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[CAStevens218]

So glad it wasn't too bad for you. I'd definitely take leaves in the pool over all the damage I've seen from it! That was awful.

The dolphin thing was all my fault and would totally support what you're saying. I wasn't holding the tray correctly, though I don't really remember how. I don't see myself ever participating in something like that again, though John and Andrew both want to.

This made me check out the pics again. It was the one closest to me. It just looks scary, right?

I remember that they had a lot of rules about how to do it properly at the dolphin feeding place. I also remember that the employees were extremely impatient and didn't really take into account how excited guests would be at this experience, therefore completely forgetting all the rules!!!

Andrew is absolutely adorable in that picture!!!!! That dolphin was definitely coming for you!!!

 

[jc040404]

I remember that they had a lot of rules about how to do it properly at the dolphin feeding place. I also remember that the employees were extremely impatient and didn't really take into account how excited guests would be at this experience, therefore completely forgetting all the rules!!!

Andrew is absolutely adorable in that picture!!!!! That dolphin was definitely coming for you!!!

Definitely not WDW CMs, that's for sure! I'm sure this probably gets annoying, but you should expect it if this is the job you want to do. I remember being terrified that she was going to toss me in the water or something.

Andrew was so sweet at that age. (Not that he's no longer an awesome kid!) I miss that hair!

 

[jc040404]

Blake and I couldn’t wait to hear about Andrew’s pirate adventure. Unfortunately, Andrew took this pirate thing seriously. When he ran up to us at the table, all he was interested in was the treasure! He dumped it out on the table in front of Blake!

He’d gotten an interesting assortment of stuff, with toy jewels, gold coins, and an eye patch. Andrew was afraid to wear the eye patch, so Blake claimed it instead. Most of this stuff had “Oriental Trading Company” printed on it somewhere. We all know where Disney does their pirate shopping! They played around and took turns with the noisier toys (that red lips thing = sooo annoying! ) until Andrew finally decided to tell us about his adventures.

Sadly, I didn’t take any notes about what he said! Not ending every day at home took a lot of detail from this trip, but I really thought I'd scribbled stuff down about this part. Since I haven't been able to find anything, it looks like I didn't! I do remember a few things.

Pretending to be pirates, the children stopped at all the beaches at CBR in search of pieces of a map. (I could be soo wrong, but I’m pretty sure this was it!) The first stop resulted in that nifty flag for the ship. John had been really confused when he saw it, because he knew it wasn't there at the beginning!

On one of the beaches, the kids had to trick someone and steal what they needed. Andrew thought it was really funny. Of course, it ended with the found treasure. When we passed them by the pool, the ship was stopping for a potty break. He seemed to really love getting to do this and definitely wanted to try it again. I made plans to schedule another in the future right away!

There was one thing about this activity that I didn’t expect. All of the sites I’d checked out prior to this said that lunch would be provided. This hasn’t been the case on either of the pirate cruises Andrew has done. I did think it was just a bit early for it, but had expected Andrew was going to be fed. I think the info I found mentions uncrustables and things like that. They did have a snack stop with a couple of options. I’m thinking a little bag of pretzels for some reason. They were also allowed a drink, water or juice. Andrew picked water. He loves those little Dasani bottles. Thought it might be something to keep in mind if anyone lurking out there is thinking of planning this, too!

Since Andrew hadn’t eaten yet, the rest of us were glad we hadn’t done lunch yet either. Our original plan had us eating at CBR while he was on the cruise. We decided to skip that plan since nothing looked that interesting here anyway. Everyone headed back across the resort to find the car.

We went off property for lunch, but don’t ask me where. I don’t remember what we did this day. I do know we headed straight back to CBR though because the boys were starting to pick on each other too much after!

Ignoring WDW signs, we found it was a lot easier to follow our old Pop directions to find the resort instead. The boys loved this and actually starting getting along again when they saw the Pop sign. A new Andy-Roo and Blakers game was born at that intersection this day. I thought they’d lost their little minds when both suddenly tried to jump in their carseats! The boys were being nuts.

“Pop!”

“Pop! Pop!”

They were shouting at each other, too. Enough was enough, so I turned to stop them. Yes, Pop Century is exciting, but you’re going to hurt yourself.

“Mommy, we’re popcorn!”

They’re so clever.. The game has continued every visit that the boys saw the Pop sign, minus that jumping.

Back in the room, the popcorn boys settled down and took a nap.

Coming soon.. Getting back to how it used to be.. Ending this day @ MK! (It’s our only MK visit for this vacation!)

 

[Dugette]

I'm glad that Andrew had a good time on his pirate cruise!

Love the Popcorn boys in the car!

Whew, I've missed the MK in your report, good thing you're going back!

 

[GaRain]

Oh man, now I want some popcorn....

 

[PirateKate]

Andrew's pirate adventure sounds like a lot of fun! I'm glad Blake had a good time, too, going to the playground and finding his room key. My boys got room keys for the first time our last trip and I thought it was unusual at the time, but maybe not.

Love the Pop-corn bit! That's cute. I'm glad they were able to start getting along better. I hate it when my boys keep bickering. It's always over the silliest things, too.

 

[jc040404]

I'm glad that Andrew had a good time on his pirate cruise!

Love the Popcorn boys in the car!

Whew, I've missed the MK in your report, good thing you're going back!

They were being so silly with that popcorn stuff. Once we took the jumping game out of it, it was a lot of fun.

We made two days without any MK! I couldn't go so many days at Disney without a visit there, even though we really planned to stay away this time.

Oh man, now I want some popcorn....

Me too!

Andrew's pirate adventure sounds like a lot of fun! I'm glad Blake had a good time, too, going to the playground and finding his room key. My boys got room keys for the first time our last trip and I thought it was unusual at the time, but maybe not.

Love the Pop-corn bit! That's cute. I'm glad they were able to start getting along better. I hate it when my boys keep bickering. It's always over the silliest things, too.

I wonder what causes them to get a key or not. Blake's only gotten a few in our visits.

Isn't it wild what they can pick on each other over sometimes? I have no idea what inspired this one, but they both were due for a nap break.

 

[jc040404]

Awake and in even better moods, the boys were best friends again after a long nap. Since it was pirate day, Andrew had a request for the evening. He wanted to go to MK and ride POTC, of course. We would never object to MK time! It was nearing 7:00pm, so I guessed it would be our best bet for dinner anyway.

Routine took control at the TTC. Everyone walked from the parking lot together, but planned another transportation battle across the lagoon. Andrew grabbed my hand and we started to the monorail ramp as soon as we passed the restrooms.

“Forgetting something?” my husband called to me.

He sounded sad, so I stopped to look at him. I didn’t understand the sad part, but guessed he meant my bag. As he had the stroller, it seemed silly for me to carry it. What was I forgetting?

“Not even a kiss goodbye?” he asked.

I thought he was being kinda silly. Didn't we already do that? I felt bad, wondering if I just assumed we had. Yes, we're that kind of annoying couple and always kiss before parting. I walked back to the stroller and first kissed Blake on the forehead.

“How could we part without this?” I smiled up at John next.

He pulled me close and looked so happy. Whatever was behind that smile was starting to worry me though. Something just wasn’t right with him, but I couldn’t figure it out. Why was he making such a big deal of this? He held me much too long, grinning the entire time.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Never better,” he replied with a wink. “And you just missed the monorail!”

My back had been to the monorail ramp, so I quickly turned around. Yep, the monorail was just pulling away! What a scam! Looking back, I should’ve known what he was up to. He and Blake were cracking up over it all. With the ferry boat just approaching, this looked very bad for Team Monorail.

“Cheaters!”

We separated, without a kiss, and the battle had begun.

Things only got worse for me and Andrew when we made it to the top of the ramp. The next monorail seemed to take ages to get here. Along the journey, we had multiple stops for “further traffic” with an extended period of no movement just on the other side of the Contemporary. This was not going well! Andrew stayed glued to the window the entire time, and wouldn’t let me lose hope.

“Mom, the ferry boat isn’t moving yet either! We can do this!”

His excitement was contagious and I started to believe we really might win, too. Everyone in our car soon knew what was going on here. Finally at the MK monorail station, they insisted we exit first. I like to think everyone was on our side, and not just eager to get Andrew’s endless talking out of there!

Racing as carefully as possible down this ramp, I could see a sea of people moving in our direction. I thought we’d finally been defeated, guessing it was the ferry boat load. Scanning that sea, I saw no signs of the rest of our little family. They weren’t at the bag check lines or waiting at the turnstiles either!

Still undefeated!

Andy-Roo were in for quite a wait for them next. We people watched and saw the train go by. Neither of us could really believe this had worked out. When they eventually joined us, they tried to blame the loss on having to get my bag checked, but there had just been some ferry issues along the way. Without that, we’d definitely have lost this one!

John and Blake learned a couple of very important lessons this day anyway. For one, cheaters never win. Second, Andrew and I are awesome. (Andy-Roo’s words!) Walking vs tram or monorail vs ferry boat, we will never be beaten! Or so we thought.. Just wait!

To Adventureland! We took care of that requested POTC ride and moved on to Fantasyland. You can imagine how difficult it must’ve been for us to go anywhere but FL as soon as we walked into the park. I wanted to grab some FPs for Pooh before going to dinner. Since we were in the area, Blake wanted a ride on IASW, too.

I don’t get this one..

Bad timing. We didn’t see anything happen this time.

Naturally, dinner would just just a short walk away at Columbia Harbour House! The boys had a snack after their naps, but everyone was starving now. Andrew and I headed to the lines to make our order while John took Blake upstairs. With our favorite table now a permanent part of the handicap area, we had started always eating up there. I loved it even more!

In line, I made our usual orders. A new sign caught my interest, but I decided not to bring it up, knowing Andrew would insist. I saw this being nothing but trouble at the table. What was this discovery? CHH now had Mickey straws! The decision not to tell him bugged me with each step forward. Trouble or not, I pulled two dollars out of my bag and sent Andrew back to the CM.

“We reeeeally need two Mickey straws, please!”

The CM laughed, and so did I. Andrew paid for two straws and proudly presented the receipt at the counter. He was nothing but smiles as we waited for our food! I’m so glad I changed my mind. The boys were crazy over them and they didn’t cause the trouble I thought they would. We bought a set every CHH meal from then on!

Collecting our late dinner and Mickey straws, Andrew and I headed up the steps to join our family. They were sitting a table in a mostly empty section. Only one other family was very close, and they soon left. It was almost like our early CHH meals and I felt like the only people in the place. A CM started cleaning up and roped us off from the few that were still dining up here. He declared our area now “Reserved” and said not to worry about our things after. Now, I know he was just cleaning up for the night, but it was kinda fun. The boys we had our own special section!

We enjoyed our quiet dinner and were back in the park. This was going to be a late night!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Woo hoo on winning the monorail/ferry battle! I agree, cheaters never prosper.

Mickey straws at CHH? How have I not noticed this before? Not like I need a Mickey straw or anything.....okay, nevermind, I need a Mickey straw.

 

[eecteacher82]

I love your races! And what a great lesson: Cheaters never win!!!

Every time I read one of your updates about CHH, I always say that we should try it next trip...but we never do! We always end up at our MK go to place, Cosmic Rays! Maybe next trip we will actually make it there!

Can't wait to see what the rest of your night was like!

 

[jc040404]

Woo hoo on winning the monorail/ferry battle! I agree, cheaters never prosper.

Mickey straws at CHH? How have I not noticed this before? Not like I need a Mickey straw or anything.....okay, nevermind, I need a Mickey straw.

Of course you need one! This was the first we'd noticed them, but they were for sale every visit after. They're forty-nine cents, and we've seen four different colors.

I love your races! And what a great lesson: Cheaters never win!!!

Every time I read one of your updates about CHH, I always say that we should try it next trip...but we never do! We always end up at our MK go to place, Cosmic Rays! Maybe next trip we will actually make it there!

Can't wait to see what the rest of your night was like!

I miss our WDW races. We're like this with a lot of stuff and the boys love it. It works greats for cleaning up their toys every night.

Food routines are tough to break! I've wanted to try Cosmic Rays, but I know I'd just miss CHH if we did.

 

[Dugette]

I love the ferry vs. monorail challenge story! I can't believe he would try to pull that! But, all for nothing! I told Dug the story and he got a kick out of it too.

Other than the transportation delays, sounds like a nice MK evening so far. Good ol' Pirates, love that. And good ol' Columbia Harbour House too! Looking forward to finally eating there on our upcoming trip (and Dug's liking the sound of the new Lobster Roll they added to the menu)! (Secret for anyone here that's reading my PTR: I can't put this in my PTR or Dug will see it, but we're actually going to CHH twice! The second time is on the Keys to the Kingdom tour that I secretly booked for our last day as an anniversary gift...the lunch is included.)

 

[AprilRenee]

Fun update!! Love the Mickey straws!! Pretty sure that we are going to reeeaaally need some too!!
John is such a stinker! Lol! I can't believ you guys still won!! You really ARE awesome!

 

[CAStevens218]

I love it...everyone NEEDS Mickey straws!!!!!!!!!

That is exactly something Ben would do to try to win the race!! I'm glad you were still able to win!!!

 

[jc040404]

I love the ferry vs. monorail challenge story! I can't believe he would try to pull that! But, all for nothing! I told Dug the story and he got a kick out of it too.

Other than the transportation delays, sounds like a nice MK evening so far. Good ol' Pirates, love that. And good ol' Columbia Harbour House too! Looking forward to finally eating there on our upcoming trip (and Dug's liking the sound of the new Lobster Roll they added to the menu)! (Secret for anyone here that's reading my PTR: I can't put this in my PTR or Dug will see it, but we're actually going to CHH twice! The second time is on the Keys to the Kingdom tour that I secretly booked for our last day as an anniversary gift...the lunch is included.)

That was totally a John thing to do and I was a bit of a fool not to catch on before it was too late! We weren't super amused in the moment, but it's a memory I'll always love now.

What an awesome gift! I bet he'll love it! I really want to try some tours when the boys are bigger. Can't wait to hear about that one!

Fun update!! Love the Mickey straws!! Pretty sure that we are going to reeeaaally need some too!!
John is such a stinker! Lol! I can't believ you guys still won!! You really ARE awesome!

Mickey straws are very important. Everyone should get one! We cause a bit of trouble by having them in later visits when sad strawless children notice them on our table. I never actually noticed anyone else with them.

After that trick and the monorail trouble, I was shocked that we managed a win this night! We're still proud of it.

I love it...everyone NEEDS Mickey straws!!!!!!!!!

That is exactly something Ben would do to try to win the race!! I'm glad you were still able to win!!!

I don't think we've ever used those silly straws at home though. I'm making a note for tomorrow now.

I admit it was a funny trick and something I really should've seen him trying, but I was super happy when we still kicked his butt!

 

[jc040404]

Down the stairs and out the door, we walked straight back to Fantasyland. The boys wanted a ride on the carousel before we did anything else!

While we were spinning around, I noticed that perfect time had settled on this part of FL. With the ropes up for Wishes, there wasn’t a wait for Snow White’s ride! We immediately went in that direction when our carousel fun was done.

Through the little bit of line, we took our spots to wait for a mine car. We split up, with the boys sitting in the seat in front of me and John. While we were all turned to each other talking, the CM in control angrily yelled at us.

“Keep them behind the yellow line!!”

I had been facing my boys all along, but looked at that yellow line. The closest child was a full foot behind it, with no indication that passing it was even a possibility. This wasn’t needed, especially with that attitude. That was far beyond any “behind the line” comment I’d ever heard. John decided to reply.

“They are?”

The CM didn’t like it, but she couldn’t deny that her shouting had no point. The boys know how this stuff works and weren’t even close to it. They weren't playing around or being silly.

“They are, but...”

She trailed off. But what? But nothin’! My children aren’t angels, but they were being pretty darn close to it that night. I wish she’d said anything instead of leaving it this way. It irritated me, which wasn’t good for this trip. After our endless CBR troubles, I admit I didn’t have much patience with CMs!

Our car pulled up and the boys looked at her before daring to cross that line. They were both hesitant to move at all after the yelling! That bugged me even more. They hadn’t done a thing wrong! I assured them both that we were fine and into the story they went. I continued to stew over it.

“You’re ruining the ride for yourself,” John whispered to me.

He went on to remind me how many guests we’ve seen that have no interest in watching their children at all. Maybe she’d been having a rough night of it and figured we were the same. I was still annoyed, but decided to let it go. By the end of our turn, she was no longer in control of that part of loading. I hope she was gone on a loonnngg break instead!

We moved on to use up those Pooh FPs, but were stuck in the line for a short bit near the CM who directs you to your honeypot. She was awesome! I felt the universe making up for the rude CM at Snow White by giving us some extra time with this one. She was an older lady and was such a joy to talk to. Going through the usual “What is your favorite..?” questioning with the boys, there was just something extra special to it. She definitely knew how to work with children and they instantly adored her. If any bad feelings lingered from the last issue, they were completely gone now. I planned to leave a happy note about her before we left.

Blake & Andrew duck here.

Full of happiness, we all walked outside of 100 Acre Goods with smiles on our faces. They only got bigger as the sky started to light up! It was time for Wishes and everyone in the area froze in their tracks to stare at the show.

Even without the music and castle, fireworks are always fun. Blake went nuts, shouting “Boom! Boom!” back at each one. He loves it! I remember being terrified of this kind of stuff as a child, so I’m super glad these two enjoy it as much as they do. We all had a great time watching from our silly spot in front of Pooh’s ride.

Finally at the end, it was time to move on. With that firework distraction going on, the line for Pooh’s ride had disappeared. We made the logical decision and ran right through again!

Hooray!

It was beginning to get late. With that long nap behind them, the boys showed no signs of slowing. The park was open late enough, and we planned to take full advantage of it. Everyone walked on to Tomorrowland!

“Who wants to ride the Peoplemover??”

blurrrry picture of a PACKED dance party at Club 626!

It turned out that one ride on the Peoplemover just wasn’t enough today. As our door opened to let us out, we asked to go again. With no one really lined up for it, it wasn’t a problem at all. The CM simply closed it again and off we went! The guests exiting behind us couldn’t believe it.

“You must really like this ride!” a lady laughed as she passed us.

“You're not going again??”

John was sure to ask as if she was completely nuts for skipping another turn on such an awesome attraction. The Peoplemover is nonstop excitement! She just laughed and shook her head. She just didn't know what she was missing.

Blake gets nervous when we go through Space Mountain, so the boys invented a new game with the lights on their shoes this night. I wonder how annoying that is for other guests? They took turns kicking their heals, giggling the entire time. Despite how much they loved it, we decided it might not be the best game by the end of it.

The Space Mountain game did inspire a walk to the ride itself after. Andrew had been growing a lot and was due for a measurement!

Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite there yet! There was just enough space for John to fit a finger between his head and the 44" mark. We were getting closer..

We walked over to the Carousel of Progress after and waited for the next show. CoP and the Peoplemover kinda go hand in hand for us. We can’t do one without the other! Waiting in front of the doors, Blake immediately started singing the song! This caught the interest of another awesome CM, Lexi. She found it adorable, as everyone should. Right? Blake knew the entire song by then and I loved listening to him sing it. She knew a couple of interesting facts about the CoP that we’d never heard about before, so it was awesome meeting her. I can’t remember any of it now though.

Our journey through progress was the usual fun, and it was now time to battle Zurg! I’m not certain if I’d gotten FPs first, but I don’t remember waiting much at all. Yay for that! Awesome CoP CM Lexi had moved over here while we were watching the show, too. Blake was excited to see her again.

^My score! Not terribly terrible.

Andrew^^

^B & John

Ride Two! The line must’ve been super short because we rode again! Hmm.. Maybe I did get Fps that day. I sometimes do that before the Peoplemover ride.. Either way, we should’ve skipped the second try. It didn’t go as well!

This is where we thought the night would end. It was really late now and Buzz is a perfect last ride for us. On an awesome night like this, a bad Buzz score wasn’t the right way to leave. We turned back to Fantasyland to find something else to try instead.

We were in for a big shock as we made it deeper into the area and checked the Dumbo wait. It was only at fifteen minutes! No one could pass that one up, so we flew up into the night sky in no time.

Dumbo would definitely have been a perfect last ride of the night, but we still weren’t quite done with this one yet! The boys wanted the race cars, so we were back to Tomorrowland.

Along the way, a tea party! Blake decided to sit out this time.

Race time! The wait wasn’t the shortest for this one, and was full of the usual drama. I don’t know what it is about this one when it gets late, but we’re always in for some sort of trouble standing in that line! Just beyond those turnstiles, we started hearing those fun words behind us..

“Excuse me. My party is ahead.”

... pic limit fun..next post coming up..

 

[jc040404]

“Excuse me. Joining my party.”

“Can I pass? My party is up there.”

I do so enjoy how WDW gets everyone saying “party” all the time.

One or two would’ve been okay, but it seemed to be another case of one person going ahead and the big family joining, one by one, later on. I stuck to my “just let them pass” decision from the last time and simply stepped to the side. Not worth the nasty replies. (Or winks!)

John wasn’t quite as patient when the fourth person began to push her way through. He didn’t say anything, but let out an annoyed sigh as he moved to the side. She countered it with “That’s my husband up there!” attitude. Geesh. If I was cutting in line, I’d at least be polite about it. I had a feeling John might say something, so I wrapped my arms around him instead.

“Just be thankful I love you enough to wait for you.”

Hmmm.. Except for race times, I guess. Anyway...

So much for keeping quiet about cutters! While neither of us actually spoke to the woman, all this did was result in a fun person making faces at me while we waited. This time, I do admit I was perfectly okay with it all. Maybe she learned a lesson.

Now someone is looking tired..

Without a doubt, our race was going to be the last ride. I also decided that we probably wouldn’t try this one at night anymore. It just makes line cutters crazy! The boys were still in awesome moods and begged for “just one more” ride on anything, but we knew they wouldn’t last too much longer anyway. We moved up through the Emporium and to the monorail station again.

We were all alone!

It was midnight as we left the park, and getting COLD! This is why I'd questioned swimming. The day was gorgeous, but it wasn't summer just yet! It was nearing one am when we finally made it back to the resort. Definitely a LATE night at MK! We all had a pretty awesome night.


Next Up!! A new restaurant and our first look at the 2011 Flower & Garden Festival!!

 

[CAStevens218]

It must have been a fun night to the boys...getting to stay at the park so late!!!!

Andrew is sooo close for Space Mountain in that picture!!!

I think it must be the fumes at the race cars that make everyone crazy!!

I can't wait to read about a new restaurant!!!!!

 

[jc040404]

It must have been a fun night to the boys...getting to stay at the park so late!!!!

Andrew is sooo close for Space Mountain in that picture!!!

I think it must be the fumes at the race cars that make everyone crazy!!

I can't wait to read about a new restaurant!!!!!

I was not excited about Andrew getting closer to riding those big rides!

You could have something with the fumes at those cars. The boys love being able to drive, but it would stick to a morning activity for us from then on. Maybe silly, but we had bad luck here at night!

I might have that new restaurant stuff up tonight. We're not doing a thing for the holiday and I miss Mickey!!

 

[Dugette]

That sounds like a great night at the MK! Double rides on Pooh, Peoplemover, and Buzz, plus more! And a short wait for Dumbo! I love those late MK nights! Too bad about the rude Snow White CM, but at least there was a good CM to make up for it afterwards. Looks like the boys had a great time!