One Mom and Three Kids Tackle the World in a Week - Dec '09 Trip Report - Complete :)

[stace208]

I'm joining in! Love your report so far and looking forward to more!

 

[If U Had Wings]

Hi! A bit of a rough start to your trip, but you made it. I can't wait to hear more.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

HEY! I finally made it and am all caught up. How in the world did you manage three kids by yourself! Amazing! You must be supermom or something! Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I'll try Write what you want to be the link, then highlight it. Now click the "insert link" (globe) button and paste on your link. It should then magically work, let me know if it does


Sounds as though you had a rough journey to finally get to WDW, I'm so pleased you managed to kind of sort it all out and how nice of another DISer to help you get OKW

Oh thank you kind Disney soul! I'm going to try this!! You are right, it was a bit of a rough journey but so worth it.

I just wanted to say thanks! I've been wondering myself how do this. Just tried it with the links in my siggie and it worked!

It was tricky to figure out, wasn't it? LOL! I tried for days before asking for help!

I'm joining in! Love your report so far and looking forward to more!

Hi Stacy! Welcome!

Hi! A bit of a rough start to your trip, but you made it. I can't wait to hear more.

We finally made it!! Thanks for reading along with me.

HEY! I finally made it and am all caught up. How in the world did you manage three kids by yourself! Amazing! You must be supermom or something! Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Hi there, you made it! It helped that the kiddos were older. But I admit, we did have a few "hard" moments if you know what I mean.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

It was Sunday, December 6th and our official “first day” in Disney World! Oh yes, this would be a very grand day. Now, we didn’t get to bed until after 1am the night before. Our official plan was to try and make rope drops each morning. So also friends, this would mean not a whole lot of sleep. But, we managed. The alarm went off bright and early at 6:30am for me. I hopped in the shower, got ready, plans ready to go and bag packed by the time the kiddos were up and at ‘em. Big surprise….not one of them was even a little bit crabby! Perhaps that had something to do with being in the Happiest Place on Earth, methinks.

We peeked outside and sent Morghan, who soon became the official family Meteorologist, outside to test the conditions. It was a little chilly and dark so we threw on a warm sweatshirt over the top of our warmer weather gear. Remember we are from Minnesota. By darn we will be wearing some sort of warm weather gear!

And we were off! My sister and nephew met us right outside our building so we could all make sure we got on the same bus. All was going well. Kids were smiling, moms were happy; all was well in our little world. (For now.) We told the kiddos to hop up on the bench and we’d take a cute first day photo.

Right after I preview the shot and go to put my camera in my lovely purple Baggalini, I hear it. This icky, awful grinding sound as the lens in my camera tries to close and go back in. The one and only camera I brought with me. The camera that I specially bought just for this trip so I’d have a nice pocket camera to easily use. Ugh, not good. Not good at all. I was close to tears. I fiddled with it for a little bit and it seemed to work semi-okay. The zoom was dust. But it took decent pictures and only locked up sometime. Then I had to take out the batteries and put them back in. That would make it manually reset and start working for awhile again. A huge pain? Yes it was. But, what else could I do? I’m not happy with my Disney pictures but it could be worse…I could have NO pictures!! Okay, so on with the show….

We hit the South Point bus stop.

This was the closest to our building and a short walk away. Many buses came by but not our Magic Kingdom bus! Yes, we must go to MK today. I was very set on that. Magic Kingdom is Disney of course. My kids love Magic Kingdom. They love the castle, they love it all. And having an ADR at Crystal Palace mattered a little bit too of course. But thankfully our lovely bus came and we all hopped on, knowing great things awaited us!

We arrived!!

Now, I knew that parade taping would be today. I figured it wouldn’t matter too much. I was wrong. Rope drop was packed. Absolutely crowded and hectic. See? I thought I might get smooshed.

But, we did make it through the mass. We could not take our first stroll down Main St., which was disappointing. Walking down that street just makes everything okay, doesn’t it? People were everywhere, roped off; waving special color bandanas it looked like. It looked like fun but also lots of craziness. It was very choreographed. We zig and zagged and finally ended up where we were supposed to be. Can you guess? Oh come on…. Dumbo of course. We did the mad Dumbo Dash with the rest of the diehards of course. We did not make it for the first, second or whatever cycle but we did make it. See?

We decided to take a little spin and visit Winnie the Pooh next. That was a fun little ride in his honey pot and we walked ride on. The kiddos enjoyed it. They wanted more. Peter Pan was next on the list. No wait again! I know this one can back up a bit but it was only 9:20am in the morning and we now had two rides under our belt and walking onto the third. Perfection this was!

You may be asking where the heck are the pictures? I sure am as I am reviewing my albums. It seems that I was so busy getting us on our rides that I forgot about actually capturing the moments. Duh. No worries! This occurred to me soon after and I picked that broken camera right out of the bag to take some pictures! Geez, what was wrong with me?

We took a quick spin on Snow White (I love this!) and no one flinched at the witch so we were in good shape. We wandered over to the carousel but nobody was interested in taking a ride. It was too “babyish” in Dimitri’s words! What? Too babyish? Aww, that makes his mom feel old. But they all did try their hand on getting that darn sword out of that stone with no luck at all. Bummer, maybe next time.

Onto a favorite of ours! “It’s a world of laughter….” Oh yes my friends. It’s a Small World of course! I am told some find this hokey. That’s just silly talk. How could you not like cruising around in a little boat, looking at various dolls from other countries while listening to a song that becomes stuck in your head for months?! Some photos for your pleasure…

We said goodbye to our lovely foreign friends and decided that we would wander over to Frontierland. It was only 10am so we were looking good time-wise. The plan was to grab Splash FPs so we could ride later when it warmed up a bit (wishful thinking!) and then ride good ‘ol Big Thunder baby! And that we did. The wait time was only 15 minutes so the crew, minus my pregnant sister, took a wild train ride! Back in 2006 I took my first ever rollercoaster ride and it was here so I have fond memories.

AdventureLand was next.

Aladdin was closed for refurb so we waved hello at Genie and walked on by. We would have time to ride Dimitri’s favorite ride! Pirates of the Caribbean. Isn’t this a fun one? The wait time posted was a mere 5 minutes. Well, we don’t mind if we do! The little drop is always fun for the kids, even when they know it’s coming up. That gift shop is also fun to explore and the kids had fun looking around and trying various items on.

Since Dimitri had a choice of his favorite ride, Morghan must too!! Haunted Mansion, here we come.

This is also one of my favorites. It’s spooky, silly fun for all ages. We all laughed and pointed when we discovered who our hitchhikers were. Cute stuff.

But based on a time check, it was now time to dine with some very adorable characters! This is an ADR we all were looking forward to. We also were starved by now of course. I think I’m always hungry in Disney World. Why is this?!

Up next...Napkin twirlin' fun, a cold ride and mom needs a nap...big time!

 

[trixiequilts]

Hello there! If you have anything specific you would like to know about December, please ask. When I was planning for this trip, I know I asked a million and one December questions. Thanks for joining in!!

You may end up regretting the offer when you're answering my zillionth-and-one question! But I certainly appreciate the offer and I will take you up on it!

We went in late January of 2009 (our first trip...it was absolutely wonderful thanks to great people on the DIS) and I'm thinking this time that we need to go after Thanksgiving but before the Christmas rush. I'm one of those weird "NO Christmas until after Thanksgiving" people and I think it would drive me bonkers to see so much Christmas stuff if we went in November.

My major concern (of the moment~~there WILL be more) is Pop Warner. Did that affect you at all? Rats, I can't remember the dates and even if it was going on while you were there. Does anyone (except those staying at the resorts they're all at) even notice that it's going on?

 

[trixiequilts]

Your camera!!! I would have totally freaked!!! You seemed to have handled it very well!

Oh boy...the parade taping. Is there somewhere specific that you got your information about it? How far in advance do they schedule it? Is it just one day? Does it only affect Main Street? It seems like you got a ton done that morning, even with all the extra people. Were those people just there for the taping? Or were they standard guests? I have absolutely no idea. Can you tell?

 

[DisneyJo]

I just wanted to say thanks! I've been wondering myself how do this. Just tried it with the links in my siggie and it worked!

Oh thank you kind Disney soul! I'm going to try this!!

Glad I could help and that it worked


Wow that did look busy but it sounds as though the queues were very short so that was fantastic

 

[SoonerGirl]

Wow that was quite a crowd at rope drop!! It sounded like most of them were there for the parade taping though, cause you got alot done

I would have been so upset about the camera, I don't know if I could do a vacation without one - I probably would have spent a small fortune and bought a new one there. I'm glad you were able to get it to work well enough to still get some pictures!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

You may end up regretting the offer when you're answering my zillionth-and-one question! But I certainly appreciate the offer and I will take you up on it!

We went in late January of 2009 (our first trip...it was absolutely wonderful thanks to great people on the DIS) and I'm thinking this time that we need to go after Thanksgiving but before the Christmas rush. I'm one of those weird "NO Christmas until after Thanksgiving" people and I think it would drive me bonkers to see so much Christmas stuff if we went in November.

My major concern (of the moment~~there WILL be more) is Pop Warner. Did that affect you at all? Rats, I can't remember the dates and even if it was going on while you were there. Does anyone (except those staying at the resorts they're all at) even notice that it's going on?

I promise I will not regret it. I also asked a boatload of questions so I know the feeling. Pop Warner did affect us only slightly and later into our trip. We saw various crowds here and there but they weren't bad at all! There was a group of cheerleaders who budged in front of us on our last day in the parks but they were certainly an exception. To balance that out, the kiddos rode Kali with a super fun group of cheerleading girls in Animal Kingdom. They had a blast!

Your camera!!! I would have totally freaked!!! You seemed to have handled it very well!

Oh boy...the parade taping. Is there somewhere specific that you got your information about it? How far in advance to they schedule it? Is it just one day? Does it only affect Main Street? It seems like you got a ton done that morning, even with all the extra people. Were those people just there for the taping? Or were they standard guests? I have absolutely no idea. Can you tell?

I actually read about the parade taping here on the Dis and also on TGM. I'm pretty sure it's always the first weekend in December. It seemed to only affect Main Street in the morning but they did filter into the park later in the day as it did get crowded that afternoon/evening. I'm not sure if they were regular guests or not. We did our best to stay away from the huge crowd!

Glad I could help and that it worked


Wow that did look busy but it sounds as though the queues were very short so that was fantastic

I agree, short wait times are the best!! Thanks again!

Wow that was quite a crowd at rope drop!! It sounded like most of them were there for the parade taping though, cause you got alot done

I would have been so upset about the camera, I don't know if I could do a vacation without one - I probably would have spent a small fortune and bought a new one there. I'm glad you were able to get it to work well enough to still get some pictures!

We did get a lot done, I was really pleased about that. All of that before lunch! My first thought was to run out and buy a new one but I had no idea how to even go about that so I trudged along with the broken one. I also am borrowing some of my sister's pictures so all's good.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Oh, no about your camera! I would have been freaking out completely!!!

I can't believe how many people were at rope drop!!! Glad they seemed to stay on Main Street though for the parade taping.

Fun rides! You hit a lot of the good ones!

 

[jordanyosh]

okay i'm in and caught up. you had some good fortune at the MK!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Hi!

Another "spectrum mom" here... followed you over from KathyRN's trip report. Sounds like you are off to a good start - aside from the broken camera.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Oh, no about your camera! I would have been freaking out completely!!!

I can't believe how many people were at rope drop!!! Glad they seemed to stay on Main Street though for the parade taping.

Fun rides! You hit a lot of the good ones!

I was mentally willing them to stay put on Main Street! I was a little bit whiny about the camera and might have called my husband twice to cry about it. LOL!!

okay i'm in and caught up. you had some good fortune at the MK!

Hello there!! Welcome!

Hi!

Another "spectrum mom" here... followed you over from KathyRN's trip report. Sounds like you are off to a good start - aside from the broken camera.

Hi there! Thanks for popping over. It's nice to have friends along for the ride.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Hello! Signing on for what looks to be an awesome TR!

I had to laugh about your DS and the questions on the plane. I have 2 DS's who love to talk ALL THE TIME, so I know just what you mean. Never a dull moment, that's for sure!

I hear ya on being put in the way way back OKW. We were in building 50 in November. The very last room, clear down at the end of the building, right by the 4 lane highway! We really liked the resort, our room, the pool, the CM's, etc. But didn't care for that location. Did you get a chance to eat at Olivia's? We did and it was very good!

I hope you didn't run into much trouble with the Pop Warner kids. I read a couple of threads about them this year and it sounds like they were out of control.

Sorry about your camera.

Looking forward to your Osborne Lights report. It was one of the highlights of our trip!


Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Hello! Signing on for what looks to be an awesome TR!

I had to laugh about your DS and the questions on the plane. I have 2 DS's who love to talk ALL THE TIME, so I know just what you mean. Never a dull moment, that's for sure!

I hear ya on being put in the way way back OKW. We were in building 50 in November. The very last room, clear down at the end of the building, right by the 4 lane highway! We really liked the resort, our room, the pool, the CM's, etc. But didn't care for that location. Did you get a chance to eat at Olivia's? We did and it was very good!

I hope you didn't run into much trouble with the Pop Warner kids. I read a couple of threads about them this year and it sounds like they were out of control.

Sorry about your camera.

Looking forward to your Osborne Lights report. It was one of the highlights of our trip!


Can't wait to hear more!

Well, hello there! We have a lot in common. Boys and their constant chatter is one of them it seems!! Ack.

OKW is huge, isn't it? To tell you the truth, I wasn't really up on how the whole internal system ran until a couple days into our trip. I'm glad Olivia's was good. We unfortunately didn't dine there but should have. One night we didn't have an ADR so just ate at Good's Food to Go, which wasn't that good.

Thanks for coming along on the ride!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm here now, and caught up! First, you are NOT a bad writer at all. Very entertaining!!

That is awful about your camera. I'm glad at least it still took pics. Were you able to return it and get your money back considering it was new? (Sorry if someone else asked this, and you answered it-I skipped the chit chat and used your handy links, which I'm guessing someone explained how to do them. )

You guys are cruising right through MK - what a magical day!!!

ETA - I'm so sorry to read about you loosing the $1000! That is awful. I haven't read the whole thread, but geez...sounds like you really got scammed, that is very WRONG.

 

[MeMom]

That's a happy and great-looking bunch of kids!


It's nice to hear that you ran across some nice, fun cheerleaders.We mostly read about the negative things associated with teams and cheerleaders, so it's good to hear about a group that was representing themselves in a good way.

 

[MickeyisBeast]

Hi
I'm joining in&subbing
Great report so far!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

I cannot believe you walked onto all those rides with a crowd that that at rope drop! Amazing!

Too bad about your camera! I would have had a meltdown if that had happened to me. At least it didn't die all together.

Can't wait for the rest!