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

[Mombits]

Great updates.

I agree with you on Germany. There are limited ornaments and they are quite pricey. I bought a "thank you" gift for the people who let us use their condo on Marco Island after we visit Disney, and I bought them a lace thing to place on the mantel at Christmas and I gulped when I looked athe price tag.

Love the pics with the characters. Hannah's umbrella looks really nice.

I have to try one of those Gran Marnier slush -- I've never had one.

I have never seen Mary Poppins or Alice in Wonderland in Epcot...kudos to you.

I know! Those prices were just kinda crazy! The worst part is that I did buy my mom one of the embroidered lacy ornaments and then I couldn't find it when we got home

You do HAVE to try the slush. I'm not a drinker by any stretch of the imagination and I loved it!

 

[Mombits]

Very nice TR! I am a cancer survivor too so it's extra nice to see others enjoying life after beating that bad guy!

Your family is beautiful and I am eagerly awaiting to hear about the rest of your trip!

Kudos to you for all the walking. I broke my leg twice - once before cancer and once afterwards, so ECV is for me these days on such long walks!

Congrats on being a survivor!!!
I seriously considered an ECV- believe me!!! My kids were very good about letting me rest whenever I said I was tired and luckily that wasn't too often. I am glad I waited til April to go, though. I had considered going during chemo when I originally planned to go and my doctor talked me out of it and thank goodness because that week was one of the weeks that I ended up in the hospital and couldn't walk more that two steps. Sooooo would not have been a fun time at Disney. I finished treatment in Feb and that gave me two months to get some strength back and that was really the ticket!!!

 

[Mombits]

Yeah!!! I got all caught up Chris!! I missed sooo much! I love the pic of the kids with Bolt! We didn't see the movie until after our trip but the kids would have LOVED to see him! You and DD saw lots of characters cruising around DHS! Your DS looked GREAT at Jedi training too and Brian did a great acting job during the Backstage Tour!! LOVING your WS pictures the best! We only saw it at night and really only DH and saw all of WS, the kiddos missed it! You guys saw EVERYTHING it seems! I really really love your Cinderella Coach pearl setting, it's beautiful!!!!!! Looking forward to hearing about MK!!!!

I felt like we were extremely lucky in getting to see so many characters. I was loving every minute of it,too, because I think if we ever do get to go back, the kids aren't as likely to be willing to stand in line to see the characters and I won't be as likely to want to lug around autograph books. So this was sort of our "one and only" time to do that.

Donovan was thrilled to get to do the Jedi training. He sat and waited patiently for more than and hour! He took it so seriously too, that is the part I loved the best. It was if Darth Vader really were up there for him.

We all loved Brian getting picked for the tour, we giggled and giggled about it. That was a little bit of extra pixie dust!

WS is my absolute favorite part of WDW. I loved it when Mom and I came and Hannah and I loved it all over again. She's such my girl!!!!

 

[Mombits]

One of the things we really enjoyed while on our trip was all the different kinds of transport Disney offers. The kids loved the monorail and Brian and I enjoyed riding the boat from Epcot to MK. So that's just what we did. We got on the boat and took the nice leisurely ride over.

LOVE this picture!!!!

What's that off in the distance????

Could it be a castle????

Yes it is!!!
One of the things that I was really looking forward to was the Spectro parade. I'd seen it when I was there in 1998 (maybe it was the electric light parade?? Not sure) anyway, a similar parade and loved it. It got rained out on Sunday night, so I knew this was our only chance. By the time we got to Epcot it was 6:30ish, so as soon as we got past security and hit the main hub, I found a spot and sat down and staked out our space. ONe of the other things I'd been promising the kids (and really had planned that we'd do it the first day but just got sidetracked) was to get Mouse Ears. So while I was staking out our spot, I sent Brian and the kids to the hat store to get the kids whatever mouse ears they wanted. Here is what they came up with:

Brian and the kids made it back to the spot right at 7:45, so they only had about a 15 minute wait. I thought everyone was pretty respectful of other people and not standing in front of others, etc. There was a CM who was "painting" with water in front of me and the kids were loving it. He was really taking his time and it was fun to watch. Soon, it was time for the parade. My camera is not so great at night shots, but I got a few that were OK.

Hmmm, I guess I have more pics than I thought! LOL!!

Then the parade was over. We had not seen the MK fireworks and both Brian and Donovan were really excited to see them. This was the night before Grad night and everything had been super busy so this was a really poor judgement call on our part, but we decided to stay for the fireworks. We made our way up toward the castle. It was quite beautiful.

We finally found a spot right on the bridge to tomorrow land (behind two giant trees). At this point, Hannah really wasn't feeling well and we really hadn't eaten much. We'd shared some fish and chips and neither of my kids will eat fish, so basically they'd had some french fries. We planned to hit a CS in MK, but so far that hadn't happened and Hannah was on the point of meltdown. The only saving grace was that there was a wire right over our heads. Hannah was a HUGE Tink fan and I knew exactly what was going to happen. Sure enough, the lights went down and Tink flew right over our heads!!!! Here's a horrible picture of it:

I don't know if it was because we were tired or hungry or what, but I can't say that any of us really enjoyed the fireworks too much and all we could do was wait for it to get over. Which was REALLY the wrong thing to do! The fireworks ended and we started trying to make our way to the buses. It took us 35 minutes to get from the castle to the bus hub and then the lines, OMG the lines. I have never seen anything like it. The lines for the values went way past where the que ended and another extra set of lines was created outside of the little house area. We waited in line for the buses for probably another 45 minutes. We made it back to ASMu at 11:45 and the dining hall was open til midnight, so we quickly ordered a pizza, using up 2 CS credits. This is a really good deal. It fed all four of us and we only had to pay extra for two drinks. Plus, you get dessert, so we shared that. We took the pizza back to our room and ate and then showered and fell right to sleep. But let me tell you, in the meantime, when we were waiting for our bus, I thought Hannah was going to have the meltdown of all meltdowns. She really didn't feel good at all and just wanted to lay down and of course we had to stand there waiting for the bus. I had her sit on the ground but we kept having to get up to move. Everyone's feet were hurting and it just was horrible. This was the only point in our vacation when none of us was having any fun and we were all wishing we were elsewhere. I was never so happy to see our resort!!!

 

[Mombits]

The next morning was our last full day at Disney. We slept in a bit and headed over to Downtown Disney to do some shopping.

The kids had fun running through the fountain and trying not to get wet. I enjoyed shopping in the Christmas store! Yay, finally some ornaments that I could afford!! I got one for my mom, and two for our family with the year of our trip. Hannah got her name embroidered on her mouse ears, Donovan decided he didn't want his name on his.

We had a great time messing around and shopping. I was REALLY looking forward to having lunch at The Earl of Sandwich, because I'd heard such good things about it.

Then it was time for the thing that Donovan had been "waiting his whole life for!!!" Build your own lightsaber!!!! Of course, Hannah wasn't going to be left out of this one! So they both built themselves a lightsaber. I have to say, this was a pretty good deal. It was about $20 each. The only thing is, they are sort of delicate. Donovan let the neighbor boy play with his and the kid ruined it completely about a month after we got back. Needless to say, D was really sad. But, it was wonderful while it lasted and it sure made him a happy, happy boy!

Then it was lunch time!!! Woo HOOOO!!! Boy was I ever excited to try out EoS! And it did not disappoint. We loved it!! We were using the dining plan, but this was a place that would be fine to pay oop because I thought the prices were very reasonable. After lunch, Brian took me to get my Mother's Day gift. You can see it in this picture:

Yes!!! He bought me the Dooney & Burke Disney tote purse!!!! I DO love that man!!!
I don't know who's sandwich this is, but they pretty much all looked like this:

It's a whole new me!!!

We'd have loved to spend more time at DTD, but we really wanted to go back to MK! We'd yet to meet Tink and so that was going to be our very first stop, no matter how long the line. So on the bus we went and we got to MK, and headed right to Pixie Hollow. The line said it was a 60 minute wait and the princesses had a 30 minute wait. Well, weirdly we walked in, waited less than 10 minutes before we were shrunk down to the size of pixies. I'm not complaining, no sireee!!!!

Oh, and Donovan needed to make a pit stop - one of "those" that take more than a few minutes so he completely missed out. We had his autograph book, though.

Shoot, need to add more on the next post!

 

[KatMark]

Great update. Love all the shots at DTD with the kids and the statues. I love your Mother's Day Gift (I got the same gift last month as an early Christmas present -- love that bag!).

 

[Mombits]

So recapping: Hannah and I were shrunk down to the size of Pixies and Brian and Donovan were "otherwise occupied".

Then it was time!!! Hannah finally met Tink. Tink asked Hannah if she was a "tinkerer" and of course, she is! She also loved Hannah's Tink shirt!

When we met Silvermist, Hannah gave him Donovan's book to sign and she asked her "Where is my Sparrowman Donovan?" and Hannah told her and she kissed his autograph book, leaving a lovely kiss print. When we showed it to him, he blushed!!!! It was adorable!!!

I have to say, the character interaction was just wonderful. It was great to see Hannah being a little girl! It did my mommy heart good!!!
Then it was time to do some drivin! Well, let me just say, Hannah is NOT a good driver. No way no how!!!!

When we got done driving, they wanted to go on it again and there was NO way I was getting on that terrible bumpy ride so I sat in the stands and let the three of them go again. They loved it!!!

Look at the look of concentration on Hannah's face!!!

After we got off of Indy Speedway is when we found out MK was closing at 7pm. Ugh!!! Why didn't I remember this???? So next Hannah and I headed over to astro orbitor while Donovan and Brian hit up Space Mt.

Hannah loved cooling off in the mister thingy :

When Brian and D finally made it off of Space Mt (it had broken down twice!) we headed over to the transport thingy:

 

[Mombits]

Then we decided to hit up Buzz!! Hannah didn't want to do it! I couldn't believe it. So D and I went ahead and then once we told her how fun it was, Hannah decided to give it a try. We loved it!!!

We saw Buzz out greeting guests but once again the kids didn't want to stand in line to meet him.

Then it was time to bid Magic Kingdom a final farewell.

We decided to head back over to DTD. Brian had found out that there was a wallet (wristlet) that matched my purse. He got a very stricken look on his face and said "You can't have the purse without the wallet!" so he demanded we go back to get the wallet, so off we go. Did I mention that I LOVE that man????

So we decided we were hungry and we were going to eat. Now I'd really wanted to try out Wolfgang Puck express, but didn't think we'd have the chance and NOW WE DID!!! woot!!!! Woot!!!!

Sad to say that I wasn't that big of a fan and if I had to do it over again, I'd go to Earl of Sandwich instead, but at least it was real food. But for a CS meal, it came to $75 for the four of us, which, personally I think is CRAZY for CS!!!
Here is my chicken:

Hannah had spaghetti- which she didn't like, so she traded me for my chicken. And Donovan again had the pizza- which he didn't like and I can't remember what Brian had.
I have to say, though, that their ice cream sundaes ROCKED!!!

Since we'd missed the lego store earlier, we headed right over there (with a quick pit stop at the left-handed kiosk, since all three of my family members are left handed!)

Please disregard the people in the pic, I just wanted the Lego dude, but couldn't get a shot without someone else's kids in it.

The had a deal where you could buy this big cup and fill it full of legos for $14, so each kid did that. Brian convinced D to save the rest of his money and he would pay half for him to get an ipod and D was all about that, so the only thing he got was the cup-o-legos that I bought him, but we got some neat pieces.

After that, we decided to head back to the hotel. Tomorrow was our last day!!!

 

[KatMark]

You got the wallet too? I AM SO JEALOUS! Good for you...and you have a very sweet husband.

 

[Mombits]

Great update. Love all the shots at DTD with the kids and the statues. I love your Mother's Day Gift (I got the same gift last month as an early Christmas present -- love that bag!).

I know, right?? I just love the bag and every time I look at it, I get a warm, fuzzy feeling and remember how much fun we had at Disney!

 

[Mombits]

So Saturday morning, we got up and had our final surprise of the trip. Though, it wasn't much of one. Hannah figured it out right away. We were going to breakfast at O'hana's!!!!

Hannah really wasn't feeling well again, and kept hitting the restroom. I was nervous that she'd miss her new BFF, Stitch!

First up was Lilo. Not a whole lot of character interaction, sadly. I'm thinking it was because my kiddos were older.

Please excuse the half-eaten state of it, but here are the wonderful mickey waffles!!!

Finally, Stitch!!!

 

[Mombits]

After breakfast, we decided to spend our last few Disney hours at DHS. Brian and D had just loved Rockin' Roller Coaster so we decided to go there.
While Brian and D went on the RnRC, Hannah and I shopped a bit.

We saw this preview for a new Disney cartoon!

And Hannah finally agreed to see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid with me. She was a bit frightened of the dark and loud, but she did ok.

We went on the great movie ride and Hannah was sort of scared of the gun fight, but otherwise she liked it!

We used our last few snack credits for a mickey bar and then it was time to head back to the resort and get on the sad bus

And one last pic of Hannah and her new favorite:

We had a wonderful vacation and my kids say every week how much they miss Disney. I sure hope we get a chance to go back someday. It was definitely worth waiting for and I know no matter what the future holds, my kids will always have these wonderful memories of our family vacation to Disney World. Thanks for reading!!!!

 

[buzz for boys]

Oh no I hate it when trips come to an end!

Thank you so much for sharing your trip I have loved every second of it

The last thing im going to say is you got the Bag and the purse ? My dh has a lot to live up to

Take care
Louise x

 

[KatMark]

I hate when a trip report ends. Your last day was absolutely perfect. Love the Ohana pictures (we love the Poly) and glad Hannah decided to go with you to see Mermaid.

I've enjoyed getting to know your family through your TR, and I wish you continued good health.

 

[Mindbreak.net]

My mother and father have beaten cancer as well. Congratulations, looks like you had fun!

 

[Jake & Crew]

All caught up! Thank you for sharing!!

Loved your TR, felt like I was there with you.

Took notes also, what I love is no matter how much you think you know about WDW you learn something with every TR you read. Most of all you learn that
the fans of WDW(like you) are fantastic people!

Hope for great health for you!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

No No No No No! I hate it when a trip report ends. Especially one such as your's when everybody had such a great time!

 

[Guatemommy]

I know everyone has a good time at WDW, but it was especially nice to see how much fun you and your family had. I've got a wonderful DH too and she showers me with surprise Coach bags so I defintiely give Kudos to Brian for the D&B gifts! Isn't it great to have such a great guy? Especially after everything we have been through?

I only hope my daughter's first trip in October will be as memorable as Hannah and Donovan's was!

 

[Mombits]

Oh no I hate it when trips come to an end!

Thank you so much for sharing your trip I have loved every second of it

The last thing im going to say is you got the Bag and the purse ? My dh has a lot to live up to

Take care
Louise x

Thanks, Louise! I sure hope you have a fabulous time when you go and maybe DH will surprise you too

 

[Mombits]

I hate when a trip report ends. Your last day was absolutely perfect. Love the Ohana pictures (we love the Poly) and glad Hannah decided to go with you to see Mermaid.

I've enjoyed getting to know your family through your TR, and I wish you continued good health.

Thanks, Kathy, I wish the the same for you!!! We did have a wonderful trip and loved nearly every minute of it!