Better Late Than Never, Right? A Sept/Oct 2009 TR **FINISHED 3/25/10!!**

[Mommy2LittleVols]

Well, we just got back from the World, and...wait, what?

What do you mean it's January?

Hmm.........I guess I'm a little late with this, then, huh? Oops! Sorry about that, folks! I had the best of intentions when it came to this TR, but it seemed like every time I sat down to start writing it, life got in the way. KWIM?

But since I know that you're all just DYING to read about our trip, I'll go ahead and write about it.

First, I'll do a quick refresher course since it has been so long (and for any newcomers ).

Who:
Me (Julia)
DH (Darren)
DS (Dakoda - 2)
DD (Sarah Kate - 7 months at trip time)
FIL (Pap)
MIL (Mam)
SILs (Kristy and Cynthia)
DNephews (Zach - 15, Landon - 13)

When:
September 25 - October 2, 2009

Where:
Pop Century Resort

ADR's:
9/26/09 - Chef Mickey's - 7:00 am
9/26/09 - Tony's Town Square - 12:35 pm
9/27/09 - Biergarten - 12:00 pm
9/27/09 - Teppan Edo - 5:20 pm
9/28/09 - Kona Cafe - 9:10 am
9/28/09 - Fulton's Crab House - 6:30 pm
9/29/09 - Boma - 7:45 am
9/30/09 - The Crystal Palace - 8:15 am
9/30/09 - Liberty Tree Tavern - 11:30 am
10/1/09 - Le Cellier - 1:30 pm
10/1/09 - Chef Mickey's - 6:20 pm

Itinerary:
Day 1: Travel & Disney Studios
Day 2: Magic Kingdom
Day 3: Epcot
Day 4: Animal Kingdom & Downtown Disney
Day 5: Disney Studios
Day 6: Magic Kingdom
Day 7: Morning - Free
Afternoon/Evening - Epcot
Day 8: Travel

Did we stick to our plan, or did it all fall apart once we got there?

LINKS:
Day 1, Part 1: Will we ever make it to Pop??
Day 1, Part 2: DHS
Day 2, Part 1: Did we make it to our reservation??
Day 2, Part 2: Why do you want pictures of our food?
Day 2, Part 3: Food Pics, Spectro, and a Monsoon
Day 3: Epcot
Day 4, Part 1: Tusker House Breakfast on an EMH morning? Never again!
Day 4, Part 2: Fun at Fulton's!
Day 5: Boma and DHS
Day 6: Magic Kingdom
Day 6: Magic Kingdom, continued
Day 7, Part 1: Animal Kingdom
Day 7, Part 2: Animal Kingdom, continued
Day 7, Part 3: Pop, Pool Time and Packing

 

[that's nice]

Julia-

I was just skimming the TR threads and I saw you started a TR!!!!!!!! I'll be waiting to hear all about your trip!!!!!!!

 

[-Hope-]

Can't wait to hear how your trip went- especially since I have the same dates for this year!! (I'm so happy that I can say THIS year now!)

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I'm in too! We're going this year the last week of Sept. and I can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

Julia-

I was just skimming the TR threads and I saw you started a TR!!!!!!!! I'll be waiting to hear all about your trip!!!!!!!

Hi Tim! Thanks for stopping by! Yes, I FINALLY started one. lol

Can't wait to hear how your trip went- especially since I have the same dates for this year!! (I'm so happy that I can say THIS year now!)

Thanks for joining! It is nice to be able to say THIS year!

I'm in too! We're going this year the last week of Sept. and I can't wait to hear about your trip!

to you, too! Thanks for dropping in! I started reading your PTR yesterday, too.

I was going to try to post an update this morning, but ran out of time. I'll have one up later, though!

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

Day 1, Part 1: Will we ever make it to Pop??

Our day started off really well. DH and I stayed up late the night before packing the car with everything that we wouldn't need that morning, so all we had to do was finish up with those last minute items, get ourselves and the kids ready, and do a quick cleanup of the house so that it was ready for our house-sitters.

Our flight was at 12:50 pm and we live about an hour from the airport, so I think we left the house between 10 and 10:30 am. We got to the airport in plenty of time, and MIL, FIL, and the boys arrived right after. I had to do some last-minute rearranging of the suitcases so that our big one wasn't over 50 lbs. Then we headed for security. For whatever reason, the airport was extremely busy, (because it was Friday? ) and there was a long line. After we finally made it to the checkpoint, we hit a slight snag, for two reasons. 1) I had a small, unopened bottle of apple juice in the diaper bag for Dakoda to drink on the plane. They had to open it and test it to make sure it wasn't a bomb. It passed. 2) I always carry a bottle of lotion for myself in the diaper bag, and I forgot to switch it over to my checked bag. Yeah, that went in the trash. After we got past security, we headed to our gate, which was packed, and I do mean PACKED. As it turned out, they had overbooked the flight and needed some people to volunteer to take a later one. Not me, sorry! There was a delay (maybe because of the overbooking? I don't know) and they started boarding the plane a little late. Then, after everyone was on, we sat on the runway for what seemed like forever. Here are some pictures from that time period.

Me and DD

The IL's

DNephews

I have one of DH and DS, too, but for some reason it's really dark and I can't figure out how to fix it. Also, for some reason, these are the only pictures I have of that day! I don't know what I was thinking.......

Anyway, we finally took off and the plane ride was uneventful. DS slept pretty much the entire time, and DD played in my lap with some toys that I had brought for her. DH and I played games on my phone; the boys listened to their iPods; I'm not sure what the IL's did. I think MIL spent most of the time looking out the window - it was her first time ever on a plane!

We landed about half an hour behind schedule and met up with my SILs, and then we went to catch the Magical Express. It seemed like it took FOR-E-VER for a bus to get there. I'm pretty sure we had just missed one. I'm not sure how often they are supposed to arrive, but I know we waited for one for close to an hour. A bus eventually arrived, and we were on our way. I got so excited when the ME movie started. I think I drove everyone else crazy trying to make them pay attention. The ride to Pop went by pretty quickly. I think we were the first stop.

I had done online check-in for all 3 of our rooms the night before, so checking in went really quickly. They couldn't find my Garden Grocer order at first, but then they realized that it had already been delivered to our room. Sweet! We were in the 80's building in room 7219. The IL's and the boys were in the room connected to ours, and SILs were in the room on the other side of them. Our building was right beside the Computer Pool. It was a little bit of a walk to the bus stop and the food court, but not too bad.

We dropped our luggage off in our rooms and then headed to the food court for dinner. Darren got chicken parmesean (great), salad (bad), and a cinnamon roll (awesome!). DS and I shared chicken nuggets and fries (great), and chocolate cake (GREAT!).

After everyone finished eating, we headed out to catch a bus to our first park - DHS!

Click here to continue

 

[that's nice]

I love when they make you throw out water & lotion and everything else at security. Have you ever wondered how much stuff they collect on a daily basis? Where does it go when they take it? The garbage? What if some of it was actually explosive?

I like the pics of your nephews. He has the 'cool' peace sign down. LOL

Your DD is really adorable.

We've always seen 2-4 ME busses loading when we land at MCO. Maybe you guys just had bad timing.

How did you like the POP food court? We thought for QS it was pretty good!

 

[praisehisname]

Joining in!

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

I love when they make you throw out water & lotion and everything else at security. Have you ever wondered how much stuff they collect on a daily basis? Where does it go when they take it? The garbage? What if some of it was actually explosive?

I like the pics of your nephews. He has the 'cool' peace sign down. LOL

Your DD is really adorable.

We've always seen 2-4 ME busses loading when we land at MCO. Maybe you guys just had bad timing.

How did you like the POP food court? We thought for QS it was pretty good!

Yeah, I wondered that, too, about the stuff they confiscate. I'm betting security is even worse now after what happened on Christmas Eve. My nephew is a ham. He always does goofy things for pics, as you'll probably see later on. Thanks re: DD! I was pretty sure there were some extenuating circumstances regarding our ME wait. I haven't heard of anyone else having to wait that long. I really liked the food court! Almost everything we got there was good, and although it was crowded at times, we never had to wait very long to check out and never had an issue finding a table.

Joining in!

Thanks for joining!

 

[momof2TNboys]

Joining here also!!

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

Joining here also!!

Hi again! (We need a waving smiley)

 

[that's nice]

Hi again! (We need a waving smiley)

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

Day 1, Part 2: DHS

It didn't take long for a DHS bus to arrive, and we got to the park around 7 pm. I had hoped to get there earlier since it was my SILs only DHS day, but oh well. It was a Fantasmic night, so it was pretty crowded. My original plan had been to head over to TSM first thing, but we scrapped that idea when we saw how many people were there. I knew that line would be insane. So we headed to my personal favorite - the Tower of Terror. The boys kept stopping at street vendors, so it took a little while to get back there. DH and the IL's stayed with the babies while DNephews and I rode. Despite the crowd, the standby line wasn't that bad, and we were on and off within about 45 mins.

We decided to check out Rock n Roller Coaster next. No FP left, and standby wait greater than 55 mins. No thanks!

We decided to find something that everyone could ride since the babies were getting a bit antsy in their stroller, so we wandered around for a bit (which drove me crazy) and stumbled upon the Great Movie Ride. Everyone enjoyed it!

After that it was getting close to time for Fantasmic. As always, the line was ridiculously long. DNephews entertained us (and everyone around us) by dancing to some music that was playing. They really liked Livin' La Vida Mickey. We finally made it to the theater and got pretty good seats. We were in the middle of the theater, about 4 rows up. Everyone really loved the show! Sarah Kate got scared a couple of times when there were really loud booms, but she was fine for the most part. Dakoda loved it when the water sprayed us. Everyone agreed that it was a great way to start off our vacation.

After the show, we joined the masses and headed for the bus stop. I don't think we had to wait very long, but of course, the bus was packed. I know Darren (or maybe one of the IL's) and I got to sit down with the babies, but I think everyone else was stuck standing. When we got back to Pop, everyone said their good nights and went to their respective rooms. I stayed up late unpacking and organizing because I'm a freak and then got in bed, but couldn't sleep because I was worrying about how the next day was going to go. I had made out a tentative schedule for the day, but after wasting time wandering around at DHS, I decided that was not going to happen again. So I pulled out my Unofficial Guide and made out a Touring Plan on my iPhone. My nerves somewhat calmed, I finally went to sleep.

Up next: How will everyone react to the touring plan? And will we make our 7 AM ressie at Chef Mickey's?

Click here to continue

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

Ah! How did I miss that?

 

[momof2TNboys]

Great start so far! Reading about Fantasmic brings me back. I loved it so much. I am contemplating if we should see it again in May or wait till next December. My kids loved the glow-in-the-dark pinwheels more than anything. I love TSM. It is my favorite ride (along with thousands of other people). We are having Toy Story for the boys' birthday party. They are only 2 years and 3 days apart so we have it together right now.

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

Great start so far! Reading about Fantasmic brings me back. I loved it so much. I am contemplating if we should see it again in May or wait till next December. My kids loved the glow-in-the-dark pinwheels more than anything. I love TSM. It is my favorite ride (along with thousands of other people). We are having Toy Story for the boys' birthday party. They are only 2 years and 3 days apart so we have it together right now.

My nephews loved the glow-in-the-dark things, too. They got one of the ones that like snakes around...I'm not really sure how to describe it, but maybe you'll know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I ended up having to confiscate it because they weren't paying attention and it kept hitting the people in front of us in line. We didn't have that great of a TSM experience later in the week, but I'm hoping for a better one this time! I have it on my iPhone and love it. Fun party theme! DS hasn't seen Toy Story yet, but I have a feeling that he will love it when he does. How old are your boys?

 

[aharbin88]

Hey there! It's great to see a fellow Vol fan on the boards! I subbed to your TR, and I'll try my best to keep up. There needs to be a 12 step program for DISboard TRs! I'm addicted!

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

Hey there! It's great to see a fellow Vol fan on the boards! I subbed to your TR, and I'll try my best to keep up. There needs to be a 12 step program for DISboard TRs! I'm addicted!

Hi! I love your signature, btw!

 

[momof2TNboys]

My nephews loved the glow-in-the-dark things, too. They got one of the ones that like snakes around...I'm not really sure how to describe it, but maybe you'll know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I ended up having to confiscate it because they weren't paying attention and it kept hitting the people in front of us in line. We didn't have that great of a TSM experience later in the week, but I'm hoping for a better one this time! I have it on my iPhone and love it. Fun party theme! DS hasn't seen Toy Story yet, but I have a feeling that he will love it when he does. How old are your boys?

My boys are Cooper (4 in February) and Blake (2 in February). I somehow had them almost exactly two years apart. We have their birthday parties together for now. Do try TSM again. The first time we rode it I waited in line at least 50 minutes with two little ones. It was still fun. The second time, my oldest DS was crying because he could not ride the Star Wars ride (he was too short) and a CM came up to him and gave us fastpasses to TSM which helped with the experience a lot. I really want to get it for the Wii.

 

[Mommy2LittleVols]

My boys are Cooper (4 in February) and Blake (2 in February). I somehow had them almost exactly two years apart. We have their birthday parties together for now. Do try TSM again. The first time we rode it I waited in line at least 50 minutes with two little ones. It was still fun. The second time, my oldest DS was crying because he could not ride the Star Wars ride (he was too short) and a CM came up to him and gave us fastpasses to TSM which helped with the experience a lot. I really want to get it for the Wii.

I think it would be really fun (and easier!) to have joint birthday parties, especially while the kids are so young that they don't mind.

I think the long wait time was a big part of our problem at TSM. My DS is on the autism spectrum and does NOT handle waiting very well, plus we had just had a particularly rough morning, so I think we were all just extremely stressed out. This time will be better - we'll be there at rope drop. What a great bit of pixie dust with those FPs! I love hearing about things like that. It's what makes Disney such a wonderful place!

Ah, the Wii....I want one of those....