Gallivanting through the World: Return of the Jedi: **UPDATE! 8/8**

[michygoomy]

Names have been changed to protect the guilty

Cast of characters:
Me--excellent trip planner, bad traveler, 6th trip to the world
Darth Dazzle--DH, 7+ trips to the world
Jedi John—DS12, 5th trip
Padawan Saba—DD10, 4th trip
Youngling MJ—DD 17 months, 1st trip and the reason we are going again!

Prologue: How Many Spreadsheets Does it Take to go to Disney?

We never planned to be Disney people. I had never been to the world as a child, but Darth Dazzle talked me into going for our honeymoon. I agreed to humor him. Boy, he had no idea what he was getting himself into!

Our trip in 2003 was impulsive. We got a fare watcher for really cheap flights, and the Fairytale Package was being offered, so we literally made the decision and booked it during one evening! After that trip, I promised Darth Dazzle that we would vacation somewhere else next vacation (big vacations only come about every three years for us). Disney didn’t look to be in the cards for a very long time.

Well, what happened next is we got pregnant! So, of course, I had to mention how unfair it was that the older kids had both gone to Disney by the time they were 2. I reminded him that she could only travel as a lap baby up until 2, and that she’d only be free at Disney until she was 3. Besides, what is the likelihood of us traveling around Yellowstone or someplace similar with a toddler in tow? You don’t get much more toddler-friendly than Disney! To top it all off, we had a 30% discount code off rack rate. Those just don’t come along, well, ever.

So, in the end, I won.

It turns out that the impulsive trip was much easier to book than our pre-planned one. I now had OPTIONS. I had a nice enough budget and the discount code. I had spreadsheets and more spreadsheets. I planned for 7 days vs. 10 days; deluxe vs. moderate vs. value; spring vs. summer vs. fall; dining vs. no dining. I made myself insane with all the options.

I finally asked the rest of the family if they’d prefer 7 or 10 days, and 10 won hands down. I asked about summer vs. fall, and they were all for sooner rather than later! I debated about taking the kids out of school, but decided it just wouldn’t be wise. In the end, I picked 6/9-6/18, which would mean we left the day after the kids got out of school. How cool is that for a kid? I got CBR reserved for those dates, no problemo. And there was an added bonus---STAR WARS WEEKENDS! I was so excited, having been a HUGE Star Wars fan since I was 9.

Then I waited for flights. And waited and waited. I stressed about it daily. Turns out leaving on the Friday and returning on a Sunday is about the worst way to get good airfare. I was getting nervous. Darth Dazzle was pressuring me not just to get cheap flights, but GOOD flights: i.e. he wanted to get there early and leave late. The pressure! I was going insane.

Finally Darth Dazzle decided to take over the flight hunting. We had a choice—move the dates back or up. Moving them up would mean no Star Wars Weekends, which bummed me out. Moving them back meant the kids would miss school. In the end, Star Wars won out over school, I’m a bit embarrassed to say. In my defense, though, the last week or so is almost completely unproductive and they were only missing the last three days. We asked the kids and they were cool with that (that had initially balked at missing a week or more, which made my little educated heart go pitter-patter).

So, we have new flights at great times and decent enough prices. Now we just need CBR for those three days. Piece of cake, right? WRONG! I call every dang day for availability, and there is nothing with my discount. I also can’t use the same discount on another resorts for the three days. Again the plan is foiled! How can I plan my park days? How can I make the rest of my ADRs? My spontaneous booking in 2003 is looking much less stressful.

We considered off-site (cringe). We looked at doing Sea World & Universal. I begged Disney to please let me spend EVERY LAST DOLLAR I HAVE WITH THEM, and the CM gave me suggestions as to what to do off-site. No amount of begging could get me CBR for the three days at the discount, and my budget couldn’t handle it NOT at a discount.

In the end, I booked POP for the first three days and decided to walk on the wild side and try a split stay like all the cool Dis’ers do. I switched around all the tickets and only paid for the dining plan for the 6-day CBR stay. I made a couple of additional ADRs. I stopped whining about it all on the disboards. Our vacation was back on track.

Stay tuned for Day 1: Hi, I’m MJ, and I Will Be Your Greeter Today

 

[michygoomy]

Day 1: Hi, I’m MJ and I Will be Your Greeter Today

The last couple of weeks leading up to the trip are something I don’t want to think about much. See, I’m a bad, bad flyer. I have too good of an imagination of all the bad, bad things that could happen. I’m at my absolute worst the last week. I’m cranky and sullen.

However, when the day finally comes I’m pretty mellow. I know I’m getting on that plane no matter what, so I might as well make the best of it. Plus I have something to DO, which really helps me focus. Control issues, I know, I know.

We have to get going pretty early, but it turns out I don’t have to stress about waking up a sleeping baby because Youngling MJ is up shortly after I am. We’re all packed and ready to go, so we just have to grab the morning stuff and we’re off. Our luggage ride (somewhere along the way I realized you can’t fit 5 people AND 10 days worth of luggage in one sedan) arrives early and we’re off.

We arrive no problem, check in no problem, and hang out in the kiddie area to eat our Burger King breakfast and wait for boarding. Youngling MJ has a ball in the kiddie room. I’m wondering if she thinks this is Disney World. She’d be pretty content with it, and it wouldn’t involve me packing 100 socks.

We make our way though security and on to the gate. What a convoluted mess that is, and I’m glad we only have to do it twice for the whole trip. Take the baby out of stroller, fold up the stroller and put it on the conveyor. Take out the laptop and put that on the conveyor. Remove shoes and coats and put THOSE on the conveyor. Diaper bag, Jedi John’s carryon, Padawan Saba’s fanny pack and carry on, camera bag, Darth Dazzle’s Sith utility belt (i.e. massive fanny pack). What in the name of the Force was left to check? Can we possibly need all this crap in a couple of hours in the air? How do we get by at home? Sheesh.

After we put ourselves back together again, we wait. And wait. And wait. In our little airport there isn’t even anyone at the gate to admit that our flight is delayed until the last possible minute. Youngling MJ uses the time to personally greet EVERY SINGLE passenger in the gate area. Not just wave Hi, but go up to each one, lean in so she catches their eye, putting a hand on a knee if necessary, then giving them a big smile and saying Hi. I think she’s preparing to be a Wal-Mart greeter when she retires. I consider it a pre-apology for any offenses a 16-month old lap baby might commit on the plane.

We finally board late only to taxi down the runway and wait some more. Great, the only thing that was missing from the earlier wait was been crammed into a tin can with an antsy toddler and 50 other people. The explanation is that there are traffic delays in Philly, and we’re not allowed to take off until they clear up.

The crisis is adverted when the Youngling decides its naptime and cuddles up on my shoulder. Whew. All the cuteness at the gate would not have made up for a screaming baby in these conditions. At this point we no we’re not going to make our connecting flight, which was tight anyway, but Darth Dazzle calls the airline only to find out that THAT flight is delayed, also. I’m trying to use the Force to get our plane in the air and keep the other one on the ground.

It seems to work, because we take off finally and hightail it over to Philly. The flight is uneventful, for all my worrying, though a little rocky at landing. The plane is coming in leaning to the right, so I, of course, lean left. I’m sure the pilot appreciated the help. He can call on me anytime; I’m a good leaner.

We make a mad dash from the loser express gates over the main terminal. Youngling MJ likes the bus ride, and I assure her that we have many, many more of those in our future. We sing, “The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round.” In fact, we have songs for most of our modes of transportation—we were doing “I’m flying in an airplane looking out the window….” on the way to Philly. I’m sure the other passengers appreciated the free entertainment, as would many others on our numerous bus rides around the world.

We lucked out on the Philly-MCO leg—we ended up with six seats for our four tickets. What a deal, and we didn’t have to bother the other passengers quite as much. The youngling had managed to make a package for me in our travels, so I ended up changing her on Padawan Saba’s lap before we took off. She (Saba) was none too pleased, and hightailed it quickly to the empty seat across the aisle next to Jedi John. No amount of Force power could make changing a squirmy toddler in the airplane loo baby-changing area (that can’t even fit a fetus) possible, I’m sorry to say. So I apologize in retrospect to the other passengers of flight 523 to Orlando.

Miss squirmy pants had her uppance coming shortly after the beverage service began. She managed to reach up and grab a cup of water off the beverage cart and dumped it right in her own face. Teach her to be grabby. Of course, at this point it looked to the rest of the world like I peed my pants. Yes, I’m sure we were well loved by the passengers of 523. Too bad Youngling MJ never had a chance to greet them all personally before we embarked.

We land (didn’t have to lean this time, the pilot had everything under control) and wait for our gate-checked stroller to be pulled off the plane. Dazzle is not pleased watching them THROW strollers off the plane. He’s also not surprised when ours arrives sans snack tray. This is a problem. The snack tray may not look like much of a barrier for a talented little Jedi-in-training, but it is formidable to her. With it, she’s content and happy to sit with no chance of escaping her trappings without the hands of her parents, without it, she’s ready to jump out at any second.

They check the plane and it’s NOT THERE. Did it fall out sometime during our trip? Is it in Georgia somewhere? ***?

The dude tells us to ask Disney to help us. Sorry, dude, this is NOT Disney’s problem, it’s the airline’s. We head down to baggage claim, which we were supposed to avoid with the whole ME thing. They seem nice at first—the man calls back down to the gate to get them to look again, while the lady calls a supervisor to get approval to allow us to rent a stroller at the parks. The first option doesn’t pan out, as expected, and the second is not good because we have to get this Youngling around the resort and to the busses. Doesn’t matter much because they won’t approve the stroller rental, anyway.

Beg, cajole, argue—we’re getting nowhere. I’m reminded constantly about the “limited liability” on strollers, and I remind them constantly that they throw the strollers around. We’re getting nothing done and wasting valuable park time, so we take a snack tray from their bag-o-snack-trays (gee, how often does this happen?) and head out.

We make our way to the ME area only to find not one, but TWO lines. Somehow they don’t know about Youngling MJ, despite my mentioning her EVERY SINGLE TIME I CALLED (which was like 200 times, remember?) Same thing happened with the airline. She must be using her force powers to shield her presence. I wish she could have used that skill when she had the poopy diaper.

Youngling has worn herself out with all of her inappropriate Force-usage so Darth Dazzle, Jedi John and Padawan Saba must now take turns pushing her in the stroller back and forth through the ME line trying to get her off to sleep.

Off to our bus and our trip really begins. I’m beyond excited driving to WDW, especially when we get under the sign. It’s all finally real! We arrive at POP and have an uneventful check-in that involved a large packet of papers. Just what I need: to read MORE about Disney. I think I can write the packets by now.

We take a quick trip past the pool (how cool it is, too!) and off to our room, which is just steps away from the elevator. I’m very pleased! It’s not even as small as I expected. We plop down our stuff and head off to the food court because we are all very, very hungry Jedi (and Sith) at this point.

We manage to find some grub, pick out our mugs and go to checkout. 84 dollars! Yikes. What a way to start out the trip. I remind Darth Dazzle that we are buying our mugs so he doesn’t put a force-choke on the poor CM, and we have our cheeseburgers, hot dogs and sloppy joes.

Youngling MJ, refreshed from her force trance nap decides to use her newly formed flatware skills by painting herself with eating her applesauce with a spoon. Wearing her dinner for all to see became a bit of a theme for her for the rest of the trip. Consider it a kind of toddler dining review.

We discuss our plans. We had originally planned for AK arrival day with Rainforest for dinner, but there is no way we’ll be hungry in time and we won’t get much time before they close. Epcot is out because we can’t handle that much walking at this point, and we have MK planned for the morning. So---MGM it is! Great, because it’s my favorite park!

We hose off the youngling and head back to the room. At the elevator we meet a lady with our delivery from gardengrocer.com. What fantastic timing! Then two seconds after we get in the room our pack-n-play arrives. I’m starting to feel like the minor celebrities in the insurance commercials where they think everything special is being done just for them. What a good feeling to start out with.

We hop on a bus to MGM (thewheelsonthebusgo’roundand’round) to really start our vacation. We head off to Muppets 3D so we can start with something everyone can do. Youngling MJ isn’t too pleased with her 3D glasses, but settles down about it once the show starts. She’s mesmerized by it. After we get off, Darth Dazzle argues with the kids that the bird was talking to HIM and not THEM. This has been going on for weeks.

Darth Dazzle takes the Youngling over to Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground while us Jedi do what Jedi should do and run over to Star Tours for a quick trip to Endor. The wait time says 20 minutes, but it’s essentially a walk-on. I never tire of this ride, and neither does Jedi John.

We meet back up with our favorite Sith Lord who is hunched over worse than Yoda from chasing the Youngling through the playground. We decide he must not do that again without shorter reinforcements.

Darth and Saba NEED to go on Rock ‘n’ Roll BAD. It calls to them every time we are in MGM with the intensity of “Use the Force, Luke”. They take off and Jedi John head over to---Disney Playhouse. He is not pleased one bit. I remind him that if he doesn’t want to ride the big rides, he is going to be occasionally stuck with the Youngling and me. I am seriously cramping his soon-to-be-13 cool with this attraction, and I’m glad he doesn’t have force choke skills yet.

MJ tries to take off a couple of times before the show starts, now that she is not confined to her stroller with it’s mismatched snack tray, so I pull out the leash out of my bad. What a waste of fabric. She runs until the slack is gone, and then falls down. She is not a happy Jedi when she falls down. Luckily, the show starts soon, much dancing and clapping ensues, and Jedi John makes it out unscathed without any of his middle-school friends knowing what he did (well, unless they have the internet, that is. BWAHAHAHAHA.)

We meet up with Darth and Saba only to find out that they didn’t take enough cards to get fast passes for RnRRC and the stand-by line was too long. I promise to make it up to them and we head out of the park.

Back to our room (thewheelsonthebusgo’roundand’round) and our luggage has arrived! Again, I feel like the insurance commercial celebrities. Dazzle takes the kids off to the pool and I settle the Youngling off to sleep. Not a bad start to our fine Disney trip.

Stay tuned for Day 2: Guess Who Paraded Down Main Street in Guess What

 

[TLinden16]

What a great start to your trip! You have three very active kids there! The airlines sure can beat up the strollers and luggage. I guess we should be glad that the bagage handlers don't throw us on the plane.

Thanks for posting!

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

As a huge Star Wars geek, I'm loving all the Star Wars references.

 

[michygoomy]

Thanks for the replies! This one cracked me up:

I guess we should be glad that the bagage handlers don't throw us on the plane.

I'm sure it's only a matter of time!

Thanks for reading, Sleeping Jedi Beauty. I'll try to get a few more of them in there when I get to the SW weekend part of the trip.
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Day 2: Guess Who Paraded Down Main Street in Guess What

Our first real day of vacation, so we must go to the Magic Kingdom. Padawan Saba had ordered the Mickey wake-up call the night before. She was very excited about it, and HAD to sleep right next to the phone. We don’t have to be at the park until 9am, though (somehow I managed to plan this WHOLE trip avoiding EMH mornings and evenings—I’m not sure why I did that), which means everyone is pretty much wide awake before Mickey even calls. Saba answers anyway. It’s funny, last trip she was 7, and you would think she’d be more into Mickey and characters and stuff then. No. Last trip all she wanted was the thrill rides. Now she’s lovin’ the characters at 10. Odd.

We catch our bus without much of a wait and we’re off (thewheelsonthebusgo’roundand’round). We arrive and are very excited to be here! While MK isn’t my favorite park, I always get excited about it when I get there. Plus it is the only park I know my way around. The rest of the confuse me, just like the Mall.

Saba finds Chip (Dale?) right away and gets an autograph and picture.

We have to stop for pictures, of course:

And the obligatory photo in front of the castle.

Doesn’t work as well with the crowds, and those photopass people didn’t seem to be interested in us.

We decide to start with Spash Mountain. Jedi John has gotten much braver about rides since the last trip (weird that my kids have changed so much in three years!) and he loves flume rides. I am not so much into the Splash. If you want to know just how much I’m not into it, read my 2003 trip report, or one of my other posts about my experience. Let’s just say there is more than one way to get a back-stage tour.

I let the brave folks go on Splash while I wait with the Youngling. I had found a nice bench to wait on, but get bored and decide to go watch the boats come down the hill. MJ is excited watching the boats fall and says WEE WEE each time they drop. She slays me, that kid.

WEE! WEE!

I swear Darth Dazzle waves at me from the top, so I wave back and then get out my camera to take a picture of them coming down. Two problems with that—first, I have no idea how long it is between part that crosses up top and the drop (since the one time I was on this ride I had my eyes closed the whole time); second, you really can’t tell who is on the boat before it gets to the bottom of the drop. So, I take pictures of lots of random strangers before I give up. What I don’t realize at the time is problem 3—that wasn’t Dazzle waving at me. It was some random stranger waving at some other random loved one.

NotMyFamily on Splash:

My clan finally shows up (turns out they rode twice because there was no line) and I tell them we’re heading to Winnie the Pooh. It’s time for something geared for the Youngling. We have a short wait and take a little ride with Pooh. It’s cute, and she’s mesmerized.

We already had to pass Philharmagic once, so there is no putting it off again. They we just building this when we came last time, so we’re excited to experience something new. MJ is not pleased with her 3D glasses at all, but when the movie starts she forgets about them. What a fantastic show! Wow! I can’t say enough about it. I had heard great things about it, but wow! A little duck butt at the end is cute, too.

It’s a short hop to It’s a Small World, so we head over there. MJ is mesmerized again. I can’t imagine what is going on in her little head with all this stuff, but she’s always been the type of kid who likes stimulation, so this is working fine for her. She stares and stares. We take many pictures. Life is good.

It’s a good time for lunch, so we hunt down Columbia Harbor House. Dazzle asks the CM what hummas is—I could’ve explained it, but he didn’t ask me. He decides to try it—I get the fish and chips, Saba is way excited to have found a place that offers a tuna sandwich, Jedi John goes for the tried-and-true chicken, and I get the hungry little one some mac-n-cheese. As we eat, the big kids covet the Youngling’s mac-n-cheese big time. They are welcome to order off the kids’ menu while I’m paying OOP, I remind them, but not when we do the dining plan!

It’s about time for all good Younglings to take a nap, but where to do that? Hall of Presidents, of course! Hey, I’m not mocking it, I swear. It was a nice show, but it’s also a (somewhat) quiet place to rest in air conditioning for a while.

So I send the rest of the gang off to go do something that drops or falls or spins or whatever, and I take the sleephead into HoP.

Now, I’ll rave all day about how generous everyone was on all of the bus rides to a Mom with a sleepy and/or sqirmy toddler. Really, I barely walked on to a crowded bus before someone jumped up or pulled a kid on to a lap to make sure I had a seat. It seems to be a different story in the HoP. See, the second we walked in there, MJ must have sensed with her astute force power that “THIS IS WHERE I NAP” and laid her head right now on my shoulder. There are very few seats while we wait for the next show, and no one shows even an inkling of offering me one. That’s fine, I really like it when my back muscles start making that tingly feeling.

The doors open and we file in. I go in the last row, waaaaaaaaay to the right of the stage to get far away from anyone who might disturb the Younling’s slumber. Mistake number one: the speakers are now right behind my ear. The battle scenes are very, very loud. Luckily, she stays asleep.

Mistake number two were the people seated right next to me. I forgot that disabled access was at that end, so I’m not off by myself like I would have thought. Which would have been just fine, if I didn’t have to listen to the conversation that followed.

“Those Brazilians, they come down here by the thousands and they all cut in line.”
“The Italians….blah, blah, blah.”

Yeah, this is what I have to listen to. And it gets worse. The one man tells about how during Gay Days the gays parade down Main Street in just a g-string. He KNOWS that for a FACT, because he saw it on Bill O’Rielly.

It is truly unfair that I have to listen to this and can’t even make a disapproving cough because I don’t want to wake the sleeping baby. I did a lot of eye-rolling, but that was pretty ineffective since they weren’t looking at me, anyway. Eye-rolling really needs to produce some sort of sound. That would be cool.

Thank goodness the first show ends and they leave. I stay, because her nap isn’t over yet, and I’m perfectly comfortable here now that the “others” have gone. I’m a little surprised when Dazzle walks in through the exit. How does he always manage to do the things we aren’t supposed to do? He checks on us, I tell him we’re staying, and he goes off to do more fun stuff with the big kids. I’m still not sure what they did.

The second show starts and now I’m getting a little bored. Like I said, it’s a nice enough show, and the presidents are pretty cool, but it loses a little of its punch the second time in less than an hour. What to do? I pull out my cell phone and IM my friend back home. That’s pretty cool, technology can be awesome at times.

We finish the second show and MJ wakes up refreshed, so we meet up with the rest of the group and decide it’s time for our afternoon break. On the way out, we stop at the barbershop, but there is quite a line. We’ll just save that for another day.

Because we’re in such a Disney mood, we decide, why hop on a bus when you can take the monorail? Better yet, why hop on a monorail to catch another monorail, when you can hop on a BOAT to take to the MONORAIL to take to the BUS. Yes, we are now planning the absolutely most convoluted way to get back to our resort. We must really be in a Disney mood now!

We go to the boat, but it’s not running. Oh, well, no big deal—we’ll do monorail-monorail. We ride to the TTC and Youngling MJ practices her force-levitation skills with Dazzle’s hat.

We pick up the Epcot line there, and ride to Epcot only to hop on a bus back to POP. Yes, we are weird.

Back in the room, we have a message. It’s the airline—they have found our stroller snack tray! This is fantastic news, because the other snack tray has been falling off all day, giving the Youngling brief glimpses of freedom. We can’t have that.

The bad news—it’s there waiting for me if I want to come pick it up. Pick it up? Yeah, I’m going to take a cab ride back and forth to the airport to pick up a stoller tray, which would cost me about as much as a new stroller.

The airline has some ‘splainin to do, so Dazzle takes the kids down to the pool while I get on the phone. Big problem—the MCO baggage office didn’t leave a number for me to call, so I have to call the main baggage number. They guy answers and I give him the full story—from losing the snack tray to the message that I can come pick it up, and how impossible that would be. He listens to the whole thing, then asks me for my claim number. After he looks it up, he proceeds to read the whole case to me, ending with the “good” news that they found my stoller tray and I can come pick it up any time. Gah!

I explain AGAIN how ridiculous it is for me to taxi to the airport to pick up a stroller tray, and could they please deliver it to me. He says he’ll put me on hold while he contacts them to find out if that is possible.

I wait on hold forever, only to have him come back and ask me what my claim number is. It seems he remembers NOTHING of my story, so I have to repeat the whole thing again. In the end he asks me if I can hold while he checks with the baggage office at MCO. I tell him that that’s fine, but he’d better come back! In the end, all he could do is leave a message and hope they would call me.

DAY 2 TO BE CONTINUED……

 

[pumba]

This Is Great. Especially The Taking Of Photos Of Complete Strangers. That Would Be 'moi' I Take Photos Of Splash Thinking Yup Its Them And Then Ee In Ak .....and Say Yup It Is Them.....and Guess What It Wasn't.......thanks So Much For Your Review.....and By The Way I Love The Hummus At Columbia Too......did Your Hubby Like It?

 

[Pink Disney]

Great report, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I was glad to hear someone else gets lost in malls. Also, it may not be your family on Splash, but a great picture none the less. Your story of the people in HoP is sadly all too common. It is too bad that some people feel it is okay to poison everyone else's environment by spewing their venom. Hope you had no more of those magic stealing moments on your trip. Keep it coming.

 

[michygoomy]

My apologies, first of all, for cutting off yesterday at half way though day 2. I was very, very tired and was afraid I was rambling and incoherent. I promise to stick to at least finishing one full day before posting from now on. Thanks to all who have stuck with me this far. It gets more fun as the week goes on—Star Wars Weekends! Alberto! Mug Abuse!

Extra-special-super-thanks to those who have replied. I get all tingly to find my TR in my subscribed threads.

This Is Great. Especially The Taking Of Photos Of Complete Strangers. That Would Be 'moi' I Take Photos Of Splash Thinking Yup Its Them And Then Ee In Ak .....and Say Yup It Is Them.....and Guess What It Wasn't.......thanks So Much For Your Review.....and By The Way I Love The Hummus At Columbia Too......did Your Hubby Like It?

No, he didn’t. He didn’t like the fact that it was mushy and he didn’t like the broccoli slaw that came on it. He tried hummus later in the trip, too, as a dip and didn’t like it then, either. I have to give him points for trying, though!

Great report, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I was glad to hear someone else gets lost in malls. Also, it may not be your family on Splash, but a great picture none the less. Your story of the people in HoP is sadly all too common. It is too bad that some people feel it is okay to poison everyone else's environment by spewing their venom. Hope you had no more of those magic stealing moments on your trip. Keep it coming.

I have to say those were the only bigots I met on the trip. Everyone else was fantastically nice. Seriously—just fantastic. Thanks for replying.
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DAY 2: CONTINUED

Where we left off in our story: with a frustrating, confusing and exasperating call to the airline’s main baggage claim office. I found Dazzle at the pool and told him the story. He decided he was going to go ask a CM for help. I thought this was a crazy idea—I mean, I know they are magical and all that, but it is really not their problem. He feels better that his is trying to do something, so I let him go try (like I could stop him anyway!).

He come backs a few short minutes later and says it’s all taken care of. Wha?!?!?!!?! Seems the CM had the one piece of magic that was missing—the DIRECT number for the baggage claims office at MCO. They will be delivering our snack tray. Yeah for Dazzle!

Vacation time is a-wastin’, so we decide to get outta Dodge.

We had planned to do DTD tonight, but decide we’re not done with MK for the day. Back on the bus, Gus, gotta new plan, Stan. The wheels on the bus went ‘round and ‘round all through the town, and we arrived at MK. Made another quick stop at the Barber Shop, and it’s still quite crowded.

We need fast-passes for Splash for Jedi John, because that is now his favorite ride. I complain how in many trips to WDW, I’ve never, ever seen Tiki birds, so we must stop there first today. We have a nice wait in the shaded queue, and MJ is fascinated with the waterfall. Imagine her surprise when the statues start talking!

We get in and the show starts. It was not what I was expecting. Everything at WDW is a ride or a movie, but this is a show on the ceiling. Strange, but cute. The Youngling loves the dancing at the end as she always gets excited those few times we let her loose.

We head off to Tomorrowland because we haven’t even set foot in that land yet! We need fast passes for Space for Dazzle and Saba, and of course we have to do Buzz. When we get there Buzz has something like a 50 minute wait, and we’ve used all of our fast passes on Splash and Space, so we decide to take a spin on the TTA. This attraction seems so simple, maybe even lame, but we all love it every time! I forget how fast it goes. I videotape us riding on it which is kind of fun itself.

Years ago, we went to WDW with my MIL, and I took her and Saba (then 11 months old) on TTA. Well, as we started to go into Space Mountain my MIL panicked. She thought we were actually on Space Mountain! Yeah, because I would put my MIL and my BABY on a roller coaster and not mention a thing.

We get off of TTA and imagine that, Buzz is down to 30 minutes! What luck. We have a moderate wait and get on. Dazzle, MJ and Jedi John in the back car and me and Saba in the front car. I videotape the whole ride. That was really fun! For some reason, it was more exciting riding it while videotaping. I can’t explain why—maybe because we were spinning around a lot so I could catch MJ’s reaction.

By the way, my score was zero.

We’re just a hair beyond starving now, so we try to hunt down something. There just isn’t much around so we go to Cosmic Ray’s. It seems like it would have the widest variety, but not wanting to wait in multiple lines really kills that. So we get in the good ‘ole cheeseburger line and order our cheeseburgers and hot dogs. I’m really looking forward to the dining plan; this counter service is starting to wear on me.

Now—Jedi John needs to do Splash and Dazzle and Saba need to do Space, and Youngling and I don’t do either. We really shouldn’t be left out, so I tell Jedi John that I’ll walk with him up to Splash if he’ll stop at Country Bear Jamboree with me. He reluctantly agrees, but only because he’ll get his precious Splash. I promise I won’t tell his middle school friends (though I will post it on the internet—BWAHAHAHAH).

As we head up we realize that they are getting ready for Spectro. Makes getting around with a stroller a little tough. The good news—we walk into CBJ with a couple minutes left to showtime and we have the whole waiting area to ourselves. The Youngling gets a little walkin’ around time, which she greatly needs. She is fascinated with the hardwood floor, and we sing and dance and stomp in there. Good times.

The bears are as cute and corny as they always are, and MJ is again fascinated. Things are just not going to be normal back home where heads on the wall don’t start talking and moving and bears don’t come out of the ceiling singing. I don’t know how she is going to cope with real life.

We make our way out and fight across the crowd to get to the path to Splash. I deliver Jedi John to the entrance, and decide to go back to the viewing area so MJ can say “WEE” some more. Somehow instead I end up going through the exit line right into the gift shop. I am completely lost now. Remember getting lost in malls? Yeah, that.

A lot of backtracking later and I find my way to the viewing area. I can see a little of Spectro, and can watch the boats come down. However, I can’t see him—that flash when they come down at nighttime just is too bright and I can barely re-focus between drops.

By the time he finishes and Dazzle and Saba make their way back to us, I’ve regained some of my eyesight. It’s seconds away from Wishes and there is no way we’re making it to a good spot, or be able to fight the crowds to leave. So we decide to hang out and watch Wishes from there.

We can’t see many of the fireworks, but we can hear the music and the story and MJ is excited beyond belief at what she CAN see. She keeps pointing at the sky and saying “Ooooh, whattsat?” I don’t even watch the fireworks because it’s more fun to watch her!

Wishes ends and we have to fight are way through the crowds. We decide not try to stay with the pack and instead head over to the ice cream shop on Main Street. As we try to cross long ways while everyone is heading out, some young guy gives us attitude about going the wrong way. Lightsabers are drawn, and after the frantic battle, the offending party ends up sliced in two in the middle of Main Street, still holding his spinning light-up Tinkerbell. OK, actually that only happened in my head. What really happened is Dazzle politely said “we’re going this way”, the dude flipped him the bird, and another guy that was crossing with us turned around and said “A—HOLE” to the dude. Not quite as exciting, I know.

We wait in line for hours, it seems, to get our ice cream, but it is oh-so-delicious and worth it. And it’s much more relaxing to walk to down significantly less crowded Main Street out to our much less crowded bus.

Stop back soon for DAY 3: Is the Ground Moving or Do I Have Heatstroke?

 

[Pink Disney]

Ice cream at the end of a day of Disney? Pure magic. I love your writing style. I smiled, I laughed, you brought Disney to my computer. Waiting for more.

 

[luciloo]

Great TR, can't wait to hear more

 

[michygoomy]

Ice cream at the end of a day of Disney? Pure magic. I love your writing style. I smiled, I laughed, you brought Disney to my computer. Waiting for more.

You are very sweet. Virtual ice cream for you for reading and replying! Mint chocolate chip, which is what I had that night. Yum.

Great TR, can't wait to hear more

And a treat for you, too, oh kind reader!

Now, what other trip-reporters give you dessert, hmmm???

Onward! We’re only on day 3—we have 10 days to do here!

_______________________________________________________________________
DAY 3: Is the Ground Moving or Do I Have Heatstroke?

Than PLAN says we are going to Typhoon Lagoon today. It says so on the spreadsheet, and it says so in the Passporter. But Jedi John has been lobbying for Blizzard Beach since last night. See, he seems to have received the planning/researching gene from his mother, and he wants to plan this trip along with me. It’s difficult (control issues, much?), but only fair to give him some input. So, we’re up reasonably early since the water parks have EMH mornings and on the bus to BB.

We do thewheelsonthebusgo’roundand’round, and this time a young teen girl on the bus sings it with us. Her mother and younger sister turn their heads and try to pretend their not on the same bus as the crazy people, but she is right there with us. Here’s a shout-out to young teen girl on the BB bus!

I should take the time to describe this song to you all. Youngling has only recently learned this song, but with all the bus rides she is really picking it up. It goes something like this:

US: The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round, ‘round and ‘round….
MJ: wow, wow, wow, wow
US: The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round, all through the town…
MJ: towwwwwwwwwn
US: The horn on the bus goes beep beep beep, beep beep beep….
MJ: ba ba ba ba ba
US: The horn on the bus goes beep beep beep, all through the town…
MJ: towwwwwwwwwn

I think the people who complain about unpleasant bus rides don’t sing on them. We’ve never had an unpleasant bus ride when we’ve sung on them. Of course, I can’t speak for my fellow passengers.

We arrive at BB and are excited to see the huge line of non-resort people lined up to get in while we slip right past. See, we’re like those insurance-commercial celebrities again! Life is good until about two steps away from the entrance when a feel a SNAP on my back. The back of my bathing suit just broke in front of a huge line of waiting non-resorters who have nothing more interested to look at. No, I’m not hanging out or anything (this is a G-rated trip report, thankyouverymuch) but it is still not the highlight of my vacation. To top it off (pardon the pun), the SAME THING happened a year ago when walking in to a local water park. Do I need any more hints that it’s time to take off the baby weight?

So we head in, find a shady spot by Tike’s Peak, and I go off shopping. Cuz’ all you ladies out there know, there is nothing more fun than going bathing-suit shopping, but add on your vacation, with your impatient family waiting for you, and at gift-shop prices? Fantastic!

I choke a little bit at the first suits I look at that have $85 price tags, but then find the oh-sheep-my-bathing-suit-broke rack with $40 suits. I find a not-very-friendly CM to open the changing room for me, then check out with a very friendly CM who takes off the security tag and points me right back to the changing room so I don’t have to stop at the locker rooms on the way back.

I meet back with the gang (tossing my old bathing suit in a garbage can on the way) they’re having fun chasing Youngling around Tike’s Peak. Youngling is fair-skinned, and hardly has any hair, so I have her dressed in what I call her “Amish” bathing suit. (I would apologize to anyone Amish who might be reading, but they aren’t allowed on the internet, anyway!) The top has a high neck and short sleeves, and the bottom is a skirt that is two sizes too big and goes to her knees. I must not be the most sun-fearing Mom there, because I see one little girl with a long-sleeved, long pants bathing suit. I would’ve bought that in a second if I had found one!

Youngling has a ball at Tike’s Peak. She walks through the water, and then bends down every few seconds to splash. Sometimes she gets quite a faceful. We do the slides together a couple of times (and Mommy makes a big splash), but I’m too chicken to let her go on the little slides by herself.

The rest of the gang comes back to pass the baton, and Jedi John insists I have to go on some slides with him. We walk about 16 miles to the one he wants me to go on (I think it’s Runoff Rapids), all the while me questioning how scary it is. I’m bit of a wimp about drops (which is the understatement of the century, see my Splash Mountain story post #13), but I do like water slides. We have a lovely climb up stairs at the end of our hike, and we share a tube down. It’s great fun and perfectly within my tolerance level.
Now he wants to go on the family raft ride. I know that one, we must have gone on it five times last trip. Plus I’m supposed to check it out to see if Youngling can go on with us because someone on the disboards posted that they took their toddler on it. Dazzle has left it up to me to judge.

Of course, it is on the exact opposite side of the park. If there is a “back way” from Runoff Rapids to Teamboat Springs, please don’t tell me, I don’t want to know. After a 32-mile hike, we make it to the line and spend some time pointing out the views of the other parks. Everest looks really cool! In line we discuss if we’ll share a raft with another family, and the family in front of us asks if we want to join them. Fantastic! Now we can go faster!

It’s a great ride down, laughing all the way. I wish we could all go on this together like last time, but I judge that it’s just not safe to hang on to Youngling and to the handles. Plus there’s a “no infants” sign at the top. Too bad, she’s probably love it and say “wee wee wee” all the way down.

We head back to “base camp” and find Dazzle and Saba with Youngling. She’s looking a little sleepy, so I tell them I’ll get her to nap while they go do some more slides. I barely put her over my shoulder and she’s fast asleep. We do some people-watching, which is always fun, and she takes a good long nap, first on my shoulder then in the stroller. I just wish I had brought a book.

When the rest of my clan finds their way back, we decide we’re pretty hungry and that by the time we eat it’s going to be too crowded to do much here, so we should head out. We stop at the big lodge, but I’m not keen on eating outside (I’m a hankerin’ for some serious AC by now), so we’ll head back to POP for lunch. We come across a hair wrap stand, and Saba has been begging for a hair wrap for two days, so we stop there. The hair wrap lady is from near us in the north, so we have fun talking about snow and winters. (Florida’s nice to visit, but I’ll still take my blizzards over the heat any day!)

We head back to POP, and Dazzle stays back in the room while I take the kids over to the food court. I get really tired of standing in three lines, carrying trays and a baby and watching the kids with their trays so they don’t drop stuff. I’m really looking forward to sitting down somewhere and having someone bring me food!

Dazzle meets up with us and gets his food, and by that time I’m done eating, so I tell him I’m going back to the room. He looks a little shocked, and I say I need a five minute sanity check. I go back to the room BY MYSELF, no kids or nothing, and watch Jerry Springer. It’s probably for only about 10-15 minutes, but I really needed that! I figured it would be one of the who’s-the-babydaddy episodes, but instead it was women in wedding dresses fighting. Bodices were ripped, suffice to say. Tell me these aren’t staged? Then why do they pin the stage mike to the ladies’ BRAS instead of the outside of their clothing? Ponder that!

Before ya’ll think it was a completely unproductive break, I also called bell services to arrange for my luggage pick up in the morning. They tell me I can just leave the luggage in the room, and they’ll deliver it to CBR tomorrow before three. Celebrities, I tell ‘ya! What service!

We decide to eschew the usual afternoon break and get over to AK, which we missed the first day. It will also make for an early night since they close early and we have to pack tonight.

Back to the bus and on to AK. Our goal—go to Everest and see if we can get fast-pass, then try to hit a couple of other popular attractions. Dazzle and Saba are excited about EE because they want to go on it, I’m fascinated with seeing the queuing area because I have a small, uncharacteristic fascination with Mount Everest (has anyone read Into Thin Air? I’ve read it about five times.) and I want to take pictures.

As we near it, I realize that it is really stunning. I’ve watched the special about making it, but it’s still pretty impressive in person. The palm trees make for an interesting juxtaposition.

Dazzle runs up ahead to EE and, no surprise, the wait is 90 minutes are there are no fast-passes to be had. And it’s so crowded that there’s not much point fighting the crowds so I can get pictures of the queuing area. We decide to do Kali, then pick a couple of other things and head out.

It’s hot as hades here. No, it’s as hot as that special part of h-e-double-hockey-sticks where pool hoppers and line cutters go. The sweat is pouring off my face, I’m tired and walking slowly, and the ground is moving.

Wait—reality check. 1.) There are no earthquakes in Florida. 2.) I don’t think Everest is so intense that it makes the ground away from it shake. The ground should NOT be moving. I look over at my family who have all plopped down on a small ledge and are just sitting instead of walking. We’ve barely been here 10 minutes.

Heatstroke—fun for the whole family, and free with the price of admission!

I suggest that we just leave, even though we’ve used a whole day pass just to take two pictures of EE. I get nary a complaint.

AK just isn’t good for us. Last trip there was the fiercest lightning storm I ever seen in my life while we were there, followed by tornado warnings that shut down bus service completely. One of these days I’m going to spend some time actually enjoying AK at a slow pace, but today (with its 96 degree heat) is not the day.
The good news—we’ve really enjoyed POP and tonight is our last night there, so this will give us some time exploring. We’re back to the bus, hoping we don’t have the same driver who will question our 10-minute tour of AK, and barely have enough energy to do thewheelsonthebusgo’roundand’round. I think at this point the wheels on the bus just went ‘round, and didn’t make it all through the towwwwwwwn.

We’re back in the glorious air-conditioning of our room, and everyone takes a little time to rest and hydrate. I’m practically forcing water down the kids’ throats.

When the gang goes from blankly staring at Playhouse Disney to bouncing off the walls, I assume everyone is well-rested enough to head out. We decide to explore POP a bit and go walking down to the lakefront. There are ducks! I don’t remember seeing ducks at the All-Stars. Youngling tries to make friends with the ducks, but they are not a captive audience like the passengers at the airline gate, so they rebuke her.

We pass the 70s building with the giant 8-trac tape, and Saba asks if it’s an Ipod. I try to explain that 8-tracs played music in the 70s, and Jedi John says, “If that WAS an Ipod in the 70s, it would actually be THAT BIG.” Good one.

We do the Potato Heads

And Twister

and head over to the pop-up pool.

Youngling is not quite getting the concept that the holes eventually result in water shooting up, but Saba TRIES to warn her.

The exploration and eventually betrayal:

We spend the evening swimming together and have just as much fun as in any park. It is a perfect end to a good day, heat stroke and all.

Coming soon: Day 4: Big Brother Will Protect You

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoying reading your reports ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[Mickey-4-Me]

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your trip report. We will be traveling with our 22 month old in August (plus our 5 year old and 11 year old). I hope that I can have the same spirit as you did when things don't go as planned. You are cracking me up.

 

[michygoomy]

Enjoying reading your reports ~ Thanx for sharing.

Thanks for the response. For you, chocolate cake!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your trip report. We will be traveling with our 22 month old in August (plus our 5 year old and 11 year old). I hope that I can have the same spirit as you did when things don't go as planned. You are cracking me up.

And for YOU, my dear, caramel apple pie. The pinnacle of dessert-ness. You made my day with your kind response—and bumped me from page two! Woo hoo!

And you, too, dear reader(s), can also have some fantastic desserts for the low, low, price of a reply! The virtual ones are calorie-free, fat-free, and carb-free too!


Day 4: Big Brother Will Protect You

It’s moving day. Ever since I reluctantly resigned myself to a split stay (even though all the cool dis’ers are doing it), I’ve stressed about how to actually do the transfer. Go early, go late. Taxi over alone, taxi over with family. I even called Caribbean Beach the day before to ask them what to do, and they had no recommendation for me. In the end I had decided with going early in a taxi by myself, with a taxi ride back to POP, then off to the parks with the family only to return to CBR for our afternoon break.

So, I’m up REALLY early, and call the front desk about getting a cab. They transfer me—and the cab company says they’ll have one over in five minutes. I grab my giant bag ‘o juice (which we figured were risky to transfer with bell services) and head out to the front. It’s a short ride over (as Jedi John pointed out, I could’ve walked, ‘cept for the alligator-infested swamp between the two resorts) and a short line for check-in. She says I could have a second floor room right away, but with a stoller we really need a 1st floor (hence the crack-of-dawn check-in) and I don’t care how long we have to wait for it.

So, I get a promise of a 1st floor room, get my new tickets with the dining plan credits (wee!) and head back out to catch a cab back. The whole process take me about a half hour and 20-30 bucks (I can’t remember how much, but I know I tipped well), and I wonder why I stressed about this transfer for weeks.

I’m back early enough that we decide to have a decent breakfast at POP (that and the fact that I’ve already packed all of our snacks and the bag-o-juice). The kiddos get some sort of mickey-shaped carbo things and I have the most fabulous little cinnamon crumb cake. I’m truly anxious to get going, however, because it’s STAR WARS WEEKEND!

We all know the reason that Disney is such a fabulous experience is that attention to detail, that full immersion in the experience. I wonder if my affection to MGM is due to the fact that it was my first Disney experience (on my honeymoon)—and it started off in the parking lot, of all places, where the green army men had lined up to greet the guests arriving for the tram and put on a full show in character. I mean, who else entertains you in the PARKING lot, for Goofy’s sake?

So while we arrived just a touch too late to see the whole stormtrooper opening show that I read about on the disboards, we do arrive to “announcements” that are full-on in Star Wars mode. I LOVE that. It’s just too cool. Plus there are all these true Star Wars fans dressed up in costumes, which is always very awesome, in a geeky way.

After a quick run to get RnR fast-passes, we’re off to the Star Wars section of the park. On the way over, we find a queue-up for a Jedi Mickey greeting, awesome! Darth Dazzle and Jedi John decide to skip it and head over to Star Tours while Padawan Saba, Youngling MJ and I head in. It’s so funny—last trip Jedi John was the autograph hound and Saba didn’t want much to do with characters, and this trip they have switched. 10 must the “magic age” when it comes to characters.

We’re confronted with a bit of a line, but it’s in AC so we’re cool with that. We finally get our turn, and while I’m a little nervous about how Youngling will react to her first full-on frontal assault with a “face” character, she does really well. She must have sensed his force-presence, and knew he was of our kind.

We finish up, and since there still isn’t any line for Star Tours, it’s time for Jedi John and me to take a whirl while Dazzle takes Saba and MJ to the playground. We pass a little of the Star Wars shenanigans on the way, and it’s all pretty cool. There are Star Wars characters every where you turn, and I feel like I’ve walked into my favorite movie.

We meet back up at the playground, where MJ is in heaven and wet socks. She manages to find any bit of water to play in anywhere she goes.

Ah, but it’s RnR fast-pass time, so Dazzle and Saba are off and I promise Jedi John we will NOT go to Playhouse Disney. He suggests One Man’s Dream, which sounds very air-conditioned and a good place for the Youngling to take a nap.

On the way over, we are stopped by some stormtroopers, but Jedi John uses his Jedi mind-trick, and they allow us to pass (these aren’t the droids we’re looking for…..move along).



Turns out that we’ve arrived just after a show has started, and while I love looking at the models of the different Disney parks, I have one very tired baby that I’m lugging around. I can’t let her down to run around because she has no shoes on at this point (see: wet socks above) and I’m thinking that’s frowned upon. Someone may even start a thread about it on the disboards (Barefooted baby in One Man’s Dream—Shocking!).

We get into the movie, finally, and the Youngling is off to sleep within seconds. It’s a touching film and we really have to talk Dazzle and Saba into it one of these days. Disney isn’t all about the thrill rides, family.

As we finish, Dazzle calls and says they have a spot for the parade. I forgot there is a Star Wars parade! Good job, Dazzle!

Our spot is fantastic, and the music starts. I literally get the CHILLS. And this time it’s not just heatstroke. I seriously cannot believe I am here. I am totally 9 again, and I feel like I’m the luckiest gal on earth. Yeah, I’m 38 and getting serious thrills over a Star Wars parade. I tear up just a little bit, honestly.

At one point, Chewie comes around the corner AND I JUMP UP AND DOWN LIKE A SCHOOLGIRL. I am NOT KIDDING. This is just about the most fun I’ve ever had.

It’s a close call, but we manage to avoid any close scrutiny by the stormtroopers again, whew.

We’re hungry, so we head over to the ABC Commissary. It’s mediocre cheeseburgers and limpy fries all around for 50 bucks, and I’m REALLY glad we’re now on the dining plan. The dessert is some kind of mousse-thing, and that’s pretty good, at least. Once we’re done, I pick up the Youngling to take her to the bathroom for a change, and I’m surprise that her clothes are still wet from the playground.

I soon find out that it’s not that kind of wet.

Well, three days of little milk and lots of undiluted juice (from the great ole bag ‘o juice) have taken there inevitable toll. And here I am on a public changing table, with only a diaper and a pack of wet wipes, and a line waiting for the it (well, a line of one, but that’s still too many when your up to your elbows in poo). Her clothes are trashed. I’m feeling glad that it’s an outfit that came out of the hand-me-down box because I am not carrying it around for the rest of the day. Yes, that is TWO, count ‘em, TWO outfits that I have thrown out this week (see: bathing suit fiasco, day 3).

I come back out with one nekkid baby (well, diapered anyway, don’t want to end up on the disboards) to find table-ghosts lurking around our table. There’s nothing like people hovering over you while you’re digging through a diaper bag trying to find something for your Youngling to wear, and we’re short one Jedi robe. Maybe if they knew what she did at that table, they wouldn’t be so hot to grab it.

So, somehow, super-prepared Mom has only managed to pack a pair of shorts for Miss Poopy Pants, so it looks like it’s shopping time. Dazzle and Saba are off to RnR again, so Jedi John and I go looking for some decent duds for the nakey girl. We find a cute tinkerbell shirt that I don’t need a second mortgage to buy, and Jedi John finds a Jedi Mickey that’s actually pretty cool. I’m thinking it’s a good time for The Great Movie Ride, so we head over there.

Yeah, it’s kind of a long wait, but the movie clips are cool. I love the Raiders of the Lost Ark scenes, and vow to come home and watch that again because it’s been a while. It almost ranks up there with Star Wars to me. I love that scene on top of the mound while the workers are digging and Indy is in profile---yum.

We get on the ride and MJ is soaking it all up. I have to admit, she is doing GREAT on all these odd rides. She’s fascinated.

We get to the alien part, and the ride stops and gets all spooky. The Youngling seems to get a little nervous for the first time. She leans into her brother, and I think it’s pretty cute, looking to big bro for protection. He gives her a pat and tells her that she’ll be OK—just about the same time that the alien comes down from the ceiling RIGHT OVER JEDI JOHN’S HEAD. He jumps in his seat and screams in a way very uncharacteristic for a soon-to-be-13-year-old young man. I laugh hysterically, being the supportive Mom that I am. Good thing his middle-school friends don’t know about this---UNLESS THEY HAVE THE INTERNET. BWAHAHAHAHAHA.

It’s getting about that time for an afternoon break, so we meet the rock-n-rollers and head out of the park. It’s been a perfect day, pooploshion notwithstanding, and it’s only half over.

Watch this space for DAY 4, PART II, coming soon……..

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Hey Mich, your friend Liz here from JHO. I am lovin this report. I am gonna stay at POP in a few weeks as you know. How was it? Comparable to CBR or not?? Your family is a blast be we already knew that. Keep the days coming I love your writing it is hilarious.

 

[michygoomy]

Hey Mich, your friend Liz here from JHO. I am lovin this report. I am gonna stay at POP in a few weeks as you know. How was it? Comparable to CBR or not?? Your family is a blast be we already knew that. Keep the days coming I love your writing it is hilarious.

Hey buddy!

POP was fantastic and great fun.

At POP, I loved the energy, the fun music playing in the background, the Donald pop-up pool (E. will LOVE!), the convenience and variety of the food court, the good bus service.

CBR I found more relaxing and pretty. More spread out, but always a pleasant walk. The room seemed HUGE compared to POP, but there was five of us. The fridge was great for our oodles of juice boxes, Pepsi for my addict, and Diet Coke for me.

I'd stay at POP again in a second--but I think we would have been tripping over ourselves if we stayed there 10 days with 5 of us. You'll be fine, I think you'll like it. Try to get a preferred room if you can.

Girl, you only have 2 posts, you gotta get posting!

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

You are too funny. I think I havnt been on in so long it wiped my posts out or something. I forgot my name and password what a mess. The DIS fixed me right up though. Now I am stressing pop or CSR. Gene loves their food court better than CBR. How much smaller was the room??

 

[michygoomy]

You are too funny. I think I havnt been on in so long it wiped my posts out or something. I forgot my name and password what a mess. The DIS fixed me right up though. Now I am stressing pop or CSR. Gene loves their food court better than CBR. How much smaller was the room??

Eh, I didn't really notice the smallness until we transferred to CBR. Of course, you've already stayed in a bigger room so you'll notice right away. However, with only three of you, and a short stay, I can't imagine it will be an issue at all. The problem with us is we'd always have one person standing at the sink and another trying to squeeze past to chase after the bab-o: collisions ensued. There was still room to squeeze the pack-n-play between the bed and the wall. Are you going to get a king room? I think you'd have PLENTY of room then! The three of you could even sleep in the bed comfortably if you want.

I liked the food court at POP! I know the selection isn't quite what CSR has, but either is hugely preferable over the food courts at the parks.

Seriously, can you even go wrong? It's DISNEY!

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Thanks buddy sounds like we are staying at POP. I cant wait.
Now get busy on days 5-10

 

[Carolc]

Hey there... I noticed the link in your signature from one of your posts on the photography board. I've been sitting here for the last hour or so glued to your words. You have such a great writing style... so much so, that I read the last two days of your trip report outloud to my young Padawan (DD11) and Youngling (DD6). We were reading anxiously, waiting to see what was going to happen next.... and oops, I reached the end of the thread! I can't wait to hear what will happen next... Will the Force be with you for the rest of the trip, letting you defeat any other menaces left by the Dark Side? I'm going to stay tuned...