I'm Gonna Push the Button! re-do

[teacher2525]

I'm was trying to add to my trip report but I think that I was shut off because it took me so long to write it so i think that I have to begin again, I guess that I will try to drag it all over here.

Well I've have been lurking for ages and I finally decided to post a trip report. Hopefully, I am typing in the correct space and I can figure out how to post an entire trip report. I will do my best!

I returned august 23rd and was very sad to leave, despite the tremendous heat (a little like touring in a pizza oven). I guess I should give a little pre trip information/history. In 2002 we decided to take our 2 little boys ages 2 and 4 for one last big trip before we had a 3rd child. My mother and brother decided to come along.

Me and my two boys 2002 trip

Ds #2 2 years old

We had 2 connecting hotel rooms at the swan for a week in September, what a great location! We had great weather and a great time, we forgot how much fun it could be and how much there was to see, so we had to go back, so much for one last big trip!

We decide to go back again in September (2003) for a long weekend, just us (no nonnie(My mom) or uncle).

2003 trip
I book a suite at one of the downtown disney resorts but I was contemplating purchasing a dvc membership on the recomendation of my friend who just purchased one at the beach club. Well, to make a long story short, Interest rates drop so low that we were able to refinance our house buy into DVC Boardwalk (resale) and lower our monthly payment without adding on any loan years It was like we were getting the DVC membership for free!
Now we are staying on property at the boardwalk in a 1 bedroom villa with a full kitchen, washer/dryer, king size master bedroom (not that privacy is necessary because at this point I'm 3 months pregnant with child number 3 but the space is great) Jacuzzi tub and seperate shower. I think that I've died and gone to heaven! Okay, I originally tried to book a standard view because who cares about the view, I'm at disney and it was less points. Well, there isn't any standard views available so I get a boardwalk view. Let me tell you, I am all about the view now

View off the balcony at boardwalk
I would get up early every morning and the sun would start to come up over EPCOT and it was beautiful until the system shock Promptly at 7:00 AM everday the circus music would start (doo doo doo) well you can probly come up with your own circus music in your head because I can't spell it out properly, who knew the circus started that early I would think after partying late night that they woul at least sleep in untill 9:00 AM but what are ya gonna do? Wake everyone up and get to the parks for opening We had an even better trip and we can't wait to go back again!
Well, baby number 3 turns out to be son number 3 On the last day of March 2004, If he waited 16 more hours to be born he would have been my 3rd child born in April which would have been an all diamond mother's ring but I couldn't stand being pregnant for another second and he was looking real big so they induced me. I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for a little princess which is why I chose not to find out what I was having beforehand. How could you be disappointed when they put a perfectly healthy, beautiful baby in your arms (a whopping 9lbs 8 oz born at 9:08) I guess God had a different plan so it is 3 sons for me and I wouldn't change it if I could. The Irony here is it took me forever to meet a guy and now my household is over run with men (men in training I should say)
This is turning out to be alot more background information than I anticipated. Fast forward to October 2006 for the trip that snow balled.

All party members who stayed at Saratoga, guess who Aunty Dory is!

I decide we have so many points banked to get a studio for my mother and a 2 bedroom at Saratoga Springs and invite my college friend and her family to join us. They end up coming with their family of 5, sister and her famil of 4 and 3 grand parents. they didn't stay with us they stayed at the Grand Floridian. My childhood friend who introduced to the DVC ended up changing her week to the same week as us because she ays that I am always lucky with the weather. My mother ends up bringing her sister, my aunt (who loves tinkerbelle but has a personality more like Dorey from finding Nemo). At the last minute, my cousin (the same aunt's daughter who came) decides to come with her husband and 2 year old son. Yep, lots of people on that trip! I'm going to pause here and see if I can post, get back on and write a little more.

 

[teacher2525]

Well I just lost my last post while trying to preview it, I will never check for spelling again

Well, we decide to meet my college friend and her family of 5 at the AK. We watch the parade, eat dinner, get a special cake for being family of the hour from the dream team. Catch up with the dream team again and get to play carnival games and win prizes for free (minus the thousands we spent on the trip) . We have a great night and it is important to note that for a group of 10 we travel very well together. Things don't run as smoothly when you add Aunty Dory to the mix.
Aunty Dory arrives with my mother sunday night. We go to breakfast at O'hana's with Lilo and Stich.

Here is Aunty Dory with my three boys

We have a great time with Aunty Dory heading up the parade (claims she is living the childhood she never had). We head over to Blizzard beach, front row parking and realize that I (yep, me ) forgot the tickets (well I can't keep track of every,thing ) We go back to get the tickets enter the park and meet my childhood friend Judy and her 3 girls. We get lockers, towels and my mother and Aunty Dory go to change into suits. They come out and my mother is giggling uncontrollably She says to me don't tell but Dorey brought 2 bathing suits tops, one black and one white. I look over at Dorey and she looks like she is wearing both pieces to a black tankini suit. My mother says look closer, she is wearing my black underwear To the untrained eye it would be a bathing suit but upon closere examination it really was my mother's bloomers but don't tell Well the first thing that I did was tell my husband and friend judy, how could you not?
We finally manage to get into the water on the lazy river and we lose aunty Dorey. Don't worry we found her at the end because we coul hear her well down the river asking everyone in the River if they saw us a group with 3 little boys and 3 little girls. You know how rare it is to see groups of children at Blizzard beach
We exit the lazy river and Aunty Dory rides every possible ride with the kids (her great nephews). We decide to go back to the area we staked out in the morning which is significantly smaller at this point. Aunty Dory decides to do some sun bathing In the meantime, we split up an I remain back at camp while my 2 year old naps for 2 hours at blizzard beach. Judy stays with me to chat We chatted until we were rudely interupted by the bullhorn The lifeguard is bellowing through his bull horn, "ma'am, please get out of the path!" Judy and I look over and we see this woman in a sun visor and movie star sun glasses with a black bathing suit in the middle of what is clearly a large walking path trying to angle her giant lounge chair to catch the maximum tanning rays. how this woman could not know that this was a path is beyond me Why would everone else be squished together and leave this area wide open? Apparently so this woman could have plenty of room to angle her chair and maximize her tan The lifeguard continues, "ma'am, please get out of the path!" at least 3 times. Now everyone is looking and the woman begins to look for who this man may be bellowing to. She can't figure it out so she continues to assess the sun's rays and angle her chair. The life guard begins to walk towards her and it dawns on me that the woman is Aunty Dory in my mothers Big Black Bloomers For a moment I consider running over there but I was too embarassed and I commited the cardinal sin of the Italian family and turned my back on a family member in need At this point the lifeguard bellows, "Lady in the bloomers, please get out of the path!" Okay, he didn't really say lady in the bloomers but thats how the story went in my head and at dinner that night She finally did get out of the path. Stay tuned to see how Aunty Dory thoroughly frustrated an mgm cast member and an introduction to the cast members in my real trip report!

 

[teacher2525]

Well, I’m taking some advice and I’m going to try typing in Microsoft word 1st and then pasting it, thanks for the tip . I just got a new laptop so now I can type on my comfortable bed .
One more of the many Aunty Dory stories before I introduce the cast of my August trip. We went to MGM and Aunty Dory loves to ride all the thrill rides. She also loves to take lots and lots and lots and lots (you get the idea) of pictures on her many high quality disposable cameras . Well, as we all know they take your picture on these thrill rides and sell them in package form. Aunty Dory had to have a picture and she wanted a 5 by7. However, they do not sell a 5 by 7 individually. Now, I am a second hand reporter because my DH was lucky enough to actually experience the situation first hand. He didn’t know you could frustrate a CM to this extent. Aunty Dory says to the CM, I’ll take the 5 by 7. The CM goes through the speech, we don’t sell just a 5 by 7, we have package A for X amount of dollars, we have package B for X amount of dollars and we have package C for X amount of dollars. In return Aunty Dory says, okay, I’ll take the 5 by 7. The CM kindly explains again, we don’t sell just a 5 by 7, we have package A for X amount of dollars, we have package B for X amount of dollars and we have package C for X amount of dollars. I think that sometimes when people are speaking to her she doesn’t hear what they are saying but instead hears the same thing that Charlie Brown hears when his teacher or any adult speaks to him. Again Aunty Dory says I’ll just get the 5 by 7 and again the CM explains, we don’t sell just 5 by 7, we have package A for X amount of dollars, we have package B for X amount of dollars and we have package C for X amount of dollars. Well, can you guess what Aunty Dory says? Yep, she says, okay, um, um, um, I’ll take the 5 by 7. At this point steam begins to come out of the CM’s mouse ears and through gritted teeth says, we don’t sell just 5 by 7, we have package A for X amount of dollars, we have package B for X amount of dollars and we have package C for X amount of dollars. At this point my DH walked away so we can only speculate what may have happened but Aunty Dory returned 10 minutes later with package A.
Next the introduction of the cast of characters

 

[teacher2525]

Here is my cast of characters for the trip (I’m hearing a drum roll in my head)

Well first there is me, the Walt Disney World planner. I really am having a tough time coming up with a Disney character to represent myself but I’ll go with Lilo because she is the caretaker of Stitch and as a SPED teacher for children with emotional and behavioral disorders I sometimes feel like the caretaker of a classroom full of Stitches. Plus Lilo and Stitch is my favorite movie.

Next, there is my DH. Before we were married and had children I would equate him to Winnie the Pooh (kind of looks like him, nice easy going personality). After the whole married with children thing, I would say Donald Duck . I was DUPED!

DS#1 (9 years old), we’ll call him Buzz, which is his favorite ride and he has to buy those Toy Story Army men every time we go to Disney world. He is responsible, quite smart and not much of a thrill seeker even though he thinks he is.

DS#2 (7 years old), we’ll call him Stitch because he wreaks havoc in our lives but means well. He’s my thrill seeker, going on every ride as soon as he could make the height requirement.

DS#3 (3 years old), we’ll call him Happy because he was happy from the minute he was born. He rarely cried, you could take him anywhere and he was always smiling. I used to call him my little happy face.

Well this trip originated because we felt like we had a very confusing trip in October due to the large number of travelers (even though Aunty Dory kept us laughing ) and because no one wanted to go to the Disney resort in Vero Beach. Oh yeah and my DH hit a big football pool. However, I never told the kids we were going. Actually I told DS#3 but because he is 3 years old and has no reference of time the other two boys thought he was talking about the old trip, and I convinced them he didn’t know what he was talking about. I had to have someone to talk to about it! The secret was eating me alive! I actually told DS#2 when he was coming out of his anesthesia after having his tonsils removed because it was a horrible experience and I would have done anything to take the pain away. Luckily he really didn’t remember. Although one day he said to me, “For some reason, I think we are going to Disney World.” I just told him I sure wished we were going and he never mentioned it again. I can’t tell you how hard this was to do but it was worth it, plus I had DS#3 to chat with on our daily ride to daycare everyday.

 

[teacher2525]

Departure day eve is never ending . I’ve been packed forever and the kids think that we are going camping. No one even asked me why we were packing suitcases for camping, we never pack suitcases for camping, we always pack laundry baskets. The trusting innocence of youth! I remember when I was little my mother told me she could fly over the floor after she washed it, I don’t think that I realized the truth until high school!

Anyway, I get the kids to bed which was a feat in and of itself because they were bubbling over with excitement at the thought of going camping and spending the day at Santa’s Village. Good thing they don’t know that we are really going to Disney World or they would have never went to sleep. We have a 6:30 AM flight which means that we have to leave our house at 4:00 AM, drive to my parent’s house so we can get to Logan Airport by 5:00 AM. I am suffering from alarm anxiety. I set 3 alarm clocks plus my cell phone and still can’t sleep because I am afraid it won’t go off and that I will miss my flight.

No need for alarms because I think I dozed off for about 45 minutes, the excitement was just more than I could handle. Eventually I gave up on the idea of sleep, got up at about 3:00 AM , took a shower, checked my flight and the weather in Orlando . Everything looked great!

Finally it was time to wake the boys up. I head upstairs with my video camera and the older 2 jump out of bed and get dressed for what they think is a camping trip. I wake up the baby (mind you he is 3 years old but I think we will still refer to him as the baby even when he is 33 years old). I get him dressed and as everyone is putting on their shoes I turn on the video camera again so we can tell them where we are really going. Finally, I say to my littlest one, tell the boys our secret, tell them where we are really going today. He tells them we are going to Disney World on the airplane. At this point I expect to hear screams of delight and cheering. Nothing, not even the sound of crickets (well it was 4:00 AM). I say really, we are going to Disney and we wanted to surprise you. Again, nothing , well maybe crickets this time. My oldest kind of gives me a half smile as if to say yeah, right ma! I should mention that I have a very dry and sarcastic sense of humor and my children have grown accustomed to this through the years so they had every right not to believe me. I then tell them that the trailer is not hooked up and if they didn’t believe me they soon would because we were driving to Papa’s and he was taking us to the airport. They look dumbfounded and I notice a slight look of hopefulness on their faces, a look that says oh my God, she might be serious. I say, I swear to God, we are staying at the Beach Club Villas and we are flying Jet Blue. Finally we get a little cheering because Jet Blue has TVs for every one and we always wanted to try the Beach Club.

We pile into the van to head to my parents and the excitement is building. We make it to my parents my father hops into the van and my mother pops her head in to say goodbye to the kids. We usually take my mother with us and as we pull out of the driveway my oldest son says boy, it’s kinda sad leaving Nonnie behind.
We have a little trouble getting to the airport due to a Tunnel closure but make it in time to have a quick breakfast and jump on the plane. It must be my lucky day because I always get stuck sitting with the littlest child of our family and this time he wants to sit with his father. I wonder if my luck will hold up ?

 

[teacher2525]

Let’s see, last time I posted we were on the plane. The kids were crazy with excitement and my little one (who doesn’t sit still, but what 3 year old does) still wanted to sit with daddy. Yeah! The plane takes off on time and without issue. The sit with daddy thing lasted about 30 minutes and then the little wiggle worm moved up with me and the fun began, tray up tray down, where’s my backpack, let’s color, I need to go to the bathroom, let’s change the channel. Not even the old stand by of Dora the Explorer could keep him busy for a while. DS #2 watched the map of the US and our journey down the East Coast the whole time, it is the quietest he has ever been, I think he still didn’t believe we were going to Disney and had to watch the map to make sure. DS #1 wasn’t heard from due to his video game addiction. We land at 8:50 am, 40 minutes early, woo hoo! We head to Alamo car rental to pick up our SUV that we got for 9 days for only $209.00 after all various charges (thanks to codes and coupons), What a deal! There was no line, no waiting and our was ready to go. The travel Gods are with us, I am hoping they stay with us and our room is ready but I am not to hopeful because we are there so early. We ended up with a Toyota Highlander, which held all of our luggage, a carriage (I’ve never been to Disney without a carriage since I’ve been married, the whole baby thing came upon us quite quickly and some what unexpectedly) our carry ons and us very comfortably.
Off we go to the Beach Club Villas hoping we can check in. Well, the travel Gods are still with us because at 10:30 in the morning we are unpacking all our belongings in the 1 bedroom villa we requested. I wanted a view of Spaceship earth.

The boys all took turns in the Jacuzzi tub while I unpacked and sent DH to the supermarket for lots of liquids, I hate paying almost $3.00 for water and as a family of 5 we drink a lot of water. We were having lunch by the pool at noon, . We were on the dining plan because we liked it last time but I don’t think we would do it again. The counter services were lousy. We were spoiled because last time we stayed at Saratoga Springs, which has really good counter service and we also frequented Wolfgang Puck Express and the Earl of Sandwich at downtown Disney. I have heard many people complain about counter services but I really enjoyed the counter services. Now I get it, we did not have 1 good counter service the whole trip.
The swimming complex at the Yacht and Beach club is amazing and somewhat overwhelming. My DH was still at the supermarket so I was in charge of all 3 boys and let me tell you their little heads were spinning. They didn’t know where to go first. I directed them to the water slide and DS #3 and I waited at the bottom while they went on the water slide. They came down saying how awesome it was, let me warn you that my definition of awesome is very different from the definition of a 7 year old and a 9 year old, I did not think the slide was awesome . You begin the ride by shooting through a dark tube, which induces a feeling of motion sickness. You exit the tube, very thankfully I might add, only to be drowned under a waterfall. Once you stop choking from the surprise waterfall, begin to breathe again and harbor hopes of enjoying the rest of the slide you are again pummeled by another waterfall and then you are spit into the pool. Consider yourself officially warned about the “awesome” slide at the Yacht and Beach Club. You can experience a much more pleasant ride at the Boardwalk or Saratoga Springs. Also, the water temperature of the pools wasn’t very refreshing but I suppose that is due to the fact that it was 152 degrees and cloudless. We had many more refreshing swims once the sun started to go down plus it was much less crowded. The pool also had a section that was a constant whirlpool and the boys really enjoyed that. Then there was the lazy river, home to many ducks, these ducks had no problem jumping in the pool with you. Many people thought the duck thing was great, I however have a huge bird phobia due to a near miss by a pterodactyl in the birdhouse at the zoo paired with watching the movie The Birds at a young age and did not welcome the company of the ducks. Finally, there was the sand dune section with low level water, which was great for little kids. We swam for a couple hours then went back to the room to shower and get ready for dinner at the Flying Fish.

 

[teacher2525]

We had opening ADR for the flying fish. I didn’t know strict the dress code was so I made everyone wear a collar shirt and this was not well received. You would have thought that I was making them wear tuxedo .

The preferred style of dress for my lot is jean shorts and t-shirts and God forbid I try to change it up a bit and a button down shirt or something with a collar. So, we are all dressed and we head to the Flying Fish. We decide to walk over from the Beach Club villas and we could see over the horizon what looked to be pouring rain over MGM Studios, it was an incredible site. We were worried that the skies were going to open up on us and hustled it to the Flying Fish. The skies did not open up and that was as close as we got to rain all week.
We were seated at the restaurant and introduced to our waiter Curly (that was what it said on his name tag), he was well over six feet tall, big, bald and looked some what intimidating but very nice. I mention that he looked intimidating because he proved to be an important behavioral management tool when dealing with my 3 year old all week. Remember, we were up at 4:00 AM that morning and even with a nap my DS#3 was cranky. He wanted no part of this restaurant business and was not very cooperative.
We ordered, I got the Snapper, which was delicious, I believe DH got a steak of some sort and was pleased with it. My oldest 2 got steak and thought that they were being tortured because it was a real meal and not a junk pizza meal or chicken nugget meal. The little guy got Mickey pasta and thought it was the best thing ever. He did not want to stay seated or do anything we asked for that matter but if Curly mentioned anything he would comply. Therefore, when we wanted him to comply with anything we told him Curly said …… whatever. The child’s dessert was really cool, it was this white chocolate puzzle that you assembled and painted with edible paints, here is a picture.

We took the boat back to our villa and DS#3 thought that was the best thing ever. We put the little guy to bed with the help of Curly’s authoritative persona and the rest of us passed out from exhaustion. Day 2 our Epcot adventure

 

[teacher2525]

We woke up bright and early Thursday morning ; well I woke up bright and early and got ready 1st. Then Stitch called and woke the boys up. We were headed to Epcot for opening ceremonies. This was our 1st time opening Epcot. We had a quick bite to eat, I packed the infamous baggalini, and with a touring plan in hand we were ready to go. We exit the room to take the 9 mile hike to the elevator when it starts, my middle son goes racing towards the elevator and says, “I’m gonna push the button!’ Well, you can see where this is going. My oldest then says well if your pushing that button then I’m pushing the inside button. In turn the youngest says, I wanna push the button toooo! We negotiate the whole button thing but this turns out to be quite an issue throughout the trip (hence, my trip title) by the end, I was ready to push the button, the eject button .
We decide to drive to Epcot because of the issue we read about in the unofficial guide and wanted to get fast passes for soaring ASAP. They let us into the park up until the rope and my husband and I separate. His job is to shoot to Soaring for FP and meet us at Test Track. Well, opening ceremonies take place, my little guy is jumping out of his skin at the sight of the characters and the whole park opens up. I head to Test Track with the boys to wait for DH. However there is a little something you should know about me, I suffer from a direction disability , maybe I inherited it from aunty Dory , who knows? I get lost in the mall, and my husband will say we just came from that direction, how could you not know this? I honestly don’t know, I just have no sense of direction. Well, in all the hustle and bustle I head in the wrong direction and run into my DH and I yell to him, hey, over here! At this point I am thoroughly impressed with how quickly he picked up the fast passes, so I let him know how impressed I am and he is just shaking his head . He informs me, well he doesn’t really inform as much as he belittles me. He says how can I possibly have picked up the fast passes when they just opened the park. Well, I don’t know that’s why I am so impressed . Then he says your going the wrong way, um yeah, yeah, I knew that , just wanted to check on you .
Finally I make it to Test track with the boys where we wait for my DH in front of a fan in the shade, boy does that feel good because it is already hot, hot, hot ! While I’m in line I have a brainstorm , I should get a child swap pass just in case DS#3 doesn’t make the height requirement, he is about ¼ inch short but we have been teaching him how to stand tall. DH gets back quite quickly and doesn’t even mention the little direction mishap (smart move on his part). We walk right on Test Track, no line no waiting and DS#3 passes all height checkpoints, yeah! My oldest DS was nervous because it was his 1st time but he loved it. My little guy would not go back n for all the tea in China. Now we still have the fast pass for three people from the child swap and we can’t let them go to waste, we will use them this evening after dinner.
We head over to mission space for the non-spinning version. The boys are nervous because they think they are responsible for pushing the button at the appropriate time of lift off and if they mess up something bad will happen. The get in line and I take DS# 3 to the exit of mission space and decide to see if I can get a child swap pass so I can go on with them again. We find an awesome play structure at the exit of mission space and DS#3 is having a blast while we wait. However, we have been waiting a very long time and I start to wonder if they came out and I missed them. I’m thinking that I couldn’t possibly of missed them because I was right at the exit but after the whole direction issue earlier, I’m second guessing myself. Finally I gather up DS#3 and the carriage and head out into the daylight (it is very dark in mission space) and I see them. DH is not looking happy and I think I hear a Donald Duck tantrum coming on. Well, I guess the boy’s anxiety got the best of them and they were afraid that if they didn’t push the appropriate button in time then the whole spaceship would blow up or something. DH was not very understanding and said he was not going to stand in line again if they changed their mind. He can be such a baby sometimes so we just ignored him for a while and headed over to the living seas (I think that is what it is called). We went on the ride which we all liked and then saw Turtle talk with Crush. That was really funny! The show let out just in time for out fast pass time at soaring. I hated to rush out because there was so much to look at there but fast passes aren’t good forever,
We arrive just in time to use our fast passes and go through the rigorous height screening process, which we pass again. I am so excited , I love this ride. We buckle up and off we go, soaring into the wild blue yonder. I sat the little guy between my husband and myself and the poor little thing thought we were really soaring and held on for dear life. He didn’t hate it like test track but he was glad it was over because he said the fireworks gave him a heart attack. We had lunch at the land; rode the boat ride and got fast passes for soaring again after dinner. Hopefully we can talk DS#3 into going on again. We left the park for a swim and nap break.
We get back to the Villas, hit the lobby and it starts, I’m gonna push the button!

 

[teacher2525]

After a lengthy argument about who was gonna push the button we get to the room and encounter the next issue, I wanna do the card (to open the door). My God people, we are in Disney world, there is no need for this! All the fun the there is to be had and you’re going to argue over this ! They all look at me with their big brown eyes and say sorry mother we are so grateful for this trip and realize how fortunate we are to have this experience. YEAH RIGHT! The argument continues until I declare from this point forward nobody is to push a button or open the door with the card key ever, ever for the whole trip! Now there, I set them straight !
We enter the room to settle the little guy in for a nap. To do this we have to pretend everyone is taking a nap but really the other guys are waiting for him to pass out so they can go to the quiet pool, fortunately this doesn’t take long. While they are there they figure out a magical way to make the 101-degree pool seem refreshing, you sit in the hot tub for about 3 minutes and then jump in the pool, it feels great !
I organize, pack the baggalini, shower and get ready while they are out. We had 5:45 reservations in Italy and fast passes to use. Unfortunately the nap was never ending and we had to wake him up and get him ready to go, waking him up is never good . My happy little guy is again in a fowl mood for dinner again and as usual he’ll sit next to me. We walked over to Italy and were seated quickly but it was packed! I know the restaurant is now closed but it is true what they say about the fettuccini it was out of this world! I was not bright enough to order it but my DH got the sampler and I tried it. I got the gnocchi, which were o.k. I should know better than to order anything with gravy (this is Italian for marinara sauce) because I am Italian and very picky when it comes to any gravy. The boys all got pasta with butter, what kind of Italians am I raising, pasta with butter ? Dessert was delicious but I forget what it was, something chocolaty.
After dinner we ran to catch the boat because we could see it coming and did not want to walk to future world after our enormous Italian meal. We hauled our very full selves to soaring just in time to use our fast passes. We walked by all those people in the 90-minute stand by line and were very thankful we had our fast passes. How anyone could stand in a line that long is beyond me . It is all about planning people, don’t you get that? I guess not because they were all in line, very sad for them. Next we headed to imagination to ride the figment ride. I’ve always loved figment and all my boys enjoyed it but DS#3 loved, loved, loved figment. He thought Figment was the funniest thing ever, especially the part when he turned into a skunk, he is still talking about it! He bought himself a figment shirt and small stuffed animal with his Disney dollars. He loves his oversized, purple tied dyed figment shirt. While we shopped the guys went over to use the child swap fast pass for test track from this morning. Now, I wonder if saving child swap passes when you didn’t really need to use them in the first place constitute unethical Disney behavior but I figure you got to take advantage of the bonuses where you can find them . So I also got them for soaring and mission space, now I’m definitely going to Disney HE double hockey sticks. Oh well I hope they have soaring there.
The boys still don’t want to go on mission space due to their fear of not pushing the button at the right time and blowing the whole thing up or possible ride ejection, plus DH is refusing to go on even if they want to because of the issue in the morning. You would think that he would have got over that by now and perhaps develop some empathy for their fear, but Nooo! You see my DH suffers from a common male syndrome called assaholism (I’ll only use this word once in case it is considered offensive and if it is I am sorry it is just a name I made up to define his male personality affliction). From this point forward I will refer to it as his syndrome or affliction. I know all you women out there with brothers, husbands, male co-workers, or friends know of the syndrome which I speak, all those ridiculous things that they turn into huge issues and in turn drive us crazy. For example, my DH loses his mind if you open the refrigerator door for more than 2.5 seconds to perhaps look for what you need and yells shut the door, shut the door, hurry up and shut the door! The poor children have developed a nervous twitch every time the refrigerator door opens. I think we need a map on the refrigerator door to help us get in and out quicker. We have a similar issue when the air conditioning is on and he is home. I have to carefully plan the exit out the door with military precision, it is like a military mission, we line up at the door with all our gear, I open the door and yell GO, GO, GO! I am happy to report that I haven’t lost a man yet . Unfortunately there is not a 12-step program for this syndrome and the female species with all the patience she can muster works hard at managing and shaping the behaviors affiliated with this affliction . To all of you sisters out there dealing with this syndrome fight the good fight, know that we are making this world a better place and you are not alone.
Anyway, since we weren’t going to use the child swap fast passes, I thought I would give them away and make someone’s day. I ended up finding 3 teenagers who were psyched to get it; it feels nice to spread the magic around.
The original plan was to go home but DH wanted to stay for the laser show and fireworks and being the accommodating person that I am I agreed.

We didn’t have the best view, we were on the bridge near the backdoor exit of the park but the kids were happy with their Disney lollipops and enjoyed what they could see.

We walked back to the villas and nobody was there to say welcome home. Where were they ? Maybe a shift change? How could the mouse leave the lobby unattended? I was very upset, who was going to say welcome home to me? Sensing my disappointment DS#3 said, welcome home mama, and I was thinking how sweet he was and then he followed that up with, can I push the button? Oh man !

 

[teacher2525]

I forgot to mention that back on day one I went to have my older tickets checked to verify my unused visits. I go to the front desk and present 2 adult tickets each with one remaining day on them. The perky desk person says Oh no you don't have any days left on these passes and throws them out. Lesson number 1, I should have asked for the tickets back, I should have kept those passes.
I also have her check a child park hopper ticket that I know has several water park/disney quest admissions on them and at least one park visit if not two. Miss Suzy sunshine then says oh no you don't have any park days just two plus visits Well if you say so, I mean you have it there right on the computer. Lesson number 2, I should have asked for a printout because she could be confused despite her perky air of confidence.
Well I say I can't believe that I am that far off I'll need to add some days onto the child park hopper pass. A lot of typing ensues and nothing . More typing but still nothing. Miss Sunshine who is now somewhat bewildered tells me she can't add on but will sell me a separte park ticket and I can still use my plus visits on the other ticket. So now I am on my way with all tickets situated for the week or so I think:
I hope to post a real update soon to tell you the truth about Miss suzy sunshines ticket accuracy but now I am supposed to be making vocabulary cards for my group tomorrow and not playing on Disboards

 

[teacher2525]

The next day was to be our very 1st trip to Universal Studios. I kind of felt like a Disney traitor. We bought those $86.00 (what a deal, we thought!) tickets that were good for unlimited visits for the whole week. We figured we would spend at least 4 days at this awesome park . We were all very excited because we had never been and the little video clips on the Universal Studio’s website left us with eager anticipation for the real thing. We watched those clips so many times that and got our hopes up for the most amazing park ever only to realize, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS IS NOT DISNEYWORLD, I REPEAT, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS IS NOT DISNEYWORLD!
Well lets start with the good news, Universal is empty for almost the 1st 2 hours the park is open. No lines, no waiting and no opening ceremonies like Disney world, you just walk in. I liked the no lines part but missed all the fanfare. The park itself was visually incredible but the attraction did not live up to our expectations.

Most rides did not have the magical touch of Disney. We boarded the Jaws attraction with great anticipation. My oldest two joined me, one on each side of me, cowering in fear (they went on willingly) and got off saying that wasn’t scary. Actually it was kind of cheesy. I would even venture to say it was cheesier than the Jungle ride, who knew that was possible ? I won’t give you a blow by blow of our disappointment of each ride because I think you get the picture. I never realized how the little things at Disney make such a difference. We stopped for lunch and the girls at the fast food joint conversed over our heads in Spanish and waited on us when they were ready (I wasn’t feeling the love there) We didn’t get the hop to it service we’ve grown accustomed to, I think we’ve become spoiled! We weren’t greeted with enthusiasm upon entering each attraction. Although, I must say we did experience some Universal magic at the Barney attraction, I was very impressed with the show and all the people who worked there. However, I have sworn on my most excellent promise to never, never, ever mention that my 9 year old son went to the Barney show and have managed to keep that promise thus far. But sometimes when the little pre-teen attitude sneaks in I threaten him that maybe just maybe if he doesn’t lose the attitude I might accidentally slip and mention his visit with Barney. Not that I would but I just can’t resist to zing him a little. We also enjoyed the E.T ride, it was cute and it was nice in cool because the line was inside.
We decide that because it is so empty we won’t go back for a nap and swim break and just finish the whole park today. Big, big mistake , we wound up at the back of the park when we hit the wall. No-one wanted to see anything else but nobody had the strength to make it back to the car and the heat and sun were brutal. I really thought one of us was going to drop. The walk back to the car felt like the 8th day of a 7 day hike through Death Valley. DH pushes the carriage, I pull DS #2 along while he was crying and DS #3makes it on his own. While we were walking I was thinking that I should be a better person and go to church more because if this is how hot Hell feels, I want to cover all my bases and make sure I don’t wind up there. Actually, I’m just kidding, we try to go to church regularly and to be thankful for all we have and have made a concerted effort not to be lazy about it. Especially since I made a deal with God that if DS#2’s cystic fibrosis test came back negative that I would go all summer, it was negative and we did.
We eventually make it to the moving sidewalks that take you to the parking garage and DS#2 and DS#1 sat on the moving sidewalk, I felt like sitting also but was afraid I wouldn’t be able to stand up again. DH had the carriage and couldn’t ride the moving sidewalk, he complains and I inform that sometimes you have to make sacrifices and then I laugh. Well, too bad for him, he could have pulled crying DS#2 along and I would have pushed the carriage but he picked the carriage. Maybe he’ll choose more wisely next time! Yeah, we found the car and head back to our Beach Club Villa. We were never so happy to hear our Disney friends say welcome home and nobody even mentioned pushing the button.
We rested, swam for a couple of hours and then got the kitchen sink for dinner and didn’t even come close to putting a dent in it. We watched the Epcot fireworks from our balcony and everyone passes out!

 

[teacher2525]

Okay, I promised myself that I would finish this trip report before my one-year trip anniversary and it is coming up quickly. I am currently counting down the days until my next trip in December at OKW . Well when I last posted we had gone to Universal Studios and managed to make back to the BCV before we died of heat exhaustion.
The next day we slept in and had breakfast with the characters at the Cape May Café, it was cute and we had fun.

I can already see my oldest becoming too cool for the characters, it is kind of sad the little boy is fading fast into a pre-teen. He was a trooper about it and never complained. Actually, we just went to a small amusement park in NH and He took a picture with Bob the builder but made me promise not to show anyone including my friends.

Today we plan on checking out Laser quest. This will be our 1st time visiting Laser quest and I don’t think that I would go back until they were old enough to go out on there while I sat at the Cheesecake factory.

The trip didn’t start out well because despite checking my tickets with the very friendly and confident CM my DS#1 could not get in . I calmly (please note that I was calm this time…) explained to the CM at the ticket booth that I was assured that he did have leftover admission to the park but he wasn’t very helpful or very concerned and I had to purchase admission to Laser Quest. I wasn’t Happy.
We entered Laser Quest and were bombarded by sights and sounds . Can you say OVERSTIMULATION? DS #2’s head was spinning and I had to hold him still and say, “FOCUS, you can only do 1 thing at a time.” They started out On Buzz light year ride

and the rest was a blur. I would have liked some playtime for myself because there were all sorts of video games from back in my time, as the kids said. The best part was skeeball ; you could play as much as you wanted. We spent much longer than we expected in there but that was okay because 2 of my 3 children were on the brink of heat stroke and had thrown up the day before.
We returned to the resort for a break and to get ready for dinner. We had reservations somewhere but ended up dining at Spoodles. It’s funny, I couldn’t get reservations for Spoodles 180 days out but I got seated walking in within 30 minutes, go figure! The pork chops were really good there and DH got some sort of steak kabobs that he said were good. The Joke of the week was that it was always somebody’s birthday in a restaurant. I sang, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear, (insert name here), Happy Birthday to you. DS#1 thought that was hysterical and almost fell to the floor laughing, we sang it at every restaurant. I forget what we had for dessert but the kids got make your own sundaes and as DS#1 sprinkled Rainbow Jimmies on his, he said, “ Everything is better with Jimmies.” That statement struck me and I thought to myself that it was such a small thing that made him happy and I had to do that a little more, remember all of the rainbow Jimmies of my life. He was right; the Jimmies of life make everything better !

 

[teacher2525]

The next day we had planned to go to Islands of Adventure. I wasn’t incredibly excited about this because we were so disappointed with Universal Studios. We arrived for the park opening, which consists of just letting people in, no fanfare there . DS # 3 had to sit out a lot but was a good sport about it.

DH, DS#1 and DS#2 went on Spiderman which they reported as scary.

Next, I went on Ripsaw falls with DS#2 and we loved it so we went again on accident (we stumbled onto the baby switch area, took a wrong turn and ended up in the nonexistent line again, no line, no waiting) Honestly, how could we not go on again , we were right there! I remembered the Dudley do right cartoon from when I was little and had a great flashback from the past. The ride was like an edgier Splash Mountain with a much larger fall and you got soaked. DS#2 and I left the ride so excited and hurried to tell the others about it. Unfortunately we took too long on the ride and DH had changed into his cranky pants. He didn’t want to go on it so I let him sulk. Honestly, I can’t tell you how many times I sat and waited with the carriage and a baby for everyone else to ride something. He can be such a baby sometimes, I feel like I have 4 kids!

We moseyed on over to the Popeye and Bluto bilge barge (or something like that) ride.

The kids loved it but were soaked (fortunately I put them in bathing suits) and DH’s cranky pants were now soaked(also, don't forget the affliction he suffers from) . This made him even crankier. Well I could not deal with him being a crank-pot all day so I sent him to buy himself a bathing suit. He looked everywhere (so he said) and couldn’t find one. I looked for 2 minutes and found one with pockets. He loved it, changed out of his cranky pants and was a new man. See there just like big babies you change their pants and they’re fine .

Now DH was in a good mood and was wearing his non-cranky pants that could get wet so he decided he did wan to try Ripsaw falls. We walked back and DS#1 suddenly had a moment of braveness and decided to join his dad and brother on the ride. I kept waiting for him to chicken out because as soon as we arrived in Disneyworld all he could talk about was how he was definitely going on Splash Mountain; he was soo going on splash Mountain and couldn’t wait to go on Splash Mountain. However as we were eating dinner and talking about going on Splash Mountain he started to quietly cry. I asked him what was wrong and he said he didn’t think he was ready. I told him, “No problem you don’t have to go.” Plus DS#2 was psyched because that meant an extra FP for him. He did it; he actually went on Ripsaw Falls and loved it. Watch out, Splash Mountain here I come!

We headed over to the Pteradon Flyers but there was an hour wait so we skipped it. DH and DS#2 went on Jurassic Park but DS#1 Skipped it (there is only so much braveness in one day and he used his up already. I went on alone and it was just like the movie, it was amazing and scary (good call on DS#1’s part) DS #2 said he wouldn’t go on again.

We walked over to the flying Unicorn Coaster and went on it 3 times, the boys loved it!

Finally, we made our way over to Seuss landing. I love Doctor Seuse and therefore loved that area. I

bought the boys t-shirts Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3 and took their Christmas pictures in it for the Yearly Christmas Card. We rode everything in Seuss landing and headed home. We didn’t want to hit the wall like we did at Universal Studios. All in All we really liked Island of Adventure.

 

[angela3676]

I am really lovin your trip report. I haven't finished reading it all yet but I will. Aunt Dory is a hoot. Your boys are so adorable.

 

[teacher2525]

I am really lovin your trip report. I haven't finished reading it all yet but I will. Aunt Dory is a hoot. Your boys are so adorable.

Thanks for replying, I was wondering if anybody was reading it

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

I'll catch up tonight but so far...one question what are the opening ceremonies at Epcot? When we do get up early we head into the parks for an ADR at one place or another. I don't know what any of them consist of.

And Aunt Dory....oh lord! I think I would have made an exception and sold the woman a 5x7...

That's a handomse trio you have there too! They could get into some trouble w/ my DS!

 

[Disney_Angel]

I love your trip report and you have a beautiful family!

 

[teacher2525]

I'll catch up tonight but so far...one question what are the opening ceremonies at Epcot? When we do get up early we head into the parks for an ADR at one place or another. I don't know what any of them consist of.

And Aunt Dory....oh lord! I think I would have made an exception and sold the woman a 5x7...

That's a handomse trio you have there too! They could get into some trouble w/ my DS!

Thanks! I've only been to opening ceremonies at Epcot and Magic Kingdom (not sure if the other parks do it) but they keep everyone behind a certain area and the characters are paraded out (at Epcot they shake the kids hands if your up front) and there is a countdown and the park opens .

As for Aunt Dory she keeps us laughing and you would be surprised eith all the special deals she manages to talk herself into, I'm surprised she didn't get what she wanted.

 

[teacher2525]

I love your trip report and you have a beautiful family!

Thanks for reading! I hadn't heard from anyone out there at first an I wasn't sure anyone was out there, it is nice to hear from people

 

[teacher2525]

After a great day at Islands of Adventure we went home for a nap and a swim break. We went through the usual routine of I’m gonna push the button and tricked DS#3 into napping while I swam with the other 2. We ate at Wolfgang Puck, It was pretty good we ate there before, but I don’t remember what we got. We tried to go shopping at DTD but it was mobbed so we just went back to the Beach Club and watched the Epcot Fireworks

from our balconies. The kids ran from their balcony to our balcony about a million times. We settled down for bed, my family of 5 and 1 uninvited guest.