Hey Double Dippers! August 2016 9 day trip to WDW

[Nicholmom3]

Alrighty then! I started my pretrip report and plain ol' ran out of time, so I'm just going to cut my losses there and start an actual trip report, filled with the actual events that actually happened, along with some of the things that I wished had.

Additionally, I plan to start a dining report as well. I haven't had two breaths since getting back to organize my receipts for an accurate accounting, but I have a 4 day weekend so there is hope.

Housekeeping: Please see my hastily finished pretrippie to read about all of my amazing plans, only some of which came to fruition. I wrote all about my grand plans for DisneyBounding, so if that peaks your interest give it a look!

Cast:
ME!- aka Mrs Incredible. 36, mom, wife, Disney lover, uber-planner, have also been known to OVER PLAN. I also tend to be wordy. Don't say I didn't warn you. If you like detailed trip reports, I'm your gal.
DH- aka Diabetic Husband, 40, loves Star Wars and comics, a professional napper, thinks he goes with the flow but DOESN'T.
DD13- my partner in crime. Most days she is her father's daughter (don't let her hear me say that) but on this trip she was my right hand girl.
DD9- the true enigma. I'm not going to lie, I thought I had him pegged. I was very wrong.

The Plan:
Aug 19-27, 2016. 9 days at the Beach Club, 8 days park hoppers and 1 water park.
Traveling by plane roundtrip from Boston to MCO, Magical Express

Day 1-Travel Day- I Booked the Flight for How Early?
Day 1, Part 2- Hotel, Dinner, Evening Plans
Day 2, Part 1- Animal Kingdom Ahoy!
Day 2, Part 2- Animal Kingdom Magic

 

[Nicholmom3]

Friday August 19-Travel Day!

Am I alone in my love/hate relationship with Travel Day? The anticipation of vacation is so exhilarating, yet the stress of traveling as a mom can be crippling at times. Not just as a mom, but traveling with my husband as well. His diabetes adds an extra layer to the stress levels that I feel. I can say that because he doesn't seem to care, I put all of the stress on myself. Part of the negative of being an uber planner.

In my pretrippie I went into obnoxious detail about my anxiety over HOW we were going to get to the airport for our early morning flight. I had at least 3 options, with room for a 4th. In the end we were able to coordinate a ride with an acquaintance who drives the shuttle my husband takes to the train station every morning. He normally drives with Uber, and so he offered to take us into Boston instead of having to chance someone not being available at 3 am in the suburbs. It really worked out great. I had all of our bags ready to go the night before, he arrived a few minutes before 3 and we were on the road by 3:10.
I was never an anxious person before I had kids. In fact, I wouldn't normally ascribe "anxious" to myself. Maybe it is the current world climate, maybe it is my age, maybe I just need to travel more and get over it, but this trip found me really struggling with different levels of freak-out. I was worried about the boarding sections for Southwest. I worried about getting to and from the airport safely and on time. I worried about accidents and terrorists and my husband having a low blood sugar. It really was getting out of hand.

Thankfully in the end none of those scenarios happened. Our driver got us to the airport and promised to see us on the flip side. We checked our bags and none of them were too heavy. We walked to our gate and figured out the airport wifi. Dunks didn't open for awhile so I stood in line waiting, using it as warm up for the lines to get on 7DMT.

One of my biggest worries in the week leading up to the trip was what boarding section we were going to get when checking in to our Southwest flight. For those who don't know, Southwest can have great prices and perks, but it comes with some drawbacks. Two free checked bags per person? Unheard of with every other airline. Decent flight prices at the times I wanted to travel? They could be lower, and I had to book a layover, but overall it wasn't bad. The real drawback comes with the boarding passes. You have to check in within 24 hours of your flight to receive your boarding number. This number directly corresponds with your place in line. The Business select passengers board first (they also pay the highest amounts). Behind them are the "A" group, in numerical order. After the "A" group, families with young children board, and then "B" group, and finally the poor souls in group "C".
no one has assigned seats, it is truly every man for himself. "A" group virtually ensures you of your choice in seating location. "B" is ok but can get dicey towards the higher numbers, and "C" group essentially means you are absolutely sitting in a middle seat with two strangers.

I don't think I talked about anything else but boarding passes for the entire week leading up to check in. My boss and coworkers assured me it would be fine if I logged in exactly 24 hours before my flight, or I could pay extra to be checked in automatically. That wasn't going to happen, as my husband is a notorious penny pincher.
24 hours and 15 minutes found me sitting at our kitchen table with two laptops, two iPhones, and an iPad set up and ready to go. I was under the impression that I needed to check in each member of my party separately, hence the anxiety. I really didn't want my family spread out over 3 boarding windows. This turned out to be unnecessary, as we all received successive boarding numbers when I checked myself in.

We received passes A53 to A56, ensuring we would be able to sit together. Whew. Immediately I felt better. I was finally able to relax a little and start to get into vacation mode.

Since I got way wordy there, I'm going to skip the flight, hop onto the Magical Express, and plop us in front of the beautiful Beach Club.

 

[Nicholmom3]

Travel Day, Part 2, Our Hotel Room and Evening Plans

We arrived around 12:30pm, having received a text message on the bus that our room was ready for us. We collected our bags and went straight up to Room 3636. In our opinion, it was a fantastic location! It was an end room, down the hallway just a little from the elevators. We were close to the marketplace, a short enough walk to either pool, the lobby, and a pleasant walk to both the buses and the boats. Our room had a juliette balcony and looked out over the gardens and to the left of the volleyball court. If I leaned a little bit I could see a glimpse of the lake.

My only request for the room was to have a daybed, as our kids are too old to share a bed. I was anticipating a rooftop view, but I really didn't care so long as we had that daybed. I was thrilled when we got the daybed along with the location AND pretty view. I would be happy going back to that room every trip.

When we entered the room, my daughter was face timing her friend. (I know). The friend and her mom (my friend) were super excited for us to get into our room, and we soon found out why. There was a package waiting for us! our beautiful friends had ordered a goody bag! It was a yellow mesh backpack with a cooler bottom. Inside were all kinds of handpicked goodies, including mickey krispy treats, lollipops, misting fans, a mickey bottle opener, an autograph book and pen, and fireworks glasses (more on those later). How incredibly lucky we are to have such thoughtful friends. I'm pretty sure Goofy and Pluto heard our squeals of delight, as only dogs could.

After settling in a little we changed and headed down to the best pool in the World, Stormalong Bay. We all hit the slide first. It was fun, but wow I was not expecting it to rough up my back so much! It's a very bumpy slide. We enjoyed the lazy river and waded around the sandy bottom. It's such a gorgeous pool, and worth every penny of that hotel.

We ate lunch at Hurricane Hannah's, swam some more, and then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. Our reservations were for a much anticipated dinner at the Yachtsmen Steakhouse!

We changed into our first coordinated DisneyBounding outfit of the week. For this evening I had chosen outfits inspired by Peter Pan. I channeled Wendy, wearing a light blue sleeveless shirt with ruffles and a white ruffled skirt. DS9 was Peter, with a dark green polo shirt and dark green camo shorts. DD13 had chosen to emulate Mr. Smee, wearing a blue striped sleeveless tank, and teal shorts, with a red headband. My husband had Capt Hook, with a maroon Polo and khaki shorts. (It's the best I could find)

Our YS dinner was phenomenal. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal, savoring every bite, along with great wine. Our kids? Not so much. The quality of the meal was lost on them, and they actually ended up leaving the table because my daughter was turning green at the sight of me enjoying my (bone marrow). Their loss, next time we will let them order pizza in the room.

We rolled ourselves out of the Yachtsmen and made our way out to the buses. Our main goal was to get to MK in time for our 7DMT fastness, see MSEP, Celebrate the Magic, and try to see Wishes. I wasn't optimistic about Wishes, but I thought we could pull off the castle show. It was at the top of my list, because it was the very last night it would be running, and I have never seen it. We normally choose parade and fireworks times to go on low wait rides.

We made it to 7DMT, thoroughly enjoyed it, made it to MSEP, and crashed hard. Everyone was wiped out, hot, and cranky. We bailed right as Elliot rolled up Main Street, and headed back to our fluffy beautiful beds. We had Rope Drop at AK on tap for the morning, and we needed sleep, badly.

All in all, our travel day wasn't the horror show I was so afraid it might be, and no matter what, we made it to Disney.

 

[heaven2dc]

Enjoying your TR so far! So glad you got seats together for your flights - so worrisome with Southwest. I've never flown Southwest before so haven't experienced the seating issue but always see great rates. We would love to stay at the Beach Club one day - we've only stayed at BWV renting points (except for our first visit in 1997). We've always envied Stormalong Bay altho we could have made use of it on one trip when the BWV pool was closed for refurbishment. Anxious to see how your AK day went!

 

[Nicholmom3]

Enjoying your TR so far! So glad you got seats together for your flights - so worrisome with Southwest. I've never flown Southwest before so haven't experienced the seating issue but always see great rates. We would love to stay at the Beach Club one day - we've only stayed at BWV renting points (except for our first visit in 1997). We've always envied Stormalong Bay altho we could have made use of it on one trip when the BWV pool was closed for refurbishment. Anxious to see how your AK day went!

Thank you! It was a huge source of anxiety for me. I'm not a fan of the unknowns.

 

[Nicholmom3]

Day 2- Animal Kingdom Ahoy!

Once we got back "home" from the MK, everyone cleaned up quickly and hit the sack. Everyone except me! I was sooo tired, and yet so wired and excited to be in DISNEY that I couldn't fall asleep right away. I tidied everything up, organized the park bags for the next day, and settled in.

I set my alarm for 6, but it wasn't needed. I was up and at 'em before the sun every. single. morning.

It was nice to open the shades and let the sun wake everyone up, because by the time they all got moving I had already been dressed and walked around to the Yacht Club in search of coffee to fill our mugs. This was one peeve of mine. I saw no reason why the yacht club could have a small coffee area open early but not the beach club. At least it was a very pleasant walk.

I was really hoping to make rope drop at AK, but that was never to be. The little guy was sluggish (Can anyone really blame him?) and the bus to AK left just as we were walking out of the hotel. The next one wasn't far behind. I really love the new signs with updating bus times.

Once we made it to AK, the plan was to hit the safari first, and then head over to Expedition Everest for a couple of rides before the park opened (Early Morning Magic Hour). Since we had been a little later than I had wanted, we had to haul a bit faster than DS was a fan of. He is a classic meanderer and all of those little side paths at the AK entrance were calling to him. I had to promise we would take the time later to just explore. I was also hoping to catch a glimpse of DeVine, but I never spotted her.

Side note, my husband is a techie. Everything in life is easier with electronics in his eyes. I'm getting there slowly, but for the most part I'm a classic paper and pen, grab a park map kinda girl. Since I am such a type A planner, my husband thought he could take over the navigation using the park map on MDE. Let me tell you what a disaster that turned out to be! We ended up going in the wrong direction TWICE while heading towards the safari. I had a lesson to learn, though, and after sighing and eye rolling my husband snapped and we had a little spat. I realized he was just trying to help, and I needed to take a breath and let things fall as they may. I'm not proud to admit that a couple tears fell, but in true Disney spirit they were quickly wiped away and we started over.

We made our way to the safari and made it on with only a few minutes wait. I have a family full of thrill seekers so they always want to sit in the back of any ride. We asked to sit in the back of the safari vehicle and I almost instantly regretted it. Talk about a bumpy ride! The view out the back and the number of animals out more than made up for the jarring ride, though. We were able to turn around and see the animals for a much longer time. Everyone was out and active. We saw plenty of rhinos with their babies, the lion and lioness' were lounging in plain site. The giraffes were out and walking all over, and a couple broke out into a trot behind us.

After the safari we headed over to EE. I was really excited for the kids to experience this ride. The last time we were in Disney, my daughter was 4 and missed teh height requirement by an inch. She was SO MAD! This time there was no question she was tall enough! We walked on with a minimal wait. Sometimes that can be a mixed blessing because some of these queues are so interesting to go through.

EE didn't disappoint. The kids had a blast and so did we. I had forgotten how much fun it can be to throw your hands up in the air and just go with it. Immediately after getting off the kids begged to go again. We ended up going on twice more before I had to beg for a break.

We then hit Kali River Rapids, which is a total snooze. I just don't understand why they don't spice that ride up a bit more. It isn't like they don't have the room! It needs another drop, more splashing, SOMETHING. I was waiting for one more big drop but the ride was over, just like that. The kids weren't interested in repeating it again.

From there we headed over to Dino Land to go on Primevil Whirl. Talk about jarring! I didn't go on that one the last trip, as I had the baby with me. As usual we got off and the kids wanted to do the other side. I had no desire to try it again so they went on and hubs and I took a break.

When last we went to Disney, DS was only 11 months old. His first ride was Triceratop Spin so I thought it would be cute if we all went back on together and took a picture just like when he was little. Luckily I have a family willing to humor me. It's a fun little ride, the kids enjoyed moving the dinos up and down and rocking forward and back.

I'm not looking at my notes, but I know we went back on EE a couple more times before lunch. We went on EE a total of 8 times that day! We enjoyed lunch at Flame Tree BBQ and as usual ordered way too much. The two kids and I split an order of chicken and an order of ribs, my husband ordered the pulled pork sandwich, and we all shared the watermelon salad.

After lunch we hit up EE one more time (I know.) and headed out of the park for our afternoon break. Nearly every day of the trip I had planned on returning to our hotel for either a rest or swim for a few hours, before heading back to the park of choice for the evening. It gave everyone a chance to decompress and recharge. I know most people do that with toddlers, but with my family it is a total necessity.

 

[Nicholmom3]

Day 2- Animal Kingdom Part 2!

We made our way back to the Beach Club for some R&R. Hubs wanted to nap and the kids wanted to swim. Who can resist Stormalong Bay? He eventually came down and we drifted along the lazy river before getting out and gearing up for an evening at Animal Kingdom. I was super excited to see this park at night!

The PLAN was to head over to the Lion King show, but I forced myself to slow down and take a breath. We didn't need to rush right over there, and I felt bad for speeding through the entrance that morning. DS really wanted to explore all the little paths and see what was hiding back there. We watered around for a few minutes, checking out all the different birds and creatures. We came across a CM who was feeding the ducks and asked if we had any questions. I didn't, so I asked her to tell us something cool about the ducks.

She told us there were over 50 different species of ducks there, and a bunch of other little tidbits. The only thing we remember now is that there is a type of duck that makes a sound like a cat! We never heard it, but it was fun to learn.

It was getting closer to FoTLK time so I was getting a bit antsy. DD was super thirsty and I knew she wouldn't complain if she wasn't really in need. So again with the sucking up and we split up. Hubs took DS to the bathroom and DD and I went into Pizzafari to get some ice waters.

After we met up again we headed to FoTLK. As we came near the entrance a CM walked up to us and asked if we were seeing LK and how many were in the group. I had a feeling something was up and started getting excited. My family was clueless! He allowed us to finish our water and brought us into the theater. We were led to the front reserved seats in the Lion section!! It was so exciting! We were so close, practically in the middle of everything, it was a bit overwhelming. Our heads were whipping around, not even knowing where to look next. It is just a wonderful show, my absoute favorite. I was in tears and goosebumps the whole time.

After FoTLK we didn't have firm plans. We stopped into the Dig Pit for some memory photos. Our little guy was only a baby the last time he was there, so we made him pose on the same rock as he did back then. I had to do it!

From there we went to ITTBAB. We almost skipped it because I've heard so many negative things, but we decided to see it anyway. I'm so glad we did! It was a fun little attraction. From there we did EE again (AGAIN) and headed around to get dinner at Harambe Market. Again we shared and again we still had more than enough food. It just solidified to me that not getting the dining plan was the right move. It's too much food!

We headed across to use our FP for The Jungle Book. We were there 15 minutes before show start and the place was packed. We ended up near the front off to the right. The seats were SOOOO uncomfortable, HOT, and the fake radio station music that was playing was crazy loud. I could feel a headache coming on and I needed to get away from the crowd. We left the theater and ended up back at EE! It was so much fun to ride in the dark! We rode one last time and caught a glimpse of Jungle Book while at the top of the ride.

It was time to call it a night so we made our way out to watch the awakenings on the Tree of Life. What an incredible, beautiful show. The Imagineers really outdid themselves.

Back to the hotel, another early morning at Hollywood Studios!

 

[Nicholmom3]

Here I am, one year later. I never finished this trip report because something happened that upset me SO MUCH that I couldn't bring myself to continue the TR.

I was downloading my photos from the trip when I realized...I had the pictures from the airport the first day, and then pictures on the plane ride HOME...

And the rest of the photos were gone.

Gone, gone. I checked my backups, I checked my phone. I checked every drive on our computer and every upload site I have ever uploaded photos to. The only ones I could recover are the precious few I had posted to Facebook, and our Memory Maker ones.

Every other photo from our amazing trip is gone.

It's still upsetting to think about, so I try not to. I recently booked a short trip for next April so that's what I'm going to focus on. I'm going to try my best to finish this TR with as many details as I can remember without my pictures, so that I'll at least have something to remind me.

 

[Nicholmom3]

Day 3- Hollywood Studios

One of the best parts of staying at The Beach Club is the proximity to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Being able to walk to walk to either park is a huge win.

Originally I had planned to get to HS early in order to sign DS up for Jedi Training. After talking about it a few times he was adamant that he didn't want to do it so I dropped it from our plans. I was disappointed, but I'm not about to force my kid to do something he didn't want to do (even though later on he saw the training and said it looked cool). Since we didn't have to get there super early now, we decided to make our way to the Friendship Dock to take the boat over.

I remember we were waiting for about 20 minutes, and I was getting antsy. There was no boat in site and we would almost certainly miss Rope Drop if we continued to wait. We debated with a family standing next to us if it was worth it to walk. We decided to give it a shot, and we all started the trek around the lake.

As we hit the landing at S/D the boat was just pulling up. Since it still had to make a stop at the Yacht Club before heading to HS, we felt we made a good choice. We ended up beating the boat by maaaaybe a minute, sweaty, and my husband's blood sugar was dropping fast. Probably not the best choice after all!

We made it through security and got hubby to sit down at little bakery place on the corner. Is that Starring Rolls? I can't remember. I got him some sugary stuff and headed across to Starbucks for some coffee.

After his big started coming up we went to start our rides. I'm sure we had FP for Tot, as that is a family favorite. As always, it didn't disappoint. The kids likely wanted to go back on immediately but I knew the line for RRC would start backing up soon so I wanted to get over there.

The RRC is fun, and fast, but I'm over it. My head bounces around, the music is soooooo loud, and it could really use some drops. We went on it a few times this trip, but it really isn't on my list of must do's anymore. I'll probably do it once a trip from now on, and move on.

The rest of the morning is a jumble. I know we went in to see One Man's Dream, which was freaking awesome. The kids went through it a bit faster than I would have on my own, but I could tell they still appreciated what they were looking at. While inside they announced that they would be showing the extended trailer for Pete's Dragon. We made our way into the theater and watched. It was so good! I was a bit reticent about it since the original is one of my favorite Disney movies, and impossible to find now.

We also hit Star Tours at some point in the day, and I want to say it was in the morning. I know I had FP for it, but I don't remeber when. We went and met Chewbacca. That was very fun. I do remember standing in front of the entrance and my son started tugging at me. I turned around and jumped a foot as a line of StormTroopers marched right by! I was not expecting to see that AT ALL. Seeing all of the StarWars memorabilia was pretty cool, it made my husband's day.

I'm fairly certain we saw the Muppet's 3D around then, and headed back over to ToT for a few more rides. We rode so many times this week, by the end it almost got boring!

As usual, we headed back to the Beach Club for a rest and a swim. We used our brains this time and took the boat.

 

[Nicholmom3]

Day 3, Part 2. Hollywood Studios

After our break we headed back to HS for the evening festivities. This time we didn't have to walk, as the boat was coming around the lake as we walked up to the launch.

I had booked an early dinner at Sci-Fi Drive In so we headed over. This MO works very well for my family. We get up early, eat breakfast on our way to the bus. (I pack portable breakfast stuff for the week) We tour until about 12 or 1pm, and then head back to our resort. We eat lunch either before we leave the park or more likely at our resort. Then we head back out and I have an early dinner planned. We usually eat around 5-5:30 and then hit the park for the rest of the evening while everyone else is eating dinner. It leaves room to get fun snacks later in the evening.

Anyway, Sci-Fi was great. The whole family loved it. The shakes were delicious and very filling. Seriously one shake could have fed all four of us. I got some delicious adult beverage with a glowing ice cube. I remember some delicious burgers, and we really got a kick out of seeing the kids enjoy the atmosphere.

After dinner we did ToT, GMR, and TSMM, probably not in that order. Likely did RRC again as well.

The main even of the night was the StarWars Fireworks show. As always I had done my homework and scoped out the best spot for viewing. Once the hubby was in place with instructions to act large and not give up my spot I went and got ice cream for everyone.

We did get squeezed into place by the CMs, but we really did have a perfect vantage point. It was hot as hell but worth it!
That show made my decision to skip Fantasmic worth it.

The line for the boats was crazy long by the time we got to it, so we decided to walk back. It was pretty stinking dark on that path, but we all used our phone flashlights and just kept moving. I think Disney needs to put some more lighting along that way.

Next day...Magic Kingdom!

 

[Nicholmom3]

Oh hey! I've found yet another benefit to being an overzealous trip planner. I kept nearly all of our receipts from the trip! Now I am able to go back and have a bit of a clearer road map as to where we were when.

It isn't photos, but it helps! I'm fairly close with my recollections already so I'm just going to keep going.

 

[Nicholmom3]

Day 4, Part 1 Magic Kingdom Morning!

According to my first receipt, this was the morning our family started with their various medical ailments.
My daughter is a very athletic girl and suffers from ankle and foot pain when she does a lot of legwork. 10-12 miles a day is definitely considered legwork in my book!
The night before after we got home from HS, she was nearly in tears from the ankle pain. I grabbed a few buckets of ice and ran a cold bath, tossed the ice in and added some peppermint essential oil. We both soaked our legs in the ice water for a while and it seemed to help her a little.

My first receipt at 7:38am says Elastic bandage, so I had gotten down to the mercantile early and bought an overpriced ace bandage for her to wrap her foot with. She isn't one to let some ankle pain stop her from Disney so off we went to the MK!

I don't have anything else after that until our lunch but I know we stopped for photopass pics in front of the castle. My husband says our first ride was the Speedway, which we all hated, but at least we did it with no line. If we were in TomorrowLand already I'm sure we would have done Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. We also did Splash Mountain a few times, Pirates of the Caribean and Tom Sawyers Island (Which I loved and my husband hated. He was afraid the alligators would jump out at him.)

I had lunch planned at Skipper Canteen in AdventureLand. Boy was that ever a WIN! The entire family loved every bite. According to my handy dandy receipt we ordered the Noodle salad to share, someone had the chicken (probably DH), DS had the chicken strips, DD had the delicious Skips pasta and I had the falafel bites. DD and I shared our meals. SOooooo Gooood!

We went back to the resort from there, and hit the pool as always.

 

[Nicholmom3]

Day 4 Part 2- Epcot Evening!

After our break we waltzed up to the International Gateway and began our first Epcot adventure. Again, I don't remember all of our rides, but my reciept is for gummy worms from Mission Space, so that must have been when 3 of my family went on the Orange side and I wimped out and chose green. I get very carsick, and I was not about to let my evening get ruined with a migraine and an upset stomach! The green side was pretty tame, I wish I could chance the Orange, but I just won't do it.

We likely did a few more rides after that, but tonight was mostly going to start our culinary tour around the World Showcase. This would actually turn out to be a poor choice...more on that to come.

Our first stop was Mexico! We ordered churros and some drinks. The kids wanted to buy a little something in each country so we roamed the very cool shop inside. They each bought a little bobble head animal, one turtle and one armadillo.

From Mexico to Norway, where we were bombarded with all things Frozen. This was a bit disappointing, as there was legit NOTHING non-frozen related that was in my kid's price range. I mean, not even a norwegien pencil topper! Oh Well. We got a selfie with the troll (GONE!) and had our snack of Lefse Bread. None of us were big fans. Norway was a bust for us!

From Norway we continued to China. We ordered potstickers which were a big hit. My DD still talks about them to this day! The kids bought a "luminous Buddha" which I have no idea what that is.

It was getting late so we decided to skip the stores and just get snacks. Germany found us enjoying caramel popcorn and the most delicious grapefruit beer I have ever tasted. So damn good. I let the kids try a sip and they liked it too.

In Italy we decided to sit down for a bit. We didn't really want pizza so we ducked into that little cellar that is on the left. DH and I ordered wine, and we chose two appetizers to share. I don't have that reciept but I remember one was a fantastic ravioli dish and the other was some sort of antipasti like dish with seafood.
Absolutely delicious.

From Italy we hustled over to the American Pavilion where we used the restrooms and I got a blueberry beer and a SeadogSunfish, and a soft pretzel. This, combined with our caramel corn from Germany, was to be our dessert while watching Illuminations.

We hauled over to the bridge by France and found some excellant views from the stairs. The best part is the hop skip and jump back to our resort!

 

[Nicholmom3]

Day 5 part 1- Blizzard Beach

Remember the previous post when I said eating around the world would prove to be a poor choice? It might not seem so as we all had such a great time. Here's where it started to catch up with us.

For the past year my DD had been having really strange episodes, completely random, when her lips would blow up, incredibly painful, swollen, for a week at a time. Not a single thing I tried helped it go away. We saw SO MANY different doctors, and no one could come up with a solution. I was downright terrified that it would happen during the trip. A couple of months before hand we had her allergy tested and it came up for "fragrance". That's it...just fragrance. Have you ever looked at any bottle in your house? I'm willing to bet a Mickey bar that it has "fragrance" listed as an ingredient. Anyways, we have just done the best we could avoiding excess chemicals and we were doing pretty well. One side note, one of the very top items listed on the "avoid" list was things that contained cinnamon oil.

Anyone catching on yet? Try looking back to our first two snack fests. Churros in Mexico, and Lefse Bread in Norway.

Now, since then, we have figured out that Cinnamon is the culprit. Cooked cinnamon doesn't seem to trigger, but she is terrified so avoids it anyway.

Cue the next morning when she tells me...Mom, I think the lip thing is starting!

Just like with her ankle, she wasn't about to let it ruin her trip. We figured the symptoms don't usually get unbearable for the first day or two, so we would just try to enjoy all we could in the meantime.

We ate breakfast in our room that day, ordered from the Beach Club Marketplace. The Chocolate Croissants are absolutely divine, and are way better than the ones in France.

From there we headed out to Blizzard Beach. I have a locker receipt for 12:30, so we really took our time getting out that day.

We found a set of chairs right next to a very fun looking water slide. We figured, hey, we are right here, so let's go on this one first!

Up the stairs we go and we get in line. It was a hot day and the line had shade, and those cool water misters. The line also had an announcement on a loop.

First the guy... "Hey Double Dippers! Blah blah..must be 46 inches..blah blah.."

A minute later the girl..."Heeeeey Double Dippers! Blah blah blah"

ON REPEAT. For a line that took nearly 45 minutes to get through. While being blasted with freezing water from the sprayers. By the time we were nearly ready to scream, we were at the stairs to go up, so we figured we might as well do the slide. For the rest of the week our refrain was Heeeeey Double Dippers!

5 seconds later we were on to the next slide. I think we did the family tube ride. The kids had made us swear we would all go on the Summit Plummit, so we did that one before I lost all my courage. I nearly busted my heart just climbing all the stairs, so the drop itself wasn't so bad! The good news is I have recently recovered the last bit of my bottoms that were almost permanently wedged up my tuckus. I'll do it again next trip.

After our big thrill we decided to chill out in the wave pool before leaving for our Boma Reservation. This is where life got dicey.
I remember chatting with DD and DS, bobbing along before the waves started. At some point my husband (diabetic...it's important) must have said out loud (or in his damn head) that he was going back to the chairs to change. I swear on my kids' lives I never heard him say it, and neither kid heard him either. One minute he was there, and the next, GONE.
We noticed he was gone and started looking all around the wave pool. Couldn't find him. I looked at the chairs by the pool, not there. The waves started, and I started to freak. My mind went wild! I thought he had a low blood sugar and had slipped under. We couldn't find him anywhere. DD kept cool and suggested we check the chairs where we left our things. We flew over there and he WAS NOT THERE. I was heading to the lifeguard near me (all the while thinking that my husband had drowned at Disney) when out he comes, sauntering from the restrooms, like everything was perfectly fine.

I of course burst into tears and our kids had to explain what happened.
We were all done after that little experience!

We cleaned up and changed and took the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge for our dinner reservation at Boma.