VickiVM
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 3, 2001
- Messages
- 2,318
Myself (Vicki): Planned this trip long before Lee knew about it
Husband Lee: Finally gave in to my sick Disney obsession (like he had a choice)
The Children -
Alex (8): Not so adventurous and wanted to know before every ride if it was fast and goes up and down
Sydney (6): Hugged all characters like they were long lost sorority sisters
Allyson (4): Dug all the rides (including the ones the older two didnt), but closed her eyes and pretended she was asleep whenever we had a character encounter.
Grandma (my mom): Was a trooper all the way! Probably would have ridden more scary rides if those pesky grandchildren werent hogging all the attention.
Day 5 Tuesday, October 1
Well, the alarm goes off and the wake-up call rings. And I fall back asleep for another 30 minutes or so. Its just all catching up to me. I get up, shower and get the kids up. Pop-Tarts is on the breakfast menu. I had not done any prepping the night before, so Im busy getting the children dressed and putting the backpack together with the usual snacks, wipes, pens, autograph books, camera, etc. Today we decide to take a packed lunch to MGM so we dont have to return back to the room. Lee is in charge of making sandwiches and packing drinks in the collapsible bag.
Mom seems a little overwhelmed and tired and has woken up with a headache . She decides to hang out in the room and read. I thought that was probably a good idea. We make our way to the boat dock at about 8:20 and wait around 15 minutes for the next boat. We finally get to MGM at about 8:55am. Surprise Mornings is lost on us. We still were able to get in before everyone else in the line since technically it was still 5 minutes before official opening. A lot of good that did us because we spent the next 45 minutes correcting The Stroller Situation. See, I thought $15 was just ludicrous to spend on a double stroller when my 6 year old goes to school full time as a first grader and runs, jumps, plays for hours on end. So I warned her that today we were going with a single stroller for Ally. I should have known better when the questions started. But why does she get a stroller? What if my legs start hurting? You get the picture. But I resolve to not give in.
We get the single, (which by the way why doesnt Disney offer strollers with just a bit more storage space than a pocket that holds only the daily programs??) amidst a silently pouting 6 year old. Lee waits in the wrong line to get a locker and then is re-directed. Finally, were on our way towards the Disney Playhouse Show. We must have looked stressed, because none of the photograph hawkers ask us if we want a photo taken of us. I take us the wrong way down towards Tower of Terror (and poor Alex thinks Im going to make him ride it) and that is where the first real meltdown occurs mine, that is. Sydneys quiet revolt gets louder and uglier and we have a sit on the curb. Lee decides its just best to make her happy than have to endure this. Im determined to maintain my control as THE PARENT. Syd and I have a chat on the curb. Dont know why, but Lee is videotaping our exchange. I try to explain to Syd that it takes a lot of our spending money for the day to get a double stroller. She doesnt care if it requires a second mortgage. So I thought I would hit her with something she might relate to. I tell her that if she wants a double stroller, than the difference will be coming out of her spending money. Then I start waving her envelope with her $20 Disney Dollars. I pull out ten of them telling her that it will only leave her 10. (OK, I lied to her, it would only require seven of her Disney Dollars, but I was going for effect here.) It backfired. She took her 10 Disney Dollars and walked up to Lee and told him she wanted a double stroller please. Moms, have you ever seen yourself correcting your children? Well, remember, Lee was filming this and I have to say, we laughed pretty hard at all my finger pointing and Sydneys reaction. Poor Lee had to walk back to the front and exchange the stroller. He was gone a few minutes when I realized I had the receipt which he might need. So there go all the Morenos back to the front. Aye, Aye, Aye!!
Missed Disney Playhouse, but caught The Little Mermaid. Kids enjoyed it. In front of the Hat, there was Tigger and Pooh. Syd bolted out of her $7 chair to visit with her Buds. Ally and I stayed far back waiting. Next up was MuppetVision 3-D. When the kids realized it was the same kind of attraction as HISTA, they became very apprehensive. I tried to reassure them that nothing would be coming out from the bottom of their seat. That at the most, it might be loud. They, again, refused to put on their glasses and all three of them had their legs and feet up on the seat of the chair, criss-cross. Lee tells me (rather loudly) NO MORE 3-D. I finally get the children to put on their glasses and at the end they did enjoy the show. We move on when Buzz and Woody are making an appearance. The Girls get in line while The Boys go get something to drink. Ally is beginning to panic and is crying relentlessly that she wants to go with Daddy. The line is quite long and I dont want to lose our place. Lee and Alex are taking a while and Ally is having a major meltdown. Finally the Boys arrive and Ally and I go back to the Hat to sit in the shade. She is immediately much better. Lee radios us that they are on their way back and I go back to the locker to get our lunch. We find a spot and I start unpacking lunch. There are only 4 sandwiches because Lee forgot to make the 5th one. (How convenient!) He volunteers to go get a burger and fries so I can eat the sandwich. We eat lunch and everyone is still a bit edgy. Lee was about to call it a day, but I began to pout because I felt we had not done anything here today. So I take the bag back to the locker and then we finally get in to see the Disney Playhouse show. Ally really loved this one and it was a joy to watch her really let loose and have fun. After this we catch the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire show. Now this was fun for all of us. Ally and Syd cheered everyone on as though they were kin. It cracked me up to see Allyson whooping and hollering for all the contestants. She punched in her answers and thought she was getting them all right. I managed to make the Top 10 on the last round. The theatre was not completely full, but like I mentioned before, it was as though they were putting on a show to a standing room only crowd.
Next, we make it to the HISTK playground. Wow, a parents nightmare! There is no real way to keep an eye on your children and even though there are attendants, if your kid is hurt or cant find their way back, no one really knows. Ally gets up the courage to climb the web with the kids and we tell them to wait for her and watch her. Do they?? NOOOO. Boy was Lee ticked. OK, now he officially calls it a day.
We head back to the entrance and I get a hankering for ice cream. As we make our way back to the boat dock, we decide to go to Beaches and Cream for ice cream. But not just any ice cream THE KITCHEN SINK. I told Lee that it would probably be more than we could eat, but he doesnt care its vacation.
So us Five Little Piggies (as our waitress announces to the rest of the restaurant patrons) dug into our mountain of various flavors of ice cream, candy sprinkles, all sorts of toppings, pieces of cake and candy bars, cherries, bananas, and a whole can of whipped cream. (Im sure there was more to it, but its all a blur now that I think about it.)
We waddle out of there. Lee had really wanted to take one of the boats out for a ride and decide this time to take Sydney with him for a little Father/Daughter time. What a lovely idea. Ally didnt think so, though. I try to grab her hand to walk with her back to the villa, but she runs away from me and grabs onto Lee like a tick. Not a pretty sight, peeling her off and carrying her to the villa. We all suffered through another meltdown all the way back to the room where she fell asleep promptly. Reality was going to kick in for a while as I had Alex work on some of his homework while I did a couple loads of laundry.
We ate in the villa that evening. We took the kids out for an evening swim and we chatted with a father who drove from Chicago. Another day that had its moments, but ended on a pleasant note. Thank you, Daddy, for driving us 1200 miles to be here.
Tomorrow - Magic Kingdom Day.
Husband Lee: Finally gave in to my sick Disney obsession (like he had a choice)
The Children -
Alex (8): Not so adventurous and wanted to know before every ride if it was fast and goes up and down
Sydney (6): Hugged all characters like they were long lost sorority sisters
Allyson (4): Dug all the rides (including the ones the older two didnt), but closed her eyes and pretended she was asleep whenever we had a character encounter.
Grandma (my mom): Was a trooper all the way! Probably would have ridden more scary rides if those pesky grandchildren werent hogging all the attention.
Day 5 Tuesday, October 1
Well, the alarm goes off and the wake-up call rings. And I fall back asleep for another 30 minutes or so. Its just all catching up to me. I get up, shower and get the kids up. Pop-Tarts is on the breakfast menu. I had not done any prepping the night before, so Im busy getting the children dressed and putting the backpack together with the usual snacks, wipes, pens, autograph books, camera, etc. Today we decide to take a packed lunch to MGM so we dont have to return back to the room. Lee is in charge of making sandwiches and packing drinks in the collapsible bag.
Mom seems a little overwhelmed and tired and has woken up with a headache . She decides to hang out in the room and read. I thought that was probably a good idea. We make our way to the boat dock at about 8:20 and wait around 15 minutes for the next boat. We finally get to MGM at about 8:55am. Surprise Mornings is lost on us. We still were able to get in before everyone else in the line since technically it was still 5 minutes before official opening. A lot of good that did us because we spent the next 45 minutes correcting The Stroller Situation. See, I thought $15 was just ludicrous to spend on a double stroller when my 6 year old goes to school full time as a first grader and runs, jumps, plays for hours on end. So I warned her that today we were going with a single stroller for Ally. I should have known better when the questions started. But why does she get a stroller? What if my legs start hurting? You get the picture. But I resolve to not give in.
We get the single, (which by the way why doesnt Disney offer strollers with just a bit more storage space than a pocket that holds only the daily programs??) amidst a silently pouting 6 year old. Lee waits in the wrong line to get a locker and then is re-directed. Finally, were on our way towards the Disney Playhouse Show. We must have looked stressed, because none of the photograph hawkers ask us if we want a photo taken of us. I take us the wrong way down towards Tower of Terror (and poor Alex thinks Im going to make him ride it) and that is where the first real meltdown occurs mine, that is. Sydneys quiet revolt gets louder and uglier and we have a sit on the curb. Lee decides its just best to make her happy than have to endure this. Im determined to maintain my control as THE PARENT. Syd and I have a chat on the curb. Dont know why, but Lee is videotaping our exchange. I try to explain to Syd that it takes a lot of our spending money for the day to get a double stroller. She doesnt care if it requires a second mortgage. So I thought I would hit her with something she might relate to. I tell her that if she wants a double stroller, than the difference will be coming out of her spending money. Then I start waving her envelope with her $20 Disney Dollars. I pull out ten of them telling her that it will only leave her 10. (OK, I lied to her, it would only require seven of her Disney Dollars, but I was going for effect here.) It backfired. She took her 10 Disney Dollars and walked up to Lee and told him she wanted a double stroller please. Moms, have you ever seen yourself correcting your children? Well, remember, Lee was filming this and I have to say, we laughed pretty hard at all my finger pointing and Sydneys reaction. Poor Lee had to walk back to the front and exchange the stroller. He was gone a few minutes when I realized I had the receipt which he might need. So there go all the Morenos back to the front. Aye, Aye, Aye!!
Missed Disney Playhouse, but caught The Little Mermaid. Kids enjoyed it. In front of the Hat, there was Tigger and Pooh. Syd bolted out of her $7 chair to visit with her Buds. Ally and I stayed far back waiting. Next up was MuppetVision 3-D. When the kids realized it was the same kind of attraction as HISTA, they became very apprehensive. I tried to reassure them that nothing would be coming out from the bottom of their seat. That at the most, it might be loud. They, again, refused to put on their glasses and all three of them had their legs and feet up on the seat of the chair, criss-cross. Lee tells me (rather loudly) NO MORE 3-D. I finally get the children to put on their glasses and at the end they did enjoy the show. We move on when Buzz and Woody are making an appearance. The Girls get in line while The Boys go get something to drink. Ally is beginning to panic and is crying relentlessly that she wants to go with Daddy. The line is quite long and I dont want to lose our place. Lee and Alex are taking a while and Ally is having a major meltdown. Finally the Boys arrive and Ally and I go back to the Hat to sit in the shade. She is immediately much better. Lee radios us that they are on their way back and I go back to the locker to get our lunch. We find a spot and I start unpacking lunch. There are only 4 sandwiches because Lee forgot to make the 5th one. (How convenient!) He volunteers to go get a burger and fries so I can eat the sandwich. We eat lunch and everyone is still a bit edgy. Lee was about to call it a day, but I began to pout because I felt we had not done anything here today. So I take the bag back to the locker and then we finally get in to see the Disney Playhouse show. Ally really loved this one and it was a joy to watch her really let loose and have fun. After this we catch the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire show. Now this was fun for all of us. Ally and Syd cheered everyone on as though they were kin. It cracked me up to see Allyson whooping and hollering for all the contestants. She punched in her answers and thought she was getting them all right. I managed to make the Top 10 on the last round. The theatre was not completely full, but like I mentioned before, it was as though they were putting on a show to a standing room only crowd.
Next, we make it to the HISTK playground. Wow, a parents nightmare! There is no real way to keep an eye on your children and even though there are attendants, if your kid is hurt or cant find their way back, no one really knows. Ally gets up the courage to climb the web with the kids and we tell them to wait for her and watch her. Do they?? NOOOO. Boy was Lee ticked. OK, now he officially calls it a day.
We head back to the entrance and I get a hankering for ice cream. As we make our way back to the boat dock, we decide to go to Beaches and Cream for ice cream. But not just any ice cream THE KITCHEN SINK. I told Lee that it would probably be more than we could eat, but he doesnt care its vacation.
So us Five Little Piggies (as our waitress announces to the rest of the restaurant patrons) dug into our mountain of various flavors of ice cream, candy sprinkles, all sorts of toppings, pieces of cake and candy bars, cherries, bananas, and a whole can of whipped cream. (Im sure there was more to it, but its all a blur now that I think about it.)
We waddle out of there. Lee had really wanted to take one of the boats out for a ride and decide this time to take Sydney with him for a little Father/Daughter time. What a lovely idea. Ally didnt think so, though. I try to grab her hand to walk with her back to the villa, but she runs away from me and grabs onto Lee like a tick. Not a pretty sight, peeling her off and carrying her to the villa. We all suffered through another meltdown all the way back to the room where she fell asleep promptly. Reality was going to kick in for a while as I had Alex work on some of his homework while I did a couple loads of laundry.
We ate in the villa that evening. We took the kids out for an evening swim and we chatted with a father who drove from Chicago. Another day that had its moments, but ended on a pleasant note. Thank you, Daddy, for driving us 1200 miles to be here.
Tomorrow - Magic Kingdom Day.
