w8ting4pooh
Commando planner
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2001
- Messages
- 423
Day 5 of our WDW trip - July 7th
Mom - me, the planner
Grumpy - Dad, did not plan anything
Daughter - princess with a major attitude
Tigger - oldest son, constantly bouncing off the walls
Alex - middle son, happy to be on vacation
Jr. Stitch - youngest son, too curious for his own good
We arrived at Animal Kongdom at 7:45 a.m. This was not Early Enough as all the lines are 30-40 people deep. Right at 8 a.m. the gates opened and the crowds began to squeeze thru. We are 20 people from the gate when our line comes to a sudden stop. Someone is having trouble with a ticket! My dream of sprinting onto an empty Safari jeep is evaporating as we watch all the other lines stream into the park. If this line does not move soon, it's not going to be pretty. Just as I'm about to start a riot, we begin to move. Ok, we're in. Go kids, GO!! We begin to sprint-walk what feels like 6 miles to the safari. My legs are burning now!
We ditch the stroller and fly thru the cue on to a mostly empty jeep. We take up both mini rows and most of the first big row with all the kids and backpacks and camera bags. We depart at 8:15. I don't think the safari is as ~magical~ as I thought it would be but hubby loves it so I just smile. We have both cameras and a camcorder rolling. Do you think we look like tourists?
Since it's almost nine, we skip the gorillas and go over to Dinoland to wait for rope drop. We do some more fast walking only to find that the rides in Dinoland are open. We hurry to Dinosaur and it's only a 10 minute wait and we get in line. Jr. Stitch wants to ride so we decide that he's recovered from his trip on TOT. We all like the ride except for Stitch who rides w/my hands over his eyes and ears. We play the mean parents and deny the kids' requests for hundreds of dollars worth of angry plastic dinosaurs. We rode Triceratop Spin twice and then decide to check in early for our PS at Donald's Breakfastasaurus.
The line for the restaurant is long. We check in and are told to get our picture taken. We decide that we don't want a picture taken in front of a building so we hide from the photographer until they call our name. We are seated in a dark corner of the restaurant. We order drinks and take off for the buffet. We filled the kids plates with enough sugar to keep them going for the day and then join the eggs and bacon line. We are waiting so long that we worry the kids will have taken off with Donald while we are gone. The food wasn't that great - even the kids don't eat much. The characters came by in a group and barely stayed long enough for a picture and autograph. We were finished with breakfast at 11. We wandered out of the restaurant trying not to be grouchy. We stumbled across the cue for the 100 acre wood friends. This will cheer us up! After a short wait, we visited with Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and Pooh. As we were walking back up the path to leave, we noticed that the line had tripled!
The park is PACKED now. Everyone is bumping and jostling into us as we walk. I am really crabby now so we decide to bail. We head back to the Coronado for a swim. The main pool is warm and relaxing. Just what we needed! After an hour swim, we change and head to Epcot for a relaxing evening.
We arrive at EPCOT at 4 pm and head straight for Mission Space. The line is 45 minutes so I tell hubby to go with the older kids. Hubby thinks that I am being nice for offering to wait with the little ones. He doesn't know that I'm secretly afraid to ride it because I'm convinced my head will explode from the G-forces. The 7 y.o. splashes in the fountains by Test Track and Stitch sleeps while I read the map. We walked to Test Track but all the FP are gone. We found our way to JIYI and I woke up Stitch. It's a cute ride but the scent lab scared Stitch! The Imagination labs are empty and we spent a long time having fun!
Alex got a good close up and Stitch played on the sound mats.
We met up with hubby and the older two outside of Spaceship Earth. The wait for Mission Space turned out to only be 20 minutes and they were done earlier than planned. We rode Spaceship Earth and then saw Honey I Shrunk the Audience which we loved. We decide it's time to go to the World Showcase. Hubby says that he knows the way. We follow him around a great big circle and ended up lost. Great job, Dad!
We found our way to Mexico. We grabbed a table by the rail in the Cantina and started off with some drinks and nachos. Hubby held the table while I took Princess and Tigger around the world. We picked up some Chinese and Japanese food and took pictures of everything.
Our last stop was the Beaver Tail stand then back to the table. We made it back right before 9. Alex had fallen asleep with his head on the table.
We woke him up so that he could see the fireworks...and so that we would have more room for the food.
Illuminations was great! I'm so happy to be here! When the show is over, we head out immediately for the bus. Princess is ahead of us pushing Stitch in the stroller. She's storm trooping along so well that she gets way in front of us and we lose sight of her. We get to the gate and she's GONE! I alert a CM that I've lost my daughter and son and am leaving the park but may have to come back thru if I can't find her. I leave hubby standing at the gate and run off to find her. She's about 50 feet from the gate waiting for us! I tell her not to move and run back to wave my husband thru the gate. We regroup and catch a bus back to the Coronado without much of a wait. Hubby and all four kids doze off on the bus.
Today was a LOOOONG day. It felt like three days!
Tomorrow Blizzard Beach and Magic Kingdom for Eride.
Mom - me, the planner
Grumpy - Dad, did not plan anything
Daughter - princess with a major attitude
Tigger - oldest son, constantly bouncing off the walls
Alex - middle son, happy to be on vacation
Jr. Stitch - youngest son, too curious for his own good
We arrived at Animal Kongdom at 7:45 a.m. This was not Early Enough as all the lines are 30-40 people deep. Right at 8 a.m. the gates opened and the crowds began to squeeze thru. We are 20 people from the gate when our line comes to a sudden stop. Someone is having trouble with a ticket! My dream of sprinting onto an empty Safari jeep is evaporating as we watch all the other lines stream into the park. If this line does not move soon, it's not going to be pretty. Just as I'm about to start a riot, we begin to move. Ok, we're in. Go kids, GO!! We begin to sprint-walk what feels like 6 miles to the safari. My legs are burning now!
We ditch the stroller and fly thru the cue on to a mostly empty jeep. We take up both mini rows and most of the first big row with all the kids and backpacks and camera bags. We depart at 8:15. I don't think the safari is as ~magical~ as I thought it would be but hubby loves it so I just smile. We have both cameras and a camcorder rolling. Do you think we look like tourists?
Since it's almost nine, we skip the gorillas and go over to Dinoland to wait for rope drop. We do some more fast walking only to find that the rides in Dinoland are open. We hurry to Dinosaur and it's only a 10 minute wait and we get in line. Jr. Stitch wants to ride so we decide that he's recovered from his trip on TOT. We all like the ride except for Stitch who rides w/my hands over his eyes and ears. We play the mean parents and deny the kids' requests for hundreds of dollars worth of angry plastic dinosaurs. We rode Triceratop Spin twice and then decide to check in early for our PS at Donald's Breakfastasaurus.
The line for the restaurant is long. We check in and are told to get our picture taken. We decide that we don't want a picture taken in front of a building so we hide from the photographer until they call our name. We are seated in a dark corner of the restaurant. We order drinks and take off for the buffet. We filled the kids plates with enough sugar to keep them going for the day and then join the eggs and bacon line. We are waiting so long that we worry the kids will have taken off with Donald while we are gone. The food wasn't that great - even the kids don't eat much. The characters came by in a group and barely stayed long enough for a picture and autograph. We were finished with breakfast at 11. We wandered out of the restaurant trying not to be grouchy. We stumbled across the cue for the 100 acre wood friends. This will cheer us up! After a short wait, we visited with Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and Pooh. As we were walking back up the path to leave, we noticed that the line had tripled!
The park is PACKED now. Everyone is bumping and jostling into us as we walk. I am really crabby now so we decide to bail. We head back to the Coronado for a swim. The main pool is warm and relaxing. Just what we needed! After an hour swim, we change and head to Epcot for a relaxing evening.
We arrive at EPCOT at 4 pm and head straight for Mission Space. The line is 45 minutes so I tell hubby to go with the older kids. Hubby thinks that I am being nice for offering to wait with the little ones. He doesn't know that I'm secretly afraid to ride it because I'm convinced my head will explode from the G-forces. The 7 y.o. splashes in the fountains by Test Track and Stitch sleeps while I read the map. We walked to Test Track but all the FP are gone. We found our way to JIYI and I woke up Stitch. It's a cute ride but the scent lab scared Stitch! The Imagination labs are empty and we spent a long time having fun!
We found our way to Mexico. We grabbed a table by the rail in the Cantina and started off with some drinks and nachos. Hubby held the table while I took Princess and Tigger around the world. We picked up some Chinese and Japanese food and took pictures of everything.
Illuminations was great! I'm so happy to be here! When the show is over, we head out immediately for the bus. Princess is ahead of us pushing Stitch in the stroller. She's storm trooping along so well that she gets way in front of us and we lose sight of her. We get to the gate and she's GONE! I alert a CM that I've lost my daughter and son and am leaving the park but may have to come back thru if I can't find her. I leave hubby standing at the gate and run off to find her. She's about 50 feet from the gate waiting for us! I tell her not to move and run back to wave my husband thru the gate. We regroup and catch a bus back to the Coronado without much of a wait. Hubby and all four kids doze off on the bus.
Today was a LOOOONG day. It felt like three days!
Tomorrow Blizzard Beach and Magic Kingdom for Eride.
