Poor Unfortunate Souls: So Wet, So Full ~ Updated 12/22: Day 8 - Complete & New TR!

Congratulations!!! :cheer2: I am so happy for you both! The only thing that can make Disney more magical than it already is, is seeing it through the eyes of your child pixiedust:
 
Thanks! How old was Blake when your first Year of Disney started? I might have to go back and re-read some of that!

We started on the day before Blake's first birthday! I think that TR is long gone after my photobucket troubles, but I thought WDW with the little guy was a piece of cake. Now, that could be the magical way Disney makes everything seem wonderful when you look back, but it's a lot of fun when they're smaller. I miss riding IASW with baby Blake. They're too cute when they're babies! He wasn't a character fan though. :laughing: We took Andrew for his first birthday and he loved them. Ya never know, I suppose. :laughing:

When you said Dug Baby looks like a Disney fan already, I couldn't help but picture an ultrasound with a little pair of Mickey ears in it! :rotfl:

I actually thought the same thing when I was typing it! How cute would that be? :laughing:

I can't wait to actually start putting things in the nursery. It's still a guest room now, but it will get much cuter soon!

Have fun! I'd love to see pics. I'm currently in redecorating mode with the boys, but nurseries are soo much cuter than "big kid" rooms! So excited for you!
 
CONGRATS!!! I am so excited for you guys!!!!

I dunno if you read my TR but I am learning slowly but surely how to navigate WDW with a teeny tiny disney baby, so check it out if you have a chance!

I too have a general Disney theme going in Lily's room, I have too much stuff that I can pass of as kid stuff now to pick one character! LOL

So looking fwd to hearing all about Dug baby!
 
Congratulations!!! :cheer2: I am so happy for you both! The only thing that can make Disney more magical than it already is, is seeing it through the eyes of your child pixiedust:
Thank you so much! I can't wait. I spent much of the afternoon at work daydreaming about Dug Baby's first trip (I may have been on the Disney World and Disney Cruise sites a bit while "working" :rolleyes1)

We started on the day before Blake's first birthday! I think that TR is long gone after my photobucket troubles, but I thought WDW with the little guy was a piece of cake. Now, that could be the magical way Disney makes everything seem wonderful when you look back, but it's a lot of fun when they're smaller. I miss riding IASW with baby Blake. They're too cute when they're babies! He wasn't a character fan though. :laughing: We took Andrew for his first birthday and he loved them. Ya never know, I suppose. :laughing:
Really a bummer your TR is gone. :sad2: I'm glad to know that you found it to be a good time with little baby Blake, though. You know, every single TR I've seen with a really little kid in it involves LOTS of IASW rides, since the kids always love it. I've already warned Dug that we'll need to go on that, probably multiple times. :laughing:

I actually thought the same thing when I was typing it! How cute would that be? :laughing:
Too cute! If I had any Photoshop skills, I would totally try to do that! :rotfl:

Have fun! I'd love to see pics. I'm currently in redecorating mode with the boys, but nurseries are soo much cuter than "big kid" rooms! So excited for you!
Sounds like you have a cool dinosaur thing going for your boys, though...that sounds fun! Knowing us, it will probably be awhile before we have any nursery pics to share, but I will do so (probably on the PTR, whenever I start it). We did buy Dug Baby his/her first Mickey and Minnie recently, though. From the Disney Store website--they are specific for 2012, which we thought would be a nice birth year momento.

CONGRATS!!! I am so excited for you guys!!!!

I dunno if you read my TR but I am learning slowly but surely how to navigate WDW with a teeny tiny disney baby, so check it out if you have a chance!

I too have a general Disney theme going in Lily's room, I have too much stuff that I can pass of as kid stuff now to pick one character! LOL

So looking fwd to hearing all about Dug baby!
Thank you! I actually did pop over to your TR awhile back and I have to say I'm super impressed that you took your daughter at 3 weeks! Wow! :worship: It looks like she had a wonderful time, though (as much as a baby can, at least)!

That is exactly our nursery plan! Take all of our random Disney stuff and pass it off as kid stuff! :rotfl: So true. We'll have everything from the classic Mickey items that were my dad's as a child to the lithographs we just got with our Lady and the Tramp purchase (my fav Disney movie). And everything in between.
 

Congrats to you both!!!! Having a baby is the best thijng that ever happens to you !!! Best thing ever. So happy for you.
 
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :goodvibes

I'm just getting back into the DIS swing of things and this is definitely wonderful news to return to!!

So happy for you both! :hug:
 
Congrats to you both!!!! Having a baby is the best thijng that ever happens to you !!! Best thing ever. So happy for you.
Thank you so much! :goodvibes We are so excited and feel so blessed! Can't wait to meet this little one.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :goodvibes

I'm just getting back into the DIS swing of things and this is definitely wonderful news to return to!!

So happy for you both! :hug:
Gellybean!!! I'm so, so happy to see you back on the DIS! :cool1::banana::woohoo: I had no idea that you'd re-started your TR! I popped over quick to look and I'm so glad to see that Addison is doing well and to see her pictures. I can't imagine all that you've been through since our DIS-meet. I have to go to work now, but I will get caught up on your TR tonight! So glad you're back! :hug:
 


*A&Bmama-I have no idea if you are ever even on the DIS anymore, but if you happen to be lurking around: I told you I'd steal your "Dug Baby" idea someday! :rotfl: Thanks!

OMG Dugette! I am so thrilled for you and Dug!!

Little Dug Baby...Ahh you are going have a great time with him/her when you visit WDW. It all be a brand new experience again!

I am not sure what made me come on here today but I am so glad I found this!! I have been trying to stay off the Disboards for the most part. We are planning our next trip to Florida (2013) but the family decision was that we would do everything but Disney on that trip. It will be a great time and I know it is the best decision for us this time round but when I am here I start to feel a little sad that I probably won't be back there until 2014 or even 2015.

How are you feeling? I remember when I was pregnant with my first that if I didn't know I was pregnant I would have thought I was dying of some terrible disease. The nausea wasn't too bad but I was tired beyond belief. I couldn't stand up for more than a few minutes and no amount of rest seemed to help. Just breathing in and out seemed to be so much of an effort. Thankfully some time between the 3rd and 4th month I began to feel human again.

I wish I could offer some advice on how to handle Disney with an infant but I don't have any. I do know that it will be a completly different experience for you and that it is going to be Awesome!

Please feel free to PM me if you have news, especially when the Baby is born. I will get a notice in my e-mail so that I will know something is going on.
 
OMG Dugette! I am so thrilled for you and Dug!!
What a great day it's been for hearing from old DIS-friends! :goodvibes Love it! So glad you popped in!

Little Dug Baby...Ahh you are going have a great time with him/her when you visit WDW. It all be a brand new experience again!
It sure will be. So fun to think about! I will have to start a very open-ended PTR soon to organize all these thoughts. It will be so very different!

I am not sure what made me come on here today but I am so glad I found this!!
You must have known your username was mentioned. A DIS-sense, maybe. I'm glad you popped on, though. I didn't know if you were ever around, but I've remembered for a long time that you mentioned the idea of us taking a "Dug Baby" someday, so I had to give you credit for the cute little nickname.

I have been trying to stay off the Disboards for the most part. We are planning our next trip to Florida (2013) but the family decision was that we would do everything but Disney on that trip. It will be a great time and I know it is the best decision for us this time round but when I am here I start to feel a little sad that I probably won't be back there until 2014 or even 2015.
That's gotta be rough. I can't imagine going to Florida w/o Disney. But I know there is a whole lot else to do, so hopefully everyone can get their fill and then be ready to come back to WDW next time. On the bright side, the Fantasyland Expansion should be all done by the time you make it. And maybe all this X-Pass stuff will be in place too. It will be a whole different World!

How are you feeling? I remember when I was pregnant with my first that if I didn't know I was pregnant I would have thought I was dying of some terrible disease. The nausea wasn't too bad but I was tired beyond belief. I couldn't stand up for more than a few minutes and no amount of rest seemed to help. Just breathing in and out seemed to be so much of an effort. Thankfully some time between the 3rd and 4th month I began to feel human again.
You know, for the most part, I've been very lucky. I haven't had any real morning sickness to speak of. Just some minor nausea that goes away with a snack. I did have one freak "protein spill" (Disney term ;)) incident right at the end of the first trimester, though. I'm guessing that was related to how badly pregnancy can mess up your digestive system. Hasn't happened again. And I'm 14.5 weeks now, so hopefully past the worst of it. For me, like you, it's just been extreme fatigue. Kind of a fog. Plus, coincidentally, due to changes at work, I had to put in a lot of extra hours, so that didn't help any. I think my energy is finally returning. Last weekend, I was a productivity machine (compared to the last three months, at least). Did tons of laundry, long-neglected cleaning, etc. I hope this keeps up!

I wish I could offer some advice on how to handle Disney with an infant but I don't have any. I do know that it will be a completly different experience for you and that it is going to be Awesome!
I actually was just checking out Gellybean's TR and she has a link to an older one where her son is 1, so I think I'm going to check that out later! I think I read it a long time ago, but I'll have a different perspective now.

Please feel free to PM me if you have news, especially when the Baby is born. I will get a notice in my e-mail so that I will know something is going on.
Sounds good. I know you're not hanging around on the DIS much, but feel free to pop in here whenever you like...I miss your hilarious commentary! :rotfl: Also, I'll start a PTR/P-Baby-R soon, so feel free to follow that. I'm thinking it's going to be a mix of general baby stuff and attempting to plan Disney stuff. :)
 
When we last left off, our bellies were full of Earl of Sandwich and we were catching a bus from Downtown Disney over to the Polynesian for the evening. The weather was okay at the time; a break in the rain.

We arrived at the Poly and headed into the Great Ceremonial House. I had developed a migraine at some point, so we headed over to the Tambu Lounge to sit and relax. The whole place was quite the madhouse, though. The entire second floor of the GCH was packed, since it was dinnertime.

We found a couple of seats in the lounge and enjoyed just being in the Poly. :cloud9: Since enjoying margaritas at La Hacienda had helped ease my headache on a previous trip, I ordered up what I’d been waiting for...the Island Sunset. I love this drink:

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We shared it and both enjoyed it. I felt a little bit better. What Dug was really looking forward to, though, was trying out the Sushi Bar. So, we headed over there next. The place was packed. Literally every single seat around and near the Sushi Bar was full. :crowded: Dug was disappointed, but we decided we’d try back later that evening. It would give him more time to work up an appetite anyway.

In the meantime, we had to find something to do until it was time to go find a spot on the beach for Hallowishes. You may remember that we had those arcade vouchers that came with our package. And it doesn’t matter which arcade you use them in. So, we headed to the Poly’s arcade.

Dug played a Star Wars game, of course. I tried the two pinball machines (cost half as much each as his Star Wars game). I did super well on the Pirates of the Caribbean one, but absolutely awful on the Tron one. And I really was playing with the same skill level on both, but I kept getting bonus ball after bonus ball on Pirates and had lost within about 2 minutes on Tron. So, Pirates was fun, at least. pirate: I recommend it. :thumbsup2

It had been raining outside during this time, but the Poly is always prepared. They had the baskets of free towels by the doors so that guests could grab them and dry off. We grabbed a couple each as we headed out to the beach. At this point, the rain was very light, so that was not too bad. We went to check out the cozy little covered cabanas first. As we figured, they were already occupied. Except for one. It was all set up nicely as if someone was using it, but had been abandoned. :woohoo: We decided to snatch it up. It had a couple lounge chairs inside and they were already covered with towels. Nice! So, I used my two towels as 1.) a blanket and 2.) on top of the cabana to block the dripping. The view of the castle was somewhat obscured, but we were very happy with our new hangout:

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Couldn’t have asked for a better spot. And Hallowishes was really cool. The soundtrack was a bit on the quiet side where we were, but the fireworks (especially the perimeter ones) were quite impressive. Plus, we’d be attending a Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party later in the trip, so we could hear it better and see the castle better then. The beach time was really nice, though.

Immediately when the show ended, we jumped up to hit the Sushi Bar. This time, it was nearly abandoned. So much better! We did have one guy sit and chat with us quite a bit, but it was otherwise pretty quiet the whole time. Dug took some pictures of the various lighting in the Poly from our view:

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I had no interest in sushi, but it was still fun to watch the preparation. Our sushi chef was very nice and conversational. Here she is with a couple of Volcano Rolls (one for Dug, one for the other guy, I think):

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Dug’s sushi:

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Some other thing for someone else:

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I went for another drink, this time the Pina Colava:

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In hindsight, I should have asked for Kona bread to go with it. That would’ve been yummy! Oh, well.

Our sushi chef saw our anniversary buttons and secretly made us surprise Tuna Pokes:

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She didn’t realize that I had no interest, so Dug got to eat them both. He described them in a tweet:

I loved how the tuna roll had a little spice but delicately balanced. Crispy wonton under tuna poke just perfect. What a treat!

Dug was stuffed afterwards. He really enjoyed the experience, though.

Also, while we were eating, a family came by that was dressed as Haunted Mansion ghosts. Very cool costumes/makeup. Parents and kids. Nice!

Once we finished, it was time to leave our beloved Poly and make our way back to Pop. We hopped on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom to catch a bus from there. Stopped to check out the MNSSHP decorations:

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That Mickey light in the background is winking, by the way. Can’t see Mickey’s face very well in the picture, though. Just thought it was cute. We also saw another cute costume—a set of Crayola crayons:

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A little hard to see them in the dark, but that was creative.

We were soon on a bus and back at Pop. We had our refillable mugs in the backpack, so stopped to fill them at Everything Pop. Then made the soggy squeaky-shoed walk back to our room. We had to rest up for our early morning at DHS.

Up next: Ever do the Toy Story Mania stampede in torrential rain?! Less fun. :sad2:
 
Just found your TR! Love your journeys through the F&W fest (I also just read your '10 trip!)

Congrats on Dug Baby!
 
This morning started off bright and early, as we had a DHS rope drop/TSM Stampede to attend. The weather as we headed out was a light rain and wind. We packed all the wet weather supplies into the backpack, once again: poncho, rain coat (we threw away our other poncho at the end of our last trip, since it smelled! :eek:), umbrellas, etc. I high-fived the giant hand outside our door as we made our way out:

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We were on the bus to DHS by about quarter after 7am. It was an Extra Magic 8am opening that day.

I walked up to DHS with both the rain jacket and an umbrella, so I could keep my video camera dry (this is good, since Dug did not take a lot of pictures today, due to rain, so I put together a video summary that I will post at the end of this update). We were early and right up by the gates. I believe we were under a little roof there, so it kept us dryer. We discovered that the people behind us in line were also from Minnesota, so that was neat.

We watched the rain pour down as we waited for the gates to open. We were really hoping that they would skip the normal opening, since we didn’t want to be standing in the middle of the street waiting for the rope to drop. Unfortunately, we had to do just that. Since we were in front, we remained in front and were right up against the rope. And we waited and watched the rain keep pouring down and the puddles forming. :umbrella:

At one point, a brave CM without a poncho or umbrella decided it was wise to go out and run around in the rain. I think he was trying to work up the crowd. He just ended up completely drenched, though. He made people just getting out of the front seat of Splash Mountain look just slightly damp. His white shirt was now see-through. The other CMs seemed to have a bit more sense about going out in the rain.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the rope was dropped and we started the dash to Toy Story Mania. :woohoo: It was more difficult in the pouring rain, carrying an umbrella and trying not to get soaked from the massive puddles. Even though we’d been right at the rope, we were not the first to TSM.

We worked our usual plan where I go get in line for Fast Passes, since I can walk faster than Dug and he goes to get in the Standby Line when he arrives. Once I obtain the FP, I then join him in the Standby, still outside the building.

Well, being at the front of the crowd initially did still help, as I normally get stuck in a pretty long line for FP, but I was fairly close to the front this time. And I was very, very lucky. :wizard: I picked the right Fast Pass machine to get in line for. I was third in line. At the ONLY Fast Pass machine that was functioning that morning. Everyone else was stuck and I was able to follow the two guys ahead of me, get my FPs, and go. Thank goodness! :worship: These things usually don’t work out like that for me (i.e.-always picking the wrong line at the store, etc.) So glad I picked that line! The Fast Passes were for 8:45am, by the way.

I joined Dug and we headed in to play. The wait was minimal, since I’d gotten the FP so quickly and joined him while everything was still moving along pretty good.

I scored quite well, almost the best for the day thus far. Okay, so we weren’t very far into the day, but still cool. That was fun.

Up next, we were excited to try the new and improved Star Tours. We trekked across the empty park. There was nobody in the Streets of America area. We could hear the background "street sounds" quite well. We came across the Singin’ in the Rain umbrella, which was pretty funny, in an ironic way. I was like, “Great, I can go stand under it holding my umbrella!” Dug tried, but the water sprayer wasn’t working. However, there was plenty of real rain instead.

We also noticed that the Osborne Lights were partially set up. And there was zero wait to get pictures with the Cars, but we skipped that since we already had some from our last trip.

We made it over to Star Tours:

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I don’t believe we had to wait long at all, just walk through the queue. We really enjoyed all the new elements. Here’s Dug’s tweet:

Kashyyyk, Geonosis and Death Star, Admiral Ackbar and Boba Fett: LOVE the new Star Tours!!!

With those two rides out of the way, it was time for breakfast at Starring Rolls. You may know that this place has delicious cupcakes, but they also have OUTDOOR seating. And it was still raining heavily. Luckily, the tables have umbrellas and we were able to snatch one that someone had recently left. Only part of the table was actually dry, so we sat on that side. I held the table while Dug obtained an Irish Cream Mocha for himself and a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake for me (and him to share):

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As I remembered from a previous trip, the cupcake was delicious. And rain must make me hungry, because I’m pretty sure I cleaned that thing up in no time without much assistance from Dug. When we finished, we let some other wet people grab our table.

It was time to make our way over to Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster. We saw a lot more of the insides of stores at DHS than usual, as we cut through some of them to keep dry. Here are some shots from that:

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Somewhere along the way, we also saw this:

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At one covered outdoor point in line for RNRC, we got stopped for awhile. Luckily, we were dry there. I did this to pass the time:

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As you’ll see when I post the video, I was taping a dad that was rocking out to the background music. Cute. Until I panicked when he looked my way. Hope he didn’t know I was taping him! :blush:

Here’s the poncho-clad line of people we were in:

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Once the line started moving again, we were quickly inside the building. And, soon enough, we were boarding. We got super lucky and had the very front seat. First time we’ve sat in front on RNRC.

I had my video camera out as we were sitting at the station, just documenting the front seat, and the CM told me I had to put it away. Which gave me an idea. I do like to videotape rides, including coasters like Everest and Big Thunder. I bet there would be a good view from the front seat of RNRC…. So, I put the camera in my lap (holding onto it), but aimed it up and out, hoping for a view. Without looking at it, I pressed the record button. I thought I’d have some neat footage, but turned out that I must not have pressed the button hard enough or maybe I hit it twice, because I have NO footage of the ride. Unless Disney/Aerosmith has secret tricks to wipe your un-approved tapes! :rolleyes1

Oh, well. The ride itself was GREAT. I felt like the front was so much smoother and I could see everything so well. Loved it!

We got off the coaster and headed into the gift shop. I reached for my umbrella so we could head out into the rain again and…there was only an empty case. We keep our umbrellas in the water bottle holders on the sides of the backpack. They each have a matching case, which we have fastened to the backpack with carabiners. And the umbrellas go in the cases. I clearly remembered putting mine in once we got under the roof of the RNRC queue, so I knew I had it before the ride.

We immediately turned around and got the attention of a CM in the disembarking area. They had not found anything, but made sure to check the rotation of trains while we waited. We figured it had slipped out of the backpack on the floor of the front seat. Although Dug normally carries the backpack, I put it by my feet, with my leg through the strap, since I have more leg room to spare on this ride. I have to think that I would surely have noticed my umbrella flying past me on the ride (although that video would have been nice to check!), so it had to still be in the ride vehicle. I really can’t imagine not noticing it flying out…it probably would have at least hit my leg or something. Plus, with the g-forces, I don’t know how it could fly out anyway.

Well, after all their checking, still no luck. We asked at the checkout desk and no CMs had reported finding an umbrella in the queue either. We decided to do our own inspection and use the single rider line to get another look at the queue for RNRC. My umbrella (as you’ll see in the video) was bright blue and pretty unique, so it would be easy to spot, if it were laying on the ground somewhere. Well, we didn’t find a thing. :sad2: We even asked CMs near the loading areas, but they hadn’t seen anything (we thought maybe it had fallen out when Dug gave the backpack to me before getting on). We inspected everywhere we went, but had no luck.

After our single-rider rides, we asked at the disembarkation area again. A CM excitedly ran up to us with an umbrella. Unfortunately, it wasn’t mine. A plain black one. Bummer.

Dug was kind enough to let me use his neon green one and we headed off to the shops to find a new one for him. He found one that was not as compact as the ones we had, but worked just fine for DHS.

Not to spoil the ending, but I never did find my umbrella. My best guess is that someone found it somewhere within RNRC and took it for their own. I mean, it was sopping wet outside and not a lot of people were really prepared for that. I hate to think that someone would steal it, but I can’t figure out what else could have happened. Sure, I suppose it could be laying on the floor of RNRC somewhere, but I think it’s unlikely that it flew out without us noticing. It seemed to have gone into the same black hole as the camera batteries, but don’t think that means we stopped looking for either of them. I kept my eyes open for someone using my umbrella all day (didn’t find it) and we spent far too much time asking about both items at guest services and the lost and found phone line throughout the trip. I still haven’t replaced my umbrella, I’ve just been using Dug’s neon green one. I figured I could find some on clearance at Target sometime this winter, but it was not to be. And I can’t even find one I like now. Mine was a push button up and down one, pretty compact, and a nice blue. That shouldn’t be so hard to find. I’ll probably just have to break down and find some other color and get over it. After all, it was several years old and getting kind-of icky and probably needed to be replaced anyway.

So, after our wild umbrella adventures, we were on our way back to Star Tours. One of Dug’s goals of this trip was to get several rides in, to see the different combinations. We had another good voyage. Here’s Dug’s tweet:

Star Tours: Tatooine podrace and Otoh Gunga with Jar Jar and Ackbar.

Now it was time to redeem our Fast Passes for TSM. We learned that they had finally improved the FP queue! We always disliked how, even with FP, you had to join the standby line for the whole up-and-down-the-stairs part. Not anymore! If I remember correctly, they were now using the left side for Standby and the right side for Fast Pass. So much better! And faster! Yay!

We had another good ride and I scored very close to my morning score again. Can you believe I beat Dug both times this day? Wow, that doesn’t happen often. Although, I will say that I got the side with the henhouse both times and one can really rack up a lot of points on that. I had 178,800 and Dug had 156,000 (first ride I had 184,200 and Dug had 138,500). When we got out of the ride, Dug had a leg cramp from the tight space in the car. He kinda doubled over and CMs rushed over as if he were having a heart attack. Granted, he is kind-of over-dramatic when he gets a boo-boo, but they were on top of things! After a few seconds, he was okay to limp out. (I have to say I understand this much better recently with the sudden middle-of-the-night pregnancy leg cramps I’ve experienced! Ouch!)

Now it was time to redeem our Star Tours Fast Passes that we had grabbed earlier. We were heading through that queue at about 12:25pm. Third and final Star Tours voyage of the day.

We all got loaded in. The lights went down. And then…nothing. I know it’s normal to have a bit of a pause before the movie starts, but this was probably about 5 minutes. Seemed like it went on forever. We were all trapped and strapped in and had no idea if the CMs knew we were stuck in there sitting in the dark. It got to be somewhat ridiculous and the crowd commentary was funny. One little boy pointed out that we were all trapped in a room with no windows. Another woman exclaimed that there was no cell phone service. Would we survive? We were all SO thankful when the ride finally began. I think there was applause. And it was a good ride. Dug’s tweet:

Last Star Tours for the day: Darth Vader, Tatooine, Princess Leia, Geonosis and Boba Fett and Ackbar! Great ride!

And that was the last ride of our DHS morning. Our plan was to spend the afternoon doing some Christmas shopping at Downtown Disney and we’d grab lunch at Earl of Sandwich. Yes, we’d just had it for dinner the night before, but can you really have too much Earl of Sandwich? Besides, we’d get different kinds of sandwiches.

Anyway, we decided to catch a bus to Old Key West, then to Downtown Disney. I think because it’s in the Downtown Disney area and because we like to see new resorts when we get the chance. I believe our bus just contained us and a family with a screaming toddler. Probably the reason they were taking the bus back to their resort. The toddler was throwing a full-fledged shriek-at-the-top-of-your-lungs tantrum the whole time. I understand these things happen, but wow was he loud and high-pitched! And such stamina! We got off the bus at one of the covered bus stops and hung out by ourselves, watching the pouring rain, waiting for a Downtown Disney bus. I think Dug took this chance to call his parents and ask them to pray for good weather in Florida, because at this point, all reports were that it would be JUST LIKE THIS for the entire rest of our trip. Oh, 2011, why are you so mean to us? (or so we thought…) Yes, we were still in WDW, but pouring rain and being drenched even with a poncho AND and umbrella isn’t that fun. Finally, a bus came around and we made it to Downtown Disney.

Earl of Sandwich was a complete madhouse this afternoon. Dug stood in the mile-long line to order and I searched for a table. There was not a single table available (well, inside at least, and I wasn’t eating out in the rain!) I was not the only person walking around, stalking people who were looking almost finished. I found one table where the people were starting to stand and gather their things to go. Yay! So, I stood by and waited patiently for them. They left after a few minutes and immediately another woman who had been standing so close to them that I thought she was part of their group, sat down at the table. Really, she couldn’t have told me that she was already waiting for that table? :confused3 Oh, well, the search continues. I can’t even tell you how many times I walked through the expanse of that restaurant. I finally lucked out back next to the pop machines. I found a nice family getting ready to go, asked if I could have their table, and they were super friendly. Finally, we had a spot! As I waited for Dug, I noticed that someone else had found a table (the one next to us), but was one seat short. I offered them our extra chair and they took it. Pay it forward and stuff, I guess.

Dug soon came around with our goodies. Because we were on the dining plan and already had desserts there the previous night (and still had leftovers), we were able to get free sides with our sandwiches. I think we also paid OOP for some soup. So, we got:

The Holiday Sandwich for Dug:

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He LOVED this! I tried a bite and it was very good.

I had the Italian:

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Yum!

And we shared the soup, macaroni salad, and a yogurt parfait:

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All very good and very filling. We enjoyed our meal.

I can’t remember all of our shopping details, but we did go to Once Upon a Toy and World of Disney. I think we found a few gifts at one or both places. I think the scarves we found for Dug’s mom and sister were from World of Disney. We also went to one of our favorites: Mickey’s Pantry. We love the spice/tea section. Got a few gifts for family and friends from there and a bunch of stuff for ourselves, which we are still using. We also found a cool Mickey lantern in the store for Dug’s sister and BIL’s new back deck. We had planned to hit Goofy’s Candy Company for some custom-made treats, but there was quite a line and neither of us was up for waiting, so we skipped it.

We also had one other mission at Downtown Disney: obtain better rain gear! As I mentioned earlier, on our prior trip (December 2010), we had literally thrown away a poncho after Splash Mountain, as it smelled terrible (probably was put in the backpack wet). So, when we packed for this trip, we were down to one poncho. But I also found a big rain jacket that Dug had that fit me like a poncho, so I figured that between those and the umbrellas, we’d be okay for this trip and didn’t buy another poncho (not expecting a Mickey Monsoon). So, the interesting thing we noticed was that when you enter an indoor ride and they make guests take their ponchos off, they do NOT make people take their rain jackets off. I don’t know why they make the distinction, but they do. We observed it multiple times and even asked a CM at Star Tours about it to make sure. Poor Dug had to keep taking the poncho on and off, but I got to keep my jacket on and never was asked to remove it. So, clearly we needed a second rain jacket. Easier said than done, though. Especially in this weather. We decided to get one for me, since the existing rain jacket belonged to Dug (even though he was nice enough to let me wear it).

We hunted around Downtown Disney and had no luck. The closest we found were expensive, fancy jackets. Not for us, we wanted a poncho-quality rain jacket. We asked around and were told that Fun Finds was our best bet. And, luckily, they still had some left. However, they were limited to XS and L (or maybe XL, can’t remember). Since I’m not Extra Small, I figured bigger is better and tried on one of the big ones. Baggy, but that’s fine. It’ll keep me drier! I got one. I think it was only about $6, if I remember right (of course, it’s been 5 months and I have pregnancy-memory-impairment now, so forgive me if I’m wrong, but I know it was cheap).

I actually thought the jacket was kind-of cute (certainly better than a poncho) and it was a nice light blue and gray. The only problem was that it had no hood. And I didn’t want my head getting soaked, so we now had a mission to find me some sort of head-covering. That can’t be hard in Disney, right? Everyone is wearing SOMETHING on their head, after all. We tried the customizable mouse ear place, but nothing was really speaking to me. And it didn’t seem like they would keep me all that dry. Didn’t see any hats I liked anywhere either. Oh, well, we’d look back at the resort.

Our other shopping mission was to find some gel inserts for Dug’s shoes. His feet were killing him after walking around in all this rain. No luck anywhere on those either.

After shopping, we took the bus back to Pop Century. Looked around Everything Pop, but could not find a hat I liked or gel inserts for Dug. Gave up and went back to our room.

We moved our Artist Point anniversary dinner back a bit from 7:35pm to 9:05pm. This gave us time to dry off (my jeans were completely soaked through about halfway up to my knees!) and take a nice hour and a half long nap. Much needed.

We had made the decision to take a cab to Wilderness Lodge for our dinner. We’d never done that before, but the idea of taking Disney transportation and transferring in the pouring rain just didn’t appeal to us. We didn’t want to be a mess again by the time we got to our fancy dinner. Being warm and dry was worth a few extra bucks. So, we got all ready to go and called a cab.

First, though, here’s the video recap of our day so far:



Up next: A lovely 6th anniversary dinner!
 
Ugh! On the Rain and losing the Umbrella!

It still sounds like you had a good day despite it all!!

Can't wait to hear about your AP dinner!!
 
Ugh the rain! That day was awful, it was our last day in Disney so we spent the morning at Epcot before we had to go to the airport and we were just so miserable! :sad2: At least it sounds like you guys had fun at DHS and you were successful with the TSM mad dash! I never pick the right lines for things either! :laughing:
 
Hi! Great update - I can't believe how much rain you had that day.. looks like you made the most of it though :goodvibes

Hope you and baby bump are doing well!


Emma princess: x
 
Great update! Really enjoyed the video, all of Dugg's Eeyore faces were cracking me up. Glad to finally see a smile on his face after Star Tours. I love the changes, Disney did a great job with that rehab.
 
Sadness.. I can't get your video to play! :sad1:

Behind, but catching up!

LOVE the high-five pic! You're too silly.

Too bad about the rain (& your umbrella!), but it does sound like you still had a nice time. Awesome to read someone who actually understands Star Wars likes the changes, too! :laughing: I can't wait to get back to DHS and ride again, even if I don't know their names. Still so much fun!

Can;t wait to read about your dinner. Just seeing the cupcake in this update has me hungry right now!

Hope you & Dug Baby are doing well!
 
Hi there! :goodvibes I am slowly getting back on the Dis, and I just got all caught up on your TR. Sorry for the long time that I haven't read, but I am going to make a better effort for my Disney time. :thumbsup2

Your report has been so fun to read! I am SO EXCITED for you that you are pregnant!!! My due date with Dylan was Sept 6th and I had him on the 13th. So their birthday's will be close together. I hope that you are feeling better and that the morning sickness is wearing off.
 
Ugh! On the Rain and losing the Umbrella!

It still sounds like you had a good day despite it all!!

Can't wait to hear about your AP dinner!!
Yeah, not the most fun WDW day, but we made the best of it. And the AP dinner was great!

Ugh the rain! That day was awful, it was our last day in Disney so we spent the morning at Epcot before we had to go to the airport and we were just so miserable! :sad2: At least it sounds like you guys had fun at DHS and you were successful with the TSM mad dash! I never pick the right lines for things either! :laughing:
Yeah, we lucked out on the TSM FP machine. The dash in that much rain was so not fun, though. Thank goodness I picked the right line for once!

Hi! Great update - I can't believe how much rain you had that day.. looks like you made the most of it though :goodvibes

Hope you and baby bump are doing well!


Emma princess: x
I've never seen a day at Disney where it rained basically all day. I'm used to the little downpours that come and go, but this was depressing.

Thanks, baby bump and I are doing well. :goodvibes

Great update! Really enjoyed the video, all of Dugg's Eeyore faces were cracking me up. Glad to finally see a smile on his face after Star Tours. I love the changes, Disney did a great job with that rehab.

If anything will cheer him up on a yucky day, it's Star Wars stuff! :rotfl: The new Star Tours is really cool. I agree, they did a great job!

Sadness.. I can't get your video to play! :sad1:
Bummer, I hope you got it to work after this!

Behind, but catching up!

LOVE the high-five pic! You're too silly.
I'm glad someone else appreciates my silliness! :rotfl:

Too bad about the rain (& your umbrella!), but it does sound like you still had a nice time. Awesome to read someone who actually understands Star Wars likes the changes, too! :laughing: I can't wait to get back to DHS and ride again, even if I don't know their names. Still so much fun!
Yeah, Dug is a big Star Wars fan and he really liked the new Star Tours. I only am familiar with some stuff, but it's still cool to experience all the new special effects and such.

Can;t wait to read about your dinner. Just seeing the cupcake in this update has me hungry right now!
Mmmmmm....me too! :)

Hope you & Dug Baby are doing well!
We are, thanks! :goodvibes

Hi there! :goodvibes I am slowly getting back on the Dis, and I just got all caught up on your TR. Sorry for the long time that I haven't read, but I am going to make a better effort for my Disney time. :thumbsup2
Hey, I'm glad to see you back! :goodvibes I have a tough time keeping up on the Dis these days too, so no problem about taking a long time.

Your report has been so fun to read! I am SO EXCITED for you that you are pregnant!!! My due date with Dylan was Sept 6th and I had him on the 13th. So their birthday's will be close together. I hope that you are feeling better and that the morning sickness is wearing off.
Oh, wow, I forgot that Dylan's birthday was so close...very cool! I wouldn't be surprised if they come really close to sharing a birthday. I think first babies are often overdue and I know that I was born a week late, so we'll see what happens. Of course, my mom's birthday is Sept. 6th, so she's pulling for that. I have been feeling quite good lately. The only thing that's really bothering me is the constant aches and pains, especially the leg cramps and my right knee (possibly pinched nerve)...seems like no one ever talks about the whole-body changes...surprised me how old and creaky I've gotten. :rotfl:
 














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