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[scdvcwannabe]

Your report is detailed and informative. My sister in Tampa echoes your thoughts on Florida Walmarts. I can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!

 

[estherhead]

Just subscribing awesome trip report

Thanks!!!!

Your report is detailed and informative. My sister in Tampa echoes your thoughts on Florida Walmarts. I can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!

Oh my goodness! I got your very first post. I'm so honored. Welcome to the Disboards & beware, it's a very addicting crowd.

 

[estherhead]

Just checking in and saying hey to all my readers. I'll be back as soon as my computer is up & running. And my kids are back in school.

 

[disney4us2002]

Very fun read so far. I am feeling so torn reading, part of me misses this stage with my 3 boys who are now 12, 15, and 19 and part of me is thinking thank goodness I won't have a baby, stroller, diaper bag, and assorted crap at Disney. I'm amazed that you've reported many days so far without any real fighting!! It seems my dh & I always manage to have one big, ugly fight at Disney - mostly because I'm a type A planner and he is a go with the flow type that drives me batty! Nothing says vacation like ticked off people, lol.

My dh and big boys refuse to wear the matching shirts at this point but I think yours are great! The tie-die is very cool but I've never managed to make one myself.

How many scrapbook pages will you make with 1300 photos? It boggles the mind.

 

[estherhead]

Very fun read so far. I am feeling so torn reading, part of me misses this stage with my 3 boys who are now 12, 15, and 19 and part of me is thinking thank goodness I won't have a baby, stroller, diaper bag, and assorted crap at Disney. I'm amazed that you've reported many days so far without any real fighting!! It seems my dh & I always manage to have one big, ugly fight at Disney - mostly because I'm a type A planner and he is a go with the flow type that drives me batty! Nothing says vacation like ticked off people, lol.

My dh and big boys refuse to wear the matching shirts at this point but I think yours are great! The tie-die is very cool but I've never managed to make one myself.

How many scrapbook pages will you make with 1300 photos? It boggles the mind.

I'm torn about loving having a baby and wishing she would grow up! Jack-Jack was a total surprise. Suzy certainly didn't plan on having 4 kids. But we do pretty good, quite frankly. So I guess it's OK that she and I became the quintessential MOM. It definitely does define what we can & cannot do. I think both families are looking forward to a few years from now when we can have a tiny bit of freedom. McQueen was the perfect age this time. We thoroughly enjoyed him and he was almost enough on his own to make us glad we went with Suzy & Milo.

As for fighting, we can have a good knock down, drag out fight like the rest of them. That is actually why Suzy & I planned so thoroughly & so precisely.
To avoid the fighting. And we were very proud of ourselves because it did work.

Donald says it's not fighting. It's aggressive negotiation.

The scrapbooking is a big issue in my mind so it is funny you bring it up. It actually kept me awake last night. That's sad, isn't it? I just kept pondering & pondering as I want to order photos today so they are here by next week. And I'm just so worried. I really don't want a scrapbook the size of my kitchen. For one trip to Disney. And yet... We have some killer photos.

I guess I'll just have to make the hard calls as I'm sorting. I still haven't done 2007's trip! And we had over 600 from there. 300 just Photopass.

 

[cjsteiger]

I'm loving your TR. Subbing
I just wanted to tell you that we stay at the Fort Wildreness Cabins and we love it. We have only 4 people but it can sleep 6 and you have a full kitchen with all the necessary cooking untensils, a dishwasher and mousekeeping everyday. This would fullfill your husbands onsite desire and yours for a house. We first stayed here because my parents stay in their motorhome and we wanted to be close but this year when they weren't coming we decided to stay there as we like the house feeling as opposed to a room. Now they are coming (I knew they would) and we will be able to be near each other.

Looking forward to reading more.

Cheryl

 

[estherhead]

I'm loving your TR. Subbing
I just wanted to tell you that we stay at the Fort Wildreness Cabins and we love it. We have only 4 people but it can sleep 6 and you have a full kitchen with all the necessary cooking untensils, a dishwasher and mousekeeping everyday. This would fullfill your husbands onsite desire and yours for a house. We first stayed here because my parents stay in their motorhome and we wanted to be close but this year when they weren't coming we decided to stay there as we like the house feeling as opposed to a room. Now they are coming (I knew they would) and we will be able to be near each other.

Looking forward to reading more.

Cheryl

Fort Wilderness has always appealed to me. Is it expensive?

 

[cjsteiger]

This is the 2009 Pricing on the Cabins

The Cabins at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort
from $265*Value Season
(1/01 - 2/12)
(7/19 - 10/01)
(11/29 - 12/17)

from $315*Regular Season
(3/30 - 7/19)
(10/2 - 11-29)

n/a Summer Season

from $355* Peak Season
(2/14 - 3/29)

from $395* Holiday Season
(12/19 - 12/31)

n/a Pre-Holiday Season

We always go in Peak Season because my hubby is a teacher so we go over the president's holiday as his school gets the whole week off. The kids are in a different district and they only get one day, bummer.

This is the first time ever we have gotten a deal. I was able to use the 4 for 2 deal and got the $200 GC. As you can see I'm very happy.
Cheryl

 

[caa1277]

Really enjoting your TR so far. Can't wait to read more!

 

[CAJS04]

Subscribing. This is great! Keep up the good work!

 

[estherhead]

This is the 2009 Pricing on the Cabins

The Cabins at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort
from $265*Value Season
(1/01 - 2/12)
(7/19 - 10/01)
(11/29 - 12/17)

from $315*Regular Season
(3/30 - 7/19)
(10/2 - 11-29)

n/a Summer Season

from $355* Peak Season
(2/14 - 3/29)

from $395* Holiday Season
(12/19 - 12/31)

n/a Pre-Holiday Season

We always go in Peak Season because my hubby is a teacher so we go over the president's holiday as his school gets the whole week off. The kids are in a different district and they only get one day, bummer.

This is the first time ever we have gotten a deal. I was able to use the 4 for 2 deal and got the $200 GC. As you can see I'm very happy.
Cheryl

Wow, thanks for the thorough pricing info! You should be happy. It's nice to get a good deal on exactly what you want. I'll look closer into it next time we go but it's a bit on my high end of what I can pay. Right on the limit so I'd have to make sure it was exactly what we wanted.

Really enjoting your TR so far. Can't wait to read more!

Thank you so much. I'm really anxious to get to writing, just computer issues are holding me back & dh's comp isn't the same. I might take the plunge & write a bit tomorrow on his but I know the complications will stunt my skills!

Subscribing. This is great! Keep up the good work!

Hiya! Welcome and thanks for reading. Stick with me & I'll really get to going and get a chapter or two a day starting next week!

 

[estherhead]

OK, I'm going to try to continue my trip report on Donald's computer and I managed to get a few photos uploaded. But I'm going to break into much smaller sections so you are going to be seriously teased with like one hour at a time!

When last I left you, I was having a blissfully relaxing evening.

Unfortunately, the relaxation did not last when I awoke. I awoke to mayhem. Charming actually woke me up. I can't remember exactly why. But I remember it was a real reason and I had no choice but to awaken and get out of bed.

I had a sore throat. Darn it. That is all I could think. I did not want a cold. I was having too good of time. I mean, I knew it could happen since we had brought a sick kid with us but with 11 people you just don't want to start the illness cycle. At home or on vacation the illness cycle with our family is simply the pits because it takes a full month to work its way through all of us.

But obviously it had begun. So I took 2 Tylenol & when that didn't do it, I took two more. Add a cup of coffee that Milo had made and I was ready to truly face the chaos. Here is McQueen in his new Mickey ears hat instead of the propeller hat:

Truthfully, this morning was such a blur I have no recollection of it. All I know is we were bound and determined that we were going to ride Toy Story Mania and we were not going to wait in a line for it. Period. So our goal was to be out the door by 8:15 and bag checked, ticketed, and at rope drop by 8:45.

This led to babies and bags and Star Wars t-shirts flying left and right and overhead. At some point I'm sure there was breakfast bars and Bagelfuls handed out. And I know I had my cooler this day packed with drinks and snacks. But that's about it. I have no idea how it actually came together.

What I do know, is we were in the vehicles pulling out of our drive at 8:10 a.m. Ahead of schedule. Sheila, our trusty GPS, was programed for DHS and we were off.

Now this is where you need a handy dandy tip. DHS has 2 entrances. And Sheila led us to the main entrance. However, I was driving. And I am not that good at following the GPS. I'm terrible it at. Donald says I get too distracted by shiny things, "Oooo, look!" and I'm off course following the shiny light (like Dory in Nemo following the scary deep water creature with the light.) That's me.

But on this day my distraction proved to be a blessing as there is a second, secret DHS entrance which is VERY close to Windsor Hills. As Sheila was yelling at me & consequently Donald was yelling at me, I was driving into DHS, defiantly saying, "I KNOW Sheila is telling me to keep going but I see a DHS sign and I'm going to follow the Disney signs."

We parked very close and had no need to take a tram as we could see the entrance. Suzy & Milo had followed the GPS and gone to the real entrance. So we didn't wait.

When we got to bag check there was a HUGE line. But that didn't bother me because I am a master at avoiding bag check lines. I grabbed my 3 bags & sent the rest to stand in line for ticketing. Now the bag check area at DHS is positioned in a way that makes the center line end abruptly at a flower circle. So it is very short as only about 3 people can stand in it. So I climbed up on the cement of the flower circle and hopped behind the last person. I was through that LONG line in about 3 minutes. Follow me!

By the time I met up with the fam Milo & his fam was with them and it was 8:30. Not too shabby. 20 minutes to drive from off site, park, walk to the entrance, and do bag check. We were a full 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Yippee!!!!

Too bad for us, they make you stand outside the ticketing area until 8:45 so we had to just stand there for 15 minutes. And we hate that. But I do probably recommend it just the same as by the time the ticketing opened there were a LOT of people behind us. I just wish they would open at 8:30 as we weren't really into the park until about 8:55 a.m. which meant we missed the DHS opening show. This irritated me as I like to see the opening show at DHS. And the way they are currently doing it only about 5 people got to see it from the very beginning.

Anyway, here we are waiting in our 15 minute line pre park opening.

As the show ended Suzy & I braced ourselves. I had been trying out names for this rope drop. We lovingly call the MK one the Dumbo Dash. From all I read, this one was the pits. Only meeting Tinkerbell proved more dangerous to your health. What to call it? The Toy Story Trek? The Pixar Push? The Mania Marathon? I finally settled on the Mad Mania March. We made sure all small children and bags were secured and went over the strategy again.

We would ride first and then if there was no line we would get FP's for later in the day. And then we would go to the first showing of Jedi Training Academy at 9:55. We looked over the map and prepared the fastest way to Pixar Place.

And then, we were off. There was no real need to look at the map as EVERYONE was doing the Mania March. And it was a March. We were a Woody and Buzz parade. Most people just followed the nice CM's leading us. But of course there were the crazy few that were trying to go against the system. There really is no reason. They block all other ways to Pixar Place and they are dead serious about you participating in the March. So we were obedient.

But the children were well aware that upon arrival the strollers would be frantically pushed into stroller parking and they would need to move quickly to not be left in the dust. We maneuvered around the FP lines and parked and were quickly pushed inside the building. Which was AMAZING!

I was very focused on photos and Donald was also interested in this. So Charming was in charge of Boo. Aren't they adorable?

I agreed to ride with her as we all knew that whoever had the babies would not get to play as easily as those without babies. I still didn't do too terrible.

Here is Milo & Charming in their car:

And Suzy & Buzz. Where is Jack-Jack?

And my screen at the end:

My score, Boo didn't have one.

And the kids loving every minute of it at the end:

The great thing about this ride is it is 3D and a ride and participatory. I loved it. And it is very well themed.

And guess what? We were done by 9:15 a.m. That means from rope drop to exit, which includes the walk there and the riding of it, was only 15 minutes. I call that a rousing success.

We grabbed the strollers and dashed out of Pixar Place. Pixar Place is a horrible place currently. It is simply full of people at all times. Unless you are riding Toy Story, avoid it at all costs.

Our next goal was to get a kid or two on stage to battle Darth Vader. We were all dressed in Star Wars t-shirts and we had schooled the children to jump around and look like they would be a fun addition to the show. But we were too early so the kids all went to ride Star Tours first. I took the babies to get FPs for ToT and RnRcoaster. I could get them for both as bot very many kids wanted to ride ToT so I only got 4 of those & 5 of RnRcoaster. This way we could get baby swaps for RnR and all get to ride that and just send one group through ToT.

Jack-jack fell asleep on this trek to which I said thank goodness as he was a crank. And we were about to stand and watch a show and I did not want him cranking all through the Jedi Training Academy.

I grabbed a few snacks/waters from the cooler and sat down outside Star Tours which was starting to have a few kids. I got a tiny bit worried about our kids chances as there was a kid in full Darth Maul makeup with a costume on. I mean really, how could we compete with that. But before I had too much time to worry they were off Star Tours and in the holding area that they choose kids from and then the Jedi Master Chooser came out to decide which of our kids had a strong Mediclorian Count.

In my head I was chanting, "Please choose McQueen. Please choose McQueen. Please choose McQueen."

Stay tuned to see if I have Jedi powers. These are not the droids you are looking for. You will stay tuned and read my Trip Report.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Yeah- another update! Just wondering- did you get fastpasses when you left TSM? Did you notice what the stand-by time was after you walked out?

 

[estherhead]

Yeah- another update! Just wondering- did you get fastpasses when you left TSM? Did you notice what the stand-by time was after you walked out?

We did get FP's but not until after Jedi Academy (next update I'll tell you about it.) Standby by was about 30 minutes when we came out at 9:15. And the FP lines were super long. The FP lines here are so consistently long there are actual permanent metal line markers for each FP machine. When I came back at around 10:15 there were still people getting FP's but not a long line and it was at 70 minutes standby but they claimed it always said that and was really longer. And at 10:30 the FP return time was around 3:00. But this all proved to be a story unto itself which you'll just have to stay tuned.

The RnR & ToT FP's were return time of 10:10 when I got them at around 9:20 a.m.

Hope this all helps. It was the Monday after Thanksgiving and I think it may have been a 5 on UG or maybe a 6. Can't remember but I know it was just medium crowd.

 

[houseful of boys]

Anyway, here we are waiting in our 15 minute line pre park opening.

It was starting to get cold in Orlando, so Milo bought a Grumpy sweatshirt while we waited for them to open the gate(which did take forever). I was kind of bummed because of course there was only one choice and I thought a bit pricy, but he had to have it. And I suppose he should be allowed to be warm

I finally settled on the Mad Mania March.

I called this Toy Story Madness.

And Suzy & Buzz. Where is Jack-Jack?

I'm pretty sure you took pity on me and rode with both babies.

I did love, love, love Toy Story Mania. I would love to ride it again. I have a hard time with the laser little red light I'm supposed to aim on Buzz Lightyear. But this ride was so easy to aim and I got the highest score out of our group (200,000 and something). Plus the theming is really fun. Highly recommended.

 

[estherhead]

I'm pretty sure you took pity on me and rode with both babies.

Ahhh, did I have both babies or did I have Jack-Jack and Donald have Boo? I can't remember. I just remember that I had one squirming baby for sure. Maybe I did have Boo too and she was sitting next to me but couldn't figure out how to shoot? I know remember having Jack-Jack but can't remember Boo. How sad is this?

I obviously loved this ride because I remember lots of details and just how fun it was, but I can remember our kids at all.

 

[estherhead]

When last I left you I was using my Jedi powers on the Jedi Academy Choosing CM. Chanting frantically, "McQueen, McQueen, McQueen" in my head.

Now I must divert this story just a bit and tell you all about McQueen and his temperment because so far in this story you have only heard about cute McQueen. But that has not always been the case.

I can't remember at what age it began, but for at least the last year McQueen has had some serious anger management issues. I know, I know, four year olds do. But McQueen is our 5th kid and let me tell ya, his 4 year old fits were WAY worse than our other kid's fits. Way worse. Suzy and Milo tried everything to help him deal with disappointment and anger. EVERYTHING (well, everything legal and not abusive so don't get too carried away with your little imaginations. ) But to no avail.

By the end of the summer we were just praying for kindergarten to begin so he could learn a little restraint. It began at the end of August and I think the whole family said a little prayer for his teacher.

And guess what? He's the best kid in the class. His favorite new saying is, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." Suzy's first parent teacher conference she kept looking at his file to make sure it was really Mcqueen's as it only said positive, wonderful things. It was a miracle.

Now I tell you all this story to help you understand my fears as I was hoping to avoid a full McQueen meltdown as this disappointment would sure test his new kindergarten skills of restraint and generosity. I also tell you because McQueen stood with the group of kids and using his new kindergarten skills of patience and being quiet. He quietly put his hand up and awaited his turn.

And Disney is not Kindergarten. Restraint is not rewarded.

My Jedi powers did not work.

Two of our kids did get picked. These two:

Buzz and Mulan. The two third graders who threw caution to the wind and jumped an yelled frantically. How to get picked? That was our question. And here is my take. Wearing matching Star Wars shirts helped for sure, had they not been black I think it would have been even better. Standing at the front definitely helped. And I bought bright Mickey hair tyes for Mulan's hair, not on purpose to get her chosen but just because they were cute. I'm almost 100% positive these hair tyes got her chosen. She was absolutely adorable. And they want animated kids. The children jumping and flailing got chosen. So to sum up, matching clothes, Star Wars themed, bright adorable clothing and hair accessories, front of the pack, jumping and flailing. Ages 6-9.

I'll get back to McQueen's story in a moment. I'll say this, right to begin with he said nothing. He just watched the show. Whew, no fit. Thank you Kindergarten. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

So to the show. It is cute. The guy running it does funny Star Wars/Jedi jokes and keeps the show moving. Which is good as each & every kid chosen gets a turn to fight Darth Vader. "Right shoulder, left shoulder, right leg, left leg, DUCK, head." It was cute.

Vader's dramatic entrance:

Trying to get the new padawans to come to the dark side:

Mulan's turn to duck:

Mulan battling him with her saber:

Buzz wore his hood the entire time. Why? Not sure. But it was cute.

It was at this point, after I saw my own kids fight Vader that I ran back to Pixar Place to get FP's to Toy Story Mania. I had had to wait until after our ToT time to get the next FP's. It was insane over there, as always. There was still a bit of a line but I was only second. I got the the machine and sent through our tickets. Except one. The return time had switched while I was getting the last FP's so I had to stand there and wait 5 minutes until I could get the final FP. It was irritating.

Our return time was for after 3:00 which worked perfectly into our schedule. So I ran back to Star Wars and they were just finishing up. I had missed the awards ceremony where each kid had gotten an award which Mulan is still extremely proud of.

And what did McQueen say? As Buzz came of the stage McQueen asked, "Buzz, will you teach me those moves when we get home?" Are you kidding me? He was OK with it. He was growing up. A true 5 year old. Able to deal with disappointment in a big boy way. YEAH! Our day was still on track.

Now a Photopass diversion. I am not going to bore you to death with photos, though I was forced to be bored to death. First of all there is a Photopass guy at the Jedi Training Academy who just snaps away. More on that later as to how you get those photos. But let me say there were like 30. So after we put the cool Star Wars borders on each of those it turned into 60. Then each person got on the speedsters which gave us maybe 100 of those photos. Then we fought a superimposed Vader and have 50 of those. I don't even know. We have OODLES of Star Wars Photopass photos.

Here is my shot of us taking the Vader shot:

And here is what one of these looks like with the Vader put in:

And here is a speedster photo with one of the cool borders:

This one looks even cooler from the front but I couldn't find one of those quickly. So you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

And the other cool border:

So after spending a VERY long time in the Star Wars area we were ready to move on. Next on the list was the Backlot Tour. We gathered everyone up and headed that way. But we were distracted. By the Writer's Shop. I really needed more coffee as I simply wasn't getting enough sleep. So I suggested we pop in for a snack and coffee. I thought it was so cute because Milo said, "Do we have time for that?" Poor men. We had them on such a tight schedule they thought they couldn't get coffee.

But we had time. So we went into this delightful little spot. It's a book store very much like your local coffee shop. There was no line and the coffee was super yummy. We also got the kids baked goods to share and those were really yummy too. I give this little spot an A+ and will go there again.

Anyhow, we're off to Backlot Tour. Unfortunately it was still too early for it and it wasn't running yet. So we decided to move on to our next point and we split up into family groups. Mulan had a top priority of doing the Animation Studio stuff as she LOVES art and McQueen needed to see Indiana Jones who is his newest hero.

Stay tuned to see what we did while we were apart from each other...

 

[ehstrojette]

your kids looked like they had a real blast ,can;t wait to see more pics

 

[uprivermama]

Just had to pop in and tell you that you kept me up till after 11:00 last night reading your report to date! I love your style. Your attitude about crowds and kids and husbands sounds so much like me, I would think we were sisters! I'm planning a 2010 trip for Jan/Feb and we're going with my DH's brother's family, my MIL and her sister. Guess who's in charge of planning? Yep, me. And my BIL is certifiably OCD, so lots of big fun there (he's got some quirks like Milo, I think). We're renting a home in Windsor Hills too, so it's been interesting hearing your perspective on that.

Also, the Jedi Academy--oh, the agony of guessing who'll get picked and who won't!!! My two boys both got picked last year in Disneyland, but I can only imagine the meltdown that would have ensued if that had not been the case. McQueen showed maturity beyond his years. I know for me and my boys, seeing them experience was definitely the highlight of their trip--they're StarWars fanatics. My younger DS was the one who got to force slam Darth Vader (sorry, I can't remember what they call it when he held up his hands to use the force to push them back), and I swear, he did it right on cue like he had rehearsed with the cast members!! Pride was radiating from me, standing there watching my young padawan!

Anyway, keep up the great report. It's great!!!

 

[estherhead]

your kids looked like they had a real blast, can't wait to see more pics

They did have fun. Boo right now when the new What Will You Celebrate commercials come on runs from whereever she is and stares at the TV and then dances and points and has a little "I wanna go to Disney World" fit. And whenever I get dh's computer she comes running because she thinks I'm going to look at Disney photos. Yeah, we had a good time.

Just had to pop in and tell you that you kept me up till after 11:00 last night reading your report to date! I love your style. Your attitude about crowds and kids and husbands sounds so much like me, I would think we were sisters! I'm planning a 2010 trip for Jan/Feb and we're going with my DH's brother's family, my MIL and her sister. Guess who's in charge of planning? Yep, me. And my BIL is certifiably OCD, so lots of big fun there (he's got some quirks like Milo, I think). We're renting a home in Windsor Hills too, so it's been interesting hearing your perspective on that.

Also, the Jedi Academy--oh, the agony of guessing who'll get picked and who won't!!! My two boys both got picked last year in Disneyland, but I can only imagine the meltdown that would have ensued if that had not been the case. McQueen showed maturity beyond his years. I know for me and my boys, seeing them experience was definitely the highlight of their trip--they're StarWars fanatics. My younger DS was the one who got to force slam Darth Vader (sorry, I can't remember what they call it when he held up his hands to use the force to push them back), and I swear, he did it right on cue like he had rehearsed with the cast members!! Pride was radiating from me, standing there watching my young padawan!

Anyway, keep up the great report. It's great!!!

Too cool about both boys and Star Wars! It really is a great show for kids. Ariel didn't get picked either and she spent an entire year of her life carrying around a Boba Fett pin so I was surprised she wasn't more disappointed but she took it in stride.

Good luck with the planning! Ah the agony and the joy. It's so funny as it is a bit of a burden and yet there is no way I'd be willing to hand it over. A real catch 22. That's what that is. A catch 22.

Thanks for reading you guys! Thanks for reading everyone! It's such a pleasure to share our trip with all of you.