"Hello? I'm in the Carousel of Progress.."*UD1/13pg74"All Good Things...*

[MICKEY4EVER!]

I'm also curious as to where you got the grab bag of pins...

 

[mommytothreeboys]

I'm so glad that pin trading was a hit! I also got a grab bag of 25 pins to split between my kidos. I hope they like trading. Your boys' collections are great.

I was surprised at how much they enjoyed it! I was a little concerned about all the rules/etiquette surrounding the whole thing, but it was really easy and all the CM's were very nice.

I think I've now been bitten by the pin trading bug!

It can be an expensive bug!! LOL!

Great TR so far, just finished reading up to this point. I followed you over from carissanboys TR...I'm reading both of your TRs in hopes of keeping myself sane until our trip. Thanks!



Just had to comment about a couple of things, especially PIN TRADING...hoping to start that tradition this trip, for my DS, really for him If you don't mind my asking, where did you get the "grab bag" of pins?

Love the POR too, we stayed their on our last trip, so beautiful and that boat trip to DTD...can't beat it!

Thanks again for the great TR...looking forward to more updates!

Hi there and ! Thanks for stopping by!

I got the pins online....not sure if I am allowed to post the link so I will try to PM you. I paid $50 for 25 pins. I've heard stuff about pins not being "real", but the boys had NO problem trading any of the pins we got.

Hi Missy! Sorry I'm late. I really need to pay better attention to those signature links.

No problem V...glad you're here! I've been horrible about keeping up with the reports I've been following since I've been home, but I've been reading yours right along!


What - no Suicide Wings to start the day?! I do't think I've ever been so happy as when I saw the new Anchor Bar going in. I have no idea what my DS will eat, but I'm snagging me some wings next time we head north!

If it had not been 6 am I would have definitely had wings from the Anchor Bar....YUMMM!!!



Uh-oh.

Yeah...be afraid, be very afraid! LOL!

I'm also curious as to where you got the grab bag of pins...

I'm PMing you the link!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I buy a lot of the pins from a great seller on ebay. His pins start at 99 cents and he combines shipping.

 

[lizet313]

grab bag of pins

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Animal Kingdom–Continued!

When I left off, we were ignoring our growling stomachs in favor of a meet and greet with Lilo and Stitch. Once that was over, our stomachs could be silenced no more so we headed to Pizzafari for our lunch. The boys and Jeff all got pizzas, I got the Italian sandwich. Each entree included a salad which was very good. We all got chocolate cake for dessert. I enjoyed my sandwich and the boys liked their pizzas, but Jeff was not a big fan. I think part of it was because he had his mind on something else.....I’ll explain...

I am a little OCD about keeping track of our QSDP credits and I make sure that they are correct each time we get a receipt. The total number of credits you have left appears at the bottom of the receipt and I check it EVERY TIME! It’s a good thing I do because in this case we had a problem. We had 9 nights of QSDP with 10 QS meals each day (2 per person x5) so a total of 90 QS credits. We had used 5 at Cookes of Dublin the night before and just used 5 more at Pizzafari so our total should have been at 80. It said 76—UH-OH!

I knew better than to ask the cashiers at the restaurant so I figured I would just head over to Guest Services and deal with it after we ate. (Thus Jeff’s inability to enjoy his food!) I figured that when Dan had lost his card the other night, someone picked it up and charged 4 meals. He thought he had put his KTTW card down when he refilled his mug, which would have made it very easy for someone to pick up and use right there at the Riverside Food Court.

After a somewhat tense lunch , we all headed to the front of the park to sort this out with Guest Services. I approached the desk and a lovely CM named Jennifer proceeded to help us. I explained the situation...told her about Dan losing the card and having it re-issued....and asked if there was any way she could tell when or where the meals were charged to the card. She called POR right away and spent time on her computer trying to figure things out. She asked about what time he had lost the card and how long it was before it was re-issued. She could see what time a new card for him had been printed. Turns out that 4 meals were purchased at the Riverside Food Court at approximately 10:30. Man..that didn’t take long...we could only have been missing the card for about ½ hour! She was very surprised that it had been used...she said that in all the time she has been working there, no one had ever actually had a lost card used for purchases. Oh well...there are dishonest people everywhere...even at the Happiest Place on Earth! They put the meals back on our card without question. Problem solved...another possible crisis averted!! We made sure that the lost card was now useless...it was...and went on to enjoy our day!

Our plan was to head to Kali to use our Fastpasses. On our way past the Tree of Life, we noticed that the standby time for It’s Tough to Be a Bug was only 10 minutes, so we detoured and headed into the Tree! Again, with such a short line, you don’t get to enjoy the beautiful carvings on the Tree itself...DH did manage to snap a few pics though.

CLASSIC!!!

We enjoyed the show, but the boy next to us so DID NOT!! He was maybe 10 or so and FREAKED out when the spiders came down from the ceiling. His mom spent the rest of the time trying to get him to stop crying! Poor kid....a little research to know what you’re getting into is always a good thing!

On to KALI! Now, you should know that I was very disappointed in this ride on our last trip. We had visited AK on a VERY hot day and I was so looking forward to getting soaked as promised! I barely got sprinkled and was not pleased!! I told the boys that the ride better deliver this time or else.... Be careful what you wish for people! I got so wet this time it was like I had taken a shower with my clothes on! The only problem...the sun had now disappeared and the rain was truly threatening. I had no one to blame but myself so I endured the wetness with a smile on my face! ( I had worn an outfit made of that “quick-dry” material on this day for occasions such as this! )

Our next stop was the Maharajah Jungle Trek and as we headed onto the trail......the RAIN came! Everyone was ducking for cover, but we were already wet! LOL!! Perfect timing! We walked along the trail in the rain enjoying the animals. We stopped in the Bat House and snapped a few pics. It was a little crowded in there because it was dry! By the time we headed back out the rain had stopped. We visited the tigers-our favorite- and I tortured the boys with some photo-ops.

I tried to get Jeff to do this one...NO LUCK!! LOL!

I want to take a moment to say that the crowds really seemed manageable. I was worried since UG had given the day a 9 on the crowd calendar, but we didn’t have any crowd related issues. Especially once the rain came..the park seemed to clear out pretty quickly after that. It rained intermittently through the afternoon, but never for a long period of time. I’d say the rain came around 1:30 or so and the park closed at 7 pm.

Our next order of business was to head to Camp Minnie Mickey to see the 2:30 Festival of the Lion King show. On the way the boys got ice cream cones and root beer floats. Jonah saw Pocahontas by what used to be the Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends show and wanted to get a pic and autograph. The other two boys weren’t interested, so Jeff went with Jonah while I got in line with the older two to get snacks.

It was really close to show time, so we scarfed down the ice cream and headed into the theater. We were in the very back row, but the way the show is done, there really isn’t a bad seat. And it worked out great because Jonah could stand behind the bench if he needed to see over someone’s head. We love this show and I’m glad we decided to see it again this trip. I wish the pictures came out better, but here is what I was able to get.

I am going to have to divide this post into two because I have too many pictures, so I’ll continue in the next post!

Thanks so much for reading!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

I buy a lot of the pins from a great seller on ebay. His pins start at 99 cents and he combines shipping.

Good advice!

grab bag of pins

It's 25 pins that you don't get to choose...you just get a random assortment. Is that what you were asking?

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

Just found my way over here - loooks like you guys had a great time! And you have made me so excited for going to POR!!

Can't wait for more!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Animal Kingdom–Part 3

We left FOTLK and wanted to see if any of the lines to see the characters were manageable. The line to see Goofy was not too long so we got in. Dan and Jeff sat out and listened to a very funny street performer with a guitar. He would choose someone from the crowd and make up a song using their name. He was really good and very entertaining! Jonah, Isaiah and I waited to see Goofy for about 20 minutes. Jonah was very excited because he was wearing his Goofy hat and knew that Goofy would like it!

I think I forgot to put this in earlier, but we rode Everest again with the FPs we had from earlier in the day. I think it was right after lunch between ITTBAB and Kali. Anyway...the important part of the story is that Jeff rode in a car alone. With 5 in the family, one person normally needs to ride solo. In this case it was Jeff. Upon exiting the ride, he noticed he did not have his wallet. Oh MAN!! What else could we lose today?? The nice CM running the ride assured him that they would search the train. Lo and Behold.....Jeff’s wallet!! All the money was there, everything was in place. WOW! So now we have lost 2 KTTW cards and a wallet. Things can only get better, right??

The good part of that story is that Jeff had been a little angry at the boys for losing their cards, but he said it was very humbling to lose his wallet. He didn’t mean to lose it and he wasn’t careless with it...it just happened. A good lesson for Dad, I guess!

Ok...back on track!

We had decided to skip the parade this time. It was the same parade we had seen before and we hadn’t scoped out a spot so we just decided to skip it. Instead, we headed to DinoLand to ride Dinosaur. We love this ride and were excited to ride it again! We actually like DinoLand itself too. I know it’s campy and cheesy, but that is the point! And I am a sucker for cheesy! We rode Dinosaur, laughed at Jeff screaming his head off in the ride pic, and then headed to the gift shop to do some window shopping and pin trading. The only other must-do for the day was Finding Nemo-The Musical and we had some time to kill before the show. After some shopping and fruitful pin trading, we headed to Primeval Whirl. It was not a must-do, but we had time, so WHY NOT? I’ll tell you why not...because I’m almost 40 and that ride really jerked my poor old body around!! We have a similar ride at our local amusement park that is far less jerky and spins a lot more....I was not impressed, but the boys enjoyed their ride!

With DinoLand behind us, we headed to the theater to get in line for Nemo. This was a show we had not seen on our last trip so I was very excited to see it. Funny story...while we were waiting in line, a little boy (maybe 2) in front of us vomited! YUCK!! The parents kind of just moved on and one of the CM’s got on her walkie and called for a clean up. The funny thing is WHAT the CM said. “We have a ‘protein spill’ in the front of the theater.” LOL....we laughed about that one all week and used it as often as we could! “Dan..don’t have a ‘protein spill’ on Mission Space!”, etc!

I don’t have any pictures of the show, but I’ll say this. I really enjoyed it! I was a little concerned that I would be distracted by the puppeteers, but it was very well done. If you watched only the puppets, you got the story. But, if you watched only the puppeteers you got it as well. They were not just puppeteers but actors as well. I loved the way they used the entire theater. Two thumbs up!

Now we’re hungry so we head to Flame Tree Barbecue for our dinner. I got the ribs, Jeff got the ½ chicken, the boys each got pulled pork sandwiches. I can’t remember what the boys got for dessert, but Jeff and I had Key Lime Pie. The meals were delicious! I really like the beans, but missed the corn muffin that used to come with the entrees. Oh well...it was a very enjoyable meal. The park was nearly empty by now and we had the whole pavilion pretty much to ourselves. The only down side was the birds....they were everywhere and very bold!! I kept having to remind the boys not to feed them as they would never leave if they did!

Before leaving AK for the day, I wanted to walk through Africa again and get a few pictures. We decided to go by Everest and try to ride that one more time as well. The standby line was 10 minutes so we went on.....if you’re keeping count, we have now been on Everest 4 times! Not bad on a crowd level 9 day!

We took a leisurely stroll through Africa on our way out of the park. The boys had wanted to play the African drums earlier, but it had been crowded so they had a chance to do that.

HIDDEN MICKEY!

It had been a great day, even with the rain, but we were tired and the boys wanted to take a swim before heading to bed. On the way out of the park, Minnie and Goofy and Donald were doing a little farewell show. Very cute!

Next up...beignets, summit plummet, turkey legs, and Wolfgang Puck!

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

Outstanding update. Thanks for the info on pin trading. We are trying this for the first time in June.

I love your pics of AK. I love this park especially later in the day and you seem to have the park to yourself. You did all of our favorites. EE 4 TIMES!!

This is the second TR today that mentioned a lost wallet.

Can't wait to see what comes next.

 

[nu2wdisneyw]

Hey Missy!
Thanks for bumping...made me realized I had not suscribed to you TR. I am late but I am here. I am all caught up. I cant believe someone actually used your KTTW card?!?! Luckily you kept track and caught it early. Animal Kingdom seem like a very enjoyable park. It seem leisurely and not quite as hectic. Now this is coming from someone who has never been before! I am glad that you all had a great day...even is the crowd level was "supposed" to be 9. Can't wait to read more!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Outstanding update. Thanks for the info on pin trading. We are trying this for the first time in June.

I love your pics of AK. I love this park especially later in the day and you seem to have the park to yourself. You did all of our favorites. EE 4 TIMES!!

This is the second TR today that mentioned a lost wallet.

Can't wait to see what comes next.

Your girls will really enjoy pin trading!

We really love AK too! I was amazed at how fast the park cleared out when it started to rain!

Hey Missy!
Thanks for bumping...made me realized I had not suscribed to you TR. I am late but I am here. I am all caught up. I cant believe someone actually used your KTTW card?!?! Luckily you kept track and caught it early. Animal Kingdom seem like a very enjoyable park. It seem leisurely and not quite as hectic. Now this is coming from someone who has never been before! I am glad that you all had a great day...even is the crowd level was "supposed" to be 9. Can't wait to read more!

Hi!! I knew I was missing some of my PTR friends!

We were very fortunate that the missing card happened so early in the trip. It was easy to look back and know what meal credits we had used...later in the trip that would have been MUCH more difficult. The CM was genuinely surprised that someone used it too.

Not sure what the crowd level turned out to be in actuality, but we did fine. It was crowded in the main walkways, but a good plan makes all the difference!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Just found my way over here - loooks like you guys had a great time! And you have made me so excited for going to POR!!

Can't wait for more!

Almost missed you sandwiched in there between my two posts! Hi and welcome to my TR!! POR is gorgeous and you'll be glad you decided to stay there...it's a great choice for a romantic Disneymoon!

 

[Sue88]

Very fun photos!
Thanks for shareing.

 

[cjackearl]

Great AK pictures! It really amazes me how much you can get done when it rains and people leave the parks. EE 4 times! WOW! We saw it being built when we were there in '05 and my 2 coaster junkies can't wait to ride. Me? Um....no.

Lesson learned: Check those dining plan receipts carefully. Good job catching it so fast.

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

I'm loving the pictures, as usual, especially the ones where the boys are mimicking the figures on the wall behind them. Priceless!

Looks like everyone is having a wonderful time so far, and congrats on avoiding some potentially major catastrophies! Geez! Your Disney Magic was seriously in play, wasn't it?

 

[DisMomAmy]

Great updates!!

I love your post about pin trading - I bought a grab bag of pins on ebay before we left, plus the kids still had some pins to trade from the last trip. Alex didn't trade any in 2007, Zach only traded 1. They enjoyed it a bit more this year - no where near to the extent of your boys though. I'm glad they had fun with it!

I have the best memories of AK - I never would have said it was our favorite park, but the kids both loved it soooo much this year.

I had to ride Primevil Whirl 3 times with Alex this year - Yuck!! DH can't do spinning rides so I got stuck with it - way too jerky! And I love rollercoasters - but this isn't exactly a rollercoaster.

The lost wallet... I'm glad your DH's turned up faster than mine.

We witnessed a "protein spill" on our trip too & that's exactly what the CM called it!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Happydog]

Your TR is just great! I really enjoy reading all of the details! And the photos are great, too! Sounds like you had the best time at AK -- and I am glad the dining credit situation was easily taken care of. I too was uber-soaked on Kali... the first time we rode it back in 2005. SOAKED.
Love how your boys ham it up for the camera. AND I did the same thing for Pin Trading for DS6 this past NOV, bought some pins on Ebay, only 10, and we traded most of them away. (He had three from the trip prior that his DGMa had bought for him. He didn't know what Pin Trading was, but it was fun to see him shyly approach the CMs! I think it is great that your guys really got into it!

Wonderful posts, fun to read!

 

[ladybugmom]

Oh Missy!! Great updates!! I really enjoyed reading about your day at AK!! Great pics!!

 

[jelloarms]

Just found your TR and am tuning in for more!

I had to smile at the pics of your boys at the airport when I noticed that your eldest was playing Sudoku. I absolutley LOVE LOVE LOVE Sudoku!

 

[carissanboys]

I had a bit to get caught up on! Loved the pictures of the pins - especially the ones of Stitch. We just never seem to end up doing much trading. How sweet that your boys traded pins for each other.

Looks like a great day at AK! Can't believe you rode EE 4 times! That rain can really help keep the crowds down.

Glad the CM was able to help out with the CS meals so easily. Phew!