Leaving DH @home. WDW Mommy Style! completed.

[addicted2dizney]

So we head on out of Epcot and it's only almost 6pm. We got soooo much done that we were kind of "Epcoted Out" for the day. Well, there was NO way I was going back to my hotel room! If DH was with us the kids would have been tucked into bed by 7pm!

I suggested a quick ride on the monorail over to the MK so I could at least "SEE" the castle! Like I said before... I LOVE the smells of Disney! Not so much the sweaty tourists but the actual smells of Disney. We had our own car over to the TTC and it was such a pleasant night out. I breathed in my share of the monorail "smell" and we did a quick switch over to the MK monorail.
Now, I'm telling you that as soon as I see that castle I get choked up inside! It's like my eyes are glued to it and I can't stop looking at it! The kids practically had to peel me away from the monorail so we could walk down the ramp and into the park. The park was packed with people! Now I know why Epcot was so manageable! Good thing for us we were just in what I call "bonus touring mode". Basically this means to me that we are there as an added bonus of our trip and we are going to stroll through and anything we get to do is a big bonus plus for us... We went right into tomorrowland and took a ride on the TTA. (still the WEDWay people mover to me! ) Can I tell you that I just LOVE this ride?? Classic Disney at it's best. Just so simple and peaceful and I just love the views of Tomorrowland and the castle! After that we went over to TCOP. This again is one of my favorite classics but Jenna has really taken a shine to this ride/attraction! She watches it on youtube from home and is always singing the song.
We took a quick ride on Buzz since the line was not too long and then we scooted out before the parade started. We knew if we waited until after the 9pm parade the bus lines would be deadly long and we had had a long day already. We shopped a bit on Main Street on our way out and then were back in our room by 9pm. Lucas grabbed our mugs and went to the food court. He also picked up some snack credit cookies and a rice krispie treat for his dear ole mom! The kids showered quickly and we were tucked into bed by 10pm. Unfortunately the pool was still noisy and rocking! But I tossed and turned a bit and did fall asleep. We had another 7am wake up call the next day! I had a date with the Yeti!!!!!

PS--- sorry no photos yet.. I am creating a photobucket account. I have an Apple computer and it's giving me a hard time with the pics right now! I promise! they are coming!

 

[addicted2dizney]

Ok,
here's my first shot at some pictures... I didn't have as many as I thought. Most are on my photopass...

This is Jenna and Lucas with the "good" chipmunk! I know the picture is HUGE!! I gotta figure this all out! sorry!
Chip proposing to Jenna.. Is is a scene that is repeated many times throughout the week with various characters!

Jenna outside the Living Seas... Yes, most of my pics are of her.. Lucas is not in to "posing" for pictures so I begged him to get in a few!

That Castle view for the TTA

 

[ChelleinNC]

Pics worked

To make them smaller, on Photobucket you'll see the edit button over the pic. click that and then "resize" then you can "save a copy" so you'll have the full size and the new smaller size.

 

[podsnel]

Gorgeous kids!!! So glad to see them!

 

[MikkiM]

Loving it! I can't wait to be there again with my kids...hoping they are in wonderful moods when we go and not in the "teen funk" mood. Hope you are having a blast and enjoying this special time with your kids.

 

[addicted2dizney]

Great Update! That is so funny about waiting for the busses and thinking of me! That is GREAT that you could trust the kids to just meet back up with you, I can't wait for that! The Garden Grill sounds like it was alot of fun!

Ha! I know, there were a few times I thought of you and your report on this trip! Yes, it's a whole other experience when they are big enough to let out of eyesight for a few minutes. It also helps that they have cell phones glued to them every minute as well! That helps remove the stress from the situation.

 

[addicted2dizney]

It's worked out pretty good I was on the College Program and he was in the navy stationed in Orlando. We honeymooned on The Big Red Boat (before DCL) and at the Poly 17 years later, we go to Disney a couple of times a year, own DVC and have 2 kids that love it as much as we do



Isn't it great? This last trip they even went to Epcot on their own while DH & I were out golfing. We met them for dinner in Norway We've also found that they get along much much much better when it's just the 2 of them

Glad you had a good time at Cape May & GG. We've always had good experiences at both

That sounds great about being able to do your thing while the kids are off having fun! I'm guessing in about two years I'll be able to send them off and not be too nervous!

Great Update! I think I'll follow your plan on our Epcot morning, FP Soarin and run and ride TT. We haven't done TT before so I can't wait to ride it!

It really worked out well doing it this way. I just HAD to get on Soarin this trip and it was just so nice knowing I had those FP's and I was guaranteed to get on the ride later in the day. Even though our FP was for earlier in the morning I really saved time by not going back until dinner!

Gorgeous kids!!! So glad to see them!

awww thanks! remember you have a handsome 14 year old son and we live so close to each other... who knows our paths may cross one day!

Loving it! I can't wait to be there again with my kids...hoping they are in wonderful moods when we go and not in the "teen funk" mood. Hope you are having a blast and enjoying this special time with your kids.

Oh, well even with all the "Magic" in the air we still had some "teen funk" from my darling DD!

 

[addicted2dizney]

Well, we set our wake up call for 7:30 this morning. We decided that we were not going to do breakfast this morning. I had picked up a box of donuts in the gift shop so we grabbed some hot cocoa and had a a donut (or two!) We got out to the bus and were at the AK park in no time at all. By about 8:30 we were at the turnstiles. The one bad thing about this is the lack of shade! It was very hot and bright in the sun. Jenna was doing the "teen thing", she was complaining about how "lame" it is to be there so early, blah blah blah..
reffering back to Diane's TR once again.. I had her turn around and look behind us! There was a sea of people! I told her to "shut up, and keep up with me and she wouldn't be sorry!" I can tell you that she NEVER complained about being to the park early again the rest of the trip!
We watched the park opening. I just LOVE it when you see Mickey by the big tree! It's just so cool! We were just behind the rope and cruised right up to EE. I must have been a bit off that morning on prepping the kids on my park attack! I went right off to the FP machines and turned to look around... NO KIDS!!! Well it turns out they jumped right into the line to ride first. ( like they did with TT the day before) I was not too happy about it but I can only ride EE once or I get nauseous. I can do it again later in the day but the multiple rides in a row is a killer for me!
The kids jump off EE and then we head on over to dinoworld. It was great! It was so empty! The kids rode PW like 3 times and we all did TS once. I don't wait in line for Dumbo ever!!!! Take a spin on TS was as close as I was coming to it! We then went over to ride Dinosaur. I have mixed feelings about this ride! Jenna loves it but Lucas and I think it's so scary! I do however refuse to miss out on a great disney ride just because I'm a bit chicken!
Here are the kids outside the Dinosaur ride gift shop

We then went on over to Kahli River Rapids. I HATE to get wet and walk around with wet clothes! But, we knew we wanted to do this ride so we work light weight clothes an wore our bathing suits underneath. We striped down as far as we could and jumped right on the ride with no wait!
Then it was off to get FP's for the Safari, we grabbed them and then got ourselves some ice cream and frozen bananas. Ok.. it was only like 10:15 and we had to wait for the ice cream cart to open up!!! But hey, it's vacation and there are NO RULES when we are on vacation! We ate them quickly and then headed on over to Camp Minnie Mickey so that Jenna could have herself photographed yet again!
Here's one of her pictures...

The timing was great and we had little to no wait to see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald. By the time we were done it was just a quick stroll back and we jumped on the safari. Here are some of Jenna's pics of the animals..

We don't do a whole lot in AK so we finished up the Safari and headed on out. It was just before noon. Our plan was to go to TL that afternoon but the weather was showing severe weather that was not going to be a passing storm. I jumped onto the WDW dining number and was able to switch our ADR's we had for thursday night onto tonight! We figured we would go on over to DHS have dinner at Prime Time Cafe and do what we could that night. The kids wanted to do a lot of pin trading and we had a few rides we wanted to do so it worked out well. We went back to the hotel, took a swim and jumped in the car around 2pm. Jenna was dying to have McDonalds french fries and the ASMu was just near that HUGE Mc Donalds on property. We ran over there for a light lunch and then the skies opened up! Torrential rain for about 45 minutes and then it lightened up. We then went on over to DHS and had a great dinner and got FP's for RNRC and did the stand by line for Toy Story Mania. I almost NEVER stand in a 90 minute line but it was raining and the line was inside and we had time to kill before the FP's were ready. I think we waited about an hour but the waiting area was done so well and so cute that the time passed quickly. The ride was GREAT! I loved it. Unfortunately once I rode this one it made Buzz seem kind of boring!~
I decided rather than do RNRC, ( i just wasn't in the mood.. ) I sent the kids on and did the great movie ride myself. Honestly, I need some time away from the kids! They weren't doing anything horrible.. just being kids!! The 45 minute break did me a world of good!
We headed on back to the hotel.. and got to bed around 10ish.. Thank Goodnes the pool was quiet since it was raining outside!
The next day was our big day in the MK... with some surprises but not so magical...

 

[klineyqueen]

I decided rather than do RNRC, ( i just wasn't in the mood.. ) I sent the kids on and did the great movie ride myself. Honestly, I need some time away from the kids! They weren't doing anything horrible.. just being kids!! The 45 minute break did me a world of good!

I understand!!!! That is one nice thing about having older kids!!!!

 

[addicted2dizney]

Well, our day started off great! Up, dressed and out the door! On the bus to MK by 8:10 and there by 8:25. We were up front and center perched at the rope. From behind me I saw a CM bring a family over to the bench to the left of the archway. I just knew that they were going to open the park!!! Oh well, I must have missed being in the right place by just minutes! I asked the mom if they were going to be opening the park and she said, "yes". She had no idea what it meant but from reading Diane's report I knew all about it! I told her to be ready to be surprised and have a great time! This was going to be a Disney moment to remember. She kind of looked confused but in a few minutes they were off into the park and on their adventure! By the time they got onto the train platform you could just see that the mom was so happy and overwhelmed! Sure I was jealous but I was happy for them too!
It's funny how many people go to Disney and just don't know it like we all do! Believe me, I am the local "expert". If anyone within a 5 mile radius of me needs to know something.. I get a call! Well, while we were waiting for the rope drop I took a few minute break sitting on the park bench. The kids did not want to move and loose our front row spot but I needed to sit for a few... There was a nice family sitting on the bench with me. They were from Scotland... (just guessing from the accent and style of dress, etc.. ) They were going into the MK and looking at the map trying to pick out restaurants to have their meals for the day. They had decided on a "nice" breakfast at the Crystal Palace.
The know-it-all Disney person in me could not sit the the on the sidelines any longer!! I kind of butted in and asked them if they had CP reservations. They were like.. "no, do you need them???" I was really good about it. I wanted to yell.. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!??? WHAT ROCK HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING UNDER???" Instead, I said, "most times you do" I asked if they had a phone to call in and find out. They didn't so I pulled out my cell and called the WDW dine number. I asked if they possibly had an opening for breakfast that morning. They didn't but while I was on the line she refreshed the page and a cancellation just popped up for a time ten minutes from then! I handed the phone to the woman and she made the reservation. They were so grateful! I showed them where to go to get right into the park and off they went. I know it wasn't a good deed like ending world hunger but I sure felt good knowing I saved them some time and disappointment had there been no times for them to dine there!
Well it was rope drop time.. we were the first ones into the park on our side of the station that morning! What a sight to see it sooo empty! We raced off to tomorrowland, did the rope drop there and then right to SM. The FP machines were not working yet so we went right onto the ride we were in the second train of the day! We jumped off, grabbed our FP's for another ride and went over to Buzz. When we got off of Buzz Jenna's hear almost stopped!! Her love Stitch was standing there! so of course she got a few pics with him!

We then zipped across the park to ride Splash Moutain. By the time we got off, (no wait!) we were able to get a new set of FP's. We grabbed another set for Splash and then rode BTMRR two times. Then we went off to the HM and then on up to Fantasyland and rode IASW all these lines had no waits on them! Gosh, it's good to get to the parks early! We then came off there and grabbed a set of FP's for Peter Pan. We all walked onto the merry go round and then went over to the tea cups. Jenna and Lucas rode the tea cups and I watched! When they were done we were ready for our early lunch at CP. We had a great lunch but our camera had gone dead so no pics from there. We go there more for the food anyway.. My kids are not huge Pooh fans but I do love me some Eeoyre!
After lunch we ran over to the Jungle cruise grabbed a set of FP's and did the tiki room and then decided to head out back to the hotel for a swim. We had many sets of FP's to use when we got back at night so I was relaxed and Ok with leaving after such a productive morning!

 

[dddisrunner]

Just catching back up! The pictures of your kids are beautiful! Looks like a fun day you had AK in the morning and then later in the evening at DHS! Sorry about the rain! I have 1 more update to go catch up on.............

 

[dddisrunner]

OK all caught up now That was so nice of you to help that family with the CP ADR. THEY were lucky that their was a cancellation! I LOL about the "expert" within a 5 mile radius because that is me down here in Ocean County! Cute picture of Jenna with Stitch! You guys got alot done that morning. HOw was the CP for lunch? We've only done breakfast and dinner there. Looking forward to more!

 

[tmkinney]

Great update and great pics! So nice of you to help out the couple on the CP meal! I can't imagine going and not planning?!! Hate that you just missed out on opening MK! Looking forward to more!

 

[disneyaddicted]

Great update, isn't funny how teen girls love to have their pictures taken, especially on a good hair day.

It must have felt good to play the part of Disney ambassador for that family and get them an ADR at CP, I bet they will always remember "The nice lady"

I have never made a rope drop at MK, it's one of my goals for my next trip, it seems like you get so much done early in the day.

 

[addicted2dizney]

OK all caught up now That was so nice of you to help that family with the CP ADR. THEY were lucky that their was a cancellation! I LOL about the "expert" within a 5 mile radius because that is me down here in Ocean County! Cute picture of Jenna with Stitch! You guys got alot done that morning. HOw was the CP for lunch? We've only done breakfast and dinner there. Looking forward to more!

CP was great for lunch.. it has much of the same menu items as dinner but a few are scaled back due to the lower price. For example they usually have the New Zealand mussels for dinner and they had a less expensive veggie/rice dish substitute for it. But I would give it a two thumbs up for sure!

Great update and great pics! So nice of you to help out the couple on the CP meal! I can't imagine going and not planning?!! Hate that you just missed out on opening MK! Looking forward to more!

Yes, the dis planner in my just could not sit by.. I was picturing this poor family walking up and being told "no". You could just tell that by their conversation that they expected to walk up to any MK restaurant and it would be half empty just waiting for them.

Great update, isn't funny how teen girls love to have their pictures taken, especially on a good hair day.

It must have felt good to play the part of Disney ambassador for that family and get them an ADR at CP, I bet they will always remember "The nice lady"

I have never made a rope drop at MK, it's one of my goals for my next trip, it seems like you get so much done early in the day.

Ugh.... yes, Jenna walks around with her camera everywhere! Thank God for digital cameras or I would have spent her college savings account on film!
Being at rope drop is the key to a great day! If I'm not there at rope drop I feel like my day has been wasted. I do suffer from "DOP" Disney Over Planning!

 

[addicted2dizney]

Well we get back to the hotel and the kids jump in the pool. I went into the room and got things better organized. Somehow the room had gotten away from me and it look a mess! After a few minutes I joined the kids in the pool We swam for about an hour then came back and showered and dressed. We really just kind of took our time, layed on the bed, watched TV etc... it was SOOOO nice to know we have FP's to ride just about whatever we wanted at night AND we still had a whole other day schedule in MK! I am a Disney glutton! I can NEVER get enough!
We went over to the food court and had dinner there. We have great CS meals. I wasn't really sure what they had so I asked a CM what was good. Well.. I picked the right person. This CM was the food court manager and used to manage the Concourse Steak house before they closed it. He went into great detail of each menu item and told me to get the 1/2 roasted chicken. He said it was the best chicken in all of WDW. Well, i think he was right! It was so juicy and tender and the seasonings were great. It fell right off the bone! The kids got chicken quesadillas and they loved them too! We all got HUGE brownie sundaes for dessert and were stuffed! When we were done we hopped on a bus to MK and were there in no time!
We got to MK, it was nice and comfortable weather, we were well rested, cleanly showered and had full bellies! What could go wrong? We got another set of FP's for Stitch since there was little more we need them for. We looked at the bottom of the FP and the time to get a new FP was the same time as it was! I guess because the Stitch FP's are not in high demand it worked out that way. So, we ran over and grabbed another set of FP's for Buzz. That was sooo cool getting two sets of FP's just minutes apart from each other! We zipped around the park going from ride to ride using the FP's.
Then it came time to go on Splash Mountain... We all pulled out our rain ponchos because we didn't want to get soaked on this ride in the dark. They worked great! When we got off the ride Lucas handed Jenna his raincoat to put in the bag. That's when the two headed monster came out!! She had a fit that HE wanted to put HIS wet raincoat in the bag!!! (Weren't they all wet?? ) They had been sharing the bag all week because both of them were too lazy to have to carry their own bag the whole trip. Well, poor Lucas the ONLY thing that was his in the bag was the raincoat!! The rest was all Jenna's stuff, cell phone, camera etc... To top it off she wanted HIM to carry his raincoat AND carry the bag full of HER stuff!! That's when I lost it!! I basically told her to go away and either take a bus back to the hotel or walk around the park by herself! I was done with her treating her little brother like a dog! She just did not get it!! Ugh teenage girls!!! Of course she stuck close but we did not speak for about an hour. Lucas and I just did our thing and she followed along with a puss on her face. I really didn't care at this point! Girls are just so selfish sometimes! We did a few more rides in Fantasyland and then watched "Wishes". I loved it and Jenna does not like fireworks too much, she complained about them so I told her to "go away" in a gift shop where they wouldn't be so loud. I had basically done whatever she wanted for the trip and her attitude was not going to let me miss wishes! When they were done we walked out of the park. Then it happened.....
Walking down main street Jenna got her foot stuck in the trolley track going down the center of main street and twisted her knee....
I didn't know it happened when it did.. she is a tough cookie. From cheering and tumbling, she is used to dealing with "pain". She just kept on walking.. when we got on the bus she said, "Mom, I really think I hurt my knee" The first words we'd spoken in 2 hours! Her knee was swollen like a little balloon!!!

 

[tmkinney]

OMG, I just now put together that you are actually in my photopass group! (this is where the DUH! Icon would be inserted if I could find one! )
When I read about Jenna twisting her knee it was: !!! I knew you said you were in my group, but I just thought you meant in a group on the thread! Oh well, I'm entitled to a blonde moment every now and then!

I can see where girls can definitely be more selfish than boys - I can remember those times with my own brother and I'm sure I'll be doomed as my DD gets older too!!

So sorry she got hurt though!!

 

[addicted2dizney]

OMG, I just now put together that you are actually in my photopass group! (this is where the DUH! Icon would be inserted if I could find one! )
When I read about Jenna twisting her knee it was: !!! I knew you said you were in my group, but I just thought you meant in a group on the thread! Oh well, I'm entitled to a blonde moment every now and then!

I can see where girls can definitely be more selfish than boys - I can remember those times with my own brother and I'm sure I'll be doomed as my DD gets older too!!

So sorry she got hurt though!!

Ha ha! too funny.. well you probably missed the "group" thing on the photopass because you are juggling like 11 of them! It is so great that you are helping everyone find groups!

 

[antree]

Love the Trip report so far. I hope your DD is OK. I have a daughter 14 too and my DS is only 6 and she doesn't treat him any better. It is all about them isn't!LOL. The only difference is my DD loves her picture taken too but not from me. I haven't had her in any of our Photo pass pictures or on my digital in 2 yrs.
She will get her own photo pass , but OMG she can't get in mine.
After vacation people say "do you have one kids or two?"
We just came back and she watched our video and realized she was only in it the last day during lunch when I was videoing. So she kept telling people thats because my Mom never had the camera when I was with her. What!
I never leave the camer at the room.
Maybe she will reme,ber that and get in the picture when we go in Nov.

Anyway back to you. Keep it coming.

 

[NJ2Boardwalk]

Great TR. Leaving Thursday with 2 DD both teens. I told them to leave the attitude at home or the parents are going alone . Do you think crowd levels are lower than past years? Any tour groups? Hope your daughter is well.