An APRIL Adventure in Autism: 2008 (8/8) Time to Say Good-Bye....

[mrsksomeday]

Great update, I loved the pictures with Ed and Billy, what a great family you are . I can't wait to see you again.

 

[mousescrapper]

Hi Kathy!

great update and final post for your Epcot day....sounded like a wonderful day! The puppets in China always cause a stop for my kids too. DH made it in the pav on our last trip...so I'll have some pictures to tempt you w/ soon on my TR.

The pictures of Ed and Billy and the sunset...you made me a good weepy!

I could stand and watch for hours. I also like to hit the clock shop on the hour.

just had to say to this Diser....what a great idea! Don't know why I never thought of that! gonna write that down in my tip book. thanks!

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

ITA, the pictures of Billy & Ed are the best!!

 

[irish dancer]

The KP missions are fun but I agree with Charleston Princess to set the expectation of how many you will do in advance. DS could have done all 7 if I'd have let him but we were doing it during the hottest part of the day and I couldn't take it anymore so we did 2. The puppets in China are a magnet for my kids too, every time!


ETA: Just noticed your ticker - CONGRATS ON THE 7lbs!!!

 

[KathyRN137]

Great update, I loved the pictures with Ed and Billy, what a great family you are . I can't wait to see you again.

Me 2 U!


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

Hi Kathy!

just had to say to this Diser....what a great idea! Don't know why I never thought of that! gonna write that down in my tip book. thanks!

I don't know why I never thought of it, either!!
It must be a lot like the clock scene in Geppeto's shop in Pinocchio!


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

ITA, the pictures of Billy & Ed are the best!!

Thank you!

Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

... DS could have done all 7 if I'd have let him but we were doing it during the hottest part of the day and I couldn't take it anymore so we did 2.

ETA: Just noticed your ticker - CONGRATS ON THE 7lbs!!!

Thanks... I'm working hard at it!

It might be worth it to go to WS more than once if the girls really like Kim Possible. I'm not sure how Billy will do with the missions... he'll probably either love all the excitement or not understand it and get bored.


Kathy

 

[moparop]

What a wonderful end to a perfect disney day! I just love seeing all of the love your family has for each other!

I just noticed your ticker! You are doing AWESOME Kathy! Keep up the good work!

 

[KathyRN137]

What a wonderful end to a perfect disney day! I just love seeing all of the love your family has for each other!

I just noticed your ticker! You are doing AWESOME Kathy! Keep up the good work!

Thanks Mop! I'm looking forward to some new and "expanded family" pix from you real soon!!

**********************************************​

Okay, so who's the DISer who recommended that I get the book, Mousejunkies?? Was it you, DearDaisyinDurham?? (I'll have to go back and look.) Anyway, I bought the book and now I'm trying very hard to save it for reading on the flight down to Florida....

...I don't think I'm going to be able to wait!! After reading the intro, I can say with certainty that I am a Mousejunkie!! (Addicted to the Mouse.) It looks like a great read... not just a travel guide, but a collection of WDW travel tales as well. Which is what this board is all about, right?!

Guess I'm going to have to pick something else to read on the plane!!


Kathy

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

Thanks Mop! I'm looking forward to some new and "expanded family" pix from you real soon!!

**********************************************​

Okay, so who's the DISer who recommended that I get the book, Mousejunkies?? Was it you, DearDaisyinDurham?? (I'll have to go back and look.) Anyway, I bought the book and now I'm trying very hard to save it for reading on the flight down to Florida....

...I don't think I'm going to be able to wait!! After reading the intro, I can say with certainty that I am a Mousejunkie!! (Addicted to the Mouse.) It looks like a great read... not just a travel guide, but a collection of WDW travel tales as well. Which is what this board is all about, right?!

Guess I'm going to have to pick something else to read on the plane!!


Kathy

I wasn't going to say anything....... but I didn't see how you could possibly NOT read it before your trip!! There's no way that I could get a new Disney book & not read it right away!! Yes, it's pretty funny isn't it?

I also like the Imagineering Guides, the Epcot book is probably my favorite.
Happy reading!!

 

[aspen37]

Hi Kathy, I'm all caught up. I loved all your pictures of Flower & Garden. When I was at EPCOT after the cruise my plan was to go to EPCOT and take pictures of Flower & Garden. We didn't have time during DATW ( Drink around the world) so my plan was to go back after everyone went home. My plan was a great idea till the Biblical rain started. I final did venture over to EPCOT but after a couple of hours of the pouring rain I left. I did get a few pictures but gave up after a while. When I went to the butterfly area the butterfly were all hiding.

The pictures of Billy eating the Gelato were pretty funny. I loved the picture of Billy and Tricia walking to Germany.

 

[aspen37]

Have you started listing to the podcast yet? I promise you'll love it!

 

[KathyRN137]

I wasn't going to say anything....... but I didn't see how you could possibly NOT read it before your trip!! There's no way that I could get a new Disney book & not read it right away!! Yes, it's pretty funny isn't it?

You're absolutely right... I've started reading it already!!

Hey, I'm having a hard enough time resisting carbs, I can't resist a Disney book too! A person can only stand so much...


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

Hi Kathy, I'm all caught up. I loved all your pictures of Flower & Garden. When I was at EPCOT after the cruise my plan was to go to EPCOT and take pictures of Flower & Garden. We didn't have time during DATW ( Drink around the world) so my plan was to go back after everyone went home. My plan was a great idea till the Biblical rain started. I final did venture over to EPCOT but after a couple of hours of the pouring rain I left. I did get a few pictures but gave up after a while. When I went to the butterfly area the butterfly were all hiding.

The pictures of Billy eating the Gelato were pretty funny. I loved the picture of Billy and Tricia walking to Germany.

Have you started listing to the podcast yet? I promise you'll love it!

Awww, sorry your Epcot photo plans got rained out!
I confess that I haven't listened to the podcasts yet. *Sigh* I guess I'm in for a new addiction!

Love your Lance pic, BTW! Ed's been following the tour again now that he's back!!

Kathy

 

[Charleston Princess]

Kathy, I bought Mousejunkies today at Borders and laughed all the way until page 10 when I had to put it down to make dinner. I can't wait to read more of it!

 

[KathyRN137]

Kathy, I bought Mousejunkies today at Borders and laughed all the way until page 10 when I had to put it down to make dinner. I can't wait to read more of it!

Did you see yourself in it like I did?! I've given up on saving it for the plane, now I'm just trying to save it for our next trip to the pool!!

Kathy

 

[Charleston Princess]

Did you see yourself in it like I did?! I've given up on saving it for the plane, now I'm just trying to save it for our next trip to the pool!!

Kathy

I have seen myself many times -- I kept reading bits of it outloud to Charles.

Oh, pool reading sounds like a good idea!!! We may have to follow suit!

 

[KathyRN137]

Chapter 31: Putting All the Pieces Together

Friday, 4/25/08

~The Magic Kingdom~


Well, you all know the sad story of my missing trip notes… I’ve been writing my report with the help of my family’s collective memory and the photos that I took. It’s so wonderful to have the date and time pop up when they are uploaded onto the computer! Or, is it? This last day has me completely befuddled.

In preparation for the next chapter, I first went to the pictures that I took on that Friday so I could refresh my memory. We had decided to end with a bang (actually, with a Splash) and go back to the Magic Kingdom to ride our favorites and to do a few that we had missed earlier in the week at the Pirate & Princess Party. So far so good.

But what’s this?? There were no pictures at all for that morning! That just didn’t make sense… we may not always make rope drop, but we are not the family that likes to arrive around 10-10:30. I was really puzzled. Had the camera battery died? No, that happened on our November trip. Did we have a special breakfast that day and I forgot the camera? No, I re-checked our ADR confirmation numbers in my PassPorter… no character breakfast that day. Hmmmm. What had we done that morning?

Well, I posed the question to Ed and Tricia (who usually just gives me a blank stare when I ask her to remember details of the trip), and Ed seemed positive that we had spent the morning at the quiet pool. Scratch that… he had taken the kids to swim while I did laundry and packed. Once he said that, Tricia nodded in agreement and said that she now remembered going to the pool. The kids had more pool time on this last trip than ever before and the they had reveled in it!

So it seems the morning mystery is solved. It fits, because they wouldn’t have taken the camera to the pool and, well, I certainly wouldn’t have taken pictures of myself packing!! But I recall having done laundry the night before… why did it take us so long to get going that day? And why did I choose to do the packing first thing in the morning instead of saving it for later?

Wait! It’s all coming back to me now! The reason I had to do more laundry was that Billy had had an accident during the night and I needed to wash his sheets. Thankfully I always bring a mattress pad “just in case,” so the mattress was fine. But I was not going to call Mousekeeping with that lovely present, so off to the laundry room I went. *Sigh* This was just one more example of why the DVC one-bedroom is superior to the studio. If we had our own in-room washer and dryer, I could’ve popped those sheets into the washer and we could’ve been off to the MK. We were planning to have dinner at Olivia’s anyway, so I could’ve put them in the dryer before dinner and they would’ve been all dry by bedtime. But of course, I couldn’t do that with the laundry room. You have to wait your turn and stay fairly closeby. And so that explains how the kids got an unscheduled morning of resort swimming and how I got all the packing done so early!

Hakuna Matata… No Worries… this just meant that our morning and evening plans would flip-flop and we could stay a bit later at the park. I called Disney Dining, changed our ADR time for Olivia’s, and we were good to go!

So, let’s pick up the action as we entered the Magic Kingdom. It was just about noon, so our first order of business was getting everyone fed. My favorite CS restaurant just happens to be Columbia Harbour House, so off we went to Liberty Square.

Yikes!! Look at the line for The Haunted Mansion!! (See it to the left?)

Yes, my friends, that is the end of the line! It snaked almost all the way around to the Ferry entrance!! Sooo glad we got to see that with minimum wait during the party! Let’s go eat instead…

It was the height of the lunch hour, but the lines were moving quickly and efficiently because I don’t recall waiting long. We chose the usual assortment of chicken finger-french fry-fried fish combos, except for Ed who decided to go with the Anchors Aweigh Sandwich (Tuna, Lettuce, and Tomato on a Multigrain Roll.) If you eat here the best, well, the quietest seating is upstairs. We found a nice cozy table and munched away while planning our next move.

Okay, this wasn’t a tough one.
We’re in the Magic Kingdom.
We’re in Liberty Square.
One guess as to where Billy wanted to go…

Yes, the ever-entertaining Hall of Presidents.

Naturally, after our meal came a quick biological break. We were just waiting for Ed to return when out came the camera and I snapped a picture of Tricia sitting across from me.

“Mom, let me take a picture of you!”
Looks innocent, doesn’t she?

Look what was happening behind my back!

Oh, that’s just so mature, Ed!

"Knock Knock! Anybody home?"

Laughing, we all trooped downstairs and out into the bright sunshine. Billy was bouncing up and down in anticipation of HOP, but our timing was really off… the show had just started and there wouldn’t be another for half an hour! Poor Billy would have to wait. He let us know his displeasure as we turned and headed toward AdventureLand instead. Ed showed Billy his watch as he explained that the shows would be going on all day and reassured him that we would come back.

Our son managed to get over his disappointment somewhere between HOP and the Jungle Cruise! Very long line and since Billy was bravely fighting off a meltdown as it was, we decided to use the GAC and entered the FP queue. What a lifesaver!

Waiting for our boat...

Waiting for the tarantula to stir...

(Why, oh why, is she taking a picture of it??)


Our skipper was just "okay," but Billy didn't care!

CP's son, Conner, may think the Kilamanjaro Safari animals are audio-animatronics, but Billy thinks the Jungle Cruise animals might just be real! "I've got you!" he cries as he grabs his Daddy's arm...

This, on the other hand, always makes him shriek with laughter! Boys!!

Now that we had seen the back side of water, we were off to see if that irksome Iago was having any luck getting the Tiki Birds to change their tune!

Did you know that the "thatched" roof on the Tiki Bird attraction is made of shredded tin that is allowed to rust naturally to give it that brown color? (Learned about that on the Keys to the Kingdom Tour a few years back!)

Billy loves all the colorful lights and enjoyed seeing all the different birds and flowers. He laughed and laughed (as he always does) when Iago stopped the show and started causing trouble.

I don’t think Uhoa, the Tiki God of Disaster is very happy with the changes…

As usual, there was a family that had to make a quick exit when the thunder, lightning, and Uhoa’s shrill voice frightened the daylights out of their toddler. Billy knows it’s coming now, so he just covered his ears and wiggled closer to his Daddy for protection. Once Iago learned his lesson, the tiki gods crooned their tune and the birds burst into a rousing version of “Get on Your Feet!” Once we were up off our seats, they ended the show with a magic trick…. they made us all disappear!

We reappeared in the middle of AdventureLand. “ Let’s go do Pirates of the Caribbean,” Ed declared. We pushed through the mass of humanity that had temporarily clogged the walkway between the spitting Tiki statues and Aladdin’s Carpets and inched closer to POC. Suddenly, Ed stopped and sniffed the air. He cocked his head to one side, looked over at me and said,

“I smell something!!”

I'm telling you, that man can smell those roasted sugared almonds from a hundred paces!! He sent Tricia to get him a snack from the kiosk.

"Hi! Can I have one package of almonds, please?"

"Wow!" said the Cast Member manning the stand. "You're the most pleasant young person that I've had all day!" Tricia was surprised. "Oh, I was just being polite!" she replied. The CM went on and on about how sweet and polite Tricia was, to the point where she began to blush.

She must have made a good impression on the CM, because in addition to the one bag of nuts we paid for, she gave Tricia two more for free!

What a nice bit of pixiedust!

Coming up: The Afternoon Mystery.... Things Just Aren't Adding Up!


Kathy

 

[mom2mek]

Sounds like a great afternoon so far! It's hard to remember back on details when you don't have photos (or notes, but I don't take notes too much...always plan to, never end up doing...), but I think you are doing a great job piecing it all together!

Love that photo of you (and Ed) in CHH! Kids! (and husbands...)

The last couple of pics of Tricia are so cute - such a pretty smile she has!

Sara