Mom and Kids take on the world!

[Minerva]

I've got a couple of installations of my trip report written so I'm going to start posting them. I'll keep them all in this thread in case anyone isn't bored to death after the first couple and wants to read more. I've already posted a review of our 3 resorts on the resort board and will be posting a dining review on that board once this is done.

Who:
Me, Mom, the payer and planner. I went to MK for one day back when that's all there was so basically this was my first trip.
Ds 12. Tried to pretend like it wasn't that big of a deal before we went but once we got there he was full of "thank you"s and "this is the most awesome vacation EVER"s.
Dd 8/9. Her birthday was part of the reason for planning the trip at this time of year.

When:
Arrived Saturday, November 26, left Sunday December 4, 2005.

Where:
1 night All Star Sports, 6 nights Wilderness Lodge, 1 night POR.

 

[Minerva]

Day 1
Saturday November 26.
Travel day and All Star Sports

My cousin and her 2 nephews picked us up at 8:00 AM and we headed to O'Hare. It's about an hour and a half from my house to the airport and luckily we didn't have any traffic and since it was a holiday weekend for once we didn't have any construction to go through. We got to the airport with lots of time left to stop at the McDonald's in the terminal and pay $5 more for breakfast than we could have paid at home but since we were at the airport it tasted a lot better than it would have if we had gone down the street for breakfast. There were lots and lots of families with excited kids at the gate, a couple of them we ran into later in the week, that was kind of neat. We boarded the plane on time but the pilot announced that they'd found some minor problem when doing the safety check and we would be delayed leaving. We took off about 15 minutes late but got in 10 minutes early. Go figure.

Found our way to the DME check in where there was a line but they had several CMs checking people in and we only waited about 5 minutes to be helped. The CM questioned the fact that we didn't have a return flight and time listed. My TA had given them the information when she gave them the info for our arrival flight but when I got the DME stuff in the mail there was no return flight so I had called earlier in the week to give it to them again. The person on the phone said the confusion was because we were leaving from a different resort than we were arriving at and took the info again. I told that to the CM at the airport but she said it still wasn't listed and she wanted me to give it all to her again. I told her I just wanted to get to my resort and I'd call later in the week with the info again. We got right onto our bus and waited maybe 10 minutes for a couple of other people to get there and we were off. The first stop was at POP where two families got off then we went to Sports for us and there was one family going on to AKL after they dropped us off. Check in went quickly as did my trip to the concierge desk to buy MVMCP tickets. The kids swam, then we ate pizza and bread sticks from the food court in the room and went for a walk around the resort. When we got back from exploring our bags were in the room. Ds and I dug out our baseball gloves and ball and we went out to the grassy area by the baseball pool and played catch. I called the front desk and requested the Goofy birthday wake up call for 7 the next morning since it was going to be Dd's birthday. We were in bed by 10 but Dd had a huge case of the wiggles and she ended up in bed with me. I don't sleep well the first couple of nights that I'm away from home and hadn't slept well at all most of the week before the trip because every time I laid down my mind went wild remembering things I needed to not forget. The bed was comfortable but between having wiggly Dd in there with me and the being away from home thing I didn't get to sleep until around 3. It's a good thing I had a book with me.

Tomorrow, MGM and the dreaded Tower of Terror beginning of our trip, a special birthday dinner surprise and MVMCP.

 

[Minerva]

Day 2
Sunday November 27

Sunday, November 27
Even though I didn't get to sleep until 3 I was awake at 6, that was 5 o'clock to my body. This was not looking good. I laid there for a half hour trying to get back to sleep but it just wasn't working. so finally at 6:30 I turned on the TV very low to catch the weather. At 6:45 I went to jump in the shower and when I got out Ds was awake. The phone rang a couple of minutes later for the wakeup call so I woke up Dd and hit the speaker button in anticipation of having Goofy wishing her a Happy Birthday only to be greeted by Stitch. Yuck. I can't stand Stitch. Oh well, at least we were in Disney. We got dressed and grabbed granola bars for breakfast, I gave Dd a tiara for her birthday which she proceeded to wear for most of the week, and showed her the tickets for MVMCP and told her that's what we were doing that night. We headed down to the front desk to check out. That took no time at all and then we went out front to get a cab. The cab driver was half death so I had to shout to him where we were going which kind of ruined the surprise for Dd, I had hoped that she wouldn't know where we were staying until we pulled up to WL but she was excited anyway even though she knew ahead of time. What can you say about walking into the WL other than WOW. It's just beautiful. They had a bunk bed room ready for us. The magic had started yesterday when we got a room in the baseball section of Sports and it just kept coming all week long. We went up to the room and were WOWed again at the view and the kids went wild over the bunk beds. Dd got the top bunk the first night since it was her birthday and then they switched off every night.

We went down to the bus stop and waited 7 minutes for a bus to MGM which only had 5 other people on it. Yay us! We arrived about 10 minutes after the park opened. Dd had been looking forward to riding Tower of Terror. Ds and I weren't. In fact, if it were totally up to us we wouldn't have been riding it at all but since it was her birthday and that was something she really wanted to do I told Ds we were going to do it first thing and get it over with and we were both just going to have to suck it up and ride. We went straight to TOT with Ds trying to talk Dd out of riding the whole way, she wasn't buying it. Ds started shaking when he heard the screams from the people on it as we walked up. It was a walk on so he didn't have much time but the whole time he was still trying to talk Dd out of doing the ride. We got put in the back row. I had Dd to my right, Ds to my left. I was just as squicked out by having to ride this thing as Ds was but I had to be the adult and tell him it was going to be fun. We made it through the first two drops and I realized that Ds wasn't shaking anymore but Dd was! By the time it ended she had such a grip on my hand that I almost couldn't pry her her fingers off. Dd didn't want to have anything to do with going on that again. Ds and I who started out being the big chickens were OK with it. Neither of us really wanted to ride again but would have if someone else wanted to. We walked around a little bit and let Dd get over the shakes <g> and just kind of soaked in the whole Disney feel. We did the Great Movie Ride, we all loved it, then just walked around some more looking at things then decided we were hungry so we went and got a turkey leg. Those things are huge. One of them filled the 3 of us up. While we were eating my cousin called to wish Dd a happy birthday. We decided we needed a rest before the Christmas party so we were walking out of the park by 11:30. Ds and I tried to nap but Dd still had the wiggles and we didn't get much rest between her flopping around on the top bunk and finding every excuse in the book to go up and down the ladder. It's a good thing for her it was her birthday. I did get a few winks in but not enough. Ds gave Dd the rest of her birthday present from him, a stuffed Minnie, he'd given her a stuffed Stich before we left home, and I gave her a Cinderella dress to wear to dinner with Cinderella later in the week to go with the MVMCP tickets, tiara and Princess camera I'd given her before we left home.

A little after 4 we went down to the boat dock to catch the boat to MK for the first time. Got our bracelets for the party and entered the park. We took our time walking down Main Street just soaking in the Disney feel again. I told Dd we could go in and look at the castle before we went to her surprise birthday dinner. We got in the check in line and she tugged at me and informed me we were in the wrong place because it was the line to check in for dinner. I told her we had to check in to get permission to go in and look around. That kept her quiet while we were in line and she was so excited about just being able to go in to see the inside of the castle she could hardly stand it. When we got up to the desk I gave them my name and the time of our ADR. I looked at Dd and she had a strange look on her face until I told her I had fibbed and we were checking in, that she was going to eat in the castle. She was so shocked she neither spoke nor bounced. We refer to her as Tigger because she doesn't walk, she bounces. I've never seen the child totally quiet and still while awake in her 9 years. I wish I would have had a video. I asked if it was noted that it was her birthday on the ADR and it wasn't, <sigh> but we were about to be hit with some more of that magic that followed us around all week when the CM told us Cinderella was in the lobby. *That woke dd up out of her trance and she started bouncing. LOL Just as dd got up to Cinderella they called us to go upstairs so she got the autograph and I got the picture and away we went. When I handed the paper that the CM had given me downstairs to the woman upstairs she looked at it kind of funny and checked something in the book at the desk and I think changed where we were supposed to be sitting. She said to follow her and we did and I nearly fell over when I realized she was leading us to one of the tables by the window! After we sat down she reached into her pocket and said that since they didn't know until we got there that it was dd's birthday they hadn't decorated the table ahead of time so she was just going to have to do it right in front of us. She put streamers and Mickey confetti on the table, I thanked her about a million times and she wished Dd a happy birthday and called her Princess. That was all Dd needed for this to be called a great night. The meal and server were wonderful, I'll be posting dining reports later.

I've misplaced my notes from this day so I'm not positive what all we did but I know when we walked out of the castle it was a little before 7 and there was a show going on out front. We watched that for a few minutes then went and walked onto Buzz 3 times in a row. We also rode the TTA 2 times, this became a family favorite believe it or not, somewhere in there we got some autographs, rode Peter Pan and It's a Small World and a few other things. We saw part of the parade and watched Christmas Wishes. Never saw the hot chocolate and cookies and though we walked by signs saying pictures were being taken there we didn't see any CMs near it. We had a wonderful time at the party even without those things, it was well worth the money spent.

The one negative about the day is that I'm not sure nighttime is the right time to be trying to explore a park you're not familiar with. Maybe that just goes for me though. I had a hard time navigating through the park at night until we'd been there during the day. The signs at DAK and Epcot are much better than that at MK and MGM, IMO. I'm sure we would have gotten more done if I'd known my way around, the map just didn't do it for me, but we really enjoyed what we did and I'm the only one who knows we could have done more. My kids had the time of their lives that night and haven't stopped talking about the party yet so all in all it was a hit.

Tomorrow, how wet can one family get before growing webs between their toes?

 

[Minerva]

Day 3
Monday, November 28

Even after being in the parks all day yesterday and being up late last night I still didn't sleep well. I woke up about 7 after 4 hours of sleep and got up and went down to Roaring Forks to fill my mug. I took the paper with me and sat outside at Roaring Forks and read it. We had realized late last night that we didn't have a refrigerator in the room so I stopped by the front desk and requested one then went up to the room to wake the kids. We had brought oatmeal packets, disposable bowls and plastic silverware from home so we heated water in the coffee pot and made oatmeal, Ds and I also made cups of tea and we sat on the balcony and ate breakfast. What a great way to wake up. The refrigerator came within 10 minutes so we were all set to bring something back from Epcot that night. The kids had homework to do and we all took showers then we headed down to Roaring Forks for lunch. Ds and I split a cheeseburger and fries, Dd had chicken nuggets, fries and applesauce. We got two desserts, HUGE brownies and took them back to the room to save for later.

Around noon we caught the boat to MK, then walked up to the monorail and took it to the TTC and switched to the Epcot monorail. It's a great way to get to Epcot, much better than the bus. We went to The Land first, Soarin was a 60 minute wait with a fastpass return time during our dinner so we decided to just skip it today and catch it when we came back later in the week. We saw Living With the Land then Circle of Life. We noticed people with wet ponchos on as we were heading out and sure enough, it was raining. I had forgotten the ponchos I'd bought to take with us, a lot of good they were doing us sitting in IL! Oh well, it wasn't raining that hard we just walked over to Living Seas. Waited 20 minutes for Crush. It was well worth the wait. We all loved it! We spent some time exploring the rest of the building, the kids especially loved watching the manatees. It had stopped raining so went to Innovations West. The kids were much more impressed with it than I was. Next we saw Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Two of us thought it was bad, one thought it was OK. It's definitely not something we'll do again.

We headed back towards World Showcase and took the friendship boat to Morocco. We went to Japan where I bought a fan and chopsticks for a friend to give to her Dd for Christmas. She'd sent money with me and asked me to get something Sarah would like, it's a lot of fun shopping with someone else's money and I'm sure Sarah is going to love the fan with her name written in Japanese on it! I had been really looking forward to Japan and Morocco so I was in heaven. I LOVE the garden in Japan, I've always wanted a Japanese style garden. I could have stayed there forever. We had a 6 o'clock ADR at Marrakesh and got there about 20 minutes early but got right in. They put us at a table right next to the dance floor. We loved the food and the entertainment and the restaurant itself is beautiful. It's definitely one we'll go to again.

It was raining again when we went out, we headed towards France and it started to rain harder. Did I mention I forgot the ponchos? We decided to not stay to see if Illuminations was going to go on since we could see it later in the week when hopefully the weather would be better. We did stop at the bakery in France to get a cheese plate to take back to the room though. We walked in the rain to the bus stop, it seemed to rain harder the closer to the bus stop we got. I'm sure the ponchos were nice and comfy sitting in the nice warm house back in IL.When we got to the bus stop, I think Dd did the back stroke the last 100 yards, we waited with probably 75 other soaking wet people for the bus. MK was closing early that night so the boat wasn't running or we would have taken the monorail back. It took forever for a bus to come while we watched 3 busses come for POR. Finally ours came and we all crammed on. Sharing a bus with 75 very wet people is an experience. I wish it would have been someone eleses experience and I was only reading about it but we survived. Even with the weather and the wait and the wet, did I mention it poured, most people were in a pretty good mood, evidently we weren't the only ones living by the mantra that a wet day at WDW is better than any day at home. When we got back to our room we found a birthday card with an autographed picture of Cinderella and Prince Charming and balloons for Dd from the Wilderness Lodge. Needless to say she was very excited about that and we all forgot about being soaking wet. We shared one of the brownies left from lunch, the other never did get eaten, then crawled into bed with books before falling asleep.

Tomorrow, the ducks are smarter than my kids.

 

[Merriwind]

Great report--I'm having a good giggle reading it--thanks!!

 

[lvdsny]

Thanks for posting the great the trip report! Looking forward to the rest.
Mary

 

[Minerva]

Day 4
Tuesday, November 29

I had actually managed to get to sleep by midnight last night and slept through the night so when I woke up a little after 7 I felt rested for the first time in several days. I had planned for months for this to be a morning to hang out at the lodge and do some laundry while the kids swam. I panicked when I woke up because it was STILL raining and I thought that maybe a lot of people would opt to stay home from the parks and I'd have to wait a long time for the washers and dryers. I checked the weather channel and they promised that the rain would be ending by early afternoon and I was hoping they were right so I wouldn't have to buy Disney ponchos. Not that I don't like Disney ponchos but since we rarely wear ponchos at home, stylish as they are, and I already had a nice supply of ponchos at home I really didn't want to have to buy more. It was fairly warm out compared to where my ponchos were back in IL so when the kids stirred around 7:30 they decided they wanted to swim in the rain. They didn't get wet enough last night evidently. After a quick bowl of oatmeal they donned their swim suits, I gathered the dirty clothes and we headed downstairs. I found one dry table with one dry chair outside of Roaring Forks and set up camp under the umbrella while the clothes washed and the kids swam. I wrote some post cards and made a couple of phone calls back home, had to call my friend to tell her about my finds for her Dd in Japan last night, she was as excited as I was about them.

Picture this, it's pouring rain, two kids, I don't know whose kids I'm not about to claim them, are in the pool, a random mother is sitting under an umbrella nearby watching said kids swim and busily writing away when she hears a "Quack" so near she could feel the duck breath on her ankle. She looks down to discover she has been joined by a feathered friend who is sitting not 3 inches from her feet UNDER the table because even the duck knew it was TOO WET to be out and about, especially to be swimming. By the time the clothes were done drying there were THREE ducks under the table STAYING DRY while my ummm someone's kids were in the pool in the rain. The ducks are smarter than someone's unclaimed kids. I called to the strange kids and told them I thought it was time for them to go back to their room and take showers, hey they might as well keep to the water theme, and would you believe this! They followed me to MY room! The nerve. I looked around to make sure there wasn't anyone in the hallway to see them with me and took pity on them and let them into the room. Luckily, once they were done with their showers we discovered they were the same sizes as my kids so they got dressed. I took a shower while whoever's kids these were did homework.

We went downstairs around 12:30 and wandered around the lobby, I don't think we ever did see everything there was to see there, then checked in for our ADR at Whispering Canyon. We had a ball and ate way too much. We were much too full for dessert so I asked Deputy Diane if there was something we could take with us and she suggested the apple pie so we got our dessert to go and ran the pie back up to the room then headed for the bus for a return trip to MGM. The weather channel was right and it had stopped raining, the sun was out and the ducks were in the pool.

We did the Great Movie Ride, the Backlot Tour, Dd played in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids movie set, to WWTBAM, Walt Disney, One Man's Dream, the Great Movie Ride again and then called it a night and headed home. We stopped for a drink and did some shopping in there too. When we got back to the lodge Ds swam for a little bit while Dd and I sat at the same table I'd shared with the ducks that morning and just enjoyed the scenery. We all went out to the dock and watched the fireworks from the Christmas party then went back to the room and sat on the balcony and watched the electric water parade while eating the bread and cheese we'd gotten at France yesterday and the apple pie from lunch. We watched a little TV, did some reading then drifted off to sleep.

Tomorrow, getting up early for MK.

 

[shar2ak]

Thank you for the great trip reort. Can't wait to read more.

Shar2ak

 

[Minerva]

Day 5
Wednesday, November 30

I got up about 7 and started getting ready for the day hoping my moving around and making noise would wake the kids up but that didn't work. I had to call their names a few times to get them to stir and they grumbled about having to get up early. Of course, this was later than they got up yesterday on their own when they wanted to swim in the rain but after 4 days we were all starting to drag a bit. I assured them getting up and dressed was a good idea and after a couple of minutes they started to move luckily. I was about to start pulling covers back and they hate when I do that so them moving on their own saved them from that torture. After some oatmeal we headed to the boat to MK. We got there just as the train was pulling up for the opening. I hadn't told the kids about the opening, I wanted it to be a surprise and once they saw it they were glad I'd gotten them out of bed when I did.

We stopped and grabbed a fastpass for the Jungle Cruise on our way to Pirates since it wasn't open yet. I was thinking we probably wouldn't need them but they'd be kind of neat to keep as a souvenir. We walked on to POC with no wait, then did BTMR two times with almost no wait, saw the show at the Hall of Presidents and headed back to the Jungle Cruise. Boy was I glad we'd gotten those fast passes when we did! It was around 10:30 and the line was huge. We got some nasty looks as we walked by all those people to get to the fastpass entrance but it's not my fault they either didn't know about fastpass or didn't get one for some reason. We waited maybe 5 minutes in the fastpass line. The kids loved the Jungle Cruise. I remembered loving it when I'd been there nearly 30 years before and was glad that my kids enjoyed it as much as I had. Our guide was great and we had a man on the ride that was really funny and made comments to the guide about the bad jokes. They started bantering back and forth and at one point the guide was laughing so hard just thinking about what this guy was going to say about the next joke he almost didn't get it out. We ate at Cosmic Rays, love the toppings bar! We sat in the room with Sonny Eclipse, Dd really got a kick out of him. After lunch we were headed out of the park but Cinderellabration was just starting so we stayed and gave Dd a princess fix for the day then caught a bus to POFQ.

We wandered around POFQ for a bit, the kids love the look of the pool and I thought it was a beautiful resort and wouldn't mind staying there. We went to the dock and sat by the red river, what is up with that water??? and waited for the boat to Downtown Disney. When the boat came we went to POR before going to DTD and it was nice to get a preview of where we would be spending our last night. On the way by the tree house villas we heard from the boat driver that they're now used for the international cast members. I'd always wanted to stay there and was sad that they closed them to the public before we got a chance to go but after seeing them I wasn't as thrilled about them as I had been when I'd seen the pictures years ago.

We explored the Marketplace for a while and did some shopping then caught a bus back to WL for a rest. Earlier in the week I'd declared a nap time but Dd who steadfastly refuses to nap had done her best to flop around and keep Ds and I from getting much sleep. Today I threatened to tie her to the bed if she started flopping and what do you know, she believed me and actually held still long enough to fall asleep. So did Ds and I. I hadn't set the alarm or set up a wake up call because I can usually just tell myself to wake up at a certain time and I do. I think I was so tired I forgot to tell myself to wake up today though and Ds woke me up at 4:15. He didn't know what time I'd planned to get up but when he woke up and looked at the clock he knew it was past the time I'd planned. I was sleeping so hard I think I actually drooled! We woke Dd up and went to catch the boat to MK. We had 5:20 ADRs at LTT. Ds had been looking forward to this meal. Last year in school he finally got into history and they'd read Johnny Tremain and he loved the book so much I bought him his own copy and was thrilled when Disney released the movie on DVD a couple of weeks before his birthday. He loved the whole Liberty Square area and especially the Liberty Tree with the lanterns hanging in it and he wasn't disappointed with the inside of LTT either. He spent the time waiting for our table, our longest wait of the week, telling Dd about how they cooked in the big fire place and various other things he knew about from studying the time period. The meal was great and we really enjoyed our first character meal.

We left LTT and went to BTMR but it was closed with some technical problem and probably wouldn't be open for at least an hour so we went and got our bracelets for EMH then went on Haunted Mansion again. My kids really loved that ride. After HM we went and got a Dole Float <drool> and ate that while watching Spectro Magic. When Spectro was done we decided to skip Wishes tonight and get some rides in during it since we'd seen the Christmas version and would be seeing the regular version on Saturday night. We rode IASM, Peter Pan, Snow White, Pooh, the Teacups, TTA and stayed on for a second ride then Buzz twice and headed home around 10 to try to beat some of the crowd leaving the park. Got right onto the boat back to WL, watched a little TV, did some reading and got another good night's sleep.

Tomorrow, eating our way around the world!

 

[Maleficent13]

I love your report! Can't wait to read more!

 

[OhMari]

I always heard the Tree House Villa's were vacant and Disney didn't use them anymore and people were so disappointed that disney let them get run down. So maybe Disney finally wised up. Sort of like the water park that got shut down. I can't believe that someone can't figure out a way to keep the water clean with all of today's technology.

How many days of school did your kids miss? In WI we are only allowed 10.

 

[Minerva]

I always heard the Tree House Villa's were vacant and Disney didn't use them anymore and people were so disappointed that disney let them get run down. So maybe Disney finally wised up. Sort of like the water park that got shut down. I can't believe that someone can't figure out a way to keep the water clean with all of today's technology.

How many days of school did your kids miss? In WI we are only allowed 10.

We could see people upstairs in a couple of the units so they are definitely using the Tree Houses. I'm glad they're not just sitting there empty, that was a huge waste. My kids missed 5 days of school. We don't have a limit on how many days they can miss in our district but if you miss a certain number then you get a letter from the district reminding you that your kids need to be in school. That doesn't happen until you've missed something like 13 days though and thankfully my kids are pretty healthy so we should be fine. If they get sick they'll just make up that work like they did the work they missed while we were on vacation. Actually Dd's teacher didn't even have her do the work she was missing instead she sent a Disney travel journal with her to keep while we were gone and she's going to laminate it so Dd will have it forever. It helps to have a teacher who is a Disney nut. LOL

 

[Minerva]

Thursday, December 1
Day 6

I got up around 7 and got ready then we had a replay of yesterday morning. Grumbly kids when it was time to get up. I reminded them that they knew before we ever left home that there were going to be a few mornings that we were going to have to get up and they said they were fine with that. I also told them that if they'd rather go back to sleep and miss some of the things in Epcot that we couldn't do when we went in the afternoon later in the week that was fine too. That got them up. I knew it would. More oatmeal on the balcony for breakfast, there just is not a better way to start a day then we were off to Epcot. Once again we were there in time for the rope drop and I positioned us to the far right so we could be part of the crowd going to Soarin without being trampled. I think we were in the 2nd group of the day, we waiting for maybe 2 minutes to go in and get strapped in to our gliders. What a wonderful show. It's such a pretty view and the scents really add to it. We all loved it and got off and walked right back onto it with maybe a 5 minute wait this time. One word of caution for people who have asthma or are bothered by scents. Ds and I both have asthma that is related to our allergies and I get instant migraine type headaches from some scents. The scents didn't bother my head but the second time the pine scent seemed to be stronger than the first time or maybe it was just that we'd already had our share and both Ds and I could feel our lungs starting to tighten up. We didn't have any problems breathing but if you've got asthma you know that feeling you get when you're breathing something you shouldn't and that's what we had. As soon as we were past the pine scent we were fine though.

After Soarin we walked over to Test Track and rode it twice with about a 2 minute wait to get into the preshow room both times. I started hearing comments about how glad the short people in the group were that I "made" them get up after that. Heh, you'd think they'd have known that I knew what I was talking about by now! We rode in the back seat the first time and in the front the second. It didn't really make a difference as far as the ride is concerned but it does for comfort level. There is a lot more leg room in the front seat than the back. If you're tall I'd definitely ask to be in the front!

After the second TT ride World Showcase had opened up and we walked over there starting in Mexico this time. We'd been looking forward to this day because we were using the dining plan and we'd set aside 6 counter service meals to use today. We were going to get one thing each in 6 different countries to share for lunch and dinner. We rode the boat ride in Mexico and explored the country and Dd started a mask at the Kidcot station then got a combination platter to share. We walked through Norway with a stop at Kidcot, Malestrom wasn't running yet and we intended to get back there to ride it but never did, that's something for the next trip. Next was China, did some exploring and Dd got her name written in Chinese on the back of her mask, then got something to eat at the Lotus Blossom to share. We watched part of a performance in China then on to Germany. We spent quite a bit of time in Germany looking around since my kids have German blood on both sides of the family and shared a brat at Sommerfest then hit the Kidcot station. We took the friendship boat back to Future World and rode Spaceship Earth on the way out. We took the monorail to the boat to go back to WL. We took another nap, yes even the non napping 9 year old. Who knew all I had to do to get her to actually fall asleep in the middle of the day was run her around like crazy for 5 days! After our nap we took the boat back to the monorail and went back to Epcot.

Took the friendship boat back to Germany and walked to Italy where Dd realized she'd forgotten to bring her mask back with her so she started another one there. Italy is beautiful and since we'd read The Thief Lord which takes place in Venice it was fun for the kids to be able to "see" where the book was set and for Dd to get a masquerade mask for her Kidcot mask since there is a masquerade ball in the book. America was next but we didn't do much other than the Kidcot station there. We didn't time it right for the show so it's added to the list of things we need to make sure we do WS next time. Next were my two favorite countries again Japan first where we ate and enjoyed the garden again. Dd got her name written in Japanese and we watched the drummers perform out front. In Morocco we got to eat to Mo Rockin. We absolutely loved that show! At the Kidcot station the drummer asked Dd her name and the 4 workers at the station sang a song using her name in various parts. They were having a ball, not like some of the other stations where it seemed like the workers were bored to death. Dd got her name written in Arabic there and I think we could have stayed there for hours. Don't skip Japan and Morocco at Epcot! We decided to get another cheese plate at France after looking around and hitting the Kidcot station and took it with us to find a spot to watch Illuminations. We sat and ate our bread, cheese and grapes with hot chocolate and enjoyed the view around the lagoon waiting for the show. Illuminations left me teary eyed much to the enjoyment of my Ds. We hit Kidcot in England on our way out but Canada was all closed up.

Once again the bus to to WL was not good. In the future if we're lucky enough to stay at WL I will plan to be in Epcot only on nights when MK is open late so we can take the monorail and bus. The only complaint I have about the WL transportation is the bus to and from Epcot. They need to do something about that. Dd sat on my lap all the way back, she's not big but she sure is heavy when she's on your lap on a bouncing bus. My right leg went to sleep and I wasn't sure I would ever be able to walk again by the time we got back. I was seriously afraid of stepping down off the bus but I managed to do it without drawing too much attention to myself and once I was off the bus I hobbled over to a bench and sat down for a minute to let the blood start to circulate in that leg again. Back in the room we did some TV watching and reading again before going to sleep.

Tomorrow, how much pixie dust can one family get sprinkled with in one day and cameos by Florida friends and IL family.

 

[Minerva]

Day 7
Friday, December 2

We had a repeat of the last two mornings when I tried to get the kids up this morning although this morning they got moving a little easier because they had figured out that when they got up when I said they needed to it was worth it. We just grabbed a granola bar for breakfast this morning since we were planning to eat lunch early because of a 4:30 dinner ADR. We put Dd's Cinderella dress in a bag, she wore the tiara and off to the AK bus stop we went. The bus got there shortly after we arrived and we got to the park in time for the rope drop again. We followed the CM back to the Safari and got right on. The first thing we saw was a giraffe that was close enough that Dd could have touched it if she'd reached out. Three cheetahs were playing around back in the woods but we could see them chasing each other and having fun. Warthogs were all over a watering hole, saw a bunch of elephants including a baby, rhinoceroses, hippos and a bunch of different birds. The absolute best thing though was the male lion. He was standing on a rock, just like Mufasa or Simba on Pride Rock. He would walk to one side of the rock and look out over his territory then walk back to the other side and check it all out. It was truly an amazing thing to be so close to something so beautiful and powerful without bars or glass between him and us. After we got off the safari we turned around and went right back on with very little wait. This time we saw the giraffes but they had moved farther away, the warthogs were all laying down napping, we could see one of the cheetahs laying down looking around, more elephants were about, the rhinos were still out and the hippos were still there but one of them was walking around instead of being submerged in the pool. The disappointment was the lion. He'd had enough of walking around and was taking a nap. After seeing him up and about just a short time earlier it was a downer to see him just laying there. It did make my kids thank me again for getting them up early enough to see him the first time though. <g>

After the second safari we walked the Pangani trail and saw several of the gorillas, most of them weren't doing much but watching us but one young one did jump down off of a rock and beat on his chest. Somehow the sound that made surprised me, it wasn't the sound that they make in the movies, it was more like two rocks being smashed together. We watched the drummers in Harambee. My Ds had been in an African Drum Club at school for 3 years and he really enjoyed watching them. I tried to get him to go up and talk to them and see if he could show them what he knows but he's not Mr. Outgoing and he said it would be embarrassing. Keep that in mind for later. <g>

We got back to the Lion King just before the show started and were seated in the giraffe section which was appropriate after being so close to one earlier in the morning. That show is awesome and should not be missed! The costumes and the music are amazing. I got teary at the end but this time my kids missed it so they didn't get to give me a hard time. We had planned to do Flame Tree BBQ but I knew there was a big Mousefest meet going on there at 11 and we just weren't going to beat that so we opted for Pizzafari. After lunch we saw ITTBAB. The tree is amazing and the show very good although my two chickens squirmed to miss the hornet sting then asked me later what it felt like. Pffft. From there we went to Dinoland and rode Primeval Whirl. We've done it, we don't need to do it again. I like the spinning part but I can't be the only one who looked at the curves you go around on that thing and panic everytime about the possibility of it flying right off that track! Dd actually got whipped around and hit her mouth on the bar and Ds is more than happy to say he's done it and call it a lifetime!

From there we headed back towards Tarzan Rocks. This was one of the must dos on Ds' list, he loves the music from the movie and had been waiting for this show. We stopped and got Mickey bars and sat on one of the benches on the way back there to eat them. By this point I was becoming Dave from the planning DVD and would take every opportunity I could get to get off my feet for a little while! We lined up for Tarzan and were about the 10th people in line. I sat on the curb in the shade. Just call me Dave. <g> We went in and got seats about halfway up the top section just to the left of the middle. Sitting there minding our own business just watching the people all of a sudden I realized there was a CM coming up the steps who appeared to be looking right at us. She was, she sat in front of us and turned around and asked the kids if they wanted to be King and Queen of the Jungle! Dd, also known as a ham and a drama queen jumped at the chance but Ds, ever the practical one wanted to know what it would require from him. The CM told him she would introduce them to the audience and tell everyone where they were from and then they would beat on their chests and do a Tarzan yell. He said no. Remember he wouldn't talk to the drummers in Harambee even though he knew all about their style of drumming. I pointed out to him that nobody there knew him and nobody there was ever going to see him again but his sister and I would never let him live it down if he didn't do it and he was going to have to put up with us for a great many years to come. The CM told him all he had to do was beat on his chest if he wanted to, he didn't have to do the yell so he agreed. She told us to follow her as we were going to move to VIP seating so we moved down the front row of the upper middle section. She wrote down their names and what state they are from and told them she'd come back for them about 5 minutes before the show started. We got on the phone and called my parents, who were traveling, and told them what was going on and I told them I'd call them back so they could hear it. When the CM came back for them I dialed the phone, made sure it was ringing then put it down quickly so I could get a couple of pictures. To my surprise Ds actually did beat on his chest and do a Tarzan yell. When they were done I picked up the phone to whisper to my parents that it was over and I was going to hang up only to find the phone still ringing. We found out later they had gotten into an area with a lot of overpasses and it affected their reception and they'd never even heard the phone ring. Once the kids were done the CM brought them back to our seats, gave them each a bag of chips and a Mickey bag with a Magical Moments certificate for each child which I plan to frame with a picture of them doing their thing, and a certificate for each of them to get a free value meal from McDonald's. I think just being part of the show would have been enough! after seeing the lion on his rock in the morning then this we decided the day couldn't get any better. Boy were we wrong! We all loved the show! As others have said Tarzan looks quite nice in his loincloth but the singer was definitely the star of the show. I'm sorry it's ending, I'd like to see it again but I'm glad we at least got to see it once.

After Tarzan we walked back towards Asia but weren't going to have enough time for the jungle trek there. It's on our list of things to be sure to do next time. They had two cars running through Expedition Everest, one of them had a couple of people in them. We watched what you can see of them from the walkway for a while and decided that while it's stunning to look at it's probably a ride no one from our family will ever set foot on! We needed to start heading out to get to GF for our 4:30 ADR at 1900 Park Fare so we walked towards the front of the park and happened on the CM who had chosen the kids to be King and Queen of the Jungle and stopped and go their picture taken with her.

I know a lot of people say AK is a half day park for them but we were there from 9 until a little after 3 and we wished we had had more time there so we could have done the Asia trek and taken more time to explore some of the other areas. We decided we'll give this park a full day and maybe half of another so we can get all the shows in next time around.

We went to the GF/WL bus stop but that is right next to the CR/Poly bus stop and that bus came first so we jumped over to that line and decided we'd take the monorail to GF. The bus went to Contemporary first so that's where we got off. Dd went to the bathroom and changed into the dress we'd been dragging around with us all day and we looked around a little bit then headed up to the monorail. I asked the CM there if we could ride in the front and he said sure as long as no one else was in there and I said we would wait for another one since we had time if it was occupied. Luck was following us this day and there was a family in there when the monorail came in but they got off so we got to sit up there to the GF. The monorail driver was very nice and we chatted with him on the way over there. I saw the co pilots licenses and was prepared to ask him for one for the kids when we got to GF but I didn't have to. When we got there he handed all 3 of us one! That was something else Ds had really hoped to do so the day actually did manage to get better and we still weren't through!

At the GF we walked around the monorail level and checked out the lobby. The kids were impressed by the lifesize gingerbread house. About 10 after 4 we headed over by the door to GF hoping they would open up early and we could eat. We chatted with two other families that were there and discovered one of them was from about 30 minutes away from our town. They ended up being on the same flight as us going home. Once the doors opened we checked in and were waiting in the lobby when the manager of the day called everyone over to the doors. There were 3 little girls there, including Dd, and she talked to all of them and told us all a little about the restaurant then asked if any of the girls knew any magical words. The other two didn't say anything but Dd said she did and the manager asked what they were. Dd replied, "Bibbity Bobbity Boo!" which I guess are the right words when you're about to eat with Cinderella and the manager asked if she'd like to open the restaurant. For the second time today she stood in front of a big crowd without a second thought and did her thing. She got sprinkled with Pixie Dust and the doors opened and we went in. We were seating in the middle of the restaurant between the 4 carousel animals. I took Dd up to the kids buffet and she got her food then Ds and I went and got some Strawberry soup and some other appetizers and we turned around and ran smack dab into one of my cousins, her husband and their two kids. I'd found out a couple of weeks earlier that they were going down for 4 days which happened to be our last 4 days. We had each other's cell numbers but had been so busy we hadn't talked to each other and had no idea we were all going to be at the same dinner. It's a good thing I knew ahead of time they were going to be at WDW because if I'd turned around and run into someone from home without knowing they were there at all I probably would have dropped my Strawberry soup onto the floor! Dd was in heaven meeting Cinderella again, Prince Charming, Suzy and Perla. We stopped on the way out and got a picture of Dd and my cousin's Dd who also had a Cinderella dress on and found Aurora in the lobby.

We took the monorail back to the TTC and the boat from the MK entrance to WL. Shortly after we got back to our room a friend of mine called to tell me they were about 10 minutes away. She and her husband are both retired from the Navy and have settled in Jacksonville. My kids and I had met her 3 years before when she made a grand tour of online friends as her retirement present from her husband. The kids loved her then, especially Ds who wants to be a Navy pilot and they were really looking forward to seeing her again. I knew she had a surprise for Ds but what I didn't know was since I'd left home she had arranged an even bigger surprise for him.

They walked into the lobby and we made our introductions with her husband who we had not met then she was so excited she couldn't stand it and told us we had to sit down because she had some presents. We found some seats in the lobby and she and her husband first pulled out a Navy pilot's jacket. I'd known about that but was brought to tears by what came next. She had a name patch on the jacket with my son's name and The Future of the Navy imprinted on it. Then they pulled out an Air Force pilots flight suit, gloves and helmet! She had been telling someone she works with how excited she was about coming down to see us and giving Ds the jacket and he had told her to stop by his house the night before and gave her the other stuff to bring to Ds. Ds was speechless and I was teary again. Her husband explained what everything was to Ds and how it worked and told us how we could clean it all. Then they spent forever talking Navy planes and ships. Dd wasn't left out, they brought her a beautiful doll and a Napoleon Dynamite blanket. The jacket and the blanket have been glued to both kids ever since. We took them up to our room to show them the view and the kids changed into their swimsuits. The adults sat by the pool and shivered while the kids swam then we all walked out to the boat dock to watch the fireworks. We'd had enough of the chill of the night by now and went into the lobby to warm up for a few minutes until it was time for the electric water parade. We watched that from the 4th floor balcony off the lobby. Sadly, it was time for them to head to the hotel they were spending the night at and we needed to start packing to move to POR the next day. We walked them out to the front porch and said our good-byes and several more thank yous and headec back to our room for one last night at the lodge. Someone had definitely sprinkled a ton of Pixie Dust on us that morning. It will take quite a day to ever beat that one for all of us.

Tomorrow, a new resort and one last visit to MK.

 

[PrincessNED]

Great report !!

 

[MazdaUK]

I love your reports! We swam in the rain too - until a Cm told us to get out because there was electrical activity in the area (WUSS!)

We ALSO got soaked - so much the lining of my (very old) trainers turned my socks pink!

 

[fizz13]

I'm loving all the magical moments to the trip and I want to thankyou for sharing your wonderful memories with us,

Claire xx

 

[WhoopyPie]

Can't wait to read the end of your report. It's sounds as if you had the most magical time there.

 

[Deluzy]

Great report!! It just sounds as though you and your kids had such a wonderful time!! Looking forward to reading the rest!

 

[LightBurnsBlue]

I don't know what it is about your trip report...but I really feel like I'm there when I'm reading it! Thank you, and I am so happy to read about all your magical moments with your two children.