Our "Dream" Disney trip....Tink's first visit to the magic!

[eyenjeff]

more coming later today!! Stay tuned!!!

 

[eyenjeff]

DAY 6: OUR LAST DAY-MK AND FRIENDS


Before I start on our last day, I have an addendum to day 5. LOL!

I almost forgot about the dreaded packing for our return home. I don’t know how I forgot, since I did it all while Jeff went swimming! We put the kids to bed, and he was really wanting to go swimming so bad, he kept saying that he had to swim if only for a few minutes, just to say he used the pools. We still had to pack; because we had a full day planned tomorrow and did not want to waste time in the morning. He started to help me pack by tossing all the dirty clothes in one suitcase in a giant pile and was trying to fit them all in one lump. I know he did this on purpose because he knew if he messed it up I would say, “Just let me do it!” And it worked. (If anyone has ever watched the video BILL COSBY, HIMSELF, there is a whole segment on screwing things up on purpose so your wife doesn’t ask you to do them anymore. My husband loves this video) I told him to go swimming and leave me to the packing! Both kids were sleeping and with him out of the room, I would be able to pack fairly quickly and do it my way. (This is always the best way anyways! LOL!!!!) I was able to get most of the packing done while he went swimming except for the frig and snacks that we took care of in the am.


Ok, here we are on our last day, trying to get out of the door for our last day at MK. We finished up last minute packing and boxed up our frig we got from a frig swap (BTW, great idea if you are in a value resort to save the $10/day fee to rent one.) We called for luggage services to come and pick up our luggage and they were very prompt, almost too prompt, we were still taping up the box when they arrived. They were very helpful and took our luggage to storage for us while we were in MK till the limo came to pick us up later that evening. We took our backpacks and stroller etc... And headed off for our last walk to the bus. We used express check out so we did not have to stop at the front desk. Love that express check out! We did not want to waste time eating at the food court, and we were done with our dining plan anyway, so we decided to make our way to MK and grab a snack there.

Our plan was to meet up with friends who live in Orlando. Nancy, the mom was my babysitter when I was a kid. She is about 10years older than me, and when you are a kid, 10 yrs is a big span! She was a great babysitter! She was crazy and we loved when she came over, she had us convinced she was a spy and had all sorts of spy stuff. She had a keychain that had a timer on it, and she called it her dynamite keychain. We believed if it rang off, we would blow up. She said her lipstick was poison and if she kissed someone with it on, they would die, and she had all kinds of kooky ways to get us to behave! We loved her! Her mom and my mom were very close, and we considered them cousins. We have kept in touch all these years and when we come to Florida I always make sure we make plans with them either in the park, or we visit them in their home. Nancy has a great daughter named Molly who is 12, and she brought her friend with her. Nancy is a great mom, creative, full of energy, wild, well traveled, and a hoot! Her daughter is so lucky to have such great parents. Molly has been able to travel the world with her parents and has had experiences we all dream about, and the great thing is, she is a great kid! She loves kids and took care of Brigid a lot of the time, and of course Brigid ate up all the attention!

So back to our previously scheduled program……………..

 

[eyenjeff]

We arrived at the MK and called them and made plans to meet them at the bakery on main street because by this time we were starving. The line was fairly long, so by the time we got our rolls, and found a seat they were there. They had obtained 3 fast passes for Space Mtn earlier and the time was coming due so Nancy offered to take Noah, Molly, and her friend ( whose name escapes me at the moment), over to SM and Noah could use her fast pass and then Jeff and I and Brigid would meet them over there when we were done. Sounds good to us, so off they went. When they arrived at the fast pass return, Nancy felt guilty about letting them go on alone so she asked the CM and he let her go through with them, which I thought was really nice. By the time they finished with SM we caught up with them, and they all decided to go on Buzz and take Brigid with them. She loved it! Especially being with the big kids, Nancy included!

We got the pic of her, Noah and Nancy riding in one of the cars. It was great!

Nancy, Molly and her friend, and of course Noah had much more energy than Jeff and I so they decided to split off from us and they would call us later and meet up. They were going off to get a snack, and we were supposed to go and get fast passes for Jungle cruise for us all. We headed over to adventure land and got the fast passes, which was a 45 min return window. Jeff and I decided to find a nice quiet place to sit and relax, Brigid had fallen asleep in the stroller and we did not want to wake her up to go on a ride, or we would have ridden pirates over and over again till we go the call!

I have heard so much about DOLE WHIPS, and in all my visits I have never tried one, so here was our chance. We had just had breakfast but there is always room for ice cream! We found Aloha Isle and ordered our very first Dole whip to share and found some wonderful little tables next to the stand, under a roof and off to the side, it was very quiet and out of the sun.

This must have been another eating place at one time; it was perfect place to rest. Jeff and I shared the dole whip, which was great and will definitely be on the must do list for net trip. We were sitting a table that was up against a wall, and I was leaning on the wall with my feet up on a chair just people watching and waiting for Nancy to call, and before I knew it, I was asleep!!! What a great place to power nap! Brigid was still asleep, and Jeff was feeling sorry that I had done all the packing the night before, so he let me sleep. AWWWW…….I thanked him for that later! When the phone rang, I woke up refreshed and full of energy.

 

[eyenjeff]

We met them at Jungle Cruise and Brigid woke up just in time to get in the line. We had about a 5 min wait- got to love the fast passes! I know it is a really cheesy ride, but I still love it. It is so Disney! Brigid had a great time pointing out all the animals!

After JC, we headed over to POTC, as Nancy and Co, hadn’t ridden it in years (can you believe it? They live in Orlando, and haven’t ridden POTC in YEARS?!!!) There is something wrong about that! We rode, sang, ooooed and ahhhed, and paid homage to the hairy leg one last time, and checked out Jack Sparrow, and alas all good things must come to an end.

We decided to head over to Toon town because Molly and her friend wanted to ride the roller coaster over there. Originally we were going to take the train but decided to walk there instead. It is a long walk to Toon town from POTC. Liberty Square, passed HM, which I wanted to ride, but no one else did, and through Fantasyland which was absolutely packed, and finally made it to Toon town. (Which seemed like days later! LOL!)

I did leave out the part about Noah HAVING to have ice cream right now or he will die! He was able to keep up the relentless begging all the way from the entrance of Toon Town. If there was an Olympic event for begging and being relentless he would win the GOLD medal every time! He doesn’t understand that trying to walk thru large crowds and eating ice cream on a stick and being the less than observant individual that he is, is an accident waiting to happen. We told him that as soon as we got there, we would buy him ice cream, but I guess that registered in his brain, as “NO you cant have ice cream”.. Oh my goodness, here we go again, in the middle of the “happiest place on earth”.

There was an ice cream stand right outside TT, thank goodness, and the relentless begging stopped, at least for the moment. Nancy, the great, said she would take the kids on the rides there if we wanted to walk around by ourselves and shop etc… We were gone before she could change her mind, and of course with the idea when they were done they would call us and we would meet. We were able to shop in the big store in TT, get our free photopass picture that came with our reservations, and then decided we were hungry and Brigid was probably needing to eat too.

We wanted to go to Cosmic Rays, we thought Brigid would like to see the Lounge singer, and we were right! She loved him! We had a leisurely lunch, with no complaining, and lots of good food. They really do have great deals on a lot of food, and great atmosphere, with the lounge act!

The phone rang again, with Noah calling this time to ask permission to get a game boy game, even though he had no more money left. He had been pretty good since the last shopping meltdown, so we decided to let him get the game. Nancy paid for it and we reimbursed her later. It made for a very happy boy and believe it or not, he did not ask for anything else the rest of the day! Hurray!

 

[eyenjeff]

We told them we were in Cosmic Rays, and they met us there. The girls decided they wanted to head towards Main Street and wander the shops so off they all went again, Nancy and the kids, and left Jeff, Brigid and I to wander again, how great.

When were in MK the last trip, as you read earlier, we wished for a baby during wishes and we also went to the wishing well by the castle and put in magic coins and made wishes there too, just to make sure we were covered.

Jeff’s new favorite saying is, “Never underestimate the Power of the Mouse.” We made our way to the fountain, with Brigid, this time, and pulled out all of our loose change and made our wishes. I let Brigid throw a couple in for good luck. We stood there for awhile and while we were there, the show in front of the castle, started and of course the music was all about dreams coming true etc…the tears started again, as I was having the emotions of knowing we had wished for Brigid last time, and now she was with us, and the emotions of it being the last hours of our last day here in the place we love so much, and the emotions of what our wish was for this time, ( you will have to read next year, to see if it comes true), and the emotions of the anticipation of coming back one year from now, to stay at our Dream resort, the Poly during the holidays! Needless to say, almost at the same time, Jeff and I put our sunglasses on and you could hear the sniffles coming from us both. Boy, are we saps or what? When we realized what the other had done, we were able to laugh at our sappy selves!

We slowly made our way past the castle and show, towards Main street and one last shopping trip before it was time to go. Boy, what a feeling that is….one that all of us Disney fanatics share, when you know you are headed for the exit for the last time during the trip. I know we will be back in a year, but it is still hard to leave a place that makes you feel so happy! Every time I read someone’s trip report and they talk about their last day, I feel for them, sharing in their not wanting to leave such a magical place.

We made our way thru the shops one last time and picked up last minute little goodies that could fit in the backpack, because we all know we already have over full suitcases!

We met up with Nancy and the kids and made our way thru the gates, (sniff, sniff, sniff), and stopped to take one last round of pictures in front of the train station.

Nancy offered to drive us back to the ASMu to meet our limo back to the airport. Her car was parked at the GF so we got one last monorail ride, kind of a fitting way to end the day. She dropped us off and the limo was waiting for us when we arrived. We got our luggage from the luggage services and off we went to the airport, waving goodbye to our favorite place on earth!

We made it to the airport, checked in, grabbed a quick sandwich for the plane, and got to the gate in time to board. The flight home was a little hard as the kids were so tired, and so were mom and dad, and they did not settle down until we were almost home. But we made it and called our limo ride home and they were outside to meet us by the time we got our luggage. We took a late flight home so we did not arrive back in Chicago until 10:30pm. It let us have the most time in MK the last day, but it is hard on the kids to travel so late, especially Noah who had school in the morning. He was a trooper, and got up for school and off he went.

Sadly, this is the end of our trip report about the place we all love so much……………….

Come back to read my final thoughts about this trip and the trip to come in 2008! I will also add some photopass pictures.

 

[eyenjeff]

Well here we are at the end of my first official trip report, which is an accomplishment in itself, considering all that goes on in this house every day! It feels good to have accomplished it, but also sad, because it is the final chapter.

As you all know, we did not plan this trip too far in advance so we did it with a lot less budget and forethought than I usually have. If my cousin did not call me and ask us to meet them, we certainly would not have gone, so I have to thank her for giving us this opportunity to once again feel the power of the “magic of the mouse.” When Teresa called from England, I was so excited that she was going to be so close that I knew we had to find some way to get to Florida even if it was just me and Brigid flying down to Clearwater to see them. Teresa is my mom’s first cousin so my second cousin. She was very close to my mom even though she lived in England. Teresa has been to America to visit us many times and my mom and I went to England to see her once, and then saw her again in Ireland on another trip. When you first meet her, you love her. The other remarkable thing about her is that she looks exactly like my mom’s sister when she was alive. My aunt Kay was my godmother and died when I was in High school. She was the cool aunt, who lived in Santa Monica, Ca. right off Palisades Park. She was never married, and lived an extravagant life. She was the first person to introduce us to the “magic of Disney” at Disneyland. Whenever we went to see her,
She always made sure we went to see the mouse. When I first met Teresa I was surprised about how much she looked like Aunt Kay. We instantly had a bond.

Teresa has stayed with me several times when she comes to Chicago, and we have always had a connection. She is a “lovely” English lady who you would do anything for. The last time she was here was for my wedding in Sept. 2005. She came about a week earlier to stay with my mom and help her with all the “mother of the bride” responsibilities. My mom’s health was already failing terribly at that time, and I knew she would not be around for much longer. I was so happy that she made it to my wedding. My mom was a smoker, who had end stage emphysema, and got weaker and weaker especially towards the time of the wedding. Having Teresa here, was like having her sister here, and gave her the spunk to make it through all the craziness. My parents stayed at my house, to take care of Noah, while Jeff and I were on our honeymoon in Ireland, for 2 weeks, and Teresa stayed on and helped my mom. They had their hands full with Noah. I will always be grateful for all she has done for our family. It meant so much for her to come all the way from England for my wedding and participate in all of the festivities.

My mom rallied for awhile and lived to see Brigid born in Sept. 2006, and then she started to give up. I think she felt she had seen me get married, get pregnant even with terrible odds, and have a beautiful baby girl. She actually drove herself to the hospital to see me on the day Brigid was born and I think that was the last time she drove anywhere by herself.

Sadly, my mom died on February 10, 2007. Teresa was devastated and felt like she had lost a sister. We couldn’t talk on the phone without crying.

Why this long story? To explain why this trip was so important to me and why we went even though we did not have the extra cash laying around for it. I really miss my mom, and Teresa is a link to her in some way. So when she called, Jeff knew we had to go, no matter what the cost. I LOVE MY HUSBAND! As you all know from reading the trip report, we are both saps, especially for family.
Another reason to be thankful that we got to go to Disney was that we were able to take our children there. I figured we would take Brigid someday when she was 3 or 4 when she might remember that she was there. I knew she would love it even at this age, as she has such a happy, bubbly personality and loves to be around people. Noah loves Disney, and anytime we can all spend time together as a family is good for him. As you have read, Noah has a lot of issues, and is a difficult kid to parent. I love him with all of my heart, and would not trade one second of my life with him. I know I complained a lot about his behavior, but to his credit, this was the BEST trip behavior he has ever had. It seems like we are making progress with him, little by little. For the last two Christmas’s he was hospitalized and it near killed me to leave him there on Christmas day. Especially last Christmas, which was Brigid’s first Christmas, and what turned out to be my mom’s last.

Noah is such a sweet boy with a big heart and he is very loving. He really is a charmer and when he is good, he is very good. Sometimes it is hard to remember he has so many issues. I am so grateful that we had to opportunity to take him there and spend so much quality time together. Family is the most important thing in all of our lives and sometimes it takes a magical place like Disney to remind us of that.

From the time we entered the property, checked into our hotel, and then entered the MK on the first day, we felt the magic. It took Jeff, about 5 mins on Main Street, to say we were coming back next year and going to stay at the Poly no matter what it took. He also said that he loves Disney and feels so good when he is there, and just like a kid again. HURRAY!!!! I feel the same way! I think it will become a yearly adventure for us, no matter what it takes.
Of course, Jeff has decided we are going to retire at Disney, and he is going to sweep the streets during the parades and talk to all the people, and I am going to sell the light up stuff at the night parades. Our grandchildren will talk about their crazy grandparents who work at WDW, and who can get them in for free anytime they want to come!!! At least we will be the “fun” grandparents. LOL!!

It was pure joy that we were able to go on this trip. It was pure joy that I got to experience my daughter’s first trip to Disney and see her little eyes light up at the site of the castle for the first time. It was even pure joy to spend uninterrupted time with my son, even with the moments of insanity thrown in. It was pure joy to watch my husband turn back into the boy I did not get to meet until he was a man, and see the look of magic in his eyes when we walked thru the gates at MK with our daughter that we wished for on our last trip. It was pure joy to get to see Wishes again, with Brigid in my arms, and Teresa by my side, knowing that I had WISHED for her the last time I was there. I know my mom was watching down upon us and proud that we were making family the most important priority in our lives.

Our next trip is for December 6-13, 2008 at the Polynesian resort. Jeff stayed there as a kid, and wants to be able to share the experience with his kids, and carry on the tradition. We now have over a year to plan, so we should the most over planned family by that time! LOL! I will be relying on all of you to keep me as sane as possible during this long planning time! It will be an expensive trip, but you can not put a price on family time, and Disney Magic. It seems that Disney has a way of bringing us together closer as a family each time we go, and it is our way of carrying on traditions with our children. As the commercial goes…

Airfare for 4 to Orlando $1000.00

Stay at the Polynesian resort for 4, with MYW park hopping passes, and dining plan for 7 nights, 8 days…………………………$4000.00

Spending money and misc expenses for the trip $2500.00

Time spent with your children creating traditions PRICELESS!


Thank you all for reading and sharing our trip with me. I hope you all enjoyed it and now it is time to start my pre-trip report for the next one!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

EILEEN

 

[eyenjeff]

Happy New Year everyone!!!