Our Grand Graduation/Family trip....It's finally here!

[pat fan]

Hi all! I wasn't going to do a trip report, but DH keeps asking if I've done it yet, so here goes. I'll put it all on one thread and hope you enjoy it (remember, I'm not a professional writer or anything).

First a little back ground. My DS graduated from HS this year and instead of a big party or presents, he wanted a family trip to Disney. So about 1 1/2 years ago, I started feeling out family members. No one has ever been to WDW before except for my family.Well, myDB & I went when we were kids (Epcot had just opened) with friends of my parents, but that was looonngg ago!

The cast is as follows:
DD- my dad, 65, minister. Has mobility issues, lives 30 minutes away.
DM- my mom, 65, dad's secretary, organist and has serious mobility issues.
DB- my brother, 43, anti-imagination, fairies, magic etc....Lives in N.C.
DSIL-DB's wife, 39, anti-imagination, fairies, magic etc....
DN1-their oldest daughter, 24, VERY close to my DS. Still lives at home.
DN2- their next daughter, would turn 16 on the trip, very shy.
DN3- their baby, 14, very proper.
DSis - my sister, 48. Her DH didn't want to go, so it was just her on the trip. Lives 1/2 hour away.
DH- my husband, 41, best husband in the world.
DS1- our oldest, 18, still wants a WDW family vacation
DS2- our youngest, 15, can't wait to get his DB's room

DN1 jumped in right away. No way she was going to miss WDW with her favorite cousin (5 nights). My parents were next to say yes (4 nights), then my DB (5 nights), and since everyone else was going, DSis said ok (3 nights). She really wasn't into Disney, but since it was going to be a big family get-together, she'd do it. We decided on 9 nights for us so we'd have a little time to ourselves once they all left

Where to stay? That's easy. ASMusic. When to go? July 10-19.
I used Small World Travel for this trip and they were good (not fabulous, but good). We booked 4 rooms at the Calypso and were given our Grand Gathering # to use for our ADR's etc....

Has anyone tried to pin down 13 people on where they would all like to eat? It's not easy. Finaly got opinions and made my ADR's at the appropriate time. I got all the meals I wanted at mostly the times I wanted, but with that big a party I knew I'd have to be flexible. Our first night would be at R&C for DN2's b-day dinner. I wanted to do something special for her for her Sweet 16.

Wow, it's already mid-May, can't wait for the trip. Wait, what's that? The phone? It's DN1, calling to say she won't be going to WDW with us. Long story short, she can't be seperated from her BF for 5 days. Ok....very disappointing, especialy for DS1. And my DSis who was going to share a room with her. Well, the other DN's can share the room and as long as DN1 is coming to graduation, DS1 isn't too crushed.

Wait. Do I hear the phone? Yes, it's DN1 again....again, long story short, can't leave the BF and isn't coming to graduation either. Big blow-up between her and DS1. Oh well, graduation is lovely anyway.

Do I hear the phone again? It's DSIL. The horse needs an operation....sorry, we won't be able to make it. Didn't really want to go anyway.
Whatever....I'm taking the phone off the hook.

So, I change all the ADR's, lose the GG # (need 8 people or more) and try not to be really very, very angry at DB and his family. Breath deep, you're going to Disney, it will be better without them anyway....

Ok....I'm ready Let's go!

 

[Jrabbit910]

cant wait for more!

 

[pat fan]

July 10, 2007

BDL is the closest airport, so that's where we're flying out of. We're taking one car and my folks are picking up DSis and meeting us at the car park/valet place. We used Executive Valet and I highly recommend them.

We have an early flight (7:45) on Delta, and of course with the recent mess over in England, we have to be at the airport 2 hourse before the flight (thanks a lot terrorists!). We have to leave at 4:30 to meet at the car/valet place, but we all get there and head off to the airport.

Curbside check in is great. When someone's luggage isn't overweight . After removing 3 pairs of shoes, a hairdryer and a book...I'm good to go .

Flight takes off into sunny skies and we are on our way! The flight was great....smooth sailing and a soft landing. DH and DS2 are going to get all the luggage and the rental van while I take everyone else on Magical Express. We've never used it before and it was great! I don't think we waited more than 10 minutes to board the bus and head to the resort.

DH and DS2 beat us to the resort (I didn't ask how fast he drove) but Dollar snookered him into buying the extra insurance. So now the great deal I got on the van is negated by the $200 + charge for insurance. Men.

We get checked in, get our passes and believe it or not, my parents room is ready! The only snag is that of the two wheelchairs I ordered from Care Medical, only one is there. The staff had mistakenly given it out as a hotel courtesy chair, so I get one rented and one hotel chair to use for our trip. They did give me the $$ I paid for one as Care Medical still charged me for both. We head to the food court to get mugs for everyone (thank you Disney Visa Rewards!) and then to leave the luggage in my parents room.

They don't want to take a nap...they want to head right out, so who am I to argue? We load up the chairs in the van and head off to Epcot!


Footnote: We had planned to take it a little easy while my parents were here. I knew they wouldn't be getting up for EE or staying for EMH, but I wanted them to see the highlights and have a good time.

 

[scottny]

great start. We got there on the 12th for a GG. Can't wait to hear the rest.

 

[pat fan]

There's nothing like your first steps into Disney and to be able to share it with your family who has never been was priceless. This whole trip is a time none of us will ever forget. (DB & family, you have no idea what you missed!)

Luckily (or not, depends on your opinion) the hand and "Epcot" were still on the ball as we entered and the crane wasn't really visible. I had been very worried about that. We headed over to Honey I Shrunk the audience and it was great as usual! I didn't warn my DSis about the mice ( we are terrified of them) and she about jumped out of her seat! Too funny! Journey Into Imagination is next, followed by The Seas. I had planned and planned, but somehow missed that they changed this whole thing . I knew there was Turtle Talk (which we didn't do) but the Seas part was unexpected. All I can say is WOW!! It was awesome! We all loved it and my DSis who didn't want to go was giggly and just having a great time (who knew Dory was her favorite animated charater?). She, my mom and I all got our picture taken in Bruce's mouth. It was great!

Next, it was on to Ellen's Energy Adventure. My family loves this ride, I guees we're cornballs. The extended family liked it too, so I guess we come by it naturally. They all thought the dinosaurs were amazingly real (too bad we ran out of time or I'd have taken them on Dinosaur at AK).

By this time, it was time to head over for our dinner at Rose & Crown. We had never eaten here before, and it was supposed to be for my DN2's b-day, but as you know, that didn't happen.

We LOVE this place! I had no idea what to expect, but it was fabulous! Our server was from Scotland and super friendly (we left a big tip!). We had tons of questions about the food and Scotland and she happily answered everything. Of course, when she would leave our table, we all cracked up because we only understood about 1/3 of what she said, her accent was that heavy! She really made our night (not just the humor part, she was just wonderful!).

After dinner we headed over to find a spot for Illuminations. From our vantage point, we were able to watch Bjorn Again, the ABBA tribute band playing at the pavilion. My DSis loved it (her era of music)! Unfortunately, it started to rain and I thought for sure my parents would want to head back to the hotel, but agian they surprised me. DSis and I bought poncho's for everyone and we watched Illuminations in a complete and utter downpour. Another amazing memory!

Then, it was time to make our way back to the rental car and to the hotel. We'd all been up since 3:00 a.m. and we were bushed!

BTW, where are all the people? Must be a slow day in Epcot.

Footnote: My DM had brought her handicap hanger from home so we got to park right up front all the time. What a blessing that was! And the service they give those in wheelchairs is outstanding. As soon as a CM saw us coming, they let us know where to go and treated my parents like royalty. Kudo's to Disney on this.

 

[pat fan]

Day 2

MGM is on the docket for this morning. We had ordered some groceries from Garden Grocer so we all had cereal for breakfast before heading out.

It takes a lot to get us through bag check. We have our bag with camera etc, my purse, DSis purse, DSis's camera bag, DM's fanny-pack, DD's fanny-pack, DD's camera bag and then we have to get the wheelchairs through the gate while putting your pass through the machine. Whew...I'm beat and we haven't even gotten into the park yet!

We head over to the Great Movie Ride and it's great as usaul. Then it's off to the Backlot Tour (which they loved) and Muppets. Now, we all grew up watching the original Muppet Show, so they all got a big kick out of this show. we headed over to Indiana Jones, but it was too early so we grabbed FP's (just to be safe) and just wandered a bit. We showed my DSis Star Tours (her DH is a big fan of Star Wars) and my DD says he wants to do it. This is the man who made sure we understood he didn't want to ride any rides, which we were fine with. Ok dad, whatever you say. We walked right in (no waiting for wheelchairs, just zoomed us through) and were strapped in before you could say "Bob's your uncle". DD had a blast! DSis felt a little queasy but all-in-all it was pretty fun!

We headed over for Indiana Jones and there had been no need for the FP's. As soon as they saw the wheelchairs, again, zoom to your spot! I just have to tell you how much I enjoyed having my parents there with us. Watching my DD watch the Indiana Jones show is something I will never forget. He was like a little kid, leaning forward in his seat, completely enthralled, just loving it!
After that we headed to 50's Prime Time for lunch. I had ordered a graduation cake for DS1 when I made the ADR (a surprise) and reminded the girl at the podium when we checked in. She said they had it and no problem. Lunch was great. DSis and I had the kids "Fish of the day", DM had pot roast, DD had fried chicken, DS1&2 had chicken sandwiches and DH had meatloaf.

I didn't know what we were going to do with the cake as we were all so stuffed, but when the server came out, he just brought the check . I took him aside and asked about the cake, and that if they did indeed have the cake, could it be boxed up as were full anyway? He said he didn't know anything about a cake but would check. A few minutes later he brought it out in a box (really cute!) and said there would be no charge for the cake since it wasn't brought out properly. He got a BIG tip! Cake in hand, we headed back to the hotel for a swim and a nap for the older generation .

 

[pat fan]

Day 2 Part 2

We headed out to the MK a little later than I had planned, but I figured my parents were holding up pretty well in the heat and running around, so I wasn't going to complain.

We took the ferry to the MK. Sigh. It's my favorite way to see the park after a long absence and the only way to see it (IMO) for the first time. everyone oohed and ahhed at the sight of the castle and then it was on to bag check!

Now, my DSis had been saying all along that she wanted to do Splash Mtn, but after one look at it, she chickened out! Big baby. We grabbed FP's for Jungle Cruise and then headed over to POC, which they all loved. Can I add my 2 cents here? I liked it better without Jack & Davey Jones. My DS2 will not agree with me, but I just felt like they took a classic and make it tacky. It was ok, I didn't hate it, I just liked the old one better.

DH and DS's took my parents to the Tiki Birds show while DSis and I went to the Swiss Family Treehouse. My family thinks it's boring, but DSis and I grew up watching it so I finally had someone to go through it with who appreciated it. Heaven! Then hell. Boy was it hot and humid out. We had to wait for them about 15 minutes to get out of the Tiki show and I thought we were gonna die! To cool off we headed over to Philharmagic, another new thing since our last trip. Wonderful!

We decided to grab something to eat. Unfortunately, my parents, DH and I chose to eat at Pecos Bill's. YUCK! DM had kids nuggets (it was ok),DH had the taco salad (putrid) and DD and I had a yogurt and granola bars I had brought in my bag. The boys and DSis wisely had a turkey leg. By this time, our FP's were ready. Again, why did I bother? Oh yeah, it makes a great souvineer! Actually, we gave 5 away and were left with 2 that we kept for the photo album. We had a very LOUD skipper. She was funny, but could have turned the volume down just a tad.

We headed over to find a spot for Spectromagic and Wishes and wound up being right in front of the castle. Not my ideal spot, but it was ok. Once the show started it didn't matter where we were. Between my DSis smiling all over and my DM yelling "HI" to Mickey and Pooh etc...I could have sat anywhere and been happy. Back to the hotel and some more well deserved shut eye.

Oh yes, has anyone seen the crowds? 'Cause they're not here.

 

[pat fan]

Day 3 Part 1

Our plan this morning is for Animal Kingdom. We head over to Kali River rapids first thing as we expect everyone else will be at EE. True. Until they announce that it's down. We know when this happened as our little crowd waiting for KRR to open was inundated with everyone who had been waiting for EE. No worries as it is still a pretty small crowd and we get to enjoy watching the monkeys poop from their perches! My DSis got the wettest! We all looked like drowned rats, but madly laughing drowned rats mind you!
I'm editing this to say that DS got wet from the ride, not the poop!

Then it was off to the Safari. Why do we never see the tons of animals others say they see? Still fun, just wondering. We headed over to see It's Tough To Be A Bug and everyone marveled at the Tree Of Life. Everyone wants to check out the gift shops and by then, the morning has flown by!

Time to head back to the hotel for lunch and a break. We eat at the food court and my DSis gets an amazing sandwich and I have a yummy chicken ceaser salad, minus the dressing. I don't remember what everyone else had, although it's a safe bet to say DS2 had a quesadilla. He had them a lot .

More later on our evening at MGM.

 

[pat fan]

Day 3 Part 2

A bit more on the hotel break bit. My DD and DH each got a Cars tattoo from the place by the pool. They are into jeeps so of course they had to get Sarge. Can you believe my DD's is still on his arm? Does he never bathe? Just kidding, he does, but that tattoo is still there. Anyway....

We head back to MGM fairly late (IMO) so we don't have tons of time before we need to get seats for Fantasmic. We decide to go check out the Narnia exhibit as we have never seen it before and we all love the books (and the movie). This sia really neat exhibit. I know it's not a real "show" or anything, but it's still pretty cool. The boys are dying to get some action in, so while we shop, they head off to see if they can get into TOT or RNRC. Good luck guys!

As luck would have it, they got to ride TOT twice and RNRC once. As I've said before...where are the crowds? We meet up at Pizza Planet and have dinner. Surprisingly, it's good. The first time we ate there I hated it and haven't been back since, but DD wanted to go there and I'm glad we did.

Off to Fantasmic! I told DSis this was my favorite of all the nighttime shows but she couldn't believe they could top the other two shows she had seen. After seeing it, she agreed with me!

Back to the hotel for sleep. I am so happy my parents are able to enjoy the days, but I know they are beat after the nighttime shows are over!

 

[pat fan]

Day 4 Part 1

Today is the day my DSis is leaving. She was supposed to fly out at 3:00 from Sanford to Roanoke to see her new grandson, but her airline (Allegiant or something) changed her flight time to 9:00 a.m. Now she is going to miss breakfast at Crystal Palace and I am so sad As I said in the begining, DH is the best. He drove her to Sanford and missed out on the breakfast too.

I was a little nervous about getting my parents to the MK today without the van. It's been so easy just throwing the chairs in the van and driving everywhere, and now I need to use the busses for the first time with the chairs. At least my boys are with me and I know it will be fine. Turns out to be exactly the case.

A bus is there promptly and I ask the driver if we should fold up the chairs and have my parents sit in regular seats, but he says not to worry! He'll take care of us. And he does. He gets them on board and strapped in and we're off. Now the boys and I are sitting in the back, behind my parents and there are two elderly nuns sitting across from us. One of them is chattier than a magpie! She tells us all about how she and her "sister" love Disney, have been coming for years, how they sang on the radio in the old days, just everything! Just as we're about to arrive, they decide to sing us a song. They sang "When you wish upon a star" and sounded wonderful. I've never had an experience quite like that one.

First thing, we head over to Pooh (after our fun at bag check), but wait...what's that? The Mad Tea Party? Looks like fun my parents say. What? It's early in the morning, you're 65....but no, they are determined it looks like fun. So off they go with DS2 and have a ball! What a couple of overgrown kids they are! Ok, now we do Pooh. He had a couple technical difficulties but it was still fun.

Then it was off to Buzz.
As we pass through Tomorrowland...DD: "Hey, what's that?" Me: "That's the Indy Speedway dad" DD: "Really? Hmmmm". Buzz is fun...my parents score better than a newbie has a right to and we head over to Peter Pan.

As we cross back to Fantasyland...DD: "Hey, what's that?" Me: "That's the Indy Speedway dad." DD: "Oh." Me: "Do you want to do that instead of Peter Pan dad?" DD: "YEAH!" So the 3 boys do the Speedway thing while DM and I watch.

It is now time for our Crystal Palace ADR. I love this breakfast! The characters are great, the food is great, it's just fun! DH calls and he's going to meet us outside the restaurant. Seems the short term parking was full at Sanford so he couldn't stay with DSis and had to just drop her off so he's back early.

DM states that she has decided she is no chicken, it's hot and she wants to ride Splash Mtn. with her grandsons. You go mom! So we set off to get FP's and then we stop in to see the Country Bears. Majorly corny but DD loved it!
Then it's off to Splash Mtn. DD and I waited at the gift shop for them and they were pretty darned wet when they emerged! She had a blast! Said she was so happy she had braved it as it wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be. Now she can lord it over my DSis (who when she found out DM went on it, told her she was nuts!).

We hopped on the railroad (for a scenic trip around the MK...all aboard!) and then headed out. We had stayed much later than I had planned, but the "old" folks were having too much fun and kept finding stuff they wanted to do! So really, it wasn't my fault. Back to the hotel for lunch/nap/swim (and laundry).

 

[pat fan]

Day 4 Part 2

I knew my parents would be tired at this point, so I planned an afternoon free. We would do whatever they wanted. Stay at the hotel, do something, it was up to them. After lunch and napping, they decided to head to DTD for some shopping and then back to MK for a little while. I honostly can't remember all we did that evening. I know we rode the monorail and DH asked if my parents could ride up front. They could and we did. I think we did POC again and maybe Philharmagic. Really, I couldn't tell you

I know that when we got back to the hotel, they were playing Cars on the big movie screen at the pool. DD and DM watched it for a while before hitting the hay. They are leaving tomorrow afternoon and no one wants them to go.

I had planned on going to MK and had an ADR for LTT, but after our MK touring today, DD said he'd rather go back to MGM and see Indiana Jones again. I called and cancelled our ADR so tomorrows plan was all set.

As an aside, I will tell you that I paid for 2 nights on my DSis's room so our boys could have 2 nights there after she left. So for the next 2 nights, the boys got to have their "own" room. They thought it was great!

As my spelling is getting worse and worse, I'm going to take a break for now. Hopefully I'll get to finish this up today, if not, tomorrow. Hope you are enjoying reading it, I'm sure enjoying re-living it!

 

[pat fan]

Day 5 Part 1

We slept in this morning as we have no pressing needs at MGM other than Indiana Jones and DS2 visiting the Villians shop.

After having a nice breakfast in the food court, DM finishes packing and DD and I head down to check them out. Now all week, DD has been noticing the Mickey stickers people have. So while we're checking out, he sees a couple stuck on the computer monitor behind the counter and asks the CM how you can get a Mickey sticker. She smiles at him, grabs a roll of stickers and proceeds to peel off about 4 feet of stickers and hands them to him with a big smile and says "Here you go!". Now I know it's a little thing, but she made our day with that!

Now off we go to MGM! We toured the Villians shop first and DS2 was very disappointed in their Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise. It's his favorite movie and I know he was hoping they'd have a bigger selection. next, it was back to Indiana Jones. DD enjoyed it just as much the second time around, so it was worth coming back for. We just wandered a bit and browsed through the other stores and then it was time to get their luggage to meet friends of their's at DTD. They were going to spend a couple days with them and then fly home.

After dropping them off and doing some shopping....ok, a lot of shopping we headed back to the hotel.


We were so sorry to see my parents go. I have always wanted to bring them to WDW and now that we had, I didn't want it to end.

 

[pat fan]

Day 5 Part 2

This afternoon/evening was set aside so DH and I could tour some other resorts in anticipation of our 25th anniversary trip in 5 years. I've always wanted to stay at the Poly for our anniversary, so we were going to check that out, plus a few others.

The boys grabbed a bus and were going to head over to AK and scope out EE and anything else they might be able to do.

DH and I thought we would start our hotel tour with Animal Kingdom Lodge since it was right down the road from us. It was nice, but WAY too dark for our taste. I felt like I needed a flashlight when I walked into the lobby. Scratch that one from the list.

Next up was Port Orleans/French Quarter. This is a resort that I have been trying to get my family to stay at for years. It just looked kind of fun and romantic at the same time. Well, it was ok. Better than AKL, but it didn't make me jump up and down with excitement either. I guess it's a maybe. In my heart I'm holding out for the Poly.

We were going to go to the Wilderness Lodge too, but we had eaten there on a previous trip so we figured we'd seen as much then as we would now, and while it was ok, again it hadn't made us all giddy. So it was off to the Poly! I had saved the best for last!

Except it didn't wow me. I had been so hoping to be wowed by this place, but I just wasn't! I mean, it would be nice to see fireworks out the window, but I don't think it would be worth the price just for that (especially since I've been reading some of the reviews of it since I got back home ).

Well, now that DH and I have concluded we really are ASMusic sort of people, what to do? We figure the boys will be out late and since we're right at the MK, why not take advantage of it? We had a great time, just the two of us, wandering around and seeing what was to be seen.

We left right before the parade and made it a fairly early night as we were planning on doing EE at Epcot in the morning.
BTW, the boys were already back at the hotel when we got there and they had ridden EE twice!

Footnote: We experienced very light crowds the whole time DSis and parents were there, but the crowds started to pick up about this time. Mostly the darn tour groups! I'll save that rant for my final post, though. No sense ruining the trip report with a bunch of kvetching!

 

[pat fan]

Day 6 Part 1

Today is EE at Epcot. Finally a day we can get up and going! Not that sleeping in is a bad thing, but it doesn't seem like Disney if we're not up and out early! first order of business is Soarin'. We've heard all about it and want to see for ourselves. I remind my family that front row is supposed to be the best, but we'll take what we can get. Guess what? We get front row! It was a great ride, very realistic. So realistic that I felt kinda queasy after riding it . Apparently I wasn't the only one. We were going to get FP's for later, but no one wanted to Then it was over to Test Track, got to ride twice! Fun as always.

Everything else was opening up now, so we went over to the Cool Zone (formerly Ice Station Cool). It was ok, but it just didn't seem as "cool" as before...ha ha ha...We checked out Mouse Gears and then headed over to World Showcase. We had to wait for them to open up, so we just hung out on a bench and enjoyed the peace. It was a gorgeous day and it was just very relaxing. So much so that DS2 fell asleep on the bench!

We went to Mexico and rode the new El Rio del Tiempo with the Three Caballeros. Very cute! We checked out some other countries and then went to see the American Adventure. This was one of my "must do's" for my DD, and we never did it. I think it's a great show, it just seemed sad that there weren't more people in the theatre, but it was fairly early for that part of the park.

Time for lunch, so we hit Yakitori House. We shared a table with an older gentlemen and had a nice conversation. That seemed to happen a lot this trip , don't ask me why.

Back to the hotel for some swimming and sun!

 

[pat fan]

Day 6 Part 2

It was off to Magic Kindom tonight for EMH. I know, EE and EMH in one day. I tried to talk them out of it, but they wanted to try it.

We grabbed FP for Space Mtn. (haven't done it since our first trip!), saw Carousel of Progress and then hit Buzz. DH got the high score as usual. Then we went to the Laugh Floor Comdey Show. DH and I had done this the night we were on our own and it is a major hoot! DS1 got picked to be the one gets up and dances...perfect for him! The boys thought it was one of the best shows we had seen in a while. By then it was FP time for Space Mtn., and DH remembered why we hadn't done it since the first trip. He hates it! Moving on now.....

We had dinner at the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station. This place is a little slice of heaven. Off the beaten path, we never found it to be crowded and it had decent food. Nice view of the castle, too. After dinner we headed over to POC. I do have to interject a little tour group humbug now. This was the first of many times we got into a line, only to be over-run by one of them. They just blow right past you and are incredibly loud and rude. We wound up not riding POC and coming back to it later as the wait went from 15 minutes to forever because they all jumped in front of us.

We saw some of the parade while we headed to Fantasyland. It was very different seeing it in a location we never had before, and not sitting and watching it. Just kind of letting it go by and looking every once in a while. I don't recommend it. We hit the Speedway (we never do it, now twice in one trip!) and I rode with DS2. Training for when he gets his permit! Then we watched some of the fireworks from Pooh's play area. Again, not the best view, a much different feeling.

Other then the tour groups, we had a great evening being just the 4 of us again. We really had intended to stay for EMH, but by the time closing came around, we were beat. Off to bed for us!

 

[pat fan]

Day 7 Part 1

This morning we have an 8:00 ADR for Donald's Breakfastaurus. The story behind this is that on our trip in 2000, DS1 wanted to do this. Fine. We get there and he promptly gets sick. Turns out he has Strep Throat and stays in bed until the next day when antibiotics have kicked in. So he never got to eat there (we were only there maybe 5 minutes!). So I owe him (as he keeps reminding me ).
I figure this also gets us into AK early and first crack at EE.

Let me just say I think this breakfast stinks. Save your money, go somewhere else. Anywhere else. Not much fruit, empty serving dishes, poor waitstaff, mostly prepared crap (donuts, pastries etc..) and we never even had the characters come to our table. We were there 45 minutes and some tables were empty, so there was no excuse. Never again.

Okay, off to EE. We decide to grab FP's first, and lo and behold, on each side of us is a tour guide. With a stack about 5" high of tickets that they are getting FP's for. And guess what? Our machine is empty. The new/in training CM has to fill it for it to work. Ok, whatever, deep breaths. We ride it and it is pretty dang intense. Great ride, but we were near the back and I got the heck walloped out of my head. We decide to give our FP's to the boys and let them ride twice. Aren't we great parents?

Next it's Kali River and then the Safari. Again, not too many animals. I think they're really a myth. We head over to Dinosaur and then it's time for the boys FP's. DH and I decide to do the walking trails and we'll meet the boys later.The trails are really nice. I enjoyed being able to walk through slowly as I didn't have kids trying to rush through.

When we met up with the boys, they were not happy. Seems they met both tour groups in the FP lane and waited over an hour. In the FP lane. Being smart kids, they went to guest services and complained and were given front of the line passes so they were able to ride again with no wait at all. I know they (tour groups) have a right to be there, but when you (IMO) abuse the FP system like that, something needs to be done.

Back to the hotel and lunch!

 

[pat fan]

Day 7 Part 2

After lunch, DS1 decides he's going to get some sun. I remind him the sun here is different, but what do I know?

We head out to Epcot with the plan of seeing some of the countries we missed, and visit some old favorites. We did that with Universe of Energy (I know, we're corny!) then watched Illuminations. It was a bit of an off night as someone in our party was a little cranky. Seems he had gotten a little too much sun!

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

 

[pat fan]

Day 8

It's EE at Magic Kingdom today, and I am really wanting to ride Peter Pan. I haven't yet, and it's usually one of the first things I do at Disney! Aaahhh Peter, may you never grow up! Next it's Pooh (technical problems solved) and Buzz. How come I always do so bad at this? Some day I'll be a Ranger First Class!

After "Official Opening" we headed to Splash Mtn. and then POC. DS2 can't get enough of the new version . Next we hit the Tiki room as it had AC and DS1 was feeling the heat on his burn. So much so that we headed back to the hotel after that.

After having lunch and hanging out, DS1 decided it would be better to stay at the hotel then be out in the sun anymore. I can't blame him. He really did a job on himself. Ouch!

The rest of us headed over to MGM for another look at the Villians shop. Still not much Jack Skellington stuff. We decided to catch the last Lights, Cars, Action stunt show. That is a very cool show. I wasn't too keen on seeing it, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. We rode TOT and RNRC, had dinner at the Backlot Express ( it was ok, nothing special) and then grabbed a seat for Fantasmic. Did I tell you I love this show? I really do.

After that it was back to the hotel to check on DS1. Yup, still burnt. Hopefully tomorrow he'll feel more like being out and about. It's our last full day!

 

[pat fan]

Day 9

We had another quiet morning today. Frankly, we've never taken this long a vacation before and while we're having fun, we are starting to feel that itch to go home. We miss the dog, we miss our beds, you know how it is. After breakfast, the guys decide they really need to go shopping at DTD one more time. Fine with me as I need to start packing up and make sure all the loot we bought is going to fit in the luggage. Off they go with instructions that if they are going to buy something, it better be small.

I had a quiet morning arranging and rearranging stuff. I finally got it all in except the laundry detergent. No problem. I stuck a note on it for anyone to use it and left it in the laundry room. Back at the room, I'm wondering where the guys are. Hey...a knock at the door! Why can't they just come in? Oh, that's why. TOO many PACKAGES!!! Let's see, a puzzle, a game some t-shirts and the frame I wanted. Still wanted, but it's BIG! How on earth am I going to fit it all in? I do, but the fan we brought with us for sleeping noise gets left behind with a note for Mousekeeping to enjoy it!

We head out to MK that evening for one last tour in our favorite park. We did Hall of President's (another "must do" for my DD that we didn't!), POC, Buzz, Laugh Floor Comedy Club and Stitch's Great Escape. DS2 and I've never done Stitch before. DS1 and DH did it back when it was Alien Encounter and they liked this version better. Dinner was again at the Noodle Station with a stunning view of the castle and a glorious sky. I just can't describe how pretty a night it was. I hated to go back to the hotel as I knew we would be leaving tomorrow, but I guess our time here is drawing to a close

 

[pat fan]

Day 10

Our last day! DH and I went down to the airline check-in counter to get our boarding passes and check our luggage. I have to say this is one of the best things since sliced bread! First, our boarding passes have Mickey on them. How cool is that? And not having to haul your luggage to the airport? Wonderful! It's also nice that they weigh it there so if you did need to re-pack, it's much more pleasant doing it there than at the airport curb with everyone looking on. Good news though...nobody was overweight this time!

After packing up the car with carry-on bags and checking out, we head over to Animal Kingdom. Today will just be a go with the flow day. No camera's, no plans...just enjoy our last moments.

The boys want to do EE again, so we grab FP's for them (no tour groups around, thank goodness!) then head over to It's Tough To Be A Bug. We move on to the Safari for one last ride to save Little Red! Did I mention I didn't bring the camera today? I thought so. We saw so many dang animals I couldn't believe it! Oh well, it will be a nice memory.

The boys headed off after that for EE and DH and I went to Camp Minnie Mickey. I know....what are two adults doing there. hey, we'd never been and we wanted to check it out. Cute! A nice place to take the grandkids when we get them!

We headed over to see the Nemo Musical show. What a great show that was! It's too bad DS1 missed it as he is big into theatre and would have enjoyed it. DH and I browsed some of the shops and guess what? They had the jacket that I wanted that no one else had had in my size! So of course, we had to get it. And some magnets, and a pen, and some antennea toppers. Good grief....

After meeting back up with the boys, we grabbed some lunch at Tusker House. Yummy food but we had to sit outside and it was pretty dang hot. I'd like to come back here in cooler weather and really enjoy the chicken I had. It was very tasty, but hot food in the hot sun just doesn't work for me. I think the heat zapped what little energy we had left and we all decided it had been a full morning and that we would head to the airport a little early.

The drive to the airport was uneventful, but I hate traffic. I'll be glad to use ME from now on and not bother with a car at all. Check in was a breeze and after staking out a spot, we just had fun people watching. Our flight was delayed a little bit because of storms, but the flight itself was fine and then we were home!

Thanks a lot for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! I'll post one more time with my last thoughts and comments. It's been fun!