Our Trip to the Dark Side and Other Tales of Survival *The Future?*

I just filled out my application for the Disney Mom's Panel! Wish me luck:woohoo: Ok, so on with the Trip Report! We left off having lunch and needing a place to go for a bit before Lights, Motors Action starts. So I decided to take everybody over to the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set so the kids could play around for a bit. But before we went there I thought I would grab a few shots from the Streets of America.

How cute is this window!


Hey, Youse guys!


Good ol' San Fran


I have never been in this play set before because when I took EJ when he was a toddler it was closed for refurbishment. Also when I was there before I was a mom, I thought if I went in without a kid, I'd be kicked out!:lmao:


Here's the scary bee.


So we let the kids go so they could go goof off for a while...


...So we goofed off on our own.




Yep, just a couple of responsible adults


After about a half an hour, it was time to round everyone up and head over to LMA. We got in line and we soon corralled in with the rest of the folks who have been waiting in line. Because of my Dad's wheelchair, when we got close to the seating area, we were called over to the opposite end so that we could catch the elevator. We were trying to cross through a sea of people and it was becoming a difficult task of trying to excuse ourselves and head over to the elevator. So a helpful man from New York decided he would help us by doing it the only way a New Yorker can...by yelling at people!:rotfl2: He yelled, "AY,CAN'T YOU SEE THERE'S A GUY IN A WHEELCHAIR TRYIN TO GET BY! WHAT'S THE MATTA WITH YOU PEOPLE!!" Suddenly it got quiet and people stopped so we were able to walk to the other side. Thank you so much, sir, who ever you are! :worship:

So we took the elevator and sat in our designated handicap seating area and were ready to enjoy our show! EJ's favorite part was when Lightening McQueen came out.


Also when the fire part was pretty cool too.


We all thought the show was pretty good. By the time it was over our FP for Toy Story Mania were ready. Everyone took a bathroom break and made our way over there. Me and Tom and the kids went on while my parents wanted to check out One Man's Dream so we would meet up afterwards.
So we got on TSM, which everybody loved! It's just amazes me how this ride works. The boys ended up winning and Trinity beat me so I got last place:sad1: Here was me and Trinity's score.


By the time we got out, it was storming pretty bad. So we threw on our ponchos. There was lightning and everything so we made our way quickly over to One Man's Dream to get find Mom and Dad. We went over and they were right at the entrance with a bunch of other people that we waiting for the rain to stop. We waited a while and then my dad wanted to know if there was some place else we could go because the entrance was getting crowded. The only thing I could think of was the Animation building. So we braved the rain again and made it over there.
We played around with the What Character are you game and watched people taking pictures with Wreck-it-Ralph. I wanted to do the animation class but I wasn't sure we were going to have enough time. Tom, the kids and I had a dinner reservation and my parent's wanted to go back and watch the movie at One Man's Dream. So we headed our separate ways with plans to meet back for Fantasmic. So where did we go for dinner? You'll find out in the next chapter!​
 
It was almost dinner time and my parent's went to go back to One Man's Dream and then meet us at Fantasmic so that we could go do thrill rides after dinner. We piddled around in some of the shops for a while, grabbed a FP for Rock N Roller Coaster then headed on to our reservation. So where are we eating? Do you know yet?


How bout now?


Yep, we are eating at 50's Prime Time Cafe!


I have eaten here as an adult and wondered if the kids might like it too. When I was there last there were adults getting sent to the corner, I was reprimanded for not finishing my green beans! So I thought it might be funny if the kids saw the adults getting into trouble. The only problem was we got seated in a room almost by our selves. Their was one other table at the other end of the room and they were getting ready to leave as we were ordering. We only had Gertie staring at us.


So it was a pretty tame meal, even Tom behaved! But the food was delicious, so no complaints! Tom got the fried chicken, I had the chicken caesar salad and the kids got what else but mac N cheese. Every ate their food even BOTH kids so we got dessert. The kids go their make their own sundae that came with their meal. I got a root beer float and Tom got the Boston Creme Partfait. (Which was delicious!) Every gave it a thumbs up and now we were ready to hit some rides before Fantasmic!

After our meal, I got a call from my mom saying they didn't think they were going to make it to fireworks and were heading home. My Dad making it past 5 which was amazing. He usually only makes it to about 3 before his pain gets to bad and then Mom comes back for fireworks. But they were both tired and ready to relax for the rest of the night. I was just glad they left on a good note and had a great day!

Our FP wasn't until after 10pm so we thought we'd wait in line for TOT and let our tummies settle. That sounds like a good plan, right! We were ready to stand in line for 30 min as posted. Soon after a lady was walking past the line and said "Anybody have 3 in their party?" I raised my hand and she asked if I wanted some Fastpasses. I was like "Sure!" She said they were going to be up in 5 min and they weren't going to have time to use them. So with a split hesitation, I grabbed them and hoped that nobody loses their dinner! Gotta love that Disney Magic!

Now for a little backstory on TOT. I have never ridden it as many times as I have been to DHS. I chicken out everytime! I have even gone as far as all the way through the line and then took the "chicken elevator." As I told this story to the kids, it was hilarious to them and they didn't believe me. What made me change my mind on this trip? 1-getting to ride with EJ and Trinity and it all be our first times would be priceless and 2-I tried a new motion-sickness pill that so far had worked miracles for me. If I could ride Transformers without throwing up afterwards then I could handle this. So what do you think? Do you think we all enjoyed it?!(we're in the middle left)


I can't believe I waited so long to do it! I had so much fun, I was just laughing the whole time! I liked it so much I grabbed a FP to go a second round before RNR. After that thrill, it we had about an hour to kill before heading over to the theater to get a good seat. So we shopped for souvenirs and got snacks to enjoy before the show.

Trinity got a chocolate Mickey cup, EJ got chocolate covered marshmallows with sprinkles.


and I got this! Love rice krispy Mickeys!


For souvenirs, Trinity got this hat which I think looks adorable on her :goodvibes


And EJ picked up a stuffed Donald, who by the way is his New favorite character now. Although he still loves Goofy.


So we enjoyed our snacks and soon it got dark and time for the show!!popcorn::


Now mind you, my camera is not the best at night shots, so these were the best I could do.


Mickey's about the slay the dragon!


Characters on a boat.




And the Fantasmic end!


After that we hit TOT one more time, then headed over to...


Which I did chicken out of. I have no idea why but it will be my new mountain to conquer next time! So I decided to snap some pictures and take a bathroom break while I waited.


I waited for a while in the gift shop and then I saw this picture pop up.


Trinity looks freaked out! :rotfl: I hope she survived! Well apparently she did and it is now her and EJ's most favorite ride EVER! After that the park was closing and we made our way out. Today was a great day for everyone and it was time to hit the sack because we had an important breakfast to attend!​
 
I just filled out my application for the Disney Mom's Panel! Wish me luck:woohoo:
Good luck pixiedust:

Love it :rotfl2:

"AY,CAN'T YOU SEE THERE'S A GUY IN A WHEELCHAIR TRYIN TO GET BY! WHAT'S THE MATTA WITH YOU PEOPLE!!"
That's one way to do it :thumbsup2

So it was a pretty tame meal, even Tom behaved! But the food was delicious, so no complaints! Tom got the fried chicken, I had the chicken caesar salad and the kids got what else but mac N cheese. Every ate their food even BOTH kids so we got dessert. The kids go their make their own sundae that came with their meal. I got a root beer float and Tom got the Boston Creme Partfait. (Which was delicious!) Every gave it a thumbs up and now we were ready to hit some rides before Fantasmic!
I'm not sure if it's because we're British but we don't really like the atmosphere at PT :confused3 Glad you had a yummy meal though!

I can't believe I waited so long to do it! I had so much fun, I was just laughing the whole time! I liked it so much I grabbed a FP to go a second round before RNR.
So pleased you loved it, it's one of my favourite rides, now if I could just get my youngest DD to ride it!!

For souvenirs, Trinity got this hat which I think looks adorable on her :goodvibes
She sure does :)
 
I love your picture of the travel agency window- we don't spend much time in the Streets of America and I don't think I have seen that before.

We have only been in the Honey I Shrunk the Playground once- man was it HOT!!! All of our trips with the kids have been in summer and it has not appealed to us, plus the kids are too big now.

Too funny about the guy who helped you get to the elevator!

If I had been here before you posted, I would have guessed 50's Prime Time for dinner. I swear!!! I can totally see your family there. Too bad you didn't have many antics.

Good for you for braving Tower of Terror! Glad you loved it.

What do you use for motion sickness. We don't need anything for Disney, but we take Bonine while we are Universal and that really helps to deal with all the simulator stuff there.

Trinity's hat is really cute. Is there any Disney stuff on it? It looks like there may be a Tinkerbell, but I can't tell for sure.

Good seats for Fantasmic!
 

Good luck pixiedust:

Love it :rotfl2:

That's one way to do it :thumbsup2

I'm not sure if it's because we're British but we don't really like the atmosphere at PT :confused3 Glad you had a yummy meal though!

So pleased you loved it, it's one of my favourite rides, now if I could just get my youngest DD to ride it!!

She sure does :)

Thanks! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I was trying to decided between PT and Sci-Fi but I think we made a good choice, just wish we would have been a room with a little more action!

Hopefully, your youngest will want to brave it next time:goodvibes

I love your picture of the travel agency window- we don't spend much time in the Streets of America and I don't think I have seen that before.

We have only been in the Honey I Shrunk the Playground once- man was it HOT!!! All of our trips with the kids have been in summer and it has not appealed to us, plus the kids are too big now.

Too funny about the guy who helped you get to the elevator!

If I had been here before you posted, I would have guessed 50's Prime Time for dinner. I swear!!! I can totally see your family there. Too bad you didn't have many antics.

Good for you for braving Tower of Terror! Glad you loved it.

What do you use for motion sickness. We don't need anything for Disney, but we take Bonine while we are Universal and that really helps to deal with all the simulator stuff there.

Trinity's hat is really cute. Is there any Disney stuff on it? It looks like there may be a Tinkerbell, but I can't tell for sure.

Good seats for Fantasmic!

Not sure if that window was new or not, it was the first time I have seen it also.

The playground was definitely crowded so there wasn't much room to hang out which is why we got stuck just sitting in front of a giant leaf. But the kids enjoyed it so that's all that mattered!

Suuuure, Dee! :rolleyes: I was actually debating between PT and Sci-Fi but went for the PT reservation. Everyone enjoyed their meals so it was a good decision:thumbsup2

I have always been prone to motion sickness. As a teenager, I had no shame, I would ride roller coasters anyway and just throw up in the nearest trash can and move along. When at Disney I was fine but got sick on a few of the Universal rides. After having EJ my motion-sickness got worse and I started feeling sick even on kiddie rides. So I started out with Dramamine which made me drowsy (even with non-drowsy) then tried sea-bands and then PSI bands which did not work. Finally tried out Bonine on this trip and was so excited that it actually worked and I was coherent the entire day!! That's why it's my miracle pill!

Trinity's hat has a lime colored Mickey on the one side and the rest is just plaid and flowers. Which is good because she can wear it other places without it being a Disney-only hat.
 
Hopefully, I'll have a new update for you all in a few days. I've been busy with some artwork I'm working on at home. So if anyone is curious about what some of my art looks like here are some of my personal work that I have submitted to the company I work for The World Art Group
Hope you like it! I'll be back with a new update soon!
 
Alright! I have all my artwork turned in and I helped a co-worker with some projects and decorations for her wedding, so I'm ready to continue my trip report. We last left off with us returning to our room, half-asleep from a full and fun day at Hollywood Studios. We only have three more days before our trip ends and I planned another low-key day. We only had two things planned for today. 1. a late character breakfast and 2. a visit from Tom's grandparents who live about two hours away from Orlando.
We had another beautiful morning in which, I was the only one up at the crack of dawn again, while everyone was sleeping in. So I ended up waking everyone up again so that they had time to get ready before we headed over to....


I chose Cape May Cafe because I wanted to try a new character breakfast experience. My go-to breakfast has always been Ohana's so I thought this might be a good one to go to because it had Goofy and Donald for EJ and Minnie for Trinity. Plus it didn't have the price tag that Chef Mickey's has. So we headed out to the Beach resort which was a 5 min drive from Bonnet Creek and waited in the lobby area until we were buzzed in. So we waited, and waited...


and waited. So I took a picture of some orchids...


Until we were FINALLY buzzed in! I'm not sure what the hold up was but we arrive 15min early and waited over 30min before getting seated! Once we were seated, we noticed that it was going to be a while before the characters got to us so it was time to fix plates and eat. Here is my only food pic from this whole trip!:rotfl2: Enjoy! Can't have a Disney breakfast without Mickey Waffles!


Tom really enjoyed the coffee and my Dad did his first photobomb!


We were mostly finished with our meals, when the characters made their rounds. Here comes Trinity's favorite Fab 5 character!




Next up was Goofy!




Then came Donald, who was so excited to see that EJ had a little Donald who he carried with him on the remainder of our trip.


Just look at the smile! Can't put a price tag on that!!


We had some really great interactions with Donald and all of the characters spent some quality time with us.


After the characters were gone, we decided to make some drawings to leave with them. (We are a bunch of artists anyway) Here is Tom's Thank You note.


Trinity's Mickey and Minne.


Here's EJ's Mickey hybrid and Oswald, along with his uneaten food because I couldn't get him to eat anything he was just too excited.


We had to leave pretty soon because we got in so late we had to rush out because Tom's grandparent's were going to be arriving at Bonnet Creek any minute. Sure enough as soon as we all got in the car, they called and were waiting out front of the check-in building. Here are the cutest grandparent's in the world! They're so tiny, I just want to put them in my pocket! Eeekk!


I don't have any more pictures from the rest of our day because it was spent just hanging out, talking and playing cards with the grandparent's. They took Tom and I out to Shoney's for dinner, while my parent's spent some time with the kids and took them to the pool. We were were going to have another full two days before we leave so more adventure to come!​
 
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Loved your update and not just because you made it to my BC!

That stinks that you waited so long to be seated for breakfast. But so worth it! You got some amazing pictures with the characters. I especially love the one with your parents with Goofy and the two kids with Donald.

The photobombed picture is hilarious!!!

It has been a few years since we have taken the boys to Cape May for breakfast, but I think this is my favorite character interaction. The beach attire is adorable and the food was really good.

Great pictures! You're not kidding about being artists. :worship:

Sounds like you had a wonderful visit with Tom's grandparents.

:goodvibes
 
Loved your update and not just because you made it to my BC!

That stinks that you waited so long to be seated for breakfast. But so worth it! You got some amazing pictures with the characters. I especially love the one with your parents with Goofy and the two kids with Donald.

The photobombed picture is hilarious!!!

It has been a few years since we have taken the boys to Cape May for breakfast, but I think this is my favorite character interaction. The beach attire is adorable and the food was really good.

Great pictures! You're not kidding about being artists. :worship:

Sounds like you had a wonderful visit with Tom's grandparents.

:goodvibes

Thanks! I love visiting BW and BC on our off days. I try to make it over every visit because it is just a beautiful place to be ;)

I'm not sure why we had to wait so long. It may have been because we had someone in a wheelchair in our party because the restaurant was not busy at all. We saw a lot of open tables:confused3 Oh well, we did have a great time with the characters so can't complain!

Thanks for the compliments! Someone is always drawing something in our household!

I love Tom's grandparents! He was practically raised by them after the age of twelve so they mean a lot to him. I don't have any grandparents anymore so it's nice being around them when we get the chance.
 
I'm here, finally!
Your trip looks fun so far!
Thank you for sharing your survivor story! My dad was in an almost tragic car accident when I was a senior in HS. He wasn't in a comma like your dad, but still suffers in pain everyday! It is hard to go through that sort of exprience, but makes a family so much stronger! My heart goes out to all of you! And I am so happy to see that you all are cherishing every minute together!
 
I'm here, finally!
Your trip looks fun so far!
Thank you for sharing your survivor story! My dad was in an almost tragic car accident when I was a senior in HS. He wasn't in a comma like your dad, but still suffers in pain everyday! It is hard to go through that sort of exprience, but makes a family so much stronger! My heart goes out to all of you! And I am so happy to see that you all are cherishing every minute together!

Yay! Glad your here!:cool1:
It's comforting to know that there are families out there that have a similar story to ours. I know that my Dad feels alone with his pain and he just keeps trying different combinations and devices to ease it. But he's not the only one that suffers with nerve damage pain. He does almost always feels better when we are all together and he doesn't have to think about it. Thanks for the love and :goodvibes hugs to your family as well!
 
I'm going to try to get a new post started before we head out for the day. I don't have EJ this weekend and Tom has been helping out with a friend's movie this week, we are in need of some adult time. So what do two adults do when they can't be at Disney World, we head over to Busch Gardens (Williamsburg). BG has a special place in my heart being that I was a cast member there one summer when I was home from college, have many great memories of going there with high school friends. Plus it was where Tom and I had our third date :lovestruc! We went about this time 3 years ago to do the Howl-o-Scream stuff. Busch Gardens is a beautiful theme park and we love going to see it decked out for Halloween. Here are a few goofy shots from that said date.

Tom was in need of directions, so we asked this kind gentleman.


Me trying to act scared :rotfl:


Us having a romantic moment on the Sky ride.


Hope you enjoyed our little trip down memory lane, now on to the good stuff!:thumbsup2 I left of with Tom and I having dinner with his grandparents. When we got home, I went to check on Mom and the kids at the pool. They were all having a good time in the lazy river when I had to break the news that it was time to head in to get ready for bed.

We all woke up early that morning because Mom and Dad were heading to Sea World while the four of us were heading to the much anticipated- Islands of Adventure!!


I know both the kids had been waiting patiently for this park and were ready to go! Here is hulk, which EJ is too short for so all I got was this picture!


We headed through one of my favorite themed lands, Marvel Super Hero Island. I'm a big Super Hero geek so I took lots of pictures.


So what was going to be our first ride of the day....None other than Spiderman!


Everyone gave this ride a BIG thumbs up! So far we were off to a great start. This nice cast member took our picture when we got out. It's actually the only picture with all four of us in it! Here is where you can also see my Super Hero fandom by wearing a shirt of my favorite female Super Hero-Wonder Woman. (Which by the way, I got a ton of compliments on during our day :) )


Here's Rogue from X-Men on a super hero store.


Storm and Magneto were on top of a comic book store, which was really cool.




Then we headed to Toon Lagoon, where I took so more shots of some comic strip characters.






We rode Rip Saw Falls to get our feet wet...


Everyone just thought that ride was ok. It's no Splash Mountain but the wait was less than 10 min so we can't complain. Now the moment EJ has been waiting for Jurassic Park. Will he love it? Will it scare the pants off of him? I'll have that adventure next time!! For now I've got to go!​
 
Great pictures from your past visit to Busch Gardens!

I am enjoying reading about your time at Islands of Adventure.

You are correct. :charac4: rocks!!!

We really love Rip Saw Falls, although we are always surprised at how "sparse" the theming is compared to Splash. Splash is jam-packed with stuff to look at, but Rip Saw has some dead spots.

Wow, ending with a cliff hanger about Jurassic Park.

My question is "Will you find the ride open?"

The only ride that is down more than Jurassic Park is Transformers!
 
Great pictures from your past visit to Busch Gardens!

I am enjoying reading about your time at Islands of Adventure.

You are correct. :charac4: rocks!!!

We really love Rip Saw Falls, although we are always surprised at how "sparse" the theming is compared to Splash. Splash is jam-packed with stuff to look at, but Rip Saw has some dead spots.

Wow, ending with a cliff hanger about Jurassic Park.

My question is "Will you find the ride open?"

The only ride that is down more than Jurassic Park is Transformers!
I loooved Spiderman when I went as a college student and I was so excited to share it with everyone on this trip!

Rip Saw Falls seemed to have some random scenes in it, which were weird considering that kids were not familiar with the characters. So it was just ok for us, but we did get wet!

We have more adventures to come! The one thing we did not experience was rides shutting down at either Universal park:confused3 Maybe we just got lucky!
 
Sorry I've been neglecting the Dis for a while between busy weekends, pulling a muscle in my back, yada, yada...I'm finally back to continue my tale. We left off with heading into.....


We were on a mission to hit the Jurassic Park River Adventure but not without taking a picture with this guy!


We headed straight over to the River Adventure which had a 5 min wait time! Yes! It pays to get up early!!


So do you think EJ liked it? I don't know I couldn't tell :rolleyes:


So after getting soaked, we headed over to Camp Jurassic to dry off.


We rode the Pteranadon Flyers which was ok. It was more of kiddie ride but we had fun looking out over some of the park. Since we were already wet, we decided to get some other kids wet! Tom was just hosing these kids down below!


Trinity got in on the act too.


So after exploring everything we could in Camp Jurassic it was time to move on the Welcome Center. Which had these huge guys in it.




They also had these non-bony dinosaurs that you can see through their eyes with this periscope that was below their bellies. They were also good to take pictures with. EJ still had his thumb up from the River Adventure :rotfl:




Then the kids played around with some of the interactive stations that they had scattered through the building. One was set up so you could look through dino "eggs" and see what type of species it was.




After a while there was an announcement that there was an egg about to hatch so all the kids rushed over to see.


Here he is!


After it was born the scientist asked who wanted to name it and guess who got picked?


Trinity named him Lightning because it was a Velicoraptor. After that excitement, the kids went back to playing with more interactive stations.


By now you are probably wondering why am I talking about poop in my title again. Here's where our day gets a little more interesting. So it was close to lunchtime by the time the kids were done exploring everything in the Welcome Center. We went and ate lunch at Thunder Falls Terrace and half way through the meal, EJ was complaining of a stomach ache. I asked if he felt like he was going to throw up and he said No. So I asked if he needed to Poop and he said Yes. Since Tom was finished he said he would take EJ to the restroom while Trinity and I finished our food. So once we were done we headed over to the restrooms and waited...and waited. Finally the boys emerged from the bathrooms and....no poop. By this time his stomach was hurting bad so we took him over to the First Aid station to see if I could get him so pepto or something. We went in and they weren't allowed to give us anything for EJ because he is a child :confused3 So we had him checked out and their guess was gas or constipation, which is what I figured. So after EJ laid down for a bit, we decided we would just go back to the resort so he could poop in comfort and come back in the evening so Trinity could have her time at Harry Potter. I know everyone was disappointed especially since we had so much fun this morning but sometimes plans change and you just have to go with it. So we left and went back to our resort.

Will EJ finally poop? Or will EJ feel worse? Will Trinity get to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? You'll find out in the chapter!​
 
Great photos and yes I could tell EJ had fun :rotfl2:

I hope he felt better quickly and you got to enjoy your evening!
 
I love the theming in Jurassic Park!

Glad everyone had fun there.

On our first trip in 2011 Ben and Mark went on the Pteranodon Flyers, but I haven't done it, and now my kids are too big!

I am jealous that you ate at Thunder Falls! We had hoped to do that but ended up skipping it.

Sorry to hear about EJ's issue. How sad. Hope he feels better quickly!!!
 

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