. The volcano pool on the other hand... I may just have to get there some day!
So we didn't have the leisurely time walking into the MK like we had planned. We were already late for our ADR.
DD had her photo with Cinderella. She had refused to let us wash the facepainting off so a little of it remained that we tried to make look the best we could. She wore her Belle dress from home. We had brought all her dresses: Belle, Cinderella, Tinkerbelle, Aurora and even though she claimed Aurora was her favorite, she wore Belle. The photo with Cinderella came out ok. My one complaint about CRT is that it is like Cinderella is held hostage there and you need to pay ransom to see her! Too bad she isn't available elsewhere to visit...
Breakfast was good. DS was free (yeah! This and all the free Beverly you can drink had el cheapo (err, DH) very happy!) and DD ate well. I had the healthy breakfast of yogurt, granola and fruit. The bowl was HUGE, the bananas were deliciously caramelized and the whole dish was quite nice. DH had the regular breakfast and a second serving too. Just what the Dr ordered for the upset tummy. No problems for him though! He just carried on. We had good visits with all of the princesses, Snow White, Aurora and Belle. DS had a good time with the magic wand. He is in the habit of walking around our house with a pencil (Unsharpened, please don't call child services!) and using it as a wand, saying Poof at everyone. So he was glad to have the wand to play with. Daddy was glad too as he was beaten over the head with it repeatedly!
DH bolted out to ride Space Mountain, since none of the rest of us could go on it. I thought we were almost finished up, but as I was packing the kids up they announced the wishing ceremony would start in a few minutes. There was no way we could get out of there once they said that. So we waited for the ceremony. I waited, somewhat panicked. See, when we were just talking about a third child last September, DD announced that she only wanted a sister. We tried to explain that IF we decided to have one and IF we were lucky enough to have one THEN we didn't quibble about the gender, we were just happy to have a new baby. Then we went on a week's trip to Colorado without the kids. Left them with DMIL and FIL for a week. And when I returned DD told me that she and Nana had talked and they both decided they would be mad at me if I had another boy baby. Nice. Then we book the Disney trip and start planning. Find out we are PG, tell the kids, have the ultrasound and its a boy. DD announces that she is going to go to Disney and wish on a wishing star for a baby sister. Here we are at CRT and they hand the kid a wishing star and give the thing a %*$@ ceremony too! If ever there was a tense Mom at Disney, you should have seen me right then! Yadda, yadda, yadda, the ceremony was cute. Feigning disinterest I casually ask DD on our way out of the castle what she wished for. My palms are sweaty, my head is spinning as I think about her coming into the hospital room this summer, opening the baby's diaper and screaming that she wished for a girl baby and magic isn't real! She turns to me and answers 'an Aurora doll'. That's it? I'm thinking. Done. She couldn't have answered better and I made up my mind that she would wake up next to an Aurora doll the next morning. If for no other reason than to be able to tell her she had used her wish and would not be able to wish for a baby sister since she already got the doll!
DH called on the cell phone with a 'where are you?' so I told him to FP Buzz and we hustled over to him. There was little line so we walked on to Buzz,maybe 3 minutes wait. What a great ride! We all loved it! DH and I are a little competitive, so this was right up our alley! We got off and walked right back on again! Awesome! I could handle waiting for food if the ride lines stayed like this! Love you, TGM!!!! The kids and I went on the AstroOrbiter as DH took a potty break. We headed back to the center of the park to watch the Sword in the Stone ceremony. I discussed with DD that she might not get picked to try the sword. Just trying to head off another Turtle Talk meltdown. Merlin chose a young girl with a cast on her arm and DD turned to me and said "I think she needed a turn since she has a big ****oo" That is more like the DD we know! It was worth seeing and a cute good show. We hit Cinderellabration next and that too was good to see. We had a good view. It was horribly hot! At first I grabbed some paper towels from the bathroom when I was in there and soaked them. I put them on DH's neck to keep him from melting. We let DD use $17 of her spending $ on a water bottle squirter thing. Worth every penny! It kept us all cool and kept the kids entertained. We went to Splash and BTMR since they were such hits a couple of days ago. Still big hits today. DS slept in the stroller and I people watched, and tried to get a photo of DH and DD coming down Splash. No luck! It was too hard trying to judge when they would be coming and the wall was awfully high. I'm only 5'1" after all! Still blazing hot so we played in the water in the Tiki Fountains in Adventureland. Things like that were as much fun for us as the big rides were.
We stopped for a legendary Dole Whip to eat on our way out of the park. DD whined that she doesn't like pineapple - can you say, more for me? So we got the kids an orange popsicle to split. I got a float and DH got the other thing and we made our way out of the MK. Here I got a little grumpy. Now I know DH wasn't 100%, but he was the one eating two servings of CRT breakfast, wasn't he? And I know it was hot, but don't you think I was hot too? So I got to push the stroller with both kids in it AND carry the backpack and watch sadly as my DoleWhip melted in the Graco Duoglider's very convenient cupholder while the rest of my family enjoyed their frosty treats. A moment of pity for me please.
Ok, I'm better now. I snapped at DH just as we were exiting and he had finished his DoleWhip and reached for mine. I was having no more of it. His response is best summed up by this picture taken on the boat 4 minutes later.
We returned to the WL and took a dip in the pool. I left management of the munchkins to DH and swam a little by myself which made me feel better. I can still say that the three days we spent at CBR without DH weren't really that hard to manage, but it was tough holding DS in the pool the whole time and trying to take care of DD too. I let DH gain a little appreciation of that fact.
We got dressed and took the boat to the CR for dinner at the CG. We had an early reservation at 6 PM thinking the kids wouldn't be able to eat much later than that. It was a nightmare checking in downstairs and then being sent upstairs. The CM downstairs was clueless, didn't know what to do with us. There were 3 parties whose reservation cards he couldn't seem to find and he sent us up in the elevator without them, couldn't get the elevator to work, it was a mess. The kids fell asleep in the stroller. We got upstairs and things ran more smoothly. We had a table over near the sushi bar adn a great waiter named Bill. He is also a sommelier which was great as DH and I have taken a couple of wine courses and DH really wanted some nice wines with this meal. The kids? Sleeping in the stroller. We decided to make the best of it and let them sleep! I had the lobster/artichoke salad (amazing!) the something something steak (excellent) and the heirloom Braeburn apple tart (so flaky that Anna Nicole Smith could have taken a lesson from it!) DH had the Yoshi's deluxe sushi platter (wonderful!) rack of lamb (awesome) and something chocolate. I held DS while I ate dessert and it just felt so nice to snuggle the little angel while we sat there.
The kids ate pizza on the observation deck, danced and were repeatedly herded away from a younger couple with no kids that was trying to have a romantic moment at dusk. The view from up there is amazing!
Next day (Wednesday) MGM!
Have a great day everyone!
kaysmommie
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2006
- Messages
- 6,861
Love your trip report! We stayed at WL our first 2 trips to Disney with DD and it was perfect. Now we have DS 2 and we are trying Poly so we have more space. Did you use your Duoglider or get a new stroller? I"m trying to decide about this for our trip. DD is almost 6 but very small and DS just turned 2, so I don't want to buy another stroller either. DH wanted to stay at WL but I was worried about DS and the sleeping situation. We figured the daybed would be great at Poly. Your kids are adorable!
scrappinmom
WDW, DL & DLP - up next ???
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2005
- Messages
- 3,811
I just have to say that I LOVE your trip report! It's folks like you that make ME feel unworthy!!! OMG your report is AWESOME!!! Can't wait to read more!
pooksma
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2005
- Messages
- 3,375
Loved this installment too! I can completly relate to the "ice cream meltdown". I had one at AK just after seeing FOTLK and heading out of the park. We did the same-Mom had a little nap before supper and chilled out.
And things were much happier for all
And things were much happier for all
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