Complete! Our 1st Grand Gathering!! finished 10/19

[Minniespal]

Enjoying reading ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[teentoddlermom]

Wow, I just found this TR, and love it! Did you take your kids out of school? I'm so impressed, it seems you did not have to wait in line for anything! I thought with the Free Dining it would be more crowded. I love all your smileys, and am enjoying hearing about all your adventures!

 

[nsalz]

After that we headed to the exit because it was getting close to our ADR’s for Hoop De Doo. We’re going to a party! We’re going to a party! My DH, mom and kids have gone to the HDDR may times in our past trips. It always feels like a really big, party. Or is it only my family that is capable of turning a wedding or birthday into a dinner show? (hey my cousin’s wedding was last night, if you don’t believe me, you should see the video! Doesn’t every mother of the bride get drunk, dizzy and hit on all the guests?)
Anyway......... we took the boat over to Fort Wilderness. That was a nice relaxing journey. Really it was, there was a really nice welcomed breeze, coming through the little windows since I wouldn’t let my kids mess up their hair! After we picked up our tickets and checked in we sat on the porch in some really nice comfy rocking chairs. At 4:45 they had us start lining up on our respective sides.

Now remember we are sporting our beautiful hairstyles from BBB. So when Marc(who ended up being our server) stands up on the porch and points at the ‘little girl with the gorgeous purple hair’, Amanda knew it HAD to be her! (Not many purple haired kids out there, I tell ya) So, Amanda goes to see what she has been picked for. They asked her to ring the dinner bell! Now this is a child who LOVES dinner. So this was like her 15 minutes of fame. We even got a keepsake photo!(which Marc made sure we had before we left)Which I would post for ya’ll to view, except I am wayyyyyy to lazy to pull out my old printer to scan it. Sorry .
But this is one I took,

Marc then brought us to our table, which was dead center of the room! We couldn’t have paid for a better table. Now my DH, kids and mom have been to the show before. Aunt Carol, Uncle Bob, and Steven have not. They had no idea what to expect.

I don’t know if anyone has been to the show before.... but ‘Claire’ picks one guy out of the audience and runs up and hugs them and sits on their lap, telling them how she hasn’t seen them in a while. Well guess who gets picked for that part? DH!!!!! Of course he wasn’t embarrassed at all. He was loving every minute of it! I don’t have pictures of it, but I do have part of it on video, I will have to see if I can pull any pics from the DVD.

After that they sing about all the places people come from. Of course they came started with our table first! (This is not the table to be at if you want to sit back quietly and watch-Of course the hair might have made us stand out a little too, at least that’s what Dh keeps telling us.)

Through the whole dinner all the entertainers came by and told my girls how lovely their hair was and asked all about where it was done and about the whole BBB experience.

Now this was the Disney that we had all known and loved . It was an evening filled with food, fun, and pixie dust .

Once again, we ate too much

. So we wobbled our way back to the ferry to take us to MK. I think the bus ride that night from MK to POP was the looooonnnnngggggeeeessstttt one we ever had. Of course every bump made us remember how much of that cornbread we actually consumed. We were so stuffed that we went to bed as soon as we got back

. Which was only after 8.

Kelly, we did our first Hoop Dee Doo this Summer. What a blast.. I hope next time we can get PixieDust's family to go with us and we can get that big center table!!!

 

[nsalz]

Friday

(I know, I wasn’t very nice....I didn’t yell or raise my voice or anything. But according to my kids, I am more scary when I say it calmly-I guess they just don’t know what to expect then)
This is my one and only meltdown this trip(pretty good I think- even though I definately needed
I have at one of these meltdowns each WDW vacation :mad:,,,feeling unsppreciated,,,this is mommy's vacation too...kinda thing ...my DH, and 2 dd's just kinda let me go(Like here we go again, the one meltdown we have to put up with :rolleyes1 lets let her get it over with)....but that low calm voice is the ticket for them to listen!


We also saw Herbie, but being the VW buff that he is, DH said something was different and he wasn’t the same. (He told me what was different.....but you know on Charlie Brown [IMG]http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/kaw1218/charliebrown.gif , when the teacher speaks, how it sounds like’wawawawaawwaaa’.........that is what DH sounds like when he starts talking about cars)


Since we had about 45-55 minutes to kill, we took the kids to Pizza Planet to spend some quarters.
After we pulled Uncle Bob from the video games

, we headed to Sci-Fi. I checked us in and cancelled our 4pm Adr’s(I didn’t want to cancel them earlier because I was afraid of something getting mixed up and us not having any)



Ok, I know some people will flame me for this.... but I have to ask anyway. As you can see by our pictures, we are not skinny people, well the kids are, but anyway. If you were the size of Uncle Bob, lets say ‘pooh sized’ would you (I am talking about a woman here) were short black spandex shorts, paired with a black sports bra? I am sorry, but that was one of the most embarrassing things I saw all week.

I am a little pooh sized and black spnadex would be out for me...well maybe if they were lime green...Maybe I would considerrr.....Uh, still no.

 

[nsalz]

Friday

(I know, I wasn’t very nice....I didn’t yell or raise my voice or anything. But according to my kids, I am more scary when I say it calmly-I guess they just don’t know what to expect then)
This is my one and only meltdown this trip(pretty good I think- even though I definately needed [/COLOR]

I have at one of these meltdowns each WDW vacation :mad:,,,feeling unsppreciated,,,this is mommy's vacation too...kinda thing ...my DH, and 2 dd'a just kinda let me go(Like here we go again, the one meltdown we have to put up with :rolleyes1 lets let her get it over with)....but that low calm voice is the ticket for them to listen!


[COLOR=Blue]We also saw Herbie, but being the VW buff that he is, DH said something was different and he wasn’t the same. (He told me what was different.....but you know on Charlie Brown [IMG]http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/kaw1218/charliebrown.gif , when the teacher speaks, how it sounds like’wawawawaawwaaa’.........that is what DH sounds like when he starts talking about cars)

Ok, I know some people will flame me for this.... but I have to ask anyway. As you can see by our pictures, we are not skinny people, well the kids are, but anyway. If you were the size of Uncle Bob, lets say ‘pooh sized’ would you (I am talking about a woman here) were short black spandex shorts, paired with a black sports bra? I am sorry, but that was one of the most embarrassing things I saw all week.

I am a little pooh sized and black spnadex would be out for me...well maybe if they were lime green...Maybe I would considerrr.....Uh, still no.

 

[nsalz]

Enjoying your TR Kelly....will finish up later.

 

[nevertez]

Thanks for taking me along with you on your journey! I enjoyed your trip report!!!

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

Great job! Oh I would have loved to see your dh's face when you're dd announced she had won the wet t-shirt contest! Hope for his sake that's the only one she's ever in.

 

[kaw1218]

Enjoying reading ~ Thanx for sharing.

thank you!

 

[kaw1218]

Wow, I just found this TR, and love it! Did you take your kids out of school? I'm so impressed, it seems you did not have to wait in line for anything! I thought with the Free Dining it would be more crowded. I love all your smileys, and am enjoying hearing about all your adventures!

Thank you!!
Yes we took our kids out of school. I spoke to the teachers and principal. This was the 5th time I took them out. Only once(last year) did the school give us a hard time. It was a temp principal though.

We couldn't believe the lines!!! or should I say the non lines!

 

[kaw1218]

I have at one of these meltdowns each WDW vacation ,,,feeling unsppreciated,,,this is mommy's vacation too...kinda thing ...my DH, and 2 dd's just kinda let me go(Like here we go again, the one meltdown we have to put up with lets let her get it over with)....but that low calm voice is the ticket for them to listen!

My family-DH, and kids, just ignored me. I guess they are used to it too. My uncle made Steven apologize to me, but then I felt awful about it. When I told my cousin, she said she probably just would have sent him back to the room-without his room card

I am a little pooh sized and black spnadex would be out for me...well maybe if they were lime green...Maybe I would considerrr.....Uh, still no.

I could not believe what I was seeing. I wonder if some people ever look in a mirror?

Kelly, we did our first Hoop Dee Doo this Summer. What a blast.. I hope next time we can get PixieDust's family to go with us and we can get that big center table!!!

We LOVE The hoop de doo!
oooooo...you should definately convince PD to go! I hope you get the center table. Its alot of fun!

 

[kaw1218]

Thanks for taking me along with you on your journey! I enjoyed your trip report!!!

Thanks.... I just told DH last night that I am almost done and we have to go back again so I can start a new one!

 

[kaw1218]

Great job! Oh I would have loved to see your dh's face when you're dd announced she had won the wet t-shirt contest! Hope for his sake that's the only one she's ever in.

Talk about a KODAK moment. Unfortunatley, I didn't have my camera out. I so would have LOVED that picture! The rest of us were just laughing- more at DH than DD!

 

[kaw1218]

Ok, guys... I just got back from an unplanned trip to Busch Gardens.... I am hoping to update by Wednesday morning(hopefully tomorrow.... but you know....... {insert excuse here}..... )

 

[kaw1218]

Saturday


Steven had decided he wanted to go to a water park, so Aunt Carol and Uncle Bob said they would take him. They settled on Typhoon Lagoon.
Now my kids spent most of the summer at Sesame Place

, so water slides aren’t really that big a deal to them, anymore. They opted to experience space mountain

, the rest of us decided to go to MK for the morning.

As soon as we entered through the magical gates( this was our last park day... we were deperately trying to cling to the pixie dust ) in I sent Joey and the girls to Space Mountain. (It gives me a headache for some reason). My mom and I stayed back to get a little shopping done

. She works for a trucking company and one of her drivers wanted mickey ears with his name on them. That’s right. Mark is 34 years old and wanted mickey ears for him....not his 2 kids!!!! (so if you are in the Philly or Trenton area-look for an Estes truck with the driver wearing mickey ears!)

Joey actually stopped at a photopass photographer and got their picture taken. (I was impressed, normally I have to bribe him to get pictures)

By the time we walked over to Space Mountain, we didn’t see them so mom and I rode buzz. By the time we came out, they were just getting off SM for a 2nd time. No line!!!

Then we all ran over to buzz and rode it 2 more times. Then we saw stitch and had to have our pictures taken. I like stitch as long as he’s not yelling at my on the phone at 7am!

From there we headed to the other side of the park. We need to work off all that free dining somehow.
Our mission was to go to Tom Saywer Island, something we had never done before. So off we went. We were determined to find a paintbrush so we could claim our not so fabulous prize.

Now here is a little information for ya’ll. Amanda is my child that notices EVERY thing. And I mean everything. If you change the magnets on the fridge she notices. She makes it hard to hide presents from her. She always notices different bags, boxes, or if I have been in the attic. Alyssa is oblivious. My mom bought her an air hockey table last Christmas. It is a full size 7 foot table that sat in our living room for 3 days before Christmas under a sheet. She walked right past. Didn’t even notice.
So it was very surprising to us all that Alyssa found a paintbrush. Even Alyssa thought her sister would find one way before she would even have a chance. But hey.... we did say we were trying to make this trip different!!

After our trek through all the caves and paths, and of course a potty break(if I added those into this TR, I think it would have added 2 full chapters!!! ), we headed back to the dock to claim our prize. Alyssa got a ‘no strings attached-priority entrance pass.

This could be used for any attraction in MK. (It even gets you admittance before fastpass!) Well we tucked it in our pocket in case if we needed to use it. We haven’t encountered any lines yet, so we were not about to waste her prized pass!
As we were walking aimlessly past attractions, debating whether or not we wanted to go on, we stopped in front of Pecos Bills. Now lunch sounded like a good idea. After all we hadn’t stuffed ourselves yet today!

Now this is one of the things that bug me. Pecos Bills is famous for their BURGERS. Yet the kids are allowed to get beans and franks, or chilled chicken. WHAT!?!??!!? No burger

? Why? Apparently kids are not allowed to eat the same food as the adults. Ok rant over....It really didn’t end up being a big deal, since Alyssa doesn’t like burgers. So we just switched the kids/adult meals with the girls. But I had to rant anyway. Because, I was preparing you for my real rant, that was just kind of a warm up....now remember, I did warn ya’ll in the beginning that I would most likely offend someone out there..... and here is another chance for me to offend.
{flame suit on}

We took our trays and sat in one of the side rooms. There were two entrance into the room. The furthest one was blocked by a double stroller and a high chair. (Because apparently it would be too much trouble to move the stroller out of the way) Oh, I guess I should mention that it was still early and there were only about 4 families eating in that room.
Now after we sat down a family of 6 comes in. They sat at the first table by the Unblocked door. Between the six people they had, a stroller, a high chair, and 2 ECV’s. The two women using the ECV’s left them in the aisle and walked over to the food line. They came back, put down their trays and walked over to the fixin’s bar. Now I bet ya’ll are thinking that I am going to complain about them walking all over the place. Naw....I don’t care if you use a ECV or not. If you don’t really need one but spend the money to rent one...go for it. It’s not coming out of my pocket. And if you aren’t running my kids over.... we will get along great.
Here is my problem. We could not get out of the room. They parked the ECVs side by side directly in the doorway. Isn’t that like a fire hazard, I mean aside from being really rude. I mean the place was empty! They could have moved them in between two tables about 2 feet away. One of the women had gotten up and walked away. So we chose that time to leave. But we had to move her chair since the ECV’s were blocking the door. The other woman was SOOOOO nasty. She was like ‘don’t touch that chair’ .....I will admit.... I opened my mouth. I told her ‘give it up...you are rude and inconsiderate and I believe breaking a fire code since you are blocking an exit with her cart.’
Granted...yes I could have went through the other door and made that family move their stroller. But something about the way they blocked the door with all that stuff kinda made me mad .
Ok my real rant is over....I am pretty sure I will behave for the rest of my TR.

After our exciting trip to Pecos Bills we headed over to experience POTC one last time. We had about a 5 minute wait. Almost one of our longest all week.
It was awesome of course. Although someone in the back of the boat was taking flash photography. Every time they took a picture, the guy in front of me would turn around. So I would turn around.
Finally he stood up and announced that there is no flash photography allowed. I think he was more annoying than the few flashes...... but hey.....I ranted about burgers, and people leaving ECV’s around...so.... to each their own .

When we were done, Amanda decided to use some of her spending money to buy one of these skulls that you fill with creepy things.
She picked eye balls, and brains, and bugs......ewwww. Good thing DH was helping her fill it. Of course I know one day it will end up on my mantle. But hey, at least there will be a good story behind it. (Kinda like the Home Depot orange paint on my living room walls-which are a deep plum by the way-but that is another story )

Look...she even carried the bag herself!

Now our first family trip to WDW was back in ‘99 and my brother and sister had accompanied us. One of the things that really stand out is my sister pointing out goats in IASW.
So we decided to bring back a little memorabilia for Aunt Lori. We hoped on to IASW to take some goat pictures.

When we got off IASW, we started to head towards the castle. It was at this point that we realized the park was crowded. And I mean CROWDED . It gave me flashbacks to the one time we went in July. Oh, we had to leave.
I had to get one last picture of my family....note their butts. That is the view I got all week, since I apparently am the slowest member of our family.

We were officially leaving Magic Kingdom.



{a moment of silence please}

Up next...on a bus we get, but do we ever make it to Downtown Disney??????

 

[rer1972]

Great update kaw. Nice pick of the family walking away from you; perfect for the last day at MK.
on giving it to that family/lady about blocking the door way. I hate people that just don't give a hoot about anyone else. Glad you took care of business.
That was great how your oblivious daughter found the paint brush; kind of her own bit of extra pixie dust. Very cool.

 

[kaw1218]

Ok..... now I know I left with the promise of a bus ride....but not yet.

We wandered through most of the stores in Magic Kingdom.... picking up some last minute gifts for those we left at home (BTW there really is no sympathy in that statement....everyone -except medusa cousin-was invited)

Just as we were about to leave my most favorite place on earth...... I remembered that my cousin was going to be here in 2 short weeks to celebrate her honeymoon. So I stopped by city hall to pick up the buttons for her. She would never remember to do that...trust me on this . As I picked them up, the CM congratulated me and DH and wished us a great life together! I know... I know..... I should have corrected her...but....I just said thank you! I mean come on....I have been married for 9 years...I could use a little wishes and pixie dust!!!
Now we officially left. The magic is behind us......so we thought.

Now we wanted to go to downtown Disney. But we also wanted one last trip on the monorail. So we jumped on the monorail and figured we could just catch a bus from the TTC. Yeah....nope.

We can go to Animal Kingdom. MGM or the Wilderness lodge. Well...our day is free. Lets take a ride to Wilderness lodge. On a bus we get. Now our driver took the long way , at least it seemed that way. We got off the bus at WL and hopped over to the stop for DTD. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. After 25 minutes our bus showed up. Now I have heard people say they stay at a deluxe resort for the transportation. But they share the buses with 2 other resorts....so we had to stop at the GF and Poly before we headed to DTD. I think this was going to be the longest ride ever. BUT.....as it turns out the most fun.
I didn’t get the drivers name. I never do. Its just something I never remember. Anyway.
After he shut the door, he started a commentary about the drive. We went over speed humps...not to be confused with speed bumps. We made a left, and then his other left. I don’t remember exactly what I said....but something like ‘oh... a right... I get it’ and he said ‘yes, ma’am, that would be a right’. I didn’t realize he heard me!! Of course, my mom and kids laughed at me ever more!

And then he told us the bus schedule.

-If you are going to Typhoon Lagoon, it closes at 5pm. The last bus will run about 30 minutes later. Don’t worry. If you miss that bus, walk over to DTD. There are no parades or fireworks at TL.
-If you are going to DTD, it closes at 11pm. The last bus will run about 1 hour later. If you miss that bus Don’t worry. Walk over to Pleasure Island. There are no parades or fireworks at DTD
-If you are going to Pleasure Island , it closes at 2am. The last bus will run right about then, but if you miss that bus, don’t worry. We will be back to get you at 9am! There are fireworks at midnight to celebrate a new day. And the parade starts around 1:30am. We like to call it the parade of drunks.
We almost fell off the seats!!!!
And he wasn’t done!
He then proceeded to tell all the kids that they have a program in effect that isn’t widely known.
Any child who is not behaving will be left at the bus stop at midnight. Their parents can pick them up at the same stop at 8 am the next morning. These said children will spend the night cleaning all 300 disney buses. Don’t worry. They will not be fed.
We laughed so hard!!! I really wish I would have thought to get a picture of that driver. He was awesome.
Finally we made it to DTD.
Time it took to get from MK to DTD: 1 hr 2 minutes
The bus ride over: priceless....

I want these in my front yard....

We browsed.... and spent money. What else do you do in DTD?
Oh yeah...we went into Goofy’s candy shop.......

After ordering our treats... we played in the mirror while waiting.

Now I think this was the best use for our snack credits.
My kids ate theirs before I could get the camera out....
And as you can see DH started his too!

I got the pretzels sticks

They were GOOD!!!! (well I could only eat one at a time....so they lasted halfway through the ride home too!)

Oh yeah....another example of you should check your receipt....they double charged us for the snack credits. So I had to take a trip down to Guest Relations to get that fixed.... that was a nice hour detour!!!

After our snack I started packing up the room. Joey and I were going to meet some fellow disers at the Hippy Dippy Pool that night. So I packed almost everything I could. I did not want to be running around like crazy the next morning. My goal was to be on the road by 9 am at the latest. It’s always good to have dreams right ?

By the time I got done organizing everything, it was time to get ready for dinner. We had ADR’s for O’hana. Another new treat for us. We had never eaten here before. But many disers had given it the so we were going to try for ourselves.

We took the car over to the Poly since I figured we would be done about the same time MK was emptying out. That turned out to be a good choice.

 

[kaw1218]

Dinner at O’hana’s


So into the Santa Fe we pile...... yup all 8 jammed into the SUV again. But we tell ourselves....there will be no buses at closing for us!! So it will be worth it in the end.(besides, its the kids in the back who are squished.... the rest of us are just fine!)
We head over to the Poly. I have never been inside before. We normally just pass by on the monorail. So this was an extra treat for us. It is so pretty inside! Of course, we all walk in with our mouths wide open, staring at everything. We headed toward O’hana. The line to check in was pretty long. So we figured we were in for our first wait. I check us in and get our little vibrating, light up thingy. ( I believe that is the proper name!) Imagine our surprise when it goes off about 10 minutes later!
Woo Hoo! That was almost like not waiting!

Our ‘cousin’ comes out to greet us. No I did not get his name. But he was nice, and took us to a table in the back. We were able to see the castle from where we were sitting.
While we waited for our drinks we played with the camera a little.

Now. My kids are very picky eaters. Well the oldest is. So when we started reading off the menu, they were getting scared. They did not like the sound of anything!
So I asked our cousin about that. He put an order in for some chicken fingers. That was great!
Although I think my kids are going to turn into a chicken finger one day! Hmmmm....maybe I can dress one of them up as a chicken finger for Halloween?

Through out dinner they had various kids activities. My kids wanted dinner. They wanted no parts in any races, or singing, or.....wait! Hula dancing??? Sign them up!
Now that got their attention.
So off Alyssa and Amanda went to learn the Hula!
Awww...aren’t they cute??

Now while we were eating we kept watching these two small children race around the dining room on heelys. I know this will cause some flaming..... but I cannot believe parents would allow their kids to wear them here. I mean, they are bringing hot food and drinks on trays..... and not to mention the 2FT HOT skewers the servers are constantly walking around with! Sorry if I offended someone, but we were just waiting for one of those two to get hurt.(sounds mean doesn’t it? I kept closing my eyes everytime they flew by!)
They fed us Turkey, pork, steak and sausage. Aunt Carol kept telling us everything was turkey.
Here she says, I have an extra piece of turkey

...no Aunt Carol, that was sausage......
Here she says, I have an extra piece of turkey

... no Aunt Carol, that was pork...
To this day we still tell her everything is not turkey. Of course I am not sure yet what we will tell her on Thanksgiving

!!

Just as we were about done our main course, the lights started to dim. Hey! And then the most amazing thing happened. My kids went silent! Oh, I mean we heard Jiminy Cricket. We were going to see Wishes while we ate our dessert!! I had completely forgotten about that.

The view we had was unbelievable. It was a really great way to end our vacation.


Oh, but wait! We pile back into the Santa Fe, and head back to POP.

When we get back to the room, Joey and I get the kids ready for bed, and get changed. We grabbed some lime green glow bracelets and headed to the Hippy Dippy Pool.
We were going to meet some fellow limeys!!!

 

[kaw1218]

Now I am a very shy person. My husband is used to this already. But I know some of you will laugh at me. I had started to speak to some limeys on a ‘POP role call thread’ That is how I knew about the meet. Lbelle, nebo and Keliblue, are a few that I knew I would be meeting.
So what do I do when I get to the pool? Make Joey come to the other side with me and sit and watch everyone. I just couldn’t bring myself to go make some introductions!!
Now I just traveled over 1100 miles, with the intent of meeting some of the people that I had spoken with for a few weeks. Do ya think I would just walk over there and say Hi my name is Kelly?
Nope of course not. I have to stalk everyone first!

After about 15 minutes I got the guts to wander over. And I mean wander. I think it took me a full 5 minutes to walk around that pool!! (I am laughing at myself as I write this...I am such a dork! )

Well, I ran into Keliblue first, and then I was introduced to Lbelle. I remember talking to Nebo (if its Tuesday it must be Epcot!!)There were so many Disers-like more than 5, I tell ya, that’s a lot!- that I could not remember everyones name. Remember everyone....I am blonde!
And then Joey found his lost soulmate.(shall we insert some kind of corny music here?) Another Eagles Fan. He was in heaven. Now the ironic part....neither one of them DIS, and his buddy, Dan, is from England! I told Joey, only he would find the one Eagles fan from overseas!!! Well Dan tagged along with Amyrlin. ( Hi Terri!!!)

Amyrlin and I started talking....and talking...and talking....
Now remember I had plans to leave by 9am Sunday morning.

Well by the time we left our party.... everyone else was gone. And it was about 1:30am. Yup, 1:30am that would be about 5 hours before my alarm was set to ring. About 7 hours before I had planned on being on the road. Can we see where this is headed? If not....you may be more blonde than me!
Now, we had been up all day. So I was getting pretty giddy. Halfway back to the room I found a toad. What else would I do besides talk pictures of it?
In the tire of the monstrous big wheel!

Well by the time we wandered our way back towards the 90's building... it was late (and I swear there was no alcohol involved!) We took our time, figuring we would settle down and relax. Yeah, ok maybe that would have happened. If we didn’t get soaked by the sprinklers!!! Apparently they go on about 2am! Yes we found out the hard (or should I say wet) way!! We finally made it back to the room. In one piece, but now wet and very tired.....so what does any mature adult do in this situation? Falls face down on the bed, still dressed in damp clothing, and proceeds to pass out. Isn’t that what we were supposed to do? I mean it is vacation.

Up next.....leaving the magic behind.

 

[kaw1218]

Well, since we had our late night. We set the alarm for 7:30.(note: I have not mentioned a wake up call- we couldn’t take another morning of Stitch yelling at us, once was enough thank you very much) We had to try to get a little extra sleep in there somewhere. I mean we had 17 hours of driving ahead of us. Man.... the auto train was sounding really good about then.
I drug my not-so-enthusiastic children out of bed, and then we packed the car.
Packing to leave is so depressing. I don’t even want to write about it.
But wait. We still had breakfast left. Actually, with free dining, we still had 12 counter service and about 18 snacks left. Wow, how did we have that left when we ate so much all week!?!?!?!?! I still can’t figure it out. So off to the POP food court we go. And we spend our 18 snack credits. We got some great things for the ride home, potato chips, lots of cookies

, I remember seeing peanut brittle, and of course someone got all nutritionistical (hey that could be a word!) and do you know what I found in the cooler? Fruit

! I tell ya, who is raising these children of mine. Well by the time I got done filling our take home goodie bag, I figured it would be a good idea to actually get breakfast. After we all ate I had 7 Counter service meals left. So what does any nice DISer do? I offered to pay for a nice woman and her 2 sons breakfast. Hey I know its against all ‘Disney policies’. But, I like spreading a little pixie dust!
After all that.... we were fed, packed, a ready to roll. And guess what time it was????

9:21am!!!! It was still 9 AM!!!!!! Hey I know some of you parents will understand my thinking. What could make this drive better? Oh yeah, if it was over. But we still had 1000+ miles to go.

The ride was pretty uneventful. We amused ourselves with recapping our weeks adventures. And of course making fun of Aunt Carol.(sorry if that sounds disrespectful, but that is kind of a tradition in our family) Man the miles do seem to take soooooooo much longer when you just want to get home!
But we had a little entertainment. I tell my kids it was dinner theater. We stopped at a Wendy’s in Manning, SC. Hey we were hungry, and it fit our post-disney budget.

Well we pull up, decide to eat inside and head in. Just as.......... two women in the Shooney’s parking lot next to us start fighting. Now we are from the Philly area. So it did make us a little leary. I mean by us, shouting normally leads to gunfire. But these women were determined to fight this out the old fashion way. With fists. So my little rubberneckers, sat by the window and watched intently. I know.... not a good mommy move. But hey, if I made a big deal, they really would have wanted to watch. Well after 15 seconds they were bored anyway. Until the police showed up

. And then they were entertained by 4 women getting cuffed and put in the back of police cruisers

. Ok, then, that was, uh, interesting. Back in the car..... we are going home.

Of course, what 1000+ mile drive down I95 would be complete without a pitstop at South of the Border? No, we cannot resist. We stop every year. And yes..... we have to get something that reminds us of Pedro. This year was cheesy magnets( can’t get anything of value... the cheese is the best part!)

Somewhere in North Carolina we followed a hot air balloon. That kept us busy for all of 10 minutes before we passed it.

And then we just entertained ourselves with the camera.

Gotta love these ones!!!

And finally after lots of traffic, and a few bathroom breaks.....we arrived home. To 4 very angry cats..... but that is another story in itself!

Well that’s it.....the end.....I’m done...... hopefully I entertained a few people enough to make it to the end.
And now...... I get to start planning our next Disney experience!!!! Woohoo!!!
Joey and I are going back next September for our 10 year anniversary!!! Now that will be a trip worth writing about!! (one can dream can’t they?)

I will leave ya’ll with a few random pictures that didn’t make it into my Trip Report.

Our family Tshirts I made

I believe this was our pitstop at Cracker Barrel on the drive down

My normal view of my family.... of their butts!!!!

Not quite sure what Uncle Bob was going for with this look....

It's been fun!!