I'm right behind your tushie!! A January 2011 TR!! Updated April 27th

[stayhomemom77]

Hello, hello to friends old and new.

Are you ready to have some fun?

Good!! Cause I'm going to relive my most recent trip to the world and you are heartily welcome to come along!

So, the particulars are...

DH36 A TOTAL FOODIE!! No longer Disney resistant , just Disney World resistant (wants to visit OTHER places (Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Disneyland Tokyo etc) before we go back to Florida. I can totally get on board with that!!

Me35 Obsessed with all things Disney

DD7 Loves princesses and fairies, a leeeeetle ride reluctant (hates loud noises) and a huge fan of the pools

DS5 Hates meeting the characters but loves the rides and loves the trips...will do character meals but won't get up to hug anyone

Stayed at Pop Century from January 1st to 7th with the DDP. (We paid for the upgrade!!)

How did this trip come about, you ask? Here is a link to my TR for full details: [URL="http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2540725"]PTR[/URL]

But in a nutshell, when the free dining offer went up, I looked into it and got DH on board because he had some guilt left over from a recent purchase of a very expensive road bike.

I'm going to begin in the tale in the next post and leave this one for handy dandy links.

So, without further ado, heeeeere we go....

Departure Day Part One
Departure Day Part Two (With a Kona Review)
Day Two--Hollywood Studios
Day Two, Part Two--Hollywood Studios Continued
Day Three, Part One--Early Entry for Breakfast at Crystal Palace!!
Day Three, Part Two--Pooh and Pals, Fairies and Princesses, Oh My!
Day Three, Part Three--An Island of Adventure!!
Day Three, Part Four--Saying Goodbye to the Country Houses!
Day Three, Part Five--Ohana, Baby!!
Day Four, Part One--Breakfast with Donald...my kind of duck!!
Day Four, Part Two--Gettin' Wild in the AK!!
Day Four, Part Three--A Mouse, A Dino and a Couple of Pigs!
Day Five, Part One--A Park Free Day (or not!)
Day Five, Part Two--Park free! Except we went to Epcot!
Day Six--Our "Official" Epcot day!
Day Six, Part Two
Day Six, Part Three
Day Six, Part Four--Tutto Italia, Baby!!
Day Seven, Part One--Headin' Home. (Well, eventually!)
Day Seven, Part Two--Mostly Pics of DTD!
Day Seven, Part Three--More Pics!!
Day Seven, Part Four--POFQ...finally!!
Day Seven, Part Five--This is the end!!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Even though it was departure day and I was excited, I was able to sleep in a bit!! I woke up with a sinus headache for the second time that week, so I stayed in bed for an hour or so and dozed a bit, hoping it would wear off by the time I actually had to get up and moving. When I was lying flat on my back I could feel my sinuses draining but once I rolled over to my side it ceased abruptly.

DH was up and so were the kids but they didn’t disturb me and allowed me to get up on my own. After a while, I came downstairs and had Cheerios (the breakfast of champions) and we all hung out waiting until it was time to leave for the airport. We read and played Disney Yahtzee and the kids “practiced” going to Disney with their carry on suitcases to pass the time until we were able to leave. When DH began to load the luggage into the car, DD excitedly ran around the house singing “Halelulia” at the top of her lungs while her brother chased her cheering! I must confess, this was a much better treatment of the Disney surprise than the one we had been treated to on revelation day!

We had great weather in Windsor on departure day…a high of 52 degrees F so the snow had all melted and it was quite mild for January 1st. We left the house at 11 a.m. and had no troubles whatsoever with traffic, the border crossing (in fact he was quite jovial and kind) or the drive to the airport. However, DD told us once we were on the 1-94 in Michigan that she was feeling sick to her stomach and she stared out the window and took several deep breaths. Thankfully it was only about 10 minutes longer before we got to the parking lot so tragedy was averted. Her breakfast didn’t repeat on her and she was all smiles once again.

We began the trip with excellent bus mojo for the shuttle van pulled up to the bus stop just as we stepped up on the curb. We piled right in and it was only our family and one other couple who were dropped off first at the other terminal. Our driver was friendly and efficient and before we knew it, we were standing in front of McNamara Terminal gathering our luggage together and bracing ourselves for security.

Once again, we dealt with kind and efficient staff and we were checked through security much faster than I could have hoped possible. The security officials were quite patient and pleasant to us as we corralled our kids and walked them through the metal detectors. Once on the other side, one of our suitcases was opened and checked and the officer was almost apologetic when explaining what they were about to do. It was DH’s suitcase so I took the kids and everything I could carry and moved over out of the way so we could get our shoes back on and DH joined us not more than a moment later so the inspection obviously didn’t take that long. We put everything back to rights (shoes back on, strollers closed up—the helpful security folk had opened them up for us after they had been scanned and liquid baggies stuffed back into our carry on bags) and then walked up to the boards to figure out what gate we needed.

We were faaaaaaaar down at one end of the terminal so it was a long walk (broken up by a potty stop) before we got there. We sat and organized ourselves and I went up to check in because our boarding passes didn’t have our seat assignments. We had not be assigned to sit together and when the lady realized that we were a family she redid our seat assignments for us and told us she would page us when they were ready. DH ran back to Popeyes to get fries and popcorn chicken for the kids and brought me back a salad. He went somewhere else for his food…some kind of chipotle turkey wrap that cost $9 and didn’t taste at all of chipotle and he shared a bit with me.

In the meantime I made a startling discovery! I got the camera out to take pics of the kids looking out the window at the planes and I realized that the camera battery was dying and I had FORGOTTEN THE CHARGER!! Thankfully, DH’s android can take photos (and he took 550 on this trip) but there were so many things I had planned to document which I had to pass on due to my limited capabilities. Anyway, after the camera debacle I got the tags for our strollers so we could gate check them and our seat assignments were ready….row 15, seats A,B and C and seat D in row 16. They were really great seats!! We boarded soon after we’d finished eating and had a beautiful takeoff.

The flight had been overbooked and they paged overhead, offering first class seats and a $300 credit voucher to anyone willing to wait for the next flight (5:30 pm…our flight was 2:05 pm). DH said that he might have been tempted by that but there was no way I was missing my ADR at Kona so it was never a question as far as I was concerned.

When we boarded, one of the flight attendants said, “great purse!” And of course, I was thinking…”yeah, I thought that too when I bought it but now that I’m using it I realize how much it sucks!” That’s because the zippered opening is too small (don’t you just HATE that??) so getting stuff in and out of it was a real pain. Of course, what I said was…”thank you!” with a very small smile on my face so I could pass for sincere.

Anyway, we pass the flight attendants in search of our rows and low and behold…someone was sitting in my seat. She moved over one when I arrived on the scene but not two minutes later the rightful owner of that seat came and evicted her. She moved back one row, immediately behind me on the aisle and a moment or two later she was ousted out of that seat too since that one wasn’t hers either and she actually had the gall to ROLL HER EYES at the person coming to claim their rightful seat!! I don’t know what happened to her after that but since it was a fully booked flight (they’d gate checked people’s hand luggage for free) she must have eventually had to sit in her assigned seat.

Here is an extremely unflattering picture of me making my TR notes on the plane.

So, DD was a bit nervous about flying because I had made the mistake of telling her that your ears pop as you gain altitude. So she had some crazy idea that her ears were going to EXPLODE or something and was not looking forward to flying. There was no panic or hysteria thankfully but she told us a couple of times that she was nervous. I had volunteered to sit in seat D, one row behind the rest of them on the other side. DS had the window seat, DD in the middle and DH on the aisle. That left DH in charge of the kids for the entire flight but they did great and he didn’t have any problems with them.

When we began to ascend the kids amused the passengers around us by excitedly exclaiming, “I can see Chatham!” and “I can see the whole world from up here!” They really enjoyed takeoff, calling it fun and spent most of the flight taking turns playing DH’s android and using their own DS’s. They also snacked a bit on Bits and Bites.

I had to use the bathrooms twice myself and took DS in there once as well and it wasn’t too bad. The soap was pretty stinky but otherwise I have no complaints about the experience. The in flight mini pretzels and ice water hit the spot but the drink cart stopped right beside me and hung there awhile and at one point when the flight attendant was scooping ice for someone’s drink an ice chip went right down my shirt. I got it out on the sly and no one seemed the wiser but I had a good chuckle over it and told DH about it later in the day.

I hadn’t brought myself anything to do on the flight, thinking I’d be busy with the kids so I was kind of bored and wished I’d packed myself a book. At some point during all of this I realized that my watch battery had died several hours back and I had no idea what time it was. It drove me crazy (and DH too since I kept asking him the time) until I was able to buy a new watch later that evening at Everything Pop.

We had a bit of turbulence around the half way mark of the flight and the pilot announced later that he had ascended so as to avoid it but it didn’t seem all that bad to me. We had a nice, easy landing and because of our great seats (right near the door) we were the second ones off of the plane!!

No baggage claim for us since we’d only packed carry-ons so we headed straight for the ME and moments later walked right onto a fairly full bus. We waited about 5 minutes while the luggage was stowed and a last call (so to speak) was made and we were off! Our first stop was CBR to let a few folks out but it was really quick and then we were off to Pop Century. Check in was a breeze…I didn’t even wait in line and then we practically flew to the room to dump our stuff and scurry off to the bus stop.

Up next, Kona Café and the rest of arrival night!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

HOLY CANNOLLI!!! AM I FIRST????? I don't think that's ever happened!!
Now I will go read it!

Okay - I've read! Very funny about your kids getting excited in the morning and the ice chip!!! Aren't you thankful for smart phones??? It's saved me more than once when I've forgotten a camera. I think I better start my packing list and put chargers and power strip on it right away!!

Can't wait to hear about Kona!

 

[gellybean]

I'm here, I'm here! Can't wait to read all about Kona! YUM!

@ the ice chip down your blouse! SUCKAGE about the camera charger and watch dying!

I may have to wait and read more after we get back next week! See ya on the flip side!

 

[__disneygirl]

Hi there, I'm jumping aboard with your report! Great job so far!

I am like your husband... I really want to visit other places, including the other Disney Parks around the world, but I just can't bring myself to stop going to WDW!!

I can't wait to read about Kona. It's one of our favorite places that we must visit every time we're at the world.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I'm here and only 4th!!! That's a record for me. I can't wait to hear about the whole trip. I love the image of the excited kids on take off. I wish I felt that way. I'm claustophobic so the only part of the trip I really enjoy is getting off the plane. Oh, the things we suffer to get to Disney!!

 

[MAJ RN]

Great start to your report! Your kids must have been so excited to go! Looking forward to reading more.


Melissa

 

[stayhomemom77]

I think we waited about 10 or 15 minutes for the MK bus to come…I don’t know for SURE of course, because I had a dead battery in my watch and DH had long since gotten annoyed with me asking him the time every five minutes and refused to answer that question anymore. This was the most freeing night of our trip because of the conspicuous absence of the dreaded STROLLERS! I HATE strollers…can you blame me?? My kids are 7 and just shy of 6 and yet DH insisted that we have those foul things because they’d be too tired in the parks without them.

Anyway it was really freeing this particular night not having them. We killed time in line waiting for the bus by playing Mickey says (Simon says goes Disney). The bus dropped us off at the MK and then the monorail took us around the resorts to the Poly. We arrived about 20 minutes after our ADR (we were NEVER late again on this trip…or maybe only once or twice more) but they weren’t overly busy so we held out hope that they would seat us. The hostess was extremely chipper and told us no problem. We stepped aside with the pager which went off before DD and I had returned from the bathroom. DH actually had to stand up and wave to get our attention because the boys had already been seated.

Now…here begins the food porn portion of my TR. We didn’t remember to take pictures of every meal (in fact there were quite a few that we missed) but we did our best. DD ordered a milk (which she gave to her brother since she wanted a water to drink) a salad, a cheeseburger and an ice cream sundae while DS refused all options on the menu. He mostly ate the bread and drank DH’s megaberry smoothie and then shared his sister’s dessert. I ordered appetizers as my meal (kona salad, pot stickers and –at DH’s suggestion—the crab cakes. DH used our meal credit to get the Teriyaki steak and Kileau Torte and we shared with one another.

Sorry...forgot to get a pic of this salad until I was 2/3 of the way through it. Just imagine it three times as big...

I thought the crab cakes were gross. They had a really strong fish taste and the inside was really mushy. There were two on the plate but I only ate half of one. DH finished the other half but we ended up wasting the other one completely. I don’t think I’ll ever order those again. The salad was devine!! I pulled out the red onion but otherwise I ate every scrap and grudgingly passed over a very small portion for DH to try. I’d get this again in a heartbeat…it was so tasty!

The pot stickers were also quite delicious but I am sorry that I didn’t get the sticky wings as I had originally planned. I consulted DH before ordering since we’d be sharing back and forth and he thought the crab cakes would be a lighter option to preceed all that steak and while that was entirely true…I didn’t end up having that much steak and he didn’t end up having much BESIDES his steak so it was really a non issue in the end. So, I guess we just have to go back again next time so I can try the sticky wings and have that amazing salad once again!!

DH’s steak was really good and the mashed potatoes heavenly…since I had hogged my salad I didn’t eat any of his broccolini but he went on and on about how tasty it was so that’s saying something. The torte too was really good. I only had about three bites of it but it was so rich and decadent and chocolaty that those three bites were more than enough. The server had described it as a brownie so it was cak-ier than I was expecting but tasty none the less. The bread and butter were so good we ate the ENTIRE loaf! DS had a fair amount (that was essentially his whole dinner) but DH and I put a good dent into the loaf as well.

The kids shared the make your own sundae and LOVED it! They used every drop of chocolate sauce and every sprinkle in the container and were well satisfied when they had finished!

Originally, our plan had been to catch Wishes from the Poly beach, but the fireworks were at 9 pm not at 8 pm as they previously had been posted they would be so although we checked out the pool area and spent some time on the beach, we didn’t stick around long enough to catch the show. We got back to Pop and got the kids to bed by 10 pm and then DH and I each took a turn checking out Everything Pop.

On my turn (10:15 pm) I found it to be quite crowded in there. Must have been the after fireworks crowd because you couldn’t move or shop easily. I was on a mission…I needed a watch!! I didn’t spend too long in there…so many people I just couldn’t shop comfortably but long enough to get a blue Tinkerbell watch and a Mickey head cookie cutter.

We had enjoyed a high of 75 degrees F that day (lucky, lucky us) so I went to bed a very happy camper. Oh, almost forgot…we were in the 70’s section right near the water. It wasn’t too far from the main area (3 min walk) and we were on the ground floor in room 6135. I didn’t bother to make any requests…I usually fare well with the luck of the draw and although I had been slightly disappointed with our room assignment at the desk, once we got to our room, I realized that the location was great and the ground floor was awesome considering we never had to lug the dang strollers very far.

Anyway, I went to bed just before 11 pm but I had a hard time falling asleep. For one thing, I could hear our neighbors quite a bit…there was a bit of late night rowdiness going on and I’m a light sleeper, plus I was pretty excited. I was the first one up in the morning (that NEVER happens…mama loves her sleep) but I waited patiently for the others to wake up on their own and I quietly crept around cleaning myself up and readying myself for the day.

And.....

I'm going to leave it here for now!!

 

[MAJ RN]

Great update!! Nice to know about the crab cakes, we are eating at Kona in Feb and I usually get crab cakes when they are on the menu. Looking forward to reading more.


Melissa

 

[stayhomemom77]

Everyone ready to hear about our first full day at Disney?? Okay then....

Once DH got up and went to take his turn in the bathroom, I heard something so funny from a non DISer that I had to laugh. Out from behind the privacy curtain floats the phrase, “no towel animals? What a rip!!”

I laughed out loud and he stuck his disgruntled head out to glare at me. I’m very sad to report that we never did get any towel animals during our stay this year but the kids never missed them and apparently only DH was upset about it.

Although the kids were awake in good time, we had sort of a long morning routine…the kids didn’t move terribly fast and I had promised myself no commando behavior so I didn’t push them too hard…they were done when
they were done.

We decided to have breakfast in the food court this morning and we each got a QS meal. DS got a kid’s waffle meal, DD got a kid’s pancake meal, DH got a Pop Waffle and I got the Bounty platter which I shared with the others. The food was good, but it was way too much and we ended up wasting some of it. The kids got chocolate milks and DH got an apple juice, all of which we saved for later in the parks. I got an orange juice which we all shared with our breakfast. Sorry, no pics...it didn't occur to me until after we were all done.

There was no wait for the bus to HS so we hopped right on and were there in minutes. We took a couple of pics of the Christmas tree out front (soooo big) and headed in the park. Unfortunately, we don't seem to have any of the pics we took first thing in the morning. None of the tree and none later when DD met Eeyore. Weird, huh?

Anyway, we picked up two maps (both of which got lost within an hour…that was a first!!) and DH did the first fastpass dash of the trip. At 9:30 am the fastpass return time was already 1:50 pm!! We went back again at 11:30 am when our window opened up to try again but they were all out. Oh well, only one time on TSMM for this trip, I’m afraid.

Our lunch this afternoon was going to be OOP and I have to tell you that it was completely liberating. But I’m getting ahead of myself. More on that later.

As we were heading across the park to our first ride, we saw a nonexistent line to meet Eeyore so DH took DD over and she marched right up for a hug. We got some pics and a photopass and a very happy DD came back to DS and I practically chirping with joy!

Our first attraction was Muppets 3D. Can I just say…yawn! It was like a poor man’s Philharmagic. Neither DH nor I were impressed. The kids seemed to like it though, and that’s the important thing. After that we took some pics and wandered around enjoying the Christmas decorations and the weather.

We had bribed our children to be brave on this trip. DS doesn’t like the characters, so he had to be brave about meeting some of them in order to earn himself a Pokemon stuffy and DD had to be brave about some of the rides in order to earn hers.

Backlot Tours was our next attraction, which DD did NOT want to go on. It’s too loud for her but she had to do it if she wanted her stuffy. So a crying child, cowering and covering her ears with her face buried in my belly endured the beginning sequence (I took pity on her and picked her up after a moment) although she did enjoy the later parts…all for the sake of a Pokemon stuffy!! To make up for our act of cruelty (there's no CRYING at Disney!?!?) we let her look as long as she wanted in the dump shop at the end of the ride. It was a long time!

Once she had finally finished exploring the gift shop, it was time for our 12:15 pm ressie at Sci FI. We checked in a headed to the ladies room to wash up and they called our name just as we were coming back up the hallway from the bathroom. We were seating in the front row, three cars from the left and did have hitchhikers behind us within minutes.

The boys ran off to wash up at this point and our server said he would come back in a moment. He never told us his name (and I can’t find the receipt) but he was really nice and started off by giving the kids each a driver’s license. Since this meal was OOP and their burgers are huge, we decide to share. DD and I shared a cheeseburger, fries and oreo shake and the boys shared a cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake. We also ordered DS a kid sized fruit bowl since we knew he wouldn’t have any of the burger.

The drinks came first, followed soon after by the burgers, already divided for us onto individual plates. DS gave Daddy back his half of the burger and we all fell to eating. It was so tasty and as far as I was concerned, just the right amount of food. DS ate the grapes from the fruit cup but refused to eat the melon. DH was so full from the burger and his shake that he tried to force more of his fries on me but I declined.

Sorry, no pics of the food as the lighting sucks in there and we were using DH's android at the time so there was no chance of a flash.

This was our second TS meal (third meal overall) and the third time that I had felt that not doing the dining plan would be a better choice for our family. However, DH LOVES it so I’m not sure that I’ll ever successfully get him to agree to do one trip without it. DD and I can easily share an adult meal whether it be QS or TS and DS is such a fussy eater that packing PB&J’s for him every day and sharing in between times seems to work fantastically. With the exception of the Mickey ice creams, we shared all of our snack credits and most of our breakfasts so maybe there’s hope for me to convince him yet. Anyway…back to the TR.

Although the service was prompt, it still took us about an hour to eat (how does that happen??) and we settled up and headed back out into the sunshine around 20 after 1 pm. At this point we decided to split up. DS had assured me that he was going to go on ToT (which DD wanted no part of) and she insisted it was time to do Playhouse Disney (which DS said was for babies). DH said it was too soon after lunch to attempt ToT so DS and I headed that way and DD and DH went to Playhouse Disney with a plan to meet up again in front of TSMM shortly after 2 pm so we could use our fastpasses.

As I was walking past Villains in Vogue I asked DS again if he was SURE he wanted to go on this ride because it was not required of him in order to qualify for his stuffed Pokemon. With relief he confessed that he did NOT want to ride ToT so I turned around.

On a whim, though still really full from lunch, I decided to nip into Villains in Vogue to see if they sold the carrot cake cookie there and I got one with a snack credit. I had one teeny taste and it was quite rich but quite delicious. It smelled so amazing too…this won’t be the last time I get that treat, I can tell you. I let DS have a few bites and then we stashed it under the stroller to share with the others later.

As we had a fair amount of time still until we had to be at our meeting point, we decided to check out the GMR. After a very short wait, we were wending our way through some famous movies. And this time, we got the coyboy!! Who hoo!

We weren’t quite sure what to do once we left because we still had half an hour to kill when lo and behold, we saw the others coming towards us. It turns out they got right into a show and were also wondering what to do next so they thought they’d wander. DD had a little nibble of the carrot cake...and then another...and then another and DH had a taste too. Then we put it away and headed to TSMM!!

I rode with DS and DD went with Daddy. Besides the obvious division of 2 boys and 2 girls in our family, DS and I are both lefties and DD and DH are both righties. So, that’s how we divide up, either by gender or by handedness!! In this case it was lefties versus righties. I am sad to report that the righties kicked our tushies. Although DS and I didn’t do too badly, I didn’t record our scores. Suffice it to say, DH’s score was a good 80-100 thousand more than mine.

At this point we decided to head to Art of Animation. I like the Mushu movie but for some reason it was really busy so we had to wait a fair amount of time in line before we could get into a drawing session. DS was upset because we drew Buzz and he’d wanted to do Stitch and DD wanted to do Bolt so she went ahead and drew him anyway. DS did Buzz under protest and got frustrated when he had some trouble getting started. Mommy helped him out a bit and things went more smoothly from there.

Here's mine...

DH's...

DD's....

and DS's....

The kids wanted to get back in line to draw again but we ruled against them and a compromise was struck.

We decided to head over to the HISTK playground and I made a quick pit stop before we crossed the park. When I came back out a minute or two later, my annoyed husband informed me that the kids had finished off the carrot cake cookie (without asking and without him noticing, which was why he was annoyed).

He seemed even more annoyed that I didn’t seem to care about it. While it surprised me that they had managed to scarf it so quickly (I was only in there a couple of minutes) I didn’t think it was such a big deal but he worried that they would get an upset tummy from too many sweets in such a short time. (It was a really rich treat but honestly, they’re kids…their stomachs are better equipped to handle that stuff).

Anyway, we then hung out in the playground for a while…I tried to update my notes and keep an eye on the kids at the same time (which was challenging) while DH nipped off to try and ride RRC single rider standby. He came back and said that they didn’t have a single rider line and that standby was over an hour. He decided not to try for a fastpass and just came back to us.

By this time, DS had become a pin trading pro…marching right up to CM’s and asking them if they wanted to trade. Outside of Backlot Tours they each traded two pins with the CM there (he also gave them stickers when he found out DD was a reluctant rider) and DS had approached a couple of CM’s since then. In fact, he now only had one pin left to trade!

At this point it was my turn to choose an attraction and I dragged them over to One Man’s Dream. The kids like this area but DH finds it boring but he cheerfully marched over there with us and allowed the kids to dawdle as long as they liked inside. I was so pumped up to see the movie this time but was horribly disappointed when the kids told me…three minutes before we were going to be let in that they had to go to the bathroom. DH said we could just catch the next show but by this time it was going on 6 pm and we needed to eat so we’d be able to check out the Osborne lights (the whole reason for doing HS first) before heading out of the park for the night.

Okay, I've hit the picture limit...continued in the next post!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Some pics DH took on his jaunt to RNRC...

My lone picture from One Man's Dream...sorry, I had too many pics in the last post and when I cut and paste part two here that one got mixed up!

We had promised DS dinner at Pizza Planet (SOOOOO LAME THERE) so we
headed there rather quickly as the kids had agreed to wait to use that potty. DH got in line to get the food and Mommy was on potty patrol and then we found a seat upstairs.

I’d decided to pass on eating there…my stomach was a bit upset and I thought I’d just eat something later back at Pop that would be gentler on my tummy. DH decided to wait and eat with me so he just got a regular pizza meal for the kids to share. I ate their ceasar salad, and they gobbled up the cheese pizza and split the water and cookie. DH immediately began worrying about keeping the credits straight because we’d used an adult credit for the kids.

I laughed at him and told him that I’d brought along a tracking sheet and he could let me worry about it. He said he felt like a criminal because they weren’t using a kid’s meal but I told him it would all work out and to just trust me. (I used a kid’s meal for myself for breakfast later on in the trip so it all balanced out but he was really worried that night. Too funny!)

We then arrived in the streets of America just in time to see the lights dance. Now I’ve seen pics and I’ve seen video and let me tell you…they don’t do it justice!! It was so amazingly beautiful and I feel so blessed to have been able to experience it. I stood there crying and enjoying while the kids were mesmerized and DH frantically tried to capture it all on video.

We lingered for a bit longer and then reluctantly headed towards the front of the park. I requested a detour so I could get something at Starring Rolls but I was denied! THEY WERE CLOSED!! It was the only thing on my To Do list that didn’t get accomplished (unless you count the One Man’s Dream movie, which I don’t) this trip. So, I can’t complain!

We got straight on a bus (we had REALLY good bus mojo the entire trip) without my M&M brownie but were able to get seats for the ride back to Pop. I put the kids to bed while DH went for his jog and then headed to the food court. He got me a bowl of grapes and got himself the shrimp lo mein and the tye dye cheesecake both of which he shared with me. The lo mein was okay…it was spaghetti noodles which turned me off and there were very few veggies in there, the grapes hit the spot but I didn’t like the cheesecake. Of course, I was still jonesing for that brownie, so…

On this trip, we did notice that there were tons of smokers who refused to smoke in the smoking section. I found that particularly aggravating because both my fellas are asthmatic and we really have to be vigilant about avoiding second hand smoke to ward off asthma attacks.

A random quotation from DD, “There sure are a lot of people who don’t speak English here.” She was disgruntled when DH scolded her for such a comment. I tried to explain to her that it wasn’t a polite thing to say (although she didn't get why) and told her that people come from all over the world to have their vacations at Disney.

The park wasn’t mobbed by any means, but it sure was busier than we were used to and we found this to be true for all of the other parks as well throughout the remainder of the week.

Oh, so funny! At one point I went into the ladies room and was startled to find a man urinating in one of the stalls in there with the door open. Although I had passed several ladies coming out when I headed in as well as the fact that there was a female CM in there cleaning, I had to double check when I emerged that it really WAS the ladies washroom. Wonder what was up with that guy?

It felt weird going to HS without going to the Indiana Jones show or on Star Tours. These two attractions have always been somewhat iconic for our family so to skip them completely was so strange. In fact, we didn’t even go into Tatooine Traders, although we did get pics on the speeders on our way to dinner.

About half an hour after I ate my grapes, I began to be really hungry and after fighting it for a few minutes, I ran to the food court and got myself a Mediterranean flatbread and a chocolate chip cookie. The flatbread was good but really salty with the feta and the olive paste…I could only manage to eat about half of it. The cookie was okay…nothing special. I also got a Minnie’s bakeshop brownie and a choc chip supreme cookie. These babies were 500 calories a pop!!

The brownie came home with us. I ate it a couple of days ago and it was delicious but DH ate the cookie on our last full night of vacation and said the cookie was so thick in the middle it was like chewing on raw cookie dough and it made him feel ill. It didn’t stop him from finishing it though!

I requested a 6:45 am wake up call (we had an 8:15 am ADR at Crystal Palace) and we were terribly excited about the early entry into the MK. Then I headed to bed.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Hey Julie!! Great updates! You look awesome!

Those osborne lights really are something aren't they?? I'd love to get back and see them again someday.

What was up with the man in the ladies' room?? Usually it would be a woman in the mens' room because the ladies' line is too long! HA!!

 

[Duchie]

Can I just say how fantastic you look in those pictures? It's neat to finally see your DH and kiddos too, since we've heard so much about them.

The Osborne lights are truly amazing. When I look back at the pictures from when we saw them, they look like it was totally mobbed, yet I don't recall it being crowded at all. Did you feel the same way?

Our family has never done the dining plan and one reason is because my oldest used to be a very fussy eater. Well, he still is, but not as bad as when he was younger. So I get what you're saying about it not being a good fit for you.

Looking forward to the next installment

 

[stayhomemom77]

Wow!! Holy heck!!

I read your post about the mobbed Osbourne Lights and I immediately thought...naw, it wasn't bad at all that night. I don't think too many people were there at all.


And THEN I went back and looked at my pictures and found a SEA OF PEOPLE!!



So, I guess I can wholeheartedly agree after all. My theory is, we're all too busy looking up to notice the crowds.

Thanks for the compliments friends!! I actually enjoy how I look in MOST of the pics from our vakay (a few are going to be filtered ) but I did forget to get my pic taken with the Norway troll! So much for that becoming a tradition! Oh well!

As for the pics of the kids I'm only putting in a few of them. DH doesn't like the idea of them up on the internet for the whole world to see (which I get) so I'm trying to keep them to a minimum in honor of his wishes! He doesn't care about his own though so they're fair game!

As for the guy in the ladies room he was an older gent...could have gotten confused. He looked as shocked to see me as I was to stumble across him. DH just thought it was funny that I thought I was the one in the wrong place for a minute.

 

[stayhomemom77]

Day Three Part One

I had a great night’s sleep this night. I woke up 20 minutes before our wake up call time so I hopped into the shower. I thought I was pretty fast in there but when I came out DH told me that I had missed it. I was so bummed.

I hadn’t told him anything about it and he was mildly incensed at Stitch’s rudeness. I thought he was just kidding, but nope! He thought it was a terrible way to be woken up. Then, when I asked him if he’d let the kids listen to the rest of the message…he looked at me like I had two heads. It would have disturbed their sleep, he protested. Uh, yeah…that’s why they call it a WAKE UP CALL!!

Anyway, he headed into the shower and it was my job to rouse the kids. Let me tell you, they did NOT want to get up. DS took about three minutes of gentle shaking and calling his name before he finally gained consciousness. He hopped right up though and started getting dressed. DD was just the opposite…she woke up right away but wouldn’t get out of bed for love or money for almost 15 minutes.

Despite her glacial reflexes, we were at the bus stop in good time. We only waited a moment or two and then we were off to the MK. I was terribly excited. An early entry day…my first and only one!!

We got to the park about 7:35 am and we went right in. We didn’t have to prove we had an ADR or anything. In fact, the person manning the ticket stile walked away right before our turn so bag check was the only time we actually had any CM contact until we walked up to the check in desk at Crystal Palace.

The park was so empty it was eerie! At some point during this time I mentioned to my hubby that I was planning on really filling up at breakfast. We had a 5 pm ADR at Ohana that night and I thought three full meals might be a bit much for the day.

He told me to make sure to leave room for a Dole Whip Float. Just one example of why I fell in love with this man. He knew about my aborted mission to try this tasty bit last April as well as my failed mission the night before to get something from Starring Rolls so it was a bit of a mission for him to ensure that I got to try this sweet treat. We decided that instead of stuffing myself silly at breakfast, we would share a lunch entrée and then get a Dole Whip to share as a snack.

We hung out taking pics on Main Street for a while. DH was in his glory snapping away.

Tushie alert!

We even got the photopass photographer to take pics of us with the android. He didn't do the greatest job. DH was annoyed.

This one was better.

Although we weren't hurrying, we ended up at the restaurant at 8 am and I decided to go ahead and check in. DH was still snapping away, we thought we’d have more time to enjoy our surroundings since we were 15 minutes early so we were quite surprised when they called our name only a couple of minutes later.

Picture limit....this will have to do for now!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Isn't walking down Main Street without crowds wonderful?
You look awesome Julie!!! I can tell you were so happy to be there by your smile!
I love Crystal Palace breakfast! I agree - you have a great DH to think of your need for a Dole Whip!

 

[Dizneydawn]

Hi Girl! I am here and have caught up with your report so far!!

You look amazing! You should post some pics from last April and now!!!!! BE A BRAGGER YOU DESERVE IT!!!!


Can't wait for the rest!

 

[stayhomemom77]

At Dawn's request, here are some before and after pics.

For those of you who don't know...I'm in the middle of a weight loss journey. In April I was quite heavy...I've lost 55 pounds since the end of May when I started weight watchers. I have another 50 or so to go.

April 2010

January 2011

 

[Duchie]

Your hubby - what a sweetie! Did you actually get a Dole Whip? Oh alright I'll be patient and wait for you to post details.....

I have to ask, in that one picture all 4 of you are looking off to the right. What were you all looking at? It kind of struck me funny wondering what it was that caught everyone's attention.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Hmmm....I don't know what to tell you for sure.

At some point, one of the strollers fell over (I think!!) and that might have been what we were looking at in the picture there.

Otherwise, I have no idea. We weren't ready for the photo, that much is clear and the photopass guy was a total grouch. I remember I walked away saying something about that to DH.

I've had photobucket difficulties but I'm working on another update now! I dunno know if I'll get to answer your Dole Whip question or not in this one though. I'll try!