"MO-OM! Take Small Children by the Hand!" An October 2012 TR New 11/9

[FairyGodmotherJen]

(Yes, the title is my attempt at the Agent P theme song.)

Our kids did the Kim Possible activity on our 2010 trip and had loved it. They are big time Phineas and Ferb fans, as well, so when they heard that the activity they’d enjoyed so much actually used characters they were familiar with, this hit the top of their to-do list in Epcot! We found a kiosk still open and jumped right in. The CMs were great – of course, my husband tends to bring out the best in them, since he has no qualms at all about giving people a hard time, even those he’s just met. And the lady at this kiosk was ready to dish it right back at him, which ended up being a lot of fun!


Getting their training:



Taking the oath:



She was a really good CM – she had them all laughing!

Following the clues:





By the time we were done, it was really dark. But the adventure itself was a lot of fun, and we all agreed that we ought to come back and do another one when it was light out so that we could get all the effects. We never got around to it, unfortunately. One of these days, we're going to build in THREE Epcot days during a trip. Maybe then we'll get to see/do everything we want to (but knowing us, probably not )

Once our adventure was done, we decided to explore the shop there in China a little more. I’d also made the kids passports (with a pattern I found here on the DIS) and the older two were excited to get some stamps.



Will wasn’t sure about it at first, but ended up being proud of his stamp in the end!




Then we explored the shop. Now, you need to understand – there is shopping in my husband’s blood. My mother-in-law is the best bargain shopper you’ve ever seen. She can find clearance items that no one else can! I don’t have the patience for it, unfortunately. But shopping is a recreational activity with my in-laws. I often tell people that DH is a better shopper than I am, and I’m serious. The kids have all inherited his love of wandering around stores – which, in Epcot, I’m all for! Jack found a set of weapons that looked impressive.



Then the kids all took a turn investigating the Chinese fans.







We were in stitches for this last one. Ever the performer, Will grabbed this fan, opened it, and proceeded to put a hand on his hip and fan himself while stating, “I do declare!” I couldn’t figure out where he got it from, but he soon explained it. “Tasha did that on Backyardigans, Mommy!” Heaven help us – if it’s on TV or in a song, he soaks it up like a sponge!

We were debating at this point – Illuminations, or no Illuminations? I’d had this quandary when I was planning. This would be our best bet for seeing the show. We would be back to Epcot, but not in the evenings. But it had been a really long day, and the kids were starting to tire out. Illuminations is one of my favorite things at the parks – I had missed it four times before finally getting to see it in 2008, and I’d made a point to see it every visit since. Un hadn’t ever seen it before, either, and was willing to stay to see it too. We ended up deciding to split up – Bryan would take Haley and Will back to the resort and get them cleaned up and ready for bed. Jack decided he would like to stay with us and see the fireworks. But before we split up, we had time for one more never-done-before activity:



Yes, this was another one that we’d skipped each visit. I don’t think my kids had ever even been inside. They were pretty impressed once we got in there. We also got to ride the Donald boat ride, which the kids adored.



And we got one more stamp in their passports as well.



Then we split up. Un, Jack and I headed over towards the front of World Showcase to find an easy-to-exit-from spot for viewing Illuminations, and Bryan headed back with the other two. He stopped for a few pictures along the way:





I was a lot worse about taking pictures…I have none from our stay for Illuminations! But we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Once we got settled, I got a slushie for Jack and a cup of the LeCellier cheese soup for myself, and we got Un ready for Illuminations. My absolute favorite moment is when the narrator is ending his little intro and welcomes us to Illuminations: Reflections of Earth…and “blows out” all the torches. It sends chills up my spine every time!

Since we’d stayed close to the walkways to Future World, we were able to make a fairly quick exit. I love going in the fall – we were able to find a spot where we could all see with less than 20 minutes to go before the show started. It wasn’t a perfect spot, but we were able to enjoy the show, and it offered us a quick exit. We were able to hit the buses before the lines got too long, and were back at POR before we knew it. In no time at all, this was what we saw.







Tuckered out kids! We’d decided to hit AK the next morning for EMH, so we wanted to make sure they got as much rest as they could. As they drifted off, I finished unpacking and made a realization.

I’d never forgotten so much on a trip before. EVER.

First the stroller.
Then the sunglasses.
Now I realized that I’d left the medicine bag on the kitchen counter after the disaster with the Tylenol. We’re an allergy family – everyone takes allergy meds of some kind. I guessed I’d be making a trip to the gift shop in the morning. My souvenier money was rapidly disappearing! At least it was all stuff I could replace.

Up next: Thrills, chils…and tears…in AK!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

first i didnt know that you had this report going on, glad i looked in your signature for it.


second, so many fun things to comment on...

running around like a decapitated chicken....been there.

usually mine is, i lock things up, go to the car, then knowing i locked things up, have to go back inside and check again.


the time thing is something i would do, freak out i missed the flight when it was an hour away.



hope you were able to get many more samples at the food and wine fest...we loved all the items there.


did u ever go into the festival center when it was an attraction?

i loved cranium command and the other things in there.

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

first i didnt know that you had this report going on, glad i looked in your signature for it.


second, so many fun things to comment on...

running around like a decapitated chicken....been there.

usually mine is, i lock things up, go to the car, then knowing i locked things up, have to go back inside and check again.


the time thing is something i would do, freak out i missed the flight when it was an hour away.



hope you were able to get many more samples at the food and wine fest...we loved all the items there.


did u ever go into the festival center when it was an attraction?

i loved cranium command and the other things in there.

Hey there! Glad you stopped by!

I think running around like a decapitated chicken is a prerequisite for being a parent! I did get a few more samples at Food and Wine, but nowhere near as many as I'd like to. Just means I'll have to go back again!!

I know we did the ride - Body Wars? - when I was a kid, so I know we were there. I can't remember much except for the fact that it was really rough. My dad and I rode it...we were the brave ones. I'm thinking it made my mom sick, though that wouldn't have been very unusual. I know it's a great venue for when they have festivals, but you'd think they'd have done something else with it by now!

 

[FlaNani]

I'm in!

I have a question for you, I saw where you mentioned that you ordered groceries from Garden Grocer. I've not heard of this. Is this something that Disney does? We take a cooler with groceries from home, but it would be so much easier to order and have it delivered! Thanks for the info!

 

[CopperWife]

subbing

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

I'm in!

I have a question for you, I saw where you mentioned that you ordered groceries from Garden Grocer. I've not heard of this. Is this something that Disney does? We take a cooler with groceries from home, but it would be so much easier to order and have it delivered! Thanks for the info!

Happy to have you along!

This was the first time we'd ordered from Garden Grocer. I'd actually heard about it several times from another person I follow on here. It's not a Disney service, but we had a good experience. It's pretty easy - you go to their website, select what you want, and let them know when you want it delivered. There's a fee for delivering it, of course, but I felt like it was reasonable. We always eat cereal/poptarts in the room, and since we were back to flying (and there is no way DH would pass up Magical Express! ) it was the only way I could figure out to get it there without a taxi cab (and lost park time)! We were able to have bottled water for the parks this way, too. They did actually make a small mistake with our order, but I called them and they came back the same afternoon to fix it. The mistake wouldn't have been made if there hadn't been a recall on our cereal and they had to make a substitution, anyway. Like I said, I didn't even have to wait on them - they were very prompt!

subbing

Glad you can join us!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

I was excited to cross something off my own personal to-do list on our first day in the parks. You see, Animal Kingdom is not really our favorite park. Or, if you talk to my husband, he’ll tell you he’d pretty much rather do anything at Disney than go to Animal Kingdom. He says we can go to the zoo in Indianapolis and see the same things without experiencing temperatures that, in his words, are “hotter than the face of the sun.” Ok, so maybe he borrowed that phrase from the DIS Unplugged podcast…and maybe I agree with him. But there were several things in Animal Kingdom that at least some of us hadn’t ever done, and I was determined to hit a few of them this trip. Number one on my list:


Expedition Everest!

I am a roller coaster fan. My dad and I always would ride the coasters at King’s Island in Cincinatti while my mom and brother sat out. It was something we did together. Bryan and I had actually visited Bush Gardens in Tampa for our 5th anniversary (pre-Disney obsession) and had ridden every single one of their coasters. As long as it’s not a wooden coaster (they give me a headache), I’ll ride it. But when you have small kids, sometimes hitting those thrill rides isn’t a priority. Bryan had ridden it in 2007 on a family trip – he and his brother had visited AK for that reason only, then left. This trip was my chance to ride. And Jack was excited about riding it as well, which made me even more excited. Even Haley said she’d give it a try…though I was pretty sure she was only saying that because we were meeting up with my friend and her family, and she is great friends with their oldest (who loves thrill rides). Since Bryan had already ridden it, I’d get to go with the two older kids.

Monday morning hit pretty early, but we had no trouble at all getting going.

Well, at least the folks in OUR room didn’t have any trouble getting going. See, Jack is not really a morning person. And when I say not really a morning person, I mean that sometimes it would be easier to find the actual Yeti than to get that kid up and out of bed. We didn’t think we’d have a problem at Disney, but we were wrong! So while our room was ready, the other room in our party was not. So we didn’t exactly get out of the room when I wanted to. (Does that sound familiar???) My best friend can’t understand what our deal is…I tell her I can’t, either! She was texting me as they got on the bus when WE were supposed to be there, too. I guess it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We were only 15 minutes behind them.

We hopped on a bus – hardly any wait today – and were off. We spent the ride getting their pin lanyards ready to go.







Bryan had ordered a bunch of traders on Ebay. I collect the pins – not so great at trading them, because I only buy what I want. I’ve spent the majority of my fun money at Disney on them, and have quite the collection to prove it. But the kids said they were looking forward to trading. Before long, we were at the park!



I’d been texting back and forth with Jen and knew they’d headed for Everest as soon as they’d gotten there. We were all hoping to meet up to ride the safari together. When we got there, Bryan and I decided to divide and conquer. He and Un took the kids to wander back towards the safari (still no stroller – we decided to try and put it off, since we knew we’d only been in AK for a half day or so) while I ran to Everest with our cards, got Fastpasses, and then met up with them.

Bryan took several shots along the way.


(I love EMH if we're not planning on staying the whole day! So nice to almost have the park to ourselves...)





(He actually took several more of the little details that we’ve never paused to take in at AK. Maybe the park was growing on him?)


I, meanwhile, power walked to Asia. I did try and take some pictures of some monkeys that were pretty active (didn’t turn out at all), but I got a few of the scenery.





Then – who did I run into as I came up to the ride but my friend and her family! We all got Fastpasses so that they could ride along with us later, and then headed over to the safari to meet Bryan and the others while I heard all about how the girls had enjoyed the ride. When we all met up, we got in line for the safari – I can’t remember what the wait was, exactly, but it was less than 30 minutes so we decided to go ahead and jump in line.

Waiting’s not hard when you’re with friends.


Even the boys were enjoying shooting the breeze (though they don’t all look like it here).


I didn’t write down what the wait was, but we didn’t mind it and before we knew it we were boarding our rickety safari vehicle. We saw a lot of animals – including several we hadn’t seen before! Between the three of us, we actually got some good shots!











(continued next post)

 

[rachel09985]

I am in! Great trip report so far!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

A few more animal pics...


(The back end of the cheetah is better than no cheetah, right? )




(Ok, see the bottom of this pic? That's the railing in front of me in the car. This guy seemed WAAAYYY to close for my comfort!!)


Couldn't resist this one!

The kids enjoyed taking a few shots, as well.




Once we left the safari, it was time for our Fastpasses! Bryan took Will and rode...


And we headed to Everest! We stopped to take this one on the way...don't you love how the girls are all banding together and Jack's just trying to fit in the picture somehow?? That's the unfortunate thing about being the only boy (except Will, who's always seen as the baby and so isn't always counted by the big kids).


Unfortunately, neither Un or I took any more pictures. I think I was too busy giving Haley a pep talk…Jen’s daughters were freaking her out a bit as they were talking about the ride. We got to the entrance and buzzed right through with our Fastpasses. It almost went too fast – I remember saying to Un that I’d read so much about the details in this queue, but we were going through so fast I couldn’t take any of it in! No wonder I don’t have more pics.

So, the verdict on Everest?

Jack and I gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up.
Haley says she’ll never go on that ride again.

To give her credit, she was ok until it started going backwards. But, as she and Un were sitting right in front of Jack and I, I could tell she was just tolerating it. It wasn’t her cup of tea. But when we came to a stop at the broken tracks, she started saying she wanted it to be over. Un, bless his heart, spent the rest of the ride trying to comfort her. She was in full tears by the time we pulled back to the unloading area. There wasn’t much I could do but hug her hard and reassure her that she did NOT have to go on that ride again if she didn’t want to (one of the other girls was insisting that they were riding again, and she was afraid she’d have to go with them). Time for some calmer rides! We headed towards Dinoland, since the rides there were more her speed.

Up next: time with the dinos, and my kids finally see a show I've wanted them to see since 2005!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

I am in! Great trip report so far!

Welcome aboard! Hope to update a little more frequently soon...mid-terms go home this week, and I'm currently in the thick of grading science reports!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

On to calmer rides…we met up with Bryan and Will in Dinoland and hit Triceratops Twirl. The kids had a ball riding together.



(This is one Bryan took of Will while they rode during our stint on Everest...forgot to post this in the last installment!)



Once we were done, Jack and the girls wanted to ride Primevil Whirl. But Haley had had enough of anything that might be remotely exciting, so Un, Jen, and I took them to the Boneyard. It gave us girls a chance to catch up with each other, and it gave Un a chance to take some pictures!





We’d never been here before, but Will had spotted it on a map before we left and had been asking for it. I’m glad we gave it a try, especially early in the day when it wasn’t as hot or as crowded. I’d hate to think of that place in the middle of July, though!

The other kids enjoyed Primevil Whirl,



and hoped to have a little playtime in the boneyard, too, but we didn’t give them much of a chance to play. We had an appointment to keep in Camp Minnie Mickey. It was time to introduce the rest of my family to…



On our trip in 2000 with my parents and brother, none of us had ever been to Animal Kingdom. Dad and Bryan had been a bit under the weather at that point in the trip and had opted to stay in the room and rest while we went to see the new park. Mom, my brother, and I had a great time. I don’t remember everything we did, but I know we wandered, took the safari, and went to Festival of the Lion King. We immediately loved it! We went back later in the trip with Bryan and my dad, but didn’t get a chance to take in the show. And we’ve never really spent a lot of time there since! So I talked the show up quite a bit as we hiked over. Notice that Bryan is back to being the human stroller…



And we had to wait only a few minutes before we were herded into the theatre. I thought our seats were pretty good for not really getting there ahead of time!



It wasn’t much longer before the show started. I have to admit…I don’t think any of these are my pictures! There were many more talented photographers than me in the crowd!!












(What's with that guy's head??? He wasn't a problem in any of the other pictures!)

(continued in next post)

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

The show was enjoyed by all. You pretty much just put music to anything (as long as it’s not too loud) and my kids are into it. But as we came out, it was obvious we were losing a few people. Will was tired of walking, Bryan was wearing down a bit from carrying him, and Haley still hadn’t completely gotten over Everest. However, Jack was still ready and raring to go. He really wanted to ride Dinosaur (which, I admit, I’ve ridden once and that’s plenty). Jen and her family offered to let him stay with them, as they also wanted to ride Kali. He was super excited about the idea, so we split up with plans to meet back at the hotel for lunch and a dip in the pool before we all headed to Downtown Disney that night (though with different destinations in mind).

Remember how I said in my introduction that I was able to get a few glimpses of my little girl again (instead of the preteen who's pretty sure I'm nowhere near cool enough)? Well, this was one of those moments. It came out of nowhere, and didn't last long, but I relished it as long as I could. So thankful that Un keeps his camera out and ready while we're strolling from place to place!



We meandered back to the front gates, stopping along the way for some Photopass pictures. Did I mention how Will was pretty much done? You can tell from these.







But the photographer was good, and eventually coaxed a smile out of him. Well...sorta.



We headed back to the entrance. Bryan stopped to pick up something at the gate (more maps? I think we headed back with about a hundred of them…), and Un decided to take some more pictures. Will had to be in the thick of it, too, of course!



We didn’t wait too long at the bus stop, but it was long enough for Un to snap several more pictures. I love his candid shots – I just had to post a few.






Yeah, she was done.

We hopped on the bus, headed back to the resort, and chilled out for a little while in the air conditioning. At one point, I got a photo from Jen on my phone that showed Jack and the girls looking like drowned rats after Kali. Of course, I don’t have a smartphone, and I’m not sure how to get it off of my dumbphone to post here, but it’s there. Really, it is.

Up next…the most time we’ve ever spent in a resort pool, and going strong all day long finally catches up with one member of our party!

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Great pics!

Thanks! Like I said, most of them aren't mine.... We take a lot of big family vacations, and Bryan's gotten really good about making sure he gets everyone's pictures before we go our separate ways so that everyone has a copy of everyone else's pics. Makes for good TR material, at least!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Sorry for the lag time between posts - the end of the year is pretty crazy! Haley and Jack were in their school's production of the Music Man this past week, and it kinda took over. But I've finally got a few minutes, so...let's get on with it!

We had a relaxing time waiting for Jen and her family to return to the resort with Jack. I think I journaled for a little while. The kids kept themselves busy with some of the toys they’d brought along for the plane ride, and both Bryan and Un messed around with their laptops. We got a text that they were on a bus, and they dropped Jack off on the way to their room so that they could see the Princess rooms. Then they headed back to their room to grab their mugs and drop off their park things, and we headed to the food court.



We all met back up together for lunch. We were all pretty hungry after our morning in the parks! I know Jen and I got the make-your-own salad, and Jim got the make-your-own pasta. I can’t remember what everyone else got, other than we tried the magic cookie bars which were a big hit (Bryan’s brother had recommended them). My kids had chicken nuggets. Jen’s kids are much, much better eaters and ate something other than deep-fried chicken pieces and French fries, but I can’t remember what. Everyone was hungry, but they still found some time to ham it up for the camera.






Jack had his standard Mickey bar, and demolished it, as usual.



And then there was William…



He was fried. I think we got him to eat a few fries and a nugget. He’s a bit of a challenge when it comes to eating – if he gets too hungry, he’s almost too cranky to eat, which only makes him more hungry, which makes it worse…you get the picture. Poor Bryan dealt with him so that Jen and I could visit some more (we knew that today was the day our schedules meshed the most). The only reason Will even ate what he did was because we told him he wouldn’t swim otherwise. Once we were done, we headed back to the room and changed into our swimming gear. That made a difference in the attitudes of some people…



Yeah, he snapped out of it.

We really, really enjoyed the POR pool. The kids loved going down the slides.





And they spent quite a bit of time doing laps around this area.



Of course, it was made all the more fun because they had built-in friends there. Plus, there was poolside entertainment, which we’d never gotten a chance to experience at any of the other resorts we’d stayed at. First there was some dancing.



Then they did a game with water balloons. I forget the details, but two people had to stand back to back and the CM popped a water balloon over their heads. Jen was a great sport and got up there with the kids…I saw that they were keeping the water balloons inside a cooler and decided against it!



Then they had a hula-hoop contest, which all three girls participated in. Helen actually won! She won a little rubber duck can floaty thing (I’m not sure that’s what it was meant to be, but that’s definitely what Jim planned on using it for!). The kids had fun playing with it, anyway. Then there was a trivia contest. Up until now, Will had just watched the games.



But he decided he wanted in on the trivia contest. He was so excited to participate!



But they never called on him to answer a question! I even mentioned (while a CM was close by) that he knew the answer, but they must’ve thought he was too young. He was pretty bummed.



But he was distracted by the last activity of the afternoon – beach ball toss! Apparently, Bryan had already put his camera away by this point (I hadn’t even brought mine to the pool with me), because we have no pictures, but all the kids had a great time, and it went on for a while.

During all of this time, Un (who is not a pool person) decided to wander around the resort and take pictures. So of course, I had to use them in my trip report!









(Continued in next post)

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

A few more POR pics...




(This one is the background on my laptop now.)











Looking at these pictures, I wish I was back at POR! These pictures just remind me of how peaceful and relaxing it was. I definitely want to stay there again! We’ll need to stay in Alligator Bayou if Un isn’t with us, but I think we can manage that. Plus, who knows? Un might actually go with us again. He’s going back without us this October! (Yes, we’ve created another Disney fanatic. I’m so proud…)

By this point, it was time to drag the kids out of the pool and back to the room. We had plans to go to Downtown Disney tonight. Bryan and the kids wanted to hit Once Upon a Toy to make lightsabers. I couldn’t wait to eat at Wolfgang Puck’s, which we found last trip and loved. And Jen and her family were headed to Raglan Road for the ADR they’d managed to get before they met us back at the pool. So, we made plans to meet up to take the boat to Downtown Disney together, and headed back to get washed up.
Now, I know this doesn’t sound much like your normal mom that thinks ahead, but apparently my brain was on vacation at this point. At no time did it occur to me that maybe hitting a park all morning, swimming for several hours, and then hitting a shopping complex and going out to dinner would be problematic. Hmmmm….what the heck was I thinking??????

Up next: Dragging through Downtown Disney

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

It’s the end of the school year…not very many spare moments! But I’ll try to keep going, or I’m still going to be writing this trip report NEXT October! 

When we last left off, we’d spent the morning in AK and the afternoon in the pool at POR. Our plans for the evening: head to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping. We headed back to the room, washed everyone off and joined our friends at the boat dock. They had dinner reservations at Raglan Road, so we thought we’d travel that direction together. This was a nice perk of staying at POR. The ride is so relaxing! The girls enjoyed goofing around,



And even Jen got in on the act.



The boys were a little more subdued. You can see in this picture that they were both feeling the effects of an afternoon in the pool.



It wasn’t long before Jack looked like this...



...and Will had climbed into Bryan’s lap, and looked like this.



In fact, Bryan actually started dozing off, too.



Great. Currently, Un and I were the only members of our family that were functioning! Maybe we wouldn’t be at DTD quite as late as we’d planned It wasn’t long before we were pulling into the dock at the Marketplace.







I saw this sign as we exited the boat and loved the quote.



We said goodbye to Jen and her family and headed out. Both boys woke up and got off the boat, but Will was very grouchy so Bryan put him on his shoulders. Well, this is what ended up happening.



Yeah, it was time to rent a stroller. Our first stop ended up being guest services so that we could take care of that. We went ahead and rented one for the remainder of our trip to save us time when we got to the parks each morning. Once we finally had one, we plopped Will into it and headed out. One of the first things we saw was this.



It ended up being the background to my phone for a while. I just LOVE WDW in the autumn!

Our first stop was Once Upon a Toy. We have a tradition of taking a photo of the kids next to the Buzz Lightyear statue every visit. Here are a few pictures from earlier visits: (wish I had the first two handy...)

2008: (Will was probably still in the stroller - he was 5 months old at the time!)


2010:


Here’s this year’s (Will was still asleep). Do you think we’re a little tired???



We headed into the store and immediately noticed these new (to us, at least) details.





Will, of course, woke up when we went into the toy store. He decided he wanted to start with the Mr. Potato Head pieces.



We ended up filling another box with parts to take home with us…it’s becoming a tradition for him! Jack, Haley, and Bryan had only one focus here, though.



The kids had worked to earn a new lightsaber during this trip, and were very excited. (So was Dad!) In no time they were all hard at work.



And the finished products:







While she was waiting for her brothers to finish shopping, Haley found a book and settled in. She’s soooo my daughter!




We bought the sabers and potato head pieces and had them sent back to the hotel. We’d narrowly avoided a meltdown with Will when we were trying to get a photo of their finished lightsabers, so we knew we needed to eat soon. Up next: Yeah, it’s been a really, really long day…

 

[jenniferreich]

Really enjoying your trip report! thanks so much for sharing it! So glad to hear you had a nice trip! Each year my kids say they want to build their own lightsabers, and each yer they change their minds. Maybe this will be the year....

 

[SRiley1985]

Hey there fellow Indianain! (Indianian?, Indianan?, uhh...person from Indiana LOL!) Just found your trip report and loving it!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Really enjoying your trip report! thanks so much for sharing it! So glad to hear you had a nice trip! Each year my kids say they want to build their own lightsabers, and each yer they change their minds. Maybe this will be the year....

Thanks, and welcome! We have WAAAY more than our fair share of lightsabers in our house. I tried to protest the purchase of these, actually, but I never had a chance!

Hey there fellow Indianain! (Indianian?, Indianan?, uhh...person from Indiana LOL!) Just found your trip report and loving it!

Hello back! I know, I teach 4th grade and we do Indiana history. Explaining the word "Hoosier" is always a lot of fun. Glad you're enjoying! I might actually get another update up this weekend...thank goodness for long weekends every once in a while!

BTW...there's an Indy area DIS meet in September. Didn't know if you'd be interested in meeting other Disney-maniacs or not, but we get together every year to raise money for Give Kids the World. The link for the meet is in my signature - you might want to check it out!