Our 2nd Trip to Disney! Did it Measure Up? (w/pics) **THE END**

[DisDancerina]

great updates and pics.

I was supposed to eat at Raglan Rd but I canceled.

The necklace looks nice.

You're up!! Help!

Okay,

1. How do you arrange 9 dots in 8 rows with just 3 dots per row?
2. How do you put numbers 1-12 in 12 boxes where each side adds to 26? 4 numbers a side and the sides share a number with the corner, it's an outlined square.
3. Gear X has 12 cogs and turns clockwise at 30 revolutions per minute. Gear Y has 24 cogs and gear Z has 6 cogs. How fast and in wihch direction does Gear Z turn?

 

[Girldreamer02]

sorry to hear about your grandpa...have a safe flight

 

[liznboys]

Take care this week.

 

[carissanboys]

Aww I'm just happy he got to hear about the magical time in Disney. So, whenever you go to Disney, he'll get to tell you all about it when you go to heaven Some of those trips that you don't even remember, he will. And just because of your Memere telling him about your magical time!

I'm so sorry to hear about your grandfather. My last grandfather passed away in October and it never gets any easier. Have a safe flight to Maine.

Sorry to hear about your grandfather Our thoughts and prayers are with you!

I'm so sorry to hear about your grandfather!

Carissa, I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather. Safe travels to Maine and back.

Prayers and Pixie Dust to you and your family!

sorry to hear about your grandpa...have a safe flight

Take care this week.

Thanks everyone

 

[DisDancerina]

Thanks everyone

I was the first to post both times!

 

[carissanboys]

Hi Carissa,
I've been a lurker on your TR and have been enjoying it. It's been fun to read about all the times your dad was in the WDW spotlight during your trip!

I'm glad you came out of lurkdome!

I'm very sorry about your grandfather. I'm glad that he was able to hear about your Disney trip. Please have a safe trip to and from Maine.

Thanks

I love the way Miyuki talks too! The giraffe is so cute! I don't think I've ever seen one of those before!! And I loved how she turned Owen's creation into a fire breather!

I've never heard of the Monchichis but they are darling!!! Are they just like little dolls or stuffed toys? So cute! We didn't have time to go in the Japan stores at all and I regret that. Somebody recently said to us "you just go back year after year and do the same things over and over again?" They don't realize there is so much to do you never get to do it all!!

They were popular when I was a girl. They're just dolls/stuffed animals. Aren't they cute?

I am finally all caught up and I have to say I love your trippie!!!! I can't wait to hear about AK. Looks like ya'll had fun at Epcot. When I was at wdw in dec a cm asked me if I knew what epcot meant. I said yes. Then he said...every person comes out tired. Lol. I hadn't heard that before so it was kind of funny. We never seem to make it around the world either...at least not on the first try. Hopefully you'll get back there. Guess I have to keep reading to find out

I hadn't heard that about Epcot Too funny - and true!

great updates and pics.

I was supposed to eat at Raglan Rd but I canceled.

The necklace looks nice.

You missed a great meal! Thanks

 

[carissanboys]

This was to be our last FULL day at Disney World Once again, we made it to Animal Kingdom shortly after opening. It was a pretty chilly morning, but I knew it would warm up as the day went on.

After we got through the ticket counter who should we see?

Baloo!!

I took a look at the schedule and saw that Festival of the Lion was starting at 9:30. I decided we should head there and get that out of the way since it was the ONE thing I really wanted to do. I also figured it would give us a warm place to hang out while we gave it some time to warm up outside! I dragged everyone along so we could make it in time.

When we arrived, they announced that flash photography WAS allowed! I was not expecting that and was very excited that I'd be able to take pictures. I got my camera out and went to get it ready.

For some reason, it wouldn't turn on.

Yeah.

Batteries were DEAD I'd forgotten to charge the batteries the night before. And I didn't bring my other camera with me. So, guess what folks? I'm sad to say this is going to be another *almost* picture-LESS day Forgive me? But, I promise to have LOTS of pictures of our last day!

We were all amazed with the show. I can see why it's so well loved. The props for the show are just amazing. It was a lot of fun and was a great start to the day.

Then we headed to Dinoland. Memere and Sully walked ahead of the group and made their way to Primeval Whirl. Sully loves this ride and Memere decided she'd go on it with him (I sure didn't want to go again!). I sent my dad and Chuck on Dinosaur, while I took Owen and Connor on Triceratop Spin. When we finished, neither boy wanted to ride it again so we waited for Memere and Sully. Once they joined us, we headed to the Boneyard (which is where I'd told Chuck we'd be). The boys love this place (who wouldn't?!) and they all took off and had a blast. Shortly after we got in there, I spotted Chuck. I had him take our place so that Memere and I could go ride Dinosaur.

It was fun for just the two of us to do a ride together. Unfortunately, we ended up in a car with a bunch of crazy teenagers. I have no issues with teenagers, heck I was one once! But, these were unsupervized, OBNOXIOUS teens. Shortly after the ride began one of the girls behind us began SCREAMING. And did not stop for the ENTIRE ride It was so bad that I had to plug my ears. My stepmother is deaf in one ear, and I think she might have lost more hearing in her other after that encounter. I can understand screaming because you're scared (like on a rollercoaster), but this girl was doing it just to be crazy. She didn't even take breaks during the calm moments. It really ruined the ride for me, which is too bad because I didn't get to enjoy it much last trip because I was too worried about Sully being scared. Oh well.

We took a look at our picture afterwards as it came up on the screen. It's quite funny actually because you can see me covering my ears

We met back up with the rest of the gang and Sully asked Pepere if he'd ride Primeval Whirl with him. Memere decided to go along. The wait ended up being LONG. I think it was 30 minutes or so. I took Owen back on Triceratop Spin, while Chuck and Connor watched the painter acrobats (don't know what they're called). I tried to call Memere on her cell phone to tell her we were going to head to Flame Tree BBQ to eat, but she wasn't answering. I found out later she'd left her phone at the house. I finally caught their attention in line and between hand signals I was able to relate to them that we were going to eat. It was probably funny for others to watch I figured they'd remember where I'd said we were going to eat from earlier.

Chuck and I ordered the beef sandwich. It was ok. Kind of dry, but not bad. The beans were delicious! Just the way I like them. Their cornmuffins are very good too (although quite pricey). I ended up eating one of Sully's chicken wings and they were awesome.

While we were sitting eating I spotted my dad. Yay! No one was lost My dad had the turkey sandwich and he said it was very good with a TON of thick slices of turkey on it.

I was looking at the schedule and it seemed we kept missing the Finding Nemo Show and the next one wasn't for quite a while. My dad, Chuck and myself decided to do It's Tough To Be A Bug for the first time. Memere said she'd stay with the boys. They ended up walking around the trails near the Tree of Life and had a lot of fun with that.

We did our own walk around the tree when heading into the tree. That was so cool! The tree up close is something everyone must experience. I so wish my camera had been working for that!!!

I thought the show was cute. I think my boys would be ok for it so next time we'll give it a go. There were some little girls next to me that were scared and crying throughout the show. Anyone else think the stink bug smells like coffee?

It took us a while to find Memere and the boys, but once we did, we headed to the train station!

The train to Conservation Station is really neat. The theming on it is great. And we got to see a hippo and some elephants along the way.

On the path to Conservation Station we stopped so the boys could do the habitat search. All three boys had fun with that. Once inside the building we quickly walked through, stopping at a few things that caught our attention. We did get to see an owl that a handler had out. It was very tiny. We chatted with her for a bit and then moved on outside to see the animals.

The boys all grabbed a brush and enjoyed grooming the goats. We've fed animals before, but never groomed them so that was neat. My kids are all animal lovers so I know they enjoyed themselves.

After washing our hands really well, we headed to get some Mickey icecream bars before heading back to the train. Yumm!

We decided to finish up the day with our favorite ride - Kali River Rapids!!! We came prepared with ponchos. Some guy saw us with them on and said, "Those shouldn't be allowed." Chuck stayed with Connor while we all went on without any wait

Owen was the only one that got really wet, but he loved it. It's such a fun ride, but over too quickly. We got off and Pepere turned and looked at me. "One more time?" How could I say no to that?

We jumped the rope and got right back on.

This time we ended up with a woman and her four boys. The two older ones thought it was great, but the younger two weren't too thrilled. The youngest cried when he got wet But, by the end he was laughing. When we got back to the start, our fellow riders asked if they could go again. The CM said yes and before our family even had a chance to get out, we were off for a 3rd time!

We all got our chance to get the full brunt of the rapids, but Sully and Owen definitely got wetter than my parents and I. So, once again, we go back to the start. And the family wants to go AGAIN! The CM just didn't seem to hear us when we said WE wanted to get off. It was kind of funny actually.

We rode Kali FOUR times in a row That was pretty cool. Finally, we spoke up and said we HAD to get off this time. Chuck did take a few pictures of us with Memere's camera.

That was our first time on it. Owen is sitting by himself, Sully to his left, then me, Pepere and Memere.

Afterwards we took a trip to the nearest restroom. It was so funny to go in there because everyone, in both the men's and women's rooms were using the hand dryers to dry clothes We didn't worry about it because we were heading out and straight home. I did have the boys change out of their wet shirts and put on dry sweatshirts. I also saw the women with the four boys. Turns out she also had a baby girl waiting with her husband! She was quite a riot I have to say.

Once again we headed out of a park just as they were preparing for the parade. Maybe next time we'll actually see one.

Originally we had planned to go to the airport that afternoon to pick up a rental car for my parents so that they could drive themselves to the airport the next day. But, we were all too tired and didn't feel like dealing with it. I figured we'd just have Chuck take them in the morning while I finished packing up the house. I was secretly hoping we could make it to the Magic Kingdom after our brunch at Chef Mickey's.

Of course, this meant that I wouldn't be able to meet up with my friend Liz who was down in Disney for the weekend I knew she'd understand, but I was so looking forward to riding Space Mountain with her!

So, we got back to the house and immediately headed to the pool to warm up. We spent a quiet, relaxing evening at the house packing up our stuff. I made spaghetti with meatballs and garlic bread. It was very yummy

Up Next...Day 9 - Part 1

 

[pixe*dst]

I'm caught back up now! Sounds like you had a great day at Epcot (day 7). Looking forward to see if you made it to MK the next day--according to the date stamp on your camera we were there that same day.

 

[mikymouse]

I am just now discovering this trip report. We have a lot in common we are going on our 2nd Family Disney vacation next month and we are going to try off-site at Windsor Hills. I am looking forward to reading your report and finding out if you liked Georges condo and if the 2nd time is as good as the first. I love the picture in your report.

 

[Girldreamer02]

aww don't you hate it when camera batteries die? That stinks. They are super expensive at disney. Learned that lesson the hard way. Sounds like you guys had great fun! I can't wait to hear more!

 

[scottny]

hate when batteries die.

great update. Kali 4 times, I did it once and hated it so not for me. Too fast and short.

 

[irene_dsc]

First off, so sorry to hear about your grandfather. (((hugs)))

But at the rate I'm going, you'll be done with your TR before I am! Eeks!

Lots of funny stuff - your Pepere is hysterical!

No time to comment on it all - I really, really need to get some work done, but I had to do some catching up!!! Dd is getting over being sick, but now ds is sick! So, dh and I are tag-teaming the office stuff, and I am sooo behind. Otoh, I'm enjoying not hearing whiny sick children...

 

[carissanboys]

I'm caught back up now! Sounds like you had a great day at Epcot (day 7). Looking forward to see if you made it to MK the next day--according to the date stamp on your camera we were there that same day.

Day 9 should be coming up shortly

I am just now discovering this trip report. We have a lot in common we are going on our 2nd Family Disney vacation next month and we are going to try off-site at Windsor Hills. I am looking forward to reading your report and finding out if you liked Georges condo and if the 2nd time is as good as the first. I love the picture in your report.

Thanks! George is great I hope you have a great time on your 2nd trip!

aww don't you hate it when camera batteries die? That stinks. They are super expensive at disney. Learned that lesson the hard way. Sounds like you guys had great fun! I can't wait to hear more!

I'm not even sure if they would have carried the battery we use (it came with the camera and is a rechargable one). I didn't even think to look for one.

hate when batteries die.

great update. Kali 4 times, I did it once and hated it so not for me. Too fast and short.

You hated Kali?!

First off, so sorry to hear about your grandfather. (((hugs)))

But at the rate I'm going, you'll be done with your TR before I am! Eeks!

Lots of funny stuff - your Pepere is hysterical!

No time to comment on it all - I really, really need to get some work done, but I had to do some catching up!!! Dd is getting over being sick, but now ds is sick! So, dh and I are tag-teaming the office stuff, and I am sooo behind. Otoh, I'm enjoying not hearing whiny sick children...

Hey lady! It's good to hear from you Sorry to hear the kids have been sick. I can relate! I hope they're better soon and you're able to finish up your TR.

 

[carissanboys]

Are you ready for our last day? Well, there will still be the final day we drove home (I have a few pictures from that day as well), but this is our last Disney day.

We all woke up, had some breakfast and finished packing. Chuck needed to be on the road with my parents by 9 a.m. so that he could get them to the airport and back to the house in time for us to load up the van and be out by 10:30 (check out time). Liz called me somewhere around 8:45 and we chatted for a bit (I'm still waiting to hear about your trip girl!!!!!). Then we said goodbye to Memere and Pepere.

While Chuck was gone, I finished packing and cleaning up. As the clock began to tick closer to 10:30, I began to panic a bit. I started putting all of our bags outside so we could at least be out of the house by 10:30. Thankfully, Chuck arrived in enough time to accomplish our goal.

Then it was off to the TTC! I figured we'd park there and take the monorail to the Contemporary so that we could just take the monorail to MK after our meal. Chuck wasn't too thrilled with going back to MK as he was worried about us getting on the road. I figured it was about a five hour drive to Savannah, Georgia and thought we could squeeze in a couple of hours.

We checked in and then got in line to have our picture taken. Here is the other picture of me (actually, there IS one more in a minute):

Connor did NOT want his picture taken and I told the girl not to worry about him looking at the camera. But, she was bound and determined to get him to look! She kept saying, "Look! There's Mickey!" It worked.

Just as we were finishing up with the picture, our buzzer went off. We sat and I went to get food. While I was away, Goofy came over. The pictures that Chuck took didn't come out very well. He said it was over so quickly. Here's one:

After Goofy, we got a chance to eat. The food was ok. I think it was better at Crystal Palace. I did like the corned beef hash with cornbread on top.

Time for some napkin twirling!

Next up was the big mouse himself:

We were pretty disappointed with how quickly the characters moved through the room. It was great for finishing our meal in record time, but it wasn't so fun when it was your turn to see the characters. Mickey was particularly zoomy. I thought the interaction at Crystal Palace was better.

Then it was Sully's favorite!

This picture of Pluto signing the autograph book cracks me up.

Chuck was wearing his Pluto shirt so when we pointed that out to Pluto, he had to give Chuck a high five.

Then it was time to meet a girl - finally!

That concludes our meal at Chef Mickey's. Being one of the last seatings of the morning, you'd think the characters would have been less rushed. Somehow the price ended up being $120 (tip included). That was more than our meal at Boma when we had two extra adults! We definitely wouldn't eat there again, although I can't say it was a bad experience. It was nice to see all of those extra special characters without waiting in line.

Back to the monorail!!

I was excited that our meal had gone so quickly, which meant more time in the park Unfortunately, we stopped a couple of times, with one of the stops being for about 15 minutes while they did safety checks. It also began to rain outside pretty heavily. Chuck was really beginning to question whether we should go to MK or not. I told him the shower probably wouldn't last long and we could always get back on the monorail if the rain didn't let up.

Here's the gang on the monorail:

How close can I get? LOL

Finally, we were on our way!

Up Next...Day 9 - Part 2

 

[carissanboys]

We finally arrived at the Magic Kingdom and magically, the rain stopped I went through the ticket counter with two of the boys, and then it was Chuck's turn. His ticket wouldn't work. I think I've mentioned that we had a lot of issues on this trip with our tickets. I don't know what was up with that, but it was annoying. The CM kept trying to say that it wasn't his ticket since the finger scanner wasn't matching up I didn't think those things really worked anyway? I told the lady that I just got through with MY ticket no problem and he was the only other adult in our family so it had to be HIS ticket. I kept trying to think if the tickets got mixed up somehow. On our Epcot day, Chuck did take all of the tickets and get FP so I'm sure they could have gotten mixed around. However, we had no issues getting through at the Animal Kingdom the day before. Finally the CM let him through.

Even though we'd paid for a double stroller all week, we decided to just get a single for our short visit. It would be a lot easier to manuever through the crowds. Owen could walk.

While we were entering the park, Memere called to tell me their flight was delayed! She told us to have a great time and she'd keep us updated.

My first goal was to get our picture taken by Photopass in front of the castle. We hadn't gotten a chance to do it earlier in the trip (too many people around). With that accomplished, we headed to Jungle Cruise.

There was about a 30 minute wait, but we decided to go ahead and wait. Some pictures along the way:

And here's our ride!

Sully and Owen on the boat:

We were crammed in like sardines! Our skipper was Jenny and she did a great job. She was very funny and she steered while facing us, with her arms behind. Most of the time she wasn't even watching where she was going. She just knew the path real well I guess!

I think Sully and Owen really enjoyed the ride. Their mouths were hanging open for most of it. I thought it was pretty cool too. I didn't take any pictures. I guess I just wanted to enjoy the view

When we finished with our cruise, we headed over to Space Mountain to see what the wait time was. Sully really wanted to ride (ok - so did I). As we got closer I tried to make out the wait time sign. I couldn't see any numbers. There didn't appear to be much of a line. Then Chuck said, "I heard that person say it's broken down." There would be no Space Mountain on this trip.

As we headed out, we had a special escort.

As I took the picture, "it" said, "A person with a camera."

A very cool way to end our Disney trip.

We asked the boys if they wanted to take the monorail or the ferry to the TTC for our final trip. They chose the ferry. Here's some pictures of our final moments in Disney World:

I'm getting sad looking at these pictures. I had been feeling very sad all morning. I really didn't want to leave. I think it's now time to answer the question that's been on everyone's mind. Did our 2nd trip measure up to our 1st?

Well, in some ways, it didn't. Some of the attractions weren't nearly as enjoyable to me as they were the first time we went on them. Some of the magic of those first rides was gone.

But, overall? This trip beat the first trip hands down. We all enjoyed ourselves much more this time. We weren't as tired (well, everyone except Pepere). It was a more relaxed trip. We had so many special moments that we will never forget. When we left Disney on our last trip, I was truly ready to go home. I was exhausted! This time? I really didn't want to go. Really. Our 2nd trip MOST definitely measured up

Before I forget, I don't think I mentioned this before. When we were leaving the Pirate and Princess Party, my dad said, "If there is anywhere on earth that is actually magical, then this is it."

We left Disney at 2:30 p.m. and didn't stop until we were north of Jacksonville. Just like last time, Connor was asleep shortly after we got on I4. Chuck called my parents and they said they might have to spend another night in Orlando! We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. We LOVE Cracker Barrel! Chuck and I had the meatloaf with hashbrown casserole, green beans and fried apples. Yumm!

Even with stopping for dinner, we arrived at our hotel at 7:45, so the drive was even shorter than 5 hours. We stayed at the same hotel that we stayed at on our return trip last time, Spring Hill Suites. Our room had two double beds and a sleeper sofa. Chuck suggested we have Connor sleep on the sofa bed alone since he's such a crazy sleeper. Sully and Owen shared a bed and we put Connor to bed in ours first (we moved him later). Then Chuck and I hung out on the couch for a bit watching TV and checking email. I also got online to check in on my TR We did finally hear back from my parents and they did make it home. I fell asleep that night sad that our trip was over, but deeply satisfied that everything had turned out so well.

Up Next...Day 10

 

[liznboys]

I am sad reading about your last day!

Bummer about the batteries!

How fun that you did Kali 4 times in a row! WooHoo!!

You look so cute in those two Chef Mickey's pictures!

Yeah, I had gotten a FP for SM first thing when I got in the park that day. But when I went back when my time was up, it wasn't running. Us riding it together just wasn't meant to be! Maybe someday...

Oh yeah, forgot to say that I'm glad your 2nd trip measured up!!

 

[carissanboys]

I am sad reading about your last day!

Bummer about the batteries!

How fun that you did Kali 4 times in a row! WooHoo!!

You look so cute in those two Chef Mickey's pictures!

Yeah, I had gotten a FP for SM first thing when I got in the park that day. But when I went back when my time was up, it wasn't running. Us riding it together just wasn't meant to be! Maybe someday...

Awww - you're the first to reply to my ALMOST last day

 

[carissanboys]

I am sad reading about your last day!

Bummer about the batteries!

How fun that you did Kali 4 times in a row! WooHoo!!

You look so cute in those two Chef Mickey's pictures!

Yeah, I had gotten a FP for SM first thing when I got in the park that day. But when I went back when my time was up, it wasn't running. Us riding it together just wasn't meant to be! Maybe someday...

Oh! I forgot to mention that I was wearing my new necklace in those pictures

 

[liznboys]

Awww - you're the first to reply to my ALMOST last day

lol it's a sign!! (of what, I have no clue)

 

[carissanboys]

Let's finish this baby up, shall we?

We woke up the next morning at 6:30, were downstairs for breakfast by 7:10 and on the road at 7:45.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. The boys played their Gameboys, watched movies, and listened to their music:

Shortly before South of the Border (we decided we'd stop here for lunch and see what all the hoopla was) a van that was passing beeped at me. I looked over and some guy was waving at me. I had no clue who it was. And then it passed us and I saw the license plate said U.S. Government. It was actually a caravan of government vehicles. The only thing we can think of is that they noticed our "Proud Parent of an Honor Student at -- School" bumper sticker. As I have mentioned, we live on a military base and someone who lives here would be familiar with the schools. They were probably just giving a friendly military family wave.

So, we get to South of the Border. Chuck got gas.

And I got a shot of Pedro.

We went across the street to get lunch. Until I saw a sign that said they didn't take credit cards What kind of restaurant off of I95 doesn't take credit? So, back in the van we got (we didn't have any cash on us). I looked in my handy 95 travel book and looked to see where the closest Cracker Barrel was We only eat at Cracker Barrel when we're traveling, so we had to get another stop in.

We found one close by and Chuck and I had their Sunday Chicken Special. It was sooooooooo good!!

And that's where my notes end. I know we stopped at McDonald's somewhere in Virginia for dinner and it took longer for us to get home then I thought it would, although we didn't have any traffic issues. I think we got home around 7.

We were all happy to see Josie the Kitten, who was VERY happy to see us.

Oops. Here's a picture that I forgot to post earlier. It's Owen with his mask from Epcot.

Up Next...Final thoughts