Celebrating 9 days with my 4 kids(7,6,4,2)May 2009, I know I'm late starting this TR

[smithpack]

Alright, let's get this thing started.
I know that I am late because it has been almost a year, but it is better late than never. The dates of our trip were May1-10th.

Here is the cast:

Me(30), and my DH(33)
I know these first two pics are not Disney pictures, but they are our most recent family pictures and I really like them.

and here are our kids

From left we have Goofy(7), I will call him Goofy because he is a comedian and has told me multiple times that the best feeling in the world is when you can get a bunch of people laughing at you at the same time.

Next is Princess(2) She is obviously the princess being the youngest and the only girl. All of the boys spoil her rotten.

Then you see Donald(4) I am calling him Donald because he is like Donald Duck in so many ways,but mostly because he can be so happy and sweet one minute and then throwing a good mean tantrum the next.

Last you see Lego(6) He is obsessed with Lego's. He wants me to change his name to Zach because I told him about this lego commerial they used to show, when I was younger, with Zach the lego maniac.

My first trip to Disney was in Oct.2005. Donald was about 4 months old and we just went down for one day. We didn't know anything about Disney and I was sure I would be sitting on the bench with the baby while my DH rode all the rides with the older two boys. Boy was I wrong. I realized once we got there that I could go on most of the rides with the baby and I immediately fell in love with WDW. I also realized that you can't do all of MK in one day so I made a trip for us to go back 4 months later. This time we would stay for 5 days and do each park. I had also found out about child swapping the second trip and fell in love all over again with WDW. Well, after this trip I had our 4th child and I had found out about the DIS and about the DDP, so I knew I was going to have to make another trip and do it right. So in May of 2008 we went back to WDW for 7 days and did the DDP for the first time. The DDP really did it for me and I knew I was going to have to go back. So, this last May of 2009 we went for 9 days with the DDP and stayed at POR. I also had read up and really planned this trip out. Three of my kids have birthdays in May so I knew I would have to let them each celebrate while we were there. I also didn't want my oldest to feel left out that his birthday was in September so I let him celebrate his one day as well.

 

[smithpack]

We decided we would take our kids out of school a week early since they don't really do anything the last week of school. We also wanted to be there to celebrate our kids birthdays. Originally we were going to drive down on Friday and take it easy that day, but according to TGMike's plans we wouldn't have our first day in the MK until the following Wed. So we decided to leave on Thursday, stay the night about an hour away, and then check in Friday morning and spend the majority of our first day at MK.

Here is a peak into what our 7 hour car ride is like:

Donald(4) happy because he is watching his favorite, Tom and Jerry.

Lego(6) and Goofy(7) chilling in the back

Princess(2) getting angry ignore the messy car, it is the only way to get through these long drives.

and DH, he is used to the noise and chaos

 

[smithpack]

We stayed the night about an hour north of Orlando. Our kids never sleep past 6:30, so they got us up and we got ready and were on our way. We saw this at about 8:30

Ha Ha, I bet you thought you were going to see this

That came not too much later. I thought I would include the picture of the toll booth because there are a lot of them, and some are $2. The first time we went down there we were afraid we weren't going to have enough change because we didn't know there were so many toll booths.

We finally made it to our Resort

Here is the lobby

I checked in while the kids colored

We then went to pick up a stroller that we got through a stroller swap here on the DIS We brought a sit and stand stroller, but we still picked up a double stroller through the swap because my kids are very small for their age and get tired easily. So we took a double stroller and the sit and stand to the parks every day. That was a headache on the buses. My hubby took this picture of me and the kids.

and then a really nice person came and took a picture of all of us.

 

[MouseTriper]

Aw you have a beautiful family. Looking forward to reading your TR!

 

[smithpack]

Aw you have a beautiful family. Looking forward to reading your TR!

Yay, I have a reader. I know I didn't put a catchy title, but thought I would just get this thing started so that I could write all this down and remember this trip for years to come. Your kids are beautiful as well. I saw on your TR that your daughter is adopted, is your son? That is so wonderful. I also noticed that your TR was from 2006, have you been back yet?

 

[patches07]

You have a second reader, what a beautiful family. Looking forward to reading your TR!

 

[TokyoDina]

You've got a third reader! Wow you family is so beautiful!!

I can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

4th reader here.....lovely family!!!

 

[DisneyDreamerMom]

I'm in and subbing! We're going in May 2010 so I especially love reading May TRs. You've got a gorgeous family!

 

[smithpack]

Well, Since it was 9:30 in the morning and our room wasn't available yet, we decided to go on over to the MK and then come back after dinner to unpack. We walked over to wait for the bus and Lego(DS6) says, " Are we taking the bus to the lego store?"

Me, "um noooo, aren't you excited? We are going to the Magic Kingdom!!!"

Lego(DS6) "I don't want to go to Disney World, I just want to go to the LEGO STORE!"

Me, "Well we are not going to the lego store so get over it. We are going to have fun at the Magic Kingdom! And you are going to love it!"

The bus comes and we haul our kids and our two double strollers onto the bus. It was a full bus and I am trying to squeeze my way past the people with these huge strollers. This was a headache for the rest of the trip. Luckily, there were always nice people who would help me get through, but I felt bad as I would accidentally bang into the occasional person here or there. Plus, the strollers took up so much room in the seating area. Oh well, it saved us almost $550.00 had we rented them at the parks. Again, I know my oldest could have walked, but he is small for his size(not even on the growth charts) and he tires easily. Here we are on the bus.

Donald(DS4) super excited

DH with one of the strollers and Lego(DS6)

We made it about 10:00 and decided we would just take today easy since we were going to be back twice in the next 9 days. I was really hoping to get Princess(DD2) her first haircut at the barbershop, but it was packed. We then saw this coming down main street and decided to watch the little song and dance. It was so cute.

This guy was so cute, he was singing and dancing his heart out. I just wanted to give him a big squeeze!

some of the dancers

and then, there it was.... the castle

Princess(DD2) was so excited. She kept saying, "I want to see Cinderella" She loves the Disney Princesses, and Cinderella is her favorite. She has the Princess Singalong DVD's and always says that she is Cinderella.

Here are some of our photopass pics

 

[jodilinton]

Can't wait to hear all about your trip.

 

[smithpack]

You have a second reader, what a beautiful family. Looking forward to reading your TR!

I am so excited, thanks for joining!

You've got a third reader! Wow you family is so beautiful!!

I can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

Thanks so much!Do you serve in the military? I saw that you got engaged in the DL in Tokyo. You and your DH make a beautiful couple.

4th reader here.....lovely family!!!

Thanks! I like your avatar. I am one of those Twilight people too.

I'm in and subbing! We're going in May 2010 so I especially love reading May TRs. You've got a gorgeous family!

Thanks for joining. I think May is a good time to go. I will admit that it was very hot last year, but they said it was record high's. They had a deal last year where kids play, stay, and dine for free during the spring. We saved a lot of money with that deal. I am so jealous that you are going in May of this year. You will have to write a TR. I can't wait to go back!

 

[smithpack]

Can't wait to hear all about your trip.

Thanks! It looks like you are going to the MNSSHP this year. How many boys do you have? I have always wanted to do the MNSSHP. I also would love to go that time of year for the free dining.

 

[smithpack]

We decided to head over to Adventureland and get some FP's for BTMR and Splash Mountain. We had not been at the MK for more than 15 minutes and my darling Lego(DD6) started in again, "When are we going to go to the Lego store?" I just ignored him.

On our way to Adventureland, we came across Captain Hook and Smee. There were 4 people in line so I told Goofy(DD7) to go get in line while DH and I parked the strollers.( I was not leaving my son by himself, we were parking the strollers about 20 ft from where he was in line.)All of the sudden I see this tour group with yellow shirts come up from out of nowhere and get in line. The problem is they cut right in front of Goofy(DD7)! I was so mad because they acted like they didn't even see him. I know he is small, but it was obvious he was in line. I said something loudly like,"That's really nice to cut in front of a kid." They turned around and looked at me, but then turned back around and kept talking to each other. I then realized that they didn't speak English. I wouldn't have been mad had it been one person, but there were like 7 people in this tour group. I decided I would run and get the FP's and come back while DH waited with the kids to see Hook and Smee. Goofy(DD7) had been really wanting to see Captain Hook because we watched on thecapells TR a clip of them going up to Hook and making the tick tock noise, which scared Captain Hook. Goofy(DD7) was really wanting to do this. I came back from getting the FP's and the line in front of us was now even longer. I asked my DH what happened, and he said that there were more people from the tour group that kept walking up and adding to the group in front of us, so the group of 7 turned into a group of about 20. I said something to the CM who was standing up front and she just said, "If anyone in this line is not a part of the tour group, you can not cut in front." So was she saying it is ok for the tour group to keep adding their friends who were riding rides and walking up last minute? My son was determined to see Captain Hook, so after another 45 minutes we finally made it to the front of the line.

Goofy(DD7) walked up making the tick tock noise.

Captain Hook got scared and hid behind the barrell. He then held up his hook to threaten Goofy(DD7).

Smee made Goofy(DD7) and Lego(DD6) walk the plank

Goofy(DD7) promised to be nice, and they were aloud to get their picture made with Mr.Hook and Smee. You do not see Donald(DD4) or Princess(DD2) because they were terrified.

I noticed there were a lot of tour groups on this day. It was the Friday before school got out, and there were also a lot of elementary school groups. I wish I lived close enough that my kids could go to DisneyWorld for a fieldtrip.

We saw this across from where we were standing and noticed there wasn't a line.

So our first ride of the trip was POTC. After we get off the ride I notice it is almost 11:30 and tell my husband that we need to eat lunch pronto because I want to get a CS meal before they all get really crowded. I also try to go early because it takes a while for us to order our food. It always seems that at the last minute one of the kids changes their minds about what to eat. We always ate early enough that we would get there before the lines, which was a good thing because people would probably be mad if they were in line behind us. I did print out all of the menu's of everywhere we were going to eat before the trip so that I would know what we were going to order beforehand. This helped a ton, but I would still have an occasional kid change their mind last minute. Any idea's where we had lunch?

 

[TokyoDina]

I am so excited, thanks for joining!



Thanks so much!Do you serve in the military? I saw that you got engaged in the DL in Tokyo. You and your DH make a beautiful couple.

Yes, we are both in the military. Why thank you, it was a great trip for our first trip there and I can't wait till we get the chance to do it again! I can't wait to read the rest of your report!

 

[TokyoDina]

We decided to head over to Adventureland and get some FP's for BTMR and Splash Mountain. We had not been at the MK for more than 15 minutes and my darling Lego(DD6) started in again, "When are we going to go to the Lego store?" I just ignored him.

On our way to Adventureland, we came across Captain Hook and Smee. There were 4 people in line so I told Goofy(DD7) to go get in line while DH and I parked the strollers.( I was not leaving my son by himself, we were parking the strollers about 20 ft from where he was in line.)All of the sudden I see this tour group with yellow shirts come up from out of nowhere and get in line. The problem is they cut right in front of Goofy(DD7)! I was so mad because they acted like they didn't even see him. I know he is small, but it was obvious he was in line. I said something loudly like,"That's really nice to cut in front of a kid." They turned around and looked at me, but then turned back around and kept talking to each other. I then realized that they didn't speak English. I wouldn't have been mad had it been one person, but there were like 7 people in this tour group. I decided I would run and get the FP's and come back while DH waited with the kids to see Hook and Smee. Goofy(DD7) had been really wanting to see Captain Hook because we watched on thecapells TR a clip of them going up to Hook and making the tick tock noise, which scared Captain Hook. Goofy(DD7) was really wanting to do this. I came back from getting the FP's and the line in front of us was now even longer. I asked my DH what happened, and he said that there were more people from the tour group that kept walking up and adding to the group in front of us, so the group of 7 turned into a group of about 20. I said something to the CM who was standing up front and she just said, "If anyone in this line is not a part of the tour group, you can not cut in front." So was she saying it is ok for the tour group to keep adding their friends who were riding rides and walking up last minute? My son was determined to see Captain Hook, so after another 45 minutes we finally made it to the front of the line.

Goofy(DD7) walked up making the tick tock noise.

Captain Hook got scared and hid behind the barrell. He then held up his hook to threaten Goofy(DD7).

Smee made Goofy(DD7) and Lego(DD6) walk the plank

Goofy(DD7) promised to be nice, and they were aloud to get their picture made with Mr.Hook and Smee. You do not see Donald(DD4) or Princess(DD2) because they were terrified.

I noticed there were a lot of tour groups on this day. It was the Friday before school got out, and there were also a lot of elementary school groups. I wish I lived close enough that my kids could go to DisneyWorld for a fieldtrip.

We saw this across from where we were standing and noticed there wasn't a line.

So our first ride of the trip was POTC. After we get off the ride I notice it is almost 11:30 and tell my husband that we need to eat lunch pronto because I want to get a CS meal before they all get really crowded. I also try to go early because it takes a while for us to order our food. It always seems that at the last minute one of the kids changes their minds about what to eat. We always ate early enough that we would get there before the lines, which was a good thing because people would probably be mad if they were in line behind us. I did print out all of the menu's of everywhere we were going to eat before the trip so that I would know what we were going to order beforehand. This helped a ton, but I would still have an occasional kid change their mind last minute. Any idea's where we had lunch?

The Pirate and the Parrot???

 

[MouseTriper]

Yay, I have a reader. I know I didn't put a catchy title, but thought I would just get this thing started so that I could write all this down and remember this trip for years to come. Your kids are beautiful as well. I saw on your TR that your daughter is adopted, is your son? That is so wonderful. I also noticed that your TR was from 2006, have you been back yet?

Aww thanks, yes we were back in Dec. 2008. I soo wanna go back again NOW...lol.

Love the pics of your two oldest with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. Theya re so cute. Sorry you had to deal with line cutters. Not nice of them! Looking forward to more!

 

[smithpack]

Alright, so it was approaching 11:30 and we knew we needed to get lunch. Pirates and parrots was a good guess, but we didn't go there. We headed over to Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe, because they had a larger variety on the menu. We got there and it was still empty. I was so glad because I thought for sure that there would be a lot of people getting lunch already. Anyway, I had originally planned to get a hamburger here, but changed my mind last minute because I was afraid I would be eating a lot of hamburgers this week. DH and I both ended up getting the taco salad, and our kids got the kid's salad with chicken because they were wanting chicken. I should have stuck to a hamburger because the meat on my taco salad had probably been sitting in the heat to long. It was hard and crusty. My DH didn't care too much for his either. I do think the hamburgers would have been good because they had a huge toppings bar for the hamburgers. My kids picked the chicken off of their salads, and ate their sides. Since we were on the dining plan our meals came with desserts. My kids would always eat about two bites of theirs, and then I would finish the rest of theirs off. After eating their cookies, I couldn't eat my carrot cake so I gave it and the unopened applesauce's that my kids didn't eat to a family next to us. They had a baby eating baby food, so I figured the baby could eat the applesauce's. I did take pictures of our food when I could remember, but this was one I forgot to get pictures at.

After refueling on food, we knew our next ride was going to be IASW. We had come the year before, and this was Princess's favorite ride. She clapped her hands and laughed the whole time, so we knew we wanted to get on it as one of the first rides. We decided to park our stroller's over by Winnie the Pooh since it is kind of central(but not really) to Fantasyland, so I went ahead to get FP's for Winnie the Pooh while we were there. Well, We got a surprise because along with the FP's for the Winnie the Pooh ride came out FP's for Mickey's Philharmagic. We then made our way back to IASW and rode it. I took about 40 pictures of this ride for my princess(DD2), but I am not going to post all of them. For those of you wondering, the wait time was 15 minutes.

DH with Donald(DS 4) My husband is always getting work calls. I eventually make him turn off his phone. One of the days I wouldn't even let him take it to the park.

Goofy(DS7)

Lego(DS6) Who at this point once again asks,"Are we going to the Lego store after this ride?"

We then went and watched MP. We didn't really need to use the FP's, but we did anyways. Here are some pics from the FP line. From left to right we have Goofy(DS7), Lego(DS6), Princess(DD2), and Donald(DS4)
Lego(DS6) was pouting because he was wanting to go the Lego store and I kept telling him we weren't going to go if he kept nagging me.

Here are Princess(DD2), Lego(DS6), and Goofy(DS7) styling with their glasses. I am sure DH wouldn't be to thrilled if he saw this pic of him. I don't know where Donald(DS4) was in these pics. He must have been standing off to the side.

Me and the Princess(DD2)

Everyone liked this show except for Donald(DS4). He said it was too scary. I think it was just too loud for him, because he didn't have his eyes covered, just his ears. I have to admit, it was pretty loud.

 

[smithpack]

When exiting Mickey's Philharmagic, the Carrousel is right in front of you. Princess(DD2) wanted to get on those horse's right away. It didn't look like too long of a line so we headed that way. The wait ended up being about 15 minutes, and this ended up being the Princess's new favorite ride. She still tells me almost daily that she want's to go back to Cinderella's house and ride her horse's. She also wants to watch our Disney video's that we took, every morning as soon as she wakes up. I always hear her when she wakes up,"MOOOOOOOOM, I want to watch Disney Wooooooooooorld". I have a friend who has a daughter that is 2 and she says that she doesn't want to take her to Disney yet because she is too young. I keep telling her that Princess was 2 when we went this last time, and that is all she talks about. Plus, it has been 8 months since we went and she still talks about it. It's just magical no matter what your age.
Me

DH and Donald(DS4)

Lego(DS6) a little happier, and Goofy(DS7)

Princess(DD2)

Me and Princess(DD2)

After our ride on Cinderella's Carrousel, the big strong boys wanted to see if they could pull the sword out of the stone. Here they are trying:
Goofy(DS7) went first

Next, it was Lego's turn. I told him if he could get the sword out that we would leave right then and go to the Lego store. He tried really hard.

then some team work still didn't help.

Lastly, Donald(DS4) thought he would give it a try. I love how you can't even see his head in this first one.

Since Lego didn't get the sword out, and he knew that his nagging to go to the lego store wasn't helping his situation, he changed his tune. Now he started asking if we could leave and go swimming. I could not believe it, although I will admit it was 95 degree's out so swimming didn't sound like a bad idea. Next up, was it time for our Pooh fastpasses, did we leave and go swimming, did we go to the lego store, or neither?

 

[jodilinton]

Thanks! It looks like you are going to the MNSSHP this year. How many boys do you have? I have always wanted to do the MNSSHP. I also would love to go that time of year for the free dining.

I have 2 boys of my own and then 3 step sons but only my boys are going on our Halloween trip because my husbands ex will not let the boys miss school. We did take all 5 boys this past August for a week and it was fun. We did the free dining, love that deal from Disney...cause my boys eat alot.