"It all started with a whopping price error ” 10/24 The Perfect Storm of Opportunity

[A&Bmama]

I found your TR earlier today and wound up up reading it all the way through.

I'm not even sure what all to say so I'll just say thank you for taking us along. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your stay. Hope it was everything you wanted and more!

Kristen

I'm glad you're here reading. The rest of trip is much smoother and more enjoyable.

Just read your entire TR through! You had me laughing, crying, happy and sad. I am enjoying it. Can't wait to read more!

I promise I won't make you cry anymore, although I hope I can still make you smile and laugh.

Thanks for reading and dropping a line to let me know you're here.

 

[bamadisney]

I love reading your trip report. I lost my dad not to long ago and it is so hard. Please keep posting....I check every day to see if you have added another day.

We go at the end of June. Not the the best time of year to go but with our two DDs schedules it is hard to find the time.

Hurry and post......ha.

 

[A&Bmama]

Awww, you didn't get back over there to see it? On our family trips growing up (the ones in my sig up through 2005) we used to watch it almost every night of our trips. I prefer it to Wishes, but I think it's more of a sentimental thing than strictly the quality of the show. It's a great show, but so are Wishes and Fantasmic!

We did see Illuminations on the first trip and it was fantastic! I would love to stay at an Epcot resort one day so we could walk over to Epcot almost every evening to watch it.

Actually... I do teach English! I teach English as a Second Language in a pull out program. Meaning, I pull them out of their homeroom classes to supplement their language learning. All the children I see speak another language in the home as their first language.

Oh no. I knew I should have corrected all of my errors!

Don't be anxious though! I grade enough stuff at work that I'm not analyzing anyone's grammar over here!

Thank goodness.

On prior trips, I've been known to take photos in one hand while walking...just click! click! click! It's how I end up with a few thousand photos for one trip.

I must learn how to do this. My biggest problem was my camera only had a wrist strap so I kept putting it in the backpack DH carried. Most of the time I couldn't be bothered to dig it out. I've learned from that mistake, next time I will have a neck strap.

Wait till you read my TR...you will see I have the same "times a wastin" problem.

It's hard to control! You spend so much time, money and effort getting there so it just seems wrong to take it slow.

 

[A&Bmama]

Oh my gosh! I just found your TR today and here I was enjoying this amazing TR written by a fellow Maritimer... Now I'm sitting in my room crying for you! I am so very sorry for your loss. (I'm only on page 9). I cannot imagine how difficult that must have been for you to be so far away when that happened. Now I guess I'll go back and finish reading...

Thanks for reading!

The Island is my favorite place in the whole world! What part of the Island are you from?

My grandmother was from Lewes and my grandfather was from Bloomfield but my mom was raised in Orwell Cove. My dad was from NS so when they married she moved here with him. Personally I think that was a mistake. I could have been an Islander. Now the best I could do is move there and be "from away."

Not that there is anything wrong with NS, I love it here too but it's just not the same.

Wow! Read the whole TR... okay, I'll be honest, I read your TR installments but I mostly skipped the comments in between. I hope I didn't miss anything too important.

No, your good. I don't read all of the comments on other peoples TRs either.

Your DD got to drive the boat in JC, that's too cool! I didn't know they did that until my sister came home last year with pictures of her son driving it. In their case the driver asked for a volunteer and he totally jumped up. He was just barely 4 and is very independent in a lot of ways. Any time I've been on the ride, they've never looked for anyone. I think the driver just wanted to make it special for your daughter.

I didn't realize that they did that either until they picked DD.

Twice in the front of the monorail! That's pretty special. Do they still do that since the accident last year?

I have heard that they don't allow it any longer. I'm not sure if that is a permanent change or not.

Thanks for a great TR, you should look into being a writer as you seem to bring out the emotions in people, I've laughed and cried (of course for you when you wrote about your dad's passing and then again when you wrote about the rainbow.) and gotten excited with you about your trips.

Wow, thanks for the compliment. My former english teachers might disagree with you though. Maybe I would have gotten better grades if I had put in as much time and effort on my assignments as I am putting in on this TR.

By the way, I notice you're a teacher too. What do you teach?

Can't wait to hear how you liked AK.

I hope to post this installment on Wednesday if all goes according to plan.

 

[A&Bmama]

I love reading your trip report. I lost my dad not to long ago and it is so hard. Please keep posting....I check every day to see if you have added another day.

We go at the end of June. Not the the best time of year to go but with our two DDs schedules it is hard to find the time.

Hurry and post......ha.

I'm glad your reading this.

It is really hard to lose a parent even as an adult. I knew when the time came that it would be sad but it surprised me that it was so intense. Made me feel like an orphan even though my mom is still here and I'm a wee bit old to be an orphan.

I hope you have a great time. Finding the right time to go can be a real challenge, there are so many variables to consider.

 

[DisEye]

I've been reading your TR for a while now and am glad to see when it's been updated. I am glad that you got to go back. Sounds like the second time was great. Glad it worked out for you. Can't wait for the next installment!

 

[A&Bmama]

I've been reading your TR for a while now and am glad to see when it's been updated. I am glad that you got to go back. Sounds like the second time was great. Glad it worked out for you. Can't wait for the next installment!

Thanks for following my TR!

If all goes according to plan I should have the next installment ready by tomorrow evening.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Thanks for reading!

The Island is my favorite place in the whole world! What part of the Island are you from?

My grandmother was from Lewes and my grandfather was from Bloomfield but my mom was raised in Orwell Cove. My dad was from NS so when they married she moved here with him. Personally I think that was a mistake. I could have been an Islander. Now the best I could do is move there and be "from away."

Not that there is anything wrong with NS, I love it here too but it's just not the same.

By the way, I notice you're a teacher too. What do you teach?

Glad to hear you love the Island! Sshh... don't tell anyone, but officially I'm "from away" too! I was born in Toronto but we moved back to the Island when I was two. Both my parents are from just past Summerside, on the way to Bloomfield basically. Dad is from Richmond and Mom is from Abram's Village. I actually taught French Immersion at Bloomfield for a year. It's a Small World.... I'm from Charlottetown though. Love living on the Island, but I also really love to travel!

Which part of NS are you from? I did my BEd at Ste. Anne.

I teach French Immersion. Right now I'm not permanent though. Trying to get into the Eastern District since I left the Western Board. I was tired of travelling every day.

 

[A&Bmama]

Day 2, April 2

Stupid alarm clock goes off at 6:30. Why is there no snooze button? I need to sleep just a little bit more. I know if I stay in bed to rest a couple minutes I will fall back to sleep. With a groan I make myself get up and stumble to the kitchen to make coffee. As is my usual routine I drink my first cup and once I trust that I am feeling semi human I go and wake the others.

This morning’s routine is especially streamlined. We will be eating lunch at Flame tree, bag is still packed from yesterday so all that is left to do is brush teeth, shower, dress, slick hair in pony tail and head for the parks. We are out the door a little later than yesterday. Why is that? We didn’t have as much to do. I guess fatigue is setting in already. No time to wimp out now, I have a full day ahead of us!

We make it in time for rope drop. I think there was a rope but I couldn’t swear to it.

Do you see the rope? No?

Let's zoom in.

Still can't see it? Me either.


Any guesses where we are heading first? Yeah, that’s right, Expedition Everest to pick-up fastpasses! Wonky shoulder didn’t object to Rockin Roller Coaster or BTM so I’m going for it!

Looks like a few more people are going for it too!!!

Yes, that's the back of my head again!

We grab FPs and notice the wait time is 10 minutes, we decide to hop on standby and wiz through the queue not even getting to pay too much attention to the details since we don’t want to hold up the people following behind. We wait less than 5 minutes until we set of on out expedition. Note to self. STOP stressing about wait times!!

We are about to embark on our expedition. I am cool as a cucumber. Not scared a bit. I am strong mighty woman. I laugh in the face of danger. I dare Yeti to mess with me. I give you exhibit “A” as proof of my aloof, devil-may-care attitude.

Exhibit “A”


Okay, okay, yes I was faking that scream, the screams that came two minutes later in the dark? I assure you, those were real my friend…and blood curdling. I freakin love, love, loved every second of this ride!

The wait time is still only 10 minutes; it takes us about 3 seconds to decide to give it another go. Second time is just as fun. Wait time is still 10 minutes but DH says his stomach can’t take another ride so soon.

Number 2 on our list of priorities is, you guessed it, the Kilimanjaro Safari we head over to pick-up some fastpasses for it and have to wait about 10 minutes for our fastpass entitlement to open up so we grab a couple of cups of coffee and a snack and walk around Africa enjoying the atmosphere.

Why is it that bad coffee can almost taste good when you associate it with good memories? I enjoyed every last drop of my bad coffee and we head over to p/u our FPs. Once FPs are secured we head off to Pangani Forest Exploration Trail to explore it.

Here are some of the sights we saw along the way.

We still have a little while to wait for our FPs to ripen so we walk around Africa. We spot some dancers and stop to watch them.

Once we are through it is time for our Safari.

The Safari is nice but it feels really rushed. It would be nice to stop for 10 seconds or so at a few points along the way so you have a chance to get some decent photos. Our guide must have been really tired of giving the spiel because she sounded almost robotic. We still thoroughly enjoyed it.

We decide it might be a good idea to head over to Kali River and give it a go. I hauled out ponchos and stuffed our backpack in a huge Ziploc bag. DS is too cool for school and refused to wear a poncho. Guess who got soaked? Yep DS! When will they ever learn to listen to their Mama’s? DS’s clothes dried quickly but the shoes were a different story…

Dinosaur wasn’t a big priority but DH suggests that he would like to give it a try.

I had read that a lot of children are really frightened on it. I think DD will be fine. So far she has done ToT, RnRC, BTMRR, Splash, HM, EE, all without incident. She can handle Dinosaur right? Wrong. She HATED it!!! She had her face buried in my shoulder the whole time. I can’t say I enjoyed it either, all I remember is being jostled around continually and trying to comfort DD.

It is getting hot and we are getting tired so we head off to Flame Tree for some lunch and rest. I had been really looking forward to trying Flame Tree out when we were here last and had the dining plan but of course, that didn’t happen. This time we are paying OOP, or rather, on the gift cards we still had left over. I ordered 2 orders of ribs with grapes and cole slaw and a basket of fries. We had drinks in our bag that we brought with us so I didn’t order any. Whole thing came to about $27. We split everything and we all had enough to eat, but not so much that it would make you feel lazy and slightly sick afterward. We are lucky enough to snag a table by the water and eat and watch Everest in the distance.

I have completely and utterly fallen head over heels in LOVE with Animal Kingdom. Not because of the rides, not because if the animals, because of the way I feel as I walk around the park. It soothes my soul and energizes me all at the same time.

I ponder mythical future trips and wonder if staying on site with dining plan would ever make sense for us? Offsite I have the luxury of so much more room and amenities for much less money. I can cook some meals and buy others. Not only will that save even more money but I suspect we would all enjoy it more. We are not a family that is used to eating out. We eat at a table service restaurant maybe twice a year and have some sort of take out 2 or 3 times a month. The rest of the time I cook. Eating every meal out for an entire week might get old quickly. Also, DD is not a big eater but would be over 10 so I would be forced to put her on the plan as a 4’2”, 60lb adult. Doesn’t make much sense does it? The plans are undeniably a great value if you want to eat all the food you’re entitles to. If you don’t, you’re giving up the value. We only eat desserts on special occasions most the desserts that most QS restaurants served were more of an obligatory mass produced product that fulfilled the requirements to offer a dessert. Not much of a treat. Not something I would ever consider purchasing if we were paying OP the whole way.

But on the other hand; it is different staying off property. When I stayed on property I felt as if the parks were our neighborhoods personal playground. Off property I felt like a guest. A welcome guest but a guest none the less. Is this the Disney magic people speak of? How they magically make you happy to shell out so much more cash for so much less than you could receive elsewhere?

With our lunch finished we decide it is time to use those EE fastpasses so head that way. Ride is still great. After this the only thing we really want to do is see Festival of the Lion King. We are still way early for the next show though. DH suggest that we do It’s Tough to be a Bug. I’ve heard about the show. DD had heard about from BFF as well. It didn’t make it on the To Do list. But we have time to kill so we go for it. Mistake. DD again hated it. Was frightened and sat on my lap for most of it. Well best I can say is “mission accomplished,” we successfully wasted time.

We decide to head over to wait for Festival of Lion King and just wait patiently.

This is it. I have found it. This is my most favorite thing in all of Disney!!!!!!!!! I had to control myself. I wanted to sing and dance right along with all of the performers! I swear to god I could not, wipe the goofy grin off my face for the whole show. It was a completely, utterly joyful experience. It made me want to cry happy tears.

When the bird flies, OMG so beautiful! It seems like was looking at a vision of what my DD could be one day. If you are wondering why, I refer you back to the pictures from cirque school to see for yourself. I turn to DD and whisper in her ear. “I can picture you doing that one day.” She beams brighter than a thousand watt bulb and my heart nearly bursts. These small precious moments, this is why we come. This is why we are here. Genius Walt, pure genius.

It is about 3 pm when we decide to leave. We are heading back to the hotel to swim relax and have dinner. Tonight we will see Wishes!

 

[A&Bmama]

Glad to hear you love the Island! Sshh... don't tell anyone, but officially I'm "from away" too! I was born in Toronto but we moved back to the Island when I was two. Both my parents are from just past Summerside, on the way to Bloomfield basically. Dad is from Richmond and Mom is from Abram's Village. I actually taught French Immersion at Bloomfield for a year. It's a Small World.... I'm from Charlottetown though. Love living on the Island, but I also really love to travel!

Which part of NS are you from? I did my BEd at Ste. Anne.

I teach French Immersion. Right now I'm not permanent though. Trying to get into the Eastern District since I left the Western Board. I was tired of travelling every day.

I'm from Halifax, born and raised here. Still I love to get to the Island every chance I get.

 

[hucifer]

Another sweet installment! I loved it. Especially the last part.

No time to wimp out now, I have a full day ahead of us!

That's my motto every day in a WDW vacation.

Do you see the rope? No?

Uhh...no. All I see are scores and scores of people.

We grab FPs and notice the wait time is 10 minutes, we decide to hop on standby and wiz through the queue not even getting to pay too much attention to the details since we don’t want to hold up the people following behind. We wait less than 5 minutes until we set of on out expedition. Note to self. STOP stressing about wait times!!

I don't know what it is about this ride. You'll see masses of people cram into this building, but the wait time will still be relatively short. It was a conundrum, for sure.

I freakin love, love, loved every second of this ride!

Me too!!! That backwards part is my absolute favorite.

When will they ever learn to listen to their Mama’s?

Never. And they'll never admit you were right, either.

This is it. I have found it. This is my most favorite thing in all of Disney!!!!!!!!! I had to control myself. I wanted to sing and dance right along with all of the performers! I swear to god I could not, wipe the goofy grin off my face for the whole show. It was a completely, utterly joyful experience. It made me want to cry happy tears.

These small precious moments, this is why we come. This is why we are here. Genius Walt, pure genius.

This made me tear up. Although I haven't experienced WDW with my son yet, I know just what you are talking about.

 

[hel1304]

Hi

I'm loving your trip reports . Well done on getting back to the land of dreams after such a traumatic time for you.

My DH's mum died whilst we were in Florida with my family, & she was in England. When we left she was in hospital, but was not supposed to pass away. We got to Florida on Saturday & DH phoned home everyday.. On the Thursday, he said he had a feeling something was not right - phoned home & his nephew answered the phone, he could not understand why he would be there at 12.30 lunchtime?

On the Tuesday at 4am we got a phonecall to say she had gone into a coma, & Stu found out that on the Thursday, the family had been told she had 3 months to live. The family decided not to tell us (which was right) as we would be home in plenty of time to see her to say goodbye. My father said he would get us a flight home if we wanted, but Stu said he wanted to carry on with the holiday for the girls (age 8 & 4). Girls were not told. Luckily I had arranged such a packed couple of days, so we just carried on as normal (as best we could).

That night Stu got a feeling & looked out the window about 1am & just looked at the stars. About 3.30am we got the dreaded phone call to say she had died. We had day planned to do BBB on our own & we were all going to meet up later to have dinner at Chef Mickey's. I feel so proud of Stu, for keeping going for the girls as they still were not told (even though Tara (8) knew something was going on). The plan was to do Chef Mickey's & then to do Wishes, but after the meal, Stu said he was finding it really difficult & wanted to go back to hotel. Stu, myself & girls went back.

Decided to tell Tara the following day as we were going to Blizzard Beach. We explained that her nan was in heaven, so that she could see us enjoy the rest of our holiday. My nephew (12) throughout the day, just kept putting his hand on her shoulder & asking if she was OK It was just so sweet of him.

We flew home on the Saturday, & had a horrendous 2 weeks of planning funeral etc.., about a week after the funeral we decided life was too short & booked to go back to Florida the following year.

Sorry, I did not mean to take over your thread with such a long account

Well done on throwing caution to the wind, & having a fantastic time & trying out all the rides My girls won't do fast rides, but managed to get them on splash mountain & thunder mountain last yer

Look forward to reading the rest of your trippie & thanks again for sharing this with us

 

[A&Bmama]

Another sweet installment! I loved it. Especially the last part.

Thanks.

Uhh...no. All I see are scores and scores of people.

I was scared too!

I don't know what it is about this ride. You'll see masses of people cram into this building, but the wait time will still be relatively short. It was a conundrum, for sure.

Yep, scared of the wait and then...nothing. When will I learn to relax?

Never. And they'll never admit you were right, either.

So true!

This made me tear up. Although I haven't experienced WDW with my son yet, I know just what you are talking about.

Okay, I'll admit I had a few tears in my eyes as I wrote that. I'm totally turning into the DIS Drama Queen. Good thing you're here to provide the comic relief!

 

[A&Bmama]

I'm loving your trip reports . Well done on getting back to the land of dreams after such a traumatic time for you.

Thanks. Glad you're here reading!

My DH's mum died whilst we were in Florida with my family, & she was in England. When we left she was in hospital, but was not supposed to pass away. We got to Florida on Saturday & DH phoned home everyday.. On the Thursday, he said he had a feeling something was not right - phoned home & his nephew answered the phone, he could not understand why he would be there at 12.30 lunchtime?

On the Tuesday at 4am we got a phonecall to say she had gone into a coma, & Stu found out that on the Thursday, the family had been told she had 3 months to live. The family decided not to tell us (which was right) as we would be home in plenty of time to see her to say goodbye. My father said he would get us a flight home if we wanted, but Stu said he wanted to carry on with the holiday for the girls (age 8 & 4). Girls were not told. Luckily I had arranged such a packed couple of days, so we just carried on as normal (as best we could).

That night Stu got a feeling & looked out the window about 1am & just looked at the stars. About 3.30am we got the dreaded phone call to say she had died. We had day planned to do BBB on our own & we were all going to meet up later to have dinner at Chef Mickey's. I feel so proud of Stu, for keeping going for the girls as they still were not told (even though Tara (8) knew something was going on). The plan was to do Chef Mickey's & then to do Wishes, but after the meal, Stu said he was finding it really difficult & wanted to go back to hotel. Stu, myself & girls went back.

Decided to tell Tara the following day as we were going to Blizzard Beach. We explained that her nan was in heaven, so that she could see us enjoy the rest of our holiday. My nephew (12) throughout the day, just kept putting his hand on her shoulder & asking if she was OK It was just so sweet of him.

Sorry to hear about your DMIL. I'm not surprised your DH had a feeling, I think on some level you you can sense something is wrong.

We flew home on the Saturday, & had a horrendous 2 weeks of planning funeral etc.., about a week after the funeral we decided life was too short & booked to go back to Florida the following year.

Exactly, life is short. Gather as many good times and happy memories as you can!

Sorry, I did not mean to take over your thread with such a long account

No worries. I'm happy other's are willing to share their experiences with me.

Well done on throwing caution to the wind, & having a fantastic time & trying out all the rides My girls won't do fast rides, but managed to get them on splash mountain & thunder mountain last yer

Thanks. I'm glad I decided to try the rides. Sometime I think that I might try Space Mountain next time I get there but if I do I think I will leave it for the last day in case it does mess with my shoulder.

 

[Amg120499]

The Lion King show is so awsome. You just gotta love the magic! And people wonder why I keep going back.

I am glad to hear you had such a good day. I can feel it in your writing how much you enjoyed AK. It certainly isn't my favorite park, but I think it gets a bad rap sometimes.

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[A&Bmama]

The Lion King show is so awsome. You just gotta love the magic! And people wonder why I keep going back.

Hands down my favorite Disney attraction.

Where else can you take a vacation that has that calibur of entertainment that all age groups enjoy? We considered taking a vacation to a beach resort with the kids but I really think they would be bored silly after the first day or two, especially DS.

I am glad to hear you had such a good day. I can feel it in your writing how much you enjoyed AK. It certainly isn't my favorite park, but I think it gets a bad rap sometimes.

A lot of people don't seem to enjoy AK as much as I did. Then again most peoples favorite park is MK. My family is in agreement that it is our least favorite. We still love MK mind you, but the others just seem to suit our family better. I think that if our children were a little younger or if we had visited as children ourselves we would enjoy it more.

 

[scanne]

A&Bmama,

Your report is so heartfelt, real and beautifully written. Thank you for opening yourself up to fellow DISers that understand and appreciate your journey!

My heart goes out to you and your family for your loss.



I'm really looking forward to reading more.
Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[smithpack]

Again, I can't believe you got so much done. My DH took my boys on the Dinosaur ride two years ago. He said it was horribly loud, and the kids screamed and cried the whole time. I have personally never done it, and I probably never will. That same year we also did ITTBAB, and they screamed the whole time in there as well. They hated animal kingdom because they were so scared. This last time we went, we didn't do either one of those rides, and they loved the animal kingdom.

I loved the Lion King show as well. That is so sweet that you help your daughter to see that she can aspire to be in that show when she gets older. She would be awesome at it since she has started so young learning to do all the Cirque stuff. What a great, supportive mom you are.

Glad that you got to do so much, and still go back to the pool and relax in the evening.

 

[Becx N Gav]

Woo hoo another AK fan I love the AK, it probably ranks a joint 1st favourite with Epcot. Not many people seem to enjoy the park but I love way it's laid out, the array of animals and all the knowledge of the CM's - I could just sit and watch animlas all day
I'm so glad you got to enjoy it

And about the onsite/offsite debate, have you considered renting DVC points? There are many ways to rent them, on the DVC boards on here or one of the sponsors (Davids Vacation Club Rentals - I've heard positive things) and it means you can get a DVC room cheaper than the normal cash rate, I just found this which shows what you could save (depending on the time of year, which size room you got, availability and cost per point)

 

[loveysbydesign]

great update...keep em coming!