It isn't August without a Disney trip but there's nothing to eat here! UPDATE 11/17

[stitchgal]

Hi! Welcome to my trip report! I used to write trip reports for all our trips but have gotten a little lazy about it the last few trips but I am trying again! Hope you enjoy my trip report!

Here's a little about us:

Me, Amy, 34: 14th trip to WDW. I had been a few times as a kid but didn't really get into it until I met DH, whose family went every year. Now I love it, of course, and also really like hearing/reading about Disney theme park history, unbuilt attractions and possible future attractions. Favorite characters: Piglet and Stitch. Yes, polar opposites but I love them both! I am definitely more like Piglet than Stitch.

Jason, 35, husband of 9 years: As I mentioned before, he has gone to Disney World almost every year since he was little. Probably at 30+ trips by now. He's the planner, does all the reservations etc. I'm not really interested in that part. Favorite character: Donald Duck.

Mallory, 6: 6th trip to WDW. She knows the parks really well, better than a lot of 6 year olds. Her favorite rides are Test Track and Big Thunder Mountain. Favorite character: Tinker Bell. She is totally into all the Disney fairies now.

Tabitha, 4: 5th trip to WDW. She turned 4 on our vacation! This was our first trip after she turned 40" so she was excited about going on all the big kid rides. Favorite character: Ariel. She loves all the Disney princesses.

Quinn, 9 months: 1st trip to Disney World! He is a pretty good baby and just loves to crawl every where. Favorite character: I'll say Tigger. We have a big stuffed Tigger that he takes a picture with every month.

Here is us last year at WDW in August 2008, I was 30 weeks pregnant.

Pre trip report

We had one Disney trip planned for this year at Halloween, since I've always wanted to go at Halloween time. The girls are always talking about Disney World though. I've loved our August trips in past years and was missing it this year. We had planned for a trip to Myrtle Beach at the end of July through the beginning of August and spending Tabitha's birthday there.

In the spring, I told Jason I wanted to go back to Disney. We thought it would be a great idea to plan it as a surprise trip for the kids! We chose August 3-10 as our trip dates.

We had joined the Disney Vacation Club in June 2008. We had some points that we were not sure what to do with. Ever since I heard about the Treehouse Villas I have wanted to stay there, long before they became a part of the Vacation Club. We decided to try to stay there which made me super excited! As they were so new and there were so few of them (60) we weren't sure if we would be able to get in, but we managed to get the nights of August 7 and August 8, when the Treehouse take a lot of points because of the weekend. We also took the four nights before in a one bedroom at the Beach Club Villas. We were only able to get 3 of the for nights at first, but a waitlist for the fouth came through in a few days. We waitlisted for a Treehouse the day before and after the days were already had to attempt to extend the trip.

Some time passed and we researched the pool at Beach Club. While the pool sounds great for older kids, we were worried that our 6 and 4 year olds would not be able to use the slide. We also realized that, because of our growing family, this would be one of our last chances to stay at Port Orleans French Quarter, which we love Quinn would still be an infant in a crib, so we would not go over the occupancy limits. As we love POFQ and their pool, we decided to switch the BCV portion of the trip to POFQ to save points and take advantage of a great promo rate.

About a month before our trip we went to Williamsburg, VA for a few days. We stayed at an Embassy Suites, which is similar to a DVC one bedroom. We realized that with an infant it would be really tight in a regular hotel room, especially if Quinn refused to sleep in the crib and needed to sleep in a bed with me.

Also, during the Williamsburg trip, our waitlist for the night of Sunday August 10 at the Treehouses came through. We were shocked! So now we had three nights in the Treehouses and needed 4 nights in a one bedroom, but with only one month notice. After many calls and waitlists, we ended up with 4 nights in a one bedroom at Old Key West. I really had no desire to stay at OKW but being a resort I haven't been to before, I decided to give it a chance.

So we were finally set for our trip!

Stay tuned for more!

 

[stitchgal]

Day 1 August 3 (Monday)

We woke up this morning at 4:30 to get on the road to Florida. We were on the road by 5:15. Not much traffic at this time of day and the traffic lights mostly cooperated. We made good time.

The kids fell back asleep, which was good. We had planned to get breakfast at Chick-Fil-A. However, the kids were doing so well in the car, we decided to skip it. We had Krispy Kreme donuts that we had bought the day before. The kids also had boxes of dry cereal, a normal breakfast for them.

We crossed the border into Georgia at 8:45. We had found previously a park that looked nice in Richmond Hills outside of Savannah. We went to J. F. Gregory Park at 9:05 AM. It was a pretty nice park, however the ground was mulch and a little wet so not good for crawling Quinn. (What we call baby time -- because it is hard to learn all the things a baby needs to learn strapped in a carseat or stroller.) We hadn't told the kids yet where we were going but Mallory now guessed Disney and I told her she was right. I can't say they were super excited, but they were happy to go back to Disney World.

After about 45 minutes at the park, a bathroom break, and a gas stop we continued on. We were still making great time and the kids were tolerating the drive well, so we drove longer than we had originally planned. At lunch time, we couldn't really find a place to eat (which is typically for us -- I didn't know what I wanted, Jason and Tabitha wanted Chick-Fil-A, Mallory INSISTED on Burger King). We weren't planning on getting as far as Jacksonville without lunch but we did. We decided to stop at the same mall we did last year on the trip down, The Avenues because we knew it had a big food court which would hopefully meet our various tastes. The climate was much better there this year. Last year, I don't think the air conditioning was working and a lot of eateries in the food court were closed.
This is the first year we have had a laptop to bring and we found WiFi at the mall. So we were able to send our first update to the grandmothers. (and facebook) Jason had Chick-Fil-a, Mallory and Tabitha had Subway and I had so called "Cajun" at one of those generic Cajun places you find at malls. Quinn, as usual, had a bit of everything.

We let the kids run off a little steam at the mall's playground. Jason went to get gas while the kids played. Quinn loved the playground and crawled all over the place. He also practiced pulling up on things, which he didn't do before our beach trip.

Between Jacksonville and Disney World, we went through a giant thunderstorm, again just like last year! Except last year it was part of Tropical Storm Fay. Last year it rained all the way to Orlando and for 3 days after. This time it was just a regular daily thunderstorm. The intense part of the storm only lasted about 30 minutes and was so bad that we could barely see at times. It rained on and off all the way to Disney and was still drizzling by the time we entered WDW at 3:38 PM, earlier than we orginally thought, yay!

We went immediately to our resort, Old Key West. We checked in and paid for our dining plan.
Kids watching some lobby cartoons

We got the quick service plan this year -- two quick service and snack credits per person per day plus refillable mugs. After check in, we explored the pool area a bit and got our refillable mugs.

The pool liked nice and the girls loved the look of the giant sandcastle slide.

We were in room 5124 on the second floor. I didn't realize how big the resort was. The drive back to the feature pool and check-in area measured at over half a mile! I didn't have any idea of what to expect for our room and boy was it huge! Mallory didn't like it because she kept getting "lost" in it and going the wrong way. Quinn just loved to have more crawling time...and space! The one bad thing for him was the placement of the TV in the main room because he could crawl right up to it and pound on it.
Where the TV is hidden

Some other pics of the room-the bathroom is right by the bedroom window there

I immediately start a load of laundry from the beach part of our trip and started to unpack various bags, mainly to find where everything was.

Jason immediately tried to hook up the Internet access. We brought a wireless router with us so we could use the netbook anywhere in the villa. After a brief delay in figuring out which phone port the Internet came out of, Jason hooked the router to the port via the cable that came with the room (and was already plugged into the wall, which was the source of confusion). (The ethernet cable that came with the router would also have worked -- we used it later in the trip at the Treehouses). He powered up the router, watched it sync up and searched for WiFi on the netbook. The netbook found the router, connected and Jason tested Internet Explorer. It took him to the Internet Access home page, he agreed to the terms and conditions (whatever they might have been -- the important one was access is free for DVC members) and it just worked. Brilliant!!! Or easy peasy lemon squeezy as Mallory would say.

While I was unpacking, Jason and the girls explored the resort a little. Jason noticed during his walk that Old Key West does not have many sidewalks. You are basically forced to walk through the parking areas to get anywhere. This was kind of dangerous for us because the buses used the parking area in front of our villa for turnaround.

They walked over to the pool with the Turtle Shack snack bar. The pool and snack bar were closed because of the storms in the area, although it was not raining at the time. The pool was nothing special. It did have a nice playground which the girls enjoyed for a few minutes. Unfortunately they still haven't learned that if there is a puddle at the bottom of the slide they will get wet! So Tabitha got soaked.

They decided to use the buses to get back to the room. Jason got on the first bus that came and asked the driver how to get back to our stop. He said he had just left it and didn't know how we could get back. Jason suggested changing at the resort check in area and the driver said that would work. So they rode the bus around the resort and got off at check in. An internal bus arrived after a few minutes which they took back to the room.

There was more thunderstorms so swimming was not going to happen like we hoped. Instead we decided to go to Captain Cook's at the Poly for dinner. Another favorite. It's always a toss up for me between aloha pork and the Hawaiian (ham and pineapple ) flatbread, and this time I went with flatbread and Jason got the pork sandwich (Jason always gets the pork, although he likes the pepperoni flatbread too). Mallory went with the grilled cheese and Tabitha got a hamburger. Before ordering, I saw dessert that looked good at the table next to us and asked what it was. It was an Apple Charlotte pastry, according to the receipt, and I too ordered that for my dessert. Again, no disappointments for me at Captain Cooks. Jason was disappointed though because the dole whip machine was broken. It was in the process of getting repaired and would take another 30 minutes to re-freeze. So Jason got a cupcake for the kids to share as his dessert.

We then decided to ride the monorail around the Contemporary because Jason wanted to check out Bay Lake Tower. Many pictures were taken.
Here's one of my favorites.

We also checked out the gift shops and Contempo Cafe in preparation for our November trip. It had been a long day and was about 8:30 by the time we got back to the room. So off to bed for the kids and some relaxation time for the adults.

 

[mousebymarriage]

So far so good, can't wait to hear more!

 

[WanttobeaCMagain]

Keep it up can't wait to hear more

 

[stitchgal]

August 4 (Tuesday)

We were up early today so Jason and the girls went to Port Orleans for mug refills and breakfast. He got 6 beignets, a cinnamon roll and a chocolate milk with snack credits. Beignets come in packs of 3 and 6. The cashier insisted that 6 beignets took two snack credit. We have been getting beignets for snack credits for four years now and this is only the second time that has happened. Usually we can get 6for one credit. Not sure if this is a policy change or a cashier who makes her own rules.

We went to Sea World this morning. We have platinum passes which allow entrance to all the Busch parks around the country so that's why we went here. We got there around 9:15. Once again we were given preferred parking, although official we are only supposed to get it at our home park (Busch Gardens Europe). The line to get through bag check and the turnstiles was LONG! The reason was the extra time necessary to do the finger scans. We noticed throughout the rest of our trip that Disney doesn't do the finger scans during busy entrance times like first thing in the morning. Once inside the park crowds were light.

We headed to do Journey to Atlantis. Jason took the girls the first time and I took Mallory a second time. Tabitha only rode once because of the scary monster she saw inside. The ride both times was basically a walk on. The ride was similiar to Mallory's favorite ride at Busch Garden Europe, Pompeii. Atlantis tries to tell more of a story but the audio is hard to hear so we couldn't tell what was going on. The ride was also much longer and had a second drop sequence.

We next did Penguin Encounter. I liked the moving walkway to see the penguins. The penguins were fun to watch and I could have stayed for a long time. We also saw the puffins which were very cute.

We did Shark Encounter next; the girls loved the sharks. The nice thing about this exhibit is that it has many smallish tanks with other types of sea life for the kids to look at. It also has a very kid engaging frog exhibit that the kids liked very much. After we were done in the show building the kids enjoyed looking at the sharks and rays in the outside tank.

I love sea lions and we next decided to do the Clyde and Seamore pirate show. It was ok, funny in parts but didn't have as much animal action as I expected. We were able to walk right up five minutes before the show and get decent seats in the shade.

It was around 12 by now and we decided to leave for lunch and come back later in the trip for another 1/2 day to see the Shamu and dolphins show and explore the kids area. The park was getting more crowded and lots and lots of people were coming in as we left. Quinn was getting tired too and he fell asleep on the stroller ride to the car. We took a somewhat roundabout driving route and the girls fell asleep too -- yay for the triple nap! So the 15 minute drive to downtown Disney took an hour so the kids could get some rest.

We had lunch at Wolfgang Puck Cafe in Downtown Disney. Our total came to $70 so this is not a place we would be coming if not for the dining plan! I got the Chinois salad, which had Asian vegetables, crispy noodles, and chicken with a mustard dressing. It was good but the mustard dressing did not sit right with me and I felt sick a little later but nothing major. I will still go back here but not get the salad again! Jason got the chicken alfredo, which comes with a small caesar salad, and a creme brulee. He thought it was delicious (and much better than typical dining plan counter service). The girls each got the pepperoni pizza. Mallory thought it was too cheesy and started into her routine about how she hates the food at Disney World and this is the "worstest restaurant ever" etc. Luckily, she and Tabitha did eat most of the fruit cups we had selected as their desserts. (Jason got creme brulee and I got a cookie to give to the girls.) On our last trip, towards the end of the trip Mallory was getting tired of Disney food. We were hoping this wouldn't be a problem this trip but unfortunately, it only got worst and started now at the beginning.

Back at old Key West, Jason took the girls to the pool for a few hours while I stayed in the room and recovered from my lunch. When we came back, we found a birthday card from Mickey Mouse for Tabitha.

Both girls and Jason loved the pool slide. It is very high and spins you in a left turn for a few revolutions. With the proper technique you can get going very fast. Jason thought it was great but wishes it would be more "snake like" with turns in both directions.

There was a girl at the pool slide, probably around five, who would cut the entire line, ignore the light the signals when it is safe to go, and just slide down the slide as if she were the only one at the pool. Mallory started into her "she's rude" routine and Jason couldn't really tell her to stop -- because she was right!

The pool water was very warm and Jason commented that it was not very refreshing on a hot day. Of course we were in Florida in August so that was to be expected. He noticed the same thing at the Caribbean Beach and Saratoga Springs later in the trip. The pool is always refreshing to me though.

Jason planned to stay for an hour or so, but Mallory made a friend and they were having such a good time that he decided to let the kids stay longer. The friends Dad let Mallory borrow his goggles and helped her get them adjusted right. Mallory had lots of fun playing with them.

After a while, I started getting bored with in the room and Quinn just kept getting into too much stuff. Jason had taken the car but he told me I could take the bus to the pool. I waited about 10 minutes for a bus and asked if it went to the hospitality house and the driver said it did. I read the electronic signs on the bus and got out when it said Hospitality House. Only I should have been paying more attention and it wasn't the the right stop. It was hot and I was hoping I wasn't lost. Luckily, it was really close to where I wanted to go. I got to the pool as everyone else was drying off.

We weren't sure what we were going to do for the rest of the night, had been thinking Sea World earlier but decided on Epcot for the evening instead. Wow, our first Disney park of the trip is Epcot. Almost always the Magic Kingdom, but we planned on spending the day there tomorrow for Tabitha's birthday.

We arrived at Epcot to a giant downpour. It was so bad I could barely make out Spaceship Earth.

We usually use AAA diamond parking but have learned that Epcot in the evenings that regular parking is better because cast members are no longer directing traffic and you can take the good spaces from guests who already left. We waited in the car until the rain let up to a drizzle.

We walked to the entrance and about halfway got caught in a downpour again. Argh! I had forgotten to bring ponchos for the trip so I ducked into the shop on the left of SE to buy 3 ponchos (Jason doesn't do ponchos)

We decided to ride SE since it was 1. right there, 2. No line 3. Mallory loves it and 4. hopefully it would quit raining by the end of the ride. This was Quinn's first ride at Disney! Jason held him and he just looked around at everything. After the ride was over we sent video postcards to ourselves.

The rain had let up but it was still very grey. We did Nemo and Imagination (also with no lines) and the kids played with the exhibits at the end of the rides.

By the time we were done with Imagination the drizzle had started again. It was just past 7 and we still haven't had dinner. Thought about Seasons at the Land but I had been getting burnt out on the food there the last few years. So we headed off to Mexico/Norway/China but got caught in a downpour again and duck into Innoventions West to wait it out.

After waiting a few minutes we realized it might not stop for a while. So like true Disney in August veterans we decided to tough it out and walk through the rain. Jason took Mallory's Tinkerbell umbrella and the stroller (with Quinn in it -- the canopy kept him dry, except for the legs) and headed off at his own (quick pace) while the girls and I walked at our normal pace protected by our ponchos. Jason got to the rally point at Cantina de San Angel and waited for us. And waited. And waited. In the rain. Crowded with lots of other people under the small roof at Cantina. Turns out that, of course, Tabitha had to use the bathroom and couldn't wait to get to Mexico so we stopped at the Odyssey pavilion for a potty break.

Jason had the checked the menu for the Mexico counter service but I really wasn't feeling like Mexican. I wanted either Chinese or Norwegian. I have had the yummy Norwegian pastries many times but never their lunch or dinner food. By this time the rain was slowing so we were looking do something for a few minutes in the hope that it would stop completely. We checked out the Maelstorm line which was posted as 5 minutes. We got in line and found that the line actually filled the interior space so it was more like 15 minutes. Quinn was allowed to ride. We had heard about a 2 years old minimum before but I guess it's just a rumor? We skipped the movie, as usual. We should probably stay sometime to see it as it's been years since we've actually watched it. But Mallory would probably complain because their is thunder in it. Not sure if it is new or not but Jason noticed that now you have to walk through the entire shop at the end of the ride. The side doors out of the shop are all now blocked off.

The rain was almost over, yay!

I wanted to check the Lotus Blossom Cafe's menu in China. In China we spotted a nice rainbow!

I didn't see anything I wanted from China so back to Norway. I got the ham and apple sandwich with my favorite (or one of my favorites-I can never choose!) Norwegian dessert, rice cream. The girls both got peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, the dreaded Uncrustables, but they like them. Most counter services give 2 sides for kids meals. The choices are usually carrot sticks, grapes, applesauce, fruit punch gelatin or chocolate pudding. Sometimes you could get a cookie. One of the girls got the grapes and those bags are hard to open! I almost always had trouble and had to use something sharp, like my car keys, to open the bag! The girls would eat the applesauce in the beginning of the trip, but later we would just feed it to Quinn. It was unsweetened no sugar applesauce, the kind we like which is sometimes hard to find in the stores. Yay for Disney for that one.

Mallory wasn't really thrilled with the dinner selections and Jason had promised her some corn chips so he went to Mexico and got the Cantina Nachos with a churro and large Coke. He was surprised by the large coke as he had been forced to get the medium there before when on the dining plan.

I really liked my sandwich; the bread was really tasty as was the ham, apple and cheese. Jason thought the nachos were just ok. The churro was split three ways between Jason, Mallory and Tabitha. I don't do churros. Rice cream. Yum. All mine. Although, Jason enjoys them too.

It was pretty late by this time, around 8:40 and Quinn was getting cranky. I took the car back to OKW with Quinn while Jason and the girls stayed at the park.

It was extra magic hours night so most of the park was open until midnight. Still plenty of time to ride some rides.

Jason and the girls first road the Mexico boat ride with Donald. While walking to the ride Tabitha said to herself "This ride is not scary" which amused some people walking by. No line for the ride would have walked right on expect the people in front requested there own boat. So Jason and the girls got their own boat.

Illuminations was in progress when they exited Mexico, so they hurried off to test track as the girls don't like the fireworks noise. At 9:15, they went to Test Track which was posted at a 90 minute standby. Jason looked at the line and didn't believe it so they got in line. He was right, the line was only about 45. The girls were getting tired and a little goofy in line -- Jason got a few silly pictures.

This was Tabitha's first ride on it and she enjoyed it a lot.

Next they headed over to check the line at Soarin'. It was posted at 60 minutes. Jason looked at the line and believed it. As it was 10:00 it was time to call it a night. They walked to the Old Key West bus stop, which is in a new bus "corral" closer than all the other ones. Jason remembers this area was a day guest bus depot before. He always thought it was unfair for the resort guests to have to walk farther than the day guests. Guess Disney agreed.

After a short wait a bus came and they got on. Mallory complained that Tabitha was sitting next to Daddy but she wasn't. So seating was rearranged with Daddy in the middle. Both girls fell asleep on Daddy's lap on the way home.

All were to bed by 11 PM.

 

[jenjersnap]

Hi Amy! Enjoying the trip report. I love the triple nap myself, especially the Disney triple nap.

 

[Manda]

So far, so good! Surprised that you didn't think the kids would get to enjoy the BC pool - DS absolutely loved it when we went for his 5th birthday. Pretty sure he rode that slide a thousand times every day, LOL. He (we, really) wanted to return to BC this year, but the discounts didn't fall that way.

 

[Stasieki]

Great report - looking forward to hearing about the Treehouse Villas! They look really neat.

 

[stitchgal]

August 5 (Wednesday)

Happy 4th birthday Tabitha! Unfortunately, Jason woke up to a very sore throat and could hardly swallow. He had almost completely lost his voice too. He felt pretty tired and worn out through the morning, but felt better after lunch. Cool liquids throughout the day helped his throat.

We gave the girls the dresses we bought for them for this day. Tabitha had Ariel and Mallory had Tinker Bell. Tabitha was excited to open her presents from us.

The girls had little cereals we bought for trips. I forget what I had for breakfast.

On to the Magic Kingdom for the birthday girl! We stopped by will call and showed her ticket and birth certificate to get the $68 gift card. We entered the park close to 9:30. We had gotten a birthday button from the resort but I don't think the right kind of pen was used because it was mostly rubbed off. I went to City Hall to get one and found a cast member outside with a cart with all different kinds of buttons. So we got a new Tabitha birthday button.

It has become somewhat of a tradition for the girls to look in the windows on Main Street, especially the ones with the scenes from movies so off they went.

We decided to let Tabitha pick some of the rides that day. She picked Buzz Lightyear first, which is traditionally our first ride at the MK anyway. Jason ran ahead to get fast passes for Pooh. I had forgotten that one of our favorites the Tomorrowland Transit Authority was closed, oh well. After the Buzz ride, we met Buzz at his usual spot on the Carousel of Progress platform. Mallory really wanted to ride Carousel of Progress. Strange kid. Actually, I love it but I'm surprised it appeals to her so much. (I just asked her why she likes it so much and she said she likes when the chicken gets burned-actually turkey-in the last scene.) Jason talked her out of it saying we could ride it later when the lines for the other rides are longer and the weather is hotter. If only he knew...

We met Buzz instead.

Then Alice and the White Rabbit

Our fast passes for Pooh were already valid so we went there next. Usually we ride it tons of times but this was our only ride of the trip! We next went to Peter Pan where the line was surprisingly short. It turns out the line was short because it wasn't working so the kids decided to do Small World instead.

It was now nearly 11:00 and the park was getting crowded. Jason went ahead and got Splash Mountain fast passes. We decided to do Big Thunder Mountain via the child swap. I don't think we used the child swap before so much but we used it a lot on this trip.

Jason took the girls the first time and I took them the second. For Jason's ride they had to wait in the standby line, which was posted at 20 minutes. That was about right but Mallory complained the whole time. We don't usually wait in lines that long because of fastpass, so that was the root of her complaint. She's been showing some grumpiness lately. If only we knew...

This was Tabitha's first time on Big Thunder and she loved it. I think she likes any ride that goes fast.

Jason was waiting for us in Pecos Bill's with Quinn. It was around 11:50 and Quinn hadn't gotten a nap yet today. He was cranky with Jason despite a nice family trying to help entertain him. When I got there Quinn just exploded. We decided that Jason would take him for a nap and the girls and I would spend some time together in the park.

I wanted to eat at El Pirate Y Perico, as did Mallory. Tabitha wanted a hot dog for her birthday lunch. I decided to see if they could do "take out" at El Pirate and take it to Casey's, where I would get Tabitha a hot dog. Well, Mallory did not like that plan at all.

She started to scream and cry and I tried to explain to her but she just wasn't getting it. We ended up going to eat at Pirate first and then Casey's since I knew Tabitha would share with us anyway. Also, found out that they couldn't give me a bag anywya. Mallory got a cheese quesadilla and I got the taco meal. Mallory is very particular about cheese; only orange cheese but she will accept white and orange in a quesadilla.

I asked what kind of cheese was in the quesadilla and the cashier told me it was a mix of white and orange. We got the quesadilla. It was all white cheese. Mallory was not happy. She looked at my taco and told me she wanted a taco instead.

Meanwhile, Tabitha was happily eating Mallory's grapes and applesauce that she didn't want. So, I decided to use another meal credit for a kids taco since I was going to pay cash at Casey's anyway. She ate the whole taco. I got carrots and grapes as a side and again Tabitha ate these too. We made our way to Casey's to get the $5.11 hot dog. Tabitha loved it though.

We next went to wait in line for the Fairies in Toontown, something the girls (especially Mallory) had been wanting to see. There were only 2 lines at the Toontown Hall of Fame Tent, instead of the usual 3 I have seen. The princess line was posted at 30 minutes and the fairy line at 45 minutes. The entire line wasn't filled but it was about a 45 minute wait.

They let us in in a group of about 5 families. They first explained that this was a special fairy hallway where we would be shrunk down to the size of fairies. They also took pictures of you that would add fairy wings. Then we waited in the hallway and they took back each family seperately. The girls had fun in the fairy hallways looking at the woodsy setting and trying to catch fairies.

We were called back shortly and there were 2 fairies there. I had thought there would be 3 so I was a little disappointed.

The fairies were Silvermist and Tinker Bell. I only had Mallory's camera since I left mine in the stroller with Jason. We usually purchase the Photo Pass CD but weren't going to get enough pictures this trip so I planned to take my own pictures. I got exactly 1 picturewith Silvermist and then the camera's batteries died! Argh!! The girls enjoyed seeing the fairies but didn't get that much interaction. I heard the interaction was good so I was a little disappointed there too.

One of the cast members said something to me as we left about the line doubling because of ... but I didn't catch the end. Then I heard rain outside. Ah, another storm. The shop was packed but we spent a little time in there to stay out of the rain. The rain slowed down to a drizzle so we left. The girls wanted to see Minnie and Mickey's house so we spent a little time there. They also wanted to go go the playground in Toon Town. I thought the playground would be dry since it was covered but it was wet. I
then noticed that the cover had gaps and holes, so really a sunshade, not rain proof.

Another of the girl's favorite things in the Belle show, just across the way from Cosmic Ray's near the castle. Mallory has been picked for Chip in the show 2 years running. She said she'd like to be picked for Mrs. Potts this time. I saw a cast member standing outside the area and he said the show would start shortly. We sat down for about 5 minutes and then it was announced that the show had been cancelled. Bummer.

We decided to go have an ice cream snack in the ice cream place in Fantasyland. I asked the girls if they wanted to split a brownie sundae (1 snack credit) and they said yes. Then when we went to sit down, Tabitha started yelling and crying that she did not want a brownie sundae. But she wasn't sure what she wanted. So Mallory and I ate the sundae and eventually Tabitha had some.

Then everything began to fall apart. I'm not sure exactly what happened but I know the girls were arguing about what ride to ride next. Then they were running away from me and wouldn't come back. Just general badness. I couldn't take it any more and told them we were going back to the hotel. They both cried and cried. Mallory quickly settled down but Tabitha still cried and I had to carry her to get her moving. She was still crying when we got on the bus to OKW, which was was already waiting at the stop. Mallory started talking to a girl on the bus like they were old friends. I later found out that this was the girl who was cutting the line at the pool slide the day before. Tabitha stopped crying and fell asleep on the bus. When we got back to the resort, she was still sleeping. Carried her up to the room and put her on the bed and she still slept. And slept. Long nap for her.

Meanwhile, Jason started back to the room from Peco's Bill and Quinn well asleep immediately. Still not feeling very well he decided to look for something to eat. Cold food is good for a sore throat, so he headed off to Aloha Isle for a Dole Whip float. Turns out Aloha Isle has a nice, quiet seating area with plenty of shade. Great place for waiting on a baby nap. He got his float (1 snack) and the cast member gave him a pineapple-vanilla swirl for free. Nice suprise, but two items make drive the stroller a lot harder. Luckily a cast member noticed and helped him to his seat.

Jason ate his float and most of the swirl. Yummy! He lingered in the eating area (plenty of tables still available) waiting for Quinn to get 30 minutes of nap in him. He listened to some other families: one guy was managing his business on a cell phone, another family was describing each ride to their 6ish year old girl in exquisite detail. Turns out Pirates is kinda like Small World except the dolls aren't as happy.

After Quinn got his minimum nap in Jason headed for the exit. He wanted to take the express monorail, but it was only doing the TTC to MK run -- not taking anyone back to TTC. So he took the local monorail and decided to stop off at the Contemporary for lunch. Quinn woke up on the monorail ride and was in a much better mood.

At Contempo Cafe, Jason got a bacon cheeseburger (Cheddar Jack cheese) with fries, a sugar cookie and a coke. He shared it with Quinn. Both of them thought it was quite yummy. An elderly lady was sitting alone at the next table and really enjoyed watching Quinn eat. Jason and she talked for a little bit.

The food made Jason feel a lot better so he decided to ditch the stroller at Chef Mickey's parking and carry Quinn over to BLT to check it out. He decided to walk over. He say a sign that said "Members Only" but ignored it. He walked around the courtyard area where the pool and sports courts are. He really liked all the bamboo plantings. The pool looks large in real life than in pictures, but may still be too small for hot summer days. He tried to get into the building but the doors were keycard looked and he didn't want to try his luck door surfing someone coming out.

He looked to the skies and saw trouble brewing. He hightailed it out of there, monorail to TTC and a quick walk to the car. As he got into the car he noticed it looked like it was raining pretty hard on the west side of the parking lot. Luckily the car was in the dry eastern side. Sure enough as he drove across to the west side of the parking lot to get out a downpour started. Quinn fell asleep immediately.

Low on gas with a drive to Tampa scheduled tomorrow, he stopped at the MK car care center for gas. Unfortunately the gas pump didn't like credit cards for some reason. So his choice was to go somewhere else or wake up a sleeping baby and run through the downpour to pay cash. He went with the go somewhere else plan.

He asked GPS where the nearest gas station was and off he went. He ended up at one just off property on 192. Filled up and by the time he got back to OKW it was just drizzling. As soon as he got in the room the cell phone we left behind rang. It was me calling trying to find out where he was. He said all was fine and we agreed to meet up back at the room.

Jason but Quinn down for more nap. He fussed for a few minutes about that but then slept until the girls and I arrived.

All back together again and after Tabitha's nap, we went back to the MK. I had promised Tabitha a birthday cupcake and we saw one in the Main Street bakery and I promised to come back later. Mallory still wanted to do the Carousel of Progress. Well, we got there and it was closed. Mallory started to cry. She and Tabitha decided they wanted to do Buzz Lightyear. The line was posted at 30 minutes. We hardly ever ride with that long of a line. Then Mallory was being bad in the line so Jason took her out. Me, Tabitha and Quinn stayed. I realized the line was barely moving.

I was afraid Tabitha would have a fit if we left. I finally convinced her that the line was too long and we left the line. Jason was still outside with a bawling Mallory.

We decided to do dinner at the Tomorrowland Noodle Station. I have been wanting to try this for a while, although I have heard that it's nothing special. I got the beef and broccoli bowl (with blackberry jasmine tea to drink), Jason the orange chicken, Tabitha peanut butter and jelly and Mallory got the macaroni and cheese. I should have known better than to let Mallory get the mac and cheese. Last year she had a fit whenever we had mac and cheese because she didn't like the way Disney makes it.

Yes, she says I make better mac and cheese at home (yes, my gourmet Kraft mac and cheese!) She just exploded again and became very mean and the final straw was her deliberately knocking the macaroni and cheese on the floor. Jason took her away from the park for her badness. Oh, we also had egg rolls, which we used a snack credit on. The food was just ok,as expected, nothing spectacular. Jason thought the orange chicken was ok, but really liked the rice.

So I had Tabitha and Quinn for a bit before bedtime. Jason had handed me the fast passes for Buzz he had gotten after we tried to ride standby. They weren't valid yet, so we decided to go to the Pooh playground to play for a bit.

I couldn't believe when I saw a 9 or 10 year old boy way up high in the Pooh's house tree!

I was going to tell a cast member, if there was one nearby, but there wasn't. I later saw some older girls on top of the house part! I have never seen so many kids climbing there before!

A 10 or 11 year old girl came up to Tabitha and said Happy birthday to her. I looked at the girl and then noticed she had on a birthday button that said happy birthday Tabitha too! We never meet another Tabitha before and she was saying the same thing. Both Quinn and Tabitha enjoyed the playground.

On the way to Buzz again, Tabitha and I shared a frozen raspberry lemonade-yum! We three rode Buzz before leaving the park.

We stopped at the Main Street bakery-no more cupcakes! We saw cupcakes at Goofy's Candy Shop in Downtown Disney on Monday. So I called Jason up to see where they were since I didn't want to go to DD by myself so I wouldn't have to take the kids out of the car and Jason could stay with them. Luckily, they were still at the bus stop since Mallory was still having issues with badness. We waited for them just outside the MK gates. There was a cast member blowing bubbles and Tabitha started running after them.

Mallory and Jason came shortly and Mallory started chasing the bubbles too. It was just one of those nice moments at twilight.

I got 2 cupcakes at DD, along with 3 of the big cookies I really love-white chocolate raspberry (my favorite),snickerdoodle and peanut butter. Jason got a key lime pie and smoothie at OKW. It was a late bedtime for the girls at 10.

 

[jenjersnap]

Aw, Amy, that sounds like quite a stressful day for momma. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[Stasieki]

It sounds like Tabitha had a great birthday! Looking forward to your next update.

 

[stitchgal]

I might get this done before our next trip in 2 weeks!

Thursday, August 6

Today was a non-Disney day. Using our Busch park passes again, this time we went to Busch Gardens in Tampa. We go frequently to the one in Williamsburg, Virginia but I have never been to the one in Florida. Jason had been as a child. The park opens at 9 and we got there at 9:30. We once again got preferred parking. The preferred lot is behind a huge handicapped lot, so it was still a moderately long walk to the park entrance.

Mallory was already grumpy to start the day. We walked into the park and she immediately started complaining that she didn't like it, she liked her Busch Gardens better etc. We started off walking to the right and walked quite a way without seeing any rides. We found the sky ride and decided to take it and see where it goes. No line. Jason rode with the stroller and I rode with the kids. During the ride, we started to see the rides and some animals. I pointed them out to the girls but Mallory didn't care and was still grumpy about it.

We got off the sky ride and went to Jungala, a giant kids play area that also had animals within the place. There were slides, ropes to climb, and other physical stuff for kids. Jason took the girls and I took Quinn. I took him in this neat tunnel where there was water beside and on top of you. He liked looking at the fish and crawling around in the tunnel. The tunnel actually made me a little claustrophobic.

I also took him to a toddler play area which was supposed to have water features but the water wasn't running. It was getting very hot already though.

The girls took off to try out the climbing features. Mallory went full speed ahead but Tabitha wasn't quite so confident. Tabitha started slow and asking for help but eventually gained her confidence. She only needed Jason's help in the particularly tough parts. In a few places there were little rooms off of the climbing ropes for the kids to play in. You could see a few animals from them. They were air conditioned too -- a nice touch.

Gibbon up close

We left the play area of Jungala and started towards the Jungala tiger exhibit. The tigers live in a large open area with lots of different ways to see the tigers. My favorite was the bubble that allows you to stick your head up in the middle of the area where the tigers walk around. The girls loved this exhibit; Mallory took tons of pictures with her camera. The park was still quite empty -- there was an area to line up for the tiger bubble but it was not needed.
one of Mallory's tiger pictures

Jason's tiger picture

tiger bubble

As we were all the way in the back of the park we started toward the front via Timuktu. In Timbuktu Jason took the girls on the carousel then I rode Sandstorm, a complex spinning ride, with the girls. Still no lines. It was getting around lunch time and also Quinn hadn't had his nap yet.

Also in Timbuktu is Scorpion, a small looping rollercoaster with a height requirement that both girls qualified for! Jason asked the girls if they wanted to try it -- Mallory did but Tabitha did not and I really didn't want Tabitha to ride it either. So Jason took Mallory on Scorpion and the other two kids and I headed toward lunch at Colony House.

Mallory was nervous in line so Jason kept here talking and reassured her that he would be right next to her to make sure she didn't fall out. The line was short but they still needed to wait for three or four trains. Scorpion is unusual for a looping rollercoaster because it has only a lap bar -- not the usual shoulder harness. Mallory enjoyed the ride.

Meanwhile, I strolled the other two kids to lunch at the Colony House. Quinn fell asleep right away. It was a really hot and sticky walk but we got there sooner than I thought we would. The Colony House is huge building with three levels. It has a table service restaurant on the top level and a counter service on the middle level. As a side note, I wish I would have looked up more on the history of Busch Gardens before the trip. I didn't know it was that old and also found out there was a museum exhibit on the history of the park that I would have liked to see if I knew about it. The Colony House has a huge set of stairs to get to the counter service level but I had to take the elevator with the stroller. I was surprised how small the counter service area was. Also it was fancier than a normal fast food place. The air conditioning made it nice and cool. I got the bbq pork sandwich for myself. Tabitha didn't want any of the choices and ended up with fries, strawberries, and watermelon. Jason and Mallory joined us a few minutes later and also got a pork sandwhich. Quinn woke up to eat. Even though it was nearly 1:00 there was no line to get food.

We decided to take the train around the park. We walked through the Myombe Reserve ape exhibit to get there.
This is like our life on vacation

We had just missed a train, it turns out. All of the sudden there were lots of people in the park and they were all lined up for the train! The next train wasn't due for another 20 minutes and there was no organization to the line. Thinking we might not make the next train we decided to skip it.

The kids really wanted to do Dragonland, which they know from Busch Gardens Williamsburg. By this time, I was getting tired and it looked like it was going to thunderstorm. The kids wanted a dessert so we stopped and got them Dippin Dots. Jason scouted ahead to Dragonland and reported it was still quite a walk to Dragonland which was pretty much the same as the one in Virginia. So we decided to leave the park to have time for afternoon swimming. It still looked like it was going to rain, but not soon. But the girls insisted on wearing their rain ponchos out of the park just in case. It was cute. People were streaming into the park now -- it definately pays to arrive early.

Jason and I decided to stop at Pop Century food court on the way back for a snack. I got tied dyed cheesecake and Jason got apple turnover and the girls got a cupcake. Jason had never been inside this resort before so he looked around a little bit. When he went out to the pool everyone there was heading to the food court because it had just closed for a thunderstorm.

It was still raining when we got back to the room. So we spent some time in the room waiting for a chance for swimming. We finally gave up and decided to get dinner at Downtown Disney. Just driving through the resort past the pool, I commented on how nice it looked for swimming but wouldn't it be crazy to go back to the room and change. We got to Downtown Disney and the sky was clearing up and the sun was coming out. Looked like good weather for swimming, but that would be even crazier, going back from Downtown to go swimming! Well, we decided to go back!

Quinn was getting fussy, though, and I didn't want to take him to the pool that late. We decided I would feed Quinn in the room and put him to bed. Jason would take the girls swimming and the find them dinner. Jason would then get takeout dinner for the adults from Wolfgang Puck Express as I put the girls to bed.

Jason got the girls to the pool, just as it was closing because a new thunderstorm popped up! He asked the lifeguards what the rules for re-opening the pool are: basically 30 minutes with no lightning in the area. As it was nearing 8 PM he asked about when the slide closes. He had asked the front desk earlier in the trip and they had said 8, but the lifeguards said 10! Moral of the story: at Disney always ask the people who are responsible for knowing -other cast members might just guess and report it as fact.

Jason asked the girls where in the whole world they would like to go for dinner. Their answer -- McDonald's! So Mallory got here cheeseburger just mustard, Tabitha got her hamburger just ketchup, and all was right in the kid dining world.

After dinner they got back to the pool, and it had re-opened. They had about 30 minutes to swim and got back to the room at 9.

Jason went and got our food. I got the Oven Roasted Chicken, Mushroom and Onion Melt, which I saw on the menu there a few days ago. Jason got the Chicken Tortilla Melt. When he ordered, they said the melts were the same thing? Mine was described as caramelized onion, mushrooms, sweet red and yellow peppers, mozzarella, honey-chipotle sauce. Jason's was described as spicy all-natural chicken, onions, sautéed red and yellow peppers and oven-roasted tomatoes tossed with tortilla sauce, topped with mozzarella, rolled in a warm, all-natural garlic focaccia bread. Served with a side of sour cream slaw and tortilla chips. I'm not sure what we got, maybe a combo of both of them but wasn't what I was expecting. My sauce was chunky, which I wasn't expected. Jason's didn't come with the tortilla chips he was expecting.

 

[stitchgal]

Friday, August 7
Today was check out day at Old Key West and check in for the Treehouses! Jason took the girls over to Saratoga Springs for an early check in.

Check-in was quick with no lines so early in the morning. Jason asked the cast member for a water view treehouse. He got out the treehouse map, checked the computer a few times, and circled a cluster of treehouses near the river in the middle of the resort. Looked good.

Jason stopped at Artist Palette to get breakfast. He got two waffle kids meals, a cinnamon roll and a turnover. At Tabitha's insistance he also got a strawberry milk, which she promised to drink, but she didn't. They returned to the villa and we ate breakfast.

While Jason and Mallory were standing next to the car packing it up they heard a rustle in the trees. A golf ball cameflying in! It bounced, and Jason tried to catch it but it went over his head and bounced to a stop nearby. He retrieved it and kept it for a souvenir. Actually, Mallory now keeps in her cup holder in the car along with a pine cone she refuses to part with.

We didn't get to Epcot until after 10. I took the girls in line for Test Track. The wait time said 40 minutes. The line was so long it stretched outside the building to where the cast member was standing. Mallory was really complaining how long the
line was and how long it was taking. I don't think I've waited so long in the stand by line before. I tried to keep them entertained but it wasn't working, at least for Mallory. The blue room towards the back of the line area was cooler than the rest of the line and Mallory got too cold. She still complained about being cold once we left the room. It was now more than a hour that we had been waiting. Next she started complaning about having go to the bathroom. We had been waiting in line for so long that I asked her if she could hold it a bit longer. She just wanted to sit down now. I was wondering if she was sick now. Her forehead felt slightly warm. I debated whether we should stay in line or not. It was moving really slowly. Then they announced the ride was broken and everyone leave the building. Well, that solved that.

While we were waiting in line to not ride Test Track, Jason took Quinn to ride Universe of Energy and see about a nap. He took a few cute pictures of Quinn by the Universe of Energy and the Mission Space signs too.

The rode the Energy and Quinn fell asleep during the boring part after the dinosaurs when you wait for all the cars to get together for the next part of the movie. He slept through the rest of the ride and Jason started carrying him out. Between
the room with the ride car and the outside is a little hallway lined with benches. Jason wasn't sure why the benches were there because he doubts Disney really wants people hanging out there. But the place was air conditioned and out of the sun,
so he sat to let Quinn get more nap. Between the ride cycles he was the only one there and the music stopped so it was nice and peaceful. Every once in a while a castmember would pass through from the main room for the ride to a side door in the
hall. He doesn't think anyway ever noticed him. About 10 minutes later the music started up again and the next unload of rider passed though, which woke Quinn up.

Jason wandered over to Test Track knowing from cell phone conversations that the girls hadn't riden yet. He heard an alarm, saw emergency doors open up, and hoards of people spilling out of the building so he knew we would all be back together soon.

Back together, I took Mallory to the bathroom while the rest of the family hung out in Innoventions. Mallory really wasn't feeling very well by this time. It was lunch time by now. I thought maybe a popsicle would help so we got an itsakadoozies for each girl. What she really needed was a bed but we were in limbo time between resorts. I decided I would take away Mallory and Quinn (he did need more nap) and Jason and Tabitha would stay in Epcot.

Once Mallory, Quinn and I got the car I called the resort on the chance our Treehouse would be ready. It wasn't. So, I took the two on a driving nap. They both fell asleep right away. Mallory woke up in 30 minutes and said she felt a lot better and
was back to her normal self. No fever either. Hmm. I asked her if she would like to go swimming this afternoon. Since we are DVC members, we can pool hop so I asked her what pool she wanted to go to and she said Port Orleans French Quarter, where we've
stayed the past few years. So we decided to eat lunch there and then go swimming. I got the chicken club sandwich (which wasjust ok) and Mallory got the pb and j and didn't eat as much as usual.

Meanwhile Jason was trying to get Tabitha to go on some rides, but she just didn't want to. They got as far as inside the

theater for the Circle of Life movie, but she threw a giant fit when it was time to sit down, so they left. They decided to get some lunch at the Electric Umbrella. Tabitha didn't want anything there. So Jason got the chicken nugget with fries
meal and a water cup for Tabitha. She drank her water and picked at Jason's food. Jason thought the food was nothing great,but a good change of pace.

After lunch they took the boat from World Showcase entrance to Morroco. From there the boat continued on to Italy instead ongoing back to the start. This was the first time Jason noticed this. We talked on the cell phone and decided to meet at the
Boardwalk for swimming instead of Port Orleans.We talked about the pools some more and decided we would like to try the newly renovated Caribbean Beach resort pool. We had heard good things.

It was starting to look like afternoon thunderstorms again. We were concerned about getting rained out, but the rain never came. The pool was great! We love the new pool there and it might just be the best pool on property. It had a separate gated kids area with a dump bucket and a couple of little slides. The main pool had an open medium length slide and a long tube slide. It also had a zero depth entry, which was great for
Quinn. The old fort theming worked very nice as well. We really had a great time here -- the only complaint was the pool water was too warm to be refreshing -- but we guess that's to be expected in Florida in August.

After we were done swimming Jason checked his cell phone and there was a text message waiting. His first text message ever! It announced that our treehouse, 7013 was ready!

We finally got to our Treehouse! I love it! We requested a water view and could slightly see the river from our treehouse.

the water view

Quinn likes it

But everything else was awesome! I decided I could live there if they just added another floor.

After getting ready again from swimming we headed to the Magic Kingdom but then changed our minds and headed to Epcot instead and the kids all had a short nap from the MK to Epcot. Mallory starting being grumpy again. We even went to Ice Station Cool and she wasn't really interested in the drinks there. We walked to the Innoventions West hallway near Ice Station Cool and Mallory was complaining her legs hurt. She was feeling feverish again. This time, Jason took her and Quinn while I kept Tabitha so we
could ride Test Track and her first ride of Soarin. We used our fast passes for Test Track we had gotten in the morning and got on fairly quickly. Tabitha love it again except for squeezing her eyes shut in the "hot" room because Mallory told her they burn your eyes out.

We headed to Sunshine Seasons for dinner. We've gone there a lot on recent trips and I've been burned out on them recently. So I just got a tuna crossaint sandwich and yet another pb and j for a kid. I was going to wait in line for a dessert but there was a line and the lady seemed to be ordering one of everything. I came back later and got one; I think it was a Rice Krispy treat.

We next went on Soarin with a short wait; Tabitha loved her first time on Soarin'.

Since we switched resorts, we had to use up our last snack credits. Norwegian pastries for snack and breakfast the next few days! I thought we had 7 credits but it was 5, I later found out.Tabitha was a real trooper to walk to Norway. She picked out the fruit tart for breakfast and we also got 2 cloudberry horns, 2 school breads, 1 strawberry waffle, and 1 rice cream.

Meanwhile Jason took Mallory, Quinn and the stroller back to the Treehouses via bus. There is no direct bus to the Treehouses, so he took the Saratoga Springs bus to the Grandstand stop. From there he could either walk or transfer to the internal bus. He decided to walk. The walk was quick and scenic even at night. The only problem is the lack of sidewalks within the Treehouse section so he had to walk on the narrow roads. Whenever a car came he just pulled off into the grass.

After we were all reunited at the room we figured out we had 5 OKW snacks left, not 7, and that I had charged all 7 snacks to SSR. Jason called the front desk and they said they could fix it, but only tonight before the OKW plan expired. So Jason headed out the SSR front desk to get that fixed and then off somewhere else for dinner and to use up our three remaining counter service credits.

He decided to go to Port Orleans Riverside for his dinner. He decided to get a pepperoni pizza, which costs two counter service credits, and comes with two desserts and two drinks. For the third credit he got the carved roast beef meal with mashed potatos and corn. For the drinks he got three Fuze teas, and for the desserts he got chocolate cake, cheesecake and an apple blossum (apple pie) -- mostly for snacking at the room later.

After he had gotten all the food and was about to checkout, he realized he was getting three adult meals, but he only had a card that said two adults and two children. Oops. The cashier didn't know what to do and called over a manager he happened
to be in the area. The manager said they could try to run through the three adult meals, but he risked having to eat "macaroni and cheese" at the end of the trip if he ran out of adult meals. As this was the end of the trip (for the OKW credits) he said to give it a try, and the computer allowed it. Further proof that there is not such thing as adult and child counterservice credits.

The roast beef meal was pretty good and he ate that as his primary meal. He also had a few slices of pizza, which he thought was pretty good, especially by Disney standards and because it started out frozen. (You can watch them make it after you order, they just go to the six foot high stack of frozen pizza, take the one of the top, and put it on the conveyer belt pizza oven). He took the rest of the pizza, fuze teas, and desserts back to the treehouses for breakfasts.

 

[stitchgal]

Saturday, August 8

Mallory woke up feeling fine in the morning and no fever. It seemed to be a 24 hour bug. We all had the yummy Norwegian pastries for breakfast.
Breakfast in the Treehouse

We started the day at Hollywood Studios. We actually got there before rope drop, around 8:45, and got to see the little show, which I think we've never seen before.

Jason hurried ahead with just about everyone else in the park to get Toy Story Mania fas tpasses while the girls and I headed there at a regular pace. When the girls and I got there it was pandemonium. Very crowded. Jason had made good time and was just exiting the fast pass line as we arrived in the area. We all got in the standby line just as it started snaking outside. We knew that though the line looked long it would move fast as no fast passes would be valid until 10 AM. It took about 20 minutes.

As we entered the inside part of the Toy Story Mania queue two women showed up behind us and started doing the craning your neck/stand on your tippy toes deal that the line jumpers do. We blocked them off. So they decided to climb over the railing, through some of the theming elements and walk through the vacant fast pass queue. They weren't very good at it though and we were able to roughly keep pace with them. Eventually the rest of there party noticed them, yelled for them to join, and opened one of the gates meant to shorten the line when the ride is less crowded. So Jason leaned over and closed the gate back up. One "up front" guys didn't like that and yelled at Jason, so he yelled back calling them out as line jumpers and saying they should be thrown out of the park. And then security came down out of the ceiling and the line jumpers were gone. No, this isn't a Monty Python sketch so, of course, nothing happened. Eventually the line jumper party got all together and the incident was over.

After TSM, I went to do Tower of Terror and Jason took the kids on The Great Movie ride. I think ToT was posted at 20 minutes but it took me 10 to get to the elevator. Mallory doesn't like the ride and she made Tabitha too scared to ride it this time. Maybe I can convince them both to ride it on the next trip. Jason reported the Great Movie Ride was a walk-on and they were waiting for me on a bench when I came back.

The girls started complaining that they needed a snack so we stopped at Starring Rolls. They picked chocolate muffins. Messy. Jason got Start Tours fast passes while they ate.
messy muffin face

We next did Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which is a recent discovery for us. The girls love it. We then rode TSM with the fast passes.

We finished our morning with Jason using the fast passes to take the girls on Star Tours. This was Tabithas first ride and Mallory's second. They both loved it.

We decided to do Mara at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for lunch, a place we've never eaten but have wanted to try.

Jason parked the car and I took the kids to Mara. We arrived around 1:00. It wasn't looking good when Mallory did not want a single thing they had. She started whining and crying about the food. She ended up with Frosted Flakes and Vitamin water, the only thing she wanted, sigh. Tabitha had a hamburger, vitamin water and yogurt-which she didn't eat. I got the fried shrimp, since I never see it at Disney counter service. It was alright. Jason got the bacon double cheeseburger. We got fruit cups, which we had been getting lately for our dessert and the kids ate some too.

Mara was very crowded and the line was long but moved quickly. We sat by the windows and Mallory entertained herself by running outside, looking through the window to make Quinn laugh, running back inside, repeat, etc, you get the picture.

After lunch we went outside to look for animals, but they were mostly hiding, probably looking for shade and air conditioning. We were hot a sweaty though. Intelligence score -- Animals 1, humans 0.
no animals

All 3 fell asleep on the way back so we took a detour through Celebration to let them nap.

Jason tried to take the girls swimming at the main pool while I stayed with Quinn in the lovely treehouse. Just as they arrive at the pool -- the pool closed. They had brought their mugs so they tried to wait out the weather inside. It didn't work. Tabitha was really wanted to go swimming and had a meltdown when she couldn't.

After the swimming attempt, we went to spend the night at the Magic Kingdom.

On Main Street the cast members had set out hula hoops for kids to try. The girls played with them for a few minutes.

We finally did the Carousel of Progress (yay!) and Buzz again. We also met Stitch.
Stitch finds himself on Tabitha's dress

By this time, around 6:30, Tabitha was not looking well at all and I felt her forehead. Yep, a fever. This time Jason stayed in the park with Mallory and I took Tabitha and Quinn back to the Treehouse. I knew Quinn and Tabitha were tired and they both fell asleep just out of the parking lot. I decided on Chick-Fil-A for dinner (because I wouldn't have to wake the kids up to use a drive-thru) and typed that in the GPS to find the nearest one. More traffic than I thought. Got the drive thru and took the kids home and they went down easily.

Meanwhile Jason and Mallory were enjoying their evening in the MK. First order of business with dinner, which, if you have been paying attention to this trip report, is no easy task. They walked around the park looking for thing Mallory might like but hadn't eaten so recently that she would refuse it. cosmic Rays, Village Haus, no good. Columbia Harbor House -- maybe the chili. It was around 7:00 and there way no line. So Jason got a tuna sandwich with chocolate cake for himself and paid out of pocket for the chili. He asked if fries came with the tuna which really was the wrong question as he wanted a bag of chips for Mallory. The cast member answered in a confusing way and just ended up with fries. He's still not sure what a tuna sandwich is supposed to come with.

Mallory didn't like the chili but did like the oyster crackers. And the restaurant was too cold for her. So Jason got her some more crackers and wolfed down his Tuna and fries. With a more portable dinner they ate the chocolate cake at a table outside near Hall of Presidents. Oyster crackers and chocolate cake -- well at least she ate it.

Next they rode the Haunted Mansion. They then headed deep into Frontierland and with the help of my and Tabitha's tickets got fastpasses for both Splash and Thunder. Next, Pirates of the Caribbean.

Time for snack so they got candied almonds (Jason had been looking all over for these -- are they only sold in Adventureland now?) and orange slush. Mallory like both.

It was now around 9:00. They got to Snow White just as the area around the castle was being roped off for the 10:00 fireworks. They found the entrance with help. While waiting in line the watched other people realize they were now stuck in a roped off area try to get out. (Cas tmember just rope they area off and rely on the guests to figure out they are now somewhere they are not supposed to be. This is probably why they start an hour early.)

After Snow White the went to Toontown to check the line for the Fairies. It was posted at an hour but the line was not visible from the start of the queue. Jason took them at their word and skipped it, based on my experience earlier in the week.

The caught the last train of the night in Toontown and rode it around to Frontierland. They got on Thunder around 9:20. By this time Mallory was look tired. Jason asked and she said she was too tired for Splash but she could still do Buzz. Jason pointed out that Buzz was all the way across the park but Splash was right there. Mallory was not impressed by such logic. So being the commited Disney freak that he is Jason carried Mallory most of the way to Buzz for one last ride of the night (and unbeknownced to Mallory, try to kill time in hopes of convincing her to see the fireworks).

They rode Buzz and Jason tried to get her to see the fireworks. She didn't want to (too loud) but was willing to wait and see Tinker Bell fly by, which the saw from in front of the Plaza Restaurant. They then hurried out of the park, beating the fireworks hoards, and got the bus back to Saratoga without incident. Jason carried Mallory back to the Treehouse via the walkway from the Grand Stand. They saw an opossum on the way back.

 

[Stasieki]

The treehouses look so nice - great update.

 

[OhMari]

Just read your TR.
I never read a TR, where someone stayed at the Tree Villa's.
My boys loved the pizza at POFQ.
Hope you come back and finish your TR.