strawberryblonde
<font color=red>"We wants the redhead!!!!"<br><fon
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2002
- Messages
- 1,396
April 8 + 9 2003
MIL: 60 with knee trouble
me: 33 SAHM
DH: 32 JAG
DS: 6 homeschooled
DD: 3 loves Minnie and Princesses
My MIL could not join us for our week long trip with our extended family last month. She is a school teacher and came to spend her spring break with us. She wanted to spend two days at WDW so we drove down from AL on Monday and back again on Thursday. I was hoping for fewer crowds on Tues. and Wed. and I do think this worked out for us.
We checked into CR around 6 pm Monday night. No waiting in the check out line
and our request for connecting rooms was met 
. We had rented a wheelchair for MIL from Care Medical and it was waiting there for us - great service ( $35 for our stay). We unpacked and changed our clothes. DD wanted to know where her cousins were (they had met us at WDW last month, and stayed a few doors down) and kept an eye out for them the entire trip. We had PS's for CG at 9pm (couldn't get them for earlier) but we went earlier just in case. Fireworks were at 8:30pm at MK and we went out onto the deck to watch them. They beeped us about 5 min. before the fireworks to seat us. We were given the choice of being seated then or after so we stayed on deck. Dinner was wonderful and strawberry shortcake was on the menu. Biscuit type cake, fresh berries, real whipped cream and a scoop of ice-cream as well - delicious! After dinner we did some shopping in the gift shops on the 4th floor. I put in a wake up request on both phones for 7AM for the next morning.
TUES MORNING:
Mickey woke us at 7AM and we were ready to roll at 7:45AM. We had the kids in the double stroller and MIL in the wheelchair, fast walked over to the MK. Arrived just as they were letting those with PS's in. We showed our PS for CRT (8:05AM) and were on our way. We paused to take a quick pic in front of the castle, the kids look quite sleepy in this pic BTW
. We were seated with no wait at a table for 6 near the windows. MIL loved this breakfast!! She took pics of each princess with the kids. Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Mary Poppins all came by to say "hi". We were done just after 9 AM and went staight for Dumbo. I didn't know they had alternate access for wheelchairs so MIL stayed near the exit while I took the kids through line thinking she could join us when we got to the front of the line. CM's redirected her (and DH who was pushing her) to the handicapped entrance where she then waited for us to get through the line. DS rode with grandma and DD rode with me, DH took pics. Next was Pooh, and we all fit in one hunny pot. Line for Pooh was much shorter than Dumbo, no waiting, MIL got out of wheelchair for this one and walked through the reg. line. We took a restroom break and put sunscreen on everyone. DD took off her princess dress at this time, she had shorts outfit underneath. We rode Peter Pan next going through the reg. line with very little wait. MIL knees starting to hurt her now so we wheeled her over to look at hats and she bought a visor. We went over to ToonTown next and took the kids on Barnstormer coaster. This is the only "thrill" ride DD is tall enough for. She loves it when they measure her and she is big enough. We wheeled MIL through Minnie's house next and then did some shopping in the main shop there (MIL loves to shop). I took DD in line to see Minnie but the line stopped moving (must have been a break), I didn't want the others to have to wait so we left the line. We had Chef Mickeys planned for Thurs. morning so I knew she would get to see Minnie before the trip was over. We got a FP for Buzz and rode TTA while waiting for our time to come up. We would have pulled a FP earlier but this was the first we knew of DS's desire to ride Buzz as his top ride. He had chosen Test Track at Epcot to be his top ride of the day, but changed his mind. We were on Buzz by noon and everyone enjoyed this. We left MK now (pin trading as we went and MIL bought a toy for each child).
We walked to CR and piled into our Suburban, drove to BC and ate at BeachesnCream for lunch. I had 3 Q+C vouchers left, which covered the 5 of us quite nicely. We ordered one kitchen sink which MIL got a big kick out of. We walked to Epcot and DH ran ahead to get FP's for TT - out of them already
- it was nearly 3 pm though. We saw Off Kilter. We went into FW and walked onto "Figment" ride. Played around with the interactive things and emailed home pics of the kids as kitties and tigers ect. Took pics in front of the fountain (this is where DH lost our camera and his squeeze breeze) and went through Space Station Cool. I tried the China watermelon drink, tasty. I told everyone NOT to try the Beverly, of course DH had to . He said it tasted like the worst part of the grapefruit. We went into "Mexico" and rode the boat ride. We looked around each country and shopped alittle. We rode the boat ride in "Norway". Pin traded as well. Had 7pm PS's for Marakesh. DS got his pic taken with Jafar on our way to the restaurant. I had the vegetable couscous and it was very good in a healthy way, kids liked it as well. DS enjoyed the belly dancer (he is "into" belly buttons). It was about 8:30 pm when we were done and it was dark outside. I put glow necklaces on the kids and we found a spot on the bridge between "France" and "Britain". The boats below us were enjoying wonderful weather - warm and sultry - for a cruise. MIL had never seen anything like Illuminations before. Kids enjoyed it even though it was their third time. We walked back through the international gateway and looked around the BC and YC before driving to CR for the night. I would like to stay there for a future trip.
WED. :
Not as hot today, in fact rain looks likely. We packed umbrellas and ponchos and drove to AK arriving about 8:50am. I didn't see any "Awakening" and there were no characters about
. We made our way towards Camp Minnie Mickey with plans to see the Lion King show (9:50am) first. We stopped to take pics with Lilo and Stitch. The kids have not met them before and just loved them, so playful. There wasn't a professional photographer here though and I really wanted a prof. pic. done with these two characters which meant we would still need to stand in line at MGM later today. My DH had run ahead to get FP's for the Safari ride. He met back up with us and we pin traded while waiting to enter the Lion King show. Excellent show but not as good for kids as I had read about. My DS thought the show was "pre-entertainment" for us as we waited for the "real" show to start. Come to find out, he was remembering the Lion King puppet show that used to be at MK. He was very down in the mouth that "little Simba" was not in the show. Who knew? Show was over around 10:15am and our FP's were good until 10:45am. We made a quick rest stop and then made our way to the Safari ride. We did a bit of pin trading on our way 
(insert me frantically trying to "mush" DH). We had no need of FP as the line was nearly non-existent. We were sitting in the back for this one and really bounced around - Whee fun!! The rain poured on us a bit on our way out of AK. We had 12 noon PS's at MGM that we needed to meet so we didn't dally much. We did stop to admire Wes Palm ( "I guess I'll go plant myself over here", "Oh look, my own personal parade" as people filed past him)
The line to get into MGM before noon was huge. There were only 3 bag checkers and they were being very careful. My MIL and DH left me all of their bags and went on ahead to meet our PS's at the Sci-Fi drive in. I was in line for at least 20 min. I must have set off a red flag because I was gone over with a fine tooth comb. My MIL's purse alone had umteen zippers...... . Meanwhile the kids are knocking their squeeze breezes into each other and fussing. Had we been on our own, I would have taken them back to the resort for a swim and nap. This was MIL's one and only trip though, so we carried on. By the time we showed up to the restaurant, we were being seated and the airconditioning felt so good. The kids got happy right off and ate up Mickey pasta and fries. They didn't have the tomato sauce anymore so tossed the pasta with garlic and olive oil which the kids liked. I had our glow ice cubes from last trip and I popped those into their apple juice cups. DD finished eating long before the others so I took her outside to play on the car. She was wearing her Minnie Mouse dress and she made friends with a little girl and conned her way into a few of their family photos, lol. DD and I got in line for Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc. . They announced they would be taking a 10 min. break, most of the line left, leaving us third in line. The rest of our family made it out of the restaunant in time so DS could meet them as well. They have not hugged these characters before and were so delighted to meet them (this was an unplanned thing). A professional photographer was there and I planned on buying one of these photos. Next we went to see Lilo and Stitch. This was part of my plan, and we had until 2:15pm . We got there about 2 and were the last people the let into line
. Didn't realize we were cutting it that close. The kids were just as excited to see them again even though they had just met them this morning. The photographer gave us the slip and I was happy to have two different poses to buy. Next, we beat feet to the Beauty and the Beast show (2:45pm) the first showing of the day. We showed up about 20 min. early which was pushing it. We got sat in the last wheelchair space (in the back, not great view), there were some general seating left but not many. Wonderful show, such pretty colors. DD was glued the entire time, she loves songs and music. This is where I had planned to run back over to AK to see their 4pm parade and eat dinner at Boma at 5 pm, then come back to MGM for 8:30 pm fantasmic. I told my DH that it had taken too long to park hop and I didn't think I could push it. We decided to stay at MGM and give up Boma (my DH's favorite restaurant on property) and the AK parade (which we have never seen) and see the MGM parade yet again (we have now seen it three times in four months). We stood in stand by for Little Mermaid show. We would have had FPs had we planned on staying at this park but we got in anyway, just had to wait through one show. DD fell right asleep in line and slept through the show (I did not try to wake her, she has seen this show before). MIL liked this show, but not near as well as B+B. We were done about 4:30pm and parade was at 5 so I "mushed" my family over to the front of Radio Disney. I knew the benches would be taken, but figured we might find some shade and sure enough. Front row seats in the shade for our wheelchair and stroller, DH and I sat on the ground by our stroller's front wheel. DH went and got FP's for Star Tours and frozen treats for all of us. I woke DD as the first float went by. She was happy after her 1 1/2 hour nap and didn't care that she had seen this parade before, she waved and smiled like the first time. DS also had not tired of this parade and waved his hand off. The motorcycles were missing from the parade this time, don't know if it is a cut back or not. It was time for our FP's so we rode Star Tours. Turns out you don't use the FP line when you have a wheelchair, so the FP's were uneeded. This was DD's first time on this ride. She was fine but did not love it, she would chose not to ride again. Next we went over to Mickey Avenue and got the kids professional pic taken with Mickey Mouse. They can't get enough of him. We had a group photo taken as well. We were last in line again before they put up the rope. Now it was time for our 6:10 ressie at Brown Derby. I had the tofu noodle bowl and grapefruit cake - yum! It poured rain while we were eating. We came outside to find our stroller soaked. We left it parked there and walked to Fantasmic. We were seated about 40 min. before show time. Wheelchair seating isn't the greatest but it isn't bad. There were still lots of places to sit left. 10 min. before showtime there were still seats left along the edges. I gave my kids glow sticks and sent my DH to buy us caramel corn in a bucket. I didn't send him soon enough though and they were sold out . That is good caramel corn, buy some if you get the chance. DD sat on my lap and I hid her under my coat during the scary parts and covered her ears. She would play with her glow stick in her "tent". She loves the happy parts, especially at the end. We walked out with the crowd and went to get our stroller at BD. It had been moved by security, so this might not be such a good plan
. We went to check on our pics and I was very dissapointed. The pic with Mike and Sully was the worst, kids weren't looking at camera, got the back of DS's head even. The one with Lilo and Stitch, the kids looked so good but they and the characters were not looking at the camera, I bought this one anyway, because they all looked so happy, but not well done. The Mickey pics, on the otherhand, were very well done. We bought both the group shot and the one of just the kids. That photographer did an excellent job. My advice would be to micromanage the photographer. Make sure they take another shot if you think your kids may have not been looking. It looked that way to me, but I thought they must know what they are doing, I was wrong. Just as the kids climbed into our claimed stroller, it started to pour rain again. We ran for the car. We did alittle pin trading back at the CR and then to bed.
Thurs. morning:
We packed up and loaded up the car. I called the main lost and found and was on hold for over a half an hour to find out if they had our camera. They thought they had it, yeah
! We had PS's for Chef Mickey's at 10:15am. We were seated in the main room and really enjoyed ourselves. We got some great pics with the characters and the napkin waving. We drove to Lost and Found and they did indeed have our camera 
, they also had our squeeze breeze Next, we went to DTD. Bought some last minute things (got me a wooden frame) at World of Disney and some custom pins at the pin store. We dropped off the wheelchair at the Key West Resort. Care Medical had told me we could do that instead of driving all the way back to CR. Thumbs up for Care Medical. Sad farewell to WDW. Don't know when we will be back. Perhaps in five to six years. We do have a Disney cruise planned for next year and we may make it to Disneyland CA in the next few years. Kids outgrow the characters so quickly, I want to make it back for one more magical trip. Hope this wasn't too long........
MIL: 60 with knee trouble
me: 33 SAHM
DH: 32 JAG
DS: 6 homeschooled
DD: 3 loves Minnie and Princesses
My MIL could not join us for our week long trip with our extended family last month. She is a school teacher and came to spend her spring break with us. She wanted to spend two days at WDW so we drove down from AL on Monday and back again on Thursday. I was hoping for fewer crowds on Tues. and Wed. and I do think this worked out for us.
We checked into CR around 6 pm Monday night. No waiting in the check out line
and our request for connecting rooms was met . We had rented a wheelchair for MIL from Care Medical and it was waiting there for us - great service ( $35 for our stay). We unpacked and changed our clothes. DD wanted to know where her cousins were (they had met us at WDW last month, and stayed a few doors down) and kept an eye out for them the entire trip. We had PS's for CG at 9pm (couldn't get them for earlier) but we went earlier just in case. Fireworks were at 8:30pm at MK and we went out onto the deck to watch them. They beeped us about 5 min. before the fireworks to seat us. We were given the choice of being seated then or after so we stayed on deck. Dinner was wonderful and strawberry shortcake was on the menu. Biscuit type cake, fresh berries, real whipped cream and a scoop of ice-cream as well - delicious! After dinner we did some shopping in the gift shops on the 4th floor. I put in a wake up request on both phones for 7AM for the next morning.TUES MORNING:
Mickey woke us at 7AM and we were ready to roll at 7:45AM. We had the kids in the double stroller and MIL in the wheelchair, fast walked over to the MK. Arrived just as they were letting those with PS's in. We showed our PS for CRT (8:05AM) and were on our way. We paused to take a quick pic in front of the castle, the kids look quite sleepy in this pic BTW
. We were seated with no wait at a table for 6 near the windows. MIL loved this breakfast!! She took pics of each princess with the kids. Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Mary Poppins all came by to say "hi". We were done just after 9 AM and went staight for Dumbo. I didn't know they had alternate access for wheelchairs so MIL stayed near the exit while I took the kids through line thinking she could join us when we got to the front of the line. CM's redirected her (and DH who was pushing her) to the handicapped entrance where she then waited for us to get through the line. DS rode with grandma and DD rode with me, DH took pics. Next was Pooh, and we all fit in one hunny pot. Line for Pooh was much shorter than Dumbo, no waiting, MIL got out of wheelchair for this one and walked through the reg. line. We took a restroom break and put sunscreen on everyone. DD took off her princess dress at this time, she had shorts outfit underneath. We rode Peter Pan next going through the reg. line with very little wait. MIL knees starting to hurt her now so we wheeled her over to look at hats and she bought a visor. We went over to ToonTown next and took the kids on Barnstormer coaster. This is the only "thrill" ride DD is tall enough for. She loves it when they measure her and she is big enough. We wheeled MIL through Minnie's house next and then did some shopping in the main shop there (MIL loves to shop). I took DD in line to see Minnie but the line stopped moving (must have been a break), I didn't want the others to have to wait so we left the line. We had Chef Mickeys planned for Thurs. morning so I knew she would get to see Minnie before the trip was over. We got a FP for Buzz and rode TTA while waiting for our time to come up. We would have pulled a FP earlier but this was the first we knew of DS's desire to ride Buzz as his top ride. He had chosen Test Track at Epcot to be his top ride of the day, but changed his mind. We were on Buzz by noon and everyone enjoyed this. We left MK now (pin trading as we went and MIL bought a toy for each child).We walked to CR and piled into our Suburban, drove to BC and ate at BeachesnCream for lunch. I had 3 Q+C vouchers left, which covered the 5 of us quite nicely. We ordered one kitchen sink which MIL got a big kick out of. We walked to Epcot and DH ran ahead to get FP's for TT - out of them already
- it was nearly 3 pm though. We saw Off Kilter. We went into FW and walked onto "Figment" ride. Played around with the interactive things and emailed home pics of the kids as kitties and tigers ect. Took pics in front of the fountain (this is where DH lost our camera and his squeeze breeze) and went through Space Station Cool. I tried the China watermelon drink, tasty. I told everyone NOT to try the Beverly, of course DH had to . He said it tasted like the worst part of the grapefruit. We went into "Mexico" and rode the boat ride. We looked around each country and shopped alittle. We rode the boat ride in "Norway". Pin traded as well. Had 7pm PS's for Marakesh. DS got his pic taken with Jafar on our way to the restaurant. I had the vegetable couscous and it was very good in a healthy way, kids liked it as well. DS enjoyed the belly dancer (he is "into" belly buttons). It was about 8:30 pm when we were done and it was dark outside. I put glow necklaces on the kids and we found a spot on the bridge between "France" and "Britain". The boats below us were enjoying wonderful weather - warm and sultry - for a cruise. MIL had never seen anything like Illuminations before. Kids enjoyed it even though it was their third time. We walked back through the international gateway and looked around the BC and YC before driving to CR for the night. I would like to stay there for a future trip.WED. :
Not as hot today, in fact rain looks likely. We packed umbrellas and ponchos and drove to AK arriving about 8:50am. I didn't see any "Awakening" and there were no characters about
. We made our way towards Camp Minnie Mickey with plans to see the Lion King show (9:50am) first. We stopped to take pics with Lilo and Stitch. The kids have not met them before and just loved them, so playful. There wasn't a professional photographer here though and I really wanted a prof. pic. done with these two characters which meant we would still need to stand in line at MGM later today. My DH had run ahead to get FP's for the Safari ride. He met back up with us and we pin traded while waiting to enter the Lion King show. Excellent show but not as good for kids as I had read about. My DS thought the show was "pre-entertainment" for us as we waited for the "real" show to start. Come to find out, he was remembering the Lion King puppet show that used to be at MK. He was very down in the mouth that "little Simba" was not in the show. Who knew? Show was over around 10:15am and our FP's were good until 10:45am. We made a quick rest stop and then made our way to the Safari ride. We did a bit of pin trading on our way (insert me frantically trying to "mush" DH). We had no need of FP as the line was nearly non-existent. We were sitting in the back for this one and really bounced around - Whee fun!! The rain poured on us a bit on our way out of AK. We had 12 noon PS's at MGM that we needed to meet so we didn't dally much. We did stop to admire Wes Palm ( "I guess I'll go plant myself over here", "Oh look, my own personal parade" as people filed past him)The line to get into MGM before noon was huge. There were only 3 bag checkers and they were being very careful. My MIL and DH left me all of their bags and went on ahead to meet our PS's at the Sci-Fi drive in. I was in line for at least 20 min. I must have set off a red flag because I was gone over with a fine tooth comb. My MIL's purse alone had umteen zippers......
. Meanwhile the kids are knocking their squeeze breezes into each other and fussing. Had we been on our own, I would have taken them back to the resort for a swim and nap. This was MIL's one and only trip though, so we carried on. By the time we showed up to the restaurant, we were being seated and the airconditioning felt so good. The kids got happy right off and ate up Mickey pasta and fries. They didn't have the tomato sauce anymore so tossed the pasta with garlic and olive oil which the kids liked. I had our glow ice cubes from last trip and I popped those into their apple juice cups. DD finished eating long before the others so I took her outside to play on the car. She was wearing her Minnie Mouse dress and she made friends with a little girl and conned her way into a few of their family photos, lol. DD and I got in line for Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc. . They announced they would be taking a 10 min. break, most of the line left, leaving us third in line. The rest of our family made it out of the restaunant in time so DS could meet them as well. They have not hugged these characters before and were so delighted to meet them (this was an unplanned thing). A professional photographer was there and I planned on buying one of these photos. Next we went to see Lilo and Stitch. This was part of my plan, and we had until 2:15pm . We got there about 2 and were the last people the let into line . Didn't realize we were cutting it that close. The kids were just as excited to see them again even though they had just met them this morning. The photographer gave us the slip and I was happy to have two different poses to buy. Next, we beat feet to the Beauty and the Beast show (2:45pm) the first showing of the day. We showed up about 20 min. early which was pushing it. We got sat in the last wheelchair space (in the back, not great view), there were some general seating left but not many. Wonderful show, such pretty colors. DD was glued the entire time, she loves songs and music. This is where I had planned to run back over to AK to see their 4pm parade and eat dinner at Boma at 5 pm, then come back to MGM for 8:30 pm fantasmic. I told my DH that it had taken too long to park hop and I didn't think I could push it. We decided to stay at MGM and give up Boma (my DH's favorite restaurant on property) and the AK parade (which we have never seen) and see the MGM parade yet again (we have now seen it three times in four months). We stood in stand by for Little Mermaid show. We would have had FPs had we planned on staying at this park but we got in anyway, just had to wait through one show. DD fell right asleep in line and slept through the show (I did not try to wake her, she has seen this show before). MIL liked this show, but not near as well as B+B. We were done about 4:30pm and parade was at 5 so I "mushed" my family over to the front of Radio Disney. I knew the benches would be taken, but figured we might find some shade and sure enough. Front row seats in the shade for our wheelchair and stroller, DH and I sat on the ground by our stroller's front wheel. DH went and got FP's for Star Tours and frozen treats for all of us. I woke DD as the first float went by. She was happy after her 1 1/2 hour nap and didn't care that she had seen this parade before, she waved and smiled like the first time. DS also had not tired of this parade and waved his hand off. The motorcycles were missing from the parade this time, don't know if it is a cut back or not. It was time for our FP's so we rode Star Tours. Turns out you don't use the FP line when you have a wheelchair, so the FP's were uneeded. This was DD's first time on this ride. She was fine but did not love it, she would chose not to ride again. Next we went over to Mickey Avenue and got the kids professional pic taken with Mickey Mouse. They can't get enough of him. We had a group photo taken as well. We were last in line again before they put up the rope. Now it was time for our 6:10 ressie at Brown Derby. I had the tofu noodle bowl and grapefruit cake - yum! It poured rain while we were eating. We came outside to find our stroller soaked. We left it parked there and walked to Fantasmic. We were seated about 40 min. before show time. Wheelchair seating isn't the greatest but it isn't bad. There were still lots of places to sit left. 10 min. before showtime there were still seats left along the edges. I gave my kids glow sticks and sent my DH to buy us caramel corn in a bucket. I didn't send him soon enough though and they were sold out . That is good caramel corn, buy some if you get the chance. DD sat on my lap and I hid her under my coat during the scary parts and covered her ears. She would play with her glow stick in her "tent". She loves the happy parts, especially at the end. We walked out with the crowd and went to get our stroller at BD. It had been moved by security, so this might not be such a good plan . We went to check on our pics and I was very dissapointed. The pic with Mike and Sully was the worst, kids weren't looking at camera, got the back of DS's head even. The one with Lilo and Stitch, the kids looked so good but they and the characters were not looking at the camera, I bought this one anyway, because they all looked so happy, but not well done. The Mickey pics, on the otherhand, were very well done. We bought both the group shot and the one of just the kids. That photographer did an excellent job. My advice would be to micromanage the photographer. Make sure they take another shot if you think your kids may have not been looking. It looked that way to me, but I thought they must know what they are doing, I was wrong. Just as the kids climbed into our claimed stroller, it started to pour rain again. We ran for the car. We did alittle pin trading back at the CR and then to bed.Thurs. morning:
We packed up and loaded up the car. I called the main lost and found and was on hold for over a half an hour to find out if they had our camera. They thought they had it, yeah
! We had PS's for Chef Mickey's at 10:15am. We were seated in the main room and really enjoyed ourselves. We got some great pics with the characters and the napkin waving. We drove to Lost and Found and they did indeed have our camera , they also had our squeeze breeze Next, we went to DTD. Bought some last minute things (got me a wooden frame) at World of Disney and some custom pins at the pin store. We dropped off the wheelchair at the Key West Resort. Care Medical had told me we could do that instead of driving all the way back to CR. Thumbs up for Care Medical. Sad farewell to WDW. Don't know when we will be back. Perhaps in five to six years. We do have a Disney cruise planned for next year and we may make it to Disneyland CA in the next few years. Kids outgrow the characters so quickly, I want to make it back for one more magical trip. Hope this wasn't too long........
