Kick'n It at Kidani (aka Am I Becoming a Resort Snob?)Final Update 8/20 p.54

[wigdoutdismom]

I love your splash pictures, I feel your pain on that! I'm so glad you had some great weather for the pool!

 

[wsushocker]

Yeah....It's time for an update. I doubt I will update tomorrow because I have to march in a parade tomorrow night.

When DH got back from the park he joined us at the pool. It was another perfect pool day. I generally have bad luck swimming while at WDW. The scenario usually plays out like this.....Leave the park at 2:30 in the blazing sunshine, go back to resort and change, get to pool, big puffy white clouds roll in, clouds get darker

, sun disappears, lightening

in distance, CM closes the pool. Yeah .....that's how my afternoon pool time usually rolls. But not this trip. Nope....no clouds, no lightening, no rain, and pool open 24/7. I really needed this pool time. I cooled down in no time. Boy, I could get use to this. Sun, water, and an adult beverage.

I took the liberty of adding a few more......

 

[MEK]

Well....how many megapixels did I waste trying to get the perfect picture of my kids on Splash mtn? Having to admit my failure, I took photos of the ride pic. I might even have considered buying it if the boys had been up front AND not making silly gestures at the camera.

Note the difference between boys and girls in this photo!

When they boys were off the ride, the older boys split. LJ, DS14, DH, and I went to the gift shop so LJ could buy his 3rd pin..... A splash mtn pin. It was really cute. He had seen it earlier in the day and asked to go back and get it with his spending money.

I took this picture while goofing around. Never noticed this before:

The four of us still had FP's for Big thunder, but it was down. I guess I should say, it was STILL down. The lights were off. It looked like it was going to be awhile. Bummer. The BTMRR FP's were the ones that DH stayed in the park to get. The crowds were heavy and I knew we were not going to hang around to see if the ride eventually reopened. The boys wanted to ride the train to Toon Town. this was becoming a pattern. I wanted to see Philarmagic, but I went with the majority.

Oh BTMRR...you are SO fun at night! Why are you down?????

All aboard to Toon Town:

We got off here and walked down that cool back path to Tomorrowland.

And the saddest sign in the MK:

We were at a loss for what we wanted to do next, so we went to the Comedy Laugh Factory (OMG ...Is that the right name??????) LJ had a pretty cute joke that I texted in, but it didn't get used. I kept hoping that DH would end up being "that guy", but I don't think we sat close enough to the front for that role. Oh well. It was cute and LJ enjoyed it.

We walked to the front of the park just in time for the start of wishes. We went up on the train station platform to watch it. This is when I realized that my camera batteries died. Just like that...dead! I was super bummed and there was no chance of finding batteries at that point. My DH was walking up the stairs when I discovered this. I turned to say, "My freak'n batteries just died". I guess while I wasfacing him and standing at the top of the stairs I was blocking someone's view (yet wishes hadn't started yet). This chick said, "You are in our way". This is when I has a mini-diva moment (as CP would say). I looked at her and snapped, "I am not going to stand here".....beeeooootch For crying out loud, it was pretty obvious all I was doing was turning to talk to my DH before we settled into a viewing spot. Uggghhhh!

So we watched part of Wishes, but I was having a hard time fully enjoying it because (1): My batteries were dead and (2) Someone wrongly accused me and trying to block their view when I was having a dead battery crisis.

We watched most of it and then decided to high tail it to the AK bus. We definately beat the crowds and we even got a seat for the ride home.

So, that concludes our evening at MK: dinner, two rides, and a botched attempt to take pictures of Wishes. Still, in all, a pretty fab day considering the heat and the crowds.

Up Next ......Day 6.......Moving day....check'n out of Kidani and check'n into CSR....lots of swimming.....evening at Epcot......and the best meal of the trip!

 

[MEK]

I took the liberty of adding a few more......

OMG! It's a good thing My DH just went outside. He would think I was absolutely mad by the way I am laughing right now!

You Totally Made My Night!

 

[dawnbu40]

Great update! I was disappointed to hear Tony's wasn't very good. It's some place we always talk about going but never have due to its reputation, which must be pretty accurate. I'm anxious to hear about your best meal!

 

[MEK]

I love your splash pictures, I feel your pain on that! I'm so glad you had some great weather for the pool!

Wig'd:

How do you stand this??????? Shocker must have the largest library of online photographs known to man. He doesn't even need to open his mouth....just send a picture. What a Hoot!

p.s. thanks for the compliment on the splash pictures!

 

[MEK]

Great update! I was disappointed to hear Tony's wasn't very good. It's some place we always talk about going but never have due to its reputation, which must be pretty accurate. I'm anxious to hear about your best meal!

Hey Dawn:

Maybe it was just my meal, but it wan't very good. I have had good meals in the past there, but I think that was probably when I ordered fish. I rarely order pasta and for some reason I thought it was going to be good. Wrong! Oh .....I'm sure you can guess where my best meal was and it fully lived up to its reputation!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

I just have to say that I LOVE Brian's pose on Splash! I'm so sorry that rude woman snapped at you, she probably should have been a tad more patient and then she wouldn't have embarrassed herself or upset you...
I'm glad you got a seat on the bus after such a long day...

 

[Lady Lallie]

What is it with you and views of Wishes? Didn't you have problems on your last trip too? Man oh man.

LJ is too cute buying a Splash pin. Hehehe. That is a really cute picture of him with his arms up.

Too bad your meal at Tony's was less than stellar.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Loving your report, can't wait for more!!!

 

[kschafer]

Oh Katie - That's a tough one! As long as he is a good student I don't see the big deal with taking him out of school. I took my kids out of school every year until they hit high school. It's one week and its not going to make any difference by the time he hits HS/college. Of course, leaving your younger on behind might be tough. To me, that would be the bigger issue. But 9 is a great age for getting on all the rides and he will be able to keep up with all the activities.

Please refresh my memory - what are the exact dates of gnomefest. I want to go in early May for my BD and I would like to be able to have some of my trip cross over with gnomefest.

He is a great student, I have no hesitation to have him miss a week (and Greg didn't worry when he missed a week last year for his appendecitis ) I think Greg's bigger hesitation is because he is 3rd of 4 boys and his dad would do things with the older ones then never get around to doing them with him and his younger brother when they got that age. I say there are only 2 of them and I of course will take any excuse I can to go with just Daniel when the time comes!

I THINK the tentative dates are april 21-28. Nobody has committed to anything yet though.

 

[jenharring]

I feel your pain. You are more than welcome to steal my pics of wishes. Which night was it that you where there?

We had a fun incounter with a rude person too.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Sun, water, and an adult beverage.

The perfect trio!

LJ does look very somber in this pic -- glad the food perked him up!

He started to answer me and then suddenly said, "Tony's? Where's Tonys?" See what I mean CP - Directionally Deprived Denny strikes again. The response I was really expecting was, "IDK", not "Where's Tony's?". How can you eat at Tony's three times and NOT KNOW WHERE IT IS????? So, his best guess is fish. Trust me - he has no idea whether he liked it or not.

This made me laugh out loud! That is such a Charles response!

And this leads me to an observation I have made about dining in MK versus HS. I think MK has some really good CS places and there are quite a few CS places to choose from. In fact, I still have never eaten at Casey's. I guess I'm never near there at lunch time. However, the TS places at MK are really not my favorite. (Well, except I do like the CP breakfast). There is no place where you can just sit down and order a good meal that isn't a buffet, crappy Italian, or thanksgiving. On the other hand, HS has the worst CS places (IMHO) and a great variety of TS restaurants. I have now eaten at all the TS in HS. I pretty much like them all. My least favorite was Sci-fi dine in because my food was undercooked. But that was awhile ago. I understand they have the best hamburgers and shakes. So good, in fact, that I keep thinking about changing my Brown Derby Sept lunch ADR to a Sci-Fi lunch ADR. Trust me when I say that I have spent way too much time debating this. All opinions welcome!

This is something I have said several times -- we never have a problem finding a CS we want to eat at in MK, but TS are a whole different dilemma. We have about started saving TS for the other parks and always doing CS at MK. Sci-Fi or Brown Derby? This is a hard one -- although I love, love, love Brown Derby, I might almost go with Sci-Fi because you and Denny would probably get a kick out of sitting in the cars together. Hmmm, this would he a huge dilemma for me. Although, the drinks at Brown Derby are really good, and you could request one of the booths...see, I am no help at all. Good luck with your decision.

When it was FINALLY time for the boys to drop all I got was..............

We walked to the front of the park just in time for the start of wishes. We went up on the train station platform to watch it. This is when I realized that my camera batteries died. Just like that...dead! I was super bummed and there was no chance of finding batteries at that point. My DH was walking up the stairs when I discovered this. I turned to say, "My freak'n batteries just died". I guess while I wasfacing him and standing at the top of the stairs I was blocking someone's view (yet wishes hadn't started yet). This chick said, "You are in our way". This is when I has a mini-diva moment (as CP would say). I looked at her and snapped, "I am not going to stand here".....beeeooootch For crying out loud, it was pretty obvious all I was doing was turning to talk to my DH before we settled into a viewing spot. Uggghhhh!

She was probably the same one from the Wildlife Express! Your mini-diva moment was certainly within bounds! She didn't even give you a chance to move.

 

[mdsouth]

On D Day I woke up at 4am! That would have been great if I had an early flight, but our flight was not until 1pm.

We did curbside check in and my brother's family walked us to security. They seemed surprised when I told them they couldn't go through security. Neither of them had flown post 911. They watched and watched and watched until we were completely out of sight. I felt bad, cause I knew they were all worried about LJ. But we had reached the point of no return and LJ was now completely under my Disney Spell.

Or so I thought. After security (my DH did not leave his belt there this time - thank god ) we went to find our gate and get some food. I found out that LJ adhores chicken nuggets. Trust me, this was the first of many chicken nuggets on this trip.

I just started reading your trip report. I have a lot to catch up on.

Your statement about LJ and his feelings about chicken nuggets confused me at first. I think you meant to use adore instead of adhore means to dispise or really dislike something.


I can only imagine your shock when you saw your SIL, brother and family after you went through the security gates! I didn't realize that they had guest passes either. I can also understand you wish to just scoop up your other nephew and take him with you. That must have been really hard.

My own DS will be turning 13 next week, so I haven't had the experience of traveling with teens, but I do know what it is like to be around multiple teens all day long - - I am a middle school teacher!

I can also relate about how difficult it was to get people up and moving. My entire family (except me) are all night owls and those wanting to sleep in in the morning. This includes my DH, my DS and DD who is only six . We only managed to make it to the official rope drop once on our eight day trip.

 

[MEK]

I just have to say that I LOVE Brian's pose on Splash! I'm so sorry that rude woman snapped at you, she probably should have been a tad more patient and then she wouldn't have embarrassed herself or upset you...
I'm glad you got a seat on the bus after such a long day...

I want to respond to everyone now, but I am going to take a quick absence from work to go to a friend's husband's funeral. So I only have time to respond to Wigd. But I will get to everyone else when I get back.

Thanks Wigd. I am always getting in someone's way during wishes. I am starting to get paranoid. But I thought she was a little presumptious and I WAS having a crisis! I guess no worse than the man you just wrote about who wouldn't move out of his seat during AI. Some people!

 

[MEK]

What is it with you and views of Wishes? Didn't you have problems on your last trip too? Man oh man.

LJ is too cute buying a Splash pin. Hehehe. That is a really cute picture of him with his arms up.

Too bad your meal at Tony's was less than stellar.

LL: You have a good memory. Seriously, I am starting to get paranoid. I try not to get in anyones way, and yet despite my best efforts, I still manage to do it. LOL!

That Splash pin was cool - moveable parts and everything!

Less than stellar - nicely put!

Loving your report, can't wait for more!!!

Hi PiperGirl - Welcome to my TR! Glad you are enjoying it! Hope you'll stick around for more!

He is a great student, I have no hesitation to have him miss a week (and Greg didn't worry when he missed a week last year for his appendecitis ) I think Greg's bigger hesitation is because he is 3rd of 4 boys and his dad would do things with the older ones then never get around to doing them with him and his younger brother when they got that age. I say there are only 2 of them and I of course will take any excuse I can to go with just Daniel when the time comes!

I THINK the tentative dates are april 21-28. Nobody has committed to anything yet though.

I guess I see his point, but I do think he should reconsider. When Patrick gets to high school he won't be able to travel anymore. Then you could do a special mom - son trip with Daniel. I took my younger son once and left older Brian at home cause he had started high school soccer. It all works out in the end.

Thanks for the update on the gnome dates!

I feel your pain. You are more than welcome to steal my pics of wishes. Which night was it that you where there?

We had a fun incounter with a rude person too.

Thanks Jen. I can't see the pic right now, but I'm hoping its your firework pic! I was there on Friday June 12th! Next trip I am going to camp out on at the train station and have 5 extra sets of batteries!

This made me laugh out loud! That is such a Charles response!


:

OMG - I knew you would appreciate it! Tehe!

Be back soon, gotta work...........

 

[jenjolt]

Oh really enjoying the updates MEK!!!

Sorry Tony's was a bust but I can't wait to hear what the best meal of the trip was for you guys!! Okay so I'm going to chime in and I don't think I would trade Brown Derby for Sci FI....I love me some Brown Derby LOL!!!!

Awww love that LJ is becoming the cute little pin collector that is really awesome!!!

Sorry about your batteries dying right before wishes that totally stinks and the rude lady who if she had waited 5 minutes would have found out that you had no intention of being in her way of the view...sheeesh!!!

 

[torsie24]

Thanks for another awesome update!!

Sorry your batteries died though - and the imaptient rude lady made me mad on your behalf.

Looking forward to CSR photos!!

 

[MEK]

This is something I have said several times -- we never have a problem finding a CS we want to eat at in MK, but TS are a whole different dilemma. We have about started saving TS for the other parks and always doing CS at MK. Sci-Fi or Brown Derby? This is a hard one -- although I love, love, love Brown Derby, I might almost go with Sci-Fi because you and Denny would probably get a kick out of sitting in the cars together. Hmmm, this would he a huge dilemma for me. Although, the drinks at Brown Derby are really good, and you could request one of the booths...see, I am no help at all. Good luck with your decision.

I know.....by my 3rd day of Deluxe dining I might really be feeling a burger, milk shake, and fries. Plus - I 'd like to give the place another try. I keep telling myself that its silling to "stress" over this, but the Deluxe dining is making me more food obsessed than normal.

She was probably the same one from the Wildlife Express! Your mini-diva moment was certainly within bounds! She didn't even give you a chance to move.

OMG - I think you're right. She probably was! Same time frame. It could happen.

I just started reading your trip report. I have a lot to catch up on.

Your statement about LJ and his feelings about chicken nuggets confused me at first. I think you meant to use adore instead of adhore means to dispise or really dislike something.


I can only imagine your shock when you saw your SIL, brother and family after you went through the security gates! I didn't realize that they had guest passes either. I can also understand you wish to just scoop up your other nephew and take him with you. That must have been really hard.

My own DS will be turning 13 next week, so I haven't had the experience of traveling with teens, but I do know what it is like to be around multiple teens all day long - - I am a middle school teacher!

I can also relate about how difficult it was to get people up and moving. My entire family (except me) are all night owls and those wanting to sleep in in the morning. This includes my DH, my DS and DD who is only six . We only managed to make it to the official rope drop once on our eight day trip.

Hey mdsmouth.....

Welcome! Adore vs adhore......Thanks for picking up my typo. I am the world's worst speller and when I'm not spelling something wrong, I typing something wrong (dyslexia), but I honestly did not know that adhore meant to despise or hate something. Learned a new word today!

Yeah - seeing the folks come through security was wacky and I think it just prolonged the agony for my other nephew.

Middle school teacher I'm sorry. That can not be an easy job!

Oh....you need a solo trip so you can get to rope drop a few more times. That must be tough to be an early riser living with a bunch of sleepy heads. The only time I get to rope drop is if its a solo trip or I go with just DH.

Oh really enjoying the updates MEK!!!

Sorry Tony's was a bust but I can't wait to hear what the best meal of the trip was for you guys!! Okay so I'm going to chime in and I don't think I would trade Brown Derby for Sci FI....I love me some Brown Derby LOL!!!!

Awww love that LJ is becoming the cute little pin collector that is really awesome!!!

Sorry about your batteries dying right before wishes that totally stinks and the rude lady who if she had waited 5 minutes would have found out that you had no intention of being in her way of the view...sheeesh!!!

Hey Jen:

I know you love Brown Derby and you and LL had such a great lunch there! That's a big reason why I probably won't change. I keep thinking of the picture of LL's cheescake.

LJ is loving his pins. I think he had 4 which is a pretty good start!

Rude people = But I really do have to start getting to Wishes a little earlier. And I promise I will in September!

Thanks for another awesome update!!

Sorry your batteries died though - and the imaptient rude lady made me mad on your behalf.

Looking forward to CSR photos!!

Thanks torsie - glad you liked! Those stupid batteries. DH insists on rechargeables, but I hate them. You charge them for an eternity and then they are so fickle - you never know when they are going to die. Uggghhhhh! I used to have this joke that whenever my DH would need to take a picture of something important, the batteries would die. He would always say, "I just recharged them. How did that happen?" Now I try to carry regular batteries too, but I must have run out!

 

[Charleston Princess]

OMG - I think you're right. She probably was! Same time frame. It could happen.

Yet another reason why we need to photograph these people!