But you CAN’T swim in Bay Lake, can you?? (A surprise pic-heavy report) COMPLETE!

[mickeystoontown]

Congrats on your finishing the triathlon. And coming in 153! Whoooo Hooo to you! Sorry that you were too fast for your family to see you at the end but that's a good thing.

Even without a plan, you guys still had a great time at Typhoon Lagoon. We've been twice, never had a plan and were still able to see and do everything.

I am definitely not going to flame you for letting the girls do something on their own. They did very good by themselves and I wouldn't have gotten on to their either for buying the smores kit.

The rainbow pictures are absolutely beautiful. I've only seen the end of a rainbow two times and it's a neat thing to see.

I'm sad that your trip is about to end.

 

[RocklandRVers]

Loved the segment about the triathlon! Congrats on finishing in the TOP 16%! Thats great.

We finally got the meaning behind the title of your trip report swimming in Bay Lake. It made me wonder how you would be allowed to swim there. Many fans of dear old River Country like myself have read that because it was fed by Bay Lake and the water was full of all kinds of micro-critters that it had to be closed. Something that dangerous doesn't seem a place for triathletes to swim in. Weren't you scared? Did they make you sign waivers about this alleged problem? How was the water really? Hope you didn't get sick from the water!

 

[RocklandRVers]

"NOW you tell me! Where were you a couple of weeks ago?"

Sorry about that. It took us twice standing in those lines at HDDR to learn that the tables are assigned in advance and that we sure didn't need to take ANOTHER photo. The third time it was raining cats and dogs and I refused to stand out in the rain like the others so I went onto the Crockett porch and waited under cover. DS was worried that we weren't going along with the other smart people but soon learned Dad knew best this time.

 

[MouseKTeer]

Wow--lots to catch up on!

Love, love, love Soarin' -- and Biergarten too. Glad your family did also.

And a big congratulations on your terrific finish in the triathalon

Not looking forward to the end of your TR --have really enjoyed it and all your photos.

 

[aladdinsgirl]

Congrats on your tri!! My DH does tri's (actually just did a half Ironman in August), so I know how hard they are. Great job and you had a GREAT finish time! Don't you love Disney races? I've down the WDW half marathon twice and the full marathon once and the camaderie is great. I'm gearing up for the Goofy Challenge in January and your pix made me incredibly excited! Another great update!

Krista

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

What a great report!

Go on with your bad self doing that race

We the WL and we visited FW when we were there because my sister was staying there. The cabins are so nice and relaxing to come back to(well minus any over active frogs).

Your family is great looking and I am glad to see other fellow water park lovers

We like BB over TL but like them both....which do you prefer?

Oh and don't all rainbows end in Disney World?

 

[lklasing]

Thanks, everyone, for still reading and for your comments! I'm also sad to almost be done with this TR - it's been fun re-living the trip! Next installment should be up shortly.

Leslie

PS - Krista - good luck with Goofy!!! My experience is a lot like yours - 1 full mary, about 7 halves, but I can't imagine doing both back to back like that! Have a great time!!!!

 

[lklasing]

Monday, September 7 (Labor Day)

Again, even though I was dead from yesterday, I woke up early again. I got everyone up around 7:00 to pack up. It’s the saddest part of every trip – the part I start dreading before we even arrive in Orlando. It’s not nearly as much fun waking up kids (and even Ray) to say they need to wake up to pack, instead of them needing to wake up to go to a park. But, up they got and we got everything packed. We determined that we bought waaaaaaay too much at the Publix when we arrived. We had 2 bottles of wine left , plus an unopened box of single serving snacks, plus some other unopened things. I can’t stand to waste that much stuff, so I put it all on the picnic table, hoping someone would come by and grab it. (Here’s hoping whoever wound up with the wine was at least 21…..)

We packed up the golf cart with all our bags, and Danielle and I drove them to the reception area for them to hold for us for the day. I was supposed to turn in the golf cart, but when I got there, I begged for them to let us keep it till we got back from the MK around 1:30 and they said yes! Boy, that made our last day so much easier. So, we grabbed Ray and Jodi and went to TE for breakfast. Yes, Danielle and I ate breakfast there the day before and the girls ate supper there last night, but we were back again. The breakfast there is by far their best meal, in my opinion. I usually don’t eat a bunch of bread stuff, but for the second day in a row, I enjoyed some serious Mickey waffles. Mmmmmmmmm. It was a super meal, plus we had Ken as our waiter and he was great.

Then, we were off to the MK one last time.

(Gotta love the look on Jodi's face! Plus, check out the bandage on Danielle's knee - that's from her scrape at TL the day before!)

We had been several times before, so there was nothing anyone felt like they HAD to do, which was nice. We just wandered in, caught Peter Pan with only about a 10 or so minute wait (and this was after the park had been open for an hour), then walked in the HM without any wait at all. Danielle found this Hidden Mickey while in line at PP – I had never noticed it before:

Danielle needed to shop for her new stuffed animal that she gets every trip (this time she choose a very cute Tigger), so she and Ray hit Main Street while Jodi and I went to Splash Mountain, where once again, lots of logs were going by with no one in them – always a fun (albeit rare) sight.

(It says 5 minutes, but was obviously a walk on.)

Jodi and I did a little shopping and then we hooked up with Ray and Danielle and finally spent our last 11 snack credits on gifts for neighborhood kids. I had read so many times not to try to save up snack credits, especially on the deluxe dining plan, but I made the same mistake apparently so many other people had – for the first couple of days, I was worried about running out or using them on items that weren’t as expensive as others, and wound up with way too many left over. Granted, it was nice to be able to bring back things to the people who were getting our mail and papers and keeping the girls’ hermit crabs while were were gone, but still… Moral of the story: Use Those Snack Credits!

On our way out, we stopped to take a few pictures of the castle and the Halloween decorations.

We finally and sadly left the MK and took the monorail to the Contemporary, where we played in the arcade for a few minutes before going to lunch at the Wave. Yup, that’s restaurant #2 for the day that we had already visited at least once this trip, but we have really determined that it’s one of our favorite restaurants anywhere in the World. Great food, great service, just a great place for us to go for our last meal. Then, we caught our last boat back to FW where we turned in the golf cart and left our favorite place behind.

Coming up: Final thoughts from this great trip

 

[guardwife66]

I have been loving this report. I love all the pictures. I feel like I was right there with you. Can't wait for the next "installment".

We will be at the Fort next weekend and I can hardly wait. Living through this board for my daily fix.

 

[guardwife66]

"Removed due to double post" Sorry guys. :-(

 

[princess_momma]

Aw looks like you guys had so much fun! I would love to be in the triathalon!! Congrats on your time! Thats so awesome!! I got there a little after you did and loved MNSSHP!! The crowds (or lack thereof) this time of year are AWESOME!!

 

[jlearn]

I was wondering if you had the "Mike-I've been Booed" shirts made prior to your visit or if you purchased them while in WDW? I was looking for something easy for my family to wear when we are there at the end of October.

Loved the TR, BTW!

 

[ekball]

What a wonderful trip! I've read some of the your other TR's and always love the fun times your family have. My favorite though, is the fact that your 11 and 13 year olds look happy as can be to be at WDW with Mom and Dad. I sooooooo hope that is the case with my kiddos when they get to be that age!!!! Love it!

 

[lklasing]

Thanks, y'all! I'll have my last installment up probably tomorrow.

JLearn, I made the t-shirts at home from an image I found online. Really easy with dark transfer (iron on) paper. We had lots of people stop us to ask where we got them. I have the image on my computer at work, but I'll PM it to you tomorrow. If anyone else wants it, let me know and I'll be glad to share.

Leslie

 

[LONE-STAR]

Just found your report sounds like ya'll had a great time. You beat us back to the Fort but our trip is will be here soon enough.(well its never soon enough what am I typing)

 

[mouselovr]

Congrats on that great finish! I admire anyone who can do that let alone in that amount of time! Great job!! Love the pics especially the "photopass pics" on the bus, those are great! Wish I could get my DS to be so fun in them but he thinks he is too cool. We are planning a surprise trip in Dec for our kids I hope they are as shocked as your were!

 

[OhMari]

Great job with the Triathalon.
I had no idea that WDW had this, that is why I thought you fell in Bay Lake on a Sea Racer.
Will WDW do this again? or was it a one time thing.
I can bike and swim, I just cannot run.
My dd's tell me all the time, I should run and it will help me loose weight. I can run on a treadmill for about 1 minute and then I am back to walking.
If they do another Triathalon, can you let me know, it is something I would love to do (in 2 years) for my 50th birthday. I know I want to spend it at WDW and this would make it all the more special. And, it would give me time, to learn how to run longer than one minute.

 

[RunningGirl]

What a great TR! Your family looks like they really enjoy each other's company. I'm jealous that you did the tri - I've done 2 half marathons and one full; I'm doing the full again this year.

 

[jdd]

Okay, you're officially my hero! I promised myself I'd write a trip report when we got back, and it's now been over a month!! I have all my notes from the trip, but just can't get my act together....

I also don't have nearly the pictures that you do - most of mine are on my "traditional" camera - and my DS12's camera. He'll have to show me how to post them

You have inspired me, though, and I'm going to start writing....

 

[basketlacey]

Great trip report! Thanks so much for sharing it!