Ponchos, Ponchos everywhere.. Updated 12/14

[Grumpy Grandma]

I'm here too .... waiting for more!

 

[justakrazymom]

All caught up! What a great family you have and what fun this TR is going to be!

We went to WDW every August for a week (no more August heat for me), then a long winter weekend from the time my kids were 7&8 until they were 13&14 - which was when they told me they were "really sorry mom, but we're Mickey'd out". Being a creative (aka sneaky) mom, I asked if they'd like to see So California...absolutely yes!! Sounds like a plan...oh and by the way, kids, wait until you see Disneyland!! Yep, mom bought herself 3 more years of Disney trips...but alas...then I had to borrow friend's and neighbors munchkins until they were too old...these days I just beg a friend to come along....BUT...I now have a 3 yr DGD!!! Next year will be her first visit to Mickey and Minnie.

Aw, what happened to all your pics? Looking forward to the next chapter.

I fixed em all..photobucket just got stupid on me!

 

[justakrazymom]

Oh here's a little tip if you're on Tom Sawyer in the summer.. go to the fort and go into the Powder room ( aka ladies room) and OMG it is by far the coldest room in all of Disney.. I didn't want to leave!

 

[ronnmel]

Followed you from the POP Century thread. Great trip report so far! Post 38 doesn't have working pictures though.

We were at POP at the same time as you, Aug. 10 to Aug. 24. I wonder if we'll be in each other's pictures.

 

[janabananas]

Subbing! love the pics!!

 

[justakrazymom]

Followed you from the POP Century thread. Great trip report so far! Post 38 doesn't have working pictures though.

We were at POP at the same time as you, Aug. 10 to Aug. 24. I wonder if we'll be in each other's pictures.

Hum.. I see pictures... are they still not working?

Yeah I've been wondering if we will show up in other peoples pictures..lol

 

[justakrazymom]

Subbing! love the pics!!

thanks.. are they all showing up now? I have so many pictures and that's slimmed down from the huge amount I took and NONE are from Photopass cus we don't have those yet!!!

 

[ronnmel]

Hum.. I see pictures... are they still not working?

Yeah I've been wondering if we will show up in other peoples pictures..lol

All the pictures in post 38 are "This picture has been moved or deleted". It's possible that you still see it because it's in your "cache", meaning in your computer memory.

Did you see anyone with bridal Minnie ears at POP? That might have been me.

 

[justakrazymom]

All the pictures in post 38 are "This picture has been moved or deleted". It's possible that you still see it because it's in your "cache", meaning in your computer memory.

Did you see anyone with bridal Minnie ears at POP? That might have been me.

how about now? and I saw a few..LOL.. did u see a rowdy little boy who's mom kept saying "Stop it Taejan"..um...that wasn't me..la la la la..LOL

 

[POLY1985]

While we were in Downtown we pondered the fact we wouldn't be able to unpack until late Friday night because of being switched in the morning. We had plans to head to Magic Kingdom for rope drop and I just didn't want to deal with moving rooms. So we decided to go to check in and tell them we wanted to stay put. Since we had planned to have the 3 wee ones in one room with us, and My mom, Noah and Kate in another we didn't HAVE to have connecting rooms.

So that decision made and the front desk let "out back" know we got a luggage dolly and unloaded the van!

Warning..I'm something of an OCD freak so I had to get the room we were using just the way I wanted it! Luckily my little minion's..I mean children.. are used to this and snapped right in action!

Eric and I lived outta our bags but we gave the drawers to the kids..

And yes.. i brought my own toothbrush hold and hand soap.. and they have siblings in our 2nd room.. I'm a little crazy like that!

We tucked the rather hot and tired kids into bed and I set my alarm for 6:30am. I was going to check out and check back in then head to Magic Kingdom!

I can't even begin to tell you how impressed I am by your organizational skills! You are AWESOME!!! Enjoying your TR!

 

[ronnmel]

how about now? and I saw a few..LOL.. did u see a rowdy little boy who's mom kept saying "Stop it Taejan"..um...that wasn't me..la la la la..LOL

Pictures are working now.

I was too busy having fun to notice other people talking. I just started my own trip report, link is in my signature, maybe you'll see some of your family in my pictures.

 

[justakrazymom]

PLEASEEEEEEEEE mom.. screamed my 9 year old as we walked up to the queue for The Haunted Mansion. He was NOT happy with me which lead the other 2 to also be not happy. Now I am a mean Mom. I make my kids do certain things no matter what they want. I would never ever make them go on a ride that was truly too scary, fast, big or whatever for them..BUT Haunted Mansion was none of these. I knew it.. my mom knew it.. so I said you have no choice.. you must go on once and if you hate it you never have to go again!

So off we went..

Of course we opted for the "longer" queue through the cemetery. This is def a must do. My kids had a blast.. and so did I!

I let a few families go ahead of us so I could take this picture:

Luckily there was a little line so the kids could play and not hold anyone up:

We got to the stretching room and I said a little prayer that no one we were crammed in there with would scream as I knew that would set Taejan off. Taejan has sensory issues and I was already rather worried about how he would do with all the stimulus at Disney. Well my prayers were answered because it was silent once the lights went out! We each grabbed a wee one because I remember the mad dash and crush a thon it can be getting to the doombuggies!

It was not in vain.. it was stupid from the doors opening to hitting our buggy.. seriously people.. must you crush a 5 year old to get on a ride??

While on the ride it stopped twice. I was fully expecting this. Once we were stopped on the backwards part for like 10 minutes..lol. Luckily all 3 kids loved it, Taejan was very proud because he didn't keep his eyes closed at ALL!

At this point Noah and Kate had texted me.. they planned to meet us at the next ride.
We headed off to It's a Small World.

No one would sit next to me.. I don't understand why..it's not like I threatened people for 9 months that if they made me mad on the trip I'd shove them under the water or anything ...

Noah and Kate met us at the end of the ride and OMG was my son in a rotten mood. Noah is like me and likes to be left alone when grumpy and the lovely girlfriend would not..so it was just pure pleasure the next hour or so..

We decide to head for the People Mover.. it happens to be one of my favorite rides and I hoped my little ones would love it to. Noah wanted nothing to do with going on it so he and Kate stayed by the little kiosk while we rode. I was right.. all 3 loved it!

Next we all went on the Carousel of Progress. Declan did not believe me when I said the audience was moving not the stage. I think he spent each move trying to figure it all out..lol . We came out to some stage show and yes.. I got in the mix and danced the Cupid Shuffle.. my kids and husband were so embarrassed!

Taejan tried to maul Pluto..poor Pluto!

Declan did some MORE pin trading.. oh goodness me day 1 and we are already almost out of trade able pins for Declan.. ack!

Did ya happen to notice those lovely dark clouds in the last pictures? Oh yes.. August dark clouds..can only mean one thing right??

Up next.. So begins the adventures of the Ponchos

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

I'm loving your tr! I've spent the last couple of hours on some threads where people just aren't being very nice .... so my question why am I there? Anyway it is a breath of fresh air to be reading this. Just love your writing style!

 

[justakrazymom]

I'm loving your tr! I've spent the last couple of hours on some threads where people just aren't being very nice .... so my question why am I there? Anyway it is a breath of fresh air to be reading this. Just love your writing style!

Oh thank you! Yes these boards can be full of Grumpy and Eeyore types eh? And some very much like Maleficent and Jafar. So not my style..lol. So glad to have you here reading!

 

[CandleontheWater]

I am enjoying your TR! You are very funny and it looks like you guys had a great trip. Can't wait to read more!

 

[justakrazymom]

I am enjoying your TR! You are very funny and it looks like you guys had a great trip. Can't wait to read more!

Thank you..and your little guy is just tooo cute!

 

[justakrazymom]

So after I embarrassed my family and Taejan tried to maul Pluto we decided to hit up The Laugh Floor.. wait said 10 minutes ( LIE).. I parked the stroller under the overhang at Stitch because I didn't like the looks of those clouds at all.

Well after a closer to 20 minute wait between the queue and preshow we got into the Laugh Floor.. cute.. not a repeater for me..but cute.

Well we came out to POURING rain.. surprise surprise. I ran and got the stroller..tossed the cover over it.. thank goodness I had a brain and parked it under the overhang..it was dry! Then we all got on our poncho's and decided it was time to just head to the Contemporary for our Chef Mickey ADR's.

This was the point where I looked and Noah and he was between being mad and in tears. He was exhausted and just did NOT want to go. So I told him to just hop a bus and go back to Pop. I really think he also needed a break from his g/f and my mother. Since we had left overnight Sat he had been with my mom or his g/f 24/7 except for work. He had never taken the bus alone..but he was almost 17 I knew he could handle it..lol.

I told him to text me when he got on a bus and to the room. He did like a good son. I also told him to EAT.. use whatever DDP credits he wanted..I didn't care as long as he got out of the MOOD. Now comes the first ARE YOU KIDDING ME moment.. his girlfriend tried to go with him! Um HELLO..no way in you know where are they going to be in the hotel together alone.. Noah knows that and she was told but she ( not him btw) tried and was not happy with me when I said she was coming to dinner with us!

So off he went and off we went:

Oh another tip.. have hats for your kids.. pop them OVER the poncho hoods. We did this later on and it helped the hoods not blow off!

We left MK and headed to the Monorail and who did we see ahead of us? Why the other 13 people we were traveling with! Hi Warner's Hi Sweeners!

They did not have ponchos.. at all.. and they had soaken wet kids who froze at Chef Mickey's.. I had dry kids who did not.. I win!

My little ones first Monorail ride.. Declan was sad he couldn't ride up front like Noah had done when he was younger..but I had told him the story of why so he understood.

I wish I could say Chef Mickeys was great.. i wish I could say the staff was great and the food was yummy.. I can't.. I'm NOT complaining because no one was hurt, we all ate and it was fine. it was the least favorite meal of our whole stay and it was clue #1 that should we ever travel with friends again we will make our own ADR's!
We arrived a good 30+ minutes before our ADR. We checked in, we waited.. and waited and waited.. and I won't say the kids were great.. some better than others as some are allowed to do things other's are NOT. ( I apologize to anyone that waited on Aug 19th from 7:30 on and had kids climbing and jumping all over .. they weren't mine..I had no control)

A CM came over after a long while and offered us all free drinks ( including alcohol) because seating us was becoming such an ordeal. Sigh.. Finally they sat us.. well most of us.. they had out 18 chairs for 20 of us.. yeah good times! We had to split up kids and families to make it all work. I did not like this. I'm a stickler for how my kids behave and I wanted them all near me.

Luckily I was able to keep the one child who has some behaving issues with me..lol.. we ate. No mention of my allergy even though it was on our ressie and I saw it stamped on the paperwork. I was so hungry by this time I just took my chances.. I ate very cautiously and lucked out.
Ziah sat with Missy and some of her crew:

Declan and Kate sat at yet another table with some more of Missy's krew ( no that's not Kate but she was over there some where):

After a little food the characters started coming.. oh my. To say pure chaos would be a mild statement. Small children not of my genetics were jumping, kicking, screaming etc making it all very difficult. Again.. I apologize even tho they aren't my kids!
Minnie was first:

See this?

Pluto is not signing the book.. he is writing "it's easier if the kids sit down until we get to the table"..again..lovely.. my kids were btw.. they aren't perfect kids but um..no way! Not real thrilled that got written in my daughters autograph book but what can ya do right? ( I know..never eat another meal with 13 other non family members that includes characters!)

She was in awe of the whole Mickey and Minnie and Krew at her dinner table!

WOW..a rarity ..me in a picture..in fact I think until I get our Photopass pictures this may be the only one! Please note my official Disney Vacation hairdo.. pulled back..sunglasses on top.. yep. Normally I fix my hair either all curly and pretty or straighten and sleek.. nope..I did my hair ONCE while down there and an hour later the humidity and rain killed it!..not worth it!

And there is Declan.. all i wanted to do was take the monorail to MK then hop a bus..it was after 10 and I was tired Plus Noah had been at the resort for hours alone! Sir Declan needed to trade pins though!

While waiting for the bus ( longish wait) we had some entertainment...

Think they are tired? They all fell asleep on the bus.

Oh did I mention it was a longish wait?? Whatcha think?

yeah..cus Chef Mickey's took us so long we ended up behind the lovely Wishes crowds..good times!

So we finally get on a bus and then back to Pop.. we are exhausted and hot and well things go downhill from there.

We get back to the rooms and I open ours and let the kids in.. and then we try to open the room Noah is in.. yellow light.. WHAT? I try another key..yellow light.. anyone who knows the locks knows this means the deadbolt is on. So I call Noah..no answer.. I knock..I pound..no answer!

This goes on for a good 5 minutes.. to the point we woke the people next door..GREAT..Sorry! Did I remind you we didn't get connecting rooms?? So um I can't get into Noah's room that way.

At this point Kate is pissed! I headed down to classic hall and found security who called the manager on duty then I headed back after calling from the house phone like 10 times to the room phone. No answer!

So I have a 16 year old in the room not answering the phone, the knocks nothing. I am starting to worry. Noah had a seizure disorder from 9-14. He's been seizure free for 3 years but that is always a worry. I'm worried and his g/f is getting mad at him.

After a few more minutes of calls and knocks the night manager comes with the master key thing. It DOESN'T work!! Are you kidding me?? He tries it in our door and it works fine. He then places a call to maintenance.. which he says must come from Epcot at that time of the night. Panic really sets in..WHY is Noah not answering the door, the cell the room phone..why why why??

I go back in our room ( eric and my mom are outside) and call the room 5 times in a row while one of them knocks. Finally Noah opens the door. He's alright.. he's fine he was just dead tired! Management and security leave..I thank them..especially security . The security gentlemen was so nice and kept calling management until someone came with that key!

I can't begin to say how relieved I was. I wasn't the slightest bit mad. Noah had no clue if he locked the deadbolt we'd have no access and he didn't mean to lock us out for almost an hour. We had another ARE YOU KIDDING ME moment because Kate was mad and I had to ream her a new one because if his MOTHER wasn't mad then guess what..she didn't get to be either! She def didn't get to get mad AT him!

So it's now after midnight and this night that was supposed to be "early" was anything but. We had rope drop plans for the "next" morning..yawn..did they happen??

 

[janabananas]

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

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

oh yup...no "significant other" rule will have to apply in my house too. This just doesn't seem like it's going to end well

Wow he is a heavy sleeper huh?

Not very Disney-like of that Tigger to write that in the book. Even if it doesn't make for a good story. He/She must be a new Tigger

 

[Tinkermom76]

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