Ponchos, Ponchos everywhere.. Updated 12/14

[saphire76]

Oh man waiting for the rest.

 

[justakrazymom]

I see why the "no girlfriend" rule will apply when I take my boys on trips when they get older.... Oh boy!!!

This is just day 1.. we had drama almost every single day..

 

[justakrazymom]

hey joining in, I will be at Pop for 10 nights later this month!!!

I completely agree on pin trading, it drove me nuts last trip. I am never letting them bring bf/gf after all the horror stories I have heard

I tried not to let the pin trading get to me.. only a few times I put my foot down times when we were trying to get somewhere. I have a great story towards the end of the trip about Pin Trading

 

[Trinity524]

Hello!

I have subbed !

My DS is soon to be 4. Where did you get your pin trading sets? He's painfully shy, but I'd love for him to start pin trading. I know nothing about it, but I hear ebay? Where did you go?

Love your trip report!

 

[justakrazymom]

Hello!

I have subbed !

My DS is soon to be 4. Where did you get your pin trading sets? He's painfully shy, but I'd love for him to start pin trading. I know nothing about it, but I hear ebay? Where did you go?

Love your trip report!

I got started lanyards on Ebay and a big lot of pins also on ebay. my 7 year old is also painfully shy but she was trading up a storm and my 9 year old ( super pin trader now) was not the type to go up to anyone before this and now..well Pin trading brought out some amazing abilities in him. I love pin trading!

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

Hello!

I have subbed !

My DS is soon to be 4. Where did you get your pin trading sets? He's painfully shy, but I'd love for him to start pin trading. I know nothing about it, but I hear ebay? Where did you go?

Love your trip report!

My grandkids always get their pins on ebay. They order a lot! We have even been at DW and they've run out of pins .... hop on ebay and order more! There are some sellers on ebay that will deliver to the resort the same day!

 

[justakrazymom]

That's what I muttered to the entire group after we got into Noah's room the night before. I had plans to be at Hollywood Studios for rope drop and nothing was going to stop me!

I set my alarm for 6:15...got out of bed around 6:25 showered, got all the kids stuff ready and then I was ready.. but ummm:

They were not!

Well in case I haven't mentioned it.. I'm mean.. yep. I am. I woke their cute little behinds and we were out the door and on a bus and at Hollywood Studios and thru the turnstiles by 8:04.. but GRRR. It was EMH and the park had opened 4 minutes earlier. dang it all. I was sooo close but no cigar to rope drop. Oh and I left a few people behind. My mother,Noah and kate were not up..so we left without em..see I told ya I am MEAN!

Declan and krew had decided they did not want to do Jedi training afterall so we headed to TSMM to get passes and or get in line. I was dumbfounded when I saw the mass of people. I had read how crazy it gets..but nothing prepares you for what you see. So I was like.. what do we do?? Get in the OMG line or get in the other OMG line? We the kids decided let's just wait and ride.. so we headed to the standby which had added about 100000 people while we were deciding. So I said forget it.. I ran and got Fast passes. It was 8:25 and they were already for after noon ( they were GONE by 10:45 this day!)

So after getting the fastpasses we got the heck outta dodge--errr Pixar place. We headed for Star Tours 2!

We all loved the ride..well except Eric.. who got very nauseous from it. After Ziah was in a mood so she refused to get in the picture but here's the boys!

Noah texted me and said they were on their way finally but we had some time so we opted for The Great Movie Ride .

After that we headed for the front of the park.. got the kids a snack and Declan did some pin trading and some pin shopping.

Up next.. WHERE is Taejan??( or my husband lost my kid!)

 

[ronnmel]

Oh boy! What stress that must have been! and the girlfriend...

 

[CandleontheWater]

Wow, you have a much better outlook than I do! I would have been really upset if Pluto wrote that in my child's autograph book, and I would have been upset at Chef Mickeys if we had an ADR, but still got the run-around with seating. I think you win the cool-headed Mom award! I've traveled with a group of 13 before, and I thought that was crazy, 21 takes the cake!

I also think it was really nice of you to invite your DS's girlfriend, but I doubt I'll ever be that nice. In my family there are no "tag-alongs" for vacations or holidays until there was a ring. I might have been mad as a teen and early 20 something, but I see the wisdom in that rule now!

 

[justakrazymom]

Wow, you have a much better outlook than I do! I would have been really upset if Pluto wrote that in my child's autograph book, and I would have been upset at Chef Mickeys if we had an ADR, but still got the run-around with seating. I think you win the cool-headed Mom award! I've traveled with a group of 13 before, and I thought that was crazy, 21 takes the cake!

I also think it was really nice of you to invite your DS's girlfriend, but I doubt I'll ever be that nice. In my family there are no "tag-alongs" for vacations or holidays until there was a ring. I might have been mad as a teen and early 20 something, but I see the wisdom in that rule now!

I tried to just go with the flow for the most part .. If i can;t fix it i can't stress kinda tude.

yeah there will never ever be another tag a long..EVER.. Lesson learned believe me!

 

[beebeeryan]

WOW, Chef Mickey's sounds crazy. We stayed at the CR and saw the drama unfolding nightly when we walked by or ate at Contempo. I was not the least bit jealous of anyone that had ADR's there. No desire to do it. And that was just WRONG of Pluto to write in an autograph book regardless of how kids were or were not acting. It's outta line and ruins the book forever.

No girlfriends on future trips, noted.

I hear you on the TSM ridiculousness. It's just crazy it's still like that. We made Rope Drop at DHS on an EMH morning and I went straight for FP and luckily got 10:45am return, but they were gone before 11am that day too.

Love the dark clouds in the photos, we saw those daily too.

 

[justakrazymom]

So after we got our snack and Declan did his pin trading the rest of our krew arrived. ( the other 13 people we were traveling with were still MIA..morning people they are NOT). We walked towards Pixar Place to get them FP's but they were gone. So we decided to just wait in the stand by.

On the way there we ran into this guy:

And then we entered the TSMM queue. Now this is about when I should tell you we have a buddy system. One adult per "small" child.It was supposed to be me/Taejan My mom/Ziah and Eric with Declan because Declan can handle himself and Eric doesn't watch the kids well. ( he lost Taejan in our yard once when he was 18 months old and I found him almost in the VERY busy road I live on!)
Well Taejan wanted his daddy and I foolishly allowed it. So I had Ziah, my mom had Declan and Eric was supposed to have Taejan..yes supposed to. We got in the queue... got handed a little red card for the wait time thingy.. and talked then I said "WHERE" is Taejan?? OMg my heart sunk.. Taejan was NOT with us.. Taejan was NOT in the queue..Eric did NOT have my son.

To say my heart jumped into my throat would be an understatement. I was nearly instantly in tears because we had been in the queue for a good 3 minutes already. Eric didn't even budge ( reaction time is not his strong suit)..Noah and I bolted out of the queue.. finally Eric followed... Noah and I went one way Eric another and THANK GOD Eric found him up near the FP machines.

Poor kiddo was a wreck.. he was so upset and crying and I wanted to slaughter my husband. From then on Taejan was MY buddy no if's and's or but's! He spent most of the 35 minute wait for TSMM very upset..

As for me.. well my husband was on my list for a few days after that!

I love this queue:

Well I love it all but that stupid "tent" area.. that was a bit much!
Taejan was my ride buddy ( duh)

i won!

So after this we needed food. I got a text that Missy and Krew were in the park.. and mad cus the FP's for TSMM were gone..

We headed over to The catering Co for lunch: Ziah was hot, tired and hungry!

then Noah asked if we could do The Backlot tour. I told him it wasn't like it was last time we were here.. he didn't care..lol..so off the 8 of us went!

Taejan had a meltdown.. I honestly don't remember what this one was about..they all basically blurred in my memory!

He was over it once we got thru the queue for The Backlot Tour.. he LOVED this!

Up next Playtime and Mealtime!

 

[justakrazymom]

After Backlot the teens went to do some shopping with strict instructions that we had ressies at Mama Melrose at 2:40.. yes people.. 2:40 ( NOT my choice btw.. these ADR's were the bane of my existence on this trip).

We decided to take the 3 youngest to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and let them "go nuts" for awhile.. they def needed to burn off some pent up energy. One thing I did NOT like is no place for us adults to sit. What I did like was the CM at the entrance was very vigilant about making sure kids had parents with them when they came and left!

The heat won again with my girl:

After this we headed to Mama Melrose..or I thought we were..
More pin trading:

Come to find out I was going in the exact opposite direction..opps.. so we headed in the right direction.. parked the stroller.. called the teens and told them to get their rears over there and waited:

and waited.. and waited... we finally got in..but we were separated again..This time my whole family plus 2 Warners in one room and Missy's family and the other 2 Warners in another room..ugh.. but I wasn't upset.. meant a much quieter meal!

Right about the time we sat we noticed it was pouring.. and my stroller was NOT covered..so out I ran..well I had to swim thru the sea of people in the VERY small lobby of MM then find the stroller.. cover it and swim back thru. That lobby is crazy btw! it was packed and you had to walk thru it anytime anyone needed to get to the restroom..and with 21 of us pretty much someone was out there all the time!

So our waitress was awesome. Said we got an appetizer because it was the Fantasmic package.. um.. what's the catch lady? We are on the DDP and it doesn't come with an app.. I was like "is this gonna cost us something out of pocket?"..nope.. she said it's a great deal for anyone on the DDP to do the Fantasmic seating..she was right!

The chef came out to see me and we decided on the Tomato's and Mozzarella for my app and for my main dish I have no clue.. i was so bad remember what I ordered. All I know is i I wasn't the only one to order it and it was amazing.lol. I did get gluten free rolls brought out also. and I had gelato for dessert. The meal was great, the waitress was extremely nice.. !
Oh remember how I said the heat won again for Ziah.. she fell asleep at the table:

After we were done it was still pouring so we put on the poncho's and headed out.. Ended up that all 21 of us went to see Muppets 3d:

After the show we all split up..no idea what anyone else did but the 6 of us ( Teens left too) headed out and to the right..

 

[CandleontheWater]

I'm so sorry that your son got lost, that is very scary! I'm glad he was found quickly, and that everyone was OK. My DH isn't the most observant when it comes to watching my son either, so it might be a guy thing.

Honey I shrunk the audience looks like a great place to play, even if no one below the age of 25 remembers the movie. We'll have to make it over there some day. Good for the CM for making sure that adults were present to watch the kids that entered.

It sounds like you guys had a good lunch at Mama Melrose, and that it was a little easier than the night before.

 

[justakrazymom]

I'm so sorry that your son got lost, that is very scary! I'm glad he was found quickly, and that everyone was OK. My DH isn't the most observant when it comes to watching my son either, so it might be a guy thing.

Honey I shrunk the audience looks like a great place to play, even if no one below the age of 25 remembers the movie. We'll have to make it over there some day. Good for the CM for making sure that adults were present to watch the kids that entered.

It sounds like you guys had a good lunch at Mama Melrose, and that it was a little easier than the night before.

yeah guys are guys...LOL.. the kids loved the playground and they have seen the movie..lol..

Lunch was great.. yummy and fab service.. and yes..way better than the night before..lol..

taejan still gets all teary when he talks about getting lost.. it scared the crud outta him.. he never once the rest of the trip strayed from us..

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

subbing, found your TR from the 35 things I learned thread on the theme parks board.

Can't wait for more, I'm hoping the OCD in you make you finish the TR quickly.

 

[justakrazymom]

subbing, found your TR from the 35 things I learned thread on the theme parks board.

Can't wait for more, I'm hoping the OCD in you make you finish the TR quickly.

HA HA.. it is.. more coming tonight.. My OCD makes it hard because I want the dang Photopass pictures..and I have no control over that..lol

 

[justakrazymom]

So after Muppets 3D ( which Declan just loved) we zigged while everyone else zagged.The Sweener and Warner clans went one way, Noah and Kate went another and we went a 3rd.

We headed right and a nice mom told us that Phineas and Ferb were inside so go meet them..we headed into the building she pointed to and their handler told us they were going back outside since it had stopped raining.

We headed back to their movie set and waited.. They came over along with anyone that was in line in the building. We were close to the front but not that close. Well turns out that was good. The "movie" was being made and I volunteered Declan for it and he got picked!

Then we were in the front of the line!

Ziah was sad that Candace isn't there though.. she loves Candace...

Next we headed to the Indiana Jones show.. very awesome CM in a wheelchair greeted us ( same one that had told me earlier that I was NOT heading towards Mama Melrose as I thought..lol). Kids did some pin trading then we headed into the show:

This show is the same as it was 10.5 year ago.. it was funny.. my kids loved it though.. so I guess you don't always need to change things.. a whole new fresh audience is always waiting for their "first" show!

After the show ( was fun if not old..lol) we headed to TSMM because we still had 5 fast passes. My mother was ok with not going on again.. I would have given her my FP because I hate leaving her out. She sat right outside and off we went.

I won again but I told The did because ..well he was 5 and needed a win!Declan rode alone.. I wasn't real thrilled with that but it is what it was..

My mom needed to get out of the sun and heat so we went off to One Man's Dream.. very cool.. and the kids did some pin trading!

Up next Star Tours again..and again... and again..

 

[zacksmammie]

Loving your trip report - and your pictures! You have a beautiful family.

 

[justakrazymom]

Loving your trip report - and your pictures! You have a beautiful family.

Thank you and thank you! I can't wait until we get our Photopass pictures so you can see us all together!