Road Trippin', Cruisin' and Photo Bombin'-Our EPIC Family Vacation!NEW11/5-BIRDS..UGH


See how tiny the tenders look next to the ship….






LOL about the couple in the dark corner! :rotfl2:

Now my question for you... how do you get from the little boat to the big boat? :confused3

I hope you are staying fairly dry on your camping trip. Congrats to Dan! Thanks for sharing the pictures - they are great!!
 

LOL about the couple in the dark corner! :rotfl2:

Now my question for you... how do you get from the little boat to the big boat? :confused3

I hope you are staying fairly dry on your camping trip. Congrats to Dan! Thanks for sharing the pictures - they are great!!

I was wondering how they get from the little boat to the big boat too :rotfl:
 
It sounds as if you cruise went really well. Congrats on the graduate!

It was a wonderful cruise. After all the trouble Carnival was having, we had lots of people shaking their heads that we were cruising with them....but it was great. I would recommend them to anyone.


LOL about the couple in the dark corner! :rotfl2:

Now my question for you... how do you get from the little boat to the big boat? :confused3

I hope you are staying fairly dry on your camping trip. Congrats to Dan! Thanks for sharing the pictures - they are great!!


We managed to stay fairly dry Amy. We had one day of soaking rain which was terrible! But other than that we got a lot of sun.

I was wondering how they get from the little boat to the big boat too :rotfl:

Ok...you can't see it because the tender boat is in the way, but they extend a gangway from the big ship to the little boat and you walk across it onto the big ship. It's kinda scary cause the boat is moving with the waves, but it works! ;)
 

I apologize for the long delay. We got back from camping after 9 days of great weather and 1 day of soaking rain (it could have been worse!) and then Dan and I went to Boston for VIP Orientation weekend at ENC where he will attend college in the fall. Got back from that and had my brother and his daughter here for a couple of days. They left and I ran a fever for 2 days...UGH! So, now the fever is gone, my house is fairly quiet (Jeff and Jonah are at camp this week) and I am finally ready to post an update. But wait....I have to work for a couple hours this morning.....:headache:

I will be back this afternoon to post an update of our first Disney day! Thanks for hanging in there with me! :goodvibes
 
As sad as I was to be getting of the ship, I woke up on Monday April 8th full of excitement! It was time to go to Disney!

We had opted to carry our own luggage off the ship so that we could get off as fast as possible. This girl has a date with the MOUSE! Our luggage was ready to go and we were in line to head off the ship before 8:30 am. We did have a quick breakfast on the deck as well as a final trip to the soft serve ice cream machine, of course!



I also had made a quick change to my toe nails! Good bye Caribbean blue and hello Mickey!



A little messy, I know, but the ship was a-rockin when I was trying to paint them! I think I did well considering!

We got off the ship, through customs, and back to our van in record time! My goal was to be at the entrance of Hollywood Studios by 11 am and we were right on target. As we headed toward Orlando, our excitement was building. We were so excited to be going back to our happy place! We saw our first Disney sign at around 9:30.



We’re almost there!! At 9:43 we saw the best sign in the whole world!



We had plenty of time to get to DHS, our first park of the trip and I needed to make a quick pit stop. We had depleted our sunscreen supply in the Bahamas so a stop at Walgreens was in order. My kids were not pleased…they wanted to just buy it when we go to Hollywood Studios. But…as you might remember from my sunburned lips incident, I am not one to pay more than I need to! So, we found Walgreens in the Downtown Disney area and bought sunscreen and cold drinks for everyone. It really wasn’t far out of our way and well worth the time. Now….on to the STUDIOS!

Now, if you read my PTR you know that we were planning to meet up with my niece and nephew, Nick and Shawna, at Disney. They had been in Florida for about a week visiting friends and family and were planning to spend a few days with us at WDW. This was so exciting, not only because I adore Nick and Shawna, but because their little one, Christian, was making his first visit! Christian was almost 10 months old and I couldn’t wait to share Disney with him and see it through his eyes!


I had texted Shawna and knew that they were already in the park and waiting for us to arrive. We got to the Studios, parked the car, and took this picture at 10:57!




Little pat on the back for me for being so close in the timing department!


This is a picture of Nick, Shawna, and Christian.




Nick and Shawna had spent some time getting familiar with the park before we arrived. Shawna assured Nick that it was not necessary as Aunt Missy would have a plan, but he insisted. Silly Nick! I did have a plan indeed…..and Nick was thrilled! He’s a planner like me and loved my touring cards!





As you can see, the plan was to head to Pixar Place and ride TSM. We were hoping for a standby ride and when we got there the line was posted to be 60 minutes. Longer than I normally stand in line, but it fit in the plan, so we got in the stand-by line. This would be the longest line we stood in for the whole trip. We were also handed a red card when we got in line, which for some strange reason, got me very excited!




It was actually nice to be in the stand-by line and to get a chance to relax a bit from the busy morning. There is so much to look at it’s impossible to really get bored!





Unless of course you are a baby, and then this is how you handle a long stand-by wait!



Wake up boy! We are in Disney! There will be time to sleep when you get home! LOL!



A rare pic with Dan—he does humor his silly mom—on rare occasions!





It turned out that we were ready to board the ride about 48 minutes after we got in line. NOT BAD! I rode with Jonah and these are our scores.



I’m not normally one to brag…but I WON!!! I never win so I was a bit excited about a victory!

It was not quite noon when we exited TSM and we found these guys outside ready to pose for some photos.



Look carefully and you will see that this is where the “photo bombing” part of the title of this TR comes in. This was the first…..but definitely not the last….successful photo bomb of the trip. Courtesy of Isaiah.



A quick trip to the restroom for a potty break and diaper change and we were ready to head to our next attraction. I had never been in One Man’s Dream and was looking forward to checking it out this time. I knew that the rest of the party wasn’t as interested as I was, but they were good sports and we enjoyed the break from the heat. It’s a very interesting museum and worth a trip in if you have not yet done it.




We probably spent about 30 minutes in One Man’s Dream. Our next plan was to head to Rock n Roller Coaster to get fastpasses. Jeff and Dan headed in that direction while the rest of us went on a mission of another kind. It was time for Christian to meet MICKEY! I knew he was meeting at the Animation building so we made our way there. The next series of photos need no explanation. If you ever had any question as to why this place is special………just look at these pics.











CONTINUED IN NEXT POST.....


 
Priceless! I’m so privileged to have been part of that moment! And not to leave out MY baby….



Dan and Jeff got back with FP in hand so we posed for a few group shots before saying good-bye to Mickey.





We didn’t want to stand in the line, but we did snap a picture of Wreck-It Ralph and Vannelope.



It was almost 1:00 by this time and we had to make a decision about whether or not we wanted to try to see Lights, Motors, Action. Our family had seen it on both of our last trips and loved it, but could live without it if Nick and Shawna had no interest. They decided they’d like to see it so we made our way in that direction. On the way we found our favorite little blue alien!











After our alien encounter we found our way to the entrance to Lights, Motors, Action and I made the boys pose for a photo op! Now, I did make a conscious effort not to spend my time “behind the camera.” I knew this was a special trip and I wanted to be fully engaged….but I can’t just NOT take pictures….



It was perfect timing as we found our seats in the bleachers and the show began. Christian was hungry and this was the perfect opportunity for him to have a bottle. As always, the show was GREAT! I loved the addition of this guy!


And of course a few of the “money shots”!




It was almost 2:00 by now and we knew that although the touring card said we may be able to catch the end of the Phineas and Ferb meet and greet, we just didn’t have the time to make it over there before they took a break. So, where to next??
 
Hi there! I've been following along with your TR...sorry I haven't commented much.

YAY for making it to Disney! How fun you got to meet up with your niece and nephew. Looks like you had a great start to your Disney portion of the trip. Those pictures of Christian meeting Mickey are ADORABLE! :goodvibes I also really like the last one from LMA. Awesome!
 
Oh my gosh... Those are the sweetest pics of the baby with Mickey!! PERFECT! I am so happy you guys made it to Disney!
 
I, for one, am not surprised that Little Miss Planner Missy had the timing down pat and ya'll arrived at Disney ahead of schedule. :thumbsup2 Oh my word! I love love love all of the pictures of Christian with the characters. Those kind of memories last a lifetime!
 
Oh, those pictures with Mickey are so sweet!! Love it! I had cards just like yours on our last trip, and believe me, I plan to use them again! :)
 
I LOVE the pics of the baby with Mickey. We are taking my twins in fall and they will be 11 months (almsot a year) when we go. So I love seeing babies enjoying Disney World. Because every now and then I start to worry that I am crazy for taking my little ones.
 
I read a lot of trip reports but I rarely post. I just wanted to say that I love your trip report. It's great seeing how fun the cruise was and your trip planning cards have given me some great ideas!
 
Your Back!! Just in time for me to get one more fix before we leave for our own trip! Woo Hoo!

Oh my gosh, Love, Love, Love the baby pictures! What a cutie and he really liked those character meets! How sweet!

At least I'll have lots of updates to catch up on when I get back (crying) next week. See you soon!
 
I enjoyed the Cruise portion of the trip.
Do you think the crowds eased up, since it was about a week after Easter?

I was surprised with the crowds later in April, but we did go to the MK on a
Saturday.
 
Finished catching up on your report and greatly enjoying it

We drove down our last trip from NY as well, though slightly different kids situation - we had a close to 3 year old and my wife was 6 months pregnant - so slightly different trip. It really wasn't bad, especially on the way down, but by the time we finished the trip back we were pretty done with the concept.

Cruise looks fun, but happy to see you at your happy place now :thumbsup2
 















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