Real World Orlando - With Pics!

[resol37]

The Pre-Trip Report

Welcome, welcome, welcome! The Symonds family trip to WDW is only 9 (holy crap!) days away so it is finally time for me to start my trip report.



Yay!

This trip is two years in the making, includes somewhere between 10 and 12 family members (we're still not sure), and may end up being a total disaster. It's gonna be great...wanna watch?

This is a family trip. Here are the characters. We'll start with me.

TRAVELLING FROM NORTH CAROLINA

I'm resol37 or Ashley. 23 years old, a former WDW CM through the College Program (Spring 2004 representin'). I worked at my favorite park, Disney-MGM Studios at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playground and the Disney-MGM Studios Backlot Tour. Very popular attractions, let me tell you. I'm super-psyched for this trip!

My brother Ryan. Ryan is 20 and will not turn 21 until a month after our trip. I like to remind him of this because most of us are planning on living between buzzed and tipsy while we're on vacation and he doesn't get to join in.

My mother Jean. My co-conspiritor. She doesn't do thrill rides and will spend a lot of time with the kiddies, but that suits her just fine.

My dad Doug. One of the brothers that hold this family together. Loves Soarin' and MuppetVision 3D and wants to golf while we're there.

TRAVELLING FROM VIRGINIA

My uncle Rick. Dad's older brother. Hasn't been to WDW in many, many years. I have to drag him on a roller coaster to hear him scream!

My aunt Sue. Rick's wife. Our other babysitter. And photographer/scrapbooker. Has two grandchildren and will be putting together seperate scrapbooks for each of them in addition to one for the whole family.

My cousin Jeannette, 28. She's a mommy! Jeannette has two kids, Alexa (almost 4) and Connor (7 mos). Hasn't been to WDW since she was a kid.

Alexa. I call her my neice, because it's just easier. The biggest bundle of energy I've known since my brother was a kid. She loves Ariel and Tinkerbell and is (thankfully) tall enough to ride almost everything. Is not a fan of "baby" rides.

Connor. My "nephew." Don't actually know him too well yet. But he seems to be a happy baby.

My cousin Michael, 26. Not Jeannette's H (he doesn't deserve a D; he's not coming) but her younger brother. Still not sure if he's actually coming or not. Since I'm not paying for any of his stuff, I'm not really too concerned, but I would love it if he were there for part of it. His DW, Mandy cannot make it.

TRAVELLING FROM MARYLAND

My uncle Dan. Dad's younger brother. Has never been to WDW ever. He told me he'd do whatever I told him to do. He has no idea what he's getting into.

My aunt Cathy. Dan's wife. Don't know if she's coming either. She was all set until a couple of days ago when she decided she wasn't sure if she could leave her dog for a whole week. She'll probably come though.

We will be staying all together in a vacation home that we rented about five minutes from property (really, we checked last time we were there in October). I fought hard and long to stay on property, but I can only do so much.

So far the plan is for the rest of the fam to drive down to my parents' place on Saturday, May 5 (with the exception of Mike and Ryan who will both fly). Sunday, May 6th we caravan to FL. Monday through Friday we rock the parks, Saturday we come back. Boo.

I have carefully crafted the following itinerary.

Monday
Morning - EPCOT (Future World only). 10:25 Princess Storybook Breakfast ADR at Akershus from myself, Jeannette, Sue, and Alexa.
Afternoon - Rest.
Evening - Brief tour of Toontown and Fantasyland for Alexa, SpectroMagic and Wishes! at Magic Kingdom.

Tuesday
Morning - Animal Kingdom.
Afternoon - Rest.
Evening - Fantasmic! at Disney-MGM Studios. Ryan arrives at MCO. Mike hopefully arrives by this point if not earlier.

Wednesday
Morning - Disney-MGM Studios.
Afternoon - Break as needed. 2:15 ADR for entire family at Hollywood Brown Derby.
Evening - Disney-MGM Studios. 9:15 ADR for myself, Ryan, Mike, and Jeannette at House of Blues at DTD.

Thursday
Morning - Break. Planned resort hopping for myself, Mom and anyone who wishes to join us. Boys are planning indoor sky diving in Kissimee.
Afternoon - Continued rest/break.
Evening - EPCOT. Touring World Showcase.

Friday
Morning - Magic Kindom. Hit it hard!
Afternoon - Rest.
Evening - Magic Kingdom. Dinner (most likely at rental home) with Jerry (Dad, Dan, and Rick's cousin) and her husband Bob. They live near Orlando (can't remember name of town) and will bring and assortment of the following - son James, James' wife, James' son, daughter Deena, Deena's baby.

I've planned and stressed, made lots of phone calls and printed multiple packing lists. And stressed some more.

But now I'm gonna have some fun!

All aboard!

 

[resol37]

Well, Mike is definately not coming. Mike owns his own flooring company and got a very big contract that's going to bring in a lot of money, so he has to work on that.

We're also pretty sure that Cathy isn't coming. Yes, because of her dog. No, I don't get it either.

In the meantime, I have a nasty cold to kick before next Sunday.

 

[resol37]

We leave tomorrow! Uncle Dan called today. Said he wasn't coming. I thank god for two things. 1) That he was kidding. 2) That my mom was the one talking to him at the time and not me.

I might have had a conniption. The man's got an odd sense of humor.

Weather isn't looking so hot (as in good) for the beginning of the week. Thuderstorms on our travel day and scattered showers on Monday. Now, I know that scattered showers usually mean a few showers lasting about 15 minutes or so and to keep on playing through it. Still.

I have not yet packed. My clothes are clean, but are currently still hanging out in the dryer. This cold I've got has left me way behind in "stuff I have to do before Disney". I did go to the bank this morning to transfer funds from my savings account to my checking account. W00t for money!

 

[Kim321]

I'm reading! What fun to have a family at WDW! Are you going to try to do any of the "special gatherings" with a larger group (or whatever they call them?!) (Do you have to have 8 people for one?)

 

[resol37]

The Trip Report

Hello everybody (hello, Dr. Nick! Anyone? No?)!

Pre-trip report with general plans and cast members can be found here. If you don't feel like reading it - a quick summary: 10 people, one house. My family (brother, parents, aunt, uncles, cousin and cousin's offspring) rented a house just off of WDW property for our trip. Six nights, five days, four parks. We can do it!

Saturday
Saturday, May 5 my uncle Dan drove down from Maryland. Having worked the night before (I work nights), I was trying to sleep when he arrived, but was not successful. So I got up and he, I, and my parents visited until it was nearly time to drive him to mass at a nearby Catholic church. Dad and I Target shopped (needed new sunglasses and lots of meds as I was still on the tail end of the flu ) until mass was over. Picked up Dan, picked up pizza and drove home where my uncle Rick, aunt Sue, cousin Jeannette and her kids Alexa (four next month) and Connor (7 mos) had already arrived from Virginia.

We pigged out on pizza (well, some of us) and hit the sack to leave around 8 the next morning.

Sunday
The Virginia crew drove over to our house in the morning. They had rented a van (an Uplander? Not sure who makes that.) big enough to fit them all and were following the Maryland/NC crew (Dan, my parents, and I) in Dan's van.

We departed without a hitch.

The trip was reasonably unremarkable. Dan and I watched a lot of The West Wing on the van's DVD player while mom and dad listened from the front seats. We hit a little bit of traffic on I-4, but nothing horrible - just annoying.

After a quick key pickup we hit the house.

Just inside the front door - general living space and dining table. Stairs to second floor were just to the left of this pic.

Another view of the same room.

The kitchen from the living room. That's my cousin Jeannette.

Main living room.

Pool and patio area in back. Also had a very small hot tub (which we didn't use because we decided not to pay for heat in the pool).

My parents' bedroom (king size bed).

My parents' bathroom.

Six bedrooms, four baths. Very pretty house and very close to WDW. We probably got to parks quicker than most WDW buses would get us.

Sunday night was all swimming, grocery shopping, purchasing tickets at Shades of Green and getting a good night's sleep.

At this time I don't have any pictures for Monday or Tuesday, but I'll be back to start on those days and will insert pictures as I get them from my aunt.

 

[resol37]

Monday
Monday started with Epcot. I planned out the majority of this trip and was trying to follow the general theory of Epcot, DAK, Studios, MK. I also did what I could to avoid EMH. Let's just say we put our park hoppers to good use.

We got to the gates at around 8:30 for the 9 am opening. Sue bought Alexa an autograph book and pen for characters. Once the park opened, we moved as quickly as 10 people with a stroller can move to the Land pavillion for Soarin'.

From the looks of it, we were pretty much at the end of that first huge group that always bolts for Soarin', so there was already a little bit of a wait by the time we parked the stroller and got downstairs. My mom had Connor in a front pack and we grabbed a Rider Switch Pass from the greeter CM so she could ride later and the rest of us jumped in line.

Alexa demanded to sit between her mom and I. It was so cool to see her face on this ride. She had a blast. She did pull her legs up a couple of times and the noise of the fireworks at the end seemed to scare her a little bit, but she was all smiles as we walked off. Everybody else loved it, too.

We met up with Mom at the exit. Rick took Connor while my mom, dad, and Dan rode Soarin' a second time using the Rider Switch Pass. And then we had to split up. I had scheduled Alexa, Jeannette, Sue and I for the Princess Storybook Breakfast at Akershus at 10:25. It was too early to arrive there, but I wasn't sure we'd have enought time to ride something else so we browsed in Mouse Gear while the rest of the group moved on. Alexa became incredibly attached to a plush baby Simba wrapped in a velcro attached leaf so Jeannette doled out the $18 and we made our way to Norway.

Had about a 10 minute wait before we were called to walk in (by a very, very cute Norweigan guy!). And that's when we hit a bump.

I originally scheduled this breakfast because I wasn't sure if Alexa would be scared of the characters and figured our best chances were with face characters. But Alexa wouldn't have meeting Belle when we first walked in. So Jeannette posed for the pic instead and we moved on to our seat.

All the food was very good. And very filling - I ate way too much. Alexa did eventually warm to the princesses, but she kind of had to observe them from afar first. Jasmine was the first to arrive at our table and Alexa let Sue take a picture of her sitting in Jeannette's lap while Jasmine stood behind them.

We also met (in no particular order) Sleeping Beauty/Aurora, Mulan, Snow White and at least one more princess who's escaping me at this moment. Alexa hugged all of them. Totally cool.

We met up with the rest of the group on the bridge between Future World and World Showcase. The other group had taken Connor on his first WDW ride - Living with the Land. The guys had also accomplished Mission: Space while Mom sat with Connor.

After meeting up, Mom and Sue took Connor and Alexa to The Seas with Nemo and Friends while the rest of us (me, Dad, Rick, Dan, and Jeannette) headed towards Test Track. The posted wait time was 30, but after standing in line for at least 15, they announced that they were experiencing technical difficulties. We decided to give it a few more minutes, but jumped out of line pretty soon after. The "music" they use in the queue at TT really needs to be toned down, it was giving me a headache.

We each got a TT FastPass and Jeannette decided to head towards The Living Seas to meet up with the others. The guys and I decided to go see Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.

Mom called my cell phone (on vibrate, thank you) while we were in HISKA, so I called her back after the show and told her where to meet us. Turns out, Jeannette had never found them (I'm still not sure where she ended up, she got lost somewhere), but Rick called her and we all regrouped at the Imagination pavillion.

The TT FastPasses could be used at this point. Jeannette thought Alexa would like it and wanted to take her so I handed over my FP. I'd been on it plenty of times, so it wasn't a big deal. The guys plus Alexa and Jeannette headed that way while Sue, Mom, Connor and I went back to Mouse Gear for more browsing. No buying this time, though. We went outside to listen to the Jammitors as they started up a show. Connor really liked the drums. He also got some lunch, so he was in a pretty good mood anyway.

The whole group met up outside of Mouse Gear and decided it was time for a break. Back to the house for some swimming and napping, it was.

 

[resol37]

Monday cont.

After a rest at the house, we all loaded back into the vans to head for MK. took Alexa, Connor, and Dan on their first monorail trip.

SpectroMagic was only going to run Monday and Thursday and with Thursday being an MK EMH day, I figured Monday would be the best night to go.

We got there early so Jeannette, Alexa, Sue, my mom, Connor and I headed towards Fantasyland while the guys went straight to Space Mountain.

Sue, Jeannette, Alexa and I managed to get onto the Mad Tea Party in about 10-15 minutes while Connor slept with my mom. We spun that sucker hard, too. At least, we did until Sue said she was gonna puke and then I grabbed that wheel in the middle and steadied it as quick as I could. Don't need to see any of that, thanks.

We took a tour of Minnie's house and then Mickey's before heading back towards Main Street.

The guys had managed one ride on Space Mountain before heading back to meet us on the bridge connecting Tomorrowland and Main Street. We had planned to get some curb space on Main Street to watch the parade, but at an hour before the start of the parade, it looked like the curb space was already taken up. So we decided to stay where we were, at the top of Main Street and lean against the rail.

While we waited for the parade, I resisted the urge to trip kids gliding by on Wheelies/Heelies/whatever those things are called.

The parade kind of freaked Alexa out. Just like with the princesses, she really needed to be eased into it from afar, but we hadn't caught onto that yet.

I ended up sitting on the sidewalk for most of the parade. I've never been a big parade fan, but SpectroMagic is my mom's favorite thing in WDW so we always watch it. Since I'm only 5'2" and we were standing at the back of the sidewalk, I couldn't really see anyway and, for me, SpectroMagic is more about the music, I had no problem enjoying it from the sitting position.

After the parade, Sue, Rick and Jeannette decided to take the kids home. the rest of us stuck around for Wishes.

Now, I love Wishes! Back when I was a CP, my friend Charlee and I loved to sing along to it. And when Aladdin wishes for Genie's freedom, it always chokes me up because it's the only wish that's made for someone else besides the wisher. *tears*

Mom, Dad, Dan and I got out of MK pretty fast, actually. We took the ferry boat back to the TTC and crashed as soon as we got back.

Good Day.

 

[resol37]

Tuesday

Animal Kingdom!

We all arrived to park opening and saw the walking, talking palm tree. Very cute.

We got a bit distracted by the creepy-crawlies on the way into the park, but were soon on our way(s) to Expedition Everst.

But it wasn't open. EE = 101.

So we decided to move on to Kali River Rapids. But it wasn't open either.

So, aught for two, it was time to try Kilimanjaro Safaris! But first...a cigarette break.

Sue and I stopped with Jeannette while she popped into a smoking area. I was under the assumption that the rest of the group was going to wait for us at the entrance of KS.

You know what happens when you assume... They hadn’t waited for us. Boo.

Jeannette really wanted to ride with Alexa so once we got in line and managed to get ahold of Rick on his cell phone, he and Alexa held up and met us.

Many pretty "aminals" were seen. And we saved Little Red! Woo!

And thus we decided to split up. Thusly.

Mom, Rick, and Sue took the kids over to the Boneyard whilst the rest of us bee-lined to Expedition Everest.

This ride was very exciting since I was riding it for the first time. In fact, now that I think of it, this was the only thing I rode during the trip that I had never done before.

I was also very excited because I hadn’t told my family that the ride goes backwards. Whoops.

The ride time was posted at 30 mins, but it was more like 20 mins. Yay for pixie dust!

Unfortunately the fam read the little sign before you board that tells you it goes backwards. They’re no fun!

Dan and Jeannette rode together right up front and Dad and I rode behind them. This was way too cool! I loved the animatronic yeti. But it was over too early. I could’ve stayed on it for hours.

I had to see FotLK, so we trekked back to the Boneyard to meet up with everyone else. Jeannette really wanted Sue to ride EE, so after a smoke break and a mini-meltdown from me (in just a second), Dan, Sue, Jeannette, and I went back to Asia and the rest of the group would meet us in front of the FotLK entrance.

My Mini-Meltdown
I’m a bit of a Disney commando (I’m going to be making a huge effort to enjoy some of the smaller things on my next trip) and I had planned a lot for this trip. Two years worth of planning! After the second day I started to loosen up, but this day I had a bit of a thing with our FotLK show. I really, really wanted to see it. To this day, it’s my favorite thing at DAK. When we met up in the Boneyard, I was ready to head straight over to FotLK and had to be talked off a ledge (by my uncle Dan) when the others wanted to go ride EE again. We ended up making great time in getting there and then over to Camp Minnie Mickey, mostly thanks to Dan’s excellent map-reading skills. But there was a moment where I had some issues.

So we rode EE again. Sue did not see the “this ride goes backwards” sign. Which Jeannette really enjoyed since she was sitting with Sue and had to endure the screaming.

Everyone met up at FotLK and a groovy time was had by all.

This show makes me weepy. Mostly because during my CP, one of my best friends, Alfredo, was obsessed with this show. He saw it at least once a week and had all of the dance moved memorized. He used to entertain us with his own renditions. *tear*

Alexa had about had it for the day (she was about to fall asleep) and Connor was turning pink, so the VA clan decided to head back to the house.

Dan, Mom, Dad, and I decided to do Kali River Rapids before heading back.

We did KRR twice on this trip and both times I got completely soaked. If you’re ever in WDW with me, sit as far away as possible from me on this ride!

I can’t remember if we did “It’s Tough to be a Bug!” on this day or on Thursday, but I have pictures for that day that will take up some space, so we’ll assume it was this day.

Mom didn’t have an accident when the “bee” “stang” her. But it was a close call. Meanwhile, the spiders still creep me out. I don’t even like seeing them on TV. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King? Yeah, I was watching that spider stuff from between my fingers.

And we drove back to the house for rest and relaxation.

That night I had planned for all of us to go see Fantasmic! I figured if we watched it on Tuesday, we could stay in Disney-MGM Studios as long as we wanted the next day without a break since we didn’t have to worry about being there late that night.

With the show starting at 9, I let everyone know that we would want to get to the park around 8. At 6:30 Rick, Sue, Jeannette and the kids decided to head over to DTD for some shopping and said that they’d try to meet us there. I knew they wouldn’t. And I was right. They had a great time.

Until they tried to drive home.

I don’t know how or where they got lost, but they did. For an hour.

The rest of us had a great time, though. Fantasmic! was gorgeous and went off without a hitch. I actually missed the last 5 or 10 minutes because my brother and I were texting back and forth. His plane was coming into MCO that night and had had some delays, so he was keeping us updated.

My favorite part of Fantasmic! – the fact that it’s a Steamboat Willie version of Mickey steering the boat at the end of the show. Rox my sox.

We had more great luck exiting the park. Everyone moved really well down the streets. There were even gaps in between people! *gasp*

We drove back to the house and Dad and I took a few moments to collect ourselves before making our way to the airport to pick up Ryan.

Dad and I have both been to MCO twice before (picking up and dropping off my great aunt on last October’s trip), but Mom was directing Dad the first time and driving the second time.

This time I got to hold the map. Big mistake. I’m horrible with directions.

Okay, we actually got there without any problems. Prolly didn’t take the most direct route, but it worked. I was very proud of my self.

And we waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Dad and I had positioned ourselves on a bench so that we could see everyone coming down either the stairs or escalator and we played a game. It’s called See If You Can Spot Ryan Before You See His Face – Legs Only! We tied for first place.

And then we waited some more for luggage.

Ryan’s Epic
My brother lives in Greensboro, NC (about two hours north of where I live with my parents). Originally, he was going to drive down to the house before we left for WDW and he and I were going to road trip in my car both ways.

But instead, he had his final Final Exam on Monday, Epcot Day. On Tuesday, he had to appear in court.

His best friend and room mate had been pulled over (however many months ago) for speeding, only to be informed that there was a warrant for his arrest for Indecent Exposure. He had never heard of the girl who was accusing him. Yeah, he didn’t do it. He had been hanging out with my brother that entire day.

Best we can figure, this girl had been stalking him from afar. Somehow her father was involved, but I don’t know…

Anyway, Ryan had to appear as a witness that he had been with Ryne (the room mate) the entire day, etc, etc. Ryne got off and all was well with the world.

But that’s why Ryan couldn’t come until Tuesday night.

Story told and luggage procured, we were back in the van.

So, judging from the map, my dad figured out which exit to get off of 4 onto 192 W. Once we got off, we were too far south. I think. I’m still a little fuzzy on the details. It was way after midnight and I was tired and lacking my necessary flu drugs.

Point being, we got back on 4 to go further north and stuff happened.

I don’t know what. None of us do.

What we do know is that there were two white trucks with blinking lights. And a cop car between them with their lights blinking. Keeping a steady pace of 1 mph.

And we couldn’t pass.

An hour later, we had reached the next exit and promptly got off. I roll my eyes at the whole situation.

We managed to find our way back to the rental house and hit the sack around 2:30 am.

 

[resol37]

Wednesday

Disney-MGM Studios. My favorite park!

This was the morning that we stopped at a CVS so mom could get a new battery for her camera, so the pictures return!

Mom's camera is film not digital, and I forgot to ask for a CD when I got the pics developed, so all of these are scanned in. Sorry about the quality.

The Virginia group was running behind this morning, so Dan, Ryan, Dad, Mom and I left without them.

Through the turnstiles and straight to ToT we went!

Tower of Terror, here I come!

A little bit closer.

ToT is my absolute favorite ride. On Ryan's last trip in 2000, he and I rode 15 times in one day. I still haven't gotten sick of it.

After that, we rushed right over to RnR. I like the new queue.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster rox my sox!

By this time, Rick, Sue, Jeannette and the kids were there. We grabbed a bench between ToT and RnR while Jeannette, Rick and Sue experienced the finest two rides Studios has to offer.

And we had snack time. I wandered down Sunset to get a soft pretzel, fruit cup and apple. There was also a frozen banana and obscene pictures involved, but those weren't on my mom's camera, so you'll have to use your imaginations.

I was not in a rush today...I know Studios like the back of my hand and knew that once we had accomplished RnR and ToT we were unlikely to see any wait times higher than 15 minutes in this park (we didn't).

So we waited around for the first BatB showing of the day. Everybody agreed that Four for a Dollar was the best part.

Four for a Dollar Pimpage
I love this group! I bought the CD! If you've never seen them, they are a four man a cappella group that performs before the BatB show. I believe they have Sundays off, though. They've been there for years and they are excellent. I highly reccomend! If you want to see them arrive about 20 minutes before the show.

Random Studios pic...

Anybody have any clue where this is?

I figured we could just work our way around the park clockwise so we made our way to GMR next.

I miss the days when you could see the GMR at the end of Hollywood Boulevard.

Alexa got scared of some of the loud noises in GMR, but we had a great CM (whose name I've forgotten) and all was well after we got off. That montage still makes me tear up every time.

At this point I know my mom, Sue and Jeannette took the kids while the rest of us did Star Tours, but I have no idea where they went or what they did.

So back over in Star Wars land we enjoyed our ride, as I always do. We had planned to meet the other girls and kids at Muppetvision 3D, but they saw most of us standing outside of Tattooine Traders while Rick shopped and we walked over to Muppetvision 3D together.

We had a little bit of a wait...got to see the entire pre-show video, though. I love the 3Ds!

Alexa wasn't so sure about Sweetums or the loud noise at the end of the show (she climbed into my lap at that point), but she loved the bubbles.

We split up again after Muppetvision. Mom, Sue, and Jeannette took the kids character hunting...

Buzz.

and to play in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playground while the rest of us did the Disney-MGM Studios Backlot Tour.

I know it's not the most exciting attraction in the park, but I used to work Tank (that would be the Special Effects Water Tank) at the Backlot Tour when I did my CP.

I also worked at the Honey Playground, but I feel no need to ever visit it again.

And it was lunchtime.

I made an ADR for the Hollywood Brown Derby for all of us because I figured it would be nice to have one sit down meal for the whole family. HBD is a favorite of my mom and I, so this is where we were headed.

Alexa when she doesn't know the camera's on her.

Alexa when she does know the camera's on her.

Sorcerer Mickey and brooms just outside Hollywood Brown Derby.

Another view.

What everyone else was doing while I checked in for lunch.

My parents celebrated their 25th anniversary just before we came down to WDW, so the host got us some pins for them. Yay!

The Hollywood Brown Derby.

My family. From left - my dad, my mom and my cousin's son Connor, my aunt Sue, my uncle Rick, a small piece of my uncle Dan's white t-shirt, my brother Ryan, my cousin Jeannette, my cousin's daughter Alexa (getting tired and pouty), me.

Looking at the menu - version 1.0.

Looking at the menu - version 2.0.

Uncle Dan and Uncle Rick. I have no clue what they're doing or looking at.

Connor looking adoreable after his nap.

We had intended to see the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular and One Man's Dream, but after lunch we knew we were drawing our day to a close.

So what do we do right after lunch? Go back to ToT and RnR, of course.

Those not affected by motion sickness and/or babysitting took off for one more ride on each and then some various shopping on Sunset Boulevard.

Ryan...yawning or mugging for the camera? It's hard to say.

More mugging. He thought Connor might help him pick up chicks.

Resting on a bench while others shopped for all-important chocolate.

And it was back to the vacation home we went.

Now, originally I had intended to have a dinner at the House of Blues at DTD with my brother, cousins and cousins' significant others. Actually, I had hoped only one SO.

The Story of Jeannette's Husband
Jeannette got married back in Oct 2002. I loved the guy at the time. Funny and nice. They were pregnant right away and Alexa was born in June 2003. Everything seemed fine until May of 2005 when we found out that he had cheated on Jeannette. She had taken him back and they were working on things. In February of 2006, Jeannette got pregnant with Connor, but by May, he had cheated again and a divorce was underway. She took him back again over the summer. By late October/November, Connor had been born and the husband was back out of the house. We all thought this one was going to stick. He had to get his own apartment, Jeannette hired a lawyer, she was saving any and all messages she got from him, etc. Nope. By January his was back in our lives.

*ahem* Now that I got that over...When I made the original HoB ADR I made it for me, Ryan, my cousin Mike, his DW Mandy and Jeannette. We were under the assumption that her husband wasn't coming. Then he was. Even though I hate the guy, I changed the ADR so as to not piss of Jeannette. And then Mike, Mandy, and Jeannette's husband all dropped out of the trip.

So it was just me, Ryan, and Jeannette. 9:15 ADR for HoB!

But first...

Ryan after his first day at WDW since 2000.

We rested and then my mom drove us over to DTD. We dined, wined (well, I had a rum and coke, Jeannette had some other mixed drink, Ryan had beer without being carded ) and then went shopping!

Actually, I don't believe I bought anything this evening. Ryan and Jeannette both bought t-shirts at the Virgin Megastore, but I believe that was it. We stayed until about 11 pm walking around and taking things in.

But, by that point, everthing we were willing to pay for (no PI for us) was closed down so we got a cab.

Cab was easy to find and we were headed back to the house again.

Our cabbie had a very thick accent which...I have no problem with except he insisted on carrying a conversation with me (I was in the front seat since I knew the area best...in case we got off course) and I could barely understand what he was saying. And I didn't want to be rude and say so. So there was a lot of nodding and "uh huh"ing.

Back at the house we crashed with nothing specific on our calendars for the next day.

 

[Mr._The_King]

Wonderful! You did a really great job. That house looks so nice, I would love to live there full time. (location, location

 

[resol37]

Wonderful! You did a really great job. That house looks so nice, I would love to live there full time. (location, location

Eee! I have a reader! Also, thanks! I promise this sentence won't end with an exclamation point.

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Awesome TR... TFS

 

[resol37]

Awesome TR... TFS

Thanks! And you'll also have to give a thanks to your son or daughter serving in, what I gather to be the USAF. My dad was in the Air Force until 1995 (early retirement). My uncle Rick and cousin Jeannette were in the Coast Guard, both grandfathers were in the Army and my (now departed) uncle Ray was in the Navy, so we're a big ol' military family over here.

Thank you for reading!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Cute TR, can't wait to read the next installment. Thanks for posting this.

 

[resol37]

Cute TR, can't wait to read the next installment. Thanks for posting this.

Thanks for reading it! Next installment's coming right now.

 

[resol37]

Thursday

Originally, the guys were going to go to Kissimmee to do an indoor skydiving thing while my mom and I were going to resort hop at the Poly, WL and AKL. Jeannette, Sue and the kids were going to hang by the pool at the house.

But then we realized that five days do not hold enough time for all the wonderfulness that is Disney. So we went back to the parks.

Alexa had loved all the animals at DAK so the Virginia crew was planning on spending the day there.

Dan, Dad, Ryan, Mom and I were headed to DAK as well…for the morning. And we were going back to Epcot in the evening.

Tip to Those Planning a WDW Vacation
Make sure you have your tickets before you leave wherever it is you’re staying. It’s very important!

We forgot them. Which means Dad forgot them since we were leaving him with that responsibility.

It was a little bit my fault, though. I had asked every morning, “Got the tickets? Sunblock? Meds? Cell phones? etc.” This morning I didn’t speak up until we were just outside the DAK parking lot.

So we paid for our parking and then double backed to the house for the tickets.

Back at the park:

Uncle Dan, me, Ryan.

Of course, when we got up to the gates, Dad’s ticket wouldn’t work.

The CM directed us to a manager who was helping with ticket issues. She left her post to further help another guest just as we got over there.

So we waited.

And waited some more. While millions of others trekked towards EE (at least, that’s what I saw).

Finally, I gave up my post and took Dad’s ticket to Guest Services. The CM there ran Dad’s ticket through and said it worked just fine.

Ooookay. Time to move on. I held in my fumes and we headed towards Asia.

Our first order of business was of course, Expedition Everest since Ryan had never been on it.

Getting warmer.

The back of my head (see the bushy ponytail?), Dan’s head and Ryan’s head.

Almost there.

So we rode EE. Awesome. I love the Yeti! He’s my new best friend, he just doesn’t know it yet.

Monkey playground sans monkeys.

Kali River Rapids up next. I got soaked again. And I was wearing what were, basically, a pair of pajama pants…they were black cotton pants from Old Navy. Can’t think of the name of the style at the moment (it’ll come to me), but the bottom line is, they soaked that water up like a man who’s been stuck in the desert for a month.

Of coarse, anytime you get really soaked you have to go see a show so you can freeze your you-know-what off.

We were in the elephant section, I think.

I was still wringing water out of my pants.

Dance!

So, having hit our DAK highlights, done a little shopping, and seen two ducks engaging in a very adult activity on a sidewalk (surrounded by a group of adults who had no idea what the ducks were doing), we returned to the house to rest up for our return trip to Epcot.

We got back to Epcot around 5 pm, I believe and immediately grabbed FastPasses for Soarin’. I don’t remember how long the line was, but I balk at anything over half an hour.

FastPasses in hand, we looked around for something else to do in Future World. We attempted Honey, I Shrunk the Audience but they were having technical difficulties.

As were Ellen’s Energy Adventures. Luckily, by the time we had purchased ourselves some yummy coffee drinks, Ellen was 102.

But we had no noise through the entire dinosaur part of the ride. Which is something that happened last time I went on that ride. Methinks, Disney needs to look into that, hmm?

HISTA was working again when we got off of Ellen (dirty minds!), but wanting to get over to World Showcase soon, the boys and I decided to join the non-existent line over at Mission: Space.

All food was held down, though I did steal a barf bag as a free souvenir (score!). And it was cool to see Lt. Dan again. (“I thought I’d try out my sea legs.” “But you ain’t got no legs, Lt. Dan.” “Yes, I know that, Forrest.”)

Time to travel ‘round the world!

Pirate Goofy.

We went left and popped into Mexico. I never buy anything there, but I love the atmosphere. The constant twilight is just so pretty.

And we moved on to Norway.

A very dark picture of a troll.

The pretty flowered roof.

I’ve been in love with Laila perfume since the first time I smelled it on our 1998 trip. The creator Geir Ness was there debuting it (I believe). I never bothered to buy any because I’m not really the perfume wearin’ type and I didn’t want to spend $50 on something I’d never use. But this trip, thanks to my Savings Account O’ Cash, I splurged.

It smells so pretty!

I also got a troll doll with purple hair and my brother and I agreed that Norway doesn’t seem to make any ugly people.

As many times as I’ve been to Epcot, I will now pull out my trusty UG to remember which order the countries are in.

BRB (lol, rotfl, etc, etc).

Ah, China. I don’t remember us doing much in China. Actually I don’t remember China at all from this night. We came back the next night, so…

Germany! My family lived in Germany from 1987 to 1990 so this one is always fun. And pretty accurate, let me tell you.

My dad bought some sort of apple liquor (don’t ask me), my brother bought a stein and I got a juice glass with Ariel on it for my friend Jenni. Ryan and I both wanted ours engraved (his with our last name and mine with “Jenni”), so we left them behind.

Dwarves in Germany.

We gazed briefly at Italy

Italy.

and the American Adventure before heading straight for Japan.

I love Japan. It’s so gorgeously pretty. And I wanted a pearl! I picked out a pearl (if I remember correctly it was 7 mm – pretty good) and had it set in a silver ring.

It was going to take a little while for them to set the ring, so I left that behind, too.

What did I buy in Morocco? Oh, four little tea glasses and an incense burner. Yeah, I like to shop. I also love henna tattoos, but the one time I got one at the Morocco pavilion it faded really quickly.

The guys stopped briefly to listen to Mo’Rockin’ so my mom and I grabbed a seat off to the side.

And then we fell in lurve!

Aladdin was finishing a meet and greet and walked past us, all smiles and waves, to go backstage.

I swear it was love at first sight.

So mom and I vowed to spend some time Aladdin-hunting on our next trip.

When we moved on to France, it was decided that I would double back to get the engraved things and the set things and then meet the family in the U.K.

And so I did. It was a hike! Or possibly, I was just rushing myself.

While I was doing so, mom took these pictures.

The bridge between France and the U.K.

Rabbit.

Eeyore and Piglet.

More Eeyore and Piglet.

Dad with his role model.

Pretty purchases in hand, I met up with the fam as they were listening to The British Invasion and we decided to head back to Future World to use our Soarin’ FastPasses.

But not before I had a hissy fit.

Okay, I didn’t have a real hissy fit. But I was tired and getting grumpy since the next day was our last. And the guys had decided that they wanted to stay for Illuminations.

I’ve never been a big fan of Illuminations and I was hoping to skip the exiting crowd by leaving as soon as we got off of Soarin’. But it was not to be.

I broke the hissy fit to point out this bunny as we were leaving Canada.

Mom and I agreed that we’d pop a squat in Future World and rest while the guys watched Illuminations. Okay!

So back to Soarin’. My brother’s favorite part…Puddy! My favorite part…watching my brother do a full body twitch trying to avoid that golf ball (this is a kid that once fell off of a couch while playing a soccer video game because he, as the keeper, was making a dive for a ball).

While the guys watched Illuminations I decided that the pick me up I needed would be in the form of a cheeseburger and fries.

Fountainview Café was still open so that’s what I got. And extra fries for mom and a drink to split. Yes, fat makes everything better.

Additional pictures taken somewhere towards the end of the night:

Spaceship Earth was still closed (did I mention that before?) so we met the guys and started to head out.

If you want to scroll back up and take a look at the t-shirt my brother was wearing (it’s the one he had bought the night before at the Virgin Megastore) you’ll know why he got a big laugh out of a CM selling light up thingies from a cart as we were walking out.

 

[resol37]

Have you ever tried to write a trip report with a cat walking around the desk? It's difficult.

Friday

Finally we're back at the Magic Kingdom! We split up again today (see how often we're doing that...it's called "Saving Ashley's sanity because now she doesn't feel responsible for 10 different people's good times - just five").

I went with the guys and mom, Jeannette, and Sue took the kids.

First stop - Space Mountain.

Tomorrowland - Dad was holding the camera today.

Considering we'd seen pretty short and/or reasonable lines all week long, we probably could have waited and done SM later...we ran into a middle school group all in blue t-shirts and had a decent wait.

Space Mountain - classic, but also really entertaining to ride as a short person touring with a whole bunch of really tall people. Ha to them!

My mission was to hit the big three, Space, Splash, and Big Thunder, as soon as possible. So we left Tomorrowland for Frontierland by way of the castle. Probably not the quickest route, but eh, what can you do?

Me, Uncle Dan, Uncle Rick, and Ryan...oh, and that castle thingy.

Good castle shot from Dad.

Having ridden Kali River Rapids twice with me in the past week, Dad was over getting soaked, so he decided to skip this one.

I told the guys that we wouldn't get that wet...honestly, that's what I believed!

I have a theory...I hadn't been on Splash Mountain during a warm time of year in three years and I don't remember a pre-drop splashing. Y'know, right before you start to go up that tall hill at the beginning of the ride.

Well, it's there now and we got soaked to the bone. I'm surprised the guys continued talking to me after that.

Still dry...though I already looked pissed. I have no idea why.

Either just before or just after getting completely washed away.

Everybody say

No, my under garments are not dripping with water at all!

Then we all rode "Makes Del Scream Like a Girl" aka Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (she doesn't know me, but I'm going to pimp her anyway because her TR's rock...if you don't yet know Del's Wife...get acquainted!)

Pirates of the Caribbean! We were all shocked that Dan had never seen any of the movies!

Okay, I sheepishly admit...I've only some of the first one. I may have seen it the whole way through once. My friend Charlee (who was my bestest friend during our Spring College Program in 2004) says I'm a bad Cast Member. Just because she has a crush on Orlando...

We pillaged...and shopped for cool pirate stuff. Well, the guys did. I found a bench to enjoy (a la "What's His Name" on the pre-YoaMD Disney Vacation DVD).

And so we travelled onward to the Jungle Cruise. Our guide was just so-so, but still enjoyable.

I think the guys preferred this little boat game/thingy more, though.

We briefly met up with the rest of the crew who had been enjoying Fantasyland (don't think any of us ever did go to Toontown that day...).

Anyway, we convened and it was decided that they were going to check out the Jungle Cruise while we got some lunch and that we would meet up at HM.

But first...Dole Whips!

Dan and I each bought one...mine vanilla and pineapple swirl, his was actually a Dole Float.

Misc Adventureland Photos Interlude

Dan.

Various tourists.

Capt. Jack Sparrow...savvy?

Don't know why dad, Rick and Ryan didn't get any because as soon as they had a taste they sure stole a bunch of mine and Dan's.

Appetizer out of the way we got lunch at Columbia Harbour House. Much chicken was consumed and I allowed my German side to come out by eating my fries with mayonnaise (I don't let her out often, but I did get this body somehow, right?).

I forget what the girls were doing by the time we had finished eating, but we ended up doing HM without them.

HM = Always a good time!

HM always makes me happy because I got a backstage tour of the ride during my CP. That dining room? Yup, been there.

We didn't go, but it's a pretty picture anyway.

Turns out mom and Sue had gone on HM with Connor just a few minutes after we did while Jeannette took Alexa on BTMRR.

So we met up with mom and Sue and window shopped at the place near the entrance/exit of HM.

Finally moved on to the curb just inside Fantasyland because Jeannette and Alexa must have joined a never-ending line.

To be continued because...my energy spurt just stopped and I need a snack!