A Smile in my Heart–Magical Week of Friends,Fun & Freezing-10/28-COMPLETE!

[mom2mek]

Those fire dancer shots were really cool!

Thanks! I like how they turned out too!

Great update Sara! Wishes from the Poly beach sounds like heaven (it sounds REALLY good if it was a bit warmer!)

I would have been eating my Goofy treats too I hope you were able to find the missing shoes!! Looking forward to your first park day!!

Thanks! I love watching Wishes from the beach. It is framed perfectly with the castle and is such a different perspective than from inside the park. Seeing it from inside is still a definite must though!!

Great update! I love watching Wishes from the beach at the Poly! The kids all look like they were having a blast. So fun!!!

Thanks Nickie! The kids did have a lot of fun together!

Not boring at all- I love all the details!!

Ok, good! Sometimes I'm writing and I'm like "they don't care about that, Sara...move on!"

Hi Sara- I think the last time I posted on one of your TRs was the one for your humungo Thanksgiving trip. I still admire how well you herded all those "cats"!

I love reading your TRs because they are so "real", so to speak. You tell the good and the bad, and I get a true sense of how it is to travel with 3 kids under 10. Plus, you have a wicked sense of humor and a great hubby to boot!

Can't wait to hear about the rest!

You are too kind! I hope I'm able to convey all of the different aspects of our trips....the good, the bad, and the ugly! Thanks for following along!

Great update Sara. O'dark thirty......

I've been there with the looking for shoes in the dark thing. My friends have a huge yard and we go there a lot in the summer for picnics and bonfires. Inevitably one of my boys would take of there shoes who-knows-where in the gigantic yard and we wouldn't discover it until we got ready to leave well after dark. We usually used the tractor headlights to search them out!! Now I gather everyone's shoes BEFORE the bonfire....lesson learned!

Yeah, in hindsight I should have made sure they all put their shoes in the same spot, but once I saw my friends, I forgot all about my kids! That's definitely a lesson learned for me!!

Sara

 

[mom2mek]

Day 2 – February 7th – Animal Kingdom - Chapter One!


Before he went to bed, Shawn set his alarm for some un-godly time of like 4 AM so that he and Michael could walk out to Sunset Point and see the shuttle launch. There are only supposed to be like 3 more shuttle launches EVER, and, of those, this was the only scheduled night launch, so he didn’t want to miss it! I would have also liked to have seen it, but hey….someone has to stay with the girls (and if you knew my Emily, you would know that waking her up early does not bode well for an enjoyable day, if you know what I mean….so waking the girls up was out of the question ).

When we went to bed that night, the local news guy was saying that the weather looked great and the launch would happen as scheduled! Well around 4:00 I heard the boys leave, and around 5:45 I woke up to them sleeping and I assumed they had seen it, come back, and gone back to sleep for a couple more hours. Well, as I laid there listening to the TV because I was too nervous to fall back asleep and then OVERsleep, I heard the newscaster say that the shuttle launch had been scrapped at the last minute. Bummer. I’m sure they were disappointed.

So, if you missed that, I did indeed say I was up at 5:45 and could not fall back asleep!! From my bed, I gazed out at the view from our window and still couldn’t believe I was there!

Eventually, I did get out of bed and start to get ready. I flipped our coffee pot (the one I brought from home along with some Starbucks Columbia coffee) to the “on” position since I had made it the night before, and jumped in the shower. Apparently, the Polynesian people are very short, as those showers are designed for people under 5 feet tall! My goodness! I was able to adjust the shower head to spray out further so that I didn’t have to practice my knee bends at the same time as rinsing out the shampoo! LOL! Probably my one and only complaint about the Polynesian rooms!

After I was ready, and everyone else was stirring, I took a very quick walk down to the GCH to attempt to get a ½ gallon of milk at the Samoa Snacks sundries shop upstairs. As I made my way over, I took a quick picture of the pool and the castle.

I quickly ran upstairs and the place was already bustling with activity from all the people waiting to get into ‘Ohana and Kona for breakfast. But sadly, I noticed the gates were still up at Samoa Snacks and I, along with another lady who wanted to get some sinus medication for her daughter, were left to either wait for it to open at 8:00 (still more than 30 minutes away) or find somewhere else to get what we needed. I don’t know about her with the medicine need, but for me, I just ran down to Capt Cooks and got two small containers of milk and took them back to the room for our cereal. Samoa was such a great spot for quick runs over to Capt Cooks and the GCH!

Shawn was almost ready and the kids were raring to go, so I poured them some cereal and put some water in the kettle for Shawn and I to have some oatmeal. That kettle worked great – boiled a whole pot of water in like 2 minutes. Who needs a microwave?? LOL!

(Kids were working the bed head here...)

I got the kids dressed, loaded up the pin lanyards and the fanny packs, had the kids pick out a couple of snacks to carry with them, loaded the stroller with a blanket and some water bottles, and we were on our way to Animal Kingdom! We decided to drive this morning as we would be going to dinner at Boma that night and didn’t want to have to deal with taking a bus from the Animal Kingdom Lodge to the MK and then the monorail back to the Poly, or take a taxi.

We didn’t get lost this time (woo-hoo) and in short order we were pulling around the bend with the Tree of Life in view!!

We arrived around 8:45 but apparently still missed the opening show. One of these days we will catch it!! The weather was nice out but still fairly chilly so we broke out the little gloves I had in my bag. Having warm hands always makes me feel warmer all over!

We headed around the Discovery Island area, taking our time and enjoying the sights (and smells….as Katie so lovingly said “what smells here”) LOL! I don't see her as a future zookeeper!

Katie just wasn't interested in having her picture taken that morning and subsequently all of these first pictures of the day have her moping in the background! We saw a photopass photographer in front of the Tree of Life, and thought it would be nice to get a few pics before the crowds arrived. Katie wasn’t exactly cooperating but we took a few anyway. Here is one that the photographer took with Shawn's camera - the rest are on the photopass CD that should be here shortly.

So at this point, we split up, and Shawn headed to Asia to obtain fastpasses for Everest, and I took the kids to go take a spin on Dinosaur Dumbo (i.e. Triceratops Spin). Shawn isn’t too keen on doing any rides that go around and around, so this always works out well for us! Here are some of his pictures that he took on his trek to Asia.

Of course, an arrival to Dinoland at 9:05 in the morning means absolutely nobody else to contend with and we quickly jumped on the flying dinosaurs and took a spin!!

Katie and I rode together and Michael and Emily rode together. We hopped off and rode it again! Yippee!! (I only took video for some reason, no pictures).

When we got off, Michael noticed Primeval Whirl and realized that “hey, I’ve never been on that before”!

DRAT!

Umm, “well, the girls aren’t tall enough and Daddy isn’t back yet, so we really can’t” (Hehe)

“Just call Daddy and see if he is close by,” Michael said.

Well, low and behold he was just coming into Dinoland so there was no avoiding this for me! I was off to hopefully not hurl!

We walked right on the ride and got on for our trip back in time!

I wasn’t sure if either one of us was going to like it! Well, we loved it!!

Once was enough for me though!

When we got off PW, we saw Nichole and her daughter Kaylee walking towards us so we stopped to talk for a few minutes. They had never been on Primeval Whirl either so they decided to go check it out. I couldn't do it again but I asked Michael if he wanted to go on it again with Kaylee, but my shy boy said no. I'm sure Kaylee was relieved too! LOL! So we were off to check out Dinosaur and we figured we would text and/or call to meet up afterwards.

Off to Dinosaur….this would be a first for both Katie and for Emily! They were very excited!!

We zoomed right through the line for this too, and in a matter of minutes we were boarding our vehicle. Shawn was riding in the row with Katie and Michael and took hilarious video using the night vision setting on the video camera.

Soooo....what was the verdict? Was it a hit? Did the girls hate it? Love it? And would we ever find the rest of the group we were supposed to be meeting?

Sara

 

[beccamarie]

Your trip is awesome! It is getting me SOOO excited for my family's first trip. I love all the pics!

 

[Poohtigeey]

All caught up! See, it pays to wake up at 4am.

I love reliving the trip through your report. It's interesting to hear about what was going on when we weren't together. I love that picture of Megan and Emily. You got alot done on AK morning while we pigged out at Rainforest. I can't wait to see some more of Shawn's pictures. I'll get the Photopass CD ordered today or tomorrow.

I can't respond much more. I am so tired that my thoughts aren't processing, but I wanted you to know that I'm all caught up!!! More please.

 

[mom2mek]

Your trip is awesome! It is getting me SOOO excited for my family's first trip. I love all the pics!

Thanks so much! Ahhh...first family trip to Disney....memories to last a lifetime!

All caught up! See, it pays to wake up at 4am.

I love reliving the trip through your report. It's interesting to hear about what was going on when we weren't together. I love that picture of Megan and Emily. You got alot done on AK morning while we pigged out at Rainforest. I can't wait to see some more of Shawn's pictures. I'll get the Photopass CD ordered today or tomorrow.

I can't respond much more. I am so tired that my thoughts aren't processing, but I wanted you to know that I'm all caught up!!! More please.

Aww man, Monica! 4 AM? And it wasn't for a shuttle launch either! I hope you can rest some today!

Yes it was a good morning - but it got even better later on!

Sara

 

[RockinDisney]

I love the girls jackets!!!
PW is one of my silly favorites Glad you guys liked it!!
Can't wait to hear more

 

[mrsksomeday]

The kids looked so cute with bedhead . AK is always so pretty, I loved Shawn's pictures. I can't wait to see how Dinosaur went over.

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Great day 2 update.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Another great update Sara. Like Monica, I love hearing what you all were doing and I'm imagining what we were doing at the same time.

Glad you liked (sorta) Primeval Whirl - it's become one of Sam's favorites at AK.

I love the view from your room that I could see in the picture of the kids eating breakfast.

Great pictures too! I love the ones that Shwan took on his way to Everest.

Can't wait to hear how the kids liked Dinosaur!

 

[goofy's_gurl]

I love the pictures of Wishes. they came out great! When i went on PW I really didnt care for it. Glad you to liked it. Hopefully they liked Dinosaur.

 

[mom2mek]

I love the girls jackets!!!
PW is one of my silly favorites Glad you guys liked it!!
Can't wait to hear more

Thanks! Yeah, they remind me of junior high school show choir jackets with their oh-so-shiny finish!

PW was very fun!!

The kids looked so cute with bedhead . AK is always so pretty, I loved Shawn's pictures. I can't wait to see how Dinosaur went over.

Thanks Tracy! The theming at AK is just so amazing! I noticed so many things I had never seen before. Never ceases to amaze me how many new things you can continue to find! That's why we keep going back, right?

Great day 2 update.

Thanks!

Another great update Sara. Like Monica, I love hearing what you all were doing and I'm imagining what we were doing at the same time.

Glad you liked (sorta) Primeval Whirl - it's become one of Sam's favorites at AK.

I love the view from your room that I could see in the picture of the kids eating breakfast.

Great pictures too! I love the ones that Shwan took on his way to Everest.

Can't wait to hear how the kids liked Dinosaur!

Hi Michelle! It's funny to see what other people were doing at the same time, isn't it? I might need your help with the next update because I get kind of mixed up with my memories once we were all together!

I love the pictures of Wishes. they came out great! When i went on PW I really didnt care for it. Glad you to liked it. Hopefully they liked Dinosaur.

Thanks! I wasn't sure I would like it at all, what with the spinning AND the dipping, but I did ok! Will definitely ride it again!

Sara

 

[starrzone]

Great update! I remeber that my father "made" my family watch a shuttle launch waaaayyy back during my first trip to WDW in November 1990, when I was *cough almost 9 cough* . I did NOT apreciate having to sit outside for hours (well, it SEEMED like hours to an 8-year old!) in the dark and watch a light go up into the air. I am SO glad I got this opporutinity, though, even though our pictures of that evening are very unremarkable! I'm sorry that the launch was cancelled for your men; I'm with Emily, though, on NOT getting up at 4am!

 

[stinkerbell007]

Yay, yay, yay!!!

I subscribed a few days ago, but just got caught up with the reading. I love reading your reports, Sara. Keep up the fun work! I've got a 3-day trip coming up at the Poly with my DH and DS (9) in April. We are so excited. (Celebrations: DH's debut [solo role] with the Washington National Opera; and, and...AND!!! DS Chandler's debut [as an extra] in the production!!. They perform in the opera house at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.!! I am so not worthy!!! bwaahahahahahah. But really. I am SO SO SO proud of my boys. Fer real, tho.])

Plus, I've got another sister trip coming up this fall with my sis (burly to y'all on the disboards), and hopefully that one will be at the Poly also. Or at minimum, it will be at a moderate for several days and then end on a high note for a night or so at the Poly. (Ah....home sweet home. The Poly. So many great memories there....)

So, carry on.........

Linda

 

[mom2mek]

February 7th - Animal Kingdom - Chapter 2

Well, I’m not that great of a cliffhanger writer, (hey, I’m no KathyRN137), but I will put your minds at ease…..the verdict on Dinosaur was....

...picture inserted for dramatic pause....

YES, The girls LOVED it!



We exited the ride and took a gander at our ride picture. Shawn looks like he is watching TV, Michael and Katie look petrified, and Emily is totally not looking! Too funny!

When we left Dinosaur, it was about 9:50, and we saw Nichole and Kaylee again right outside Dinosaur. Nichole said the rest of the group were going to try for the first Nemo show, which started at 10:30. It was about 9:50 at this point and our fastpasses for Everest were now up, so Shawn grabbed 5 more fastpasses for Dinosaur to use later and we made a pitstop before heading over to find Nemo! In looking at my pictures, I’m not sure if we did something else in between Dinosaur and Nemo as it seems like a lot of time went by, but for the life of me, I can’t remember. Maybe the pitstop took us a lot longer than what I am remembering.

Regardless, by 9:50 we had now been on Triceratop Spin twice, Primeval Whirl once, Dinosaur once and had fastpasses for Everest and fastpasses for another ride on Dinosaur! A great morning! We leisurely made our way towards the Finding Nemo theater in hopes of meeting up with the rest of the herd!

Monica and her family had been at the park since 8:30 that morning for a breakfast at Rainforest Café, and the others had come in and stopped to see some characters but they were all now on their way to Nemo. Yay! Shawn and I plus Nichole and all our kids found seats right behind the sound booth at the theater and waited while trying to “hold” the rest of the bench for everyone else. Soon we were all there to watch the show.

I don’t think we all ended up together though….some went to a row a little further back. I think we would have had room, but maybe it didn’t look that way. Regardless, we were all there and the show started! On our way over to Nemo, a CM had mentioned that this would soon be on Broadway! I haven’t heard anything else about that, but thought it was interesting. This show is so well-done and very beautiful. My only complaint would be that since they have to condense a long movie into a much shorter stage version (and add in musical numbers to boot) it can be confusing if you have never seen the movie. Then again, who hasn’t seen Nemo, right? I always picture if I had someone sitting there next to me who didn’t know the plot ahead of time, would they really enjoy it or would they be trying to figure out what the heck was going on!! Regardless, we all seemed to enjoy it and I always leave the theater singing “Go With the FLLLOOOWWWW OOOWWWW OOOWWW OOWW” in my head!

And now.....Here is where the herding cats came into play….leaving the theater. I don’t care how much you try to stay organized or together, it just seems to be total chaos when you leave a theater in a herd. Even though we waited until most everyone had left, we still had to deal with the inevitable issues of who has what child.... someone walking and then stopping to turn around to make sure everyone is there, only to be passed by everyone...... someone moving ahead to try and get a stroller....... someone trying to keep their particular section of kids within eyesight...... someone chit chatting about how good the show was and losing track of the group........... some grouping of kids playing and losing sight of the rest of us…..it’s all there… and it’s all a little frantic until the crowd clears, you hear the hallelujah music, and you count to make sure you don’t have any casualties! LOL! Phew – we made it.

And spoken just like the fish in Nemo who get themselves across the road and into the ocean but are still in their little baggies....

Now what?



The general consensus at this point was to head back to Dinoland to hit up some of the rides for those who had not been on them yet. However, Katie had only ONE thing on her mind and nothing would stop her from obtaining it!!!

POPCORN!!!

Daddy to the rescue! Shawn split up from the group and went to stand in line for popcorn! Michelle and Nichole (I think…correct me if I’m wrong, girls) took the older girls to ride Primeval Whirl which at that point was showing a 40 minute wait. (Turns out it was more like 20 since they opened the other side of the ride loading area). Dave took Megan, and Charlene took Luke, to ride Triceratop Spin and Monica’s Mom went to the restroom. Got all that?

Monica and I stood in the center of Dinoland with the boys who were off to pin trade and the girls who were not-so-patiently waiting for their popcorn.

(One of my favorite pictures of Michael and Hunter - no silly faces, no crazy faces, just nice smiles. Aren't they cute?)

It was here that we noticed how the imagineers put in parking space lines in the Chester and Hester section. How funny! You can see them in the background of the picture with the boys.

The boys made a few trades with a castmember (one pin Michael traded and then Hunter traded and got Michael’s pin for himself – LOL boys – you could have traded with eachother). By then, Shawn returned with the popcorn and all was well with Katie’s world.

When Dave got off TS with Megan, we suggested that they take the fastpasses we had for Dinosaur and use them so that Hunter and Megan could ride and not have to come back over to Dinoland later in the day or stand in the standby line (which was still somewhat short, but hey...fastpass will shave about 15 minutes off of that 20 minute wait!). Of course, Michael heard that and REALLY wanted to ride something with Hunter!! So it was going to be Dave, Hunter, Megan, Michael and myself. Well then Emily heard about that and she wanted to go (Katie was content to just sit and eat her popcorn). Hmmm....only 5 fastpasses.....

Well somehow we convinced Dave to take all 4 kids to ride Dinosaur. Yay Dave! We waited for them in the giftshop and caught a glimpse of their ride shot before we even saw them exiting! We all thought it was a little funny that Dave is sitting next to Emily and not his own daughter who is 2 years younger and had never been on the ride before!

After their ride, we hung out in the gift shop for a while and talked about where to meet up for lunch. Michelle, Charlene, and the older girls were not with us (Michelle, where were you...still at Primeval?) but we all decided we would head to the place that the kids would be happiest with...Pizzafari! I really do want to try FlameTree one of these days, but sitting outside to eat in this chilly air was just not appealing. So we exited the gift shop just in the nick of time before Katie had her 20th chance to beg for a giant, ugly, plastic dinosaur that she all of a sudden couldn't live without.

So the 10 of us were off to Pizzafari and the rest would be joining us in short order.

Emily and Megan were walking together and talking and it was too cute....

Of course, Monica and I were walking together and talking as well and we made sure Shawn knew NOT to take a picture of the two of us from behind!

Yeah, he did anyway, but I won't be posting that one! Thanks hon'!

Before long we were at Pizzafari! Along with a gazillion other people. Oops. We kind of missed out on the whole eat-before-the-crowds thing! We searched through the whole restaurant to try and find a big table or at least two tables within close proximity of one another and finally found two in the front room right off the ordering area. I got in line and Shawn passed the time taking some cute pictures of the kids at the table.

(Hunter)

(Emily)

(Megan)

(Katie)

(Michael)

The rest of the group got there and found a table to huddle around (all 8 of them around one little table) and chowed down! What can I say? It's pizza.

Up next....Cougar Moms???

Sara

 

[mom2mek]

Great update! I remeber that my father "made" my family watch a shuttle launch waaaayyy back during my first trip to WDW in November 1990, when I was *cough almost 9 cough* . I did NOT apreciate having to sit outside for hours (well, it SEEMED like hours to an 8-year old!) in the dark and watch a light go up into the air. I am SO glad I got this opporutinity, though, even though our pictures of that evening are very unremarkable! I'm sorry that the launch was cancelled for your men; I'm with Emily, though, on NOT getting up at 4am!

1990? Almost 9? I think I'm the one coughing! I graduated high school in 1992!

It's good that you look back on that experience fondly. I hope the same can be said for Michael!

Yeah, Emily takes after her mother when it comes to mornings...

Yay, yay, yay!!!

I subscribed a few days ago, but just got caught up with the reading. I love reading your reports, Sara. Keep up the fun work! I've got a 3-day trip coming up at the Poly with my DH and DS (9) in April. We are so excited. (Celebrations: DH's debut [solo role] with the Washington National Opera; and, and...AND!!! DS Chandler's debut [as an extra] in the production!!. They perform in the opera house at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.!! I am so not worthy!!! bwaahahahahahah. But really. I am SO SO SO proud of my boys. Fer real, tho.])

Plus, I've got another sister trip coming up this fall with my sis (burly to y'all on the disboards), and hopefully that one will be at the Poly also. Or at minimum, it will be at a moderate for several days and then end on a high note for a night or so at the Poly. (Ah....home sweet home. The Poly. So many great memories there....)

So, carry on.........

Linda

Wow Linda - that's fabulous! I'm sure you are very proud! The Kennedy Center is so beautiful and I wish them the best of luck with their production. Which opera are they performing?

Very cool about the sister trip! Sounds like so much fun! It's great that you and your sister have a love of Disney in common!

Sara

 

[stinkerbell007]

Wow Linda - that's fabulous! I'm sure you are very proud! The Kennedy Center is so beautiful and I wish them the best of luck with their production. Which opera are they performing?

Very cool about the sister trip! Sounds like so much fun! It's great that you and your sister have a love of Disney in common!

Sara

They are doing Porgy & Bess (Gershwin).

And my sister and I are true Disneyphiles. Luv, Love, Loove it!!

This is my first time going with the annual pass option. Actually knowing in advance that I get to go to WDW two times in one year. How fun is that?!? Right?!?

Linda

 

[PISCESANGEL]

We exited the ride and took a gander at our ride picture. Shawn looks like he is watching TV, Michael and Katie look petrified, and Emily is totally not looking! Too funny!

OMG! Michael has the EXACT same expression in both of these pictures- hilarious!!

It definitely looks like a fun morning at the AK!

 

[mom2mek]

They are doing Porgy & Bess (Gershwin).

And my sister and I are true Disneyphiles. Luv, Love, Loove it!!

This is my first time going with the annual pass option. Actually knowing in advance that I get to go to WDW two times in one year. How fun is that?!? Right?!?

Linda

Very cool, Linda. Although I do not actively sing anymore, I was a music major in college (vocal) and I did my final music history paper on the entire opera. I adore it! Maybe I should take a road trip up to DC and see it!

What a good feeling....knowing you will be back to Disney 2 times in 1 year! Gotta love those APs, right?

Sara

 

[mom2mek]

OMG! Michael has the EXACT same expression in both of these pictures- hilarious!!

It definitely looks like a fun morning at the AK!

That is too funny! I hadn't noticed that before!

Sara

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Another update - woo hoo! You are on a roll!

It was a little nuts getting out of Nemo wasn't it? I had forgotten about that. I think I had somebody's kid with me (not my own) and was hoping to find my own once we got out.

We must have been on Dinosaur right after you, because we rode and then headed right over to Pizzafari too - funny!

And yeah, Pizzafari was nuts that day. We definitely didn't choose the right time for lunch did we?

Love all the pictures of you all! Great ones of the kids together!