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[estherhead]

Along with the excitement of this day, Suzy & I also had trepidation. We were really unsure and had debated thoroughly (and over and over) whether touring together was feasible. Or even in any way something intelligent people would do. We have 7 kids. The 1 year olds hate each other. The two men like to be completely independent. One kid has Asperger’s. One kid is prone to have fits when things change. And two moody elementary school girls. Can you say attitude?

The thing that kept drawing us to the plan to stay together was threefold.

One, she and I like each other. And we like shared experiences.

Two, the kids, and especially Buzz and Mulan, adore each other and are fairly inseparable. We were pretty sure they would like to tour together.

And third, and most important, we would get to ride all the big rides with our entire family. If we traveled separately she & I would spend our days sitting on a park bench with our respective 1 year olds while our families had fun. Boring! With baby swap and by staying together, one of us would sit out with both babies while the other rode with the whole group. Then we would swap. This way the kids would ride all headliners twice and she and I would get to actually experience Disney World with our big kids instead of from a park bench chasing a baby.

It really seemed the best way to go. Except for the 7 tricky kids, 2 independent men, and various attitudes. And by attitudes I mean negativity.

So on this first day she & I were a bit nervous. I really hate making Milo angry. And I have done so many a time. Especially on vacation. Especially when I go off task. He just… is an irritating angry person. I hate making anyone angry. But Milo especially is irritating when irritated. I was sure he would be angry on this trip. But I sure didn’t ever want to be the person who made him that way.

Also, Donald on one of our previous trips had some kind of weird fit when Suzy stopped inside the gate, yes AFTER rope drop, because she had forgotten to put sun block on her very pale children and I stopped and waited for her. He was appalled that she would delay us with her lack of planning. It was fairly ugly and the day ended poorly. So Suzy felt similarly about making Donald angry.

Also, Jack-Jack was ill. Very ill. This certainly, had we been at home, would have been the day we took him to the doctor. First thing. But we weren’t at home. So he was given some treatment and we were off. But it was worrisome.

So. Today is the day. And it has already been a great day with no conflict. But until we got the first hour under our belt, Suzy and I were a bit nervous.

Here is, just backing up a little because I forgot this photo in the last post & it is still appropriate here, here I am coming through the turnstile.

After getting the stickers we headed left around the castle. I distinctly remember taking in every single moment of this. I almost ran into the curb a few times as I was inspecting the castle and the moat and all the people. Oh it was just so magical. And beautiful. And the castle was absolutely covered in twinkle lights, turned off of course, but I was inspecting those too.

But before I knew it we were in Fantasyland. The plan was for Charming & I to hit up Peter Pan and get FP’s so I was given all the tickets, a responsibility I had most of the week, and the rest of the crew rushed to Dumbo. Mulan decided that it was just too early for her to ride Dumbo and opted to stay with Charming and I. We zipped to Peter Pan and scored FP’s for shortly thereafter. Then Charming and I came up with a camera plan of how to record the first Dumbo flight of the trip. While we were standing there a very nice CM came up and said, “Ariel has no wait whatsoever and will have an hour or more wait within the hour.”

Refer to the paragraph where Milo gets irritated. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that would irritate him. Not this thing, in particular, but if they got off Dumbo and could not find us because within the first 10 minutes of being in the park we went off schedule to do something not important (like, he would not have cared if we were in the bathroom, he isn’t some crazy unreasonable person) but just some random, not really care kind of thing. It could potentially ruin the trip. In the first 10 minutes.

And I could not have cared less about Ariel. Met her a bunch. Don’t care.

But I was not alone. No. I had Mulan standing next to me. Sweet, adorable Mulan. And when she was three we met Ariel right there in Ariel’s Grotto and Ariel gave Mulan a huge kiss and told her she loved her. And Mulan refused to wash her face for the whole day. And I would look at her and she would be touching her cheek where the precious kiss was. And then last year Ariel saved the day when Mulan was sobbing after her evil mother made her ride ToT. Ariel was Mulan’s absolute favorite Disney character. And she was not on our schedule at all because we were going to meet Tink instead.

Sigh.

So there was Mulan looking at me with puppy dog eyes. And there was no way to get word out as I had no cell phone signal and had already sent Charming to video tape.

What’s a mommy to do?

Forget Milo. I risked it.

Unfortunately, by the time the puppy dog eyes reached my cold heart, there were three other families in line. So then I was really nervous. I really, really didn’t want to mess this up in the first 10 minutes!!! The whole time we were in this line Mulan was jumping up & down in excitement and I was trying to peek through the rocks to see if they were on Dumbo yet.

Finally we were up there and Mulan loved it and Ariel was great and our Photopass photos are amazing (sorry don’t have the CD yet.) It was a great start to Mulan’s day. And I was very happy later as Mulan had kind of a hard day this first day.

So we came out & I had service and they hadn’t got on yet. They were next! So everything worked out perfectly. I even took photos!

When Donald got off he laughed and said it was the best documented Dumbo flight ever as all 4 adults and Charming had recorded the whole thing. So we have 3 camera’s worth of photos and 2 videos. Very well documented.

Here is Donald trying to get a photo of all of them & getting just himself. Ever tried to hold onto a wiggly 1 year old & snap a self portrait? Bet it would turn out just like this!

And a better try:

This is my absolute fave! LOVE this photo:

And from my angle:

And another:

Bored yet?

Now is the time to point out that this is only a tiny fraction of the Dumbo photos we have. This is only from 2 cameras. And not all of them from those two. And we had 3 more cameras going. We were a little excited.

Here is the final photo of Dumbo for this TR. And the final photo of Dumbo taken:

Goodbye sweet Dumbo. Until next time.

And that is where I leave you tonight, my dear readers, loyal, I can only assume since it is to early to tell.

Having successfully arrived in the Magic Kingdom and ridden one ride. Successfully. And not stood in any line longer than 10 minutes. With no one being irritated. And no sunblock that I know of. Since we were all in sweatshirts.

 

[estherhead]

Already updating the last post to say that this is me being at BAG check where I chose the best line. Donald is recording my genius!

Also, the time stamp on Donald's camera is off by two hours so I think we may have gotten to the park at 8:41 & ridden Dumbo at 9:19. If anyone is keeping track for their own step-by-step plans.

And I noticed typos, commas missing, etc. But ya'll will have to put up with those.

Oh, and I edited this so you could all see if Suzy is checking her watch in that last photo. I swear she is. Ha! Watch checking to make sure we were making good time. Hilarious. We're doing good, Suzy, it's only 9:18!

 

[houseful of boys]

9:18 and off of Dumbo with a character visit and FP's to Peter Pan in pocket on the side? Impressive!!

It's actually my camera that I'm obsessing with. For some reason it had been set on "close up." So all my Dumbo pictures were blurry people with crystal clear Dumbo's hat!! This was driving me crazy.

Also, a tip for anyone traveling wanting to try our "rider switch" strategy. Perla kept trying to ruin this for us. The CM's are pretty careful about handing these out to prevent any abuses. You have to show your baby and which adult will be sitting out. We were not cheating the system, we really did have two seperate families with two seperate babies. We should be able to get two "swaps." Unfortunately, the two families were dressed alike in matching shirts thanks to our planning. So Perla, kept wanting us to go up and show the two babies together and then get the two passes. But the CM's could hardly handle this. It was obvious we were all together so why would we need two baby swaps???? After the first few rides, we finally figured out to go up as different groups. It was still hard because we would get the passes and then take a step back to arrange ourselves. And the CM's really want you to separate in front of them so they can see the group getting in line and the other parent sitting but we're not known for our conformity so we just took a step back and 3 parents and all kids that wanted to go would get in line while the other parent waited with the baby swaps and an extra fast pass and then we would switch. That way we could ride with our spouses everytime which was awesome.

Also, a comment about Jon & Kate...... because it was really weird, people would walk by and mutter to each other "Jon & Kate +8." Especially when we were sitting at our table for 11 I think it just emphasizes the spectacle that we all were - wrangling and organizing our kids (did I mention the matching T-shirts?) (and did I mention "spectacle"?). If you like to fly under the radar, our families would not be for you!

 

[earthfaries]

What a great start you all had ~ perfectly smooth! Your DH's sound like my dad. One little thing off schedule, like the sunblock thing would set him off and ruin the day for him Glad everyone was organized so no one got mad!

I have to say, I was going to mention it before, but you have your own DS? Cool! Me too ~ I have the new pretty shiny rose one, I love it so much My sister has the gold Zelda DS and the kids all have their own. Yes, 5 DS's It's neat to see other adults who enjoy playing video games when they have time.

I love all your pictures ~ they turned out super. I can't wait to hear about the rest of your day ~ I bet it was great

 

[estherhead]

9:18 and off of Dumbo with a character visit and FP's to Peter Pan in pocket on the side? Impressive!!

It's actually my camera that I'm obsessing with. For some reason it had been set on "close up." So all my Dumbo pictures were blurry people with crystal clear Dumbo's hat!! This was driving me crazy.

Also, a tip for anyone traveling wanting to try our "rider switch" strategy. Perla kept trying to ruin this for us. The CM's are pretty careful about handing these out to prevent any abuses. You have to show your baby and which adult will be sitting out. We were not cheating the system, we really did have two seperate families with two seperate babies. We should be able to get two "swaps." Unfortunately, the two families were dressed alike in matching shirts thanks to our planning. So Perla, kept wanting us to go up and show the two babies together and then get the two passes. But the CM's could hardly handle this. It was obvious we were all together so why would we need two baby swaps???? After the first few rides, we finally figured out to go up as different groups. It was still hard because we would get the passes and then take a step back to arrange ourselves. And the CM's really want you to separate in front of them so they can see the group getting in line and the other parent sitting but we're not known for our conformity so we just took a step back and 3 parents and all kids that wanted to go would get in line while the other parent waited with the baby swaps and an extra fast pass and then we would switch. That way we could ride with our spouses everytime which was awesome.

Also, a comment about Jon & Kate...... because it was really weird, people would walk by and mutter to each other "Jon & Kate +8." Especially when we were sitting at our table for 11 I think it just emphasizes the spectacle that we all were - wrangling and organizing our kids (did I mention the matching T-shirts?) (and did I mention "spectacle"?). If you like to fly under the radar, our families would not be for you!

In defense of my Baby swapping, I only messed it up the entire first day. The 2nd day we only got FPs at Everest & I was doing it the right way. I went to the CM with my family of 5 and asked for a Baby Swap. He didn't ask me, "Which parent is sitting out?" like normal. He asked, "Is this your entire party?" Which threw me for a total loop. In the silence he said, "Obviously not, how many baby swaps do you really need?" At this point Suzy came up & explained to the CM that I kept messing up the Baby Swap thing. Then, the CM launched into this HUGE explanation of how Everest is different and people try to cheat the system. It really did go on & on. But more on that later.

By day 3 we had the Baby Swapping down and didn't mess it up anymore. We really did need the two baby swaps as which kid would we make sit out the next time? It would be totally unfair.

It really isn't that hard. We just have to make everything a little harder by having 4 strollers, 2 babies, and general confusion.

What a great start you all had ~ perfectly smooth! Your DH's sound like my dad. One little thing off schedule, like the sunblock thing would set him off and ruin the day for him Glad everyone was organized so no one got mad!

I have to say, I was going to mention it before, but you have your own DS? Cool! Me too ~ I have the new pretty shiny rose one, I love it so much My sister has the gold Zelda DS and the kids all have their own. Yes, 5 DS's It's neat to see other adults who enjoy playing video games when they have time.

I love all your pictures ~ they turned out super. I can't wait to hear about the rest of your day ~ I bet it was great

Ah, I wanted the rose one but I got mine at a ToysRUs deal and had to take what was available which was white. But then I bought a case that came with Mario Princess stickers for it so it is all decked out and mostly purple. I my Nintendo DS. We had 5 on this trip too, not sure, I get confused. My mom has one too that she loves. We're a pretty gaming oriented family. And we're pretty Nintendo loyal too.

As for my dh, he really is a sweetheart, it's just the strangest things that send him off. I never know. Nowadays he goes off a lot less often. I guess 3 daughters do that to ya. Guess what? You are not it control of your destiny. You aren't even in control of the next 5 minutes. That's what having kids teaches you.

Thanks about the photos. I was pleased as well. I think I'm getting better at WDW photos.

You'll have to stay tune for the rest of our day. It certainly did not turn out how we had planned!

 

[earthfaries]

Ah, I wanted the rose one but I got mine at a ToysRUs deal and had to take what was available which was white. But then I bought a case that came with Mario Princess stickers for it so it is all decked out and mostly purple. I my Nintendo DS. We had 5 on this trip too, not sure, I get confused. My mom has one too that she loves. We're a pretty gaming oriented family. And we're pretty Nintendo loyal too.

As for my dh, he really is a sweetheart, it's just the strangest things that send him off. I never know. Nowadays he goes off a lot less often. I guess 3 daughters do that to ya. Guess what? You are not it control of your destiny. You aren't even in control of the next 5 minutes. That's what having kids teaches you.

Thanks about the photos. I was pleased as well. I think I'm getting better at WDW photos.

You'll have to stay tune for the rest of our day. It certainly did not turn out how we had planned!

I hope it didn't turn out a bad way!

We are all love games in our family too. We also love Nintendo. We have had the gamecube for years and have TONS of games, I mean like 100 Then we bought the Wii a couple of months ago for an early Christmas present for the family. We have collected quite a few games for that too ~ as for the DS's my first one I guess about a year and a half ago was the pink one. Then my oldest son got the red and black one for Christmas last year. Then I bought the blue and black one earlier this year for myself since mine had been played a lot and I just wanted a new one. I gave the pink one to my daughter and after buying the blue one I saw the rose one and had to get that so I gave the blue one to my other son. My sister got hers for christmas from my dad last year. It all worked out great ~ everyone loves their DS and actually my two little ones switched their DS's, my son took the pink one and my daughter the blue one. Then she bought a pokemon skin for hers and he bought Lego Star Wars for his
I love to play Harvest Moon and RPG games. I also like diner dash and cake mania.

 

[StampMom]

I'm loving reading this and waiting anxiously for the next installment!!

 

[estherhead]

I hope it didn't turn out a bad way!

We are all love games in our family too. We also love Nintendo. We have had the gamecube for years and have TONS of games, I mean like 100 Then we bought the Wii a couple of months ago for an early Christmas present for the family. We have collected quite a few games for that too ~ as for the DS's my first one I guess about a year and a half ago was the pink one. Then my oldest son got the red and black one for Christmas last year. Then I bought the blue and black one earlier this year for myself since mine had been played a lot and I just wanted a new one. I gave the pink one to my daughter and after buying the blue one I saw the rose one and had to get that so I gave the blue one to my other son. My sister got hers for christmas from my dad last year. It all worked out great ~ everyone loves their DS and actually my two little ones switched their DS's, my son took the pink one and my daughter the blue one. Then she bought a pokemon skin for hers and he bought Lego Star Wars for his
I love to play Harvest Moon and RPG games. I also like diner dash and cake mania.

We'll end up with more too. We have 2 for our family of five right now. Dh said he didn't want one as he had his eye on something else, but of course he plays almost every night! And now the baby has fallen in love with mine and I see her wandering around just a tap-tapping away. She has no idea what she is doing but they are so easy to use she still manages to play little games just by randomly tapping!

So we'll probably have a third by the end of '09. Mulan is saving up for a few games right now. We have 6 total right now.

I'm loving reading this and waiting anxiously for the next installment!!

Comin' right up!

 

[estherhead]

So after Dumbo our plan was to do all of Fantasyland. We had not written anything down as we have this pretty well figured out. The three rides that have lines in Fantasyland before 10:30 a.m. are Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, and Peter Pan. So if you get FP’s for either Winnie the Pooh or Peter Pan and you ride Dumbo first thing, you can do the rest at your leisure. Peter Pan FP’s in our grubby little hands, we felt confident.

Fantasyland was all but conquered!

So we started with Snow White. I haven’t ridden this in awhile and I was anxious to as I had bought a new Hidden Mickey’s book and wanted to check out if I could find Hidden Mickeys. I read where they could be located to everyone in the line and then we were off.

I found one Mickey pretty quick. But then I kind of gave up because this ride scared Boo to death. So I focused on that and made a mental note that we wouldn’t not be riding Haunted Mansion!

The rest were pretty tricky to find, so said the crew. I think we would have to ride it a few times to find all the ones in that book and I’ve heard tell there is another book with even harder to find ones! Hidden Mickeys are really hidden.

No photos of this ride as it is really dark and I didn’t have any photos turn out so I just deleted them all.

Then we rode Winnie the Pooh. I was a bit worried about Boo in here, but this ride she ADORED. Boo rode with Donald so I was glad she liked it.

I also read the Hidden Mickeys to everyone and we actually found some. Can you find the Mickey in this photo?

And it was over too soon.

After this we decided to see about the line to Tink, even though it wasn’t on the schedule, we just thought if it was small we would hop in. Suzy went to check while some others went to the potty and we settled in to ride the Teacups. And by we I mean not me. Sorry, no spinning Teacups for me. Not a lot gets my tummy in a bunch but riding the Teacups can sincerely ruin my day. It takes me HOURS to recover. Tink, by the way, had a line as Toontown had opened at 9 a.m. so we would have had to rush right there. Oh well, plenty of time to meet Tink later.

Donald bravely asked the CM how many kids he was allowed to take in one cup as we really had smallish kids to be in their own cup. And the nice CM told them as many as would safely fit. No rules. Well, they’re all pretty skinny so a lot of tiny butts fit in one cup.

They had an absolute blast. I was laughing just watching them. And Boo was desperate to get in that cup. “Mommy” as she was tugging on me, “Why am I out here?” Of course she can’t talk, but I’m pretty sure this is what she was saying.

Getting going really fast:

As McQueen stepped off those spinning cups he proclaimed, “That was the craziest thing that has ever happened to me!” What a hoot he is.

After that we went to ride the carousel. First we stopped to try to get the sword out of the stone. Charming, if anyone, should certainly be able to.

But since he couldn’t, we decided to kill My Pal Mickey instead. Sacrificial Mickey.

And then to celebrate, we rode the carousel. Boo had a great time on the carousel until she didn’t. And then she wanted OFF. So I illegally unbelted her & rushed to sit down next to Jack-Jack and Milo. It really was a fairly safe transition but I didn’t want to get yelled at. I’m very anti-getting yelled at.

Here is the series of photos where "Yea, this is fun! Breaks down into, "Yuck, this is awful."

Weee!

Weee?

Wahhh!!!

So we sat here:

After our spin around the cups and our gentler spin around the carousel we decided we need to sit and hopped into Mickey’s Philharmagic. Our timing was absolutely impeccable as the doors opened about 1 minute after we grabbed our 3-D glasses.

We found some seats, which was not as easy as you might imagine since no one, naturally, followed the directions to move to the end of the row. Come on, people, just move to the end of the row. Please? Please?

It was great. Boo was sitting on my lap & I didn’t put glasses on her so it didn’t get too intense. But even still the water and air surprised her. It made me remember years ago when Ariel was this age & I took her to It’s Tough to Be a Bug and one of the effects surprised her so much that she jerked backwards and knocked her head into mine. I had a headache the rest of the day that day.

But no headache here. Jack-Jack, who, remember, felt horrid, had a little “snack” as he is still nursing and this was a perfect opportunity. He felt much better after said snack. And Milo said the apple pie smell reminded him that he could use a little snack.

So we grabbed a few snacks from our coolers in our strollers and carried on our Fantasyland mission.

It’s a Small World!!! Charge! By this point it was close to our 10:30 a.m. deadline as there start to be lines. Small World was about 5 minutes which gave me time to read the Hidden Mickey’s. Peter Pan was 45 minutes. Who’s the smarty with the FP’s, eh? Lookin’ pretty darn smart now, ain’t we?

I love It’s a Small World. When I was a kid (I don’t remember this) we got stuck on It’s a Small World for a very long time and my father consequently hated this ride for a long time. He said it was pure torture to be imprisoned in this ride. I was influenced by this as I’m easily influenced until I had children of my own. It’s just such a great, feel good ride. And you can teach them about other cultures. And it’s cool. And happy. And I’ve never been stuck.

Milo kept saying, "Smile and wave, smile and wave," like the penguins is Madagascar this day because photos were constantly being snapped. But I thought it was especially appropriate for this girl. That was a huge part of her day.

Welcome!

And my blurry, no flash photos:

Don Quixote:

Can you find the Hidden Mickey here?

And this is where we explained to McQueen that this is just lights and fans shining up on paper and not really fire coming out of volcanos. He is so funny. He was equally interested in how things worked. Usually, I'm all for keeping the fantasy alive for kids, but for McQueen he was fascinated with how you could create fantasy. He really liked the idea of fire that wasn't fire.

And on to Utopia:

After this we did Peter Pan. I really like this ride but it always baffles me why it has such a long line. I really don’t think it is that much better than the other rides in Fantasyland. Winnie the Pooh I get. It’s a new, really cool ride. But why does Peter Pan have a 45 min standby time at 10:30 a.m.? No clue.

And not really bothered by it as we popped into the FP line and barely had time to read the Hidden Mickey book. Mulan and Donald had sat this one out. Mulan was starting to be very quiet and moody by this point and something funky was going on. I would have to deal with that later. For now, I’m flying in a boat off to Never-never-land.

Here are my bad photos.

And at that point Fantasyland was done. And what time was it? 11:20 a.m.

Oh yeah, we're good.

To sum up:

Parked, trammed, monorailed, bag checked, ticketed, watched the pre-day train show, Dumbo, met Ariel, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Teacups, Carousel, Philharmagic, Small World, Peter Pan.

All before 11:30 a.m.

And we didn't break a sweat.

The day after Thanksgiving.

Told ya so. Don't want to wait in lines? Follow me!

Next up, we risk the great Frontier.

 

[estherhead]

With Fantasyland under our belt we decided to do a few bonus things. We would be back so we didn’t have to do all of MK this day and we were trying to avoid crowds. The original plan was to grab lunch and then ride Haunted Mansion, Thunder, and Splash and then go ride the train to the front gate around 2:00 p.m. We figured by this point the park would be packed and we wanted to go relax at home.

Well, we had just had a snack and it was just a little early for lunch. So we decided to do Haunted Mansion before lunch. Mulan had firmly said she was not doing it and Boo obviously could not do it since Snow White had terrified her. I wanted some alone time with Mulan so I volunteered to sit it out.

We decided to use our spare time to go get FP’s for Splash Mt. It was a nice walk and we were just looking at the sights. It was pretty empty over there in the far frontier. It may have been a bit earlier than 11:20, I’m not sure as there was no photo stamp anywhere of this portion. So we got our FP’s for Splash and wandered back to the Columbia Harbor House.

She and I were feeling hungry and found a bench under a tree, even though it was cooler we still found we wanted the shade. In under 5 minutes the rest of the family came walking our direction and we all opted to eat right there. It was 11:45 which is right before the lunch crowds so there was only 2 people in front of me in the food line. Milo & I & Charming were to get food and the rest went to find us tables upstairs. They managed to find a quiet little corner with two tables all to ourselves which was very nice.

And this is where the day took a 90 degree turn in the wrong direction.

Milo & I are standing in our respective lines and Suzy starts giving him directions on what to eat and then asks me to help him. I’m sure all 3 of us involved in this exchange would remember it differently, but this is my take.

There was a just a bit of an edge to her voice, ya know? Still polite, but edgy. As she walked away, Milo started mumbling under his breath about the exchange & I said, “I’m sure you’ve got it handled,” thus distancing myself. He simply replied, “Don’t tell me to take care of it and then tell me how to take care of it. I’ll take care of it if I say I will take care of it,” not really talking to me, but talking to the invisible Suzy. Again, edgy.

So, for my family, I opted to get a fish meal and a chicken meal and cups of ice as we had our own drinks. Not sure what Milo got and as things turned out, it probably wouldn’t have mattered what he got.

I went and got ketchup & other misc. things and carried it upstairs to my fam. I then dashed back outside to our stroller to grab a soda.

When I came back I was both surprised and dismayed to find the fish completely gone and 2.5 chicken nuggets left. I really had barely been gone a minute. So I took my 3 french fries and one chicken nugget amidst much glaring from Mulan and Ariel. Obviously, I hadn’t ordered enough. Which wasn’t that big of a deal since we’re at WDW and there is food everywhere.

Until Donald said, “Wow. It’s a really good deal when you can feed a family of five at Disney World for under $15.00. And I’m completely stuffed!” Which made Mulan, Ariel, myself, and perhaps even Boo glare at him. Come to find out Ariel hadn’t liked the fish so he had eaten that meal basically all by himself, minus a few fries. That left the four of us sharing a single meal. Ha! I guess Milo should have helped me order as I wasn’t very good at judging my growing family’s needs. The first few days I struggle with amounts and finally on day 4 I got the hang of our appetites. But the first 3 days I was pretty much hungry.

Take one for the team.

So, while all of that was going on, the other table in our corner with us was undergoing some stress. A lot more stress than simply having 1 full person and 4 hungry people. I wasn’t involved but this is my take. Milo had come up from getting the food irritated. And Suzy had been sitting there while he was getting food realizing that Jack-Jack had turned the corner, as we like to say, and was having trouble breathing.

A little background, McQueen spent a week at a children’s hospital with pneumonia and has asthma and Jack-Jack has also gone to the hospital with repertory issues so Suzy is pretty good at knowing exactly when the corner has been turned. Thus the edge to her voice earlier. But Milo had not been aware of said corner. And so was off to continue the conversation that had irritated him. Suzy wanted none of this as she had rounded an unpleasant corner and could not care less about said lunch. Anyhow, you know how it is in this situation. In a different city, a sick kid, and the stress.

So they decided to go ahead and let the kids ride Splash and then she would get Jack-Jack to a doctor ASAP. We went to change diapers, which I wanted to do the unthinkable and just change them on the floor in our private corner, but Suzy talked sense into me. Sometimes I like efficiency over anything else. But the bathroom was close and it was good anyway as when we came out of Columbia Harbor House Donald and Mulan were sitting waiting (they had left while we were talking about Jack-Jack) and I could see on Mulan’s face that she was seconds away from crying.

I looked at her with my mom look and she said, “I’m bored.” What? That doesn’t even make any sense. So I took her with me and while Suzy went to the bathroom Mulan helped change the babies and sobbed briefly. It was just so disappointing. Ariel and McQueen and Buzz think it’s real and she didn’t and it just wasn’t as fun as she was thinking and she’s just so tired and just wants to go back to the house. I gave her a big hug and told her she was just overwhelmed and it would be fine.

In truth, I think she was a little embarrassed that she hadn’t ridden Haunted Mansion. She was the only kid not brave enough. Though the other things were true as well, I think the embarrassment and disappointment in not doing it is what pushed her over the edge. Also, she just isn’t good with change. And Disney World is a pretty big change from normal life.

But she wiped away her tears, because if there is one thing Mulan is, it’s a trooper. She sucks it up and moves on. She’s a team player too.

Here is Donald taking her well in hand to comfort her as we walked to Spalsh:

And another shot of the view:

And here are Suzy, Milo, and Jack-Jack trying to work out the plan. No smile on Jack-Jack's little face.

Once at Splash there was a LOT of confusion at the entrance as we waited for our baby swaps. First, we did it really wrong, because of me, but also it was crazy because there were a zillion people (I swear, it had been empty 30 minutes earlier and there were at least 5,000 people there when we went to ride) and strollers and scooters, etc. The plan was for me to stay with the babies and call Suzy’s insurance company to find a local doctor. Then I would ride while Suzy called the doctor and then we would ride the train to the front, go back to the house, and then they would go to the doctor.

But things didn’t work out that way.

Here they are still thinking things are going to work out perfectly:

The first issue was her insurance company was closed due to the holiday, even though it wasn’t a holiday. So I couldn’t find an in network provider. Then I called my mom & asked her to just find one on-line. 20 minutes later she still hadn’t called and they were off the ride.

So the kids and us went on and Suzy called Mom. There was a Walgreens right on 192 that had a little clinic in it. Perfect, it was right next to our house. But unfortunately when Suzy called the number they didn’t take babies. Added to this, because of the confusion earlier at baby swap Milo and Suzy had lost one of their strollers. THANK YOU STROLLER CM’s! It had been parked in stroller parking but for some inexplicable reason another stroller was parked there and their stroller was miles away. This wouldn’t have been nearly as stressful if in the utter chaos of trying to call the doctor and insurance company and get baby swap tickets, etc they hadn’t absent mindedly dropped the bag which had their cameras in it in this stroller. It’s the kind of thing you never do unless utterly stressed out.

So Milo spent the entire 20 minutes we were riding searching for that stroller and Suzy spent it trying to find another place to take the baby.

By the time we got off the ride (which I thoroughly enjoyed, by the way) they were frazzled beyond belief.

So we decided to hop the train and head out of Dodge City. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let us take our giant double stroller up the wheelchair ramp and Suzy had had enough. We were splitting and they would see us at the house.

We missed the first train and so had to wait for the next train. I felt bad for Suzy and Milo but I was still having a lovely time and was really looking forward to a train ride.

It came and we hopped on. All aboard! Then Mulan cracked me up, “Little Miss I know It’s All Fake and so Disappointing,” with a huge grin on her face says, “Have we ever ridden a real train before? I’ve never, have I mommy?” Soooo cute.

Here are some views of our very real train ride's very real views:

It was just a wonderful ride, and I was so very grateful so not have to fight the crowds to the front.

Main St.'s not too crowded:

As we were exiting at the main gate who should we run into? Suzy & Milo and the gang. Together again.

Here they are waiting for the monorail still trying to find an easy clinic that is open the day after Thanksgiving and takes babies:

After the monorail, we hopped the next tram and Suzy is starting to get really concerned that Jack-Jack is going to get checked into a hospital or something. We’ve been planning this trip for a year, ya know? This can NOT be happening. And she still does not know where to take him. Milo has been saying from the beginning that we should just take him to the Disney clinic but I felt sure that was only for Disney resort guests.

But at this point the panic on their faces made me grab my cell phone. I try not to get too involved as I know with my own kids I like to be in charge so I can make the sudden decisions. But this was desperate and I'm in marketing and generally can talk strangers into doing whatever it is I want them to. It's just kind of a random skill I have. I try to use it sporadically as it is a skill which should not be abused. But this was definately the time for it to be pulled out.

The night before I had call Pop Century to make sure the opening of Magic Kingdom hadn’t been changed and so the number was still in my call log. I dialed it and got a nice American lady at the front desk. She was utterly baffled by my questions but eventually I got connected to the clinic. I explained our situation and the very nice lady gave me their address and said to come right over. We were worth their time, resort guests or not.

All of this was done while the tram announcer announced and announced. He must have announced we were leaving the station 10 times before we actually left. It was extremely annoying as I kept making the people I was talking to repeat themselves. But they both assured me that they were used to talking over crazy bus & tram announcements.

So I handed the address to Suzy (we both had GPS’s so no need for directions) and we agreed that she & Milo & the baby would go from there and we would take the rest. Thank goodness for those huge vans with lots of seats!

Here we are trying to calmly race to the vehicles:

On our way back to the house we decided that since it was going to get cooler later in the week we would take the kids to Blizzard Beach. I still had their tickets from the FP’s earlier. I called Milo & Suzy to ask if it was OK and they kind of said yes which I ran with.

At 3:00 we arrived at our house and ran around like mad. It took us only 11 minutes to change into swimsuits, grab towels, and pile back into the van. Poor McQueen had had to rush so much his shoes were on backwards. “I knew something wasn’t right, “ he said when we pointed it out. And Buzz’s sandals were a little too small so he mainly just was barefoot.

By 3:30 we were on the beach chilling.

The big kids all went to ride big rides. Only Buzz and Boo and I remained at the wave pool. It was so delightful and the water was warm. Lots of tubes were left and we just floated around. Then Buzz said he had to go to the bathroom and this was the one stressful point of my day, where I personally was stressed and not just having empathy stress.

We went to the potty which is really close to us. There was a party going on behind us with hula hooping and great music. So Buzz goes in and Boo and I are dancing, etc. Good times, good times. Then I realize that time is really ticking away. Tick, tick, tick. It was like 20 minutes. So I start to panic. Could there be another exit and he is wandering around lost? So I send in a nice guy and ask him if there is another exit. He goes in and proclaims, nope, this is the only exit.

He sees the wild look in my eye and asks me my kid’s name. And then he goes in to find him. His son and I are then standing there for like 5 minutes. It seemed like FOREVER. And finally he comes out with Buzz in hand. And Buzz says, I kid you not, “Sorry for the delay.” Ha! Sorry for the delay. What a hoot. He’d just really taken that long.

So we head back to the beach I drop into a chair and Boo starts playing with the tubes. Giggling and laughing. Tubes are fun. And then the waves started and a tube ran her all the way over. Tubes are NOT fun. From that point on she sat on my lap and glared at the tubes. Bad tubes. By this point the rest had come back and we all enjoyed the waves for awhile. It was delightful. On our way out our kids played hopscotch.

This was hilarious to me as they are not the most athletic and they were the first 4 out. Well, except for this kid who really had been out and refused to quit playing. They might not be athletic, but they at least play by the rules!

By this point the park was closing and we were getting hungry. Especially those of us that had really only had a single chicken nugget for lunch. We headed home. Suzy & Milo were done with their appointment and Jack-Jack had passed his oxygen test so no hospital stay needed. Whew! He had double ear infections and breathing issues. They picked up his prescriptions and Milo stopped to get himself a little bar. A badly needed martini was on his to do list. Jack-Jack was back to his old smiley self in two days.

Maybe Suzy can give you details on the Disney clinic.

For dinner, the adults ordered from Red Lobster and we made frozen pizzas for the kids. We ate at 6:30 p.m. which was just way past when we should have eaten. It was not good. (Edited to add that the Red Lobster was delicious, it was the 6:30 p.m. feeding of the by then totally starving children that was not good.)

Suzy and Milo had been supposed to have a date night this night, but obviously that didn’t happen. We just rescheduled it for a different night. We checked the weather and watched Top Chef and went to bed at 10:00 p.m.

So, over all, our first in park day had gone well. We had ridden tons of rides, gone to a water park, laughed and played, and felt the magic. Suzy and Milo had about 6 hours of a very bad time. I had overall maybe an hour of a very bad time.

But we had discovered we could tour together without being ticked off. And we could follow a step-by-step plan where we only waited in lines under 10 minutes. And it was really fun to ride rides with my family.

But Milo had said all day, "Where is the party switch?" and the kids were supposed to say, "It's in the oooooon position." It's a Spongebob saying. But as they were leaving the park I believe it was in the off position. Ours was still in the oooon position. But as he was showing me his liquor purchases later he said it was firmly, and unchangingly, in the ooooon position. And for the most part, that proved quite true.

Tomorrow, we party in Animal Kingdom.

 

[DisDreamz]

Wow what a crazy first day! I was on edge of my seat the whole time .

Funny thing, I bought those same shirts for our trip (turquoise minnie for me and the girls, grey classic mickey for ds).

 

[estherhead]

Wow what a crazy first day! I was on edge of my seat the whole time .

Funny thing, I bought those same shirts for our trip (turquoise minnie for me and the girls, grey classic mickey for ds).

Oh, you will love the classic mickey t. We got so many compliments and people asking us where we bought that t-shirt because you can only order them on-line and you can't buy just an ordinary mickey t-shirt in the parks. It's always Mickey doing something.

I noticed in your siggie that you have been to DL many, many times. None of us have ever been but Suzy might hit you up for some tips as they are pondering going to DL in 2009 (that's a little surprise at the veeerrrry end of this TR) and she was disappointed in how little step-by-step info there is on DL when there is such a ton on WDW.

It was kind of a crazy day. Talk about the height of joy to the lows of despair. But that is a parent's life when you have a big family, right? Someone is always happy or sad or hurt or thrilled or angry or sweet. It's an emotional roller coaster. Maybe that's why we all love being parents, we love roller coasters!

 

[houseful of boys]

From lunch on was definately stressful. Jack-Jack had napped right before we stopped for lunch. When he woke up, I knew I would have to take him to the doctor. He was not his normal self. Anyway, Milo has a hard time adjusting when I'm stressed. I'm not usually a very emotional person or one who stresses so when I do have a moment, it's hard on everyone. Yes, he was furious at me for the way I had handled lunch and I was annoyed that he couldn't just deal with it and forgive me my moment.

Then when he couldn't find our stroller, I was just sick. The one lapse of caution we had and we left our cameras hidden but IN the stroller I couldn't help him look for it as I had a sleeping Boo and a very sick Jack-Jack to care for and was on the phone trying to find where to take him. But Milo, was determined and even though he was certain someone in the massive crowd that had appeared had stolen it, he persevered. Was I ever relieved to see him pushing it towards me after about 15 miniutes.

So after my first attempt failed on trying to find a clinic, I didn't know exactly how I was going to find a doctor. Thank you Perla, for saving me on this! You are my hero when it comes to phone calls.

Perla offered to take my 3 healthy older boys with them home. Well, Milo didn't really want to do this. "We are a family and we stick together" mentality is nice most of the time but as we were getting closer to our respective vans I started envisioning my 5 and 8 yr old whining for the next few hours and I started to panic. So I bit the bullet and was honest with Milo that I wanted the kids to go (not knowing if this would aggrevate our friction or not.) Well, thank you to Milo, because he said, "O.K., if that's what you want." (come to find out he thought he would just sit in the van with the bigger kids while I took the baby in by myself to the clinic, doesn't that sound like fun for eveyone?????)

So a review of Centra Clinic...... It is not a Disney clinic, it's just a close clinic where they shuttle Disney resort guests to. We have only good things to say about this experience. It took probably a little over an hour and that was with a breathing treatment while we were there. We walked out with two prescriptions, one for an antibiotic for a double ear infection and one for a steroid to clear up the wheezing quickly. So we stopped by Walgreens which was right next door and got the scripts filled while we shopped. Jack-Jack had perked up after his treatment and was in heaven because he could play with all the first aid stuff and OTC medicines and by play I mean throwing them on the floor.

Red Lobster was good. Milo was a little annoyed that the kids got fed late (sorry Perla). But he and I were annoyed by a lot of things that afternoon and evening. I was afraid it would bleed over into the rest of our trip but NO WAY! Do you know how long we've been planning for this??? I refused to let it happen. The next morning, I promised to be less argumentative and he promised to be more patient and the party switch was back in the ON position!!

 

[estherhead]

Thanks for the update, Suzy! It was a bit of a difficult end to our first park day. But everyone seemed to have recovered by Saturday morning. We were back on track and some of the nervousness had gone away. No one had completely blown up or melted down and I couldn't imagine we would have a more stressful day than that. So it seemed we had weathered the worst and survived. And even had some special moments.

It was a lovely Saturday morning and I was awake at 4:45 a.m. Shoot! Would this never end? I managed to sleep a little longer but, of course, by 6:00 a.m. those little feet were dashing around.

And here I must pause from the joy of the parks to tell you a different story. The year before we had stayed on site and Tinkerbell had brought my girls presents every morning. They adored this and I swear it saved me a ton of money because they never asked for any souvenirs. Tink had already given them a cool present so there was no need to ask for anything else.

Well this year we weren’t staying oon site. And although it is a bit believable that Tink covers all of WDW, it’s a stretch for a 6 & 8 yr old to think Tink would leave them a present out in Windsor Hills.

So I told them that I would buy them presents every morning. They agreed that this would be OK. But, naturally, this meant Suzy would have to get her kids presents too. She and I are always trying to spend each other’s money.

She agreed and project Dollar Tree commenced.

But I was lax. I didn’t take their daily itineraries and presents up to their rooms each night. I just sat them out on my counter.

Which meant that every morning the girls awakened me (of course I was already awake) pondering where their presents were since McQueen and Buzz had theirs.

So this morning I “woke” to a little, quiet voice saying, “Mommy, do you have a present for me today?” To show you just how important these were I just asked Mulan what she got on Animal Kingdom day and she ran and got her journal as she had written down each day what present she had gotten in the morning.

The first day was playing cards. This day, since we would be seeing lots of animals, we bought them disposable cameras. So all four kids had cameras. McQueen filled his up within minutes practically of being in the park. Mulan still has 12 left. That tells you the difference in their personalities. One is a live in the moment, leave it all on the table kinda kid, and Mulan is a saver, saver, saver to her very core.

So there was dressing and breakfast eating and packing of backpacks and by 7:30 am we were in the vans. We took the Sherberth Rd shortcut to Animal Kingdom. It’s kind of cool because the Disney Auditions area is on this road. Donald had to take control the steering wheel as I almost drove right into there to see if they needed any Minnie Mouses. But Donald kept me in line. Barely. He wouldn’t have minded turning in there either. As a matter of fact, he really had a hard time getting on the airplane to come back home.

So we zipped into the AK parking lot after Milo & Suzy. They always seemed to beat us into the parking lots. For some reason there was some parking confusion and there were 3 different CM’s directing us to different spots and arguing amongst themselves. I was really hoping the one directing us to that close spot would win. Yes! Score! He won. So we beat Milo and Suzy after all. Suckers….

There were a lot of people walking into AK this morning. And stupid AK with it’s crowded walkways. We were parked too close to take a tram and we were immediately on this tiny little sidewalk with the entire parking lot. I was explaining loudly to Ariel how she should get used to be poked and prodded like cattle as we were now entering Animal Kingdom. Much to the amusement of the hordes of people around us.

Behind me Milo was having an equally loud conversation with Mulan about how the Animal in Animal Kingdom is ironic and there are no actual animals in the AK. Of course, this is just the kind of thing to get Mulan all riled up and she was explaining how there are real animals. But Milo insisted. “No, reptiles aren’t animals.” “Birds aren’t animals either.” “And the elephants are just animatronic elephants.” “Nope, no animals in Animal Kingdom. Simply a Disney-cute name.”

So all together the crowds were entertained, which is good because there were no animals to greet us. Where is Terk? Where was Mickey? Why were there no Bugs Life characters? I hadn’t realized they didn’t have the characters outside anymore. That was a bit disappointing.

Take note of Charming's awesome sunglasses.

But not really. We were off. Until the first Photopass person. We had managed to get a few Photopass photos the day before but this was the day it would begin in earnest and we were like hunters hunting down our prey. Ah HA! You cannot hide in your safari camo. We see your camera. And you better run and hide cause we’ve got 2 babies who will never look at you and 5 kids who will be looking to see if the babies are looking at you and 4 adults trying to make the babies look at you. Good luck! Oh, and we’ll need the two families photos taken separately and then the whole group together. K? And we’re in a terrible rush. We’re burning daylight here. Could you hurry it up?

Now you know why they’re in khaki. To avoid people just like us.

So Photopass photos taken, we easily made our way to EE as there weren’t very many people here. I guess some people don’t like to be at parks at 8:00 in the am on their vacation. But considering we were getting up for no reason at all at 6:00 am, it was perfect for us.

See? No people:

So this is where I ran into the strange Baby Swap. I swear to all that is holy, I understood what was going on. But Mister EE Baby Swap Majesty had to make sure that those of us at EE at 8:00 a.m. were on the up & up. Despite the fact that there was no one else anywhere near us and we barely even needed the baby swap. It maybe saved us a minute or two. Maybe.

So I took the babies and McQueen (who had opted out of riding) to get FPs and there was a nice CM there who was chitchatting with me. The CM & I were teaching McQueen to get FP’s & Boo was out of the big double stroller running around the FP area. And all of the sudden the big stroller flips over! Somehow Jack-Jack, who was still very sick, had wiggled his way out of his half done seatbelt and stood up which made the stroller flip! It was like it was tipping in slow motion. With me screaming out & the CM reaching for him

Oh my goodness! He landed on the stroller and was in no way injured but I, of course went flying from the FP machine, the CM had scooped him up which terrified him. So I grabbed him and started checking him & kissing him. Which caused Boo to rush over and start screaming because I am forbidden from holding other babies. She is my only baby. No other babies allowed.

So both babies are screaming. Jack-Jack in my arms. Boo has a death grip around both my legs making it impossible for me to move. By this point people are starting to catch up with us and the FP area is filling us. They are commando focused on those machines and no one even notices the screaming spectacle on the side. So a lady holds up a park ticket & 9 FP’s and says to the CM, “Do these belong to anyone?” He of course says, “Yes, I’ll take them, “ and hands them to me. I had left the FP’s & the final ticket in the machine. Oh lordy.

I settle both babies back into the stroller & give Boo a map to entertain them and rush out of the area and into the gift shop at the end of EE.

I settled in to a little corner with the babies facing me (I was sitting on the floor) and sent McQueen to get all the stuffed animals he could reach. We needed a baby intervention. We ended up with a rhino, a tiger, and a monkey. And I put on a little play for the babies. After about 5 minutes I realized that McQueen who was sitting next to me was thoroughly enjoying our animal play, as were the bored CM’s awaiting the crowds. I KNEW I should have stopped into Disney Auditions today.

It wasn’t a very long play as they had only been gone about 15 minutes and at least 5-10 of those I was creating a spectacle in the FP tent. So I put the animals unceremoniously down. At which point Jack-Jack started screaming and McQueen said, “Hey! What are you doing?” Jack-Jack was crying because the play was over. And McQueen wanted more too! Man I’m good. Sorry kid, it’s time for me to go meet a Yeti.

Don’t just love a mountain climb early in the morning?

I had a goof grin on my face the whole time. And it was blissful riding with my kids and Donald. Just love it. Hearing their little screams mixed with laughs.

Here's a few photos:

Milo got to ride again since McQueen didn't want to:

Our baggage:

Our empty vehicle:

And our geeky post-ride photo:

Once back on firm ground again we went to Primeval Whirl which was open! It wasn’t scheduled to open until Dec 6th, after we were gone. Sweet! I have never ridden this and really, really wanted to. There was the mad dash of who will ride & who will wait and bags flying. Donald for some reason was rushing, just the excitement of it all, and I snapped at him that I had never ridden and I WAS riding first and to back off. I regretted this immediately as it was really snippy and pointless but he didn’t seem to care. Good man. I would have been irritated had it been the other way around.

We measured McQueen who had already not ridden the first ride and he was just short which made him cry. It does look like a ride for five year olds. So Suzy took him and the babies to Triceratop Spin which she said Boo just smiled and loved. While I was a pinball. This is a fun ride, but it certainly won’t be on my must do list again. I was on the outside and was unprepared for this weird bumper to hit me in mid arm right at the beginning. I mentioned it to Charming (who was riding with me on the other side) and he said him too. We had matching black & blue marks the rest of the week. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t really like getting injured early in the morning. So even though I really enjoyed being a pinball and on a logical level thought this was a great ride, I was glad to get off. And not interested in getting back on.

See that big black "bumper" on the bar to Charming's right. Well it isn't a nice, soft squishy bumper. It's a black and blue, hard as a rock bumper.

And here is the track. Pretty cool & fun:

Too bad, Time's Up:

The other thing to note is Charming had JUST bought a new pair of sunglasses and left them on this ride. So he lost his new glasses and got bruised. I would say that is a negative ride experience.

So Milo & I traded out, or maybe Milo didn’t ride at all? Not sure. Anyhow, Donald & Suzy took the big kids on for their turn and Milo took McQueen to the potty while the babies & I went to the Boneyard. And then he met up with us to let McQueen have his fun. I had never been there before and really wanted to let the babies just run around and play.

I was sadly disappointed. This is not a baby playground. I can only imagine when there are actually children in this playground how not baby friendly it would be. As it was, there are these dino footprints and when you stepped on them dinosaurs roared at you. Scary, loud dinos. Neither Jack-Jack nor Boo thought this was a very good idea. So we went to the little baby slides. Which were straight down and fairly terrifying. Neither baby really wanted to go down the terrifying baby slides. And after being an evil mother and forcing Boo, she busted her lip. Figures, right? “Have fun! I insist you have fun!” It can only lead to injury. So Boo and I ended up sitting on a rock listening to “Dinosaur, ooo, ahh, oom, pa, everybody do the dinosaur,” over & over again.

Here she is trying to decide whether to cry or laugh at the dino roars:

Here is Milo being super dad:

McQueen, on the other hand, had a great time as did Buzz. It really is a playground for the kids who can’t or won’t ride Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur. They loved it & it is a cool playground. But don’t be confused and think it is good for babies and toddlers.

Here is Charming playing with Jack-Jack:

And all four boys:

The boys really did enjoy this. Even enough to be climbing so much all over everything that they gave Milo a heartattack. I can't remember if it was Buzz or McQueen but one of them climbed REALLY high onto these boxes. I had been keeping my eye on them as four boys were just a few too many boys for one person to watch and I lost sight for a minute. Next thing I know they're like 2 stories up. Milo saw it just before I yelped and went to help.

A nice place for kids to chill. But go early would be my advice. I bet it'd be horrid once the crowds descended!

What's next on the plan? Let's go back in time and meet some velociraptors!

 

[houseful of boys]

And all of the sudden the big stroller flips over! Somehow Jack-Jack, who was still very sick, had wiggled his way out of his half done seatbelt and stood up which made the stroller flip! It was like it was tipping in slow motion. With me screaming out & the CM reaching for him

Oh my goodness! He landed on the stroller and was in no way injured but I, of course went flying from the FP machine, the CM had scooped him up which terrified him. So I grabbed him and started checking him & kissing him. Which caused Boo to rush over and start screaming because I am forbidden from holding other babies. She is my only baby. No other babies allowed.

So both babies are screaming. Jack-Jack in my arms. Boo has a death grip around both my legs making it impossible for me to move. By this point people are starting to catch up with us and the FP area is filling us. They are commando focused on those machines and no one even notices the screaming spectacle on the side. So a lady holds up a park ticket & 9 FP’s and says to the CM, “Do these belong to anyone?” He of course says, “Yes, I’ll take them, “ and hands them to me. I had left the FP’s & the final ticket in the machine. Oh lordy.

Interesting how this is the first time I'm hearing this story, hmmmmmm????

Once back on firm ground again we went to Primeval Whirl which was open! It wasn’t scheduled to open until Dec 6th, after we were gone. Sweet! I have never ridden this and really, really wanted to. There was the mad dash of who will ride & who will wait and bags flying. Donald for some reason was rushing, just the excitement of it all, and I snapped at him that I had never ridden and I WAS riding first and to back off. I regretted this immediately as it was really snippy and pointless but he didn’t seem to care. Good man. I would have been irritated had it been the other way around.

Accuracy police ahead...... You and Donald rode this with all the kids the first time when all was said and done because Milo and I were on the Triceratops Spin with the little ones. Also, where did Donald go the second time? Because I rode it with Charming, Mulan, and Ariel by myself. (looking for Charming's glasses the whole time - he even asked a girl getting off the ride if her sunglasses were her own. He really was bummed he lost his new glasses especially because Mom and Dad would not be buying a replacement pair. )

The Boneyard was where I first realized that these red shirts were not going to be easy to wear. When I got to the entrance to retrieve everyone the CM guard said to me, "Do you know G.....?(Charming's real name)" Which stopped me cold. It just kind of threw me, was I in trouble? Was Charming in trouble? Then I realized he was pointing at my shirt and said, "G..... just explained to me who everyone was." From then on I was not surprised to get stopped and talked to on the basis of these shirts alone. We got so many compliments on these that Perla could probably make a boatload of money if she wanted to.

 

[podsnel]

Hi! I'm loving reading about all your adventures, all those kids + all you adults = a very funny tale! So sorry Jack-Jack was sick, poor little guy! And those shirts are AWESOME!!! Absolutely love them!

Looking forward to more...

 

[estherhead]

Interesting how this is the first time I'm hearing this story, hmmmmmm????

Accuracy police ahead...... You and Donald rode this with all the kids the first time when all was said and done because Milo and I were on the Triceratops Spin with the little ones. Also, where did Donald go the second time? Because I rode it with Charming, Mulan, and Ariel by myself. (looking for Charming's glasses the whole time - he even asked a girl getting off the ride if her sunglasses were her own. He really was bummed he lost his new glasses especially because Mom and Dad would not be buying a replacement pair. )

The Boneyard was where I first realized that these red shirts were not going to be easy to wear. When I got to the entrance to retrieve everyone the CM guard said to me, "Do you know G.....?(Charming's real name)" Which stopped me cold. It just kind of threw me, was I in trouble? Was Charming in trouble? Then I realized he was pointing at my shirt and said, "G..... just explained to me who everyone was." From then on I was not surprised to get stopped and talked to on the basis of these shirts alone. We got so many compliments on these that Perla could probably make a boatload of money if she wanted to.

I could have sworn I told you I dropped your near death child on his head. No? I can't imagine why I wouldn't have.

OK, I wondered about Donald as he has a photo of both groups on his camera. He and I had this little argument (as mentioned) and then Charming and I hopped on with Ariel. I wasn't sure who went with Buzz & Mulan. Either Milo or Donald. Normally, I run these things by my family before posting but Donald went to the doctor today for a sinus infection and has been a little out of it. And the girls were doing something. Oh well. We've got it now. Look! We got to ride together as couples and it was so romantic... I totally forgot it happened!

Hi! I'm loving reading about all your adventures, all those kids + all you adults = a very funny tale! So sorry Jack-Jack was sick, poor little guy! And those shirts are AWESOME!!! Absolutely love them!

Looking forward to more...

Welcome! Welcome!

It's always great to get positive feedback. We all know these trip reports are just a way of living at Disney while we aren't there but it's also nice to have readers.

Thanks about the shirts. They really did turn out cool and all of us wearing red made it super easy to find each other. After two vacations wearing matching t-shirts, last year just the 5 of us, this year 11 of us, I have to say I'm a big fan. You can sincerely find each other anywhere.

 

[overthemoon4mickey]

I love the fact that Perla posts this amazing very detailed report and then Suzy comes in and adds even more details! So Great....It's like a trip report form 2 sides. I can't wait for more....Keep it coming!

 

[estherhead]

I love the fact that Perla posts this amazing very detailed report and then Suzy comes in and adds even more details! So Great....It's like a trip report form 2 sides. I can't wait for more....Keep it coming!

Hiya! Thanks for your positive input. Donald also sometimes posts. So then we can have even more details because later in the trip we do start to split up more. Donald turned into a "Must see every single corner of Disney," maniac and spent every waking moment at the parks later in the week so he'll have to fill you in because I still don't even really know the stories.

You'll have to get Suzy to tell you the story of her flight down (pre-puking baby.) You can tell from our detailed plans and our matching t-shirts that we are extremely organized about travel. While waiting for Milo to park she witnessed the opposite of us. But you'll have to get her to tell you. She didn't want to hijack the thread with a random non-Disney story. But I, personally, think it's relevant.

A new update will be coming, maybe not for a few days, though. I'm redecorating Mulan's room (I'll post photos when it's done) and I have a wedding cake to make as well. Plus, I work all day tomorrow. So it may be crazy till Saturday night.

But then it's Christmas break I've taken time off work to just hang with the fam and I swear it'll be TR crazy!

 

[joally]

Wow, thanks so much for all the details, Perla! Any chance you could post that grocery list? My husband and I and our 3 boys leave on 12/24 and have an off-site house like you did, but I don't plan on doing any "real" cooking. You are so organized, I just love you. My friends think I am so weird for planning a step-by-step itinerary for every day.

I think I'm going to do the dollar tree presents, too! Awesome idea!

I hope you get time to finish your TR before I leave. It's so helpful!