NateNLogansDad + party of 25 + AKL + MNSSHP = a few thousand pictures (Bonus Video!!)

[NateNLogansDad]

I can't believe I haven't responded to you guys!!!! I'm sorry about that!!!

YAY! Another update! Loved it! I've never gone through the Land, though now that I've seen your pics, I feel like I have so I won't have to do it when we go! It looked neat, but I have to agree with you, alittle bit of a snoozefest for me.

Awe, you gotta do it at least once! I should have made it sound more like a thrill ride I can just see your face when you got off it

Your text to your Mom was so touching! I bet you made her day. Isn't it just amazing how our first trips always make the longest, most lasting impressions? In your case, it was also such a heartwarming, family quality time trip that you all needed at that time.

Awe, thanks. It really killed me being there at the Beach Club without her. I can't wait till the day we all go back. It's our place to go to get away from reality....and who in their right mind wants to deal with reality!!!

I think you've made my decision for my quiet, husband/wife trip next year. I'm definitely going to try to book the Beach Club. I'll book at AKV at 11 and then switch at the 7 month mark (hopefully in September that won't be a problem).

I always want to jump up and down for people going to the Beach Club for the first time You guys are going to LOVE IT!!!!! You gotta take one night to just walk around the Boardwalk area at night and try out Jellyrolls! I wish you lived close by, we could make a night out of talking about it!!!! Can you tell we love the Beach Club

Thanks for such great updates and I love all of the Phillies gear atleast one person is wearing in the pictures!

Trust me, there was plenty of Phillies gear worn that week. I can't take pictures of myself, but I usually had on a Phillies T-shirt at least once a day! And between Tina and her brothers, there's not a family more into our team!

Even though most of our team is gone this year

I just caught up and I love your TR so far! Awesome pictures! 25 people must have been quite an adventure.

I tried to give you plenty of time to catch up
Seriously though, this is just taking me FOREVER to get finished isn't it????

As for having 25 people.....yea, let's go with "Adventure"

 

[NateNLogansDad]

A new update in about 2 minutes........

 

[NateNLogansDad]

So, Day 5 huh? It’s our Disney Hump Day. From here on out, it’s just a race against the clock till our flight home. Between feeling like we were being pulled in several directions at once for a few days by everybody wanting to do different things and still ride every ride with the rest of our extremely large group and what not, and still trying to enjoy our time in the parks, we were kind of feeling like we needed a little down time. (If that was a run on sentence, I apologize to my junior high English teachers)

At first that’s what our plans were going to be this morning, just relax. We started out by sleeping in a little and were just going to hang out for the morning. This evening we had reservations for 25 people at the Poly for dinner and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party afterwards. So basically, we were going to take the morning nice and slow.

Well, plans change….and we adapt.

Chuck and Fran (remember…my in-laws?) wanted to head over to Hollywood Studios to check out the stunt show. At the last minute, we all (Chuck Sr, Fran, Chuck Jr, Sean, Brian, Tina and I with the boys) got dressed and ran out the door….of course missing the next bus. The second bus was PACKED but we hopped on in hopes of getting in to see more than just Lights Motors Action.

Around 11:45 we unloaded from the bus still sleepy.

And headed in…

For whatever reason, we hadn’t eaten anything yet so everybody wanted to grab a small bite to eat. I grabbed a list of show times and tried to figure out how the heck this was going to work. The stunt show was staring now so that was out. I knew we needed to be back at the front of the park around 2-2:30 to grab a bus back to the hotel so we can get things together for tonight. That gave us just over 2hrs in the park.

It’s do-able right???

I suggested we head over to the Commissary for something light.

I’m a big fan of the battered fish there and how there’s usually no wait to order and go. We lucked out, there was only a few people in front of us when we ordered and there was plenty of seats available.

Now it’s 12:27, this is still do-able. Earlier in the week, Logan had begged me to go see the Indiana Jones show but the times never worked out for whatever we had going on. We had some time to kill before the next stunt show so we speed walked over….

12:30 we got there with a few minutes to spare. The show was set to start at 12:45. See? This is going to work!

My main fear right now was how fast can we walk to the stunt show from here? According to the math in my head, once this was over we had 5 minutes to get over there. Still do-able right?

We had great seats as usual. For some reason, there is always room way down front!

With a few minutes till the show started I snapped a few pics…..

If you’ve read any of my previous Trip Reports, you’ve seen me make a fool out of myself several times here already. I’ve been picked to be in the show a few times and every time I’ve had my own Death Scene. This time I wanted to be in the show but I didn’t want to at the same time so I really wasn’t into it when I raised my hand up. I still thought that maybe…..well, nope.

Not this time.

Oh well, I wanted to hang out with everybody anyways to see their reaction to…..

WAIT A SEC!!!! THIS IS YOUR DISCLAIMER!!!!
If you haven’t seen the Indiana Jones Show before PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE skip the text during this section. I don’t want to ruin anything for you! Continue reading when you see the stunt show part!


So yea, you know what I wanted to see the reaction to….but we’ll get to that in a minute.

There were a couple of guest producers in the audience who volunteered to come out and start the show….

 

[NateNLogansDad]

And then our star appeared!

And just when everything was going his way….

Poor guy. I know that feeling.

Now it was time to bring out the guests who were selected in the beginning of the show.

The director explained what was going on and how they would incorporate the “extras” into the film. I’m still not sure why I wasn’t in it …..but I’m not bitter

Chuck and Brian took in every word….Logan, not so much. I guess he’s heard it all one too many times…..

The performers started doing what they do well. I’m telling you, if those bad guys ever acted like this here on U.S. soil, they’d probably get away with whatever they wanted.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

And seriously….how old is Indy now? He’s got to be in his 60’s right? Well, than how does he still look so young?

Must be some kind of special cream or something.

He still knows how to use that whip too…..

Several times a day this guys sits here and films the whole thing…..

(I think our park admission would be much cheaper if they switched to digital…..but I digress.)

Now, you know that is a great show. Don’t you wish you were there now?

But wait! There’s more!

Seriously stop reading this if you haven’t seen the show yet!!!

This is where they pulled out all the extras and go over a few things. They selected one “special” extra to go over how to take a punch.

Everybody is paying attention since they have never seen this before……

Notice Tina giggling in the far right of that last picture? Yea, we were watching sean.

As the small “extra” got beat up a little, it took him a minute….

But they let everybody in on what was going on…..this “extra” actually was a real stunt man…..

Brian and Chuck got a kick out of it…

I think Sean was baffled by how they were able to pull the wool over his eyes….

I’m really trying hard not to say too much here because I know SOMEBODY is going to end up reading all of this before they go on their first trip. Hopefully, I’m vague enough for them to still enjoy it but detailed enough for all my veteran readers!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

A few minutes later, after Sean was all caught up, the action scenes started back up!
(P.S. I’m only messing with Sean because he’s the only family member reading this as he’s bored at work. Hi Sean!!!! LOL)

And of course Indy saves the day and is a hero to us all….yadda yadda yadda but we need to get the heck out of here!!!!

Checking the time on my phone, I knew we were really pushing it to get to the stunt show! We really should have left during the last scene and headed over but we stayed till the end and had to leave with the thousand other people who came to see it.

Walking past the gift shop, I noticed that Disney was well equipped for any and all terror attacks….

FINALLY, 3 minutes late, we made it over to…..

I know Chuck was a little annoyed that we were missing the first few minutes of the show but I kept reassuring him that NOTHING interesting goes on in the first few minutes.

I was wrong.

When the heck did Lightning McQueen start showing up here?!?!?!?

Mater even made a guest appearance via satellite!

If I had known they were going to be there, I would have postponed Indy and been there early for this! Actually that probably would have been better because than I might have been in the Indy show…whatever. I’m not bitter.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

So we watched as they called out a kid from the audience to fulfill a dream of his by letting him remote control a full size stunt car.

Yea, we’ve seen this before…..

Then we got to watch as the remote control car spins around and crushes the boy’s pride.

His family, friends, and 2,000 stranger all laughed at him. I threw a tomato at his head.

NO! Stop it. It wasn’t that bad! I didn’t throw anything, but I do always feel bad for the kid. Granted, he does get a special pin to remember it all…..but I think ALL the people laughing at you is hard to forget. Oh well. As long as he wasn’t planning on being a public speaker, I’m sure he’ll turn out just fine.

So anyways.

After the kid left the park, the show continued.

Disney has set up an elaborate show that really keeps you hooked from the beginning to the end. They had a team of imagineers come up with a story filled with action, and fire, and a hero that wins in the end.

I’m going to change that.

Our story starts out with this punk kid in the city suburbs doing donuts in a small town parking lot.

His car breaks down behind a building but he’s in luck. Someone left a running motorcycle unattended. This kid is no stranger to the law so he steals the bike and to show off, does a burn out in front of a fruit stand…..he’s hard core.

The owner of the bike belongs to a car club and because he lives in Florida, he has a civil duty to carry a firearm. Unfortunately he misses, hitting the parking lot several feet above and in front of the suspect.

The suspect does a 180 and takes off away from the owner of the bike…

Another member of the car club, who had taken a nap in his car, wakes up from the gunshot and goes after the suspect. Still half asleep, he hits a curb sending his car onto just two wheels.

James, a fellow biker also takes off in pursuit quickly catching up.

As the suspect turns to see James while rounding a corner, he missed the next turn and crashed into what appears to be a gated canal.

Luckily he was able to grab onto a net full of dirty pillows which swung him around to a loosely tied up wave runner. Amazingly, the key were left in it and he was able to use that in his escape.

He took off down the canal but after a few seconds, he had reached a dead end. What made things even worse was that there were no steps down at this end of the canal for him to get out with. So he turned around.

Even though he never wore a holster, this guy was from Florida and had done hard time…which meant he had guns, and he knew how to hide things well.

James had watched the suspect ride up and down the canal from a safe distance away on his bike. When the suspect came back onto land, he made his move.

Unfortunately, someone had spilled highly flammable gasoline all over the road which caused him to fall off the bike and slide all the way over to the suspect.

The suspect shot at the gasoline several times trying to set it on fire but for some reason it never lit!

The suspect helped James up from the ground and apologized for taking the bike. He had learned a lot that day. He knew now that crime just doesn’t pay and next time he would make sure to fill the gas tank up when doing donuts in an empty parking lot.

I know I know….it’s just touching when you hear about people learning life long lessons.

No animals were hurt during the making of this episode.

Here is some more footage that didn’t quite make it into our film…….

The show ended right at 2:00 and we needed to start making our way to the busses pronto. Dinner would be starting before you know it and the kids still needed to get their makeup done.

Yea, you read that correctly.

I promise I’m not making my 2 boys get all glittered up for dinner, but you’re going to have to wait until the next update to see what the heck I’m talking about!

See ya real soon!

 

[dvc4life]

Wow! Two fabulous updates. And great photos!

Very, very good.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Wow! Two fabulous updates. And great photos!

Very, very good.

Thanks for sticking around so long! I have a feeling I lost a few people along the way

 

[wdwnomad]

I am still around!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

I am still around!

Thanks for the heads up! I seriously think mostly everybody gave up Even so, I am going to finish this thing dag nabbit!!!

Thanks for sticking around!!!

 

[DaisynDonald]

I recently found your TR & am finally caught up..... I'm loving it!!! Your pictures are fantastic! We stayed at AKL for the first time in December & can't wait to go back in November. Don't think I could go with 24 other people!!

 

[cyndiloveswalt]

Great update Rob! Love your version of the stunt show. I'm still here! Actually your pace is perfect for me, I can just barely keep up! Can't imagine doing it with 25 people, we went with just 6 others once and were miserable. We really do like to be at our own pace. Keep it up!

 

[NLD]

Still here, and all caught up! Love the Indy show pictures and LMA. Still haven't made it to these, maybe on the next trip?

Makeup for the boys? Pirates League...?

 

[ajf1007]

Awe, you gotta do it at least once! I should have made it sound more like a thrill ride I can just see your face when you got off it

Oh your lucky you didn't make it like a thrill ride, you'd be in big trouble then mister! If we do decide to do that ride, I'll just have to schedule it when I need a break, off my feet! Or to take care of my nasty habit....

Awe, thanks. It really killed me being there at the Beach Club without her. I can't wait till the day we all go back. It's our place to go to get away from reality....and who in their right mind wants to deal with reality!!!

I bet it was was hard to be there without her, it was so sweet that you let her know that you were thinking of her and that she was missed. Such a good son you are! I'm really looking forward to our first visit to the Beach Club, in addition to a nice relaxing trip with just the two of us. Well....and about a million other people, but I don't know them so as far as I am concerned, it'll just be the two of us

I always want to jump up and down for people going to the Beach Club for the first time You guys are going to LOVE IT!!!!! You gotta take one night to just walk around the Boardwalk area at night and try out Jellyrolls! I wish you lived close by, we could make a night out of talking about it!!!! Can you tell we love the Beach Club

I have to say, your feelings and excitement for the Beach Club, put me over the edge, so thank you for that! I know - can you imagine if we lived close by? We could start our own "club". I could talk about Disney, DVC, etc., all night. I really could. It's my obsession I guess. But really, I've been eyeing the Beach Club for quite some time and when I told my husband the other night that I decided it was going to be the Beach Club next year, he was pretty excited!

Trust me, there was plenty of Phillies gear worn that week. I can't take pictures of myself, but I usually had on a Phillies T-shirt at least once a day! And between Tina and her brothers, there's not a family more into our team!

Even though most of our team is gone this year

Yeah Phillies!! I'm excited for this year! Though I love the Phillies, I'm definitely more of a hockey fan. We have season tickets to the Flyers and I love them! I think it's the whole physical aggression thing, it helps me to relieve stress when I watch a hockey game. Hmm... that doesn't sound so good when I say it out loud. But yet, it explains a lot....

 

[Snappy in OK]

I'm still here. We were actually in WDW at the same time. I've been reliving our trip through your report - although it was just DH, DD & DS!!

 

[hjd0411]

The job's the job. I'll leave it at that. Nobody's real happy there. I guess that's why it's called work right?

You guys are nuts!!! It's like a cross country tour of all things Disney! I totally agree with the thought behind it all, it's much cheaper and less time on flights than doing separate trips. Very smart! I have a feeling I'd be with all that time on an airplane....not because I don't like to fly (I actually really enjoy it) but more because I need to get up and walk around. Last week, I would have said go have a smoke, but this week I'm trying to quit Good luck and I hope it's the most amazing vacation anyone has ever had

Nuts might just about cover it...!!!! That's why I only get to the US every couple of years - that flight is a bit much. Like you I like to get up and move, but there is only so much room on a 747!! Now if only they could set up some sort of walking track I'd be happy!!
Hey - good on you giving up the nicotine!! I did it about 15 years ago and have never looked back. It's hard but so worth it! Keep up the good work.
Loving your updates - your photos on BTMR are really good - I have to build up the nerve to hold my camera up on those rides - I'm usually the one hanging on for dear life to the rails..!!
Glad to hear that you are well after your illness - there is nothing worse!
OK - will wait to read more when you are able.

 

[abcangie87]

ROB!!!! I read your last TR last year....hung around the boards a lot for awhile, went on our Disney cruise, came back, and have been out of touch! I'd bookmarked last year's TR so I could come back when working on our details for our next trip to the world, and found you've been again!! SO I'm just catching up!!! Can't wait to read it!

 

[abcangie87]

I've eaten a lot of popcorn without trip report from Rob to read now that I'm all caught up!

Isn't life just too crazy sometimes?!

Seriously though, I vote you drink an extra caffeinated soda tomorrow night, send the wife out shopping when the kids go to bed, and give us another update!

Hope all is well, looking forward to the next installment!

 

[OrangeJuice]

Just wanted to let you know that I love your TRs so far! Looking forward to your next post.