March 2008 trip report

[jenseib]

I swore I wrote one here last year, but I went looking for it and can't find it, so I thought I would post it now to get me excited for our upcoming trip in 2 days! (I did post it on another board and found it.)

We went March 2~7. 2008
There were 3 of us.
DH~ Skip
Me~ Jen
DD~ Claire

I'm just going to copy and paste it here

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll try to remember! LOL!

We left the house around 10:30 or so for the Detroit airport. We had to cram everything into my parents Caddy. I kept telling my mom that our car has a bigger trunk and we should take that, but she refused and said we could hold stuff on our laps. UGH! It wasn't bad, but it's an hour to the airport, so it got old fast.
We got checked in no problem, and then went through security. Super packed, but didn't take long. It's just a pain to take off your shoes and your childs(plus Claire doesn't get why you would take off shoes. LOL), And then fold the stroller and all that great stuff ,but we made it.
We found our gate and it's in the older terminal which is being refurbished right now.
We got something to eat, and headed to the gate. Sat about 5 minutes and started boarding. Our plane was full. I always hate that. It's no inconveinence to me, but I feel a bit clausterphobic. Flight left right on time and we arrived about 3:30, (the estimated time was 4:05, so I was happy to be early)
We got off and made our way to the Disney Magical Express counter. I had to wait a few minutes there, as it seemed people were having problems checking in with them. Don't know why, as all you have to do is show your pass, and they direct you where to go. I was at the desk for about 30 seconds.
We got right on the bus and were off about 5-10 minutes later. Got to our hotel, Pop Century, and DH went to check in while I grabbed our carry ons and stroller. By the time I caught up with him and Claire, we were pretty much checked in. She gave us our keys to the kingdom, which is our room key, park pass ,and dining, and we were off to our room. It was the exact location I wanted! I was so happy. I had asked for 1st floor, 60's section, near the baby pool, and that was exactly what we got. Right across from the pool. We had faxed our request in a few days earlier.

View from door, the baby pool is through the trees

View to the left

View to the right/ thats the hippy Dippy pool

We are the second window

We are the door under the yellow flower

We settled in, changed our clothes and were off to the bus stop for the Magic Kingdom.
I think we were in the park by about 5:30. We walked around the front a bit. We saw some characters, but Claire wasn't too excited about them this year. She decided to go see the two mice from Cinderella though. I know one is Perla, can't remember the others name. (now I do! It's Susie!)

We kind of weaved in and out of shops down mainstreet (I had to buy a sweatshirt, because I left mine at home, Duh Jen! ) and then realized people were already finding spots for the 7 PM parade. So we went back more towards the front and found a spot about 6:15. DH and I took turns sitting while the other walked Claire around. I came back with an Autograph book for her, but he came back with a big ballon AND a big lollipop that she wasn't sharing with us! LOL!

We watched the SpectroMagic parade, which I just love! And then fought the crowds to get back behind the castle to some rides. Most were standing or sitting waiting for the 8 PM fireworks (Wishes) and wouldn't move, so I became a pathmaker with the stroller. LOL! Once we got past the castle it was empty.
Claire and DH rode the teacups.....Of course someone got sick right before they got on, so it took a few minutes for the ride to get "clean"!

By the time they got off, the fireworks had started. We saw them perfectly from where we were and no crowds. Just didn't have the castle in the back ground, which was fine by us. I really recommend this are for clausterphobic people.
We then did the pooh ride and other fantasyland rides. We had a ball. Ride waits were next to nothing.

The park closed at 9 for regular guest, but resort guests got to stay till 12 (EMH), so we went and got our bracelet that allows us to stay and rode lots of rides. It's the best time to do alot. Not many people and the waits are very short. I wish they had another Extra Magical Hours night while we were there, but that was the only one for Magic Kingdom while we were there.
I just love MK during EMH hours. I love doing stuff in the dark!

I think around 10 we got hungry and went into Cosmic Rays for a bite to eat. We got burgers and Claire got nuggets. They have this animotronic guy call Sonny Eclipse who sings like a lounge singer. Claire loves him.
We also tried to get a few photopass pics.

We stayed till midnight and then headed back to the resort.

 

[jenseib]

I have alot of problems sleeping when I'm away from home, and then, on top of it, when I'm doing somthing fun, I have all this adrenaline going through me. So I was up around 6 AM. Actually I think I was up earlier, but layed in bed till then. So I got showered and dressed and went out and took lots of pictures of the resort. I also bought a refillable mug, which turned out to be a great deal. All the refills I wanted at the resort for free during our trip. DH ended up getting one the next day too.

So I walked all around and took all pictures of Pop, and kept checking in the room. Finally Dh got up, but we had decided to let Claire sleep in as long as possible. At around 10:30 she was moving a bit, but still not up, so we decided to nudge her a bit.
First thing she wanted to do was swim. So we took her out to the baby pool and swam a bit.

We then headed over to Epcot.

We headed straight for Spaceship earth.

It is newly redone. It was nice ,but the end is kind of stupid now. I didn't like the picture thing at the end. Here is mine that I emailed to myself. LOL!

Claire is a big Nemo fan so we went that way next.

We then had a snack. Claire insisted on a popsicle, but ate half of DH's Mickey head icecream bar, then went back to her popsicle.

I tried a few times to get Claire to see the characters. She refused too this year. We did a few rides and DH went and rode Test Track while Claire and I walked around. The crowds were extremely low.

We had a dinner reservation at 4:30 at the Garden Grill. This is a character meal, with Chip and Dale, Mickey (dressed as a farmer) and Pluto. We checked in about 10 minutes early and it didn't open till 4:30. We were called in first. After seated, I noticed no one else was called in. Our server then came and told us we were picked as family of the day. We got to see the charaters first and all at one time. We got these little light up icecubes for our drinks. (We only put it in Claire's and I gave mine to another little girl later on who need some cheering up ) We got a free appetizer, which was a wonderful salad, and got to try a new dish that was going t be added on the menu this week as well. We also got to sign the family of the day book.

Chip And Dale kept coming back and playing with DH. Claire wouldn't go by them. Chip was putting straws up his own ears, nose, and mouth and Claire thought it was really funny.

We went back to Nemo again, cause Claire loves it. We then did the Turtle talk with Crush, which is really neat. Crush talks right to the audience. DH was amazed at how it works. (On a side note ,we went to the comedy thing by Monsters INC at the Magic Kingdom the night before and they interact with the audience as well, and DH was baffled by that too. LOL!)

We then headed out since Claire was getting tired. We never made all the way around the world showcase, just to Norway and Mexico. Just not enough time for us. She did another swim, and then settled down for the night.

Here are a few photopass pictures. Claire was JUST not happy about pictures this year, as you can see on her face. We told the photographers to take them anyways! We'll use them as blackmail when she's older!

 

[jenseib]

Well, again I woke up at the crack of dawn. I got myself ready and went for my morning walk and took more pictures. At about 8 I was kind of getting bored. I had walked the resort alot, had drank a few beverages and no sign of my family waking up. LOL! So I told DH, if he didn't mind, I was going to head over to Animal Kingdom, which opened at 9 and then he could call me as soon as Claire woke up and I would make my way back.
So I got on the bus over and was there just as they were starting to open it. I couldn't hear well, but Mickey was in the back ground hanging off the tree of life, and Minnie, Goofy and Pluto were up on top of a truck, and some sort of an opening show was going on.

After it offically opened, I went and saw "it's tough to be a bug" which is a 3-D movie in the tree of life. I have never seen it yet, because I read it is kind of scary for little ones. It was kind of neat. They had a stinkbug in the show named Claire. LOL!
Here is a really poor picture from inside the tree.

I then rode Expedition Everest, another first for me. And it was cool. Then headed over to Dinoland and rode Dinosaur. Another scary ride for kids. Lines were really fast too. I did the first 3 things in like 1/2 hour.
I then rode a few other rides in Dinoland and headed up front to leave.

On the way out I looked at some of the neat birds they have on the walk. There was also an anteater, but by the time I got close enough to take his picture, he was behind a bush.

Out in front of the gates they had some character meet and greets. I stopped off and got a picture with Baloo the bear. Sadly, I see we have the same body shape. LOL!

As I was walking to the bus, DH called and said Claire had just woke up and they were going swimming. So I decided I would take a quick trip to downtown Disney and then head back. There is not direct bus there from the parks, so I waited in the Pop line and was going to transfer then. For some reason the darn pop bus was taking forever. The people ahead of me said hey had waited close to 1/2 hour already. In the mean time I had see 5 All star buses come through. So I just hopped on one of those and went to that resort to make the transfer. I did a quick walk around there to check things out, took a few pictures, but had my camera on some funky setting and they all came out over exposed. UGH. Caught the bus to DTD and went to the store World of Disney. I love this store. It has so much stuff in it. I had a 10% off coupon there too, so I bought Claire the Ariel wedding dress. (Which she had seen at MK and wanted very much so) And a tiara.
Went back to the bus stop. Just missed the pop bus and waited forever for another one. Some how they got out of sinc or something. Because then two showed up.
So I went back and joined DD and DH. Claire was in the big pool with a life jacket on and had made some "gurlfrens". So they swam a bit more then we went to Pop's food court and got lunch.
We then finally headed over as a family to Animal Kingdom.

DH went off on his own and rode some of the bigger rides, while I took Claire on the stuff she could do. We stopped off and got a picture together with Expedition everest in the back ground. DH was riding it then.

And we went to the bird show

We then walked toward the spot we would want to be for the parade. As we were approaching it, we found out the parade was going to start early since there was rain on the way. (we came prepared with ponchos) So we watched the parade, which Claire just loves. (and so do I)

 

[jenseib]

After the parade it started to Sprinkle, so we went to the safari ride. It rained pretty good while we were on it and pretty much stopped by the time we got off.

We headed back to the hotel then.
Here is Claire excited to see the new towel animals in our window.

We got dressed for dinner, which was to be at the Whispering Canyon in the Wilderness Lodge.
Claire decided to wear the new Ariel dress.

We then went into the gift shop before heading over. Here DH made a HUGE mistake. There is this really big train set there. I had seen it there, but bypassed it. Well he shows it to Claire. We had a meltdown about it. She wanted it, but it was too big to take home. They do have shipping though. I told DH he obviously wasn't a good shopper with children because you never show them stuff. LOL! So finally she got over it and we headed over to Wilderness Lodge. (to get there we had to bus to Magic Kingdom and boat over to Wilderness Lodge)
This place is just gorgeous. I wanted to take alot of pictures, but it was dark in there, and most didn't turn out very well. While we waited to be called, Claire found another princess friend to dance with.

We got called in and were seated. The food was great. It was family style, all you can eat. (we got the skillet) They also have a theme of being kind of obnxious, but in a funny way. If you want ketchup, everyone who has it on there table has to bring it over to the one table that wants it. The waiters all yell and stuff. Claire and I got these fantastic milkshakes.
Once that came, Claire's lips were glued to the straw and she ate very little. One of the waiters kept coming over and telling her how pretty she was. He made her a sash of Mickey stickers. But she wasn't very friendly. (too shy) They had a "pony Express" ride where the kids could ride on stick horses around the resturant. Claire joined that and had fun. She got a certificate for that.

It was some guys birthday and the staff really gave him a hard time, and then made people at his table go around the room singing a song. They also did the Hokkie Pokkie for some little girls birthdays. We had alot of fun there.

Dh started complaining that we were eating too much. LOL! I told him just because we got all we could eat at most resturants, didn't mean you had to eat that much.

Here is a lobby picture.

And one of the pool.

I would truely love to stay at this place sometime, but it is one of the more expensive Disney resorts. (and DH is cheap! LOL)
We headed back to our resort then, Claire did a short swim and we went to bed.

 

[jenseib]

a photopass pic from AK. Notice DD covering her face! LOL!

 

[shordiebecka]

LOL! Loving your trip report so far!!!!!! Can't wait to hear more..Claire is too funny!

 

[jenseib]

This was another Magic Kingdom day!
Our origional plan was to go over for awhile and then come back and swim, and go back till closing at 8 and then head over to our dinner show.
Plans sound good when you make them! LOL!
When Claire woke up she had other plans. "SWIMMING" first. So instead of fighting about something that was no big deal, we swam first. Dh got a breakfeast dish while Claire swam. After awhile she had her fill and we got dressed and went over to the Magic Kingdom. Claire decided it was a "Minnie Mouse" dress day again.

We went over and headed to the train to take us to Toontown. (Claire loves the train) We did a few things, and DH took her on the Goofy barnstormer. I went into the big store they have in toontown and was looking for the Princess Aurora dress. I had been looking for it since day 1, but was having trouble finding it in her size. So I asked if they had any in the back. They did, but not her size. I was getting bummed, as I really thought this dress was pretty, and was hoping to purchase it this trip.

We met up and went and did some more rides. DH and Claire went on the Carrousel, and I checked out the Tinkerbelle store near there. They had it! So I bought it and had it sent to our Hotel.
We then went to the Mickey's Philharmagic movie. (First time we ever went to it!) Claire met another Minnie Mouse friend. They held hands and it was so cute. The other little girl didn't want to leave us.

We then headed over to get a spot for the afternoon parade. It was already getting crowded fast, and luckily I got Claire up along the lines while I stood back a bit. ( she was in my site all the time) Most adults did this, so the little ones could see, but this one mom barges in a free space in front of me, and sits down with 4 kids. Not much room for 5 of them, and I thought it was kind of rude of her to get right up when so many were standing back trying to let the little ones closer.
The parade was wonderful though, and it was started off with Giselle from Enchanted.

I was getting hungry then, so Claire and I went into a resturant near there and got a bite to eat. I got a fish and chicken combo so she would share with me, but she only ate the apple slices. (she did eat a bag of crackers during the parade though.) DH went off somewhere and came back with some snack from another place. He also finished off my cake that came with the meal.

We watch the small Woody and Gang roundup parade and headed off to what I think is an awful show. (the Bear Jamboree) It is so dumb, but DH saw it as a kid, so now he thinks this is something Claire would like, (and sadly she does, LOL) We have to see this now every year!
Here they are together as we are waiting to get in.

We were off to Pirates of the Carribean, and then we went to the Tikki room show, another first for us. It was cute, Claire liked it, it had some catchy songs.

 

[jenseib]

Next was the jungle cruise. Claire was getting a bit run down. And rode on dads shoulders through the line. I thought she looked so cute.

I took this picture on the cruise because I thought it was pretty.

We stopped for a break and Claire actually posed for me.

We then were heading over to toon town again.
As we were walking a cast member stopped us and asked "Minnie Claire" for her autograph. He pulled out a book and she scribbled her signature in it. LOL! She got a kick out of it.
We then went through Minnies house and Claire decided it was time to visit Minnie, (who was in the Gazebo in the backyard).

We hopped the train up front again. Claires one main thing she wanted to do on this trip was see Daisy Duck, but we could never find her, and only saw her briefly in the parade. So we asked a photopass castmember if she knew when, or where to find her. She told us Daisy is really hard to find, but one of the most popular. She said the best spot was at Hollywood Studios (which we were going to the next day), to the left of the hat. But only in the morning and the lines can get really long.
DH and Claire then wanted to just ride the monorail a full circle, so I said I would shop around while they did it. Well, I had the stroller and it was just impossible to go in these stores with it and not kill a billion people with it. It was packed, as most were geting ready to end the day. So I gave up and just went out of the park and waited for them to return.

We found a bench and watch the fireworks from the outside then. As it got close to being done we headed over to the boat dock to catch the boat to Fort Wilderness Camp ground, where our dinner show "Hoop Dee Doo Revue" was going to be.

We got there early, and the show didn't start till 9:30. On the phone they acted like it was important to be there at least 1/2 hour early. But you really didn't need to be that early. They didn't open the doors till 9:30. The campground is huge and we were afraid to wander off too far and get lost and not make it back.

Claire was chosen as the bellringer and she rang the bell to let everyone know it was time to come in. She got a certificate for that too.

The show was really wonderful. The food was fantastic. I think it was our favortie meal. Claire only would eat salad, but she ate a TON of it.
The show is really corny and goofy, but lots of fun. One of the characters name was Claire too. We went to the bathroom and as we came back in, "Claire" was sitting in the back. My Claire was wearing her Minnie hat with her name on it, so "Claire" saw it and made this big fuss over how they had the same name. She came to our table several times and talked to Claire too.
Most of the actors said hi to her at one time or another except one. And Claire cried about it. She was so mad that one forgot her. LOL!

The show got over around 11 and they had buses waiting for us to take us to each of our resorts.
We went to bed with the agenda to get up early for park opening of Hollywood Studios to see Daisy Duck, the one Character Claire really wanted to see.

 

[jenseib]

Day 5, March 6th

The plan for the day was to head over to hollywood studios as early as possible to catch Daisy Duck. I got up early as usual and went off to do some laundry. ( I did it a couple of times while there to keep up and so as to not have to pack so many clothes either.)
When I came back Claire was up already, which was amazing, as she is usually sleeping in, and we thought we would have to wake her. So we got her ready and headed over. We got there before opening and saw the corny opening show.

We then walked towards the hat, as that is where Daisy is supposed to be..... As we walked up, Daisy, Donald, Goofy and Minnie were all coming out and we asked where the Daisy line was and the lady showed us and we were FIRST in line. Claire was so happy!

We went over to the Goofy/Minnie line next and visited with them as well.

We then headed over to the Playhouse Disney show. It didn't start for a bit, so Claire and I went potty and then checked out when the Little Mermaid show was going to start. We headed back to Playhouse Disney, and DH said he was going to meet us in line and he was going potty.

As Claire and I walked up, a cast member stopped us and asked how many was in our party. I thought she was going to tell us to wait till we were all there till we entered the line, but NOPE! We were picked as family of the show. We got to go to the head of the line in a speical waiting area, Claire got a certificate, and we got to enter first and chose where we wanted to sit. What is kind of funny is some other family walked up behind me and went uder the rope too? When DH came back I waved him over. I told him about us being "family of the show". He asked the other couple if they were one too and they said no. And then when it was time to go in they said, "well you guys go first since you were picked." So I think they just line cutted! LOL!

This show was with one live girl and the rest puppets. It had Mickey Mouse clubhouse characters, The new adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Little Einsteins and Handy Manny. I thought the show was awful, but Claire loved it. We also had to sit on the floor and that was very uncomfortable. A little hint...don't sit up front, it's harder to see. sit in the middle. The CM told us that , but I wasn't sure if I should believe her, but we sat in the middle and it was still kind of hard to see, so I'm glad we listened.

We then went to see the Little Mermaid show. Claire loved this too, and again I thought it was pretty lame. I could tell DH did too. LOL! But the trip was about her, not us.

 

[jenseib]

After Little Mermaid is where the day went a bit down hill.
Claire started whining and then coughing and I said I think she is going to be sick and she was. She luckily only got a little on her dress and it wiped off easily. So I said I would take her back and DH could do what he wanted. But Claire cried and said she was fine and wanted to do more stuff. Against my better judgement we stayed a bit more.

We did the great movie ride, and then the Muppets 3-D. While in there, her tiara fell off, and she wanted to hold it. So I let her. She started looking bad again, and I told DH after this I was taking her back. So we left and got ready to head up front when she starts crying about her tiara. She LOST it. Well DH went back, but it was never found, (so we bought her a new one later on). She got sick again on the way out (my kid was the one with her head in the garbage can! I got a bag from a gift shop, just in case she did get sick while on the bus. But after she get sick, she seems to be better for awhile.
So we got back to the room, and I grabbed some food from the food court and got her in her nightgown, and gave her motrin. (so glad I brought it along) She was so excited about getting to sleep that she couldn't for awhile. LOL! She kept saying "I have to get better for Prince Charming tonight and get my Hair do tomorrow."

Off topic a bit.. but Claire also got sick on the trip the year before on the SAME day. We were actually heading to the airport to fly home and she threw up on the ways. So we figure she gets over stimulated and this is the day it goes over the limit. BUT I also didn't mention that a few days prior to this day I caught her LICKING the pole on the bus! So she could've caught some nasty germs from that. DH thinks that is the case more likely.
So she finallly slept. I dozed off awhile too. DH came back then and I went off to the park for a bit.

I went and got our free photopass picture, and bought the tiara and then headed to do something.
This is the picture I picked. So hilarious! Remember she wouldn't smile most of the time!
The CM actually took this picture around to all the other CM's working and showed them it since he thought it was so funny too!

I got in line for the backlot tour. BIG mistake. They said they were letting people in, then they said we had to wait a minute for some reason. So we went in the first section that has a show. It involves water splashing people. Well it was a bit chilly that day and rain was threatening, so they didn't do that part. Just showed us some of the stuff. So we go to load on the tram. We sit and sit and sit. Finally they say there is technical difficulties but we will be on our way soon. So we finally go, and then come to the part where we enter what is called Catastrophe Canyon. In it they pretend a movie set is going on, and all this stuff goes "wrong". Well we wait to go in and then the guy says we have a red light and can't go in, making it all sound normal, so we head out a gate and the tram can't make the turn and rams into this HUGE rock. So we have to get guys to come and roll this rock away.
And then we are driving on the outskirts of the park. Our guide keeps pointing out things like this is part of the tour, but I know it isn't. He would say stuff like, "this is where we paint the garbage cans", and "there is a wonderful popcorn cart from....well from the park." He even said at one point that he was really grabbing for stuff to say. LOL!

So I finally got off the ride from hell. While I was on it DH had called and said Claire was fine and they were going swimming. I told him to give her more Motrin, but he never did. UGH!
So I got back and she was sleeping again. We tried to decide what to do about dinner. We were to see Cinderella and gang and it was one of our "big " dinners for her. So DH decided to let me go and he would stay with her and just go to the food court.
So he headed off to the food court and it was too crowded and he came back with nothing. We decided to ask Claire what she wanted to do. She wanted to go, so we freshened her up, gave her motrin and headed off. She did really well.

 

[jenseib]

We arrived a few minutes before our time.
Here she is mad because we weren't called in, and she could see Prince Charming through the door. She had said she would ONLY smile for Prince Charming.

Here is the Lobby of the hotel. This place is gorgeous. It's the Grand Floridian and we had dinner at 1900 Park Fare.

We got called in then. We had the step sisters come over, but Claire didn't want anything to do with them. She was being ver yshy, and I don't think she is real familiar with them either. They kept calling her fishy girl because she had on an Ariel dress, and she thought that was funny, AFTER they had left. We actually saw one at a time, with a few minutes between them. In the mean time DH got Claire food and she was finally eating something.

Then the ultimate happened! LOL! Prince Charming came over. He swirled Claire around and told her how beautiful she was and gave her a hug. She was in little girl heaven! LOL!

Then Lady Tremaine came over, but Claire had nothing to do with her, and DH talked to her a bit.
Then they had some music and Cinderella and Prince Charming danced. Then the stepsisters gathered kids and danced with them. They were really funny. They danced right in front of our table. Claire wouldn't go though. The stepsisters were asking little boys who was prettier and then fighting about it. LOL!

Then finally we were the last table Cinderella visted. She took time with Claire and it was so precious. She told her what a pretty princess she was and they had this little conversation and looked into each others eyes, and then hugged.

I finished eating finally, as there was too much going on to go up to the buffet much. LOL!
We headed back and got stuck on the monorail for about 1/2 hour !!! Then it was pouring rain as we made our way to the bus station. We finally got back to our room and Claire got sick again. So much for eating.
We went to bed and hoped for a better day tomorrow. We had to fly out in the afternoon and I prayed Claire would be OK for it. I beleive she also got sick in the middle of the night too. Dang bus pole!

 

[jenseib]

Day 6, March 7

Our final day! So sad!
I got up and finished packing everything and then got Claire ready to go to her hair appointment at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. She seemed excited and was talking about getting her nails done. I got us some breakfast, but she wouldn't eat only about a bite or two.
So Claire and I headed off and DH was going to hang back and then take our luggage up front to where they store it till the ME bus comes, and then meet up with us.
We got there and she cried and got scared! They came out and talked to her,they were so nice, and it was a no go. So I bought stuff and did one myself. Not anywhere as nice as what they do, but it was good enough. But this made her happy.

We shopped around World of Disney a bit. (Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is located in there)

And DH called and I told him how it didn't work out, so he said he was on his way over and he was going to buy Claire the train set she had seen the other day (and still was crying about) and have it shipped home. We had a discount at World of Disney, so it was best to buy it there. (The train arrived home really fast and she loves it)
So Claire wanted to ride the train and carrousel they have at Downtown Disney, so we did that while waiting for DH. She was extrememly fussy.

We shopped around, and we had snack credits left from our dining plan, so I got some lollipops at the Goody's to put in Easter baskets at home.
We got some lunch and again Claire threw a fit about the type of drink she had. I knew it was to be a long day. She was tired and not over her sickness.
We took some final pictures, which she enjoyed posing for.

We then headed off to the hotel to Catch the bus to the airport. Actually DH went ove to the MER area while Claire and I went potty. We still had alot of time. He callse me in the bathroom and tells me the bus is leaving now, so hurry! It was the bus beofre our scheduled one, but he wanted to leave then! I wasn't too happy with him. I had to rush and get there only to sit and wait for the plane anyways.
We checked in and went to our gate. Claire was off and on fussy and would cry at a pin drop. WE really tried to do anything we could to keep her from crying. It was pretty packed in the airport.
Our flight was also delayed. At one point she started crying about something that hurt and she needed a bandaid. So I sent DH to get one from the store. As we were trying to calm her down, a girl behind us starts shooting her mouth about Claire. Wrong thing to do when mother is stressed!

Now it's not like I WANT my kid to scream, and I was stressed and pissed off. This girl was saying stuff like "These people better not be sitting by us" , "Anyone know where they are going". "What an annoying kid", SOOOOOOOO I turned around and saw this young idiot chick and looked her right in the eye and said, "I sure hope we are sitting right NEXT to you!" She looked stunned that I said anything and put her face in her hands. I hope she was embarassed. Then DH is like "what?" So I told him what happened loud enough for the idiot to hear. Just so she knew what an idiot she was! LOL! I think I used word like idiot and some other choice words as well. LOL!
Claire did calm down a bit and acutally fell asleep when we boarded. But when we tried to put her in her seat, it was all out war! She screamed and kicked, etc. The flight attendant came over and asked what was wrong, and I told her she was sick and over tired. She said we could hold her in our lap. Thank God, because alot of people, including us would've been in for a long wait on the runway. We sat on the runway for about 1/2 hour and I can't imagine her screaming the whole time. I know some people might consider this unlawful or dangerous, but honestly her sitting in her seat, screaming and going wild and shimmying out of her seat belt was much more dangerous in my opinion.

She slept most of the flight. We arrived in Detroit around an hour or so late, which wasn't bad. I think they flew faster because we were running so late. Or at least that is DH's theory.

My dad picked us up. He was having a problem finding the exact spot to pull up to, and DH rolls Claire outside in the freezing cold, and then leaves me with her and the carryons while he goes off for a smoke. I was so pissed. Sometimes men don't think at all! I told him I did not want to go outside till my dad pulled up. (we were talking on cells to each other) And we still had to pick up our checked luggage too. No hurry to get out there, so I had to manuver all this crap to get back in to the warmth. What an idiot!

Claire cheered up a bit once she saw her Papa, but it was several days before she got back in the swing of things.

I don't know if it is coincidence or not, but she got sick on Thursday last year and this year. And we went the same week. I don't know if it is too much for her, or she just got sick twice? I'm almost afraid to take her anywhere again. The plane ride down is great, but the one back she has always been fussy.

Claire is really missing it now. She asks everyday if we can go back. LOL!

We are leaving in 2 days now! I'm trying to schedule more free time, or at least not run ragged, but when I look at my schedule it really isn't any better. LOL!
I guess we'll go with the flow.
If anyone is interested, my pre trip report link is in my signature.

 

[seasideteacher]

Great report! Good luck and have fun on your next trip! i'll be waiting for that report! (and hopefully wont have to wait a year! )

 

[jenseib]

Great report! Good luck and have fun on your next trip! i'll be waiting for that report! (and hopefully wont have to wait a year! )

Thanks. I actually wrote it right away last year, but I guess I never posted it here, just on another board for friends for some reason. Who knows what I was thinking. LOL! I did do a dining review too, but it was pretty lame. I didn't really take pics of the food last year. I plan to do both this year and take even more pictures!

This day is going to slow! LOL!
I do have to run and get a new batter ycharger at some point in the next two days, as the two I have don;t seem to be working. Go figure!

 

[Sandra32]

great report and what a lovely princess you have. Hope she will not be sick on your next trip.

 

[jenseib]

Thanks. I can't wait to start the new one. But of course that will mean my trip is over. LOL! So it will be bitter sweet.
I'll try to remember to post the link here once I start it.