My better late than never TR

[kschafer]

It had rained quite a bit before we left for our evening (are you keeping track? 4 for 4!) but had given us the gift of a fairly cleaned out park. We encountered a few sprinkles on our way to Canada. We saw a little bit of Off Kilter.

We hung out for a little while in an empty Canada

Then enjoyed this really beautiful and wonderfully quiet spot in UK

We stopped and got another picture on the way to France (yeah, DH doesn't take great pics sometimes )

We decided to stop and get a quick dinner. I LOVE cheese so I got this wonderful plate, and I had to get the often talked of Grey Goose slushie. Both were very good (wish I had a slushie now!)

I bought a really cute Mickey Mouse wine bottle stopper in the wine shop in France. He is right at home in my fridge!

On to Morocco

Then to Japan. We spent quite a bit of time in the large store here

(we must have walked right past the American adventure because I have no pics) By the time we got to Italy, it was beginning to get dark which gave some interesting lighting.

Apparently we were not impressed enough, it was getting dark or we were starting to speed up the tour because we have no pics from Germany.

We got a few night pictures of China but it was already closing up for the night so we moved right along.

We headed to Norway and breezed around the pavilion but Illuminations was getting set to begin. We had decided not to stake out a good spot and wait because we knew we would be back with the family the next night. But we did get behind a crowd of people as it was starting (OK, here’s the problem, I am short, I only saw the high stuff. Greg is quite a bit taller and said his view was OK)

This was an EMH evening at Epcot. Obviously we didn’t have wristbands but did wander into Mexico.

Then we headed back toward the front of the park. We stood in line for awhile to get this lovely night shot.

We were meeting Mom and Dad under spaceship earth. Greg hung back to take a few pics while I went ahead.

Dad saw me coming and walked up to me and asked if I would go check on Mom in the nearby bathroom. As I was walking in, she was walking out and informed me that she had just thrown up and felt awful!!

We slowly made our way back out to the parking lot to head back to the house. When we returned, I mentioned to SIL that mom wasn’t well and she said that my brother was also feeling queasy. Uh oh, we have a planned Epcot day tomorrow. Do we make it? Stay tuned.

 

[punkin413]

this is so cute!

what a cool date night! that must have been nice. glad you to go try the grey goose slushie - so yummy! and the night shots you got at epcot were great - especially the one of you and your DH in front of SE!

we rode the orange side of MS and if you have an inner ear infection, i'm glad you didn't! i loved it but it would've probably hurt your ear. i saw a couple of people getting sick as we got off the ride. one thing's for sure - if you're not positive about it, don't ride it!

hope you guys start feeling better!

 

[Happy Elf]

A fun date night! I bet you had fun together! I almost forget what that is like!

Sorry your mom didn't feel well!

 

[sunny_stace]

Those photos are great! I love your little Cinderella with Pluto! So sweet! I am sitting here right now looking at your grey goose slushie with great envy! After the day I had I could use about a dozen of them! Only...well, 21 days (after the next ten minutes) and I can indulge! Hope you're having a good weekend!

 

[MEK]

Lovely pictures and the princesses. You date night sounded like a lot of fun. I hope your DM recovers quickly!

 

[kschafer]

what a cool date night! that must have been nice. glad you to go try the grey goose slushie - so yummy! and the night shots you got at epcot were great - especially the one of you and your DH in front of SE!

we rode the orange side of MS and if you have an inner ear infection, i'm glad you didn't! i loved it but it would've probably hurt your ear. i saw a couple of people getting sick as we got off the ride. one thing's for sure - if you're not positive about it, don't ride it!

It was a really nice evening. No plans, no kids, just DH and I exploring.

I would love to try the orange side but am fearful of how my ear condition would react to it. Before I was diagnosed this past February, I was having 30 hour long dizzy spells. I would have a 30 hour break where I felt "better" then back to dizzy. It was no way to live! I just don't want to revisit that on vacation.

A fun date night! I bet you had fun together! I almost forget what that is like!

Honestly, we don't get away much with the kids, it was very relaxing.

I am sitting here right now looking at your grey goose slushie with great envy! After the day I had I could use about a dozen of them! Only...well, 21 days (after the next ten minutes) and I can indulge! Hope you're having a good weekend!

Ooh, have one in honor of my birthday! They are REALLY good. I actually had planned on trying the Grand Marnier slushie but there was something about the color that turned me off. The Grey Goose was excellent though!

Lovely pictures and the princesses. You date night sounded like a lot of fun. I hope your DM recovers quickly!

The kids liked WS when we returned as a family but they really were focused on the kidstops. DH and I enjoyed the architecture, gardens and shops, thing the boys would not have the patience for. It was a great way to spend a beautiful evening!

 

[kschafer]

Are the boards doing funny things this morning? I've seen a few odd things then I just posted, it said "Thank you for posting", I am listed as the last poster on the thread, but it didn't show up

I'm really just typing this to see if it shows up.

Edit: OK, it showed up after posting this one. Wierd!

 

[MeMom]

DH and I enjoyed the architecture, gardens and shops, thing the boys would not have the patience for. It was a great way to spend a beautiful evening!

It is really harder to do World Showcase right with the little guys in tow. We appreciate the architecture and the museum exhibits and the shopping from each country, and they pretty much want to dash through to things more exciting to them. It's understandable, of course, but it is nice to be able to WS in a more grown-up way sometimes.

Are the boards doing funny things this morning? I've seen a few odd things then I just posted, it said "Thank you for posting", I am listed as the last poster on the thread, but it didn't show up

I'm really just typing this to see if it shows up.

Edit: OK, it showed up after posting this one. Wierd!

They do that occasionally. Erica is the first poster on our report. Literally. Her post is first even before our first post of the report. The boards were a little wacky that night, too.

The quiet garden in the UK is where I was telling Swans and snowbell we should meet at Thanksgiving, since they are always crowd-free.

That was nice of your sister-in-law to get autographs for her little friend. I've got two little buddies, a son and a grandson of fellow teachers, who are Power Ranger crazy. I took small signs that said Hey Taylor and Hey Eli and had a couple of Power Rangers hold them up on one of our trips. Both boys were thrilled to see the Power Rangers doing their poses and holding up signs to them personally! They're four and six, and both teachers have told me they have the pictures proudly displayed in their rooms. It's nice that the CMs are so willing to spread and share the Disney magic even with those who can't be there at the time.

 

[CanadianWDWfan]

Nice update of the date night. Great pics.

Your dauglhter looked very royal in her gown. Sweet!

I too have inner ear problems, I've had vertigo, not good. There will never be a ride on MS for me. It's okay, I don't know what I'm missing.

I hope everyone got over the bug, and could enjoy the rest of the trip.

 

[kschafer]

It is really harder to do World Showcase right with the little guys in tow. We appreciate the architecture and the museum exhibits and the shopping from each country, and they pretty much want to dash through to things more exciting to them. It's understandable, of course, but it is nice to be able to WS in a more grown-up way sometimes.

I've got two little buddies, a son and a grandson of fellow teachers, who are Power Ranger crazy. I took small signs that said Hey Taylor and Hey Eli and had a couple of Power Rangers hold them up on one of our trips. Both boys were thrilled to see the Power Rangers doing their poses and holding up signs to them personally! They're four and six, and both teachers have told me they have the pictures proudly displayed in their rooms. It's nice that the CMs are so willing to spread and share the Disney magic even with those who can't be there at the time.

It was really nice to tour WS just the 2 of us. I still feel like there were things we missed. Guess I need to go back!

That's really sweet of you to do that for Taylor and Eli

Your dauglhter looked very royal in her gown. Sweet!

I too have inner ear problems, I've had vertigo, not good. There will never be a ride on MS for me. It's okay, I don't know what I'm missing.

I hope everyone got over the bug, and could enjoy the rest of the trip.

That's my niece but I did give her that dress for Christmas. It thought she looked pretty sweet.

Vertigo sucks! When I was diagnosed I had to have this test done where they intentionally made me dizzy to measure what made it worst so they could pinpoint the problem. It was awful!

Read on to see how everyone felt...

 

[kschafer]

Day 5 – Friday, June 13

Did you catch that date? FRIDAY THE 13TH. I’m not terribly superstitious but do you remember how Thursday night ended? Mom was leaving her dinner in an Epcot bathroom and younger brother is queasy…

My morning began at about 4:00 am when Daniel woke up crying that his tummy hurt. I won’t get into the details but yes, it involved needing to change the sheets on his bed. I got him a drink of water, found clean sheets for his bed and tucked him in then headed to the laundry room (OH, thank goodness for getting a house for this vacation). On my way to the laundry room I hear crying from the bathroom in the hallway. I follow the sound to find Caroline hung over the toilet too. Within a few minutes, SIL is out in the hallway reporting that Andrew is also sick.

So begins a very long few hours!! Mom, Joe, Daniel, Caroline and Andrew all have the stomach flu. It’s pretty obvious that our planned Epcot day was not going to happen. We looked at the best days calendar and Day 6 is a green light for Epcot too. Fortunately, Daniel and the other young ones all perked up by mid-morning (not so much for the older ones, Mom was pretty much down the entire day )

I pretty much spent the day doing laundry and lysol wiping the house

SO I have no pics from day 5 but DH does. You see, we had planned on Day 6 (a scheduled day off) to leave the kids at the house and Greg and I were to escape to Kennedy Space Center for the day. I am a science geek but DH is a MAJOR science geek. I know this is a part of the trip he has been seriously looking forward to. I was looking forward to it but knew DH would have MUCH more fun than I. So I told him to go ahead to Kennedy without me.

So I thought I would share some of his pictures from this day…

The launchpad (the shuttle had left on a mission the week before)

I think this is called the crawler

A mockup of the control center (I assume since I imagine the real thing would be busy during a mission)

I like this view for some reason

Someday I would love to see a shuttle launch. My Mom reports that they can see it fly over after takeoff from the gulf side but that's not close enough for my taste. I've read that there are places that will pick you up from Disney, bus you to the launch site, arrange for a decent view, give some tour time and bus you back to Disney. Sounds like a great day to me!

Coming up next...Do we make it to our make-up Epcot day?

 

[sunny_stace]

See, that is why I am superstitious! Oh your poor family! It is very lucky you were in a house! I certainly hope everyone started feeling better for Epcot day (take 2!). I know how awful it is to be sick on vacation...hopefully this story has a happy ending! It was cool to see the Space Centre, I've never been.

 

[Happy Elf]

Great pictures from Kennedy Space Center! I was there as a very young child, so I don't remember much. I would love to go back someday. IL's went a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.

 

[kschafer]

See, that is why I am superstitious! Oh your poor family! It is very lucky you were in a house! I certainly hope everyone started feeling better for Epcot day (take 2!). I know how awful it is to be sick on vacation...hopefully this story has a happy ending! It was cool to see the Space Centre, I've never been.

Having a laundry room was very convenient but really became important when we had sheets and pillowcases to have to wash too! Maybe I'll get around to an update tomorrow so you know what happens next...it is not dull!

Great pictures from Kennedy Space Center! I was there as a very young child, so I don't remember much. I would love to go back someday. IL's went a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.

I know DH enjoyed his day. Like I said, he is a MAJOR science geek. I am too but less so when it comes to space stuff. He got to do a guided tour guilt free because we saved $ on my not going. It can get to be very expensive very fast!

 

[CanadianWDWfan]

I appologize for calling your neice your daughter. Noticed I didn't even spell it right. That's what I get for Dising at 1am. Please don't hold it against me.

I bet you were so grateful to be in a condo rather than cramped into hotel rooms. Laundry was a bonus.

I can only hope everyone recovered quickly.

I've never been to Kenedy Space Center, looks interesting.

 

[MeMom]

I know our guys would like to go over to Kennedy sometime. Drew would really enjoy that, because he likes to watch all kinds of shows about space.

The last time I was over that way was in 1969 when Apollo 11 took off. We were living it St. Pete, and we drove over to see the launch that would put a man on the moon.

If they really went to the moon, that is.
You know there's a lot of controversy over all that.

I do know they went somewhere up there in the sky, because I was standing on the side of the road watching them!

Yeah, Neil waved at me from the spacecraft, too.
Pointed right at me.
It was incredible!

 

[kschafer]

I appologize for calling your neice your daughter. Noticed I didn't even spell it right. That's what I get for Dising at 1am. Please don't hold it against me.

I bet you were so grateful to be in a condo rather than cramped into hotel rooms. Laundry was a bonus.

I can only hope everyone recovered quickly.

No offense taken! I don't have a girl which I always thought was good (I would rather play cars than barbies anyday!). She is a little doll though and VERY girly, much different from my boys!

That reminds me of a funny story...at one point on our trip Daniel and Andrew were playing (they are very close in age and love the same things, so cute to watch!) well, it was obvious that Andrew has a sister because he says to Daniel "Let's play house, you be the mommy and I'll be the daddy". Daniel was silent for a moment, looked at him kind of like this and replies "How about we play racecars"

My SIL and I were rolling

the house was really a blessing when the sickies came on. the space and the laundry facilities were very much appreciated at that point.

Stay tuned to see how everyone fares.

I know our guys would like to go over to Kennedy sometime. Drew would really enjoy that, because he likes to watch all kinds of shows about space.

The last time I was over that way was in 1969 when Apollo 11 took off. We were living it St. Pete, and we drove over to see the launch that would put a man on the moon.

If they really went to the moon, that is.
You know there's a lot of controversy over all that.

I do know they went somewhere up there in the sky, because I was standing on the side of the road watching them!

Yeah, Neil waved at me from the spacecraft, too.
Pointed right at me.
It was incredible!

How cool you got to see Apollo 11!! (I hope you waved back to Neil! ) I really hope to get to see a launch someday. The only bummer for me about Greg going by himself was that we were planning on going on Saturday when the shuttle landed, that would have been cool too.

when I taught high school, lots of kids brought up the conspiracy ideas about the moon landing. There is an excellent website I would alway suggest they read called bad science. It does a great job of debunking those ideas. I also saw something recently on mythbusters that also addressed some of the ideas. That is such a great show, kids love it!

 

[kschafer]

Day 6 – Saturday, June 14

So we woke up on Saturday ready to put Friday the 13th behind us. Today was our make-up Epcot day. Unfortunately, Mom and Joe were still feeling poorly and decided to stay behind. Caroline was also a bit off so Amy decided to stay with her and James. So our slightly smaller group headed out in time for rope drop. (Sorry, not a lot of pictures this morning)

As we were waiting, I had my ONLY dis-sighting, actually, she spotted me. I of course had my LGMH on my backpack and the woman standing behind me was explaining what it meant to her husband. We introduced ourselves but unfortunately, I cannot remember her name so…Hi fellow Diser, whoever you are!

First up for the day was SOARIN’ (along with a couple hundred of our new best friends ). Andrew was not tall enough so we got a child swap. Uncle Ben volunteered to stay behind with him since he had already been on it. They went and rode living with the land while we waited in line. The little shadow games you play in line are really a lot of fun! We made our way to the front of the line and ended up in the 2nd row. Of course I had heard the debate about rows and was surprised that I was a bit distracted by the feet above me.

We found Andrew and Uncle Ben and did the swap. I don’t remember who rode with him but I know I went and rode living with the land while they were on Soarin. We grabbed fastpasses for later in the morning then hit the kidstop. This is a really fun thing they have for kids.

Next was The Seas.

Honestly, I had been looking forward to this for awhile but was a bit disappointed. It was nice but not magical to me, I don’t know why. There were a few neat things in here. There is of course the obligatory head in the shark’s mouth photo

Some games to play

And a kidstop

The tanks were fine but not what I was in the mood for on this day I guess

Next we went to Journey into Imagination. We walked right up to the loading area and Patrick decided he was NOT going to ride. I’m not sure what his problem was but I am not one of the parents with the philosophy to make kids ride if they don’t want to. I was ticked off (looking back on this day, I think I was just a little pissy and I don’t really know why) but he and I went to the waiting area to play. When the rest of the group found us, my Dad said “Come on, let’s ride” so he and I went together and left the others to play. The area outside of this ride is full of lots of fun things to do. If I hadn’t been so pissy, I probably would have really enjoyed myself.

By this time, our fastpasses for Soarin were ready so we headed back to The Land to ride, which Patrick also refused to go on , so Greg stayed behind with him. This time we got the front row which really helped my mood! I will definitely ask for the front again next time.

It was getting to be about lunch time, my mood was iffy, Patrick was being a grouch and we had hopes of making it back for the evening and Illuminations so we decided to head out for a nap. I ran and grabbed fastpasses for Test Track to use when we returned while the others made their way to the van. I decided to stop and get a few solo photopass pics.

Sorry this sounded a bit negative, please read on in next post...

 

[kschafer]

YES we finally make it to an evening at Disney! (Another lesson learned, leave early enough to get a nap, especially when you are hot and pissy) The afternoon rest did wonders for my mood and I was ready for an evening at Epcot. It appears from the pictures that Ellie stayed at the house with Joe. Mom and Dad passed on Epcot to attend Saturday evening church services. And Amy, Caroline and James caught up with us later.

We started with our Test Track fastpasses. Andrew was too small for this also so he and Shelby went to look at the cars

While Greg, Ben, Margaret, the boys and I rode

So cool you can put your ride pics on the photopass. I hope they add this to more rides (but then they couldn't sell you one for $15 I guess) Then we child swapped and Shelby and I rode (I look terribly unimpressed in this pic ).

The child swap is a great idea, my only complaint is that the second riders must go back through the line. Yes, it’s the fastpass line but in our case the fastpass line was still 20 minutes. Add in ride and organization time and our group spent an hour on Test Track alone, very frustrating (And I wasn’t even the one trying to entertain kids who weren’t riding)

At some point, Ben and Margaret left to find Amy and the kids. The plan was for us to meet up for Illuminations. The rest of us headed to WS but first stopped to get some pics. First Shelby and Andrew

Then us. A piece of advice for those travelling with kids. I had read to pack single packs of drink mix, great idea! I let my boys choose what they wanted and they picked out fruit punch, BIG MISTAKE! My advice is stick with lemonade, check out Daniel’s shirt…

We made our way around WS starting in Mexico. But only took pictures in China

What are they looking at?

They were pretty impressive. Then we took some time to drum

Since we had cancelled our Biergarten ADR for the night before (which we wouldn’t have made anyway due to sickness!) we decided on CS in Germany. The boys had hot dogs, Greg and I had brats and kraut and we shared a giant pretzel, yummy!! Shelby and I were anxious to try the Kir Royale so she went and got CS in Morocco and France to get our drinks. We enjoyed them while staking out our spot for Illuminations.

After our drinks were finished, we poured Sprite into the glasses for the kids. Andrew and Daniel really enjoyed them!

We had a fantastic spot for Illuminations. A few more pics from our spot…

I really like this one

We were obviously very far from our car at this spot and I had read about the mad dash to the parking lot. We decided to enjoy a leisurely walk back to the front of the park and it was wonderful! I highly recommend this to anyone. True, everything was closed down but we enjoyed the lights and music and coolness of the evening. A very relaxing end to a slow but enjoyable evening.

Tomorrow, Father’s Day at Animal Kingdom! (Or is it?)

 

[Happy Elf]

Great spot for Illuminations! It's amazing what a little mid-day break can do isn't it! DH likes (needs) to stop and rest mid-day. How were the crowds/weather in June? We are thinking of a trip this June.