Escaping Irene: A NY family "evacuates" to Disney! *Update 7/7 WWoHP*

[natebenma]

Hi Amanda- hope everything is going ok with Nathaniel.

I love the pictures with Phineas and Ferb- that looked like it was a lot of fun! And so nice to have Phineus came over to Zachary. That was really nice! What does Zachary think about that picture?

At least you all got in for the Cars photos.

 

[DrMomof3]

What a stressful time for you! I hope Nathaniel is okay now. Sorry you had to cancel your cruise, but I'm glad you got to sneak away for a little break.
The Phineas and Ferb meet sounds great-- that's so sweet that one even stepped by Zachary for you!

Nathaniel is doing better. Lots of doctor's appointments still.

YAY NY!!! The craziness of the weather phenomenon continues upstate, we got snow last night and it's still on the ground this morning, before Halloween!!!

Awesome book cover and that was super sweet of Phineus. We love that show too.

Sorry about the cruise, but at least you got a couple of nights away, it's something. Hopefully Nathaniel is on the mend.

Thank you! We are big P&F fans so it was fun to see them. I thought they did a good job of making the whole meet a fun experience.

Hi Amanda- hope everything is going ok with Nathaniel.

I love the pictures with Phineas and Ferb- that looked like it was a lot of fun! And so nice to have Phineus came over to Zachary. That was really nice! What does Zachary think about that picture?

At least you all got in for the Cars photos.

Zachary loves the picture! Sadly I didn't think the Cars photos turned out so well.

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

It was finally time to redeem our hard-won TSM fast passes! Zachary was still pretty mushy so we decided to use the stroller as wheelchair for the queue. Interestingly, this definitely slowed down our loading. They have a separate loading area for wheelchairs and there are only a few ride vehicles that stop at this area.

Poor Zachary!

I really enjoy TSM. I would never wait in line for an hour to ride it but it's a ride that I really enjoy. I wish they could figure out a way to get more people on the ride quicker so it wouldn't be such a hassle!

When we got off the ride, Zachary cried and cried because he wanted to ride again. Poor kid.
We stopped on a nearby bench and enjoyed some snacks.

One of the few things that Zachary ate that day!

After TSM we headed over to Disney Junior to check out the updated show. It's basically the same old, same old except that they've traded out Tigger and Pooh and added in Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The Jake part was the best part of the show (maybe because I have't seen it many, many times already? ). My kids - especially Zachary - are huge Jake fans so this was enjoyed by all.

We left that show and headed over to Jessica's favorite Disney thing - Disney Channel Rocks! She loves this street show.

Nathaniel, however, was not pleased!

Nathaniel and I (and maybe Zachary - I can't remember now) headed over to grab FPs for ToT so we could ride after lunch. Jessica chose not to participate in the Disney Channel Rocks! show. I was surprised but she was fine with her decision.

Next up: lunch at Hollywood & Vine (again!)

Amanda

 

[natebenma]

It's good to see Zachary up, at least for a bit! What was his snack? Fruit rollup?

When we first took the boys to Hollywood Studios, they were 7 and 10, so we haven't done any of the Playhouse Disney shows and we have never eaten at H&V (although we did have reservations there, in 2008, for both breakfast and a Fantasmic package, but had to cancel both because Nate was sick)

Looking forward to hearing more about your day!

 

[klacey1]

DHS needs another family friendly ride-- I think it's the only thing that would make TSMM's line less crazy! Or maybe they should just build another one (forget about two Dumbos!)

 

[DrMomof3]

It's good to see Zachary up, at least for a bit! What was his snack? Fruit rollup?

When we first took the boys to Hollywood Studios, they were 7 and 10, so we haven't done any of the Playhouse Disney shows and we have never eaten at H&V (although we did have reservations there, in 2008, for both breakfast and a Fantasmic package, but had to cancel both because Nate was sick)

Looking forward to hearing more about your day!

Yup. Fruit by the fooot.
H&V is a requirement of my children.

DHS needs another family friendly ride-- I think it's the only thing that would make TSMM's line less crazy! Or maybe they should just build another one (forget about two Dumbos!)

I agree. My kids all like Star Tours - and Zachary is tall enough to ride now but he's particularly tall for his age. DHS is really a half day park for my family!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

We've had lunch at H&V on almost every trip to Disney since we started going in 2008. It's really a favorite for my kids. Even Nathaniel, who complains endlessly about Disney Junior (I almost typed Playhouse Disney!), insisted that we should eat at H&V, "For Zachary." Now that Zachary is 3 I'm trying to avoid buffets in general because I don't feel they are a great value for us. At a regular sit-down restaurant, my kids can share entrees but at a buffet you pay for each person. Since Zachary wasn't feeling well, it was pretty clear that he wasn't going eat much - if at all!
We were seated at a table in the corner near the emergency exit door. Not a great location. And it was a table for 4 with a 5th chair stuck at the end so it was a bit squishy. I much prefer the tables that have a booth-bench on one side. Lunch was not off to a great start!
Zachary ate nothing. Or close enough to nothing to count as nothing. He enjoyed the characters to a certain extent but got tired of sitting at the table and wanted to leave. I ate quickly - I actually think the food here is pretty decent. I especially like the seafood pasta alfredo. And they have some yummy salads and veggies. I like to eat relatively healthy (not that alfredo sauce is terribly healthy), even on vacation.
Zachary and I left while the other kids were still eating. Tom told me that one of the characters never came by.

Jessica with June from Little Einsteins

Being silly with Handy Manny

Jessica with Secret Agent Oso

Looking at my pictures I can see that Leo never came by. We have generally had a really good experience at this restaurant but I thought this particular meal was a waste - certainly of money and probably time. Zachary wasn't feel well enough to eat anything but we still paid for him. And while Jessica was a great sport with all of the characters, my older 2 are really getting a bit too old for Disney Junior. If Zachary had felt well enough to enjoy his favorite characters, I would have been happy to pay for this lunch.

In the meantime Zachary and I went for a walk. We found an ice cream stand that was selling ice pops. Zachary said he would eat one so I happily bought it (anything to get him to put something in his little body). The young girl selling them noticed my I "heart" NY shirt (where the heart is a Mickey head) and asked if we were affected by Hurricane Irene. Turns out she's from NY. So that was nice. Zachary and I sat near the dinosaur until the big kids and Tom finished lunch.

Then we headed for Tower of Terror to use our FPs...

Amanda

 

[jecskc]

Wow .... I'm exhausted just reading about your life !! You are super mom for sure !! Loving your TR. I hope that Zachary got to feeling better later on in the trip. It seems like one of ours always gets a little bug when we go too. We want to stay at BLT one day, so I am interested in seeing what other photos you took.

 

[DrMomof3]

Wow .... I'm exhausted just reading about your life !! You are super mom for sure !! Loving your TR. I hope that Zachary got to feeling better later on in the trip. It seems like one of ours always gets a little bug when we go too. We want to stay at BLT one day, so I am interested in seeing what other photos you took.

My kids LOVED BLT. Just today they were telling me that they want to go back to BLT because "our room was sick!" I offered them Boardwalk, Beach Club, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Polynesian, Grand Floridian and both of my older kids said "BLT!!!" I wouldn't have thought the theming would appeal to them. And the slide was fun but the BLT pool is on the small side whereas the BC pool is huge and awesome. It just goes to show that you can't always predict what the kids will like. Jessica has always liked the Contemporary ("the hotel where the monorail goes thorough") so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised.

Amanda

 

[natebenma]

Too bad the lunch was disappointing. I don't really mind spending money, but I *hate* wasting money. What a stressful and draining day it must have been for you, worried about how Zachary was doing.

I'm glad the kids think your room at BLT was "sick", but unfortunately it sounds like at least at the beginning it really was.

I look forward to reading more when you have the time to update. Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

 

[DrMomof3]

Too bad the lunch was disappointing. I don't really mind spending money, but I *hate* wasting money. What a stressful and draining day it must have been for you, worried about how Zachary was doing.

I'm glad the kids think your room at BLT was "sick", but unfortunately it sounds like at least at the beginning it really was.

I look forward to reading more when you have the time to update. Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Thanks Dee! Happy Thanksgiving to you too!!!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

After lunch it was time to conquer (insert dramatic music here) TOWER OF TERROR!!! This ride has some history with my family - although many of you have probably heard the story before. When Nathaniel was 5 and we were visiting WDW, he insisted on riding ToT. Tom and I both knew this was a bad idea. I had never ridden the WDW version but had been on the DL one. And I think Tom had been on both (he may have ridden the WDW version when I was pregnant with Zachary). Anyway, Nathaniel was unrelenting so Tom took him to ride ToT while I took the little kids to what was then Playhouse Disney. When we met up afterwards, Nathaniel looked at me very seriously and said, "Mommy. That ride tried to KILL ME!!!" It is still one of my favorite Disney quotes for our family. The end result was that Nathaniel swore he would never ride ToT again and successfully convinced Jessica that she should never ride ToT either.
This was going to be our re-attempt to salvage ToT in our family. We used good judgment in deciding that Zachary should NOT ride and got a baby swap. Tom took Zachary while I took the older 2 to ride ToT. We got into the pre-show room. At the end of the pre-show, both Nathaniel and Jessica were a little shaken and Nathaniel announced that he had a bad stomachache and couldn't possibly ride. I will confess to a bad mommy moment because my initial thought was (inserted sarcastic inner voice), "Great. Another trip without me getting to ride ToT." However the CMs were perfectly happy to take Nathaniel to the chicken exit to wait while Jessica and I rode. I gave him my iPhone to entertain himself and Jessica and I boarded the elevator of doom.
Jessica was a trooper but she was also scared out of her mind by the end of the ride. We met up with Nathaniel who was still claiming some mysterious ToT induced illness and went to find Tom and Zachary.
It turns out that Tom and Zachary had a more successful time than we did. They had visited the Rock n Rollercoaster gift shop and bought Zachary some Aerosmith drum sticks (Zachary has a drum set - blame Tom for that) and Tom bought himself a DJ Mickey t-shirt (which led to some very entertaining DJing imitations from my kids).
Tom offered to NOT ride but I sent him on his merry way while the kids and I hung out in a shady area re-hydrating and eating snacks to recover. Tom enjoyed his ride and we reconnected.
The final act of the day was to take Nathaniel and Jessica to Animation Academy. Zachary and I went browsing in stores while Tom and the kids drew Tinkerbell. At this point everyone was hot and tired and we started the long walk back to the car. Lots of whining ensued (it is a long walk to the car, btw) but we successfully got everyone to the car and buckled up for safety and back to BLT.
We took a little time to chill out before getting dressed and ready for a trip to Downtown Disney. Nathaniel had insisted on dinner at T-Rex and I wanted to go a little early so we could shop a bit....

Amanda

 

[dismagiclover]

Hi Amanda! I haven't been the most diligent DISer lately. How is that marathon training coming? Not too much longer! It get brutal about now, but you can make it through!

 

[DrMomof3]

Hi Amanda! I haven't been the most diligent DISer lately. How is that marathon training coming? Not too much longer! It get brutal about now, but you can make it through!

I'm getting there. Not going to win any speed prizes but I think I can finish!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

Remember me? I went on a trip to Disney in August, 2011? I'm going to try to work on my trip report again. Since this trip Tom and I did a 2 night 40th birthday getaway to Disney (which was supposed to be a cruise - long story), Nathaniel and I went to DISapalooza at Universal, and my family traveled back to Disney so I could finish my 1st full marathon. And I want to talk about all of those trips but 1st I need to finish this!!!
So for anyone still reading....

Sunday evening was scheduled as a Downtown Disney evening. Back in 2009 we stayed at Saratoga Springs and spent a little bit of time at DTD but we haven't done much there since. During the 2009 trip we had dinner at T-Rex with my family, my parents, my step-sister, and her family. My mom generously had offered to take the 3 eldest grandchildren (my niece and my older 2) over to the Lego Store while the rest of us finished dinner. When we wandered over to the Lego Store after dinner, Nathaniel was gone. After what seemed like an eternity, we found him back at our table at T-Rex looking for us. It was the 1st of many times that we have lost Nathaniel at Disney. (And, no, I'm not kidding.)

I had originally planned Sunday night as a Kona Cafe dinner. I figured a half day or so at DHS and then some pool time with a quick monorail ride to the Poly. Out of the blue Nathaniel asked if we could go to "that dinosaur restaurant where I got lost." (This was a few weeks before the trip.) While I greatly prefer the food at Kona, I was not going to deny him this request. Of all the times where having a car came in handy, going to DTD was the most useful.

We drove to DTD and quickly found a decent parking spot. We decided to go shopping first. We spent quite some time in World of Disney and bought lots of stuff. Tom picked out a Mickey Mouse apron, a Mickey Mouse spoon rest, and a Mickey Mouse oven mitt. The kids entered the fabulous world of pins by each buying a lanyard and a few starter pins. I tried to find my elusive ring - which they had but not in my size - and finally gave up after waiting 15 minutes for someone to help me. As Tom said, "We're trying to spend $500 on a ring and nobody seems to want our money!" We got lots of great stuff though.

We also trekked through the Lego Store and each child picked out a Lego. We have a great Lego Store in NYC and it's easy enough to buy them from amazon but it is what it is. I love all of the legos they have on display!

Zachary was still feeling quite "mushy" and I didn't think he'd eat much. I honestly don't remember much about dinner. Halfway through dinner Zachary decided he wanted to eat but then he ate almost nothing and he spent most of the dinner sitting on my lap. We had printed out the kids' discount coupons and I think I also had a gift card from mypoints so that was a plus. While Tom and the big kids finished up, I took the quickly decompensating Zachary for a walk. Which is when I took a lot of the preceding lego pictures.

We hoped in the car back to BLT and got Zachary out just in time for him to vomit all over me. Again. (Theme of the trip!) Luckily he vomited in the parking lot of BLT and not in our rental car. Thank God for small favors. I have also never been so happy to stay in a villa with a washer and dryer!!!! Zachary had a fever and slept poorly all night but at least there was no more vomiting.

Monday was scheduled as an AK day but Zachary was clearly not going any where. I volunteered to sacrifice myself for the sake of the team and hang out at BLT watching Diego movies all day.

Amanda

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Oh no! I can't believe he got sick again. Poor guy and poor you for having to miss a park day! Of course, the first thing I thought was "at least it was AK" ...but if AK is your fav, then bummer!

I can't wait to see some of the newer Lego stuff! They didn't have most of those the last time we were there! Did you by any chance get anything at Babycakes? This is what I'm most looking forward to at DTD b/c the cupcakes are vegan!

 

[DrMomof3]

Oh no! I can't believe he got sick again. Poor guy and poor you for having to miss a park day! Of course, the first thing I thought was "at least it was AK" ...but if AK is your fav, then bummer!

I can't wait to see some of the newer Lego stuff! They didn't have most of those the last time we were there! Did you by any chance get anything at Babycakes? This is what I'm most looking forward to at DTD b/c the cupcakes are vegan!

Luckily this was Zachary's last vomiting episode. Notice I said Zachary's....
AK is definitely my miss-able park so I was ok with it. Except that I still have never been on Expedition Everest.
I didn't go to Babycakes but I've heard good things!

Amanda

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Oh no! NEVER been on EE?!?! You must make it your mission. When Hope & I go for the Princess next Feb. we are skipping AK BUT...I told her we had to just pop over there so I could ride EE a few times and then we could leave! If EE weren't there, I might never go, but Savannah loves AK, so I guess I would either way!

Uh oh...more vomiting from other people does NOT sound fun!

 

[natebenma]

Sorry to hear that your attempt to redeem your family's interest in ToT did not work out as you wished. Will Jessica ride it again soon?

The Lego Store and T-Rex are must-dos for my boys when we go to DTD.

Sorry to hear that Zachary was still sick and got sick again. Not sure I am thrilled about your foreshadowing!

 

[DrMomof3]

Oh no! NEVER been on EE?!?! You must make it your mission. When Hope & I go for the Princess next Feb. we are skipping AK BUT...I told her we had to just pop over there so I could ride EE a few times and then we could leave! If EE weren't there, I might never go, but Savannah loves AK, so I guess I would either way!

Uh oh...more vomiting from other people does NOT sound fun!

It's hard to believe that I've never been on EE. Especially since I'm the biggest thrill ride lover in my family.
There are a few things at AK that I truly enjoy - Safari, FOTLK, Kali. I've never been on Dinosaur, EE, or Primeval Whirl. Tom took the older 2 on Dinosaur in 2010 and nobody really liked it and none of the children is tall enough for Primeval Whirl.

Sorry to hear that your attempt to redeem your family's interest in ToT did not work out as you wished. Will Jessica ride it again soon?

The Lego Store and T-Rex are must-dos for my boys when we go to DTD.

Sorry to hear that Zachary was still sick and got sick again. Not sure I am thrilled about your foreshadowing!

Jessica will not ride ToT again. And I don't imagine Nathaniel will even try it for a few more years! Even though Zachary is tall enough, I think we'll wait until he's older in the hopes that at least one child learns to like that ride! I think what we'll do in August is take the kids to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground (which they absolutely love) and then the adults will take turns running over to ToT and RnR.

Amanda