Bound, bound, bound and rebound - Sept 24-Oct 1st. 2011

[MamaJessie]

I kept thinking this vacation just wasn't going to happen. We changed plans so many times, faced so many challenges during 2010 that I started to give up home. But after almost a year from the original date we finally went. The challenges just kept coming but we persevered and had a wonderful time.

Let's start at the very beginning (it's a very good place to start)...

I booked a vacation in March 2010. We had been back for 6 months and were jonesin' for another visit back to Mickey. Add to that the fact that I kept dreaming of Christmas with Mickey and we were ready to book!! I had already picked up odds and ends during Christmas clearance, planning for this trip. I was so excited

But then, two weeks later, my mom died. I was shattered. I had no urge to dream about Christmas present, I just wanted to think of Christmas past and remember what life was like when I had two parents, now that I was left with none. So we pushed the vacation off, figuring by February the holidays would be over and we would all be ready for some smiles.

Well, DH had been laid off in Sept 09 (the day we got back from our trip) and hehad worked on and off in his union, and kept being promised full time work, you know, just over the horizon. So we kept chasing the horizon and it kept eluding us. We knew there was no way we could go on vacation when work was so unpredictable. A week of work, a week off. Three weeks of work, 8 off. We were running out of $$$. So with tears we realized by Christmas that over a year of waiting for the next big job to break we had to face reality. And push the trip off.

But his work picked up and he went back to full time. Even picked up a part time job. Life was getting back on track and we decided to make the plans to move the trip to September. We changed plans a few times from off site to on site and back again but in the end decided on off site. The price was great and the condo looked awesome so we decided with our family of six, we should try a vacation with more space. Not to mention the fact that we were still making up for lost paychecks and had to balance our need for a vacation with some financial responsibility.

So................... these were the plans........
DH - 35 aka Rich , DD - 12 aka Sapphire, DS-9 aka Bastian DD - 4 aka Esme and DD - 2 aka Clara. Oh and me, 32 - mom aka Jessica - but I have no plans on referring to myself in the third person so that's probably not relevant....
This is the kids and I when we went in 09. I was going to crop it but find the kid wearing the die yuppy scum picture too funny to cut out.


Here is DH and Sapphire, Bastian and Esme before our MNSSHP in 09.


We had booked 304 at vacationcentralflorida. If you go on the site you can see the pics and take the tour.

*phew* well I finally started my first trip report. Next to figure out how to link the different posts all on one page..........

Index

Spidermanning
The World's Longest Trip to WDW
Finally!!
Tusker House
Afternoon at DHS
Typhoon Lagoon
MNSSHP
Universal
Epcot
Magic Kingdom
DTD and some random thoughts...

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

Hey! I'm here!

Btw, to link posts, click on the # that's in the upper right-hand corner of a particular post. Highlight and copy the URL or web address that's displayed. If you're listing your posts in your first post, click "Edit" on your first post, and then add the post link the same way you added your TR to your signature.

Hope that makes sense!

 

[sjs314]

Just happened upon your TR and excited about reading along. My condolences on the passing of your Mother. I remember you from the November thread last year, see I too have postponed our trip first from last November to this October and now it has been pushed to March 2012.

 

[Marblies]

Excited to follow along!

 

[MamaJessie]

Spidermanning
This is a story about a nine year old. My nine year old. He is one of those kids that when you meet him you say things like "he's all boy". He moves slowly when he gets ready for school and is distracted easily. He likes climbing our hallway walls. We call it Spidermanning. He puts one foot and one hand on each side of the hall way and "Spidermans" up to the ceiling. It drives me nuts because he has smudged and dirtied and even made two small holes on the hallway walls. Anyway, the morning, yes - the morning we are going to start our 20 hour drive to Orlando he Spidermans when I tell him to get dressed for school and falls, immediately screaming that he cannot use his hand. I do not have a June Cleaver moment. I have a crazy loon moment. I just say over and over "You aren't serious right? Are you serious? Did you seriously just break your wrist? Is this seriously happening?" etc over and over. So after calling my sister crying, her leaving work and coming to the house so she can watch my girls (and I could use her car) going to the pedi and then the ortho-whatever (and yes, getting to explain Spidermanning to every nurse and dr. there ) we find out he has a buckle fracture and a separate crack in the bone across. It is actually out of whack too so he has to press on the bone to straighten it. The dr. was amazing and gave him a cast even though you should usually wait for swelling to go down. He told us because of the swelling he could not waterproof it, but sold us a cast protector. With the help of Dr. Awesome and my sister we were ready to rebound again...

 

[MamaJessie]

Ok so not really the worlds longest trip but by the end of it, it sure felt like it. We got out the door about two hours later than anticipated. The dr's visits really slowed us down. So we finally get in the car and about 15 minutes in my 4 yo had to pee <--that is what I think now, at the time I was more like --> So after our charming detour in New Haven we got back on the road. And hit some traffic. The goal was to drive enough before we hit traffic that it would be dinner time. Well, that obviously didn't happen. So we moved at a snail's pace towards WDW. Thankfully most of the driving was uneventful., just poor DS complaining that his cast was feeling tight and his arm hurt Poor guy. I drove the nightshift and stopped at South of the Border to switch off. So on we went with the napping and pee stopping and driving and realized we were way behind schedule. We had planned to go to the condo, drop off our stuff and then go visit DH's family on the other side of Florida, about 1 1/2 hours away. Well that was not going to happen and he really wanted to see his grandmother (she has been ill) so we drove straight there.
I have pictures of this but do not care to share them. My family had just spent 24+ hours in a car and we looked like... well, we looked like we had just spent 24+ hours in a car but then finally it was time to head to the condo. And of course we got lost. This was my first "This would have been so much easier if we were just staying on site" moment. Drove up and down the road in the heavy rain and thunderstorms and might I add getting crankier and crankier with each passing second. The rain got so heavy we had to pull over in a parking lot and watch the rain. Oh man. I was feeling so jinxed.....

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

SpidermanningI do not have a June Cleaver moment. I have a crazy loon moment. I just say over and over "You aren't serious right? Are you serious? Did you seriously just break your wrist? Is this seriously happening?" etc over and over. So after going to the pedi and then the ortho-whatever (and yes, getting to explain Spidermanning to every nurse and dr. there ) we find out he has a buckle fracture and a separate crack in the bone across. It is actually out of whack too so he has to press on the bone to straighten it. The dr. was amazing and gave him a cast even though you should usually wait for swelling to go down. He told us because of the swelling he could not waterproof it, but sold us a cast protector.
So we rebounded again....

Oh my goodness! I couldn't even imagine that happening the day of our departure. I love your comment about not having a June Cleaver moment. I can totally relate!

 

[MamaJessie]

Hey! I'm here!

Btw, to link posts, click on the # that's in the upper right-hand corner of a particular post. Highlight and copy the URL or web address that's displayed. If you're listing your posts in your first post, click "Edit" on your first post, and then add the post link the same way you added your TR to your signature.

Hope that makes sense!

Thanks!

Just happened upon your TR and excited about reading along. My condolences on the passing of your Mother. I remember you from the November thread last year, see I too have postponed our trip first from last November to this October and now it has been pushed to March 2012.

Oh man I didn't realize you had to postpone again. Hope you have an awesome time in march to make up for all the postponing.

Excited to follow along!

Excited you are here

 

[MamaJessie]

So after driving up and down 192, we finally found our street, and Windsor Hills. We dragged our tired selves up to our room and . The condo was much bigger than it seemed through the pics and video tour. We walked in and everyone pepped back up and started exploring our new digs. They have a lot of framed pics around the condo and the kids had fun checking them all out. The kids bathroom is gigantic!! I started to unpack in a frenzied kind of way since we had ADRs at 8am for TH. All in all I have to say we were impressed with the condo. I had a few issues but it was more with the management company and Windsor Hills management than with the owners or vacationcentralflorida.
-My complaints about the cleaning/management group are....
Our bed sheet had some sort of gummy/tacky/grayish streak on my side of the bed so I had to take them off. The only way to describe it is it looked like when I wash my kids clothes with a sticker on. It looked exactly like that.
-My 2 yo also found half a tube of toothpaste under one of the beds, and no it wasn't ours
- Boy are they stingy with the paper products. I asked what I should bring and they said there would be enough to last a normal family a week There was about 1/12th roll of toilet paper on each roll, 4 tissues and 3 paper towels. And then there was a note that said to make sure we replaced everything.
-And my final complaint , there was a sign over the washer that asked me to wash all the towels before we left I have two problems with this. The first is the fact that I was not planning on that and it specifically stated on the website if I felt like throwing in a load of towels it would be appreciated, but that was it. They did not have any detergent there and all I had for detergent was two purex sheets I got as a sample and I was not about to go out and buy detergent just to wash their towels, seeing as though I did pay a cleaning fee. Which leads me to the other problem I had with that, the towels we used were basically cleaned on the honor system? What if someone threw them in with no soap?

But the bed was comfy and after sleeping a few hours in the car seemed like heaven and we all slept soundly - ready for Animal Kingdom and DHS!!!

 

[MamaJessie]

Oh my goodness! I couldn't even imagine that happening the day of our departure. I love your comment about not having a June Cleaver moment. I can totally relate!

Yeah - I am not getting a nomination for mom of the year. Thanks for understanding it's hard to tell the world you had a crappy reaction to your kid breaking a bone.

 

[MamaJessie]

Tusker House

We woke up early and moved as quickly as we could to get out the door for our ADR. As we were getting our stuff together we realized I forgot the set of markers I bought for autographs So before we could go we made a quick stop at the 7-11 for some pens. The big kids had a sharpie for the vinylmation. So now we are finally on the road to AK and I am getting progressively more nervous because we still have to pick up Esme's ticket and I am worried we are going to be late. We get to the window to pay for parking and the CM, Allison, gives us a paper and tells us to follow the route on the right. We have never parked before so we didn't think anything of it until we pulled up front and someone came and questioned us until he saw our pass. He then showed us where to park for our magical moment. How cool!! Wish we had thanked Allison more but we didn't really grasp the special privilege she was giving us.



DS wanted to know if you could buy the spears as a souvenir...


So we finally got in and seated at TH. We had eaten there for lunch before but not breakfast. The food was so good.



This specifically made me very happy. The hash with the cornbread baked on top. Oh my gosh, so very good. If you go have a dish of it for me!

So after we stuffed ourselves silly we went to hit the park!!

First off, everyone's favorite - the Safari!! We got right on and about 49 seconds in, we stopped. Apparently an ostrich was blocking the path. Since we were full and happy we chatted and talked and passed the time and in about 10 minutes we were ready to go! I will not bore you with the overwhelming amount of safari pics I have, but I will share a few



I cannot remember the exact order of the rides we went on, but we tried Kali River for the first time and loved it. Clara had a great time splashing with Rich, and then me, while we utilized the rider swap. We went to TTBAB, another favorite of ours. Sapphire and I tried our first FP ever for EE and went with the family to Dinosaur while we waited. I made Rich go on it this time because he was wary last time but I knew he would love it. And he did!! I am so glad he tried it. And Sapphire and I LOVED EE. We had never rode it before and it we got the front car. I was terrified (in the best way) to be perched at the end of the track.



So we enjoyed our morning at AK and got ready to hop over to DHS.

 

[ShesAPirate]

Joining in!

 

[sillylily]

I'm here, Jess, sorry it took me so long!

 

[MamaJessie]

Joining in!

Welcome!

I'm here, Jess, sorry it took me so long!

Now it's a party

Better finish writing about my first day

 

[MamaJessie]

So I am a good DISer. I read all the park tips and pay attention to them. About a week before vacation I picked DH up a pair of sneakers. i told him he should wear them so he has something comfy to wear on vacation. He didn't like the way they looked and wanted those sandles with the nubby bottoms, Adidas slides. I tell him, maybe sneakers would be better. he ignores me So he buys a pair of Adidas slides....

When we get in the car after AK DH informs his feet hurt. Not just tired aches but those nubby things are painfully digging in. Really, maybe those sneakers were a good idea after all... Well we were hot and tired and bastian's arm was getting swollen in his cast so we drove off property to get some cold drinks and enjoy the AC for awhile. Between the sore feet, cranky boy and snarky wife we were not our most charming when we started DHS. I really don't even remember walking in, I remember thinking we really could have used a day to acclimate before jumping into the parks. Apparently we need sleep and hydration to be happy people, who knew? But because WDW is amazing about 20 minutes in we are back to our charming lovely selves We went to the Great Movie Ride first. We always love that ride and the little girls just watched Wizard of Oz recently so they thought that was awesome. Then we hit Star Tours. I was pretty sure we would just spend the rest of the day there . Clara was the only one who could not ride it so we swapped out and got have very different experiences. It was awesome. Rich and Sebastian did not want to leave, but I wanted to get to Playhouse Junior so I dragged them away. On our walk over, my son saw a CM standing outside of American Idol drop her pen, so he ran over, picked it up and gave it to her. Well this was apparently the sweetest CM on the planet. She said he was so awesome we should wait there a minute. I cannot lie. I was very excited. On the outside I looked like this but inside I was

I just had this feeling I knew what it was going to be. Well after a couple minutes DH says "What exactly are we waiting for?" and started to seem impatient. i told him to wait and whatever it was, was special to Bastian. She popped back out and asked how many were in our party, we told her and she went back in. She emerged about two minutes later with 6 Fastpasses for TSMM!! Honestly, I grabbed my chest, choked back tears and said "We never got to ride this last time and had no hopes of riding it today." She said she wanted to reward him for being so kind Woo hoo, raising my kids right is nice and all but FASTPASSES?!?! Party bonus!! My son was on and kept telling us that it was great that he could save the day.

So we went to Playhouse Junior and DH said he would go pick up some fastpasses because Playhouse Junior is not his thing. We had an awesome time at Playhosue Junior, I love it. Well, ok I don't love it for me, I lvoe watching the kids watch it. There was a moment that absolutely melted my heart, and it was surprisingly my nine year old. He was singing along to the Jake and the Neverland pirates and said to me "Mom, I love singing these little kid songs. Thanks for bringing me here to let me sing with the little kids, it is so fun" I love that little guy.

Then we went over to.. TSMM!! Woo hoo!! We are cruising through the FP line, we get to the part where you join the regular line and all of a sudden Clara declares "I have to potty RIGHT NOW!!!!" She means business so Rich hauls off backwards through the line and the kids and I hang out over to the side at the front of the line. Thankfully she made it to the potty, and it only took a few minutes. Just hope no DISers there thought DH was line cutting First screen didn't work for us but had fun on the rest of the ride. I have to say though if I didn't have a FP I would never, ever wait 80 minutes (that was the standby time when we got there) for that ride. Happy we got to experience it, thanks to Bastian

We then went back over to Star Tours. Bastian was nervous about riding anything crazy because he didn't want to jostle his arm too much so since he loved it that's where Rich got a FP for Sebastian and himself and Esme. Then Sapphire and I got to go on Rock n Roller coaster. She has really turned into a coaster lover So since everyone was getting tired from our day and the fact that we were still sleep deprived we knew it was going to be the last ride of the night. The story of the ride was good and I was looking for the special hand signal I heard Steven Tyler gives and then we got on and IT WAS FUN!! Then right before the ride is supposed to stop it jerked and stopped and the ride went silent. Now, if you asked me if I was claustrophobic before this trip I would have said no. But sitting there, with that huge head harness on, my head banging from the abrupt stop and slam into the headrest.. I started to sweat. Right behind my knees it started, little pinpricks. Then I felt this tingling in my legs and fluttering in my stomach. All i wanted to do was climb out of the seat, at any cost. i started to understand how an animal chews it's limb off to get out of a trap. I craned my head around to see how Sapphire was dealing with it and she was all smiles "Woo!! That was awesome!!" So we started talking about the ride which made me start to feel a little better. Honestly just writing it out now I feel all panicked all over again. *shudder* So then it finally starts up again and we pull in and the CM asked "Did you love it?!?!" and we were all silent. She says "That good huh?" and a woman in the back says "You could have at least let us know what was going on, there are real fears with people dealing with that you know" Some guy in a dress shirt comes out to talk to her and they never addressed it. Oh well, all's well that ends well I guess. And we were all ready for bed!

We apparently did not take a lot of pics there, but here are a couple action shots

 

[MamaJessie]

Monday morning we woke up and relaxed a little before going to the water park. We all got to sleep in relax in the morning before heading out to TL. We were all a little nervous about a water park day because of Bastian's cast but figured all would be well with the cast cover. So we headed out and grabbed some krispy kreme on our way. Finally had one of their hot glazed doughnuts I have heard so much about. It was much better than cold but still not my favorite.

We got there right around the time they opened, 10am, and headed straight to the little kids area so I could settle in for the day with the two little ones. I just love that play area. Esme and Clara loved it too. Honestly just remembering it makes me smile.

The girls played with the water guns, the slides, used the mini tubes .. it is everything a vacation should be to me. Rich and the two older kids had headed out to the tide pool. Rich I think felt badly, like he was depriving me of the fun part. I have no secret urges to go swim with sharks or ride the crush and gusher or ride the waves in the wave pool. He loves it so it works out really well for us. Usually. About twenty minutes into our day they come back from the wave pool. Bastian had rolled around the floor of the wave pool and the floor was rough, causing a tear in his cast cover So I have this bright idea to cover his cast with a wdw bag and try tucking that into the cast cover. Rich goes and buys a towel he wanted anyway (the seagulls from nemo, with the word "MINE" over and over ) and we try to "mickey mouse" a new cast cover. I think I am brilliant We decide we want to go try the lazy river so we head over there. We are just no capable of lying there but we have fun cruising along the water. And then I notice Bastian's cast cover creation is filled with water so we get off the next exit and try again. We did all we could to try and make that thing work but nothing was helping. So we tried to put it together as best as we could and he played with me and the little girls while Rich and Sapphire went off to be daring. Bastian actually had a really good time in there for awhile. The water gun turrets are helpful like that. But eventually that stopped working too and his arm was heavy and he just wanted to sit. So he relaxes in the shade for a bit and then Clara needs a potty break. So I track down Esme, grab Bastian and we walk over to the bathroom. That's where we spot Rich and Sapphire. Well let me back track. First we see these heads bobbing out in the deep part of the water and I am watching these people and thinking "those people are nuts - it is so deep and the water is so choppy" Bastian and the girls are loving watching the waves come in though so we hang there for awhile, watching the tides.

Then the tide stop and it is jut rough choppy waters. And which two people are as far as you can go? Yup, Rich and Sapphire That's when i realized it is better in my quiet kiddie pool, where I never see the things they do. This is why dad is way more fun

Rich and Sapphire are the two little dots all the way to the left. The sane people are everywhere else

Is this even fun? She looks like she is barely above water. Must.Stay.In.Kiddie.Area.

Well I finally tore them away from watching the tide pool cause I was getting hot and wanted to go back to the water. As soon as we get back, Clara tells me she has to use the bathroom Toddlers. So we go back to the bathroom and then back to the tide pool and guess what, Clara has to pee. I tell her to just go play figuring she just likes the treck back and forth. But no, she persists and we go back and she uses the bathroom again. Finally we get to go back and Bastian hangs out with his feet in the water while the girls play on the slide.

There was a cm there that came over and talked to Bastian about his arm and I just have to say she was a sweetheart. She just chit chatted away with him and it was nice for him to talk about all the rides he did and still had to look forward to. He liked getting to think of something besides the water park because frustration was starting to set in... After the cm left and he sat down he started to get hot and bored as illustrated below.

I wasn't sure what to do to help so I handed him my flip and told him to enjoy. Oh my gosh the kid had such a great time making movies. We have some short film classics such as "Bastian's Extreme Close Up Face While He Growls" and "This is What a Burp Looks Like" Eventually Sapphire and Rich came back and we all headed out, ready for some AC and a few gallons of ice water!

We headed back to the condo to change and then went to Golden Corral for dinner. I have no problem with buffet food, but I thought it was just "meh" as far as buffets go. Last time we went to one in FL was in 06 and it was on I-Drive. I know it is all the same food but I swear it was better than the one we went to, on Irlo Bronson.
Ah well, we weren't looking for gourmet fare anyway, just some dinner. After that we headed to the grocery store so I could grab breakfast food and snack food and drinks, drinks and more drinks. We needed to be better prepared and freeze some gatorades!!

And Rich and I talked about it on the ride over. We had planned on doing two water park days but with Bastian's cast cover not working, that just did not sound like a good idea. So instead of hopping from MK/Epcot, we decided to do one day of each. We had never spent a whole day at a park, without the "Conquer and Hop" mentality. It seemed like a good idea seeing as though we were going to try a slightly slower pace for the rest of the trip.

We finally got back to the condo and relaxed, getting excited for MNSSHP the next day!!!

 

[janabananas]

how did I miss your TR??? subbing

 

[MamaJessie]

how did I miss your TR??? subbing

The more readers the more likely I am to finish it

 

[janabananas]

You have readers anticipating more!

 

[MamaJessie]

I just finished loading my pics from MNSSHP onto photobucket and started writing about it but I must need some sleep because it wasn't making any sense It is on my to do list for tomorrow