Our 2 week WDW vacation - 1st trip report, bear with me!

[iluveeyore]

Hi, my name is Tracey and I am a WDW addict. My DH now suffers from the same addiction, and we have been on numerous trips 'home' to WDW. We have been DVC members since 2001 - should have joined sooner, but we're glad we did!!! Anyhow, here is the cast for this trip from Aug.12 - 25.
Me, Tracey - 37, mom, realtor and Disney freak (Eeyore rules!)
DH, Bob - 38, dad, track operator, also Disney freak (Nascar too, you'll see)
DD, Brooke - 11, has never been a princess, loves Chip and Dale, my sidekick
DS, Tyler - 14, quiet, loves to play PS2 even on Disney vacation, great kid
DS, Trevor - 16, great kid, but doesn't care what people think of his black dyed hair (normally brown), or his double-pierced ears with thick hoops
DSF, Jordan - 16, invited by Trevor
DSF, Mark - 16, also invited by Trevor

WARNING - this may be very long, as I talk a lot, and my typing is long-winded as well. Continue if you dare!

Okay, so we're booked to leave the Buffalo airport on SW Saturday, Aug. 12 at 6:25 p.m. (We fly out of Buffalo as it's only a 40 minute drive from our Canadian address, and about 1/4 of the cost of flying from Toronto). So, three days before our trip all this 'bomb threat' stuff happens in London and the carry-on policies change and the airports are on high alert. Out come the ziploc bags and I have to repack everything, because I always take our bathroom bag (medicines, toiletries, etc) on the plane with me in case our luggage gets misplaced. As I'm repacking, my husband comes out with his, 'gee I wish we could leave sooner so we can enjoy our room for a whole day instead of just a night' routine, which gets me thinking. You see, we normally fly out on Sunday morning every year and get to our room at OKW before lunch. This year, I couldn't get a cheap flight at all on Sunday, but I did find one for $69 one way on Saturday. This prompted an AP search for room deals, and we found 2 rooms at the WL for $144 ea. for Saturday night. Still cheaper than the flights for Sunday for 7 of us, even with the 2 rooms, so of course we booked for Saturday. Arrive at 8:30 p.m. and have a nice evening and morning at the WL. (Everyone still with me? - I'm a planning freak on a budget, sorry!). So, after DH's umpteenth comment about getting there sooner (I had been trying to find an earlier flight on Sat. for a month, but never enough seats left on one flight and always more $), I called SW and tried my pleading, please help me voice. I explained we had a later flight and I was concerned about being delayed with security and missing out on my room reservation. The very nice CSR at SW told me they were allowing changes to reservations for three days to accommodate customers because of the security level. Now, some people must have changed or cancelled from the Sat. morning flight, because she got 7 of us on the 7:15 a.m. flight that I had been trying to get on with no problem. Yay, pixie dust before we left!!! And no charge either! This was on Thursday morning, and although very excited, now I was panicked. I used to have all day Saturday to get ready, now I didn't. So Friday I ran all day, had to take dogs to the kennel a day early, clean the house, finish the laundry, finish packing, drop off a hamster, lizard and fish to different friend's homes for the kids, get to the bank to pay bills and get more US$, and get Trevor's friends to our house for bed by 7 p.m. (Only people that weren't happy about leaving early were 4 teenagers who had to get up at 2 a.m. instead of noon on Saturday). So, finally, we're all in bed and ready to go by 8 p.m. Friday night. I took a sleeping pill as I could not settle by thoughts down enough to sleep (small dose one, only lasts for 4 hours, but worked great nonetheless).

Day 1, August 12, 2006
Alarm goes off at 2 a.m. and up we get. Due to high security, they recommended online we arrive 3 hours prior to our flight, so had to be at Buffalo Airport for 4 a.m. Had my cup of tea and a donut from the box I had bought the day before, and once we were ready, we roused the teenagers downstairs. They apparently had been up until midnight (as usual) and hadn't got much sleep, but didn't seem to care. We were on our way to WDW! We had to take two cars to the airport as we drive VW Jetta and Golf and couldn't fit 7 in one. At least this early in the morning, there is no traffic, and crossing at the border took no time at all. We got to the airport at about 4:15 a.m., only to find out that Southwest doesn't open until 5 a.m. Oh well, we were second in line, and I had printed our boarding passes off the night before (we still got section B, but it's better than C!). By the time SW opened and we checked our luggage, the security line had grown from the other airlines that had been open an hour before. It looked like we had at least a half-hour wait, but we still had plenty of time (it was 5:20 a.m.) While standing in line, my DS friend Jordan got pulled out of the line for a 'random search'. We were told it was nothing about Jordan himself, just whatever number in line they had chose to pull. We explained we were all together, but the guy said he would just have Jordan wait for us on the other side of security screening. About two minutes later, the guy comes back and gets the rest of us and said we could follow Jordan - random searches are awesome when you have nothing to hide, because we got to bypass the whole line and get away from the crowd! We obliged and were through in five minutes, on the way to our gate. Got some tea, coffee and hot chocolate for every one, and settled in to wait. Left at 7:15 a.m. right on time for our non-stop flight to Orlando. Smooth flight and in Orlando on time, boarded the ME after checking in at the ME desk, and we were off to the WL. Arrived at 11:30 am. Now we love the WL - it's our home resort for DVC, but we've never stayed in the main hotel. We visit everytime to eat at the WCC, which the kids love. I also love the 'wow' factor when you walk in the front doors to the lobby, and the kids were excited to see their friends' reaction. It was nice to see two tired teenage boys walk in and drop their jaws with wide eyes as we entered the lobby. I checked in and found out one room was ready, and the other one would be soon, so we took our stuff up to one and went back down to the Roaring Forks for lunch. We had two of the refurbished rooms with the beautiful carved headboards, new flat screen tvs - very nice. Our view was of the roof though, so we pretty much kept the drapes closed. When you walk out of our rooms, you face the WCC, which can get pretty loud at meal time. We weren't on free dining as we are DVC members and didn't have a package booked in the timeframe required, so eating out was a bit expensive the first day. After lunch, the exhausted teens took the room that was ready and crashed for the afternoon (room darkening curtains are great, except when you don't want anyone sleeping in late). My DD and I decided to leave my DH sleeping with the boys and went down to the pool - I read and she swam for about an hour, it was really warm and sunny. By 3:30 we went back upstairs to find my DH in the adjoining room sleeping, and our luggage inside the door. I tried to wake DH up, but he just swatted at me and turned over moaning something incoherent. They boys were out cold as well, so we left a note and headed to DD for something to eat. Our DVC 20% off discount at McDonald's was a great help, so we ate a lot for $9 for the two of us, and then headed back to WL. Would have shopped, but it was our first night, and it was very busy being a Saturday night. Back at the WL by 5:30 pm. Boys got up and went to DD and DH had got up and had a sandwich from RF downstairs. Brooke and I tried to get some sleep - she fell asleep and I couldn't. (Too excited to sleep). At 9 pm DH and I headed down to the beach to catch the 9:30 Lagoon Parade. It was a gorgeous night, lots of stars, and we got great seats on pool lounge chairs on the beach. Off in the distance there was a lightning storm that was beautiful - no rain or thunder. The parade was neat, and then we got to see Wishes from the MK on the beach. Now I was tired, so back to bed by 10:30 and I did manage to sleep. I don't know what time the boys got back - they were all in adjoining room together, with DH, DD and me in other room. This would be the theme of our trip - boys sleep by day, out by night and never see them. Hope you're all still with me! Tomorrow we move to our home at OKW!!!


Day 2, Sunday August 13
8 a.m. wake up call answered by Brooke - Stitch screaming for her to wake up and Mickey apologizing and saying Good Morning - she thought it was funny. Boys had 9:30 a.m. wake-up call - we heard it ring and ring, then stop. Then a couple minutes later, it tried again, and I heard Trevor pick it up - ha! ha! (he didn't think it was cute at all). We had rented from Alamo, and the shuttle was picking DH an I up out front at 10 a.m. So I checked out, and had the kids wait in the room for us with the luggage. Got a new blue Chevy Impala with Jersey plates (close enough to home!) and back to the WL at about 10:45 a.m. Got all the luggage loaded up and took DD with us, told the boys to meet us at OKW to check in (my boys know there way around without any problem at WDW). We were checked in by 11:30 and our 2 bedroom lock off was ready. Rooms 1811 and 1812 on Miller's Road. Met the boys there and unloaded the luggage. My DS's friends were very impressed with the room - there is so much space at the OKW rooms, and we all just sighed and smiled as we unpacked and settled. Then DH and I headed off to the Walmart Supercentre on the 535 and left the kids behind. They were making Kraft Dinner for lunch (I had packed a few non-perishable groceries). After loading all the groceries (filled the trunk) that we paid $287 for (usually only spend about $150, but bought extra pop, water, etc., oh and beer and coolers! ), plus two extra teenage mouths to feed, back to OKW by 3:30 p.m. DH found Nascar station on XM Sat. radio in car, so we weren't missing the whole race at Watkins Glen - yes we're Nascar freaks too, but Disney will always come first. (He's #8 and I'm #24 - makes life more interesting when you like different drivers). We were back at the room in time to watch last 20 laps of the race while we unpacked the groceries. The boys had just taken off, and it was just DH, DD and me, so I cooked up some mini Tombstone pizzas and we watched our first Florida thunderstorm roll by from our patio (love OKW patios). At around 6:30, the three of us headed to MK - thankfully packed our ponchos, as it started to pour while we were on the bus to MK. Got to MK by 7:30 with ponchos on. It was EMH until 1 a.m. - I knew the boys were there somewhere, but they didn't have their walkie talkies with them. We headed straight for the Pirates ride of course - we love pirates!!. Only 15 min wait, and loved it - Jack looked so real, it was creepy. Had to really look and make sure Johnny Depp didn't sneak in to surprise guests! The gift shop was crazy busy as it was still raining. We headed over to Splash Mountain (rain + ponchos = perfect time to ride Splash) but, alas, it was closed because of lightning. I guess being high on a mountain in water with lightning is not such a good idea. So we went to BTM - it had just re-opened from the weather, and we walked right on. Got wet while we rode, but still lots of fun. By this time, Splash Mtn. had just reopened, so got right on in our ponchos. Love that ride, especially the laughing place. Still raining, we wandered through Frontierland over to Fantasyland. Philharmagic was about to begin, so we slipped into the next show out of the rain. Great show - mmm, pie! Now we were dried off, and it had stopped raining. Wanted to see Wishes, but we were hungry, so ran over to Main St through the crowds and into the Bakery and each got our favourite cherry turnovers (at only $1.87, it's like eating a whole pie, they're loaded with filling!). We got them to go and made our way back through Main St. and decided to try a tip I read on the Disboards - seeing Wishes from beside Dumbo in Fantasyland. We found a nice bench beside the carousel and ate our turnovers while we waited. We usually watch wishes from our rose garden path in front of the castle (runs from Main St. to Tomorrowland walkway and is less congested with people - perfect view). At 10 p.m. the sky all around us with lit up with Wishes - amazing view, but my neck was sore from looking straight up and turning from the castle to behind the castle. Really were right in the middle of it though. Right after Wishes, my DD and I decided to ride Dumbo - we never get to ride it as the line is usually miles long by the time we get there each day, and it was pretty short line right after the fireworks, so we hopped in line and DH sat to wait. Nice view of Fantasyland at night from the adorable elephant Then we dragged DH on Snow White's Scary Adventure - I was reminded why I haven't been on it in years (yawn), but it was nice to re-live a childhood ride with my DD, and it's one of the few rides my DH can handle with his weak stomach. Off to Tomorrowland now that the crowds have thinned. Wait - there's Donald & Goofy beside the back entrance to the castle - stopped for quick photo of DD and I - no line. DD and I headed for Space Mountain - no FP left of course - 20 min wait but moved quickly. DH was waiting for us in gift shop. Fun, fun, fun! Tired, and happy but ready for first night in my king size bed at OKW - so back home we went an in bed by 12:30 a.m. Set alarm for 8 a.m. as we had to return car by 10 to Alamo at the Disney Car Care Centre. Tune in for tomorrow - going to AK!

 

[iluveeyore]

Day 3, Monday, August 14
Up with the alarm at 8 a.m. and got ready to return the car to Alamo. First order of the day, a leisurely breakfast on the patio while the kids slept. (I think the boys are home, haven't seen them in 16 hours). Returned the car to Alamo by 10:30 am and returned on the shuttle to OKW by 11 a.m. Got DD up and ready. Made an early lunch and got ready to head to AK. Banged on boys' door and woke DS Trevor up - they had got back last night at 2am after EMH from MK and then went to the pool and made some new friends until 4 a.m.!
We waited on Miller Rd for about half an hour for AK bus - good thing too, because while we were trying to pass the time, I was glancing through my purse and realized our passes were in the larger bag I had used last night to store the ponchos. So I raced back to the room (we were right across from the bus stop) and got the passes just in time for the bus.
AK was busy and very hot (surprise - it's August people ). DD Brooke and I decided to wait for EE in single rider line while DH went to safari for FP. The FP for EE were for return time of 4:10-5:10 already (of course we didn't get there until after lunch, so not a shock). The stand-by line was 70 minutes, and since DH can't ride, I didn't want to leave him waiting that long. Single rider was only 20 min. wait - my DD had never been on EE before, so I made sure she was okay with being with a stranger her first time on it, and she was fine (Mom, I'm 11 - I'll be fine without you!). I know a lot of people complain single rider lines should be for people who are alone, but everyone in line with us knew someone with them, so I didn't feel guilty. Oh, and on a side note, DH and I were at WDW for Mother's Day after going to a Nascar Race in Darlington (darn the Annual Passes! ), and I had convinced him to try EE saying it was just a fast train ride with one hill. Then he proceeded to miss every good part of the ride (the Yeti shadow and the Yeti himself), because he was too busy holding his head in his hands trying not to puke! We were both ticked at each other - me because he had missed all the good parts of the ride, and him because I had told him it would not make him sick - he had even had a gravol before we went on! He was fine after a while and we moved on.
Back to this trip - after EE, Brooke and I met DH at the Safari - we had half an hour until our FP time, so we grabbed two Toll House Ice Cream Sandwiches to share (my favourite - yumm!) and a Sprite and found a nice quiet spot to sit and enjoy them. The Safari was great - our driver Mike (who had a great accent - sounded Scottish), was wonderful, he drove slow enough for pictures when we saw animals up close, knew the script like he wrote it himself, and ad-libbed a lot, especially talking to a little girl up front who was on for the first time.
After the safari, the Jammin' Jungle parade was about to start, so we stood right in the middle of Africa and watched it from there. I was surprised when my DH said, "I've never seen this parade", and thinking back, I realized I had a few times, but either on trips with my friends or when I brought the kids by myself for March Break - told you I was a Disney freak! So it was nice to watch it with him knowing it was his first time. I love the music with this parade! We followed the end of the parade towards the exit and scooted out to the buses. Started to rain a bit as we got to the bus stop. The bus seemed to take forever (especially when you're tired and hungry), and then we had to stop at Blizzard Beach - took an hour from the time we left until we got to our room at OKW. Started dinner at 5:30 - made chicken parmesan and pasta - left-overs for the boys if they ever show up! Except for my DS Tyler, who had stayed at the room all afternoon while the other three went to Epcot to shop the World. Tyler likes to be on his own a lot, especially to chill and play video games - he loves the OKW room so much, he hates to leave it. The other 3 showed up around 7pm to eat. Brooke and I headed to MGM at 8pm. for EMH until midnight. Arrived at 8:30 to find out Fantasmic was already full for 9 p.m. show. Good thing we have 10 days left! RNR and TOT had long wait times and no FP and the wristband lines for EMH were 20 min. long, so we just browsed in a couple of shops and left at 9. Back to OKW by 9:30 pm, relaxed a while and went to bed by 10:30 pm. Boys were going swimming, so I knew it would be a late night for them, but if that's how they want to spend their vacation, who am I to complain? I'm at the Happiest Place on Earth, and I get to live my vacation days at my pace!
Stay tuned for Day 4 - trying to go to MGM!

 

[Ashley80]

I've enjoyed your report so far. Keep it comin!

 

[riopooh]

Great trip and report so far - can't wait for more.

 

[iluveeyore]

Thanks riopooh & Ashley - I've read many trip reports and love reading them, but never wrote one. Hope you enjoy the rest - boy, it takes longer to write them than it does to read them!

Anyhow, on we go!

Day 4, Tuesday August 15

DH was up at 8:30 a.m. and off to SS - he loves the workout facilities there and will go as far as it takes - luckily, OKW is just around the corner and it doesn't take him long to get a bus to DD and walk to SS. I crawled out of my lovely king size bed at 9:30 and had a tea & bagel made in my fabulous kitchen. I sat on the patio to have breakfast (we were on the first floor), while a lizard watched me from the railing. Got DD up at 10 and headed out for MGM. No sound from the teenager's room (my husband put a sign on the door - Teenager's Crypt, do not open before noon). Sitting at the bus stop for 20 min, my DD decided she'd rather lounge in the room and watch the Disney Channel while catching up on her own journal. I told her fine, but I was still going without her then. She must have felt guilty (even though I like going alone), because she was back 5 min. later and luckily I was still waiting. We were at MGM by 11:30. Grabbed FP for TOT for 12:10-1:10, so went to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Brooke saw it when she was about 6 but didn't remember. It was cute, but she wasn't that impressed - highlight for her was the bubbles. After leaving mermaid, we noticed one of those Temporary Tattoo Stands. OMG, an Eeyore tatoo I'd been waiting for years! Got one on my ankle - if I knew how to download pics on here, I could show you. Brooke got Nala on her ankle. We were very pleased with our tatoos, especially knowing we could wash them off whenever we wanted. Bact to ToT - noticed Beauty and the Beast had started, and when we went to use our FP on ToT, no line! Just walked right into the library - score, FP for a second ride! After the first ride, when we came out Beauty and the Beast had just let out, so we used our FP and rode it again (still only short wait). Now it was 12:45, so headed back 'home' for lunch. After a quick bite, DH took DD to the pool. The boys had finally got up and headed to MK. I was all alone! I straightened up a bit and decided to do some laundry Why is it I enjoy doing laundry on my vacation? (Love the laundry room in my villa!). Then I made some pasta tuna salad for later. Boys came back around 3 because one of them forgot his pass - had made it all the way to MK before he realized. DH and DD were back too, I made hamburgers and fries to go with the salad and had an early dinner so the boys could leave with full stomachs. After cleaning up DH, DD and I headed to the DVC Ferry to go to DD at 6:30. We had a very entertaining Captain. We got off the ferry at West Side and headed to the AMC theatre to see Talladega Nights - very funny! WE were going to shop after that, but I didn't feel up to it, so we headed back to OKW on the bus with my pouting DD - she had money burning a hole in her pocket and wanted to spend it, and I was keeping her from shopping!!! We made popcorn at 'home' and watched our free rental from Hank's, Shanghai Knights. Bed by 11:30 when the boys showed up to have a snack and head to the pool until God only knows what time. Another day gone!

 

[iluveeyore]

Day 5, Wed. Aug. 16


Woke up with stomach cramps and feeling awful. Everyone slept in of course! I did another load of laundry. , had some breakfast on the deck, cleaned up the kitchen and got dressed. DH & I walked to main hall to the gift shop (thought I could walk it off). Bought some postcards and sat and wrote to my Dad, Grandma and sister back home. Mailed them from there, then walked back to our room. By now it was lunch time, so DH, DD and I had something to eat. (Teenagers still in their dark crypt - hooray for room darkening curtains that keep them in bed all the daylight hours - yeesh!) Still didn't feel so hot (you know ladies, cramps, headache, etc.), so made some tea and went to my room to curl up in the chair to read my book and stare out the window at palm trees. (I was reading Eragon - great book for anyone who loves Lord of the Rings series). DH took DD to the pool for the afternoon while I relaxed. Boys finally roused sometime after 1 p.m., had some food and left for AK around 3. DH and DD back around 3:30. Cooked all our mini pizzas so the boys could warm up leftovers later, ate our share then got ready to head for Epcot. Went to the Cool Station for some cooling off and try some different drinks (I've never gone in there all the times we've been to Epcot, and found out about it from - guess where? - yes the DIS!! Then to the Test Track gift shop - ride itself was 90 min. wait and no FP. DH found his deal of the trip - #8 Dale Jr. cap marked half price ($7.99) - yay!! - made his whole day. Then we rode the boat ride in Mexico -again, something we've never done and then read about it on the DIS. Next was the Maelstrom in Norway, watched the movie and stopped for a photo with the troll in the gift shop. Continuing on towards Japan, we saw Rafiki, so DD and I stopped for a photo. On to Japan, where DD loves to shop (Hello Kitty, Naruto, etc.). I still didn't feel great, so let DH and DD shop while I people watched from a bench outside. DH waved for me to come back in gift shop - DD had found something for her friend that was watching her hamster (Thumper), and wanted my opinion. I said she could buy it but we had to leave right now because the oyster smell was making me nauseous. So making her leave before she was ready caused a pouting episode (hello, happiest place on earth!). Tried the psychotherapy bit with her - 'do you know how many children would kill to be where you are right now?' - couldn't get her to smile, shake it off, nothing. Just made me mad, so I wanted to leave and forget Illuminations. Can't believe I stopped smiling at WDW - can't wait until she's a teenager - help! So if you saw a couple with a forlorn young girl dragging behind them, sorry you had to witness it. We did walk by a frazzled looking Dad that was dragging a five year old boy by the hand yelling "If you don't stop whining, I'm going to knock you out!" At least I didn't have an outburst, but I know what it's like to say things without thinking! We just chuckled and then tried to look sombre again for my DD. Guess she didn't pick the best hormonal day of the trip to tick me off. We were back in the room by 8:30 and I was in my pj's, drinking a Bud and reading my book within 10 minutes. My grumpy gus DD moped in the living room for a while, then dragged herself into my room to apologize. She promised to 'always be happy in Disney' and gave me a big hug and a smile. Boys were back from AK at 9 pm (it was EMH), then out to the pool they went of course. I read for a while, so did DH, then went to bed by 11 to get a good start for tomorrow.

Day 6, Thursday, August 17

Today is my sister's birthday - she is five years younger than me, but my best friend. We lost our mom 10 years ago, and have clung to each other since. She has four boys and she also loves WDW. We actually had a girl's week away planned for September (with free dining), but she had to cancel because she couldn't get time off. Did I mention we missed out on free dining Anyhow, thought I'd wait until later to call her, since my Dad was dropping off her gift sometime today from me, and I wanted to make sure she got it before I called.
So, we're up at 9:30 am, and DH heads over to SS to work out around 10:30 am. DD & I just lazed around the room for the morning. Had an early lunch, then decided to go to DD for a while, so I could let her shop a bit. It was a bit overcast when we left for the bus stop, but only 30% chance of rain, so I left the ponchos at home. We sat at the bus stop and watched every other bus go by (and Epcot twice), just like it is for whatever bus we're waiting for. After 20 min, it started to rain lightly, and then huge drops here and there. Before I could even decide to go get our ponchos, it just started to pour, and then what shows up? Yes! The DD bus, with water just streaming in curtains down the sides. Oh well, on we get, hoping it would pass (oh yeah, isn't August rainy season?) Get to DD, still pouring. Then, as the driver announces we take the bus back to OKW from Bus Stop 1 right beside the entrance, she proceeds to drive to the farthest stop away while it's still pouring - had changed her sign to Pop Century or something. So DD and I ran from one crowded bus shelter to another, still getting completely soaked. By the time we got to bus stop 1, I figured I might as well just walk, since I already looked like a drowned rat. So we strolled into the Christmas Store and then froze to death being wet in the a/c. I couldn't even find a dry spot on my shirt to dry my glasses, which had fogged up because of the cold air. We actually stood outside in the doorway out of the rain to get warm. Then we ran across to Pooh Corner, and browsed in the "under $10" store beside it since it wasn't a/c and open to the warm air. Finally, it stopped raining. After some quick repairs in the bathroom, it was almost 2:30, so we decided to see if the boat to OKW was leaving soon. Finally, some pixie dust - it was coming just as we walked up, and the sun was shining! Even funnier was when we pulled up to SS (part of the usual route for the Ferry), who should be standing there waiting? Yes, my DH So, we rode the ferry back to OKW and told him of our travels - he didn't even know it was raining while he worked out, and thought the ground seemed a bit wetter than when he went in!! Back home with just enough time to relax, have a snack and get changed for the DVC Summer Block Party at Pleasure Island from 5-7 pm.
We got a bus to DD right away (gasp!) and we were at Pleasure Island right on time. Lined up to get in, DH, DD and I, showed our DVC cards and got right in. This was a party put on by DVC for it's members and guests for the month of July and August every Thursday from 5-7. They handed us a coupon book and a flashing DVC button as we went in. It was held at the far end of PI in the Beach Club and Motions bars, and outside. They had free arcade games for the kids (and big kids too - I have pictures), carnival style games for free that the kids can win prizes, like stuffed animals (tiny ones), and my DH won a couple of pirate hats. We had coupons for two free snacks, either an ice cream Mickey , which of course I had, or popcorn or cotton candy, and they had free fruit punch or lemonade as well. We wandered around - it was great! We even got free DVC sun visor hats, and entered to win one of two huge gift baskets. We watched DD in the one dance club in an air guitar contest (she didn't win - pitiful!), and they were dancing to the macarena, chicken dance, etc. She got a temp. tattoo on her arm of a dolphin, and we played some arcade games. The other club was fun watching videos on a huge screen to music from the 80's - makes you feel old when you remember the Footloose video from 1982!!!! Especially when your daughter says, "You know that song, Mom?" We didn't win the baskets at 7pm, but a nice lady leaving the next day gave us a coupon for a free photo on EE at AK - we'll be sure to use that one!
After the party, we walked through DD, where Brooke bought herself and her friend a stuffed Thumper (two for $12 at the under $10 store! ). Then we took the boat back to OKW - very nice at night too. Had to go back and pack - we're moving to Coronado Springs for two nights (Fri. & Sat.) Any DVC members know points are doubled on the weekend, so we got great AP rate for two rooms at CSR. Have never been, but am looking forward to seeing it - just not looking forward to moving. OMG, almost forgot to call my sis - wished her She had a good day and loved her gifts, and didn't want to hear how great it was at WDW without her!

I told the teenagers to eat everything they wanted in the freezer, because we only have two small fridges at CSR, and the frozen food can't move with us or stay behind. Instead, they ate everything they could from the fridge, including the 3 pounds of lunch meat my DH had bought for the two weeks - I had planned on making sandwiches for the weekend, but they ate it all (proudly showed us a photo of a 3-inch thick sandwich they made) We also told them to pack, which they didn't do - you should see the photos of the room -embarassing, such slobs! Of course they stayed out late again, and getting them to CSR in the morning would not be an easy task!
Stay tuned for 'Where the h-e-double hockey sticks is our luggage' and 'We're never moving during our trip again!'

 

[VanniGirl]

Great report, looking forward to the rest.

 

[taraprather]

Awesome report. I can't wait to hear what happens next...

 

[TomB'sWidow]

Great report sounds wonderful ready for more

 

[iluveeyore]

Day 7, Fri. Aug. 18 - moving day - yuck!
Let me just say to start this day's report, I'm never, ever, ever, ever (did I say never?) moving in the middle of a vacation again. We've basically decided that moving to one resort from another and back again takes pretty much two days off of your vacation by the time you pack, call bell services, check out, transfer, check in, wait for luggage, get settled - phew!, then reverse. We would rather take two days off of the vacation and spend the extra money staying in one spot at our DVC resort.
That said (sorry, had to rant), we were up by 9 a.m. Friday morning to finish packing. Basically just had to finish packing toiletries (at least I didn't have to pack them in my luggage for security for the move!), and the rest of the groceries. The non-perishable stuff I needed for next week to cook, I packed in an empty suitcase and had put in storage at OKW with the other luggage I didn't need for the weekend. Told the kids to just pack an overnight bag with two days' worth of clothes and bathing suits, and store the rest. Had to get the teenagers out of their crypt by 9:30 a.m. (thought they would die - had 3 hours sleep
Bell Services came at 10:55 am - had to call front desk to tell them I was checking out soon, not hiding in my room trying to stay longer .
We had all the luggage and groceries sorted - one group of it was to be put in storage - the other group was to be transferred to CSR & some kept in cold storage until I could refrigerate it (milk, cheese, condiments, eggs, etc.).Bell services told us they start transferring by 1pm, so we should have luggage no later than 4pm - oops, 4pm? Quick run to my suitcase to yank my summer dress out - DH and I had ressie for 4:30 at Boma (AKL), and needed my change of clothes to leave by 3:30 - phew, that was close
Got all my tags, paid my tip, then off we went to catch a bus to anywhere so we could transfer to CSR. First one was to MK, so on we got, all 7 of us, each with two backpacks - looked like we were moving into Cinderella's castle! - made the people with babies and strollers look like they packed light!
Got off at MK and the CSR bus was right there. Hopped on and off to our new digs for the weekend. Had to ride the bus through to the 4th stop to get out at the front, and went to check in. I had requsted the Cabanas from all my research on the DIS, but of course they didn't have adjoining rooms available that day at the Cabanas, or at the Casitas. So we got stuck at the Ranchos (my 3rd choice!), and only one of the two rooms was ready. We had to walk all the way around the lake - they should have a foot bridge across the middle of that sucker, it's not like they need a lift bridge or anything. Anyhow, tired and hungry at 12:30 we arrive at our third floor room in Ranchos 6A. Our adjoining room was open, but it hadn't been vaccuumed or re-stocked yet. Figured since they knew we were checked in now, they'd get to us soon. The teenagers decided to pull the curtains (oh no, not another crypt!) and have a nap. We hung out in the dirty room for a while so I could watch my soap opera (AMC), and we drank a couple of cold pop and had some Doritos. DH, DD and I decided to leave the sleeping dead and go check out the Pepper Market around 1:30 - wish I was on free dining now! It cost $18 for a child's chicken strips meal (3 strips, bag of chips, cookie) and a cheeseburger & fries, plus a Sprite we all shared. DH and I were leaving for dinner soon, so lunch didn't have to be big, thank goodness.
Back to the room, still not clean. I really needed to get showered and changed for dinner. Now it was 2:30, so I used the boys' bathroom - great thing about these rooms was the privacy curtain between the beds and the vanity area - I got changed, dried my hair and put on my makeup without being in the dark while the boys slept - they'll sleep through anything!
3:00 p.m. and still no housekeeping and no luggage. My youngest DS - Tyler (14) was up, so I gave him $10 and my DVC card to get him and his sister some dinner at McDonalds at DD - at least I knew they could each get a meal there for under $5.
DH and I headed to AK on a bus so we could transfer there to AKL, which took only half an hour. By 3:30 we were at the AKL, and looked around the gift shop. Found a nice anklet in black and silver tones with a small Mickey head on it for myself. By 3:55 we were downstairs at Boma inhaling the lovely odours of food and checked in. I knew we were early, but a lot of people were asking for ressies while we waited, so I was glad I booked in advance. Thought we'd try something new, and I love wandering around the AKL, nice atmosphere. At 4:15 we were paged on our buzzers (read on the DIS boards someone called them a vibrator!), and we were seated right away. It smelled so good in there, I wanted to eat NOW. Found out our non-alcoholic beverages were included for the $25.99 cost - great! Ordered our soft drinks, then hit the buffet. DH started with salads, so I did too. They had a wonderful fruit salad, fresh strawberries & watermelon, and pasta salad with a sweet mustard-like dressing. It was all very good. My favourite and DH's too was the chicken corn porridge soup. It was like a creamy yummy dessert instead of soup - we each had two bowls. Few different meats to choose from, rice, pasta and other things. Tried a bit of all of it. My main focus was the Zebra Domes - this was my whole reason (okay, I confess ) for eating here - I was tired of drooling over the pictures on the DIS. I think I built them up too much in my mind and mouth though, because they weren't as sweet and rich as I had thought they would be. I found the chocolate mousse sweeter and yummier - but all the desserts were great, including the banana bread pudding, apple crisp and fresh-baked cookies. Needless to say, we were stuffed and very jealous of the free dining families all around us when we got the bill. I would definitely eat here again, just not right now! Took a couple more pictures, then headed back to AK for bus to CSR - hardly any wait at all. We were so quick, the kids didn't think we had dinner out. Back at the room by 6pm and guess what! That's right, no luggage! At least our room was ready.
Made a call to bell services for CSR - no idea where our luggage was. Said he'd call OKW for me. Called me back and said OKW wasn't sure what happened and would look into it - look into it - they were 10 minutes away!
So I called OKW myself to rant - put me hold, then told me sorry and it would be there right away. They couldn't have done that three hours ago? It showed up at 7pm with 3 grocery bags missing - another trip for the bell hop. Finally got all my clothes and my fridge items for the weekend - should have just taken them on the bus with our other stuff, we only had a couple of small suitcases and groceries.
By this time the teenagers are antsy, and head back to OKW to meet up with friends there at the pool - told you we'll never move again, they can't even stay at the resort we paid for! My other DS, Tyler stayed behind to play PS2 in his room alone to enjoy the space all to himself. DD Brooke stayed in our room to watch her favourite Disney Channel shows and kept the adjoining door open to her brother's room.
DH and I changed and headed to Epcot for EMH to walk off Boma. We got there by 8pm and walked around WS to find a spot for Illuminations. Perfect spot was right across from Germany against the railing. It was wonderful as always. Only problem was that it was really humid that night with no breeze, so we were dripping by the time it was over. We wandered around WS while the crowds thinned and strolled back over towards Test Track eventually. Took the back path by the first aid and baby care center, very few people walk around that way. Test Track was 90 min wait, no FP left, so we just went in the gift shop and through to the cars on display. Had to sit in each one and comment on all the features. That killed some time. Then we headed to Mouse Gears - anyplace with a/c please! I think everyone had the same idea - it was packed. After consuming a Toll House Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich that we shared (more because it was cold than because we were hungry), we decided to head back to CSR around 10:30 - EMH was until midnight.
Just to share some nature sightings at CSR - that weekend we saw a baby crocodile (alligator?) in the water beside the bridge to the Dig Site, a rabbit with a baby beside our room in the bushes, and a giant grasshopper on the sidewalk to our bus stop (that sucker was the size of my hand - I have a picture!).
One night to go till back 'home' at OKW!

 

[mince]

Great report. Was there at the same time. Keep em coming

 

[iluveeyore]

Day 8, Saturday, August 19
Slept in - were awaken by housekeeping at 9:30a.m. - DH said we'd be gone by lunch time - up and made some tea and hot chocolate and had some snacks for breakfast. Called Alamo for a rental car for tomorrow so we could get few more groceries at Walmart Super Centre and move us back to OKW without relying on bell services with our luggage. No cars available for today, so reserved for 8 am Sunday, same car as last week (full-size), and was quoted $27.03, which was $8 less than I paid last week. Not to be racist, but I had a Alamo rep. with a very thick accent (Indian/Arabian sounding), and it took a while to make the reservation - this will come into play tomorrow when we get the car -stay tuned for that fiasco! Then called Disney Dining and made lunch ressie at Whispering Canyon for all of us for 1:40 pm. - that's the kid's favourite place to eat, and if we don't go at least once per vacation, they feel like we forgot to do something special. Got the teenagers up and moving and were on our way by 12:30. Took bus to MGM to transfer to WL bus - at the Lodge by 1:20 and seated by 1:30. Uncle Dave took care of us (or abused us! ).
We all had the skillet ($10 cheaper at lunch time each!), and bottomless milkshakes, except for me who had diet coke (hey, gotta lose it somewhere!). Uncle Dave gave us colouring pages and told us we were having a colouring contest and whoever lost would have to sing I'm a Little Teapot. Boy, you never saw five kids concentrate harder on doing a good colouring job - it was like watching a final exam for art class or something.
Twice during the meal we had to stand up and join the whole place in doing the hokey pokey - yes, all the kids joined in so they wouldn't be harassed!
Then kids 12 and under were called up to ride the Pony Express - Brooke didn't want to go, so Uncle Dave made all four teenage boys escort her so she wouldn't be alone. They actually did it without kicking and screaming - I think Uncle Dave should have stayed with us for two weeks to get the boys up and moving and doing Disney things every day!
We ate a lot, had fun and were done at 2:30. Uncle Dave brought the bill and the kids booked it out of there before he could remember about the colouring contest. Uncle Dave had said Brooke was his favourite and she would pick the loser, so the boys are lucky they got away clean! I wasn't worried she would pick me, because I flat out told her not to pick me or she would lose the rest of her spending money!
We browsed around the gift shop, then headed for the DVC villas there, where we went to the quiet room with the big stuffed leather rockers and relaxed. My son's friends had a cat nap in the window seat with all the cushions, my two DS's played chess, and DH, DD and I played Chinese Checkers. That was nice, and we took our time - very quiet and peaceful place to digest a big meal.
After an hour, DH, DD and I headed for the boat to the MK. The teenagers wanted to stay there longer and then go wherever they mutually agreed to go. After a nice boat ride to MK, we hopped on a bus to CSR to get in some pool time. Back to the room by 3:45 pm - still not clean! Got changed and down at the pool by 4pm. The dig site is a nice pool - OKW slide and main pool is bigger and better though, but we had fun. Read my book and couldn't really work on a tan as it was overcast. By 5:30 some really thick storm clouds moved in, so we collected my DD and headed back to room. They were closing the pool due to weather anyhow. Room had just been cleaned, according to the boys. They had called down at 4:30 to request some clean towels for the shower, so that must have reminded them to clean our room. Boys said six people showed up to clean both rooms quickly. Great, huh? Check in day they don't get our room ready for us after paying for it until after 4pm (check in is for 3pm), and when we're in it they want to clean it at 9:30 a.m., and then forget about us until later.
By 7pm, DH headed to the fitness centre to work out and DD and I stayed in room to watch Disney Channel. By 7:30 it was a downpour and three of the boys had just headed to Epcot (DS Tyler stayed behind as usual). I wanted to get to the gift shop to buy donuts for breakfast, but had to wait until it let up since it was a long hike. By 9pm it had pretty much stopped, so DD and I walked with an umbrella to the front to buy our donuts. Boys were back at 11 from Epcot - had been able to see Illuminations. Told them we had to check out before 10 tomorrow as we wanted to get back to OKW asap - they still stayed up late of course.
Tomorrow - back home to OKW!!!

 

[iluveeyore]

Day 9, Sunday, Aug. 20

Hooray, back to OKW we go today! Should have been a happy, no-nonsense day, but I should have got my first clue when my 6:45 am wake up call came and Stitch screamed in my ear "Wake up!". We had to be out front by 7:30 am for the Alamo shuttle to pick us up for our rental car I reserved yesterday, so we could get more groceries and move our luggage ourselves. DH and I got ready quickly, had some tea and donuts, then made the long hike to the front to check out and get on the shuttle. We were at Alamo by 7:40 am. I had written down the details of my reservation from the day before after struggling to understand the Alamo rep who spoke broken english. When we got to the desk, the Alamo rep said "That will be $47.03." Whoa, wait a minute - I showed her my notes, and said, "No, I was told $27.03." "Well, you must have misunderstood, the computer says $47.03 and that's what it is - I can't change it." I'm thinking, misunderstood? Of course I must have misunderstood - the guy couldn't speak proper English! The lady was not being helpful, not offering to reduce our rate for the misunderstanding, we hit a brick wall. I said to just give us the cheapest car she had, didn't care how small and walked away to let DH handle the rest, I was so ticked. DH found me with the keys he got, and we went to find our smaller car. Last weekend I got a full-size for $33 and this week I got a compact for $36. Whatever, move on, we're going to OKW. We got in our Chevy Cobalt and headed back to CSR to rouse the kids and get moving!
Back at CSR by 8:30 am. I had requested a wake-up call for the boys' room for 8:45 am, and that didn't happen, so I woke up the sleeping beauties and said to get ready and meet us at OKW - be out of the room by 11 and wait for us at the lobby in OKW. DH, DD and I packed our little Chevy and headed for OKW. We checked in by 9:30 am, but our room wasn't ready yet. We knew we were in Building 35 at Old Turtle Pond, our favourite location. Then I used the lobby phone to try and call the boys at CSR to let them know what building and that we were leaving to get groceries and would be back by 11 to meet them. Tried everything, but apparently as soon as I checked out, the phones were disconnected to the rooms and could not be used anymore. Great! The fun never ends, and it's not even lunch time!
We figured the boys wouldn't move that fast anyhow, so we stored the luggage with our already stored luggage there to free up space in the car for groceries, and left for the Walmart Supercentre on the 535. This time I had a specific list, got a couple of souvenirs for friends, spent $100 more on groceries, and were back to OKW by 11:30 am.
When I ran into the lobby to see if our room was ready, my DS Trevor was just walking out with the boys' room keys and said which number our rooms were. We sent them over on foot (no room in our supersize car!), and we drove over and unloaded the groceries. After giving my oldest son a lecture on laziness and how stressed DH and I were today, we left the kids to unpack the food while we went back to the front to get our luggage out of storage. After finally unpacking, I made some lunch, and DH and I fell into an exhausted heap on the couch.
Now, I may have mentioned before, DH and I are Nascar fans. We love Disney first, then Nascar. Last year we even combined the two and stayed at Disney and attended the Pepsi 400 in Daytona for 4th of July weekend. So the plan today was to get moved early, get groceries, unpack and sit and relax while we watched the Nascar race this afternoon in our living room at OKW - perfect plan! Until... DH was channel surfing until 2pm looking for the race on tv - for those of you that follow Nascar, NBC had picked up the rights to show races, and when we checked that station, it was showing women's volleyball - great! We weren't sure when the race started in Michigan, but knew coverage should have started by at least 1:30 - nothing even on ESPN. Getting frustrated, I called the front and asked if they could get TNT on the tv in the Gurgling Suitcase bar - she checked and said no, it was the same channels as the rooms.
So I had an idea, and had her transfer me to the ESPN club at the Boardwalk. I asked the girl that answered if the Nascar race was being televised and she said "Yes, it's on one of our screens". Yippee , DH and I never moved so quickly. Grabbed the car keys, remembered a map this time, and booked it over to the Boardwalk in ten minutes flat. Left the kids with instructions that my DS Tyler was to stay with Brooke, and someone could make something to eat for her. We got to the ESPN club, found two stools at a high table right under a flat screen showing the Nascar race and settled in for the afternoon. There was no sound as the PGA tournament was on the big screen with sound, but we didn't care. A little miffed we had to pay for two beer as we sat there, when we had lots of cold Bud in the fridge back at OKW, but we had to have at least one while we watched. We managed to get by for three and a half hours for $20 - had fries with the beer, then later had a diet coke with key lime pie (yummm). It was actually kind of nice to get out for the afternoon and sit at a Disney bar watching our favourite sport. Disney, Nascar, and Budweiser - life is good!
Back to the room by 6pm - Brooke and Tyler were both there, others had taken off to parts unknown. We decided to take DD to MK to see SpectroMagic and Wishes. Ty didn't want to go, liked staying alone to play PS2.
We got to MK and found a spot in Frontierland for Spectro. Sat down right by the ropes - wish everyone would learn to sit down and stay sitting during the parade if you're at the front - makes it so much more enjoyable for others. Still enjoyed it and Brooke got some great pictures. After that passed, we headed right over to our favourite spot for Wishes in front of the castle - kind of to the left of it on the path from Main St. to Tomorrowland bridge behind the popcorn stand. Found one of the last remaining spots by the back railing, and watched the ducks and bunny for 15 min. before it started. Wishes is awesome, and we saw it three times this trip - could watch it every night. It was EMH and there were lots of people, so we decided to leave. We had to get up early to take our favourite car back (no sarcasm at all ), so we were back and in bed by 11:30 pm. Tomorrow is a new day!

 

[iluveeyore]

Day 10, Mon. Aug. 21, 2006

Wake up call t 6:45 am - car had to be back before 8 am. Off to bad start as DH noticed our deli meat he had bought for the week was missing (flash back to last week and teenagers consuming all the meat in 3-inch sandwich). The connecting door was locked to 'the crypt', so I used my key and stumbled through the rubble in their dark room while they slept and checked their mini fridge - phew, found it! Some gone, but it's there for them to eat - they just have to learn to share! Put it back in our fridge so DH could relax, but he was in a bear of a mood as we left. Got even crabbier when he found DS's friends duffel bag still in back seat of the car - my son had refused to help his lazy friends cart their stuff around, he had his own to move around. His DF Mark had gone right to sleep when we moved yesterday and hadn't helped at all, so that's why it was left in the car. Told DH to chill, and I threw the bag in the boys' room. When we finally drove out of OKW, I realized in all the commotion that I had left the map in our room. So of course, we went in every wrong direction we could, which made DH even more pleased . Made him pull into Hess gas station so I could ask for directions (because he wouldn't!). Luckily, we were very close, and arrived at the Car Care Centre at 7:45 am. Returned it on time with a full tank of gas, got a shuttle back and were at OKW by 8:45 am.
It was a beautiful morning & Brooke was still sleeping, so DH and I went to the quiet pool at Turtle Pond to finally get some Florida sun-tanning time. It was lovely (and hot), and we tanned, swam and read our books until 11 am. Then back to the room to shower and have some lunch.
Then DH, DD and I decided to head to MK to see the new 3 o'clock parade. Got there around 1pm, DD and I went on Space Mountain (about a 20 min wait), then got FP for after the parade. Went to Toontown and took train over to Frontierland (one of the rides DH can handle!). Took DD to the Hall of Presidents as she'd never been ("Is this a ride? Is it boring? Will I like it?"). She was pleasantly surprised and seemed to enjoy it. Then to Haunted Mansion - an oldie but a goodie! By then it was 2:30, so we found a shady spot in Frontierland to wait for the parade. Enjoyed the parade, but had to stand up for it as people crowded in behind us at the last minute, and standing prevented us all from being stepped on. Nice parade, kind of a 'new' parade, but mostly the same one as Share A Dream without the snowglobes.
After the parade, we wanted to use our FP for Space Mountain, but the parade was heading towards the castle and there was no way to walk over to Tomorrowland in time to use them. Then DD had brilliant idea - take the train around to Toontown! We got to the train station at Thunder Mountain just as it was loading to leave - nice, pleasant ride to Toontown. Got off and took path around the back of the Speedway to Space Mountain - great shortcut and no one on the path except us! Used our FP (not DH of course ), then decided we were hungry and headed back to OKW for dinner. Got back at 4:30 and made lots of food - ate by 5:30 with DS Tyler (others still out). Cleaned up and relaxed a while. I decided to head to DD alone for a bit around 7:30 pm - waited 20 min and no bus, so changed my mind and thought pj's and a good book sounded better and headed back to room.

 

[iluveeyore]

Day 11, Tues. Aug. 22 - everyone still with me?
Hope I'm not boring you all to tears - I promised myself, after reading too many trip reports to count, that I would finish my first trip report if it kills me and everyone who has to suffer through reading it - so on we go!

This second week seems to be flying by faster than the first one - every morning is another day closer to going home . Oh well, still here, so let's enjoy it!

Slept in until 10 am this morning. DH wanted to go work out, so he left around 10:30 am. DD & I headed to Turtle Pond pool at 11 am (teenagers still in their crypt of course!). Read my book, baked on one side, took a dip to cool off, then baked the other side. DD never left the pool the whole time. It was hot (August you know!). By 11:45 headed back to room to get out of sun and cool off in the shower. (Isn't a/c the greatest invention ever!). Made some lunch, and DH was back by 1pm for his lunch.

We decided to head to MGM for the afternoon - EMH was last night, so figured it would be a quieter day there. The parade was at 5pm, and I have never seen the Stars and Motor Cars parade, so we wanted to make sure and fit it in this trip. We headed there by 2:30 (DH,DD and me), and straight to ToT for FP for DD and myself. FP were for one hour from then, so we went over to Walt Disney - A Man and His Dream tour, looked around and watched the 15 min. film about his life. We have never seen this, and it was wonderful. DH and I agreed this should be a mandatory attraction for everyone before entering a Disney park so they understand what it all means.

Headed back to ToT to use FP past the Sorcerer's Hat, but had to stop because (gasp!) it was Eeyore . Now, if you ask anyone who lives with me or knows me at all, I am a huge Eeyore freak - you can find him everywhere in my house, in my car, in my office, on my clothes, purse, etc. (you get the idea - freak!!!). It is my only goal for every Disney trip that I get a photo with just me and Eeyore to be placed lovingly in a picture frame when we get home for the world to admire (or just me). My DD knows all too well what her mom loves, so she immediately ran to get in line with me right behind her. At first I didn't think we would make it because the line was about five kids in front of us, all with autograph books, and it was hot (remember, August!). But luck was on our side, and I pushed by my daughter to go first when it was our turn. I had on my Eeyore hat, carried my Eeyore purse, and had my Eeyore temporary tattoo still in tact on my ankle. Smiling from ear to ear, I bounded up to my long lost friend with open arms. The CM said - "look Eeyore, it's your biggest fan", to which I proudly nodded as Eeyore pointed to my hat. "Do you like my hat?" I stupidly asked, to which Eeyore nodded, clapping. My DH was patiently waiting to take my ever important photo. I stood next to Eeyore while he vigorously rubbed the small of my back with one hand (paw, hoof?), and held my hand with his other. Then, he would not let me leave, would not let me go - pointing to his cute little nose, he wanted a kiss goodbye . I obliged, and of course my DH was not fast enough to capture this precious exchange. I ran right over to the camera to make sure my DH didn't cut off our heads as he usually did - success, a great photo! Then I hear, "Mom, get a picture" - oh yeah, my DD was trying to have a turn with Eeyore - snapped a quick pic and off we went.
With an extra spring in my step, we headed to ToT for our FP use while DH waited at the exit like the chicken he is! Walked right up to the library again, and no one took our FP! That meant two rides for us! DH wasn't too excited, but he didn't have a say in the matter and just waved as we ran back around for another screaming gigglefest.
By now it's 4:30 and we don't want to miss the parade, so we check the map for the route and head to a spot over past the big hat near Echo Lake. As we are looking for a spot, we notice no ropes like at MK. So we ask a CM who is directing people, and she says to just stand behind any spots that have a gold line on the ground. Perfect, a spot right near us, and we stood behind the gold line with no one around us. Decided to sit, and used our ponchos as the ground was very hot. As it got closer to 5pm, more people tried to jostle for position, had two young boys around 12 stand next to me (DD sat in between Dh and I, me being the first on the left the parade would pass). Since they weren't sitting, they were blocking my view of the parade coming, so I gave the camera to DH so he could take pics as parade approached and passed. As the parade started, two young asian girls (teens) stood behind us and practically stepped on DD and DH as they pushed their legs in between them and stood on the gold line. I can't believe some people, they could see just fine because we were sitting. So I thought, fine, we'll stand if that's how it's going to be, and then they wouldn't see at all. I even asked them to step back or my daughter would stand, but the kept leaning over her head. DH refused to stand though, and stayed sitting to take pictures. I wasn't going to let them ruin the parade for me - we were at the front, and that's where I was staying. If you want to see the parade that badly, get a spot ahead of time, it's that simple. So me and DD stood and the girls kept leaning over my DH until he told them quite bluntly to stay back or move. They finally got the hint, and realized they could see just fine if they stood back and watched. Other people down from us kept leaning over the line to see the parade coming, and the poor CM near us kept having to duck in front and ask them to please stay behind the line about four times. Even will all this going on, this parade was awesome, and we really enjoyed it. The cars are amazing, especially Mater and Lightning McQueen from Cars - DH got some really good pics of the parade, and we headed for the entrance quite pleased when it went by. It was still going on down Hollywood Blvd towards the exit, so we walked through the shops to the end and headed out to the bus - back for dinner, we were starving!
After dinner, I decided to try and go to Downtown alone again, and made it this time. I love strolling around and not worrying about who's with me and where they are, especially at night when it's busy. I was only gone about an hour and a half, found some gifts for my nephew's birthday and headed back.
Another day gone, the countdown begins to going home. Now I'm trying to prioritize what we absolutely must do before we go home. Tomorrow DD and I have to go to AK for our free Everest photo for sure, so we plan for AK and head to bed.

 

[iluveeyore]

Day 12, Wed. Aug. 23

Well, today started off with moans and groans from DH side of the bed - stomach ache, headache, staying in bed for the morning. Okay, that's fine, he doesn't like rides anyhow, so up I got with my plans to do Everest photo at AK with DD. Got her up and moving by 10am, said she was tired, but I pushed on. Got on a bus to AK/Blizzard Beach by 10:30, and headed for Blizzard Beach stop first. We were on one of the buses that only has lengthwise sideways seats, and I know DD gets motion sickness, so told her to close her eyes and lean on me, which she did. Halfway to BB, she looks up at me white as a sheet and says she feels like throwing up to the point where she's gagging. I'm pleading with her to relax, close her eyes and hold it in if she can, I had no bag for her to use. We got to BB, and I told her to get off with me and sit on a bench, because I knew she wouldn't make it to AK without throwing up if she didn't stand on unmoving land for a bit. She laid on a bench at the OKW stop with her head in my lap for a while. I gave her half a Gravol (thank goodness I had water bottle), and I let her settle for a while. We decided to go back to OKW whenever she felt up to getting on the bus, so AK was out of the question for today.
After half an hour, she thought she could handle it and wanted to go home and lay down, so we got on the next bus to OKW. I asked the driver if he had a bag as she was nauseated (he looked thrilled), but all he had was a towel. Thank goodness we made it back no problem (Gravol made her drowsy so she napped against me). Back in 10 minutes and had her lay on the couch while I made some lunch. DH was up and not feeling 100% either, so I said I'd let them relax and get better and head out on my own for a while.
I love being with my family at WDW, don't get me wrong, but the freedom to wander the parks on my own is very exciting and I love strolling around alone with not a care in the world! I decided to sit at the bus stop and go to whatever park showed up first - Epcot won - great! That was the one I was hoping for!
Headed to Test Track first and hit the single rider line - alone!!! Lots of people ahead of me that knew each other, but the 30 minute wait was better than the 90 minute stand-by line, and all the FP were for much later. It was about 1pm by now, and I had no one to complain about waiting with me, so I just people watched and read my park map from front to back while I waited. - Side note, does anyone else love these new park maps - they don't fold out into a big over-sized page anymore - just pull them open and they don't block your view as you walk around or sit with them - great job!!
Anyhow, got on TT with a family of four, their first time. We got stranded on the first hill climb. It was quite funny as two guys with flashlights came out of nowhere and lifted the hood of our car and proceeded to fix it. When I said I've never seen this done, the mom next to me said "Oh, this isn't part of the ride" I laughed and told her that it usually goes a lot faster. We were off in a few minutes and finished without further mishap.
I checked my park map and noticed Pooh and friends were in the United Kingdom for character greeting after two - perfect timing. That's where I headed on another search for my Eeyore Found him in back of the Toy Shoppe, along with Piglet, Tigger and Pooh. Being in my Eeyore t-shirt with my Eeyore hat on, of course Eeyore signalled me to him with open arms, and I got a great pic of me with the four of them. (Wish I knew how to load photos on here!). Anyhow, made my day . I wandered around a bit and decided it was hot (August you know!) and headed for the Land as I'd never been on the boat ride. Got all the way there and - what's this? - Closed for refurbishment! Great, and line-up for Soarin was eternal, so back out of the a/c I went and headed for the Living Seas.
I wanted my daughter to enjoy Turtle Talk with Crush as we've never seen it , so i didn't want to go myself. I just wandered around and watched the dolphins, sharks and manta ray for a while - saw a huge sea turtle swimming around too. Very relaxing and I was cooled off now, so headed to Mouse Gear to look around. Not as busy in the afternoon, but I didn't buy anything.
DH wanted the Pirate watch they were offering for $10 if you spent $50, and there was a Pirates mousepad I saw in MGM to use as part of the $50 I had to spend, and Mouse Gears didn't have it (I asked). So I decided to take the monorail to MK and see if they had it there. It was getting very busy as the 3:00 parade was in half an hour, so I scooted into the gift shop near the front and looked around. They didn't have it either! Oh well, I'll try MGM again before we go home. Had to get out of MK before the parade trapped me there, so headed out to buses to go home and make dinner.
DH and DD were back in the room - they had been at the pool for an hour as they were both feeling better, although DH was still tired and feeling not quite 100%. After dinner, I asked who wanted to go to MGM with me. DD was dying to see Fantasmic, and DH wanted to stay at room with DS Tyler and watch movies so he would be feeling good for our last day of running around tomorrow.
So DD and I headed to MGM around 6 pm. Fantasmic was at 8:30 pm. Told DD I would do my shopping and then we needed to get a seat before it filled up - every other night we had been there it was standing room only or none at all. I actually found the mousepad and got all the other souvenirs I wanted, so DH got his Pirate watch for $10 even though he wasn't there to buy it himself. It's a really nice watch -good deal! So by 7:30 we headed to Fantasmic with a sea of people pouring into the stands. We got in the last section about twenty rows up from the bottom - phew, that was close. Got some snacks while Brooke held our seats It was cloudy and you could see lightning off in the distance once or twice behind the ToT. At 8:15 the announcer said that due to circumstances beyond their control, the show was temporarily postponed and would not be starting at 8:30. I was amazed at how many people got up to leave, it wasn't even raining. And at 8:20, the announcer said the show would be starting in ten minutes. Cue the people leaving to turn around and sit down with a big cheer from the crown . Fantasmic is amazing every time we see it - love it. I especially love listening to the oooh's and aaah's of people around us who are seeing it for the first time.
We waited after the show until almost everyone had left. DD was even helping the workers pick up recycling while we waited. Waiting that extra 20 minutes was great, because when we got to our bus stop, no line and got a seat. Not the same deal at the All-Star bus stops, whose lines were longer than the roped section - hooray for OKW!
Got back to our room at about 10 p.m., and there was my brother-in-law with his daughter and son. We knew they were coming down at the end of our trip to stay for a week, but I hadn't expected them to find us, at least not until tomorrow. Brooke was excited to see her cousin, who's only 6 months older than her. After hugs and running around with excitement, the girls decided they should go swimming, so I took my niece, daughter and nephew (he's 8) to the Turtle Pond pool and read my book while they swam for an hour. DH and my brother-in-law showed up after 11pm to collect us all - we had to get to bed as we had a big day planned tomorrow- last full day there . As we were leaving, our oldest son showed up with his friends - this is where they live every night and meet up with new friends they've made. My son kind of ignored us as teenagers from the pool were yelling hi to them, so I winked at my DH and decided to embarass my DS. I said loudly "Bye Trevor, love you. Come give your Mommy a kiss goodnight, and don't stay out too late." His eyes grew wide and he shook his head and waved me off. We just laughed all the way to our room. My Brother-in-law stayed a bit longer, so I headed off to bed. Please let tonight go very, very slow - it's too close to the end of my vacation!!!

 

[iluveeyore]

Day 13, Thursday Aug. 24 - last full day!

Here it is, the sun rose and it's the last full day of Disney fun. Oh well, it had to come some time - I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest. Up as early as we could (I think it was 8 am), and made breakfast to enjoy on our patio. We've been feeding our ducks every morning, and they showed up right on cue as soon as the door opened and we moved chairs. Have leftover hot dog and hamburg buns to break up for them, so DH, DD and I enjoyed that for half an hour - there are about thirty ducks and I love being on the first floor - a couple of them eat right out of our hands. Now, let's get moving! Everyone is feeling good, so we get dressed, grab water and head out to catch an AK bus - off to Everest for our free photo! DH stands by again instead of riding - so DD and I stood in the stand-by line so we could be together in the photo - only took about 20 minutes. We sent DH over to safari for FP instead of waiting for us by EE. Got a great photo, and headed over to the safari. DH was right beside FP entrance - it was 10:52 when we got there - FP were for 10:55 - perfect timing
The safari was great as usual. Then we decided to head over to Camp Minnie Mickey for some character greetings. I wanted to see Festival of the Lion King, but it had already started, which I know really upset DH (yeah, right!) The line-ups for characters were either short or non-existent. Really nice spot for character photos - all of them shaded and private. Got a great pic of all of us with Minnie , Pluto and Kenai (who my DH called Koda as we were leaving . As we were walking back towards Dinoland, we saw Stitch, so DD and I stopped for a photo. He made us hold a surfing pose with him so DH could take pic. Cute!
It was almost noon, and I was starving. We convinced DD that she didn't need to ride Dinosaur and we should head back to OKW. Good thing we left just then, as my brother-in-law was walking towards us with his two kids just before the Rainforest Cafe. The odds of us meeting up with him were slim to none as we didn't know he was coming, and we could have left a different way around or at a later time had my daughter won the argument. Told my DD it was pixie dust for our last day! The girls were ecstatic to see each other, and we immediately turned away from leaving and headed back into the park with my DH's brother & kids. Went to EE to get FP for later, and then the kids wanted to go to Dinoland - all of us except DH (of course) went on Dinosaur - fun! Came out and DH's brother took the girls on Primeval Whirl while DH and I sat with our nephew. By this time the sky was really dark, and it was spitting rain. The kids wanted to play in the Boneyard, but only had a few minutes before it started to rain and they closed it down. We were almost out of Dinoland when the skies opened up and it just poured, lightning bolts and thunder one after the other. We found an abandoned ice cream stand with the umbrella up (wooden, not steel!) and stood under it for a while. Of course my ponchos were back at the room! Let up a bit, so we ran for the gift shop across from the Tree and took cover in there with everyone else. DH and I decided it was time to go back for lunch, and told his brother we were leaving. He only had a park pass for today at AK, so they were going to stay and do as much as they could if the rain let up. Said good-bye and left them my DD's room key so they could meet up with us later.
Back at OKW for something to eat, and I did some more laundr so I could pack, and we got everything we could into suitcases. We headed to Downtown Disney for the Summer Block Party for DVC members at 4:30 so we could be there for 5. Still looked like it might rain, and was sprinkling a bit, but still went. We left DH's brother our other cell phone with a note to call us when he got there so we could meet him at the DVC party. Lots of fun like last week when we went - got some more flashy DVC pins and sun visors to give out to friends and family. Got our free snacks , listened to the music in the 80s club, and played some games so DD got some little stuffed monkeys she wanted. Entered for the draw at 7pm. We even got our teenagers to go this week, mostly because they were out of money by now, and the snacks and games were free!
DH's brother met us at the entrance at 6:45pm and just barely got his name in the draw. And wouldn't you know it, he won an 80 minute Swedish massage at Saratoga Springs! He was excited, and DH was jealous, but even if we had won we would have given it away since we're leaving tomorrow. Glad someone around us has good luck - as you'll see by tomorrow, we don't!
After the DVC party, we all headed to the Marketplace to look around. Way too busy for us all to stick together, so we parted ways and told DH's brother to come back to our room when he was done shopping. We were too tired to bother going to any more parks - decided to spend our last night just relaxing in the room and finish packing. Doomsday draws nearer!
DH's brother and his kids showed up later after 9 and they all went to the pool while I packed and cleaned up & got ready for bed.

 

[Al and Kate's Mom]

I think this is one of the most detailed Trippies I've read - thank you for sharing it with us - can't wait to read the conclusion!

 

[iluveeyore]

Day 14, Friday, August 25 - Doomsday (no, really, wait till u read it!)

Well, this is it folks - can't believe I've almost written the whole thing! Also can't believe it's been a month since our first day at the World! Oh well, we're planning next year already, so it keeps me going!

So, our last day arrives, the last morning we feed the ducks. They got all of our leftover bread, bagels, buns, whatever we could find. Since we were all packed, it was a leisurely morning on the patio watching the kids feed the ducks. It was cloudy, which helped because we hate leaving on a beautiful day - it just seems to help the gloomy mood if it's gloomy!

I called Bell Services to have our luggage picked up for 10:45 am - our flight was later and the Magic Express wasn't picking us up until 3pm, so we were in no hurry to leave our 'home'. I had told the kids that no one was leaving the resort because I was not going to risk missing our shuttle. That was no problem for the teenagers since they are not even used to being up before noon!

So at 11 am on the dot, we bid a fond farewell to our second home and got a ride with the luggage to the front hall. I checked out, pouting. The CM asked if there was anything else she could do for us and I said "Sure, if you could give us a room free for a week, that would make me smile - but, alas, we had to go. We didn't go far though, since we had four hours to kill. So we stored the luggage and headed for Community Hall to stay cool and find some entertainment for my groaning children. My DD got out her full to the brim pencil case and proceeded to colour Disney pages the CM gave her at a table. My DS friends tried to sleep on the floor - told them the lobby was more comfortable for resting on couches and chairs. My sons and DH played pool and air hockey. I decided to wander to the gift shop for one last hoorah - bought some snacks and got a really cool Uno tin with Disney World park edition in it - that would come in handy later I would find out.
It was noon, so I gave my two DS some money to buy some food at the little eatery outside of Community Hall because they didn't want a sit down meal with us. DH, DD and I went into Olivia's for a nice lunch, because I knew we'd be having fast food at the airport for dinner later. So we had a really nice meal (still jealous of those free dining customers!), and took our time with it. After lunch, DD wanted to swim, so told her to go ahead, we'd be in the lobby reading. About ten minutes later, we heard a loud rumble, saw a flash of lightening and it started pouring rain. Little concerned about Brooke, but just as I got to the door, I saw her running towards the lobby, and intercepted her outside of Olivia's. She said she had just gotten up to her neck in the pool and the lifeguard told everyone to get out, they were closing the pool due to weather. So I had her go and change in the bathroom beside Olivia's and then she came into the lobby with us. By this time, the boys had all joined us and we were reading while they all listened to their MP3 players . We listened to the storm and watched the rain. The lobby was full of people just passing the time waiting for their ME bus. By 2:30 we went out to get the luggage from storage, and waited on a bench outside the bus loading area. We watched families arrive all happy and smiling on the Magic Express incoming shuttles from the airport - just think, that was us two weeks ago!
Bus showed up on time, and thankfully we were the last stop before the airport. They filled every seat on that bus, and someone even had to hold their child in their lap because all the seats were full. By 3pm we were on our way to the Orlando airport. This was the last moment of anything right happening to us for the entire day and night.
We were on our way to the airport to catch our 5:50 flight to Atlanta on Air Tran, and then wait for 40 minutes without deplaning to continue on to Buffalo for 10pm arrival. We got to the airport just fine, checked our luggage (I had preprinted our boarding passes at OKW last night), and we headed to our gate to wait. Going through security with all the fuss over carryon items, don't we look back to see my oldest son being held up and having his bag looked through. Now, the whole second week at OKW I kept asking Trevor, where is the shampoo I packed for you because they were all using the little Mickey shampoos I like to take home , and he would say, I don't know, I must have left it somewhere when we moved. So there, in the airport going through security, low and behold it appears in his carryon bag . Not to mention his brother's new can of Axe spray. Gone, bye-bye, in the garbage! Needless to say, he got an earful from us, but being a teenager, just shrugged it off thinking it was funny. And so it begins!
We got to our gate, and I read the sign behind the counter to match the flight number to my boarding pass, and it says departing at 6:18 - no, my pass says 5:50. Before I can ask, the lady at the gate speaks into her microphone "Ladies and gentlemen, flight ### to Atlanta has been delayed until 6:45 pm. Great! It's only 4:15 pm - now we have another two and a half hours to kill. Boy are we happy with our first Air Tran experience so far! . Cue the new UNO game. I knew I had a reason for buying it - finally some quality time with my kids, it took two weeks, but I got my teenage son to play a game with me and his sister!!! We were getting hungry, and my brilliant DH and son found out you could buy a whole pizza for a mere $15 and feed all of us - so one good thing happened at the airport.
The airline was calling up passengers to the desk that had connecting flights that might be missed due to the delays, but I told DH not to worry because we were not transferring in Atlanta, just waiting to continue on to Buffalo. He's a worry wart, so he went up to ask just to make sure. Yes sir, he was told, you stay on the plane in Atlanta and you will continue on to Buffalo. Great. So at 6:45 we boarded the plane that had just arrived at 6:30. Our seats were way at the back, just above the wing beside the engine - marvelous! And my husband got all excited we had XM Satellite radio to listen to, only to find out his outlet was broken. I let the poor man listen to mine while I read my book. We took off at 7:10 for our 6:45 departure time and headed for Atlanta. When we arrived in Atlanta, the flight attendant announced "Thank you for flying Air Tran. We have arrived in Atlanta, please deboard the plane, this is our last stop on flight ### for this evening." Excuse me?!?! We just looked at each other and rolled our eyes, as did a lot of other Buffalo bound people. So she was bombarded with "How do we get to Buffalo?" to which she responded, "I'm not sure, but the person at the desk as you exit the gate will be happy to help you". Great, the non-pixie dust continues. Seems like someone doesn't want us to go home! Should have stayed in Florida!!!
So we gathered our stuff and whining kids (and grown-ups) and got off the stupid plane. Up to the counter, wait our turn. The lady at the counter didn't look 'happy' to help us either. Asked her how we get to Buffalo. "Oh, you better hurry, it's due to leave from gate C13." We're at gate C3 - anyone ever been to Atlanta airport - it's huge! You know those movies where you see people running through airports to catch a flight, like whole families (Home Alone comes to mind). So here we are at 8:30 at night, running, all seven of us (I counted heads), trying not to run over people. It was busy, and we ran as fast as we could. Get to the Gate and it says Buffalo departing at 9:03 pm. Why did we just get told to hurry, and run so far, when we had half an hour??? Maybe she thought it would take us that long if we walked really, really slowly...We got in line at the desk, because at this point I don't trust anything these AirTran people say, and I want to be sure we're going to get on the plane. After ten minutes I am told by another unsmiling employee that yes, we will get on this flight. Great, so we sit on the floor with the other confused passengers to wait. At this point it is 8:45 p.m and my 14 year old son comes up to me with panic in his eyes. I ask what's wrong and he says "I left my gameboy and $40 game in the back seat pocket on the plane because I thought we were staying on it and forgot about it." Crap! (Can I say crap?) Sorry - what next? Is someone filming me for one of those hidden camera shows - let's see what we can throw at her and make her lose it?! Told my DH what happened, grabbed my son by the arm and we booked it all the way back to the first gate. Good, plan still there. Bad, not a soul around. I ran across to another AirTran gate and explained what had happened to the employee at the counter. "Sorry m'am, my plan just arrived and I can't leave my post. Just wait and I'll see if someone can help you." He proceeds to help passengers as they leave the plane and ignore me. I butted in and told him our other flight leaves in ten minutes, is there anyone else. He points to a guy and says "He's a manager, tell him what you need." Off running to someone else, explain myself, beg, plead and give him my son's seat number. He walks over to gate, punches his secret code slowly into the door and says he'll be back. I told him I didn't mean to be rude, but could he please hurry as we now have five minutes to get back to our other flight. I then sent my son running back to tell them I'm coming and don't leave without me.
Success, the guy hands me the game boy, I thank him profusely but quickly and start running (why am I so tired???). When I get to the gate, everyone is still standing around and it's 9pm. Apparently this plane had just arrived and they were waiting to clear it before we could board. And where was Tyler? Oh, you must have passed him, we sent him back to look for you! Guess what, I headed back to find him - by now I've completely lost track of how many times I've been back and forth, but I knew there was a bathroom nearby and I had to use it. Saw Tyler, gave him his Gameboy, called him Lucky and sent him back to his Dad while I headed for the ladies room. Stopped cold in the doorway - look a line-up, just like at WDW.
The heck with it, I'll go on the plane, back to the gate I went. Anyone else tired just reading this? Imagine how I felt!
Boarded the second stupid plane at 9:10 pm. The guy at the gate held us up while he checked our passes with a list of passengers. Found our names and on we went (good thing, or I would have been on the evening news 'Crazy Canadian loses it in Atlanta airport'). Same exact plane set-up as we just got off of - for all we know, they moved that one over to this gate. Same seats over same engine - oh, wait, my DH's headphones work, different plane for sure! So our 9:03 pm flight leaves at 9:25 - due in Buffalo at 11:20 pm instead of 10 pm. On we go!
Landed in Buffalo at 11:20 (I guess that's on time, not sure by now) and get off the plane slowly since we're at the back. Good-bye Air Tran, you blew it! I had originally booked this as non-stop flight, and they had changed it to a connecting flight with no available nonstops today. We'll never fly without non-stop again, and Southwest has never changed a non-stop flight to a connecting flight on me.
Tired and cranky, we make our way to the luggage pick-up. (Oh, forgot to tell you my daughter left her brand new pencil case with all her school supplies like pencil crayons, markers etc. at OKW Community Hall, as well as a couple small souvenirs in it she had bought herself). Waited and waited for the luggage. By 11:50 we were picking out our luggage. Here comes Tyler's suitcase with a dirty sock laying beside it (?) - the top of his suitcase was ripped out and broken around the handle and his dirty socks were falling out. Wasn't a great suitcase to start with, but it didn't have holes in it in Florida. At this point I am beyond caring and just want to get home. So we gather everyone and everything and head out to the Parking shuttle. One is leaving, but it's full, so we stand on the sidewalk shivering (not in Florida anymore) and wait for a next one. In the meantime, a snotty AirTran flight attendant walks up to my DH and sons who have luggage all around them, and instead of saying excuse me or something nice, she says "You're going to have to move that", and nods at their luggage. My husband was so shocked, he just moved it and let her by shaking his head. Really!!
Then the shuttle pulls up and the driver just sits there. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but we're used to the driver helping us on with the luggage and storing it securely for us as we find a seat. This guy just watched my young daughter as she tried to haul her suitcase up the steps, drop it and slide it against a seat by herself, and then watched the rest of us do the same. We sat down, and I said to DH "Someone just lost a tip". The driver asked where we were parked, so I gave him my orange ticket that said Long-term A7.
Got to A7 and he called out, this is your lot. I yelled back, "We usually get dropped of at our car", and he said "No you don't", and my DS Trevor snapped right back "Yes, we do". My DH told him what our car looked like and he could drive around and find it - imagine, dropping five kids, two adults and fourteen bags in the middle of a lot and making us drag it all around looking for our car. We realized A7 was about six rows long, so that would have been fun! We saw both of our cars and told him to stop. He let us out, watched us drag all the luggage off. I said 'Thanks for nothing' over my shoulder as he closed the door. Good grief, does it ever end? No!
Got both the cars packed, went over to DH's car to give him money for parking. He was just praying his car would start - it's older and has been sitting for two weeks. Phew, started right up. Told him to follow me out. Headed back to my car - what is that? Oh look honey, my back tire is as flat as a pancake, isn't that neat? Now what do I do, laugh or cry? I opt for yelling at the kids to get the luggage out and help their Dad get the spare tire. Thank goodness VW supplies you with a full-size tire instead of a donut. However, DH cannot get the lug nuts to move on the flat tire. So we finally get to use the CAA membership he got from work for Christmas. I call the number and give the info - it's now 12:10 am, and she says someone should be there within the hour. Then it starts to rain. Oh happy day - someone shoot me!
The kids go wait in the shuttle shelter, DH goes to mope in his car and I get in mine to wait for the ten minute notice call they said we'd get. I think 'within the hour' actually means, 'in an hour' because the guy got there at 1:15 am. Nice guy, kids liked his cool truck with his cool tunes, and he did a quick job. Finally, we can leave!!
Get to the exit, pay my parking fee, and pull ahead to wait for DH. His headlights are still at exit. Why is he taking so long. He is flashing lights at me - I get out. "Do you have my parking ticket?" he yells - No, I don't! He explained to the lady he's with me, been there same exact amount of time, and he can't find his ticket. Oh my gosh, a nice person!!! She was supposed to charge him extra for not having a ticket, but since we were together, she rang him up the same as me and sent him on his way. Maybe our luck has changed!
Got to the duty free and stopped - didn't care what time it was, had to get my cheap Bud! (And everyone had to pee!!). I said to the boys as we were leaving, "At least the border will be quick, it's 2 am and there won't be anyone crossing". We get almost all the way across the bridge - and stop - in a line-up.
There is one booth open, and he must be giving everyone the grand inquisition because each car is taking five minutes. We are two cars away when suddenly, finally, they open another booth as the line has grown behind us to about twenty cars. But I can't move over now, so I have to stay and wait to be questioned, searched, seized, whatever - bring it on! DH stays behind me. We get to our turn, and this young guy asks a whole bunch of questions, beginning with "ID's for everyone". I tell him they're minors (I have never been even asked to show MY Id entering Canada) - he says birth certificates or health cards. So the boys dig out their ID's - my younger son and daughter are with my husband, I have the older three boys with me.
The guy continues asking weird questions, including what I do for a living. I tell him I'm in real estate, he continues with value of the goods, which he can't nab us on as we've been away for two weeks and are allowed $750 each, which we don't even have all together!
I then tell him that my husband and two children are in the car behind us. He just nods and finally tells us to go ahead. Holy cow! Then I wait for my husband and his five minute inquisition. Finally, he is free to go and we pay our toll and head home. Had to stop at Tim Horton's right near the border so the boys could make it home with some Timbits. Asked DH how it went, and he said the guy gave him a hard time because he wanted to see ID for the kids and DH had to tell him me, his wife, up ahead had the kids ID on her. I always carry it, and the guy told DH he should make sure he always has proper ID for the children - I've never had to show it before, not even once! Oh well, I think this guy was fresh out of the academy and wanted to flex his knowledge for everyone!
I dropped one of my son's friends off at home since he lived nearby, and then the rest of us headed home. It was 3am when we got in the door. We had to be up and gone by 10 am to pick up the dogs at the kennel. Joy!
So we made it home - thought I'd never get there. Climbed into bed trying to fathom everything that had gone wrong that day. Too long of a list to process. Tried to think of all the happy times we had on our trip, but all I could think about was everything I had to do when I got up - unpack, do laundry, get groceries, pick up dogs, develop pictures...finally fell asleep.

That's it folks - glad you could come along on our trip. Already planning next year for Halloween with friends of ours - another OKW trip. I live for it! A little side trip for me and DH in February for the Daytona 500 is in the works too, already got race tickets and waiting for the deals on Disney rooms!!!
Happy travels to everyone else going, and I look forward to other trip reports for those who have returned to real life.