Four Adults, Three Pre-Teen Boys Do Disney. (WITH PICS)

[maslex]

A quick run down of who we all are.......

DH-Paul. He loves everything about Disney. Knows the parks like the back of his hand and loves to do the parks from park opening to park closing. He also loves to sit and watch the variety of shows that Disney offers. Food wise he does not like to try new things all that often. He sticks to what he likes and that's it.

ME-Pam. I am also a lover of Disney. I am one to ride all the rides (well MOST of the rides) except those simulator rides. Those make me hurl. Sorry. I also love to take a break from the Florida heat and take a sit down and watch a good show. Food wise, I am willing to try different things and did so during this trip.

DS11-Mason. He is in that LOVER-LY preteen stage that I'm sure you can all relate to. He is basically ANGRY at the world and everbody in it. For the most part he was pretty okay in Disney but that shining personality of his shone through quite often through our 9 days there. I tried not to let it put a damper on the vacay, but there were times I wish I could have sent him back home on that plane. Food wise he's pretty good. He's just getting into steak, tries a lot of different things (especially off of my plate) likes fish, but still loves all the kid favorites.

DS10-Alex. Alex is our little lovebug. He still loves to sit & cuddle. For the most part is in a great mood and is very outgoing. He will make a friend like that and not think twice of helping someone out. As for food....this is where he becomes MY nightmare. He REFUSES to try anything if it is not chicken nuggets, pizza, hot dogs, the occasional burger and his beloved mac/cheese. I'm just hoping this is a phase he's going through and he gets out of it really quick.



Sunday July 8th 3:00 am

The alarm goes off and into the shower I go. Everything has already been packed for a few days now, so all I have to do now is shower, dress and wake up the rest of the family. While I’m in the shower my dh, Paul wakes up our boys (DS11-Mason and DS10-Alex) Usually Mason is a bear to get up in the mornings but for some odd unknown reason today, he is up with bells on. I’m out of the shower and ready in no time and just have to wait for the others to arrive (we’re going with my SIL-Jen, BIL-Scott and their son-Dylan. The finally get here at 4:00am, wide eyed and bush-tailed. We have a limo scheduled to pick us up at 4:30am and it arrives on time. It only takes a few moments to pack our suitcases into the back and we’re off to T.F. Green airport in Providence, RI for our 7:05am flight.

Disney here we come. The ride was uneventful along the way until the limo driver missed the exit and had to back up on the highway. That was quite amusing. But we finally arrive and off to security we go. Everyone but me made it through security just fine. Once I got through I was asked to step aside so she could see the contents of my carry on bag. No big deal there. I am so terrified of flying so I would never ever ever have anything in my bag to pose a danger to anyone. So she checked everything out and the only thing she found that was questionable was a Ziploc sandwich bag full of quarters and pennies. She jokingly asked me if I was going to the casino but I’m sure you all realized it was for all my pressed pennies that I was planning on collecting. Once that was done and everyone got through security we took a seat for about a half hour before we boarded the plane.

As I said earlier, I am not a good flyer. I get queasy, I get frightened, I’m just plain scared. I knew ahead of time I should have taken some Dramamine before I left but I think I packed it in my checked bags. A lot of good that does me right now. But the flight went as well as I could expect it to. The boys were a bit tired so here they are...

and we land in Orlando before 10:00am. Off the plane and onto the Disney magical express bus. We wait a bit for the next available bus and off we go. Pop century here we come. Once we finally get there we check in and grab a bite to eat at their food court. This was the very first time we ate with the dining plan. So here goes our first meal. Paul, Mason and I each had the double cheeseburger & fries basket and Alex had the chicken strips basket. Mason and I thought the burgers were pretty tasty but Paul said it was just okay (but he usually says that to just about everything he eats) Alex claimed that the chicken strips were the best in the world. For dessert everyone had the chocolate cake except me, I had the cheesecake. Alex was so full he didn’t even touch his dessert but the rest said it was good. I didn't take pics here (I think we were all too hungry to think of anything esle. But it was only burgers/fries anyhow) We didn’t sit with my SIL & her family so I don’t know what they ate and will only be tracking what my own family eats and does throughout the report, just so you have a heads up.



After lunch, Jen, Scott and Dylan headed to Epcot and we were off to Downtown Disney. We have never been there and I wanted to check things out and have our first day in Disney an easy one since we’ve been up since 3:00am. We did walk around a bit but there were two main reasons for coming over here and they were to take pictures of the Lego statues and to check out the scrapbooking store. I must admit I was disappointed in both. We first went to the Lego center and I was taking a bunch of pictures and I was looking for a certain one (since it looked so cool online) I needed a picture of the lego family. Well let me tell ya....it’s not there anymore. I was so upset I almost cried. Well not really, but I could have. I am an avid scrapbooker and I was dedicating a whole 2-page spread on everything lego and I was really looking forward to having a picture of the lego family. The lady behind the counter couldn’t explain why they took it down or when but just knows that it’s not there anymore. Oh well, I did manage to get a few pics and the boys went into the store and each bought a lego set. Here's my oldest son Mason...

And my youngest son Alex

We only walked around the Marketplace and really wasn’t interested in the rest of Downtown Disney. We also stopped at Goofy’s Candy Co. Talk about a sugar overload!!!!!

Since we were all still full we didn’t buy anything but let me tell ya, that’s the place to go for a snack. We stopped along some other stores along the way back to the bus. The Christmas shop, the pin trading shop and most importantly the shop with the scrapbooking stuff. I have been looking forward to this store for so long now and I was so disappointed when I walked in. I thought it might be an actual scrapbooking store with quite a bit to choose from. Well, how wrong can one person be. It was a store that had this teeny-tiny section with a few scrapbooking items. I really didn’t know what to think but I did manage to buy a 12x12 scrapbooking album and a sheet of stickers with the characters signatures. That was it. After that, we walked around a bit and took a few pictures and then headed back to the hotel to see if it was ready and it was. Yey!!!! We were in the 60’s section in room 4171. We were only a couple doors down from the big playdoh can. And close to the pool. A big plus for Paul and the boys. I unpacked while the boys built their little lego set and Paul kicked back for a while. After a while they went to the pool for a quick dip before dinner at Kona Café. Once everyone was done with that and dressed, we headed over to Magic Kingdom to catch the ferry boat over to the Polynesian. We walked around a bit, checked out the hotel and took some pictures. Here we all are (I SO do not take a good picture)

We decided to go upstairs and find Kona since we’ve never been there before. We find it and realize that we’re a half hour too early for our ADR. We told them we were early but here and asked if they had any space to squeeze us in now. Within five minutes we were seated. We really liked the atmosphere of this restaurant and the food was pretty good too. Paul had the sticky wings, filet minon w/mashed potatoes and the apple brown betty for dessert. He said everything was really good. I had the seafood chowder, prime rib w/mashed potatoes and the Kilauea torte. Everything was really good except for the dessert. I really wasn’t impressed. I’ve heard so much about it and couldn’t wait to have it but I have to say that the brownie part was really, really dry. BLECH!!! The fudgy middle was excellent though and mainly that’s all I ate out of it. Mason & Alex each had the Kona Kone and really enjoyed it. Here's Alex digging right in!!!

And Mason was enjoying his cotton candy!!!

After dinner we shopped around a bit and Mason bought a necklace while Paul got himself a new Hawaiian shirt. Once we were through with that we got back on the ferry boat to MK to catch the Pop Century bus. I decided to stay in and relax while they took another dip in the pool.

Tomorrow---Epcot!!!!!

 

[OhMari]

I got stopped at the airport too for having a roll of quarters in my purse. I didn't want to add them to my luggage because of the weight. I thought I would need them for toll booths, but somehow we avoided the tolls. I ended up using them for the wash machines $4.00 a load, yikes.

Thanks for starting and sharing your TR with us.

 

[maslex]

We got up at the 5:30am alarm and got ready for our day at Epcot. We ate breakfast at POP food court and on our way there there was one person in the pool along with a mamma duck and her three babies. They were so cute. I took a couple pics but they didn’t come out. So we headed for an early breakfast. Just a quick note that I didn’t take any breakfast photos throughout the week (unless it was at Chef Mickeys or Crystal Palace) But Paul had an egg, cheese, bacon croissant, I had the breakfast platter, Mason just had a bowl of fruit and Alex had Frosted Flakes. Food was average from a food court. Nothing spectacular. We still had a little bit before heading out to the bus stop so we scoped out the shop. My boys really enjoyed trying on the different hats they had to offer.
Mason w/a big ole Mickey hat

And showing how big it really was

Alex as a Wizard

And reluctantly a Princess

We got to Epcot at rope drop. As soon as the crowd was let loose we headed over to Soarin. They still had a rope up before getting over to The Land so we gathered as close to the rope as possible. While waiting, I got a couple pictures of the characters that came out to greet us.
Here’s Minnie

And Mickey

And Goofy

And Dale

Then the countdown started. 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…and the rope dropped and people RAN to The Land to get to Soarin!!!! By the time we got there we only had about a 10min wait. Not too bad considering how long this line can get. We ended up on the bottom row of seats. We don’t particularly care for these seats since you can see all the feet above you, but it’s still one of our favorite rides. We just love how free you feel and all the different senses you experience. Especially the orange groves and evergreen trees. MMMM

After that we headed over to and did the Seas with Nemo. I did take some pics in here but they didn’t come out at all. We then headed over to do Turtle Talk with Crush. What a cute attraction that was!!! We really enjoyed that. Then we decided to stand in line for Test Track. We really like that ride. Got the ride picture on our photopass so I don’t have that one yet. But me and the boys decided ahead of time to give a thumbs up before heading outside to the track. Turned out to be a cute pic. By this time, it was getting really hot out and we headed over to do Ellen’s Energy Ride for a bit of a nap and to cool off. Afterwards though, my SIL had a splitting headache so she went back to the hotel for some asprin and a nap. She is going to be meeting up with us tonight for dinner at Le Cellier. Everyone else besides me and my BIL went over and did Mission Space (the orange side). We decided to go over and get a frozen lemonade and sit in the shade until they came out. Boy did that hit the spot. At this point we were basically finshed up with Future World and headed over to World Showcase. We got over there probably between 1:00-2:00. Now since we had ADR’s for an early dinner at Le Cellier, it didn’t give us much time to do World Showcase. We’ve done it a few times before but this time I had specific things I wanted to do. Basically take a bunch of pictures for my scrapbook and to get a pressed penny from each country. And since I can never keep up with my husband and everyone else, I told them to go ahead without me, to do whatever they wanted to do and that I would meet them in at Le Cellier around 4:00 for our 4:30 ADR. So off we went in our own little directions. I did end up with all but 4 of the pennies that I wanted. Some of the machines were broken down (But have no fear, Paul went back to Epcot later in the week and got the ones I needed) I did see a couple characters along the way and here they are…..

Along the way I also saw Off Kilter (first time seeing this show) and I truly enjoyed it. I JUST missed seeing the drummers in Japan. I remember seeing them the last time I was there and that was also a good show. I finally made it all the way around World Showcase and got the pictures that I wanted. I made it over to LeCellier for 4:00 and just as I sat down to rest, everyone else was coming out of the theater (they must have just finished the movie in there) We get to our table about 5 minutes after telling them we were there. We absolutely love this restaurant. Great atmosphere and great food. I really wanted to try a few of the appetizers (but nobody else did) and since we were on the dining plan I told them what to order just so I could atleast try them. I was only able to get a couple pictures during this dinner and will include them after.
Paul had the shrimp cocktail (very good), BBQ Filet Minon (excellent) with an extra side of mashed potatoes. He LOVES mashed taters. And he had the Smores dessert (yummy)

I had the Cheddar Cheese Soup (did NOT like this), BBQ Filet Minon (very good) and brought my dessert back to the hotel. I had the Whiskey Chocolate Cake. It was okay. I had tried my sons Chocolate Mousse and really wished I had ordered that instead.

Mason had the Mussels (he didn’t like them but I LOVED them) It was my first time trying mussels and these were terrific. I especially liked the chowder they came in. He also had the BBQ Filet Minon (he ate most of it) He ordered the Chocolate Mousse for dessert to bring back to the hotel. It really didn’t hold up to the heat that well, but still tasted fine.

Alex. Now I told you that he doesn’t eat anything “adult” and still orders off of the kid’s menu. At Disney it’s no different. He ordered hot dog and fries. He also had the Chocolate Mousse to be brought back to the hotel.

Once dinner was over we were stuffed beyond belief. Paul, Mason, Scott and Dylan stayed at Epcot while me, Jen and Alex went back to the hotel. I was beginning with a headache and just wanted to rest for the remainder of the night. I got back and took a shower while Alex went to the pool and made a couple friends.

Tomorrow….Typhoon Lagoon!!!!!

 

[maslex]

For breakfast we ate at the hotel again. Paul and Mason each had the breakfast croissant sandwich each time we ate at the hotel. I guess it was good. ***Side note…..on the dining plan for breakfast (when you use a CS credit) you get two drinks. So we always got a juice/chocolate milk along with a bottled water to bring with us to the parks. Anyhow, I had the breakfast wrap. It had egg, cheese & bacon in it. It was okay. Also came with breakfast potatoes. These were so-so. Probably would be better if I got them fresh, but I think they were sitting for a bit by the time I got them. And Alex got his beloved chocolate chip pancakes. He could LIVE on these alone, if I let him.

I was not really looking forward to today. I’m not exactly the type of person who enjoys going to water parks. It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just I am a plus sized gal who is NOT comfortable in a bathing suit. But I sucked it up, donned the bathing suit (with a cover-up of course) and off we went to Typhoon Lagoon. Last time we came to Disney we did Blizzrd Beach so we decided to try the other out for size. As soon as we got there we decided to have the photopass picture done at the beginning of the park. I don’t have those pictures back yet (just ordered them yesterday) but it did come out pretty good (It had all 7 of us in it). I really enjoyed the theme of this park. Blizzard Beach also had a cool theme with all the snow everywhere but Typhoon Lagoon was more tropical like. I am not a fan of water slides so my day was spent either in the wave pool or lazy river. I went around the lazy river a few times first thing in the morning and it was great. But by the afternoon it got so busy in there that you were unable to just float around. There were so many people in there bumping into each other that it was hard to just sit and relax. Everyone else jumped from one water slide to the next and had an absolute blast. Mason, Jen and Dylan also did the swimming with the fish thing. (I will add pics once I get these back) We got a few of the photopass pics at the park since I did not bring my digital with me. My favorite one had to be of me and Paul at the wave pool. I am one who doesn’t like to be underwater. I don’t know why, but I totally freak out. So he drags me out a little further than I was comfortable with and then we hear the wave come our way. Boy let me tell you…..that thing is POWERFUL!!! Knocked me right underwater and like I said before, I freaked out. For some reason, even though I know I am only waist deep in water, once I go underwater and freak, I freeze up and don’t know what to do. I don’t have enough sense to just stand up out of the water. So needless to say, Paul had to pull me up from below. He of course is laughing his butt off. So I see the photographer in the water and we go up to him to get our picture taken. He asked if we wanted a picture with or without the wave in the background. I asked him if it was just to have the wave in the background or does he snap the picture as the wave is crashing into us. Of course it was the latter of the two. I tell him that I freak out but wanted the picture taken. He tells me to wrap my arms around Paul’s waist and to bend my knees and brace myself. Now comes the wave. The picture is worth a million. The shear terror on my face explains it all. But we had a great time doing it. We stayed in the wave pool a bit longer before it was time for lunch. We decided on Typhoon Tillies. Paul had a hot dog w/fries, I had the BBQ pork sandwich (was pretty good) and the boys each had the chicken strips w/fries. Paul and I each had the cookie and the boys had the Mickey Ice Cream Bar. After lunch we all went into the lazy river and let things digest before hitting more water slides or the wave pool. Once that was all set, they hit Crush N Gusher. Did the ever have a blast one that one. I just stayed in the little pool watching everyone come down. A little more of the water slides, wave pool and lazy river and we were off to the hotel about 4:00 to get ready for our 6:30 ADR at Chef Mickeys.

Chef Mickeys is such a great place to eat. We’ve been there before and will probably go each time we’re down there again. We all enjoyed the buffet. The mashed potatoes are excellent. I tried the Mickey raviolis and they were pretty good. Dessert was filling as well. Paul and the boys favorite part of the meal is the part where you get to make your own ice cream sundae. Since I can have ice cream any time I want at home I decided to have a sampling of a bunch of little desserts. Oreo bonbon things, cheesecake, carrot cake and a chocolate rice krispie treat (I didn’t like that one) We got many pictures with the characters including these…

Once we had our fill, I decided to go back to the hotel while everyone else decided to jump on the monorail and check out the Polynesian Resort and the Grand Floridian. I had no interest in that at the time so I decided for a nice quiet relaxing night at the hotel. On the monorail on my way to the MK (So I could catch the bus) it started to rain a bit. It wasn’t that bad going to the bus but about 30 seconds before the bus got to my hotel, the skies opened up and it poured like I never saw it pour before. Thunder, lightening. The whole sha-bang. I got totally soaked by the time I reached my room. I had to take everything off and take a shower. Then the rest of the night was relaxing in bed.

 

[MEK]

I like your trippie, but I'm using an old computer at work and I can't view pics.

 

[ILMICKEY]

Great report! Sounds like you had a lot of fun. I sure hope my gang will leave me for a while and let me shop! Maybe I will just have to "lose" them.

Keep it comin'!