Happy Hollands Horror House 1st Surprise Trip to DW

[eeyorepixie]

Cast of Characters: Me the Grande Dame of planning and reluctant housewife, DH reluctant vacationer, Oldest DD 9 (perfectionist & instigator or mother of sisters), Middle child 8 (and yes she lives up to her birth placement) & baby of the family 7 year and all around comedian.

This was our first trip to Disney and I went into hyper-drive of obsessive planning.

We were not supposed to go until 2009, but I decided to jump on board with free dining. The main factor of my decision to book early was my oldest turning 9, and mommy was feeling like her baby was getting too big and that I would miss the chance of ever seeing my baby in a princess gown at the castle
When I broke the news to DH that we were going, it was a shock to his system or should I say it was a shock to his wallet.

Eventually he surrendered because he realized I was willing to go to the mat for this one. On my behalf I must say I am usually a team player and not very extravagant in my spending. I paid for everything this meant I was allowing my bathroom to fall in further desperate disrepair. Oh well, such as life, but I digress…

For the surprise we got 3 build a bears dressed in Disney regalia. DH and I recorded personal messages for each DD “We Love you (dd’s name) and we are going to Disney…woohoo (DH) whoooo (me)”
We woke them up at 4 a.m. My oldest DD was like “Its 4 in the morning what is wrong with you!” we were laughing at her disgust with her parents parenting abilities.

I filmed the whole thing as they opened the build a bear boxes, then they pressed the buttons. It took awhile for it to register in their little minds what the recording was saying ( not the clearest recordings, by the way) My oldest burst into tears and kept saying “ you promise” my middle one was like “yeah right” she just thought we were tricking her. We told them there was a Limo waiting outside for us, with that my middle one bolted to the front window and started screaming. The littlest one was just dumbstruck by the whole thing.

We dressed them right there and then in the living room , the night before I made personalized shirts “The Holland’s First Surprise Trip to Disney” (Special thanks to Travelin Gal and Taekwondo Mom who gave me the designs)
My oldest kept sporadically weeping with happiness in the Limo, also on the flight and on our first few days of our trip (she takes after her Mom) I will say this I totally was into the surprise. I would get giddy any time I thought about telling them, it was my instant happy place. However, it happened naturaully because our trip really was not supposed to be for 2 years. In looking back that is an exellent cover for any slip ups. I probably would not get away with it again. Even thought you know I will try

What occured to me during planning this surprise was that as a parent you do not know which memories will stick. Which Christmas is the one they will always remember, you just do not know and it may be different for each child.
However, I knew this surprise they would always remember, and this made me go all out for it. How often do you know when a magical moment like that will happen? So for me the Disney magic was already begining even before we left. Even though the budget was tight, we opted for the Limo, and I do not regret it one bit. I stocked the bar of the Limo with choclate milk and Apple juice. I also had their favorite muffins and donuts. I love that the girls have the build a bears to remember their trip. The build a bears were a bit pricey too, but whenever they want to remember their trip or hear us say that we love them, they can press their paw and remember the magic and feel our love. It was a good investment. Christmas will be a little lighter this year, but I do not think anyone will really notice.

When we were coming to the end of our trip I asked the girls what were their favorite things individually and they all listed the Limo in their top 5.

So my advice anyone who is planning a surprise trip, if you are going to do it. Go For It!!! Do it in style!!!! It does not have to be costly. I have heard about elaborate treasure hunts some people have done and they sound magical too.

Oh yes there was some excitement in the Limo, oldest DD got a bloody nose and we had to stop to buy tissues!

Flight was uneventful, I was exhausted because I got one hour of sleep. I was up till midnight making t-shirts and then when I laid down I just could not sleep. This has not happened to me since the night before my wedding. Usually I sleep like the dead and I am asleep before my head hits the pillow.

Magical Express was excellent, wish they had more of a movie on the bus ride to the resort. They could be a little more creative, after all it’s Disney and I hold them to a higher standard.

We were checking in at POR, and we finally got to our CM and she was being super nice and welcoming.

It all of the sudden hit me, I was really in Disney and it was true what I read about some CM’s being sooo wonderful.

I tried to hold back all that I was feeling, I did not want the woman to think I was a lunatic. I must have had a funny expression on my face Because I think I threw her off her game.

She asked me if I was O.K. and if she needed to do anything to help me. I felt bad that she thought she was doing something wrong, and like a Dammn bursting I blurted out everything I was thinking and feeling... how it was true the CM’s were so nice and I could not believe I was in Disney, I told her how I have been reading for months and I felt that I had a black belt in Disney and then I started weeping happy tears. (I am such a big pathetic mushball) She got me tissues and we checked in. She saw my spread sheets and laughed and then I showed her my binder. Every time she tried to tell me something, I was like I know and would finish her sentance. I think she was getting a boot out of my enthusiasm, and my husband dying of embaressment. At this poin several CM's had joined my check-in process and were grinning ear to ear and laughing at my rambling and my husband's bemused but resigned look of suffering.Did I happen to mention, I tend to be a little enthusiastic and dramatic in general??? Maybe you have figured that out. I am definately someone who does where her heart on her sleeve so to speak...

During the check-in process I asked if I could get Birthday Cards for my girls she said I really needed to call ahead for this and that she was sorry. (This is important for later in my trip report)
We loved the room it was perfect for us, Hubby spent the whole trip sleeping on the trundle on the floor (he wanted to, although he would get upset when we would walk on his “bed”, lol)

 

[eeyorepixie]

Part II

I have to tell you why I titled this Happy Holland’s Horror House Doodah…Doodah. I was on the fence it could have been called “Divas, Drama, Divorce and Dreams coming true” the Divorce part came during the Halloween Party….I will get to that later.

Our home is a lot of fun, we laugh a lot and we all have a bit of a twisted bent. However we are all have our own psycho quirks if I was to label each of us I would be “ fun loving, emotional and twisted”
Hubby is a lot like Doug Heffernan…enough said.

Oldest DD is probably the most normal. She is type A , a perfectionist, and wants everyone to think she is a complet angel and is has a fierce competive streak. She just turned 9 and is a first degreee brown belt ( I know I am bragging, but allow me this, because later in my story I will have many parts to be embaressed)

Middle DD is sly as fox, loves the good life (restaurants/limos/fancy clothes), has been known to be a thief (which had me worried in the stores, temptation was everywhere in Disney, everything was sparkley and sparkles are her weakness), has an evil laugh that belies her age and was born with and old soul she just gets the jokes way beyond her age and is eerily intuitive.

The baby honestly is just hilarious and she knows it she makes everyone laugh and is a Rock Star wherever she goes. She loves Rock n'Roll, has the need for speed (she was devistated she was too short for the Rock'n Roll roller coaster), loves race cars (she wants to be the next Dannica Patrick) and loves to play with boys. God help us when she is a teenager. Moms are constantly coming up to me saying “Is Lacey your Daughter? My “child” loves her”
She is the kid you want to hang out with at school assembly because you know you will laugh because she will make it a fun place to me.
She "wears the world like a loose garment" which can frustrate me to no end, because I will threaten her, give her the look...and she finds it comical.

So please know when I say I could Kill them or throw my kids out the window, do not take me litterally, I am just dramatic. My kids know this and they just accept those words as verbs, to describe my anger level and it helps me let off some steam.

The ironic thing is am a Family Educator, and teach parenting classes One of the best things a parent can do is laugh at themselves and know that no one is perfect. I come from a long line of YELLLERS and I do them proudly. However, my kids know they are loved, and cherished as every child should be.


Well anyhoo, I do tend to jabber on…Could talk a dog off a meat wagon.

I guess I need to let you know being TWISTED in my family is a good thing. So when people are really getting psycho in a good or bad way in our family we sing this song to the tune of camp town races “Happy Holland’s Horror House Dooh dah …. Dooh-dah…

Many times in our family the best laid plans become total fiascos.

However, as I often point out to my children “normal is just a cycle on a washing machine” and if you look up Normal in the dictionary it just means “average” not, something I want them to aspire to.

However, when we are in public you will hear me say to my kids “act normal” this just cracks me up.
See I told you I was twisted, but sometimes “normal” is called for.

I probably should have put this at the beginning, but I think you will see why I needed to tell you this about my family later on in my journey.

First Day, After Check-in we had to go see the castle, thanks to my SVC buddies I knew to schedule a late dinner, even though we landed in FLA at 10:20 am, this was a big de-stressor. My whole trip planning was totally in sink with TGM. Know thyself….I HATE LINES, THEY MAKE ME CRANKY! I want what I want and I want it now…I HATE WHINING…so I made my trip plans with the sole goal of making it as least stressful as possible.

That is why I added 3 days to my 7 day trip. That was to give me time to not be stressed when we had to ditch the plan, or if the girls or DH for that matter needed a break.

*Note to those planning trip: give serious consideration to adding days to your trip for this, one of the best things I did. When it got down to it dollars and sense wise it only cost us around $700.00 more in total to do this. When you figure in how much your already in for $ money wise this is a drop in the bucket that can make a huge difference. For my family we did not hit our groove until day 7 and if we missed anything I knew we had one more day to see it.

I am a commando at heart. However, I had to adjust to my family’s temperaments and speed. My husband has two speeds slow and stop, where as I am the total opposite I thrive on adrenaline and the hunt.
When my girls get older I hope to have to havethem grow up to be little commandos like me…a Mom can dream.can't she?

Back to the first day at this rate I will be writing a novel

After we checked in, I called the front desk for our garden grocer and they delivered it.

In retrospect, I loved the Garden Grocer, the whole process was a breeze. What I would have changed is to have bought less breakfast foods, because there were cheap donuts at the POR store and could have used some snack credits for some muffins ( my girls think this is a huge treat and I would be guaranteed they would eat breakfast, something they did not always do), less snacks and I would have ,skipped the gallons of spring water one case of water was enough for the whole 10 days.
However, because I kept reading about staying hydrated I worried about not having enough water, but in reality who wants to lug around all that weight!

My DD’s had no problem drinking FLA H2O. I used all my snack credits on goodies.
Note* I did find that it was good to have some simple snacks in the back pack such as chips or rice crispy treats(they do not weigh down backpack) I also Wished that I had not told kids they had a snack a day. I was gradually able to make them forget that. I wanted to use the snack credits for goodies to take home, for friend and their X-mas stockings. I got a ton to take home. (Learned that on TGM and the DIS)

Back to the first day:
We went to the Liberty Tree Tavern…Loved it! Loved the food then again I am Irish descent. Meat and potatoes are my kind of comfort food. My youngest DD was quite insulted that she was the only one to get a paper cup with a lid.
Wouldn’t you know she spilled it all over the floor later. She spilled right in the pathway of the waiters and the characters, becuase she had got up from the talbe. I was worried it would not be cleaned up in time...I kept picturing goofy taking a header or Minnie taking a dixie. Fortunately I was able to get someone to help me to clean it up before that happened.

At the LTT I had to give the littlest one a crash course on Character etiquette:
1. Do not run up to them
2. Do not pull their tale or any other of the characters body parts
3. Wait your turn.
4. Be ready for your turn
5. Have fun
I can confidently say by the end of the trip we mastered this, and we met all of them and I never waited in a line more than 5 minutes, to do this. The only exception and I was unwilling to wait in the line was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Halloween Party. I believe this is rare to have them all together; I could be wrong, feel free to correct me on this.

*note: If you wish to have your picture with them I would find out early in the evening (ask a CM at Town Hall there is a hotline they can call that tells them where the characters will be. So you could ask when and if Snow and the gang will appear in Fantasyland so you can be first in line.


After Dinner I wanted to get back to the room to get good nights sleep. However, this is not what my kids wanted, and I guess I could not blame them.

Since we were in Liberty Square the logical thing in my mind was Haunted Mansion.

BIG MISTAKE! My littlest DD freaked. I have only known her to be fearless. She has done Zip lines, she practices martial arts, loves speed, has done rock climbing, and climbed 60 ft. in the air to do the High ropes.
So it shocked me that she was so afraid. However, there was no turning back at that point.

*Lesson Learned: even if you know your child to be fearless, do not underestimate Disney’s quality of detail on their rides.
They seemed like real ghosts to her, where as other amusement parks ghosts or spooks were obvious fakes.
I learned to explain to my children and to be utterly honest in my description. ( so they would trust me when I told them about what kind of ride they were going on, when I did not explain what the ride was I learned to regret it.)

If I had it to do over I would have done this later, once she was used to the Disney rides.

My middle DD does not like spooky stuff, loud sounds or guns, so I knew I did not have a chance in heck of getter her on it.
Note* if your child is like mine this think twice about any fire works, or Stiches ride in Tommorowland. I ignored Mike’s advice on this one and regretted it. I guess ignored this because I was just factoring in my middle DD’s age and not her temperament.

As for DH is a big 6’4 Chicken!!! Shhhhhhhhhhh! Don’t tell anyone. It is kind of hilarious because people always think he is a Cop, Marine or Firefighter. Meanwhile he works on computer all day, the scariest thing he sees is Boston traffic or his co-workers dressing ensemble.

So after DD’s freak-out…Dooh-dah, Dooh-dah…I decided to take them all on it’s a small world and call it a night.

Everyone loved it’s a Small World and we have decided it will be a Holland Tradition to begin and end our trip with this ride. We will always eat at LTT for our first meal, this way we would get to see the characters and the castle our first day.

*Lesson learned: I would follow the advise of exploring the resort for your first day. You do not want to waste a valuable full day for this and breaks can be short, when you factor in bus travel time. Do not underestimate the allure of the pool for you kids!!! My kids constantly wanted to go back to the pool, this would frustrate me, because I could go to a pool back home and it would be a lot less expensive!

While I am at it, I would also say I would try to not schedule my park days on the weekend if possible, they are busier even on green days. No place was this more evident than on the two green days I scheduled AK. The Sunday green day was busy and there were lines that were up to 30 minutes. The week-day green day was a joy. So I think I would do Downtown Disney and schedule arrival and departure days on the week-end.

O.K. day one is done I will try to briefer on my future reports, and stay more on point, but I do tend to free associate when I write, So my appologies if I was confusing at any point.

 

[eeyorepixie]

O.K. this is our first official real day in the parks, I am determined to be there at rope drop!

However, my family had other plans or should I say issues.

God, they are slow!

I was up at 6a.m. (first mistake) Got together me and the girls their matching outfits.



DH was not on board with the matching outfits thing before the trip, but by the end of the trip he was, because people kept commenting on our outfits and then asked him where his was….I would reply “He put on a few pounds so it didn’t fit him anymore” later in the week he would add after my comment “it looked like spandex”



So this day I had the girls all in gorgeous white dresses with silver threading and matching silver flip flops. We were having lunch with the princesses in Norway and I knew I would be taking many pictures, so I wanted them to feel like princess, but be comfortable too. I also bought a “lot” on eBay of beautiful rhinestone tiaras for the girls that I was giving as “tink gifts”.





So I figured out the coffee machine and realized there was no plug for it by the fridge.



Coffee is an absolute necessity in my life and in our house I have the girls trained that they can not even come downstairs until I have had my coffee time. People it is a matter of self-preservation…theirs and mine. People please do not judge



So they all get up and they see the “tink gifts”

Who knew how often I would rue the day of planning tink gifts.



Now here are some tips on Tink gifts:

1. if you do not give the same EXACT thing to each child make sure to have a tink note with the child’s name on it! And make sure you put the correct note with the correct gift. Sounds simple, right? Well when you’re half awake at 4am, it is easy to make a mistake!



2. Next time I will give a lot less in the tink gifts, to cut down the time of them wanting to play with them, when they should be getting ready for R.D.



3. Helpful tip: The one thing I did right was pre-bag each day’s gifts in a big zip lock, and that I packed them all in one suitcase which I kept near the bathroom. So I could quickly and quietly get them, then locked myself in the bathroom arrange each gift set. Then I would open the door and look to see if the coast was clear and quickly put each set on the bench and sprinkle glitter. If I were to do it again I would but the notes in each bag too!

4. Thanks to Natalie on the DISboards for her photobucket account, which enableed me to make my tink notes, which I made on card stock and have saved a few for scrap-booking.



So 2 of the DD’s get up and grab a tiara, I am kind of oblivious because I am doing the Disney math in my mind regarding time and starting to freak.



Then to my horror, I realize one of them have the wrong tiara. Did I put the wrong tink note on it? Sure enough I did!!!



You see middle DD has sensitivity issues and she hate certain things…like tags, headbands, and underwear (this has caused me no end of embarrassment over the years)



One of the tiaras had a headband, and wouldn’t you know it that was the one that the sleepy head DD (the one with the sensitivity issue) going to get stuck with the one tiara with which she would not be able to deal.



So you know what happened DRAMA…so mommy pulled rank and fixed it but it was not after, threats and tears.



Nice start!



Now I am getting stressed beyond reason because I see the rope drop getting closer.



I go to get my binder 2 inches thick…and Horror of Horrors I do not have my touring plans for future world!!!!



I had the tips list, I had the snack list, I had the rides and attractions descriptions, I had (thank god) the best times guide… I could have cried.



No one in my family could understand why I was sooo upset. All my planning and obsessing for months over this trip and I forgot the touring plans for our very first day, this was unforgivable.

I was so mad at myself.



I was mad at them the ungrateful wretches, because they wanted to eat, play and take there good old sweet time on getting ready. I t was like pulling teeth to get them out of that room.



So forgetting all the advice I got from seasoned veterans I freaked and had no desire to stop and smell the roses!



DH who is slow as heck! Has not even had his 20 minute shower.



Lord, I do not know how this man gets himself to work every day! His hour is equal to my 20 minutes.

Now me and the girls are all dressed and fed and we are waiting for him and this was to become a pattern. So I just started to get him up earlier, per my daughters request.



He gets out of the shower and he sees how great we look and he begins to see a glimmer of the error of his ways.



He says to me “Wow, you look great and you all match…I wish I looked that good” I reminded him he would not let me shop for him, and that maybe he could find some kind of white shirt.



Now we are heading out to the bus, I am walking as if the Devil himself is on my heels. Let, me say if you stay at POR, take the advice of your first day to explore your resort. This would be a good time to figure out the paths to the bus. We got seriously lost, by this time I realized I would miss R.D.



I was not happy about it. So if you were on the bus to Epcot on the 11th and saw a pissed of family in white, that was us!



We get there and sure enough the gates were already opened no lines. Even with out my touring plans (I was using Mikes, because I had no confidence in doing my own)



I knew Soaring was the Holy Grail…we got lost, and then found it. It was only a 10 minute wait, not bad maybe it would all work out. I was here on a green day and a slower time of the year.



I tried to run ahead and get fastpasses, DH, was horrified that I was trying to run ahead without him to get the fastpasses. (Not until the second half of the trip would he let me do this, and then he even wanted to do it himself.) So DH and I were angry with each other.



Let’s say this first day did not run that smooth, lots of angry outbursts. I was thinking to myself when this would happen, my fellow TGM’ers will think we are a “them” family.On my defense this trip was my baby, I paid for it, planned it and fought for it! So I did not think it was much to ask to let me boss them, and for everyone to just get with the program. There were little mutinys though.



UUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGG! The agony of defeat!



Back to Soaring, now let me tell you “fireworks” were to become my sworn enemy during this trip.

Middle DD, who is skittish at best, needed coaxing, begging, soothing …threatening… or even bribery to go on many rides during this trip.



She was not sure about this Soaring thing. However, she went on the condition me and DH would be on either side of her. No problem



Now you have to know my middle DD has a right to be afraid. When she was 6 she came very close to losing her arm, from a simple fall of 3 ft. When she fell she broke her arm, but in doing so severed her artery, she had severe nerve damage, had several surgeries, and a year and a half of physical therapy. She was so close to losing her arm, that when the physical therapist finally saw the surgical notes she cried. She had not realized how close my DD had been to losing her arm. She has a horrible scar going down most of her arm. When people see it for the first time they recoil, that’s how bad it is. However, I think the scar is beautiful, because the alternative was to have no arm.



You needed to know this because sometimes my DD’s fear is completely irrational, but understandably justifiable. I knew this would be an issue when planning our trip, but since DH is kind of a chicken and dotes upon his girls (he is the perfect man to be a father to all girls, they have him wrapped around their little fingers, sometimes it is nauseating to watch, lol) he would sit out any ride to comfort DD.



Back to soaring, we are in, I am a little bummed because we did not make the front row, and wished I had asked if we could be there (later in the day I did)



So Joy of Joys my middle DD is loving it, she is smiling and laughing, but you can still see trepidation & caution underneath the smile. I am congratulating myself at this point. My heart is soaring…then the fireworks.

If you were on that ride, I apologize hear and now.



There was a blood curdling wail from DD when the fireworks began and it did not get any better from there, she was shaking by the time we unbuckled her. She wanted no part of that ride again.



However, the rest of the family loved it. So we took turns sitting with DD while the others repeated the ride 2 times. During our wait, I let her get a cotton candy snack and she traded pins with CM’s.



When other DD’s saw the cotton candy, I told them they could get some too, but there may be other snacks they may want. Big Mistake! All day long littlest DD obsessed about the Cotton Candy and I could not find any. She did not get it until our next day planned in Epcot. I must say wish I never told them about the snack a day thing.



We booked it over to Test track and rode that 2 times and got a fast pass. DH hung out with middle DD.



Let me say this there is a lot of walking!!! I never had my touring plans, so I can not blame Mike, but YIKES!



Then we come to our second big mistake: My friend and co-worker warned me do not do Mission Space. Her son had done it and was sick all day. Well I ignored her me and DD's went on the orange side. Middle DD and DH went on the green side. Well my 2 DD’s hated the whole experience, this was shocking to me. Middle DD loved the green ride, go figure!



My littlest DD was then wary of any rides that involved a “Space”Theme, which there was quite a few rides that involved space.

I wish I had just gone on the green side; it would have saved me a lot of grief. Lesson learned



Now the kids were getting hungry, but our ADR in Norway was not until 2pm. So let me say our first day was a lot of whining and bickering. I think we were all tired, me and DH had still not recovered from our night before the trip. In my mind everything had gone wrong today and nothing was going according to plan.

So we get to the restaurant after a ton of walking and probably what was one of the hottest days during our trip.

There were 2 lines one for check in and one for the ones who already checked in and the lines were out in the heat and it was confusing if you were waiting where you are supposed to be.



So we were early for our ADR but ended up waiting 40mins.



There was a group of foreign people that were holding up the check in line. Later, I was to realize I believe they were doing something fishy.

They could not find their ADR and later when we were in line. In this party the leader of the groupa was obviously gloating over what he did; he kept shaking his ticket and laughing. Something was definitely fishy about the whole thing. However, I could not even discern what country they were from, never mind understand what it was they were saying. I probably should not even mention it in my report. However, no matter what the language, you can sense when something is not on the up and up.



So now picture us… We are hot and bothered waiting in line and I get this lady behind us she has one little princess.



Well this woman was so obnoxious and whiney, I could have clocked her. Bad enough when it is a kid, then it is expected. However, adults need to suck it up!



It would have been with great pleasure to have laid her out in lavender then and there.



Remember, it is o.k. to have homicidal thoughts...you just can't act out on them





However, I can not do this today, because I am a mature mother of 3 and what would that be teaching my children. At least that is what I kept telling myself over and over.



She kept whining they had a reservation and that basically the seas should part and her highness should be able to walk over the rest of the peasants (who by the way all had the same reservations)



One of my character short comings is that people who think they are better than everyone else, really piss me off. We all know them, they are in the PTA, they are the people in the Mercedes Benz who believe they own the road, they are the ones who look down on anyone not driving an SUV…they are the “Better Thans” in life.

Now my husband and I have been blessed in this life, but me and my DH come from humble beginnings and we know that we are no better than anyone in life and nor do we want to be.



I HATE PEOPLE WHO FEEL THEIR OWN SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT AND WHO LOVE TO BE BETTER THAN OTHERS!!!



O.K. I am done with my rant



Dooh-dah…Dooh-dah…



Back to the story:

My girls were whiney, hot and hungry. So we asked the mail hostess, after waiting in the heat for a half hour if we could wait in the air conditioning, the response was rude and arrogant.



The manager of the restaurant was just as bad, we saw several parties have interactions with him and he was very rude. Finally, when it came our turn to be seated, I ignored him like he did not exist and did not even answer him or look at him, I treated him the same way he had treated us. My husband is writing a letter about this whole experience.



However, once we were inside, the waitress was great, the food was descent, and I must say especially Belle, the princesses were all wonderful.



So I would go again, I would just follow TGM’s guidelines. In my defense, I did not really have a choice regarding the time of our ADR.



Also, I want it to be known that this was the worst interaction with CM’s the whole trip. On the whole we had a magical experience with most CM’s and they surpassed my expectation. I am writing a letter to guest relations, for 3 people who were absolutely magical and who made our entire trip! I will get to that later in my story.



After lunch we went on Test track again, this time I let DH do this with DD’s while I waited with middle DD. Then I went on with the girls, it was a 20 minute wait and it started to thunder and lightning when we were on it and they were shutting down a bit the ride(the cars behind us were all empty) and we came to several long stops on the ride. Finally we were outside and we got drenched but it was a lot of fun!!!



When we got off of Test Track, I always got our photopass picture, then we were looking for DH and middle DD.



Middle DD has a huge heart and bought her sisters with her Birthday money, presents for the days we would celebrate their B-day in Disney. She was exited whispering the details to me. She got a Dannica Patrick car for youngest DD (that is her idol) I swear the youngest has a bit of redneck in her blood (I mean that in the nicest way)



Then DH told me that someone from the T.V. show Extreme Makeover was there. I love that show, me and DH (both) have cried many times watching that show. However DH can not watch the show if has anything to do with a sick child…it is too hard for him, especially having had the experience we had with 2 of our DD’s being in Children’s Hospital in Boston.





But I digress, it was Michael Mulroney!



I love his designs, there is not one thing he has done that I did not like! He has a shop in L.A., and one day I will search to see if his shop is online.



He was very nice and I of course got pictures. My brother-in-law and I love him and I called him promptly to tell him who I met. I also told Michael how much my brother-in-law and I love all of his work.



Oh, he had the cutest hard hat, with Mickey ears! He was friendly and gracious to all that he met.

We were all trying to stay dry under the overhang(Michael included) of the gift shop of Test Track.



It was now about 4pm. And we decided to bite the bullet and just go out in the pouring rain to leave. It had been a long emotionally draining day. Then when we neared the big Golf Ball, middle DD saw the lightning.



NOT GOOD!



Dooh-dah…Dooh-dah…



So I realized this could be a disaster so I started making a fool of myself and started to sing in the rain, with jumps…pirouettes, and splashed in the puddles.



The girls were so shocked with Mommy playing in the rain they started to have fun too.



Even the middle DD for got about the distant lightning in the sky and started to go crazy in the huge puddles.



Of course the kids took it a little too far and flung off their rain ponchos and literally sat in the puddles (while cracking-up) then one even laid down and did her version of making a Puddle Angel!

Luckily the bus driver was smart enough not to have the AC blasting full force. We hoped to go in the pool that night, but it kept raining. We thought about going in the pool with the rain, but it freaked out middle DD too much. She was afraid we would all die. She tends to be a tad Dramatic…she comes by it naturally…she takes after her father.



So we ate Lunchables (from the garden grocer) and had Oreos and milk for supper.



We went to bed early. That night I got the coffee all set for the morning, got everyone’s outfits ready and did everything to make sure we would not be late for R.D. the next day.



For as God as my witness…I vowed that we would make R.D. For me Rope Drop had reached Biblical proportions on my quest for Disney Magic…



Gee, I did not think I had a lot to say about my first day, these trip reports make you really remember your whole experience.



So day one not so good, not so bad either.



Lesson learned have low expectations for first day…it is the settling in day of a dramatic new routine for the whole family!



Did we make R.D. next day…what do you think?

Stayed tuned for another chapter in the Happy Holland's Horror Show…Dooh-dah…Dooh-dah….