"So when are we coming back?" Converting the Nonbeliever 5/24/2009-5/31/2009

[annaaidan99]

So we are back now from our week at the Poly. The point of the mission was to show DH another side of Disney- different from his past memories of one day tripping the MK and running around like a crazy person. I'll introduce our traveling party here...

Me- Anna, 33- I love Disney and would be fine with vacationing here all the time... my only reservations about going on this trip was the fact that I would be 6 months pregnant. I had never done pregnant
disney....

DH- Chris, 39- grew up in Orlando and was definitely NOT looking forward to the trip

DS- Aidan, 9- humors me even though he really doesn't care where he vacations. He's along for the ride- and all he truly wants to do is swim.

DD- Lily, 1- has loads of personality, knows no strangers, and is the life of the party.

So without any further ado- on with the trip!!

I booked the trip in December before I knew I was pregnant. I had fully intended that we fly to WDW, but as the time grew closer to the trip I became aware that the cost of plane tickets was definitely not going to be a small expense. Also, I have never flown with a baby, so when I began to visualize the amount of luggage- strollers, diapers, extra suitcases, etc.- I began to seriously consider driving. I mean, really, isn't that why we bought a minivan? It's not just for dropping the kids off at school you know. By April the decision was final. We would drive, and we would also be doing something outside of Disney the first few days of the vacation, to humor Chris. I sort of left that part up to him, since I had planned everything else. He hemmed and hawed over it for a month or so before deciding on Cocoa Beach. I found a pretty decent price for the Days Inn on the beach, so I booked two nights- 5/22 and 5/23. (That would be Friday and Saturday). I didn't give much attention to this part of the trip, as it was Chris's thing.

Chris and I work for the same company, so we had to wrangle a little bit to get the days off we wanted. It got kind of dicey for a week or so, but everything came through. We were both really excited about leaving until Wednesday, when Chris announced that we should probably postpone the trip because of the weather. I told him it did not matter to me- I was NOT dumping all those ADR's!!! He was his usual pessimistic self about the trip all of Wednesday and most of Thursday morning. I did my best to ignore him. We decided to leave Thursday and begin driving to Florida then, to ensure we had plenty of time to spend in Cocoa Beach. I figured it didn't matter how far we drove, we'd wind up that much closer.


Day 0- We're Leaving Earlier than Planned!!

Thursday was my sons last day of school. I got up and drove him to school with Lily and the dog in tow. After making the last school run for a while , I headed over to my mother's house with Lily and the dog. I dropped the two of them off while I went to my final day of work. I admit it, I was useless. I didn't do much that day except make checklists in my mind. My bags had been packed for days, but still....

Chris and I both skirted out of work at 2:30. My son was already home from school, so I drove back to my house and Chris and I packed the van completely. He was still very unhappy about the weather. We piled in, picked up Lily, and were on the road for 4:00.

We drove through mostly really great weather. Some spotty rain in Mobile, but nothing else until we were in Florida. Here's the sunset from the back window.

We wound up driving all the way to Tallahassee, which took about seven hours. We stayed at a Super 8 right off the interstate which was actually very nice. Chris and I are big coffee people and were stunned to see Community Coffee in the room at the Tallahassee Super 8!! We hunkered down watching the Highlander on the room TV and fell asleep listening to the rain.

 

[annaaidan99]

We woke up pretty early Friday morning. I say we, because for once, the whole group was up. Usually it is just me and Lily. I did wake up first, at about 6:00, and I got the coffee started. Lily explored the hotel room, which woke Aidan and Chris.

It didn't take much to get us repacked, as we packed seperate little bags for the first part of our trip. We were out of the room by 7:30, and down at the free breakfast in no time. It was pretty crummy, but at least it was food. It was raining pretty steadily, but it let up as we got close to Jacksonville. However, this was where we ran into the only traffic we encountered the entire trip. It took us over an hour to get through Jacksonville. Lily had done really well in the car the day before, but this was too much for her. We stopped for a McDonald's break somewhere down I-95. We were getting pretty sick of McDonald's, but it got Lily out of her carseat, and I was able to make her a new bottle and change her diaper.

Several hours later, we approached Cocoa Beach.

It began to outright pour, making it difficult to see where we were going. We drove down A1A for a while before finding our hotel. We checked in about 3:30, in the pouring rain. Chris was looking pretty ticked about the prospect of a rainy beach vacation.

Our room was really nice, with a view of the ocean. It was good sized, and the balcony was really nice.

We were looking right at the Cocoa Beach Pier.

I made myself comfortable- and let Lily and Aidan explore the new digs. It just felt good to be out of the car- the rain was irrelevant.

Much to our surprise, the rain ended at 5:00. We quickly donned our suits and walked out to the ocean. The waves were rough enough that I was not down with Aidan swimming in it- he could walk out a bit but not out of Chris's eyesight. The two of them bodysurfed while Lily and I checked out the sand. Let me put it this way- not a fan. She insisted on being carried. I stood on the beach with her and we watched the boys swim for about an hour.

I headed in with her to get cleaned up for dinner, which I decided would be on the Pier that night. It wound up being a nice night for eating out.

We stayed out on the Pier till about ten- it was pretty neat. There were bars, shops and restaurants all down the Pier. It probably would have been even better if I had been able to have a drink with Chris, but maybe next time. One funny thing, we found the Ron Jon Resort timeshare sellers to be EVERYWHERE and relentless. We had a run in with one of them, and avoided them like the plague afterwards. The nerve to take your time with a pitch, ask you to spend your day at their resort, and then want to charge $20 for us to go?? Not happening, ever. We headed back to the room and settled in. The kids hit the sack immediately. Chris and I stayed up a bit but crashed shortly after...

 

[annaaidan99]

Lily and I were up at 7:30. I went to make a pot of Community Coffee I packed from home. I pulled back the curtains and saw it had started really raining again. You could see the waves were tremendous and plentiful- great day for surfing if you don't mind WET. I let Chris and Aidan remain asleep since there was nothing pressing to get ready for. I fed Lily some pretzels and cookies from the vending machine while I watched the weather channel.

The boys were up and moving around 10:00. Lily and I had long been showered and dressed, so we were ready to get out of the room to do something other than watch television. We decided to go down to the Omelet Station next door to the hotel to get brunch. It was crowded in there, but we were seated in less than 20 minutes. The food was really good- great omelets were had by all of us. We kept Lily entertained with syrup packets and crayons for most of the meal, but she wound up conking out for a nap by the end of the meal.

Since it was still raining, we opted to hit Ron Jon's surf shop at DH's request. We spent a good two hours in there- we got souvenirs for some friends back home, plus a new pair of sandals for Aidan, who brought only his tennis shoes (which were now drenched and full of sand). I got a new pair of sandals, DH got two new t-shirts.

The rain was over by the time we left Ron Jon's. It was now about 2:00, and we changed into our suits to enjoy the first real sun we had seen since we had been in Florida. The boys rented boogie boards and hit the surf, while Lily and I spread out a blanket and enjoyed the sun. She hated the sand, so I had to carry her everywhere. The beach got pretty crowded by four o'clock. I kept walking Lily down to the surf to dip in to cool down, and we watched the boys play. They stayed in the ocean till 5:00, and we headed into the pier to turn in the boards. The clouds were rolling in, spelling out the impending return of rain. We decided to go in before it started and get ready for dinner. Plus, Lily was due for a nap.

I regret there are no pics from this day...I left my camera in the room and took mostly video the rest of the day.

We let Lily nap till about seven and headed out on A1A to find a restaurant. We had a nice meal at the Oyster Bar adjacent to The Surf. It was definitely raining as we drove back in. Lily was moderately well behaved in the restaurant- she loved eating the bread and crackers, plus any bites of food we'd pass along.

We hit the sack pretty early in anticipation of the next day....

 

[annaaidan99]

We all wake up pretty early Sunday morning. We had no plans to go out on the beach, as checkout time was 11:00, and we wanted to get on the road. We sipped our coffee on the balcony and got our belongings together.

It was a lovely morning, and even Chris was in good spirits. We packed up our van and headed over to the free breakfast bar that the hotel offered. It was extremely crowded!! We ate some bagels and fruit and headed on our way.

It was only an hour or so from Cocoa to Orlando. I mentioned to Chris that we would do well to stop at a store before we got to the Poly to get some more formula for Lily, who is still taking a few bottles, and to get some beer for the room. It must have totally slipped his mind, as we were on our exit before we knew it. We were all so excited as we drove thru the gates!!!

We found the parking at Poly and unloaded our van.

We were blown away by the lobby!! We all got our lei's, and headed to the regular checkin. I didn't do it online. We were the only ones in line anyways at 12:30. They confirmed my Tokeleau request, and then the ground floor was also honored. But the room was not yet ready. We all had our suits on, so we walked over to Captain Cook's to get our first meal on the deluxe plan and hang by the pool.

DH and I got the pork sandwich, and the nuggets for Aidan. Dh was impressed with the fact he just got a bunch of food and our refillable mugs for no money. We ate our meal on the patio outside Captain Cook's. Aidan quickly scarfed his down, and then went to swim.

Dh and I scoured out the building location to wait for our room to be ready. Around 3:00, we found out our room location was 1921, which was the side opposite the quiet pool. We made haste to check out our room.

We loved our room location- Chris kept walking around smiling. We got all our luggage in and headed to the big pool to cool off. He had a few pina colavas, and Lily had a ball in the zero entry part of the pool. We stayed out till about 5:30, and then the rain came.

As you can see, the kids liked the room a lot!!

We had an ADR at 'Ohana that evening at 8:00, so we showered and went down to the GCH. I picked up a can of formula at the store there, and then caught Dh almost buying a candy bar for Aidan. Snack credit!! Dh was starting to love the dining plan.

We headed over to our ressie.

We were seated within 15 min or so, and the food started coming..it was definitely a hit with everyone. DH loved the shrimp, dipping sauces, and Aidan devoured everything.

The dessert was so good.

We got out just in time for the Water pageant, which Lily loved. We caught Wishes on the beach, too. We collapsed in the beds as soon as we were back- full, tired, and happy- the beds were so comfy!!!

Tomorrow: Chris discovers Epcot!!

 

[medicgirl911]

Can't wait to hear more!!! And your kids are precious!!

 

[annaaidan99]

Lily was wide awake at 6:30, which was my cue to start the coffee. She pranced about the room, stopping every moment or so to check out the offerings on Channel 96. Aidan and Chris were fast asleep still. The best part about our room was the patio. If you are traveling with a one year old, you MUST consider this as an option. Lily was fascinated with going in and out, investigating the wildlife that was roaming about.

I showered and dressed, and began thinking about breakfast. It's hard to believe I could be hungry after the feast at 'Ohana- but I was. I woke Aidan fairly easily- all it took was the word "Epcot", and he was up and ready to go. We let Chris continue sleeping while we went down to Captain Cook's to scare up some breakfast. I got a tray with two breakfast platters and a child's platter, along with several milks and juices and headed back to the room. Chris was still sleeping as the kids and I scarfed ours down.

He finally woke up about 8:45. I tried not to rush too much as this adds a lot of stress on vacations. We headed out the door as soon as all parties were ready. The pathway to the TTC was very pretty, and not too far to walk.

I was nervous about going to a park on Memorial Day. I was right to be- as it was packed!! We headed first to Spaceship Earth, which had a 25 minute wait. Lily suddenly revolted and demanded a nap. She wound up falling asleep in my arms in line- and stayed that way for the entire ride!! I thought the redo was okay, but not phenomenal.

We headed over to the Mission Space pavilion to get a fastpass for later. The wait for standby was 40 minutes at that point. The return time for the fastpass was only an hour, which was pretty good. We walked over to Universe of Energy right as the show was starting- and Lily finally woke up. She loves Ellen, so the show totally fascinated her. Aidan enjoyed watching her reaction to the dinosaurs. After this show, the boys headed over to Mission Space to ride- I couldn't this time due to being pregnant, but Lily and I hung out around the pavilion and waited for them. We went ahead and got some drinks for everyone while we waited. It was a hit for both Chris and Aidan, and Chris was very pleased with fastpass!!

The crowds were getting pretty thick, so we decided to head over to the World Showcase, as our lunch ressie was coming up pretty soon. It was getting really hot, and I was ready to get out of Future World.

The kids got to play in the fountain:

We made it on time to our reservation at 1:00 at Chefs. It felt great to get out of the heat. We caught sight of Remy right as we were walking in- so cute!! This was our first traditional TS as 'Ohana is a little different- no ordering required. Chris had to get some clarification. "We can each have an appetizer? I can order anything from this?" Yes and yes. I wound up ordering the french onion soup and the salad with goat cheese and walnuts and grapes. DH got the escargot and the salmon. The food was really fantastic- and service was stellar. Aidan was kind of put out with his kid's choice- which was the first indicator he was getting too old for the younger dining plan. We let him eat an adult dessert of his choosing- he chose the profiteroles- which was delicious. Chris inspected the final bill, and was incredulous. "This lunch was $90." I told him he had seen nothing yet. We had a reservation for LeCellier at 7:45- he had no idea yet how expensive food could be!!

We shopped a bit around WS, checking out the countries that we passed on the way back to the monorail. We were heading back to the room to let the kids unwind a bit- it can be a long day otherwise. You might be thinking that we haven't done anything really- and you'd be sort of right. Chris was kind of walking around just soaking everything in, and it was pleasant for all of us- especially with the crowd level. Rather than try to pack it all in, we were just taking our time.

Back at the Poly, we headed back to the pool for a while. For the second time, however, storms would abruptly cause the pool to be closed. But we got a good hour or so of swimming first, which was good. We got ready for dinner while we had a rain break. It stopped by the time we were headed for the pathway...

We hoofed through Epcot over to LeCellier, and checked in for our reservation. Lily was itching to get out of her stroller, so we let her walk about outside in the pavilion. She was very social, approaching strangers and charming everyone...

We were seated about 8:00, and we were all very hungry. Lily devoured the different breads as soon as they were presented. Our waiter was great. We ordered the mussels for DH, the duck for me, and Aidan got a kid's bowl of the cheese soup. For our entrees we both ordered the mushroom filet, and Aidan got the kid's steak.

I ate Aidan's cheese soup, and he attacked Chris's mussels. The size of this appetizer is unbelievable! You could make a meal of this alone. Lily enjoyed my duck very much- as did I. Our entrees came out and were perfect. Aidan informed me he was too full of mussels to eat his kid's steak, so we had to get it to go. We actually got all of our desserts to go as well. Our tab for this meal was $140. We all gave it a heavy thumbs up- great food!

We walked out and discovered it must have poured while we were eating, as everything was soaked. Illuminations was on, and we caught the end before we left. We were really tired as we got on the monorail- which was packed!! It was good to get back to the Poly. We were asleep almost as soon as we got back to the room.

Next: Chris's birthday- hanging at the resort

 

[annaaidan99]

I know it seems a bit early in the trip to schedule a down day, but we were truly enjoying just being at the Polynesian. We had nothing planned for the day except for a brunch and dinner ADR. We woke up in a leisurely manner and went down to the GCH for our breakfast, which was very good. Lily was a bit fussy until the food was served- she can be impatient for meals.

After breakfast, we rode the monorail over to the MK to get Chris's birthday fun card. We saw how packed it was and were glad we had chosen not to venture into the parks!

Back to the resort, where we hit the pools. Lily played in the water jets by the main pool- as cold as the water was coming out of them, she didn't seem to mind!! I took her swimming in the main pool, where Aidan had been all along. She was so excited when she found him amongst the other swimmers. I took her over to the beach area, where she actually played in the sand. I chalked it up to Disney magic sand- not as offensive as real beach sand to her, I suppose. At about 2:00, Chris decided we should run into town and buy some beer, which was outrageously expensive in Disney. I asked Aidan if he wanted to ride with us, and of course he did not. So, I gave him his room key and instructed him to go to his room if it rained. I knew we would be back quickly, so I wasn't too worried about him in the big pool. He had already made many friends, and was having such a good time swimming- you'd think that was the point in coming.

So, we drove out of the world, and as if on cue- a massive rainstorm blew in. I was sitting in the van with Lily worrying what Aidan was doing- what if he was scared? We hurried back to the resort. As we headed up the path to Tokeleau, we caught sight of him ahead of us. He had a large bag he was carrying. I called out to him, and he waved. "I was hungry, so I got some snacks!" He had been in the room earlier, evidently, waiting for the rain to pass, and he decided to go ahead and go get food. He had left me a note, in case I came back earlier telling me as much. It was written with my lipstick on the guest stationery.

We also were hungry, so we went down and got a few bags of chips and refilled our mugs. It was still raining at this point, so we sat in the room and watched.

We got ready for our dinner reservation that night at California Grill, which I was excited about.

We arrived at the Contemporary on time, but were a bit confused as to how to get to the CG. A helpful guest showed us the way to the checkin desk.

The view was fantastic! We were not at a window table, but could still see out just fine. The rain storm was neat to watch from up there.

Our food was divine.

Even though Lily was very good for this meal, we did not push our luck and stay for wishes. It wasn't until 10:00 that night, and I was afraid to have her bored and irritated for 45 minutes. So, we signed off on the tab for that fine meal, and rode a packed monorail back to the Poly.

I could tell Chris was enjoying himself. He wasn't admitting it yet, but he was liking it.

 

[annaaidan99]

Again at 6:30 in the morning, Lily woke up with enthusiasm. She mostly slept between us in our bed. This morning, she went back and forth between Chris and I giving kisses till we were awake. She happily went to visit her neighbors outside.

Chris and Aidan were up and ready in record time, and we went altogether down to the GCH to eat a quick breakfast at Captain Cook's. I got the breakfast platter, Chris got the Tonga Toast, and Aidan also got the french toast. We piled up with chocolate milk, OJ, and refilled our mugs.

We made it to the MK just after park opening.

We all wanted to ride Pirates first. We passed by BTMRR and got fastpasses for Chris and Aidan, since the wait was already 40 minutes. Pirates was walk on, so we piled in quickly. This was kind of a first ride for Lily, as everything else she was asleep for. She was not quite sure what to make of it, but seemed happy to be there.

From there, we made our way through to Haunted Mansion, which I had not seen since the rehab.

It was very good- I liked it better, I think. Lily rode in the car with me, and seemed to enjoy everything.

It was my goal not to ride everything, as the park was very crowded. The goal was to hit a highlight from every park, and then get out before it got too terribly hot. So, we skipped over to Fantasyland to ride It's a Small World, which I knew Lily would enjoy. She did love it- staring incredulously at everything around her. This ride seems to be designed particularly for kids her age. As much as I would have loved to go on Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, and Dumbo, I reasoned that she honestly didn't care at this point how many rides she rode. Plus, the waits were climbing on these other rides. We headed back over to BTMRR and the boys rode the coaster.

It started to get miserably hot at that point, and Lily needed a nap desperately. She fussed herself to sleep while we strolled towards Tomorrowland. I had contemplated eating at the Plaza that day, but we decided to just do CS since Lily was sleeping. We walked over to get fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear, and then went over to Cosmic Rays for lunch. I got Aidan an adult chicken nugget meal, and Chris and I got chicken sandwiches. Lily woke up midway through the meal, and she finished off Aidan's remaining nuggets.

Post lunch, we walked over to Buzz, which was a hit for all of us. It started pouring while we were in there, so we ran over to Carousel of Progress and watched that.

It was about 2:00 when we left the MK. We went back to the hotel, and Chris and Lily laid down for a long nap while Aidan was swimming at the pool. I took a load of clothes down to the guest laundry. I dipped in the pool for a second, but headed back to the room to straighten up there. Chris and Lily slept till about 4:30. They were both totally rejuvenated by the sleep, and I already had the clothes done.

We started getting ready for dinner, and were heading over to the GF at about 6:45.

Chris was excited about eating lobster!!

We were seated promptly at a great window seat. Despite the fact I only noted Chris's birthday at CG, they had a birthday menu waiting for him. The waiter was great, made good wine and food suggestions.

I love that photo- they almost have the same expression....

Lily being herself

Lily and I

The food was beyond description. I had the crab crusted halibut, and DH had the lobster. Aidan again totally ignored his kid's meal- eating mostly from our plates.

They even had a special dessert for Chris...

We watched Wishes from our seats, which was very nice.

We took the time post dinner to really admire the GF lobby. While I do not have any desire to stay there, I will admit it is a beautiful hotel. We took a not so quick monorail ride back to the Poly and went to bed almost immediately.

 

[reyasmommy]

You are a brave, brave woman going to WDW with a 1 year old and being 6 months pregnant.

My husband told me I couldn't plan our next trip until AFTER I became pregnant because I didn't want to be miserable during our next vacation. Once I got that positive test I set our date........ I'm currently 3 months along and our WDW trip is scheduled for March 4th. The baby will be 3 months old, so it will be interesting.

Your DD reminds me of my DD. She's 3 years old and just starting growing her hair about 6 months ago. I guess your DD still has WAY more hair then mine did at one. Your DD is adorable!

I'm enjoying your TR, looking forward to more.

 

[annaaidan99]

I'll admit it, I would have never intentionally gone pregnant. But, once the trip was booked, and then I found out....I tried to rationalize it. I figured that DD was going to need as slow of a pace as I would. It also ended the dispute over how we were going to ride rollercoasters with her in tow. No doubt over who had to wait with the baby. Was it miserable? No. It was great if you take it slow. By slow I mean no commandoing. It turns out this was perfect for Chris and Lily. Aidan probably would have preferred more rides, but in all we wound up doing quite a bit. It did feel extremely hot at times- I seemed to suffer worse than anyone else.


Lily is a cutie, and yes, we are still waiting for her to grow some real hair!! She's so tiny that people assume she is a much younger baby!

 

[annaaidan99]

I almost forgot the best part of today...during our yummy meal at Narcoossee's, Chris said the most amazing thing. He said "Next time we'll definitely have to eat here again." Next time. He swore this was a one shot deal, that he couldn' t imagine spending that much money on another vacation. ...you all have heard the drill. And there, poof! Next time...what magical words!!!

 

[reyasmommy]

I'll admit it, I would have never intentionally gone pregnant. But, once the trip was booked, and then I found out....I tried to rationalize it. I figured that DD was going to need as slow of a pace as I would. It also ended the dispute over how we were going to ride rollercoasters with her in tow. No doubt over who had to wait with the baby. Was it miserable? No. It was great if you take it slow. By slow I mean no commandoing. It turns out this was perfect for Chris and Lily. Aidan probably would have preferred more rides, but in all we wound up doing quite a bit. It did feel extremely hot at times- I seemed to suffer worse than anyone else.


Lily is a cutie, and yes, we are still waiting for her to grow some real hair!! She's so tiny that people assume she is a much younger baby!

I've been pretty miserable for my pregnancy thus far, so I def. wouldn't be able to handle the heat and walking. Plus I love all the big kid rides too much, it would be hard to sit out. I'm really glad you had a good time though.

Yeah, everyone always assumed my DD was a lot younger too. she was always in the 5th-10th percentile, plus the bald head always gave her the illusion that she was younger.

I bet you really enjoyed all the yummy Disney Food.... Especially being 6 months pregnant. Mmmmmmmmmm.

 

[annaaidan99]

Oh yes- that might have been the best thing about being pregnant at Disney. Dining without guilt!!! The walking wasn't bad at all- I tend to stay pretty active in normal life, so even though I was tired at the end of the day- I felt great during the day as long as it didn't get too hot. At least the mornings and evenings were much cooler in May than they were the September trip I went. On that trip it was 99 degrees as soon as the sun came up.

 

[KatMark]

What a great report. Thank you for sharing. Your kids are adorable.

 

[annaaidan99]

I'll be finishing another installment tomorrow. We had originally planned to spend the next day (Thursday) at Animal Kingdom, but over dinner Chris suggested we go back to Epcot instead. He told me he had enjoyed it very much Monday and wanted to check some things out that morning. I'm the type that could spend the whole trip at Epcot, so this was fine by me. So tomorrow, it's Epcot revisited- with Lily awake for most of it this time. Fortunately, this was a day I made no ADR's for, so it didn't really matter what we did....

 

[annaaidan99]

For the first and only time this trip, Chris was awake and moving about before the rest of us. He had showered and made coffee already- Lily was still sleeping and it was almost 8:00. He was in a fine mood- and was ready to get going.

The four of us went down to eat a quick breakfast at Captain Cook's. With mugs filled, we decided to be lazy that morning and just take the resort monorail to the TTC. We were in Epcot by 9:30.

We started by heading to the Land to get fastpasses for Soarin. Even this early, the wait was already an hour, and the return time was 2:00!! I could ride this one, so I got a fastpass too. We proceeded over to the Seas with Nemo and friends, which I had never seen. There was no wait, so we hopped right on. Lily enjoyed the ride, but the rest of us were somewhat underwhelmed. We did enjoy touring the pavilion after, where we saw the dolphin performance as well as the diver in the big tube. We spent about an hour here, and then headed over to admire the fountains. We saw the waits to Soarin had climbed to 110 minutes. We strolled a bit until Lily fell asleep- heading to World Showcase to check out the sights. We skipped Mexico since Lily was sleeping, but I carried her sleeping self on Maelstrom. She never once stirred- not even on the drop!

We went onward, skimming over China- planning to return later.

We stopped to check out the woodcarving place. I almost bought yet another carved animal for my living room, but decided to skip it.

We breezed through Germany, as it was getting really hot- too hot to enjoy the train or anything outside.

We were specifically looking to shop in Morocco for a gift for Chris's mother. Lily was still fast asleep, thankfully. We found a couple of possibilities for her gift, but decided to look around a bit more first.

We strolled up to Japan, where I took Chris to see the pearl picking area. He immediately was hooked, picking two of what wound up being many pearls!! It was raining, and Lily was just waking back up- those drums got her attention!! Chris made me a pearl ring from one of his finds.

Here are some shots I got on the way in-

We decided we were getting hungry and ready to go. We strolled over to England to get some fish and chips.

We brought our food down by the water and had a little picnic. Aidan fed the fish in the lake quite a lot of french fries! We sat on the bench and enjoyed the scenery for a bit. It looked like it might rain some more, so we headed back to the Poly for some relaxing time. On our way back, we rode Soarin with a baby swap- this was time consuming, and we didn't do it again. Lily and I sat out front while Aidan and Chris rode, which took about thirty minutes or so. Lily ran about the fast pass area, chatting with strangers. After they returned, Aidan and I rode Soarin. We all liked it, although it made me feel a tiny bit sick this time- probably because of the pregnancy. From there we went down to the Living with the Land- which was probably a mistake, because Lily wanted a bottle really badly. The ride stalled out in the greenhouse, and she was not happy about it. Once she got back to the stroller and her bottle, she was fine. But she was royally pissed for the last ten minutes we were at the Land.

Lily hung out with her friends:

Chris got himself an adult beverage.

Aidan went down to the arcade, and used his freebie card. Chris and I went to the GCH to hang out while it was raining- pouring!!! When Aidan was through with games, we all perused the shops- particularly the Wyland Gallery, until we got hungry. We got some quick eats at Captain Cook's, and headed back to the room. Lily fell asleep in the stroller during dinner, which was unusual. All in all it was a great day- even with the rainy evening!

 

[tink1957]

I'm enjoying your report so far, I would have loved being pregnant & on the deluxe dining plan, although you can't tell from your pics that you're expecting. Lily is a little cutie, she remings me of my DD when she was that age except she has more hair(she didn't get any till she was 18 mths old).

It sounds like Chris has been converted to our side, I love it when former haters become Disneyfied.

Can't wait to read more of your adventures, you sure got alot done in spite of your slow pace.

 

[annaaidan99]

I'm convinced that there is something at Disney for everyone. I knew Chris had a preconceived idea of what it was all about from living in Orlando so long ago. But keep in mind- he had never seen Epcot, or stayed onsite, or eaten in a Disney restaurant. I think most people who claim they dislike Disney really just dislike running around on their vacations. Chris is one of those people- he likes to take it easy and not worry about too much. He absolutely loved the Polynesian- he had never been anywhere that nice before. And the deluxe dining plan was a good pick with him, too. While we probably could have gone with the regular plan- except for the three signature meals, he would have been aggravated with TS vs CS credits.. That was especially nice- especially if you aren't trying to get the max dollars out of the plan. Even with all the CS we did eat, we easily got more than the plan cost in food. We all loved the appetizer, too- we subsidized Aidan's measly kid's meal with that, as well as Lily, who occasionally ate as much as Aidan. It was funny, before the trip I mentioned to him that maybe we should invite his mother, who I knew would love going with us. His reply? "My mother would never go back to Disney!" By mid-trip he was calling her daily telling her how much fun we were having, and how she just had to come with us next year. Of course, she was not resistant to coming along- what grandma wouldn't want to see her girls in Disney?? I thought it was funny what a few days could do....

 

[annaaidan99]

You can tell we like Epcot, right? It was in my original plan to visit Epcot today, so I had two ADR's scheduled. Since we had gotten quite a bit accomplished the day before at Epcot, we elected to sleep in. Being that Lily is a perpetual early riser, sleeping in is kind of relative. We didn't go for breakfast this morning, as we had some bakery items from dessert the night before that we ate in the room. We didn't make it to Epcot till 11:00, and we strolled casually through Future World.

We headed over to World Showcase and visited Mexico while Lily was awake. She loved the ride- Chris said he liked it better than "It's a Small World"- I liked the old song better.

From there we went over to Japan, where Chris just had to pick some more pearls. He was pretty lucky this time- picking one with twin 6.5 mm white pearls. If I ever get my ears pierced again, we'll make some earrings!

On to Teppan-Edo. We waited about 25 minutes to be seated, which was irritating with a one year old. Once seated, it took a bit for the waitress to come, and then the dinner itself took awhile as well. Fortunately, everything was very good- but the lunch took quite some time. I don't think I'd go back with a baby again- she got a little bored with the whole procedure.


From there we went over to Morocco. My daughter loves to try to dance to music- and the music here was evidently irresistable. One of the sales attendants tied a jingly sarong around her waist and Lily began dancing. I got such cute video of her!! We bought his mom's gift there, and we went on to China. We bought several souvenirs here- it's a good cheap place for kid stuff. We spent a while here sitting in the garden with napping Lily. I let Aidan play at the playground they have set up next to Germany until it was dinner time- at Tutto Italia.

It was very good- the kids were well behaved, except Lily kept tossing bread crusts at the waiters.

We finished dinner and were outside right in time to find a place for Illuminations. I didn't know how she'd like it- but WOW- she loved it. Chris really enjoyed it too- liking it better than Wishes- although I reminded him he had not seen Wishes in the park.

The only bad part of this night was the horrible amount of people jamming into the monorails. I hate being squashed in there with thirty people- pregnant, standing, and carrying a baby.

Tomorrow is another fun filled resort day.....

 

[annaaidan99]

We were seriously in end of trip depression mode this morning. Everything we did was with the realization it was our last chance...so we took the opportunity to soak up the things we liked the most. First and foremost was the Poly- we spent the morning taking video of the grounds, the lobby, the room. Lily got to spend a good long time outside that morning with the ducks and birds, and Aidan disappeared instantly to the pools.

Chris and I spent the late morning with Lily by the pool. We took Aidan to go grab some quick food at Captain Cook's about 1:00, and then headed over to the beach area to play.

We alternated between the beach and pool all day. We went in about 4:30 or so and got cleaned up for dinner, tonight at Flying Fish. We were both interested to go here to check out the Epcot Hotels and how we liked them. I made our reservation for 7:30, but we decided we were really hungry then, so we drove over to the Boardwalk about 6:00 and walked up early. We thought the Boardwalk was very pretty- not as relaxing looking as the Poly, but still very nice. They seated us within 5 minutes, and I'll attest this was some of the best service of the trip.

The food was so good here- and the atmosphere of the restaurant was really great. We'd definitely go back....

From there, we hopped on the ferry and rode over to Epcot to enjoy World Showcase once more. We went and got a final pearl from Japan, which was a 7 mm silver pearl- really pretty.

Illuminations started getting warmed up and Lily actually recognized what was about to happen. She got very excited, started pointing up and saying "Wow!" as soon as she heard the announcements before the show. We hiked back to our car at the Boardwalk and saw Wishes as we were driving back to the Poly. We wrapped it up with a late night swim in the quiet pool, and called it a night....

Tomorrow:

Lily meets Mickey, Final Thoughts