Don't worry, we will be to WDW on time!

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Well our pre-trip started out with a last minute change of plans that you can see in this thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3068207

Long story short, impending (forecasted) major snow fall, then coupled with a late medical issue turned our 3 hour flight into a 22 hour drive. Final decision to drive was made less than 24 hours before we packed the car and headed out.

So after everything that had been happening, DS7 was worried about missing or being late to our trip "home" to see Mickey. This was on a Thursday after school, and I reassured him,"Don't worry, we will not be late for our vacation, I will do whatever needs to be done for us to get there on time." A big smile grew across his face, almost Grinchish (ironic because the Grinch is one of his favorite movies).
I had already picked up everything that we may need from AAA, just in case "the drive" was going to happen. As soon as DS went to bed, around 7pm Thursday night I made all the final preps and frantically packed up the car, so that it was ready for us to all ride to work/school together on Friday morning, then hit the rode imeadiately after picking up DS from school.
DS has a difficult time sleeping the night before we head to WDW, so we elected not to tell him that we were driving until Friday morning when he woke up. DS loves cars, so needless to say when he realized that he would get to ride down the coast, see some landmarks and lots of cars, he was bouncing off the walls. We tried to remind him that he still had to get through the school day first( and us our work day as well ) I decided a trip to Dunkin' Donuts on the way to school would be a good breakfast option, no dishes left in the sink that way (plus fast/quick service food was about to be a menu staple anyway for the next week, so we might as well get a head start).
The morning went great, car was ready, food in our bellies, now to just get thru our days and to "the drive".

I will continue more later tonight (hopefully, if not then tomorrow.)

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Part 2..
So we get thru the day, DW's antibiotics are helping she is feeling better, we pick up DS at school ten minutes early to beat the rush of the car line of parents at the end of the day, and we're off.
Things are good, the sun is out and we are on the open road headed south, then the magic 5 o'clock hour comes and poof thousands of cars appear on the empty road, as we pass(crawl) through Springfield, Ma. No big deal we were expecting that, plenty of conversasation and snacking as everyone is excited about seeing the Mouse real soon. We get through the traffic and DW says it would be great if DS could see the Empire State building, even from a distance, so we take the George Washington route(instead of the normal Tapan Zee sp?) So I say, "Sure DW that sounds....like a great idea." All the while knowing that it would probably be much to the contrary. Well after 2 hours seeing the beautiful "scenic" GW route through NYC, we did see the Empire State Building lit up in all of its glory.
Now slightly behind schedule, but I am still wide awake as DW and DS are getting sleepy and drifting off to sleep. I find that this is the perfect time to turn on some ESPNRadio, have a caffienated beverage and keep on truckin'. I finally pull in for the night in Aberdeen, Md. Got a great hotel, and DW and DS only awoke when I pulled in to gas up just before checkin. It was now just shy of midnight and we all get into the room for some shuteye. DW and DS fell right back asleep, I on the other hand behind the caffeine and the excitement of what lies just ahead, felt like one of the kids from the Disney commercial from about 3 years back. "I'm too exited too sleep."
I finally doze off around 1am and then I am back up about 6am, which is late for me, usually a 5am riser everyday. When I go down to the car to clean it out from the previous day's waste and reorganize it for today's journey, I am greeted by a great surprise. The hotel serves free breakfast, not continental, but eggs, sausage& gravy biscuits, pancakes, waffles, and all kinds of pastries. So we all shower, go down to check out, and sit down to enjoy a nice non-fast food energizing breakfast. I can not overstate how HUGE a fan I am of sausage gravy biscuits , so I was in heaven with my heaping pile of breakfast yummies.
So then we are back on the road, headin' southbound, a little drizzle (but not freezing), so we are feeling good. We hit Pedro's South of the Border (after the 100 or so signs leading up to it that kept DS quite amused) around noon, and stopped for lunch and gas about an hour later. There was a convenient Walmart at the exit too, so I grabbed a couple things that DW realized that "I" may have forgotten. Then back on the road, making good time, and then a funny thing happens. After lunch DW's antibiotics really started to kick in, like in an allegic reaction way. Her lip started to feel kind of funny, and swelled up a little. She has had the "z-pack" before and had no issues, but she looks it up and sees this is a possible side effect. So she takes some Benadryl and waits to see how she feels, after about 15 minutes it starts to feel better and the swelling goes down slowly. We talked with the nurse at Dr. office and she said to continue the Benadryl, and seak attention if anything worsened. Ok, we can do that 700 miles from home, happy for cell phones and internet. DW was fine from then on as long as she was taking her Benadryl every 6 hours for the next 4 days, if it went any longer, her lip swelled a little and reminded her to take it, kind of like a biological timer.

Got to go, will add more later...

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Part 3
So we are getting closer by the hour, counting down states has turned to counting down miles by the 100's and is slowly turning to counting down the last hours until that great welcome sign. Then we hit that band of downpours which had been thunderstorms and tornado threats as it moved across the south. No problem, we can do this, for most of Georgia all the way through Jacksonville, standing water in the far left and right lane, so only travel happening (other than those wishing to be stunt drivers) was in the one middle lane, or middle two when it got four lanes wide. DW and DS sltill snoozing at night, me listening to my sports talk radio, and then we break through the storm into nice dry 70 degree air. It is almost 10pm by this time and only a couple hours to go until we reach our destination for the night. I was determined earlier in the day that we would get to he Mouse not just on time, but early. In this thought process I called ahead and had booked a room for the night at the Holiday Inn across from Downtown Disney. I woke them up to see the welcome sign, DS smiles and then went right back to sleep. He wakes again as we are passing DTD to our left and says,"Hey that's Disney!, Mama, Papa we are here, we made it!" That was worth the trip. We checked in, got a great night sleep on what felt like the most comfortable beds in the world. When we got up in the morning and were thinking about breakfast options DS came up with the suggestion of Seasons in the Land. We ran with that and headed for Epcot, since we knew our check in at Kidani would be many many hours away as it was only about 8am. So we repacked the car and headed to see the Geodesic Sphere. Even with our paper annual passes we got through the gates fairly quickly, only took about 10 minutes. First stop was to grab a fast pass for TT, DS's favorite ride. Then we did a quick walk through Mouse Gear to get ideas about what new things had come out since our last trip, also we try to get DS to see things first and work on waiting to buy until he knows what he really wants. He is prone to have the feeling that money is burning a hole in his pocket, and spend it as soon as possible. He had worked to earn money, and been given gift cards from family members for different occasions for this trip. So he felt like his pocket Watson fire at that time. After we did our browsing we continued over to Seasons and had a great breakfast. DW got the bounty platter, DS got the panini breakfast sandwich, and I got an assortment of pastries
After eating breakfast, I realized it was time to play the fast pass game, TT was now ready to use, so we grabbed FP's to Soarnin and headed for TT.

Got to so and shovel/ snow blow, enjoying the snow day but the 9 inches of snow so far with more to come I can do without.
I will write more later.

 

[hops&dreams]

Great so far... Can't wait to read more!


Glad the swelling in your dw's lip stopped there. I once had an allergic reaction to a medication (that I had been taking daily for 3.5
years- just developed a severe allergy overnight!) and swelling started with hives and quickly escalated. Within 30 mins, I passed out as a neighbor drove me to the hospital!!! I now carry an epi pen, and when I go to Disney, I carry at least 2 at all times.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[luckylady]

Glad that DW knew what to do with the reaction. Ahhh brave soul youe son is at his age to like TT. Not me I'm a chicken!

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Part 4...
Sorry for the delay, after clearing the snow I started reading the Kingdom Keepers books. We just got them this past trip, had looked at them many times, just hadn't bought them, now I find myself wanting to read in every free minute.
Anyway...
We went for our first ride on the re-imagined TT. I had read many reviews online, but his would be the true test. It had been DS7 favorite ride since he was tall enough, and he is in love with cars in general. It was a little Tron-ish, didn't bother us though. DS and DW gave it two thumbs up. Although I think DS's favorite part isn't as much the ride, but the after show when he gets to sit in the driver seat of all the showroom cars as he pretends to be the parent driving his kids(DW and I) around to swim class, school, and of course Disney. We spent a good 30min checking out the showroom cars, and then he was ready to move on, and what timing as the Soarin' FP's were now ready to use(We have always done our best to stick to the FP times in the past, and rarely missed the one hour window. With knowing how now there is no late entry, we were always very watchful of the clock when a FP was in hand.) Soarin' was great, waited maybe 10 minutes from walking into FP cue to being in the glider. We got great seats, top row almost center, no dangling feet over our heads as we flew around California.
Next it was on to see Figment, play in the Imagineering Lab and get our customary family picture in the gift shop photo booth. Here is how we break down the four photos each time: 1(maybe 2 if DW is lucky) nice smiling faces for her to have as a nice family pic, then 2-3 crazy pics of a family gone wild inside a phonebooth sized area, those are usually DS and my favorites. It is always an interesting progrssion as you look down the series of 4, from awww.. isn't that a cute pic, to what the heck is wrong with them.
Next we made our way over to the Nemo ride and to see all of the tanks in the Living Seas. ***Slight sidetrack for a "stuck in an attraction moment" that DW and I had (before DS). DW and I always hope for the best when we ride Nemo, there was a not so entertaining night(at that time, but now it is hilarious) shortly after the ride opened when DW and I were in our Clamobile and it stopped right at the point when you are in the tunnel with the strobing type of lights and squirt says, "come along and follow the EAC". We laughed at first, then 20 minutes later after that scene cycling through every 30 seconds (never got turned off) we were pretty sure that we were ready to just Keep on Swimming and head for the EAC ourselves. Needless to say, glad we were in Epcot, because we did a little beverage sampling around the world that night to try to clear our heads.***Back to the present, the ride was smooth and non-stopping(other than a brief moment or two, which still make us look at each other with those, uh-oh eyes0. We then spent time seeing all of the sea life that was within the Seas. Usually DS enjoys this area, but is really just looking for his favorites: sharks, dolphins, clown fish. This time he wanted to see everything and had tons of questions, which was awesome! I have a degree in Bio, so I love this stuff and DW likes looking at the cute things. We spent over an hour wandering around checking out the tanks, seeing the manatees, and having conversations about lots of questions.
Next we found our way to the OZ playground which is for F&G, but was actually opened early, lots of running, climbing, jumping, and tiring out. Then we all were in the mood for a little snack time, so it was pretzels and ice creams all around. Going with the slightly tired out theme, we took time to slowly walk through and check out some gift shops on our way to the car, as we headed over to Kidani to try and check in......

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Just cleared 7" of good old white stuff from the driveway, and it's. still coming down, seems like a good time to post.
Part 5.....
So we get to the car and head over to Kidani to check in, arrive at the desk at 3:30pm. Yes I know the rooms aren't ready until 4pm, but I figured it was close, and we have gotten rooms way earlier than that before, but no luck this time. No big deal, so we walk around and check out the resort, loved it, and we stumbled upon the pool. DS was ready to swim, so I went to the car and dug out his swim trunks, I would have loved to take swim too, but opted to wait until I got the room set up. In the mean time DW enjoyed a Poolside Plunge, the drink from the bar, not me pushing her in, because that would not have been a good idea , although it may have crossed my mind . I decided to enjoy a nice Sam Adams draft, as we kicked back and relaxed. Around 4:30 I went back to check on our room, as they had not texted as promised, and the "only 15 more minutes" that I had been promised had long since passed. At the desk I was given the 15 minute line again, so my patience was wearing thin. I asked what Savanah we would be on, and was told Pembe. Well the only request that I had made was for Sunset Savanah, and I understand that it is only a request, but my guess was that we had been waiting for a room to be ready on Sunset. My patience had pretty much expired at this point as it was 4:40, so I politely stated that we had made only 1 request and I assumed that is what we had been waiting for our room past 4pm and now to find out that this wasn't even the reason was upsetting. The CM at the counter was great and she said let me see what I can do, and magically there was a room ready on the 5th floor of Sunset, just sitting there empty this whole time she said. She wasn't quite sure how that happened, I thanked her for her help and went to give DW her key and I went and unpacked the car and set up the gorgeous room, with so much bathroom space I didn't even use the shoe organizer over the door. What I have taken from my last 2 online checkins, one with no requests, both of which we have waited until 4 or later to get our room, is that maybe we will not go that route next trip, and take our chances checking in upon arrival. It seems that we are pre-assigned a room and the if that room is not ready when we get there we are out of luck. Anyway room was great, animals were great, once we figured out their patterns. The first few mornings we couldn't figure out why we only saw zebras as we ate on the balcony, then we were told the animals are trained to go in for their daily check ups around 9 each morning, but the zebras were refusing to follow the rules. From that point on whenever DS was having a "moment", DW and I would look at each other and say it must be the Zebra in him!
We hung out at the pool that night, had some campfire s'mores, and enjoyed a relaxing and playful time. After more than an hour of running around the play area with DS, I can personally say that it one of if not the best water play area on property. Also a side note, if you are an adult and use the slides that come out of the wall, slow yourself before you get to the bottom, because those things are slick and you land flat on your hind parts in a hard way if you catch my drift. We went up to the room and changed around 7 and strolled over to Mara for some dinner and then back to the room for much needed shut eye. We always try to go without any alarms on vacation, unless we have a morning reservation, and DW and DS slept until almost 9 the next morning.

More to come..

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Wow, I am so sorry for being so negligent on getting back to the boards and writing this trip report. I have had lots going on, but no excuse for a 3 week lapse. Anyway Part 6.....
So "we" did sleep in on Monday, but that was actually the plan. I woke up a little before 6 went to the gym, which at Kidani almost feels like your own private fitness room. Out of all the mornings that I went there, never saw more than two other people, and they were usually just on the treadmill walking, I figured that the parks would be enough walking, but maybe not. Around 7 ish I ran over to Jambo to look around, relax in some savannah rocking chairs, and wait for the breakfast call. At 8:30 I decided to make the executive decision on breakfast, and brought back a small buffet of offerings, DW and DS7 were just rolling out of bed when I came into the room. We had breakfast on the balcony, took some nice hot showers, and headed for MK. At least DS and I did, DW was headed to enjoy her birthday present in the form of a massage treatment at Senses at the GF.
We finally enter the gates just before 11, and DS and I both take a deep breath and both say Ahhh out loud as we looked at each other and laughed. I had no ill conceived notions of trying to ride everything, we just wanted to be in the MK and do whatever we happened to fall into. As luck would have it this was DS's first trip wanting to do an autograph book, so I said let's do it, and we found our way to 8 autographs and pictures in about 3 hours. We felt pretty good about ourselves, he got Mickey, some of his "girls" ( princesses) and the characters under the big top in storybook circus. By this point the park was getting crowded and we were starting to feel a hunger for one of our favorite eating locations, so we headed over to GF to meet up with DW. She wasn't quite out yet, so we took the opportunity to get out on the water and ride a sea racer around the Lagoon and Bay Lake. After we got back DW was ready and we hopped on the monorail, then transferred at the TTC to Epcot monorail. We strolled through and right out the International Gateway and made our way to ESPNClub. I LOVE HOT WINGS, and we can never get enough of that atmosphere, so it was a great linner (late lunch/early dinner), we have grown accustomed to eating at off times in WDW and find that it provides many more opportunities not only to eat, but too enjoy attractions while others are eating at "normal" times.
After the linner we had decided to do something outside of the parks for the night, and get an early bedtime, because tomorrow was as "green" a day as anyone could ever hope format MK, and we were all in for the day there. So we made our way over to DTD for a few hours and let DS design his usual "best car ever" at Ridemakerz. We strolled through WOD and "the toy store", and found a few things to add to our ever growing collection of Disney items that decorate our house, offices, bodies, etc. I also got hooked into the Kingdom Keepers series, I had always heard good things, but had never got around to picking them up. I decided that now was a great time, as I needed to find something to read that was non-work related to give my brain a break, and also a Disney fix when the parks are so far away. Now when I pick one up, I have a hard time putting it down before I 've read 100 pages.

That's all for now, I promise the next installment will come much quicker, hopefully tomorrow night, it will be our day at MK!

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Part 7...
We got up, got ready and arrived at MK right after rope drop, we always seem to time that just right off to FLE for us, we loved the Little Mermaid ride and the new imagineering magic, we're looking forward to STWB, but the line and our excitement to ride lots of stuff early mde us take a pass for the moment.DS then decided it was mountain time, (Splash was down for refurb, but we had prepped him, so that was ok.) Space was first up, 45 minute wait, so grabbed a fast pass. Over to Indy next, DS loves to drive DW around and give her a tour of the track, with lots of help from the guide rail. Then as I was taking pics of them from the grandstand, some of my old WDW human pinball wheels started turning (some refer to it as commando-ish). We left Indy and headed to PPF, because for some crazy reason I had this idea it would be slow. Shockingly I was right, 15 min posted time, on in 10 min. Felt as if we were in a bizarro universe, because at the same time IASW was posted at 30 min
After PPF we went to JC and then POTC. As we exited POTC our fast pass was now ready for Space, so....I grabbed FP's for BTMR and then headed to Space. FP'S line was zipping through and we were on in about 5 min. DS has said that Space has grown on him, he never used to like the darkness of it, but he loves the coaster, so he is coming around to the dark side and really becoming an adrenaline lover. So the pin balling is now continuing as we leave Space and head for the HM, walk on time there was 10 min, then a great CM who just happened to be on his first day as a supervisor and had DS ask him about the ring. I had told DS about the story, but sometimes papa "tells too many stories" and he wanted to hear it from a "Disney boss". Funny thing was CM was so excited to tell the story and show off the ring that he tells DW and I after, that he remembered thinking to himself as he was training, "yeah right no one is going to ask me about a ring, they just want to ride the ride." He was great and said "see Disney always knows best" because this was the first hour of his first shift and he already had to find and tell the story of the ring. He said he couldn't wait to relay that to his trainer, and thank them. After our ring find, I took a peak at Mobile Magic (because MDE app was so slow during our trip, but surprisingly MM was not, and it was right on for wait times still) and saw IASW was now down to 10 min, so we headed to see DW's favorite dolls. What I love about the ride is that it makes her happy. A very smart man once said" Happy Wife=Happy Life", and he was right. Next it was time for those BTMR FP's, but since we were in FL I grabbed our next set of FP's to go sit in a pot and watch Pooh. Now off to BTMR, probably DS's favorite ride, and it was a great day, rode with FP then got back in standby for 10 min wait and rode again. Now it was feeling to be about Linner time, but one more quick ride before we ate. Tea cups are always a must BEFORE a meal, because otherwise DS wants to ride them immediately after we eat, and that is not in anyone's best interest. Had a great spin, as DW and DS took pics of each of us making our best, Oh I'm so dizzy faces as I spun that silver wheel as fast as I could possibly go, and DW looks over and says "that's good, NO REALLY...THAT'S Good....you can stop now!" Fun times had by all.
We headed to Pinocchio's for lunch and scored one of DS's favorite tables overlooking IASW as he gives each passing boat a send off wave. We decided on a buffet there, ordered Chicken Caesar Salad, meatball sub, penne pasta, and breadsticks. DS has come to the conclusion that he only wants to eat off the kids menu if it is Mac and Cheese, otherwise he likes the big people food better. No complaints here, we usually just get a variety, then have more choices or chances to "sample".
After our Italian buffet was consumed and many a boats was waved off to tour the small small world, we headed to see Pooh. (I'm sorry, that just sounds funny no matter how old you are.)
The. With Pooh behind us (I know I'll stop) we headed back into the Enchanted Forest, the STWB line said 40 min, but looked non- existent, so we took a chance and only 15 minutes later we were in pre show. DS was chosen as the Beast and I was chosen to be a suit of armor. DW got Greg video and pics, and we had a truly magical experience there. If that was all we had done the whole day the look on DS's face as he got to dance with Belle was truly priceless.
After that as we were all basking in the afterglow, we hopped around to some of the smaller non Main St gifts shops, just browsing around looking for any hidden gems, then we made our way to Goofy's for our customary sugarrush of fudge, jellybeans and whatever else Ds can talk us into before we wonder back out to Main St to find our spot for Wishes. When I was 10 years younger I never understood the draw of an 8pm winter time Wishes, it just seemed too early, but now as the parent of a 7yo it seems to be just right. We enjoyed another great show that left DW tears eyed yet again, and as the finally faded so did the sugar high DS had been on. I carried my 50 plus pound bundle of joy back to the bus stop. We had actually been right outside Goofy's to view Wishes this time, and it was nice to make the first bus back to Kidani. Got into the room laid down a sleeping Ds on his bed, and DW and I crashed into our own bed and were dreaming of tomorrow's Epcot adventures ourselves in no time.

Next up a day at Epcot....

 

[wiigirl]

Joining in!

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Part 8...
So I awoke early as usual the next morning and DW and DS were still in deep sleep time. I decided to go for a short run, do a quick workout at the gym by the pool, and then run over to Jambo house to get a breakfast buffet from Mara (the caramel apple topped waffle that was on special, a breakfast platter, some Mickey waffles, a fruit bowl, and a few pastries just in case). We must have been hungry, because I figured whatever was left I would just throw in the fridge, but you don't throw empty plates in the fridge and that was all that remained from the grub I brought back. Our bellies were full and we were all cleaned up for our day of magic at Epcot.
We arrived about 30 minutes after rope drop (we're good at timing that) and my first mission was to get FP's for DS's favorite ride TT, while DW and DS strolled over to look around MouseGear. I met up with them and asked if they saw anything new that they liked, they told me about a few things, but nothing that they wanted right now. (remember that for later) We then spent about an hour bouncing around the exhibits of Innoventions East and West. DS wanted to see it all, as long as it didn't take more than 5 minutes, because that was about the length of his attention span that morning. At least until he could ride TT, which was next up. "Green" mornings in late Feb. are great in the parks, many times this trip we found we could get a FP that was going to be good in only 1.5 hours or less. So we rode the great TT (don't get me wrong I love the ride too, but I just don't have the same appreciation for the "aftershow" as DS7), and then spent a good half hour or more checking out and trying out all of the display cars. When we left TT the World Showcase was now opened and we travelled the world one Kidcot station at a time. All of us, DS included, enjoy looking around at the buildings and exploring all of the nooks and crannies. Usually DW explores the giftshops and I look for all of the historical and educational pieces, DS bounces back and forth depending on the day/time.
Mexico was first up as we explored the temple and rode the river of time. We always love to stare upward at the fireworks at the end after finding Donald and then thinking that Illuminations is coming up that night. Next we went to Norway and looked around the Stave Church at all of the Vikings, I still miss the ship that used to be outside the church to play on. Then in the gift shop we found a new visor that all three of us liked (DW has a thing about finding/making items for matching outfits.) it is tan and has a ring of flags going around it for all of the countries in the WS. DW and DS decided even before the purchase that they had plans to alter them to add the Russian flag to each visor. (DS was born in Russia and he adopted us and we brought him home at the age of 2. )
Next up was China, no acrobatic shows going on that day, but our visit to this area was short because DS could hear "the drums". He loves playing the drums and pretending to drive the old Coke truck at the Outpost. I honestly don't know if I ever stopped there before DS, other than to get a Safari Amber when DW and I did our hydrating around the world adventures. After playing the drums for a while DS began to ask about lunch, which for him usually means he's really hungry. We thought about all of the possibilities for yummies that surrounded us, and then DS said those words that made me a proud father. "How about we go to ESPN, it's not too far." We actually all love the ESPNClub and have friends that work as CM's there, so DS is always treated like royalty and he soaks it all up. I went with my usual Flame Hot Wings and a nice cold beverage in a frosted mug, it hits the spot every time. DW went with a cheesesteak, she is a true steak lover in any form, and DS opted for some nachos and a chicken sandwich (not a kid's size, but an adult size!) My little 55 pound DS just consumed about 3 pounds of food in 20 minutes and wants dessert, it must be growth spurt time!(He grew about 1/2 inch over the next month.) After enjoying our meals and talking with friends we rolled ourselves back over to Epcot to finish touring the WS before Illuminations.
We entered back in the International Gateway and went down to Canada, I always tease DW and tell her she's home, she grew up less than 2 hours from the border. Our exploring had seemed to be speeding up after our linner (lunch/dinner) as we quickly made our way back into the UK, but I think this may have been because DS was ready to run around the Abby. He (we) definitely burned off some of those calories in the next 15 minutes or so of playing tag in and out of the hedges. Then on to France which is usually all about the pastries, but we took a pass on those that day. In Morocco we explored all of the back allies and watched the last half of the Mo'Rockin' performance. In Japan we went (led by DS) across the bridge into the back store that has the Tin Toys displayed in the windows. I spent time following him from toy to toy and DW spent time ooooing and ahhing over the many silky highly priced items.
Next we were off to the good ol' US of A, and time was beginning to run short on us before Illuminations. We did the most important thing, in DS's opinion, he colored another Perry at the Kidcot stop. I took the opportunity to wander over to the funnel cake booth and test the limits of the elasticity of the waist band of my shorts. Who can really pass a funnel cake (or fried dough) stand twice and not stop, I know there must be someone, but that person is not me. This is another reason that I limit my visits to summer fairs, I have rarely seen a food booth that I didn't like, and I mean really those people are trying to make a living selling food, do you really want to deprive them of that?
Next was Italy, which was more of a Bellini stop for DW, she loves those things so much that I have had to try to replicate them at home. She has said that I have gotten close, but it seems like a lot of work to me for an
8 oz. beverage.
Our final stop, or so I thought, was in Germany. We looked around the doll shop, DS visited the Kidcot spot and DW reminisced about when it used to be the dollmaker Helmut Engel there, and she had been a collector for many years. We wandered over towards the lagoon around 8:30 to take a seat, relax, and soak up the atmosphere before Illuminations. (Have I said how much I love "green" days in Feb, yes it was 30 minutes until showtime and still tons of empty places along the lagoon fence. I would even say, more empty spots than spots with people in them.) So at this point I am truly relaxing, DS is in my lap leaning back against my chest, DW is leaning against me with her head on my shoulder, this is pure joy....then I hear it. Oooo did you feel that breeze, it's getting chilly, as DW rubs her arms. (-Sidenote-We had been making the effort to travel light this trip, as DS is getting older, no stroller, no big backpack, I did bring a cinch backpack, but no sweatshirts were stuffed inside it that's for sure.) DS picks up on this, not sure if it was planned or not, and rubs his arms too. So I ask if they want me to go over to the German giftshop and get them a long sleeved T-shirt or sweatshirt or something. The response is, "No.... that's Ok.... but there was a cute sweatshirt at Mousegear earlier." I start to laugh, then being a person who enjoys challenges say, "Ok, I'll be back." DW insisted that I didn't need to go, but we all know how the saying goes.....Happy Wife... Happy Life. Being that the park was really not busy at all, the walkways were pretty much clear, and I figured I could burn off at least the funnel cake with a little jog. So I jog down to Mousegear, find the sweatshirts in the right sizes, also picked up a bonus for DS, a glowing light saber, and jogged back. Not bad still about 10 minutes to show time. Since I was sitting right in front of the Germany Pavillion and they had lots of yummies that I could smell, I went for a short walk to the Biergarten walk up window. I picked up a nice big Brat, one of each of the 3 desserts that they had, a pretzel, and of course some beverages. I returned, sat down, saw some big smiles from warm sweatshirts get bigger at the sight of the desserts, heard the announcer blown out the torches, and enjoyed a great show. This night ended much the same as the one before. Me carrying a tired to sleeping DS back to the bus and room, and everyone being out cold within 10 minutes of being back to the room. Another magical day with the Mouse.

Next up we head for AK...

 

[luckylady]

Nice updates now that I'm all caught up. What is the ring at HM? Haven't heard of that one.

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

I knew i remembered hearing it somewhere...here is the link to the video from "Inside the magic" they talk and show the ring at the 10:30 mark...enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO0bJKOODQw

I tried to quote an old Disboards post about the ring above, having some tech issues. I will try to get next trip report post later after tech is better.

 

[Disneyfam4life]

Enjoyed reading those!!

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Part 9....
Today I wasn't feeling the gym, so I just went for a run when I got up and then headed to Mara and gathered up a bounty of pastries and a bowl of pre-cut melon. We all picked at the mini buffet as we got ready for the day (what really never ends up being much more than a half day for us) at AK. We were all moving slightly slower this morning, which is always a good day to do an AK morning and then relax at the pool/resort later.
We arrived and went thru bag check very quickly, then saw the HUGE lines backed up to go into the park. We are AP holders so still have our paper tickets and those designated lines are the longest of all. Guess we will just look around inside Rainforest Cafe and find our way over to the secret gate
By checking MDE App, which was now faster than Mobile Magic (As I mentioned earlier, this varied throughout our trip, sometimes even changing during the same hour as to which app was loading and functioning correctly.) we had seen that EE was only a 15 min wait, so DW and DS browsed the gift shops on their way to EE and I headed to get FPs for KS, then we met up at EE and rode standby, which was still 15 min, even when we got off.
Then we headed over to walk the Pangani trail as we waited for our FP to come up, being early the standby wait was at 45min. After strolling around but spending most of the time looking at the birds and gorillas, it was time to go help save Little Red.....oops that would have been in the old days, the adventure may be gone, but it is still a nice ride with great views of the animals. DS has decided he really does not like the crocodile bridge, he said it feels to wobbly and he doesn't want to visit them.
Our next stop is to head to the Jungle Trek to see DW's beloved tigers. She loves to just watch their majestic movements as they strut around the enclosures. Then it was time for an early lunch as we could smell the sweet & sour chicken and the honey chicken from Y&Y counter service window, so we each got our own "bucket" o' chicken & rice. At this point we were all feeling content to sit at our table and soak up some sun and people watch for a while. This can be just as entertaining as the rides sometimes.
We finally made our way over to Dinoland, DS was tall enough now to ride PW, DW and I used to refer to this ride as a chiropractor's dream. DS absolutely LOVED IT and the standby wait was only 5 min, so we rode it 4 TIMES in about half an hour. At this point DW was starting to rethink eating before riding, but DS had decided it was time for .........the boneyard. This has become our grand finale for AK during winter trips.(If we travel I the summer, it is always Kali.) So DS ran, climbed, slid, dug, and had fun while DW and I tried to chase and find good angles to get some action shots. We have gotten some great pics in this area through the years.
After about 45min DS was ready to go back to Kidani. We got back to the room a little after 3, watched animals from the balcony for a while, and then changed and headed down to the pool area. This is where we spent the remainder of the evening. Enjoying the play area, the slide, the pool, the pool bar , and the campfire toasting marshmallows. I think our Northern Blood must be thicker than other guests. We finally left the pool a little after 7pm and there were very few guests left out there braving the 60 degree air with a slight breeze. To us, at least DS and I, it felt great, DW was wrapped in towels on the chair.
So we headed back to the room to change and go to Mara for dinner, then back to the room for an earlier bed time, to rest up for our last day at WDW this trip.


Next up....speed packing and HS.

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Part 10...
This is our sixth and final day in the park this trip No gym or run this morning, we all got up and got ready, then DW and DS headed to the bus stop to catch the bus while I finished speed packing (if it fits in the bag, then that is where it goes until we get home. luckily I remembered to have everyone leave out their travel clothes for a separate bag they we could take in and out of hotels on the way home, they don't always like my fashion sense, so me picking their clothes may not have been pretty.) andlugging all of our stuff to the car and doing my best impression: of a clown car as I packed an unreal amount of items into DW's car. Let me tell you that not an inch of space was spared. The ride down had been comfortable, a carefully packed car without any souvenirs yet. The ride back would be comfortable....but more in a cozy way. It appears that we had accumulated some items during our trip, all those trips through the gift shops had taken their toll on our available space, but I was determined to make it all fit....and I did.
Anyway the room was packed up and now I was on the move and driving over to HS. Our plan was to enjoy the park and leave from there somewhere in the mid to late afternoon to begin our journey home. I called DW to find out where they were as I was getting ready to leave Kidani, and they had just gotten on a bus I laughed to myself, so we had had great luck with busses this trip, but today they had waited over 30 min (as I was speed packing) and now I pulled into the parking lot and met them inside the gate, and they had not even been in the park 5 minutes.
So I headed to Starring Rolls for some yummies as DW and DS watched the Disney Channel Rocks show for the last time. I also swung over to Star Tours for a FP before heading back to meet them. DS loves music, so we were going to see the 1st AIE show of the day, but it was cancelled. DS was thrown off by this, but I did a little damage control in the form of the gigantic choc chip cookie that I had grabbed earlier, plus guaranteed him that we would see it that day before we left. He was OK with that ( the last thing I wanted to do on the last day was start off with a pouting DS, just keep swimming) Next we went to GMR and then MV3D before our FP was ready for ST. ST was awesome and DS and I were pumped about the fact that it was a new one that we hadn't seen yet.
Of course in the gift shop we had to build some light sabers, doesn't it seem that every ride built since the 90's now ends in a gift shop?
And now right on schedule we make it to the AIE show and DS (And DW) are in heaven, all is good in the House of the Mouse. The 3 performers tried really hard, " and that's about all I have to say about that."(in a Forrest Gump accent)
My guess was now that the morning show was cancelled due to a lack of performers that were up to the task. I'm not knocking them, because I have been on stage before, and I know it is not easy. They tried really hard....that's all I 've got.
The last thing that DS really wanted to do was to see Handy Manny and the updated Dis Jr show with Doc and Sofia, so we went over to the courtyard and got in line for Manny. DS had made Manny a birthday card and he was able to give it to Manny. The CM in Manny loved it and we have some great pics, vids, and memories that are priceless from that interaction. Then we caught the new updated show which DS also loved, he thinks Doc is cool.
Finally we made the long sad walk back down Hollywood Blvd. as we made our way out of the park, but not without hitting the gift shops one more time. Yes I know we had no room, but a few well spent dollars on incentives for DS to sleep in the car during our trip would be worth their weight in GOLD. DS is ever inquisitive, which is a great thing, and he also has a hard time sleeping in moving vehicles, cars or planes. Not because he gets sick or anything, just because there is so much going on.
We got back onto I4 a little after 4pm, and then I just kept driving and driving. Mountain Dew is great for road trips, I pulled in for the night at about 2AM just across the border into North Carolina. DW and DS had both dozed off somewhere in Georgia, so it was just me and my ESPN radio for a nice relaxing ride. We slept in, no alarms needed when you get in at 2AM, but still got back on good old I95 around 10am. From there it was just quick pit stops for gas, food, bathrooms, and caffeine ( usually trying to do all at the same stop to save on time). We pulled into our driveway around 11pm, made much better time on the trip north, than we did going southbound. I carried DS up to his bed, DW dragged herself in and went to bed too. I unloaded the car(the way I packed it was probably good that I did it under the cover of darkness, that way no one was laughing at me), looked at the mountain of "stuff" that was now in the living room, grabbed a cold beverage to unwind as I watched a few Sportscenter replays that I had been listening to that day, and then went to bed myself. The next day it would be time to unpack, do laundry, put up a new countdown chain, and start planning the next trip.
Thanks for reading, hope you all have great trips!

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

So to sum it up and tie back to the title, yes despite DS's concerns over the impending storm that could have derailed our vacation, we did make it to WDW on time. As DS pointed out we actually made it early, we "arrived" before midnight. I then pointed out that we got more hours out of our last day in WDW than we would have by our original flights and pick up times. So where there is a will there is a way, especially when it comes to time spent in the House of the Mouse, all you need is caffieine. Now I need to focus on the next trip.......here's looking forward to the next Disney Pastry and/or beverage!

 

[nemajovc]

Great report. Our DS now 8 also came to us at age 2 from Russia.

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

Nemajovc,
Congratulations to your family!
It is truly an amazing journey that we feel blessed to have the opportunity to experience.