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

[Lovemy3babes]

Nice group picture!

I didn't care for the juice, either.

Did you have any of the ham? That was what I remember being so good at that meal.

I've done Everest once, and it was definitely more than I bargained for. It seemed to last forever. Isn't it interesting how people see the rides so differently? We like Dinosaur a lot, and some people just hate it!

Thanks MeMom. I'm glad the photo turned out and was free. Ha! I think I had the ham. It doesn't stick out as bad so I must have liked it! Everest lasted an eternity for me too!! LOL!

What a great update! Your pictures are great. I love the one of your daughter with the African entertainer guy. That is great. It just screams Animal Kingdom fun! Love it! Breakfast looked great too. I'd love to eat there one day!

Oh, and your Dinosaur pictures made me cringe!

I like that picture too. He was a lot of fun! I'm sorry the Dino pics made you cringe.

Great update! My mom likes Everest, but it isn't something that she HAS to ride every time we visit AK. The backwards part freaks her out -- she doesn't like how disorienting it is. We all love Dinosaur, but I can never, ever keep myself from screaming and laughing at the same time. My dad and I went on it together last year and tried posing for the picture by turning to the left and pointing, instead of looking right like everyone else, but it didn't come out like I had envisioned because I couldn't cover my ears and point at the same time.

I love the TH group picture! It came out so cute!

Disorienting is completely the right word for going backwards that fast! I can just picture you covering and pointing at the same time. Didn't work so well, eh? LOL!!

Sounds like you had a great day at DHS! I feel so sorry for your sister, missing out on all the "good" rides!

I keep hearing really good things about the Tusker House breakfast; we'll have to try it someday!

Denise

Thank you! I'd put it on your next time list for sure. I'm glad we went.

Sounds like a fun morning at AK! I never thougth of asking for a photo with my camera at those mandatory picture places... we ate at Chef Mickey's & Tusker House last year and didn't buy the picture at either place. I'll have to remember that trick this year!

I felt kind of tacky asking them to use our camera but I remember reading something on the Dis about doing so. I hope that was okay!

 

[KathyRN137]

I felt kind of tacky asking them to use our camera but I remember reading something on the Dis about doing so. I hope that was okay!

Sure it's okay...I've had photopass photographers offer to take pix with my camera after they were done taking theirs...



Kathy

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Great photo.... everyone looks so happy!

Gotta love TGM Green Days!!


Kathy

We were happy and having lots of fun in AK! Thank you Kathy!

That is horrible what that mother said to her child!!!!!!! Seriously...I don't understand those kind of people. If she didn't want her holding the camera, wouldn't a "no" be more appropriate?!

Anyway, onto more pleasant things...like your breakfast! Great picture with Donald! I'm glad to hear they were willing to take one with your camera as well. Character meals are fun, but I agree-it gets to be a lot of work, and its hard to relax!

I am a screamer on Dinosaur. I know what is coming, yet I'm screaming.

I was ill when I heard that too. My dad wasn't the nicest to me growing up and some of that stuff really sticks with you for the rest of your life. That poor girl. You are correct, I wouldn't call a character meal exactly "relaxing". They are fun though! That's what makes Dinosaur so fun, the screaming even though you know you're safe!

We were going to do this breakfast the last day of our trip....earlier in the planning process it was planned for 9 am the last day. I thought with check out and all it would be rushed so we opted for Ohana the last day. Thank godness as we ended up doing AK on a different day and the 4th poured like buckets as we made an early departure. I am glad the rain was so heavy...it hid the sights as we were leaving for home.

So out of the breakfasts on your trip how did you rate this one??

I'm glad it worked out okay! Leaving for home on a rainy day makes it a little easier I would think.

Ah, I loved reading about your Animal Kingdom morning. You did some of our favorites -- Charles and Chelsea love Everest, we all love Dinosaur although I don't think we giggle on it , and Tusker House is probably my favorite character meal that we have done.

I totally agree that character meals can be hectic with the whole autograph book, picture taking, and eating. I always feel a little frazzled afterwards.

Thanks CP! I'm glad you all enjoyed Tusker House too. Frazzled is a perfect word to decribe what I was talking about.

 

[Zookeeperof4]

Well we were happy that the weather had been warm for us. You guys seem to have had good weather to.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Well we were happy that the weather had been warm for us. You guys seem to have had good weather to.

It wasn't bad, a pretty mixed bag. Some chilly, some humid, a little rain and then one cold night. I'm glad we packed layers!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Sure it's okay...I've had photopass photographers offer to take pix with my camera after they were done taking theirs...



Kathy

Good to know!

 

[Kimberly815]

I just found your trip report today and I am really enjoying it! Thanks for sharing!

 

[DisneyJo]

Wow you guys are brave riding Dinosaur and especially laughing at the scary bits

Your meal looks great and I definitely agree about character buffets being a bit stressful making sure you see everyone

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I just found your trip report today and I am really enjoying it! Thanks for sharing!

Welcome! Thanks for reading.

Wow you guys are brave riding Dinosaur and especially laughing at the scary bits

Your meal looks great and I definitely agree about character buffets being a bit stressful making sure you see everyone

Heehee, I guess we like scary stuff! Character meals are definitely a great way to see the characters but do require more than just enjoying your food.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

We had just gotten done eating with Donald and his fun friends. That meant it was time for a safari ride. I had gotten Fastpasses right before we ate and this worked out so well, them being pretty close to each other. We rounded up the troops and headed that way.

The standby line was pretty short, around 15 minutes. My sister parked her stroller and we all made our way into the line. Note: this ride was also one marked that pregnant women shouldn’t ride. We both thought that was a little much. It is pretty bumpy at times but we asked the CM if we could have a front seat since she was pregnant and he was very happy to oblige, nice kid that he was.

Love these things!

Morghan was excited to be a time keeper again!

My camera’s zoom was dead as a doornail as I mentioned before so some of these pictures are my sister’s. I did manage to get a couple that weren’t too, too bad. We had a pretty fun safari guide though we almost nearly were killed on a rickety bridge!! (Beware of this bridge you all!)

Here are some of our photos, in no particular order.

I love that hippos walk underneath the water!

A mama and her babe!

The upside down tree!

We see you in there!

Look who we saved!

Our mission was complete. We had a great safari ride! We had to hunt down my sister’s stroller, which seemed to take forever because the CMs move them. It’s a little confusing when you come out in a different place that you entered as well. But, we found it and were off!

The kids needed a little potty break. It was getting quite warm so we took a little breather in the shade.

It was very early afternoon at this point. The kids were asking to see It’s Tough to be a Bug so we walked back over that way. This is our second favorite 3-D show, rated after Philharmagic. It’s really cute but a little scary for some kids. The carvings in the tree are gorgeous and the posters are hilarious!

And the bug glasses are the cutest!

Once again, the show was wonderful. My nephew Jayse didn’t quite care for letting the bugs exit first if you know what I mean!

After that was said and done, we had planned on seeing FOTLK. But, it was in between shows and I didn’t feel like subjecting the kids to waiting in a line for so long. So, we made a quick itinerary addition and boarded a train to the Conservation Station and Affection Section. This was new for us and something I hadn’t planned on having the time to do. We were having a great morning so had lots of extra time in our day. The train ride is relaxing and we were over there in no time.

Continued in next post.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

The kids wanted to definitely be able to pet some animals first. We found this cute little guy.

And also this big girl, whom we nicknamed Bessie-

Wash those hands!

We wanted to go take a peek inside. It was quite warm out so we needed somewhere to cool down for a bit. Inside we found some fun things!

There were lots of creepy crawlies in those cages!

We ran into these two lovely folks-

My daughter Morghan used to adore Pocahontas, mainly because she herself is part Native American. So, it was pretty neat to meet her.

And then this cool dude-

We took a listen in one of those sound booth things. That was pretty neat. A person could probably catch a couple of zzz’s in here though.

We said goodbye to this big guy-

They have a few little tables in there that we were going to sit down and have a little snack. Do not do this! Geesh, this crabby CM told us to pretty much move. Don’t eat here, do not collect $200, do not pass GO! You could sit but not eat. Eek. Sorry! We put our measly two bananas away and left quietly out the door. She must not have gotten her pixie dust that morning or something.

We decided to head back and passed some signs along the way. Pretty good advise if I do say so myself.

By the time we were back, it was getting closer to the next showing of FOTLK. I really had hopes that the kids would sit for this and hopefully enjoy it as well. On the way there, we took this fun picture. My kids love these things! Anything to pop your head through and smile, they will do!

We didn’t wait too long to get into the show but this also meant our seats were not that good. I wouldn’t usually mind but that meant my pictures turned out really poorly due to having no zoom. Oh well, I guess that meant more time to actually sit and enjoy the show, not taking any photos. Are you ready for my TWO photos? LOL!

Despite no photographic memories to bring home with me, we really loved the show. It’s the second time I had seen it and I was very excited to have the kids watch it with me this time. The music, the dancing, it’s just all so wonderful!

We left the show. I love these little figurines.

We only had one more thing on the must-do list.

Oh yeah, time to get a little wet! It was still warm and a little humid out, so we were ready for Kali! All of us!! The wait was minimal and the ride was really fun. We did all get pretty wet except for my sister, the pregnant one, who was soaked to the bone. Go figure! The poor girl! She couldn’t ride too much and then when she did, she was drenched! LOL!! At this point, they decided to go back to the resort. She was tired and wet and needed a break. I think we also needed a little break from each other. I love my sister to death and she’s my best friend. But being on vacation for so many days in a row together, doing mostly everything together, was wearing on the both of us. They planned for a quiet night in and my kids were nowhere near ready to be done for the day! So we plugged on. Now at this point, I felt like I was missing something. I couldn’t put my finger on it as we sat down and were trying to decide what to do next. The sun went down a little and we all were a little chilly from being wet from the ride. I told the kiddos to put their jackets back on for awhile to warm back up and guess what?! Mine was nowhere to be found! Yes, mine! The mom! The one who isn’t supposed to be losing stuff in the park. Just great! That’s my favorite light jacket and I really wanted it back. Ugh, I felt like crying. The last place I remembered having it was inside the FOTLK show. I had taken it off and was sitting on it. So of course, that’s where it must be. My poor kids….I made them trek all the way back over there with me. Thankfully they clear the rows after each show and the CM manning the door had it in her little podium with the time and date of the show on a little piece of paper, pinned to my coat. What a relief! The kids and I grabbed a frozen banana from the stand close the show and walked back towards Kali. They wanted another ride!! But, it was parade time! Close to it anyways so we were hustling under ropes and down the street so we weren’t caught up and interrupting anyone’s view.

Back to Kali! Right as we were entering the queue, I received an important phone call from work and had to take it. I asked the CM if it was okay that the three kids rode alone and she said it should be okay. There was a group of cheerleaders (Pop Warner crew) right behind us and they took my kiddos under their wings! I thought that was so sweet. They all rode together and had a blast! I was told that they cheered throughout the whole ride and were teaching the kids some cheers too! LOL!! I got a fun picture of all of them while waiting on top of the bridge.

Wet but happy girls!

Morghan wanted another ride on Everest. The three of us had enough in the morning but my daredevil wanted more! So, I walked her up to the single riders’ line and asked the CM if it was okay that she rode alone. Of course it was so we waited for her in the gift shop. Dimitri picked himself up a souvenir here. It’s a gray and green t-shirt that says “I Conquered Expedition Everest” and has Yeti claw marks throughout it all. It’s pretty cool and he’s wearing it to school on top of a long sleeved shirt today actually! Morghan had a fun ride and was able to ride next to another girl, not too much older than her.

It was getting later and Animal Kingdom closed at 6pm. We just didn’t want to leave the park this day. We had good ride mojo all day and were prolonging our time of leaving. I knew we wouldn’t be back anytime soon and I wanted to savor every last minute of our vacation. We parked ourselves on a bench and called my husband at home. He hadn’t really talked longer than a couple minutes to the kids since Saturday (it was now Tuesday) and they wanted to tell him all about our trip. I took this cute picture of Dimitri talking to his dad, whom he idolizes. It was adorable, all crouched down, telling him everything. “I went backwards dad and there was a Yeti dad but I didn’t cry dad and then we laughed on Dinosaur dad!” So funny.

Continued in next post.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

We moseyed our way closer to the exit. It was agonizing! The weather was finally cooled down a bit and it was dusk. We were mostly dry again and it was a perfect setting in Animal Kingdom. Just a gorgeous night! The kids ran into some drums, which we played around on for awhile.

Look at that view!

But, we had to go. We took these fun pictures, along the way out.

Then they had some fun with the Rainforest Café stuff. What silly kids I have!

Ok, it’s really time to head out guys I told them a little tearfully. I had such a fun afternoon. While it’s always nice to spend time with your family, it was perfect spending time in such a fun place with these three. They get Disney and love it just like I do. We had a blast! Bye for now Animal Kingdom!

We did squeeze out a couple more minutes in the park and had a couple Photopass pictures taken in front of the gorgeous tree.

We didn’t wait too long for a bus and at that time, it was a shift change. It was neat seeing that. One bus driver exited and another hopped on board with what must have been his lunch for the night! The kids thought that was pretty darn cool.

We arrived back at OKW in no time.

Took this there-

We were hungry but I thought we could do a little swimming first. We hadn’t had the opportunity to do so yet and it was a perfect night for it. We hopped aboard a bus for HH and found our way to the really fun pool. I let the kids wear themselves out for about an hour. My sister and nephew decided to come up and join us too! My sister and I sat in lounge chairs reading for the most part and I stuck my legs into the hot tub for a bit, which felt great!

We all had a late dinner at Good’s to Go once we all dried off and changed in the locker room that they have there. The food was just okay and we should have maybe hopped over to DD and grabbed something there. Dimitri and Morghan had chicken strips, I just got nachos and I think Mykenah had a hotdog. It was pretty expensive for what we got and I probably wouldn’t eat there again. We actually should have gone into Olivia’s and probably would have paid not that much more.

We got on a bus and made it back to South Point once again. We said our goodbyes to my sister and Jayse and happily strolled back to our room. Morghan once again found a little friend.

The kids had all showered in the locker rooms so only mom needed one that night. By the time I got out and was dressed, all three beauties were sleeping to the sounds of Stacy’s voice. I called to tell my husband good night, checked my work email and then tucked myself it. We were all asleep by 10pm. It had been a long, fun day in Disney World!!

Up next...time for a little break, pretty princesses and Wishes!

 

[disneybarbie]

Really lovely update... everyone looks like they're having such a wonderful time!!

Emma x

 

[MeMom]

What an awesome day at Animal Kingdom! I love that park! I'm glad you were able to see the cool stuff at Rafiki's. Sometimes something as simple as petting a goat makes for the most fun moments for a kid...and for the grown-ups watching them.

Cool that the cheerleaders were so kind to your kids. I bet your girls loved the cheers!

I know Dimitri wears his Yeti shirt proudly. Once was enough for me, but you have a brave girl to ride it twice! Did she get a shirt or souvenir from that ride? She deserved one!

The whole time you were talking about leaving, I could feel that dragging feeling - that walking slowly and being sure you look at every animal, sign, shop, and leaf before you reach the exit feeling. I was saying 'noooo, don't go!' out here in reader land.

But, I know swimming felt good, too, and relaxing by the pool for the moms - yeah, that's a nice way to end a day.

I had one of the best hamburgers I have ever had on Disney property at Goods To Go once. Surprisingly, the other best burger was at All-Star Sports at the food court. Yep, those two totally random places gave me the most delicious Disney burgers I have had there.

It's so cute to picture the kids telling Dad all the exciting things they were doing. I know he missed them something awful, but I bet he had a big smile on his face listening to them recall the day.

Thanks for a great installment. I so wish I had spent today walking around Animal Kingdom instead of dusting shelves!

 

[SoonerGirl]

What a great day you guys had a AK!! I know some people really don't care for this park, but I love it - so much to look at, it's just themed so well.

I'm glad you were able to get your jacket back so easily, that sure would have stunk if you hadn't been able to find it.

And, yay for nice cheerleaders! You always hear about the obnoxious ones that everyone complains about, so it's nice to hear someone say something positive about them.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Wow! What a great day at AK you guys had!! I can see how much fun you were having!
Nice to hear that some of the cheerleaders were nice to your kids!!

 

[trixiequilts]

What a wonderful update about my favorite park! You really made me feel very nostalgic!

That feeling of leaving is the worst, isn't it? Like you want to soak up every single memory that you can so that you can make it through to the next time you're there.

Your kids look like they had the greatest time! And they look like they get along so well. My girls got along better at Disney than any other place, ever. I think we should move there!

My DD10 just told me she really wants to go the Conservation Station next time. Is it more geared toward younger kids or not so much?

You may have noticed my lack of December questions...we're leaning more toward November now. I noticed that your ticker is for October next time...did you not want to do December again or didn't that have any bearing on your decision?

 

[Megablocks]

Oh wow, what an awesome day! I can safely say that I don't think I will ever be able to see ITTBAB, because I'm a huge baby when it comes to bugs -- I am just terrified of them, especially stinging bugs and beetles. Ugh. I had to recruit my 16 year old sister to "help" me kill a beetle in my room last summer because I was flipping out.

I am dying to go to the Conservation Station again! We haven't been that way in a while. We haven't seen FOTLK in a while, either, so I am dying to see that again.

I can't believe Morghan wanted to go on EE again! I love it!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

I just loved your bug glasses pictures! Absolutely adorable! And you got to meet Jiminy Crickey!!!! AWESOME! We have never met him.

My favorite picture is the one of your 3 kids playing the drums. I just love pictures that capture that feeling of AK (like the one in your last post with the African entertainer guy). Those are the best. It makes you feel like you are standing right there again.

I know what you mean about not wanting to leave the park. We were dragging our feet several times like that on our trip too. The day that we had no crowds at MK.............. very hard to exit the park. I feel your pain on that one!

I really don't know why you said you are a terrible TR writer. I think you have done a great job and I have enjoyed it so much. Looking forward to more!

 

[stace208]

Wow! What an absolutely wonderful AK day! I loved all of your pictures-both yours and PP. You got some really great shots!

My DS and I love EE! We would ride with your DD over and over until we couldn't take it any more! He also loves Dinosaur. I have always sat out with my DD...might have to change that on one of my trips coming up!

I also love your OKW photos. We just bought DVC there and will be staying there for the first time in June. We're so excited!

Can't wait for more!