How Many Rides on Pirates of the Caribbean are Enough? Now Completed 11/4/10

[creativeamanda]

We are counting down the day until we see Illuminations. Those photo's are great. Even photo's bring a smile to my face.

I'm glad to bring a smile to you!

Feel the force.



I'd love it, I can't lie.

--------------------------------------

Wonderful pics of Illuminations! What a nice cap off to your evening.

With the Beverly! And the fact that you and Tink are so alike, it's frightening.

I loved ending the day with Illuminations

Those are fantastic pics of Illuminations! I really need to know my camera better....the potential is there.

Illuminations really is magical, isn't it?....

.

It is magical. I went to Barnes and Noble and bought the long books about my camera and sat down with them. That's the only way I learned more.

Great Illumination pictures!

Thanks

 

[creativeamanda]

Wednesday, June 2, 2010--The day in which we left Disney.

For a few hours at least. That morning, we got up early and headed toward the Orange County Convention Center for Army Day.

Army day happens once a year. In the case of this Army day, it was awards in finance with the Army that soldiers were receiving. The kids' "favorite uncle" (as he calls himself) was receiving an award. Apparently, the Army has accountants.

Who knew?

Jeff is a major in the Army, stationed in Germany. The kids rarely get to see him, but he visits as often as possible. If he is stateside, he'll rent a car and drive to our house. The last time he did that, he rented a car after landing, drive 4 hours to see us, slept at our house for 3 hours, and then hopped back on the road to Ft. Jackson in Columbia, SC.

When he told us he was receiving an honor in Orlando, we had to go.

Now let me tell you: the military is honestly having a difficult time with finances right now. Apparently, Jeff was told at a moments' notice they needed him in Afghanistan last year to make some major purchases. He went, did it, and received an award for it. Very few of these awards are given out. We had no idea how important the award was, but we left our vacation for it.

And we are glad we did.

After the ceremony was over, my kids and Uncle Jeff

The kids watching their uncle.

After the ceremony, we took Jeff out to lunch and dropped him back off at the conference center.

We drove back to Disney. By that time, it was late in the afternoon. We changed clothes and went to Downtown Disney for dinner at Earl of Sandwich. Where did we go next?

 

[LegoMom3]

Ok HOW FUNNY are the girls' expressions?!!!.....They look like they just met Santa himself! Wow, he must be quite an uncle!

.

 

[dismagiclover]

Congratulations and thank you to Uncle Jeff for all he does for our country.

 

[LegoMom3]

Congratulations and thank you to Uncle Jeff for all he does for our country.

DITTO THAT!

.

 

[creativeamanda]

Ok HOW FUNNY are the girls' expressions?!!!.....They look like they just met Santa himself! Wow, he must be quite an uncle!

.

He really is. The kids love him.

Congratulations and thank you to Uncle Jeff for all he does for our country.

DITTO THAT!

.

Thanks--he's great to all of the kids. Of course, he spoils them crazy!

He's been to Iraq and Afghanistan several times. Also Haiti before the earthquake--which has always been in turmoil. He loves the Army, but I think before long he'll be retiring.

 

[Tinkerbellarella]

What a wonderful reason to 'leave Disney'.

Oooo. EoS. NOM!

 

[TarzansKat]

I was wondering what could be important enough to leave Disney?

And then I saw, family. And that's so wonderful that your kids were able to see him and you were able to partake in that ceremony. Awesome!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Can't think of a better reason to take a break from your vacation! The kids look so happy, almost bursting with excitement. The sacrifices military families make is a hard thing to understand unless you've had a family member serve. My dad was in the Canadian army for 30 years, it was the only life we knew, and I remember how proud I was of him and how sharp he looked in his uniform

 

[creativeamanda]

What a wonderful reason to 'leave Disney'.

Oooo. EoS. NOM!

And you know what? As soon as I looked at my pictures for that night, I realized we did not go to EOS that night. We DID go, but not then, lol.

It was the only reason I can think of to drive off of property.

I was wondering what could be important enough to leave Disney?

And then I saw, family. And that's so wonderful that your kids were able to see him and you were able to partake in that ceremony. Awesome!

It was awesome. It was also very interesting. The military is going through the same financial strains everyone else is, make no mistake about it.

Can't think of a better reason to take a break from your vacation! The kids look so happy, almost bursting with excitement. The sacrifices military families make is a hard thing to understand unless you've had a family member serve. My dad was in the Canadian army for 30 years, it was the only life we knew, and I remember how proud I was of him and how sharp he looked in his uniform

They so love their uncle.

 

[creativeamanda]

So, I misspoke (or typed, whatever). We could not have gone to EOS that day because I have this picture:

This is clearly evidence that dinner that night was at the Backlot Express. We had to have dinner at EOS later, but I digress. After a healthy helping of double cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets (arteries clogging as I type), we went on to

Now, I don't know how many times we have taken a wrong turn at Endor, but my son was sufficiently happy as we left there to go to

Boo had to decide to sport these babies while in line--she'd been eyeing them for days and dh finally got them at Epcot:

We decided one thing when we left the Great Movie Ride--we don't like it all that much anymore.

Then we walked over to Pixar Place, where the wait time was like this:

We figured we would not get a better standby time than that and Extra Magic Hours were beginning, so we hopped in line, genuinely happy to be able to see some of the queue.

These are the good monkeys:

The kids and Mr. Potato head:

Somewhere along here, things went really wrong. I'm all for tour groups enjoying their Disney vacation, but one of the biggests no-nos in Disney is holding a spot in line for others. As we are about to pick up our glasses for TSM, a couple of people move by "We're with them". Then about 20 more. Then more. (Are you starting to get the picture?) Before we knew it, an entire tour group had broken in line, with one member of the group holding a spot. My family was excited about the 50 min wait. That turned into a 70 min one, thanks to the tour group. I know this is a hot-button, beating the dead horse topic on the DIS, but I am of the opinion that everyone should be asked to follow the rules at Disney. I expect my children to follow the rules, and I will take them out of a line in a second and sit their fannies on a bench while they watch others walk right past if need be.

Of all the things that people worry about during the unoffical Gay Days at Disney, the tour groups is what they need to watch out for. We met the nicest people there for the unofficial ceremonies--people who moved to the side or back just a little so my kids could have a great view of parades. People who offered to take family pictures. People who gave up seats on the bus. People who sat near us at breakfast and encouraged their children to play with my children. We did not meet any foreign tour groups that did this for us. The people we met who did that for my children were the people all wearing red shirts.

I've been asked recently if I had noticed anything about Gay Days at Disney, knowing we were there the first week of June. My comment has been, "No, but watch out for the foreign tour groups. They are the rude ones." But my real reaction is, "I try not to worry about anything else unless it's directly bothering my family." And you know what? I wouldn't have known any different if it weren't for the t-shirts they were wearing and knowing from the DIS what week it was supposed to be. The only people who bothered my family were the tour groups with their flag waving and rude behavior.

And that's all I have to say about that.

 

[Tinkerbellarella]

As we are about to pick up our glasses for TSM, a couple of people move by "We're with them". Then about 20 more. Then more. (Are you starting to get the picture?) Before we knew it, an entire tour group had broken in line, with one member of the group holding a spot. My family was excited about the 50 min wait. That turned into a 70 min one, thanks to the tour group.

This makes me so mad. I usually go in May/June and have been during the Gay Days weekend and you know what? Those were some of the BEST experiences. I think you just ten to bump into people that have an open mind.

So far I've never had trouble with tour groups. ::fingers crossed for Sept:: I have had the unfortunate experience of bumping into unsupervised teenage Brazilians and the only tactic that works is going in the opposite direction.

 

[LegoMom3]

...
These are the good monkeys:

....

Really amanda......IS there such a thing?





Ok ok, I guess I'll give you the plastic "barrel full" type. But NO MORE!

The rest of your post was VERY well said.

.

 

[creativeamanda]

This makes me so mad. I usually go in May/June and have been during the Gay Days weekend and you know what? Those were some of the BEST experiences. I think you just ten to bump into people that have an open mind.

So far I've never had trouble with tour groups. ::fingers crossed for Sept:: I have had the unfortunate experience of bumping into unsupervised teenage Brazilians and the only tactic that works is going in the opposite direction.

We usually go in the opposite direction. That time, there was no opposite direction to go. When I asked dh about going Gay Days again, his answer was, "As long as there are no foreign tour groups." Which is something that probably can't be helped. I can't wait to talk about breakfast at CP with the nice couple who had apparently adopted a little boy.

Really amanda......IS there such a thing?





Ok ok, I guess I'll give you the plastic "barrel full" type. But NO MORE!

The rest of your post was VERY well said.

.

No more? Okay. I understand.

And thanks.

 

[dismagiclover]

I was so excited for your 50 minutes TSM standby. Sorry it didn't work out so well. The is pretty crazy that a group of 50 people can think it is OK to budge in line. Call me crazy, but I think that would be considered rude in any country.

 

[pooh'smate]

I am here. I love all your pictures. You have had a great trip so far and I am looking forward to hearing more about it. I don't think that you can ride Pirates to much. I remember riding that ride over and over on my first trip. I loved Pirates was back then. I think that my dh will like Beverly. He usually likes things like that so I am expecting that he will like it.

Thanks for stopping by my ptr.

 

[H20DogsNDisney]

Those tour groups drive me crazy! Great update!

 

[Queenofallthings]

I'm with ya a 100% You spend their entire childhoods teaching them to respect others, remember their manners etc, and then that happens. Makes me crazy, but after seeing an all out brawl in line once, figure it's not worth saying anything, lord knows I want to though!!! Makes me crazy...oh wait...said that already

 

[TarzansKat]

That stinks. And I was just going to commend you on being able to wait in a line that long with three kids. It's really great when you know they can handle it, but to then have it extended to even longer, and in such a way that is obviously rude and against basic etiquette, well it's just disheartening.

It's unfortunate, but I think we all run into something like this at least once on every trip.

Not exactly related, but I remember being in Disney in January with Mom. We were walking through Fantasyland, and we heard a father proclaim quite loudly, "I don't DO diapers."

He wasn't joking, and it was the nasty tone that he said it in that got me. I looked at my mom, raised an eyebrow, and whispered a comment that's probably not fit for the DIS.

Now, I'm not bashing people who won't change diapers, after all, they are stinky. But there's an appropriate way to state something, and his tone of voice was very, I don't do them, and I'm proud of it, so there. Oy. Vey.

 

[creativeamanda]

I was so excited for your 50 minutes TSM standby. Sorry it didn't work out so well. The is pretty crazy that a group of 50 people can think it is OK to budge in line. Call me crazy, but I think that would be considered rude in any country.

I think it would be, as well.

I'm with ya a 100% You spend their entire childhoods teaching them to respect others, remember their manners etc, and then that happens. Makes me crazy, but after seeing an all out brawl in line once, figure it's not worth saying anything, lord knows I want to though!!! Makes me crazy...oh wait...said that already

It's okay--I do it all the time, too.

That stinks. And I was just going to commend you on being able to wait in a line that long with three kids. It's really great when you know they can handle it, but to then have it extended to even longer, and in such a way that is obviously rude and against basic etiquette, well it's just disheartening.

It's unfortunate, but I think we all run into something like this at least once on every trip.

Not exactly related, but I remember being in Disney in January with Mom. We were walking through Fantasyland, and we heard a father proclaim quite loudly, "I don't DO diapers."

He wasn't joking, and it was the nasty tone that he said it in that got me. I looked at my mom, raised an eyebrow, and whispered a comment that's probably not fit for the DIS.

Now, I'm not bashing people who won't change diapers, after all, they are stinky. But there's an appropriate way to state something, and his tone of voice was very, I don't do them, and I'm proud of it, so there. Oy. Vey.

I don't do diapers? You have to be kidding me! There are all sorts of things I'd like to say, but my time on the Dis has never been marred with infraction points. I'm sorry to say, if that had been my husband, he'd probably not like what I did with the diapers he didn't do.

I spend a lot of time teaching my children to be polite and it frustrates me when they have to "take it" from total strangers. Sometimes it's hard to "turn the other cheek".