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

[WildernessExplorer04]

Sounds like a fun day!
I can't wait to see what you thought of 'Ohana. MMMMM SO MUCH FOOD.

 

[tiggerfan77]

Very nice update - you all look like you were having a great time together!

Can't wait to hear how you liked 'Ohana.

Thanks! We had a really great morning together! Ohana review coming up next!

Great pics!

Thanks wiigirl!

Cute photos and good call getting a Dole Whip

Thanks and can't be at MK without one!

Sounds like a fun day!
I can't wait to see what you thought of 'Ohana. MMMMM SO MUCH FOOD.

Thanks! Will do a review up next!

 

[tiggerfan77]

Hey, everybody! Hope you all had a fun Halloween! We sure did! It's time for my final post about our final day. Waaaa!!! Since there is a lack of photos for the rest of my report (more on that in a bit) here are some Halloween pics for your viewing pleasure.

Tom's Sonic pumpkin.


Trinity's Minecraft pumpkin and EJ's raptor head.


And my Minnie pumpkin.


Here's a pic a friend Instagrammed of us. As you can tell, we really love dressing up!


EJ wanted to be a shark this year. Instead of his usual dinosaur costume.


Hope you enjoyed those, now back to the trip report. Remember when I said that picking MK for our last full day ended up being a mistake. Well this is why I felt that way as our day started to slowly decline.
We got seated at Ohana's and they put us behind the firepit near the window which was nice to look out of but as the evening went on, we couldn't see any of the action from our table. Our food started being serve right away which was fine. As for pictures, I don't know why I didn't take any other than I started to get tired of being the only one who was taking them.
Overall the meal and service was great. I was really surprised that I like everything except for the potstickers, but I am a really picky eater. Even Trinity liked mostly everything and I think this was the most food, I've ever seen her eat! We were all raving about the food while Mr. Grumpy was not happy with his food. EJ had been doing fine with eating the rest of the week, then suddenly he hated everything. He tried a little bit of everything which was all we ask but he hated it all. And then started whining and pouting. I found out later we could have ordered him some more kid friendly food but I try not to give in to his pouting and trying to teach him that you have to eat what your given.
So because EJ was in a foul mood, I started getting in a foul mood and so when the entertainment started, I thought that might help but none of the kids wanted to participate because they couldn't see what was going on. So that was a bust. The reason why we were there in the first place was that Tom and I were celebrating our 3 year anniversary. But we agreed next time we will just go to Ohana's by ourselves! Here's our selfie as we waited for the monorail back to MK.
Happy Anniversary to Us!


So the plan after dinner was to finally go check out New FantasyLand and hit up those rides over in that section. I was so excited to check that part out, the only problem was that it started pouring! I think, eh, no problem. Well just put our ponchos and do the indoor rides until it stops. Then it starts lightening and they were closing all the outside rides. We tried to get on the Little Mermaid and it still had a long line so we went to get a FP and did Mickey's Philharmagic while we tried to wait out the rain.
Everyone loved Mickey's Philharmagic by the way! Especially since EJ was really into Donald this trip. He loved seeing Donald being silly. So we got out of the show and hoped the rain would have eased up and it didn't. It was still pouring. I checked Peter Pan and the line was way too long. I saw that LM was down to 15 min. We had a FP for it but I wanted to get a few more rides in until the Electrical Parade would start. So we headed over to LM only to find out it just broke down. We were getting frustrated at this point and with the rain, we weren't sure if they were going to run the parade in this storm. Trinity and EJ were starting to hit a wall and I was feeling it too.
So we decided to do our souvenir shopping and make a decision on whether to stay or go. Of course since it had been raining for a few hours at this point, the Main Street shops were PACKED with people just standing around! Since the kids already had an idea what they wanted we just grabbed and tried to get out of there. It was almost time for the parade to start and it was still raining so we decided to cut our night short early and head home to start packing.
We caught the boat back and I started getting really bummed out. I had been looking forward to Wishes all week and we were all just too wet, tired and grumpy to stick around for it. I remembered that I had secretly packed my bag with some glow items to surprise the kids with for the parade, then got bummed again. Determined not to let this rain damper (har, har) my spirits, I broke out the glow stuff. We made our glow glasses and bracelets and got some giggles out of it. Even made some other bummed and tired kids happy and giggle as well. It's that what Disney magic is all about


We went back to our resort and tried to pack up what we could because it was going to be another long trip back home. So that was it. We had an amazing trip with only minor complications. (But what trip is perfect) So Tom get to see Disney magic for himself? Or did I turn him into a Universal fanatic?
This trip made Tom realize why I love to go to Disney so much and why I never tire of it. He said he now sees that overall Disney gave us more bang for our buck. While we all agreed that we had a blast at Universal, we could literally see do all our favorite rides in one day and be done. While at Disney, there is much more to see and do beyond the parks and in them, that we will never truly get to do it all.
So where does this mean for a future trip? I'll have a real life update for you in the next post.​

 

[natebenma]

Just caught up on your last couple of posts-

What a great trip report, Pam! I really enjoyed meeting your family and reading about your trip. I'm also looking forward to reading about your life update and upcoming plans...

I'm also impressed by your jack-o-lanterns and awesome Halloween costumes!

But back to Disney-

You had a great afternoon in the MK

Cute picture from Splash Mountain. Too bad about the bunny ears fail, but I see they reappeared later in the afternoon.

You had a fantastic run of Adventureland fun:

Pirates, Dole Whip, Swiss Family Treehouse, Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise.

We are the same as you- we don't like to waste time in Disney, so we would opt for sitting through Tiki, too, instead of just standing around doing nothing. I'll have an upcoming chapter called "Desparate Measures to Dodge the Rain" that will prove that point.

I'm glad you were not late for 'Ohana. They punish latecomers by making them wait unreasonable amounts of time to be seated.

Our only time eating at 'Ohana was on the last night of one of our trips. We were so exhausted from the commando touring for the past week that we didn't enjoy our meal, either. Bummer that you were away from the action. Good plan to think about going to 'Ohana as just a couple...

I'm so sorry about the rain for your last moments at Disney. We learned how difficult MK is when there is a thunderstorm because all of the outside rides shut down and all of the inside rides get super crowded.

But once again, you looked at the bright side and made the most of your night!

 

[DisneyJo]

I'm sorry you had a bad last day but it sounded as though you had a wonderful trip. Thanks for writing a lovely TR, I've enjoyed reading it

 

[tiggerfan77]

Just caught up on your last couple of posts-

What a great trip report, Pam! I really enjoyed meeting your family and reading about your trip. I'm also looking forward to reading about your life update and upcoming plans...

I'm also impressed by your jack-o-lanterns and awesome Halloween costumes!

But back to Disney-

You had a great afternoon in the MK

Cute picture from Splash Mountain. Too bad about the bunny ears fail, but I see they reappeared later in the afternoon.

You had a fantastic run of Adventureland fun:

Pirates, Dole Whip, Swiss Family Treehouse, Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise.

We are the same as you- we don't like to waste time in Disney, so we would opt for sitting through Tiki, too, instead of just standing around doing nothing. I'll have an upcoming chapter called "Desparate Measures to Dodge the Rain" that will prove that point.

I'm glad you were not late for 'Ohana. They punish latecomers by making them wait unreasonable amounts of time to be seated.

Our only time eating at 'Ohana was on the last night of one of our trips. We were so exhausted from the commando touring for the past week that we didn't enjoy our meal, either. Bummer that you were away from the action. Good plan to think about going to 'Ohana as just a couple...

I'm so sorry about the rain for your last moments at Disney. We learned how difficult MK is when there is a thunderstorm because all of the outside rides shut down and all of the inside rides get super crowded.

But once again, you looked at the bright side and made the most of your night!

Thanks for joining in Dee! And it was so nice to meet you We'll have to meet up the next time out trips overlap since we seem to be summer travelers!
We had only had a few crappy moments so I can't complain. This was probably one of my favorite trips though so I'll be so excited when I get to plan another one!
Can't wait to read about your dodging the rain tactics!
So are you going to be doing a TR for your Disneyland/Hawaii trip?

I'm sorry you had a bad last day but it sounded as though you had a wonderful trip. Thanks for writing a lovely TR, I've enjoyed reading it

Thank you so much for joining in and following along. I'm so glad to meet you!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I got a little behind for a while but I am all caught up now! Looks like a wonderful trip! I am glad you all liked the food at 'Ohana. It is my favorite restaurant! I am excited to hear about your real life update. I think it takes a while for some people to see the real "value" Disney offers. I don't think my DH really got it until this trip, but now its all he can talk about. I am convinced everyone comes around eventually!

 

[RGirl]

It's always sad when a TR has to end (although not quite as sad as the actual trip ending!).

Thanks for sharing your trip - I had a great time following along.

 

[tiggerfan77]

I got a little behind for a while but I am all caught up now! Looks like a wonderful trip! I am glad you all liked the food at 'Ohana. It is my favorite restaurant! I am excited to hear about your real life update. I think it takes a while for some people to see the real "value" Disney offers. I don't think my DH really got it until this trip, but now its all he can talk about. I am convinced everyone comes around eventually!

Thanks for joining along in our adventures! So true about people coming around eventually. I mean, how can you not have fun in WDW?!!

It's always sad when a TR has to end (although not quite as sad as the actual trip ending!).

Thanks for sharing your trip - I had a great time following along.

Thanks for following along RGirl! I promise I'll swing over to your TR soon! Yes, I am still sad our trip ended. There's never enough time when you're having such a great time!

 

[tiggerfan77]

Hi Everybody! Just wanting to give you all a quick life update about our future plans. About a month after we got back from our trip, Tom lost his job. Since we live together this has put a serious strain on our finances. Tom has had a few interviews under his belt and has applied to numerous jobs so we're hoping that he may be able to find something soon. It has been tough since we've been back but I'm no stranger to making the budget work and stretch. (I was a stay at home mom for a few years when EJ was born.) So we're hanging in there and living frugal
So as far as our plans for our next trip all depends on how soon Tom can find work and if he will even be able to take vacation once he starts at a new place. So we have planned to possibly do a staycation for next summer and continue saving up for another funfilled trip back down to the World the year after that. (Our Busch Garden Season passes will come in handy for that.)
In the meantime, with my thrifty couponing skills and my royalty checks from the artwork, I have been setting that money aside for Christmas. After that it will go toward Fun Money! Since my BFF now lives in Orlando, we made plans to have a girls weekend in the spring. And since we are both huge Star Wars fans, we decided to go during SWW!
This has been a HUGE dream of mine to go during Star Wars Weekend since I have never been, plus this would be the first time I would even go solo (even though I'd be to the park with my friend)!
So that's what's going on and thank you all so much for following along and hopefully will have another trip report to tell next year! Till then May the Force be with you!
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