Our great big beautiful journey!!! With Pictures!! UPDATED 2/25/07 with VIDEO!!

[KatGarcia]

I'm hooked! I love TR's!!!!! Ur's is great and ur DS is a cutie!!!!!!!

 

[blue_river]

This was our last night at Disney, I was sad. Tommorow we had 10:30 reservations at Chef Mickeys!!

The last night is sad but you always have the next trip to look forward to! Can't wait to hear about Chef Mickeys

 

[kristinanderic]

Our final wake-up call got us up at 8am. I grabbed the express checkout papers off the front door and took them to the bathroom with me so that I could examine them and cry when I saw how much it was. Amazingly we stayed within budget. So, I was in a good mood!!!

We usually go way over on vacation budgets so I was pretty happy! I got dressed and finished up the packing while DH and DS got themselves together.

We had everything sitting by the door........and then DH discovered we were missing something. THE BABY?!?!

Where is the baby??



He apparently figured out that today we had to go home......so he was hiding.



DH went to get the car and DS and I made our way to the parking lot. DH went back for all the luggage while we got everything arranged.



We still had a few more points left on our arcade card plus some tickets we didn't turn in yet. So with the extra time we had we decided to go to the Arcade. DH went to park the car and DS and I walked to the arcade.

DS apparently thought it was a long walk and before I knew it he hopped on the bench to rest.



We used up the remaining points and cashed in the tickets. We ended up getting DS a mini basketball, a plastic shark, and a plastic whale. He was happy.

Off the the car to head to the Contemporary.







Today was the coldest day so we hurried into the building. It wasn't quite 10:30 yet so we decided to check out the gift shop...and the bathrooms.





DH took it upon himself to photograph the Contemporary. I have some interesting pictures....

We went to check in to Chef Mickeys and we got our photo taken...



We had to wait about 10 minutes before we were seated. The food was really good. I enjoyed the vegetable lasagna. I'm usually not much of a veggie eater, but it was good.

We got some pictures with the characters, this was the only place we got Donald's autograph on the whole trip.









Mmmm...Pancakes!





DH and I both enjoyed Chef Mickeys. We liked the music playing and the food. However, we both preffered Garden Grill. We got alot more character attention at Garden Grill and it seemed as though Chef Mickeys was too chaotic, mainly because people were up and down from getting food off the buffet.

There is still more to come, our plane doesn't leave til 7:10pm!!

 

[mamaT]

Great TR!!! I'm loving it! And thank you for mentioning the pearl...it's going on my list of things to do!

 

[kristinanderic]

Ever since DH looked at the vacation planning video from our 2004 vacation he's wanted to do the Sea Raycer boats. Why? I have no idea...we have a Bass Boat that goes nearly 70 mph...why would he want to waste his time with a tiny little 9 horse power boat that only goes 16 mph?

In 2004 we didn't have time so he didn't get to do it. I promised him on this trip that I would make sure he'd get to. So after breakfast we headed down to the Contemporary Marina.

As DH was signing in the CM asked if we wanted it charged to our room. DH said unfortunately this is our last day. WHAT? UNFORTUNATELY? Just 2 hours ago you told me how tired you were and how you couldn't wait to get home! I told the CM which started laughing.

Jokingly the CM says we'll make sure he's here FOREVER!!!

This is DH signing the waiver....notice that shoes are required while riding the boats?


Now the CM tells DH to grab a broken life vest then meet him over at the boat.

The CM tells the lady CM to make sure DH gets the boat with the hole in it. He laughs and says that way he can stay in Disney forever! HA HA.





Bye Daddy! Have fun!!









Me and DS camped out for what seemed like forever.....but it was really only about 30 minutes.

Luckily they had a boat out for children to play on.....so I let DS play with the steering wheel...he was content for a good 20 minutes!





DH didn't have a watch on him (it broke on our trip) so I tried to wave at him and signal him in when his 30 minutes was up....luckily he saw me. Apparently his boat didn't have a hole in it cause he made it safely back...



I took this picture of the Contemporary and I didn't even notice the men hanging of the side until a few days ago. I'm observant are't I?



We set up the timer on the camera and took this family pic...



We headed back to the car snapping a pic of the monorail.



Did you know that the boats actually go over the road?



Up next: we head to Downtown Disney to do some last minute shopping!!

 

[kristinanderic]

I'm hooked! I love TR's!!!!! Ur's is great and ur DS is a cutie!!!!!!!

Thanks so much!

Great TR!!! I'm loving it! And thank you for mentioning the pearl...it's going on my list of things to do!

No problem! Everytime I look at my pearl I think about our vacation, I love having that memory!

 

[Along4theRide]

I found your TR today while working and I confess I read all of the TR so far, but didn't get much work done!! He he he, oh well. There's always tomorrow! Anyway, I love all the pics! I feel like I was there with you. Thanks!!

 

[kristinanderic]

I found your TR today while working and I confess I read all of the TR so far, but didn't get much work done!! He he he, oh well. There's always tomorrow! Anyway, I love all the pics! I feel like I was there with you. Thanks!!

Aww thanks, I'm glad that someone is enjoying the report. I see your from Missouri, did you get snow today too? We got about 2-3 inches.

 

[MouseTriper]

Loving your TR and your little guy is soooo cute!! Sure looks like he was having fun!

 

[piglet50]

your tr is great and i really love the set of shots showing your ds hiding behind the curtain. thank you so much for sharing your trip with us. i will surely hate to see it end. it has been one of my favorites.

 

[kristinanderic]

Loving your TR and your little guy is soooo cute!! Sure looks like he was having fun!

Thanks! He had so much fun, but he was so tired by the time we got home...even after all of his napping. He slept in for several days "catching up" on sleep.

your tr is great and i really love the set of shots showing your ds hiding behind the curtain. thank you so much for sharing your trip with us. i will surely hate to see it end. it has been one of my favorites.

Awww, thank you so much. I have enjoyed this trip report also, its like I get to go back and relive the trip when I write about it. DS is fun to take pictures of, he comes up with something new everyday.

 

[Along4theRide]

Aww thanks, I'm glad that someone is enjoying the report. I see your from Missouri, did you get snow today too? We got about 2-3 inches.

Yep, we got about 4 inches of snow after the sleet/ice glaze the night before! My DD6 has had another 2 snow days now (she's not happy about today's SD-she's missing her Valentines party)!

 

[kristinanderic]

Sorry for the delay in the report. My MIL had some siezures from high blood pressure and has been in ICU so we've been back and forth to the hospital which is nearly 80 miles away. Hopefully I'll finish up soon!

 

[bar1jp]

Sorry about your MIL, sending my thoughts and prayers to her an your family.
((HUGS))

 

[kristinanderic]

Sorry about your MIL, sending my thoughts and prayers to her an your family.
((HUGS))

Thank you, I'm hoping that she will be released today. She is doing alot better.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

What an excellent trip report! Your son is just adorable and let me tell you how lucky you are that he's such a good napper! We took my daughter at 5mo and 1yo and 5mo was much easier! It is fun seeing Disney through a child's eyes, though, isn't it?

I hope you are able to get back with him soon! He looks like he had a blast. And it looks like your husband actually had a pretty good time, as well! Especially considering he wasn't that enthusiastic to go back.

I hope your MIL gets well soon. So sorry to hear about her illness.

 

[kristinanderic]

What an excellent trip report! Your son is just adorable and let me tell you how lucky you are that he's such a good napper! We took my daughter at 5mo and 1yo and 5mo was much easier! It is fun seeing Disney through a child's eyes, though, isn't it?

I hope you are able to get back with him soon! He looks like he had a blast. And it looks like your husband actually had a pretty good time, as well! Especially considering he wasn't that enthusiastic to go back.

I hope your MIL gets well soon. So sorry to hear about her illness.

He is a very good napper. He can pretty much nap anywhere which is why we never headed back to the hotel mid-day. We used his nap time to shop, rest, and do things that we wanted to do.

I loved seeing disney through his eyes, I cannot wait to go back. We our planning our next trip for February 2009. Our DS will be 3 1/2 then. We hope to have another lil one by then too!!

 

[kristinanderic]

We had to go to Downtown Disney before we left because DH's sister called and wanted Mickey Hats with her childrens' names on them. I don't know why...they have never been to Disney. I personally don't see the point of souviniers for people who didn't go...but oh well.

Of course.......DS fell asleep in the car, so we moved him to the stroller....still sleeping.



We bought the hats and they told us to return at 2pm which was about 2 hours away. We headed to World of Disney for some last minute shopping.





We buy a disney world photo albumn with the date on it everytime we go so we can put our pictures it in from the trip. Its our little tradition. I also bought a Disney soundtrack cd so that I could make a photo montage of our trip. (I will include the link to this later).

After our binge shopping spree was over we still had some time left, the baby was still sleeping.....so we headed to Ghiradelli's for a hot fudge sundae and a diet coke!





We picked up our Mickey hats and made the trek back to the car.....



DS woke up.....we stopped at goofy's candy co to get him some milk and a rice crispy for a snack.





We got in our rental car and started headed to the airport. It was about 4pm but we planned on getting some dinner there...and with our experience in the St. Louis airport with the little one, we needed the extra time.

We stopped and filled up the gas tank. I was so sad that our trip was coming to a end...

Then.........the airport....





We dropped the car off at Dollar. The guy was super rude and I was sure to let the company know when they sent me a survey about our experience with their company.

We asked for a sky cap, but no one came so we rented a cart. DH loaded as much as he could. I held on to a tote, backpack, and a disney bag while pushing the stroller.



We checked in, dropped off our luggage and headed to find some food. Macoroni Grill was right there...and we love it....so we decided for another yummy meal before our vacation was over. DS enjoyed being able to scribble on the table.

It was just before dinner that we realized that when we dropped off the rental car the guy was so rude and rushed us that DS's sippy cup was in the back seat of the car!! I was sooooooo happy that I had packed a extra one in the rolling carry-on...all the extras were already checked.

We checked out the Disney Store in the airport.



I asked DH if he wanted to check out Universal or Sea World's store. He said no. I was surprised Usually he has too-much-disney by now, but this time that wasn't the case.

We decided it was time to get through security. It was nearing 6:15 and the line was pretty long. We made it through relitively quickly. Again they said nothing about our gel pack of ice or the insulin that was in the carry on. However, everyone should feel safe because they opened our rice crispie from Goofy's and inspected it.

We found a seat by our gate and put the movie cars in the DVD player for DS. This picture says it all.



We boarded on time, but we ended up sitting in the plane for about 30 minutes because of "activity behind us". We ended up arriving in St. Louis a lil later. FIL was there to pick us up and took us home. I believe it was about 11 pm by the time we arrived.

I was happy to be home in my own bed...but I missed the bliss of being on vacation and having no worries.

Up next:
Final thoughts, things I would do different, and a link to our photo montage.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Glad you were able to finish it up.
Great TR!

Good luck planning your next trip!

 

[CastleCreations]

Hi. I just read your trip report. I loved it. Thanks for sharing it with us. Your son is totally cute. I'm glad to see what that metal structure was for at the Contemporary. I didn't know it was for photos. It looked like you had fun! Thanks again!