Spectrum Moms Take on The World! Our Last Day...Multiple Posts!

[mrsksomeday]

LOVED all the AK pictures. Bill and I haven't been there in forever. The pictures of all of you in front of the tree were fantastic, the colors just popped and all of you looked so great.

It is so entertaining to read how all of you interpreted the days. I can't wait to read more .

 

[MEK]

Love the idea of the shared photobucket account. Smart! Love your AK pictures. Boy did you tell a great story with them. to whoever took all those pix on EE. Awesome!!!!

I also love the picture of you guys near the tree of life. And you can never go wrong with baby simba pictures!!!!! So cute!

Fun update! Thanks!

 

[mousescrapper]

Maybe a mix and match format would work for the kids. 3 countries, 3 items and they match whatever item they want to whichever country they want.

I want to do a super duper sip n' snack for Food & Wine in the future. Maybe a team challenge!

thanks for the comments...i will ponder this and talk to Matt keep you posted on if we try something and how it works, and like the SUPER DUPER idea...but Amy will be most scared

 

[mousescrapper]

We just finished our shortened 2-week safari and were ready to move on for some more fun…as Amy mentioned this is where we split up for the portion of our AK day.

If you recall our touring plan we had a Team Asia that were planning on seeing the Flights of Wonder show, Maharajah trek and dinning at FTBBQ, and then there was Team Camp Mickey & Minnie who were planning on seeing the FotLK show, look for Divine and eat at Yak and Yeti…

This is how we split up (if I remember correctly):

Team Asia: Heidi, Amy & Jess later for lunch

Team Camp M&M: Kathy, Tracy, Anne Marie, Amy, Jess and myself (Julie)

My Team did head over to the FotLK and got in line for maybe the 11 am show??

Here are some pixs of how other guest spent their time while waiting:

We had a while to wait in the crowd/line…but we passed the time talking w/ each other and maybe a few guests too…I think I remember these little kids eating fruit loops and dropping them all over the ground and then crushing them…

what's Amy doing here...LOL must be a diff line, so just pretend... umm duh she reminds us in another post she did go to the show

Into to the show we went and I directed us to some sweet seats near the front in the Wart Hog section…

we commented on some guests sitting in the accessible area. The usual beginning hand jive activities took place and then the start of the show. Of course we were having a blast singing along, taking tons of pixs and delightfully amused by these brilliant sign language interpreters off to our right…they were just amazing; I’d catch myself staring at them and not the actual show.

I know I wasn’t the only one who shed a tear. I’ll let some of these great pixs tell the story…so sit back and enjoy the FESTIVAL….ROAR!!!!!!!!!!

Now that we were on our Circle of Life “high” it was time to eat and we were HUNGRY…we winded our way over to Yak & Yeti

I found us some nice tables semi in the shade/sun near the water pool

Here’s a little food porn for ya too:

continued next post..

 

[mousescrapper]

As we finished our lunch the others met up w/ us at Y&Y, I wasn’t quite done yet…so rushed through finishing eating…this will cause me a problem later in the night…

We now did a little shopping

Taking a break…

and we went to look for Divine…did we find her? You’ll have to wait and see it was part of that scavenger hunt…and Anne Marie’s turn.

I’m not sure where in the timeline this is, but we took this fun group shot (Heidi took the pix) w/ Koda the Bear he was jealous he didn’t have one of our fun scarves…

Here are a couple other fun pixs from our morning (from Kathy):

Jess and Anne Marie in line for EE

I don’t even remember putting make-up on…

Next up, we wandered a bit deciding what to do next…Kathy was wanting to get a group charactchiture (how do you spell this???) of the 7 of us for the book, and as it was debated out (which we passed on for time) I recall Anne Marie and I sitting on a bench just letting the sun shine on our faces and look at the brilliant blue sky…we knew we only had 1 more day of this luxury before heading home to grey Chicago…

Up next Team Asia's adventures and lunch and walking thru the Tree of Life path…stay tuned for some amazing pixs, and a bit of a laughing scare…

 

[DisMomAmy]

This is how we split up (if I remember correctly):

Team Asia: Heidi, Amy

Team Camp M&M: Kathy, Tracy, Anne Marie, Jess and myself (Julie)

what's Amy doing here...LOL must be a diff line, so just pretend...

I'm in that line because I ended up going to see Festival of the Lion King with Team Camp M&M. I absolutely love this show & couldn't pass it up!

After the show, we split up again. Jess & I went to Flame Tree BBQ where I believe we were meeting up with Heidi. The more adventurous eaters headed to Yak & Yeti.

 

[MRYPPNS]

I was the lone Team Asia member..... in all the times that I've been to AK I have never seen the Flights of Wonder show and it's not really something that Liam can sit thru so I really didn't want to miss my chance to see it.

I thought it was cute. Not a must do every trip but I'm glad I saw it.

Then I spent time of the Pangani Trail.

Hi Uncle George!

Then I headed to Flame Tree BBQ for lunch where I meet up with Amy and Jessica.

I order just the chicken without the sides and get an order of onion rings.

I pre-planned for my dessert earlier in the morning....stopping at the African bakery before the bird show.

I only ate half of it and saved the rest for back at the Villa. And here lies a funny little story that took until March to fully play-out.

I love this cupcake...chocolate and coconut....love them together. So after eating my half a cupcake that day in Jan I thought I noticed that my throat was feeling a tad off but it went away very shortly. Then when I ate the second half back at the Villa later in the trip I noticed the same feeling. Didn't give it all that much thought until my March trip. I had picked up one to go and ate the whole thing at one sitting this time. No little throat thing this time....big throat thing.....I had an (minor, for me) allergic reaction to the cupcake. I am allergic to tree nuts (not coconut) so there must be grounded up nuts in the filling of the cupcake. One of the hazards of good baked goods I have found over the years. I actually really bummed that I can't have that cupcake anymore....it's that good.

 

[mousescrapper]

I'm in that line because I ended up going to see Festival of the Lion King with Team Camp M&M. I absolutely love this show & couldn't pass it up!

After the show, we split up again. Jess & I went to Flame Tree BBQ where I believe we were meeting up with Heidi. The more adventurous eaters headed to Yak & Yeti.

whoops...I remember you meeting up at Y&Y and now yes I don't remember jess at lunch...I just couldn't figure out how we split up initially sorry

I thought it was cute. Not a must do every trip but I'm glad I saw it.

Matt usually takes the kids here [flights of wonder] while i go scream on EE...maybe get Bekah on it in jan they enjoy it but yes for me it's not a must do thing...still though hope they don't replace it...not saying they are but you never know

I order just the chicken without the sides and get an order of onion rings.

this looks like a dead bird on your plate ok so yes it is a dead bird but i mean like a bird shape...ok just slap me now and YUM love the o-rings from here

I am allergic to tree nuts (not coconut) so there must be grounded up nuts in the filling of the cupcake. One of the hazards of good baked goods I have found over the years. I actually really bummed that I can't have that cupcake anymore....it's that good.

I remember you telling this in your other PTR...dangerous sorry that you can't eat that it does look good...Nathan wants to know if the elephant is chocolate or a toy...he wants one

 

[MRYPPNS]

The elephant is white chocolate.

 

[Poolrat]

I love this cupcake...chocolate and coconut....love them together. So after eating my half a cupcake that day in Jan I thought I noticed that my throat was feeling a tad off but it went away very shortly. Then when I ate the second half back at the Villa later in the trip I noticed the same feeling. Didn't give it all that much thought until my March trip. I had picked up one to go and ate the whole thing at one sitting this time. No little throat thing this time....big throat thing.....I had an (minor, for me) allergic reaction to the cupcake. I am allergic to tree nuts (not coconut) so there must be grounded up nuts in the filling of the cupcake. One of the hazards of good baked goods I have found over the years. I actually really bummed that I can't have that cupcake anymore....it's that good.

OOooohhhhh I hate when that happens. Especially when you think hey Chocolate and Coconut I am good - no allergens and then soemthing wacky happens.

Glad the reaction was relatively minor. Also glad you were able to take advantage of being girls only (and solo) to take in the show.

 

[KathyRN137]

Ooh, Heidi, I had no idea that happened with the cupcake... so glad you didn't have an even worse reaction!

How lovely it must've been to meander down the Pangani Forest trail on your own without any kids tugging at you. Love those gorillas!

I absolutely adore FOTLK... like Julie said, we were all high when we came out of the theater (that's when we ran into Koda, BTW.) The sign-language interpreters were mesmerizing... so animated and expressive!

This was my first time at Yak & Yeti CS and I have to say... MEH. The egg roll was delish, but not something I couldn't get here in just about any town in NJ. The chicken fried rice was dry; I think I left half of it. Oh well; glad I tried it once!

I enjoyed our shopping interlude; this was the first time I had been to Mombasa Marketplace. There's some really cute jewelry and tchotchkies in there. It was fun just hanging out together!

The group caricature pic would have been great... but the artist said we would have to sit for, what? Something like 45 minutes for it? Yikes. That was just too much touring time to lose! Ah, what can you do?!


Looking forward to what's coming next! (Hint: she's green, but not at all mean!)


Kathy

 

[MEK]

I think its very creative that you broke up into two teams to conquer the AK. What a fun idea. I like that and I hope I get another girls trip in where I can actually borrow that concept!

 

[All7OfUs]

Ahhh, the divide and conquer technique! Nicely done, Ladies! You really made good uses of your morning both together and apart- each doing what sounded fun!

Heidi, so glad you were ok!

 

[eandesmom]

WOW! I'm dizzy keeping track of you all but it sounds like a fun morning and busy! Lots of yummies but how sad about the cupcake and allergic reaction

I just love all the pictures with you guys in your scarves, they are just wonderful.

 

[baseballfairy]

I have not read your TR yet but I am really looking forward to it! My 2 1/2 year old daughter was just diagnosed with PDD-NOS. We are going to WDW at the end of August with our two kids DD and DS who is 4. Thanks for posting your experiences and having this resource for those of us just starting this journey with ASD.

 

[KathyRN137]

I have not read your TR yet but I am really looking forward to it! My 2 1/2 year old daughter was just diagnosed with PDD-NOS. We are going to WDW at the end of August with our two kids DD and DS who is 4. Thanks for posting your experiences and having this resource for those of us just starting this journey with ASD.

Welcome to the DIS, and to the Spectrum Mom Report!

Some resources that I recommend for your visit:

PassPorter's Open Mouse for WDW and the DCL has some very good chapters on ASD, ADHD, and Fears. It breaks down each ride, restaurant and resort! visit http://www.passporter.com/wdw/openmouse/guidebook.asp

There is also a trip-planning website devoted to families with ASD that you may enjoy: http://www.wdwautism.com

WOW! I'm dizzy keeping track of you all but it sounds like a fun morning and busy! Lots of yummies but how sad about the cupcake and allergic reaction

I just love all the pictures with you guys in your scarves, they are just wonderful.

I love those scarves, too! But somebody in our group does not DO scarves.... Can you guess who?

Ahhh, the divide and conquer technique! Nicely done, Ladies! You really made good uses of your morning both together and apart- each doing what sounded fun!

Heidi, so glad you were ok!

Me too! How scary!

I think that white chocolate elephant is too pretty to eat!

I think its very creative that you broke up into two teams to conquer the AK. What a fun idea. I like that and I hope I get another girls trip in where I can actually borrow that concept!

When you have a big group, it just makes sense to split up from time to time... that way everyone gets to see what they really want to and yet we still get to have a lot of fun together!



Thanks for reading, everyone!


Kathy

 

[blessedmom4]

Thank you for those links! I LOVE my Passporters' book (we have multiple children with multiple "issues"...that is a FABULOUS book). I am VERY excited to see that website for Autism and vacations! I will have ot check it out! Thank you once again ladies for sharing your journey with us all!

 

[petals]

Oooh yee found Koda in Animal Kingdom.. I wanna meet him!

 

[mousescrapper]

So we last left off, when the two Touring teams met back up and we did some shopping…Kathy hinted to we may have seen something green…but you need to wait just a tad longer to see which green that may have been…

The next stop during our AK Adventure was to take some time to explore the Tree of Life carvings…I always mean to take the time to walk this path when I am visiting w/ my family and it never does seem to work out. I know several of the other Mom’s made the same comments…


As we walked around the giant tree gazing upward and to this side and the other we would stand in awe and wonder and the camera’s were clicking away…between those of us taking pictures of the animals, we probably took well over 50 shots. It was so cool to pick out which animals we could see and it was a nice relaxing walk around.

Take a look:

Sometime earlier in the trip I had taken it upon myself to spook Jess around the corner at the POC ride…well she got me back:

I really think this would be a great activity for our kids as a sensory wind down…you could have a list and make it like a special animal finding scavenger hunt! My kids loved seeing the pixs and want to do this when we go back!

Time for a potty break:

After our relaxing animal hunt was over, the need for some Yeti hugging was being felt by several in our group…we decided to split up one more time for the day, as most of us headed back to EE

as Heidi headed back to our villa for a rest and Jess and Anne Marie went on a mission to find something Stitch.

So we had these extra FP’s now that were obtained earlier in the morning and Amy and I were scoping out the guests walking up to EE…I believe the FP’s were gone at this point of the afternoon And we saw a couple w/ kids and some grandparents…we gave them our filled gift…which needed a bit of explanation…we made their day and this was to be their first ride on EE!

Not sure if we shared these pixs before but here are some more of the great queue items:

As we got to the boarding area, a CM there remembered our group from the morning and commented “the scarf ladies are back”

I was thrilled to get to ride this again:

This time through the mountain was even better than in the morning…it felt faster and even scarier…we figured the temps had warmed up and w/the multiple train runs the track was heated up which just made for an awesome experience!

Arms up and SCREAM!!!!

Up NEXT: we get our Tiaras on to dine w/ Royalty…​

 

[KathyRN137]

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