How 1 trip turned to 2 and now turning into 3!! Update Pg 40 Days 3, 4 and 5!!

[newtodis]

Hi
Enjoying the update
I did what to ask about PLAYHOUSE DISNEY at Disney HS. Its look like fun. Landen loves to watch playhouse disney at home, we watch Mickey Mouse clubhouse, the Little Esteinis he love s Rocket , is it similar? can you meet the characters after? How often is it shown?
The birthday breakfast at CRT looks wonderful. It sure is special eating there. I love the mosiac murals in the castle too!! Your should be able to make a beautiful scrapebook page from those pictures .
I like seeing all the rides you take Carter, he the same age as Landen, so I know What rides to suggust to Corri, that Landen might be able to ride.
Sorry about the aweful spelling.
Hope your feeling better

Hey Grace!!

The boys love Playhouse Disney. Currently it's Minnie's Birthday and Mickey and the Clubhouse gang use ideas from other "stories" (Little Eistiens, My Friends Tigger and Pooh and Handy Manny) to pull off a surprise party for Minnie. Corbin just said to me last night when we were talking about the rides, "I wonder if it'll Minnie's Birthday again!" They're puppets with a "live" person host but it's cute. It's probably 10-15 minutes long and is shown quite often if I remember correctly. There are playhouse Disney character meet and greet kind of things right outside the building where the show is. They change often so sometimes you're in line for one character and they switch and other character comes out to take their place.

The castle breakfast was very cool - and I got to see princesses even though I forgot the autograph book The inside of the castle is amazing!!

Carter's really a pretty brave guy - I think because of his older brother. We do have a rule though - you have to try every ride one time with no whining. If you don't like it after that one time, you don't have to go any more, but you have to try once. I think that helps too. Carter pretty much goes on everything that he's tall enough to. When the boys want to "ride" we pretty much stick to the MK since that's where most of the "kid sized" rides are that they like.

 

[Grace and Mickey]

Hey Grace!!

The boys love Playhouse Disney. Currently it's Minnie's Birthday and Mickey and the Clubhouse gang use ideas from other "stories" (Little Eistiens, My Friends Tigger and Pooh and Handy Manny) to pull off a surprise party for Minnie. Corbin just said to me last night when we were talking about the rides, "I wonder if it'll Minnie's Birthday again!" They're puppets with a "live" person host but it's cute. It's probably 10-15 minutes long and is shown quite often if I remember correctly. There are playhouse Disney character meet and greet kind of things right outside the building where the show is. They change often so sometimes you're in line for one character and they switch and other character comes out to take their place.

The castle breakfast was very cool - and I got to see princesses even though I forgot the autograph book The inside of the castle is amazing!!

Carter's really a pretty brave guy - I think because of his older brother. We do have a rule though - you have to try every ride one time with no whining. If you don't like it after that one time, you don't have to go any more, but you have to try once. I think that helps too. Carter pretty much goes on everything that he's tall enough to. When the boys want to "ride" we pretty much stick to the MK since that's where most of the "kid sized" rides are that they like.

Thank you so much!! This will help us alot

We had dinner in the castle on our trip in Sept 2006

Looking forward to hearing more, I always learn something from you that helps me make my trip better.

Have a good nite

 

[newtodis]

Sorry to leave everyone in a slump! I'll get this trip finished soon and get started on Feb! I'd planned on working on it over the weekend but it was too nice to be inside on the computer. Also, I need to get me some new glasses! I had glasses but they were broken when I was on leave after I had Carter (thanks Corbin! ) and just never really got around to getting another pair. Well, now the headaches are back so I need to make time to go get them! It will make my DIS time much more enjoyable! This weekend's not supposed to be nearly as nice so I'm hoping to make some progress on the TR!

 

[ktmetke]

Your pics are awesome! My 2 year old loves looking at all the pics of your boys having fun on the rides!! He was laughing and smiling at every pic!! Thanks for sharing! And, Looking forward to reading more!

 

[newtodis]

Your pics are awesome! My 2 year old loves looking at all the pics of your boys having fun on the rides!! He was laughing and smiling at every pic!! Thanks for sharing! And, Looking forward to reading more!

Thank you for such a great compliment! I so appreciate it! How great that your boys are enjoying as well. I'm going to try and update today!!

Are you the one who asked about the monorail ride game from the outlets in my last TR???? If so, they still had them at the outlet in Febraury. I wanted to mention that and just happened to think of it!

 

[ktmetke]

I am!!.........If we get to Disney this summer (I think we are switching from June to August ), then I will probably bug you again about which outlet you saw it at.....my nephew would love that game!

 

[newtodis]

Bummer about switching your trip....hopefully they'll still be there! I've seen them at both the outlet right by Disney and the one in St Augustine so hopefully between the two places you'll be able to find one!

 

[newtodis]

WOOHOO!! Finally we're travelling again - sorry y'all were stuck in that moment of Disney memories for so darn long! I'm uploading pictures right now and they'll be inserted as soon as they're available!

After our rest at the condo, we headed off to DHS for the afternoon. After seeing the OFSOL once, I couldn't wait to see it again. I can't tell you guys how awesome it was. The pictures just do not do it justice!! They are amazing and I cannot wait to go back and see them soon!!

So we headed over to see Handy Manny (we tried meeting him before and he had to leave while we were in line so we left the line and weren't able to meet back up with Manny again. Now was our chance!!

No more than getting about three people from Manny and the lady told us Manny would only be there a few more minutes....seriously?? I just stood in this line for how long for the second day and you're going to take him again?? I don't think so lady!

I calmly made mention of how Manny was going to have to leave soon but hopefully it wouldn't be before we get to see him this time since we already waited one day and missed him before. Thankfully the CM heard me and we were the last family to see Manny before he took his break!!!

From Manny it was over to see Annie and Quincy from the Little Einstiens. As was the theme for the trip, Carter was all about giving them all kinds of love.

From there we decided to give the Art of Animation a try as we were told Bolt was in there doing a meet and greet. Carter had only discovered Bolt at Disney (I don't even think the commercials were on tv yet for it - I could be wrong though!) and screamed "Boat! Boat!" every time he saw the posters hanging around Disney advertising the movie. I knew this was something we had to give a try.

So, we watched the movie and quickly scurried back to see Bolt. Of course we were too late as Bolt's line had already closed for the night......

Then, we spotted our next characters to meet - Mr and Mrs Incredible!!!! WOOHOO! Corbin loves this movie - Dash is his favorite. We don't watch this movie all too often as I think the end is a tad bit violent for little ones but every now and again I give in. Carter continued on with his love fest for all things Disney!

Ok, so we got into the next line - Sorccer Mickey!! Sweet! The line really moved quite quickly and before long we were up hanging out with Mickey!!

After walking around for a few more minutes checking everything out, we saw Frozone where the Incredibles once were. Of course we had to head up and meet him too! (for those who aren't Incredilbles experts like Corbin, Frozone is Mr. Incredible's friend who helps him save the world at the end of the movie)

Up next....more OFSOL

 

[newtodis]

The pictures are at 59%! YAY!!

So after we saw the characters, we decided to head back over to the OFSOL (Osbourne Family Specticle of Lights) because it was so awesome the first time!

It was still awesome the second time. Did I mention that Christmas is my favorite holiday?? I love the sprit of the holiday, the decorations and giving gifts to those we love. I love it!! This was like the ultimate visual of part of that for me.

The boys did better this time - they actually managed to stay awake for most of it - could be because we got them popcorn this time! Carter was really just trying to take it all in and Corbin really pointed out lots of the little details. I could have spent hours here just watching and looking at all of the lights. My suggestion when you go: don't go as soon as it starts!! Wait until about the hour before it's done for the night. Wander through what you can see and the people will start to file out knowing the park is closing. It's much more enjoyable that way although we were never able to stay as long as I wanted to.

Some window decorations we stopped to look at on our way out:

 

[newtodis]

So we watched the lights and headed back home for a good night's rest and get ready for another day of fun!!

We started the morning at Epcot. We split up and Corbin and I headed to Soarin while Dan and Carter did Living with the Land because Carter needs to grow a bit before he can experience Soarin'....

As for the Living with the Land, Dan said it was good and very informative. I'm all for knowledge so maybe one day I'll give it a shot!

As for Soarin', Corbin did his (by this point in the trip) infamous "I have to go to the bathroom" as soon as we got in the line to board the attraction. After trying to make him stop his fussing and crying, I finally looked at him (being a candidate for Mother of the Year) and said "If you have to go so badly, go in your pull up. We are NOT getting out of line" with the look of "listen to me - I'm done with the whining and you're not getting out of this". I know others were thinking I was terrible and I honestly I wasn't proud of it but it had gotten to be a real problem this trip for him trying to get out of things. I knew if he really had to go, he would go in his pull up even though that's something terrible for him. Low and behold (because I know you're all dying to know), he went potty in his pull up, stopped crying and boarded his hang glider for the ride to come.

Corbin took this one (he's really getting into photography like his mama!)

All strapped in and ready to take off:

Holding on tight:

We got off the ride and headed for Daddy and Carter. We headed straight past them for the bathroom as Corbin had to go again.....geeze! He's like a little old man constantly having to go to the bathroom!!

We finished with that and headed off to see what else Epcot had in store for us. We headed over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends as Carter loves him some "shishes". We rode the Nemo ride and watched Turtle Talk with Crush again. I do love Crush. He can always make me smile. Carter, being the big boy that he's becoming, tried to brave sitting on the carpet with his big brother instead of sitting back with mom and dad.

He did well until about half way through when he got up and started wandering around. I thought he'd sit back down as Corbin started calling him to come sit down. Carter wanted no part of sitting down - he wanted to be close to Crush - so Corbin grabbed him and brought him back to us. (Corbin can be an amazing little helper when he wants to be!!) Carter finished the show with us. When it was done, we gathered Corbin and headed off to see what else we could see.

This is the point that I realized we'd missed our ADR. In all of my scheduling for this trip, the only ADRs we actually made were for breakfast in the castle and Sci Fi for dinner. We missed our tour of the castle suite, princess breakfast, everything. In the moment I wasn't upset because we were so busy and wrapped up in what we were doing. Upon realizing what I'd done, I was really upset with myself for not only missing the ADR, but not cancelling so someone else could have the spot.

Since we missed the ADR, we grabbed lunch off site and headed back to the condo for some rest to get ready for a big afternoon at the MK!!

 

[newtodis]

We rested (I don't know if true rest ever happens in our family!) for a little while and were back at hitting the parks hard. On the way to the parks, we hit the Boardwalk just to check it out.

We walked around for a few minutes and checked out the ESPN Zone restraurant, the Boardwalk Bakery and just walking around the boardwalk. It was very pretty.

Inside the lobby, we also checked out the gingerbread house that we'd read/heard so much about and it was beautiful!

From the Boardwalk, we headed back to the MK to see Spectro and Wishes. I wanted to try out a new spot that I'd read about on the Dis and was excited to try it out. Corbin and Carter drove the monorail to the MK - this has become one of their most favorite things to do while we're there. They both still talk about this.

Here's the MK Entrance all decorated:

We wandered a bit around MK trying to decide what to do (this is a big "no no" for me - we have a plan folks...let's use it!) We decided upon the Country Bears show as the show was starting right then and we were right there.

Way back by like the Haunted Mansion, we found Santa's sleigh:

We came around the side of the castle and had to stop for a couple of pictures.

Before it was time for night time activities, we watched the "Dreams Come True" show (part of it anyways).

Once we were done with that (Corbin's not a fan of the fire works and the yelling "dreams come true" that's encouraged), we headed off to check out the TTA. This was our first ride on this and it was really fun.

From the TTA, we headed to Tomorrowland Speedway so Corbin could drive a race car. He was loving this since he doesn't usually get to drive cars.

After the race car driving, it was time to find a spot on the curb for Spectro. Again, my planning was off, Corbin had to go to the bathroom and we didn't get there in time. Carter sat on my shoulders so he could see and Dan took Corbin to the bathroom. I tried to take a couple of pictures but it wasn't easy with a two year old on my shoulders!

We also had to make a stop on the way to the curb for Spectro for this:

Once Spectro was done, we headed up towards Casey's to meet up with Dan and Corbin and stake out a spot for Wishes. Dan ran in to get a snack for the boys and came back to help hold our spot so we weren't blocking the walkway. It was not easy but thankfully Dan's a talker and was chatting with the CM who was trying to keep that path clear so she didn't make us move. Once Wishes started we filled in the street and it wasn't so bad.....except for the like 12 year old on her dad's shoulders right in front of us. Now I know everyone wants to be able to see, hence not putting a small teenager on your shoulder to see fire works - yes things that go up in the SKY people. Things you can see sitting on the ground. Not something you need to be on anyone's shoulders for. Ugh....rant over.

Wishes pictures below....ran out of room here!!

 

[newtodis]

As promised, more pictures of the castle lit up and Wishes:

Here is Corbin with the tree at MK on our way out for the night:

Day 5

It was our last morning at Disney before heading back to the "real" world. We decided to head to DHS since we wanted to ride TSM once more before leaving. It's our family's favorite ride since it's something we can all ride together and all have fun while riding.

So, we did the fast pass thing and headed to the line so we would be able to ride twice (once in line and once with the fast passes). So we're waiting in line and Carter's diaper leaks

on Dan

while Carter's on his shoulders.

Talk about some fun Disney memories.

So, Dan asks the nice CM standing there if he's able to get out of line, change the obviously wet child and get back in line. She confirms that's not a problem at all. So Dan head's off to change Carter. This is about the time I realize Dan didn't grab my camera from the stroller. He had parked the strollers while I was in line for fast passes and had forgotten to grab my camera. I was bummed that I wouldn't have the pictures but also a bit worried that someone would walk off with it since it was just sitting on the stroller.

Dan finally made his way back and shared that he was called the "f" word by an unhappy couple in line thinking he was just cutting. Aparently the CM heard and made a mention of the fact that she'd actually seen his family and it wasn't in the Disney spirit (we'd had many people cut us in line before and never really raised a stink...it's Disney people - let's be happy!!). The people aparently were still not happy....too darned bad! Maybe they'd like my kid to pee on them and see if they want to stand there and wait in line with a wet kid and wet shirt....

So, from there, we had to head to the Baby Care Center. I know it's going to sound like I'm bashing my husband, but he must not have had his listening ears on for the morning! He'd forgotten to put more diapers into the bag for the parks. Granted, I had a ton out in the van but he wasn't jumping up and down to head out there to get them. So, since Carter needed to be changed again (I think it was a bad batch of diapers!), we paid $9 for a small package of Huggies and changed him so we could go back and enjoy the park!

Really, the little room they have set up is very nice! I would be more than willing to hang out in there if my kid needed to be changed, have a bottle, just need a time out for a few minutes.

********insert baby care center pictures********

We went back to TSM and used our fast passes to get right on the ride. It was great the second time (with my camera) but a bit sad since I thought it would be our last ride for the trip.

*******insert TSM pictures************

So from there we headed back over to the Art of Animation - we had to see Bolt before we left. Now Dan and I had "discussed" this (he'd already been and didn't want to sit through it again/I wanted my baby to see Bolt!) and agreed that we would go again. Thankfully, we went because we were DREAMED!!!! We got dream fast passes when entering to see the show! Yippee!!!!

*********insert Bolt pictures***********

We watched the movie thing again and waited to see Bolt. We didn't see the other characters since we've already seen them a couple of days before. Once we were done, Dan decided that he wanted to ride RNRC. The boys certianly couldn't handle that at all so we decided to get some popcorn and a drink and hit the Beauty and Beast show. It was really amazing!! The boys both sat very quietly through the show and really seemed to enjoy it (and the snack!).

********insert BNB pictures**********

From there, I wanted to go back to TSM to ride once more before we left. We got back there and Dan swore up and down that he heard the CM tell the people in front of us that there was a problem with the ride and it would be down for a while. I never heard this so we headed for the parking lot to load up and head to DTD.

In DTD, we hit WOD and the Christmas Store without too much luck. I had a blanket and bag to pick up before I could leave Disney! Once I got that done, along with some other shopping I needed/wanted to do, we packed up and hit the road for home.

 

[newtodis]

Ok I'll put the rest of the pictures up in the morning - photobucket is going VERY slow tonight! I'll have the pictures up by the end of the day tomorrow for you all (if anyone's still out there even reading this!).

Have a lovely night!

 

[Dylan_&_Blake's_mom]

So glad to see this up and going again. Love all the pics and the updates. I can't wait to see the pics that you just uploaded.

 

[newtodis]

So glad to see this up and going again. Love all the pics and the updates. I can't wait to see the pics that you just uploaded.

Thank you! There are a bunch more up now. I'm hoping to have the rest of the pictures up this morning!!

Ok I have everything in here that I've uploaded to photobucket. I need to upload the last day yet appartently. I should be able to do that tonight and get started on Feb's TR. Now I didn't take near the detailed notes that I did in Dec so hopefully I haven't forgotten too much!

 

[Grace and Mickey]

Lynn

I happyyou got back to writing you TR.

Very nice pictures,looking forward to seeing the rest tonite.

Please tell more about the Art of Amination, is this something Landen would be able to sit though?

I glad you posted pictures of the Broadwalk, I want to go there in Sept.
When Sea World was here in Ohio (1980's) we had annual passes, we met a magician an his wife. we become friends, They now live in FL. and work on the Broadwalk at WDW. and I would like to try to find them.

I see that your stollers are a dark color, I was wondering if they get hot.
Landen's stoller in navy blue and I was thinking that the tray might get to hot.

Someday I would like to go for Christmas it looks just amazing!!
I noticed tha Corbin has a autograph book, did you make it?
Does Carter have one too? If so how does Carter do with it?
I want to make one for Landen.
I always enjoy reading your TR if give me good ideas on want would be good for Landen since Carter and he close in age. Thanks

Grace

 

[newtodis]

Lynn

I happyyou got back to writing you TR.

Very nice pictures,looking forward to seeing the rest tonite.

Please tell more about the Art of Amination, is this something Landen would be able to sit though?

I glad you posted pictures of the Broadwalk, I want to go there in Sept.
When Sea World was here in Ohio (1980's) we had annual passes, we met a magician an his wife. we become friends, They now live in FL. and work on the Broadwalk at WDW. and I would like to try to find them.

I see that your stollers are a dark color, I was wondering if they get hot.
Landen's stoller in navy blue and I was thinking that the tray might get to hot.

Someday I would like to go for Christmas it looks just amazing!!
I noticed tha Corbin has a autograph book, did you make it?
Does Carter have one too? If so how does Carter do with it?
I want to make one for Landen.
I always enjoy reading your TR if give me good ideas on want would be good for Landen since Carter and he close in age. Thanks

Grace

Hey Grace!!

Thank you for the compliment. I do love taking pictures!

Art of Animation - yes I think he'd sit through it. Both boys had no problems sitting through twice. It's a VERY short little film type thing about how they came up with the little dragon from Mulan. Now my boys have never seen the movie but did very well with it both times.

Very cool about your magician friends! I hope you're able to meet up with them while you're on vacation!

Corbin's stroller (the dark navy one) has a dark navy tray on the front and Carter's has a black tray on the front. I've noticed that they get warm but not really hot. I always try to keep the sun shade up too though when they're in the stroller or when we're out doing something so it doesn't get hot while we're not there.

Corbin does have an autograph book. I worked on putting pages together to make one and it didn't happen before we left so we wound up buying him one on our first trip that both of them have used ever since. Carter (I think) would like his own but it's enough trying to keep up with one book, let alone two! Corbin kind of sees getting the autographs as his "job" at Disney where Carter is more interested in giving them the love. The autograph book might help from the start just to get him up the by the characters if you think he'll have a problem with that. If not, you can always hand the character the book and they'll gladly sign it for you.

Thanks! I hope I'm able to give you some ideas!! Feb and the next TR will probably be a bit more laid back than this trip. There's just so much to see there - plus having the holiday decorations up makes it even more to see.

 

[MeMom]

Precious boys.
Great pictures. Thanks for sharing your sweet family.


After seeing the desserts, I'm feeling the need to head to the kitchen.