A new baby, six months off...and Disney? WHY NOT!!!!

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Planning – Day 3

Ok – I’m two days away from leaving, and still typing out my touring plans!!! I need to get moving here. It should be easier, since I don’t have the next few days nearly as well thought out!! (Good or bad thing???)

Up early, eat breakfast in the room – today is EMH day at DHS. Toy Story Mania, here we come! Goofy is very excited – quite the Toy Story fan. I’m a little worried about this from what I’ve been reading, though. Quite the stampede at rope drop!! I think one of us will take the kids to the stand-by line while the other gets fast passes for later. Twice should do us, since MK is the only park we’ve built a trip back to.

After that, we have Rock-N-Roller Coaster as single riders for the grown-ups as well as the Muppets show (both EMH attractions, too), the Playhouse Disney show, and finding Handy Manny on our list. After this, we’d like to hit the end of the Magic of Disney Animation. DH loves Sorcerer Mickey, so he’d like to see that character at his area. There’s also supposed to be a cut-out of Wall-E here, which Goofy will go nuts for. Once that’s done, I think we’ll grab some lunch at the Backlot Express (never been there, but has the prerequisite chicken nuggets or hot dogs) and head to the resort. I’m guessing we’ll be pretty pooped out after a late night/early morning combo.

After a nice swim/rest at the resort, we have ADRs at Whispering Canyon Café. I’ve been to Wilderness Lodge on our last trip (the girls had a “girl’s day out” of the Behind the Seeds Tour and resort-hopping) but DH hasn’t. I think the kids will be impressed, too. I’d like to get here in enough time to wander the resort. Then we’re off to eat BBQ! Now, DH is looking forward to this meal. I really was, too, especially since it’s new for us – until I remembered that Pooh’s tummy is still very touchy, and doesn’t handle barbeque all that well. I guess I can eat the roasted chicken and all the trimmings. I really do enjoy barbequed meats, though. I can probably have a little taste, but that will be it. Nursing is a wonderful way to bond with your baby. It’s healthy for both of you, and it’s loads more economical. Unfortunately, when you have a baby with a tender stomach, though, it can be problematic! I’ll just enjoy what I can. Oh, and from what I’ve read, I’m going to do everything I can to get Tink to ask for ketchup.

Our ADR this night is for 5:45. I’m hoping to still be here for some of the water parade. As a child, we always stayed at the Poly, so watching this was a tradition. We did a Grand Gathering fireworks cruise last trip, so the kids got to see it from the water last year. I’d like to watch it with them from the beach/shore/whatever it is at WL. It also depends on how fried we are. After this, we’re back to ASMo to swim (and do a load of laundry, since this will probably be the only time to do it) and chill out.

I am a technical nitwit – I’m spoiled by being married to an IT guy. The downside is that he hasn’t downloaded the pictures from the camera in a while, and I don’t know how to do it, so I can’t post the pics of Goofy perusing the MGM map. But, in the meantime (and since I haven’t posted pictures in a while), here are some firsts – Tink and Goofy’s first days of school, and Pooh’s first experience with solid foods (he actually has learned to open his mouth up for the spoon now.) Be back soon!

Tink's first day:

Goofy's first day: (Best one I have, unfortunately - he was pretty wound up!)

Pooh's first cereal:

I'm still trying to figure out why some of my pics come out full-sized, and some don't. I'm saving them all to the same # of pixels....

 

[nts4wdw]

I can't believe you will be there in two days! That mkaes for dispeople I know who are leaving this weekend. I hope Hanna won't give you any trouble. We are getting prepared here in SC because 5 out of 8 of the computer models had it headed right for us. Haven't watched the evening news for the lastest.
Your plans look great! You'll love being in MK before opening. That's on my plan for next summer. It is an awesome feeling!!
I'll try to check back in tomorrow, but if I don't, have a wonderful, magical time!!!!!!

 

[belle8306]

Fellow Crazy Disney Nut Sister-In-Law Here!
The plans look great! I am living through you this week! I have been watching the weather channel like crazy (you would think I was going). Don't stress too much about it! You guys are going to have a great time. I can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

I can't believe you will be there in two days! That mkaes for dispeople I know who are leaving this weekend. I hope Hanna won't give you any trouble. We are getting prepared here in SC because 5 out of 8 of the computer models had it headed right for us. Haven't watched the evening news for the lastest.
Your plans look great! You'll love being in MK before opening. That's on my plan for next summer. It is an awesome feeling!!
I'll try to check back in tomorrow, but if I don't, have a wonderful, magical time!!!!!!

Thanks! I'm finally gettin excited. I don't want it to hit us, but I don't want it to hit anyone else, either!!! Couldn't it just fizzle out down there somewhere??? That would be some major pixie dust...

Fellow Crazy Disney Nut Sister-In-Law Here!
The plans look great! I am living through you this week! I have been watching the weather channel like crazy (you would think I was going). Don't stress too much about it! You guys are going to have a great time. I can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks!!! I can now let myself check the NHC website more than once a day (I was actually limiting myself to once a day and trying to follow your advice) but it's Wednesday and it's time for serious crunching. We'll probably give you a buzz tomorrow night to let you know we get there! Thanks for the well-wishes (and the sympathetic ear to all the obsessive planning!!)!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Ok, it’s 5 a.m. and I’m working on my PTR!!! It also happens to be 24 hours from when I’ll be waking up to go to DISNEY!!! Hurricanes and frantic packing aside, I’m getting excited. Apparently, Pooh is too, so we’re downstairs typing at 5 a.m. DH was up until who-knows-when working on the MNSSHP shirts. They went from a simple red shirt with the Incredibles logo on them to having personalization and decals on the back, too. He spent most of the last two nights cutting out letters from transfer paper on my Cricut machine. Apparently, buying packs of iron-on letters was going to be too expensive. Two nights of being up until the wee hours of the morning later, only the back of one shirt is finished. I swear, he’s a nut!! He hasn’t packed a stich yet – and he doesn’t let me pack for him (I honestly wouldn’t know where to start). I guess he’ll be starting out a zombie for our trip. Good thing we’re not driving this time….

So, I left off getting ready for our fourth full day. After such busy plans, I really think we’re going to take it easy this morning. We have an 11:45 lunch scheduled at Garden Grill, so we’re going to hang around the resort and swim (and wake up whenever) this morning. I had planned on taking Pooh (the early riser, as you can tell) to the gift shop to buy donuts this morning, but I’ve heard that the box of Entemann’s is no longer on the snack list, so we’ll have to make due with pop tarts and cereal in the room. If we feel like it, we might try to get to Epcot in time to ride Spaceship Earth before heading over to the Land for lunch, but that’d be about it.

I’ve heard good things about this meal, and the food looks good. I’m looking forward to this one. I hear that it’s being discontinued, too, so I’m glad we made it. I have to say I never did make it to LTT, and it’s being discontinued, as well (the character meal), so at least I’ll have been to this one.

After eating, there are a few biggies we’d like to hit. This will be our only day in Epcot. I never feel like we get to spend enough time here, but with small children, other parks tend to take precedence. We will hit Nemo and Turtle Talk, and I’d like to try Journey into Imagination, which I haven’t tried since 1996, at the latest. DH loves Mission Space, and we’d like to try to do a baby swap on Test Track (both Tink and Goofy think this one looks pretty cool). After that, I think we’re heading to World Showcase. Other than the Akershus princess breakfast, we didn’t get to experience this at all last summer. The evening we had dedicated to it ended up getting completely rained out (I’m talking pouring rain from about 5 p.m until after midnight!). Tink is very curious about the Kidcot stops, Miss Crafty that she is, and I think Goofy will like the street performers. We’ll grab CS as we get hungry (there’s a McDonald’s here, so at least I know my kids will eat – it’s almost embarrassing, though, eating McDonald’s in WS!!! ). We’re thinking Morocco, if I think Pooh can handle it later (and depending on how he’s done with the food so far). That’s my first pick, at least. We’ll wander and explore the shops. DH is excited that China has Bejing Olympics merchandise for sale, so we’ll definitely stop in those shops. And I’ve never ridden the Mexico ride, so I won’t know if it’s better or worse since the rehab. But I’d like to try – the kids like Donald.


Then there is my recurring goal for every trip: I have been to WDW four times now since 2000 (including this trip), and still have not seen Illuminations!!! I wanted to very badly when we came as adults w/my parents in 2000, but I was outvoted in favor of Fantasmic. DM scheduled a lot of evening dinner shows during our four-night stay, and I didn’t know enough to plan ahead. Then in 2005, with kids, we just didn’t feel like they’d make it. In 2007, as I mentioned, it poured the night we had it scheduled (our second-to-last night there) and I didn’t make it back. We’d really like to see it this time – it completely depends on how the kids do, though. I know I’m going back in 2010, and there will be plenty of adults to take the kids, so unless it rains again I’ll see it then (only ten years later… ) So, either we’ll hang around and make it for Illuminations, or we’ll pack it in and head back to the hotel.

There’s only one more day after this!! Hopefully I can get it posted before I leave. Tink and Goofy both came down with the stomach bug that I had on Sunday, so I had two sick kids to deal with yesterday, besides the packing and everything else. And I’m still checking the National Hurricane Center’s website once a day (probably more often today) to see what Hanna and Co. are up to. I’ve contacted our TA, so I know how to go about making use of our travel insurance should we be delayed somewhere. It’s now almost 9 (Pooh eventually went back to sleep, and so did I), Tink is on the bus, Goofy is on the couch (can’t go back to preK today, so he’s hanging out with me), Pooh is ready for a nap and the laundry is calling. I’ll try to get back later today to finish up!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

I think I have almost everything packed. DH actually has the shirts done (except Pooh's). I think I'll have my act together in the morning.

I know I didn't get the last day posted, but there wasn't much to say. We have a 9:25 (I know, I couldn't get any earlier ) ADR for breakfast at Chef Mickey's - a first for us, since we've always done dinner. Assuming we haven't gotten to AK yet, we will probably head there to see the Nemo musical. Oh, and Goofy has now informed me he wants to ride "that animal bus" so he can "see all the neat animals." We're not getting there early, so I doubt we'll do this unless we can't talk him out of it!!

We'll end at MK - always do. This might be the only day we go straight through without a break. We'll probably be done by about 6, though. We have a 9:50 flight out of MCO, so we'll be picked up pretty early. I'll need to get packing, too. So it'll be an afternoon of our favorites over at MK until it's time to call it a trip. We'll be bummed, we'll probably have gotten wet - but we'll hopefully have lots of good memories!

I'll update when we return. Although, DH really wants to post a pic of his shirts (they really ARE cute!) before we go. We'll see what he gets done! Talk to you in a little less than a week!

 

[nts4wdw]

I guess you are gone!! Have a wonderful, magical time!! Details and lots of pics!!!

 

[Alysa]

Cute report, looking forward to hearing about your trip when you get back! Hope you have great weather!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

I hope your having a good time!! Can't wait to read the trip report when you get back!

 

[snowwhite325]

I can't wait to hear all about your trip when you get home...I hope you are having a magical time

 

[belle8306]

Welcome Home! I can't wait to see your pictures and hear all about it!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

...And we're dry!! We really didn't have many weather problems at all. I have a ton of pictures and things to tell you. We really enjoyed the Halloween festivities, and managed a good number of firsts. Right now, I have two suitcases full of dirty laundry, two kids that have to go back to school tomorrow, and DH and I are fairly slap-happy from lack of sleep (and Disney let-down! Thank goodness we know we're going back in 2010!!). I'll try to get going again tomorrow, though. I can't wait to share! Thanks for all the well-wishes, everyone!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Can't wait to hear about the trip!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Ok – here we go…

We were up and at ‘em early on Thursday morning. Pooh got up before my alarm to nurse, but went back to sleep. I actually had a bit of a hard time getting Tink and Goofy out of bed (what’s with that??? WE’RE GOING TO DISNEY!!). Thankfully, with Grammy and Papa’s help, they got dressed and brushed. My parents went way beyond the call of duty by driving 45 minutes to get to our house at 6 a.m. and take us to the airport.

Before I knew it, we were running late. It always happens – it’s something with the genes in my husband’s family. I swear, I was compulsively on-time to everything before I married him. It had something to do with a maniacal choir director at Purdue…anyway, I was shoving bags into the van as DH was doing his usual ten sweeps of the house, setting the light timers (at least he could find them this time) and doing various other stuff. We got the kids, my parents, and us in the van (which was a feat in and of itself with our mountain of luggage) about 15 minutes later than I wanted to. We made it to the airport at a decent time, though.

Once inside, we were on our way to check our luggage when we happened to run across my brother’s best friend from grade school. He has since married and moved to CT, but had been in town on business and had swung down to Columbus to visit his family. It was so funny – we’ve run into people we know in the airports on each of the three Disney trips we’ve taken. It’s always someone we haven’t seen in a while, too. We said goodbye to him, checked our bags, and headed to McDonald’s (another trip tradition for us) for breakfast. That’s when the first issue happened – remember that stomach bug Tink, Goofy and I had been suffering from? I still didn’t have much of an appetite, but I was feeling ok. Until we were waiting in line to check bags. Everyone else went to get breakfast, and I headed to the restroom. This was not the only time, unfortunately. Not trip-ruining, but definitely NOT in my plans! Breakfast pics - not much eating happened (a recurring theme), but lots of excitement!

We said goodbye to my parents and went through security. I have to admit that the folks here in Indy are pretty darn patient with us and all our gear. Two strollers, a laptop, video and still cameras, a DVD player …yes, we’re the nightmare family. At least Tink doesn’t have a meltdown anymore when she has to put her backpack on the conveyor belt, and we know now to eat those pancake platters from McDonald’s BEFORE we get to security (yes, we closely resembled a circus at the gate on our first trip in 2005 ). Just like last summer, we’d barely gotten to our gate before they called to begin boarding. All we had time to do was all hit the restroom one last time and gather our things. We were off – and on time!! Pooh did fine on the plane – nursed and then fell asleep. It wasn’t full at all (now that was a first on a trip to Orlando for us!), and the lady that had the seat next to me offered to move to an empty row to give me more space. DH got the DVD player started for the kiddos, and we sailed on down to Orlando. Here are more pics:
Movies:

Pooh stretching out:

Now, I forgot to mention that, as we were pulling our bags out at the airport, DH looks at me and says, “I forgot my ME tags.” I just looked at him. I had taken care of putting them on all of the bags I packed that morning. I don’t pack for DH, though, so he was on his own. I handed him the tags, though. And he didn’t have them. He’d taken them from me and put them down somewhere in the house. So, once we got to Orlando and rode the little fake monorail, the kids and I sat down in the chairs in the waiting area for ME and he went up a floor to find his bag. I was frustrated at this point, I admit – I was IN SIGHT of the ME desk, and had to sit there and wait for DH to come back before I could even get in line. Finally, he did and I left them all (Tink grudgingly doing her homework) there with our carryons and got in line. I know, I need to be more patient. But I wanted to get there!!!

We didn’t have to wait very long at all. In fact, we had a hard time getting Goofy to move – he was too busy watching the previews on the TV monitor to walk to the bus. We then got onto the bus with THE MOST ENTHUSIASTIC MAGICAL EXPRESS BUS DRIVER EVER. Oh my goodness!! His name was Charlie, and he was ready to go. “Is everyone happy, happy, happy? You’re going to Disney World! Let me hear you happy, happy, happy!!” He was so funny. We had to go to the other two All-Star resorts before we got to ours (we’re used to it by now). When he pulled away, he would start running the wipers, honking the horn and in general making the bus make noise to the beat of the music that was playing on the video screen. I can only imagine how freaked out all of the people waiting for buses to the parks were as he drove by. He was a nut! But a happy nut. I’d much rather have him than a really serious, sour person. He made an impression, though. On the way home, we caught Goofy asking his sister if she was “happy, happy, happy?” DH and I almost lost it! DH got about three hours worth of video on this trip – I wish he’d taped Charlie the bus driver! Here are Goofy, Pooh and I enjoying the video during one of Charlie's calmer moments:

We got right up to the counter at ASMo and ended up in Dalmatians building 1 (a first for us – we’ve always been in Fantasia before). We weren’t sure at first, but ended up liking it. Very quick to the buses. Then we headed to the food court to grab lunch. Or, DH and I grabbed lunch. Tink and Goofy decided that they weren’t really going to eat on this trip, and this was just further evidence of that. The kids who were so excited about the fact that they got to eat chicken nuggets and French fries each day for lunch didn’t like the nuggets now. I even told them we wouldn’t be swimming today if they didn’t eat. Goofy’s response was to tell me he really didn’t want to swim today, and curl up in a ball on the bench of the booth we were in. I wasn’t sure if it was the stomach bug still talking or their general pickiness, so I only pushed so far. But, based on their reactions, we decided to scrap the idea of Downtown Disney, then dinner, than MK for a ride or two. We figured we’d chill out in the room, head over to Chef Mickey’s for dinner, and then head to DD to shop. Looking back at what happened next, I wish we’d just have gone shopping!!

I'll be back later - I have to go to choir. Hope you're enjoying!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

So we went back to the room after lunch. DH laid down for a nap (his ears were still bothering him from the flight – they always do) , I put the classic cartoon channel on for Goofy and Tink, nursed Pooh and proceeded to unpack. After a little while, Pooh got cranky being up on the bed. I didn’t want him to bother DH, so I laid a towel on the ground and put him next to me. He was better, but he kept grabbing for the drawers that I was loading clothes into. I kept having to pull his hands away. After I had all but one suitcase unpacked, I took a break and leaned down to play with Pooh, who was very quietly playing on the floor (unusual for him – shoulda tipped me off right away). After I got back up, Goofy looked at me and asked what was on my face. Turns out, it was blood. And it was on my arm. And my shirt, And it was coming from Pooh’s thumb. I didn’t understand – what could he possibly have cut it on? And it seemed to be bleeding quite a bit! I ran and got a towel and picked him up. I figured if I applied some pressure, it would stop. I pulled the towel away after a minute or two to look at what he’d done, exactly. But I still couldn’t tell, on account of the blood that was coming out pretty rapidly. So I covered it again. I did this for about ten minutes. He didn’t really like me holding on to his hand, but other than that he seemed oblivious to the fact that he was bleeding. He never cried or anything.

By this point, I’m getting worried. I know, it’s my third kid. I should be calmer by now, right? Well, I’ve never had a four month old bleed on me like that before. I ended up waking up DH. Bad idea – he was even more worried about it that I was, and decided Pooh needed to be seen. He called the desk to figure out what to do. It turns out Disney has some kind of a contract/agreement with an urgent care center that will come and pick you up from any resort and take you to their site (which happens to be in a strip mall, which was a little odd). So, I packed up Pooh and the washcloths and the backpack and we headed out. They came right up to the main entrance, and took me straight there. Unfortunately, there was no car seat, so I carried him on my lap.

Of course, by the time I got there, the bleeding had slowed down considerably. I think it’s because he fell asleep on the ride over, so I wasn’t fighting him to keep his hand covered. Looking at it in the waiting room, I figured they’d tell me he’d cut it (I’d found a slightly rough edge on the corner of one of the cabinets, so assumed he’d cut himself on that), clean it up and send me back. But the doctor decided he’d pinched it. I still don’t know what he did to this day – it ended up being the thumb that was on the opposite side than the drawer, and I don’t think he could have reached it. Apparently they bleed like a son of a gun when they pinch off several of the top layers of skin on the tip of a finger like that, so the doctor ended up numbing it, then cauterized it and bandaged it. Pooh loved this, as you can imagine. The good part of the story is that there was no one else waiting, so I managed to get all of this done in fairly good time (for an urgent care center, at least). I was told to keep it dry and out of his mouth for a day or so, and was sent on my way. They did take me straight to the Contemporary, since our ADRs were there that night. I only got there a few minutes after DH and the two older kids. But I was done at that point, and really had to calm down before I could enjoy dinner. I know it wasn't exactly a major wound, but the whole thing had my nerves a bit on edge. I guess the big thing to take from this with is that Disney is ready for situations like this. I didn’t have to call a cab, or figure out where to take him. The little shuttle bus picked me up, took me there, and brought me back to wherever I wanted to go. Thanks, Disney!

Now that I was with the rest of my family, I could settle down and breathe again. Chef Mickey’s was fun, as usual. We got our pictures taken, though the photographer was not that great with babies. She was sitting there waiting to take the picture of the people in front of us until the baby would smile – not just snapping it as soon as the baby was looking the right way! Plus, her way of getting them to smile was to clap, REALLY loudly. Not gonna work. When it was our turn, she wanted me to move Pooh to a different position. I had to tell her I was trying to hide the blood on my shirt. That made her look at me funny. DH got a kick out of it, as did the family behind us. Anyway, we were seated right after that, and the characters came and made everyone forget about the afternoon – and about eating, in Tink and Goofy’s case.

I was impressed that most of the characters seemed to pay attention to Pooh, as well. He was a little oblivious at first, but then seemed to get more into them, as you can see.

We saw everyone but Minnie (Goofy and Tink decided they had to go to the bathroom, then all of a sudden she was at our table and she never came back), and DH and I at least ate. We ended up buying the picture, because it was actually really good. I'll try to get DH to scan it so I can post it. We then browsed some of the shops there at the resort and hopped a bus to DTD.

We stopped at a few must-sees: World of Disney, the toy store, the pin store (briefly), and Goofy’s Candy Co. We bought the kids’ autograph books at World of Disney, along with pens for each of their teachers (and me – I love the simple pens that are shaped like the characters!). They each bought a toy at the toy store, but only spent about half their money, so I was happy. DH and I also bought them “huggy things,” as Goofy calls stuffed animals. This is a bit of a tradition for us. They still love on the ones they got last trip. Goofy got Sorcerer Mickey this time around (DH is rubbing off on him) and Tink got Baby Cinderella. Here's a picture of them outside the toy store:

Then we went to Goofy’s.

I got my make-your-own-pretzel rods (dipped in milk chocolate and pecans and drizzled with caramel – yummy!!) and the kids each got something small to snack on. By this point, we were pretty pooped. We decided to head back to the room and get some sleep, since it would be a very busy, long day on Friday.

Hope to get more up today- thanks for reading! I've asked for this to be moved to the general trip reports thread, so hopefully it'll be there soon.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Yikes! I would have completely freaked with a bleeding baby!! I'm glad it was serious and you were in and out of the urgent care center quickly and able to get back to you vacation!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Can anyone tell me why most of my pictures are posting small, even though I'm saving them all to the same size? I just previewed a post and ended up scrapping it, since all my pictures were too tiny! Any help would be appreciated!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Ok - I've figured it out. I just opened a Photobucket account - it's working a lot better than the DIS photo pages!

Day Two

DH’s watch and cell phone went off bright and early that morning – 5 a.m. Since Pooh had been up twice during the night, we were a bit slow getting out of bed. But the CM at the desk had told me yesterday to be at the bus stop between 6:45 and 7 for our ADR at Crystal Palace, so we were going to make it, by golly! Now, this was the day Hanna decided to brush past us – don’t get us wrong, we were happy she was just brushing! But I made sure I had all of the rain gear and everything else packed so that we would be set. We got the kids up, dressed and ready to go and headed to the bus. No rain yet, so maybe we’d be ok??? Here are the boys, ready to go:

Nope. I was doing Tink’s hair at the bus stop, and it started drizzling. Some of the other families that were waiting moved under the awning, but we were first in line, so DH and I looked at each other and decided to sit it out. Then it started raining harder. And harder. We ran for cover!

Of course, about 30 seconds later, the bus pulled up. It already had people going to the MK for early ADRs from the other two All-Star resorts, but luckily the kids and I were able to get a seat. DH had his first standing bus trip of many – I don’t think he sat down on a bus but twice this whole trip. We were going to have to pull out the ponchos, but we were off!

We got to the MK and put our rain gear on under the bus stop canopy.

Then we were off! Even with the rain, it was SOOOOO cool to have Main Street almost to ourselves! This will definitely be a repeat on our next trip. It was awesome!

And with all the cool Halloween decorations, too!

And by the time we’d actually made it to CP, it was barely drizzling. DH suggested I go check in while he took a few more pictures. This was a recurrent theme – we were ready to move on, while DH was still snapping ten more pictures. I swear, I never should have introduced him to scrapbooking, or the Picture of the Day thread on this forum!

We really enjoyed CP. The food was good, the character interaction was fun, and the restaurant itself was lovely.

I love this one of Goofy - this was taken after he had knocked over his juice, fallen off his chair and came perilously close to tipping the table completely over (DH caught it just in time!). One look at the face tells everything about his state of mind that morning!

Pooh got a little fussy, but DH was able to get him settled down to sleep, and this was how he spent the rest of the meal:

We asked for our check early (not right when we sat down, but well before we were done), so we were able to leave when we wanted to. We had seen people coming up Main Street, so we knew we’d missed rope drop, but we weren’t too concerned. We split up after breakfast – DH and the older two kids to Fantasyland, and me to get FastPasses to BTMRR, which we’d never ridden, and which the kids had been excited about since they’d seen the pictures on the vacation planning DVD. As I came back, I saw Frontier Donald (but had no camera and only Pooh with me). Then I saw the Fairy Godmother as I was crossing past the funnel cake stand back to the castle. I got all excited and picked up my cell to call DH to get over here – then saw a man in the distance picking up his cell phone. It turned out they’d never gotten to the teacups (which was their original plan) because DH had been taking pictures of them in front of a deserted castle.

He’d struck up a conversation with a CM, who’d told them about the Fairy Godmother and sent them over. The kids had already gotten their pictures taken with her, but I just had to get in there myself – she is one of my favorites, you know.

We headed to Fantasyland after that, and DH decided they needed to try to pull the sword out of the stone.

Goofy was a little confused - he wanted DH to actually pull it out, and kept saying, "Pull it out, Daddy! Pull it out now!" It's a good thing we never got over to see the show they do there, or he'd be on his Daddy all the time!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Day 2 continued...

We went on to do Fantasyland in a park that was, honestly, nearly deserted. I worried about the weather for weeks before we left, and it ended up working in our favor! Apparently, no one else wanted to brave the occasional showers. We put the rain stuff on once more, and then waited out another brief shower in Frontierland that caused the “Woody’s Roundup” show to end early.

Anyway, in Fantasyland the kids watched Alice and the Mad Hatter ride the teacups before they got on, which was fun.

Then we headed to the Pooh ride – what ride would be better for our Pooh’s first ride at Disney World?? Only one problem – Goofy had decided the ride was scary. Yes, I’m talking about The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – not Snow White, not Space Mountain – the Pooh ride. We honestly had to carry him onto the ride. Now, we never would have done this had there honestly been something to be afraid of. But it was Pooh, for pete’s sake! He ended up loving it, and wanted to go on it several more times over the course of our trip. This was a theme that would come up a lot though. I think it’s the age – Tink didn’t want to participate in any children’s activities the first time we were there, and that was when she was four, too. He decided he wasn’t going to ride BTMRR after all (“I’ll ride it when I grow up, Mommy. Like when I’m ten.”). He refused to ride Peter Pan, almost didn’t go into Laugh Floor, and was very vocal about all of the rides that we would never have dreamed of taking him on. For example, as we passed it he informed us, “I am NOT riding the Haunted Mansion, Mommy." And, later, "I’m going to wait until I grow up to ride Space Mountain. It has scary music.” (We have a CD of park music, and he's been listening to it quite a bit.)

Goofy was adamant that we ride Buzz Lightyear next, so we headed over. I know (now) that Toy Story Mania is more fun, but this one ranks right up there with it in Goofy’s heart. We rode it twice in a row (the grumpy CMs wouldn’t let us just stay on, so we had to go around and walk through the empty queue again – they must not have like the rain). I then found a quiet corner to nurse Pooh, and let the others go off on their own. When I called them afterward to find out what they did, I learned they’d spent the entire time on the Buzz ride – they’d ridden it five more times! DH got some good pics of the kids, though.

We headed to Laugh Floor next, which took some convincing on Goofy’s part (he won’t watch the movie because – say it with me now – “it might be scary.”) We really enjoyed this. We didn’t have a joke to text, but at the end when Mike’s nephew asks, “Hey, wanna see something cute?” all of a sudden Pooh is up on the screen! Everyone cooed and “awww”-ed, and DH said later that if he’d have been thinking straight, he’d have put Pooh down and waved his arms like it was him they were talking about (he was holding Pooh at the time). So that made my day. No pictures, since it happened so fast. I wish I'd have thought to grab one of the screen, but it happened pretty fast.

We headed to Frontierland from there with the intent to do several “firsts” for us. The biggie was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, mainly because (at least at home) everyone agreed they wanted to ride it. We got sidelined by the aforementioned shower but we took refuge under the covered porch near the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon (I think that’s it’s name). We ended up getting a tub of popcorn to help us pass the time (the kids really didn’t eat enough at breakfast!). Then we headed to the railroad. I took Tink on it first. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about what her reaction would be, but I didn’t need to be. She loved it! She ran back to DH to go on it again, using Goofy’s pass. But by the time they had returned, we were running on fumes. Darn that stomach bug – I really think we could have done more if the kids weren’t still tiring so easily. They were currently fighting over which one got to ride in the stroller now. We pacified them long enough to head to Jungle Cruise - another first, which we LOVED. We had a great guide. He was right up DH’s alley, since he made all kinds of Transformers/Star Wars/geeky boy thing jokes. He was the highlight of the morning for DH. Here are some pics that DH took:

Unfortunately, when we got off the ride, we had a near atomic meltdown over the whole stroller issue. This is when my wonderful DH decided that it wasn’t worth it – he lifted Goofy onto his shoulders, and pushed Pooh in the stroller at the same time (his stroller was easier to steer one-handed). I should have gotten a picture of it at some point, because he would end up doing it so many more times during the trip. I can’t believe his back/neck held up to it.

We headed back to the room at this point.

(I love this decoration over the exits from Main Street!)

We figured we’d get the kids something at the hotel, since they had pasta that we could get without the sauce, or grilled cheese (I know, I know). As we rode to ASMo, it started POURING down rain. I couldn’t get over how wet it was. I took Pooh back to the room to nurse while DH got the two older kids a CS meal to share (it still didn’t get eaten well). Then we announced that it would be lights out – no toys, no TV – so that we could all rest before MNSSHP that night. Of course, Pooh decided to be wide awake at this point, so I stayed in the room with the older two, and DH took Pooh out in the stroller to take some pictures of the resort:

So….did it work? Did anyone get any rest? I’ll be back later to fill you in!

 

[kathymc]

oh my how scary that must have been - looking forward to more of the trip
sorry - cant help with the photo issues