A Princess, Pirates and Pixie Dust!

[MAGICFOR2]

Your CM breakfast looks like a hit! They kids look like they are having a blast. How great of them to accommodate you and give you well deserved congratulations. And you seating location is awesome!

It was a big hit for sure! Made me so happy to see them enjoying it so much! Yes, I was really thrilled with our table, and the CMs there!

 

[pkondz]

Thursday, July 11 – Epcot Day

Hi, Tammie. I was off the boards for a couple days (just busy. Life. You know.) so I'm catching up with everything now.

I had made ADRs for 8:30 am so that we could try to be done eating and make RD at 10:00.

Gee! You sound like a DISer!

Our meet up time was 7:45. I think we almost made that, and the Epcot bus was the first to arrive!

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

My plan was that we would ride the bus to the TTS and get on the resort monorail, so we could ride the monorail into CR. All of the different transportation options were half the fun for the littles!

Who doesn't love the monorail? Especially kids!

This is one of the reasons I love Disney. When I made the ADRs back in January, we did not have Maverick in our family. With getting him just a few days before leaving, I knew it would be hard to change it up, so I took my chances on begging for Mercy with the CMs. When I checked in, I explained that we had just gotten a new foster baby and we were hoping they could just pull up an extra high chair for us. The response? “Congratulations! Of course we can accommodate you!”

Of course they did! This isn't the evil empire you know (that's down the road a bit). I wouldn't expect anything less from Disney.

Not only did we all get to sit together, but they gave us the best table in the Place! Look at the view!

Nice!

Not sure what dance Londynn was doing here, but Myles is jumping up and down because he see's the Main Mouse coming!

First thing I thought of was, "Can you pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time?"

Mav was a little unsure of the characters, but he got Soooo excited when he saw Mickey and Minnie! He said, “Mou!” and squealed and waved. Lindsay teared up to see him “get it.” I have to admit, I looked around the table at all my kids and grandkids, and I teared up too!

Geez, lady! Give a guy some warning before you post something like that! That's really great that Mav got excited.
I especially like the pics where he's reaching for Minnie and Pluto.

Mav LOVES dogs! (It seems he spent a lot of time outside by himself with dogs - maybe his only friends)

That's just not right.

I'm so glad we tried CM! It was the best! I had read good things on the DIS, and it seems like a must do, but it always seemed out of the way - it is SO worth the trip! It was a great start to our day.

Glad you had such a great time at CM. I don't know anyone that hasn't posted good things about it.

Thanks for the update, Tammie!

 

[englishrose47]

Keeping up Tammie !!! Got to use my work down time to some advantageI have cleaned the kitchen made a pork and apple pot roast for supper for these guys, ordered meds , made beds and now as everyone is napping I have a few free moments !!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi, Tammie. I was off the boards for a couple days (just busy. Life. You know.) so I'm catching up with everything now.

Hi Welcome back!

Gee! You sound like a DISer!



Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?



Who doesn't love the monorail? Especially kids!



Of course they did! This isn't the evil empire you know (that's down the road a bit). I wouldn't expect anything less from Disney.

Oh, THAT empire! I forgot!

Nice!



First thing I thought of was, "Can you pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time?"

Good one!

Geez, lady! Give a guy some warning before you post something like that! That's really great that Mav got excited.
I especially like the pics where he's reaching for Minnie and Pluto.

We won't take away your man card here.


That's just not right.

We joked around and called him Mowgli at first - he loved to be outside rolling in the grass, and his method of eating seemed to be to grab whatever he could reach and cram it in his mouth quick, rubbing his hands on his shirt and in his hair - and the dog thing. He's so sweet and he's learning and he loves structure now!

Glad you had such a great time at CM. I don't know anyone that hasn't posted good things about it.

Thanks for the update, Tammie!

Thanks for being here! I'm working on another update now.

Keeping up Tammie !!! Got to use my work down time to some advantageI have cleaned the kitchen made a pork and apple pot roast for supper for these guys, ordered meds , made beds and now as everyone is napping I have a few free moments !!

Wow! A Housemom's work is never done. I hope they enjoyed their supper! Nice you could come by!

 

[dismom9761]

All caught up! Looking forward to reading more

 

[ladylyons]

It is always fun to share Disney with a newbie, but to have it be a newbie to our family was even more special!

They were really great at making us feel welcome- they made it all about the kids - that's what makes them Disney!

Are things progressing where Mav is joining the family permanently? I sure hope so!

That's why we keep going back year after year, trip after trip. It's the magic they make for the kids.

 

[anewmac]

so happy to see the character breakfast went off without a bump in the road. looks like the kids all had a good time, good to see Mav is blending well with everything!

I imagine that your smile was ear to ear watching your kids interact with their kids and the characters!!!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

All caught up! Looking forward to reading more

Thank you! Coming Soon!

Are things progressing where Mav is joining the family permanently? I sure hope so!

That's why we keep going back year after year, trip after trip. It's the magic they make for the kids.

It's looking pretty good so far. The mom isn't following the rules that the court set up for her, and the judge is fed up. He said he's going to escalate the paperwork to go ahead and terminate her rights and start the process.

Yes, it's the that makes it so special!

so happy to see the character breakfast went off without a bump in the road. looks like the kids all had a good time, good to see Mav is blending well with everything!

I imagine that your smile was ear to ear watching your kids interact with their kids and the characters!!!

Oh yes, Big 'ole grandma smiles for sure! I think I hardly ate my breakfast - I was so busy jumping up to take pics the whole time!

 

[ladylyons]

It's looking pretty good so far. The mom isn't following the rules that the court set up for her, and the judge is fed up. He said he's going to escalate the paperwork to go ahead and terminate her rights and start the process.

Yes, it's the that makes it so special!

That's sad the mom isn't following the rules but in the long run it's probably better for Mav to be in a loving, caring family!! I'm hoping the best for you guys that this process goes fast and as smooth as possible!!

 

[NiniMorris]

When the bio parents don't follow the rules it makes things very difficult. Our two youngest are 12 and 13...we have had them since they were 18 months and 6 months. While we have legal permanent custody, adoption is out of the question. All of our dealings were with the Juvenile judge. He was great...then for the adoption we had to go to Superior court. We drew a very VERY Liberal judge.

His opinion was that we could not terminate the parental rights of bio dad since he was in prison for child molestation! There was no way to be guaranteed he had been served his papers correctly. And of course, bio Mom had disappeared...so how did we know she really didn't 'want' the kids anymore? DFACS director was livid and almost lost her job over it...

We have decided the only difference that an adoption would make is a name change...so we have let it go.

Even though there is a new judge sitting and we could probably do it...bio Dad actually thinks we have already adopted...because he was served the papers...if he found out otherwise at this point...well, let's just say he is not a nice person, and the less dealings we have to have with him the better....

Sorry to hijack...


I will go back to the corner and behave for a while...or at least try...

Nini

 

[MAGICFOR2]

When the bio parents don't follow the rules it makes things very difficult. Our two youngest are 12 and 13...we have had them since they were 18 months and 6 months. While we have legal permanent custody, adoption is out of the question. All of our dealings were with the Juvenile judge. He was great...then for the adoption we had to go to Superior court. We drew a very VERY Liberal judge.

His opinion was that we could not terminate the parental rights of bio dad since he was in prison for child molestation! There was no way to be guaranteed he had been served his papers correctly. And of course, bio Mom had disappeared...so how did we know she really didn't 'want' the kids anymore? DFACS director was livid and almost lost her job over it...

We have decided the only difference that an adoption would make is a name change...so we have let it go.

Even though there is a new judge sitting and we could probably do it...bio Dad actually thinks we have already adopted...because he was served the papers...if he found out otherwise at this point...well, let's just say he is not a nice person, and the less dealings we have to have with him the better....

Sorry to hijack...


I will go back to the corner and behave for a while...or at least try...

Nini

Your comments are welcome here! This is all so new to us, and we can see that it is quite a process, and can take different twists and turns. We're also dealing with two different bio families here, so the journey will prove interesting for sure. Your kids are lucky to have you as their parents, no matter how that looks on paper!

Please don't stay in the corner!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Today would prove to be the “off” day of the vacation. Things just didn’t come together the way we hoped. It’s funny how a couple of missteps can throw off your whole day, but you can still choose to have a good time.
First, remember the 10:00 RD we were going to make? Well, it turned out they changed it to 9:00 quite awhile after I made the ADRs. I decided that we would just make the best of it, because moving breakfast up just wasn’t going to happen with our group.

We hopped on the monorail and were pulling up at Epcot in no time. Since we were already late for RD, we didn’t really feel a sense of urgency to run anywhere for a fastpass. That was good and bad. We went through bag check pretty quickly, and then up to the turnstile and Urrrrrch!! something was wrong with Ryan and Dana’s passes. It seems they needed to see Ryan’s ID at the ticket window to activate his passes for the first time. They let Dana and the boys go through and sent Ryan back out with the passes to take care of it. It didn’t take him long to be back .

Ryan and Dana had purchased a legacy tile here on the wall when they were here for their Disneymoon in 2006, so they needed to look it up. While they were searching, I ran to GS and purchased some Disney Dollars for each of the grandkids. I thought they would think it was fun. I guess they did, but they seemed a little confused about what they were for. They each had fun shopping for their gift, but I think the parents paid with the bucks, instead of the kiddos. Oh well, I had fun planning it. When I came back, the tile was found and commemorated. It was fun for them to show Mason and Evan their little pic:



We had another “Big ride” to conquer today, so off we went toward Mission Space! I felt like my Touring Plans were kind of out the window at this point, so we were just taking Ryan’s lead. The Lines app said MS was a 10 min wait, so Jim and Ryan sent the rest of us and the strollers off and our job was to get in line and get child swaps. The only problem was, that Myles had to use the restroom so he and Mark disappeared. We were heading for the line, but it was empty, and the girls refused to walk up until Mark got back, because they felt like we would be too spread out. Two people were supposed to get on with the two older kids, and then get child swaps for the rest of us. Instead, we ended up standing around by the FP Return time sign, while a HUGE school group got in line in front of us. By this time Jim and Ryan came back with Soarin’ FP, but the wait time for MS had jumped to 75 min! Not good. Ryan was disgusted because now we couldn’t pull FP for MS and the wait was so long. They went up and got some child swaps and Jim and I took the two little boys to the gift shop and into the Imagination Pavilion.
I don’t think the wait ended up being that long, but it probably seemed like that. We played with the Fire Truck, we tried dancing, I kept trying to push the stroller around, because Mav seemed sleepy and I was hopeful there would be a nap. Nope. He managed to throw our Mister Fan and break it. Eventually, the crew came out and they were IN LOVE with MS! Jim didn’t feel much like small spaces, so we took the child swaps, and Ryan and Dana, myself and all 3 of the big kids went on. I got in a capsule with Myles and Londynn. We rode the green side. I have to say I’ve only ridden the Orange side before, but the green side was just as much fun, minus a little weightlessness. Lots of giggles later, we all emerged – NOW MS was Myle’s favorite ride!!!

Now we headed over to find Nemo! It practically a walk on and everyone enjoyed it a lot! We needed to get over to Soarin', so we thought we'd come back later for Turtle Talk with Crush -

When we came out, we met up with a PP guy and got him to do some shots for us –








To be Continued...

 

[KatMark]

Tammie, I think we all have an "off day" now and then where plans don't go quite as we wanted them to. But I looks like you guys recovered. I give you credit...I can't do orange or green on MS...makes me ill.

The photopass pictures by Nemo are wonderful...they made me smiles.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Tammie, I think we all have an "off day" now and then where plans don't go quite as we wanted them to. But I looks like you guys recovered. I give you credit...I can't do orange or green on MS...makes me ill.

The photopass pictures by Nemo are wonderful...they made me smiles.

It seems we have one almost every trip - when Jim and I went alone, it was DHS. I was thinking we could just skip that park, and then this year it will prove to be one of our best days! We were trying, but the day will be too much for some of us.

Thanks! The pics did turn out fun. We stopped at first because Londynn had the Nemo dress, and then it was fun to do more!

 

[dizneeat]

We all have an off day now and then, but sometimes they just turn into lovely memories. And I am sure this one is a great memory day.
Those photos are just too cute. Thanks for sharing, Tammie.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

We all have an off day now and then, but sometimes they just turn into lovely memories. And I am sure this one is a great memory day.
Those photos are just too cute. Thanks for sharing, Tammie.

Karin, you're right! I think in my disappointment of the overall day, I was forgetting the little moments until now when I'm looking back - the giggles on MS, and more to come... Thanks for the reminder!

 

[englishrose47]

Oh yea the "OFF" day !!! I hve a feeling next month will have it's OFF days with no GAC for our group!!! I am only gonna have 2 days to come up with a plan as I am calling back Special Needs for the full details on the 14th!!!

 

[pkondz]

Today would prove to be the “off” day of the vacation.

Oh, oh.

It’s funny how a couple of missteps can throw off your whole day,

Yup.

"Okay! I've got the whole day organized! First I need to run to the grocery store and pick up a few items, then over to the office store for a few more things. After that we'll pop over to the quickserve restaurant for a bite, down to the mall for clothes and sundries then over to Grandma's for a visit. Back home to get started on dinner with the groceries I picked up earlier then we'll have a family movie night!"

"Dad, I have soccer practice in the morning then band in the afternoon. Plus I told Melanie that I would come to her birthday party at 4pm and stay for the sleepover."

"Okay! Disregard everything I planned!"

First, remember the 10:00 RD we were going to make? Well, it turned out they changed it to 9:00 quite awhile after I made the ADRs. I decided that we would just make the best of it, because moving breakfast up just wasn’t going to happen with our group.

Oh? No, "Get up at 5am people! This is supposed to be fun, no matter how cranky you are!"

Ryan and Dana had purchased a legacy tile here on the wall when they were here for their Disneymoon in 2006, so they needed to look it up.

I wonder why they call them "legacy tiles"? Wouldn't "Legacy postage sized stamp" be more accurate?

Too wordy I guess.

While they were searching, I ran to GS and purchased some Disney Dollars for each of the grandkids. I thought they would think it was fun. I guess they did, but they seemed a little confused about what they were for. They each had fun shopping for their gift, but I think the parents paid with the bucks, instead of the kiddos.

Could've been worse. The parents might've paid with their own dollars instead... and been fuming at Grandma for telling the kids to get stuff.

we ended up standing around by the FP Return time sign, while a HUGE school group got in line in front of us.

Whoops! Good things come to those who wait.... not.

We rode the green side. I have to say I’ve only ridden the Orange side before, but the green side was just as much fun, minus a little weightlessness. Lots of giggles later, we all emerged – NOW MS was Myle’s favorite ride!!!

I've never quite understood why they call the non-spinning side the green side. Shouldn't the spinning side be the green side?

"Ride this side and you'll come out feeliing green!"

To be Continued...

Thanks for the update Tammie!

 

[jedijill]

Love the Nemo pictures!

I learned after traveling with my niece and nephew to just let the plan go and enjoy the moment. Made it a lot more fun than stressing about staying on the plan!

Jill in CO

 

[anewmac]

Love the pp pics how cute! Ugg those school tours I swear it never fails in Disney lol but I agree with Jill I have :tried: to let the planning go when we r in Dland etc and just ask when we r in line for the next ride where we going next and leave it up to them it has saved me stress lol. But I can see in a big group someone needs to have a plan of the day so u don't do a lot of I don't know where do u want to go lol. Glad it all worked out