Been There, Done That and ThenSome:Timandlesley Do Disneyfor18days!11/2 TR IS UP!pg79

[timandlesley]

Loving the update!!! Lauren looked adorable!!! I am taking my DS to Pirate League the night we go to MNSSHP and am so excited for that! Glad you enjoyed 1900 Park Fare... we have dinner ressies there in Sept. and have been nervous b/c I have been hearing bad things lately. Can't wait for Tim and Luke's version of day 10, sure it will be funny!

Thank you, we are doing Pirate league for Luke on MNSSHP night too, can't wait!

Rain or not...you made it a nice day! Lauren looks so cute! My daughter does it every trip...she even wants to in December when we go. She's 10...I wonder if she is getting too old or I should just let her do it?

It was a nice day. I saw teenagers in there that day, if she wants to do it go for it, I even saw adults in there!

I love it that Lauren was still a princess, even in the pool! Cute!

I know, too funny

Great update! Lauren looked so adorable, what a pretty princess! I am Lauren too and I also love carousel of progress and Cindy was my fav as a little girl, we are like Disney soulmates

Sorry about the rain! But you always seem to have a nice positive attitude about things! That dole whip is making me hungryyy!

Too funny! Dole Whips are AWESOME!

Love all the pictures!!

Thanks!

What a fun girls day you had in the MK! Lauren looked adorable after her makeover. You definitely will have to spill the story on the teddy bear lady. Now you have me curious.

It was a funny day, stay tuned, I will spill the beans on the teddy bear lady don't you worry : )

As always, great update and pictures. Sorry about the rain on Lauren's BBB day. She looked beautiful! I miss Kaylee wanting to get dressed up as a princess, it changes really fast . That stinks about the photo pass pics. I can't believe you saw the teddy bear lady at GF. I have read about her so many times.

Thanks for the Lauren compliments. Yes, it does change fast that's why I let her do BBB this trip, cherishing these moments. More on the teddy bear lady later so stay tuned!

Even with the rain, you guys had a great day! Lauren looked amazing!! Thanks for the video of PUSH, my daughter has seen him, but I hadn't yet!!
Looking forward to more

We did have a good time, glad you enjoyed the video

Great update, lauren looked so beautiful. What a wonderful girls day you both had. Sorry about the rain. Sometimes I wish I had a little girl to experience those kinds of moments with. I guess I'll just have to wait for granddaughters. Looking forward to Tim's and Luke's day.

Thanks so much. Hope you get grand daughters, sure you'll spoil them.

I have so much to comment on! Our computer was down for a week So I read all 3 of your last days today!

First of all, that is so awesome that your family is having so much fun with Diane and her family--and that you're going to vacation together next year! How great

Sorry about Tim's knee...I can't imagine being in Disney with that much pain. Luke's shirt is AWESOME! And Lauren was a beautiful princess! Your family just looks like you have a blast together.

I'm sorry Coral Reef was so horrible. Do you think it was just the server? Or the whole restaurant? I'm asking because we're supposed to eat there in September...

Oh--and I cracked up about the Poncho of Shame!!

Thanks so much. Yeah, the knee problems stunk on vacation. We do have a blast together : ) Yes, it was our server, but I noticed other unhappy servers that night too. Glad you enjoyed the poncho of shame, cracked me up too!

Thanks for the PUSH video that was hysterical!! Highlight this text if you are over 16: I think I see Push's "friend" in the background he has his hand up to his face and wearing kaki shorts and a blue tee!

HOW DO YOU DO THAT NICOLE!!!!???? Glad you enjoyed the video

Looks like another great day even with the rain. Lauren looked so pretty!! Cannot wait to hear about the boys day.

Yes, it was another great day, hope you enjoyed the boys update.

You have a beautiful little princess Lesley!! Looks like the 2 of you had a wonderful time even with the rain!!

I have read about the teddy bear lady here on the rumors board before. I can't believe you saw her!

Thank you, yes we did have fun even in the rain. I will give more details on the teddy bear lady later so stay tuned!

I just realized, that I never commented! Lauren looked GORGEOUS!!! I remember you telling me about the unicorn thing...too funny! The picture of the kids at Park Fare is so CUTE! You know, I think about that teddy bear lady all the time now! I still can't believe you guys saw her just 2 days after we did! That picture of the 2 of us is too funny!

Thanks Diane! Glad you enjoyed the update. Miss you!

 

[VanniGirl]

Finally all caught up - great reading about your trip!

Looking forward to hearing more

 

[ebowen]

So I am a bit behind on the posts (but I have to ration myself) because I could spend a whole day wrapped up in your trip reports. I always enjoy them and since I am originally from the Dayton area and did my undergrad at XU I feel like I can totally identify with your family and the excitement that comes from leaving the midwest for a while to visit WDW.

Couple of thoughts: Monchichi - had one myself as a kid. Every time I visit the Japan Pavillion I give on a hig and it takes me back about 25 years. One of these days I am going to buy one. But I find most people don't remember them.

The Plaza at MK - agree that it is small (and simple). But I loved eating there. When we ate there in March, the Mayor and a lady from the league of women's voters was there. They stopped at the tables. I was "volunteered" by the mayor to take a picture of another family celebrating a birthday and then they sang Happy Birthday to everyone in the restaurant that was celebrating that week (which included my MIL). Great atmosphere and a simple cheeseburger and sundae definitely hit the spot.

Can't wait to hear more.

 

[timandlesley]

Day 11 of our Disney Adventure began with us sleeping in until 9:00, HEAVEN! We woke up leisurely and enjoyed some toaster waffles in the room for breakfast. We headed to the bus stop and got a text from Diane saying they were at the Springs bus stop and to save a seat for them. We ended up on the same bus and all got to Epcot around 10:00. Once there we all headed to Innoventions. The kids had fun playing with the exhibits:

I wanted to see the Velcro Show “What’s Your Problem!?” so we went there first but the show had a 20 minute wait, Tim’s knee was hurting so he sat down there to wait for the show and Bryan joined him . Diane and the kids and I headed over to do the Fire exhibit but that had a 10 minute wait, so back to the Velcro show we went.
Here are Eric, Luke and Lauren waiting for the show to begin:

It was only us and two other families in the show. The kids got picked first, it was GREAT!

Matthew and Luke were on one team:

Lauren and Eric on the other team:

They had to race to see who could build the highest Velcro block tower without it knocking over. It was hysterical because Lauren and Eric’s tower would keep getting HUGE and then knock over right at the last minute and they kept having to rebuild it. Luke and Matthews stood the test of time and they won.

The good thing about this show though is all the kids are “winners” and won a sticker, so all the kids were happy:

The next thing was HALARIOUS. Tim and another father got picked to come up and spin the wheel:

They spun “Bringing Up Babies” and they put the purple aprons on them. Then they brought out conveyer belts with Cabbage Patch dolls on them. Their mission was to diaper the babies, stick a Velcro bottle in their mouths and stick them to their aprons. Whoever has the most babies stuck on their aprons at the end is the “winner”. TIM WAS READY!

We were laughing so hard the entire time, Tim was a machine:

The race was over and they counted up the babies:

Tim was victorious and they awarded him a sticker………….. he was just a LITTLE excited : )

What a great time!
Here is the video Bryan took of it (thank you Diane for giving this to me to post):

After this Lauren spotted the Velcro station where you can make your own Velcro creature and keep it, so she had fun there:

Then we had the BEST time at the put yourself in a video game section. This was SO cool! You went to a station and did motions that they told you to do:

Jog in place:

Victory dance:

Tim got REALLY into his victory dance: )

And then you move over to the game station and YOU are in the video game, sooo cool!

They even email you the link so you can play the game from home (which we’ve done several times since our return).
Here I am in my video game:

Continued in the Next Post!!

 

[timandlesley]

Lauren making her video game:

And her playing her game:

Luke making his (RUN Luke RUN!)

And Luke INSIDE his game:

If you haven’t tried this yet, you must! It is such fun, we all really enjoyed it. Everyone in Diane’s family put themselves into the game too, such a blast!
After that we split up because they were going to do the garbage activity we had done a few days back based on our recommendation and we headed towards the living seas. On the way there we took a snack break. This picture CRACKS me up, could she be any more into her ice cream Mickey!?!

As we were eating the snack we were discussing our day. We wanted to do lots at Epcot, it was a nice overcast day and was actually feeling cool for a change so we wanted to stay at the park, hit the World Showcase, etc. Tim’s knee just wasn’t going to be able to do that and I didn’t want him to be parked on a bench while we had fun so I suggested he rent an ECV. So Tim headed to rent an ECV and the kids and I caught these guys:

LOVE the Jammitors (I know, I always say this………. But I DO!)
OF COURSE it was “JUNIOR JAMMMMMMMMMITOR DAY!” so the kids got their stickers:

Since we knew that World Showcase would be an option for us now that Tim would have the ECV I let Luke go and grab a Kim Possible Mission Fast Pass:

Then we headed to Figment Journey into Imagination. Tim HATES this ride so I figured I would spare him, I texted him to tell him we’d meet him over there.

On the ride:

Gotta love the smell:

Then we headed to the exit area and the kids had fun, I kept trying Tim but I couldn’t get a hold of him on his cell, so we played as we waited for him:

I had fun with my buddy Figment:

So did the kids:

It was at this moment that I got a text from Tim telling me that he was stuck on the Figment ride, KILL HIM! I’m sorry but I had to laugh… that is just stinkin’ hilarious! He was stuck on the ride for about 10 minutes and he said the music kept going…… and going…… and going……… He wasn’t happy when he came off the ride(notice Luke pointing and laughing at him):

Tim got on his ECV and we were ready to hit the park:

Luke jumped on occasionally for rides (but they were breaking the rules by doing this so we didn’t do it often):

As we headed to the World Showcase we saw a squirrel under a bench eating popcorn and STUPID people PETTING the squirrel:

AWAY we went!

We headed over the bridge towards France and we spotted Princess Aurora. As I looked to my right I saw the International Gateway entrance and CINDERELLA was there greeting people as they came in.

I had never seen that before. I asked the CM with Aurora if that was rare and he said “oh yes, VERY rare!” How cool if you were one of those lucky people coming through the gates that afternoon.
This Aurora was WONDERFUL!!!

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST!

 

[timandlesley]

The ground was all damp from the morning/evening rain and she SAT DOWN to get on Laurens level, she was so sweet and talked and talked to her:

After our wonderful princess encounter we headed to America, I wanted to see voices of Liberty based on Sooze’s recommendation. We saw the Fife and Drum core, this group of men are AMAZING and just make you feel so proud to be an American. They called the kids up to recite the Pledge of Allegiance:

Here he was thanking the armed services of our nation:

Then they march toward the building and stand there for a bit. They were letting people get pictures with them but Luke and Lauren were too shy so I just took one of them by themselves:

We went inside and we went upstairs because that is where they wanted Tim with his ECV (the elevator took us to the top of the rotunda). The singers were AMAZING!

We got Shae and Tyson out for their mom’s favorite show:

Then I called Sooze and held up the phone on her machine so she could listen to a song. Then Tim noticed something. THE LEADER WAS DOLLY FROM HOOP DE DOO REVIEW WHO HAD PULLED LUKE UP ON STAGE, see her in the brown dress:

Wow, she had an AWESOME voice. She has the best 2 gigs on property!
We listened to a few more numbers:

We ended up eating lunch at Liberty Inn in America(we had never eaten there before), it was very good. The kids had peanut butter and jelly (they SO need better kids choices for counter service options),I got a chicken sandwich and Tim had a burger, our lunch was pretty good. There was a very sweet Cast Member who came to our table and played Disney trivia with the kids as we were eating and gave them Disney trading cards for the one’s they got right – the kids enjoyed that.
After lunch we headed to Italy to check in for our Kim Possible Fast Pass. It gave us a Mission in MEXICO! Thank goodness for Tim’s ECV or he never would have made it. So…….. we headed to Mexico, the kids got their phones and they were on the mission:

They were very into it and the mission was cute but not nearly as interactive as the other ones in my opinion. But at the end it does a REALLY cool thing that involves the volcano over San Angel Inn (I won’t ruin it for you).
Luke of course wanted to do other missions and we were fine with that, but unfortunately after our mission in Mexico it prompted him to return the phone because other agents were waiting, BUMMER! So he returned his phone. After that we headed to Mission Space but there was a 30 minute wait so we passed. We headed over to Ellen’s Energy adventure to continue with the theme of experiencing new things on this trip:

I had heard REALLY bad reviews of this so I wasn’t expecting much but was pleasantly surprised by the ride itself, the dinosaur area was pretty cool actually. It was long – about 30 minutes and I worried the kids would be bored but they were on the edges of their seats the whole time. Definitely a GREAT thing to do on a hot day in Epcot if you are looking to experience a ride and get out of the heat in the summer. We were happy that we experienced it for the first time.
After Ellen we headed to Club Cool:

Tim’s turn for the BEVERLY!:

Luke was enjoying his drinks:

Mezzo Mix is still my favorite, yum! Then we headed toward the gate and Lauren asked if we could ride Spaceship Earth, SURE, why not!?!

I just love that ride, so peaceful! Here are Tim and Luke on the ride:

CONTINUED IN POST!

 

[timandlesley]

Here are Lauren and I in our future:

We really enjoyed the ride and afterwards stopped for a photo opportunity:

We headed for the bus stop after a long morning at Epcot around 3:30:

It was GREAT because it was one of the very few days of the trip that we left the parks after being there in the morning/afternoon without being sweaty, what a great feeling!
We went back to the resort and got showered and changed and headed to the Turf Club at Saratoga Springs for dinner. I love the nights were we eat at our resorts, no rushing around to get anywhere. Here we are on the trek over to Springs to the Turf Club:

Tim’s poor knee:

You can tell he was hurting in this photo:

This gives you an idea of the proximity of our building. We were in the yellow building with the reddish roof. This is taken from the Springs drop off area:

We arrived:

We walked through Artist Pallet to get to the Turf Club:

It was such a nice unseasonably cool night that we actually ASKED to eat outside:

Our server was very nice and told the kids they could get chocolate shakes (which he highly recommended) as their drink option with their meal:

We had an AWESOME meal, we both had steak, the rolls here were super yummy. GREAT meal! We skipped desert (they gave it to us to go actually). Diane and her family were eating there inside, we met up inside the pool table area. We headed over to the Community Hall so the boys could play some video games but the t.v. was being fixed, so we made some bead necklaces instead:

Here is a list of the activity board so you can see what it’s like:

Lauren with her necklace:

Tim even made a baseball one:

Matthew and Eric made sports ones too:

Continued in the next post!

 

[timandlesley]

Then we went to put the kids suits on and headed to the pool. With Tim’s knee he didn’t want to go up to the Springs Pool so he and Bryan hung out at the Grandstand pool while Diane and the kids and I headed up to Springs. It was their last day at Saratoga so the kids wanted to slide some before they left.

They had a blast swimming at the Springs pool and going down the slide.
Then Diane and I headed inside to fill up mugs for everyone and we all journeyed back to the Grandstand pool to find Bryan and Tim talking it up with some guy from New York in the hot tub, the guy was even giving them beers like they had known eachother their entire lives (just leave it to Tim).
Diane was helping Tim and I learn how to braid Lauren’s hair in the hot tub (foggy pic due to the steam):

We hung out there with them forever because we were sad they were moving resorts the next day. We didn’t head up until around 11:30.
We fell asleep quickly after a fun filled day.

DAY 12 CLICK HERE:http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2224335&page=51

 

[nateryan]

This day sounds awesome!!! I now have to put Innoventions back on our to do list. That video game thing looks so cool. Nathan would love that!! You guys such seem to have perfect Disney Days.

 

[sharonW]

Les, you just made my night. Surfing and saw you had just
posted so jumped on for some more diz fun, tim, lesley, luke
and lauren style!! I am getting all your great pics
nowYou guys certaintly make the most of
your trip, every moment seems to be full of fun and magical
times!!! I am going to hate to see it end!!! Keep it coming!!!!

 

[anbouk]

Lesley...you guys really fit in ALOT in your Disney days...thought we were BAD! Oh, and waiting patiently to hear the rest on the teddy bear lady at GF. We have ressies at 1900 and plan on visiting with her within the next week and a half. I think her story is Sad...as I had read about her in another thread.

 

[tiggrbaby]

Another fab update! Thanks!

 

[Lil'DisneyMom]

What a great day!!

 

[dddisrunner]

Great update Lesley! Glad you could post the video without a problem that was SO FUNNY! LOVED reading about your day! I forgot that you got suckered into another KP mission that day! The weather was GREAt wasn't it! That day was one of my favorites from the trip! You got some good pics. at the pool, I guess I didn't take many SO FUN reading the day from your perspective!!

 

[tink25]

Wow...what I wouldn't give for 18 days at Disney! You can do so much and have some lazy days and sleep-in mornings. That is the life....enjoying living vicariously through you. Thanks for the memories

 

[rentayenta]

Love the SSR photos!!!

 

[Trentmom]

Sounds like an awesome day

I really need to put Innoventions on our list. I have not been there since I was little. I did not realize how many fun things there are to do there

Glad u got an ecv so Tim could get his poor knee a rest

Video of Tim was hilarious

Bummer on Diane's family changing resorts


But glad u got to spend a lot of time with them that day and that night. So nice how u all get along so well

 

[ladybugmom]

What a fun day! I love the Velcro and baby games!! And putting your self in a video game--how cool!! And getting to meet Aurora--sooo magical! The Voices of Liberty were on of my favorite things about the WS. They are INCREDIBLE!! Can't wait to read more!

 

[I<3stitch626]

joining!
not even close to being thru reading but so far loving your trip
love seeing the funny pics! very cute
19 days?? luckyyy!

 

[Nicole786]

Mezzo mix is my favorite too! I've actually gone to several restaurants where they let you fill up your own soda and filled it with 80% diet coke and 20% sunkist orange soda!