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

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Ok, so I'm like 2 or 3 updates behind but I had to give a little woo hoo for your upcoming trip! I'm going back now to catch up on everything!

 

[12kizuna]

Lurker here!
I remember reading one of your past trip reports and enjoying it, and I just stumbled on this one! I love your upbeat reports with lots of pictures and can't wait for the next installment
It looks like you had a great trip... and another coming up! That means more trip reports for me to read yeah!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

I'm missing you by one week!!

Your plans look good....with so little time it's so hard to decide, but it looks like you have a good plan to maximize the time you have.

 

[vamassey1]

You're so lucky! You get to go back so soon. You're plan looks great. I would sugest taking one night and not doing a park and maybe eating at one of the Boardwalk area resorts and checking out that area.

 

[burly]

 

[cdotla]

Hey Sara...do you realize the shuttle launches the day before you arrive? Any way you could arrive a day early to see it?

 

[*dreamit*doit*]

Hey Sara! Your plan looks great! The only thing I would suggest would be to get in that single rider line and ride Everest!!

 

[MaryAz]

All caught up! Great PP pics. SOrry about the wait at Boma. Congrats on the Mom/Daughter trip-we miss you by a day.

 

[mom2mek]

Awesome!! What could be better??

Okay, Okay! THAT certainly makes it better!!!

Congratulations on your new ticker!!!


Kathy

All caught up now....great updates!
Yay for getting to go back to WDW!!

No suggestions, I just wanted to say congratulations on getting to go back .

Thanks! I'm very excited about it too! Of course, then I saw my schedule for the conference....ugh....bring on the lapu lapus!!

I'm finally caught up! I loved your report on AK! We spent a lot of time watching the tigers on our trip, we probably would have stayed longer but it was so hot I was tempted to jump into the pool with them.

The group Photopass photos are awesome. We love the Lion King show, too and can't believe we skipped it on our first several trips to AK! Our last trip was our first experience with Boma and we really enjoyed it. There were lots of options for everyone- my not so adventurous hubby and youngest son, my vegetarian daughter, and my oldest son and me who like to try different things.

The photos of Katie and Megan are hilarious and you can tell all the kids had a wonderful trip. What great memories for all of them!

PS. Congrats on your work related return trip. I am SO jealous!

Thanks Lisa! We skipped the Lion King show the first few times we went to AK too! Kicking myself now - it's so good that it is a must-see now!!! Boma is another new favorite! I have Monica to thank for that!

The kids really do adore eachother! Friends for life just like their mommas!

Ok, so I'm like 2 or 3 updates behind but I had to give a little woo hoo for your upcoming trip! I'm going back now to catch up on everything!

Lurker here!
I remember reading one of your past trip reports and enjoying it, and I just stumbled on this one! I love your upbeat reports with lots of pictures and can't wait for the next installment
It looks like you had a great trip... and another coming up! That means more trip reports for me to read yeah!

Thanks! I will probably do a mini-TR for that trip too - so I hope everyone will read!!

I'm missing you by one week!!

Your plans look good....with so little time it's so hard to decide, but it looks like you have a good plan to maximize the time you have.

The first thing I thought about was "I wonder what day it is that Missy is going...I know it's in May!" Then I went back to your PTR and saw that we would be missing you! Would have loved to meet up for a Dole Whip!

You're so lucky! You get to go back so soon. You're plan looks great. I would sugest taking one night and not doing a park and maybe eating at one of the Boardwalk area resorts and checking out that area.

That's a great idea! We actually entertained the thought of staying at Boardwalk but all they had was club level available and honestly, my Mom just can't seem to tear herself away from the Poly views. I'd love to take her over that way though as I have never just strolled the boardwalk at night.

Update hopefully today!!!

Hey Sara...do you realize the shuttle launches the day before you arrive? Any way you could arrive a day early to see it?

Hmmm....might have to mention that to mom!! The Poly is a great place to watch from! I wonder what time of day the launch is??

Hey Sara! Your plan looks great! The only thing I would suggest would be to get in that single rider line and ride Everest!!

Hmmm....might have to think about that! But I would feel sorry for the poor soul sitting next to me - I'm a screamer! Usually I save that all for family members! maybe I can convince my Mom to ride it....I mean, her 6 year old granddaughter did fine!!

All caught up! Great PP pics. SOrry about the wait at Boma. Congrats on the Mom/Daughter trip-we miss you by a day.

Thanks! I'll try to leave some dole whips for ya!


Sara

 

[mom2mek]

Just thought all my DIS friends might enjoy this little video!! Go Mickey!!! Go Mickey!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFOFizCEAis&feature=channel

Sara

 

[kaysmommie]

Just thought all my DIS friends might enjoy this little video!! Go Mickey!!! Go Mickey!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFOFizCEAis&feature=channel

Sara

Thanks for posting that, it's too funny. I love the new ticker , work really!

 

[Colt Blackwood]

Just thought all my DIS friends might enjoy this little video!! Go Mickey!!! Go Mickey!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFOFizCEAis&feature=channel

Sara

Mickey was "getting down".

 

[mom2mek]

February 8th
Epcot
Chapter 1

Second verse....same as the first.

Once again, Shawn and Michael left this morning around 4:00 AM and walked out in the darkness of the night to try and catch the Space Shuttle launch. It had been scratched the night before and rescheduled for this day so they were trying again to see it!

This time they were not disappointed.

After a few minutes of waiting, wrapped in a blanket, cameras in hand, huddled out on Sunset Point at the Poly in 38 degree temperatures (but with quite a few other people), the shuttle lifted off and they saw the red fire trail and were able to tell when the rocket boosters detached. I'm so glad Michael was able to see this - I don't know if he understood the magnitude of it right then, but sadly, so many people growing up right now will no longer have the opportunity to see ROCKET SHIPS....with people on board .....LAUNCHED INTO SPACE!!!!

That's pretty dang amazing!!

He was pretty impressed with it though and I know it will be something they will remember forever. The pictures don't really do it justice but here is one anyway! I hope I can attach the video of it soon for you to see! It was pretty neat looking!

They came back to the room and crawled back into bed for a few hours.

We slept in a little later today, ate a quick breakfast in the room (still loving the tea-kettle for oatmeal), and filled our disposable coffee cups up and headed outside to take the short walk to the TTC for Epcot. But not before Emily had a chance to load up her pin lanyard with a TON of pins to trade. She literally sat on the bed of the room forever arranging everything on her lanyard with excruciating tediousness!!! Thank goodness we weren't trying for rope drop anymore....or else I would have been going out of my mind!! Well, as I previously stated about something else, I admit to being a little tightly wound regarding some things so I had to take a few moments to just breathe as she sat there getting her lanyard "just right".

Shawn took a couple of pics from the balcony that morning....ahhh....wish I was there right now...

Shawn had either forgotten or lost his sunglasses at some point, so as we left our longhouse, he took a right turn and walked back to the GCH with Michael and I took the girls and hung a left to walk to the TTC to wait for them. This was the day after the Superbowl win by the New Orleans Saints and the lines to get on the MK monorail were really long and filled with a lot of black and gold! Drew Brees was appearing in the parade this afternoon and I'm sure if you were a Saints fan you were heading to the MK this day! Nothing against the Saints, but we were very happy to be boarding that monorail to Epcot today!!!

Eventually, Shawn and Michael appeared and we all made our way up the ramp to board the mostly empty Epcot monorail!

This day was gorgeous, weather wise. Started a little chilly, but the sun was out, the sky was blue, and the temperatures warmed up nicely during the day. We arrived right around 10:15 and started our day off with a couple of photopass pictures in front of Spaceship Earth!

I figured that since we were already past an hour and a half after rope drop that the standby lines for Soarin and Test Track would be fairly long at that point, so we decided to head to Mission Space. Shawn conveniently offered to go get fastpasses for Soarin while we were rocketing to space as he did not have an interest in riding. I will only do the green side, so I was a little surprised that he didn't even feel up to doing green....after all....it's the wimp side!!! Oh well....I'm tellin ya....he rode orange last time with Michael and I guess that horrible feeling he had after riding that has lingered with him all this time! It was fine though...the space simulator only fits 4 so it worked out that we could all ride together. Michael was the only kid who had been on it before so he was trying to prep the girls for what their "responsibilities" would be. The girls were very excited about their roles and we grabbed our green side tickets and got in the short line!

I'm no Shawn, but hey...not too bad of a shot! I actually had to lean way down to get the hp sign out of the shot! LOL! That's real effort for a "click and shoot kind of girl" like I am!

We waited about 10 minutes before being led into the "briefing room" and assumed our spots to get our orders! The kids all had certain jobs that they wanted to do which left me being the engineer - Michael insisted that this was the best role for me as it involved putting them into hypersleep and he said that was the best role for a Mom! Unfortunately, that left me NOT sitting next to Katie. Having been on the ride before, I knew that it wasn't that big of a deal; I knew she would be fine, but I would have preferred sitting next to her just in case she got scared.

After listening to Lieutenant Dan (love Gary Sinise) we were led into the simulator area and I helped the kids with their harnesses and sat down for our fun adventure. I'm not really sure how much of the ride Katie was paying attention to at that point because once they closed the door and the control panel came toward us, she realized she couldn't reach the buttons! Uh-oh!! I assured her that the people in the "control room" would push her buttons for her, but that didn't stop her from worrying about it! Plus it was a little hard for her to hear me try and reassure of that with all the ride noises, instructions from Mr. Sinise, and Michael calling out everyone's jobs! LOL!

Well, she did fine (as did Emily) and they all LOVED it and instantly wanted to ride it again!

We exited the ride and found Shawn sitting outside with another one of their favorite WDW things....POPCORN!!!

Best. Snack. Ever.

We made our way back across to the other side and over to the Seas for a little ride in a clamshell.

Nemo was a walk-on and we all enjoyed it as usual! My favorite part, other than the end when the real tank shows the animated fish inside of it, is the jellyfish room!

We decided to skip Turtle Talk since we knew we would be back with my parents later in the trip and it's one of my mom's favorites, so instead we hit the shark area to get our traditional picture with Bruce.

It was here that I witnessed an appalling demonstration by a father. The line to wait for a picture with Bruce was fairly long and what was really frustrating was that many of the children were back there without parents and most of them were not old enough to realize that there was a line formed to get up into the mouth of the shark and they just kept butting in front of everyone. Without their parents around, no one really said anything to them except maybe under their breath! But the point is, everyone else who WAS waiting patiently, was waiting even longer as this went on.

By the time the guy in front of me got up to the front, we had been there WAY longer than I would have liked. The kids really wanted to get a picture in there so I was obliging. Patiently. Well, this father (I use that term lightly) made his tween-age son who was almost as tall as me and could have cared less about getting his picture taken, climb up in the mouth to have his picture taken. Clearly, this child did NOT want to do it and kept dropping down so that, what I can only assume, was the mother on the other side, could not snap the shot.

Well this made the father not so happy. The father kept yelling at him in a foreign language so I have no idea what he was actually saying and eventually he LAID on top of the boy and squished him so that he would stay put. The boy still managed to squeeze out below, and the father picked him up and put him back up there and laid on top of him AGAIN!!! It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. This father was a very large man and even though the boy was a big boy that was still a lot of weight on top of him. Not to mention how horribly embarrassing it must have been. The boy was in tears, the father was mad, the rest of us were standing there in utter shock!

Nice job, Dad!

What in the world was he thinking? It was horrible!!

Anyway, I got my kids situated for the picture and we managed to get out of there in one piece!

At some point along in here, I was exchanging text messages with Michelle and Monica. We were kind of criss-crossing past eachother this morning, but figured that at some point we would catch up and tour a little bit together. That's what is great about being together at a park with friends who love Disney as you do - everyone is ok to just keep going and doing what they want/need to get done, no one gets fed up with another, no one feels like they have to sit around and wait for the other group...they know their way around the parks, know what they want their family to 'not miss' and the pressure is so much lighter on everyone so you are able to just have a good time! I knew we would meet up eventually!


So.....Where do we head to next??? And where are those friends of mine???

Sara

 

[Colt Blackwood]

Wow! Beautiful family! Love the shark pics. That's too bad about the mean dad!!

 

[LISA1971]

Great trip report, and wonderful photos.

 

[kaysmommie]

Glad the Space shuttle finally launched Your Epcot day is off to a great start. No rope drop today huh? I love all the Epcot pics you posted, awesome! Glad the girls liked MS. I have never been on it. About the dad trying to get his kids photo with Bruce. Would have loved it if you took a picture. WTH is with some people?

 

[BippityBoo]

WOW! So amazing that they got to watch the Space Launch. What a great moment with Dad and Son!

I am so impressed that you guys rode Mission Space!! I am too chicken, even for the green side! Katie is a trooper (unlike this Katie )

What a RUDE Dad at Bruce!!! And to sit on top of him?? Just wrong. I am so upset that we too ran into a few horrible Dad/Mom moments. You actually made me remember one that I did not post about. We were on MAIN STREET and a Dad yelling loudly in Italian was walking down the street SLAPPING HIS LITTLE GIRL IN THE FACE. She was all dressed up from BBB and they were storming out of the park. Oh my goodness. I was in tears and my hubby reminded me that not everyone lives like we do. SO sad though!

I see that the girls fit nicely into the rented stroller I was worried that Abby would not fit, but it looks like she and Aiden will be just fine!

Can't wait to read about the rest of your Epcot day!!!

 

[BippityBoo]

PS: How were the strollers getting on and off the bus?

 

[mommytothreeboys]

How cool to see the shuttle launch! I'm glad they were able to do that!


Your kids are braver than I! I would have walked with Shawn to get the fastpasses! My boys love MS, but I just can't get myself to try it. It's just not worth being nauseous the rest of the day.


Bad, bad Dad.....UGH!! I feel for the poor boy who had to endure that humiliation.

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

I'm glad that Shawn and Michael's persistence paid off and they got to see the shuttle.

Yay for your girls being so brave! We've yet to ride MS... either side!

Boo for mean dad.

I think that your friends got caught up in Saints mania and went to the MK!