~ A 21 month old, a celebrity sighting, & a whole lotta food~2 week trip~ 2/28 update

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

Just found you and read through in one sitting!! Great so far! Can't wait for more. Dylan is adorable!

 

[Raecheal]

Great update as usual, Don't worry a bout the mini-meltdown...I have one at least once a day in WDW.

Dylan sitting outside on the patio with his blanket and book is absolutely adorable.. how sweet of him.

That pasta dish looks delicious.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Just a quick update. I have had quite a few crazy days in a row, and I really need to do an update but I haven’t had time. I work at a high school and last week was Registration for the upcoming school year. It is generally my hardest week of the year because we have 1,700 kids in our school and I am the only one that handles the money for ASB cards, yearbooks, PE clothes, etc. So needless to say that I get slammed with a lot of work in a short amount of time. I am also in charge of organizing all of the student helpers and making sure that things run smoothly. I have been working tons of overtime and this week has been just as hard because we are enrolling all of the new students. We also have a parking situation on our hands….as in, we don’t have enough of it on campus for all of the student drivers. So every year it is a BIG ordeal for the kids to get a parking permit, figure out what lot they are parking in, and I get questions like “why can’t I park in the same lot as my friend?”, “I should get to park where I want because I’m a Senior”, Etc etc. Once again, I’m the only person who is responsible for all of the chaos. I’m wiped out and school starts next Monday!

Also, we had something come up in my family a couple of days ago that is quite shocking. Everyone is fine. I’m not ready to share the details yet because it is too new, and I’m not sure what is going to happen. It is on my mom’s side of the family and the last 48 hours have been a whirlwind of phone calls & emails between lots of people. The thing is, this situation could end up being a really great thing. It will just take some time for everyone to get used to everything. I know that this is all very cryptic but it’s not really my place to share until other people make some decisions. Anyways, I would appreciate any prayers if you think about it, since it has shaken us all up a little bit. Thanks everyone!

So, I’m sorry because I am getting behind on my updates, and if I am reading your TRs, I’m behind on those too! Hopefully over the weekend I will have some more time to devote to the DIS.

Alison

 

[sugar1967]

I have been following along and enjoying your TR. So sorry/happy?? about your news - it is unclear as to which it is but am thinking about you and yours and keeping you in my thoughts !!! Hope everything turns out good and looking forward to the rest of your adventures.

 

[SunnieRN]

Prayers heading your families way!!:

 

[DreaGirl]

Positive thoughts being sent to your family. I hope things work out for the best for everyone involved.

What a headache!! I do not envy you at all with the money stuff. I hope this/next week goes by quickly and as smoothly as possible.

Don't worry about us, we'll be here when you get back. :

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

Alison,

That 2 weeks before school is so busy. It is hard to make that many children happy isn't it?

Hope things are ok with your family. We will wait for further word.

Ginny

 

[kmartin555]

Sending , , and to you and your family!

Hope it all works out for the best!

 

[cjackearl]

Whew, Alison, you've been busy!!! That's a lot of responsibility and work! Hope things settle down for you soon.

Here's a for the family drama, and lots of prayers also. We'll be here when you have time to update and are ready to share.

 

[tinkgurl]

Hope you are doing alright! Sounds like you've had a hectic past few days. Don't worry, we'll still be here when you get back on!

 

[MaryAz]

Wow, you have been busy! Hope it slows down soon! My oldest starts K on Mon..Thoughts and prayers for your family.

 

[sharonW]

It something getting back to reality isn't it??
Sounds like your back in a BIG way!!!Hope
all is well!

 

[*dreamit*doit*]

Wow! Well, I have been lurking on this thread and I am hooked on this trip report!! Your son is just the cutest and I noticed that you have a Graco Metrolite - the best stroller ever! Had one with DD5 and now have one for DD1. I love the pics of him with the dog; we had a similar thing w/ DD1 in February when she was 14mos. and we gave her a stuffed animal of Lady from Lady and the Tramp at World of Disney store in DTD...she wouldn't even let us take it from her to pay for it, the CM behind the register had to bend over the counter w/ the scanner and scan it in the stroller!
We were at Sheraton Vistana the second week of June but at the Vistana Villages, it sounds like you were at Vistana Resort. I can also totally relate to your mini melt down - I too am the "trip planner" and have felt like you many times where I come to a point where I have to stop being the travel agent and be a part of the vacationing party and just let go! I know it's hard though when you want to make sure everyone has a good time and there's soooo much to enjoy in soooo little time, even if it is two weeks, it doesn't ever seem like enough!
Well, I hope everything works out for the best with your latest family situation...I'll be looking forward to hearing more from you and your trip!

 

[happymommy]

Hi there! Just wanted to say I am so enjoying your TR!

I totally understand about your mini meltdown as well. As one who plans every last detail of every vacation (most of which are to WDW), I can so relate! Most things go either perfectly, or well enough to enjoy. But when ONE thing doesn't go as they plan, somehow I (we?) either are to blame, or feel we are. It's hard. I think you handled it well! I don't know if I would have been as calm!!!

Your family is beautiful - cute cute baby and husband and you have gorgeous parents! I would love to do a trip with my parents or in-laws some time, and have them see how wonderful it is at WDW and seeing it through the eyes of your child.

Oh, and loved the quiet moment on the patio of your son - how precious! As the mom on a severe ADHD son (gets better with age as far as the hyperactive part), I remember cherishing those moments! Glad you caught it on film - it was very touching.

Hope all goes well with your situation!

- Amy

 

[NYmickey]

I have been enjoying reading your TR. It is getting me excited for our trip in 13 days. I guess it is a good thing that you are reminding me and helping me prepare for the shock wave of humidity that is sure to be awaiting us! You have a beautiful family and I can't wait for the next installment of your TR, but until then I will be sending you prayers that all ends for the best with your family situation.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Yay! It’s Saturday and that means I don’t have to work. My week was still crazy at work through yesterday, so it will be nice to have 2 days off before school starts on Monday and then it will be crazy again. Also, yesterday was Todd’s birthday but we both were so busy that we are going to celebrate it today.

Family update…I’m sorry for the cryptic nature of my post from before. I just didn’t feel like I had the right to discuss it when there were others than needed to figure out what they were going to do first. I’ll try to give details as simply as possible. My uncle called my mom a few days ago and said that he had gotten a call from another relative who told him they had a brother that they never knew about. Apparently my grandfather (who died a long time ago) was married before he married my grandmother. So he had a kid with his first wife, and my mom & her brother never knew about him. I guess he didn’t know about them either until recently.

So imagine being my mom’s age (she is retiring this year) and finding out that you had a brother that you never knew about. It just shocked all of us and at the same time, after getting used to the idea, most of us got very excited about it. He has a daughter so that means I now have a new cousin! A couple of days ago, both my mom and my uncle called their new brother and both had wonderful conversations with him. A lot of details from their pasts are now falling in to place and my mom called to say how happy she was to talk to him. So it looks like this will end up having a happy ending. When I wrote earlier this week, everyone was trying to figure out if he was truly our relative and then we wanted to leave it up to my mom & uncle as to how to move forward. It was a very emotional time for everyone.

So that’s it! Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes. I think that it is going to be an amazing thing to get to know a whole section of family that we never knew about. There is a lot of history to cover! I’m looking forward to it. I will do my best to post a regular update today or tomorrow.

Just found you and read through in one sitting!! Great so far! Can't wait for more. Dylan is adorable!

Wow! I can't belive you read it all at once. What a trooper you are! Thanks for joining in.

Great update as usual, Don't worry a bout the mini-meltdown...I have one at least once a day in WDW.

Dylan sitting outside on the patio with his blanket and book is absolutely adorable.. how sweet of him.

That pasta dish looks delicious.

Ha ha. I think you had the right to have mini-meltdowns every day on your last trip! I love that picture of Dylan. When he's sitting still he can be pretty cute.

I have been following along and enjoying your TR. So sorry/happy?? about your news - it is unclear as to which it is but am thinking about you and yours and keeping you in my thoughts !!! Hope everything turns out good and looking forward to the rest of your adventures.

Welcome! Thanks so much. As I said above, it looks like everything is going to turn out great. Thanks for reading!

Prayers heading your families way!!:

Thanks so much! It was a really emotional week this last week and I appreciate your prayers.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Positive thoughts being sent to your family. I hope things work out for the best for everyone involved.

What a headache!! I do not envy you at all with the money stuff. I hope this/next week goes by quickly and as smoothly as possible.

Don't worry about us, we'll be here when you get back. :

Thanks so much. Yes, working at a school is a lot of fun, but this time of year is very stressful for me as I am the only one that handles the money. It's the same every year, so I can try to mentally prepare but it's stil hard.

Alison,

That 2 weeks before school is so busy. It is hard to make that many children happy isn't it?

Hope things are ok with your family. We will wait for further word.

Ginny

Yeah, I don't think that you can make teenagers happy (as a whole). The kids all seem to have a sense of entitlement about things and it amazes me the way they act sometimes. But, there are a lot of good kids too and that's what I try to focus on.

Sending , , and to you and your family!

Hope it all works out for the best!

Thanks so much!

Whew, Alison, you've been busy!!! That's a lot of responsibility and work! Hope things settle down for you soon.

Here's a for the family drama, and lots of prayers also. We'll be here when you have time to update and are ready to share.

Thank you. Yes, it is a lot of responsiblity, since the money is my job and if something goes wrong it is my fault, even though I have to use helpers (adults & students) just to get through the flood of people that show up for registration. It's just for a short time though, and hopefully it will calm down in the next couple of weeks.

Hope you are doing alright! Sounds like you've had a hectic past few days. Don't worry, we'll still be here when you get back on!

Thanks so much! I need to get caught up on your TR too.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Wow, you have been busy! Hope it slows down soon! My oldest starts K on Mon..Thoughts and prayers for your family.

It seems like school starts earlier every year. The summer is really only 2 months or so at this point. Thanks for your prayers.

It something getting back to reality isn't it??
Sounds like your back in a BIG way!!!Hope
all is well!

Yeah, it's much more fun to plan a vacation (and go on it!) than to deal with the stressful times at work.

Wow! Well, I have been lurking on this thread and I am hooked on this trip report!! Your son is just the cutest and I noticed that you have a Graco Metrolite - the best stroller ever! Had one with DD5 and now have one for DD1. I love the pics of him with the dog; we had a similar thing w/ DD1 in February when she was 14mos. and we gave her a stuffed animal of Lady from Lady and the Tramp at World of Disney store in DTD...she wouldn't even let us take it from her to pay for it, the CM behind the register had to bend over the counter w/ the scanner and scan it in the stroller!
We were at Sheraton Vistana the second week of June but at the Vistana Villages, it sounds like you were at Vistana Resort. I can also totally relate to your mini melt down - I too am the "trip planner" and have felt like you many times where I come to a point where I have to stop being the travel agent and be a part of the vacationing party and just let go! I know it's hard though when you want to make sure everyone has a good time and there's soooo much to enjoy in soooo little time, even if it is two weeks, it doesn't ever seem like enough!
Well, I hope everything works out for the best with your latest family situation...I'll be looking forward to hearing more from you and your trip!

Hi! Thanks for de-lurking. Yes, we LOVE our Graco stroller. It is very light & easy to use. I saw a little girl holding on to a stuffed animal in WoD just like that and the CM had to beep it over the counter too. It was so cute! I usually end up being the planner on all of our trips and yes, it is hard to let go of that role and just enjoy it. I just want everyone else to enjoy themselves too, you know?

Hi there! Just wanted to say I am so enjoying your TR!

I totally understand about your mini meltdown as well. As one who plans every last detail of every vacation (most of which are to WDW), I can so relate! Most things go either perfectly, or well enough to enjoy. But when ONE thing doesn't go as they plan, somehow I (we?) either are to blame, or feel we are. It's hard. I think you handled it well! I don't know if I would have been as calm!!!

Your family is beautiful - cute cute baby and husband and you have gorgeous parents! I would love to do a trip with my parents or in-laws some time, and have them see how wonderful it is at WDW and seeing it through the eyes of your child.

Oh, and loved the quiet moment on the patio of your son - how precious! As the mom on a severe ADHD son (gets better with age as far as the hyperactive part), I remember cherishing those moments! Glad you caught it on film - it was very touching.

Hope all goes well with your situation!

- Amy

Hi Amy! Thanks for reading. Being the planner can be rewarding but I think that it adds a lot of stress (self induced). I want everyone to be happy and I feel that pressure to make it happen. We have travelled w/ my parents before and it is nice for them to get to spend time w/ Dylan, since we live 2 hours away from them. He is growing up so fast and it is hard for them to not see him consistently.

I have been enjoying reading your TR. It is getting me excited for our trip in 13 days. I guess it is a good thing that you are reminding me and helping me prepare for the shock wave of humidity that is sure to be awaiting us! You have a beautiful family and I can't wait for the next installment of your TR, but until then I will be sending you prayers that all ends for the best with your family situation.

Yay! You have a trip just around the corner. You are so lucky. It will definitely still be hot, though, so I'm glad you are preparing for it. Even though we knew what to expect, it was hotter than we thought it would be. THanks so much for your nice comments & your prayers.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Friday, June 19, 2009

We woke up at 7:15 this morning so that we could be ready to go by 8:30. The MK opened at 9:00 and I wanted to be there close to rope drop. Once again, we didn’t leave on time. Todd and my dad talked out on the patio while Todd ate breakfast, but then it got to be 8:15 and they were still chatting away. I stuck my head out the door and told him what time it was and asked him if he could start getting ready and then wake up Dylan. He got a little annoyed with me. He said it only takes him 5 minutes to get ready. I just said I was going to need help getting Dylan ready and to get our bag for the park packed up. We always forgot how much time it took to organize our bag for the day w/ all of the cameras, water bottles, snacks, etc. Taking a small child to the park requires carrying a TON of stuff.

We finally left at about 9:05 but then we had to stop at Walgreens for some Benedryl for my mom. Grrrrr. Why is it that whenever you want to get to a park, there are all of these obstacles??

We got to the parking lot at 10:00 and we took the ferry over since there was one that was just leaving. We got through the bag check and main gate pretty quickly.

Riding the tram in.

We decided to go left into Adventureland. This is pretty typical for us whether we are at the MK or at Disneyland. We always seem to go left. This time, Space Mountain and the TTA were not operating so we felt like Tomorrowland could wait for a little while.

Some pictures on our walk

I thought this tree grouping was so pretty!

We walked by Aladdin’s Magic Carpets and saw that it was a really short line, so we got in it. We waited about 5 minutes. This was the first time we had ever ridden it, and although Dumbo is a classic, I think I liked this a little more since all 5 of us were able to ride in one car. My parents sat in front of us so that they could take pictures of the 3 of us together. We weren’t sure how Dylan would react so we kept the car really low at first until he got comfortable, then we went higher. By the end of it, you could tell that he was enjoying himself.

Waiting to get on

Next we headed over to Pirate of the Caribbean. We walked right on to the ride. Can I just say how much we love this ride? I think it is our favorite MK ride. It’s at least in the top 3. Dylan sat on my lap and looked around at everything. Then he kept pointing out all of the animals on the ride. I had never noticed how many animals are in that ride until now, thanks to him. I have to say that I like the Disneyland version better for these reasons : there are 2 drops in DL compared to the 1 in MK, the ride is much longer in DL and it feels like the boats go a lot slower there. It felt like this ride went by super fast. It was still a fun ride and the A/C was nice since it was already so warm outside.

When we got off the ride there was a pirate show going on right next to where you pick up your strollers. We didn’t stay to watch but the guy who played Jack Sparrow was running through the crowd and ran RIGHT past us. That guy really looked like Johnny Depp.

Next we went on the Jungle Cruise. The posted time was 30 minutes but it took us a little less than 25 minutes to get seated on the boat. While we were in line, Dylan just drank his juice and followed along behind Todd. He has still never tried to run away from us in line, which is something that I was concerned about. I brought all of these toys with us to keep him busy in line and I don’t think I used them more than a handful of times throughout the whole trip. He did want to climb on the railings in this line and at first I let him but then he was starting to hold up the line. So I picked him up to carry him and he started to throw a fit. We had to have a little heart-to-heart where he wisely saw the error of his ways. That’s not exactly how it happened but he calmed down after a bit. My mom took pictures of this little interaction and I just love them. You can tell by his face in the first one that he has his “I’m not listening to you” face on, and in the second one he is getting ready to give me an apology kiss.

You can really see the burn on my face in this picture

The JC was fun. We had a good skipper. He was extremely hyper and he was moving all over the front of the boat. Twice, he jumped out the side of the boat and was holding on while his whole body was hanging over the outside. He was pretty entertaining but by the time we were done I was ready to get off. He might have been a little too hyper for me! I really like the temple area of this ride. The Disneyland version does not have a temple and I like how you ride through parts of it in the dark. The tiger and the snakes are cool. Dylan liked the area with all of the elephants bathing. He likes elephants.

We had lunch at el Pirata y el Perico since it was close by and Mexican food sounded good. All of us ended up getting the taco salad and we enjoyed using the toppings bar. The taco salads are a good size and I didn’t finish all of mine. I was trying to share mine with Dylan but all he wanted to eat was tomatoes and cheese. We sat in the room that had the toppings bar in it because it was probably 10 degrees cooler in there than the rest of the rooms. It was a little louder but it was worth it to cool off for a while.

We decided to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. My parents said they would take Dylan to the Country Bear Jamboree so that we could ride by ourselves. As we walked over there we could see that the whole area by Splash Mountain and BTMRR was packed with people. We checked the line for Splash Mountain and it was 100 minutes. Todd offered to walk over to check on Big Thunder and it was an 80 minute wait. He said the line for the FP was huge and the return time was 3 hours away. By now it was getting really hot and we knew Dylan was going to need a nap soon, so we gave up on either of those rides and decided to go see the Country Bears with everyone else.

They do not have this attraction at Disneyland anymore because they got rid of it to make room for Winnie the Pooh. We used to like going to see it even though it is pretty old fashioned. There were not many people around and we waited less than 10 minutes before they opened the doors. We headed down to about the 3rd row and crossed all the way over to the end near the 3 animals up on the wall. The show started and Dylan was mesmerized. He LOVED this. His two favorite things were combined…animals & music. The animals on the wall talked first and he thought that was so cool. Every time there was a break in the music he kept looking at the moose, waiting for it to talk. He clapped along to the music and was dancing in my lap. We all had a wonderful time because we were watching him enjoy himself so much. This is another one of my favorite memories of our whole trip. I'm so glad that we were not able to ride BTMRR because we would have missed this.

Dylan playing w/ Todd before the show

His face is so funny here. I think he was stunned for a while. LOL

After the show we left the park so that Dylan could take a nap. We waited about 2 minutes for the monorail and then there was a tram just getting ready to leave when we got off the monorail. We had great luck this day with little or no wait times for most things. It was pretty hot when we left but it felt less hot today than other days. Not cooler, just less hot. Or, maybe we were just finally adjusting to it.

We dropped dad off to pick up his rental car in DTD before we went back to the condo. Dylan had fallen asleep in the car and when we got to the condo we put him down for a nap. He woke right up immediately. Todd left to go work out in the fitness room and I got Dylan up and fed him a sandwich in case he was hungry. I put him back down to nap and he refused to fall asleep. He talked, he cried, he called for daddy. It was not amusing, especially since my plan had been to sneak into our room through the patio doors and take a nap myself. He was around the corner near the bathroom so he didn’t know I was in the room with him, but he never fell back asleep. I gave up trying to nap and got him up. We started to get ready to go back to the park.

Next up….a wonderful evening at MK.

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

Ohhh the Jungle Cruise captains! One time I had one who just stood there and mumbled the jokes right after one another and didn't even stop before saying the punchline. It was HILARIOUS because he just seemed bored and knew everyone had probably heard the jokes before. I don't know if he was doing it on purpose or if he hated his job, but it was funny!

Looks like Dylan had a great morning in MK!