Crossing over Crocodiles, Runaway Trains, & Birthday Wishes Updt 10/18

[kathleen27]

The tour looked like it was an amazing experience for you and your kids, and what a sweet surprise the calendar must have been for mother's day.

Love the pics you got of the animals, they turned out really well

Thanks! The tour was lots of fun! I was so surprised & thrilled by the calendar!

What an amazing tour! Your lunch sounded good, and what a neat little viewing area! Love the picture of Emily with the elephant. I elephants too! I was excited last summer when I took the kids to the zoo and they had one out that we could pet.

It was fun to try something new, and the food was good.

That would be really neat to pet an elephant!

The food sounds amazing! Yay on being able to relax and have such a gorgeous view

I like both the Mickey shirts - look great on Hannah and you.

Thanks! She actually has a shirt like mine as well!
Last week we got in the car and I realized we were wearing the same Disney sweatshirt by coincidence!
We enjoyed the food, and was a nice rest!

joining in! My husband i were thinking of doing the African tour but the price seemed pretty high but after seeing your pictures, i am rethinking it!

We had a lot of fun! We went during the first couple of months, and were lucky that they had the "introductory price" still! I know the price has gone up since we went!

 

[kathleen27]

After our long adventurous tour, we were back in the super crowded park with lots of other people! We had fastpasses to Expedition Everest, that was about the only ride we had the time or the energy for! We headed over to Asia! Before riding we browsed the merchandise on one of the carts. I told Hannah a couple of years ago, that if she would try the ride, I’d buy her a yeti. What would she pick?

Hannah took lots of photos of all the yeti merchandise!

Really fun paint job on this ice cream truck!

Self Portrait

Scenic!

I think this one was in the ride shop later.

 

[kathleen27]

Jacob took lots of photos of the queue for Expedition Everest:

And a few of Jacob’s that I believe are from the gift shop:

 

[kathleen27]

We rode Everest and Hannah loved it! She was screaming a lot, and then when we were inside in the dark, she was really quiet. When they took the ride photo I was trying to ask her if she was ok, but then we started to drop and talking, laughing, & screaming at the same time is really hard.

Jacob was behind us, but he is not in the same photo. I was really annoyed with that. Hannah wanted to buy the photo. The photo package comes with 2 small photos, and the CM offered to use the 2 different photos, but Jacob said he didn’t like his photo, so we didn’t get that one.

We wandered around the gift shop for a while, and I don’t remember everything we ended up with, but Hannah picked out her Yeti. She also wanted a Yeti hat. And Jacob bought a rope bracelet.

Here Hannah is back at the room later on with her new friend and her hat. He wasn’t a very scary Yeti, and I called him the giant puffball.

I took the same photo as Jacob in the gift shop! It was a really cool display.

After the ride, we passed the photopass with Everest in the background. I really like that spot, and I thought it would be cool to get a photo there with our new Yeti friend!

We were a little hungry so we headed back to Pizzafari where we had Pizza for an early dinner. The food on the tour is billed as a “snack”. It ended up being lunch for Jacob & I, and the pizza being our dinner. Hannah had something else back at the room for an additional meal. But I think she had less to eat on the tour than us.

Love this sign on the way.

Hannah took photos in Pizzafari this time. She took a few of the same as Jacob did in the morning.

The fish at a different angle-

These next two our both from the Upside Down Room-

Look familiar? Jacob took the same one earlier.

This one is different though!

Hannah with her new friend!

Hannah really wanted soft serve ice cream so she included that in her insulin shot with dinner. We hurried back to Asia to the ice cream truck. We had to wait a bit in line. We chatted with the man behind us. He told us how long the lines had been all day! And we also compared stories about the lines at MK the night before. He & his wife were visiting from Arizona. It was almost time for their Everest fastpasses.

No photos, but the ice cream was really good! 3 Soft serve vanilla cones for us!

Hannah had seen an autograph book she really wanted earlier that day, so we headed back to Africa to buy the book and some pins. The book was purple & had Tink on it!

After that we headed out of the park. I took photos along the way-

Cool Ladybug lights we passed.

We made it back to the room and discussed our plans for the rest of the night. It was probably between 6 & 7 pm. Magic Kingdom was open late with Extra Magic Hours. We even had a reservation for Crystal Palace around 8:30pm. But I was exhausted and really not hungry. Plus after the crowds the night before, and Hannah’s low, I really did not want to go. Hannah did. Jacob was undecided. He wanted to rest & decide later, he also wasn’t that hungry. We decided that Hannah – the only hungry one would get something from the Marketplace, and then we would wait a bit, and then go down to the pool. The quiet pool near our room. The hot tub was sounding good after a long day.

Hannah all ready for the Pool!

The pool ended up being the perfect ending to our 2nd day! We really just needed to relax.

The park we were planning on going to the next day didn't open until 10am. So we didn't need to be ready to leave until 9 the next morning, giving us plent of time to rest!

 

[jacksmom]

Loving your reviews! Can't wait for more!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love the yeti merchandise and EE photos. I thought the yeti was meant to be scary but in all of the merchandise he seems so sweet!

That's a shame about you guys being on seperate EE photos.

Any autograph book that has Tink on it is cool!

Relaxing for the evening sounds like a great idea.

 

[kathleen27]

Loving your reviews! Can't wait for more!

Thanks! & Welcome!

Love the yeti merchandise and EE photos. I thought the yeti was meant to be scary but in all of the merchandise he seems so sweet!

That's a shame about you guys being on seperate EE photos.

Any autograph book that has Tink on it is cool!

Relaxing for the evening sounds like a great idea.

Yeah, Lots of Cutesy stuff, but some scary stuff, Hannah liked the cute stuff more though I guess.

It happened later in the trip too.

It was a cute book, and relaxing was definately the right idea.

 

[ksl5f123]

I love all of the pictures of the Everest line. I have never ridden it so I haven't seen the line before. The details are excellent. Maybe some day one of my kids will want to ride and I can wait in line with them and take pictures (then escape via a chicken door )

I love how your kids take such great "atmosphere" pictures. I feel like I am walking through the parks with them.

 

[kathleen27]

I love all of the pictures of the Everest line. I have never ridden it so I haven't seen the line before. The details are excellent. Maybe some day one of my kids will want to ride and I can wait in line with them and take pictures (then escape via a chicken door )

I love how your kids take such great "atmosphere" pictures. I feel like I am walking through the parks with them.

Thank you! Its great that they give you lots of interesting things to see in the lines! The kids loved taking the pictures. They have different intersts too, so we had a variety of shots!

 

[kathleen27]

Day 3 - Monday, 02/21/11
Typhoon Lagoon



We figured Monday would be another busy day. It was still the holiday weekend. I thought it would be a good day for a water park. This was our first time at a Disney Water Park. We went to Typhoon Lagoon. The weather turned out perfect! Beautiful!

We arrived around a little before 10am opening, and bought our tickets. We entered the park just as they let everyone into the whole park. We really didn’t know our way around or anything. We did pretty well, but I think we’ll have a much better idea of what we are doing next time.

The kids started out with the family slide. The person riding down with them was just someone else in line at the same time. I walked up the look out, and had a view of their slide. They didn’t wait long.

I suggested the kids ride the slides in the morning for shorter lines, Jacob decided to do that, but Hannah wasn’t interested in any more slides. We decided to split up for a bit. Jacob on the slides, Hannah in the main pool/wave pool. She played there for a bit, but what she really wanted to do was ride the lazy river. So after a bit we headed over there.

I mentioned a new camera at the beginning of the trip report. Well here it is – a waterproof one!

We had taken disposable water proof cameras on a trip to Florida a few years back & the kids had loved them! I found a digital camera for underwater or above before we left! We had fun with the camera in the lazy river.

Hannah was not being very nice; she pushed me under a spray of water.

We went to look for Jacob, and amazingly we found him! We decided to all go on the lazy river.

Hannah was happy to have her brother to beat up on.

Pretty soon they stopped using their rafts. I told them to smile, this is what I got.

Then they took off, promising to wait at a specific entrance for me.
I relaxed taking in the nice scenery, and enjoyed my trip along the lazy river.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yay I can't wait to try the water parks!! They look like so much fun!

Lol at the photo of Jacob and Hannah when you told them to smile! That reminds me that I need to look for a cheapish water proof camera before our trip

 

[Happy Elf]

Great pictures! The water parks look like so much fun! That is something we haven't done before either!

 

[kathleen27]

Yay I can't wait to try the water parks!! They look like so much fun!

Lol at the photo of Jacob and Hannah when you told them to smile! That reminds me that I need to look for a cheapish water proof camera before our trip

The water park was definately fun! I enjoyed it more than I expected too. The kids loved it!

They thought they were funny too. We have used the single use cameras before - ones that say water proof on them, and they came out well. The kids just use them up too quickly.

Great pictures! The water parks look like so much fun! That is something we haven't done before either!

It was a lot of fun! They have a little kids area too, but we didn't really check that out.

 

[kathleen27]

After our relaxing ride, it was lunch time. We went to the main restaurant which had typical counter service meals: Burgers, chicken nuggets, fries. We had a locker, and stopped there before & after lunch to pick up Hannah’s supplies. Her sugar level was a tiny bit low, so she had a little of my soda to compensate.

After lunch we sat and rested for a bit. We found a quiet, less crowded spot in the sun.

Our plan next was to swim with sharks!


This display made us wonder if that was a good plan!

Waiting in line.

They bring one group at a time up to the front for instructions. Then they let that group into the water. It’s a straight swim across a short lagoon. I think the water is about 8 to 10 feet deep. Too deep to stand in, though there are some places to stop (large rocks below the surface). Not too deep though, so that you can see the sharks and fish. The water is very cold!!! Jacob took off while Hannah and I adjusted to the temp and got our masks and snorkels sorted out.


The beginning is shallow enough to stand in to get your gear sorted, then it drops to the standard depth.

Jacob in the distance waiting for us, Hannah to the side.

Jacob not waiting for us, just wanting the camera. I gave it to him, but stressed wrapping the strap around his wrist well and holding on to it.

Why they call it shark reef!

Colorful fish.

We found Dory

There were lots of stingrays!

It was cool to see everything, but so cold! It was a fairly short distance, and we took our time looking around at everything. Hannah was fairly close to me most of the swim, but Jacob was busy taking photos & looking at everything. When Hannah & I finished we were waiting for Jacob. He had stopped and turned around and swam back aways and to the side and everywhere. Well they told us in the directions, not to swim backwards, so I reminded Jacob of this afterwards, and he had taken it literally. As in swimming into the direction of your feet??? Not sure what he was thinking there!

I still had the setting on for underwater.

 

[ksl5f123]

Shark reef looks like a lot of fun. We had planned to go there last June but didn't get around to it. I will have to get a waterproof camera before we give it a try.

I love that you saw Dory!

The crowds at Typhoon Lagoon look light in the photos. Was it crowded or pretty comfortable?

 

[kathleen27]

Shark reef looks like a lot of fun. We had planned to go there last June but didn't get around to it. I will have to get a waterproof camera before we give it a try.

I love that you saw Dory!

The crowds at Typhoon Lagoon look light in the photos. Was it crowded or pretty comfortable?

Shark reef was fun! Just way too cold! Also very short!

The crowds were not bad that day in comparison to most parks/days we were there! By mid-day all the chairs in the main sections were full, but there was plenty of space in the outer areas. We only had a couple of real lines that day though Jacob was really the only one riding most of the slides.

The waterproof camera was fun! I noticed after there was often water on the lens, so it does need to be wiped off a lot!

 

[kathleen27]

After the sharks, the kids talked me into the family slide! This time there was a line, but it was not too long, maybe 20 minutes, probably the only line any of us had that day. I took the below photo from the line. I didn’t like the slide at all. Lots of cold water dumped on the raft! Then they dunk you at the end!

Jacob wanted to ride more slides. Hannah wanted to ride the lazy river. So we set a time and a place to meet back up, and then headed off. I was happy to go back to the nice warm lazy river.

More lazy river photos.

We arrived at our meeting spot before Jacob, and went to our locker for our supplies and stuff. Hannah was a little low, so we hung out there and treated her.

We went back to the spot, but missed Jacob as he’d gone to look for us at the locker. We knew he was done riding since his sandals were gone. After a while we did finally find each other. Not as easy without our phones!

For snacks that day we had gotten little mini fresh made donuts. On our way out Hannah and I had frozen lemonade, and I think Jacob bought a soda.

We had fun at the waterpark, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected! I don’t like cold water at all! The lazy river was plenty warm enough for me, and I enjoyed the sharks/fish despite the cold. I was definitely ready to leave before the kids were though! I think it was after 4pm when we left.

We had to wait quite a while for a bus (more than 20 minutes). Added to being still damp!

We had park tickets for this day (once you get past a certain number of days the extra ones are so little more, and I expected to leave the park much earlier). After returning to the room, and showering/ changing we discussed our plan for the evening. We decided to walk over to Epcot for a little bit. While the kids got ready I called Hannah’s doctor and told them about all her lows. She keeps a logbook, and I read off the last few days of numbers. They changed her carb to insulin ratio by a large amount. She had one more low that night, then her numbers evened out for the rest of the trip! I did let her have plenty of snacks but kept an eye on the numbers so they wouldn’t go up too much.

We headed over to Epcot, and wandered around World Showcase. We took our time stopping to look at booths and displays. Jacob ordered some counter service at Tangiere Café, and I order something at Lotus Blossom Cafe. Nothing interested Hannah, she also said she wasn’t hungry and her stomach was bothering her. She ended up getting something back at the Beach Club Marketplace when we returned from the park.

It was after 8pm by the time we made it to Future World.
Lines for some of the rides were LONG!!! Test Track and Soarin’ were well over an hour each (maybe closer to two??)

Other lines were pretty short! We rode Spaceship Earth followed by Finding Nemo!

Another shark experience this day!

Hannah browsed the gift shop for a bit. I think she may have bought a bracelet.
Jacob took a cute photo of some Nemo plush or pillows, but I can’t find it.


OK - I found Nemo! Well I found the missing Nemo photo, & if you look at the label on the shelf it actually says I found Nemo.

Reflections was going on as we headed out, but it ended at the time we reached the lagoon. Not good, because that meant everyone started walking towards us!!! We were headed toward the back exit between England & France! We managed to make our way out of the park without too much trouble & walked back to the Beach Club. Such a SHORT walk!!!

We settled in for the night to watch TV & get some rest!

 

[kathleen27]

Day 4 - DHS

A view from our room on Tuesday morning-

After I was showered and ready and had pulled the curtains open and was trying to wake up the kids!!!

Hannah goofing off in the room before we left.

We ended up going to DHS this day. It wasn’t our original plan, it was a last minute fill in. We had intended to go to Universal, but with Hannah’s diagnosis, I didn’t want to rely on a car service, or be alone at Universal with the kids. I decided to wait until my Dad arrived for back up, and transportation. So we went to DHS this day, and it was packed!!!! (it was a fantasmic night!)



We took the boat, which was enjoyable!


The dock-

I took photos while we waited for a boat to arrive-

Here comes our boat!!!

A few of Hannah’s photos-

Jacob’s photos:

It was 10:10AM, and we headed to Toy Story Mania for fastpasses, what would the return time be???

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love all the TL pics and yay on finding Nemo!

Lol at the pics of Hannah goofing around in the room! Oh no on DHS being packed. Fantasmic! is on most night during our trip so I hope it doesn't mean having to deal with a very busy DHS!

Great Beach Club and DHS pics! I hope the return time of TSMM is not going to scare us!

 

[kathleen27]

Love all the TL pics and yay on finding Nemo!

Lol at the pics of Hannah goofing around in the room! Oh no on DHS being packed. Fantasmic! is on most night during our trip so I hope it doesn't mean having to deal with a very busy DHS!

Great Beach Club and DHS pics! I hope the return time of TSMM is not going to scare us!

Hannah was definately enjoying being silly!\
I couldn't believe how busy DHS was! Hopefully more nights with DHS will mean spreading everyone out instead of having them all there on the same day. Our plans just got flipped around a bit in the week before the trip.