Another awesome trip, 8/28-9/3 Edited: Entire Report on this thread

[bigbabyblues]

Cast:

Me--age 29, 3rd WDW trip
DH--age 30, 5th or 6th WDW trip
DS1--aka "T" age 4, 2nd WDW trip
DS2--aka "Bob" age 2, 2nd WDW trip

Friday, August 26
We started out the morning behind schedule. Imagine that! We had planned to be up and on the road by 6, but we didn't get up until about 6:30. We were on the road by not long after 7 am. It looked like it was going to rain, and it did. About 15 minutes up the road it started raining. Nothing major, just a steady rain. By the time we got to I-77, it looked like we were in for a long day of driving in the rain. We got almost to Charleston, WV, and the skies opened up and it started pouring rain. Terrible rain, the kind where you can't see two feet in front of you. On the interstate, in morning rush hour traffic at about 65 mph. Did I mention that I'm not a good traveler, and I can't see in the rain at all? After about 10 minutes of this, it let up enough that I could see, and more importantly, DH could see since he was driving. It stopped raining about the time we got on the WV Turnpike. We stopped at a rest area, now about an hour and a half into the trip. DH is not one to stop while traveling, but he did because “T” insisted he HAD to go. “T” got the reminder that he shouldn't drink too much because we aren't stopping at every rest area we pass, and that it's going to be a long time until we stop for lunch. I should mention that both boys did really well on the road the whole time, didn't complain about riding or being stuck in the car at all. Got back on the road, and about 5 minutes later, it started pouring rain again. Worse this time, because there were a lot of semi's out. That one lasted about 20 minutes and I was about to croak. Did I mention I hate to travel?
Fast forward to about 11:30 or so. We stopped at a rest area right before Charlotte, NC for lunch. We were sooo glad to get out of the car. We let the boys run around and play awhile, and “Bob” fell and skinned his knee of course. The rest of the week, that was a joke, because he pointed out his boo-boo to everyone who would look, especially on the busses, and tell them he got it at Nini's house. Nini is DH mom, but she doesn't live at the rest area. We got back in the car and on the road again and this time we didn't stop until we got to Brunswick, GA, where we'd planned to spend the night. We found our hotel with no problem and got checked in. Had dinner in the little restaurant in the hotel and then DH took the boys swimming.
Saturday, August 27
We got up around 8 or so, loaded the car and ate breakfast. We didn't have far to drive today, but the kids didn't know that. “T” still had no clue where we were going, and “Bob” wouldn't understand anyway. We drove to Daytona, found our hotel and got checked in before noon. Since we were so early, we were given an oceanfront room at no extra charge; it was nice, but the pool was also right outside our door. We ate sandwiches from our cooler for lunch, then walked down on the beach. I was not impressed with Daytona Beach. I'm used to the Outer Banks, NC, where it is not commercialized; there is not a hotel every 50 feet and crowds of people. It was crowded, and we could hardly walk around, and people were driving up and down the beach, which made it hard with the kids. Oh well, the ocean was beautiful as always, and the water was really warm. We didn't go in, the boys were afraid of the waves, but we walked in the surf for awhile. After a little while we left the beach and went over to Daytona USA. DH reason for stopping in Daytona. It was fun, there wasn't as much in the museum part as DH had thought, but we had a good time anyway. We watched the I-MAX movie, and it was hilarious to see “Bob” reaching out for the 3-D things. A sign of things to come the rest of the week, he loved the 3-D movies! We took the tour of the track, in the infield, and got to watch a couple of cars with people doing the Dream Laps thing. We went back to the room and got ready for dinner. DH wanted to eat at Aunt Catfish's, where he had eaten when he was in Daytona Beach on business. It was a really good dinner, and we had fun. When we got back, DH and the boys went down to the beach to play, then they went swimming in the pool. I think the pool was their favorite part of the whole trip, I should have just gotten a room at the Super 8 here and let them swim.......
Thus is the end of days 1 & 2.

 

[pumba]

what a nice start to your vacation........very very nice......I too love the ocean and we live about 45 minutes away from it........I LOVE IT......thanks for your report

 

[bigbabyblues]

Sunday, August 28, Disney, here we come!!!
We got up earlier this morning and got ready to go. “T” didn't want to leave, he liked it at Daytona and thought we should stay there. I did not agree, but he didn't know our destination. We were on the road a little after 8 a.m., for the shortest drive of our trip. Poor kids thought we were going to ride all day long, little do they know! About 10 minutes into the trip, “T” said he had to go to the bathroom. DH told him we'd stop if we passed a rest area, and he was ok with that. I don't think he really had to go, the kid loves to wash his hands........especially in the sinks that come on automatically when you put your hands under them. 10 minutes after that we passed a rest area sign, but both boys were sound asleep so we kept on going. “T” woke up just as we got off I-4. We went under the Disney sign, and he looked at it, and he said, "Look Mommy, there's a Disneyworld sign!". I asked him where we were going, and he said he didn't know, but we were close to Disneyworld. Uh, ok?
We arrive at CBR, and he asked if this was our next hotel for tonight. Poor kid! I told him we were going to stay here for a week, and asked if he thought that was ok. He said he did, and then he saw a bus and said "Are we at Disneyworld?" I had to laugh!
Uh-oh! I was getting “Bob” out of the car, and I saw a Magical Express bus pull up. I looked at DH, and he said "Go, I'll get the kids. Hurry!!!". He was laughing, but he knew I didn't want to have to stand in line forever to check-in, and I'd heard CBR check-in was slow anyway. I ran to the building and got inside just before the bus door opened. I went to the front of the queue, and though all the CM's had someone at their counter, but way down on the end I saw someone peek out and tell me to come down there and he'd help me. The CM was Chuck (I think) and he was very nice and friendly. I had my license and my credit card ready in my pocket, and check-in too all of about 3 minutes. I was impressed! I had requested a room in Jamaica, but we were given Martinique room 2326, and I wasn't complaining. That was closer to OPR from what I'd read, and the room was ready. It wasn't even 10:00 yet! We found our room with no problem, and I was surprised at the parking lot--only our car and 3 others and a slew of empty spaces. DH opened the door to the room as I was helping “Bob” down the sidewalk (i.e., helping him not to see all the lizards to stop and play with, lol) and I heard him say, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here". WHAT? I thought for sure they'd given us a room that already had someone else in it. Nope, it was just a CM who was setting up the crib for us. That's what I call quick, he was almost done before we got to the room! We unloaded the rest of the car and got things unpacked. We found the towel bunny that had been left for us, which I thought was really cute. It was all decorated with stickers and everything! I took a pic of it, and we left it for the next family. “Bob” was up on one of the beds, laying down and saying "nigh-nigh Bob" (he calls himself Bob, we don't know why, he started that around March and he won't stop). We were just getting ready to go out the door to look around when it started pouring. Not raining, a downpour. Welcome to WDW!!! It didn't rain too long, maybe 20 minutes or so, then we found our way to OPR. It wasn't a bad walk, maybe 5 minutes or so, and it was very pretty. “T” loved all the lizards we saw, he tried to catch a few but he never got one. We bought our mugs and had lunch, and then we didn't know what to do. I hadn't planned a park that day because I thought we would arrive later in the day. We decided to go to MK since we had an ADR for O'hana, and I wanted to see the afternoon parade since we missed it last year.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Sunday, August 28 part two Magic Kingdom and O'hana
We got to MK at 1:00 pm, got our picture taken in front of the castle of course, and went over to Buzz. I was pleased that I didn't have any problem with the finger scan thing; that had me a little worried because things like that never work right for me. The wait at Buzz was posted at 30 minutes, so we got a fast pass; I was hoping this was NOT an indication of the waits the rest of the week, as I was really spoiled during our Sept visit last year! We went over to Small World, and the wait said 10 minutes, but by the time we got to the loading spot, we got right on a boat. It took longer to park the stroller and walk down the queue. “T” loved IASW, as you'll see if you keep reading. It was really nice, everything looks so nice and new after the rehab last year. We took our turn on Buzz then headed over to Liberty Square to wait for the parade. It was after 2, and the parade was to start at 3. We found a good spot and sat down to wait. “T” saw the sign at the Diamond Horseshoe Revue about the Toy Story characters, so I took him in and after about a 3 minute wait, we saw Jessie and Woody. There was a CM playing ball with kids that went by, and “T” went over to play with her. He played for quite awhile, then they announced that the Family of the Day was coming through, the start of the parade. They passed, and about 10 seconds later it started pouring. Again. It didn't stop for awhile, and it was hard enough rain that we eventually moved onto the steps of a building under the covering. They announced that the parade would be delayed, and after what seemed like forever (on the porch, at the edge of the porch, with about 765 other wet people), and finally the rain let up and it was just a light rain. We finally decided not to wait any longer, as it didn't seem like they would have the parade today. We walked over to Pirates of the Caribbean and walked right on with no wait at all. You've gotta love what the rain does to the crowds, it makes them disappear!!! After Pirates, we went over to watch Philharmagic, where at least it was dry, if not freezing in the a/c because we were soaked from the rain! Ah well, a rainy day at WDW beats a sunny day at home! We got right in to Philharmagic, again no wait at all. “T” complained horribly about getting water sprayed on him (hello, it's 250° outside and you've been playing ball in the rain for a half hour, you'll live!), and it was hilarious to watch “Bob” reach out for the 3-D objects. He really enjoyed the trip this year; last year he was too young to notice things, but he didn't miss anything this time! He loved it all, and none of it scared him.
It was getting close to time for us to start over to the Poly for dinner, and I wasn't sure how long it would take, especially with the rain and people leaving. We made our way to the front of the park, and it was still raining just a little. For some reason, “T” did not complain about the rain, though you'd have thought the spray from the show would have drowned him or something. We got on the first monorail that came by, and we were off! We got to the Poly early and found O'hana with no problem. It was only 4:35, and they didn't open until 5, but we were able to check in anyway; we walked around that floor, looked in the shop, etc. We were seated right at 5. Stephanie was our "cousin", and she was very nice. “T” thought it was funny that she had the same name as me. The food was really, really good here. Everything was good! They have replaced the fried rice with some kind of au-gratin type potatoes that were awesome (DH got the recipe), and the green beans have been replaced with mixed stir-fry type veggies. There was waaayyyy to much food for us to finish, we had seconds on the potatoes. My nerves were still shot from the drive, and the kids were really getting to me (they were being good, far better than a lot of other kids we saw, but I just couldn't see it at that point), and I ordered a Lapu-lapu. I normally don't drink, I haven't had a drink of any sort of alcohol in at least 3 years, but I thought it might help calm me down a little bit, and since I wasn't driving, I went for it. It was really, really good, just a tad too much rum for my non-alcohol tastes. We had the pineapple with carmel dipping sauce for dessert, and that was really, really good too. There was nothing we didn't like, and we all tried some of everything, except “Bob” and I didn't try the shrimp. “T” said the shrimp was really good, but it was naked. He's used to popcorn shrimp. He didn't even ask about the kids meals, even though the kids at the next table had chicken strips and mac and cheese, which is a good thing for him, because I wasn't going to let him have it anyway. I'm a mean mommy!
Back on the monorail and to the MK again. It was raining again, not hard but not real light either, but that didn't last long at all. We walked back to tomorrowland and DH rode Space Mountain with no wait, while the boys and I walked around to find me a hat. I'm not fussy with my hair, but it does get stringy when it's wet, so I thought a hat would be fine. I didn't really find one that I liked, and the ones I did find that were ok were too much for my cheap tastes; I think if I'd really liked them, it wouldn't have mattered. We saw one in the Pooh shop, it was Tigger and had a tail and everything, but part of it was plush and I didn't think that would do too well in the rain. DH found us here, and we decided to ride Pooh; the wait was posted at 5 minutes. After that, DH wanted to ride BTMRR, and he convinced “T” to go with him. “T” was unsure, but DH convinced him it was a train ride that went a little fast; “Bob” cried because he wanted to go, but he was to short. BTMRR was a walk-on for them, and “Bob” and I watched a few logs go down Splash then went to the bridge thing to watch for DH and “T” to go by. When they were done, “T” decided he didn't like BTMRR at all, and DH bought him an autograph and pen. We walked back over to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan with a 5 minute wait, then DH went to change “Bob”, so “T” and I rode IASW again--he proclaimed it the best ride ever, except Buzz of course, and he wanted to "make a movie" of it....meaning bring the video camera back when we come to MK again. We went over to the Tomorrowland bridge to watch Wishes; we had a pretty good view, except for a tree, but it was no big deal. We got to see it, and we loved it. We made our way to the bus stop, where we got on the second bus back to CBR after waiting maybe 10 minutes; we had seats on the bus, which is what I cared about. The boys got their bath, then I gave them the Mickey (“T”) and Goofy (“Bob”) that I had brought for them; they didn't know I got them at Wal-Mart for $3.50 each, and they didn't care! We got into our comfy beds, and this is the end of Day 3.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Monday, August 29

This morning we got up and moving, but later than I had planned. We were just too worn out from driving over 3 days and our stay at the beach, and yesterday's excitement. It was about 9 am when we decided to go down to the food court at OPR to eat breakfast, but first, DH went out to the car to get my sunglasses and something else that must not have been related to me, as I have no idea what it was. Good thing he did too, when he came back, his room key didn't work. I let him in and he took mine and “T”'s keys (also our park tickets, mind you) and tried those, and neither worked. Wonderful. Had me thinking that somehow our package was messed up, we now have no tickets, etc., you know, all those things that go through a Disney-nut's mind before we actually think of something simple, like the door lock is broken. He calmly told me to be quiet (lol, not in a mean way) and called the guest services. He explained his problem three times (to different people, I assume, he didn't say), and finally hung up the phone. He said someone was bringing new keys. We heard someone messing with the door, then a knock at the door. It was the person with the new keys, he said they didn't work either and he had called someone from Engineering to fix the lock; it would be fixed in just a little while, but if we had a problem with it to let them know. He gave DH the new keys, and we went to breakfast. We passed the engineer around the corner with a new door lock in his hand; that was quick! We went to the food court and used 2 of our dining plan credits for breakfast. We got one adult breakfast platter (bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes and a biscuit), and a french toast platter with bacon. We also got a fruit bowl (cantoloupe, honeydew melon and grapes) and a danish for our desserts, along with a chocolate milk for the boys to share and a 24-oz bottle of water. That was a heck of a lot of food. We shared it all, I didn't have any french toast because I don't like it, and we had food leftover. The total was $24 something without the dining plan.
We picked up the stroller from the room, and the lock was fine then. We went to the bus stop and sat down, and the bus pulled in. Probably about 2 minutes wait. Three stops at the resort, and we're on our way! We arrived at MGM, and I was a little nervous about the tickets, because they gave us the new ones, but didn't tell us if the deactivated the old ones or not, and I hadn't thought to ask. DH didn't know if he used a new one or old one at the food court (duh), but he did know that the new ones were in his wallet and the old ones were in the backpack. That was good at least. I still let him go in front of me, that was if he used a deactivated ticket, I wouldn't be the one looking like an idiot. The man in front of DH had a problem with his ticket, and the CM asked him to step aside and wait; his wife had already gone through and she was laughing at him, then she took off into the park! The CM told us to go ahead, and went to get someone to help with the man's ticket problem. DH got through just fine, and then I put “T”'s ticket in and he went through. Put my own ticket in, scanned my fingers and the ticket popped out the other side and the green light came on; I pushed on the turnstile, but it wouldn't budge. Uh-oh. The CM was just coming back with help for the other poor soul, and he looked at me and said "go ahead, put your ticket in". I told him I already had but the turnstile wouldn't go. I tried it again, and it didn't work, and he took my ticket and did something, maybe on his machine, handed it back to me and told me to try it now. It worked fine that time, but DH was laughing at me. “T” asked if I broke the machine. We saw the other man with the ticket problem finally getting in the park, looking for his wife.
This is going to get long, so I'll stop here and MGM will be part 2. See you there!!!

 

[bigbabyblues]

Now, where were we? Oh, that's right. We're at MGM and I finally got through the turnstiles.

DH wanted to go over to RNRC first and see what the wait was, so after we got our pic in front of the hat, we were off. The CM took one with my camera too, but then he told me it wouldn't come out because the lens was still foggy. Thanks. About that time, “T” started complaining because the sun was in his eyes (he's not a whiny kid, I promise, not usually anyway). Where are your sunglasses? Oh, yeah. You didn't know about the trip, and we didn't think to bring them; not that he would have known to bring them anyway. The wait was posted 20 minutes for RNRC, so DH got a FP. We walked around the shops nearby while we waited and got an icee to share; a CM (not the one behind the counter) made a comment about all of us sharing, and wouldn't the boys rather have their own? Yes, they probably would, but they won't finish all of it, and the darn things were $4 each; did I mention that I'm cheap? and that DH is worse? We went in another shop and DH found a pair of sunglasses (he didn't have any to bring); he bought “T” a pair too, with a warning not to lose them, leave them somewhere, or break them because that's the only pair he was getting this trip. We went back to RNRC, and the boys and I sat down to share our one lonely icee while DH got in line. He was back 2 minutes later. I knew that ride was fast, but that's crazy? What? Oh. It broke down. You can come back later, they'll let you use the FP.
We went over to watch Muppet 3-D with only about a 10 minute wait; inside, in the air conditioning we waited. It was a great show, as always. “Bob” looked hilarious in his glasses with his binky (Yes, I know he's 2 years old; we're working on getting rid of it, at home he only gets it at naptime and bedtime. He found one in the backpack and it was keeping him quiet; not to mention he plays with is, so that kept him occupied while we waited). “T” whined because water got sprayed on him, but that's ok. It's only 258° outside, and the water won't hurt you; you'll live. I'm so nice.
We went straight to Al's Toy Barn after Muppets; they've changed this since last year. This time, Buzz and Jessie were out, and they each had their own line. Last year it was a group picture thing. We got in line for Buzz first, and when there was only one family in front of us, they had to go in for a break. Did I mention that it was 258° outside? Poor Buzz and Jessie. They were back in 3 minutes as promised, and they brought Woody and a Green Army Man with them! “Bob” loved Buzz; he loved all the characters. He looked and looked at them, and touched them, and hugged and kissed them all about 10 times and was just amazed. That's what it's all about folks. We saw Woody next, then Jessie and then the Army Man. He was the best. He was standing beside a plant of some sort, and he put a branch of leaves in front of his face like he was hiding; he kept ducking behind the plant and looking around, like someone might be watching him or coming to get him. It was hilarious! We got pictures and autographs from all 4 and the boys loved it.
DH wanted to go back to see if RNRC was running again, but it was time for our ADR for lunch. “T” whined because DH walked him in front of that squirting Coke bottle and he got wet, but he'll live and I told him so. We stopped to see Jojo and Goliath, and “Bob” just loved Goliath. He kept giving him a hug. I did get a couple pics with both boys, and we were on our way. We went to 50's PTC and checked in; in front of us was a family insisting they be let in to eat, but they didn't have an ADR and they were being turned away. They finally were able to make one for about 7 pm or so that night, after checking for lunch on 3 different days. They weren't very happy, and I heard the wife (?) say, "That's why I told you to make a reservation." Aunt Brenda was our server, and she was a lot of fun. The food was great, but there was too much of it. Looking back, we should have split a meal (DH and I) and used the dining plan, but we didn't. One dining plan meal each would have been waaayyy too much for lunch for one person, and I didn't think to split a meal. DH had the meatloaf of course, and I had the fried chicken. There were 4 pieces of chicken, and one was small, but 3 weren't; I didn't finish it all, but "mom" said I could have dessert anyway. The boys split the mac and cheese kids meal and had some meatloaf, chicken and veggies from our plates. We share the s'more for dessert, and didn't finish all of that either. Have you seen that thing? It's huge! Total cost including tip was around $40.

After lunch, we went back over to RNRC again. Same story, DH got in line, we sat on the concrete wall. It seemed like he was gone forever this time, probably around 15-20 minutes though. It clouded up and started to rain, but that only lasted about 30 seconds. The boys were hot, tired and getting on my nerves. Not being bad, but “Bob” was trying to go to sleep in the stroller, and “T” kept picking at him, and finally I just told “T” to keep his hands out of the stroller and sit down beside me. He didn't like that, but oh well. He was getting tired too, I could tell. Finally DH came back out. I heard other people who came out before him say the ride was broke down again, but he did get to ride. They had to sit in the cars and wait a few minutes, but they didn't make them get off. He enjoyed his ride, and we were ready to leave.
We went to the bus stop, and after about 3 or 4 minutes, a bus came.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We got back to the room for a much-needed break. We changed clothes and gathered up the laundry and headed to the quiet pool at Martinique. There were only a few other people there, a dad with two little girls, and a couple who were probably in their 40's and us. We got the laundry started first and got in the pool. We didn't stay long, maybe a half hour. About the time the clothes were ready to go in the dryer, we'd had enough. We went back to the room and the kids took a nap; DH went back to check on the laundry after a little while and I sat down to write in my trip journal. About 3 minutes later, I heard something and looked outside. It was pouring rain again; then the phone rang, it was DH telling me he was going to wait in the laundry room because of the rain. Duh. Eventually he made it back and dumped all the laundry on our bed for me to fold. Thanks honey! He went down to the food court and got our mugs filled and looked around awhile, and I folded laundry. The boys both slept about 3-1/2 hours; guess they were tired.
After the boys had their much-needed nap, we got ready to go to MK for dinner. We got on a bus after about a 5 minute wait. Thankfully, there were no problems at the turnstiles with the tickets. I'd worried all day for nothing! I couldn't remember what time our ADR was for, but it was either 6:15 or 6:45; hmmm.....we checked in at 6:15, and we were right on time for once. There were a lot of people without ADR's that wanted to eat, and they were once again turned away. The crowds seemed light at this point, but the ADR lists must have been full. As I've mentioned, there weren't long waits for any of the rides, not over 20 minutes for anything so far. We were seated after about 5 minutes, and Will was our server. The food was good, but there didn't seem to be as much of it as there was last year; that was fine with us, we knew we could ask for more, and there was plenty. We had turkey, flank steak, and something else, maybe ham? maybe pork? I don't remember now. Also, salad with the strawberry vinagrette dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans (not carrots like last year), gravy, stuffing, and macaroni and cheese. Everything was hot and tasted good. We both ordered sweet tea to drink, but it wasn't very good; DH ended up getting a coke instead, and the server had no problem with that. We saw Chip, Dale, Minnie, and Goofy; Pluto somehow missed our table, and I told Will when he came by again. He told the handler, and the handler came over a minute later and said that if Pluto didn't come back before we were ready to leave to let him know; Pluto didn't make it back, and I wouldn't have cared except “T” noticed him at another table and got a little teary looking. We told the handler, and he came back and took us to Pluto in another section. We skipped dessert, even though it was included, because we were too stuffed to eat it, and we didn't want to just order it then waste it. We used the dining plan for this meal, but later noticed that we weren't charged a credit for “T”; I don't know if it's because he didn't get the kids meal (chicken strips and whatever else comes with it) or not.
When we left LTT, it looked like it was going to rain again, and I wasn't feeling too well (not from the food, probably the heat and being tired). We saw Aladdin and Jasmine across from the carpet ride, but when we tried to get in the line, the CM said it was closed but they'd be back out at 7:55. We went in and watched the Country Bear show, which we had never seen before; “T” liked it a lot, and “Bob” seemed to. When we went back out, Aladdin and Jasmine were back, so DH in the boys went to see them and I saw down on a bench to wait. We went back to Frontierland to get our spot for the parade; it filled up about 10 minutes before the parade, and a lady tried to push her little girl in front of “T” at the last minute. He looked at me, and it made me mad, but I didn't know what to say. The man standing next to “T”, thankfully, said, "Excuse me, but we've all been waiting here for an hour, you can't just come up and get in front of us". The lady started to argue with him, and she pushed the little girl back up there, in front of the man's little girl this time, but he told her again that he had been waiting there for an hour and he was going to videotape it. He pointed out that her dd was taller than “T”, and said that she was welcome to stand behind him (pointing to him) but that she wouldn't be able to get in front of anyone, and they should have been there earlier if they wanted a curb spot. Way to go mister stranger!!! We left the park before Wishes began to beat the crowd, and a lot of other people had the same idea. The first bus came about 10 minutes after we got there, but it got filled up before we got on, which was fine with us. We were the second family on the bus that came 5 minutes later. I folded more laundry while DH went to get ice cream for the kids.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Today started out with our breakfast at the Crystal Palace. We were at the bus stop at 7:15, and we waited probably 10 minutes before the bus came. We arrived at MK around 7:40, but they let us through the turnstiles early, maybe at 5 till 8. At 8:00 we were let in to the MK. I got a couple of pics, but the photopass photographers were not out, which surprised me. So much for the pic I wanted, but oh well. We checked in for our 8:10 ADR and were seated quickly. I went and got food for myself and “T”, and Pooh was at the table right after I sat down. “Bob” loved him! He hugged and stared, and hugged, and high fived for several minutes. It was a far cry from last year, when he backed away from him! “T” hugged him too of course, and soon after that Tigger came to the table. Eeyore came by as well, but he forgot to sign the autograph book, and we didn't see him again. Oh well. I took the boys to see Piglet at the buffet. The food was all good, hot when it was supposed to be, and fresh. The server was very good, filled our glasses several times. I was surprised at all the empty tables, we were seated in front of the mirrors, across from the windows, and almost the entire middle section was empty.
After breakfast we went to Fantasyland, where we rode Dumbo, the Carousel, Small World (again, lol) and Peter Pan; we were able to walk on all these with no wait at all. We went to see Ariel in her grotto, and then on to the Haunted Mansion. “T” cried a little at the beginning, but it was too late, we were in the stretching room by then. I reminded him that it was all pretend, and nothing will hurt us at Disneyworld, and he rode just fine. He did plug his ears, but he watched it all and I saw a smile when the hitch hiking ghost was in our car. We took the raft to Tom Sawyer Island, but the boys weren't crazy about that. I think they were too young. After TS Island, we went into the Hall of Presidents where it was nice and air conditioned. The show was ready to start, and we watched that. “T” said it was scary and plugged his ears, and “Bob” fell asleep in his chair. We decided to go back to the room, and we caught the end of Cinderellabration on our way out. When we got to Town Square, DH went to change “Bob”, and “T” and I got in line to see Pinocchio and Geppetto, then we saw Max and Goofy. They had to take a break when we were halfway through the line, but “T” understood we'd have to wait a long time (to him, probably 20 minutes altogether) and that it was really hot, but he wanted to wait anyway, so we did. We finally got to see them, got autographs and a picture, and we made our way to the bus stop. We probably waited 5 minutes for a bus; ate lunch at the food court and went back to the room for a nap.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We went back to Epcot around 5 or so, and walked through part of the World Showcase. It was sprinkling a little by then, but it didn't last long. It was really cloudy, and I was afraid our Illuminations cruise would be cancelled. We ate dinner at the Liberty Inn (I think, the counter service place at America); I had the pork BBQ and it was HUGE! The food was good, but used the dining plan and there was way too much of it, even though we shared. We walked over to the Yacht Club marina and checked in; we were way early, so we walked over to the Boardwalk for a little while. Apparently I misunderstood the CM when I called about the cruise, I would have swore she said we had to check in by 8 pm, but they told us to come back around 8:30 or so. At any rate, the boats were ready to go, and my fears about not going were gone. We were going alright! Mike was our driver, and he was very, very nice. He got the boys life jackets and helped them onto the boat. He answered all of “T”'s questions very patiently, and even let him "drive" the boat a little while. “T” loved it! We cruised around the Swan and Dolphin and MGM for awhile, he pointed out things to us, and about 5 till 9 we arrived at the spot under the bridge for the fireworks. “Bob” was almost asleep by then, and he had been snoozing all the way around the lake. I wasn't sure what to do with “T”, the two boats beside us were a birthday party, and they had chips and cake and drinks, and we didn't have anything. He asked for something, and I just told him we'd get it as soon as we got off the boat, we didn't bring anything. He was satisfied with that, but a few minutes later, a lady (the mother of the bday person, I think) from the boat beside us asked if we'd like some of their cake. They had a lot of cake leftover, and weren't going to finish it. We thought it was really nice, all of us had some cake, and they gave the boys some pretzels too. I don't know where they got the cake, but it was absolutely delicious! I know you can order it as a part of the cruise, I had chocolate, and it tasted more like fudge than cake, but not overly rich. We settled in to watch the fireworks, and it was awesome! Illuminations is our favorite anyway, and last year we watched from the bridge we were now sitting under, but we were just right there with all of it. We didn't get any smoke in our direction, which was great. After it was over, Mike took his time cruising us back to the dock. We left the Yacht Club and went to Downtown Disney for a little while. It was almost 10 when we got there, and we didn't stay too long, but it was fun for a little while. The boys played in the fountain a little while, and we went to the scrapbook store, and the Christmas store. We were exhausted when we got back to CBR!

This is how day 5 ends.....

 

[bigbabyblues]

Wednesday, August 31
DH got up before the rest of us this morning, he had his Segway Tour at 8:30. After he left, the boys and I got up and took our time getting ready. Finally, about 8:45, we headed out. Just us, with no one to help me. I'm so thankful that the boys are usually good and cooperative! We got to the parking lot close to the bus stop just as the Epcot bus went by; I thought we'd have to wait for the next one, but she was still waiting when we got there! “T” got on the bus while I got “Bob” out and folded the stroller. It was hard to carry him and the stroller and the backpack on the bus at the same time, and the stroller got stuck on the handrail going up the steps, but we managed. That was the worst part of the whole thing. A very nice man on the bus offered to carry the stroller off bus for me, and I was grateful. We took our time getting to Norway for our breakfast, “T” likes to stop and atch the fountains, so we did that. We got to the restaurant about 15 minutes early, but I found out that they don't seat people as tables are available, they waited until the restaurant completely cleared out, then they seated us all at the same time. The food was good, but there was too much for the three of us. We saw Belle, Jasmine, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Mary Poppins. They all chatted with the boys a few minutes and took pictures. DH got there just as I was paying the bill. We went over to see Figment which was a walk on, then to the Land, but there was a 30-minute wait for the boat ride so we moved on. We went by Soarin to change “Bob”'s diaper in the restroom, and the wait was posted as 20 minutes, so “T” and I went on it. We didn't wait 20 minutes, by the time we got to the doors, it was only about 5 minutes before they let us in. I loved Soarin', “T” said he didn't like it, but only because the fireworks at the end were too loud, and he didn't know to cover his ears because he didn't know they were coming. We started back to CBR, and waited a long time for a bus this time. Probably at least 20 minutes or so, which we didn't like, but it happens; the man waiting with us didn't like it either, he was griping and complaining and cussing, which I didn't think was necessary, especially with two little kids around. By the time we got back to the resort, we just ate lunch and headed back to Epcot. The boys didn't seem to need a nap at that point, they were in good moods, and “Bob” has finally started napping in the stroller. It was raining when we arrived at Epcot, but not really hard. We rode Spaceship Earth when we got back to Epcot, then went to the Visa cardholder character spot. That was really good, we went in the room and Minnie and Pluto were there, and they only let one family in at a time. You can take as many pics as you want, and they will take photopass pics for you, and they took a few with our camera of all of us too. You get one free 5x7 from the photopass ones. It's in Innoventions, I think the West part. It was still raining when we were done, so I finally broke down and bought a hat; I found one that I really liked, and DH said he'd wear it some after we got home if I didn't want to. We went back to the Land pavillion and DH got a FP for Soarin, then we waited in line for the boat ride. The sign said 20 minutes, but it didn't seem like that long, more like 10-15.
It was still raining when we were finished, but it was almost time for our ADR at San Angel Inn, so DH missed Soarin. We got to Mexico as fast as we could in the rain, and we were wet when we got there. Oh well! We really enjoyed San Angel Inn, DH and I shared the sampler combo meal, the kids shared the quesidilla meal, the 3 of them split the nacho appetizer and “T” and I shared the salad for an appetizer. For dessert we split the chocolate mousse and the boys had ice cream. It was a really, really good meal, which surprised me because I don't like onions or peppers, i ate around them. There was a lot of food and we finished almost all of it.
We rode El Rio del Tiempo after dinner, then we went to the kidcot stop and started the boys' masks. “Bob” didn't care about his, we mostly just got it stamped and his charm thing added, but “T” enjoyed it. We rode Maelstrom in Norway, and toured Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, and Italy, and we also stopped at the kidcot stop in America, but we missed the American Adventure. We went back to the room before Illuminations started.

Next up, unplanned trip to AK

 

[bigbabyblues]

Thursday, September 1
Today we had planned to go to the Magic Kingdom all day, but we decided to go over to Animal Kingdom instead, since we've done so much at MK already. We went to the food court for breakfast, DH had the Mickey Waffle platter, and the kids and I shared the breakfast platter; desserts were the fruit bowl and the danish again. Everything was good once again. We arrived at AK after waiting about 2 minutes for a bus. We stopped to visit with Stitch first, and then went to the Kilamanjaro Safari; I thought “T” would be afraid of it, but he wasn't. We didn't have to wait for this either, by the time we got to where they load the trucks, one was pulling away and we got on the next one. We saw several animals, I don't remember what all they were now. Next we went to Camp Minnie Mickey, and the characters were out at the beginning of their paths. There was almost no one around, and we saw Donald, Goofy, and Minnie and Mickey together with no line. We saw the Lion King, which is awesome, and then went to the Tusker House for lunch. We got two of the rotissere chicken meals, it came with 1/2 chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans, and of course dessert. We had a large piece of chocolate cake and a large piece of carrot cake. “T” and I split one meal and “Bob” and DH shared the other, and we had plenty of food. We finished it all but the cake, and there wasn't alot of that left either. Very, very good food, especially for counter service.
After lunch we went over to see It's Tough to be a Bug. We had about a 5 minute wait inside for that, not long at all. When it go to the second scene, and it sprayed water on us, “T” got upset and wanted to leave. I went ahead and took him out, because I had read about the rest of the movie, and he wasn't going to get any better. DH and “Bob” stayed, and “Bob” loved the whole thing. We went to see what the wait was for Kali River Rapids, but it was closed temporarily (probably because of the storm), so we made our way to the bus stop. Back to the room for a nap.
We left around 4 or so and went to MK for dinner at CRT. It was a great meal, DH and I shared the steak, it came with veggies (squash, carrots, etc.) and mashed potatoes; the boys shared the chicken strips meal. For an appetizer, DH had the crab spring rolls, and I didn't want any. The boys shared the kids appetizer, it was carrot sticks, celery sticks, grapes and cheese with ranch dip. We told the waitress up front that we were on the dining plan, and she brought DH and I each a bowl of mashed potatoes, mine were plain, his were the garlic and onion ones (we couldn't decide which ones to share). Everything was really, really good. For dessert I had the white chocolate slipper filled with chocolate mousse that came on angel food cake (DH ate that part, I don't like it) and it had a couple of strawberries, some blueberries, and a couple of raspberries on the side. It was absolutely wonderful! I finished all of it, I just couldn't help myself! They kids and DH shared the Mickey sundae, it was huge and they liked it.
After dinner, we were surprised to see the Pooh Playful Spot playground was open, so we went it. It was really cute, there was a slide, and house that's made up to be Pooh's house, a couple of tunnels, and an interactive fountain. There may be more, that's all I remember, but the kids liked it and we didn't have a hard time seeing them wherever they were playing. Next we went over to Toontown, the one land we hadn't been to yet. We went through the houses and on to Donald's boat. The water sprayers were working well! We didn't stand in line for Mickey, it was longer than we wanted to wait. We rode the teacups, which the boys loved, and then the Carousel of Progress. “T” said that was scary and too loud.
We left the park and went to Downtown Disney for awhile. The boys played in the fountain and we looked around for awhile. They played at the Lego store, and then in the fountain before we left.

Next up, our last full day

 

[bigbabyblues]

Friday, September 2
We had a date with Donald this morning! We were running a little late, but were at the bus stop by 7:35. Finally, a bus came about 8:00 to take us to AK....would we make our 8:20 ADR? Nope. This was the worst bus we had all week, and she took the scenic route to AK. We got to go past AKL, and it looks beautiful, but I didn't want to see it this morning, nor did we have the time. We got through the turnstiles with no problem and hurried to Dinoland. No stopping for a picture this morning! We checked in at 8:29 and were seated immediately. This place was empty. There were a few other tables seated in the main room, where we were, and that was it. The characters were in the room when we were seated, and we saw all 4 in about 7 minutes. The food was all hot, and it was really, really good.
When we were finished, we went to Dinoland and walked on Triceratop Spin. There was no line, and not many people around at all. The CM said that anyone who wanted to could just stay in their dino and go around again; we didn't, but several people did, and several dinos were empty. DH wanted to ride Primeval Whirl, and it was a walk-on too. He said they were letting people stay on that too if they wanted to ride more than once. We saw some street performers as we were leaving Dinoland, they were the paint guys, and they were funny! We went over to Kali River Rapids, this time it was open with no wait. “Bob” wasn't tall enough, and he cried, and “T” didn't want to ride, so I took them to the bridge to wait. We saw several empty rafts go by, and a few that only had 3 or 4 people in them. DH liked it, and he got soaked! Next we went over to see the Pocohantas show. The kids liked it, “T” sat up front with the children. After Pocohantas, we got on the bus back to the resort.
We changed clothes and went down to the main pool for awhile. There were several people there, but it wasn't crowded at all. After about 1/2 hour or so, “Bob” was getting tired, so we walked back to the room. “T” and I went to the beach area at Barbados, because it had the playground. He went down the slide a few times and played in the sand for about 2 minutes, and then went to slide again. He came over and said his tummy hurts and he wanted to go back to the room. Uh oh. The minute he walked in the room, he ran to the bathroom and got sick. Poor baby, that's the first time he's done that in his little life. I felt so sorry for him. He said he felt better but he wanted to rest. He took a nap, and seemed to be ok. He wasn't running a fever or anything, we thought it was probably the heat and too much pool water---he can't remember to close his mouth when he goes under or jumps in.
After their nap, “T” was back to normal so we went to Epcot. It was dark and cloudy when we went out the door, and by the time we got off the exit at Epcot, it was absolutely pouring, and it was lightning. A lot of lightning. The bus driver waited in the parking lot about 10 minutes or so before he parked and let us off the bus, and it was still pouring. We went to the World Showcase, and were going to see the American Adventure, but we were too late. We walked around some of the shops, then went to China and watched that movie. We hurried back to Morocco for our ADR in the pouring rain. We were soaked when we got there (even with the umbrella), but so was everyone else, so it was ok. At least it wasn't raining quite as hard now. We were seated as soon as we checked in. I wasn't sure what to expect, but we really enjoyed our dinner. DH and I shared the chicken couscous, and there was some leftover. I'm not sure what our appetizer was, but it was pretty good; it was some sort of pastry stuffed with chicken, and maybe broccoli? “Bob” ate most of my part and he loved it. The boys shared some kids meal, probably chicken strips, but they also ate some of our couscous and veggies. Our meal was huge! We had a really good dessert too, I'm not sure what it was called, but it was a pastry, maybe fried? and it had vanilla sauce and almonds.
When we were finished, we went back to the kidcot stop at Morrocco. Aladdin was there, and I don't know if he was new or what, but he was hilarious! It didn't seem like he'd been there before, he kept asking the CM what they were doing, and could he make a mask, and he tried to fasten “T”'s charm on and had a little trouble, but he finally got it. Next we went to Japan to the kidcot stop, then to watch the American Adventure. DH and I liked it, and then we walked through the rest of the countries, stopping at each kidcot stop. It was still raining, and none of the outdoor performers were out. The boys finished their masks and got their posters at Canada. We weren't going to stay for Illuminations. We got a Mickey bar at the bridge from FW to WS, and walked over by the railing to eat them; when we were ready to go, it was almost time for Illuminations, and we had a good spot, so we decided to stay. About 5 till, “T” decided he wanted to go back to the room, and I had already said I'd take him, so I did. We got to the bus stop after Illuminations was already over (that was worth it, lol) and the bus came about 5 minutes later. It was a nice bus, apparently new. The seats were even padded! DH and “Bob” got back about 20 minutes later, and we started packing up to go home.
Tomorrow we leave.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Saturday, September 3
Time to go home. We got up early for our breakfast at Chef Mickey's. DH had loaded most of our things in the car last night, so we didn't have much to pack up this morning. We got a bus to MK after 5 minutes, if that long. We walked over to the Contemporary and checked in, and were seated after a few minutes. Minnie was only a couple tables away from ours after we were seated, and I got food for “T” and myself; by the time I got back, Minnie was gone, and DH went and good food for himself and “Bob”. Pluto came by a few minutes later, and Mickey was in the room when they had the celebration. When he was at the table next to us, Chip came by and waved, but he didn't stop at our table, and we didn't see him again. We saw Mickey and got his picture and autograph, finished our food, and we were ready to go. All the food was really good, and we didn't feel rushed, but we wanted to get to MK and get started, because we were leaving after lunch.
We got to the monorail station, and DH asked if we could ride up front. We got to! The pilot was really nice, he talked to DH and answered his questions, and he chatted some with the boys. He gave them a co-pilot license when we got off at the MK, and we thanked him. There were HUGE crowds at MK when we got there. Tons of people everywhere. We arrived about 9:30 or so, and I couldn't believe the crowds; it was Saturday, and it was a holiday weekend. We got a FP for Buzz, and then headed to Toontown. We got there just after it opened, we could see the characters leading the kids down the street. We went straight for the Judges' Tent, via a quick run through Mickey's house. We got in what looked to be a long line, but it moved quickly; we probably waited 10 minutes at the most. Got our pictures with the big cheese, and we were off again. “T” decided at the last minute that he'd ride the Barnstormer with me, as long as it wasn't like that OTHER train (BTMRR, lol). He was a little scared, but he said he liked it. We all rode the teacups again after that, then Buzz. Somehow, “T” managed to score 200,900 on Buzz! I don't know what in the world he hit, but it was somewhere in the very first part of it. We went over to Columbia Harbour House for lunch and stopped to see part of Cinderellabration on the way. We never did see all of that. We didn't see anything on the menu that we wanted at CHH, and “T” managed to push “Bob” off the wooden bench onto the hard wooden floor on his head while we were there. Lovely. We ended up going back to CBR and drove over to OPR to eat lunch and use the rest of our snack credits; there were tons of them leftover, I don't know how we managed to forget them. We got 4 bottles of powerade, 2 huge cookies, and 3 mickey rice krispie treats for on the way home. Went to the gift shop and bought the scrapbook album I'd been looking at all week, then one last potty stop and we were on our way.
Not much more to report on, we left CBR around 1 or 1:30 and drove as far as Brunswick, GA. We didn't stop in between the two, but we did have to wait for about a half hour on I-95 for an accident. Thankfully it wasn't us, it didn't look good by the time we got there. We left Brunswick at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, and pulled in our driveway at exactly 6 p.m. yesterday evening. We stopped a couple times along the way, but thankfully traffic wasn't bad at all, especially for a holiday weekend, and we didn't see anymore accidents. DH had filled the car up with gas two days after we arrived at CBR when we saw the prices jumping up. Gas in Orlando was 2.99 when we left on Saturday. He topped off again in Brunswick, at 3.09 a gallon because we weren't sure when and where we'd find gas. We stopped outside of Statesville, NC on Sunday, and it was priced at 3.29, but that station didn't have any gas. The one down the street did, and we didn't have quite enough to get home, so we filled up again there.
We had a great time on this trip, maybe not quite as much as last year, but just different. I think the two trips were too close together. It didn't feel right being there and seeing all the devastation from Katrina either. BIL and his gf were going to house sit for us, but we found the day after we left that he had to go to Louisanna to help get the electric back on, so they took our dogs to MIL's house on Monday. No big deal at all, everyone is safe, thank goodness. We enjoyed CBR a lot, but the food court wasn't as good as ASMo's. I don't know when we'll go back, I said something about 10 years, and DH said not that long, but after we don't need the diaper bag and the stroller. Hmmm......we're going to start potty training “Bob” tomorrow, and “T” didn't use the stroller last year at all at age 3, and of course, not this year either. “Bob” did walk some, so if I'm counting right, we should be able to go back this time next year. It won't be that soon, but we'll be going back.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about our trip! Any questions, just ask!

 

[jennymouse]

Enjoying your reports! I'm taking my DGD who'll be 2 by then and glad to here "Bob" was enjoying himself.

 

[Ellester]

Enjoyed your report! Glad you had a great time!

 

[Alicnwondrln]

fabulous report

 

[Taratink]

Great report. It sounds like you had a great time. I want to go to CRT for dinner next trip because you made it sound so good.
Thanks!
Tara

 

[Cinerama]

Enjoyed your report..thanks!!

 

[dazzled]

I enjoyed reading your report. Sounds like all of you had a great time!

 

[Deweysgirl]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. It was very informational too! Glad you all had such a nice time at Disney!