I did not go to Disney to lay up in the bed with the blinds drawn tight! POL 11/12

[eghrain2]

Good morning everyone! We just got back on 11/18 and I have now gone to Disney 6 times, 4 in the last 3 years and I feel like doing a trip report.​

I went with my daughter Lydia who is 8

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my grandaughter Hailey who is 2.5

my sister kelly and my nephew Jack who is 5,

my other nephew Jake who is 13

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and as an added treat my cousin Linley and her son Dan who is 4 also went

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside for the first time, mainly because it allowed 5 people with the alligator rooms.

Here is a pointer for you ( all of the resorts have cots that you can rent so little did we know, we could have stayed at any of the resorts and had a cot, but they don't make it easy to have this info.​

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Me and my Sister love Disney and try to go every year, after the first 2 trips our husbands were left behind for a variety of reasons​

• 
  [*]They don't understand why you have to have adr's
  [*]They fight with your mother in Chef Mickeys
  [*]They don't understand why they have to visit the boring World's at Epcot
  [*]They ad extra cost to the trip when they would rather watch football at home
  [*]They demand to leave the park in middle of the day, to go catch a football game at espn leaving you stranded with kids, packages and strollers
  

Anyway we left our husbands behind and decided to just take our children and split a 5 person room at the port orleans resort , and to take advantage of free dining we would have to take them all out of school.
I don't like to do this, but every day they had out of school never fell within the dates for free dining, and I refuse to go when it's blazing hot so what can you do?

This trip was a little different because we wanted to see the osbourne lights and the Christmas Party and also our cousin wanted to go with us and bring her son. All that is fine and good except for a few key points.​

• 
  [*]she doesn't like to walk
  [*]she is loud, impulsive, and can be rude
  [*]doesnt like to walk, or the heat
  [*]doesn't like to walk, and expect people to part like the red sea for her and her stroller
  [*]thinks Epcot is "a big bag of suck" so she says
  [*]yells loudly at her son all day long, threatens him on crowded buses knowing he will throw fits and scream, but does it anyway
  [*]Has to stop at every smoking section,
  [*]Might knock people down making sure she gets a seat on the bus
  [*]moans and smacks her lips while eating her food, thinks everything is amazing
  

We all "except for my cousin who was on an earlier flight" arrived at Port columbus Airport on time, and got through security just fine. We were flying Air Tran and this would be my grandchild's first plane trip, she is 2.5 and she did just fine.​

It was a 2.5 hour flight straight to Orlando so it wasn't all that bad, but I am afraid of flying so I took one nerve pill and we landed on time about 2:30pm on Nov 12th.
We got a phone call at this time in the middle of bathroom breaks from Linley telling us she had changed our room to Oak Manor so we could have connection rooms. I don't know how she had the authority to change our 5 person room to one without a trundle bed, but she had, and when I complained she told me that if I didn't like what she had done, they can't change us back until morning! I told her I would deal with this when I actually got there but that I wasn't happy !
We actually had 6 people with my Hailey (who I had rented a toddler bed from Babies and more to be delivered, so I really was worried about not having the trundle and irritated to say the least.
When we arrived it was found out that we could have a cot in our new room free of charge and this is how I found out you can always ask for a cot to increase your rooms sleeping capacity, but the trick to it would be when you book your trip, it won't allow you to punch in 5 people except at certain resorts, so I guess you would have to call in your reservation instead of doing it online if you need a 5th bed.[/COLOR]​

By the time we got settled in, got our rented strollers and toddler beds in the room, bathroom breaks and what not it was already nearing 5pm and our first adr was at the Garden Grill at 6:50pm, so I was guessing my plans to ride a few things before dinner was out since we hadn't even gotten on the bus yet to go to Epcot and the kids were already hungry . We decided to ask to be seating early and they told us they couldn't guarantee anything but gave us a buzzer, within 5 or so minutes we were buzzed and we were all starving.

 

[Tiggeye]

I'm in. Ready for more

 

[skysmom99]

We were there at the same time! Wasn't the weather gorgeous?

 

[merrymouse1]

I was there too! Also stayed at POR. Im in! Check out my first installment to my trip report, maybe you'll see yourself in some of the pictures!

 

[bkandreu]

sounds like an interestig trip!! I'm in!

 

[eghrain2]

I'm in. Ready for more

Yes, I'm so a lurker, but I am determined to finish my first trip report and am happy to finally say hi to some of you, that I probably have read your trip reports!

 

[eghrain2]

sounds like an interestig trip!! I'm in!

Yes it was interesting, not all perfect and wrapped in bows, but I certainly had a blast. Thank you for your interest!

 

[eghrain2]

I was there too! Also stayed at POR. Im in! Check out my first installment to my trip report, maybe you'll see yourself in some of the pictures!

I will take a peek at your photo's to see if were in any of them, that would be so cool!

 

[eghrain2]

We were there at the same time! Wasn't the weather gorgeous?

The weather was pure bliss, and it only rained during our Christmas Party night later about 9pm , and it was a light rain. We were riding astro orbitor for the first time when it started. I didn't mind.

 

[eghrain2]

Ok I have fooled around with trying to make nice neat little links to each installment and can't seem to get it right!
We will pick up as our buzzer went off for our Garden Grill adr which should have been at 6:50, but we were so hungry we ask if we could eat early at about 5:15 and after about 5 minutes we were being led to our table for 8

We sat down, and had plenty of room since they gave us 2 tables, and ordered out drinks. Our server explained the menu and soon Pluto came around the corner. Hailey wasn't having it so she stayed back while Lydia felt they were like old friends and gladly let me take her photo. Now Jack also isn't interested in getting his photo taken with the characters and will even hide if it's a more threatening character such as The Beast or Cap Hook, while Dan will hug all over them.

The Salad and bread arrived and we were brought 2 platters of each item, and we inhaled most of this while Mickey came around the corner

Than two large platters of fish,turkey and roast beef arrived along with stuffing, mixed vegies and mashed potatoes and cranberry relish. Everything was good, but we ask for more turkey please? The kids were brought mac and cheese, baked chicken legs, and I don't remember what else, but they attacked the legs and ask for more please! Chip and Dale or maybe Dale came first but they came around and I took more photo's

Notice the death grip my sister had on Jack, I guess he thought they were threatening and Hailey was doing better by this time. They brought out our apple crumble type desert and we ate it , but only because we were still in starvation mode I think, I don't usually like apple pie much.

About this time I realized I left my purse down by the chair I was sitting in while waiting for our buzzer to go off! I hurried back to the seat, but it was gone, so I ask the desk and they said they took it to the soaring desk? I don't know why they did that but ok, I go downstairs and wait in a small line filled with anxiety wanting to blurt out "do you have my purse" but wait to speak while what seemed to be a long conversation about baby swap went on and on and on.....Finally it was my turn and they paused before they answered me and ask what was in it? I told them some jackets and a blanket and they ask if there was anything else? I said I had medication hidden in a secret compartment in the bottom and that must of been what they were waiting for before they would give it back to me. I was very grateful that I got it back, and made a note to not be so empty headed in the future with my belongings.
We paid the bill and took off for the nemo ride. Now my daughter knows her way around Disney pretty good since she has been there several times in the last 3 years, and I let her go look at the fish, while the rest of us took a bathroom break. When we came out and I went to collect her she was gone, not in the first aquarium room, not in the bruce room either.
I looked in the gift shop, the upstairs, the bathroom and she was just missing! I got Jake involved and we all searched for her without any luck. I was starting to think someone had grabbed her and tried to keep my cool while searching for her, but it was slow moving since I had Hailey out of her stroller and she walks like a turtle. My sister called my cell to tell me they had found her, she was indeed in the gift shop, but not looking at anything, but behind the counter and had gone to a cast member to tell them her Mom was missing and could they help her? I was so happy she was not nabbed, but a little upset that she could not stay were we agreed on. I will pick this back up on the next installment since I have an early work day tomorrow.

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[eghrain2]

We left off with Lydia getting lost and after we found her behind the gift shop desk in nemo, we went to the clamshells. Again never underestimate how heavy a toddler can be without their stroller, as in lines. I tried to let her walk some of the way but she was so slow that we were developing a line in back of us so I picked her up and carried her the rest of the way.
Hailey clapped her hands and cheered as we went through the different scenes in nemo.

We decided to walk into the worlds and ride the boat in Mexico next, Cute as always.
We went to Norway and I bought some Laila perfume ( there's nothing like it and my other bottle was actually empty), I don't think I've ever finished a bottle of perfume before, it just makes you smell sooo good!
I didn't get to take as many pictures as usual because I was pushing a double stroller and this is one of the drawbacks to not taking your husband with you.
It was already after 8pm so we went to china so Linley could smoke and I parked the kids all along the lake and tried to relax with my green ice tea I got nearby at the food stand. This was the last few days of the Food and wine festival so it was sort of busy. Here are a few pictures of random shots I took on our way around the worlds during this night.

I want to point out that they have moved the smoking section out of China and put it right after Norway in this nook, I noticed this but people were still smoking there even though the ashtray was gone.
I will take this opportunity to give you a little background on Linley and her son Dan. Dan has been diagnosed with severe ADHS, along with several other things that put him behind other children his age, poor motor skills, has a learning disability, scored very low on staying on task, following directions, finishing projects, etc... In other words he might stray off task 27 times while walking down a hall to enter the cafeteria at his preschool, and he still wears a pull up and will be 5 next week. This makes it extremely difficult to relax and it was especially hard on his mother to keep up with us .
We tried to help guide him when he would throw temper tantrums, or hit his mother (yes he will hit and kick her, and he has started to bite) but we all had strollers and kids of our own so it was difficult.
So all the kids were lined up along the lake waiting for the fireworks under their blankets, and dan wanted out of his stroller and was throwing a fit, so she got him out and tried to sit with him in a nearby bench but he wasn't having it! He spent the down time unlocking everyones stoller wheels, trying to climb the fence, dancing ect... When the fireworks started it was so pretty and everyone including Dan watched them with awe.

When they ended we decided to walk around the worlds instead of following the mass exodus that follows Illuminations to the bus stops to try and miss some of the stress involved with all the strollers and lines.
I think we even considered walking to the boardwalk and catching a bus to downtown Disney and than taking the boat back to our resort, but we chickened out not really knowing if that would be to much effort to get back to our resort.
By the time we walked all the way around the worlds and got to the bus stops they were still sort of long I had rented a double jogging stroller for Hailey and my 8 year old (who still occasionally whines about not wanting to walk) from Babies N More. I forgot to mention that a screw holding the tarp down fell out as soon as we got to Epcot and I was not all that impressed with it even before that. It was huge and so very heavy that it took both of my hands to keep it closed and away from other people's legs on our trip to the park, and I was worried about the crowded ride home so I begged Jake to take Hailey who was asleep, while I handled the stroller. Linley was having her own nightmare trying to wake up Dan and get her stroller closed, and Dan wakes up hitting and swinging so I had to tell him he had to be on his best behavior several times and help her ease him awake as we inched to the front of the line.
We let a few people go ahead of us so that we could take the next bus allowing the little ones to be seated while we managed our strollers and bags. I really hated my choice in a rental stoller and I would advise not renting this huge beast for anyone considering it.
We made it back to POL and of course now all the children were asleep and had to be woken up again to get off the bus, Jake took Hailey off the bus for me, and my sister managed her own compact stroller and a sleeping Jack by herself, but Dan didn't want to wake up and he was screaming, and swinging at his mother while she tried to step off the bus. I don't mean to go on and on about this but in retrospect I would try to stay on the monorail next time if at all possible unless we took our husbands.
We got them all in the room and into their pajamas ok, but Lydia and Jack were all of a sudden filled with new found energy and wanted to play .
I walked to the food court to see what ours looked like and passed the little bar on the way . There must of been a show because I saw him (Bob) talking an signing autographs for people as I passed.
I bought a refillable mug and got a brownie .
I had planned each day, with a general layout of the shows and rides I wanted to do at home, and so far we werent able to do all of them.
In the morning we were going to MgM (HS is hard for me to accept) for Extra magic hours and we wanted to ride TSM, see The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, pLAYtime Disney, Rock N Roll RC and have a counter service at Staring Rolls before 12pm. There was a nap planned for this day because of wanting to go to MK in the evening for EMH. I laid out their clothes, and climbed in an empty bed since my daughter and Jack were still playing on the cot, and Jake had decided to take the extra bed in Linley's room so that much needed cot, was only used to play on and hold their toys all week.
I like to watch Stacy when I'm in Disney, and so do the kids. But my sister would rather wake up with her eyelids nailed to the floor than to watch her so there was some channel clicking wars for awhile (I won) and before we knew it there was a wake up call telling us to get up!​

 

[eghrain2]

Today we woke up extra early, well the adults did and we made some coffee and took it out to the fountain to enjoy while the kids were still asleep. The sun hadn't even come out yet and here we sit unable to sleep any later. We were in Oak Manor and there is this beautiful fountain and courtyard right around the corner from our ground floor rooms.

Soon Linley also came out and we sat there enjoying the sunrise and talking about our upcoming plans ect... We had no trouble getting the kids up all except for Lydia who would sleep till noon if I let her. I had purchased the girls special outfits on Ebay for some of the days at the park, and today I had a darling outfit for Hailey to wear.

The resort was so pretty and I took some photo's along the way to the bus stop.

Here was our bridge leading to the main building, the walk wasn't all that bad and the kids started a bad habbit of running so far ahead of us we were afraid they would run into the street, so it was the first of many days of all the mothers pushing empty strollers to the buses while our children ran like maniacs far ahead of us.

Also our children liked to climb on the walls surounding the benches, and Dan likes to follow the older kids so we tried to get them to sit down and get off the walls the whole time we waited for the Mgm bus. We were right on time when the bus arrived at 7:30am and I think we missed rope drop by a minute or so and our plan was to just ride TSM and not get a fast pass in case the return time was to late. But what happened was as we got off the bus I got a phone call and stopped to answer it. It was the Garden Grocer telling me my bags had been left in the luggage room, and I took the opportunity to call Babies Fun & More to ask if I could return the monster of a stroller for something smaller, and to tell him about the screw that had come out. The others walked ahead of me and didn't wait.
He didn't answer so I left a voicemail and rushed to catch up with my party. We got through the gates and low and behold Somebody had already soiled their diaper and she took Dan to the restroom as I impatiently watched hordes of people all rushing towards TSM and we were sitting right inside the gates. The horror!
After what seemed like eternity she came out and we all rushed to the ride, only to see a wave of people snaked around the outside and Linley wasn't even close to making it back yet so we were trying to decide what to do as we parked the strollers and the others claimed they were in no way waiting in the (45 min said the board) line and wanted to get fast passes instead of riding now. Before I could think they all walked to the fp line and the return time was noon, so I had no choice but to get in line for one to and my return time was 12:30pm at 9:30am. I guess it could have been worse, but we absolutely had to make time for a nap today.
Next on the list was The little mermaid so before we could get to her building Linley wanted to smoke first, so we all sat outside the Brown Derby and I spotted Chip and Dale so we went (the girls and I) to get in our first character line, with the new autograph books I bought off Disney.com before hand and we were about 10 kids back.

Hailey wouldn't at first go to them and needed some warming up time

She slowly went up to hand them her book, and they were really patient and tried all sorts of things to lure her over to them so I could get a photo.

Finally we got a nice photo and hopefully now we could do TLM show...
While I was in line , my sister took Jack to see Handy Many and after waiting in a long line he ran away from her at the last minute and Dan was trowing fits so there were some tears going on already.
The next show was starting in 5 minutes so we got in line, and somehow Dan elbowed Hailey in the eye and she was crying, so then Linley must of scolded Dan and he was trying to pull away from her hand and the other two were involved in some sort of wrestling so I couldn't wait for those doors to open. Once they did we inched our way to our seats and when we sat down realized we didn't leave enough spots for each of us to have a seat and the rest of the row filled up so Jack had to sit on Kellys lap and he was for some reason scared and not sitting still. We all injoyed the show and Haileys reaction to the mist was cute.
Next up was to get right in line for Playtime Disney and we werent sure if we could get in because the line was long but we did manage to get in and sit in the last spots in back.
Dan was up and dancing before the show even started and stepping on our fingers and knocking into the people around us, Lydia felt she was too cool for what she called "a baby show" and was pouting and had her little mermaid toys out and was playing with them taking up room that we simply didn't have, and once the show started the three little ones enjoyed the show. Dan enjoyed the show a little too much and was yelling at random times "oh tootles!" in his loudest outdoor voice and dancing on peoples fingers.

 

[eghrain2]

We were last visiting Playhouse Disney and getting our fingers danced on by an over stimulated Dan.
After the show it was about 11am and they all voted to go to staring rolls for lunch, my sister likes to take her food to the tables in the little courtyard in front of the Brown Derby and eat which is not crowded like in front of staring rolls, but quite a walk with trays and children. As we got in line I planted Lydia with Hailey on her lap right outside the entrance to wait for me so I didn't have them to keep track of in the congested line.

I was a few people back from Lynley and noticed she was yelling at Danny for grabbing a bagel that she didn't want, so she told him that was his now since he touched it with his fingers, and he couldn't have desert which only made him cry and throw a fit. She really should learn to not threaten him in very crowded places, because it makes it harder on her when he throws a tantrum sometimes bumping into others and makes it more stressful than it needs to be.
I got the turkey sandwich, a banana , a milk and a red velvet cupcake that was as big as my head, and this would have fed all three of us but I also got Lydia a childs plate (the pbj , grapes a drink and a cookie) and we all shared this after taking our food to the Brown Derby patio.
We wanted to go see beauty and the beast next and than use our fp for tsm right before we head out for our afternoon nap. I couldn't finish my cupcake so I put it in a bag to take for later, which didn't work out because it melted and changed shape by the time I opened the bag later at the resort so remember to get a box if you need to take something home or it won't be edible.
We headed out to see Beauty and of course we had to stop at the smoking section first. Hailey decided to run away , but I was watching her to see how far she would go before turning around and she never did! I took this photo and went to retrieve her.

We headed to the stroller parking and started up the stairs when I heard someone bellowing to "wait up" and I hate to stop in a constant flow of people traffic so I kept going at least up to the platform to wait for Lynley, but she kept yelling my name and thanking me for not waiting. This was to be a constant thing during our trip, lots of yelling for me to wait up, and lots of thank you's for not stopping right away. I would rather slow up than stand in one spot.
We sat about 6 rows down from the top in the middle, but people will always take the ends and you have to squeeze in the middle trying not to step on their feet. We had a few minutes before the show was to start so of course the kids started touching each other, and bothering each other, and the tattle tailing began. This went on for a few, and the moment the show started Jack announced he had to go to the bathroom. So she sent Jake to take Jack to the bathroom under protest, but they did find there way back to us just fine.

The show was very nice and the kids really enjoyed it, but one thing I should mention here is that prior to our trip, Linley started telling Dan that if he didn't behave himself, that she was calling the beast on her cell phone, and once he realized the beast was up on the stage he tried to keep a low profile and not be seen.
We left the show and went to retrieve our strollers , to head over to tsm, and got into the fastpass line. Why do children think it's ok to climb on the railings on every line? I rode with Hailey and Lydia paired up with Jake, i THINK hAILEys score was something like 700 and that was only because I tried to show her how it works. I could hear fighting on the opposite side of our car going on between Lydia and Jake, and after we got off she told me that he was turning the car and not allowing her to aim properly and it was the worst trip ever! Ok.
We were only a bit off track of wanting to leave at noon, and headed back to the resort.
I put Hailey down, and told the children to please rest even though they might not fall asleep because we had a late night coming up at the MK and I didn't want meltdowns because they were to tired. I took a walk to the food court to fill my mug and take a few pictures while they weren't laying down and up playing with their little toys on the cot.

When I returned the adults and Hailey were asleep with the blinds drawn tight, and the kids were up playing. I warned them once again to please lay their heads down , but they weren't having it. I must of fallen asleep because my sister told me it was time to get up for our California Grill adr we had at 5:30pm.
I dressed the girl's in their custom Minnie outfits and they did look cute as can be and waited for the others outside by the fountain.

We headed out towards the bus and I had decided to rent a disney stroller to avoid that monster I had rented prior, which reminded me that he had not called me back yet, so I called him again and left another message asking to return the double jogging stroller for a smaller one please.
This meant Hailey had no stroller to get to the buses and we fell behind the others quite a bit, and in no time we were off to the MK.

Why do kids think they can swing on the poles on every bus?

We walked up to the monorail to get the the contemporary and shortly were making our way down elevators, and up other elevators to get to the check in desk on the 2nd floor. They did stroller valet and were taken up to the California Grill.

They sat us within 5 min, and a very nice waiter took our drink and app order. I tried some sort of truffled flatbread and soon the bread arrived with our drinks. I just can't bring myself to take photo's of my food or I forget so there are none. I should have and will the next time I go.

There was mickey confetti on our table since I must have made note of all of the Nov birthdays on the reservations. Of course the kids were collecting them and soon were in competition on who had the biggest pile.

The flatbread arrived and as with so many other times I try new foods, I didn't love it, nor did anyone else at the table. Dan wanted to try it, but his mother said he probably shouldn't because he won't like it. But somehow a piece ended up in his bowl of goldfish they had brought out the kids anyway, and as soon as he took a bite he started retching like he was going to throw up so she pulled his chair away from the table, and told him to spit it out.

I had ordered the steak and my sister ordered the fish, we split it so we could try different things. I liked the steak, not so much on the fish.

Lydia ordered the kids pizza and I look over and she is pouting and had said she hated it and wasn't eating it like a total brat. I told her they would be happy to bring her out something else if she would use her manners and ask the waiter politely. She had ate here last year when we came and didn't like the kids steak, so I told her to just ask for another fruit app that they had brought out the kids since she loves fruit. She was not listening to me, and I had to order for her as she had her crossed arms and had her eyes glaring at me. I don't know why she gets like this , but she is a very picky eater and likes to pout instead of using her words.

We ordered desert and when it arrived it had a chocolate happy birthday sign inserted in my chocolate molten cake which Lydia grabbed off my plate without asking. The meal was very good and we went out on the deck for a few before heading out to the MK. I fell behind the others trying to carry Hailey down the steep ramp but no matter, we all had cell phones.
I rented a double stoller for 2 days hoping to hear back from babies n more, and off we went about 50 feet to the smoking section by the front while we waited for Lynley to smoke not one, but 2 in a row.

Main street was very pretty with some Christmas trees and decorations up, I believe we walked towards fantasy L first and went to the Phillaharmonica first, this would be Haileys first 3d experience so I watched her reaction and she was keeping her glasses on, but sliding them on and off as she saw fit.

Next of course across the path to IASW under protest from Linley who hates this ride. There actually was a 15 min line, the longest I have ever stood in for this and had to hear her comments about how lame this ride was, how much longer did she have to stand, how she wished she would have waited outside on the bench and on and on. blah blah.... Dan enjoyed it though as did everyone else except her.

We walked over to liberty square to get ready for the electrical parade that was to start at 9 at this time. I thought it started in Frontier L, but it actually ended so we had to wait about 20 min for it to get to us. Love this parade so much!
We than went on HM and up till now nothing had scared Hailey and she had been very good with waiting and liked everything, but when the lights went out in the stretching room she started crying and I had to hold her until the doors opened. She pretty much hid her eyes during this and did not like it .
After this we walked towards adventure L and had to stop in the smoking section of course, she also got a dole whip and wishes was starting at this time, we could sort of see, but the trees blocked much of it. I gave the girls an indian blanket I had brought from home and pushed them down the path to a better spot while the others ate there ice cream.

I got tired of waiting and when wishes ended I strolled the girls to the magic carpets and got in an empty line, once we were on the ride I called my sister and told her I was on the ride and she said she was too, and to look behind me. I didn't get a chance to look before I heard a commotion going on and when I did look I saw Linley in some sort of loud conversation with the cast member but couldn't tell what they were saying. Also when they did a walk around to make sure everyone had their seatbelts on, I didn't have mine on, I guess I didn't think it had one and we were sitting on ours. Hailey loved this and clapped her hands and said "faster grandma".
I found out that the commotion was Linley handing the cast member a oozing rotten banana from her purse to take away that had sat there for the entire day, but all of a sudden it was important to hand it off to be thrown away while sitting in her magic carpet, and also that a seatbelt extender was needed. I still don't know why it couldn't just sit in her purse until after the ride, but you can't always figure people out. The little girl never broke her character as she was handed the banana, she smiled and said "thank you".

We than walked to Pirates which was to be our last ride of the night since all the kids were tired so we parked the strollers and away we went for about a 10 minute wait. Love this ride .
I let the girls pick out something in here, all except for Hailey who had gotten princesses at mgm earlier in the day. Funny but as we all headed to the line, we had all let our kids pick out the same item which was the large pirate set, so we left with 3 large pirate sets that would be difficult to keep separate once they got them all mixed up back at the resort.
We turned in our strollers after doing a bit more shopping on main street and walked to the bus stop all the way at the end. I've seen worse lines like at the pop, but this came in as a close second as far as how far back we were, all the jazzies that took extra time to load and is always the black cloud on your wonderful disney vacations. ​

 

[eghrain2]

On this morning we were spending the morning at Epcot, having lunch at the coral reef and going to mgm to see fantasmic.
The children were up late last night, and I decided to let them sleep in, and had this hair brained idea to go to rope drop alone at epcot, and get fp for the entire group. I wasn't sure if this was allowed or not, but I didn't really want to sit at the resort and they were all asleep like logs.
I took the bus there and arrived about 10 min before they let us in the park, and than I followed the wave of people to the rope drop area and watched the little show before continuing on my way to the fp kiosh's. I walked past all the cast members with their waving mickey hands on and finally was in front of machine, I sort of knew there was a chance of it not letting me get fp for those not in the park, but was curious at the same time. I put my card in first and out came a fp, and than I put in my daughter's and at first I thought it allowed me since a ticket came out, but the ticket said something to the effect of "not a valid fp, guest not in the park" and I felt stupid for even thinking I would be allowed to do this. Lesson learned... Back out I went and onto the number 8 bus stop for port orleans riverside.
I was the only one on the bus leaving epcot and the driver turned into the french quarter and lots of people got on the bus, he then looked at me and said this was the french quarter bus only and I had gotten on the wrong bus. I didn't really understand since it was the same stop I had used the first night and it actually said both riverside and french quarter on the sign. But he was nice to take me across the street to my bus stop anyway.
The children were still asleep when I returned at 9:50am and I told them to get up so we could start our day. They were slow moving and Lydia especially just wouldn't get moving. Finally about a half hour later we were headed to the bus stop, and I had during this morning gotten a hold of the stroller rental place and he said I could exchange if I wanted but he had nothing until the next day except the same exact monster of a stroller available and I told him I would wait till the next day anyway, so I was glad I had purchased a 2 day rental last night

We actually decided to have some breakfast at riverside first so I got a table and waited with Hailey while the rest got their food first , it was so crowded and we were sitting in the back room with the tv and kids table for writing Mickey letters was.
We were only expecting to get a little something since we had an early adr today, but ended up getting the big breakfast with bacon, sausage, french tst, pot and eggs and I ate every bite I was so hungry
I fed Hailey off my plate and when we were finished we took everyone to the bathroom and headed off for the bus stop around 11am or so.

 

[eghrain2]

When we arrived in the park we all walked over to get soaring fp when all the guest were in the park and decided to walk the worlds some before our adr at 2:30pm
We skipped Mexico since we went there the first night and went into Norway to shop again. I bought Hailey and Lydia a stuffed animal and Lynley purchased some Helly Hansen tennis shoes since she was complaining about blisters on her feet already. One probably shouldn't bring flip flops to Disney when they are prone to blisters, but she couldn't find her size exactly , they had a 10 but not a 10.5 which she wears and after trying them on she bought them anyway. I also like Helly Hansens and tried on the same pair but they didn't feel right and certainly weren't the same as my other pair so I declined.
We left and before we could get to China we had to stop at the smoking section. The kids were playing on the church side and Lydia started climbing up into the window behind a bush. I ask her to get down and she gave me a dirty look and just then a swarm of bee's were all around her and I had to get Jake to get her out of the window for me. You can see her face after the bees swarmed in the following photo.

We shopped in China next and I realized I hadn't seen many characters out as I have in the past. We went to Germany next and I spotted Snow but as soon as we approached the line we were told she was going to take a break but when she came back out in 20 min they were moving near the lake because of bees near the wishing well.

We used this time to shop and when we went back out to the lake we did see the rope had been moved and there was already one little girl who was first in line ahead of us to see snow white.

But as I looked back near the wishing well there was a huge line waiting for her and I hoped there wouldn't be trouble when those people found out they were in the wrong line!​

 

[eghrain2]

So as Snow came out I just knew all those people in line back by the wishing well were going to be angry and come flying over here and I hoped it didn't get ugly. Well she came out and in a seamless entry welcomed everyone in the wrong line and beckoned them to follow her out to the lake.
But they tried to form a new line beside the existing line so that the person who was first by the wishing well, would still be first, but the lady in front of me said "the line starts here", and she argued that she had been waiting for 20 minutes, as the other lady says "so have I, and the line starts here".
Finally snows photopass man told everyone to form a line in back of the existing line and I'm so glad that was that, and no more arguing about it.

The girl's loved Snow and Hailey kept asking her questions such as "can I see your shoes" and she was so good with her showing her the shoes and spent a lot of time hugging her and putting a lipstick kiss on Hailey's cheek. I had a hard time pulling her away and she kept looking back telling her "bye Princess" .
Now Dan was stuck in his stroller during this time and sitting nearby with his mother who didn't have any interest in him meeting Snow, but I knew he would have enjoyed it and tried to reason with her to let him out to meet some of the characters, but she just wasn't interested. It was about an hour or so until our coral reef adr so we pressed on around the worlds.
We didn't stop in Italy or America, and only stopped in Japan to get a gaki gori rainbow cone to share. We spotted Jasmine and Alladin but the line was huge so we passed and we did however stop in France to see Marie in which Hailey called "kitty". I ask if dan would like to see Marie this time and she said no, that they werent interested, Dan however started throwing a fit saying he wanted to see her, but she wouldn't let him out.
We were rushing now to make our adr on time, and had to pass Mary P and Alice on our way the the coral reef.
I must of forgotten that we took these photo's before meeting snow white in Norway with the troll.

It was starting to bother me that she just wouldn't let that child out out of his stroller to do anything. I realize he's a handful and I'm not saying to let him run wild through the stores, but could she have maybe allowed him to meet the characters?

We had just turned out of the Worlds up the path by the roses and heard one of those "hey, can you wait" coming from Linley. I slowed down but didn't stop dead in my tracks because of the people traffic and heard once again "thanks for not waiting on me" very loudly .
we all ended up at the stroller parking at the same time anyway, and went in to eat.

The kids were running around the lobby, trying to pick each other up, arguing over who gets to sit on the bench etc... I went to the bathroom and after about 10 minutes we were seated at a table that was to small , they sort of indicated that it was all they had available, and that the reservations only had 6 on them, which may have been true since originally there were 11 of us going, with 5 going to tapan edu , but I thought I changed everyone when the other 2 people couldn't go. Anyway we stood in the isle until they found a larger table and it was up front by the tanks.

I really liked eating here last time, and had high hopes that it would be just as good , but alas it was not.
I ordered the lobster ravioli and kelly ordered the steak, and we split our plates as usual. The sauce on the ravioli was puke gross and tasted way off, and the steak was not that good either. The large turtle however was so fun to watch that was directly in front of us the whole meal. I had no ice tea refills as well, I do think I ask her for one, but she forgot.
We paid the bill and went to use our fp for soaring using baby swap since Hailey was to little to ride. I stayed with her first at the exit and she fell asleep on the bench. After about 15 minutes maybe more they came out and I took my daughter with me back on soaring while they stayed with Hailey.
By the time everyone had rode it was time to go to mgm already and we decided to walk through the boardwalk and take the path I new existed, but had never tried before. I might had taken the boat from the boardwalk but it looked packed and we passed it by. Big mistake!

That path went on and on and on forever and ever.. Everyone was complaining and after what seemed like over a mile we finally reached the Christmas Tree outside of mgm.
Oh, and by the way, Linley left for the resort right after she ate saying she just wanted to rest and maybe take Dan swimming instead of seeing Fantasmic. This made me mad because it was something we had never been able to do yet, and we had tried to see it last year but the line was to long to attempt getting in with one of the children sick. And all she had to do was sit since it was the only thing planned to do at mgm.





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[eghrain2]

We left off arriving at MGM after a seriously long walk from Epcot, I guess it was about 6:30ish as we entered the park and we walked to fantasmic to take a peek at the line and the cast member told us that the first show has started and was full, and to come back about 7:30. He said you'll see a huge intimidating line, but that no one had ever been turned away from the second show and to just go and enjoy the park.

So in my original plan I had intended to see The Osborne Lights on Monday night since I thought we would miss them tonight if we had been at the first show of fantasmic and the park was closing at 8 according to allears, but we now had an extra hour and we headed towards the lights.
They were still talking about that long walk I had gotten them into and how thirsty they were, asking if we could get something to drink and sit down to rest a bit. I told them sure you can do that, but I was going on to see the lights while I had the chance and for some reason kelly and Jake never stopped and followed me into the entrance .

Now I could have stayed there for the whole hour, and Hailey and Lydia were trying to catch the fake snowflakes and loving it, but my sister and Jake still just wanted to get something to drink and sit down, and were being party poopers.

I only got to look at them for like 5 minutes before they were wanting to leave and head to the nearest drink stand. I was rushed out of there and that was that.​

 

[eghrain2]

We were a little turned around with the osbourne lights on what way to leave and ended up going towards tsm and stopped to get something to drink and sitting by the Brown Derby for a bit.
After a short rest and quenching our thirst we started towards the huge fantasmic line and got in it right about 7:30 as we were told, but it was well past the stroller parking at batb and I wondered if we were going to make it in after all.
We stood there in very cramped quarters and it was madness and more and more people were slipping in around us making it even tighter to where I couldn't move an inch or the stroller would hit someone's ankle.
When they started letting people in the line moved slowly and with it being so dark I had to watch the ground to not hit anyone. As soon as we turned the corner to park the strollers Lydia announced she had to go to the bathroom! We had just stopped before we saw the osbourne lights and everyone was rushing to get a seat but what are you going to do? We all stood there waiting for her to go and I felt like we were in the middle of a stampede.
When she came out we followed the stream of people towards the seating and at each row the cast members were directing us to go further down, we were not allowed to turn down any of the rows until we were at the farthest extreme left which was kind of irritating that so many seats were off limits to us and And I don't even understand why we couldn't have found seats closer because there were plenty of empty rows just sitting.
We ended up going down the far left row but walked to the front and cut over back to the right as far as we could and I guess the seats were fine, but I for one would suggest the fantasmic dinner package if one really exist to avoid some of the chaos surrounding getting into this show if you have young children.
The show started not to long after we sat down, and it was wonderful as I new it would be, Hailey just looked on with her mouth open the whole time and was clapping and cheering at times, and Lydia told me that she now knows Mickey Mouse is not a real because he left on the boat, and one second later was on top of the mountain, and how could he have had time to get there?
I told her she was a smart girl and maybe it's magic. But she is now 8 and I know her time of believing in Santa, the tooth fairy is nearing it's end.
We waited about 5 or so minutes to leave to let some of the crowds get out before heading out. I'm really glad we got to see this show and we didn't stop to do anything else as we headed to the bus stop. Hailey started crying on the bus because she wanted her mother, and just couldn't be consoled in anyway. I knew she was tired and actually she wasn't the only child that cried all the way home on the bus.

Our plan was to get to bed early tonight, and try to get to the Animal Kingdom in the morning as close to rope drop as possible. It was also my birthday and we had a 2:30 adr at yak and yeti. I wasn't sure what we would do that night, but originally had planned to go to mgm to see the lights and shop, but we never made it back to mgm.

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[eghrain2]

Today was my 44th birthday on Nov 15, and we were headed to the Animal Kingdom eating at Yak & Yeti and I was not sure on what we might do this evening since we sort of already saw the osbourne lights last night.

I believe we were right on time as far as leaving around 8:30am, and I had not run out of custom outfits yet to put on Hailey and Lydia. Todays outfit was a darling bib overall shorts set with mickey appliques and a matching tee with her name on it and Lydia had a zebra print shorts and halter set.

Our plan was to enter the park and maybe stop at camp mickey for a few photo's before seeing the first nemo show, than going directly to the first lion king show, and than getting fast p for me and Jake to ride EE, ride kali river rapids , the safari , and by than it would be time for our adr at Yak and Yeti.
Of course this is not the way it worked out but it almost did.

The first thing seemed to be that Linley had decided to get a pass for Danny because of his disability and this took a bit of time while we waited. Dan has extreme adhd and a few other problems that makes it almost impossible to wait in the longer lines, and if he is not in his stroller he will run away, get into things , and fool with things that could be dangerous , in a sense he has this uncontrollable urge to push buttons, take things apart, pull cords, ropes, open doors, climb fences, basically break anything not made of hard rubbermade materiel. He has some sort of over stimulation sensory disability as well that can cause melt downs if he is kept in one spot for too long, such as ride lines.
Anyway this was for Dan and up to 6 members of his party to enter through the exit or fast pass return line for the day. I had heard of these passes and felt sort of funny about using it for the rest of us, but they include the other members of the family so you can enjoy the park together and not be separated from your family.
It was just about time for the nemo show once this was settled so we walked to stoller parking (all except for Linley since his stroller was allowed to be used as a wheelchair) and entered through the wheelchair entrance. They sort of almost rolled their eyes when they found out there were 8 of us, and led us to the front right section. I just couldn't except not waiting in line, and went back n forth with my feelings on this. I know he has some disabilities but never had thought of anyone but he and Lynley using the pass, but keeping him with his family also made sense.

We loved the show and just as the lights were dimmed Jack announced he had to go to the bathroom, so my sister had to take him in the dark, but I guess they had one in the back of the building so it was not such a pain.


After the nemo show we were going to go see the lion king show, and had a little time to kill, Linley wanted to find a smoking section so we were off the dinoland and it was way back behind a gift shop where you would never know it existed, but somehow she found it.

We let the kids play on the little area set aside for children back in there, they had a large dinosaur to play on, all except for Dan who was throwing a fit and wasn't allowed out of his stroller.
We went to kali river rapids next and Kelly stayed behind with jack and Hailey while we took the others on the ride. This was just about the first time I had seen Linley and Dan really enjoy themselves and even though she got the brunt of the water dumped on her, she wanted to ride again right away. we went right back to the line and at the end of the ride Linley took her and Danny's seatbelt off before it had come to a complete stop, and wouldn't you know it , the boat hit hard on the wall and he went flying head first into the middle base part and just about blacked his eye. He was so hurt he couldn't even cry for like 5 seconds . The cm saw what she had done and gave her a lecture about keeping all seat belts on until the ride comes to a complete stop. That poor child hit so hard I am surprised he could walk out of there.
Well, it was not yet time for our adr, but some of us were hungry and we decided to stop at Yak and Yeti to see if we could eat early. It was only 12 and our adr was for 2:30. They said we could so off we went into the lobby and it is so very bollywood in there. Pretty, pretty...

We were seated at a large table on the first floor, and I had decided to order an appetizer and some kind of slushie drink with alcohol in it, a grape martini slushie (which might have been part of the reason I got sick) and a combination app for the table. We also ordered the Mahi Mahi and the skirt steak to share.

I always order a pot of monks tea here, it is so relaxing and tasty.

When the food came out Jacks was missing and he starts getting upset, I tried to let him share Haileys until his came out but he was not having it and actually we stopped someone not our server to let them know and they must of put the order in and told our server because shortly two kids chicken meals came out.

The food was good, but not as good as last year when we came, the problem was it was not all that hot, and it tasted a little off, like it was not as fresh. But we ate everything anyway and when it came time to order desert she ask if we were having any desert? This has happened a few times in the past, and if they know your on the dining plan, wouldn't they know you will be ordering desert as well since it come with it anyway?

I was just about to suggest that we get one of everything and share, when Linley said her stomach hurt and she wanted to skip desert and could she get her bill to our server, who took off to to figure out her part of the check . I told Linley that she shouldn't do that, and that we could share and she might as well order something since it came with it anyway.
When the server came back, she first placed her bill down and than ask us what we had decided for dessert, I ask if we could still have Linleys dessert that she told us that we couldn't because she had closed out her check already. Ok... We ate our dessert and it was very good, I always get the little fried wontons with the delicious vanilla sauce and also some sort of chocolate cake with the kids all getting ice cream.
There was some confusion with this bill and Hailey is only 2 so she did not have any meal plan, I had said I would pay for her along with the drinks and app on a different bill, and the rest normal dinning plan. Well I think she took one of our adult credits to pay for Hailey, and sadly I didn't catch it.
We were on our way to see the Lion King show now and
again got the eye rolling from the cast member when we told them we had 8 for the handicapped section.

they found us a bench up front where he could sit in his stroller, and somehow 3 other people got mixed up in our group while being seated, and it wasn't a big deal since there was room for everyone , but she was loudly announcing that "Mam. "Mam! they are not in our group" but they were already seated and I told her to leave it alone, that it didn't matter and I didn't think they spoke english and didn't understand most of what was being said.

Now Linley hates a lot of the shows, and she immediately started whining she was cold from still being wet from the rapids and wanted to leave. I told her that her son will enjoy this show and to stay seated and suck it up.

I think if she could have gotten out before the show started she would have, selfish selfish! She probably just wanted to smoke again since we didn't have time to do so before the show.

Really like this show, it's so impressive and yes Dan loved the show, but Hailey fell asleep and when it was over she was crying and had to be carried out. Jake was carrying her and she said to carry her like a princess, whatever that means.

Well it was time for our fp for EE, but all of a sudden he says he doesn't feel up to it. I just let it go and didn't drag everyone up there just for me.

So instead we of course went to the smoking section, but not the one nearby, the one at the dawa bar, but when we got there it was not there anymore. We stayed anyway and I took Hailey to get some popcorn and roasted nuts nearby and there were lots and lots of bee's swarming around my hands as I took my treats and paid.
We had about 30 minutes before the parade was to start so we stayed put, and the day had just flew by.
The kids played with there treasures at a empty table and we just relaxed for awhile.



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[eghrain2]

The parade was about to start so we walked to the front of the dawa bar, tusker House and just stood there to watch it.

Hailey was dancing around and snapping her fingers, while Lydia and Jack sat playing with there toys and weren't even watching it. The parade was cute.

After the parade was over, we went back to ride the safari, and the line was non existent. I think there were a fair amount of animals out and I have noticed that each time we ride this, there are different animals out and it is always bit new.

Now I wasn't sure what we would be doing later tonight , but we did start to head out after the safari to go back to the resort.
I was thinking I wanted to go to mgm and see more of the osbourne lights, and to shop a little.
When we got back to the resort, I headed into the gift shop and bought a few things and it was decided that we would have a meal in our food court, and if I wanted to go back to mgm at that time, they would keep the kids since no one wanted to do anything more today except rest.
I wasn't exactly hungry yet, so we went back to the room for a bit to clean up and pick up the room some. with that many people in one room it took lots of help to keep it a little organized.

We ate at the food court and I sat at a the table with Hailey while they all got their food, and when the first people returned I went up and ordered from the carving station an adult and child's turkey dinner with stuffing , mashed potatoes and corn, it also came with a slice of corn bread.
I was full but couldn't stop eating for some reason, and I over did it.
I felt sick as we went back to the room and started having stomach pains.

I decided not to go out by myself after all, and just layed down early that night to rest. About 2am I woke up with bad stomach pain, and within a few minutes I had to rush to the restroom to get sick. I am thinking I over ate and my getting sick was due to being a gluten. Well the next day we were going to the Magic Kingdom in the morning, eating at CHH for lunch and going back for a nap until later when we were to return for out Christmas party night.


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