Our First Official Trip Around the World!! ALL FINISHED! (pics)

[nkjzmom]

Our Disney Trip—November 17-27, 2004​

Starring: Me—Amy, Mom--the one with the plans and maps in her head…if you turned me upside down and shook me around you might see all the info I have stored in there floating around like a million little snowflakes
DH—Rich, Dad—formerly reluctant Disney vacationer, gotta love him, he’s funding this big brouhaha
DS #1—Nicholas—10 years old, likes to walk up to strangers and stare at their chests….and lanyards, what were you thinking?
DD #1—Katelyn—“Danger Girl”, 7 years old, this child will ride anything and everything and IS NOT afraid
DD #2—Jennifer—5 year old World traveler, pirate in disguise, Miss America 2020
DS #2—Zachary—3 year old Hidden Mickey hunter
DD #3—Samantha—9 months old, we just brought her along for the attention she gets…people/cast members/characters can’t help but to stop us and talk to her
My DB #1—Jeremy aka theduckman—Annual Passholder extraordinaire, he is going to milk these passes for all they’re worth
DB #3—Kyle—15 years old, he truly is our comedic relief, surprise vacationer
Co-starring: DB #2—Nathan—comes down at the end of our trip
Our mom—resident nurse on call

A little background: I grew up visiting Magic Kingdom and Epcot when it opened. DH and I and children have taken short weekend trips to WDW every couple of years, limiting ourselves primarily to the Magic Kingdom, occasionally Epcot. We just felt like we didn’t have enough time to jump into a new park when we knew the kids would love their time at MK the most. So this would be our first trip to MGM and AK…also our first time staying at the Allstars, shhh, it’s a surprise. My parents and siblings spent a week at WDW in 1999, so it had been quite awhile for my brothers.

 

[nkjzmom]

***Our trip doesn’t actually start today. It started many months ago…actually almost a full year ago when we purchased our first Annual Passes. We bought them in anticipation of a trip with our extended family in October. Following the news that two of us were expecting babies, that trip got postponed until October 2005. We knew full well that we couldn’t let these passes burn holes in our pockets that long so we planned on taking advantage of the kids week long Thanksgiving break. My brother Jeremy (theduckman) bought his pass at the same time…so he was planning to come along with us. As the packing began just days before my Dad called and asked if there was any way my 15 year old brother could come along with us. WHAT!!!??? I love my brother…great guy, totally funny….but 3 days before we leave you’re asking me this????? Kyle is diabetic, so that brought along a whole set of challenges in and of themselves. The night before, with suitcases piled throughout the living room and laundry baskets still to go through, my family comes over. Mom and Dad catch us up to speed on Kyle’s schedule. We are taking Jeremy’s bags with us, as he is flying down in the middle of the night after his Wed. night class….so we now have all the luggage and a car FULL of people. And guess what? It actually all fits! Eight people and their luggage plus 1 and we did it.

The alarm goes off at 3 am…ouch and we are out the door and on the road by 4. We have to get through Birmingham before 5 because they’re shutting down part of the highway. We make great time even though we stop multiple times for the bathroom and once for a long lunch to let the kids get their wiggles out. We arrive at the Vistana resort just after 5pm…just enough time to drop our bags in our room and head out to Epcot. Our vacation does not officially start until we are heading onto Disney property when we crank up the Mickey’s Dance Party CD…nothing says “Our vacation has begun” like hearing “The Mickey bus is comin’, and everybody’s jumpin’…” It was right at 7 by the time we activated our passes and walked through the turnstiles. Ahhh, we are here.

We planned on heading straight to Test Track but instead noticed the non-existent line to Spaceship Earth and headed in. The highlight of the ride was finding the hidden mickey on the monk’s pad. Next it was over to Test Track. Kyle was the only one who had ever ridden this so he was excited to see our reaction. We LOVED it!!!! No need for fastpass, we just walked in both times. Then we wandered over to find a place to watch Illuminations. We sat in the large area directly across the lagoon from the America Pavilion, right between the two gift shops. We had not seen the show from such a good vantage point before. It was now our favorite show. Truly beautiful!!

After Illuminations we slowly made our way to the truck and back to the resort. We had a two bedroom with a pullout sofa and Kyle slept on the aerobed. We loved the huge bathrooms and the hot tub in the master bedroom was awesome. The resort itself is quite lovely also. After unpacking and getting settled in everyone FINALLY drifted off to sleep knowing that our vacation was finally here!!

 

[Flexan]

….so we now have all the luggage and a car FULL of people. And guess what? It actually all fits! Eight people and their luggage plus 1 and we did it.

Those are some packing skills you have there! And what model car is it? The automobile ad execs would love to know their car can haul eight people and luggage.

I have a hard enough time getting seven people plus luggage in a 2004 Pontiac Montana mini-van, and that's leaving the golf clubs behind. Years ago when I included the clubs (mine and my wife's), not even my old 1984 Chevy extended custom van could do it unless I strapped on the car top carrier.

Help me pack!

 

[nkjzmom]

Hey Flex...it's an Earth Destroyer....er, I mean, an Atmosphere Annihilator....I mean, an Excursion. We had to upgrade from our van when our fifth child was born.

We tried a few passenger vans but there really is not much storage space in those.

 

[Flexan]

Hey Flex...it's an Earth Destroyer....er, I mean, an Atmosphere Annihilator....I mean, an Excursion. We had to upgrade from our van when our fifth child was born.

We tried a few passenger vans but there really is not much storage space in those.

Ah, ha! It's one of those Suburban Assault Vehicles! I knew it couldn't be just a plain old car, unless it was like that monsterous 8-passenger Chrysler Station Wagon I had back in the 60's. Or am I thinking of the old Desoto wagon of the 50's?

Anyway, thanks for answering my question regarding your Excursion.

 

[nkjzmom]

***Our first day dawned early after the late night but we were so excited we didn’t quite care and I was doing my best to be relaxed and not push everyone to hurry, hurry, hurry. Jeremy had arrived around 2 am but still managed to jump up and head out with us. We arrived at MGM just after it opened and of course turned right towards Tower of Terror!!!! Jeremy, Kyle, Katelyn, and I walked right on while Rich took the rest of the kids to see Beauty and the Beast. WOW, what a ride. I love the sensation of falling to my death!! This became one of our themes of the day, “We’re all gonna die!!” (Oh and we got to check out the fallen message too!! I tried to make it obvious enough so that the people behind us might check it out and enjoy it also….but they just looked at us like we were weird.)

We all met back up and to our surprise we found out that Raven was performing that day at MGM and would be signing autographs immediately after the show. Needless to say, all other plans went out the window as we got in line to see Raven in concert. Our whole family loves her show and we think she’s a pretty talented singer to boot. Heaven bless my brothers because they decided to stay with us even though they didn’t know a whole lot about her. The anticipation is building as we were waiting for the concert to begin….then it starts….and we were so thrilled….then we were a little disappointed, then a lot disappointed. I don’t think the kids noticed but I don’t think Raven was up to par that day. I felt pretty sad for her…my brothers probably wished they were a thousand miles away from where they were. I tried to stay upbeat because the kids were still excited and we focused on the fact that when the concert was over they could go meet her. It couldn’t be over soon enough. Well, that taught Jeremy and Kyle one thing…when given the choice to split up, they might actually want to. So we did…Rich took the older kids to meet Raven, J and K headed back to ToT, and I took the littlest two to the child care center for a rest. On our way back to meet up with everyone we were lucky enough to run into Mulan, Gepetto, and Snow White. Zachary was a little shy with them and I had left the camera with the Raven-meeters so we only got autographs but it was nice and not crowded at all.

Now we were off to tame other monsters—namely Rock n Roller Coaster and Playhouse Disney! The bros, Katelyn, Nicholas, and I headed to RnR, while Rich decided to take the littles off to have some dancin’ fun. Normally Nicholas will try something at least once and then decide whether he likes it or not, but this time he was really getting anxious, so at the last minute he grabbed my cellphone and took the chicken exit. We were sad to see him go but before we could think too much on it, we were herded into our limo. As we were piling in, Jeremy’s water bottle fell out of the bag so not wanting it to come out again and do some serious damage to ourselves or anyone else, we gave it to the CM standing next to us. He gave us a crazy look and off we went. The picture we bought for this one is priceless….my hair back in the wind, the look of excitement on Kyle’s face, Danger Girl’s absolutely huge screaming mouth, and Jeremy’s eyes closed tight. AWESOME!!! WALK THIS WAY!!!! After a few “We’re all gonna die’s” we were released from the limo of death and we decided we had worked up quite an appetite. Rich and the kids enjoyed their Playhouse time and had wandered over to have some pizza at Pizza Planet. We met back up and decided to sit and watch the parade from the front of the ABC studios building (I think that’s what it was called). The parade did not disappoint. We all loved the theme of the cars.

Immediately after the parade we walked over to Indiana Jones. Samantha promptly fell asleep in Rich’s arms, which left me to fight to keep my arms from flailing around in the air as the kids tried to get me chosen as one of the extras. The kids bought DH the boxset of the Indiana Jones movies for Christmas last year and practically have them memorized, so they really enjoyed the show. I think Zachary sat with his hands over his ears the whole time though. The “surprise” fight scene at the end really had us reeled in. That was a good twist to the show. We loved it!

Next it was off to see Muppets…which was only funny to us older kids…our kids only really recognized Kermit. Jeremy and I laughed pretty hard because we remember watching the TV show every week…I love the chef…he’s my favorite. Zachary, we found out, does not appreciate these 3D shows….especially when they spray water. More on his water obsession later…. As we exited Muppets we noticed some lights over on another street, so we went to check it out. They were setting up some of the Osborne lights!! We were disappointed to learn that we would miss these as there was no AP preview and we were scheduled to leave on the 24th...the same night they started.

Now we crossed completely over to the other side of the park again for dinner at Rosie’s and the long walk to Fantasmic. While waiting I decided to feed Samantha some dinner and the people on every side of us turned to watch and laugh at her eating. She likes to reach out and touch people and it took both Rich and I working as a team to keep her baby-cereal-and-sweet-potatoed hands off of our neighbors. We had quite a fun time with everyone and the minutes flew by until the show began. We had to sit only a few rows from the front and over on the left hand side but like everyone says there really is no bad seat and it wasn’t a cold day, so we didn’t mind the spray. It actually inspired Nicholas to share his sweatshirt with Jennifer!! See Disney is magical! On the way in, Zachary had purchased a Sorcerer Mickey hat so when Mickey appeared with his hat on he was a little miffed, but quickly warmed up to the idea that he could be a sorcerer and help Mickey work some magic only if he was happy. Fantasmic was now our new favorite show at WDW and Katelyn and I had tears in our eyes to prove it.

We weren’t looking forward to the long walk out until a CM offered us two strollers to push back to the front for them….then it was tons easier. It was back to the tram, the truck, and the resort for some swimming. Then everyone went to bed with visions of Raven dancing in their heads….

BTW, Zachary spotted many “Hidden Mickeys” today…mainly the ones on people’s hats and the one on the water tower.

 

[nkjzmom]

***So this morning is particularly important because we are going to the Magic Kingdom…the place where I grew up…the place I know like the back of my hand…the place where Rich is dying to beat me….or rather my 699000 score on Buzz Lightyear!! We headed up 536 to the tunes of “We want Mickey….we want Mickey”. We park, catch the tram to the TTC, and the ferry to the happiest place on earth. Well, what do you know, we’ve brought along a trespasser…there’s a dog on this boat…oh wait, it’s Pluto!!

Then it’s off one boat and onto another…our first ride at MK is ALWAYS Pirates of the Caribbean. Nicholas had to study the chess game to make sure they really were at a stalemate…c’mon Nicholas…there be pirates awaitin’! Ya brazen wench!! Or as my kids thought…ya blazin’ wrench. Next we avoided the spitting camel as we took a spin on a magic carpet, pled with Iago not to provoke the Tiki Gods (to no avail), and took a cruise through the more exotic rivers of the world.

Jennifer needed some extra special strong pixie dust this morning...I think she was angry because the spitting camel got her...oops!!

Having conquered Adventureland we mosey on over to the Frontier…Frontierland, that is. Before we could cross the path to Splash Mountain a sort of mini-parade started up. There were wagons and western dancers with some of the Country Bears dancing around. The one with the really huge lips knelt down in front of Samantha and gave her a huge kiss. We thought it quite cute, she did not and began to cry. Poor girl. We then snagged a FP for Splash Mtn., then everyone else got in line for Thunder while Samantha and I enjoyed a snack under a nice shady tree (gotta watch out for those birds, they were trying their best to add some flavor to Sammi’s food…YUCK). Samantha was done eating just in time for me to snap a picture of Zachary’s first BTMRR ride…which he liked but insisted he was not going on again. It wasn’t quite time for our FP time at SM so Rich sat out with the boys and Samantha so Danger Girl and my brothers and I could ride Thunder again. The line must have grown considerably because we waited 30 long minutes…but in the end it was worth it. Katelyn and I got the very last seat and it truly was the wildest ride in the west. I must say here that I am proud of all of my kids. They will generally try everything at least once. Now it was Nicholas AND Jennifer’s turn for a FIRST—Splash Mountain. I don’t know if it was a blessing or a hindrance but poor Jennifer could not see over the front of the log, so with every single climb I heard “Is this the big drop?”, “Is this it mom?”, “Now, Mom?” I bought the picture and her body is firmly clasped around my left arm with the most incredible look on her face. Nicholas looks frozen in fear. Isn’t it lovely how we torture our children? Disney is a wonderful place. And when the death drop (BRAZEN WENCH!!) was over we were all sufficiently wet and laughing hysterically. I took the laughing as a good sign, but both Nicholas and Jennifer assured me that was their first and last ride on that thing. Rich and I did a baby swap, so he and I went on again with Katelyn. This was Rich’s first ride on this also and let me tell you that I love him and he screams like a girl. (LY honey!)

We enjoyed lunch at Pecos Bills’, which is a tradition started by my Grandma when I was very young then snuck over to Tomorrowland before the parade started. We noticed Buzz and Stitch were both hanging around, so we played with them a bit. Stitch was being a bit naughty. He stole a woman’s water bottle and began squirting people, then he grabbed Samantha’s blanket and blew his nose on it!!! Zachary was pretty angry about that! We were lucky enough to be able to enjoy CofP (that too is one that Grandma never missed). Now it gets kind of tricky to keep track of everyone because we kept switching and riding and meeting and switching and riding…so I’ll do my best. I fed Samantha while they all hopped on Buzz and the Indy Speedway, then Rich took all kids except Danger Girl on Buzz while my bros, Danger Girl, and I FP Space Mountain (BRAZEN WENCH), then we all met up again for all to FP Stitch (except for Samantha and I…she slept through 2 trips on the TTA), and last but not least was a trip for EVERYONE on Buzz Lightyear again. I think that’s how it all went.

It was time to cross back over to the Liberty Tree Tavern for our 7pm dinner. I was really excited about this dinner knowing that it was a character dinner AND I didn’t have to get up to get anyone’s food!!! YEA! And I was pretty sure that EVERYONE would like what was served…LY honey! Dinner was delicious and to honor our anniversary little silver and gold mickey heads had been arranged in Mickey head shapes all over our table (to Zachary’s credit he first spotted the “Hidden Mickey’s”). Because we had chosen to eat so late in the evening, we had quite a bit of interaction with the characters. Chip and Dale were in fine form this evening…for example, sitting down to dine with other families. We laughed a lot. Pluto walked around licking everyone, Goofy enjoyed playing with Jennifer’s Goofy pirate hat, and Minnie was absolutely so sweet with Samantha. As our dinner was coming to a close, Dale ran over and scooped Nicholas’ hat off of his head and took off running around the restaurant…and to our horror Nicholas took off after him!!!! While Nicholas was running around, Dale ran up the stairs and literally jumped down the last 3 or 4. Well, Zachary, who had had enough of this foolishness, walked straight over to Dale, snatched Nicholas’ hat away, and yelled “THIS IS NICKY’S HAT!!!!” Next Dale sat down at an empty table and motioned for Nicholas to come over and arm wrestle with him. Our bellies were stuffed and hurting from laughing so hard. That night was the special fundraising event for the CMN, so we were very nicely skipped to Main St by a wonderfully cheerful CM and sent on our way.

We met a wonderfully helpful CM named Joe as we were walking through the TTC area. He took so much time to answer our pin trading questions and even to take a picture with Katelyn. That’s what Disney is all about.

What a day!!

I have to add a word on Stitch. Not a single person in our group liked it. They were so excited and then extremely let down by the show itself. The smell was just so overwhelming that they couldn’t enjoy anything. AND as they were heading into the FP line, the CM there let Rich keep one of the FP and said, “Keep this as a souvenir, because I don’t think this will be here long.” So, there you have it.

 

[Patio]

What a magical trip. I really enjoyed the photos, your kids are adorable. I love the castle picture....breathtaking!

 

[nkjzmom]

***Saturday dawned bright and early as we were excited to try a park that was new to myself and my family—Animal Kingdom. After a few pin trades we were on our way to ITTBAB. I failed to warn anyone else of what was going to happen…mostly because I wasn’t quite sure myself…only knew what I had read about. It was a cute show and only a little freaky to get “stung” and sprayed. Zachary didn’t like it much though. Rich went ahead to get a FP for the Safari. On our way to Africa we came across Devine!!!! How lovely she was to watch…so graceful. Unfortunately some teenage boys were in front of us and had some not so nice comments for her. I had to remind my kids, somewhat loudly, that some people just don’t know how to be polite. I heard a father somewhere share with the boys that their comments were inappropriate.

We decided to walk through the Pangani Forest Trail while waiting for our FP time. Zachary had learned that we could see naked mole rats and he was on a mission! They are pretty cute and interesting…but Zachary was disappointed that they weren’t eating nacos. At the hippo area Rich coined the phrase Hippo Hiney’s…because that was all we could see of the hippos. We enjoyed seeing quite a few of the gorillas out and about also. Nicholas continually reminded us of the new “African” word he had learned…. “Nahtazu”. Our FP time had come up so off we headed to our Safari.

We saw quite a few animals but were most impressed with the elephants, hippos, zebras, and giraffes. The giraffes were quite majestic…one was walking out in the plain, but 2 were in a stand of trees stretching their necks up to the higher leaves. We really had to strain our eyes to make them out. Zachary loves the zebras because that is his nickname, Zachary Zebra and his room is full of zebras. Again we only saw hippo hiney’s, only this time they weren’t magnified by a glass wall. The lion and lioness were napping but out in the open so we could see them. It was quite a fun ride. On our way across to Asia we again spied Devine…this time she was wrapped around and in some trees. She is so captivating…she always drew a large crowd. I wonder if some people had no idea what we were all staring at and taking pictures of! We also got to meet King Louie…funny guy. We had FP for Kali River Rapids (MY WATER BROKE!) and Zachary wanted to go. We were all really excited to go on this but weren’t prepared for how short it was. It also sparked Zachary’s desire to not get wet on any other attraction…for the remainder of the trip, every SINGLE ride we went on we heard “Are we going to get wet on this?” “Is there any water on this?”. And yes…someone soaked us from the bridge. On our way out, we let the kids soak a few other boats…quite funny actually….you think you’re done and won’t get wet anymore but alas, ‘tis not true. The lady that soaked us was waiting for her family to come by but didn’t want to get them for fear of retaliation later….so we did it for her!!! Hey, if you can’t do a good deed at Disney, where can you?

We ventured to Pizzafari for lunch…not too impressive but it was a nice break from the sun and crowds. We decided to split up again…I wanted to take the littles to meet some characters and the biggers wanted to ride Dinosaur…so off we all went with the idea to meet back up for FOTLK.

Can I just say that everyone who ever said that meeting characters in Animal Kingdom is the best was right? At most there were 1-2 people in line for Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald! Mickey actually had the time to kneel down and play with Samantha and she was not afraid…she touched his hand and waved at him…she would not stop looking up at him. It was too sweet. Donald was silly and covered Jennifer and Zachary’s faces. We had some time so we bought some ice cream and sat down to wait for the doors to open for Lion King. Rich called and said they had a blast on Dinosaur but that it was too bumpy to go on again so he took the kids on Primeval Whirl and they were heading over. The doors opened for the show, no Rich. The little kids and I went in and sat down, no Rich. The doors closed for the show, no Rich. We’re thinking they won’t be able to see it…then a side door opened and a large group came in, including Rich, big kids, and brothers. The show was amazing. We all sang and danced along. There are a ton of talented people participating in that show. That is Disney to a T…that is why I always wanted to be a cast member…I wanted to sing and dance and make people feel the way I and I think my children felt after watching that show. WOW.

Afterwards, we all gathered together again to head back to Dinoland. We happened to run into Flik so we snapped a quick picture with him, told him we enjoyed his show and off we went. We cut through the parade-waiters and knew we’d fly through Dinoland. Before we got there we noticed a sign telling us that Pooh and his friends were waiting for us. Okay, so let’s not keep them waiting, that would be rude! Our picture came out pretty ugly because the CM told us to say Mickey and the kids listened to the CM, Rich and I felt bad and said Pooh and…see, when you say Mickey your mouth ends in a pretty smilie shape….but Pooh leaves your mouth in a rather ugly position. We visited with Eeyore and then bounced with Tigger.

Rich took all kids but Danger Girl to play in the Boneyard…they all loved it and Samantha came out of there with pants full of the “sand”.

Katelyn, my brothers and I rode Dinosaur (ahh MY WATER’S LEAKING!!)…we all faked horror when they took our picture. We met up with Rich, then decided to take a spin (literally) on Primeval Whirl. Our first trip only Katelyn knew what was in store for us and she kept it quiet. We whipped and spun and screamed and laughed and crushed into each other and when it was over we decided to run around and do it again. (MY WATER’S LEAKING) The second time was even more fun than the first. We staggered off in agreement that this was probably the best ride of the whole day!

As we were leaving the park Nicholas and Katelyn were lamenting the fact that they hadn’t met the Mouse yet and guess who was standing outside waiting for us? Mickey and Minnie and Donald. So the kids were happy…and Jeremy got to meet his hero…Donald Duck!!! He always felt like the duck got the short end of the stick.

So we all left feeling thoroughly satisfied that it was a day well spent. Then it was back to the resort. Everyone else went swimming, Samantha went to bed, and I washed clothes and packed up for our hotel change tomorrow…or what I like to call the big surprise!

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Wow what a trip you've had thus far!

 

[hockey mom]

Lovin this trip report. Pictures are great.

 

[pplasky]

It sounds like your trip was great. Thanks for linking all the days together! Pics are wonderful.

 

[nkjzmom]

Thank you all for reading!! I have to hurry and get this done so that when delswife's report comes out I'll have nothing else to do but read IT!!

 

[kathymc]

enjoying the reports - thanks for posting

 

[rasnlms]

Great Report - Can't wait for the rest.

 

[Doug7856]

Wonderful report! Your inclusion of pictures encouraged me to do likewise! Thanks for sharing your family's wonderful memories.

 

[nkjzmom]

Thanks for all the kind words...sorry it's taking a little longer to continue. DH switched servers and I've had to change where my pictures are stored. It's been a pain but hopefully as I learn how to change them over it will go faster.

 

[nkjzmom]

***We’re about halfway through our trip and I have a surprise planned! Everyone knew that we were changing hotels halfway through but I never told them where….only that we had never stayed there before…which really doesn’t help much because we’ve only stayed at the Contemporary before. Rich knew but the kids didn’t and Jeremy and Kyle insisted on being surprised also. So as we were heading onto property they were all yelling out their guesses…nope, no, nada, keep guessing….then we turned into the Allstars area and they’re yelling SPORTS!!!..nope…so the very next one down the line is MUSIC!!!..let’s see if the truck turns there…YEP!! So I get us all checked in, it’s 9am, so of course our room isn’t ready so we head over to Epcot.

I think Epcot is secretly my favorite park simply because there is SO much to do there. I could take a trip and only go to Epcot and be perfectly happy there. We decide today to focus only on Future World. Our first stop was Leave a Legacy…only there are characters all over so of course we have to do that first. We posed with Meeko…only the kids don’t really know who he is...I think at this point they will pose with anything large and furry.

Next we spy Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, only the CM with them informs the line that at the end of this song it is time for them to go. So I inform my kids that we’ll only take a picture instead of getting autographs so that other people might get to meet them also…I was hoping that the parents in front of me heard me and would offer the same kindness but no. They each got an autograph and then took quite a few pictures. Meanwhile, my mind is spinning, knowing that if we don’t meet Captain Hook my little Zachary Zebra may go into meltdown mode. We quickly line up, snap two pictures, and are done right as the song ends…Zachary did go a little bonkers about not getting their autographs but a wonderful CM at Leave a Legacy brought him a map, circled the spot, and wrote down the exact time that Zachary could meet up with Captain Hook again. Thanks to her…I wish I had written down her name.

Rich and I celebrated our 10th anniversary earlier in the year and this trip was the culmination of that celebration so we decided to make a Leave a Legacy tile as a gift to each other. With our AP’s we got 2 for $25 so we have one with our picture on it and the one right next to it reads, “The Hulls—10 years to Eternity and beyond…”. We just got the cards in the mail and we can’t wait to go back and see the actual tiles. The picture came out really cute. Does anyone know what Disney will do with the tiles when the time is up for them to change all that out? I hope they will give them to us…

During all of this, Kyle and Jeremy had gone ahead to get FP to Mission:Space, the ride with which we were all obsessed about going on. I think they went to meet up with the characters after that. Rich then went to get FP for Test Track and SURPRISE he came back with surprise FP for HISTA also. Nice surprise because we were pretty bummed that our TT time was not until 6:50!!!! The parks were really picking up for the Thanksgiving week I believe. We all met up again in front of M:S. Jeremy, Kyle, Katelyn, Nicholas, and I rode first, with Rich getting a baby swap pass. I have to admit I was pretty nervous. I don’t usually get sick but after the warnings they give you, you begin to feel like not a single person gets out of there without puking at least once. We were teamed up with these two little boys whom I could not believe were going on this bad boy alone. I promise you that the little guy was no more than 4-5. Nicholas was doing well talking to them and they got us organized according to which parts they wanted to do. Then he started getting more and more nervous the closer we got…he almost started crying and I gave him the option to leave but he really wanted to try it. As soon as we got in I took his hand, showed him the bags, told him to listen to what was being said, to only look at his screen, and if he just couldn’t push his buttons we’d still make it to Mars. I continued talking to Nicholas as the ride began…then all of a sudden he lets out with a “WHOO-HOO, THIS IS GREAT, I CAN’T FEEL MY CHEEKS!!!” Well, turns out he loved the ride and was reminding me to push MY buttons. I think we all really liked it…the landing part started to make me feel a little queasy…just seeing that land coming towards me did it. And one ride was all we needed…except for Danger Girl that is….she went on again with her dad. I’m telling you she is rock hard. Even Jeremy and Kyle passed up that second ride to go collect a badge (I have failed to mention that they are now collecting badges from every ride where they are offered. Jeremy, let us know which ones you have.) Jennifer, Zachary, and Samantha were not totally left out during our ride…they got to meet Mickey and Goofy in their space attire while waiting…pretty neat.

We all needed a good walk on solid ground, so we headed over to HISTA. Nicholas spooked the girls and Zachary so much that Zachary had to be taken out. Apparently, Nicholas “remembered” that the dog comes out and licks you and gets you all wet. There comes Zachary’s concern about getting wet again. So the rest of us go in and before the show even starts Nicholas has talked the girls into ducking down between their seat and the seat in front of them to “hide”…I didn’t bother to mention the mice and they got a great surprise being down there like that. When the show was over we spent a little time playing with the fountains. I got a great picture with everyone in a line trying to catch the bouncing drops of water.

Rich had wandered into the JIYI play area so we followed and played music conductor, artist, sound jumping, and slow motion fight scenes for awhile. We were getting pretty hungry about now, so we left for the Land pavilion…then noticed that Nicholas was not with us. I turned around to find him and looked for quite a few minutes. Just as I was going to find a CM to help me (and as the panic set in) I noticed a booth way over in the corner with a pair of shoes that looked quite familiar. He stopped to doctor another picture of himself to send to his Great Grandpa. Finally we meet up with the rest of the group and enjoy a nice lunch. We had pulled FP to Living with the Land because the wait was almost an hour. I always enjoy this ride…it’s so relaxing and I am in awe of all the clever ways of growing food. (I CAN’T FEEL MY CHEEKS!) Zachary found quite a few hidden Mickey’s here!! He’s so proud of himself!

After lunch we couldn’t quite decide what to do next, so I called, found our rooms were ready and we left to go check them out. We were in Rock Inn on the 2nd floor facing the parking lot and looking on towards AS Sports. It was so far away from the front that we rarely took the buses. We just walked down the sidewalk to our car and it was so much easier.

Once in our rooms some of us, read Dad and Samantha, fell asleep, while the rest of us relaxed a bit. Finally everyone was up and we decided to split up for the evening. Rich kept all kids but Danger Girl to go swimming and get some pizza, while my brothers, D.G., and I went back to Epcot to use those TT FP that were burning holes in our pockets. Jeremy hadn’t been on Spaceship Earth this trip yet, so we walked right on that, then literally ran to Ellen’s Energy Adventure because Katelyn and I had never been on that before. It was pretty interesting. Now we could get on TT so off we went amid cries of “I can’t feel my cheeks!”. We only had enough FP for me to go once, so we enjoyed the first ride all together, then they went right back around for a second ride…I think this time for the picture they all faked sleeping. Pretty funny!

Jeremy also hadn’t been with us for Illuminations Wed., so we sat down to wait for that. Katelyn and I got up to visit the ladies room and grab some ice cream. Kyle called us to let us know that they had changed locations but by the time we got there that section had been closed off. Now, I had walked around to find Kyle and he was in the corner to the far left of the section with no one within 5 feet of him…but apparently there is a body limit to that area that they cannot exceed, so we were not allowed in. There must have been about 20 of us separated from our parties like this…we were all standing outside of the ropes calling to our groups…I honestly felt like a prisoner yelling outside the barbed wire fence to their loved ones. It was terrible. A minute later I realized that I still had their ice creams so I called the CM over who was denying us access and said, “If you can’t let us in, would you please deliver this to my brother before it melts completely?” She was shocked I even asked her I think. But she did it. Then when the fireworks began 3 mothers left with their children in tow…but would the CM even let us in then? No way. I was a little disappointed but I understood. After just a minute or two Katelyn asked if we could just start walking back to the front of the park. So we slowly meandered our way to the front. It was a nice walk with hardly anyone around. We bought little pink mouse-ears for Samantha since this was her first trip. Then at the pause in the fireworks a ton of people began leaving…do they not realize that that is not the end? They must be the same people who leave football games early too….that’s a pet peeve of mine. We called Kyle and let him know where we were, they found us, we made it back to the hotel, and fell fast asleep.

 

[nkjzmom]

***Otherwise known as the day that was not to be—Jennifer and Zachary were supposed to get wake-up calls from Mickey today. Unfortunately that naughty Stitch found his way to the phone and laughing evilly declared “No sleeping!!” After a McDonald’s breakfast, we decided to split up again today. Rich, Kyle and kids wanted to try out Typhoon Lagoon, while I wanted to take Samantha on a trip around the World Showcase (I had never actually made it all the way around before), and Jeremy wanted to sleep in a bit. So off we all went. They took the bus and I drove the truck.

Samantha and I enjoyed Mexico. The boat ride was calm and relaxing and I love the whole nighttime festival feeling. We made a video postcard for Dad and I bought her a baby sombrero. So cute! I made a major faux pas though…a CM told me hello and I said to my horror ALOHA!! I knew as it was coming out of my mouth that it was wrong but could I stop myself NOOO. I prayed that maybe he would think I was from the islands…but with my milky white skin and freckles it was hopeless. So I mumbled something about being silly and meaning to say Hola…and then it was cute baby to the rescue (I told you we get stopped all the time). He motioned to a few other CM’s to come and see this adorable baby. Gotta love her!

Next we were on our way to the lovely country of Norway. We enjoyed the quiet of the stave church and visited the troll. The perfume room smells so wonderful we just had to stop and sniff. I found a bucket of Viking hats and had someone take a picture of Samantha and I.

In China we looked at all the frogs in the pond. The were quite regal sitting atop those lily pads! I looked at some fans and umbrellas and took a picture of Samantha holding a stuffed panda. We got a strawberry slushie at the Outpost and watched a man carving a piece of wood. He was so talented…I could have watched longer but knew time was limited. In Germany we enjoyed looking ONLY looking at the stuffed animals…$68 for a cat??? We watched the train for a few minutes also.

Arriving in Italy I noticed a large crowd. As we got closer I realized it was the Imaginum statue. That was the first time I’d ever seen “her” and I was mesmerized. She was perfect. I just had to take Samantha up to her…so I waited patiently until we could get to the front and then waited some more until someone came near that looked trustworthy enough to ask to take a picture of us. So we marched up to her and she had her hand extended. Samantha looked up at her and back at her hand and judging her safe reached out to touch her on the hand. The statue slowly closed her hand around Samantha’s and Samantha pulled her hand out and buried her head in my shoulder. The crowd is oohing and aahhing at Samantha as she takes a little peek and reaches out again to touch her dress. Again the statue closes her hand around Samantha’s and Samantha pulled away giggling. It is one of the best memories I’ll keep from this trip. Unfortunately the person taking the picture didn’t have great timing and only got us standing next to her and then as we were walking away. Oh well….a memory was made.

As we arrived at the American Pavilion Rich called to let me know that they were having a fun time but that Kyle had accidentally given himself too much insulin from his pump and they were feeding him packets of sugar in the first aid station. Usually he gives himself 3, 5, 8 units depending on what he’s eaten or what activities he’s done….this time a whole 80 units had gone in. He told me that I could stay there and he would keep me up to date. I debated on whether or not to go into the show and chose not to just in case I needed to leave quickly. I took a few pictures and headed towards Japan. As I was giving Samantha some lunch the drummers began playing. Then Rich called again letting me know that they were taking Kyle to the emergency room at Celebration Hospital and Jeremy was on his way to wait with the kids in the first aid station at TL.

That made up my mind….I was leaving. My calves were aching so badly as I was pushing the stroller as fast as I could around the rest of the showcase and back through future world and through the parking lot. I knew that once they had an IV going they would keep Kyle stable and that he and Rich were more than capable of handling things. I took the truck straight through the parking lot and to the cast members entrance and found the first aid. Jeremy had just gotten there and the kids were packing up. The nurse there said she wouldn’t have minded keeping them there all day…they were so good the whole time they were there. As we were leaving Nicholas mentioned leaving some things behind as they were rushing to the nurse’s station but I assumed that someone would recover them and turn them in. Come to find out it was Kyle’s Nike tennis shoes and they were never returned. Oh, yeah and everyone else’s APs that fell out of the backpack!!! But that was all okay. Kyle was okay even though he spent the next 7 hours on a gurney in the hallway in the ER. He never felt sick which I was glad for. He was just majorly bummed to have wasted the day. We were all just fine about it…we just wanted him to be okay. The rest of us went to Wendy’s for dinner and grabbed some groceries. Plus, when we all got back to the room after TL I discovered an anniversary card had been left signed by Beauty and the Beast. What a nice surprise on such a crazy day! I did go up and visit him for about an hour. They were both still in their swimsuits so I brought them a change of clothes and Kyle’s book so that he could read. Once the 7 hours were up and his numbers had stayed above 100 they let him go. He and Rich took a cab to ASMu and I met them up front. It was the funniest sight and people gave us some interesting looks as Kyle walked through ASMu with stains all over his shirt. One was mustard and ketchup from a hotdog he had for lunch. A few were from the iodine they used to clean his arm. And the other few were actual blood stains from the IV. But together they all looked like his shirt was a bloody mess.

The doctors and our mom had decided to leave the pump off and give him shots of insulin throughout the night just in case the pump had a major malfunction. Kyle was not too excited about that but I think he and Rich got through it alright. Meanwhile, this was the night that our middle brother was driving down from AL to stay a day/two then drive Kyle and Jeremy back home. Well, Mom decided she was coming down also. So we were all excited to have so many new companions…and sad that the rest of the family couldn’t come down as well!! I think they arrived around 5-6 am and slept just a little while then it was time for everyone to get up. But we had had an invader in the middle of the night!!!

 

[4greatboys]

Im enjoying your trip reports. Its nice to have the pictures with it. Glad Kyle was okay and only lost a few hours of fun time.