Kids, Real Fun is Tiring!

[praisehisname]

They have never been to parades that haven’t thrown tons of things to them, so I was very relieved when they watched the parade with the look of curiosity and not with their hands up yelling “throw me something”.

Great update!

 

[kbheap]

I'm in. Can't wait to read more.

 

[portocall]

I'm here!

Great so far!!!!!!

Hey Kat! So glad to have you here!

Hey there!

Enjoying your report.

You got a coveted corner room with the two windows. Yay for you! We found the bus system extremely frustrating at POR too.

We're not parade people either so I understand but boy do we LOVE the lion king show.

Looking forward to hearing more!

Hi Diamond! Loved having the two windows, it made it feel so much more roomy! The Lion King was the best ever!

Cara- LOVIN it!!!

Glad you got to see the Lion King and my kids are the same about the parades-"eehh"- it's never a priority and if we run into them we enjoy them a bit and move on.

Can't wait for more!

Lori

Thanks Lori! I love the parades because it means shorter lines for the rides and the rides is where you will find us.

Good TR so far!! We just stayed at POR a couple weeks before you and we agree! It was so awesome, we loved it. I want to maybe stay there again when we go next time, it was just so nice!

Can't wait for more!

I was blown away by POR. It was such a relaxing retreat to the madness of the parks!

Woo hoo, you're doing a trip report! Love it!

I'm so glad you liked POR- we love it there!

We don't do the parades either...must be a New Orleanian thing.

Hi Lorie! Glad you are here!

Great update!

I'm in. Can't wait to read more.

I will be updating sometime tonight. I am so glad you are here.

 

[MickeyisBeast]

Joining in! We stayed at POR Nov. 11-15 so we just missed you!

 

[portocall]

Day 3: Hollywood Studios

Of all the parks, Hollywood Studios is the one that I was looking forward to the least before we went. In fact, it wouldn’t have bothered me in the least to skip it. That would have been a huge mistake. I was pleasantly surprised by what a fun day was had by all.

We didn’t arrive at Hollywood Studios until 9:50. We went straight to the Rockin Rollercoaster to get fast passes for later. On the way there, the boys had fun interacting with the street players. One was calling out for a boy scout to help her cross the busy street. My two oldest boys are both in cub scouts and although Logan refused to help her out, Fletcher was up to the task. They had quite the conversation as he helped her cross. Then the Director made a huge deal about Spencer’s birthday. Spencer beamed in the spotlight.

We finally made it to the Rockin Rollercoaster, nabbed a few fast passes for after lunch, and headed for the Great Movie Ride.

My favorite. Even better, it had no line and for the first time, didn’t stall while I was riding.

Now, it has been many years since I had been on the ride and I completely forgot about the Alien and Indiana Jones part. Spencer completely freaked out. Skeletons in general freak Spencer out so I knew we were in big trouble when I first spotted them. Thankfully, he covered his eyes and hid rather than his normal claw and scream routine. I felt like a really bad mom for not warning him. In the end, the Wizard of Oz part won him over and he wanted to ride again. But rides were going to have to wait because we had lunch reservations at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater at 11:50 and it was 11:45.

We rushed to Sci-Fi Dine In Theater to be greeted by a long line of people waiting to check in. I thought it was kind of odd that the line was so long, not to mention within a minute of getting there, the line was growing behind me when the hostess got a chair and yelled to the crowd that they were fully booked for the day and only people with reservations would be allowed to check in. All the sudden, there was just us and another family behind us. Within fifteen minutes we were shown to our car.

We really enjoyed the atmosphere, judging by the fact that my three normally very loud boys were silent they liked it too.

The food itself was fine for what it was, standard burgers and fries. All in all, out of the five restaurants we tried, it is the one we are least likely to return to just because we have been there and done that and would rather try something new.

After lunch, we were heading over to the animation studio to kill some time, and let our food digest before our first trip on the Rockin’ Rollercoaster when we ran into the High School Musical show. We stopped for a little while to take it in.

It was a little odd seeing people who looked nearly as old as me dancing around as if they were in high school. After we had our share of the show, we got on our way. We had hoped to go to the animation class, but on the way, my husband got distracted by Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and insisted that we stop and tell them hello. Yes, you read that correctly. My husband had to meet the Incredibles.

Logan refused to come with us and sat on the bench to wait. While we were in line the animation class began and there wouldn’t be another one for a half hour so we decided that we were going to have to skip it.

I was feeling kind of bad for Spencer because he wasn’t going to be riding the Rockin Rollercoaster. I asked Sean if it would be okay with him if we split up and let me take Spencer to see Playhouse Disney while he took the older two and then I would meet up with them and go by myself. He agreed that it would be a good idea and Spencer and I headed for Playhouse Disney Live.

The problem was I had the fast passes and when they realized it; we were heading in the doors to the show so I gave them my bag. Only once we were settled did I realize I also gave them my cell phone and we didn’t have a meeting spot. Ugh. The show was cute but too long for my taste and I was really happy I didn’t try to drag the older two into it or it would not have been enjoyable for anyone. Spencer really enjoyed himself though and that made it worth sitting through.

After the show ended, I felt a sense of panic as I wondered how we were going to find the rest of our family in the crowd. I hoped that they wouldn’t be far from the beaten path and headed to the entrance of the Rockin’ Rollercoaster. It was there that I found our friends. Well, part of our friends. They also separated while half went on the Tower of Terror. She told me that she saw Sean and the boys go it to the Rockin’ Rollercoaster but hadn’t yet come out.

That was a relief, and even better, she was smart enough to hold on to her cell phone so Spencer played with their youngest and I made myself comfortable on the bench. Only a few minutes later, all ten of us were there. When we got fast passes, Sean decided to get all five so I didn’t have to ride by myself after all. The problem was who I take with me. None of the L family had ridden it, and after the Tower of Terror, only their older son, 9, did so I asked him if he wanted to come and he lit up. I couldn’t pick between my two since they both loved it and it wouldn’t be fair for only one of them to get to ride again. For the sake of this report, I will now refer to my friend’s sons and daughter as K12, K9, and K2. K9 and I were off and he was super excited. He told me everything they had done over the last few days and thanked me for taking him. Before long, we were in our limo riding the rails. I loved this coaster! It was a blast. Twenty minutes later, we met back up with everyone and made a game plan for the rest of the afternoon.

We had 5:00 dinner reservations at Boma, so I felt we needed to catch the bus at 4:00 over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Thankfully, everyone was in agreement. It was nearly 3:00 and my DH, his friend and the older four kids really wanted to ride Star Tours. K2 wasn’t tall enough to ride Star Tours, and Spencer wanted to stay with us so L and I decided to take them to see the Muppets 3-D. I forgot how much I enjoyed the Muppets. Spencer and K2 didn’t want anything to do with the 3-D glasses at first, but once the movie started and they understood what was happening, we had a hard time getting them to return them. They were reaching for thing off the screen and laughing and having a good time. Turns out everyone had a great time on Star Tours too. We found out as soon as we left the theater as they were just walking over to meet us. We were amazed by the timing. But it was 3:45 and we decided to head over the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

After the waits we had been experiencing in the POR bus lines, we weren’t sure what to expect, but there was only one other family waiting for the bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The bus was there five minutes later and we were off. I was excited to get to see this resort first hand and it was gorgeous. The kids wanted to go look at the animals and we did get to see a few zebras before our pager went off. Boma was good, not my favorite, but good.

I was amazed by just how much the children were willing to try, all six of them. None of them went for the chicken nuggets first. I had to laugh at the irony that the seafood gumbo went over the best in the group.

After our bellies were full we decided to go back to Hollywood Studio’s to see the Osborne Family Lights.

The Osborne Family Lights were amazing. I think the ten of us had to pick our jaws up off the ground when we first got in.

We stayed for two dancing light shows and decided to hit the Great Movie Ride one last time before we left. This time Spencer knew what to expect and was so brave. There was EMH that night and the park was getting busier by the minute so we made our exit.

Sean requested a trip back to Downtown Disney, but I wasn’t up for it so we decided that I would take the kids to the quiet pool and that he could go to Downtown Disney by himself. We spent an hour at the pool and the kids wore themselves out. They were sound asleep within minutes of getting into bed and Sean got back to the room around 11:00.

He decided to spend some of his vacation money at Lego World, but he also got me a Castle Bank from all of “my boys” to say thanks for planning such a wonderful trip for them. That brought tears of joy to my eyes. I went to bed with visions of the Magic Kingdom dancing in my head. Spencer had a surprise trip waiting for him in the morning.

 

[portocall]

Joining in! We stayed at POR Nov. 11-15 so we just missed you!

Thanks for joining in! Awe man... just missed you is right. We had off the week of Thanksgiving which is why we scheduled the trip then. I was really grateful we were able to have warm and mostly dry weather since November is hit or miss, but I knew the kids had their hearts set on swimming.

 

[Diamondintheruff]

The seafood gumbo really? Who knew?

I often find the park I'm least looking forward to is the one that I end up enjoying the most. Maybe it's the lowered expectations?

How sweet that he bought you a present for organizing the trip.

 

[lori1043]

Use that bank to save your change for the next trip!

Enjoying, Cara! I ahve never seen the Osbourne lights- looks amazing!

Lori

 

[portocall]

Use that bank to save your change for the next trip!

Enjoying, Cara! I ahve never seen the Osbourne lights- looks amazing!

Lori

Thanks Lori, the Osbourne Lights were amazing. We were all just blown away by them. I would have loved to have stayed longer to enjoy them, but everyone was tired.

 

[portocall]

Ack, my laptop is broken and in pieces at the moment. I will hopefully have an update by Sunday night. Thankfully, I declined the delete button so my camera still has the pictures stored.

And Diamond, being from New Orleans, gumbo is a staple at our house especially during Christmas. In fact, call it a post trip funk... but I really had a hard time getting into this Christmas season and I finally felt it once we started the Gumbo on Christmas Eve. For them to eat bowl after bowl of gumbo outside of NOLA is unbelievable to me. I am not a fan of the seafood so I skipped it.

I also started planning another trip, although tonight DH and I decided that we are not going until June of 2014, in other words for my oldest sons 15 birthday. He saw the preview of Harry Potter World in Universal and begged to go. Logan really wants to stay at the Polynesian so at the moment it looks like we will spend one night at the Poly with a birthday dinner at Ohana along with a day at one of the water parks on top of a few days at Universal's Resort. Got to get my Disney fix somehow and DH was agreeable so YAY to that. 2014 is so far away, but it is something to look forward to and with my DH, a vacation green light is hard to get so I will focus on that and be happy.

 

[portocall]

Day 4: Magic Kingdom

I had set an early wake-up call this morning and was actually awake a few minutes before the phone rang. The kids were dead as logs, but I let Sean answer the phone to get him up and going. I started the coffee pot to warm water for our breakfast of oatmeal, laid out all the clothes for the day, and started to wake the children up one by one as Sean was showering and getting dressed. I started with the least grumpy morning boy and worked my way up.

I was super excited as I had a surprise up my sleeve for Spencer today. Since this trip was planned to be for Spencer’s 5th birthday, when I saw that the Pirate’s League was 50% off for people staying at a Disney Resort, I jumped on it and we had a 9:50AM reservation to turn Spencer into a Pirate. Spencer still didn’t know, and I didn’t want to tell him until we got to the Magic Kingdom.

Now that everyone has eaten breakfast and was dressed, we headed for the South Depot and got there just as a Magic Kingdom bus arrived. We were even able to sit down. Well, me and Spencer anyhow. Sean, Logan, and Fletcher opted to stand up to give others a chance to sit and I put Spencer on my lap. We made it to the Magic Kingdom at 9:01. Darn, just missed rope drop. Rope drop is not a priority for our family, but to be that close, it was a little disappointing. Sean and I had not talked out the logistics of the morning yet so we did as we walked from the bus to the entrance. Sean, Logan, and Fletcher were going to take four room keys to get fast passes for Space Mountain. Then they were going to go on whatever rides they wanted until I called them and we would meet up then. Upon entering the park, Spencer and I headed to Adventureland. Despite the fact that I had just been talking about it, Spencer still had no idea what was going on. I explained it on our walk. He was not thrilled with the idea, but I hoped he would warm up once we got there.

So, we arrive at the Pirates League and I took the before picture.

Spencer is so not thrilled. We check-in and he decided he wanted to be Black-eyed Jack. Then we go into the room where he gets his pirate name. At this point he is starting to get the hang of it and is starting to smile. It was declared that his pirate name would be William Deckgoose. He was all over that. When we were brought to the room where they turn you into a pirate he was in full blown excitement mode. We didn’t have to wait and he jumped right into the chair. The pirate doing the make-up was a very nice, patient man who let Spencer choose his eye patch, bandana, and earring.

Before long, Spencer… I mean William Deckgoose was reciting his pirate oath and was declared to be the newest pirate.

He got a new birthday button with his new name and his sword. Then we were lead into a secret room where he got his treasure and a picture. All in all, it was truly a fun experience and more than worth it. His older brothers we jealous, but we explained it was a birthday present and they quickly chilled out.

So, now that we finished at the Pirates League, I called Sean to find out where they were. Turns out, they had just finished riding the astro orbiter and we agreed to meet at the jungle cruise. While we were waiting, I turned a few dollars into tokens so Spencer could drive Donald’s Boats. That kept him busy, but Sean and the boys made it to Adventureland in record time. Logan and Fletcher wanted to drive the boats too, so I gave them each enough tokens for a few minutes. We then decided it was time to hit the Jungle Cruise. I love this ride! I know that it is cheesy, and very outdated, and I probably could operate the boat and give the corny jokes, but when done well, like our driver did, it is one of the best Disney rides in my opinion. We all enjoyed it.

We followed up the Jungle Cruise with the Pirates of the Caribbean. It only had a five minute wait time which blew my mind. I had not been on this ride since it was redone with Jack Black. I didn’t hate the changes, I didn’t love them either. I warned all the boys that there was going to be a little drop once we were on the boat. The older boys were both disappointed in the word “little”, Spencer just looked scared. Then it dropped (did I say, I told them when I saw it was coming) and I heard Spencer say “Awe, that’s all?” after a big “weeeee” so I knew at that moment we were going to be brave and try Splash Mountain. Hey, that we included me. I am not a Splash Mountain fan at all either, but I promised I would try it as a family this time. We looked at the wait time and the fast past return and they were the same so we took the fast passes and decided to ride the train around the world while we waited. Spencer didn’t want to get in the train line because he didn’t trust it was for the train. He still wasn’t on board with this Splash Mountain thing. Finally, Logan went up and said “Well, I am riding this train since I am looking at the train tracks, you can stay there” and of course Spencer had to go see for himself…lol. I was laughing at Logan’s fast thinking as the train was approaching. I have always enjoyed the train. It is a few minutes to just sit and marvel at being at WDW. We got off the train with just five minutes left until our fast passes were good. So we decided to wait, even though Spencer was begging to ride the tracks. Before long, we showed our fast passes and entered the queue. It was hard for me to keep up with the excited leaders… namely Logan, Fletcher, and Sean while pushing Spencer along. He had quit protesting but he certainly was NOT in any hurry either. I know this story is not going to win any mother of the year award, however, we decided that Logan and Fletcher could have the front seats, me and Spencer in the middle, and Sean in the back. Off we went. Spencer kept pointing things out and was having quite a good time. I warned him of each drop and he got in his ready position which was one hand on the front of the ride, one on my arm and then complains that the drop was too little. When it was time for the big one, he had given in to throwing his hands up in the air like his brothers. What I had never liked, and perhaps it is because I always sat in the back so I couldn’t see, was that I didn’t think it was on a real track, and that bothered me. After viewing it on youtube, I finally felt secure and for the first time, instead of picturing doom, I really enjoyed myself. Spencer did too. When we got off Spencer said he loved it but it was a one and done. Logan and Fletcher begged to do it again. We decided to head over to Columbia Harbour House for lunch.

On our way to Columbia Harbour House, we got to see the Princess Tiana on the riverboat show, and the had to wait while they second lined away. It was cute. Princess Tiana was beautiful as was Prince Naveen. The boys decided to lock themselves up, they were unimpressed.

Columbia Harbour House… I tend to have a great dislike for seafood. I do eat Long Johns Silvers, provided it is smothered in loads of ketchup, but other than that… and shrimp, seafood is a no go. But I really wanted to eat here because on my very first trip to Walt Disney World, my parents took me here to eat and I thought I had eaten in the castle. We sat on the second floor overlooking Fantasyland. I was all of four years old and it is one of my clearest memories. In researching this trip, I figured out that it was not in the castle, but Columbia Harbour House that I had been too so I wanted to try it again. I surprised Sean in the fact that ordered the fried fish and then left him and Logan to collect the food while Spencer, Fletcher, and I headed upstairs to find a table. I wasn’t able to eat at the same table since there were already people eating there, however I did find the exact table based on the view I had remembered so well. It wasn’t long before Sean and Logan came up and we got to eat our lunch. Delicious doesn’t do it justice enough. That place was so yummy that I even ate all my fish. The kids ate all of theirs too.

While we were eating, we were discussing our plans for the rest of the day. The boys were lobbying hard to go back to the resort to swim at Old Man Island. It was warm, but a cold front was on its way. I was inclined to agree with them. Sean on the other hand said the man thing “I didn’t spend all this money to take you to WDW for you three to just swim in a pool.” I spoke the facts. It is 1:00, we have dinner reservations at 5:00. We could go back, let them swim with the knowledge that this is the last time, get dressed in long pants, go to dinner and then come back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. Or, we could stay here until 4:30, listen to the children whine about swimming, eat dinner, decide we are too tired to stay at MK long and spend the evening in the resort with grumpy kids. Sean listened to reason and we decided to let the kids get some swimming in while he rested in the room alone.

We left Columbia Harbour House heading for the busses. We passed the Hall of Presidents with the host calling five minutes until the next show. Sean looked at me with his begging eyes. I told the kids pit stop and in we went. I spent my Grad Nite in the Hall of Presidents napping so I have a very sentimental love of the place. Not to mention, I love history. Sean had never been, and really wanted to see it. Logan, Fletcher, and Spencer, not so much, and they said so. In the five minutes we waited to be seated, we heard “this is stupid.” “I don’t want to be educated” “do we have to stay here really” “this is taking away from our swim time”. I informed my children that I was starting to see their dad’s point of view more and more each time they opened their mouth and if they said another thing, we would not be going swimming. Silence. Not one single word from them until the show was over. Sean came over and asked me what I told them. I told him to enjoy their newfound appreciation for the Hall of Presidents and not to worry himself about why it happened. Twenty minutes later we were headed to the bus with Logan and Fletcher spouting off new facts they learned and a much better attitude.

Once we got to the bus station I started to question my logic. Buses were not coming. Well, correction, they were coming, just not to our bus stop. Twenty long minutes past and I was considering heading back into the park. Sean said he would give them two more minutes. Just as we were ready to give up, here comes the POR bus. We weren’t the only people waiting. We weren’t even close to the beginning of the line. Luckily, he loaded and left, instead of waiting for more people to come as it appeared the other buses were doing.

We got back to the resort at 2:45. We were dressed and ready for the pool at 3:00. That gave us a full 30 minutes of swim time since I figured we would need to be at the bus stop no later than 4:00 to make our dinner reservations. The children had a ball swimming and I stopped thinking about all the craziness in wasting time to allow them these precious moments to swim. The pool was not crowded and they rode the slide over and over. I even tried it out. It was fun. Then it was time to leave. I guess I did a good job in the room over my “when I say it is time to go, do not argue, it is time to go” I gave them the you have two minutes left warning, so they hurried to do the water slide one more time, then got their towels and we left. Sean was sweet and got evening clothes together for us so all we had to do was change. We made it to the bus stop at 3:55. I was excited. We were on our way to dinner at Ohana. Of all the table service meals, this was the one I was most looking forward to.

We waited, and waited, and waited, and discussed driving over ourselves, and waited and finally the Magic Kingdom bus came by.

Up to this point, only a Hollywood Studios bus has passed.

We hoped on the empty Magic Kingdom bus and were off. We quickly headed to the monorail line and the line was long! I have never seen the resort monorail with such long lines, but I am assuming many others also had dinner reservations. It was 4:45. I decided that I was on vacation, we weren’t going to be that late, and I wasn’t going to freak out. Sean was waiting on me to freak out because I can’t stand being late anywhere. I decided to let him in on the fact that I decided not to and you could see relief in his face. We finally made it on a monorail and over to the Polynesian at 5:05. Since we were late, I headed straight to check in. Sean headed to the bar. They were telling people 30 to 45 minutes of wait time.

That is why our beeper went off before we could get our Lapu Lapu’s.

Thankfully the host waited for a minute and with our drinks we were seated. Our waiter had just visited New Orleans and was thrilled to talk with us. He wanted recipes for all kinds of New Orleans foods. He asked the kids what their favorite foods were and was shocked by their answers.

Logan: Gumbo
Fletcher: Crawfish and Crabs
Spencer: Jambalaya and Red Beans

He told them if they didn’t like the food that was brought out, they could fix them chicken nuggets, French fries, hot dogs, or pizza. They thanked him but declined the offer as they each helped themselves to some salad. They loved the sticky wings, pot stickers, and noodles. They declined the veggies, but since they ate salad, I let that slide. They participated in the Coconut Race and declared this their favorite restaurant yet.

Then the meats arrived and I didn’t hear much else since they were busy eating. I loved the atmosphere of the Polynesian Resort. I appreciated the time away from the park to just relax and enjoy the meal without feeling like I was missing out on anything. Once we could eat no more, we took care of the check and headed back to the Magic Kingdom on the Monorail. We had Space Mountain fastpasses to use.

On this, our Space Mountain fastpasses were for 2:50-3:50. I told Sean that they would let us use them even though it was now 7:00. He didn’t believe me. In fact, he said some not so nice things about the Dis. I was slightly irritated. I thought about Diamond in particular and at once felt I truly understood her trip reports a lot better. I told him to wait here, give me two fastpasses, don’t move. I asked Fletcher to come with me. I turned in our fastpasses and off we went to ride Space Mountain. It was awesome, as usual, but I really couldn’t tell you what changed. Might have been a little darker, but it had been really dark before they lightened it a bit. Fletcher loved it too. I came out and Sean and Logan went on while Fletcher and I waited with Spencer. I had decided to have Spencer sit this ride out because of it single line seating. Spencer doesn’t always act logically when frightened and I could see him doing something stupid like trying to stand up to get to me… so he could wait a bit longer before his first attempt. Sean and Logan came out with big smiles so they liked it and was grateful we didn’t have to do the whole 110 minute wait thing. Sean apologized and I forgave him but had to tell him that I know what I am doing. After that, the incident was not spoken of again.

We followed up Space Mountain with Mike’s Laugh Factory, which I liked a lot. We also did the Tomorrowland Speedway as it is one of Logan and Fletcher’s favorites.

Logan and Fletcher were really excited because for the first time, they would get a car alone. I took Spencer and Sean rode by himself. Next we did the Mickey’s Philharmagic. Sean and I debated over whether we had done it before. I told him we it was our first time, he said we did it on our last visit. Then it started. It was wonderful. We all loved it. Sean asked to do it again after admitting that he had been confused, it was our first time. We didn’t do it again. We got in line for Peter Pan, but Peter Pan stopped and it was time for the fireworks. We found a place in Fantasyland to view them. They were okay. I would have preferred a different view, but Fantasyland happened to be where we were.

Once the fireworks were over, we decided to do one last ride. Spencer requested Small World, and looked so pathetic that Sean said Small World it is… I was grateful we would be able to sit for a bit, and the older two decided not to whine about it since it was a quick line and they too were getting tired. I have found it in my heart to love Small World since it is a Disney Classic, but once upon a time I was known to complain hard as I was forced to ride it. I was disappointed as there was going to be no Haunted Mansion for me this visit, but that just means I will have to find a way to get back there someday.

After It’s a Small World we headed to the exit with just about everyone else, but first Sean wanted a few more pictures of the castle. Logan and Fletcher were complaining about being tired and this is how my trip report got its name. Sean looked at them and said simply “Boys, real fun is tiring.” I knew right then that I would do a trip report and it had a name.

After a few more pictures, we got in the line for the bus. It moved faster than it had before, but it took quite a few busses before we got to get on one. Before long, we were back in our room at the resort. The boys fell asleep quickly, Sean and I were not long after them. I turned on the news to see what was in store weather-wise for us the next day. I shouldn’t have… it said rain….

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Yay! An update!!

I am enjoying reading this - I can picture you all during your day!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

when I saw that the Pirate’s League was 50% off for people staying at a Disney Resort, I jumped on it and we had a 9:50AM reservation to turn Spencer into a Pirate. Spencer still didn’t know, and I didn’t want to tell him until we got to the Magic Kingdom.

I didn't know that. What a great deal. I'm glad Spencer enjoyed it after all.

William Deckgoose

Great name!

We then decided it was time to hit the Jungle Cruise. I love this ride! I know that it is cheesy, and very outdated, and I probably could operate the boat and give the corny jokes, but when done well, like our driver did, it is one of the best Disney rides in my opinion. We all enjoyed it.

It is truly a case of the CM making or breaking the experience. Did the boys get any of the jokes?

I know this story is not going to win any mother of the year award,

Really it's not so bad. Of course this is proclaimed by the woman who pushed her child into riding the haunted mansion just to have her daughter throw up before loading onto the actual ride.

The children had a ball swimming and I stopped thinking about all the craziness in wasting time to allow them these precious moments to swim.

Like you remember the view from columbia house it sounds like that swim might be the moment the kids remember most in the coming years.

That is why our beeper went off before we could get our Lapu Lapu’s.

I've yet to get one. Maybe next trip.

I thought about Diamond in particular and at once felt I truly understood her trip reports a lot better.

Frustrating though isn't it?

 

[lori1043]

Cara- I have been reading but not posting. Love it!!! Love how you got the TR name-too funny

Those hubby's

Lori

 

[OhMari]

Bump to update.

 

[portocall]

Day 5: Epcot

We woke up pretty early despite our late night the previous evening. I turned on the news to see when the rain would arrive. Logan was smarter; he opened the window and informed us it had arrived. Drats. The boys started crying and whining. All of them. Great. So I said “well, I can’t control the weather… rain is rain”. I should mention that I am not my sweetest early in the morning. Turns out they were crying because they thought the rain meant they were not going to Epcot. Found that out when I was trying to get them dressed and the 9 year old says “For what, to stay in the room all day?” At which point I start laughing which just infuriated them and they start to wail even louder. Thankfully, our friends are our neighbors and we could hear them next door packing up to head back to New Orleans. I finally decided to let them in on the fact that we were still going to Epcot and the mood changed to one of activity. Getting dressed quickly, eating quickly, doing everything I said in order for me to forget their big tantrums of the day.

I pull out the ponchos I picked up at the dollar store at home. Works for the boys… not so much for me or Sean. They fit, sure, but didn’t cover past our rear ends…. I tell him not to worry; they do sell Disney ponchos so we decided to stop at Fulton’s General Store. The resort was very quiet. With our new ponchos on we head to the bus stop to find it empty. At 9:00 AM… Sean looked at me and asked “Disney doesn’t close for rain, right?” I reassured him and what bus comes by first… Epcot. Must be our lucky day.

Epcot is my favorite park. I think because I remember it being big new when it first opened that it was not as good as the Magic Kingdom and the kids hate it. Well, I always feel bad for unliked things so I was determined to like it on my first visit. Other than my extreme fear that Spaceship Earth would become unhinged and roll around the place. I always had an exit strategy, my first trip was amazing and I wondered what those old fuddy duddies on the news were talking about. Of course, that is 8 year olds logic so Epcot remains my sentimental favorite, even in the rain.

The first stop in Epcot was Club Cool. Got Sean to try the Beverly. I knew better. I was particularly fond of the flavor for Israel. Reminded me of Grapefruit Crystal in Mexico, yum. Sean was such a good sport though.

I asked him what he wanted to do first and he said he wanted to go to the Imagination pavilion. I used to love this ride, I am not sure what they did to it, but it just isn’t quite right. The boys really liked Figment though. I missed the old Creative Works, the new one left a lot to be desired. Just not that much to do.

By this time, it is really pouring down. We have 12:00 reservation at Marrakesh. It is 11:10. I suggest taking the ferry to Morocco. Wander around the World Showcase a bit before lunch. Sean agreed. The boys were game, off we went. I can’t remember ever riding the ferry at Epcot. It always seemed faster to walk, but then again, I lived in Florida so we always planned to go when it was a sunny day. In fact, we never used to know we were going until the day of. We always went one day during the summer, and we could tell when it was getting close since my mom and aunt watched the weather like a hawk all the sudden, but they wouldn’t spill the beans until that morning at breakfast.

The ferry took its sweet time arriving, we all pile on, but by this time, Logan and Fletcher are having a fight. Fletcher forgot that he rode Space Mountain first the night before and is crying that Logan always gets to do everything first. Logan was being a pain of a big brother and running in front of and cutting Fletcher off. Spencer decided to take sides with Fletcher. So I sat with Spencer and Fletcher in the front of the ferry and Logan and Sean sat in the back. Then I heard them. Spencer was stirring the pot. “Fletcher, don’t you hate when Logan does this or that” Ugh. I cut that off fast. Sean spoke with Logan about consideration. Meanwhile, the real drama is occurring with the other family on the ferry. They were throwing an absolute fit that the Captains would not drop them off in Germany. This particular day two ferries were running and the other ferry would have been much faster for them, not to mention dryer. Before long we were in Morocco and the other family were riding back to get the other ferry. Felt kind sorry for the crew since they hadn’t yet calmed down.

We decided to check into Marrakesh early. Even if we had a long wait, the rain really picked up and we would be dry. They seated us right away. Now, Marrakesh is the restaurant I was looking forward to the least. I really wanted to eat in Mexico. Sean said Marrakech or bust. When I first made my ADR’s, they said Marrakesh was booked so I got the Corral Reef. Yay me. But Sean was crushed. I felt bad about being excited over it. I tried again and darn it, Marrakesh was open with whatever time I wanted. Darn. So here we were. First off, the restaurant is beautiful. The tile work is absolutely amazing. We got another fantastic server. The food was so delicious I finished everything. And the boys loved the belly dancer. I was in shock. Here we were at the place I least wanted to eat and I want to come back. So far, in Epcot I had eaten in China, Japan, and Germany and none of those came close to making me want to return, but Marrakesh did. Even the kids liked it. That is a winner in my book.

We left Marrakesh and headed to Japan. The boys had pocket money and Sean wanted to get the Japanese candy called Milky Milky. The candy was good, expensive, but good. We left with a few Pokemon too.

It stopped raining and we decided to walk back around the World Showcase and get back to Future World. Made a stop in England. As you can see, Fletcher was still feeling sorry for himself. Spencer, my Thomas the Tank Engine fanatic, was in heaven here. He was also regretting his previous Pokemon purchase even though he already owns all the Thomas merchandise they had to sell.

We only stopped in Canada long enough to take this picture.

We got to the Land and decided to stop to ride Living with the Land. Soaring was out of fast passes and the line was too long for that today. This became Spencer’s favorite ride second only to It’s a Small World in all of Disney. I didn’t realize my five year old was that into agriculture. He is still talking about it. Logan and Fletcher made up during the ride since they both agreed it was boring. I like it, myself.

We finished that up with a trip to the Living Seas. I hated this pavilion since the day it opened. B-O-R-I-N-G. Well… what have they done with it since then. It now beats imagination for top billing.

We rode the ride and what was boring and too short now was interesting and a lot of fun. We ended up at Turtle Talk with Crush. I wasn’t expecting much at all. Wrong again. And who is the first person Crush decided to talk to… none other than that left out, always second ;-) middle child Fletcher. Since I never carry a cell phone, no one calls me on the one I do keep for emergencies. Of course, now someone decided to call me. I forgot I had it or I would have turned it off. When we got out, I called back and it was my brother and his girlfriend informing me that they were at POR waiting for us. Drats. We had to leave and it was only 3:00.

We got on the bus, no problem and headed back to POR. Sean and Logan were going to an Orlando Magic basketball game. I had talked to my mother earlier in the day asking them to pick up dry shoes for Logan, he was the only one who didn’t have a second pair and all of our shoes were soaked. They did, blue and black of course, and got him a Magic Shirt too. Logan was thrilled. Before long they were gone and it was just me, Fletcher, and Spencer.

I offered to take them to the pool so I could get some laundry done. I regret this decision. I really do. They loved swimming but when they finished, they didn’t want to go back to Epcot. I had a lot of packing to do, so I didn’t push the issue. I should have. But we were going back to Epcot for another half day tomorrow so I didn’t. We ate dinner at Riverside Mill. By now, it was getting old. The end of the Disney vacation blues were starting to settle in and the kids played with their toys and fell asleep.

I had us all packed up by the time Sean and Logan returned, about 11:30. We went to bed to get ready for the next day… how much would we be able to accomplish by noon on Thanksgiving Day?

 

[portocall]

Our Last Day: Epcot

We woke up early with everyone having those last day at Disney World blues. I went to the Riverside Mill for our one and only Disney breakfast while Sean got the boys dressed and finished the last minute packing. We all ate our breakfast in mostly silence as we waited for the bellman to come and take our luggage. Five minutes after we called, he arrived. He was very cheerful and put a smile on my face. I explained that we were checking out and going to visit my family for Thanksgiving dinner later that afternoon. He actually rode me and our luggage to the van, helped put it in the van, and then gave me a ride back to our room. I tipped him well. He warned me that if we saw a Turkey waving on the side of the road, that was the police ready to write citations. I told my husband not to speed.

As soon as we finished breakfast, we were heading to Epcot. We got there at 8:50 and headed straight for Soarin. I was determined to ride this ride. Fast passes were already past our leaving time and we waited in line. We made friendly conversation with a family in front of us and about 45 minutes later, finally made it on the ride. I liked it a lot, and so did my family, but I was nervous the whole time since I didn’t like when it tilted forward. I would really like to ride it again though.

Next up on our commando day was Test Track. This ride was supposed to be open the last time I had been to Epcot, but the opening was delayed. Spencer saw it and said no way. The regular line was already at 90 minutes and the single rider line was only 25. I made a decision to send the Sean and the older boys on the ride without me or Spencer. They really wanted to ride and I figured there will be another trip in my future. As soon as they went in the single rider line jumped to 45 minutes. Now I should have taken Spencer on Spaceship Earth at this point, but I wasn’t thinking. Instead, I hunted down a snack for him to enjoy and people watched. He really loved his Mickey Bar and I felt bad that I made him wait this long to get one. He nearly missed out entirely.

After what seemed like forever, Sean and the boys came out with that look on their face. You know the one. The “that ride was awesome” look. Sean looked at his watch and declared that it was time to go to the World Pavillion to do the Kim Possible Adventure. I think the only reason he agreed to go on this trip to begin with was to do this one thing. So off to Norway we went. I insisted on riding Maelstrom before we checked in though. I wanted to stay and watch the movie, but after a few minutes and no movie, we got up and left. There is so much we would have done if we didn’t have to leave at noon.

So we checked in for Kim Possible and get assigned to Mexico. I will be honest with you. Sean, Logan, and Fletcher had an absolute ball. I just followed them around. I did get some neat pictures though.

After that, we stopped for some churros and said goodbye to Epcot.

Sean wanted to stop at Downtown Disney for one last stop at the Lego store, so we did. We really should have done that the night before, but oh well. We waited in the car for him so he would hurry and thirty minutes later he came back and we started the ride to my family, about an hour away. I had thought a lot this day about what a dumb idea it was to leave Disney World at only half a day but I forgot all about it when I met my nephew, Nate, only two weeks old for the first time.

All in all, we had a fantastic trip. I would love to do it again in a few years and perhaps spend a few more days.

 

[portocall]

Some final thoughts:

There were some things that I had on my list to do that never got done, but overall it was the perfect vacation. The resort, Port Orleans Riverside, was just right for our family and I would stay there again in a heartbeat. Of course if the opportunity to stay at the Polynesian ever comes up... all bets are off.

I am sorry I missed Peter Pan, Test Track, and Spaceship Earth this trip, but that just makes me determined to save for another trip someday.

Our favorite table service restaurants were in order from top to bottom
1. Ohana
2. Marrakesh
3. Chef Mickey's
4. Boma
5. Sci-Fi Dine In Theater

Though not one of them were bad, or close to bad, some we just enjoyed more than others.

I am proud of myself for overcoming my commando ways, that took great determination on my part as that has to be the way it is done on my day trips growing up. But this time I really did take the time to make sure everyone was having a good time and stopped to smell the roses. This made for a happier husband, thus a happier family.

I found out that one can vacation with another family as long as that other family is on the same page as you. We both were happy with the we will see you when we see you mentality and it was really wonderful. My husband was not initially thrilled with the idea of being next door to them, but in the end, he found out he was worried over nothing.

And best of all, Spencer, who originally told me he was not going to Disney World and would stay home by himself, discovered he loved Disney World as frequently asks when he can go back. We might not be able to go back for a few years, but I am glad he had all the fun I envisioned for him and his brothers too.

 

[TigerKat]

Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us, really enjoyed it!

 

[MrsSpratt]

You have a beautiful family! Thanks for taking the time to write this!