Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouler: Mardi Gras with the Mouse! Feb 2016 TR **NEW 11/25 *NEW TR LINK

[Imagineer5]

Fun morning, sorry about the opening show though! I feel like every time we're RD'ing and not having an early meal, it has gone on, but most every morning we just do an early meal lol. I love the Speedway! Sad I'll miss it in December. Boo on the TTA being down, did you check back in later?

Lunch sounds...typical with two kids lol! Yes other people aren't much help when it comes to kids, it seems. I was so SO irritated during our trip in Feb with IL's. MIL NEVER offered to take Maya (who was then in the middle of figuring out the dairy allergy + others and still had it in her system, so she was pretty angry the whole time). FIL thankfully did sometimes, and the three of us would take turns sometimes taking her outside or whatnot. Anyway I'm saying all this to say, maybe your DH should have taken DD and you could have dealt w/ Paxton hahaha. (Oh and I know all too well the struggle of getting kids to eat their meals, Aria is the WORST EVERY MEAL.)

 

[missangelalexis]

No Welcome Show?? That stinks!

At least you were able to get on Peter Pan first thing AND see the new queue! I absolutely love it!

Sounds like a great & productive morning! What a bummer about People Mover being down though

I'm sorry lunch was frustrating. I'm glad you enjoyed the food though and hope you get back there in the future!

 

[afwdwfan]

If you remember my previous TR for October, we had also saved our welcome show viewing for our last day of the trip, and had gotten a shortened version with no singing & dancing and no train, just the characters waving. We had been disappointed with that, and as such, had been really looking forward to seeing it this trip. Well, if we had found that morning in October to be disappointing, this was even more so! After all the usual announcements to gather in the center of the plaza for the best viewing of the welcome show, there was no show at all! No one came out to the train station either. They simply made an announcement that the park was now open and popped off the little fireworks they usually do after the performance. LAME!

That's too bad! I really look forward to the welcome show. I'm sorry you've had 2 less than expected experiences there.

After DD was done, DH and I agreed to meet up in Tomorrowland so that I could finally get a chance to ride the People Mover. As we approached the queue, we saw the ride was down! I couldn’t believe for yet another trip, I was missing out on one of my favorites!

Again... just some bad luck. I'm sorry you missed out on this.

Aside from the lack of a welcome show and missing out on Peoplemover, it looks like it was really a great morning. You guys really got a lot done before lunch. Sorry about the whole eating lunch while dealing with the kids thing. I can totally relate and feel your pain. I noticed you didn't comment about what was said to your DH after he got to go enjoy his lunch in peace and quiet.

 

[Dugette]

And they were total jerks and rode the People Mover without me!

Grrrr....

Luckily, they had finished up riding and were already on their way to come meet us at baby care because I needed help with a blowout diaper!!

Ugh, no fun! Glad they were able to come and help, though.

We went to Columbia Harbour House and shared the shrimp & fish basket.

After fasting all day, he couldn't even have his own basket?

We were about ready to head back to AKV a bit early, but DH and I were getting a rare treat…a date night! My parents had agreed to stay with the kids for the evening so DH and I could venture out to the parks by ourselves.

Woohoo, awesome!

We arrived at MK and got through the tapstiles just as the 8 pm MSEP was coming down the street.

We're gonna miss that in December! Glad you got to see it!

Love these pictures!

As usual, amazing fireworks pictures!

We waited less than 10 minutes before we were on board the wildest ride in the wilderness!

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Yay for riding together again after all this time!

Mom & Dad selfie, complete with photobomber.

DS was attending to some very important business on the notepad and pen he found in the room.

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Haha, future trip reporter taking notes?

After all the usual announcements to gather in the center of the plaza for the best viewing of the welcome show, there was no show at all! No one came out to the train station either. They simply made an announcement that the park was now open and popped off the little fireworks they usually do after the performance. LAME!

What a bummer! I guess I feel better that we haven't been there to see it in a long time.

Since we didn’t have FP booked for this, it was our first time going through the new and improved queue! It’s absolutely ADORABLE! It takes you through the nursery at the Darling home, and then you’re sprinkled with some of Tinkerbell’s pixie dust.

Looks cute, maybe I'll see it someday.

After DD was done, DH and I agreed to meet up in Tomorrowland so that I could finally get a chance to ride the People Mover. As we approached the queue, we saw the ride was down! I couldn’t believe for yet another trip, I was missing out on one of my favorites!

What lousy luck!

On top of fussing with him, DD was a real bear during this meal as well. A big problem DH and I found on this trip was that everyone at our meals were quick to say they would hold her and “give us a break”…until the food showed up. Then she would be dumped back in one of our laps before we could even take a bite of food. I had gotten a high chair for her, but like at Via Napoli, she was having trouble holding herself up in a sitting position with the low back, and even giving her toys, all she wanted to do was throw them on the floor. Finally, my dad took her in his lap, but she grabbed a handful of green beans right off his plate, and when she ended up back with me, she stuck her hand right in the frosting of my cupcake!! So most of this meal, I spent cleaning her hands or her toys while simultaneously trying to shove my food in my mouth while it was still fresh. Despite it being a more frustrating overall experience because of the kids, the food was great, and the atmosphere is obviously superior to any other QS places in the parks!

You are reminding me of those days when meals were so much work! Sorry you had to deal with everything without help. Glad you still managed to enjoy your food a bit, though.

a. (Oh and I know all too well the struggle of getting kids to eat their meals, Aria is the WORST EVERY MEAL.)

Maybe we can have the girls share meals sometimes? Izzy's really hit or miss, but often leaves a lot on her plate.

 

[khertz]

It's so hard to be able to eat whenever the kids won't co-operate! I feel ya there. My youngest sounds like your DS. She will complain about just about everything she eats. Drives me up the wall! I'm sorry your family didn't help while you were eating. That's not very nice. I sure hope this day gets better for you. Keep it coming. This report makes me feel better about how my kids act, at least I know I'm not alone.

DS is a TERRIBLE eater. He makes meals quite a headache! I don't think I would have cared so much about not having help with DD (I mean, she's my kid, I expect to deal with her!) had they not made it sound like they were going to "give me a break." So not having DH there to actually take turns eating made this particular meal more stressful.

It was probably the toughest day of the trip for us (it's not over yet!) but we also had some of the highest points of the trip too! It was a very weird day. lol

Fun morning, sorry about the opening show though! I feel like every time we're RD'ing and not having an early meal, it has gone on, but most every morning we just do an early meal lol. I love the Speedway! Sad I'll miss it in December. Boo on the TTA being down, did you check back in later?

Lunch sounds...typical with two kids lol! Yes other people aren't much help when it comes to kids, it seems. I was so SO irritated during our trip in Feb with IL's. MIL NEVER offered to take Maya (who was then in the middle of figuring out the dairy allergy + others and still had it in her system, so she was pretty angry the whole time). FIL thankfully did sometimes, and the three of us would take turns sometimes taking her outside or whatnot. Anyway I'm saying all this to say, maybe your DH should have taken DD and you could have dealt w/ Paxton hahaha. (Oh and I know all too well the struggle of getting kids to eat their meals, Aria is the WORST EVERY MEAL.)

In past years, we never had this much bad luck with the MK opening show. I don't know why this black cloud seemed to be over us on rope drop mornings!! lol We meant to go back and check the TTA later on, but never did. I made up for the lack of TTA on this trip on our next few trips! Haha

YES! I totally should have thought of DH taking her with him back then. I guess I thought it would be easier with more people, but not so much. They were all totally willing to hold her until the food arrived! It can be really frustrating. And then add to that how difficult it can be to get DS to eat ANYTHING, and I was just not really happy at this meal. I just get so tired of arguing with him about food all of the time. Right now, DD will eat pretty much anything you put in front of her (the only thing she has consistently not wanted to eat is oatmeal), so I'm hoping she stays this good of an eater as she gets older. DS has never been a good eater! It has actually seemed to have gotten worse over the last year or so.

No Welcome Show?? That stinks!

At least you were able to get on Peter Pan first thing AND see the new queue! I absolutely love it!

Sounds like a great & productive morning! What a bummer about People Mover being down though

I'm sorry lunch was frustrating. I'm glad you enjoyed the food though and hope you get back there in the future!

I know! That is the main reason we go to MK for rope drop is to start off the day with the welcome show. It was very disappointing.

The Peter Pan queue is ADORABLE! I wish they would have had this back when we did our Peter Pan costumes for MNSSHP a few years ago, because that would have been some cute photo ops!!

People Mover being down is always a bummer. That is our go-to ride.

The food was really delicious, even if I did have to inhale it quickly in order to deal with DD. lol Hopefully I can get back for lunch one of these days. I actually enjoyed it more than dinner!

 

[khertz]

That's too bad! I really look forward to the welcome show. I'm sorry you've had 2 less than expected experiences there.

Again... just some bad luck. I'm sorry you missed out on this.

Aside from the lack of a welcome show and missing out on Peoplemover, it looks like it was really a great morning. You guys really got a lot done before lunch. Sorry about the whole eating lunch while dealing with the kids thing. I can totally relate and feel your pain. I noticed you didn't comment about what was said to your DH after he got to go enjoy his lunch in peace and quiet.

We all had bad luck with the welcome show, and I had terrible luck with the People Mover!! lol First world problems.

As much as he seemed annoyed at the idea of having to go off on his own for lunch because he didn't want anything from BOG, I'm sure he realized he got the better end of the deal. lol We don't go out to eat a lot at home, either, so having to deal with 2 kids at all of these meals somewhere other than home (where Paxton can sit at the table complaining for an hour if he wants to, and DD could go in the Exersaucer while we ate) was really a headache. Once DD could sit up and eat, it made meals a lot easier, at least where she was concerned! lol

Grrrr....


Ugh, no fun! Glad they were able to come and help, though.

I know, it was such a bummer when he texted me that they were on it without me! But at least they were nice enough to come help get DD cleaned up. lol

After fasting all day, he couldn't even have his own basket?

I think I didn't explain this well. lol We didn't get one basket to share, we got one fish basket and one shrimp basket and shared both!! Nice catch!!

Woohoo, awesome!

Best part of a family trip is built in babysitters!!

We're gonna miss that in December! Glad you got to see it!

We didn't know it at the time, but it was the last time we would see it too! I was really hoping for Paint the Night to be coming to WDW in its place for our October trip. Seems kind of selfish that DL gets to keep both!

Love these pictures!


As usual, amazing fireworks pictures!

Thank you!

Yay for riding together again after all this time!

I didn't even realize how much I missed both this ride and getting to ride it with DH until this night when we got to do it for the first time in a long time.

Haha, future trip reporter taking notes?

Wouldn't that be hilarious?!

What a bummer! I guess I feel better that we haven't been there to see it in a long time.

We have had really bad luck with this show over the past couple of trips for some reason.

You are reminding me of those days when meals were so much work! Sorry you had to deal with everything without help. Glad you still managed to enjoy your food a bit, though.

I have to keep reminding myself that it won't ALWAYS be like this! lol Even this last trip was better because DD could eat pretty much any and everything, so that kept her busy while DH and I ate.

 

[khertz]

Sorry for the LONG absence!! I'm off for a couple of days, so my hope is to get caught up on replies and posts, then catch up on reading everyone else's reports! I had hoped to get in another update before we left for our trip last week, but there was a lot of stressing over Hurricane Matthew affecting our trip, so we spent a lot of time looking at alternate arrangements for getting to WDW, and even thought about rescheduling the trip entirely! But we did end up going, and we had a wonderful time! Now, back to February...​

Day 6 Continued: Thursday February 11th

After our hectic BOG lunch (while DH was relaxing at Pecos Bill's for a solo meal), I texted with DH and we agreed to meet up in front of Princess Fairytale Hall to use our Anna & Elsa FP+.

Feb 06-052 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 06-053 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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DS completely refused to meet them and after being so frustrated at lunch, this annoyed me even more. But I didn’t force him to meet them because I didn’t want him ruining any of the pictures.

MK_PFTHBLUEC1CHAR_7602520427 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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MK_PFTHBLUEC1CHAR_381691338108 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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I didn’t put in my notes about what we talked about with them, but I do remember talking to Anna about flying here from our kingdom and we got this picture of it.

MK_PFTHBLUEC2CHAR_7602521974 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


MK_PFTHBLUEC2CHAR_381691328769 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


MK_PFTHBLUEC2CHAR_381691342134 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

I took DD over for a pit stop at baby care while DH took DS back to the Dumbo playground.

Feb 06-054 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

DH texted me while I was feeding DD that DS was really not acting like himself. So they met me over at First Aid after she was done and we got them to check his temperature because he was starting to feel a little warm. The nurse used the ear thermometer and his temp was only 99.7. DS was saying he wanted to go back to the room for a nap, but I really hated to spend our last day in the room, so I convinced him to stay at the park and take a nap in the stroller, which he agreed to. Note: I would later feel terrible about this!

We laid the seat of the stroller back and he fell asleep quickly, so DH and I decided to do some snacking since we couldn’t really ride anything. First, we stopped and got a Mickey bar at one of the carts near the hub. But we also wanted something a little different from our usual snacks, so we decided to check out Sleepy Hollow. I left the decision making entirely up to DH while I found a table to park the stroller in the shade and he went to order.

Feb 06-055 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

What he came back with was this deliciousness.

Feb 06-056 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Waffle with strawberries and whipped cream.​

As we sat there enjoying our waffle, we could hear the music from Dream Along With Mickey playing in front of the Castle, and it was a great little moment with a beautiful view.

Feb 06-057 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 06-058 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Then DS woke up. And he felt HOT. So back to First Aid we went! Again, the nurse checked his temp in the same ear and got 99.9. I asked if he could check it again in the other ear because he felt a lot hotter than that, and sure enough, he was over 101! So then I felt pretty awful for fussing at him so much about not wanting to participate in anything, and for convincing him to stay in the park. The RN at First Aid gave DS a dose of Tylenol, and we left to go back to the room. We figured we would just spend a low key evening at AKV and get our stuff packed since we were checking out in the morning.

On the way out of the park, I stopped through the Emporium to pick up a sun hat for DD because it had gotten a bit warmer and it was definitely too hot for her winter hat, but I didn’t have anything else to protect her big old bald head. The selection was minimal, so I ended up paying $20 for a not-very-cute Minnie bucket hat. But it served its purpose and she wears it all the time in the pool at home now.

Feb 06-059 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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We got back to the room, started some laundry, and got to work on packing. Suddenly, DS felt totally fine! I guess that Tylenol had kicked in, and now instead of resting, he was bouncing off the walls. I texted everyone while feeding DD to see what they were up to. Uncle David and his family were at AK and planning to stay until it closed, and the rest of my family had ended up over there after lunch too. DH and I started discussing if we should go or not. It was already close to 5 and the park closed at 6:30, so we were hesitant. But in the end, we decided since we were so close to the park, why not? Had we been staying anywhere else and it would have taken longer than the 5-10 minutes it takes to get from AKV to AK, we probably wouldn’t have done it. And we would have missed out on one of the most fun hours of our trip!

Continued in next post...

 

[heaven2dc]

So glad your son got to feeling better! Your Anna & Elsa pics are so adorable <3 So sad your trip is almost over - really enjoyed reading all about your adventures!

 

[khertz]

Day 6 Continued: Thursday February 11th

It was 5:20 by the time we had parked and taken the tram to the front of the park. I figured the droves of people leaving probably thought we were nuts to be entering the park barely an hour before closing. But on the bright side, it was our quickest time through security of the whole trip!

Feb 06-061 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 06-062 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

I had been texting with my uncle, and asked if either of his girls would want to ride Dinosaur since we still had the rider swap left from earlier in the week. He said Sawyer did, so we agreed to meet up in front of the ride.

Feb 06-064 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 06-065 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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Sawyer was cracking me up in the queue because all she could talk about was riding Mountain Everest (and it made me laugh that she 1. Called it that and 2. Pronounced every syllable). She was very proud of herself for having gotten up the courage to ride it.

Untitled by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Untitled by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

It had been years since I’d ridden this because I actually hate it and I’m legitimately scared of it, but I put on my brave face for DS. Until the carnotaurus tried to eat us, that is.

AK_DINOSAURRIDE_381722543194 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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I think it was worse not having gone on it in a long time because I forgot how the ride went so I had no idea when things were going to come at me! But we survived.

While we had been riding, DH had taken DD to see Donald in his safari gear. She was a big fan!

AK_CRETACEOUSTRAILCHAR_7602886097 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


AK_CRETACEOUSTRAILCHAR_7602889886 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


AK_CRETACEOUSTRAILCHAR_381722645645 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


AK_CRETACEOUSTRAILCHAR_381722543191 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We found him once we had finished riding, and I checked with Uncle David, who was over by Expedition Everest. Since I hadn’t ridden yet, DH decided to take the kids to the Boneyard to dig at DS’s request so I could go ride Everest.

Feb 06-070 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 06-071 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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When they were closing up the Boneyard, DS even helped the CM clean up the abandoned buckets and shovels.

Feb 06-072 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 06-073 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Everyone else was over by EE as well, and the line was practically nonexistent, so me, Uncle David, Sawyer, Skylar, Katie & Rebecca rode first. Katie & Rebecca wanted to pretend they were sleeping, Sawyer wanted to sit by me and hold my hand, and Uncle David & Skylar were doing the Lions Up gesture they use at Southeastern Louisiana University.

PhotoPass_Visiting_AK_387316765695 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

When we came off the ride, we thought the park was closed but it was 6:27 and they were still letting people in line! So we hurried back in, this time with my mom coming along too, for one last ride! Since we felt left out with Dave & Skylar doing the Lions Up, we decided to come up with something for all of us to do in the picture. Katie suggested we all do a thinking face.

PhotoPass_Visiting_AK_387316753296 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


PhotoPass_Visiting_AK_387316927075 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We were all DYING laughing at my mom’s pose, because she totally looks like she’s doing something else entirely!!
DH had taken a few photos while waiting with the family once they had caught up to them outside of EE.

Feb 06-074 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 06-076 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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Even just those 2 short rides, we had so much fun and laughed so hard. It ended up being totally worth it to go back to the park even for just an hour. We all walked out together and got one last photo of us all together before leaving.

PhotoPass_Visiting_AK_387316940863 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 06-077 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 06-079 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We got back to the resort and made one last pass through the gift shop, where DH and I got AKL shirts and a magnet, and DS picked out an X-Wing Fighter toy he had been eyeing. Then we grabbed some food to go from the Mara and ate up in the room while getting everyone settled and ready for bed. DS seemed to be back to his normal self, and never ran fever for the rest of the trip. No idea where that random fever came from, but I'm glad it didn't stick around!

We got the last of the packing done as much as possible because we would be leaving very early in the morning for our next adventure…2 days & nights at Universal Orlando staying at Royal Pacific Resort!

UP NEXT: A Whole New Wizarding World

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Crazy how the fever came and went but so glad to hear your son wasn't sick for the rest of the trip.

I'm reading both of your trip reports right now and I love seeing how your daughter is growing. She is precious.

 

[missangelalexis]

Such cute pics of the 3 of you with Anna & Elsa!

Mmm that waffle looks delicious! I love the view from Sleepy Hollow and the side of the castle.

I'm sorry that DS wasn't feeling well! I'm glad the Tylenol seemed to help though and the fever quickly faded!

I'm sure it being your last day influenced your decision to squeeze in some more park time. How fortunate that you were so close to AK. It sounds like it was well worth it to spend that hour in the park! I love the EE ride photos, I had to laugh at your mom's pose!!

Can't wait to hear about the Universal portion of the trip!

 

[khertz]

So glad your son got to feeling better! Your Anna & Elsa pics are so adorable <3 So sad your trip is almost over - really enjoyed reading all about your adventures!

Thank you! It was fun finally getting to meet Anna & Elsa. In October last year, we only were able to book 30 days out so we could never get a FP, and on our shorter trips, I didn't want to use up a FP on that when our park time was so limited. So this trip, it was the perfect circumstances to get it done. It was a longer trip, and we were staying onsite so we could do our FP early enough.

I always get sad at the end of a TR too. But we had plenty of more Disney fun this year, so there will be plenty more to read!

Crazy how the fever came and went but so glad to hear your son wasn't sick for the rest of the trip.

I'm reading both of your trip reports right now and I love seeing how your daughter is growing. She is precious.

Yeah, it was totally bizarre! But I was happy it didn't mess up the rest of the trip. That would have been a real disappointment, because our last 2 days were wonderful.

Thank you so much! It is crazy to look back at these photos from February and realize how much she has grown since then.

Such cute pics of the 3 of you with Anna & Elsa!

Mmm that waffle looks delicious! I love the view from Sleepy Hollow and the side of the castle.

I'm sorry that DS wasn't feeling well! I'm glad the Tylenol seemed to help though and the fever quickly faded!

I'm sure it being your last day influenced your decision to squeeze in some more park time. How fortunate that you were so close to AK. It sounds like it was well worth it to spend that hour in the park! I love the EE ride photos, I had to laugh at your mom's pose!!

Can't wait to hear about the Universal portion of the trip!

Thanks! They were really fun to meet, so I'm glad we got to do it at least once while they were still at Fairytale Hall. I really wanted to try and meet them in their new spot in Epcot, but the wait was always just a little too long for us considering I was the only one that actually wanted to do it. lol But definitely better than when they were in MK!

That waffle was delicious. I couldn't believe we had never tried anything from there before. I still really want to try the one with Nutella and fruit too one of these days.

I was glad the fever didn't hang around too. I would have really dragged down the Universal part of our trip, which ended up being so much fun.

It was really perfect timing that we were so close to AK and that it was the park the rest of the family had chosen to spend the day. Had they been anywhere else or had we been at any other resort, it just wouldn't have worked out so well! We were all laughing so hard at my mom, and she had no idea why at first!

 

[afwdwfan]

I don't think you should feel bad about trying to get him to rest in the stroller. I mean the temperature didn't seem that bad and it made total sense. I'm sure we'd have done the same thing you did. When he didn't act any better you went back... seems adequate to me!

Our DS does this same thing fairly often, actually. He'll be running around acting perfectly fine, then all of a sudden he's quiet and wants to lay down. He'll have a fever so we give him Tylenol and an hour later he's back to normal. We've kept him home from school a few times when he'll do this, then we go to the dr and they have no idea what was wrong.

I'm glad the Tylenol seemed to work so you could salvage the day though. Your time in AK does look like it was a nice end to the Disney portion of the trip.

 

[rdkeim]

Those pictures with your DH and DD with Donald are so cute! Glad the fever was short-lived. I'm sure that was cause for concern and how the rest of the trip would go. What a fun way to close out AK. Sometimes the unplanned spur the moment fun is the best!

 

[amberdc1987]

Wow now I feel horrible about you feeling horrible about how your son acted at lunch. I hate he got sick but I'm glad he got better so quick. It's crazy kids are like that. That time at animal kingdom looks like a blast!! It's great y'all decided to go.

 

[Dugette]

DS completely refused to meet them and after being so frustrated at lunch, this annoyed me even more. But I didn’t force him to meet them because I didn’t want him ruining any of the pictures.

Smart thinking!

I am so impressed at how many pictures you have where DD is looking right into the camera!

I love her little smile!

Note: I would later feel terrible about this!

Sorry you felt bad.

Feb 06-056 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Waffle with strawberries and whipped cream.

Mmmmm, looks really yummy!

It was already close to 5 and the park closed at 6:30, so we were hesitant. But in the end, we decided since we were so close to the park, why not? Had we been staying anywhere else and it would have taken longer than the 5-10 minutes it takes to get from AKV to AK, we probably wouldn’t have done it. And we would have missed out on one of the most fun hours of our trip!

So glad you went and it was worthwhile. It is so nice to be so close to the park when you stay at AKL.

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Sawyer appears to be looking the opposite direction.

Even just those 2 short rides, we had so much fun and laughed so hard. It ended up being totally worth it to go back to the park even for just an hour. We all walked out together and got one last photo of us all together before leaving.

Glad you got that fun family time together.

DS seemed to be back to his normal self, and never ran fever for the rest of the trip. No idea where that random fever came from, but I'm glad it didn't stick around!

Wow, weird, but so happy he was feeling better so quickly and it lasted.

 

[Imagineer5]

DS completely refused to meet them and after being so frustrated at lunch, this annoyed me even more. But I didn’t force him to meet them because I didn’t want him ruining any of the pictures.

Not looking forward to aria acting like this, lol! Esp as Maya gets older and chooses things she wants to do that Aria doesn't...

DH texted me while I was feeding DD that DS was really not acting like himself. So they met me over at First Aid after she was done and we got them to check his temperature because he was starting to feel a little warm. The nurse used the ear thermometer and his temp was only 99.7. DS was saying he wanted to go back to the room for a nap, but I really hated to spend our last day in the room, so I convinced him to stay at the park and take a nap in the stroller, which he agreed to. Note: I would later feel terrible about this!

Aw don't feel bad - he got his nap in!

Then DS woke up. And he felt HOT. So back to First Aid we went! Again, the nurse checked his temp in the same ear and got 99.9. I asked if he could check it again in the other ear because he felt a lot hotter than that, and sure enough, he was over 101! So then I felt pretty awful for fussing at him so much about not wanting to participate in anything, and for convincing him to stay in the park. The RN at First Aid gave DS a dose of Tylenol, and we left to go back to the room. We figured we would just spend a low key evening at AKV and get our stuff packed since we were checking out in the morning.

I have never been to First Aid. Did they charge you for the Tylenol? Do they have infant stuff too? Do you add a degree to ear temp (like underarm temp)? Random questions :-D

I had been texting with my uncle, and asked if either of his girls would want to ride Dinosaur since we still had the rider swap left from earlier in the week. He said Sawyer did, so we agreed to meet up in front of the ride.

Woohoo!

It had been years since I’d ridden this because I actually hate it and I’m legitimately scared of it, but I put on my brave face for DS. Until the carnotaurus tried to eat us, that is.

LOL Had to laugh - Andrew is genuinely scared of Dinosaur too.

While we had been riding, DH had taken DD to see Donald in his safari gear. She was a big fan!

Aw, love this meet!

Even just those 2 short rides, we had so much fun and laughed so hard. It ended up being totally worth it to go back to the park even for just an hour. We all walked out together and got one last photo of us all together before leaving.

It sounded like a wonderful hour!! Paxton got to plan and enjoy his time, and so did you with family!

We got back to the resort and made one last pass through the gift shop, where DH and I got AKL shirts and a magnet, and DS picked out an X-Wing Fighter toy he had been eyeing. Then we grabbed some food to go from the Mara and ate up in the room while getting everyone settled and ready for bed. DS seemed to be back to his normal self, and never ran fever for the rest of the trip. No idea where that random fever came from, but I'm glad it didn't stick around!

Yay, glad it didn't stick around too!

 

[khertz]

I don't think you should feel bad about trying to get him to rest in the stroller. I mean the temperature didn't seem that bad and it made total sense. I'm sure we'd have done the same thing you did. When he didn't act any better you went back... seems adequate to me!

Our DS does this same thing fairly often, actually. He'll be running around acting perfectly fine, then all of a sudden he's quiet and wants to lay down. He'll have a fever so we give him Tylenol and an hour later he's back to normal. We've kept him home from school a few times when he'll do this, then we go to the dr and they have no idea what was wrong.

I'm glad the Tylenol seemed to work so you could salvage the day though. Your time in AK does look like it was a nice end to the Disney portion of the trip.

I know, I know. But at the time I just felt bad for not realizing it was more serious. Mommy guilt lol. It's happened a couple of times with him in the past. It is crappy enough at home, but on vacation it's even worse!

I don't think I had ever visited First Aid in any of the parks, and somehow I ended up in there 3 times that day! lol The nurses were very nice and it's good to have that option.

Those pictures with your DH and DD with Donald are so cute! Glad the fever was short-lived. I'm sure that was cause for concern and how the rest of the trip would go. What a fun way to close out AK. Sometimes the unplanned spur the moment fun is the best!

Thanks! It was such a cute meet. I was sad to have missed it, but I'm glad the two of them had that moment together with DH's favorite character.

After so many years and so many trips planning everything out, it was fun to throw the plans out of the window and have a great evening on the fly like that!

Wow now I feel horrible about you feeling horrible about how your son acted at lunch. I hate he got sick but I'm glad he got better so quick. It's crazy kids are like that. That time at animal kingdom looks like a blast!! It's great y'all decided to go.

I started thinking back to lunch and feeling SO bad about fussing at him so much!! I know in reality I couldn't have known all that was really going on, but I still did, of course.

AK was probably the best evening we had the entire trip! I was definitely glad that DS was feeling better and that we decided to go have a little more fun instead of staying in on our last night.

 

[khertz]

I am so impressed at how many pictures you have where DD is looking right into the camera!

Me too! lol It sure didn't carry over into this most recent trip. lol

So glad you went and it was worthwhile. It is so nice to be so close to the park when you stay at AKL.

That was one of our favorite things about this resort! It really made it so easy to pop over to AK, which was great because we weren't planning much time there initially, but ended up adding time there twice during the trip.

Sawyer appears to be looking the opposite direction.

Haha I think she talks a big game but is still a little scared!

Wow, weird, but so happy he was feeling better so quickly and it lasted.

Yeah, it was definitely strange, but I was glad it didn't stick around.

Not looking forward to aria acting like this, lol! Esp as Maya gets older and chooses things she wants to do that Aria doesn't...

I know, I'm expecting that by our next WDW trip, this could be an actual problem as DD will be lod enough to have an opinion about things. lol Right now, she is still go with the flow.

I have never been to First Aid. Did they charge you for the Tylenol? Do they have infant stuff too? Do you add a degree to ear temp (like underarm temp)? Random questions :-D

No charge for anything! Not only did he get Tylenol, I had been in there earlier in the day for some Advil because my feet were killing me and I had run out of my stash from home. Not only did the nurse give me a dose, he gave me a second one for later on in case I needed it. They were great! And as for the temp, no adding a degree unless under the arm.

LOL Had to laugh - Andrew is genuinely scared of Dinosaur too.

I don't know why it terrifies me so much. I'm an adult that can think logically, I know those are not real dinosaurs coming at me. But it still scares the heck out of me!!

Yay, glad it didn't stick around too!

Yeah, that definitely wouldn't have been a good end to the trip!!

 

[khertz]

Because I want to get this TR wrapped up so I can start on the other trips we have taken this year, I'm going to speed it up a bit and post the last 2 days in 2 big updates. So here comes all of day 7!

Day 7: Friday February 12th

Friday morning, we woke up in our AKV villa one last time at the early hour of 5:30 am. It was time to say goodbye to Disney and hello to Universal! In all of our previous trips combining the two, we had always done Universal first and saved Disney for last so we could end on it. This trip, we had switched it up for 3 reasons. The first reason was the price. The weekend leading into President’s Week had skyrocketed the prices at the Disney resorts, but a couple nights at RPR were still pretty affordable. The second reason was our family. Originally, everyone else was going to leave to drive home on Friday. We didn’t want to spend 2 days of our combined trip away from everyone at Universal while they were at Disney. It ended up that everyone else added a day and stayed until Saturday, but that was after we had already booked both of our resorts. But we only missed out on one day with them instead of 2. The third and final reason was the convenience. In October, we had done Universal first and felt spoiled by the close proximity of our resort to the parks, the early entry, and the unlimited Express Pass. By the time we got to Disney, FP+ just didn’t seem so great compared to that EP! So while we were sad to be leaving Disney and our family, we were excited to get over to Universal to close out our trip.

We checked out of AKV and got in the car to make the drive over to Universal by 8 am. It took about 30 minutes for us to get to Royal Pacific Resort to check in and drop off our luggage.

This was my best attempt at getting a picture as we drove in.

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Yeah, that’s pretty terrible!!

We went through check in, left our bags with bell services, printed our express passes, and were walking to Islands of Adventure by 8:45 am. We arrived at the gates just before the park opened at 9 am. Perfect timing!

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Of course, our first stop was going to be Hogsmeade to ride Forbidden Journey! But along the way of our power walk, DH took some photos.

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Past Port of Entry


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Through Seuss Landing


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To Hogsmeade!


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We went straight over to Forbidden Journey before the line got to be too long.

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The best part about doing rider swap at this ride is that we don’t have to put our stuff in the lockers. So DH can take pictures in the queue!

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DH went first, and I started feeding DD in the child swap room while DS watched a movie on an old phone we bring just for that purpose. When DH finished, DD was still eating, so he went again. I cut her off for a little bit so I could go ride. Then when I came back to the child swap room, she wanted to eat a little more so I stayed behind there while DH and DS went to ride Flight of the Hippogriff.

I think I mentioned how child swap works at Universal in my October TR, but just in case you haven’t read that one, and are curious how it works, I’ll do a quick run through. Unlike at Disney where no one under the height requirement is even allowed in line, at Universal, everyone enters the line together and you just let the TM know you’d like to do a child swap. Most queues have a designated child swap area, so they will direct those waiting to the room while the first adult rides. Then when that person is done and comes to the child swap room, the second rider goes right out to the loading area and is filtered into the next available ride vehicle.

I ended up not staying there long because almost as soon as DH and DS left, the kid next to me on the bench starting spazzing the eff out when his mom left him with his grandma in the child swap room so she could go ride. He was probably about 5 or 6, so way too big for his grandma to handle and he came close to kicking me and DD a couple of times. So we hurried out of there! Meanwhile, DH and DS were getting on Flight of the Hippogriff.

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We walked around Hogsmeade a bit more and stopped to use the Moaning Myrtle potties before moving on to something else.

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We decided to cross over the bridge into Jurassic Park.

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DH was trying to convince DS to do the Jurassic Park River Adventure, but DS was really hesitant. We went over to the area where you can see the rafts coming down the drop and let him see what it looked like, and he agreed to go!

DD and I waited down by the splash area to catch them coming down. I ended up spotting them but you can only see the top of DH’s head in my picture.

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We stopped in the shop to see their ride photo, and I got a picture of DS wet.

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Luckily it had warmed up considerably since earlier in the week, because DS was soaked! Actually, had it been as cold as our Disney days had been, they would have had to skip this entirely.

DS really liked the ride! I think enjoying Dinosaur so much had helped prepare him for the scarier elements of this one. Plus he has seen Jurassic Park many many times, so it’s not entirely new to him. In fact, as I’m typing this he is watching the end of Jurassic World and pretending he is the T Rex at the end. But when we asked if he wanted to ride again, he said, “No, once was enough!”

We decided to head in the direction of Marvel Superhero Island and checked on the progress at Skull Island.

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Continued in next post...