"Mom, why does the Magical Bus have to be the happiest and the saddest bus?"NEW 8/24!

[Lbg206]

Great pics, I SO want to stay at that resort. I wish it had availability during our Oct. trip, but sadly it doesn't. Your last update seriously depressed me. I had returning home day....so sad to leave, especially when you see families just arriving at your hotel or at the airport and know their trip is just beginning. I just finished my own TR yesterday and now yours so I'm having disney withdrawls. Thankfully my next trip is just around the corner, but still sad. Fantastic TR though, loved following along.

 

[Angies1274]

Aww.....everyone looks soooo sad!!

I'm so happy you had such a wonderful trip though. I really enjoyed following along on your adventures!

Can't wait to hear your final thoughts.

 

[Charlefours]

Thank you both so much!! I am sad it's coming to an end too! I remember how sad I was on that last thinking of all the things we did and all the things we missed. The Visa meet and greet is great. I believe it is everyday from 1:30-4:30 in Innoventions at Epcot. I think it's in Innoventions West. You just go and get in line. This trip we waited a bit, our last trip we were able to walk right in. It's different characters everyday. You just need to have your card with you, they take your account # down and then you can pick up your free 5x7 at the Epcot photo place. It's wonderful!! It's a nice little perk!!

Thank you for all the great information!

I'm sorry to hear about your knee--I hope you are doing better!

The fish and chips are so yummy! That may be my dinner when we go to R&C but we will see. I will have to get them at some point though!

I love that your parents gave you time in the evening for some adult time. :cloud9 Sounds perfect to me!!

I'm glad you found your earrings!!

I have enjoyed your TR so much!! I am sad it is coming to an end.

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Oh no about your flights! But good thing it all worked out okay in the end. The last day blues are always no fun!

 

[mermaid764]

That's awful about your flights, not the information anyone ever wants to hear!

I loved your TR and am looking forward to your last post with your souvenier pics

 

[MommyMcQueen]

Hi Beth-

WOW - I can't believe your flights were cancelled! At least you dind't have too long of a delay and I'm glad it all worked out well for you guys.

Love your pix from around the POFQ property - I still really love the look and feel of that hotel....maybe next trip we'll stay there!

So sad to see everyone's sad faces on the bus ride home...I bet no one wanted to leave!

Looking forward to seeing your souvenirs!!
Karen

 

[Jasper Dale]

beth, i wanted to say thank you for sharing your trip on this forum. my wife and i are heading to WDW next month and i have been dealing with a back injury and in a lot of pain.

i just spend the last hour reading your trip report and it has put me in such a better mood.

thank you so much for sharing your families memories with me. you are blessed to have such precious kids.

 

[iheartpluto]

Hey Beth, so sad the TR is coming to an end. Also, the pouty faces on the ME are SO sad and yet cute at the same time. I hate those last day blues... Can't wait to see the rest of the pics and hear about your souvenirs! And that's so cool that Gabe got to bring stuff back for his class. I'm sure they were all so excited! How thoughtful of you guys.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Hey Beth! Don't know how I missed this update but I'm just trying to get caught up on everyone's reports now that we're back.

That stinks about your flights being cancelled but hey, on the bright side atleast it was going home and not getting there. That would've really been irritating (and has happened to us before. GRRRR!).

Thanks for sharing your trip with us, I really enjoyed reading it.

 

[martinolichfamily]

That is crazy that your flight got canceled!!
All those poor sad faces!!

Cant wait to see the souvies you got!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Yes, VERY SAD Amy!

Great pics, I SO want to stay at that resort. I wish it had availability during our Oct. trip, but sadly it doesn't. Your last update seriously depressed me. I had returning home day....so sad to leave, especially when you see families just arriving at your hotel or at the airport and know their trip is just beginning. I just finished my own TR yesterday and now yours so I'm having disney withdrawls. Thankfully my next trip is just around the corner, but still sad. Fantastic TR though, loved following along.

Thank you! We really did enjoy FQ. I'm sorry it's not available for your upcoming trip! Thankfully Disney has so many resorts that are fun and beautiful! Going home day stinks! I too get sad seeing all the people checking in and starting their trips! I am so jealous of those people!! Thanks for following along!!!

Aww.....everyone looks soooo sad!!

I'm so happy you had such a wonderful trip though. I really enjoyed following along on your adventures!

Can't wait to hear your final thoughts.

Thanks Angie! It was wonderful!

Thank you for all the great information!

I'm sorry to hear about your knee--I hope you are doing better!

The fish and chips are so yummy! That may be my dinner when we go to R&C but we will see. I will have to get them at some point though!

I love that your parents gave you time in the evening for some adult time. :cloud9 Sounds perfect to me!!

I'm glad you found your earrings!!

I have enjoyed your TR so much!! I am sad it is coming to an end.

Thanks Stephanie! I am looking forward to hearing about your trip!! It's getting so close!! The fish n' chips are the best!!!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Oh no about your flights! But good thing it all worked out okay in the end. The last day blues are always no fun!

Canceled flight really stink!! We at least got a good meal in and didn't have to just sit at the gate for an extra 2.5 hours!! The last day is no fun at all!!!

That's awful about your flights, not the information anyone ever wants to hear!

I loved your TR and am looking forward to your last post with your souvenier pics

I know our flight situation could have been worse but I am glad it worked out okay in the end! We had a great trip, I am going to post pics now!

Hi Beth-

WOW - I can't believe your flights were cancelled! At least you dind't have too long of a delay and I'm glad it all worked out well for you guys.

Love your pix from around the POFQ property - I still really love the look and feel of that hotel....maybe next trip we'll stay there!

So sad to see everyone's sad faces on the bus ride home...I bet no one wanted to leave!

Looking forward to seeing your souvenirs!!
Karen

Thanks Karen! The flight mess up was not fun but it worked itself out. FQ was lovely, your next trip you will have to try and work it out to stay there, I also hear they are going to be updating the rooms too! The bus ride was VERY sad!

beth, i wanted to say thank you for sharing your trip on this forum. my wife and i are heading to WDW next month and i have been dealing with a back injury and in a lot of pain.

i just spend the last hour reading your trip report and it has put me in such a better mood.

thank you so much for sharing your families memories with me. you are blessed to have such precious kids.

Thank you so much Jasper Dale for reading along and the nice things you said about my TR (and my kiddos)! I really liked writing it and sharing our fun trip!! I am sorry you have been in such back pain! I hope you are able to rest it as much as possible and gear up for your upcoming trip!! I have had knee pain and problems on and off for a long time and I know how frustrating and annoying it can be! Good thoughts and prayers for you and your injury

 

[Cory's Gal]

Hey Beth, so sad the TR is coming to an end. Also, the pouty faces on the ME are SO sad and yet cute at the same time. I hate those last day blues... Can't wait to see the rest of the pics and hear about your souvenirs! And that's so cool that Gabe got to bring stuff back for his class. I'm sure they were all so excited! How thoughtful of you guys.

I thought the same thing about our "pouty" faces. The last day is always so sad! Gabe loved being able to share something with his friends at school, it was an easy (and cheap) way to hand out a gift!!

Hey Beth! Don't know how I missed this update but I'm just trying to get caught up on everyone's reports now that we're back.

That stinks about your flights being cancelled but hey, on the bright side atleast it was going home and not getting there. That would've really been irritating (and has happened to us before. GRRRR!).

Thanks for sharing your trip with us, I really enjoyed reading it.

I hope you and your sister had an awesome trip Sarah!! I can't believe it has come and gone already!! I have a lot of your trip to catch up on now!!!! The flights were very irritating! Once we were packed and ready to head home I wanted to get home as soon as possible, I guess Delta had other plans for us!!

That is crazy that your flight got canceled!!
All those poor sad faces!!

Cant wait to see the souvies you got!

Thanks Heather, I hope to catch up on your TR today!! I know I already missed a lot!!!!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Hello!! Yes, I am still here! We had a crazy two weeks! Gabe is starting Kindergarten in September and our district runs a "practice" Kindergarten for the kids! It was the last two weeks, Mon-Thurs, 9-12! It included riding the bus! Gabe looked very big getting on and riding the bus! He had a great time and feels REALLY comfortable riding the bus and going to his classroom! We have 3 weeks left until school starts!!!
As promised I have pics of the souvenirs we bought. I didn't get as much as I thought (or hoped) I would!
First, here are the straws we got for our kids & niece & nephew, and Gabe's class. We got many different colors:

The kids love using them, they are sort of a pain to wash though...
For our house Cory and I bought this collage frame:

I can't wait to fill it and hang it!!
For planning the trip for us all, my parents got this for me, it's a really cool shadow box!!

I LOVE it and I filled it right away and put it out! Next to it is Cory's plastic mug from his beer in Germany.

My parents bought Gabe new Disney buses!!

And they bought Helen this cute little Mickey purse (she uses it daily)

We got Gabe a Toy Story shirt (I think it shrunk a bit, it won't fit him for very long), I like the back of it too!

And Helen's Minnie shirt!!

That's all I have for souvenirs, we did get refillable mugs too, I feel like we got more but for the life of me I can't think of anything more!

We had a wonderful wonderful trip! So many fun and loving memories of being together! Our "favorite things" from the trip are:
Gabe
Fave Ride: Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain
Fave Show: Mickey's Philharmagic and Festival of the Lion King
Fave Food: Macaroni and Cheese and Ice Cream Sundae at Kona
Helen
Fave Ride: Dumbo and Nemo
Fave Show: Finding Nemo
Fave Food: ANYTHING!!!
Cory
Fave Ride: Expedition Everest and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Fave Show: Festival of the Lion King and Lights Motors Action!
Fave Food: Fish n' Chips and Asian Noodles at Kona
ME!!!
Fave Ride: Splash Mountain and Safari(I loved watching the kiddos look for animals and any ride was fun when we could all ride together!)
Fave Show: Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo
Fave Food: Fish n' Chips and Ice Cream Sandwich from Main Street Bakery

My parents pretty much enjoyed anything and everything! Especially the things they could enjoy with their grandkids!!

The Flower and Garden Festival was absolutely beautiful and I would recommend to anyone to experience it! It really makes Epcot look EXTRA magical and beautiful!! It was gorgeous!! The weather was wonderful this time of year as well! (I know luck has a lot to do with that)
French Quarter was beautiful as well. The rooms seemed a little worn but just fine and I hear updated rooms are in it's near future!!! We loved the grounds, the bus transportation, the food court was great, easy access to Riverside, and fun boat to DTD!! We all enjoyed staying here!! We liked the double sinks and I bit more room than the values, but we would take ANY resort room ANY time!!!

Our 6 day Park Hoppers were great! We felt like we saw a lot and having the hopping feature is really nice! We will always "HOP"! Same with Magical Express, we had a nice smooth experience and loved not hauling our luggage around the airport, especially with our small children.

Things on our ever growing Disney "to-do" list!!
-Explore Tom Sawyer Island
-Check out at least one waterpark
-Swim and relax more
-Play in the Boneyard
-Explore more animal trails in AK
-See Fantasmic!
-Try a new character breakfast (Chef Mickey's)
-Stay at the Polynesian (oops, that would be MY list...)

Thank you all so so so so so much for reading along! It was a lot of fun remembering and carrying our trip out this far!! I wish we were one of those lucky families who got to travel to Disney World every year, but alas we are not! We say "every 3 years" but I am hoping that in October of 2012 we will be able to go! We would love to see Disney at that time of year and possibly experience Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Gabe would be 7, Helen would be 4! We have a two day school break in October, so I think we would go that week so we would only have to pull them out of school for 3 days. One condition would be that Helen would have to be 40" tall, otherwise we would probably wait until she hits that mark! We want to all experience most of the rides together!! I have already started throwing change in my popcorn bucket, using my Disney Visa, and saving up my Sunshine Rewards money!! I hope to stay caught up with everyone reading their TR's too!!!!!!
Oh, and I cut all my hair off yesterday for the fall!! I grew my hair out for our trip and now I am ready for a change, what do you all think???

Thanks all for reading along again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I love your haircut!! It's so cute!!

Great trip recap...

I highly recommend a fall trip. We visited that same long weekend in October in 2007 when the boys were 4 & almost 7 and had a blast. It's a fun time to be there with all of the fall decorations & MNSSHP.

 

[rndmr2]

Great finish to the TR! I love WDW in the fall, I was there end Oct/early Nov in 2004 and it was really nice. Warm but not ungodly hot, and the crowds weren't too bad either.

Love the new Haircut, too BTW!

 

[sleepy01020]

Thanks for the great trip report! Love the hair cut!

 

[Peter Pan Fan 22]

So great following along with you through the planning stages and then the trip! Great souvenirs! I love how you put together the shadow box. It came out great! And Helen's purse is too cute!! I also love how you put as her favorite food ANYTHING!! The same with my niece. She'll eat pretty much anything she can get her hands on!

Great haircut! I keep saying I'll get mine shorter, but alas I never do. If it keeps getting caught in the car door, I'll be reconsidering that reaaaallly quickly!

 

[mermaid764]

Great trip recap!

I love the collage photo frame...it's gorgeous.

And i think your haircut looks awesome!

 

[PittypatBR]

Enjoyed the trip report and your hair is adorable. We don't go every year either, so we spend a lot of time thinking about it! Thanks for sharing your fun with us.