Our first venture to WDW! 11/11-11/15 (Done, finally!)

[mom*to*2*princesses]

Can't wait to read more, Kel! Love the pictures too.

Hey JJ! We've missed you!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Hey Kerri!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

We make it back to Pop okay and all head back to our respective rooms. My sister and I were able to luck out and get connecting rooms, which made things a million times easier. We got back and even being tired, we were all pretty wired! Just excited to be there it was I guess. So, since it was really warm (well it was to those of us from Minnesota), 80 degrees or so, we wanted to check out the pools. We all throw our stuff on and head out. We took a scenic route and had fun checking out all the fun icons. The potato heads were the best! LOL!!

We played at Goofy’s Pop Jets for a bit. The kids really thought that was neat. We walked some more and decided to stay at the kiddie pool. We played here for over an hour.

We left though after my son, who always ends up finding some of those grossest crap (literally in this case), showed me a surprise someone left in the pool. YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was the end of the swimming! Heehee. We went back to our rooms and started to get ready for the night. I am going to end it here. I know it’s a short installment but I’m at work and I have a nosy co-worker suspiciously behind me now. I’ll be back with more later!!!


Next.....supper with Pooh & friends and lots 'o rides!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I'm back! Finally!!! I'm sorry that it's been over a month. Eek. I know you all understand how the holidays are however so you forgive me.

Ok, back to our trip! That evening we had a reservation at The Crystal Palace. We got a bus that evening with ease and headed back to the Magic Kingdom. I was really excited as they had Extra Magic Hours so we were going to stay for quite awhile and do a lot that we didn't get to do earlier than day. We waited for just a short while before our table opened up and the place was packed. We got a nice big table in a pretty good location. The food was excellent. This was my favorite supper (okay...dinner...whatever...giggle at me...I'm from MN.) buffet by far. The characters were great! Eeyore was my favorite. Pooh skipped our table for some reason. And Piglet seemed grumpy.

After this we all sort of split up. My sister, her son, my three kiddos and myself stuck together as a group. We wanted the kids to be able to do some fun things before it got too late. Our first ride were the tea cups. Hands down, no questions about it. This is what we all wanted to do first. And we did. Short wait, lots of fun. Sticks in my mind as a definite "Disney" thing. We spun and spun & laughed and laughed. We stopped for a bathroom break and then headed into Mickey's Toontown Fair. (I'm doing this all by memory and without my map so forgive me if I misname a ride or something.) The kids really enjoyed this. Minnie's House was awesome. We stayed there for a long while.

We did Mickey's House, which was cool too. I loved the smell. Weird, huh? LOL!! Our next ride was Goofy's Barnstormer. This was fun! A perfect kiddy coaster. We did it twice! We did a ton of things after this and I don't remember the exact order. I'm sorry! But, we checked out Donald's Boat, Dumbo, The Many Adventures of Pooh, Cinderella's Carousel, Snow White's Scary Adventure (my kids didn't flinch) and Mickey's PhilHarMagic Show. That show was way cool! In between all of that, we got our pink (or were they green that night, I forget) bracelets so we could stay late. It rained a tiny bit somewhere in here while we were in a ride but we missed it all. LOL! We had a pretty good spot by the rides we went on to watch the fireworks. It was awesome and one of my most favorite memories. Just my kids and I, casual, not in a hurry, having lots of fun and walking right off a ride to see the fireworks. I loved it. We left MK around 9:30 to get back to the hotel. Stopped in the gift shop for some Nyquil for myself (like $9 or something, lol!) and had us all in bed around 11:30 I think. It was a wonderful, wonderful night. I love Magic Kingdom!!!!!!!!!

Next up....Kelli gets sicker than a dog at Animal Kingdom & MGM!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Monday, November 13th 2006


We have an 8:30 breakfast in Animal Kingdom. I woke up thinking I was going to die. I was in so much pain, my fever was around 103, I couldn't breathe, I was congested from head to toe and even better...my voice was entirely gone. Nice. I sat in the shower for a long while, hoping to relieve some of this congestion with the steam and things. No luck unfortunately. I called my husband at home to tell him good morning and he thought it was some strange man calling; had no idea it was me. How's that for a compliment? We get out of the hotel a bit late, due to me being sick and my sister over sleeping. LOL! We make it to the gates and have just a short amount of time to make it to Donald's Breakfastosaurus. It's a ways away from the entrance and a bit of a hike. We made it with two minutes to spare thankfully! Parked our strollers and took the photo they take of you outside while waiting. It actually turned out okay but we didn't want to pay the $30+. (I think that's what it was.) The food was excellent. Everything was hot and just yummy! My favorite were these hashbrown potatoes they had. Yum, yum. We got an early seating time so we were able to get into the buffet immediately, with no waiting. The characters were fun! We got to see everyone and had a great time meeting them. I was blowing my nose every 2 minutes or so but it was worth it I think!

Once again, my son hid under the table.

I have to say that I didn't get to do/see as much as I wanted to do there in AK. I was sick and I feel a bit bad for everyone, like I was a downer or whatever. I guess this just means we'll have to go back! But, the first thing we did after leaving the restaurant was go on the Kilimanjaro Safari. That was neat. We once again split up after this. My sister and I took the kiddos. We first went to see It's Tough to be a Bug! This was really cool. Mykenah did get a bit scared. She's scared to death of spiders and things so I wasn't surprised. She didn't put her glasses on and covered her eyes for some parts and was fine after that. My throat ached so bad that I went through just a ton of water. The Advil weren't helping. Looking back, I should have went to the doctor or something. But, on our way to The Boneyard, some lady cussed at me and told us to move when we stopped so I could take drink of water. That was lovely. We let the kids run around for a bit and then we went in search of some rides to go on. We took them all on TriceraTop Spin. After that we stopped and grabbed an ice cream bar and took a little rest. I felt bad going so slowly. My sister and Morghan went on Primeval Whirl after this. It broke down or something right as they were done so it took them awhile to come off. I for sure wanted to do Dinosaur so we headed that way next. It took us a bit to find it. We're not the best map readers! Again, this was one of those tricky situations for my son and his height. The guy at the front cleared us to all go through, he was fine. But after watching the movie, they check you one more time for height. This man then told us no, he couldn't go. What a pain. Didn't tell us how to get out of there from there or anything. We finally made our way out and Dimitri was bummed that he couldn't see the Dinosaurs. My mom and the rest of the crew met up with us here. So, we tried to go on again, this time with Dimitri waiting with my mom outside for us. I loved this ride! It was really, really cool. But after that, I had enough. I needed something. Sleep, drugs, a lobotomy. So, my oldest daughter Morghan stayed with my mom, her boyfriend and his son. They had fun after we left. Went on Dinosaur once more, did Expedition Everest (that I am soooo bummed about missing) and did Kali River Rapids. My sister and I took the boys and Mykenah back to Pop. We got back okay and tumbled into bed. I slept for a good two hours and thankfully, so did the other kiddos. The sleep felt good but I still didn't feel okay when waking up. We had dinner reservations at 50's Prime Time Café. It wasn't what I thought it would be like. The food was okay. Again, maybe that was because I was sick. Our waitress was nice but just not "into it". The waiter at a few tables away was awesome. He keep making fun of two teenagers, saying they were in love. He had a lady up singing "I'm a Little Teapot" and just all sorts of crazy stuff. Our wait to get seated was way, way too long. Just under an hour I think. It was packed solid. No real room to sit. We were all kind of piled on top of each other. I was happy we tried it but glad to get the heck out of there. We missed Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure. It was closed. My kids were all disappointed. We had a blast though with the lights show and fake snow they had. It was so, so, so magical. This was also one of my favorite memories. I cried actually. LOL! We danced around there for quite awhile and had our pictures taken a few times. I love Photo Pass!

We then went to Playhouse Disney. We were in line early so had great seats right in front. My kids enjoyed this!

We wanted to get on a few "big" rides after this. My mom and her boyfriend had left the park and his son stayed to help us with the kiddos. That was appreciated. His son (EJ) and Morghan went on Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. I'm very much bummed that I didn't go on. This is one regret I have. (Next time!) Anyway, we hung outside, listening to the music and hanging out. My son had a blast and put on a little dancing show for the people watching. It was so, so hilarious!

Next was Tower of Terror. Hands down, this was my all-time favorite ride. Ever. Love it. Is that odd? The theme, the workers, the movie that plays, everything. My sister and I took turns going on and watching the kids. I loved it!!!!!!!! It was pretty late by now so we slowly walked back, grabbing one more treat. I loved having the dining plan and not having to worry about getting cash out, putting change back and whatever. It was a nice convenience.

And that ends this night. We met some really nice people on the bus. A really great teenager helped prop my son up on the bus as his head started to fall when he dozed off. His sister then offered to help me with the stroller since I was carrying a sleeping 40 pounder. I loved meeting people like this. More Nyquil for me and asleep by 12 or so.

Last day in the parks for us....Magic Kingdom one more time and Epcot!!

 

[SamanthaL]

YAY!! I made a true addict out of her! She cried! Love it and glad I am not the only one to well up in DIsneyworld.

I had no idea you had such a high fever. That is just awful!

Well missing so many rides means you have the perfect excuse to book that November trip. Come on....join me on the dark side...book for November! Just think....me, you and SPlash MOuntain at the MVMCP!!

Awesome report and can't wait for more.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

YAY!! I made a true addict out of her! She cried! Love it and glad I am not the only one to well up in DIsneyworld.

I had no idea you had such a high fever. That is just awful!

Well missing so many rides means you have the perfect excuse to book that November trip. Come on....join me on the dark side...book for November! Just think....me, you and SPlash MOuntain at the MVMCP!!

Awesome report and can't wait for more.

Sam, you know how close I am to the dark side. Wah! I wanna go!!!!!!!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Tuesday, November 14th, 2006

I wake up knowing that today is going to be our last day in the parks. And it makes me sad. I'm still sick and haven't been 100%. The plan for today is Magic Kingdom for half the day and then our first visit to Epcot for the second half. I chose to do another day in MK due to two reasons. I knew it would be my kids fave park and we had a reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table. So, this morning we left a bit later. We didn't have a breakfast reservation so we just grabbed something from the Pop food court. It wasn't very healthy but I bought a box of donuts, along with bottles of Oj for us all. It did the trick. So, we're off to MK! Our reservation is at 12:10. Once again, we split up. I have to say that doing this together as a big group is tough. I don't feel like worrying about whether everyone is happy with what we're doing. You're never going to please everyone! So, my sister and I break off with the kiddos again. This just works well. On the way there, we watched the dancers on Main St.

We then met Alice and the Mad Hatter. Alice was soooo sweet. And he was hilarious! They joked around with my kiddos for a long while. I can't even remember everything they said but it was just funny. His nose is great! LOL!!

We decide to take them on some of the rides we weren't able to do before. We have a couple hours to kill while we wait for our reservation. We were able to get on It's a Small World and then Peter's Plan Flight, which had a longer wait. My daughter Morghan requested the Haunted Mansion one more time so we had just enough time to do that. We walked back towards the castle, waiting for our reservation time. It was just going to be myself and my girls at this meal. The others were going to go find something else to eat and wait for us. We watched a show outside the castle, waiting for our reservation time. My kids also had fun playing in the little fountain that they have there, enjoying the shade & time to relax.

Ok, I have to cut this short. Children and husband calling!!!!

Next up...Cindy's meal, Tomorrowland and Epcot!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Ok, where was I?

It was finally time for out reservation at CRT! We've waited for this for a long while, planned with multiple tries to get a reservation. This wasn't my first choice but it worked the best overall. See...things do happen for a reason. The lady at the front desk hands up a card with a number on it. Based on whatever the number is, determines how many photos you get with Cinderella. We only got 1. Not sure why. I was a bit bummed but oh well. It turned out well! Excuse the quality though; it's a picture of a picture. I haven't been able to scan in the original yet.

Here's while we were waiting in line:

The meal was a lot of fun! The castle is awesome. Just awesome!! It was so special to us. The stairs going up to the restaurant are really neat. The food was pretty good. I had the sandwich (can't remember the name), along with the sweet potato chips. But you are paying for the atmosphere and characters for sure! The princesses and the Fairy Godmother were wonderful. They were all really, really sweet. My girls' favorite was Jasmine.

We had a really nice waiter. He gave me a refund as it turns out I paid for my son attending the meal, when he did not. I had no idea that I did this so it was a really nice surprise!

We then left the castle and went to find everyone else. Took this photo as we left-

But my son's favorite view was this! LOL!! Go figure for a three-year old boy!

Once again, I have to stop here. Laundry is calling my name...unfortunately!

Next up...More MK and Epcot finally!!

 

[SamanthaL]

I agree! There is something about eating inside the Castle and it isn't about the food. I love it but have never done a princess meal as Sophia has no desire. Go figure.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that pic of the Castle!! I think I may have to find some Castle art for the house. I would love a picture or portrait. Gotta check into that. You took one awesome picture!

And let me add you don't *look* sick. You look great!

 

[DisneyFan06]

I love this report. Sounds like all in all you had a blast.

 

[pickles]

Love your report but am totally confused

you are dying ill so skip EE, Splash, RnR...all the good ones, yet you meander around the parks?
You are lucky I wasn't with you, as I would have tied your dying body to each of those rides so you could ride them!!

Unless of course this was part of your plan to have an excuse for that 2nd trip this year?

I just can't believe you were that close to those rides and didn't go...what a total bummer!

BTW I totally feel for you as my first trip there in 05 I was totally ill and wished I could have just stayed in the room and died. I would have too if hubby hadn't dragged me all over. None of the food tasted good and the fun was just eh, the first 4 days of my trip. It did improve, but I was so irritated that half my trip was wasted!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Love your report but am totally confused

you are dying ill so skip EE, Splash, RnR...all the good ones, yet you meander around the parks?
You are lucky I wasn't with you, as I would have tied your dying body to each of those rides so you could ride them!!

Unless of course this was part of your plan to have an excuse for that 2nd trip this year?

I just can't believe you were that close to those rides and didn't go...what a total bummer!

BTW I totally feel for you as my first trip there in 05 I was totally ill and wished I could have just stayed in the room and died. I would have too if hubby hadn't dragged me all over. None of the food tasted good and the fun was just eh, the first 4 days of my trip. It did improve, but I was so irritated that half my trip was wasted!

Hmmm....okay. Do you have children? If so, you understand why I "meandered" around the parks. This trip was pretty much all for them. I pushed myself to do what I could and then took a break. Sorry if you don't agree.

 

[pickles]

Hmmm....okay. Do you have children? If so, you understand why I "meandered" around the parks. This trip was pretty much all for them. I pushed myself to do what I could and then took a break. Sorry if you don't agree.

Odd I thought I sent that as a private message.

I wasn't trying to "attack" you. I actually felt sorry for you, going to the world and getting sick is simply no fun and a horrible thing to have happen!!
I do have kids, but I would still take the time to ride rides I want to ride. You had other people in your party that could have watched the kids and you were trudging around, I simply didnt understand why you didn't take a few moments to ride the rides you wanted to? I understood your theory of splash mt and getting wet, but not the other ones, unless you simply dont do coasters...ever?
Vacation is about everyone having a good time.
It doesn't matter whether I agree or understand, as long as you enjoyed your trip that is all that matters!
I apologize if I made you feel defensive, it was not my intention.

 

[SamanthaL]

I had bronchitis on one of our trips. I skipped RnR and Splash and some of the other fast coasters. Between the terrible headache and having hardly any breath I was not about to be whipped around on breath taking coasters.
I didn't make anyone sit with me but I just couldn't do the big rides and I love them.
Everyone is different in how the deal with illness.

 

[mom*to*2*princesses]

It sounds like the kids had a great time despite you feeling crappy, Kel. And I agree--it's just another reason to go again! Sorry you were sick. On our first trip I spent the last day feeling miserable from a cold. What do you do?

I've been compiling questions in my head for you about taking a 3.5 y.o. LOL

Kerri

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Back again. Trying to get this finished up soon.

Ok, so we just left CRT, which was awesome! My mom and her boyfriend (it seems so weird saying my 50-year old mother has a boyfriend! LOL!!) wanted to walk around and check some things out about the DVC and things. So, his son (he's 16) sticks with us and we all decide to do Tomorrowland. Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, first stop....for the little guys. It was fun. We racked up lots of points! After that we did Stitch's Great Escape, which my sister and her little guy couldn't do, since he didn't meet the 40". I wish they would lower this height requirement since you aren't actually like moving around or anything. We liked it. The smell was hilarious! We thought we'd check out Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Glad we did it but it wasn't the most um, death-defying ride I guess you could say.

Space Mountain was next! We all took turns on this one, each of us rotating watching the younger kiddos. I don't get scared easily but this one did it to me a bit! I think it was the dark. I kept feeling like I was going to hit my head on something. Weird!!! We watched the High School Musical Pep Fest for a bit as both my girls love that movie!! After that, we played in the water a bit...

We decided to call it a day here. We wanted to get to Epcot for our last night and still wanted to be able to relax a bit in our rooms before we left. We did take the scenic way to the bus stops so we could soak in more MK before we left in for a long, long time. Picked up some popcorn on the way out and also had two Photo Pass cards combined. Met up with my mom and her bf and headed back to Pop. Once again, we all took a short nap. My poor son didn't even make it all the way back to Pop awake-

Next....Epcot with not enough time!

 

[SamanthaL]

Awww. D is such a sweetie! I just love how happy the girls are in EVERY pic!

 

[klmall]

Just love the expressions on the kids' faces and your first timer trip report! You are amazing in getting so much down on paper!

 

[akrake]

love your report....was it seriously that EMPTY in the parks? From the pictures it looks like NO ONE is there!!

Can I ask what "Season" it was?