Next trip I'm booking a resort w/out a pool! *Pg 25 Final DxDP numbers & last update!

[AKL LOVER]

Ok I spent all morning reading your TR.. First off.. I know I saw you and your family at AK.. One thing about me is I am great with faces.. and as soon as I saw your pics I know I had seen you somewhere and then saw that we were at AK the same day.. Also, can't believe you didn't love Narcoosses.. It was pretty much my all time favorite restaurant.. I probably would only go back there though if I was on DDxP..3.. I went to that DIS meet at Epcot at 3 on the 7th.. I waited for like over 20 minutes.. I got a grey goose slushie and tired to find shade, but it was SO hot that day that after 20 minutes we walked away.. We ended up getting a Passport for Logan and went through all the countries.. But, i was bummed I didn't meet anyone...

I KNEW there was someone else who was supposed to be at that meet that ended up not being there! I couldn't think of who it was though. That is such a bummer. I got there about 5 minutes early and didn't see anyone until I recognized Joyce and her DH about 15 or 20 minutes after 3. In fact, I was about to give up and leave when I spotted them! I'm jealous that you did all the countries that day--I didn't get the chance! And I missed some stuff that I was really looking forward to in WS.

I can't believe that you saw us at AK! If only you had known at the time that it was us then you could have said hi and we could have had a surprise DISmeet. What were we doing/where were we when you saw us?? We (meaning my kids specifically) weren't doing anything embarrassing when you saw us were we (like having a meltdown b/c I wouldn't let them go back to the pool yet )??

I would have enjoyed Narcossee's much better if the food had been cooked better. I know that a lot of people really enjoy it (and I did like the atmosphere and the location) so maybe it was just an off night for them food-wise??

 

[loganpaulsmom]

I don't exactly where I saw you.. but, I know it I did.. because your whole family looks familar to me.. So, i am assuming it was at AK, because the day of the meet and greet you said it was just you.. its too bad we never actually ran into each other.. Logan would have loved some other kid interaction besides with his father and I.. I did actually meet someone that was part of the meet.. but it wasn't anyone that I had heard of or spoken too before or followed and she had traveled there to Disney by herself specifically for the meet and greet.. I am a more meet a group of people kind of girl..

 

[AKL LOVER]

I don't exactly where I saw you.. but, I know it I did.. because your whole family looks familar to me.. So, i am assuming it was at AK, because the day of the meet and greet you said it was just you.. its too bad we never actually ran into each other.. Logan would have loved some other kid interaction besides with his father and I.. I did actually meet someone that was part of the meet.. but it wasn't anyone that I had heard of or spoken too before or followed and she had traveled there to Disney by herself specifically for the meet and greet.. I am a more meet a group of people kind of girl..

Well then my kids must have been behaving and not making a spectacle of themselves because you certainly would have remembered where you saw us if they had been!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Well it's official. I've got our hotel booked for April next year. But I'm not going to tell you where yet...gotta save something for my PTR!


That is if anyone will follow along after my disaster of a TR that is taking forever. Literally.


So to continue this madness and perhaps finish before the cows come home or pigs fly or *insert your favorite saying here*....



Sunday May 8th


That's right folks, we've finally made it to the last day.

It was a great day and a terrible day all rolled into one. It was a great day because I was getting to spend Mother's day in Disney. It was a terrible day because we were having to leave and go home.


We started the day out nice and early. We had bags to get checked in and a room to get checked out of. But first we had a yummy breakfast planned at Boma. Since I was all about relaxing this day, I didn't take a single picture during our meal. I should have had DH take a pic of me and the kids now that I think about it. Oh well. Breakfast there was delicious as always. This wasn't our first time at a Boma breakfast and it won't be our last. Especially since we always seem to end up staying at AKL, we always have to eat breakfast at Boma at least once. Usually the day we check out. So while we enjoy the breakfast here, it usually is bittersweet.


After breakfast DH entertained the kids while I took the bags to check them in with the airline and check out of our room. They made one last trip to the CL lounge to grab some snacks and drinks to take with us. On our way down we had paid to check 2 bags. But we didn't really buy as many things as I thought we would and I was convinced that would could put some extra stuff in our carry-on and make it back with one checked bag. So I packed the suitcase that was just a bit smaller inside the bigger suitcase and then proceded to jam as much stuff as I could inside it. Keeping my fingers crossed all the way downstairs I was hoping beyond hope that it was below 50 lbs. Mostly because all of our carry-on bags were stuffed so full, if I didn't think I could fit any more into them.
I got in line, put my one bag up on the scale....and....



.....



.....




....It was 4 lbs over. Why yes, of course it was. So I dug through and pulled out some of DH's t-shirts until I got it down to 50. Good thing none of my unmentionables were packed at the top of this suitcase where they could be seen!


Once the luggage was checked in, we bid good-bye to our home away from home:

Of course I don't need to elaborate on how bad we felt leaving because you all know what that is like. So let's think about something happier...

...

...

Mother's Day and Magic Kingdom! Those 2 go hand in hand, right? And it's enough to make those last-day-at-Disney blues go away....almost!



So off we headed. We made it to the park by 9:30. One of these days we WILL catch a RD show. The crowds in MK were wicked. We've been to Disney and even to MK on Mother's Day before, but it's never been this bad!

See, I told you!

Off we headed down main street. I was on a mission. I didn't want to visit MK just because it was Mother's day. In fact, I even considered letting my kids pick which park we would visit this day before catching ME. But an elusive pirate was calling my name...and I nixed the kid's pick idea. It was my day and I wanted to ride:

If you recall from earlier updates in my TR (who am I kidding, no one in their right mind would remember...it was too long ago that I posted about it! ) we tried to ride Pirates not once, but twice and both times it was shut down "momentarily", so I had yet to get a chance to ride it this trip. It is one of my favorite rides so I couldn't pass up the chance to try and ride it. Third times a charm right??

So off we head to Adventureland.

The Disney Gods must have been shining down on me that morning because Pirates was up and running and the wait was 5 minutes!!!

All was going good until we went to get on the ride. DH and DD got in first. I bent over to pick up DS to put him into the seat and

*plunk*

...uh oh. That CANNOT be good since I was wearming DD's sunglasses on the collar of my shirt. Determined not to say anything, I procede to climb in the boat. But DD is WAY too quick for me. She knows what has happened before I even sit down. She then procedes to burst into tears. The poor family behind us was so concerned they kept trying to reassure her that the ride wasn't really that scary. I explained to him why she was crying, but I don't know that he really understood me for whatever the reason. She did manage to stop crying because of course the awesomeness of PoC distracted her. But as soon as we departed our pirate ship, she started back up. Our conversation went something like this:

DD:
Me: You know, crying won't get them back.
DD: But maybe we could ask a CM to go in and get them?
Me: Not logical. But I'll tell you what I can do. Let's buy you a new pair in the gift shop here (at the end of PoC)
DD: But the other pair was my favorite of all time (still )
Me: OK, so then as soon as we get home we'll go back to the store where I bought them and get you the exact same pair.
DD: But then I don't have any to wear now and it's sunny!!

Can't win for losing, can I??? I did manage to get her calmed down and she did pick out a new pair of shades. I think it helped that they were Hannah Montanna and a nearby CM told her she looked super cool when she was trying them on!

After the sunglasses fiasco, we decided that it was so crowded we would forgo any other rides that we had in mind. Instead, we headed back to main street to do some shopping. But first, we got distracted by this:

I know it was only 11 and we hadn't had lunch yet, but if you're going to eat ice cream in the morning and before a meal, Disney is the place to do it, right? Besides, we still had snack credits left to use!

We've never tried the ice cream here before but it was good. They even had egg free ice cream for DS. And as a bonus the move it shake it celebrate it street party/parade went by as we sat eating so there was entertainment!

Bellies full we did our shopping, spent the last of our snack credits on swirly lollypops to bring back to the kids friends and headed toward the busses. Not without waving one last good bye and almost jerking one last big one (by yours truly of course)

It was shortly after noon at this point, our plan was to catch a bus and grab a bite to eat at the Mara before we were scheduled to be on the ME. We would have plenty of time to do all this without being rushed....or so we thought!

 

[pinkxray]

You're not going to stay at AKL for your next trip

Mother's Day in Mk sounds perfect

Poor DD, glad she was happy with her new sunglasses.

 

[Joyciemc]

Hey, those people you met in Epcot sound pretty cool... must've been fun!

Seriously, I am SO glad you spotted me when you did, cause I was totally ready to skidaddle out of there. But if I had, we wouldn't have got the chance to meet!

We love Sanaa! Definitely a must do for us from now on.

Last days are sad, but I like your relaxed, go-with-the-flow approach!

 

[Moira222]

Yor last day sounds wonderful. Nice that you finally got to do POTC...not so nice to lose the shades on the very last day.

Had to laugh at the ice cream shot. Egg free ice cream or no, DS does NOT look happy! Lol gotta love kids who can be grumpy over pre lunch ice cream at Disney World right?

 

[AKL LOVER]

You're not going to stay at AKL for your next trip

Mother's Day in Mk sounds perfect

Poor DD, glad she was happy with her new sunglasses.

Maybe we will, maybe we won't...until I start my PTR, my lips are sealed!

Hey, those people you met in Epcot sound pretty cool... must've been fun!

Seriously, I am SO glad you spotted me when you did, cause I was totally ready to skidaddle out of there. But if I had, we wouldn't have got the chance to meet!

We love Sanaa! Definitely a must do for us from now on.

Last days are sad, but I like your relaxed, go-with-the-flow approach!

So glad I spotted you then and made you hang out for a bit

Yor last day sounds wonderful. Nice that you finally got to do POTC...not so nice to lose the shades on the very last day.

Had to laugh at the ice cream shot. Egg free ice cream or no, DS does NOT look happy! Lol gotta love kids who can be grumpy over pre lunch ice cream at Disney World right?

HAHA, I know right?!? As I was looking back at the pics when I was posting my update, I thought about that. I can't remember why he was being pouty. Must have been something serious though, by the looks of it!

 

[AKL LOVER]

You're not going to stay at AKL for your next trip

Mother's Day in Mk sounds perfect

Poor DD, glad she was happy with her new sunglasses.

OMG only 4 days until your cruise!!! I just glanced at your ticker and saw. Are you totally freaking out yet?

When we started talking about Disney for next year, we discussed doing a cruise as well as spending some time in the parks. Should've kept my big mouth closed on that one--all the spring break cruises were totally booked up. And somehow spending a few days at Disney and then going on a Royal Carribean cruise just doesn't have the same appeal. So I'm thinking maybe the spring of 2013 instead.

Looking forward to seeing a TR for your cruise so I can see how great the ship is! Hope you guys have a blast!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Your DD's sunglasses do look super-cool, I'll give her that! That was very nice of the family behind you to reassure her that the ride wasn't scary!

Uh oh...I don't like that ME foreshadowing...hope you made it in time!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Sunday May 8th

When I last left off, we were heading out of MK for the last time this trip and heading back to AKL

On our way out, yours truly was dilly-dallying, taking last minute pictures and jerking a few big ones According to DH, this made us just miss an AKL bus. Opps. But it was no big deal, because we still had an hour and a half until we were scheduled to pick up the ME.

So we patiently waited for the next bus. And what does one do while waiting? Take pictures of course! And would you believe it, but there isn't really very many interesting things to take pictures of at the MK bus stops. Imagine that! So I took pictures of some of the things that I had just bought:

Something to take home that didn't cost a penny!

The bag I got for $12 for making a $50 purchase. I love this bag and use it everyday to carry my stuff to and from work!

Swirlly lollypops to take home to the kids friends (used a snack credit for these--yay!)

Mickey pen to brighten my workday!

New t-shirt for me--a must have from every trip!


Finally a new bus pulls up. We had only been waiting about 15 minutes at this point. But unfortunately, the bus driver gets off the bus and says that it's time for a driver switch.

Did you know that when they do a driver switch that the new driver has to manually check EVERYTHING on the bus. Yeah. They do. And it takes FOREVER. So it was another 15 minutes later before the new driver got us going. And then it turned out that he was in fact, the slowest bus driver in all of WDW. Of course. So after it's all said and done, by the time we make it back to AKL we have about 20 minutes before we have to catch the ME. And the kids were complaining of being hungry. Wow. It was like Disney was trying to keep us there by making us late for our bus. Don't I wish that was the case!


We headed to the Mara and we each got a meal (still had credits to use up!) and then I bought a bagillion mickey shaped rice krispie treats to use up a few more meals. They let me exchange 4 for each meal credit. (They were great to bring home to share with family and to have a snacks for the next week to help fight the Disney blues. The ladies at work laughed at me every day that I brought one in my lunch, but I know they were actually jealous! ). We had to inhale our meals, but at least we got something to eat and didn't have to pay for a meal at the airport!

I still cannot believe that in 20 minutes we were able to order lunch, buy a ton of snacks, eat lunch and make it back to the front of the lodge to wait for the bus. That's a record, right?!?

And after all that, it turns out the bus was late! Once the bus was 15 minutes late I decided that I would reward my patience by running back into the lodge gift shop in search of something that I desperately wanted. I had actually spotted it the night before at the Kidani gift shop, but for some reason didn't buy it. I remember asking the CMs if they had it at the Jambo house gift shop and they said yes, so I waited. Then of course because we were running late I had resigned myself to not getting it. But, as luck would have it, the ME was late, so to me that equalled just enough time for me to get that last minute souvenir!!!! As soon as I went in to get it the bus showed up and DH later insisted that the driver was going to leave me, but I highly doubt that! Of course I wouldn't have been upset in the least if he had left me and I got stuck at Disney for another day


Of course I got the "you are crazy" look and eye roll from DH when he realized exactly what I had gone back in for!





What was it that I almost missed a bus for you ask? Why this little beauty:

And look! It's fabulousness does not end there! There happens to be a happy little surprise waiting for you every time you finish your coffee like a good boy or girl:

You have to agree that it is a pretty fab coffee mug! I love how it's Disney, but not a traditional Disney. I also drinking my coffee in it in the morning. Somehow starting my day with a little bit of Disney usually seems to make the day even better. Now that I think about it, maybe I am a little crazy after all....



Up next: the actual trip has ended, so why won't the trip home???

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I love your mug, it is super cute!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Hahaha well that mug is pretty cute!! I'd risk missing ME for it! Glad to hear that you did make it though!

 

[beebeeryan]

OMG I was literally LMAO at "And look! It's fabulousness does not end there!" Hysterical. Glad you got your mug!

 

[Lidian]

What an adorable mug!!! I regret every year not buying myself a mug. I buy one for my parents, but always forget to grab one for me. However, I adore the one you purchased! Definitely worth the trip back in!

 

[AKL LOVER]

I love your mug, it is super cute!

Thanks!

Hahaha well that mug is pretty cute!! I'd risk missing ME for it! Glad to hear that you did make it though!

Like I said in my update, I don't know that I would have been THAT upset had we actually missed ME, but DH might have!

OMG I was literally LMAO at "And look! It's fabulousness does not end there!" Hysterical. Glad you got your mug!

Hehehe...glad to be so amusing!

What an adorable mug!!! I regret every year not buying myself a mug. I buy one for my parents, but always forget to grab one for me. However, I adore the one you purchased! Definitely worth the trip back in!

Get yourself a mug girl! I actually bought myself 2 this trip, but didn't post pictures of the other because it's definitely not as fab--just a regular old classic Mickey. I'm so glad I went back for the animal print one.

 

[PirateKate]

Wow! I love that mug! What a great purchase. I'll be hoping they still have them on our next trip. All of my Disney coffee mugs got broken when we moved (should never have packed them all in the same box).

It's really funny to read this trip report, because we were at AK, Epcot, and MK all the same days as you. Did you get a flower at MK on Mother's Day? I know they were giving them out when we arrived that morning.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I'm sitting here reading your last installment drinking coffee out of my Mickey mug. Yours however is a must have on my next trip. I just love animal prints and when you combine that with Mickey it's a win-win all around.

 

[BennyFedora]

What was it that I almost missed a bus for you ask? Why this little beauty:

In HH I almost bought Mickey and Minnie mugs (the ones where they look all sleepy and worn out from a rough night out and then an early morning), but Joyce talked me out of it. We already have 9 over-sized coffee mugs AND another 8 or so regular sized coffee mugs, so that's probably already more than TWO people need! They do come in handy though for our NY's party when our house turns into a little refugee camp for our friends and EVERYONE needs coffee and/or hot chocolate the next morning!

 

[Robinh]

I loved your PTR and your TR. I do have a question-was CL worth the extra money? I've booked CL at the GF next spring break but don't know if it's worth the extra money.

DH and I also love our adult drinks!