Welcome to my first trip report ever! I have wanted to do a report several times after reading so many wonderful stories here on the DIS. I am finally taking the plunge and will attempt to share our Incredible adventure with you. Bear with me as it is my first attempt at figuring out how this works.
A brief introduction
I am 39 and the Disney-a-holic in my family! I say that truly because if my addiction gets any worse, I will need a multi-step program to remove the ears that will soon pop out of the top of my head! I like many on these boards am finding that the only thing better than being at Disney is to be on the DIS-keeping connected! This intravenous dose of Disney is all I need to brighten my day.
I am married to the most Incredible patient husband who tolerates my addiction because it makes me happy. You know what they say When Mom is Happy-Everyone is Happy! Well I suppose he also enjoys the extra rounds of golf when we go to the world. Secretly though, he is a closet Disney addict too! Shhh, he just doesnt know it yet.
We have three Incredible sons who love Disney almost as much as their crazy Mom! Well, it wasnt my goal to raise Disney kids but I sure am proud of it now! We have had so many wonderful memories at Disney and hope to continue with many more to come!
And last but not least, DSs best buddy Amos! Yes, the one with the goofy smile-Oh good, he fits in already!
Chapter 1: The More the Merrier: How we came to travel with 14!
After convincing my entire family to join us on a WDW vacation, we decided that October would be the best month to go since our children have several days off for teacher workshops. As our excitement grew with planning and preparing our wonderful friends decided it was a great time to go as well! Cool, lets combine trips and meet up at Disney! Oh yeah, and lets also bring Amos along for the journey! I know most of you are saying are they NUTS? Yep, we are! And so the trip gets planned.
The plan is to travel down to Orlando with my Brother and his family and meet up with my parents who live only about 3 hours away from Disney. My family will be with us from Saturday to Wednesday and due to other commitments they will return home. On Wednesday the Okies will join us along with Amos until Saturday when we all have to go back to reality.
Sorry it took me so long to post this, I have been on here all day trying to figure out how to size pics and link things together. I think I finally have it. Except for the picture sizing thing. Even after I shrink them on PhotoBucket, they still come out very large. Sorry about that. Such a rookie here!
Chapter 2: Travel Day- AKV Here we Come!
Hooray,Hooray! Its departure day!
We met my brother and his crew the night before at a hotel near the airport. Since we live 2 hours away from the nearest airport and had a 6:30 a.m. flight this seemed like the way to go. We woke everyone at 4:30 a.m. This should give everyone plenty of time to wake up, shower and get to the airport right? Well lets just say that my DB is not a morning person and I think this time frame almost killed him. After sleeping through his alarm and barely getting out of the hotel by 5:45 he was a bit frazzled by the whole experience. None the less we were on our way to the airport and would be airborne in less than an hour! We would have a 2 hour flight into Chicago with a short layover and then hop another flight into Orlando.
We Made It!!!
Our flight arrived about 20 minutes ahead of schedule and we were on the ground and headed toward the Magic Express! We were very excited to experience this through the eyes of first timers again. My brother and crew V-Crew (from this point on) have never been to the World and everything was a new adventure. The kids were excited to get the Mickey Bus instead of the big yellow Mears Monster. Pixie Dust is flowing already! We are the first ones on the bus and after just a few more folks climbing aboard the driver departs! Yeah, we are on our way! After a few other stops we finally arrive at Kidani Village! Oh the music, the rhythm, sounds and smells that I can still feel as we got off the bus and began our adventure!
More Pixie Dust Comes our Way
WOW! As we stepped off the bus we were greeted like royalty- Welcome Home G-Crew! (as we shall be referred to) I just love hearing that phrase, welcome home it never gets old to me. Our On-line check-in was definitely a success. Again, PD was pouring over us at this point. Our rooms were ready and waiting, with buttons for all of the kids and first timers and upgraded rooms! That's right Savannah view! Yeah!! What more could be Magical today! Oh just wait and see
G-Ma and G-Pa arrive almost right after we did and checked in with the same success! Our rooms were all together in the first bead to the right off the lobby one floor up!!! WOW! Everyone was so impressed with our rooms and the views were breathtaking! So close to the animal action, we couldnt believe it. The views brought tears to G-Mas eyes as she sat on the balcony with the five G-Kids! This is something that she has always wanted to do and her dream is coming true!
After unloading the groceries from their vehicle, everyone got changed into the first of many matching magical t-shirts- that I made with the help of some wonderful creative disigners! They truly were magical t-shirts as you will see further into this story. As we got off the elevator the kids heard some drums playing. As soon as we entered the lobby/activity area the cast members invited the kids to learn how to play. They had a blast! We had a bit more time to explore the resort before heading off to our first park, Magic Kingdom here we come!
Coming Soon
The Magic Really Begins: They can be rude to me anytime!
Oh WOW! I am so happy that someone subbed to my TR!!!! Hopefully I will figure out how to be quicker with the posts, pics etc.
Thanks for being my first reader!
Chapter 3: The Magic Really Begins: They can be rude to me anytime!
Magic Kingdom here we come! We decided to catch the MSEP and Wishes since this was one of the only nights they were scheduled while the V-Crew was with us. Everyone was super excited as we made our way into the Magic Kingdom.
We happened to be early enough to catch a few of our favorite rides before having to find seats for the parade. It wouldnt be a true Disney trip if we didnt start with BUZZ, so off we went in the Tomorrowland direction. Would we would be so lucky as to have a short wait time? (Insert magical sound #1 here) Yes, only a five minute wait!!! I felt like doing the happy dance right there on the spot, but figured that I would spare my sons the embarrassment until it was well deserved.
After Buzz we decided to cross over into Adventureland to catch Pirates before the parade line up. Alas, another short wait time only about 10 minutes! We then decided to head toward Splash Mtn. and line up for the parade. Our goal was to be on the rope by Splash Mtn. and head directly there after the parade. All the best laid plans seem to get an unexpected twist
As we waited for the parade several cast members did a great job entertaining everyone. They had bubbles, jokes and jump rope contests going. Out of the blue, a family approaches the rope where we were standing and proceeds to come under the rope with their 3 small children, 4 adults and one very large Disney Double stroller! We thought maybe they were just coming through to get up to the mountains. Right, think again! They decided to stand right in front of us pushing our children back behind them. OK, I am trying to be patient in waiting to see what their intent is, but thats it! I can no longer contain myself the parade is going to start soon. I gently asked them to move behind since we had been waiting here for a while already. Ah, great (No English) or so it seemed. Regardless what language a person speaks, I do believe there is a language of common courtesy. I am pretty sure that they didnt speak that language either since they wouldnt budge. One of the great cast members that was entertaining saw the whole thing happening and she approached me and asked if she could help. Since the crowds were already thick I really didnt see anything that could be done. Well, think again! I should know by now that Disney really does make things magical! She looked at us and said, I am afraid I will have to move you, are you ok with some of your group sitting and some standing? Sure, I think that would be alright, I replied. Well before we knew it she was escorting us down the street to the liberty area bridge where VIP seats awaited our whole family. (Insert magical Pixie Dust sound here!) Not only great seats for the parade but since it was a VIP area, every character in the parade turned as if on cue to look at us and wave, they even interacted with the kids! After explaining why we moved to this area to my youngest son he said, Well, they can be rude to me anytime! Spoken the truth that we all were thinking!
After the parade it was mass chaos as the streets became so crowded with people leaving and preparing for the fireworks we decided to sit and wait. The best plan ever! After about 15 minutes the crowds thinned and we were able to get a good view of Wishes from the VIP section. A few trees in the view but great seats and wonderful sound! What an amazing first night!
Coming Up...
Chapter 4: EPCOT: What Time are we Meeting?
Day 2 arrives after a wonderful night sleep and everyone is fresh and ready to go, right? WRONG! Well at least 2 out of the 3 rooms are ready for action. I will admit, I am not a morning person at all but at Disney it is a way different story! So much to do and so little time to be there! So we are up and dressed in the EPCOT brown shirts of the day and already on our second cup of coffee watching the animal action on the balcony with GMA and GPA. A bit more time passes and I casually ask if anyone has heard from the VCrew yet this morning? Ah, nope! Well we decide after much debate to give a simple text of "Good Morning-Disney Fans" OOPS, not the way to start the day! Panic sets in for my DB and the VCrew as they are not even out of bed yet. No worries we explain that since we are ready we will head over to EPCOT and meet you when you get there. "OK" Was the answer back. So we all head over to DS #1 favorite park ever-EPCOT! Great timing on the bus again as we climb aboard right away and get whisked off to EPCOT in a matter of minutes. Still no additional words from the VCrew at this point. Not going to worry though they should be able to navigate the bus system since we used it last night to go to MK. We hit the park full force zipping right over to Soarin, Nemo and The Land. Still no word from the VCrew. Getting a bit concerned another text goes out to locate the missing in action fam. Whew! They are on their way and should arrive soon. Good deal now the guilt of leaving them behind can subside. Finally about 11:30 we get a message that they are in the park heading past the "Big Ball" thingy. Oh what a picture it was to see the shear panic on DB face trying to navigate through unchartered territory. Put him in the woods in the middle of no where hunting animals=No Problem. Put him in Disney navigating the parks= shear terror for him. Needless to say they never did miss another departure time. They made sure each night to confirm our EDT!
Welcome back if anyone is reading this TR. Sorry things got a bit chaotic here this week. I am back and ready to continue the story!
Epcot is one of our favorite parks and yet we never seem to get enough time to spend there. After the VCrew finally arrived we spent most of the day exploring the world showcase. Something I have always wanted to do more of but never tackled that battle with the boys. Everyone loved it!!! I had pre-made world showcase passport books for the young ones with the hope that we would at least make it half way around the WS. What a great experience! The kids loved searching for the Kidcot stops and talking to the cast members from each country!
Ry thought it was very cool when this cast member told him he was a Tiger according to his birthdate.
As we made our way through Mexico, we come upon Donald with no wait! Yeah!
Everyone is beginning to melt by this point so our next goal is to get some food into the young ones and beer into my DB. The Food and Wine fest. is so much fun, tons of places to taste a bit of each country. DB was extatic that he could tast beer from each country. Passports may have helped the youngins but let me tell you "around the world with beer" really helped my wonderful bro!
At this point Ryley is "not hungry", "not thirsty", "Not Cooperating!" Oh boy here it comes the big Melt! He was starting to get very hot and tired so that was to be expected. He surprised us all and overcame his issue very quickly when he found the BIGGEST PRETZEL he has ever seen!Way to go Germany!!!
After everyone got a little something we decided to conquer as much of the WS as possible before the next meltdown.
The kids really enjoyed the hidden treasures to be found in China! The "center circle" and other wonders sure kept them going!
Ash and Ant try to figure out the acoustics.
In Japan we took Ash to the Pick a Pearl counter where we all picked our first pearl ever! This was so much fun! The cast members made this a very special memory for Ash.
After the WS we decided to take Gma and Gpa on Test Track, Nemo and my all time favorite SOARIN! It was going to feel very good to stand in lines with the A/C by this point after being in the hot sun all afternoon.
As we approach Future World, once again, some have to make a bathroom stop. (hard to avoid with a group of 11!) While waiting for the group in the bathroom we decided to sit on some benches overlooking a small lake. Ryley notices some ducks swimming and has fun watching them. The group comes out from the bathroom everyone is gathered so away we go! Next Stop SOARIN! As we approach the LAND Gpa casually says...
"Who has Ryley?" (Insert heart stopping right here!)
So Gma panics and starts running the wrong way toward Spaceship Earth, the rest of us run back toward the bathrooms. (Poor Gma panics under crisis!) I will admit I had a very hard time keeping calm at this point, but much to DH surprise I remained calm. As we approached the bathroom area, there he was sittin on the bench with the biggest crocodile tears I've ever seen! I felt so relieved and so proud in the same moment! I have always told my children if they got separated to sit down and wait right where they are. He did just as he was taught, my wonderful sweet little guy! I am sure it was the hardest thing ever for him not to run, but he did it! As he looked at me and said "Mommy, I sat down just like you told me to, but it made me sad!" Needless to say a few big hugs from everyone and we were on our way again. Oh, wait a minute now we have to find Gma! As we get back near The Land, Gma comes up the path! Whew, everyone back together! Now for some fun in Future World!
We had a wonderful day at EPCOT and hope to come back again with Amos on Wednesday night for extra Magic Hours.
Except for the picture sizing thing. Even after I shrink them on PhotoBucket, they still come out very large. Sorry about that. Such a rookie here! 
She looked at us and said, I am afraid I will have to move you, are you ok with some of your group sitting and some standing? Sure, I think that would be alright, I replied. Well before we knew it she was escorting us down the street to the liberty area bridge where VIP seats awaited our whole family. (Insert magical Pixie Dust sound here!) Not only great seats for the parade but since it was a VIP area, every character in the parade turned as if on cue 
to look at us and wave, they even interacted with the kids! After explaining why we moved to this area to my youngest son he said, Well, they can be rude to me anytime! Spoken the truth that we all were thinking!
