Mom, Can You Quit Hanging on to Me and Just Hang on to Yourself? Update 11/2/16

[DopeyDonald]

Glad you were able to get those free passes to Blizzard Beach! Interested to hear how you liked it as we have never been to a Disney water park either!

I was too - it took the sting out of the construction that is for sure. We are not huge water park people so we probably wouldn't ever pay for tickets. We definitely enjoyed our time there however .

 

[DopeyDonald]

When I last left off, the girls and I were headed from AK Kidani over to Blizzard Beach. We had planned on heading over to Jambo for lunch but it was too hot and we just wanted to get to BB. We found a spot and schlepped all of our stuff to the entrance. We were a bit nervous because the WL front desk had added the one day comp tickets to our magic bands. I went thru - good, Annie - good, Cassidy - good, my mom - nope. *Sigh. We explained the situation - about how we were staying at the WL etc. They were able to look at our reservation and see that my mom's name was on the room also. They must have been used to getting WL comp tickets because they decided to just let her through. Whew. We were almost melting at this point.

We headed in and my mom decided to rent some chairs in one of the private sandy areas. I am so glad she did. What an awesome place to relax. We got our towels, bought some $5,000 sunscreen (I never pack any because we never use it at Disney - for some reason our family just does not burn and I honestly never put it on my kids, except when they are going to be in the water for a long period of time), and headed to find our chairs.

Once we dropped our stuff off we headed over to get some lunch. It was around noon at this point and the counter was pretty busy. We waited in line and our order kept growing and growing since we were so hungry We ended up ordering 2 adult chicken nugget meals, a burger meal and a kids meal. WAY WAY WAY too much food. We also ordered 2 Olaf cups with frozen blueberry lemonade. We should have ordered half of what we did. *sigh I hate wasting food like that.

Once our tummies were happy we headed back to our chairs to decide what to do. We were worried at how we would meet up with the boys. My DH is notorious for not answering is phone and we had no idea what time their lunch would be over. I was finally able to leave him a message and tried to describe where our chairs were. The girls and I decided that we would just check back every half hour or so and see what happened.

We decided to head to the family raft ride first. Everything was about a 15 min wait so not too bad. After a short wait we were at the top ready to head down - SO fun. As with any water park however, the ride does not last long enough in comparison to the trek you have to make to get there! I had forgotten how exhausting it is to climb stairs at a water park. After the raft ride we decided to try and call DH again, so we could at least get an idea of when they would be there. I was finally able to get through and explained what they should do. They were on a bus on their way to BB.

Us girls decided that we probably had time to take 1 spin around the lazy river. I LOVED it. I love a good lazy river and this was definitely a good one. I think we made about 20 trips that day! Once we had gone around one time we decided to just head back to the chairs to wait. We didn't have long to wait and the boys showed up. Wyatt was raring to go and do something fun so we decided to head to the one where you race down on mats (forgive my lack of knowledge about BB!)

Cassidy was pretty nervous but I assured her she could do this. She usually just needs a little nudge to do these things and then loves them and this was no different. We all raced down and I was right she did love it! We did this one more time before hitting the lazy river again.

The waits weren't too bad, but we are not waiters so even the 15-20 mins seemed like too much for us. After some more lazy river we went on one of the tube slides - it was one that you had to carry your tube up for. That was hard! lol I am getting wussy in my old age I guess. We split up after all meeting at the bottom. Cassidy wanted to do the tube slide again and there was no way I could. Her, DH and Wy headed up for another go. Annie and I headed over to try the racing one again and my mom was going to go rest. She had a headache she wanted to take care of before it got worse.

Annie and I saw the line was pretty long for the racing one so we decided to try slushin gusher. BAD IDEA. OH MY GOSH. You have no idea. A slightly (ok maybe more than slightly) overweight, 35 year old woman has NO business going down that. I really thought I might die. lol I hit that first hump and I was AIRBORN. and my body should NOT be airborn. I was laughing, crying, screaming and drowning all at once. It was a riot. And I'm glad I did it one time. I got to the bottom and stood on wobbly legs and waited for Annie to come down. She didn't seem to have the same reaction as I did. She loved it and wanted to go again. Not unless you want to wheel your mama out of here honey

We headed back to the chairs and regrouped. DH was done at this point, but Annie and Wy talked him into one more trip around on the lazy river. My mom went with. Cassidy was also done at this point and wanted to play in the sand with her bucket she got at lunch. Her and I had a lovely half and hour doing just that!

Once everyone was back at the chairs we decided to call it a day. The big kids, Nana and DH headed back to the lodge via bus, but Cassidy and I had a very important stop to make. We were headed over to Publix to pick up the cake I had ordered her. We were so excited that Nana would be here for her actual birthday. Her one wish for the year was to have "wrapped presents" I know that sounds spoiled, I mean come on kid you spend every birthday at Disney, but she had gone to a birthday party right before we left to come down and saw what a normal kid gets on their birthday and she was hoping for a more traditional party. So I had ordered a cake from Publix and my mom and I had packed some presents that we had bought and wrapped before we left. So Cassie and I took our time walking out and took a few pics and then headed to Publix!

 

[MissMaryQC]

BB looks like such fun!! We have not been in many years; we never really spend enough time at the parks to do water parks and stuff!

Can I please tell you that I adore that Cassidy asked for wrapped presents?!? I feel like that is just such a sweet and cute thing for a little child. I don't think it's spoiled at all. I still love unwrapping gifts!

Can't wait to see how the cake and all that turns out! We do love a good Publix cake in my house!

 

[DopeyDonald]

BB looks like such fun!! We have not been in many years; we never really spend enough time at the parks to do water parks and stuff!

Can I please tell you that I adore that Cassidy asked for wrapped presents?!? I feel like that is just such a sweet and cute thing for a little child. I don't think it's spoiled at all. I still love unwrapping gifts!

Can't wait to see how the cake and all that turns out! We do love a good Publix cake in my house!

We enjoyed BB very much, but we just wouldn't spend a day there unless it was another long trip - 11 days at least. And I'm not sure we will ever do another one that long. It's just too hard to be away from School etc. that long.

I am going to try and get another update done soon, but we have had the mega-sickies here. Cassidy has pink eye so bad that the Dr. cringed when she walked in the room - and the strange thing was it came on overnight! She and Wyatt also have a nagging cough that makes Cassidy cough so hard bad things happen - lol.

As I was looking through my notes I see that we did not eat her cake that night - we saved it for the next day which was her actual birthday. I'm thinking I wanted to pick it up this day because our next day was PACKED with awesomeness!!

I also keep meaning to get over to your TR and post. I started reading it the other night but then my laptop died before I could reply. I will have to get back soon - I am enjoying it very much so far!

 

[minnieprincess]

So glad you're back and posting again! Loving the updates!

 

[Shonte Durrett]

OH my we have a Chrysler Pacifica also and was wondering the same thing. Did you just check your jogger stroller at the airport or did they let you carry on? That's crazy. We are a family of six and I'm wondering how we will drive 3 hours to the airport (the one closest is almost $1500 more to fly out & into)

 

[DopeyDonald]

So glad you're back and posting again! Loving the updates!

Thanks! I am enjoying it very much. I may even start my one for this past September, soon - I am really wanting to post about that trip and with another one coming in 64 days, I'd better get my butt in gear!

OH my we have a Chrysler Pacifica also and was wondering the same thing. Did you just check your jogger stroller at the airport or did they let you carry on? That's crazy. We are a family of six and I'm wondering how we will drive 3 hours to the airport (the one closest is almost $1500 more to fly out & into)

We actually gate check her stroller. This way you have it in the airport and any layovers you may have. You get a tag from the desk at the gate and then you can actually wheel it down the ramp. You then leave it right at the area before entering the jet. Then they have it waiting for you at the same place (bottom of the ramp) when you land at your next airport. I love doing this and am going to be so sad when Cassidy gets ridiculously big for it....though we may already be there...lol. Also should mention, this is free, they do not charge for strollers (Southwest anyway...but neither did Delta when we flew them.)

And yes, it's not always fun to fly out of an airport that far, but the savings is more than worth it to us. I always try and plan a flight for around 11 am. This way we have to be there by around 9, which means we leave around 5. This is not insanely early, but early enough that everyone is pretty tired and sleeps most of the way.

Finally, it can be done with the Pacifica, but it' a tight fit! I actually traded that in this past spring on an older Chevy Tahoe and it worked out much better this Sept.

 

[DopeyDonald]

So Cassidy and I headed to Publix to pick up her cake. It was really interesting to visit there. I love seeing the differences in stores from up north to down south. We had a fun time checking out all that was available. We also picked up some more yogurt and water, I think. After our fun time in Publix, we decided that some Chick-Fil-A was in order. The closest one to us is around 3 hrs away, so it's always a treat. I believe this visit is the one where I was introduced to Chick-Fil-A Sauce. OH. MY. GOODNESS. I have never in my life loved a sauce more. I may or may not have licked out the container when it was gone. I cannot even.

So once we were done shopping and stuffing our faces, we headed back to the lodge. Once we got back to the room with our goodies, we all kind of flopped on the beds for awhile.

She went from that ^ to this in about 10 mins..

Once we all were somewhat coherent again, we had differing opinions on what to do that night. I was whooped after that waterpark day and so was Cassidy. She wanted to stay and relax and play with her babies that she had brought and some other toys I'm sure she had accumulated by then. I also had some laundry to catch up on so it worked out for me to stay with her.

Nana and Annie decided to go to the Magic Kingdom, they were craving taco salads from Pecos Bills (only to come to find out that they no longer offered them ) and Annie wanted to get a hair wrap. DH and Wyatt headed to Epcot because DH was craving a Brat from Germany and possibly some fish and chips - Wyatt is always up for a ham and cheese in France.

Here is a pic of Annie when her and Nana got back from MK - you can see her hair wrap

Well, this update was short on pics - I think we were all hitting a wall, especially after the waterpark - man those tire you out!! Plus, I MORE than made up for it the next day - Cassidy's BIRTHDAY - we had SO. MUCH. FUN. ALL. DAY. One of our best Disney days ever, that's for sure!

 

[BellaBaby]

Nice update. Can't wait to hear about Cassidy's Birthday fun!!

 

[MusicMicha]

Water park looks so much fun! It's on our to do list one day. Can't wait to see the birthday fun! Cassisy crashing is so funny. We are rushing to pack for our adult trip Saturday, so if I am not around I will catch up again soon.

 

[DopeyDonald]

Nice update. Can't wait to hear about Cassidy's Birthday fun!!

Thanks! It's will be a long one so I'm going to break it down a bit.

Water park looks so much fun! It's on our to do list one day. Can't wait to see the birthday fun! Cassisy crashing is so funny. We are rushing to pack for our adult trip Saturday, so if I am not around I will catch up again soon.

Yes, you should definitely try it once! And have so much FUN!!!!

 

[DopeyDonald]

The BIG DAY was finally here - my Cassidy's Birthday!!!!! It felt so good to be in Disney on her birthday - we'd been having such a time the year before, with her being sick (see that trip report in my sig) and this felt like such a celebration!!! Never mind that we had come back the February after she was well to do a redo, but hey when you miss your 5th Birthday in the Castle, you deserve it!

The morning dawned full of promise and sleepy kids. We got them up and moving because we had a LOT to get accomplished this day. Our first order of business - breakfast with Cassie's idol - Doc. I'm not sure if it was her illness and time in the hospital or if she would have loved Doc anyway, but no matter, Doc is IT!

Once we got everyone ready we took some pics and headed to the van.

Here is Cassidy in all her Doc glory. I have never bought her a full costume as most are too small and flimsy for her. I just try to piece regular items of clothing together to match as close as I can. I think I did a pretty good job if I don't say so myself. And it stands up to EVERYDAY wear! Thank goodness my mom was with so she was able to do Doc braids in the van.

My pretty Annie all ready to go...almost lol

Here she is after getting braids en route

Making the long walk into Hollywood Studios- in case you want to know what a 6 year old in a stroller looks like...lol

We made it through bag check and the gates quickly and soon found ourselves at Hollywood and Vine. We ended up waiting quite a while for our names to be called. But no worries, we entertained ourselves by taking pictures!

Here is Wy in his Superman shirt that he thinks he looks so cool in.... These pics are breaking my heart though. This was the last trip that my buddy wore his camera around his neck - that camera had been a staple around his neck since our first trip in 2010. I miss that thing....

These 2 seem to be having quite a conversation in these following pics - some of my favorite.

Oh, looks like I wanted in on the picture action....

After a long, but pleasant wait, it was time! Cassidy had met Doc back in February, but only I was able to take her so this would be the first time at Hollywood and Vine for everyone else. We were seated at a great table and could see that Doc and the gang weren't far from reaching our table. I love when that happens. You get to see them right away and maybe have a chance for 2 visits, plus there is no food on the table to deal with!

I'm honestly not sure who stopped by first, but I'll save the best pics for last -

Here is Cassie and Handy Manny

Cassidy and Jake

Cassidy and Sophia - Cassidy is like, big whoop, where's Doc!

Finally it was time! And this visit did not disappoint. Doc adored that fact that Cassidy was dressed up. I'm sure there are others that dress like Doc, but we DEFINITELY saw more Sophia's. In fact, I'm pretty sure Cassie was the only doc in the restaurant at the time.

BIG HUG

Cassidy must have looked at this autograph 100 times that day.

After pics it was time to chow down on the yummy breakfast buffet. We really liked the buffet here. Lots of the same standard breakfast buffet items, but there were also some different selections than just the usual. They offer a mini donut French toast type thing. It was SO yummy. They also had ham that was really good. Everyone had plenty to eat and it was a great way to start our celebration day!!

I will leave you all with a picture of Wyatt drinking his coffee (he came home from summer camp drinking coffee)

Up next lots more birthday fun. Another park and another sit down!

 

[jandlinz]

I'm all caught up. It looks like Cassidy had a great start to her birthday. We love doing the water parks. I found your retelling of the slide hysterical. We love the sneezing man at Blizzard Beach on the lazy river. It really is so much fun!

 

[MissMaryQC]

The start of Cassie's birthday looks awesome!!

I just adore her outfit. I think the dresses are very cute, but I like the idea of something she can wear again and in daily life. It's like DisneyBounding!!

The pics of Cassidy and her daddy are adorable. The one with mom in as well is a keeper too!!

Can't wait to see how the day progresses!

 

[DopeyDonald]

I'm all caught up. It looks like Cassidy had a great start to her birthday. We love doing the water parks. I found your retelling of the slide hysterical. We love the sneezing man at Blizzard Beach on the lazy river. It really is so much fun!

We really enjoyed that sneezing spray too since it was so hot! I only wish the lazy rivers ran all the way back to the resorts - lol. And that isn't even an exaggerated telling of the slide. I went back and reread what I had written - every word - TRUE! lol.

The start of Cassie's birthday looks awesome!!

I just adore her outfit. I think the dresses are very cute, but I like the idea of something she can wear again and in daily life. It's like DisneyBounding!!

The pics of Cassidy and her daddy are adorable. The one with mom in as well is a keeper too!!

Can't wait to see how the day progresses!

Thanks - we had so much fun that day I can't wait to post more. And that outfit is #2. She wore the knees out of #1. It's getting pretty tight on her - I'm always on the hunt for purple striped shirts!

 

[DopeyDonald]

After our lovely breakfast with Doc McStuffins we headed out into the gorgeous weather at Hollywood Studios that day. The sky was blue and the sun was shining! My mom got sidetracked by the Frozen Parade that was happening. My kids have NO interest in Frozen so we kept walking. She wanted to get some pics for my nieces who are fanatics.

We normally wouldn't leave her like that but we were on kind of a tight schedule this day. DH really wanted to meet Mike and Sulley, so we headed over there. We had SO much fun at this meet and greet. DH LOVES Sulley and he basically shoved Mike out of the way - lol. Mike's feelings were hurt and Sulley went over to console him. It was hilarious.

Here is the pic of DH and just Sulley

Now here is Sulley over consoling Mikey

Then DH and Annie decided to pose with them both (Wyatt and Cassidy weren't feeling this meet and greet - neither of them love getting their pics taken and we really were on a time crunch...) DH whispered to Annie to stand in front of Mike (like how in the movie he is always getting stuck behind things - like on the magazine cover) It was so funny - the CM's were cracking up

At this point it was getting pretty tight on time and we had somewhere to be....I'll let you ponder that...
However, Cassidy REALLY wanted to ride Star Tours and we did have a fast pass made so we made the decision to chance it.
I sent DH, Annie, Wy and Cassidy on Star Tours while I waited in the shop and called my mom to see where she was at. We made a plan to meet at the very front gate as soon as they were done riding. They were off in no time and we headed to the front.
I think we stopped to take this pic of the boys when we left them. They were staying in the park to do TOT and RNR. (They are so weird - Wy was doing his weird Superman pose - he's supposed to look like he's ripping a shirt off revealing the S or something and DH - who knows...

Even though we were in a hurry we had to stop for a photo pass

Then of course we got sidetracked by Dorma Nesmond - she said she liked Annie's smile... lol I can't remember what else they talked about, but it was a GREAT time - very special for Annie.

Finally we were ready to go - we met up with Nana and booked it to the van. I wonder where we were off to in such a hurry.....

 

[DopeyDonald]

Since I've posted the reveal and talked about Annie's Birthday trip in this thread, I think I am just going to do a mini trip report right in the thick of this one. I've also started my trip report for September 2015 on a new thread. It's called:
Where's the Can? I Want to Pee in China. A Sept 2015 Trip Report.

I am going to try and finish all 3 by the time we leave in January. I'm not sure if that will happen but...I would at least like to finish this one and the birthday one. The birthday one got off to a shaky start, so I didn't take any notes and am just going to go off of the pics I took. I won't be as thorough either - just a quick recap I think.

So enough rambling - -

Here are some pics of our travel day for Operation B.S. Annie's Birthday Surprise Trip - Jan/Feb 2015

Standing under our sign at the Humphery Terminal at MSP

Wyatt enjoying a Mocha Latte while we wait for our plane

Jaq and Gus made the trip too and enjoyed the plane ride

We have arrived!!! We amused ourselves taking pics, while DH went out to have a smoke.

Heading to the food court as we had decided to eat in the airport to stave off the hangries.

Chick Fil A - YUMMO! Cute pic of DH -

After filling our bellies with yummy goodness we were off to the lodge. DH and girls rode ME, while Wyatt and I headed to Super Target. And got lost. As I usually do. This time I ended up by Sea World - It was interesting to see where it was located. My son was not as impressed.

In no time at all we were taking this lovely pic and getting ready to lay our heads down at our beloved lodge. (I just noticed Cassidy's feet - sheesh does my kid EVER wear shoes at Disney...we should start a count of Cassidy barefoot pics -

 

[DopeyDonald]

Alright - back to September 2015. I hope it doesn't get too confusing with a mini trip dispersed throughout....let me know if it bugs anyone....

So the girls were headed somewhere special for Cassidy's birthday and leaving the boys at DHS. Where were we headed??? To Bibbity Boppity Boutique of course. I had gotten reservations for the girls that afternoon. We headed back to WL to clean up the girls and get ready to head to MK.

We got the girls ready and headed to MK via the boat. We figured it would be quicker. While we were waiting for the boat, I realized I had both sets of van keys in my bag. The plan was for the boys to meet us at the Grand Floridian for dinner so this was a problem. Nana quick ran the keys back to the room and was able to make it back in time for the boat. After a quick boat ride we were in the MK and running once again this trip - headed for the BBB!!

Cassidy had brought a yellow birthday balloon that I had decorated the room with that morning on the boat. Guess what happened on the boat. It blew out of her hands. *sigh. Yellow is her favorite color and that had been the only yellow one She was very sad about this, but what did we see as we came through the gates of the MK? A balloon vendor with a yellow mickey balloon! I hardly ever see yellow ones of those so we had to stop - but didn't have enough cash! Darn it, I hate that those are cash only. I promised I would be back.

Once we got to the castle and got the girls settled, I went to find an ATM. Oh my goodness, that is a tall order at the MK. I ended up wayyyyy up front at the guest services I think. Then over to the balloon vendor then back to the castle. I may or may not have stopped for a frozen lemonade on the way - it was HOT!

Once back at the BBB I settled in to watch the transformation of 2 beautiful princesses!

Cassidy chose Cinderella as her princess - she wore her dress from the trip in Feb/March. She wanted to be Cinderella again for our dinner at 1900 PF.

Annie chose Merida and got to pick out a dress. I was seriously questioning her choice as it was like a million degrees out, but hey whatever kid.....

It always makes me smile when they have 2 ladies working on a princess at one. The girls really do look like princesses.

Princess Annie

Both of my princesses

After this we were supposed to head over to the princess store (can't remember the name at the moment) to have their BBB pics taken. We had a LONG session, they took every imaginable pose I swear and then went to get them added to our MB. The computers were down - sigh. They told us we could go to Town Square to get them. Spoiler alert - I did this before leaving and they couldn't find them


At this point the plan was to head to the GF and go shopping and cool off before our Dinner Reservation at 1900 PF, but it was a lot earlier than I thought it would be. Nana and Annie decided to go back to the lodge and rest for a bit (Annie was overheating in her dress already ) They would just ride over to the GF with the boys then. But the Birthday girl and I didn't feel like resting so what did we do??

Rats, I really was going to post what we did, but photobucket is being ridiculous. Sorry, I guess you will have to wait and see!

 

[DopeyDonald]

Ok I'm back and have whipped photobucket into shape! So Nana and Annie headed back to rest and cool off and Cassidy and I.....

Rode PeopleMover of course!!!

I love the PeopleMover or TTA - what is the official name now? - I feel like I should know - lol. My family tolerates my love.

This is by FAR my favorite view - when you come around that corner - BOOM! There is the castle in all it's glory! You can see what a beautiful, picture perfect day it was too!

There was also some clandestine dancing even though it is strictly prohibited. Cassidy got such a kick one year when I showed her the little sign and told her it mean NO Dancing.

She's not a fan of the dark part and she knows we are headed in...her face cracks me up.

After our spin around tomorrowland, it was getting time to think about heading to the GF. We did however stop on Main Street to see the Festival of Fantasy Parade for the first time. We decided to stop and watch for a bit. We were super impressed! We are not usually 3 o'clock parade people since in September we are usually not in the parks at that time, but we loved it!

We had to take a pic of Anna and Elsa for my nieces

And one of Merida for Annie

We thought these fairies were amazing and it was MAGIC the way they moved!!

We LOVED the dragon and the vines that crept before him. He didn't blow fire in front of us, but I had to snap this pic because you can almost FEEL how darn hot it was!

We were officially toast at this point, so we made plans to watch the parade again with the rest of the fam from a more shady spot. We left before the parade was completely over and made our way to the monorail station. We got on right away and made our way around the loop to the GF.

Cassidy is being silly on the monorail since we had a whole car to ourselves - and you can see her yellow Mickey Balloon

Can't hold in the giggles anymore....

This was taken from somewhere around the loop - again, I just can't get over what a gorgeous day it was - perfect for a Princess celebrating!

Finally before we knew it we were pulling into the Grand Floridian for the best Birthday Dinner ever!

 

[jandlinz]

The girls look precious all dolled up. I can't wait to see your pictures at 1900 Park Fare.