Not so much a savings, more like reallocating where the money goes (Part 20 pg14) NEW

[MazdaUK]

Just found your reports and loving them! Kids start Easter holidays today so for the next 2 weeks it'll be a fight to get to the computer - lucky they don't come to work with me :blush

 

[Grammyof2]

Bumping you back up.

 

[horsegirl]

So two things, I can totally see why someone told me to read your report! Your writing is great. Second, having Mr. Silly around here chiming in adds alot, third, even tho I said two things, I get the writer's block thing. Had it myself. No quit chatting everywhere else and get back to work. Free dining offer is tempting us, and maybe you'll convince my dh, if I can convince him to read a few of these, to go!

 

[MomofCKJ]

Loving your report! These trip reports keep me going till our trip in only 258 short days!

Allyson

 

[HaleyB]

So two things, I can totally see why someone told me to read your report! Your writing is great. Second, having Mr. Silly around here chiming in adds alot, third, even tho I said two things, I get the writer's block thing. Had it myself. No quit chatting everywhere else and get back to work. Free dining offer is tempting us, and maybe you'll convince my dh, if I can convince him to read a few of these, to go!

Thanks. Maybe I should change the title before you have DH read it? Lol.

Free dining is so tempting that we even talked about it some today. We have a big trip to Europe in the works and so far we are holding firm in our resolve to throw all our cash in that direction for now. But it is very tempting. Maybe I should play lotto just one time...

 

[5boyz]

horsegirl & haleyb you have met now all we need is the 2 of you to go together and the story would be most AWESOME!!!!! I can't believe that free dining starts 10 days after we leave Disney!!! Figures!!!! LOL!!!

 

[HaleyB]

Part Seven​

Part seven, in which we visit Typhoon Lagoon and eat at Boma. This was another sleeping in day. Very out of the norm for this commando type family. But we did stay up late at MNSSHP and this was a vacation.

Sophia still woke me up before 9. That child has a really strong internal clock. She will also fall asleep around 8:30 at night if she is sitting still. She has done it all sorts of places (including Disney parks) all her life. Most of the time this is a blessing...

We get dressed and I get everything ready for the day so the guys can wake up at their own pace. Steve actually has no problem getting up out of bed when he wakes up (because he has a strong will, not because he gets enough sleep) but Max is a slug bug. He likes to wake up over an hour or so. He prefers to stay up late and sleep in. He reminds me of myself.

Anyhow, I actually manage to remember that Max is attached to the idea of a cinnamon roll for breakfast so I make him get moving around 10. Yes he is allergic to milk. Yes it is not great to let him eat a baked good that may very well have some dairy in it.

But he tolerates small amounts of dairy if it is cooked and we decide to risk it. Before anyone calls the parent police, Max has never had an anaphylactic response to dairy (nuts is another story). The poor kid lives on grilled chicken, potatoes, plain pasta, and kosher lunch meats and hot dogs. He wanted a cinnamon roll, and he knew the risks (tummy upset and possible rejection of the food by his body, to put it nicely).


We figured if he did puke, it would be a pretty easy clean up. Just kidding, we were pretty sure he would tolerate it. I think.


It didn’t bother him at all (he didn’t eat any of the frosting). I am going to have to learn how to make them (dairy free of course) because he loved it.

Any day now I will start working on that.

Really.

So around 11:45 we got in line for the bus to Typhoon Lagoon.

We didn’t have the best bus luck this trip. Last time we were in WDW it seemed like the buses waited for us and arrived just as we got into line (with one rather large exception, but that was another trip). It felt like magic on demand. This trip we waited more often than not. The bus for TL seemed to take forever to get there, more like magic on hold.

It had to have been at least 15 minutes, which is pretty close to forever if you ask me. Remember I am not that good with time.,. or punctuation.

Warning, you are about to read another aside that really has very little to do with WDW. If you don’t want to read an aside, skip down past it. Actually if you don’t like asides you should go read Mr. Silly’s version of a trip report. It never strayed off topic. Not for one second. You can find it here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1047256

I am not a very excitable person. I tend to be calm. That has nothing to do with this aside, I just thought I would mention that. Also, I almost never feel passionately about products.

Any old shampoo will do for my hair,

well not really,

that is a bad example.

Any old dishwashing soap will do for my dishes. So it is somewhat odd that I am about to tell you about sun block. No not any sun block, spray on sun block by Copper Tone.

Not the pump stuff, that is soooo last year.

The new aerosol style kind. It would seem expensive to some, but Disney has pretty much cured me of the phenomena known as sticker shock. I can cover the family from head to toe in a couple of minutes. Time is money, right. Even more so in WDW, so ignore the price and give this stuff a whirl.

Now back to WDW... same bat time, same bat place. No wait, the bats don't come out til Augest. I think. In Austin, not WDW. Back to my little story.

So after our free breakfast we coated ourselves with sun block and headed to the bus stop. We got to Typhoon Lagoon around 12:30 or so. Dang was that a long bus ride. I thought we were going to Typhoon Lagoon by way of Mississippi. The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of our fearless crew... anyhow it was a long ride. It had to be at least 15 minutes. So forever.

I had not done a ton of reading on it, so I really didn’t know much about the layout of the place.

Please forgive me for this DIS board plan-a-holic faux-pas. I knew my husband and I wanted to do the shark reef, that Max would want to spend some time in the wave pool, and that Sophia would like the lazy river.


That seemed like enough planning at the time.

On the way in we stopped at a little cart and purchased one of the water proof card holder things. I got the idea from a trip report by Delswife.

I found her on the DIS boards a few years ago. Her trip reports are nothing short of hysterical. Too bad they are not here anymore. Happy happy Joy Joy, though, you can still read them! You can find links to them on www.badshoe.com and http://delswife.net/

Doh! Now everyone is going to bail out on me and go read Delswife's new report. Hey, come back here, I'm not nearly done yet.

I owe her a big thank you because it came in so handy.

Delswife, the water proof thingie.... Well to give credit where credit is due, I owe her daughter Commando Nickki a big thank-you because it was really her idea. Not only was it great in the water park to hold our room keys, it also was excellent as a fast pass holder in the parks.

So now you have my Disney tip for the day. Zipidee-do-dah and all that.

So, we rented a locker and a few towels and stashed all our stuff except our shoes and towels in the locker. We came across the lazy river first and we all thought it looked nice and wet so we got in.

Well first we left our shoes and towels on a chair near a landmark (the kiddie boat play area). The ‘by a land mark’ was a good thing.

All the chairs look the same and a pile of towels is not that unique at Typhoon Lagoon.

Unoccupied tubes were easy to find and we even got a double which I used with Sophia and with Max. Fun was had by all.

About 3/4 of the way around my dear husband, Hubby (he hates that), Steve(n), Steve, whatever the opposite of frau is, Mr. Silly himself, comes over to me and tells me to watch the bottom for our locker key... Yep, 30 minutes was all it took for him to lose it. So after making one circuit of the Lazy River we went around again. We told the kids to look for a key too.

Good thing Steve(n) has good eyes. He found it for us. I was surprised that we found it, I had expected to just have to pay the replacement fee.

I decided that holding onto the key would be my job from there on out. So now we are adding locker keys to the list of things Steve is not allowed to be in charge of inside of WDW.

Strange thing is in the other world it is the reverse. I lose everything.

Next we decided to do the Shark Reef. Max and Sophia were both on board for it. They were a little concerned over their lack of floating skills so we got them vests.

I should have gotten a vest for myself. Sure they look kind of unattractive, but it was hard to hold on to Sophia’s hand, float, look, and not kick without one. I am not that coordinated. I am, in fact, not coordinated at all. I have black shoes and a brown belt on right now. Just kidding. Sort of.

There was a bit of a line, maybe 20 minutes. Sophia is a brave little girl, fearless in a lot of ways.

Turns out sharks don’t scare her.

However trying to use a snorkel and getting a mouth full of salt water does.

Darn.

She freaked out and missed the whole thing. I was so busy getting her across to the other side so she could get out that I really didn’t get to enjoy myself. Oh well.

I think Steve was pretty much in the same boat with Max, only it was his own fault.

Max was doing fine and Dad thought it would be funny to grab his foot. Turns out it was not that funny.

Max freaked out and so Steve got to deal with him instead of looking at the pretty fish. Ha ha ha Mr Funny.

After we got out of there we discovered the viewing area in the submarine. Cool. So we all got to look at pretty fish. The kids recovered quickly from their shark tank experience and were both glad they could say they did it.

Now they have bragging rights. Our neighbors went over the summer and their tough as nails son (and one of Sophia’s best friends) refused to go into the tank. He is always giving my son (who is not a tough as nails type guy) a hard time, so it was worth the minor trauma in the end. It’s not like I tricked a five year old into riding Dinosaur, or something like that!

So after we all had our fill of fish viewing area we headed over to the wave pool. Or after all of us except Daddy had our fill of fish and after dragged him away from them, we went to the wave pool.

Max really likes wave pools. This summer we took him to the local theme park/water park and we didn’t plan enough water park time so Max only got to stay in the wave pool for one wave cycle. He was very unhappy about this. So we wanted to make sure he got his fill of the wave pool this time around.

Sophia likes wave pools so long as she is being held by an adult, preferably Mom, but Dad will do in a pinch. So Steve took Max in to where the waves are bigger and Sophia and I hung out closer to the edge. We hear the warning sound and waves start to roll.

I like the way you can float up and back with the waves. So waves go on for awhile and we all enjoy it. Then they stop and we sort of paddle around a bit waiting for the next wave cycle. We hear the warning sound and the waves start back up again. Nice regularly spaced waves.

Fun but not too exciting. Almost relaxing.

Sophia is getting bored and I want some time with Max so Dad takes her to go on a search and discover mission. Their goal is to size up the family raft ride and see if the line looks doable.

The waves stop again and Max and Mom decide to go out a little deeper, cause the waves are bigger out in the deep end. We hear the warning sound again and wait for the waves to start.

It takes a long time,

long enough for us to wonder what is going on.

Then all of a sudden an enormous wall of water starts towards us. This is not a wave it is a Typhoon (wait, I just had an insight, maybe that is why they called the place ‘Typhoon Lagoon”)...

Mom panics and we try to swim ahead of it back to shallow water. The wave is faster than we are. I realize my mistake and tell Max to try to body surf the wave. I try to help him catch it (those years living in California were not totally wasted, well maybe they were, but we had a lot of fun), which means that it totally overtakes me. I am engulfed in a wall of water and there is even a bit of an undertow.

I was once caught in a bad under tow off the coast of California. I hate the feeling of being pulled under but there is nothing I can do about it now. I managed to stand up, grabbed Max who was sputtering and had obviously taken in a mouthful of water, and high tailed it out of the wave pool. I think maybe a little more pre-trip reading about the water parks might have been helpful. Live and learn. At least you can benefit from my mistakes. Do not judge me, learn from me.

Just as we are getting to the beach Steve and Sophia see us. The family raft ride looks tame enough for her and there is no line. None. We walk up, grab a raft, and carry/roll/drag it up the steps.

That is the royal usage of the word ‘we’, Steven really did all the work.

Everyone gets in and off we go, that is the regular usage of the word ‘we’.

It was pretty fun, but a short ride so we decide to do it again.

I wanted to use the word ‘wee’ as in the onomoniapia ‘wee’ but thought that might be a wee bit over the top.

Right as you exit there is a trash can, and you can go around it to get in the line without walking all the way around. There is no line so we do this repeatedly. I am not sure how many times we rode it, maybe four or five. Big fun. Wee!

After that we head back into the Lazy River. It is a lot more crowded this time and so not as much fun. It also takes a long time to go around.

I had planned to leave about 30 minutes before the park closed. That wasn’t going to happen. We had a dinner reservation to make, and I really wanted time to shower and put on clothing. I was worried about being too late for dinner because I knew, thanks to the DISboards, that everywhere was booked up solid. I guess I guess the Zzub’s and my gang were not the only people that knew about the free dining discount.

Anyhow, we went around the river and then headed for our towels.

Good thing we rented those.

Real handy having them sit on a chair all day while we ran all over the place.

Note to self, rent towels at the point you need them next time.

Oh did I mention the bit of rain we had? It rained for about 15 minutes while Max and I were in the wave pool. I think I forgot to say that. It comes to mind now because of the towels.

They were wet. Real handy, I am a genius for renting those right when we got to the park.

On the way over to the towels the kids wanted to play in the sand. We don’t really get sand to play in very often. We go to the beach once a year while in California, but I can’t say we have ever tried the beaches in Texas.

They don’t even look nice in the travel brochures.

So the kids kill some more time playing in the sand for awhile. At some point my, we have a plan and need to stick to it, breaking point hits and I make them leave. We are about 30 minutes off plan.

So we get back to our lovely room and shower and dress. Then we decide to drive over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge because our dinner reservations are in 15 minutes (and there is no easy way to get there without a car).

We eat at Boma. The food was yummy as always and they were very nice about making Max something special he could eat. All the buffets are great about this. Better than some of the more expensive sit down places, in fact.

After dinner we check out the wildlife and look through the night vision goggles. When we got in line for the goggles there were three people ahead of us. But then suddenly a pack formed. I felt sorry for the CM trying to keep things under control. We also spend some quality time in the rather cool gift shop. I don’t remember if we bought anything, but I am sure we did. It is Disney World, after all and the dinner was free... We hate to leave, but we really need to get some sleep.

Next up, Animal Kingdom and a goat named Max.

 

[horsegirl]

I LOL, Haleyb! Poor Mr. Silly and the keys! I cannot believe you found them amiss the legs and tubes, eeeek! Thanks. BTW, I love the names of your DKs.

 

[HaleyB]

horsegirl & haleyb you have met now all we need is the 2 of you to go together and the story would be most AWESOME!!!!! LOL!!!

I am totally up for that, but Mr. Silly is trying to be finacially responsible so we are not going to WDW this year (*sob*).

Poor Max, there would be four girls and him! Maybe Mel could join us to balance out the ratio. Now that would be a HOOT, a Maelstrom Meet!

I always think meets sound like fun, except they never seem to include kids. I could never really go to WDW without the kids, I just threaten it when they are really acting wild.

 

[HaleyB]

I LOL, Haleyb! Poor Mr. Silly and the keys! I cannot believe you found them amiss the legs and tubes, eeeek! Thanks. BTW, I love the names of your DKs.

Yeah it must have been magic. I think we found it because right away I decided it was funny, so I did not get upset. I find a lot of things funny, helps to keep my sanity.

Sophia was named about 10 years before she was born. Max was going to be Julian Alexander but he was born with dark brown hair and looked like a Max, so we changed our mind on the spot. So he is Maxwell Julian.

My oldest is Ryan, he was born with red hair. We were bound by family tradition to name him an "R" name because he was the first born of his generation on my fathers side. Not too many choices as it turns out, and it was the 80's so he is lucky not to be named Blaine He is not the biological child of my DH, his father died when he was a baby. So we are a bit of a blended family. He is so much like my DH it scares me, too. Picked up a lot of mannerisms and ways of approaching things. Funny how that works. Max is Ryan's double too.

I so wanna go to WDW for free food again. It was so much fun. Actually I don't even need the free food.

 

[jw50]

Haley,

You can tell Mr Silly that he isn't the only one that has lost a key at a water park, I lost one at Blizzard Beach, but at least I lost it on one of the slides and not on the lazy river It wasn't that big a deal, you just lose your deposit and feel like an idiot when you have to get them to open the locker for you

Even though you can't imagine going to WDW without the kids, there will come a time when you will realize that if you don't have to take kids with you then you can stay at the Poly on the Premium Plan, do whatever you want whenever you want (trip planning is mainly around where you are eating) and actually have a relatively relaxing vacation

 

[5boyz]

Haley and jw, be thankful it was only your keys. 8 years ago when we were there at Blizzard Beach my then 12 yr old found an AMEX card at the bottom of one of the slides...God we could have had a great time but he was a good boy (like mommy) and handed it in. I know we couldn't have used it I was just kidding!!! Then that same day my then 7 yr old found a dollar at the bottom of the slide, must confuse I let him keep it!!! LOL!!! Just thougt I would share....BTW I loose my keys and sunglasses alllll the time!!!!

 

[MazdaUK]

Great report! Could you substitute soy milk for the cinnamon buns, with oil instead of butter?

 

[HaleyB]

Shameless bump

Still working on it, I swear.

 

[Grammyof2]

HaleyB - You are so doing a great job. The secret agent ink you have is awesome.

Just keeping it real.

 

[HaleyB]

Ok so we didn't make $3600 on this trip.

We didn't drink ourselves silly at any point. Although we did consider it, and we did sample a lot of wine. Maybe next trip...

We didn't see anyone outside our own family puke, even.

So if you are still reading, thanks for sticking with us. I like to write TR's. Somehow they always seem to result in me calling the 407 area code.

Mr. Silly is going to "let" me "drag" him back to WDW this October.

But back to October 2005.

Part 8, Animal Kingdom

We love the Animal Kingdom. We are that sort of people. We like to corner naturalists and ask them questions. They never seem to mind. We are not ‘show’ or ‘parade’ people. I think that comes from growing up inside of Disneyland. I had season passes and was going in just for an hour or two regularly for years. I saw the parade many times. I have also seen lots and lots of shows. People always want to see the shows and the parade.

Hello, it is crowded and really just a car driving really slowly with silly lights all over it. The Rose parade is better. Sorry. Now I am going to get hate mail from DISers who live and breath for the parades. To each his own is what I say. I can’t stand crushing crowds. I never could. The mosh pit is just not my cup a tea.

I made Mr. Silly and the kids watch Spectro on our last trip. It was a disaster. Mr. Silly was sick and really wanted to skip it but I was on a mission. Max puked his guts out in a bathroom right after we got off the monorail on our way in, we were hopping over just to see Spectro. He must have eaten something he was allergic to. Poor kid, it was really bad. But did I turn back? No. I was like a mindless robot with a primary objective. Must see parade. Must see parade. If you are a Tour Guide Miker, it was a red night. Bad idea under the best of circumstances. Horrible, stupid, foolish idea with a sick husband and a sick kid. Sure the kids loved what they could see of it, and were mesmerized by it and all, but it was not at all a magical experience. Sometimes I wonder where I left my brain.

My not seeing them leaves more prime viewing space available for you to fight for. Your seeing the parade leaves my favorite rides with short lines even when it is really busy. It is a win-win situation people. Trust me. We do like fireworks though, so sorry, we will be in the crowds taking up prime space if we get the chance for fireworks. Anyhow. We like the Ak for the animals. I know, we are a bit odd.

We manage to miss the parade and every single show that the AK has to offer. Mr. Silly is even more down on shows than I am on parades. Too much spectacle not enough interaction. I made him go to the Lion King show last year so this year he prevails and we skip it.

Some people claim the AK is a half day park. They must be the sort of people that treat the trails as if getting to the end is the goal. People, it is all about the journey. We could spend a day watching the bats and the tigers. Only we like the rides too, so we can’t. So far we have never managed to have enough time in the oasis area. We always have some place we are trying to get to and end up rushing. This visit was no exception. Poor Mr. Silly, I think it is the one thing he really wants to do and I rush him past it. Next October I will try to fix this situation. That’s right, next October. We are going back. The Silly family needs another vacation. Ok so we are at the AK, which we like because of the animals and all. We got there right around opening because that is what we do. We go early and we stay all day.

So, first things first, we need a set of Fast Passes for the Safari ride. So we split up and my dear good husband (who is our scout, and really wishes I had not used the word ‘hubby’ way back when and then gotten tagged with it) runs over and grabs a set for us while I endure the herky jerky, or what ever that awful roller coaster is called in Dinoland. I think my kids made me ride it twice, even. They have no mercy. As soon as Steve(n) catches up with us we beat it for Dinosaur.

It is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, only not. I am pretty sure it is exactly the same track. Sometimes I wonder what great things I would be able to accomplish if my brain space was not used up by such things. But I am pretty sure it is the same track.

I am positive someone on the DIS will be able to tell me for sure, and maybe even give me a link to some web site that outlines how they are a) exactly the same track, or b) not exactly the same but really close. Everyone loves the ride and we buy a really cool tee shirt for Max in the dump shop. In case you are wondering, a dump shop is a store they force you to walk through by making it the exit for the ride. Those Disney marketing guys are pretty smart. But the food was free...

After that we ride the Safari. Odds are we got another set of passes for it so we could ride it again. I am not sure. I did not take notes. But that is our normal practice. Last year we got to ride the SAfari ride over and over again. It rained, and for some strange reason everyone fled the park. So we had the place to ourselves. It was great. The AK may not have a lot of cover to hide from the rain, but I don’t melt (even though I am pretty sweet) so who cares. It was almost as empty as Disneyland after an earthquake.

When we lived in California we always tried to go to Disneyland after an earthquake. No one was ever there (except a few other locals). Look, you guys are my friends so I will let you in on a little secret. If there is a big aftershock, Disneyland is one of the safest places you can be, as long as you are not on BTMRR when the big one hits. But really, the place is well built and they send out droves of inspectors after every little shake. Plus can you think of a better place to be trapped? I rest my case. Disneyland after an earthquake is a fastpass. .

I like to test my photography skills on the safari. My digital is not as fast as my SLR, in case anyone was wondering. After the safari ride we walked the trails, saw some tigers, some bats, some gorilla’s, and a bunch of monkeys. Well Gibbons really, or is it mangbes (I have NO idea how to Spell that one)? Gibbons Mr. Silly thinks , they are much better climbers than monkeys. Mr. Silly likes monkeys.

Sorry if I am not giving lots of little details about this. It was a fairly uneventful few whiles on the trails. I think we might have ate some ice cream and popcorn. Maybe. Not sure anymore. We ate a lot of food on the trip. Way lots of food. Too much food. We might have bought some stuff too. I bet we did. We did that a lot on this trip.

There is more. But I have to run now. Cause if I feed the kids hot dogs for dinner one more time this week they are going to revolt...

More later. At some point. Who knows when.

 

[horsegirl]

I made Mr. Silly and the kids watch Spectro on our last trip. It was a disaster. Mr. Silly was sick and really wanted to skip it but I was on a mission. Max puked his guts out in a bathroom right after we got off the monorail on our way in, we were hopping over just to see Spectro. He must have eaten something he was allergic to. Poor kid, it was really bad. But did I turn back? No. I was like a mindless robot with a primary objective. Must see parade. Must see parade. If you are a Tour Guide Miker, it was a red night. Bad idea under the best of circumstances. Horrible, stupid, foolish idea with a sick husband and a sick kid. Sure the kids loved what they could see of it, and were mesmerized by it and all, but it was not at all a magical experience. Sometimes I wonder where I left my brain.

WOW! Spectro had that affect on them? It was those clowns, right? The spectro-men? I knew it, hideous lifeforms.... just kidding, then went there sick. I get it.

Haley-you are a woman after my own heart. We ask all the questions of the cms too. But we are different! We love the shows. Jeesh, girl, not evn flights of wonder? Awwwwwwwwwwww.

Thanks for your report! Keep on rockin and rollin here.

 

[New England Eeyore]

I like to write TR's. Somehow they always seem to result in me calling the 407 area code.

READING trip reports results in me calling the 407 area code! Which is why I try to only allow myself to do so when I have a trip on the calendar already. It can be too expensive otherwise.

Great report so far!

 

[HaleyB]

WOW! Spectro had that affect on them? It was those clowns, right? The spectro-men? I knew it, hideous lifeforms.... just kidding, then went there sick. I get it.

Haley-you are a woman after my own heart. We ask all the questions of the cms too. But we are different! We love the shows. Jeesh, girl, not evn flights of wonder? Awwwwwwwwwwww.

Thanks for your report! Keep on rockin and rollin here.

We love Flights of Wonder. We are the last people to leave at the end of that show It is the musical/stage/circus like shows that we skip. We skip the Saloon show in MK, and the Bear Country Jamboree in DL (Do they have that one in MK??), never saw Tarzan Rocks, skipped the Lion King show, and the shows at MGM are not worth the body to body contact for us. (Fantasmic! is no a "show" it is an adventure, I will suffer the hoi poli for it). Actually I made Steve sit through Beauty and the Beast at MGM. Sophia and I liked that one. Also we like all the 3-d stuff except Max can not stand ITTBAB, we tortured him twice on it and I think we will stop now, or split up for it.

 

[MazdaUK]

My digital is not as fast as my SLR

I found that - and now a year AFTER my trip I've discovered it has a special "fast" mode for action shots

Oh well, just have to go again....