A Pot Family Christmas Vacation (with pics)- NEW Page 2 (Day 3)

[AnninIowa]

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[mom2jcc]

Great report!!!

 

[Ginamarie]

Our alarm went off around 6:20 am. I stared at it, thinking that might turn it off without requiring any further effort. It was a REALLY dirty look, but it didn’t work. So I resorted to plan “B” and yelled at Gillian to shut it off. That worked, and I was grateful, because you don’t want to know what plan “C” was.

It took us awhile to get ready in the morning. I’m not used to having my sister around with her “routines.” Apparently teenagers need skin regiments and hair regiments and teeth regiments, and when all that is done, there’s a whole decision making process for what she should wear.

I knew that mornings were going to be tough territory, so I planned out Olivia’s outfits before we left. Everything was labeled and put together in the suitcase. We were going to Animal Kingdom, so Olivia got to wear her Minnie Mouse safari outfit. I bought it a few months before vacation waiting for this day, and it was worth the wait. She looked PRECIOUS!

We got everyone downstairs for breakfast at the food court. More waffles, muffins, danish, and eggs. I had a chocolate chip muffin, which was pretty good. DH had a Danish and he loved it, because he got a Danish every morning for breakfast then on in.

After breakfast I was ready to go, but everyone wanted to go back to the rooms again. I thought we’d never leave, especially after my dad said he needed another HALF AN HOUR to read the paper on the toilet. At this point I said something I’d later regret. I said “of course you’re not ready, because you want to –ruin ---my ---LIFE!” I was kidding, but everyone seemed to thing there was some truth in the statement. Luckily, he didn’t actually take half an hour to get ready. We split up on our way to AK though, just in case.

I was on the first bus with my siblings and in laws, and my parents stayed back for the next one. While we were waiting by the entrance, we were approached by a talking potted palm tree, who seemed intrigued with DBro’s Hawaiian themed shirt (which was covered in palm trees). I wish I had a picture of DBro with the tree, but we were all too busy laughing at them. As the tree was moving onto another family my parents walked through the security line. Perfect timing!

We knew what we wanted to hit first, Expedition Everest!! I’d been looking forward to this for months. My dad, who hates rides, was staying behind with Olivia and Grant. It took a lot of convincing to get BIL on line with us though. As soon as he decided to go we walked onto the line so that he wouldn’t be able to change his mind again. After all, the line was 30 minutes and growing. The EE line queue is pretty entertaining. We moved too quickly to appreciate most of it though. I did like the giant Yeti footprint. There’s even a case with some animal “scat”, which made all the kids go “ewwwwwwww.”

BIL was really thinking about turning back when we got to the front of the line, but we pointed out how slow the coasted seemed to be going. Of course it goes slow when it’s pulling in and out! Giuliette insisted on sitting with me, and DH sat behind us with BIL. The coaster was REALLY great. I love how it pauses at the top before you start going backwards. I love the Yeti appearances. I love how smooth the track is! On our first time around though, I was worried about how scared the kids were. So I started pointing out mundane things to distract them from the Yeti (and the fact that we were getting up really high). I actually said “look, a waterfall, that’s not scary!!” So for the rest of the vacation (and probably for longer than that) every time we saw a waterfall we’d point out how NOT scary it was.

It was no use though, BIL spent the whole time asking “is it over?”, “where are we going?” “is backwards over?” “we’re not going backwards again right?” As we pulled towards the station he said “thank goodness that’s over!” Then the ride stopped, he threw his arms in the air and said “that was the best ride EVER!” It was the funniest thing. Just a few seconds before he was praying for it to be over. We all loved the ride except MIL and SIL who got a little sick. So we picked up a bunch of fastpasses for later in the day so we could ride again.

Dad was on a bench near the entrance with the little guys and Olivia was ready for some nursing, so I’m glad the line wasn’t any longer. Once the nursing was done, we had some pit stops and headed towards Dinoland USA. The kids were happily riding Primeval Whirl by the time I caught up. We took Olivia and Grant on Triceritops Spin, which they both loved. Olivia was just laughing and babbling as we spun around. I was so glad there was a ride we could take her on at that point. It was also getting rather warm and sunny, so we shed some layers of clothing and put on Livvie’s sunglasses.

Watch out—ATTACK OF THE CUTENESS!

Things were going too smoothly, so I knew it was time for a breakdown. It was getting close to showtime for the Finding Nemo Musical, and we saw the line all the way from Dinoland. We started to get on line, but BIL was much more interested in playing at the boneyard. So we had to split up. Giuliette was torn, she wanted to play at the playground, but we were pretty insistent on taking her to the musical. So she was PISSED. We got our seats, and Olivia wanted (again) more nursing. Dad was happy because we were in an air conditioned pavilion again. Before the show started, Olivia was grumpy because she was tired and refused to fall asleep while nursing. DH picked her up and was ready to leave the theater with her when she just passed out in his arms. So he sat back down to enjoy the show with us.

This is what the stage looked like (very hard to get a good picture of)

The musical was really cute. It was written by the same staff who wrote Avenue Q. I haven’t seen Avenue Q on Broadway yet, but I have the soundtrack, and the Nemo Musical has the same style music and lyrics. The puppets they put together look incredible. You feel as if you’re under the sea with them. I even got teary eyed a couple of times. (Who doesn’t want to bawl when Nemo’s mom is eaten?)

The down side was that it was too real for Grant. You should know, Grant LOVES Nemo. He’s had an obsession with Bruce and sharks since the movie came out (and then Shark Tale came out). Each time we take him to the library he has to go to the aisle with the shark books, so that he can look at the sharks. He even knows the difference between different types of sharks (hammerhead, brown shark, or great white, etc). BUT- he’d never seen a life sized shark before. So when the giant puppet of Bruce came into the crowd with his big teeth, coupled with Grant’s new fear of loud noises and “fireworks,” Grant FREAKED out! My mom had to take him out of the theater and miss the rest of the show. DH was disappointed, because he thought the lyrics were too cliché, but he did laugh out loud a couple of times, so it wasn’t all bad. As usual, there was a moment where he and I cracked up at a joke no one else seemed to enjoy. Just our off-center sense of humor!


Coming next: A typical Pot Family lunch and more of Animal Kingdom

 

[icebrat001]

I love it! Can't wait to read more.

 

[Ginamarie]

After leaving the theater it was time for a pit stop. For those of you who haven’t traveled with a large group, I’m going to let you in on a secret. You have to stop at every bathroom you see at least twice, sometimes three times. Often, as you’re about to leave the bathroom area, someone will pipe up that they forgot to go and you have to wait all over again. So I was not surprised when we met up with DH’s family near the bathrooms. It was just logical that we’d all wind up there at the same time sooner or later.

By now several members of the Pot Family were hungry. So we stopped at the Flame Tree BBQ for a quick lunch. The Flame Tree was very crowded. I’m glad to see that a new table service and counter service restaurant is going to be added at AK, because right now there are not enough locations for everyone, especially since EE has started adding more volume to the park. Anyway, DH took everyone’s order and got on line with Gillian to get the food while the rest of us looked for a table. We found a bunch of empty table space in the rear corner of one of the seating areas and made ourselves comfortable.

If you’ve been to AK you would know that the ducks that live there are very brazen, since people feed them table scraps all day long. I think they’re cute. Kind of like feathered puppies. So as we’re sitting there, along comes this duck.

Grant takes one look at this animal and shouts out, in his SWEETEST possible voice:
“LOOOK A DUUUCK (at this point there was a brief pause. Everyone in the seating area smiled and the innocence of this little boy seeing a duck. I actually heard a couple of people audibly go “awwww”. This is because no one knew what was coming next.) ….. “KILLL HIM!!!!” The second part of the phrase was also said in the sweetest little voice possible. Clearly this is the happy activity you would do with this duck.

We all laughed. We felt guilty for laughing. We hid our faces in shame. I went to help carry the food to the table and to pretend I didn’t know the little duck killer.

The food at the Flame Tree, despite being quick service, is pretty good. DH and I split a BBQ pork sandwich. It was so good that I could have eaten one by myself, but we were at the beginning of the vacation and I was trying to save money and watch my weight. This would be the last time we’d split a meal. I enjoyed the baked beans, but DH wasn’t too enthused with them. There was also corn on the cob included with our meal, and it was surprisingly sweet (usually mass produced corn is soggy and flavorless). George and GFDM both had turkey sandwiches, which they finished, and the kids got the kids hot dog platters. Yes, Disney has tried to add healthy things to the menu along with the standbys, but I found the healthy options to be pretty mundane. With the hot dog came grapes and baby carrots. We love both of those things in my family, so it wasn’t a big deal. BIL didn’t want to eat them, so we ate them for him. Mom had the BBQ chicken salad and said it was very good. Dad had a diet coke. He was upset because we were scheduled to have BBQ for dinner, so he thought this was a poor choice.

Grant spent most of the meal periodically hopping up on his chair and shouting about the ducks getting too close to him. You would think the ducks looked terrifying. They just looked like ducks though. Small, fat, greedy little ducks.


I planned to write some more today, but this is all you’re getting!

 

[MA pigletfan]

i am enjoying your reviews and pics...and yes that minnie safari vest was precious on your little girl..what a cute family!

 

[Ginamarie]

I know it's been awhile, but I'm reviving our report!


The ducks were behind us as we walked to our next attraction. We decided it was best to leave Grant behind for the Bug’s Life ride. Giuliette was terrified of it on our last vacation and she was six at the time, so I knew better than to take a three year old on it, especially one who was so afraid of loud noises. I love the queue at Bug’s Life. I love walking around the tree and seeing all of the animals sculpted into it, and I love the movie posters with buggy names.

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Where was I? Oh yes, Grant threatened to kill a duck, and we all survived the Bug’s Life Ride, though some of us (not me) hid under their shirts from the stinkbug. With our bellies full of BBQ, we thought it best to return to Expedition Everest with our fastpasses. The younger kids decided not to ride again, so I found a party of two and handed them the extra fastpasses. I thought it might be good to earn some positive karma. Perhaps then the Dream Team would find us and decide we were deserving of an incredible prize… that didn’t happen.

We did, however, get to ride EE again. It was better the second time around, even with my belly full. It probably had something to do with the fact that I got to sit next to DH and didn’t have to keep assuring anyone how UNSCARY that waterfall was.

Speaking of the waterfall though, it reminded me of Kali River Rapids. Oh how I love that ride.. the round boat that turns and turns until someone gets drenched. Almost everyone decided to come along this time. Even Grant was able to ride, though he had to get a special seat with a lap bar. I think he felt secure. That’s because he had no idea what was about to happen! Before getting on the ride, I assured everyone that we wouldn’t get too wet because they lower the water level in the winter. That had been our experience in the past, but I should have known that WDW is always looking to provide you with NEW experiences. If that means surprising you with a barrage of ice cold water in the middle of the winter, so be it. We walk through the line queue almost without stopping at all. We were laughing. We were happy. We were warm! We had to wait a couple of minutes to get a raft with the lap bar, and then we were off.

Kali River Rapids is one of my favorite rafting rides of all time. It has so many fun features, and it’s not too short. So we start the ride, get to the point of the first dip, and we laugh, trying to figure out who’s going to get wet. It was me, mom and Grant. Poor Grant- he was wet and not too happy about it, but we’re spinning, so we start to smile. We turn, we twirl and we hit a GIANT wave: mom, Grant and I. We’re getting near the waterfall. Oh, this time it’s going to be George- it has to be Gillian- holy waterfall batman- it’s ME! It continued like that for the rest of the ride.

We exit, and I look like I’ve either gone wading in a pool waist high or somehow peed myself, done a handstand, and peed myself again for good measure. Grant was upset. He proceeded to tell everyone that he hated that ride and couldn’t believe mommy MADE him go on it. Luckily, we had a change of clothes waiting for him at the stroller. I had no change of clothes, but I did have a dry sweatshirt, and that would have to do.

With the day flying by, I decided it was time to get a spot for the parade. I’d never seen the Jingle Jangle Parade before, and I was really looking forward to it. So we found a great little spot along the route. It was narrow enough that we could sit behind the rope and not have to worry about people sneaking in behind us or between us, because there were bushes right there. We sat. Olivia nursed. The kids ate popcorn, and we waited.

The parade was REALLY good. I don’t have any photos of it because I was busy taking some video. The best part though, was the Olivia learned to WAVE right then and there. She was so excited about seeing all the characters and performers, and she started waving at them. I do have a picture of Olivia watching the parade though.

Once the parade ended, we booked it over to the Lion King show, because we had enough time to make the last show of the day. Even though I’ve seen the show several times, it still makes me smile. The singing is fantastic, the gymnastics are creative and entertaining, and when the kids get up to help at the end of the show I get all teary. Every time!

As the show ended, we did another round robin to the bathrooms, and posed for some pictures as the park was closing. We got some great shots! We weren’t in a rush, because our next stop was Fort Wilderness for the Hoop de Doo Review later that night. Here are a couple of pictures from that night at AK.

Coming up next (and I promise I won’t wait 4 months for another chapter) the Hoop de Doo Review!

 

[Ginamarie]

We took our time getting to Fort Wilderness, and walked around checking out the area. My grandparents owned a motorhome while I was growing up, and we spent a lot of vacations camping at Fort Wilderness. I always feel “at home” there. We checked in, and got ready for dinner. Everyone was starting to get hungry at this point. The kids were getting grumpy. My dad was starving.

When I made the reservation, I was scared we’d get a table in the back because we had a large group, but our location was great. We were a few rows back and in the center of the room. As soon as we walked in, I realized we were going to have an issue. DSIL HATES metal. She carries around plastic utensils most of the time so she doesn’t have to use metal. She’s petrified of metal sounds. Hoop de Doo has metal plates, serves food in metal buckets and – well the worst part is yet to come.

The show was fun! I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get picked for anything, but I love the campy humor and the fried chicken. I drank some sangria and soda. The corn was surprisingly good, though the dessert wasn’t as good as I remembered. Olivia was cranky right at the end, and I had to walk around with her a little. Mostly though, we just had FUN. At the end of the show, they pass out washboards to everyone to play along with the music. I thought SIL was going to pass out! She was sitting there, covering each of her ears while my brother’s fiancé played the washboard across the table. I’ll never forget how that looked, FSIL rubbing that spoon on the washboard while she looked apologetically across the table!

We left Fort Wilderness feeling REALLY exhausted. Our plan was to take the boat back to MK and then bus back to POFQ. Of course, at this point, DBIL decided that he HATES boats. He wasn’t going to get onto a boat—there had to be another way back to the resort. I told him he had two options- get on the boat or SWIM. He got on the boat. We worked our way back to the resort and got everyone in bed by 11- and then I got on the computer to work on WPASADI.



We were up bright and early the next morning. I may not have looked “bright” per se after working on the computer until some ungodly hour, but it was early. It was Epcot day! Epcot is my favorite theme park. I’m a sucker for a park where you can feel like you’ve traveled the world in one day. Plus, there’s incredible food there. I know I shouldn’t be ruled by my stomach, but ladies and gentlemen, my stomach is in its glory in Epcot.

I dragged the troops to an early breakfast at the Sassagoula food court again. The food court was consistently good, with fresh hot eggs, waffles, and bacon. I didn’t eat too much though. I’m not a breakfast person, and I knew what was to come at my beloved Epcot. My in-laws decided to split up with us, because Melanie only had one more day with us on vacation, and she didn’t want to miss the Magic Kingdom. No problem! We split up after breakfast and agreed to meet up for our dinner reservation.

The rest of us charged onto Epcot. We got into the park just after opening, and rode Soarin while we fastpassed Test Track. Smart move! Soarin gets MOBBED pretty early in the day, and runs out of fastpasses even when Epcot is seemingly empty. I’d been on the ride before, but mom, Gillian and Giuliette were first time riders. They loved it!

Then, we found a way to convince my dad to go on Test Track. The thing is- my dad doesn’t go on rides- ever. We’re lucky to get him on a monorail or a ferry. I’m not exactly sure how I convinced him to go on Test Track, but I did. It’s one of the few things law school may have helped me with. I can persuade people into doing things they never thought they wanted to do. It’s a skill that comes in pretty handy at times. This time, I used it to get dad on Test Track for the one and ONLY ride he’d go on that day. Thanks to the wonder of Photopass, I have the photo to prove it:

After that ride, dad didn’t trust me about any other ventures for the rest of the day. It was worth it though! That moment when you’re flying around the track with the wind in your hair, being all together. It WAS worth it.

With Livvie needing to nurse and the kids ready for something more “kid” related, we decided to forego Mission Space. It’s a cool ride, but having done it before, we didn’t feel like we were missing anything. Instead, we headed over to the Living Seas to check out Crush and the new Nemo portion of the ride.

The Nemo portion may be short, but it’s REALLY cool! Grant was loving it until one big fish with sharp teeth jumped out toward the end. Then I heard him screaming from him clam-mobile. Poor kid! We spend some time inside of the pavilion, watching the dolphin presentation, checking on the manatee and stingrays, and going to see Turtle Talk with Crush. I like that they change the crush presentation a little bit each time. He still makes me giggle with his very humanlike expressions.

The World Showcase was about to open, so we started going in that direction, stopping at the Imagination pavilion. That poor ride is so ill attended, and it used to be so popular when it first came out! We always walk right onto it. I should say, we got dad to go on this too, but for only one reason- we failed to tell him it was a ride at all. Muhahaha!

Once again, Grant was enjoying it until the room went dark and Figment blew skunk odor at us. He was NOT a fan of the skunk odor. He lightened up when the ride proceeded to Figment’s house though. I was so happy when we found Figment posing for pictures outside of the pavilion, I made Grant smile and get his autograph even though he was still upset about the skunk smell.

Coming up- lunch at Alfredos, fish and chips, Illuminations and kidney stones!

 

[Ginamarie]

While we took some pictures with Figment, the group decided it was time for another pit stop. So we stopped AGAIN! Grant found the dancing fountains, and went crazy trying to catch the water. I insisted on getting a picture of them with the water flying over their heads, so here it is!

I have no idea who the kid on the left is- but he kept sneaking into the photos, so he’s forever a part of the moment. Bathroom stops behind us, we were running out of time before our lunchtime ADR at Alfredos, so we pressed our way through the World Showcase. As we rounded France we ran into Belle and Snow White. We had to stop for photos and autographs, because this is what we do best. Grant was in fine form. He told Belle “hi, my name is Grant and this is the baby. Olivia is a BABY! I’m the uncle, and this is the aunt. She’s Giuliette. She’s the aunt. Look at that BABY!!” Poor Belle couldn’t get a work in edgewise. We did, however, get a great photo.

Then we stopped to see Snow White and Dopey. Grant was chatting her up again. “Hi I’m Grant, and these are the books. Can you sign these? This is Olivia, and she’s a baby!” He never stops. He’s like the mayor of wherever we happen to be at any given time. Both princesses were great. They were so friendly and seemed genuinely happy, and since they were happy, we were happy. . and hungry.

This is the bad point about skipping breakfast, as I did most mornings; by the time lunch arrived, I was ready to gorge myself.

We signed in at Alfredos just as they were opening, and got our regular table. I think they like putting large groups right in the front of the restaurant. Maybe they figure no one will hear us if we get too loud, or that if one of the kids gets pesty we’re that much closer to the door. I’m not sure. I do know that this was at least the third or fourth time we were seated immediately in front of the door. No worries- it was quiet and private.

I couldn’t wait for the waiter to take drink orders, because I knew what I was getting.. sangria! I’m not much of a wine drinker, but I do like sangria a LOT. I’ve tried many brands of sangria and house sangrias from restaurants, but the HANDS DOWN BEST sangria I’ve ever had is Alfredos. So I got my sangria and spent the rest of the meal drinking it slowly, savoring every drop of fruit and honey and cloves. Mom and dad decided to get a cheese platter to split amongst the table, and also a Caesar salad. Little did I know, that cheese platter would be one of the best things I’d ever eaten. There were three types of cheese, a hard, a medium and a soft. One was better than the next. We munched on bread with olive oil, and then the entrees. Yummo! I must admit, my favorite Alfredos dish was the chicken parm, which made its way off of the lunch menu awhile ago. They did have a fried chicken cutlet though, covered in fresh tomato, so that was my choice. It was a great choice though. Crunchy and juicy at the same time. Everyone loved their entrees, and we split some desserts with coffee and cappuccinos. We also shared a limencello that was incredible! DH and I had never tried it before, but decided we needed to buy some ASAP. I wish I had some pictures of our Alfredos food, but this is the closest we took.

Then we posed for a statue with DH’s favorite statue. He calls this one “Little Bit O Patch” due to the cleverly placed cloth over that certain piece of male anatomy.

Then we spent some time walking around the World Showcase shops for awhile before getting on line for the Candlelight Processional. Josh and I saw the Candlelight Processional back in 2004, and really enjoyed it. We got on line probably 90 minutes before showtime and got pretty good seats. I was expecting Grant to be bored silly, but instead, he thought it was too noisy, and kept covering his ears (as that’s his go-to maneuver anytime it’s “too loud”). The narrator was Stephen Curtis Chapman. He was ok, but surprisingly, I preferred Eartha Kitt from 2004.

Olivia slept through the performance, which was probably for the best. As we watched, the sun set, creating a beautiful backdrop for the presentation. The skies now darker, we walked to Norway to ride the Maelstrom. I love that ride! Interestingly, Grant wasn’t too afraid of it. I think it had something to do with the fact he was snuggled up with my mom and that we brought Olivia on the ride. Afterwards, we took our requisite troll photo.

Next up: Fish and chips at last!