Our Trip is Done, But the Trip Report is Just Beginning! *Update 6/10 or 6/11?*

[tlenzendorf]

We decided about this time that we were hungry, so we decided along with all the other masses that since it was lunch time and it was raining(again), we would head to Pizza Planet for lunch.

I know that a lot of people complain about the pizza at WDW, but I really like it. I don't know if its cause I just love pizza or what, but we thought it was good DH and DD10 were left to get the food while DD9, DD5 and I went a search for a table. Good thing it took them a long time to get the food, it took us a long time to get a table. We ended up eating outside, but the umbrellas over the table actually kept us dry.

After we were done eating it stopped raining(for a bit), so we walked by ? Streets of America? Not sure if thats what this is called.

Like the shirts? A last minute purchase at Walmart before we left. $3 each, can't beat that!

From here we decided to go see the Indiana Jones stunt show. The show was closed, we didn't know at the time that one of the CMs had been killed the day before or that day. Our thoughts are with their family.

After wandering around seeing sights we decided since it was 3, we'd get ready for the 3:00 parade. What you say? The 3:00 parade ISN'T the 3:30 parade?? Oh crap! We got bad views for this parade, but we watched anyhow.

It was getting close to time for DD10 and I to ride ToT and RnR. DH took DD9 and DD5 to see the beauty and the beast show. We had a few minutes, so DD and I wandered slowly down to the area. We found these super funny characters:

Then the darn rain started again so they had to go. Never did get to see them again, it kept raining

We headed back to ToT first.

Don't let Flat Mickey fool you with his smile, he screamed like a girl the whole time! The CM didn't want to let him on the ride he was so loud, but I put my finger on his mouth to make him be quiet. He didn't like it when he levitated on the ride a bit when I accidentally let go of him. Whoops!

After that it was off to RnR. Flat Mickey tried to hide the FPs behind his back, he didn't want to go after ToT. I told him if he didn't behave I'd put him in my back pocket and sit on him. He went on quietly, but he didn't talk to me much after that

HS cont'd next post...

 

[tlenzendorf]

After we came out of RnR guess what? Raining again! DD10 and I checked out some shops while waiting for DH and the other 2 DDs to be done with Beauty and the Beast. We met up and put on the ponchos. DH would not let me take a photo of him in his. Can you say Fat Man in a Little Coat??

We decided that we would do some shopping since it was raining so much. We just shopped until it was time for our 50s PT Cafe ressies. I have to say, this was one of my favorite meals!

Look who we ran into while we waited! These 2 were hilarious. They had everyone in stitches while waiting.

Our interaction with Cousin Jennifer was great.

I maaaay have instigated some trouble...

DH tried to tell on me which is why he got a hat, too.

Everyone agreed the food was very good.
DHs fried chicken:

My pot roast:

DDs adult mac and cheese with fries:

DDs kids chicken nuggets with fries:

Onto the good stuff!!

Ohhh, Mariah, you didn't finish your food? Well you don't get your dessert til you take a few more bites...

And then it happened. I had misbehaved a little tooo much Cousin Jennifer, much to my children's delight, sent me to the corner!

Overall, we thought this was a fantastic dinner. The kids were well entertained by all the antics and banter the CMs provided, the food was good and we enjoyed the atmosphere.

After dinner, we just walked around the park a bit since we had some time before the second showing of F! We went to see if Backlot Tours was open, but it wasn't. We rode Star Tours. DD5 didn't really like it and I was feeling a little nauseous after that. We were going to do The Great Movie Ride, but the line outside didn't move AT ALL. We went to get in line for F!

I love this show. I used the Gorillapod to get good photos, they turned out good for the most part. A few of my favorite pics:

After F! we decided to see how the line looked for TSM one last time. Now here is where we made our mistake. The sign SAID 120 minutes, CMs were saying, yes, that is really the time... HOWEVER, there was no outside line and for the little bit you can see inside we couldn't see anyone. We SHOULD have gotten in line, thinking back there was NO WAY the wait could have been that long. But after days of GO GO GO, we decided to head back to the FT. Everyone was tired and we were all looking forward to a relaxing off day the next day.

Up next, a "relaxing" day.

 

[shellynn24]

I am enjoying your TR, I have lol'd a couple times. Looking forward to more.

 

[tlenzendorf]

I am enjoying your TR, I have lol'd a couple times. Looking forward to more.

Thanks for reading Glad you tuned in!

 

[tlenzendorf]

We woke up pretty late on Wednesday morning, considering what time we'd been getting up. Since we had a car DH had gone to Walmart and we had cereal bars for breakfast. Everyone had the same idea in mind: head to the pool! Since it was halfway thru our trip, though, we had to get some clothes organized for some laundry I really didn't want to take sandy swimsuits and towels home in our luggage from our day at the beach.

After we got all the laundry loaded up in a suitcase, we headed to the laundry building by the pool. It was nice. There was a big table so after I was done washing and drying I could fold all the clothes quick. I put 2 loads in, I think it was $2 to wash and $2 to dry. Then we headed to the pool!

Some photos of the Ft.

The sign we had in our window. Nobody stopped to say hi, though...

Just some shots

This next picture was almost impossible to get. I had spent the entire summer trying to get DD to go down the slide at our public pool at home. No way was she going down it. I had to trick her going down it here. I told her she had to come to the top to watch DD10. We stood in line and she stayed way back. I had DD10 in front, then me, then DD9. After DD10 went down, I got out of line, grabbed DD5 and tossed her down the slide After she got over being mad at me she said it was "ok". I told her if she tried it again I would get her a pin. So reluctantly she went up again and came down. I told her I didn't get a picture she came down so fast so to do it just one more time... after that I couldn't get her off it!

DD on the slide

It was hot and we were getting a little hungry, so we decided to have a snack

Older DDs

Younger DD before:

Younger DD after:

We had to take her AND the chair over to the shower area.

The splash area

 

[tlenzendorf]

We finished up swimming and laundry and headed back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. We were taking the boat over to the Wilderness Lodge to eat at Whispering Canyon Cafe.

View from the boat

On the walkway from the boat to the lodge:

The restaurant

Forced smiles from the older DDs since they were being forced to do the pony race

Kids skillet

Serving from the adult skillet

Packaged up chocolate cake:

We waited for the geyser to go off but it didn't. Since it was raining on and off we didn't want to stand outside too long. We didn't know how long in between it goes off. Since we were too full from dinner we had our desserts in a paper bag and paper and water from the rain don't mix well... Plus we had smores to be made at Chip and Dale's Campfire!

Flat Mickey can be such a pansy sometimes!

We got back to the cabin and relaxed a bit before gathering up a towel to wipe the seat and the smore stuff at the campfire.

Doing the hokey pokey!

After that was over we weren't quite sure what to do. In retrospect we should have gone to bed. Instead we decided to head to the Boardwalk. Big mistake! We asked one of the bus drivers how to get there the fastest since DHS and Epcot were closing. He suggested take the DTD bus and then get on the resort bus. Yikes, we didn't know that Boardwalk shares stops with Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club and Beach Club and was the LAST STOP. It took us over an hour from the time we left the Ft. on the bus to the time it took to get to the Boardwalk. Then we had to take that horrible bus ride back. Since it was kind of late there really wasn't a ton to see. We were kind of irritated, too, since we could have gone to Epcot and walked thru the IG since we could see Illuminations going off when we were walking around.

These guys were everywhere on the sidewalk at the Boardwalk!

After that we headed back on the bus to DTD. Our heads hit the pillows and we were out. Dreaming of Epcot the next day.

 

[ceasarbarb]

Fantastic report, can't wait for the next installment. Really enjoy the "flat Mickey" updates, my wife does the same with a small stuffed Disney character, she even has the Photopass folks take pictures with just the stuffed character.

 

[Dizneydawn]

Love all the pics! You make me want to stay in a cabin!

 

[tlenzendorf]

Fantastic report, can't wait for the next installment. Really enjoy the "flat Mickey" updates, my wife does the same with a small stuffed Disney character, she even has the Photopass folks take pictures with just the stuffed character.

Thanks for reading! Since I am one who is more for the commercials than watching the game, a report addition(or 2), will be coming tonight!

Love all the pics! You make me want to stay in a cabin!

A cabin was wonderful for having the 2 rooms and the extra space. One thing we decided for our 2011 with the kids trip is that we would like to have 2 bathrooms. So when just DH and I leave in 26 days now we are going to go resort hopping and see what we come up with. I would love to stay at BLT, but I think its just going to cost too much. We are thinking 2(hopefully connecting) rooms at CSR or CBR, but we'll see after we do some touring. Our thoughts are if we can get connecting rooms is DDs in one room, us in the other with the connecting doors open at all times so we can keep an eye on them(minus while changing and showering of course). That trip they well be 12, 11 and 7, so not too worried about them being teenagers trying to sneak out. Plus they'll still be worried about their actions being punished by the end of their lives Instead of just giving us the old "whatever"

 

[tlenzendorf]

DH and I woke up bright and early Thursday morning to the noise of the bus hydraulics and beeping right outside our bedroom window. It was the first morning I noticed what it was that kept waking me up early. We live on the corner of a busy street and a very quiet street, our bedroom window is on the busy street side. Buses drive by all the time, but they don't stop RIGHT outside our window and beep. I have to say, I loved the location of our cabin in regards to other things, but I hate how close the bus stop was. The road was behind our cabin along with bus stops on either side of the road.

After waking up, DH and I each got dressed and went out to wake up the monsters. We'd been running them pretty ragged since this was supposed to be our last trip for awhile to Disney. We really should've just skipped the Boardwalk the night before after the singalong, but oh well.

The girls were tired, but after we got out on the golf cart and got rolling they were ready and excited to see Epcot.

When we first got there we went to the Soarin' building and DH went in for FPs, then we headed over to TT and got in the standby line. It was pretty long already, I think 30 minutes was the posted wait time, it was more like 40. Man does the noise in there get annoying after awhile! This was one of the rides that I told DD5 we were not going to ride and would just walk out the car and wait on the outside for everybody else. We got in the car, me first, then DD5 and DD10. I sat down, strapped us in and the car got moving before DD5 knew what was happening. She liked the inside stuff, not so much the outside trip around the building. We asked her if she wanted to go again, NO WAY was her answer!

We then headed back towards Innovations to get our Kimpossible time and then headed into Sunshine Seasons for some lunch. Let me tell you. This place is NUTS when its lunchtime. Moreso I think than other CS places. We went in, got our food and went in search of a table. There were people EVERYWHERE holding spots, I would say the percentage of people waiting to eat and the people actually eating were 50/50. We split up to find spots, me and my 2 DDs and DH and his DD and ended up eating in those groups. I didn't take pics of our sandwiches, I had the ham, DD10 had the turkey. I can't remember what DD5 had? The sandwiches were very good. But I did remember to take pics of the important stuff.... Dessert!!

Strawberry Shortcake

Chocolate Cake

We ate our food, hit the restroom and then it was time for our Soarin' FPs!

 

[tlenzendorf]

Anybody else watch/watching the game? The commercials are just kinda meh... I miss Pepsi commercials, they were some of the best ones.

Crazy game, I'm glad to see the Saints win. Give the people of New Orleans something after all their struggles.

 

[tlenzendorf]

As I'm sitting here watching CNN waiting to see if the tsunami hits Hawaii its probably good time to work on an update. Coming soon...

 

[tlenzendorf]

After we ate we took a quick trip to the restroom and then put on our Pilot's Caps for Soarin'! I have to say, what an awesome ride!

Since it was pretty hot out we decided to go spend some time with Nemo.

The ride was cute enough. I would really like to see the Nemo Submarine ride in DL, but that will have to wait for a few years.

DDs had a great time checking out everything in the aquarium. They are all really into marine biology. Some photos from the aquarium...

The girls had to get their pics taken while being eaten by Bruce.

Here is the saddest photo(other than our photo from the plane ride home). This unfortunately is the last photo we have of Flat Mickey

There are conflicting stories about what happened to Flat Mickey. DD11 said she gave him back to me. I don't remember specifically getting him back. DD9 says DD11 gave him to her for a quick photo and then she gave them back to DD11. DD5 just smiles and waves boys, smiles and waves.

Here he is, may he RIP

I could have gotten him back and put him back in his place in the backpack and he could have fallen out. Its hard to say.

We then went to see Crush Talk or whatever the heck its called.

Crush in his bathing suit

Poor Doree getting smooshed doing whale talk

Then it was question and answer time with Crush. DD5 has a problem, she is a huge follower. If you walk off a cliff she will follow you right off unknowingly... So Crush asked if anyone has any questions for him. Of course since everyone else is raising their hands and waving them wildly she has to also.... I'm sitting in the back thinking to myself "Don't call on her, Don't call on her, pleeeeaaaase don't call on her." Crush-"Yes, little dudette in the front with the blue princess tshirt, pony tail and pink and orange sunglasses on her head?" Doh!

DD5-"Umm hi"

Crush-"Do you have a question for me?"

DD5-"No"

Me-"How did I know that was going to happen??"

DH and ENTIRE AUDIENCE-Laughing.
After Q and A with Crush was over I embarassingly collected my children and we headed out.

Not realizing Flat Mickey was gone yet we headed over to watch HISTA. Last time I was at WDW DD11 was 4 and TERRIFIED of snakes. We got about one or two minutes in and then we had to leave cause she was freaking out. Having DD5 this time who freaked out after ITTBAB I was wondering if I was going to be able to see HISTA this time. She ended up taking off her glasses and not watching, but she was ok to stay in the theater.

After HISTA we went out to play in the fountains a bit. DDs got DRENCHED. Not a big deal since it was hot, hot, hot out. They dried extremely fast. I'm sure every parent there was thrilled that I showed them how to block the fountain that way, haha! No one else did it until I showed the DDs how to get splashed

I then remembered that we were pretty close to Club Cool The kids were saying they were thirsty and DH wanted a drink so I said I had something really good for them to try BEVERLY!

That was pretty hilarious! You would have thought I betrayed them and stole their best friends with the looks they gave me. No one except DD5 wanted to try it again. She is so weird, I have no idea where she gets that from

 

[tlenzendorf]

It was time for our Kimpossible Missions, so we headed over to the World Showcase. It was a REALLY hot day in August, so we didn't get to spend as much time exploring as I wanted to since it was so warm.

Here are a few pictures from the China pavilion.

After DD9 was done with her mission in China the girls decided they wanted fans, so they bought them and we got a move on over to Germany for DD11 to do her mission. On the way we got pretty warm, so we stopped to get some of the slushies from the Outpost. Since so many people were getting them the machine was having a hard time keeping up. I did not think these were very good. DH and DD9 got a Coke one and DDs 11 and 5 and I got a lemonade and strawberry mixer. I loved the lemonade raspberry slushies from over by the teacups in the MK, so I was really disappointed by these.

Chilling out

DH

The three amigas

We continued on over to Germany for DD11 to do her mission. That one was pretty cool with the singing steins. For some reason the only photo I took was some lizards that DDs asked what they were doing

I said they must be giving each other piggy backs Silly, amorous lizards!

We just wondered a little bit more thru the world showcase, we only made it as far as in front of France. For our trip coming up in a few days I have more time planned for Epcot, so I'm really hoping to spend more time checking it out. DH got the Grey Goose slush and I went for the Grand Marnier slush

Delicious!

We went and got our spot for Illuminations that I was not positive was going to happen. There was a storm moving in and it was lightning in the distance Illuminations is I think my favorite nighttime show and since this was our only Epcot day I was starting to get nervous.

DD5 and I staked our spots on the small island between the UK and France. DH took DDs 11 and 9 to get CS dinner from the American pavilion. I was wondering what the heck happened to them, they were gone almost an hour! And DD5 had to pee! And it was lightning!

They showed up with the food with 10 minutes before Illuminations and I had to TRUCK with DD5 to find a bathroom. We ended up going into Chefs de France. Fancy Schmancy! We ran back to our spot and the 3 girls ate dinner while they watched. DH and I were going to grab something else, but there was no time for us to eat until after the show was over.

Illuminations!

I used my Gorillapod for the photos and it was awesome. I hooked it to the railing and it worked great. Highly recommended!

DH and I were starving, so we headed back to the Mexico pavilion for dinner. We both got nachos, sodas and he got a churro and I got those weird cookies. The nachos were really good. DHs churro was just ok and those cookies sure were interesting. No one thought they were really good, no one disliked them.

Nachos

We then started to head back to the front of the park. It was EMH until 1am and it was about 10:30pm, but we were beat. The heat of the day had wiped us out. We stopped to check out the fountain with its pretty colors and the twinkling sidewalks and then stopped in front of the giant ball. We hadn't ridden it, so we got on, it was a walk on.

Here I am! DD5 was in the cart with me, but she was too short for the camera

We had checked out the ride time board on our way and Mission Space only had a 5 minute wait, but we decided we were too tired. I have been to WDW 3 times now and still haven't ridden it! I am bound and determined I WILL ride MS during our upcoming trip.

We got on the bus, dropped people off first at WL and then headed to the fort. Everyone showered quick and fell asleep. We only had 2 days left and we wanted to sleep as good as possible so we could enjoy every minute in the MK!

 

[ceasarbarb]

Sorry to hear about Flat Mickey.
Great pictures of Illuminations, I'll have to remember that small island between UK and France.

 

[tlenzendorf]

Ok, I was going to work on my TR today, but for some reason photobucket is being dumb at my work. I'll have to do it tonight I guess. I would type it out now and add photos later, but I can't really remember what happened!

 

[tlenzendorf]

It was getting harder and harder for everybody to get out of bed. I had been pushing from close to park opening to close to park close everyday. Since we had 2 days left and they were both at the MK, we slept in a little bit later figuring we'd do rope drop the next day. We were just going to do whatever we felt like today without pushing the limit.

We drove down to the ferry dock on the golf cart missing Flat Mickey. Vacation just wasn't going to be the same without him. I think we got to the park about 10:00 and headed over to Mickey and Minnie's house.

The girls HAD to love up all the stuffed animals.

We then got them the My Little Pony fill em up boxes. If you are interested in this, its a box that as long as the top closes you can cram as much crap in it as possible and pay a flat price for. I believe the total came to just over $21 for the box. A couple of side notes: DTD Once Upon a Toy has a MUCH better selection of things to choose from. And ponys from Wal-Mart have different shaped feet so the shoes won't fit. I only got one pony each for Mariah and Ellie for their box figuring that we could just buy more ponys at home

After that I think we did Buzz a couple times. Its kind of hazy. We went to get seats for the 3:00 parade about 2:00. The sky wasn't looking very promising and about 5 minutes before it was supposed to start(what time is the 3:00 parade?), the skies opened up and let loose.

Patiently waiting before:

After

At least we had one day left to see the parade! Did we make it? Did it rain? You'll have to find out!

We then watched the castle show after they got the stage all dried up.

Then it was time for dinner... where did we go, what did we eat? Stay tuned!

 

[tlenzendorf]

We then headed over for our 6:05 ressie for CP. We waited over an hour to be seated! It had been raining on and off(mostly on)all afternoon. The patio was pretty full but as people were called back we all got to sit together eventually.

Here are a couple pics I took while waiting. I just love Mickey ear hats!

We had a good server. I don't remember his name. He was really attentive and we had a FP for any ride in the park waiting for us on our table for our long wait.

Some food pics!!

My dessert plate Yes, I ate it all...

Brent with his favorite

The girls

I don't remember where this was from or where they were going, but I thought it was cute

After we ate it was getting pretty close to Spectro. We tried to find a spot to no avail. It was at that time we heard the awesome announcement! There will be 2 showings of Spectro tonight! So we grabbed our FP and headed over to our favorite ride of the trip.

Any guesses? Here is a picture to give you a hint...

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

Jumping over as promissed. Now I'm going to go back and read....

Ok all caught up. I love all your photos. I hadn't seen the inside of the cabins, they look really cool!

Ready for more please!

 

[tlenzendorf]

Jumping over as promissed. Now I'm going to go back and read....

Ok all caught up. I love all your photos. I hadn't seen the inside of the cabins, they look really cool!

Ready for more please!

Thanks for reading! I'd kind of given up cause I didn't have any readers I left the laptop at home today so I will do an update tonight or tomorrow.