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

[estherhead]

So every time we go with Suzy & Milo we trade babysitting so we each can have a date night. Last time Donald & I got to go to Cirque & Raglan Road and eat right next to the Irish band. How could we top such a great, entertaining, romantic night?

After very little pondering & quite a bit of work, I got a ressie at California Grill for one hour before Wishes. I was very excited about this but had kept it a surprise for Donald. The original plan was to have all five of us meet the six of them in Epcot & give them our kids. But when we were already at the resort & then Mom and Dad showed up, we opted to just leave them there.

First, though, I ran my parents down to get them key to the kingdom cards to our room. This requires me to back up a lot.

My parents are awesome. They are world travelers, fascinated with history, nature, on & on & on. They have a lot to give to the world. But they do not really get Disney. They understand, begrudgingly, Suzy & my love. And my mom, especially, finds great joy in our joy. But she just barely gets it. My dad doesn't get it at all and gets tired easily.

So we don't invite them. It's just better for all of us.

And every year they try to nose into the Disney trip and we come up with every excuse in the book why they shouldn't come with us because the truth is, they SHOULDN'T come with us. But they want to because they want to be with us & it's annoying for them that a family as close as ours has this thing we cannot share. They WISH so desperately that they could share it, that they could feel it. But they don't.

So this year, like every other, my mom called me a few months before our trip & asked what would happen if they came with us. And I conjurred up a few of the reasons I always give. But instead of giving up, she called back. And no matter what I said, she had something to say about.

I was getting more & more nauseous. Especially since they knew we had 3 rooms and there would be room for them IN OUR ROOM!!!!!!!

Yes, this was the big plan. They have friends they want to visit in the area & they would get a couple days tickets. And they would stay in the 3rd room with some of the kids or in Donald & my room with us and Boo. There really could not be a worse idea for a vacation I already have planned and paid for. Oh, and I almost forgot, they didn't want to rent a car, they would just have me come pick them up at MCO, take me back to a Disney bus stop and use our van since we had free Disney transportation.

I cannot even tell you. Oh how many phone calls to Suzy, crying, her telling me exactly what to say to help them understand and yet not hurt their feelings, me calling them back. Them calling me back an hour later with a solution to fix whatever issue I had raised. It was like three weeks of my life I lost.

But what finally happened is they had friends visit that had just been to Costa Rica. They had seen a monkey & my mom decided that she MUST see monkeys in the wild. And so they bought tickets to Costa Rica and planned themselves the perfect trip for them with a little 2 day stop in Orlando to see their family at Disney.

As far as my life, this was WAY better than any other previous thing offered and so I accepted it. But I still just couldn't imagine shifting all of us so they could stay with us. So I talked my dad into Pricelining a cheap hotel and a rental car. And I called Disney and TOLD them my parents would be staying for two nights (no package, no tickets, no cost) so they could go to early entry with us at Magic Kingdom.

This seemed a huge bother to me but they are early morning people and it appealed to them to be their bright and early to ride Dumbo with their favorite little babies in the whole world.

And so I headed off to the lobby to check them in.

And then they took the kids to dinner (they had a GRAND time) and Donald and I were free to enjoy our date.

Even though this day had gone haywire with Ariel being ill and then going to the resort and then hanging with my parents, it was still a magical day and our date was gonna be great.

So we headed to Epcot, even though we didn't have to meet Suzy, so we could do the Sum of all Thrills. We opted to park at MK and take the monorail to Epcot. That way when we were done with dinner it'd be easy to get home.

We were soooo excited:

It was while I was taking this picture that I realized we had somehow got the tiny memory card and it was all full! So I quickly called Suzy who was still in Epcot & we met so I could borrow her camera. Unfortunately, it was just a photos in to using her camera that I realized her memory card was full too! So I deleted a few of her photos so I could at least get a few. And I think Donald took a few with his iphone which aren't great quality but at least they preserve the memory.

So we were on our way in to Epcot & met up with friends from our hometown! How crazy is that! And we live in a small town, too. So we chitchatted a bit and then went to ride the Sum of all Thrills. I had read on here to go at 6:00 pm and everyone would be eating dinner and there would be no line. We just walked right up! No line, at all. So that was a great Disboards tip!

We really enjoyed this ride. And we knew we had to bring the girls back.

It was so fun that Donald decided it was going to be too rushed and crazy to go somewhere else, why when there are great romantic places at Epcot?

He almost swayed me, we were there, it seemed relaxing. But finally my intelligence won out over his logic and I said I had my heart set.

So we took the monorail back to the TTC and Cali Grill.

We go up to the counter & then up the elevator. We then go & get a drink at the bar. The guy asks me what I want & I said I have no idea so he says he'll make me my very own drink. Just tell him the types of drinks I like and he'll work his magic.

I felt so super special.

So then we got seated & asked our server if we could just share everything. So we just used 1 person (two table services) and paid for a salad and flatbread. They brought everything out on two places already seperated. It was so delish & so filling I can't IMAGINE having a full meal here. Though we each would have loved our own dessert.

This came out first:

Then this really yummy flatbread:

Our amazing salad (we would have licked the bowl but we are slightly, just slightly, more classy than that)

The main course:

Then for dessert we got banana something. Soooo fabulous. Oh my goodness. And they didn't split it so I had to fight Donald off with my fork to get my fair share. Where is the stabbing fork smiley when you need it?

Also, the people next to us had all their kids with them and their server asked if they wanted them to cut the kids steak for them Donald & I both were like, "Cut our kid's steaks, PLEASE!" We hate this job and the possibility of someone else doing it for us was tantalizing.

When we had first arrived our server had explained the fireworks situation and that unless we wanted to be squished, we should go out to the balcony early. So he came over and told us when to go out. It was a great view and very romantic, lots of other lovers out there. We got a great spot with another couple. And then the fireworks started:

It was, of course, way cooler than my lame, not my camera, no room left really shows up. We LOVED it. And vowed to take our kids back. Which we are doing in a month!!!!

When we got back to the room Suzy had everything totally under control. We picked up Boo and were in bed at a totally reasonable time. Good thing because the next morning was early entry MK with all the kids and my parents.

 

[heaven2dc]

What a romantic way to end the evening! I hope MK with the parents tomorrow is spoiled!! (I'm guessing rain.....)

 

[Rozz]

A bit of a cliff hangar; will MK day be extra magical or will it have a melt down moment? Hopefully, no meltdowns. Can't wait to read what happened!

 

[estherhead]

What a romantic way to end the evening! I hope MK with the parents tomorrow is spoiled!! (I'm guessing rain.....)

A bit of a cliff hangar; will MK day be extra magical or will it have a melt down moment? Hopefully, no meltdowns. Can't wait to read what happened!

Coming right up! Chapter one of MK with a crowd.

 

[houseful of boys]

So I deleted a few of her photos so I could at least get a few.

What???!!!??? You never told me this. Good thing I'm the logical sort as this is too funny to find out that you deleted some of my pictures. Why not just delete some of your own photos off your memory stick to make room for the fireworks?

When we got back to the room Suzy had everything totally under control. We picked up Boo and were in bed at a totally reasonable time.

Everyone was in pj's and in bed by the time you got back EXCEPT Boo who had been changed into jammies but once in nighttime attire refused to get into my bed. She kept saying, "Mommy is all done with her food." She knew you and Donald had been out to a restaurant and would be back when finished. I was very sympathetic about her missing you so did not try to get her to lay down or anything. But once in her pajamas she wouldn't even sit down anywhere. She just kinda stood around telling me that, "Mommy will be back soon."

 

[estherhead]

Before I start this day I have to tell you about the shirts we are in this day. We all look smashing in red and so I try to have our most unique shirts each year be red. On these I used little baby Disney characters for each of us. Boo & Suzy both ended up being Daisy Duck. These shirts sat around quite awhile and Boo, who LOVES her Aunt Suzy, grew very attached to the idea that she and Suzy both were wearing Daisy. She would look at the shirts and point and say, "Suzy & I are the same. We are Daisy," or "I'm Daisy." She loved these shirts.

So this is the day we are wearing Boo's special shirts. This ends up leading to one of my most magical moments this trip.

Now, back to the daily report. I woke up & got ready. We were dressed and ready to go by 7:00 am and I called Mom & Dad to tell them we were leaving.

"What?" my mom says, "We're still in our pj's drinking coffee!"
"What?" I say, "You know we have to be at WDW by 7:45 for early entry."
"Yes, I know," she says, "but we're only 5 minutes away from the gate."
"Mom, don't you remember you have to park, take a tram, take a monorail, do bag check? You were just here last year."
"OK, ok, we'll get ready right now."

We've held off riding Dumbo this whole week and everybody knows that going to a park on early entry day means every second you delay getting there after 8 am is asking for crowds and trouble. There was no way I could wait for them to get there. So it was with a heavy and stressed out heart I began my day, knowing my parents were stressed out & now rushing around and that they would probably not make Dumbo with us.

Here we are on the monorail:

It was while on the monorail that I got the following call:

"What color shirts are we supposed to be wearing?" (I hadn't made them matching, I didn't really see a need since they were just there the one day.)

Oh dear, I'm practically there and they haven't picked out clothes yet.

Mom called me about 5 times while we did monorail to rope drop.

Just as the gates opened she called & said they were pulling into the parking lot, could we wait at the gate for them. Suzy said, "NO!!! We'll meet them at Dumbo."

So they were going to miss half the reason they spent $100.00 on tickets: to ride Dumbo with Jack-Jack & Boo. This saddened me.

We paused to use the potty, just us, Suzy & Milo and us weren't together at this moment. And while I'm there look who comes out next to the barber shop:

And did you see who was in this picture? BOO!!!!! She wanted to meet Daisy. It was amazing. She didn't freak, she let me unbuckle her from the stroller and hold her. She didn't want to touch Daisy, but she wanted her photo with her. I immediately start crying. She talked about this moment the rest of the trip and softened notably towards the characters though she refused to touch any, she at least allowed them to exist in the same world as her.

I texted Suzy & explained the delay. And then we walked to Dumbo.

Didn't stop for these guys.

I was almost there when Mom called and said they were on the monorail. We went ahead and got in line and they made it before we boarded! They opted to take photos instead of ride and it ended up being the most documented Dumbo ride ever!

Hi, Grandma & Grandpa!

Dumbo is great!

We also over documented this moment. We had decided to make a little music video and so took time to dance in interesting places. But Milo, Suzy, Donald, me, and my dad all video taped or photographed this and really, it's not that interesting. But still, you all have to see at least one photo of it because I have like, 30.

Grandma & Boo on Pooh!

See my girls glitter in their hair & mickey's on their fingernails. Oh yeah, we are in the zone.

Best friends walking into Small World.

Waving at the girl who faces you as you enter the ride:

We all really enjoyed watching the little ones on this. They really enjoyed it.

The babies loving every moment of it:

Off to Philharmagic, Dad really enjoyed this.

He started it!

And on to the Teacups. I don't do well with spinning things but neither do any of the other adults than Donald and we had too many kids for just him. So I took a load full of kids who didn't want to spin & we had a gentle twirl.

Here's the crazy group:

The calm team:

 

[estherhead]

What???!!!??? You never told me this. Good thing I'm the logical sort as this is too funny to find out that you deleted some of my pictures. Why not just delete some of your own photos off your memory stick to make room for the fireworks?



Everyone was in pj's and in bed by the time you got back EXCEPT Boo who had been changed into jammies but once in nighttime attire refused to get into my bed. She kept saying, "Mommy is all done with her food." She knew you and Donald had been out to a restaurant and would be back when finished. I was very sympathetic about her missing you so did not try to get her to lay down or anything. But once in her pajamas she wouldn't even sit down anywhere. She just kinda stood around telling me that, "Mommy will be back soon."

I'm pretty sure I did tell you. By saying small memory card, I mean it only held the one pic of Donald and I. It wasn't for cameras. And I didn't want to give up that one pic. I only deleted like fuzzy, unviewable pictures and you didn't care. I totally wouldn't have gotten rid of ANYTHING you'd want. Of course. Or at least that you'd remember you wanted.

As for Boo, she was SUCH a turkey on this trip. Just saw the picture above of her crying as we boarded Pooh. She was just sure I wasn't getting in while I took the picture. Absolutely exhausting. Thank goodness Donald & I didn't make it a late night. What would she have done? Fallen asleep standing?

 

[houseful of boys]

That picture of all of us on Small World is hilarious. Can you tell we all got up early?

 

[disneyaddicted]

Oh my gosh, your post about trying to talk your parents out of stopping by disney without hurting their feelings, I just went through that last week. My Mom and her friend were talking about wanting to go to Disney again but it was too much for them this year. I saw through one of my e-mails that my mom uses (she doesn't have a computer) that she had received a pincode for a percentage off her room, so I called to tell her this. And like your Mom, she wants to get disney, she just doesn't. But she asked if she could get free dining too since I was getting free dining, I told her no, only one pin can be used. She said well then I will just stay stay in the room with you and your friend and get free dining.

How do you tell your Mom, "I wasn't inviting you to come with me, I was just telling you that with the pin you and your friend can probably swing Disney this year."

I felt horrible, I could hear the hurt in her voice when I explained that my friend invited me on this trip, it's not my vacation to invite others to go with us. My heart still breaks when I think of that call, I thought I was doing her favor and I ended up crushing her.

On a happier note. I am so glad that Boo has warmed up to the characters a little. That's so sweet.

 

[estherhead]

That picture of all of us on Small World is hilarious. Can you tell we all got up early?

In the video (Donald video taped practically the entire ride) he catches almost every single person yawning. Maybe an EMH of day 5 isn't such a great idea.

Oh my gosh, your post about trying to talk your parents out of stopping by disney without hurting their feelings, I just went through that last week. My Mom and her friend were talking about wanting to go to Disney again but it was too much for them this year. I saw through one of my e-mails that my mom uses (she doesn't have a computer) that she had received a pincode for a percentage off her room, so I called to tell her this. And like your Mom, she wants to get disney, she just doesn't. But she asked if she could get free dining too since I was getting free dining, I told her no, only one pin can be used. She said well then I will just stay stay in the room with you and your friend and get free dining.

How do you tell your Mom, "I wasn't inviting you to come with me, I was just telling you that with the pin you and your friend can probably swing Disney this year."

I felt horrible, I could hear the hurt in her voice when I explained that my friend invited me on this trip, it's not my vacation to invite others to go with us. My heart still breaks when I think of that call, I thought I was doing her favor and I ended up crushing her.

On a happier note. I am so glad that Boo has warmed up to the characters a little. That's so sweet.

I know! Glad to see Suzy & I aren't the only ones. She called me to remind me that when Mom & Dad arrived Mom had brought a day bag like Suzy & I always do. But in a photo above you can See Suzy's grey Baggalini and I have a similar one armed small backpack with a Mickey Mouse on it you can see from time to time in our photos. My Mom brought a GIANT purple bag, not a backpack, with squishable fresh fruit, a ridiculous amount of bottled water and a roll of money which for some reason was always on top, in plain view. You can see it on top of the double stroller through the window in one of the photos. That bag was such a hassle. And every time we turned around that money was rolling around on top again.

Plus, I forgot to mention that when I got them their Keys to the Kingdom for staying in our room my dad said, "So do we get free food too?" I said, no, you didn't pay anything, you're just visitors in my room for the night. He said, "Well, we'll just use your free food." So then I had to explain that it was per person per day & we needed our free food, that if he ate my food on this day, I would have to pay for food by the last day. It totally baffled him. (Mom had gone with free dining before and so knew the drill.)

But all of this chat reminds me that I'll need to talk to Mom about her bag for our upcoming trip. Maybe Suzy & I will buy her a baggalini today! I'm off to look for codes.

 

[heaven2dc]

I'm so glad that Grandma & Grandpa arrived in time to take pics of the kids on Dumbo!! I loved the pics in IASW - the little ones' faces say it all!

I can't remember when you took this trip but a co-worker & his family were there from 5/2-5/8/10 and described a big family all in red t-shirts in Fantasyland and it almost sounded like yours! (of course, there are lots of families with red t-shirts in WDW but just curious )

 

[estherhead]

I'm so glad that Grandma & Grandpa arrived in time to take pics of the kids on Dumbo!! I loved the pics in IASW - the little ones' faces say it all!

I can't remember when you took this trip but a co-worker & his family were there from 5/2-5/8/10 and described a big family all in red t-shirts in Fantasyland and it almost sounded like yours! (of course, there are lots of families with red t-shirts in WDW but just curious )

Nope, not us! We were there in November of 2009.

 

[estherhead]

I also forgot that we rode the carousel. Clearly it made a huge impression on me!

But what I do remember was heading over to ride Splash Mountain. Mom & Dad opted to stay behind and watch Jack-Jack and Boo while we all rode & Dad wanted to get a photo of us going down the big hill.

I have spent a lot of time in this tiny little playground and was THRILLED to spend no time here at all this year:

Instead all of the rest of us headed up to meet Bre'r Fox. This was the most laughter I had the entire trip. I could not stop giggling.

Here's what happened: We all get in the log, Suzy & Milo behind Donald & I. You know how you only get slightly wet on this ride and you don't really even worry about it too much? Well we are innocently floating about & not really even started yet and the freak splash absolutely SOAKS Milo. Here is his face right after it happened:

You can see Suzy starting to laugh. But the giggling continued as Milo was so indignant that this happened. He was hilarious. The ENTIRE ride I could hear him muttering about the indignity of getting soaked BEFORE the ride started.

Here's the kids in front of me at this moment:

And here is the big hill:

And here is the kids in front of me after the big hill & their own soaking:

Moral of the story, you CAN get totally soaked on Splash Mountain. Though it's never happened to me.

And Dad never did get a photo of us. He did get a photo of lots of other people going down the hill. But we deleted all those.

Then we went towards some spitting camels and ran into this:

In line:

Monkey:

Riding!

Did I post this one already? Sooo cute!

And then it was off to Epcot for lunch!

Where did we eat?

 

[estherhead]

First, I uploaded some Photopass. Here is the pro shot of Daisy Duck & us. Look how happy Boo was! Soooo exciting!

And here some shots my family got instead of rushing to Dumbo to make up for the horrible shots I made us take earlier in the trip facing the sun. MUCH better

We are all together and moving towards Epcot. This was so nice to do just a few things during EMH and then head to Epcot. I wasn't sure if it would be overly stressful and although the morning had started out stressful, once we settled into our MK morning it was really nice. But as we headed toward MK things were slightly more stressful.

Mom & Dad were going to fend for themselves at QS places around Epcot and Suzy and Milo and their brood had an ADR at Le Cellier! That's right, we got coveted Le Cellier ressies! Their ressies were earlier than ours so we were going to take my parents to ride something.

This was an issue because Buzz cannot handle things such as having to go to a boring restaurant (he doesn't really like to eat ) while we were doing fun things. So the rest of us were keeping our mouths shut. Except the reality is neither my parents nor my girls WERE keeping their mouths shut. And every time any one of them opened their mouths they were discussing what we were going to do. And Buzz threw a mini fit every time it was mentioned which was about every 5 seconds. And this is when my entire trip began to unravel.

The stress of having a diasagreeable, suspicious, terrified of her own shadow Boo clinging to me night and day, and having my parents with me began to push me over the edge and I never caught the magic again. So although this morning was magical, for me, it ended at the entrance of Epcot.

Here is our one Photopass photo of all of us together. One of the reasons I got the Photopass this time was so that we could have a professional photo of all of us together. Sadly, had this been the only reason, it would have been a serious waste of $49.50 (Suzy & I split, of course.) We also got it because Donald likes the continuity of having professional photos of certain shots almost every year as our girls get bigger. For $49.50 we both believe it is a great value for any trip over 4 days.

This is the first attempt & you can't even see my dad.

This is the one I actually printed out. The best we could get.

So Suzy & Milo and gang break off as we assure Buzz one last time we are just going to the bathroom and then being bored silly until we meet up with him again. We dash into the bathroom while they sneak away.

When we get back out I ask my parents what they really want to do now that we have freedom of speech and my mom utters the words that express exactly how she was feeling about the whole experience and revealed that perhaps she wasn't having the time of her life either.

"I don't care, Perla, just tell us what to do and we'll follow you."

So we did Spaceship Earth.

Boo rode with them, I know this is fuzzy but trust me, it was hilarious in person:

After this we moseyed slowly (my dad walks slowly) to Canada, looking at the gardens. And then they broke off to find some lunch. Their whole goal this afternoon was to do the Behind the Seeds tour. So I made arrangements to text them after they came out of the building hours later (bad cell service in The Land.)

And we headed to put our name in & let the kids color a bit. I've done this Canada Kidcot WAY more times than any other Kidcot. This one & the one in Mexico. Because they are first & the kids are all super excited to do them when we first go into the World Showcase. By America, which I've only done once, no one cares anymore.

So we get called very quickly & get seated. And who should we be seated by?

Now I know that Le Cellier is a tiny restaurant but we were practically at the same table. Crazy! It sounds like this should have been good, but it really wasn't the best situation because we just wanted to relax and the kids wanted to mess around. Thank goodness for the Legos & playdough I brought!

Also, as I pointed out I was starting to be cranky and Donald had really hated this restaurant because Boo had been a baby when we had eaten here before and we had been seated in the center of the place and so he had spent the huge portion of our meal outside in the heat bouncing a cranky baby. But it's Ariel's favorite restaurant at Epcot so she and her dad worked out a deal where she would agree to go to San Angel (which is HIS favorite restaurant) if he would go here. So his emotions towards Le Cellier were super negative.

But this time we had a nice time, Boo was happy, everyone was happy. And Donald said over & over again, "Have they rearranged this restaurant? I could swear it was darker and gloomier and more crowded." "Is this the same steak I got before? It was so dry before and now it's delicious." And I kept saying, "It's exactly the same. You were in a bad mood last time. Your negative experience was internal, not external." We had some form of this this conversation about 10 times during this meal. Sigh.

I have no idea what I ate & don't feel like pulling out the receipts today. But I know I got to eat Ariel's cheddar cheese soup. It comes in the tiniest cup ever & is just about the right amount of this soup. I like it a lot but it is too rich to have a bowl.

And I also know I got the s'mores for dessert & shared it. It was richer than I remembered but just as yummy. Mulan was an adult on the DDP so we always had plenty of food.

Then I took photos of the roses as I slowly walked around and smelled every single one.

Then what did we do?

 

[estherhead]

After gorging ourselves on steak we decided to kill some time riding Figment. I have a funny Figment story which did not happen on this trip but I'm going to tell you anyway. About 5 weeks ago I was in the van with one of my friends. Her kids are my age & her husband LOVES Figment and it was his favorite ride when Epcot opened, maybe it still is.

Anyway, Boo was being a turkey on this day & not getting in her carseat & this lady starts singing (to Imagination tune):

"Cooperation, cooperation
If there's a job, we have to do,
It takes the work of me & you."

Well, this stops my family dead in our tracks & we all stare at her. To which she says,

"What? This is the song my husband & I always sang to our kids to get them to help. I think it's from Sesame Street or something."

"No," I say, "It's from the Imagination ride at Epcot, your husband must have changed the words!"

"Really? We've sung it for years & years."

So now I have a new song I sing to Boo to get her to help plus it puts me in a good mood because it makes me think of Disney!

Then we messed round afterward:

After this my parents were done & we met them outside The Land. Milo had decided to wander around the World by himself and Suzy had taken all her kids into Innoventions. The plan was to do The Seas and ride Soarin'. But no one was around at the meeting point. Suzy didn't have great cell phone service and the one text I got from her said she needed to let her boys play awhile so they wouldn't melt down.

At first I was enjoying myself because my parents were both very excited about the Behind the Seeds tour & were going to build their own water based garden at home. But quickly turned into a big fight was they both had ideas and they were NOT the same ideas. After standing and listening to this for what seemed forever, I decided to go find Suzy. Truthfully, I have no idea what my parents, my husband, nor my children were doing while I did this. But being bored was certainly a part of it. This comes up later.

Anyway here is the pictures of the boys doing how to get out of a fire:

At some point while I was doing this Boo fell asleep. So Donald volunteered to stay out of The Seas with her (no sleeping babies in strollers in the buildings) and my Mom & girls went in, followed by us:

When Boo woke up Donald brought her in. He was bored to tears & basically felt he had wasted 2 hours of his Disney trip. I, also, felt like I was wasting these huge portions of time doing truly not fun things. At least not fun to me. And who wants to do "their duty" while on vacation. I know it comes with the territory of being parents but with losing 1/2 my day before because Ariel was sick and having a lot of this day spent standing around or chasing people, waiting for people, etc. I was in a foul mood. And Milo & Donald needing alone time while Suzy & I drag 7 kids & my parents around was not my idea of fun. So I told him that. So this is the story of Milo getting what Milo wants & Donald not getting what Donald wants. A tale of two men.

After the Seas we were still waiting for Milo & by this point I was ticked off at him. We got all the kids Mickey bars. And I do think Donald went & did something, but maybe he was just sitting on another bench?

Then Jack lost his Mickey bar:

The children were having a blast this day, this is Mulan snorting Mickey bar out her nose:

FINALLY, Milo showed up:

And we went in to ride Soarin', Suzy & the first group had gone in earlier & we rode on baby swap:

I LOVE Soarin' but I hate this area. I have wasted entirely too much of my life in this ugly part of Disney World waiting for my family to get off Soarin':

My turn, finally Mulan's mad cause I took the best seat. I deserved it, hello!

After this Mom & Dad left. We really had done okay but just the same I was relieved. I kept thinking in my head, "And now, back to your regularly scheduled vacation."

Here is Suzy's happy face as we pushed to America to let the kids have plain old french fries & chicken nuggets.

This night ended up being Mulan's favorite night of all. She got normal food, a pearl (story in a moment) and fireworks. It still ranks up there as a favorite night of her life.

I'm going to pause, though, so I can finish up with photos in next thread.

 

[heaven2dc]

I can SO sympathize with you - sometimes it is so hard to fully enjoy a family vacation with family I was looking forward to a big family vacation that included all of my 5 kids, their respective girlfriend/boyfriends and my grandson. But since then there has been a family "issue" between sister/brother and respective bf/gf's and now it's just down to me, my DS27, DS23 & DS17. I will miss not enjoying having my DGS who will be 3 when we go but I am also looking forward to some "adult" time on this trip too.

I hope the rest of your evening (and trip) have more of a magical feel to it!

 

[estherhead]

I can SO sympathize with you - sometimes it is so hard to fully enjoy a family vacation with family I was looking forward to a big family vacation that included all of my 5 kids, their respective girlfriend/boyfriends and my grandson. But since then there has been a family "issue" between sister/brother and respective bf/gf's and now it's just down to me, my DS27, DS23 & DS17. I will miss not enjoying having my DGS who will be 3 when we go but I am also looking forward to some "adult" time on this trip too.

I hope the rest of your evening (and trip) have more of a magical feel to it!

Yeah, why is it family has to get in the way of a good family vacation?

I love my babies & these years that go by so quickly but I look forward to my kids at your ages too when we are adults. I know how much my mom enjoys her time with my sister & I. We are all like best friends and I hope the effort I put into my kids right now leads to that kind of closeness in the future.

 

[estherhead]

Hi all. I'm sorry I was moving along so well & had hoped to already be done. But I got called up as a juror and ended up being on the jury of a assault & battery case and have been caught up in that both mentally & physically. It's over now and I plan on getting right on this again but I'm taking the night off tonight mentally!

 

[estherhead]

So Mom & Dad left us and we headed into World Showcase to get some grub.

We all felt like we were just spinning our tires in Future World and it was a relief to be walking with a purpose again. Off to America so the kids could, as Mulan put it, get "normal food." Which meant chicken tenders & fries. I'm not a big chicken tender person so I got a pulled pork sandwich that ended up being really good & Ariel and I split it.

I was happy to be sitting next to this:

Ok, little secret, the one at the GF is more famous and on tv from time to time and has a little store inside. But I personally liked this one better.

I mean, look!

It's like we're eating in a winter wonderland. Everyone really perked up after this.

So since my family were in a great mood, I talked them into doing something they'd never done: America! (Suzy & Milo had but none of my brood.)

Somehow as we entered the theater we weren't all sitting together. I was scared Boo would freak, since she does all the time, and this ended up with me sitting with cool people and Donald sitting with cranky old farts. This made an experience he probably wouldn't have enjoyed anyway into an experience he has vowed to never repeat. I, on the other hand, would go do this again next time I was in Epcot.

After that it was time to go to Japan! Yippee to my surprise!
Pearls for my girls!!!!

This was amazingly fun. There's a little ceremony and bowing and I told the girls to pick the ugliest oyster they could find because it would have the biggest pearl in it. This ended up being great advice and they got huge pearls. And Ariel's was silver. It's so gorgeous.

I had bought on ebay $3.00 cages with chains that the pearls could go in. The girls were positively glowing after this & I was smiling from ear to ear as we went outside to find a spot for Illuminations. I've never watched from here before and I think I'm gonna stay with my old spot that I stake out on the Canadian side in the future. But, it's always nice to try something new!

Boo was ready to go & thought it was very interesting.

Until the boom of the fireworks. Then she was freaking out & we could not be further away from the exit. So she simply had to tough it out. Donald took control and did get her somewhat calm. The real problem was she WANTED to see the fireworks because fireworks are cool. But the noise of the fireworks are scary. So it was hard for her to be both intrigued and freaked out at the same time.

Then we walked back to the front. This day was a learning experience for me. I learned that despite me always saying I want to take it easy when actually forced to truly take it easy I don't actually like it very much. I learned that I need to let my kids have normal food on vacation. This is hard on me because sometimes I don't want normal food & I don't want to waste time at two places. But maybe 50/50 is too much my way when food is the issue. Maybe it needs to be 20% me, 80% them. Sigh.

 

[estherhead]

In the middle of the night it started pouring and it didn't stop. It rained & rained & rained. And when we got up: still raining.

I've been reading the highly entertaining novella by RigLee (check it out on this board, it's the one with "arrested" in the title) & I'm pretty sure this might be the day they met Grant & his wife, the day it never stopped pouring.

I think Disneyaddicted was there as well. Shout out to all who endured this day in early December. Ugg!

But as Disney diehards, we put on our ponchos & continued with our day.

It was time for our official schedules to be done and the girls to choose. Ariel and Mulan are VERY different people & they, therefore, chose totally different things. Donald & I made a basic plan tying in the two together but this day we had ADR's at Akershus and so Epcot was on our agenda. The next day would begin with Mulan's choice of DHS followed by Ariel's choice of MK.

Because of the rain & the later nature of our ADR we started a little later than normal this day. We had enjoyed the create your own rollercoaster on our date night and wanted the girls to do it. They were too short to go upside down but they both really enjoyed themselves.

It starts with a lot of talking in a little room and then you get to build your ride on a touch screen. And then you get strapped into an arm of death. And then FUN!

Into the little room:

Designing their ride:

Also, I passed this several times during this trip & there were lines but early in the morning there was no line & there was no line at 6:00. So that's when to go. It's very enjoyable but I wouldn't want to wait very long for it.

It was then time to go to Akershus. I paused to take a photo of these guys toughing it out in the rain.

Then we started to walk down the International path, right down the center with the bushes on either side. This becomes important later. Anyway, we all had ponchos on except Donald who had a green not fully waterproof rain jacket on. Donald HATES being wet. I hate being wet too, but he really, really hates it. But he also hates being unfashionable. Me, I'm willing to look dorky if it means being comfortable. I had bought a giant blue mickey jacket on disney.com for cheap the year before. It is huge, ugly, but oh, so dry.

Unfortunately, for me, I'm a mom. And moms have to sacrifice their own comfort for the comfort of their families. As you can tell, I was starting to get slightly bitter about the sacrifice in this trip. Need I remind you that I was sick, sick enough to go to a clinic late one night & get antibiotics. I was on a strict regime of health care & drugs and still sick. I had sacrificed half a day to Ariel being sick & my parents coming to visit. Then I had sacrificed a whole day of taking care of my parents, my kids, and helping Suzy with her kids while Milo played. Then this day started right out with Donald whining about being wet, even though he was unwilling to wear a poncho which would have made him dry.

Then, I had to sacrifice my wonderful blue, dry jacket for Ariel who hated & complained about the ponchos for them. So Mulan ended up with the Mickey Mouse clear poncho & Ariel with my dry, wonderful blue jacket. Boo had a rain jacket & a shower curtain with clips over her stroller (genius idea I got on here & works like a charm!) And don't forget, Boo is NOT AN EASY child. So I was in a Dollar Tree, cheap crappy, not very dry poncho with a sobbing, lost my necklace older daughter, a middle daughter who was wearing my jacket, a difficult toddler, and a quickly getting sicker, and wet and cranky but will not wear poncho Donald.

And it was POURING. A constant, depressing, sometimes lightening downpour.

I was not starting out in a great mood and I did not want to be MOM anymore. I just wanted to be Perla, all by myself in my well-thought out, bought for super cheap blue, warm jacket.

So anyway, we're walking & Mulan is getting super hot with a sweatshirt & poncho on so she stops & takes off the sweatshirt & ties it around her waist. I'm not sure what I was doing but not really paying attention. So then we all start walking again & eventually get to Norway.

And this is the line I stood in, it's somewhere between 10:15-10:30 a.m.:

So, standing in the drizzle with the other miserable people who are only out there to have their princesses eat with the princesses, Mulan discovers her pearl cage necklace is gone! Ack! To be honest, I don't remember standing in the line that well because all I remember is Mulan bursting into tears & Donald and I trying desperately trying to comfort her.

We get to the front & they can't find our 10:35 ADR. What? I pull out my ADR numbers and suddenly realize it's for the next day. I've made a rare error. The rain & extra people & drugs had addled my brain. And it all comes flooding back to me. We were going to spend our last day at WDW with the princesses while Suzy & Milo eat with the Mad Hatter. So why am I at Epcot in the rain? Why? I have NO IDEA!

I ask if there is any way at all we could cancel the next day & eat today. But did you see that line? The girl calls the manager and the manager says no way. But I still stand there because now Mulan is SOBBING! Ariel is crying and Donald & I are beyond miserable. I'm not even kidding.

So since she'd like to get the line moving at some point she says, "You could check back in like an hour & maybe we'd have an opening."

So we leave. Donald & Mulan go to see if they can find the necklace & the rest of us go to the little gift shop there at the International Gateway. We were there forever! Donald & Mulan finally came back soaking. They had dug through all those wet bushes & contacted guest services to no avail. And it was now SUPER POURING.

And I was done. Stick a fork in me, I'm done. I told Mulan, "Look, I'm only out $20.00 on your necklace. We'll just go buy another pearl & figure out what to do with it when we get home. And we are going to eat with the princesses and everything will be fine."

So I marched my sad, upset, and overall depressed family through the driving rain. And went back to the Akershus counter where there now is no line because it's practically lunch time. The girl is very surprised to see me because what kind of idiots wait around in the driving rain when they've been very clear there are NO OPENINGS? I told my family to not be with me because I'm better at getting what I want without them. So it's just me & Boo (in her stroller.) When it comes to manipulating people I am excellent. I'm so good that I rarely pull out my skills because they are dangerous.

The key to getting what you want to is to be very NON emotional, very appreciative, very understanding. But unmovable. So the girl is not being persuaded but I'm not moving from the counter.

"I totally understand that it is my mistake. But could you check again?"

She checks, no.

So I don't say anything but I just stand there at her podium. And in the silence (people hate silence) she says,

"But it's almost lunch, you won't have the best experience."

Ha, ha!!!!! There is the tiny opening I was looking for, I am winning!!!!!!!!!!! So I then say, with just the right amount of emotion, but still very appreciative, "That's OK. Anything you can do for us. It will just ruin my little girls' trip if they can't eat with the princesses and they won't even notice if the food is sub-par."

So this time she gets on her walkie-talkie & instead of asking the manager (who has already told her no within the last 2 minutes) she says, "I'm sure we have something, what about table_____?" And with great delight I turn and wave to my family and we are IN!!!! It took me about 10 minutes of quiet, calm calculating persuasion & nerves of steel, but we are IN!

Donald was super impressed. He couldn't believe it. We've tried before to get into booked WDW places and never gotten in. But the key, as I told him, was REALLY wanting it. Knowing that you deserve it. And on this day I knew that Disney, with customer service as the thing it's known for, needed to make me, a loyal customer, happy. I deserved it. If there was every a moment to turn a loyal customer into a "I'll take my money elsewhere" customer, this was the moment. And as can be expected, WDW did come through, even if I had to work for it.

So we went in & stripped our soaking wet things off. This made a huge pile of wet things. And got our photo with Belle which is included in the price of the meal:

Boo went ahead and got her photos with Belle, even though she was suspicious. Look how happy I look. In that, "I won" kind of way.

And then we were shown to our table.