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

[Lovemy3babes]

Hi friends!!! I'm here and working on another update for today. I meant to do it yesterday actually but Photobucket was being really flaky. I hope it cooperates today for me. It's been kind of a busy week too.

In good news, we signed Michael's adoption papers on Tuesday night. They were filed this week after a judge signed off on them. We'll appear in court next month with our friends and family by our sides, take everyone out to a nice lunch and all will be said and done. Exciting stuff!

In not so good news, I've gotten a couple phone calls from daycare about Michael. He was diagnosed with autism through our school district as well as a couple other learning obstacles. Unfortunately, he's been having a very rough time behavior wise and it's been really draining. I've spent a lot of the time on the phone with our doctors and school contacts, trying to see what else we could possibly do for him.

But, I will work hard on our first Epcot update and will get it posted this afternoon!! I will also do my very best to get caught up on all of your awesome TRs too!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

After a wonderful night in the Magic Kingdom, we were back to a rope drop morning. The date was Thursday, December 10th and we would be going to Ecpot! I was super excited because we have never devoted an entire day to the lovely park with the big silver ball!

As we had been doing we ate a quick breakfast in the room and planned to meet up with my sister and nephew on the walk to the South Point bus stop. The weather that morning was gray and it looked like rain based upon the forecast the Florida weatherman had to say. Our little family meteorologist Morghan confirmed the dark skies so we made sure to bring something with a hood. I hadn’t been able to find the cheap $1 ponchos at WalMart before leaving and I was really regretting that now. Oh well, we’d just have to get on with our day and hope for the best!

The bus got us there fairly quickly and we waited in line to be searched and finger scanned (sounds almost like jail!) before waiting in line and then making our morning fast paced walk to Soarin’! What a pretty view-

While waiting-

The time did pass fairly quickly but I was feeling a little nervous. These morning rope drop and run to get on the “important” ride give my stomach butterflies. What if I did it wrong? What if I couldn’t figure out where to go? Here’s the crowd we waited with-

Aren’t these things just beautiful? I kept ours for keepsakes.

But all of that was for nothing. We followed the masses to Soarin’ and first grabbed six fast passes for a later ride before getting in the stand-by line.

The line was pretty long as you see but it moved quickly. We didn’t stand in one place for too, too long. And just like that, we were flying over beautiful landscapes and smelling yummy orange trees. This ride rocks! The kids quickly asked for more, more, more! It wasn’t quite time for another ride so we’d go check out our favorite little orange fish, Nemo.

That was fun! It’s a cute little ride, isn’t it? We played around for awhile before the next Crush show started.

(as you can see, Kenah is my funny girl.)

Continued in next post...

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Time for Crush!!

And guess who he chose to ask a question? “The little dude in front with the pink radical hair do” Hahaha. Mykenah asked how long sea turtles lived. We were told for a VERY long time!! It was really cute and she was so happy to be chosen by Crush.

At that point, I decided to make a run to Test Track for fast passes, while my sister waited with the kids. They were having fun checking out all of the aquariums.

As I stepped outside, that’s when it started. Light sprinkles of rain!! Yuck. I took the brisk walk over to Test Track and picked up five fastpasses to be used later.

When I got back, the family was outside waiting for me and ready for another Soarin’ ride! Let’s go!!

The wait time with our Fastpasses was so minimal. We walked right through. Score!!! And guess what we did? We grabbed yet another set of FPs for later!! Oh yeah! This was a hit ride. It’s seriously just so darn awesome we needed to experience it multiple times of course.

After that we attempted Figment. See? I even took a picture while walking through the queue.

But we jumped into a car and waited. And waited. And waited before being asked to please remove our bodies, the ride was down. Groan!!

We checked out some of the fun Kodak stuff since the ride was a bust. This is pretty neat but once again, it’s hard to keep track of your kids in there. Everyone wanted to experiment with something else so that was tough.

I think this was Mykenah’s face-

When we walked outside, it was pouring!! Ack. So what did we do? We went to the best 3-D show ever since it’s like right next door. Heehee. Okay, you know it is not the best 3-D show. The actual show is cute and I’m glad we did it once but seriously, how long is that pre-show? What a snooze!!! We were cold, the room was dark and I almost dozed off watching it. Boring.

With that under our belts, we weren’t quite sure what to do next. Our TT times weren’t up yet and we wanted to do that on our way out anyway since it’s closer to the front of the park. Well, let’s head into World Showcase and find some lunch! It was early (11:15am) so we thought we’d just grab whatever struck our fancy. The rain had let up some but looked like it was about ready to drop buckets of water at any time. While we were walking, a Segway tour group came by us. I wish I had taken a picture of this. But there was this couple and they were holding hands while driving their Segways. Too cute and it gave my sister and I a giggle. Romance on a Segway.

We got as far as Mexico and decided to eat lunch. We love Mexican food in our house so I thought we pretty much couldn’t go wrong. Well, I was wrong. The food was okay but it really just compared to Taco Bell. It was not authentic and just lacked. We all got nacho platters and ate them but I just wasn’t impressed.

We had friends though!

While in there, it started to pour!!! It was really coming down. Since we were right there, we dashed into the Mexican pavilion. We looked around for awhile at some of the cute things they have there.

Continued in next post...

 

[Lovemy3babes]

We decided to take a little ride since we were in there.

At that point, we were close to calling it a day. We needed a rest and some warmer clothes before we came back that evening so we made the soggy stroll back to FW.

Time for a little Test Track before leaving however!! This is our second favorite Epcot ride so we couldn’t pass up our ride.

This is such a neat queue. Right up the boys’ alley! I promised them they would both love it.

We had a great ride!! It is just such a cool experience. We love it!!

My sister met up with us in the gift shop and while we added our ride photo to our Photopass card (awesome feature!!!), the kids had fun with all of the cool cars on display.

Alrighty, time to head back to OKW for a little downtime. It was chilly and we were still a little damp from being caught in the downpour. My sister bought a hot chocolate and we all headed out to the bus stop. The OKW stop is a LONG walk from the gates. Wowzers. Since it was mid-day, we waited quite a long while. It was probably a good 30 minutes before a bus showed up and nobody else at all was in line.

These guys didn’t mind though because they were at the Happiest Place on Earth!!!

Up next...an onion volcano, I have no head and we forgot the fireworks!

 

[exwdwcm]

lol at romance on a segway- too cute! Sounds like you guys got a LOT done that morning. Sorry you got hit with rani though. They've changed up the menu at the mexican fast food place, it used to be a tiny bit better than it is now, at least I think so.

We don't even bother with the 3D movie anymore- it is so so outdated! We do however always visit the imagination ride and pavilion- one of my old roommates from the disney college program works there- in that kodak lab area with the gigantic camera and does the littler presentation. i think she's worked there like 4 years now! We always go to see her.

Can't wait for more! I need to get going on mine again too!

 

[SoonerGirl]

You have no head?? Wonder what that's all about?


It sounds like you all had a pretty good morning in spite of the rain. I love Soarin' too, it's just awesome!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Yay for Soarin!!! It's so cool - I finally got to ride it for the first time in December. I remember your Epcot day as it was the day we went to Ohana for breakfast before heading to the cruise. It started raining right when we finished eating and had to run to the car!
Glad to see you made the best of it!

 

[Megablocks]

Soarin' and Test Track are my Epcot favorites -- that's awesome you got to ride them both! I still have my Key to the World card and some other old passes, too; they are really nice souvenirs to have.

Radical pink hair. I can definitely hear him saying that, too, that's so cute!

That's awesome about Michael's adoption, too! I'm sorry about the behavioral issues, but good for you seeing what else you can do for him.

 

[MeMom]

Up next...an onion volcano, I have no head and we forgot the fireworks!

Congratulations on the adoption! Prayers go out for you as you work through all the issues that come with his autism.

Great Test Track picture!

Hope you found your head eventually. I lost mine a long time ago and haven't found it yet.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Congrats on Michael's adoption being almost finalized!

Despite the rain, it looks like you had a great morning at Epcot! Gotta love starting the day with a fly-by over the orange groves!!!

 

[jenseib]

Great update. How did you get to get another set of FP's for Soarin when you jsut got ones for Test track though? I thought you had to wait 2 hours in between?

 

[KatGarcia]

At least you managed to stay out of the drizzle! I LOVE Soarin and could def ride it over and over!!!!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

lol at romance on a segway- too cute! Sounds like you guys got a LOT done that morning. Sorry you got hit with rani though. They've changed up the menu at the mexican fast food place, it used to be a tiny bit better than it is now, at least I think so.

We don't even bother with the 3D movie anymore- it is so so outdated! We do however always visit the imagination ride and pavilion- one of my old roommates from the disney college program works there- in that kodak lab area with the gigantic camera and does the littler presentation. i think she's worked there like 4 years now! We always go to see her.

Can't wait for more! I need to get going on mine again too!

The food was a bummer. I thought it'd be a little more authentic. Oh well, live and learn. How cool that your old roomate work in the lab. Very neat!!

You have no head?? Wonder what that's all about?


It sounds like you all had a pretty good morning in spite of the rain. I love Soarin' too, it's just awesome!

You'll soon see. The morning in Epcot was lots of fun!

Yay for Soarin!!! It's so cool - I finally got to ride it for the first time in December. I remember your Epcot day as it was the day we went to Ohana for breakfast before heading to the cruise. It started raining right when we finished eating and had to run to the car!
Glad to see you made the best of it!

I'm glad you got to ride Soarin'! It definitely was a day to run in the rain!! That stuff got a little chilly.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Soarin' and Test Track are my Epcot favorites -- that's awesome you got to ride them both! I still have my Key to the World card and some other old passes, too; they are really nice souvenirs to have.

Radical pink hair. I can definitely hear him saying that, too, that's so cute!

That's awesome about Michael's adoption, too! I'm sorry about the behavioral issues, but good for you seeing what else you can do for him.

I tried to hang to any little part of Disney I could. Crush was hilarious!! My daughter was so happy he chose her!!

Congratulations on the adoption! Prayers go out for you as you work through all the issues that come with his autism.

Great Test Track picture!

Hope you found your head eventually. I lost mine a long time ago and haven't found it yet.

Thanks so much MeMom. My head has been gone for awhile now too!!!

Congrats on Michael's adoption being almost finalized!

Despite the rain, it looks like you had a great morning at Epcot! Gotta love starting the day with a fly-by over the orange groves!!!

I agree!! I'd take a rainy Disney day than a normal sunny day in the real world.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Great update. How did you get to get another set of FP's for Soarin when you jsut got ones for Test track though? I thought you had to wait 2 hours in between?

Hmmm, I don't know anything about two hours. Our time slot was up for the first FP Soarin' ride after 9:45am I think it was. I grabbed the TT fastpasses around 10 or so and they were for shortly after lunch. But you are right, we probably didn't grab the second FP set right after the ride. I don't quite remember but it probably was right before we left the park because the return time was around 5:30pm. I remember that because it was right before our ADR time. Who knows?! Mom brain.

At least you managed to stay out of the drizzle! I LOVE Soarin and could def ride it over and over!!!!

Over and over and over!! Me too Kat!

 

[jordanyosh]

Great update. It looks like the park wasn't that busy at all

You got quite a bit accomplished in a short time

It's always a plus when your child gets asked a question by Crush

Other than the bus wait (even that wasn't awful)...a great day at Epcot.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Great update. It looks like the park wasn't that busy at all

You got quite a bit accomplished in a short time

It's always a plus when your child gets asked a question by Crush

Other than the bus wait (even that wasn't awful)...a great day at Epcot.

No, the park was pretty empty. It was a good morning to do a lot we wanted to do. Thanks Josh!!

 

[jordanyosh]

No, the park was pretty empty. It was a good morning to do a lot we wanted to do. Thanks Josh!!

You are quite welcome!

 

[KathyRN137]

...I've gotten a couple phone calls from daycare about Michael. He was diagnosed with autism through our school district as well as a couple other learning obstacles. Unfortunately, he's been having a very rough time behavior wise and it's been really draining. I've spent a lot of the time on the phone with our doctors and school contacts, trying to see what else we could possibly do for him.

Hey, Kelli! Congratulations on the adoption!
Please e-mail or PM me if you want to talk...


Kathy

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

You got some very good pictures on Nemo! That's a tough one since it's dark and moving.

I agree on the Mexican nachos. We had them too and they were nothing special. Very Taco Bellish as you said!

Congratulations on your adoption. That is very honorable of you and your DH. It really takes a very special kind of person to do that. My DH and I have talked about it since we cannot have anymore children, but we are very uncertain about it all. You will surely be blessed for being so generous to that child and thank goodness he has someone to love him.