Ponchos, Ponchos everywhere.. Updated 12/14

[justakrazymom]

So after some more pin trading:

We met up with Noah and Kate at Star Tours.. Eric and my mom sat it out.. we had 8 fast passes so we used 6 of them. We had a completely different ride and Noah was "in" the ride..very cool. We left and as we were walking thru the exit ( before the shop) Declan spotted a CM and wanted to trade pins.. Taejan got sad and the CM asked why.. he said "I don't have my pins!".. well she then asked him if he liked Star Tours and would he like to ride again since he was sad. Of course he said YES..she gave us 6 fastpasses and we ran back thru..it was great!

Now it was close to time to meet the rest of the krew for our Fantasmic seating. We still had 2 FP's and Noah and Declan wanted to go again..so silly me let them. I thought Noah could find his way to where we had to go in. So we left them and headed to meet everyone. Well we got there and waited. 19 of us where there.. 2 were MIA.. Noah kept getting turned around and it took forever for them to meet us ( and several phone calls to him) but finally we were on our way to the amphitheater.

we got great seats.. all together ( more or less) and the show was great!

I broke out the light sticks and the bracelets I had gotten at Target.. passed em out to all the kids we had and made everyone happy!

After the show we headed for a frozen lemonade and a snack. Then we thought the crowd would have died down and we went to the bus. The line was CRAZY.. like it stretched back 3 other bus stops crazy. One family went to a CM across the way and ended up getting a taxi.. we waited. It really wasn't that big a deal. I mean seriously.. Disney + last few days of summer vacation + pyrotechnic show = LINES.

I did , for a minute , wish I was Taejan though..

We eventually got back to the resort.. oh and here's a nice tip..if the bus is packed.. you can chose to NOT complain..because no one is forcing you on the bus. Everytime we were due to get on a packed bus we opted not to. We stepped aside and let other people go and we waited and were first on the next bus. Yes that bus ended up packed but were were sitting..

We got back to Pop and the amazing mousekeepers had been at it again!

Oh and for those who have been reading..no today was not drama free with the g/f.. he was embarrassed by the way she ate at dinner ( fingers..no utensils) and she was upset because he told her he was embarrassed and well the moods were less than stellar! Oh and she always texts me when they fight.. I try to be a nice "in law type" and play mediator..plus I just wanted no drama or minimal drama.. I am so glad this trip is over.. I have pretty much told her to stop texting me and complaining about my son!

And so concludes our 3rd day in Disney.. our 2nd day in the parks.. up next? Epcot!

 

[lmbcdb]

loving your TR. The drama with the GF is cracking me up. In no pic does she look like she is having fun...

 

[justakrazymom]

loving your TR. The drama with the GF is cracking me up. In no pic does she look like she is having fun...

LOL.. wait til u see the pics from day 4 of us at the meal..

She did have some fun..i promise and even with the drama I didn't once get gruff with her. I wanted to ..believe me. I also know my son could have been a touch nicer to her at times and a lot of the drama could have been avoided..BUT at 17 , away from home, and you wanting to have fun, it's gotta be hard to put up with it. That said...we've been home a week and a half and they are still together.. sigh.. I was hoping they wouldn't be anymore honestly.

She's still in school..Noah is not.. Noah works part days and part nights so they don't have a ton of time together now so that is at least a good thing!

 

[Tinkermom76]

I'm dying to find out if your son and his gf are still together

 

[justakrazymom]

I'm dying to find out if your son and his gf are still together

see 2 posts above. Apparently love is blind ( and stupid)

 

[Kat in GA]

I am so in!

We were at pop right at the end of your trip - and I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to deal with a value - but it was fine! And all that rain? Ack! We have been in September for years - and never had rain - and this time it was daily.

As for the tag alongs. I so understand. My girls both brought friends with them on our trip this summer. It really adds a different dynamic - and they couldn't keep up with our pace. Frustrating to say the least.

 

[ronnmel]

Your mousekeeper really did a good job with your room.

 

[bna16]

i absolutely LOVE the penguin pillow pet!

 

[justakrazymom]

I am so in!

We were at pop right at the end of your trip - and I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to deal with a value - but it was fine! And all that rain? Ack! We have been in September for years - and never had rain - and this time it was daily.

As for the tag alongs. I so understand. My girls both brought friends with them on our trip this summer. It really adds a different dynamic - and they couldn't keep up with our pace. Frustrating to say the least.

Yeah the rain continues to be a bit much..lol.. we have a lot of flooding here at home since we got back..I know have "pond" front property because my yard is so flooded.. luckily it's lower than the house so my house is fine.

Yeah.. I think the no tag a longs rule will stick..even for friends and cousins.. just not worth the headache!

 

[justakrazymom]

Your mousekeeper really did a good job with your room.

She was awesome!!

 

[justakrazymom]

i absolutely LOVE the penguin pillow pet!

So does my daughter...she's a penguin nut!

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

I believe I ran into the same male CM, with the Mickey hand, you have labeled under him photo vacation 2011. I like to high four the CMs with those hands. It said he could not do it. I was , but maybe has a good reason other than just not wanting to do that. By the end of our trip, my DH and DDs had enough of my pin trading as well. Our room had the same bow on our toilet. We had the similar bus line when exiting MK on 8/20. It was crazy, I've never run into bus lines that long. One of my DDs mentioned, maybe it was the last hurrah, before FL schools started Monday. We had the QSDP and liked that much better than the DDP. We are not fond of the ADRs, as those stop you in your tracks and make you change course. I hope to get back to my TR today.

 

[justakrazymom]

I believe I ran into the same male CM, with the Mickey hand, you have labeled under him photo vacation 2011. I like to high four the CMs with those hands. It said he could not do it. I was , but maybe has a good reason other than just not wanting to do that. By the end of our trip, my DH and DDs had enough of my pin trading as well. Our room had the same bow on our toilet. We had the similar bus line when exiting MK on 8/20. It was crazy, I've never run into bus lines that long. One of my DDs mentioned, maybe it was the last hurrah, before FL schools started Monday. We had the QSDP and liked that much better than the DDP. We are not fond of the ADRs, as those stop you in your tracks and make you change course. I hope to get back to my TR today.

yep next time very few ADR's for us.. I wish there was another dining plan.. 2-4 TS verses enough for one a day...lol

 

[VroomVroomLightning]

yep next time very few ADR's for us.. I wish there was another dining plan.. 2-4 TS verses enough for one a day...lol

That is exactly how we feel! I do not need or want 1 TS per day. For me that just takes too much time out of my day and it sets me on a time I have to eat. We have such busy schedules at home we are used to eating whenever. I don't like ADR's because we are set in stone with everything!

 

[justakrazymom]

That is exactly how we feel! I do not need or want 1 TS per day. For me that just takes too much time out of my day and it sets me on a time I have to eat. We have such busy schedules at home we are used to eating whenever. I don't like ADR's because we are set in stone with everything!

exacrtly.. if we go again during free dining we will not upgrade the dining package and pay out of pocket for 1-2 character meals..

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

I enjoy the benefit of the DDP with the character meals. The only TS we did this time was Biergarten at EPCOT. We paid OOP for it.

 

[coloneltaylor]

I am loving your trip report! Truely the part I love the most is how honest you are about everyone's mood, tantums and meltdowns! Good to hear that other families deal with all of this "fun". We leave in 8 days and I know we will have a great time but also know we will have a lot of personality conflict, meltdowns and irritability, and we will only be with our immediate family.
Also nice to hear about a trip with young kids. We are traveling with our 11,9,7 and 4 year old kids. Can't wait for your next post!

 

[justakrazymom]

I am loving your trip report! Truely the part I love the most is how honest you are about everyone's mood, tantums and meltdowns! Good to hear that other families deal with all of this "fun". We leave in 8 days and I know we will have a great time but also know we will have a lot of personality conflict, meltdowns and irritability, and we will only be with our immediate family.
Also nice to hear about a trip with young kids. We are traveling with our 11,9,7 and 4 year old kids. Can't wait for your next post!

I'm all about keeping it real. Life isn't sunshine and roses and as magical as Disney is it's not going to change personalities..lol..

Next post being written now!

 

[justakrazymom]

Epcot is our 2nd favorite park and I couldn't wait to introduce the younger kids to it.

We slept in til 7 this morning.. ate breakfast from the food stores we had in the room then headed to a bus. All 8 of us at once! We got right on a bus and were at Epcot in no time. The line was long and it took awhile..but no big deal.
Declan was apparently still tired:

Once we were thru the turnstiles I handed over our KTTK cards to Noah and kate and sent them for Soarin FP's.

As we were walking thru the Leave a Legacy area Ziah said she didn't feel good...GREAT.. so we decided to rent her a stroller. Eric went to the left to do that and we went to the right because we spotted Daisy Duck! Daisy is Ziah's favorite ever!

Then Stitch was right behind her:

Noah and Kate had the FP's and were doing their own thing. We headed over to Space Ship Earth.. with a small detour:

We ended up riding this twice in a row..the kids loved it that much ( I, on the other hand, would have preferred ONCE..lol)

We headed up past SSE and of course we had another "detour"

and then happened upon a few other characters..

( notice Taejan's eyes? He has a thing and we rarely get a picture with his eyes open..lol.. It normally takes 3-5 shots to get one with eyes open..this time not even that worked!)

After that Noah and Kate came back and we headed off to Soarin..

This is a great ride..we all loved it.. we were in the very front and I was kind of worried about my shoes once we were in the air so I took off my flip flops and sat on them lol.

After Soarin we ate lunch/brunch at Seasons? It was good.. except for the fact that Kate decided to order barely cooked tuna when she doesn't like fish ..oh well..lol

 

[justakrazymom]

After we ate we went on Living with the Land..I love this one!

Then I sent the teens off for Test Track Fastpasses... they got em and brought them to me at one of the stores right before we went into WS.

I went in and got the kids an Epcot Passport.. we never did get it finished or finish the Duffy's the started..oh well!

We headed into Canada and went to see O'Canada.. first and last CircleVision for me.. I forgot how big of a headache they give me!

Duffy time..but REALLY Disney.. Sharpie's?? Really not thrilled with that believe me!

We saw a few Characters in their countries but my kids wanted nothing to do with the long lines... this was a theme for the whole trip. It was hot and most line were in the sun...so we didn't see very many overall.

Somewhere along the way Taejan lost it.. surprised it took this long actually:

Up next Tales of sleeping girl and shaved ice..