I beat cancer,now we're going to Disney World!!! 4/23-5/1/10

[goofy's_gurl]

Beverly pics are always priceless. I remember last year how I was planning on getting my lil niece and nephew to try it. Well my niece tried it as she was going down the lil soda dispenser haha it was priceless.
The fairy garden looks absouletly amazing. It makes me wanna go during the F&G festival.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Great updates! Chris
sorry you guys were unable to see the dolphins...maybe next time
always a good reason to go back to catch the stuff you missed
love the picture with Beverly...the only one on our trip who tasted it was Luke (Dayne's friend) and Dayne forgot to get a picture of him. but, it was bad from what I heard

great Fairy garden pictures; we missed it when we went I did not want Ashton to see the playground (May '09 I let him play on every play set we passed until I seen a kid up chuck his chocolate milk and the parents did not clean it up and there was no CM's around )

we loved Soarin' too! that was my main objective this year for Epcot! it was great and did not disappoint!
Connie

 

[Mombits]

Great updates! Chris
sorry you guys were unable to see the dolphins...maybe next time
always a good reason to go back to catch the stuff you missed
love the picture with Beverly...the only one on our trip who tasted it was Luke (Dayne's friend) and Dayne forgot to get a picture of him. but, it was bad from what I heard

great Fairy garden pictures; we missed it when we went I did not want Ashton to see the playground (May '09 I let him play on every play set we passed until I seen a kid up chuck his chocolate milk and the parents did not clean it up and there was no CM's around )

we loved Soarin' too! that was my main objective this year for Epcot! it was great and did not disappoint!
Connie

Eeewww gross. My kids did see the playground. Hannah was too big for it. D probably was too, but since there weren't any other kids around, I let him play for a couple of minutes. I needed a little sit down.

I didn't taste the Beverly, I knew better.

 

[KatMark]

Love the updates, Chris (I'm probably not going to get on the computer the next day or two with Mark's surgery on Wednesday so I'm trying to catch up on as many as I can). I LOVE the "Beverly" picture--they always crack me up. I'm so glad you enjoyed Soarin'--it is one of our favorites. The Land was closed when we were there last so we are looking forward to it this year.

 

[Mombits]

After we wandered thru the fairy garden, we came to Test Track. We had grabbed a fast pass for it earlier, so we didn't have to wait toooo long, but there was a bit of a wait even with the FP's. Hannah didn't think she should have to wait at ALL!

I thought the que was kind of interesting. The kids had been really looking forward to it and it did not disappoint! I think one of the things that Brian really liked about Disney was their attention to detail and their story telling. That is really evident in this ride. It really feels like you could be in a testing facility. They have that video when they are telling you what track you'll be on and it makes it seem so real. When we got off that ride, both kids were IN LOVE with that ride!!!
After we left that ride, we saw Hannah's new favorite!!!

We decided we had time to ride one more ride before our ADR. So we jumped on Mission Space!

After we rode that ride- which made Brian sick to his stomach (apparently he can't do simulator rides, who knew?) we started heading over to Coral Reef for our dinner.

We had hoped for a seat near the aquarium window and asked but we ended up on the second tier. It was still very nice, our waiter was great and the food was really, really good. Hannah was excited to be allowed to order steak.

A really bad pic of D's pizza (yet again- should have called this TR 'The week of a million pizza's!')
I ordered a stuffed fish of some kind and I can't remember what Brian ordered or find the pics but I found the ones of our desserts and let me say these desserts were AWESOME!!! Maybe my favorites of the trip.

I ordered some kind of boozy mousse. It had Jack Daniels and another kind of booze in it. It tasted great until the very bottom where there was a very strong taste of the alcohol but I still gobbled it up!

Brian ordered the chocolate dessert and he loved his too and also gobbled it up.

Hannah ordered the creme brulee and she loved it as well. (we all tasted each other's and they were all wonderful!)

D- got the kid's sundae:

After we ate, we hustled over to see if we could find a spot to watch illuminations. It was only a bit after 8 but already all the good spots were taken. We finally settled on a spot on the bridge. Like a good DIS'er, I had brought some light up wands for the kids and we passed the time waiting for the fireworks by playing hangman.

None of my fireworks pics really turned out. Afterwards, we wandered thru the World Showcase (it was closed for the most part) and then back to the front of the park, just taking our time and enjoying ourselves.

When we got back to the resort, I asked Brian to take the kids to the shop to look around for a bit while I went back to the room for a little surprise. Here is what the kids found when they returned to the room:

We called it an evening and headed to bed knowing that the next day would be bright and early!

 

[ChefDisneyLu]

Loving your TR. Your family is beautiful

I am so happy that you liked Coral Reef. It is one of my fave places but it gets a bad rep! And any dessert that is "Boozy" is right up my alley!

Thank you for sharing.

Lisa

 

[Mombits]

Here are a couple of shots of Hannah in the shop at ASMu:

Stitch Paws!

So, the next morning we had a mission, I tell ya!!! We WERE going to get FP's for Toy Story!!! At 6:30 Stitch called. We were all dragging. We haul our hiney's down to the food court at ASMu. No pics but Hannah and D had chocolate chip pancakes, I had french toast and chicken sausage (pretty good!) and Brian had Biscuits and gravy. We were finally on track to make it for rope drop!!!!
Then DISASTER!!! Donovan spilled OJ on his pants!! Brian took him back to the room to change and it was taking them For-stinkin'-ever to come back! Well it turned out that Donovan had to take care of "business" while he was there and that is always a long thing. Darn it! We missed rope drop by 8 minutes! We RAN to TSMM!!! Wait time for standby is already 30 minutes and our return time is 10:50!!! Along the way we saw this guy:

Look, he's wearing the hat!!

After we got our FP's, we decided a "do over" was in order!!! LOL!! So we went back to the front of the park and started fresh. Here is our pic with the sorcerer's hat:

Then we spied this:

Now, before we ever came to Disney, both kids said in no uncertain terms that we were NOT riding ToT. No way, no how! But I guess when Daddy is there, they are bit more brave. They both looked at it and started thinking that *maybe* they would give it a try. So we wandered over towards it with Brian cajoling them the whole way. I'm thinking Hannah's going to chicken out the way she did with EE, but I am hopeful. We get in line. The line says about a 20 minute wait.

So far attitude looks great:

We make it inside:

All is still going OK, til we get into the room where the elevators are. Hannah starts freaking out. At this point, we've waited a long time and I wasn't going to miss out again, so the mean mother that I am I told her to suck it up and get on with it. I know, I'm torturing my child. But she was missing out on stuff that I thought she would like because she wasn't willing to at least give things a try. She got on holding onto Brian and D rode next to me. He seemed just fine. Brian was once again really impressed with the backstory of the ride and I thought it was just fine. Hannah - not so much Even Donovan, when he got off said "My legs are wobbly and I have to PEE!!!!" So we basically scared the pee out of our kids. Then right after that we saw this:

Well, surprisingly, this was one ride Hannah was up for! Not in the least scared. So we jumped in line! Wow. That is all I can saw about Rockin' Roller Coaster! This is the best!!! All four of us love, love, loved this ride!!! Hannah was thrilled with herself for going upside down and not freaking out and I was pretty thrilled about that too! That super quick take off just sets the pace for an awesome ride.
After we got off RnRC, we headed toward Pixar Place. Along the way, we saw this:

but no one was interested in stopping to listen. What a shocker!!! So we mosied on over to use our FP's!!!

More coming up!!!

 

[Mombits]

Loving your TR. Your family is beautiful

I am so happy that you liked Coral Reef. It is one of my fave places but it gets a bad rep! And any dessert that is "Boozy" is right up my alley!

Thank you for sharing.

Lisa

Thanks Lisa! Glad you're here. I liked the boozy dessert too I really thought the Coral Reef was good. I can't say much for the people at the check in desk, but our waiter was really great and we all really enjoyed our food. I would definitely consider going back.

 

[Mombits]

Love the updates, Chris (I'm probably not going to get on the computer the next day or two with Mark's surgery on Wednesday so I'm trying to catch up on as many as I can). I LOVE the "Beverly" picture--they always crack me up. I'm so glad you enjoyed Soarin'--it is one of our favorites. The Land was closed when we were there last so we are looking forward to it this year.

Hi Kathy, I hope Mark's surgery goes well! P & PT's to you both!

I did really love Soarin'. So peaceful!!! The Beverly thing, well, I was hoping to get pics of all of them trying it but I only caught Brian. Still, it was a really good one, lol!!!

 

[Mombits]

We walked up to use our FP's for Toy Story Midway Mania. Just as we got close, we saw the green army guy again, so this time we stopped to say "hi". Love how he has the plastic on the bottoms of his boots

Since we were going thru the FP line, we didn't get the full effect of the que but it was quite impressive.

One thing I have to say about the 3-D at Disney- it rocks!!! Why can't they do that with their movies in the theaters? This ride is no exception. It's fun and the 3-D effects are great. We loved it! In fact we grabbed another fp on our way out! So far we were having a really fun day at DHS and had hit the big three in our first hour and a half!!!The lines were low and we were having a blast. We decided to do a quick cool down and saw this giant coke bottle spraying out mist:

We hopped in line for the backlot tour but then while we were waiting the CM said that the ride would take about 40 minutes. Well, we had a lunch ADR at Sci-Fi and I was concerned we wouldn't be done in time, so we decided we'd better skip it. So we hit the exit and almost as soon as we got out we saw this car drive up! Guess who popped out of the car?

Now, a little back story. When D was about 4, he decided he LOVED the Power Rangers. If you have any knowledge about them, you may know that there are about 4 or maybe 5 different Power Rangers shows. Donovan's favorite was SPD but he liked and watched them ALL! This went on for over two years. He was determined that he was going to grow up to be the Red Ranger. I have watch many, many hours of PR's so when they popped out of that car, our entire family was shocked and so excited!!! Well, all of us except Donovan! He wanted NOTHING to do with the Power Rangers! I was in complete shock. Here was his idol and he wouldn't go near him. I had to BEG him -in quite a public fashion no less- to PUH-LEAZE stand next to the Red Ranger so I could take his picture. Here is what I got:

Here is the car:

Hannah and Brian were lapping it up!!!

D was willing to pose with the car:

Then I got him to go over to the blue ranger:

More coming!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I have been sooooo very bad at keeping up with the Dis lately and got behind. I love love love all of your Epcot pictures. I absolutely hated that Disney decided to cut the Flower & Garden Festival dates this year. The Beverly picture made me chuckle of course.

I have a boy who takes forevvvvvver to take care of "business" so I know how you felt when trying to get to Hollywood Studios by rope drop.
So, you scared the pee out of your kids and made them ride Tower of Terror! I've made Hunter ride Splash Mountain a time or two (when he didn't want to) so in my book you're not a bad mother making them ride TOT.

 

[Mombits]

Meanwhile, Hannah was having her own adventure with the Pink and Green Rangers. She had a green sharpie and a pink sharpie and she handed the Pink Ranger her autograph book and the pink sharpie, but the Pink ranger wanted nothing to do with a PINK sharpie, so she grabbed the green one, leaving the PINK one for the Green Ranger, who wasn't thrilled with having to use a PINK sharpie So he signed her book "Green Ranger- with a PINK marker!" LOL!!! Here are the pics of the interaction, it was a lot of fun.

After the excitement of getting to see the Power Rangers, it was time to head to Sci-Fi for our lunch ADR. We had a general idea about where it was and we could smell it, but we couldn't see it!

Finally, we found it!!

Both of the kids loved it! How fun is it sitting in old fashioned convertibles to eat your lunch? What can be better, really??

Our waitress was awesome! She was from Wisconsin so she had a kindred feeling for other midwesterners. The food was pretty good too. I ordered the kids drinks with the light up "ice" cubes.
Brian got the turkey sandwich and bean salad:

I got a hamburger and it was good:

Hannah ordered a chicken sandwich (which looks just like my hamburger, lol!)

Hmmmm, I'll bet you can guess what Donovan ordered? NO? Seriously? You haven't guessed yet?
Pizza- of course.

After lunch, we stumbled upon Star Tours! Both of my guys are really big Star Wars fans, so I knew this would be another hit. In fact, at school, D had to do a book talk and he picked a Star Wars book and he said "Look Mom, I am a Star Wars nerd!!!" LOL!

How excited is Donovan to ride this ride, you ask??? He's THIS excited:

As this was another simulator type ride, Brian had to shut his eyes, but he did fine.
Hannah is not quite as excited as her brother

In fact, when we got into the ride and the CM started talking about how it was going to rock, etc. Hannah decided she wasn't going to do it. She just got up and got out and said "I'll wait for you right here Mom". Since she was standing with a CM right outside of the door I decided to let her get away with that. Donovan loved the ride and when he came out and saw the Jedi Training going on, he was in heaven!

 

[Mombits]

I have been sooooo very bad at keeping up with the Dis lately and got behind. I love love love all of your Epcot pictures. I absolutely hated that Disney decided to cut the Flower & Garden Festival dates this year. The Beverly picture made me chuckle of course.

I have a boy who takes forevvvvvver to take care of "business" so I know how you felt when trying to get to Hollywood Studios by rope drop.
So, you scared the pee out of your kids and made them ride Tower of Terror! I've made Hunter ride Splash Mountain a time or two (when he didn't want to) so in my book you're not a bad mother making them ride TOT.

I'm behind too, so no worries! I didn't hear that Epcot cut their dates! Bummer.

It wasn't so much that I MADE her go, more that I talked her into it- strenuously . And she didn't hate it as much as she thought she might. Really.

 

[a1tinkfans]

What a Wonderful Trip report! I have enjoyed reading it tonight.

CONGRATS to you for kicking Cancer to the Curb, another Survivor here Stay Healthy and Keep looking Forward. (And to all the others that mentioned that they/someone they love is battling it, Best of Luck also!)


Your family is beautiful and you all look like you had a great time! The trip report is both funny and informative! I never knew of or saw the Tink Garden an I love Tink I will be on a mission to see that if it is still there. Is that seasonal? I just returned and am leaving again, is a few short weeks....

Well, I want to again wish you continued good health and also tell you that I really enjoyed the pictures you posted along with all the posts as well!

 

[Mombits]

What a Wonderful Trip report! I have enjoyed reading it tonight.

CONGRATS to you for kicking Cancer to the Curb, another Survivor here Stay Healthy and Keep looking Forward. (And to all the others that mentioned that they/someone they love is battling it, Best of Luck also!)


Your family is beautiful and you all look like you had a great time! The trip report is both funny and informative! I never knew of or saw the Tink Garden an I love Tink I will be on a mission to see that if it is still there. Is that seasonal? I just returned and am leaving again, is a few short weeks....

Well, I want to again wish you continued good health and also tell you that I really enjoyed the pictures you posted along with all the posts as well!

Thanks you for the compliment on the family and I am thrilled that you are a survivor as well. I hate it that there are so many of us but yet thrilled that we are still here to tell the tale!

We really did have a wonderful time and I wish I had another trip in the planning but unfortunately Disney isn't going to happen again any time soon. We're going to Branson, MO this fall though, so at least we have something to look forward to. Hope you have a wonderful time on your trip. The fairy garden was part of the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival and it is seasonal. In fact, I read on someone else's TR that they cut the dates short this year.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great updates! Sounds like you had a lot of fun at DHS. It's funny that Donovan came off saying his legs were wobbly...reminds me of when I rode it for the first time. Riding TOT/RNRC back-to-back was not a good idea. LOL!

I agree about the 3D. It is awesome!

Woo hoo, yeah for a Wisconsin waitress!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Chris, you take such awesome pics!! They really show how much you and your family were having!!! All the DHS pictures are great, I don't realize how much I don't notice until I look at other people's pictures!!!

 

[Mombits]

Great updates! Sounds like you had a lot of fun at DHS. It's funny that Donovan came off saying his legs were wobbly...reminds me of when I rode it for the first time. Riding TOT/RNRC back-to-back was not a good idea. LOL!

I agree about the 3D. It is awesome!

Woo hoo, yeah for a Wisconsin waitress!

We did have fun at DHS. I'd say it's our second favorite park after Epcot. As much as I loved MK, we just had so much fun at DHS and Epcot.

 

[Mombits]

Chris, you take such awesome pics!! They really show how much you and your family were having!!! All the DHS pictures are great, I don't realize how much I don't notice until I look at other people's pictures!!!

Thanks, Beth. We were having a ball. You're right, I'm the same way. I see things in other people's TR's and think "Why didn't we do THAT???" or wish that we'd have had time to do those things. So I just keep telling myself that we have to go back

 

[Mombits]

Well, it seems like forever since I updated! I guess life gets in the way Last time we were just getting off of Star Tours and Donovan had noticed Jedi Training. Well he was all about it!!! So we took note of the next time and off we went. It was on to another thing that I thought Donovan would be excited about- Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. He had gotten into the movies and the legos and so I thought he'd enjoy it. We all ended up liking it (for me, the sitting down in the shade part was the best!).

After the stunt show, we wandered past the Muppet 3-D, but it was closed.

We wandered around a bit, saw Buzz:

Then we came across Bolt! Both kids liked that movie really well. Hannah was still in her Hannah Montana phase at that point when the movie came out and now is "so over" HM AND the Jo Bros, but they were happy to see Bolt.

I knew it was getting close to time for the parade so we headed that direction. When we got close, this is what we saw:

Some CM's were keeping the kids busy playing with a parachute.
We stood there for a few minutes, but neither of my kids wanted to stand in the heat and wait for a parade. I was a bit sad to miss it because it looked so colorful and I really wanted to see some of the characters. On the other hand, I figured that since the parade was going on, it was a good time to actually meet some characters and hopefully the lines would be shorter, so that's what we did. We headed over to the character meeting area.
First, we saw JoJo and Goliath, but my kids are "too old" so we just went right on by. Which was funny because Hannah swears we didn't see JoJo and if we had, she'd have wanted to get her autograph. Um, can you say "Evidence"???

Then we saw these guys:

but again, the kids went right on by. I really wanted to meet the UP! characters because I had heard they weren't going to be there much longer so it would be our only chance. There was still a pretty decent size line and at this point, Hannah was hot and tired and getting crabby. We were in for a full-scale melt down that only a red-headed 10 yr old girl can throw. Luckily, I have the "mean Mom eye" and that stopped most of it but you'll notice her decidedly NOT happy "smile" in most of the pictures.

Dug kept eating Donovan's autograph book.

At this point, the kids had had enough of togetherness. I decided to let Donovan go with Brian to stand in line for Jedi training and Hannah and I would set off on our own. After a quick talking-to, Hannah decided that NO, she didn't want to go back to the room and take a nap, so she had a little attitude adjustment and then we were just fine.