Oh no my trip will be lost forever if it is not on Disboards! A photo journal.

[estherhead]

Good luck with your sorting and such!
I'm in!

Thanks! I think I'm gonna end this report with my scrapbook pages once I get them done.

I don't think we were together at all this day. That picture that you posted of the full line at Toy Story Mania is us. You can see Charming's head in the picture. This was the one day that I convinced Milo to eat breakfast at the food court and then take Disney transportation all day long. Because of this, we were about 2 minutes behind rope drop which meant we ended up at the end of the "mayhem run to Mania" We had about a 15 minute wait.

Gotcha. Our photos were the same so that why I thought we were together at the beginning. But that does make sense why our TSM pics have no people & yours do. We were very close to the front.

 

[estherhead]

So after the Backlot tour we headed to the front to see Beauty & the Beast. On the way we stopped & got lots of Photopass done & checked out the Streetmosphere. Because of this we got the "cheap seats" at Beauty & the Beast. Lesson learned, you do want to get here a little bit before the last minute.

The girls getting pics with the Steetmosphere crowd behind them.

Our photopass pics this day were great!

The cheap seats:

Favorite moment alert!!!!

Boo loved this. And I mean LOVED. She chattered all the way through it, pointing & singing & loving it. I actually teared up because it made me so happy to see her happy, finally!

So I had gotten in the FP line right after we rode TSM. And we had a decent return time. I was actually surprised by that it was so early as we were headed to Epcot. This was my first time to use a FP on this & I don't remember it very well except that it was fast!

Here I am with group 2. I fought with Boo less this time as I had figured out how to be sneakier and she really thought she was the coolest.

After this it was time for Epcot!

 

[estherhead]

Correction already!!! We ate lunch at DHS. Backlot Express 2 Bacon Double Cheeseburgers and 8 piece chicken nuggets. The family got us seats near the window overlooking the Star Wars Jedi Training area. We had checked earlier to see if Ariel could be in the show because Mulan had gotten to before. The line was shorter than I thought it would be for the next show so I go in it. I was counting off the kids/parents in front of me to see if it'd be 1-2 shows & I was pointing as I counted. A CM noticed me & came up & said, "If you are counting to see how long it will be a lot of times each of these parents is waiting for 1-3 kids while the kids are riding rides. We don't force the kids to stand we just take your name & number of kids your waiting for & it's probably closer to 3-4 shows." I was willing because I truly love my girls. But Ariel said it wasn't worth it to her to waste her whole morning on that.

Anyway, so we sat by the window & watched a bit of the show while we ate. It was high lunch time & there had been a bit of a line but for some reason their were plenty of tables. Actually, we didn't seem to ever have trouble finding a table this week. Cosmic Ray's was our trickiest. And it was during free dining!

Anyway I, of course, don't remember the cheeseburger and fries. Who remembers a fast food cheeseburger? But I do remember the 2 little cheesecakes because they were delish! We also got a strawberry parfait for Mulan except that Boo adores strawberries and mostly stole it and ate it so Mulan was forced to eat chesecake. It wasn't too hard on her

So this afternoon was all about chilling out at Epcot.

We started off with Spaceship Earth.

And then our kids are old enough to do single rider lines so we parked Boo at the fountain for parents to take turns with her while the other parent did the single rider line. So, of course, all our photos have other people in them but no FP needed and the girls got to ride 3 times right in a row. I did it once and then Donald did it twice and then did Mission: Space.

And here is what Boo did:

I hadn't brought a bathing suit for her as I didn't know that this is what we would be doing. I just sat right down on the ground & read my book. Boo played with some ducks and another little girl. And then all of the sudden I look up to this:

So I go to collect the shirt & pants and realize that all the babies have stripped. So I just let her run around like this. I'm pretty sure Donald was slightly horrified when he arrived but too bad. This was one of the calmest moments of the trip so too bad to all offended parties.

After this we decided to do some Kim Possible Missions we hadn't done before.

We did Norway & Mexico. What I love about Kim Possible is it takes you all around Epcot looking in nooks and crannies you haven't noticed before & the kids beg to do it instead of complaining about boredom because their lame parents want to wander around boring countries. Donald actively participates which leaves me free to explore happily.

We did Norway first.

We took a little break while doing the Norway one for a treat!

I only tried the pretzel because I was told to on here. But I won't get one again. It was WAY over the top for me. Sickeningly sweet. I didn't try the cream horn cause they aren't my thing. The school bread was gone in an instant. Definitely our fav but I wanted to try a few different things I'd heard about on here. But coming up it'll be all about the school bread!

Cute little roof:

Grass roof:

My little Viking:

I sat Boo on this barrel to get a cute shot & could NOT get her to look at me. I have no idea how long she sat there with my saying, "Boo, look at Mommy." It was forever. I finally gave up & this is what we got:

I didn't get a drink here but had I not had 3 kids and a Kim Possible phone this would have been so awesome for Donald & I.

 

[estherhead]

And then it was time for Donald's favorite restaurant, San Angel:

The salsa was better this year than last:

My kids hate the kids meals here so we just got 3 adult meals & shared. We all got the same thing:

We went swimming after this. I'm pretty sure, anyway.

We ran back to the rooms. Here is Charming carrying Jack-Jack. I had Boo. And the other kids ran too. We literally were run/marching because it was FREEZING and we were wet. This was miserable and our hotel room felt FOREVER away.

 

[estherhead]

Correction already! Clearly Charming has Boo. Did I have Jack-Jack? Did Jack Jack go swimming or stay in the room with Suzy?

 

[estherhead]

You guys are gonna think I'm totally nuts but I just went through all our photos so I could print them out (yes, I know it's shockingly been 9 months & they are still not printed ) and saw a photo of the Writers Shop & the toys we bought on our last day. Oops! So we did do the Writers Shop & we did hang out in there. But we didn't have our Pixar bath toys yet.

 

[disneyaddicted]

This TR is moving fast but I am really enjoying it. Poor Boo though, I remember when my DD Reese was 3, we had just bought this house and the neighbor boys told her that it was haunted and they say ghosts in it all the time.

Poor Reese comes crying to me and my DH about the ghosts in the house and she wants to leave and move back to our old house.

My DH said, Oh we couldn't afford the ghosts when we bought this house so we asked the sellers to take the ghosts with them when they left. Reese heard "We can't afford that" alot so she believed her Dad that we couldn't afford ghosts either.

 

[heaven2dc]

This has been a wonderful TR - full of surprises! Your girls are so adorable - I'm so happy Boo loved Beauty & the Beast show Was this trip this past December 2009? We were there in December 2008 and loved all the Christmas decorations and can't wait til our upcoming trip.

 

[estherhead]

This TR is moving fast but I am really enjoying it. Poor Boo though, I remember when my DD Reese was 3, we had just bought this house and the neighbor boys told her that it was haunted and they say ghosts in it all the time.

Poor Reese comes crying to me and my DH about the ghosts in the house and she wants to leave and move back to our old house.

My DH said, Oh we couldn't afford the ghosts when we bought this house so we asked the sellers to take the ghosts with them when they left. Reese heard "We can't afford that" alot so she believed her Dad that we couldn't afford ghosts either.

I love that! I say we can't afford it all the time too so this would be perfect for us. This trip was hard as at home I encourage her & am patient as I was a child with an overactive imagination, terrified of my own shadow too. I'm still scared of the dark. But at WDW it was soooo restricting and she would claw at my face to try & get away and I wasn't even always sure what she was terrified of! Plus, it's my vacation too! I had never before understood when parents on here say to leave the littlest one behind. We are a "do everything together" kind of family and that always sounded not fun to me. I would miss terribly. But on this trip there were plenty of times I could completely understand why someone would want to leave the littlest one at home.

This has been a wonderful TR - full of surprises! Your girls are so adorable - I'm so happy Boo loved Beauty & the Beast show Was this trip this past December 2009? We were there in December 2008 and loved all the Christmas decorations and can't wait til our upcoming trip.

Thanks! Yes, it was Dec 2009. I hope you have a lovely time. Sometimes on here people say Disney doesn't do enough decoration but I think there is plenty! It doesn't get in the way and totally overshadow all their other Disney stuff but it certainly is everywhere.

 

[estherhead]

Today there were a few special things happening. First, we were gonna take Boo to see the Festival of the Lion King, her absolute favorite movie in the world (thus the stuffed Simba.) Second, my parents were flying in for two nights on their way to their vacation in Costa Rica. Their agenda was to see Jack-Jack and Boo ride Dumbo and also take the Behind the Seeds tour. And then, finally, Donald and I were going on our date night! Woohoo to us!

We split from Suzy & Milo's clan. They did Epcot and we did AK. Then we would meet them at Epcot to hand off our kids. But that isn't how it turned out.

So, our day began bright and early.
BOMA! I had eaten here before but the rest of family hadn't. They absolutely loved it.

Rafiki was out front and Boo was super excited, though she wouldn't get out of the stroller, she still was happy to see him. Timon too. We got them to dance with us and we got Rafiki to hold up baby Simba like he does in the movie.

I wanted Boo to get her own pic at Photopass. I told her to stand there & gave her some other instruction. She takes horrible pictures when it isn't spontaneous (like the barrel above in Mexico), won't look at the camera, always mess. So I figured I'd just get what I got. But for some total unknown reason she opted to clasp her hands behind her back and smile directly at the camera. And this is what we got:

How ADORABLE is that???? It still baffles me why she decided to stand like that. But I this picture.

The animals were very busy this day, as were the CM's. There were a lot of CM's with animals to explore and touch out. It was interesting I don't recall seeing so many before. Maybe they are always there but I'm always racing toward EE & Dinosaur & Primeval Whirl.

And we went to see the tigers for Ariel. Her favorite animal on earth:

Though I'm pretty sure we didn't see the tiger till later in the day it is in this order so I'm putting it here so I don't forget it.

Back soon with more from a non-traditional but super awesome AK day!

 

[estherhead]

I had to take a photo of this as this is the walkway to the Lion King which I've only done before when it is SUPER crowded. So this was noteworthy to me. Just like everything else, go early to Lion King and you won't be trampled by the crowds!

What a cool water fountain!

So, before this trip I printed out a page for each character to sign & then put a big binder clip on it. This ended up being a stupid idea for us and it annoyed me. So I told the girls I wasn't bringing it this day because we wouldn't meet any characters. And who should be just standing there with no one talking to her? Pocohontas. Mulan is irritated with me to this day for not having our autograph book when it counted. Oh well. Lesson learned & we at least have a photo of the moment. They chatted a while.

Look who Boo found on the way out of the Lion King?

Ariel was still looking for a Mittens pin, which again, I'm pretty sure doesn't exist. But we did find a bunch of fun hats!

 

[estherhead]

We did something I've never done before: Planet Watch. You get on a strange train that faces forward:

And you end up at a petting zoo and vet clinic.

There was a lady standing behind me with her husband and kids. They looked like a nice family, but I don't know where they were from, I'm guessing a city. American accents. She says to her husband, "What kind of animal is this?" He says, "I think it's a cow." She says, "Are you sure? Because I don't think so. Maybe it's a weird cow? A different breed?"

Now I know there are a lot of people who have never seen a cow in person but there are lots of tv images of cows, in every children's book, on milk. I don't know, I thought it was odd but my attention was drawn when she turned really intense about it NOT being a cow. They argued about it for awhile & then the husband caved & she just still was kind of muttering about it NOT being a cow. I finally couldn't take it anymore & said, "It's just a cow. A normal cow." She looked at me like I was CRAZY! It was just so weird I still remember it.

I mean, Boo knew it was a cow and that it said Moo. How unrecognizably weird could it be? And I swear they were just a normal Disney family.

Anyway there were other (totally recognizable) normal farm animals too:

Pop quiz: What are these animals?

Did you get it right?

Boo combing a little goat butt:

All three girls loved the petting zoo even though we can do this at home. It was just quiet & interactive and animals. But even more than that we enjoyed the vet clinic where several animals were actually being worked on.
And others were just for our viewing.

So you tell me if Boo is easy to figure out. She walked right up to this lady & petted this snake for ever! No fear whatsoever. But a plastic group of princesses at DTD was terrifying!

And then the train ride back. Which by the way this train ride was the first time in my entire Disney experienced I've heard a CM freak out on a tourist. And it was over the intercom. Evidently whoever the tourist was she had some kind of death wish or just did NOT pay attention, even if she didn't speak English it shouldn't have had to go as far as it did. But it started as the CM innocently announcing that the train would be stopping until everyone was sitting down again. So the train stops. No one is standing in my car & I couldn't see the others so I figure we're good & will be moving soon.

But, no. He keeps getting more specific and more mean. He says, eventually, "Ma'am in the pink dress who is standing and leaning out, I am talking to you. You HAVE to sit down. SIT DOWN!" So, she still doesn't. Like I said, even with no English surely the English speakers in her car would have noticed a woman in a pink dress hanging out the train window & helped her sit down. But it didn't end here. It went on. I can only assume he actually did get out & maybe forcibly sit her down? I don't know. I could hear his intense non-intercommed voice. It was crazy. Crazy pink dress lady. As we were exiting the train I tried to find her so I could see what kind of disobedient woman wears a pink dress but I couldn't find a woman in a pink dress. So I gave up & took a photo of this:

All I can say is I really enjoyed Rafiki's Planet Watch but I guess only crazy people go over there? And trust me, I qualify.

Drum time!

And then it was time for lunch at Yak & Yeti. I got the same thing I got the day before except no fried rice. Which was a big oversight because it had been Donald's favorite but since I had ordered the first day he didn't know. He thought fried rice came with the meals. He was really disappointed with plain white rice but we had so much food he didn't want to go get even MORE food. Oh well. The big thing here was our quiet little spot we ate. You can tell adults to not feed the birds, but not 2 year olds. Sorry nature, I'm not controlling my 2 year old for you.

Our lunch time view:

 

[estherhead]

I'm sure I've ridden Kali River Rapids before. I know I've walked down there & then had them tell me I couldn't ride for some reason. It either had to do with not having proper shoes or someone not being talk enough. But it evidently had been long enough that I didn't remember it well. And I certainly didn't remember the walk. Really cool walk!

I was wearing a poncho. Of course. Because I am smart. There were other smart people in ponchos. But the crazy thing is all the non-poncho'd people asking where I got the poncho. This HIGHLY amused me & all the other poncho clad people. One family coming off the ride got stopped multiple times asked if they got wet. The man of the group said, "Of course not, I have a poncho." It was very silly.

Then once we got in our actual ride the other family with us kept asking if they could trade seats with me because I ought to be in the wet area. Which really amused me because how can you know where the wet area is? Here's the girls all buckled in:

Ariel wanted to go with Donald & Boo to see the animals so Mulan & I did it again by ourselves. Then we were going to switch parks & go to Epcot. You know the march from the back of a park to the front, right? You're just focused on getting to the front so I wasn't really paying attention to the kids. My kids keep up. I just naturally assume everything is fine. So when we get the the front I pause & say I need to use the bathroom & look over at the girls to check & see if the girls have to go and Ariel is literally a weird color. I mean I had NO IDEA people actually turn green but she was.

So I say, cause I'm just a woman who says the first thing that pops into her head, "Ariel, what in the world is wrong with you?" And she BURSTS into tears. So, of course, we run to the potty. And then we decide to skip Epcot and go back to the resort.

Somehow we managed to get a good photo of the girls on the tram back to the van. Which we only rode cause Ariel felt so bad. Because we had super good luck with parking at the parks this trip. We were always on the tram side of the line of cars & really close. The parking gods were smiling on us (except at Music where the parking was icky.)

So this turned into a resort day. The big girls hung out in their own room. And Donald hung out in his room. Boo & I explored.

And then look who we ran into! Grandma!

This is where my trip started to go awry. Just be forewarned. I have the best parents in the world. But any semblance of a relaxing vacation was totally over.

I didn't know that, though, because my date night was AWESOME and super great. That is coming right up.... Well, ok, tomorrow. Maybe.

 

[MaryAz]

I am so so happy you came back to finish this! I have read all your reports and really like all your detail and the "accuracy checks" Such cute families. I have a 3 will be 4 in Sep DD who also has major character fears but only SOME characters. Tigger is the main one. I had to leave my yummy meal at CP cause she lost it. Not the " I am scared Mommy help crying" but the "omg I am going to die shrieking-gagging sobs" She will also have nothing to do with Stitch. She did however stand in line at the character Spot in May for 40 min and took her pic with ALL the character there. Go figure. I also see in many of ur pics a shoeless Boo-Cayley is also not a fan of shoes Great recap so far! Going out of toen with no internet-gasp until SUn but can't wait to read when I get back. We got our AP's in May and are going in Sep and Dec.

 

[estherhead]

I am so so happy you came back to finish this! I have read all your reports and really like all your detail and the "accuracy checks" Such cute families. I have a 3 will be 4 in Sep DD who also has major character fears but only SOME characters. Tigger is the main one. I had to leave my yummy meal at CP cause she lost it. Not the " I am scared Mommy help crying" but the "omg I am going to die shrieking-gagging sobs" She will also have nothing to do with Stitch. She did however stand in line at the character Spot in May for 40 min and took her pic with ALL the character there. Go figure. I also see in many of ur pics a shoeless Boo-Cayley is also not a fan of shoes Great recap so far! Going out of toen with no internet-gasp until SUn but can't wait to read when I get back. We got our AP's in May and are going in Sep and Dec.

Thank goodness I'm not alone!

The shoeless thing I just figured so be it. I was dealing with so much with her I couldn't fight the shoe thing. It's just been within the last month that we had a shoe crisis with all 3 girls not being able to find shoes EVERY time we got ready to go. In their defense their shoes were starting to get tight & uncomfortable. So I took them shoe shopping & got a great deal but spent $150.00 on 3 pair of shoes for each. When we arrived home their father threatened them with everything in his daddy "punishment arsenal" that if they took off & left in the van their shoes they would get "fill in the blank". And Boo was not excluded. She still takes them off but she'll leave them on for hours at a time instead of minutes. So maybe this year she'll keep them on. Here's hoping.

Sounds like we're gonna be AP buddies. Has having AP's changed the way you tour? Are you more relaxed now? I'm hoping that's what happens to us. I would love to be a relaxed touring family but I have an intelligent plan before we go with lots of down time and then once we get there we all forget the reasonable touring plan and turn into psycho Disney fans racing from ride to ride. It's like Main Street is piping in crazy mind control and not just pleasant music and smells. We did better on this trip, but then I felt cheated. Relaxing is cheating.

 

[AlexandAndysMom]

Loving this! I have boys, so it's nice to see what girls do! My baby was 2 last year when we went, and you can tell what day it was by his reaction to the characters...he went from fear to love in 10 days!

We go back in October and hopefully he will still love them, because he's got a 'kiss my girls' plan for the Princesses! (I do love that little boy!)

 

[Rozz]

Loving your report! I'm glad I'm not the only one with a fuzzy memory. If I ever do a trip report, it would be like you said, a trip possibility instead.

My youngest did not like the characters either. We learned to walk way around them when we had a full costume character siting. I think we hurt Baloo's feelings one time She's 12 now and still does not want to be in the picture with a character. She's okay with face characters.

So, what happens after your parents show up?

 

[heaven2dc]

Uh oh....I'm sensing the next post won't be so great (having something to do with "parents")!

 

[disneyaddicted]

Nice update. I'm with Boo though, plastic princesses are scarier than a snake. Just sayin.

The cow story was too funny. How sheltered are you to not know what a cow looks like?LOL

Sigh! parents, I remember I used to go on vacation to Michigan to visit my parents, then it dawned on me that vacation is for relaxing and I never got to do that around my parents, they are so intense, so I will stop in and see them for a day on my to my real vacation now.

 

[estherhead]

First off, SORRY the pictures weren't up this weekend. I've been away without internet having a lovely time and didn't realize. But I've got it fixed now. And will soon (probably tomorrow, maybe tonight) resume writing!

Loving this! I have boys, so it's nice to see what girls do! My baby was 2 last year when we went, and you can tell what day it was by his reaction to the characters...he went from fear to love in 10 days!

We go back in October and hopefully he will still love them, because he's got a 'kiss my girls' plan for the Princesses! (I do love that little boy!)

I'm hoping this is the year she loves them! Jack-Jack just went to DisneyLAND and fell absolutely in love with characters, being fun scared, and Fantasmic. So I'm hoping his great influence rubs off on Boo. Your son sounds like a serious charmer!

Loving your report! I'm glad I'm not the only one with a fuzzy memory. If I ever do a trip report, it would be like you said, a trip possibility instead.

My youngest did not like the characters either. We learned to walk way around them when we had a full costume character siting. I think we hurt Baloo's feelings one time She's 12 now and still does not want to be in the picture with a character. She's okay with face characters.

So, what happens after your parents show up?

So funny that even at 12 she doesn't like them! Some adults still hate them. I love them. How cool is it to have that as a job? They only one that seems horrible to me is Jasmine. Yikes! Whenever I dress up I want to lose myself in my imagination, how can a person do that when they have to suck in their tummy all day long?

Uh oh....I'm sensing the next post won't be so great (having something to do with "parents")!

Yeah & still to come: RAIN!

Nice update. I'm with Boo though, plastic princesses are scarier than a snake. Just sayin.

The cow story was too funny. How sheltered are you to not know what a cow looks like?LOL

Sigh! parents, I remember I used to go on vacation to Michigan to visit my parents, then it dawned on me that vacation is for relaxing and I never got to do that around my parents, they are so intense, so I will stop in and see them for a day on my to my real vacation now.

Thanks, and really? I can assure you, I did NOT touch the snake. And I didn't even walk up to the spider in the glass box. I'm shuddering just pondering it all. I mean snakes are ok & interesting and I've touched them before. But still.

The bummer is my parents are super cool to travel with. My mom is going to Disney with us this year for 4 days and it'll be awesome. And we've travelled all over with them. But Disney World with all 13 of us is INSANE and a TERRIBLE idea.

Stay tuned.....