Our Thanksgiving Trip-It was like herding cats! 7/16-FINAL THOUGHTS ARE DONE!!!!

[mom2mek]

So I really need to finish this bonus "old" trip report so I can get on to dealing with all my borderline-OCD issues with planning this upcoming trip. Coming on here is like therapy - it makes me feel like I'm not alone with all my compulsive planning! I just can't stop myself and I know you can all relate! So here we go:

DAY 2 OF THE "DISNEY DISASTER":

Ok, so Day 2 comes and everyone seems well, so off we go to the AK!

Just as we are pulling into the AK parking lot, uh-oh, my DD (2 at the time) starts the “pre-throw up cough”! Does anyone else know (and fear) this little gem? We manage to get her a bag before it happened, but yes, she threw up! However, it wasn’t like normal throw up it was more like mucous (sorry for the "TMI") but we attributed it to motion sickness (I think we were all in denial that there was indeed a stomach bug going around in our family and were trying to find any excuse we could!)

We changed her clothes and continued on, as she seemed fine, seeing our two favorite chipmunks on our way in:

My two DD’s were still not sure about getting their pics taken with the furry guys, so it’s just the fab four! If you can't tell from all the hoodies, yes, it was COLD again this morning!

We headed into the park and it was…. Crowded! What the heck? This is January! What is going on! (Come to find out this was EMH morning and (duh) we were idiots and didn’t plan anything based on anything! We still ended up having a great day even though we didn’t really see a whole lot (I have way different plans this time!)

This was pre-EE, so the “big” ride was the Safari – we headed there 1st (at least we did something right) and got FP then we rode the train over to the Rafiki Planet Watch and petting zoo area where I got attacked by a goat! JK – it just tried to get the map that was in my pocket (the CM told us to put away all the paper, but I forgot I had the map in my coat pocket). This place is cute, but for the love of pete, it wasted soooo much of our morning! Oh well, live and learn! For any of you reading if you are new to Disney, this trip pretty much sums up how “NOT” to “TOUR” the parks!

Great view of the "brotherly love" haircut in this one - you can really see how he layered it and texturized it - he just really made it oh so beautiful!

We went back and rode the Safari with our FP and it was fantastic!

That's my niece and brother-in-law with my other niece and mom in the background. I was supposed to video and we were sitting in the back, so yep that video turned out GREAT - NOT!!!

My DD (1 at the time) rode the whole time in the backpack on the floor of the jeep! We were holding on to the backpack of course, but she was actually safer in there as she was strapped in! I can't imagine how it would have gone had I tried to actually hold her! Thrown to the alligators, I'm sure! Anyway, she loved it from in there!

After the safari, we walked through the Pangani and made our way over to Dinoland – bypassing Asia, but I don’t know why!

See no evil, hear no, ... well you get it!

We grabbed a chocolate covered banana (loved it!) and a few of us went to get in the line for Dinosaur while the rest stayed and rode Triceratop and a few rode Primeval. (I think that's how it went- I was on Dinosaur so I'm not sure)

We met back and headed over to the Rainforest Café for our ADR at (I think) around 4! I'm not sure of the time exactly, but I remember fighting the parade from Dinoland to get over there!

The kids had a blast in the giftshop – stuffed themselves into the photo booth to try and get some pics – and they loved the restaurant.

I love the 3rd one down since they are all (sort of) in it!

All the kids got drinks with the light-up cups and it was my sister’s birthday, so we had them bring out the Chocolate Volcano (I think that’s what it’s called anyway) and they all enjoyed seeing her embarrassment. What I've read about thie time spent in here is right on the money - I think we were there 2 1/2 hours or something! Yikes! No matter - we didn't have any plans afterwards, but just thought I would mention it if anyone was interested!

We left and got a few pics outside with the frog and then left AK and headed back to the house.

Top: “Pop-Pop” and the frog, Bottom: son, husband, niece, niece, niece, “Grandmommy”(holding the photo booth pics!), sickly daughter (stroller). She only got sick that morning, then was fine for the rest of AK! Go figure!

Up next, Day 3... a date with the Turtle and ANOTHER wardrobe change....

 

[mrsksomeday]

YAY!! I love old trip reports included with pre-trippies!! So sorry the little ones were getting sick, that is never a good thing. I understand being in denial about the stomach bug, who wants to admit that on a vacation ?

Can't wait to read more.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

So I really need to finish this bonus "old" trip report so I can get on to dealing with all my borderline-OCD issues with planning this upcoming trip. Coming on here is like therapy - it makes me feel like I'm not alone with all my compulsive planning! I just can't stop myself and I know you can all relate!

I totally agree! What did we all do before DIS?

We grabbed a chocolate covered banana (loved it!) and a few of us went to get in the line for Dinosaur while the rest stayed and rode Triceratop and a few rode Primeval. (I think that's how it went- I was on Dinosaur so I'm not sure)

Where did you find the chocolate covered bananas? That is one of my favorite "fair foods". I've never noticed them before at AK.


Love the bonus trip report! Great picture from the picture machine - looks like everyone was having a lot of fun. Looking forward to more.

 

[Poohtigeey]

More, more, more! I love your "old" trip report. I'm ready to hear your "issues" for this trip! We've all got em! Oh, thanks for the reminder. I have a new issue I need to work out! Off to post on my report!

 

[mom2mek]

Where did you find the chocolate covered bananas? That is one of my favorite "fair foods". I've never noticed them before at AK.

I'm not sure- some food cart between Asia and Dinoland - almost been two years so I'm really not positive.

YAY!! I love old trip reports included with pre-trippies!! So sorry the little ones were getting sick, that is never a good thing. I understand being in denial about the stomach bug, who wants to admit that on a vacation ?

Oh, we were in complete denial - no doubt about that!

More, more, more! I love your "old" trip report. I'm ready to hear your "issues" for this trip! We've all got em! Oh, thanks for the reminder. I have a new issue I need to work out! Off to post on my report!

Ok, Ok, if you so desire. I will try to put these three kiddos to bed in a minute (hubby went to some kind of boxing match tonight), ugh! Doesn't he know how important my DISing is to my sanity? Oh well, later - promise.




A little sidenote, I just have to say this and this and this and finally, this and I will tell you why:

because today I got my daughter's tickets in the mail today (sorry I don't have a picture to post of them yet, don't worry I will), My son, hubby, and myself all got 10 day Non-expiring tickets last time so we could stagger the purchases each time! So getting the ones for the girls were the only ones we were waiting on! And my kid's rubber bracelets came in from www.shanrene.com with our cell phone #s on them, just in case. Don't know where I read about those (I think on TGM), but they came fast and are so affordable - I already feel better having them since we will be there at an extra crowded time! They say IF LOST CALL MOM ******* and IF LOST CALL DAD ******* on either side.

Also, my little (just turned) 3 year old is having her party tomorrow - Mickey Mouse - (Just subtle brainwashing by Mommy) and she also wants to be Mickey for Halloween, so yay! Just thought I'd share some excitement because you guys "get" it!

I'm going to try and knock this trip report within a pre-trip report out this weekend, so I can share all my important details of the upcoming trip! Need help with some things!

Thanks for reading!

Sara

 

[Poohtigeey]

I have another for you! Look at your ticker! Next week you will be counting down the DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Yay for the tickets! Isn't it silly how these little things get us so excited!

The Mickey party and halloween costume sound great - never too early to start the brain washing!

 

[KimmyDisneyNerd]

The nerve of your husband going out!

 

[mom2mek]

Ok, the little monkeys are zonked out now, so back to DIS-ing. Should have the next day up in a little while. Then I need to go check up on some of you guys' reports.

 

[KimmyDisneyNerd]

Ok, the little monkeys are zonked out now, so back to DIS-ing. Should have the next day up in a little while. Then I need to go check up on some of you guys' reports.

Yeah! Looking forward to it.

 

[mom2mek]

So now on with the show:

Day 3 of the "Disney Disease" trip (or "Disney Disaster trip") Both names fit the bill:

Epcot! We arrived and the guys went off to get FP for Mission Space(Test Track was closed while we were there – bummer! Never had been on that). We took a few pics by the ball and then wandered around to Ellen’s Energy Adventure and then met the guys back at the Land for Soarin.

We rode Soarin’ with our FP (I don’t remember what we did in between getting the FP and riding, but oh well). That's what you do - get a FP and then do nothing until it's time to go use it! Doh!

The kids who rode it were my nieces and my son along with me, my husband, step-dad, and brother-in-law. We loved the ride and can’t wait to see it again!
After Soarin, the guys went to ride MS and we had lunch at Sunshine with the kids – loved it, by the way – then the kids did the Nestle Jr. Chef program which was very cute and yummy, and free (well Nestle not Sunshine)

We loved the choices at Sunshine!

I just love this one! I love how they are all looking at what my niece (2nd from right) has in her hand, and she looks so much like she is trying to explain it!

And now, let's pray! I don’t know what they were doing, but it looks like they are blessing the cookies!

My two little chefs!

After getting a drink and popsicle we headed over to the Seas.

The Nemo ride was still under construction, but we saw Turtle Talk with Crush which was so good. Unfortunately, this is where our uninvited guest made its next appearance! Yep, you guessed it, my daughter threw up right at the end of Turtle Talk!

As Crush would say, “Dude, that is sooo toooottttaaallllyy NOT awesome!"
Or as Mommy wanted to say followed by bleep, bleep, bleep and


We were having such a good time and right at the end of the show, my oldest niece came up to my sister and said “she just got sick”. We scrambled around for more Ziploc bags (we became very aquainted with these bags during this trip) and draped my niece’s coat over it so no one would step on it (the kids were all on the floor).

Yuck, sorry, sacrifices had to be made! I’m pretty sure we incinerated that jacket later!

Luckily, it was just right where our own group of kids were, and no one else seemed to even notice! After the show was over, the CM came over and helped – we felt terrible. And my poor daughter! She had been fine for more than 32 hours! And then WHAM! It totally knocked her off her feet!

I think I am past my limit of images in this post, so stay tuned I will continue it in the next one!

 

[mom2mek]

We changed her clothes, and we headed over to the Character Connection where we got pics with Mickey, Minnie, and Donald, and a surprise guest Rafiki on our way out. DD stayed in the stroller but did get in a few of the pics.

If you are wondering why we didn’t just leave and go back to the house, well, I’ll tell you. The guys were scheduled to do Dive Quest and we were scheduled to watch them from the Coral Reef with our ADR – we didn’t want to miss that and of course my daughter said she felt fine and didn’t want to leave! Bad mommy moment here – should have left, but oh well, live and learn.

We head back towards the Seas and the kids, my mom, and my sister went into the gift shop while I waited outside with the sickling! They returned and we all ventured into the Coral Reef for dinner. The kids did not know that their Daddies and Pop-Pop would be in the tank, so it was hilarious when they swam by and we casually mentioned that “that diver looks a little like Pop-Pop”. They all jumped up and waved and tried talking to the guys through the glass. My son kept telling his Dad to “go up, Daddy” because he knew there were sharks in there! It was so funny! The pictures didn’t come out too well, due to the low light in the Coral Reef, but the guys bought the dive video and you can see the kids through the glass from the diver’s point of view, waving and talking to the guys! It’s very neat! If you are a certified diver, I would highly recommend doing this. My husband and step-dad have been on numerous dives and said this one was amazing – so much marine lift in one place! It could take years of diving before you see that many things – and very rarely all in one dive!

That's my husband on the left, my step-dad in the middle, and my brother-in-law on the right. Yes, my son was on the table before he was quickly ushered down by Momma! You can see in the next pic how he has moved over and the table has been cleaned, so no worries.

I do wish I could have enjoyed it more, however, I was on pins and needles the whole time because I didn’t want my little girl to get sick in the restaurant where people were trying to eat, for pete’s sake! Every time she moved an inch, I was right there whispering to her, “Are you OK?” “Do we need to go to the restroom? Do we need to go outside?” I was a nervous wreck! I felt like I couldn’t move! I was paralyzed with fear and I was starting to feel bad myself but it was just nerves I think. Luckily we made it through dinner with no further sickness and the guys loved, loved, loved Dive Quest (they have it scheduled again for this upcoming trip!). These are really bad pictures, but just to let you know what the kids looked like at our table, here are a few:

The not sick crowd!

And the other side! Appropriate color she has on, don't you think?

My husband says she looks like Darth Sidius:

with the bags under her eyes - nice Mommy moment here taking her picture and all!

So we left the Coral Reef (with no incidences I might add, Whew!) and took a few pics of the non-sick ones to prove they were still having a good time:

Then they left to go back to the gift shop (seems one of the girls lost her new Nemo toy phone and of course Grandmommy said she would get her another one!)

While waiting for them to get back, DD lost it right there in the bushes. I felt like

Luckily the park was pretty dead, and I don't think anyone was around us, but if they were, SORRY! Hope you weren't also in Turtle Talk a couple of hours ago!

After the guys emerged, all giddy with excitement over their dive, we decided we really should go home! Duh!

A funny thing, though, as we were hightailing it out of there before another visit from our uninvited guest, a Photopass CM asked if we wanted to take our picture in front of Spaceship Earth. He got us all posed and as we was backing up to take the pic, I heard the “cough” again!

“Quick, guy, hurry!”

Snap goes the picture and Splash! – literally right after he snapped the picture, she lost it again! Poor baby!

You can see her pitiful little self on the far right of this picture! Oh good times! Good times!

On a side note, this was the ONLY picture we got the whole week with everyone in it!

Up next – Stupidity must be a side effect of dealing with sick children…



Sara

 

[mrsksomeday]

Aww you poor little baby. Getting sick at Disney World is just NOT fair. The Dive Quest thing looked really fun. It was great you didn't tell the kids beforehand.

Great report!!

 

[Poohtigeey]

First of all, you're a great mommy! I would have stayed too because 1 puke does not make a sick child. My rule is 2 pukes, then you're sick. Unless it's accompanied by other symptoms... Hunter threw up at Rainforest Cafe in Niagra Falls, but I think he was choking a little. We're not sure, we were looking at the animals! Talk about a bad mommy! He was fine the rest of the trip!

Also, this is so funny because you keep calling it the disaster trip, but every picture is fabulous, and the kids look like they are having a great time! Won't they be worshiping you after this trip when they see what even more fun they have w/ all of your planning!!!!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Poor baby! How awful to be sick at Disney. It looks like the other kids still had a great time though. I hope everyone else doesn't get it....

We were on a trip for a family wedding once and everyone but one or two of us got food poisoning from the hotel we all stayed at. My sister missed the wedding and the rest of us got it that night. The bride and groom even had it on the way to their honeymoon - yuck!

 

[Poohtigeey]

Poor baby! How awful to be sick at Disney. It looks like the other kids still had a great time though. I hope everyone else doesn't get it....

We were on a trip for a family wedding once and everyone but one or two of us got food poisoning from the hotel we all stayed at. My sister missed the wedding and the rest of us got it that night. The bride and groom even had it on the way to their honeymoon - yuck!

I hope they got a refund!!!

 

[mom2mek]

First of all, you're a great mommy! I would have stayed too because 1 puke does not make a sick child. My rule is 2 pukes, then you're sick. Unless it's accompanied by other symptoms... Hunter threw up at Rainforest Cafe in Niagra Falls, but I think he was choking a little. We're not sure, we were looking at the animals! Talk about a bad mommy! He was fine the rest of the trip!

Also, this is so funny because you keep calling it the disaster trip, but every picture is fabulous, and the kids look like they are having a great time! Won't they be worshiping you after this trip when they see what even more fun they have w/ all of your planning!!!!

Well, that's nice; however by the time we had left she had puked 3 times! I guess the last two were close together and we were on our way out for both of them. She was also the one who got sick the day before at AK though! We just tried to carry on - didn't want to ruin it for everyone else! You know how kids are, the minute after they get sick, they're up and running again and feel fine - until the next wave hits that is!

Poor baby! How awful to be sick at Disney. It looks like the other kids still had a great time though. I hope everyone else doesn't get it....

Well, it's not over yet. Stay tuned for the total tally...

 

[mom2mek]

Day 4 – Pool and Downtown Disney:

Ok, so how dumb are we? This day was planned to be our down day – off park! But did we think that anyone else MIGHT get sick on this trip, and that MAYBE we should go to a park this day since everyone is feeling fine? NOOOOO! We stuck with the scheduled down day! How stupid are we? (Don't answer that!)

We ended up all being fine that day and we could have spent it back at the MK riding all the things we “skipped” the 1st day ! Oh, well, hindsight is 20/20! Anyways, on to the day’s description.

We got up, had breakfast, and decided to try out the private pool at our villa!

The kids loved the pool and the guys loved the hot tub! They swam for a while and tried to warm up! Even though the pool was heated, I just don’t think it could keep up with the cold temps we were experiencing in sunny Florida that week! (that guy is supposed to look cold!)

The pool was definitely too cold for any of us women to get in, but the guys braved it for the sake of the kids (plus hopped in the hot tub often enough to stay warm)!

Yep! Even little sickly duckling got in! No worries - she was fine this day!

She was really too cold and didn't stay in too long. You can't see her teeth chattering, but they were! Due to her CF, she really isn't supposed to get in the hot tub, but I think she jumped in there at one point to warm up and then got out pretty quick.

Pretty much where the guys wanted to be!


Hey at least they were in and watching the kids - me, my mom, and my sis couldn't even bear to get in the hot tub! Cold water weenies? Why, yes we are! It needs to feel like bath water for us! Bathing suit weenies? Why yes we are! I need to feel two sizes smaller for that!

Then we got dressed and drove to Downtown Disney for lunch and some shopping!

We ate at Planet Hollywood – a bit disappointing but overall it was ok – and then walked over to the Lego Store and the World of Disney.

We bought a few things and then hit Ghiradelli’s for ice cream! The kids at some point also got giant lollipops! Great idea for children who might be acquiring a stomach virus at any time! Fill em up with chocolate, lollipops, and ice cream – sounds great! Again, brains not working! (No smilie for kicking ourselves but I'll try this one )

Overall, and maybe this was just our “sickness,” we didn’t care too much for Downtown Disney and don’t have plans to go back on this trip. I know my son would probably love Disney Quest, so I’m sure we will be back on a later trip, just not planning to this go-around!

Well, we got through this entire day with no sickness! And I only say this because “technically” my DD didn’t get sick again until 5:00 in the AM of the NEXT day!

Yes, once again, my 2 year old daughter was the one battling this thing! She got sick around 5 AM of Day 5 – great wake-up call, I might add!
She stayed at the house that morning with her Daddy (used our brains finally) while the rest of us went to…. MGM!

Up next, day 5 – MGM – who will get bit by the bug next, and what will my mystery phone call from home reveal?



Sara

 

[Poohtigeey]

I hate cliffhangers! But I kinda love em too! What hapened next?!

 

[KimmyDisneyNerd]

hmmmm
Can't wait to hear