It's A Small World Afterall....Our Celebrating the Ride Report

[JWCJ]

Yay for things started to be booked for the next trip!

You're getting close to going! Eep! I adore all the sewing - the Periwinkle dress is STUNNING.

 

[gtpoohbear]

Wow, that's a lot of giftcards - great job!!! Love the dresses I wish I knew how to sew, I'm completely dependent on Etsy when I want something handmade.

We are all getting so close - can't believe it's really April already!!

 

[indimom]

Wow, those dresses are adorable. You are really talented. Can't wait to see trip photos!

 

[ambiancetc]

Thank you for all the nice comments!! I really do love sewing. Although, you should have seen the stuff I started with .... unwearable...truly.

Tomorrow I hope to have more stuff done so I'll post pictures if I can. Only 9 more sleeps til we jump in the car!! I am SOOOO excited! I hope to post a lot of pictures!

 

[teekathepony]

Hello! I'm subbing! Love the dresses you make!

 

[scrappinggirl]

Hello, I was wondering why you had so many gift cards? Do you use them for food. I usually get the meal plan so I don't have to bring a lot of money with me, its all paid for before we get there.
Just curious how you do it?

 

[ambiancetc]

Hello, I was wondering why you had so many gift cards? Do you use them for food. I usually get the meal plan so I don't have to bring a lot of money with me, its all paid for before we get there.
Just curious how you do it?

Scrappinggirl, I buy them at Target with my Red card to get 5% off. It also helped me to budget. We used them for food, shopping, ticket upgrades everything! Since it was all pre-paid I worried less about spending it.

 

[scrappinggirl]

Scrappinggirl, I buy them at Target with my Red card to get 5% off. It also helped me to budget. We used them for food, shopping, ticket upgrades everything! Since it was all pre-paid I worried less about spending it.

That's awesome, never thought of that. I am all for saving money through purchases.

 

[ambiancetc]

So it has taken a cold rainy day here in Michigan to get me to finally start on this trip report. Well, actually, I wrote this whole first day out 2 weeks ago, went to post it and it all disappeared. So this is day one take two.

April 18th

9am - I am so glad I have kids that like to sleep in as much as I do. Especially, when I know I have a long night ahead of me. After a cup of coffee I was ready to tackle the day. I had a couple things I still had to finish on the sewing machine one of which was to keep a promise. A wanted a new pillowcase for her travel pillow. Of course she wanted it Disney themed. Being fresh out of Disney fabric we made a quick run to Hobby Lobby. J just rolled his eyes as the girls and I dashed out the door. "Ya know we leave it like 6 hours right?" were his parting words.

10am - Back home and finishing up the purse I had started the night before. I had REALLLLYYY fallen in love with a Dooney & Burke letter bag but just couldn't bring myself to spend $175 on one. (actually, it would have only been $149.69 after discount gift cards, ebates and credit card rewards but who's checking?) So I made my own. Which in a way is great because I could add special pockets for everything like park tickets, fastpasses, tablet, phone, lip balm, wallet, cellphone, pins and camera. All my usual gear. I was pretty happy it turned out so well and of course I had to make a matching wallet. The other item in the picture is the tablet sleeve I made to hang between the front seats of the car so the kids could watch movies. AKA instant DVD player

11am - All this led me to making 3 more purses (much less elaborate). 2 for the girls to hold a water bottle, chapstick and autograph postcards and a Minnie Mouse themed one for me that was just a catch all.

12pm - I finally finished the purses, DVD holder and A's pillowcase and actually shut the sewing machine down. It was hard to do. We did have a small moment together, me thanking her for all her hard work and hoping she enjoyed her vacation as much as I was going to.

1pm - The final push to pack the car started. I always think I'm so far ahead and then at this moment realize how much "last minute" stuff we always have. The suitcases of clothes that I had ready 2 days before really are only half of it! Yet to pack was the kids road trip crafts, snacks, PJ's, travel pillows, my pillow, phone charges, camera, medical bag, medication fridge, back up O2 tanks, stroller, diaper bag, "surprise" gifts for the kids and last but not least my espresso maker, grinder, cups, saucers and syrups. I haven't mentioned this yet but I am a total coffee nut. We roast our own beans and have equipment and syrups that rival Starbucks. SO..the café travels with us because I refuse to pay $5.00 for a cup of coffee that is no where near as good as what I can make at home.

The activity bag I made to hang over the back of the seat. I credit Pinterest for the idea of the cookie sheets. They are amazing.

3pm - We FINALLY LEAVE!!! Well....almost. We first made a stop to the bank, then drove 20 minutes to my in-laws to pick up K's duffle bag. I now realize that when I tell a teenage girl "Just pack a bag and we'll take it with us so you don't have to check it" I should have given her some dimension and weight limits. In case you don't know it....teenage girls bring their ENTIRE CLOSET when they travel, if given the chance. We managed to squeeze it in anyway.

4pm - We are back home. While at the in-laws J realized that B's o2 concentrator was blowing fuses in the car so we had to go back to get his back up charger (that we should have had with us in the first place). Thank goodness it happened right away and not 6 hours later! Of course, the girls have to dash in for the Disney dolls they forgot.

4:30pm - On the road again.....kind of. We drove 90 miles south and made another stop. This time at MY parent's house to drop off stuff they needed for work. Of course, with my Mother it is never a stop, drop and roll and now the kids need to use the bathroom and want a snack and J needs to check something in the office (he works for them but usually from home).

6:45pm - We are finally...officially....NEXT STOP DISNEY! My GPS gave me an arrival time of 11:30am and I couldn't help but calculate that it would have read about 8:45am if it hadn't been for all our stops. Lesson learned...run your errands beforehand "On the way" just takes forever! Anyway, we started the Disney music, the kids were finally allowed to break into the activity bag and I expected the next three hours to fly by. Life was good. We were going back to Disney.

And then the rain started...then the torrential downpour....and it didn't let up for the next 5 hours which felt more like 10. SOOOOOOO much fun to drive in pouring rain...in the dark. We ended up altering our course a bit to try and out run it. Which we did thank God.

9:45pm - We stopped for a late dinner at this unique but just okay little place called McDonalds. We also changed the kids into their PJ's, put away the toys, took care of B's night time care, read a Bible story and started a movie. We do this for every overnight trip and keeping the "bedtime routine" intact (with the added addition of a movie) always works to get our kids into a sleepy frame of mind. By the time the movie ended at 10:45 all three kids were zonked out. Since I had driven the first shift J was driving til 1am so I tried to doze as much as possible. He turned a favorite movie on his phone and listened to it to stay awake. (not watched )

April 19-
2am - Fuel stop and driver switch. J doesn't do well in the wee hours of the night. I on the other hand, live for the night watch. I sip on straight espresso, eat chips, plug in the headphones and listen to all my favorite music. I head bob, hand wave, lip-sync and bop to the beat. I'm sure if you saw us we must've looked pretty comical. Three sleeping kids squeezed in the back of an overloaded Chevy HHR pulling a trailer, a 6ft tall man wrapped up in some sort of pretzel shape in the front seat drooling on his pillow and the Mom rocking out at the wheel ....at 3 in the morning on hwy 75.
Yep, that's how I rolled until 6am when I was about to run out of gas.

6am - Fuel & driver switch again. Next time I'll stop at 5am and fuel up, 6 was just too close to being light out and the kids started to stir. Thankfully a "no we are not there yet, go back to sleep" actually worked and they slept til 7:30. We staved off their hunger cries with granola bars and bananas until the next fuel stop.

9:30am - Fuel & food stop. The kids stretched their legs, used the bathroom and changed back into their day clothes. Again, the morning routine helped them feel like new kids (of course, they got to sleep through the night so no wonder they felt so energetic.) We got a cheap breakfast at our *favorite* place McD's and I was really thankful for the cookie sheet tables when E spilled her OJ. Easy clean up My original plan had been to stop at Cracker Barrel for breakfast but we had lost so much time the day before and everyone was so excited we just wanted to keep going. I was driving again because technically J's vacation didn't start until the next day so he had to be on the phone and computer for the rest of the drive. I don't mind though, I actually really like driving. Also...shhhhh...don't tell J but I like driving because it means he gets to field all the kids questions, hand out snacks, open play dough cans etc. I get to just drive and enjoy the scenery.

Hey check it out peeps! We're in Florida and it's WARM!!!

11:30am - According to the GPS yesterday we should have been pulling into the resort by now. Thanks to the various necessary stops during the night our new arrival time was 12:45pm but the end was near! Around this time the kids had finally started getting tired of drawing, playing the ABC game, telling us what they see out the window and singing along to the Disney sound track so we started a movie. I must say, my kids do really well entertaining themselves and only watched 2 movies the whole trip down. We have it easy!

Finally around 12:30pm we see it, like a perfect postcard. I may have started tearing up...just a bit. We were back in the bubble!

Next up...check in and heading to the Magic Kingdom. Because that's what sane people do after a 22 hour drive!

 

[indimom]

Ah, don't you just hate those "getting on the road" roadblock blues. Happens. every. time.

Lovin your trip report. Can't wait to hear about day one.

 

[pwdebbie]

Enjoyed your update -- you put a smile on my face!

 

[ambiancetc]

Let's see, where did I last leave off? Oh right, 12:30pm

April 19, 12:30pm -
We were heading under the arch of the happiest place on earth. In about another 7 minutes we were pulling up to our home for the next 2 weeks. Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort

I had hoped it would be nice but really wasn't expecting it to be this nice! Everyone was so helpful and friendly. After finding out where check-in was, J stayed with the kids and I went in. I had a short wait and then it was very smooth. Being only about 1pm our room wasn't ready (which I expected). They sent me over to get the parking tag. I was going to skip this but since we were going to have to store our small trailer in the parking garage I wanted to have one to tape to it. The gal there was of course bright and upbeat and I have to give her credit, she stayed that way even after I politely but very firmly explained that we would not be coming to any presentations. She handed me the pass and wished me a great stay.

1:30pm
That out of the way we went into the nearest parking garage which was by tower 4 and found an out of the way corner near the top to park our trailer, get the kids into cooler clothes and rearrange some things for the day. It was still so early and we had at least 3 hours to kill. For some reason, to J's and my over exhausted brain it didn't register that we could just have easily parked ourselves by the pool and the kids probably would have been okay with it. Nope, instead off we drove to the Magic Kingdom. After all, that why we're here right??

2:15pm - MAGIC KINGDOM!
By the time we actually made it there the full weight of 29 hours without decent sleep was starting to hit me so no, I didn't take many pictures. In fact, I was in a total daze. It's like I was there but I wasn't. Which was a bit disappointing. I saw the train station and felt...only a twinge of happiness..say wa?!? at least the kids had enough energy to be excited We stumbled our way through the crowds down Main St. towards the Castle grabbing a popcorn for B on the way. He can eat very little but popcorn is one of his favorites.

We didn't really have a plan. We just wanted to BE there. Well, okay, I had one plan...to eat a Nutella Waffle. By now it was close to 3:00pm and we had sort of skipped over lunch so we went to Casey's. While waiting for J to get food, I finally regained enough brain cells to snap a picture of the Castle.

3:00pm
J arrived with 3 hot dogs and a mountain of fries and drinks. The fries were really yummy and we grabbed a tall table right near the street corner just as the music for the parade started! We had a table covered in food with the perfect viewing spot. It was amazing, with the characters rolling by, the music playing and my blood sugar recharging I was finally beginning to FEEL THE MAGIC! However, my fingers were either too busy popping fries into my mouth or waving at Mickey like a sleep deprived maniac, to take pictures.

3:45pm after a very leisurely meal we started walking toward Sleepy Hollow for my waffle when I got a call that our room was ready. They told us it was in tower 6 first floor looking at the pool. They thought this would be a good spot for us so we could have easy access to the zero entry pool and the rest of the resort with B's wheelchair. I thanked them but voiced concern over the noise level. B has a disease that causes energy deficiency. So if he doesn't get good sleep our trip is kaput. They very nicely suggested that when I come in for the room keys I should ask about another room and that they were sure they could find something else. After that interchange I decided that we should go back soon. I didn't want to wait until late at night and risk them having nothing left. BUT! I refused to leave with out the waffle that I had been craving ever since I saw it in another trip report here weeks ago. Let me tell you, it was worth the wait! It was sooo big I had to share it with the girls. They didn't mind at all.

Yep, that's me going on 31 hours without real sleep. Trust me, I was starting to feel it!

5pm - We made it out of the Magic Kingdom having spent only about 3 hours there. We didn't care though because tomorrow we were getting our PREMIUM ANNUAL PASSES!! It was SUCH a liberating feeling to know we could come and go as we pleased without thinking about "maximizing" our tickets.
Back at the resort the check in line was about 5 people deep but I only waited about 15 minutes. The fellow I walked up to was so nice and very helpful. After first thanking them for the thoughtful room location I then expressed my concerns about the noise and asked if they had something a bit higher up. "How about the 11th floor overlooking the lake"? he asked. Why yes, yes I do think that will do! He quickly had my keys and directions ready for me and wished me a pleasant stay.

The view from tower 4, 11th floor was amazing. We could see AOA, Tower of Terror and on clear days even the top of Everest.

Out of the window by the elevator on the other side of the building we could see Epcot. We had a Deluxe 2 bedroom and found it to be very spacious. Bigger than the pictures made it look even. There are tons of pictures of those rooms on google so I won't bore you. J and I really loved the layout of the master suite and having two sinks was going to be great! Actually, we all share one bathroom at home so having two bathrooms was going to be even better! The pillows and sheets were sooo soft that I stuck my pillow in the closet. After unpacking the food I brought and B's medical equipment we called down to bell services to see if his O2 tanks had arrived from our supplier. They had and asked if they could bring them up for us. They were there along with the bin from the Dis Pay it Forward within 15 minutes.

6:30pm -
I made us all some dinner from the food I had brought from home and then FINALLY unpacked the coffee stuff and made myself a latte. I sat out on the balcony for a minute to enjoy the view and chill and hoped to maybe shut my now blood shot eyes. Of course it lasted all of one minute. Once the kids saw the pools from the balcony they were in their suits and dragging us down to them. By this time I was chanting in my head "I love my kids, I love my kids, I love my kids". We walked left ALL around the lake and checked out ALL the pools and facilities before the kids decided on the main pool lazy river. Which I couldn't help but calculate would have been found faster if we'd just turned right in the first place. The smiles were worth it though.

7:30pm
The lounge chairs would have been worth it too if the peaceful scene below had included a fruity drink and excluded all the "Mom look at THIS!" calls. So much for shutting the eyes that were by this time, not only blood shot but beginning to water at will. J was doing surprisingly well. Which was making me question the answer he gave to the "did you get any sleep?" question I had asked him that morning. For a man who "didn't get much sleep" he sure had snored a lot.

8:00pm
I finally threw in the beach towel and announced it was bed time. Even the kids had to admit they were a bit sleepy. The kids are normally really good about bed times and B's evening care we have down to a science. However, since we only knew where half the stuff was our normal 20 minute routine turned into an hour.

9:00pm
The kids were finally tucked in bed and I wanted nothing more than to crash with them. However, we had no milk. I'd used the last of the little bit I'd brought for my coffee. In our house no milk in a crisis. No milk means no lattes which means no functioning parents. Thankfully, the hotel had provided a list of nearby shopping outlets and their hours. Needing breakfast items as well I took a deep breath and headed out to the store while J got things ready for the next day and unpacked some more. I went to whatever Target my GPS took me too, Vineland I think. It was just okay. Nothing fabulous. I was so tired I spent the first hour just wandering the store. I know what you're thinking. "If you were so tired why didn't you just get in and get out?" Good question. I wish I had asked it of myself!

10pm - More TARGET! (Because it's SOOO exciting when you're tired!)
In wandering I found a pretty decent Disney section with a good selection of trading pins ($4), small plushes($10?), t-shirts, water bottles, hats, autograph books, key chains ($2) etc. Then I actually made it over to the food department and started filling my cart. Then J called. B was having complications with his stomach. This...is never good. I won't get into the gory details but it sometimes...often times...ends up with an extended trip to the hospital. I wanted to just sit down and cry at the thought. He had been doing so good at home. Was this trip a mistake? Did we push him too far?
My tired mind was racing. Thankfully, we have a few things we can give/try to avert a total crisis and J started those. I started finishing my shopping with renewed haste, making sure to buy toothpicks to hold my eyes open for the drive back.

11:00pm
I finally make it back to the condo (semi safely) and finish unpacking all the food while getting the fill in from J on B's condition. (I should add that J is an excellent Dad/caretaker and I really must applaud him!) Our rescue measures had seemed to work, his stomach was working again, his tube feeds, while reduced, were running and he was sleeping peacefully. I was SOOOO thankful! Of course, there was still work to be done, he has midnight care every night and I did a full check on him just to be sure. I then set out clothes for the next day, packed the day bag and took a shower.

12:30am
By this time I was staggering around the condo and slurring my words like a drunk. I couldn't finish a sentence to save my life and my eyes were hanging out of my head because the sockets were too tired to hold them in any more. I was logging 39 hours awake. I hadn't done this since my college days and in those days I didn't have three kids to keep track of. J saw this and stopped me from putting the rest of my clothes away. He ordered me to bed. He knows I'm the type that just won't stop until its all done unless he intervenes. He never commands me to do anything so I knew he was serious. At that moment, I was happy to listen. He does love me so much.

12:32am - As I close my eyes I catch the bits of this view from our window.

Total food expense*: McDonalds (dinner & breakfast) $19 Casey's: $25 Popcorn: $3.50 Sleepy Hollow: $6.81 =$54.31
*I am adding in this line at the end of every day for those who like to track food costs. My total grocery bill at target was $223 for the two weeks
Up next: The alarm goes off and we meet four of the Fairies!

 

[ambiancetc]

According to my original plan, today was supposed to be a sleep in and relax day. Everything that I had stayed awake for yesterday was supposed to happen today. However, thanks to the Dis I knew today was the last day to meet 4 of the fairies at once. My girls are obsessed with the Disney Fairies. They'd watch the movies every week if I let them. They turned their doll house into Pixie Hollow and all their Polly Pockets into...yep, fairies. I'd spent many hours making them Periwinkle and Tinkerbell costumes. So there was nothing, not even an exhausted body, that was going to keep me from being able to have us meet 4 of them with one line.

April 20
7:15am
I wanted to shoot the alarm when it went off. What was I thinking getting up so early after a day like yesterday? This was supposed to be a VACATION. Instead, it was beginning to feel like some weird marathon. Then I remembered the fairies. J started the espresso maker immediately and started B's morning care. We started him with extra fluids and made sure to pack the cooling towels. He seemed like he was doing good if a bit extra tired. We'd have to watch him closely today. After a quick breakfast of cereal and fruit we loaded up. As we were getting in the car I was starting to really get in the spirit. Amazing what 6 hours of good sleep and a cup of espresso will do for a girl! I'd even managed to pull it together enough to realize I could Disneybound as the fairy Rosetta if I did my hair right. Hey who wouldn't want to be a beautiful little fairy for the day?

8:55am
We were just pulling up to the MK in time to see the end of the rope drop show. It actually looked really cool from the monorail. You got the whole scene at once. Why was my camera still in the medical bag? One of these days I'll get a smart phone or remember to use my tablet. We quickly made our way toward Adventure Land and got in line at about 9:10.

9:34am
We were taking pictures with Tink and Iridessa. Waking up early had really paid off! What these pictures don't show was the absolute fuss they made over the kids! (more about the lack of pictures below) There was lots of fairy shrieks, pointing and hugging. B was dressed as Peter Pan and Tink just went crazy over him and even gave him a big kiss. Iridessa quickly picked up that A was Periwinkle and had been looking around for her favorite fairy. She swooped in and started hugging A and asking her what she was doing in spring when she should be in winter. Telling Tink that her sister was going to melt and she needed to quick tinker up something to keep her cold. A had the time of her life, she didn't get to MEET Peri but she got to BE her! She was BEAMING! E wasn't left out as both fairies commented on what a perfect little Tink she was.

One of the handlers asked J if he wanted them to take pictures with our camera for him. We were happy to get him in more of the shots. However, what they missed, was when Fawn and Silvermist came over to take us from Tink & Iridessa. Yep for a couple minutes we had all four faires at once playing with us! Tink was talking with B while Fawn played a round of "who am I" with E (she was a bear) Silvermist and Iridessa were fawning over A and they were all just having a good time. We found out later the photographer and handler didn't get a single picture of the whole thing. They took close up individual shots but not one of the whole scene. All the photopass pictures we did get are going in a calendar as the CD and downloads were out of our budget this trip. But here are a few more that were taken with our camera. We learned our lesson though. Take your own pictures. This whole meet & greet was more than 10 minutes but we only got about 20 pictures and most were just repeats of the group shots. I was SOOOOO disappointed. Had J or I known we would have taken the camera back. We like to just snap away at everything and edit later. We also really missed that we don't have a picture of all of them together. Anyway, here are a few more from the meet & greet.

Fawn & Silvermist are calling to Tink and asking her when Peter Pan had arrived (They'd sort of missed him while playing with the girls)

After we said goodbye to the fairies we went on PotC since it was a walk on. B didn't like the beginning but he liked the end. It was the first time we'd ridden it. Next we searched out Peter Pan (the larger version) and lucked out to be in his meet spot right before he arrived so were first in line. I have to admit, after the fairies he was a bit of a let down. He didn't seem to notice that the girls were dressed as fairies and all he said about B was "nice hat". The girls were making all sorts of references about Tinkerbell and asking if he had ever met Periwinkle and he just sort of stood there and gave very short answers. He didn't engage. I finally asked him if he was suffering from jet lag after the long flight. He actually asked me "what flight? In one of those airplanes? No." I then told him I meant his flight from Neverland. Eventually we gave up and just smiled for the picture. As you can see, B was just SOOO impressed. Actually, he was still pretty sleepy from the day before.

It was a bit cloudy and starting to get windy as we walked back to Adventure Land which was still pretty empty. I grabbed FP's for Jungle Cruise even though it was just a 20 minute wait and we went on Magic Carpet which was 5 minutes. As we walked up we saw this adorable couple enjoying the ride.

Finally, B started to feel better and wake up. If you look close you can see the lipstick stain from Tinkerbell. He wouldn't let us clean it off. He lost his hat on the ride and we never did get it back

My little Tinkerbell

When we got off we still had time so we went in the Enchanted Tiki Room and then walked through the Bazaar before going on the Jungle Cruise.

As we entered the tunnel of love oh wait wrong ride, Cambodian temple our captain started to comment about how spooky it was and how it reminded him of another boat ride. Then he started humming a creepy melody right before breaking into "It's a Small World Afterall" I can't avoid that song even on the Jungle Cruise! We LOVED the ride and had a really great captain.

11:30am
It was starting to get really chilly by now and fairy dresses are not the warmest so we decided to head back to the condo for lunch. On the way we enjoyed a song from the Dapper Dans

12:15pm
We got back and I made some lunch and then took a much needed nap Actually, we all did.

Coming up next...DSIL K arrives and we check out Fantasy Land!

 

[ambiancetc]

2pm
After a quick but much needed nap, I left to go pick up my SIL "K" from the airport. The quiet drive there was actually just what I needed. Silence and time to decompress from the last 48 hours or so was perfect. Picking her up went well and when we got back to the condo the kiddos started getting ready to head back to the park while K settled in a bit. (It always take awhile to get us out the door so this worked well for everyone).

5:30pm
We were finally on our way back to the parks! We wanted to check out the new fantasy land that the girls had no idea about and also Rapunzel's tower that we had oh so carefully avoided that morning. Just a side note, you can fit 1 teenager and 3 small kids in the back of a HHR if you really have too. Although, I wouldn't recommend it for longer than a 15 minute ride or they will start poking one another.

Our first mission was to get our PREMIUM ANNUAL PASSES!!! We went into Guest Relations near Main Street and got a lovely gal named Amanda who happened to be from Michigan too. She knew all about price bridging and quoted me the cost of the upgrade before doing anything permanent. We had 8 day PH & WPFM w/NE and our cost to upgrade was gate price for PAP with tax: $744 minus gate value of tickets including tax: $630 = $113 for adults and kids tickets were worth $611. so their cost for upgrade was $133
I used gift cards I'd bought at a discount at Target to pay for the upgrade so our final ticket cost was $657 for adults & $668 for the children's. We also got our Tables in Wonderland card. Little did I know how much that would save us this trip!

Next stop was a picture in front of the Castle. Note the towels as blankets, long pants and cloudy skies. Yes, that was an attempt at Disneybounding as Jasmine. You can't see it but I was actually sporting my tiara. Oh and no, K doesn't normally wear oversized photobucket aviators. They're just for special effects.

6:15pm
We get back to Fantasyland and J quick gets FP's for Barnstormer and a surprise FP for Philharmagic but they were about 1-2 hours out. So, we walked over to check out the land. ETWB even in the chilling wind, was 50 minutes. We were getting hungry but Gaston's Tavern held no appeal to us, the Little Mermaid ride was too long for standby so we ended up just looking at everything which would have been a lot more fun in warmer weather. I'll admit it. I'm a total wimp when it comes to being cold. I should have packed a parka. Last year it was so hot the little sweaters I had brought just wasted space in the suitcase so this time I left them home. Bad idea.

7pm
By this time the hunger and cold were getting to us so we went to Pinocchio's Haus for dinner. We ordered two adult chicken pizzas and two kids meals. We just drank water. I took a picture of the adult pizzas and kids sides to remind myself how much food there is. The kids pizza was half of a full size and the girls were full after the pizza. K barely finished her order and J and I finished the girls sides but more out of principle because we hate wasted food. Especially $35 worth of it. Over all, it was a great value! Next time, I'll save the sides for later.

After dinner we finally made our way down towards Rapunzels tower. I thought for sure the moment the girls rounded the corner from P. Haus they would immediately see it so I was frantically getting the camera ready only for us to be standing almost smack dab in the middle of the street with it staring us in the face and the girls were so busy looking at everything else they totally missed it!! Finally K had to point it out for A to see it. I managed to catch her first sight of the village and tower. It's this face that brings us back to Disney. B never did notice it til we walked right up to it!

Then I whipped around just in time to catch E's face when she saw it.

They were pretty excited! Rapunzel is one of their favorite movies. A bought the dress and wig last visit but her hair is so long now she didn't need the wig. I made a dress for E and in a moment of sisterly love A let her use the wig.

Of course we had to go to the bathroom. I don't know about the men's but the ladies was amazing. For a bathroom that is. I can honestly say I have never taken a picture of anything inside a bathroom before but I did this time. You have to go to the back of the bathroom and look up. Really well done. The ceiling, the stall doors. So much detail...in a bathroom!

More of the area.

7:30pm
Next we went to Philharmagic. It was our first time and It wasn't until half way through the line that I really paid attention to the stuff on the walls. I mean, what do these people have to be drinking to come up with this stuff!? Whatever it is, I want some!

Aren't 3D glasses just the BOMB!

I honestly have never been to anything that was so in-your-face 3D. It was awesome. I mean I weaved when stuff was flying at me. B didn't care for it very much so I was glad we were in the back for his sake. Everyone else enjoyed it though.

8:00pm
When we got out the wind had started to pick up and with the sun going down (or was it already down? I can't remember now) it was down right freezing. We started to head over to Barnstormer but it was down so we went into the Big Top gift shop. Wow, big gift shop! At this point we decided to ditch Barnstormer, grab some snacks and head out because it was late and freezing. J and the kids wanted some stuff from the confectionary there but I wanted another nutella waffle and K wanted to try it so we dashed over to Sleepy Hollow and left J with the kids. We met up later near Caseys but barely! We had forgotten about the parade cutting us off and dashed across streets just before they roped them off. It wasn't until we met up that I looked at what everyone else had gotten for snacks. After the mountain of food that was Casey's yesterday and the equal amount J bought now, I learned after this not to put him in charge of purchasing. Our budget was being blown wide open every time he opened his wallet. $23.77 in snacks for the 5 of us that eat. I decided to just let it go because hey we're on vacation and I knew it was really just sticker shock

We made it out alive and were back in the condo by 9:30 where the kids were so thrilled to find that the Gift Fairy had visited! YAY for Disney Store sales! This really brought the magic to our hotel for them. We were all pretty tired so made it an early night. It felt SOOOO good to go to veg out awhile between the kids going to bed and B's midnight care.

Total spent today on food & snacks: Pinocchio's Haus lunch: $33.40 Sleepy Hollow: $6.81 Big Top(snacks): $16.96= $57.17

Up next: We go to Animal Kingdom for the first time and I ride my first roller coaster and then dinner at the Garden Grill.

 

[teekathepony]

The looks on the girls' faces when they saw Repunzel's tower are so priceless! I love that tower, too bad they didn't do a little more than a bathroom with Tangled.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[wiigirl]

Great update and pics!

 

[ambiancetc]

7:45am
6 weeks ago I had this bright idea to get up early and go to Animal Kingdom for breakfast today so I made an ADR for 9am. Although, sleeping til 7:45 felt amazing after the last few early mornings, I was getting to the point that I wanted to really sleep in REALLY bad! If it hadn't been for the ADR and the fact that we didn't have a lot of time scheduled at AK I probably would have. In the end, I'm glad we did it though. (I always am!) One of the things I love about Bonnet Creek is the location. It is literally, just minutes to every where but Magic Kingdom. We left at 8:30 and had no problem making it to our 9am ressie (handicapped parking does help!)

9:00am
We walked in and it was then I realized I didn't need to make an ADR. The place was nearly empty! I really can't see why. It was our first time at a Rainforest Café and the theming was awesome! The kids had so much fun looking for different animals and watching the scuba divers cleaning the tanks. The food was really good. K and I split the Tonga Toast, the girls each had a kids waffle and J had a platter of eggs, potatoes and I think steak (I'm having a hard time remembering now and they don't have a breakfast menu online to reference!) We also ordered coffee, K had one of their specialty coffees and juice came with the kids meal. The food was all really good and HUGE portions! The girls could EASILY have split the kids waffle as they only ate half of theirs. J left half his food too. K and I felt our meal was perfect but we split it and did nibble a bit off of the others but only because we wanted to try it. I look forward to eating here again. Only two warnings, it can be a bit loud to those with sensitive hearing and it is dimly lit which made it a bit hard to see. As evidence in the next two pictures.

Before we'd left I had signed up for the Landry's Club under J's name. Because of this we received a $25 Birthday Voucher and a $25 welcome voucher. The Bday one could only be used in the Bday month so it was perfect as J's Bday is in April! Our bill was covered in full and I only paid for a $10 tip. I would have liked to see the itemized bill for reference but based on what I remembered from the menu I think the total would have been close to about $48 +tip

10am
After really taking our time with breakfast we did a little shopping in the gift shop. They have some really nice items here and something you don't see everyday at Disney....A clearance rack!! Yep something actual on SALE! The girls each got a pair of beautiful flip flops with great arch support for...$6.99ea! J got a hat, K some jewelry and B a train set. I was so excited to get 15% off my purchase here and paid with the Landry's Gift Cards I'd bought at 8% off Total we spent about $46 here after discounts.

We exited to the back of the gift shop to find a nice open area with a lovely little waterfall. It made a perfect picture backdrop for the kiddos to show off their new stuff.

There was also turnstile with no line! Yep zero people and 1 bored CM! So take note, go through the Rainforest Café when the lines are long.
This is were all attempts at efficiency came to a halt. For all my planning, I'd never really wrapped my mind around AK. All I knew is we wanted to start in Dinoland because the kids love the show "Dinosaur Train". So we meandered in that direction. Then I looked at Under Cover Tourist's wait times app and realized Everest had a slowly growing wait. So we headed over there right way and got FP's for 1 hour later. Score!

11:00am
To kill time we walked back over to Dinoland. J offered to run our bag of stuff from Rainforest back to the car and grab the umbrella since it threatened rain. While he did that we noticed that the line for Goofy and Pluto wasn't bad so we jumped in! While waiting A made her first pin trade with Patrick from England! He was just the nicest person and really made a deal out of it. He was really surprised that we wanted a picture but happy to oblige! We took this pic at 11:11am

By 11:27 we were saying hi to the guys!

They really had fun with the kids and K's favorite characters are Pluto & Goofy so this was perfect. J came back right before it was our turn and after talking to the CM was let in with us, which I thought was so nice! Looking back at picture time stamps the interaction was only 3 minutes but it felt so much longer. It's like time stands still when we're around the characters

Puppy Love!

After that we let the kids run off some steam in the play ground. It was great to be having such a relaxed pace for once. We weren't trying to do the whole park. We were only trying to do one land. So if we managed that and Everest? Great! It was here that E made her first pin trade. The CM was named Matthew from Orlando and he was SOOOO nice and explained to her exactly what to do and made a big deal out of it being her first trade, just like Patrick had done for A. So, she was really excited to get the same treatment!
I think judging by the smile on Matthew's face, he enjoyed the moment too.

B taking a break from all his tubes and sharing a magical moment with Daddy. Who was sporting his new hat from RFC.

Before heading back over to EE we rode Triceratops Spin to kill more time so we could get FP for Primeval Whirl with a return for a bit later.

12:00pm
I really have no idea why I was agreeing to go on this ride. I'm scared to death of the feeling of free fall and have never been on a coaster where I didn't have to start praying to get my mind off the "I'm going to die, just DIE" feeling. Since A & B were not going to ride it, K, E and I went first. I had been sycing myself out for the last two weeks to try and overcome my fear of coasters. I wanted to like them. Really I did. I just had expected to start out slow and work my way up to Everest. But oh well here we go!

Yep. I thought I was going to die. None of the magic of Disney seemed to rub off on me. Worse yet, I had E sitting next to me and she looked like she was going to pass out! So I had my fear plus her fear all rolled into one. As we pulled into the station I gave my SIL the "I can't believe you made me do this" looks and then asked E how she liked it. "I was so scared Mommy ....(then a second of thought)...but can I go again with Daddy?!" I couldn't believe it. So she did! J, E & K went for round two with the remaining FP's. While they did that, the rest of us went to go get a cold treat. I got my first Mickey Bar! It was yummy and I should have taken a picture but you've all seen them. If you haven't, it's a chocolate covered vanilla ice cream bar...shaped like a Mickey Head...it's why it's called a Mickey Bar.

A got the cookies & cream version and we both shared with B. He has a few favorite things he enjoys nibbling on, cheese, french fries, strawberries, chocolate and ice cream! While he's not supposed to have dairy, we let him have tastes here and there. He really liked the Mickey Bar! When the rest of the gang joined us they also got treats. 2 more Mickey Bars and Edy's Dibs. Our total for snacks was $20.23
This is B's "that Mickey Bar was so good Mom" look.

1:00pm We slowly fought the shoulder to shoulder crowds back to the much less congested Dinoland. Once we got to the Primeval whirl we realized that none of the kids were either tall or brave enough to on. J was still recovering from EE (he LOVES coasters, they however, don't LOVE him, poor fellow) and our FP time was quickly running out. So K looked at me with the "pppplllleeeeasseee don't make me go by myself" look and promised me it was much, much tamer than EE. I figured hey, I survived EE and she was so looking forward to it, why not? (Little did I know the line "I survived EE" would get me to do a lot!) We went on 3 times in a row! Each time it got easier for me to handle and by the end I thought it was a blast. It was so cheesy it was great! I totally felt like I was at a pop up carnival. I always want to take the kids to those but worry about safety. I didn't have that concern here.

While we whirled and twirled ourselves silly, J took the kids pin trading, looked at all the different games, rode Triceratops Spin again and then walked through the shops. We joined them feeling only the slightest bit queasy and tried to decide what to do next. We big kids wanted to try Dinosaur but didn't have enough time so, that would have to wait. Because of the nature of the day, we weren't going back to the condo for a nap and I had hoped B would fall asleep in his chair (it fully reclines and is pretty cushy) so we slowly walked toward the entrance and looked for animals, pins and shops in hopes at least, he would rest. As we passed the spot for Pooh & Friends a CM was calling out that there was NO WAIT and to please come in! Since B wasn't asleep yet we decided to do it. Sure enough, we arrived and were behind one family who was just finishing the first character. How great was this?! B was just not in the mood any more but the girls were totally eating it up. They just LOVE the characters. The CM's tried so hard to crack a grin out of B even though we assured them it was okay because he was tired. I am so over the stressing about getting the perfect pictures. They are what they are. It is a reflection of what was actually going on. B's stamina and moods go up and down all day and we've learned when to just let him be and let the girls have a good time. Bless this guys heart for trying though!

K is also in love with Tigger in addition to Pluto. Can you tell?

As we left and were walking back up the path someone chased us down! It's the unexpected moments I treasure most at Disney! Pooh was off to get more honey but it didn't stop him from saying hi again.

2:30pm
By now it was switching from a drizzle to a rain and we decided we needed to head to Epcot. We had an important dinner at Garden Grill at 4:00pm! K is a pretty laid back girl and she's been to WDW about 3-4 times before this. I kept asking her what she'd like to do, eat, go, ride etc. and she was just cool with "whatever". Okay girlie, I get that you're just happy and excited to be here and are easy to please but give me SOMETHING! She was turning 16 a couple days after the trip and I had really wanted to do something special for her. Finally 10 days before the trip she mentions that she heard about this cool restaurant that turns and is a character dinner. BINGO! It's as close to a "I want to..." that I was going to get. I jumped online to search for an ADR and found one. Just ONE during our entire stay and it was for today at 4:05pm.

Read about it in the next update!

 

[teekathepony]

Wow, breakfast at Rainforest sounds awesome! I've done dinner there and loved it.
Looks like you guys had some great character interaction!
How cute that E wanted to go on EE again! Thrill seeker.

 

[ambiancetc]

Wow, breakfast at Rainforest sounds awesome! I've done dinner there and loved it.
Looks like you guys had some great character interaction!
How cute that E wanted to go on EE again! Thrill seeker.

Hey! Glad to know someone is still reading this!

The breakfast was really good and the service was great. Because we had just signed up for the Landry's Club we even had the manager stop by to make sure everything was okay, welcome us to the Landry family and find out if we needed anything. It was a nice touch

The tonga toast was very different from what we had later at Kona Café. I wouldn't even call them the same meal. I like Kona better. RFC version was more like a fruit covered French toast. DELISH just different All the food was fab though. I really liked their sausage and so did J. I would recommend giving it a try!

 

[pwdebbie]

I'm still here too! I enjoy your updates. We lunched at RFC in April and it was a nice meal. A little noisy though.