Stop Making Me Laugh Or I'll Pee My Pants! Go Back! I Lost My Shoe! Trip Report!

[KatMark]

Lisa, I've finally had a chance to catch up on all the trip reports I'm following. Love your pictures of T-Rex...looks like something my DH would really like. We'll have to put on the list for next year.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Yeah...the only ones are the Alligator Bayou rooms at POR, the family suites at ASMu...then they get really pricey like the cabins at Fort Wilderness or the Deluxe resorts. WAY out of our price range! It really is a shame considering a family of 5 is not that out of the ordinary.

When we went in May we priced the fly suites at ASMu and the cabins and the best deal for us was TWO rooms at a value resort! Now, at your boys age you would HAVE to have adjoining rooms; which normally WDW will try very very hard (you should not have a problem) to accomadate. Just a seed to plant for you Missy on a next trip (and your boys are getting older and I know a trick to know if they leave the room at night--they used it when Dayne went with his 8th grade class to D.C. [you put a piece of duck tape on the outside of the door if they open the door there is ABSOLUTELY no way for THEM to replace the tape--needless to say the teacher NEVER had problems with the kids]

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Just found a picture on photobucket that I forgot to post before. I took this picture of this gorgeous whatever it is that was growing near our Martinique 26 building.

OK I found it!!!
since I have no life; I'm still home alone doing laundry I was going to go walk the property but someone is BURNING! I love the smell but if I want to breath tonight I need to stay in w/the A/C on. Would have loved to open the house today!

anyway yes it is RED GINGER! the yellow was throwing me off! in the flower shop when we got Ginger in it was red or pink no yellow! here is the site I found it on
http://www.adimagephotos.biz/flowers/flowers10.htm

 

[racefanof88]

I love the picture of you . It really is good. The flower pictures are good too. I am hoping to get as good at taking pictures. One day .

 

[PixieFan]

Lisa, Just FYI, It is 73 degrees in Hot Springs now. We are freezing and have turned our AC off! I may have to put some slippersocks to keep my little toesies warm. Hope you can convince John to go camping! Dawn

 

[Cameo818]

I finally made it over here (okay, so actually I was over here quite a while ago, but couldn't view any of the photos so I decided to wait until I could in September). Your trip reports are wonderful and I'm really enjoying seeing more photos of you in this one. Looking forward to more!

Hope your day today has gone better than yesterday. Nothing worse than a grumpy boss in a very small office. If nothing else, at least your workday is over by now. I'm on PST, so I still have 2 1/2 more hours to go to my workday!

Enjoy the rest of your week, Lisa!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Yay! You're back!!! Great photos. CBR is so pretty- I loved it there.

It is pretty and my pictures soooo don't do it justice.

Oh Lisa - I so enjoyed your last trip report and it was so fun to read along, but now, with the report... YOU'RE KILLING ME!!! I just want to be there! Your pictures are great and your love for CBR make me want to have that. I can't wait to go so I can come back and plan the next one

I am hoping your TR will ease my way in to December! Making my ADR's Monday!!!

It's killing me too! What I wouldn't give to be lying on a hammock on a CBR beach right now.

I am hoping that since they moved the ADRs back to 180 days that they'll start posting the park hours 180 days in advance too. Do you already have your restaurant choices made?

Me too!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I didn't notice this the first time, but now that Connie mentions it, I think it's my favorite thing about that picture. You can almost hear John telling you to smile while he snaps your photo! I love it!!

Yeah...the only ones are the Alligator Bayou rooms at POR, the family suites at ASMu...then they get really pricey like the cabins at Fort Wilderness or the Deluxe resorts. WAY out of our price range! It really is a shame considering a family of 5 is not that out of the ordinary.

You're too sweet! I used to not mind having my picture taken but that was before Bell's Palsy. It drives me nuts.

I never thought that a family of five was so out of the ordinary that it would be hard to find accomodations. Especially at Disney!

Lisa, I've finally had a chance to catch up on all the trip reports I'm following. Love your pictures of T-Rex...looks like something my DH would really like. We'll have to put on the list for next year.

You definitely need to put T-Rex on your list. The food was really good and, of course, the atmosphere was cool too.

When we went in May we priced the fly suites at ASMu and the cabins and the best deal for us was TWO rooms at a value resort! Now, at your boys age you would HAVE to have adjoining rooms; which normally WDW will try very very hard (you should not have a problem) to accomadate. Just a seed to plant for you Missy on a next trip (and your boys are getting older and I know a trick to know if they leave the room at night--they used it when Dayne went with his 8th grade class to D.C. [you put a piece of duck tape on the outside of the door if they open the door there is ABSOLUTELY no way for THEM to replace the tape--needless to say the teacher NEVER had problems with the kids]

The duct tape trick sounds like something John's family would use.

 

[mickeystoontown]

OK I found it!!!
since I have no life; I'm still home alone doing laundry I was going to go walk the property but someone is BURNING! I love the smell but if I want to breath tonight I need to stay in w/the A/C on. Would have loved to open the house today!

anyway yes it is RED GINGER! the yellow was throwing me off! in the flower shop when we got Ginger in it was red or pink no yellow! here is the site I found it on
http://www.adimagephotos.biz/flowers/flowers10.htm

I've got to go check out the linkyou gave me. I love flowers but I don't know what many of them are called.

By the way, you remember the flower that we stole..... I mean the flower sprig that we took home from Disney last year? Well, it's still growing taller and is still on my back porch. We noticed this weekend that another little sprout is coming off the main stalk. It really needs to be put in a bigger pot but I'm afraid to do anything to it.

I love the picture of you . It really is good. The flower pictures are good too. I am hoping to get as good at taking pictures. One day .

Thanks a lot for the compliment. I love taking pictures of flowers even though I never know whether or not they are going to turn out. I kinda like the one with the butterfly in it.

Lisa, Just FYI, It is 73 degrees in Hot Springs now. We are freezing and have turned our AC off! I may have to put some slippersocks to keep my little toesies warm. Hope you can convince John to go camping! Dawn

Shut your mouth! You are soooo making me want to go to Hot Springs this weekend. I bet there's no way that we'd get a camping spot reserved at this late notice.

I told John last night that it was so nice out that we should just open all the windows to let the cool air in. Won't be long now before the air conditioning will be turned off for good. Watch, I say that and we'll get another heat wave. So, I take that back.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I finally made it over here (okay, so actually I was over here quite a while ago, but couldn't view any of the photos so I decided to wait until I could in September). Your trip reports are wonderful and I'm really enjoying seeing more photos of you in this one. Looking forward to more!

Hope your day today has gone better than yesterday. Nothing worse than a grumpy boss in a very small office. If nothing else, at least your workday is over by now. I'm on PST, so I still have 2 1/2 more hours to go to my workday!

Enjoy the rest of your week, Lisa!

Hey there! Photobucket drives me nuts sometimes. I actually have two accounts with them now and it looks like I may have to open up a third just to so ya'll can see the pics.

Thanks for the compliment on the reports. It's fun reliving our Disney vacations.

The boss got a little better as the day went on. He complains that I keep him here until after 4:00 every day. Hey, he's the boss, he can leave anytime he wants as far as I am concerned.

Just 15 minutes and I can hit the road for home. Hope the rest of your work day goes quickly!

 

[Angies1274]

Great update, Lisa!!

I'm so happy to hear that you liked using Garden Grocer!! We are planning to try them next trip.

I'm loving all your pictures at CBR!! It's such a beautiful resort-- it's no wonder you don't want to stay anywhere else.

 

[MadilynnsMomma]

It's killing me too! What I wouldn't give to be lying on a hammock on a CBR beach right now.

I am hoping that since they moved the ADRs back to 180 days that they'll start posting the park hours 180 days in advance too. Do you already have your restaurant choices made?

We're on the DDxDP - ready?
Breakfasts:
- Supercali @ GF
- Akershus
- Tusker House
- Ohana @ Poly
- Chef Mickey's @ Cont

Lunches:
- Earl of Sandwich (this is a maybe)
- Coral Reef
- Picnic in the Park (another maybe)
- 2, 3 or 4! open with no ideas (MK day, HS day & our two travel days) - feel free to help me out!

Dinners:
- Cinderella's Gala Feast @ GF
- Sci Fi Drive-in
- Teppan Edo
- Yak & Yeti
- MK day is open... again, feel free to help me out!

 

[MK2010]

[you put a piece of duck tape on the outside of the door if they open the door there is ABSOLUTELY no way for THEM to replace the tape--needless to say the teacher NEVER had problems with the kids]

If you're still concerned you can also duct tape them into the bed! My band director used this trick with us on trips too. I heard of some people getting around it, but being the good girl I was I never did. (No, I was the one scalping the Disney tickets that still had 2 days on them on the senior band trip!)

 

[mickeyfan71]

I really enjoyed that update. All of the pics of CBR reminded me of the great choice I have made for October! I am thinking of trying Garden Grocer for this trip also-the less I have to carry the better! Looking forward to the next update!

 

[Amy&Dan]

Okay, Lisa, I have some serious catching up to do! Between back to school and never being able to get on my computer due to the kids doing homework every night, I am behind! But tomorrow, I intend to sit on my behind and get caught up!

Just didn't want you to think I had bailed on your report!

BTW, just got to the pound cake thing, was it Grandmother Paul's Sour Cream Pound Cake? I have made that several times and one time it did sink like that in the middle. Its dense but oh so good! Just curious lol.

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

You guys look like you had so much fun! I can't wait to read what's next. Now that school has started (both my teaching job and my next Master's class), I'm not on here very often, but I'll keep up when I can!

Still REALLY loving the CBR photos...I need to send the link to your report to my family that's traveling with us!

 

[hhockman]

Wow Lisa. I just love your pictures. They are totally encouraging me to stick with my plan of getting up early to do my "running" (which I haven't done the last two days). I can't wait to see POR so early in the morning. I'll have to take my camera one day (of course Missy's pictures of POR are pretty hard to beat!)

That picture of you is a great picture. I loved it. I'm really critical of pictures of myself too, but take our word for it. It's lovely.

I love EPCOT. I can't wait to hear about your day. Just 15 days left. I get to do Online Check-In on MONDAY! Sweet!

 

[LoraJ]

Finally catching up with this thread. will have to check back in the morning since half of the photos aren't showing up.

So glad you had a great trip!

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

Good morning Lisa. Gee I'm gone one and 1/2 days and miss 3 pages. Love the update. That pic of you is so good. You look so natural and relaxed. I agree with Connie you really should frame that. Don is like you tho. Since the Bell's when he smile his mouth does this crooked thing and his eye droops a little. He always trys to stand and face a certain way so it doesn't show so much.

Hot Springs is sounding pretty good at this point isn't it? I know we are doing nothing this weekend. We've have so much going on for the next 3.

I did get Sheri's bd posted on my thread. I was so tired last night. I am actually going to go take a nap before I have to go to work.

Have a really good day. I think that boss needs a sit down talk, as does mine.

Ginny

 

[mickeystoontown]

Now that John and I have made our little walk over to the island and back, we make our way back to our room where the kids are waiting on us. I grabbed the backpack and we were off to the bus stop. Epcot is waiting on us!

We walked over to the Old Port Royale bus stop because it was lots closer to our building than the Martinique bus stop was. We waited just about 10 minutes before an Epcot bus rolled in. You may be able to tell from these pictures that we were the only ones on the bus. Was nobody going to Epcot today?

I told John and Hunter to smile. Of course, John was doing his little halfway smile so Hunter helped him out:

Let's try this again:

Lacey and I:

Pictures taken, Hunter wanted to sit by Lacey so he moved over beside her. We don't get to see Lacey much because she's away at missionary college so Hunter wants to get in every little milisecond of time he can with her. And, they never shut up. Wonder where they get that from?:

The bus made it's way around the resort and more people got on but it wasn't packed full. Hum? Hopefully, that means the crowds at Epcot won't be too bad today. Our bus ride to 12 minutes. 12 minutes from the time we sat down on the bus until we pulled into Epcot.

We pull into the Epcot parking lot and our bus driver slows down in the middle of the parking lot. What the heck was he doing? We look through the window towards the bus stops and there are only three other buses letting guests out. No reason why he can't just loop on around and let us out. Does he do that? No! He stops in the middle of the parking lot, yells "Epcot!" and opens the doors. Everybody on the bus is looking around and we realize he's serious. He wants us to get off the bus and walk across the parking lot. This was a first for us. We had never been dropped off in the middle of a parking lot. That is for those people who take shuttle buses from offsite resorts/hotels. Not Disney guests!

Rather than spend the time finding somebody to make a complaint with, we got off and walked across the parking lot and to the park entrance. We passed another bus driver carrying what looked like a lunch box and he got on our bus and the other driver got off. I guess they were making a shift change. We've been on several buses when they made a shift change and we've never been dropped off in the middle of nowhere. They've always made their change either before or after the guests got on the bus. I gotta tell you, we didn't feel too safe walking in the parking lot with lots of buses coming and going all around us. Yes, there was a walkway but still.

Movin' on....The park wasn't open yet but the guests were lining up at the ticket booth thingies. John, Hunter and Lacey went on through the entrance for guests with no bags and lined up. I had the backpack unzipped and ready for inspection. There were a few people in front of me who had to take things out so the inspector could look in the bottom. I have found that, if you greet the inspector/security person (or whatever they are called) and ask them how they are doing, they are much nicer to you and you get through their line quicker.

My bag was quickly inspected and I went on to find my family. They were in the line and I didn't feel like I was cutting in because there was nobody behind them yet. Just a few minutes later, the park opened and I told everybody that the first thing we were doing was getting our pictures taken by the Photopass photographer.

There was only one family in front of us getting their pictures taken and we were soon smiling for the camera with Spaceship Earth in the background. I'll post pictures of our Photopass pictures as soon as I finish adding borders and actually order it.

Soarin' was the first (with the exception of Photopass pictures) thing we wanted to do. Here's a picture of the seemingly half empty park:

We walked pass Innoventions and turned to the left to see a sea of people heading straight towards the Land pavilion. Holy cow! We are going to have to get a Faspass. I just know it. But, when we get to the building, they had just opened the doors and we were able to walk down the stairs to Soarin which had just a 10 minute wait time posted. I couldn't believe it.

For those of you who have read my first trip report, you know that I am terrified of heights. When I say terrified, I mean I start getting all tingly and wobbly headed. So, why would I subject myself to riding something that has warning signs saying it's not for anybody with a fear of heights? Because Soarin' is just that good of an attraction. The only parts I don't like are when you go over the tops of the mountains. The flying part does not bother me too much.

In no time at all, we are told to go to line 3. Every time we have ever ridden Soarin', we've been in line 1 which means we have been lifted to the very top of the building. Line 3 meant we would be closer to the ground. I have to say that I handled Soarin' much better when in line 3. Soon, we were soaring above the ocean, the mountains and the rivers and then the orange groves (okay, so I don't know for sure that that's the exact order but you get my drift...pun intended. weak, I know.). Wait a minute!!!!! Where's the orange smell? Hey Mister hang glider man, where's my orange smell? When we got off the ride, John asked one of the castmembers why didn't we smell oranges and he said we were the first flight on this concourse and he didn't know why there was no smell. He'd have to check it out. Darn it....I wanted my orange smell first thing in the morning.

Lacey announced that she was about to starve. We swear the girl has a tapeworm. I told her we'd go over and see what they had for breakfast in Sunshine Seasons. I leaned over to tell John and that's when he got the first phone call of the day on his cell phone. Can't we go anywhere without somebody calling him?

Anyway, Lacey found a bagel and cream cheese and we used a snack credit. Nobody else wanted anything. We found a little table so Lacey could eat her bagel.

I look over to see where John was and he's squatting down over in a corner talking on the phone. I am ticked off. Who is calling him on our first official day of vacation? I told the kids I'd be right back and went over to John. I hear him say "Alright man, I'll see if I can call her and see what the problem is." Oh no! That doesn't sound good. John keeps on talking and I go back to the table and take a few more pictures while we are sitting around waiting on John to get off the phone.

I haven't gone back and looked at this picture when it's large but there was a somewhat hidden Mickey on one of the yellow ribbon things. It was where a Mickey head shaped balloon had stuck to it and apparently deflated. What can I say? I take pictures of everything.

John finally finishes up his call and said it was one of the guys that he was working with on a job. The lady that we had done a cabinet job for was complaining about one of the cabinets not fitting in right or something. Great! Just what we needed......John having to calm down a customer while we are over 800 miles away. John places a call to her and gets her voicemail. Okay, can we move on now!

Oh wait....I forgot to post that the Living With The Land ride was down for refurbishment. Darn it! We love that attraction. It may be boring to some but we really enjoy it.

Up next on our list was to get Fastpasses for Test Track and ride Mission Space meaning we had to walk all the way across the park. So what, it was a pretty day. Everybody waited near the Mission Space entrance while I walked over and got Fastpasses for Test Track. The Fastpasses weren't good until 11:30 so we had plenty of time to ride Mission Space and go to the Universe of Energy.

Mission Space had just a 20 minute wait which I didn't think was at all. Imagine our surprise when we walked in and there was hardly any wait at all. Seriously, we waited about 10 minutes before we were in our spaceship. I can't remember which is the more intense....the orange or the green...but we went on the intense one. I always forget how cool this ride is. We love it!

Now this is when the day turns sour for a little while. John is carrying the backpack and we are making our way over to the Universe of Energy. John usually walks super slow but today he was walking faster than normal. The castmember was waving the guest on up to the entrance doors and John fell right in. The metal waterbottle fell from the backpack and John kept walking. John has some hearing loss because he's worked around machines every since he was 15 years old. So, we figured he didn't know it fell out and one of us said (not very loudly mind you) "wait you lost the waterbottle". When he didn't turn around and kept walking, I said a little louder "wait John, you lost the waterbottle." Hunter ducked under the rope and grabbed the rolling waterbottle and we caught up to John. John....who was pissed.

For those of you who watch Jon and Kate Plus 8, do you remember the episode where Jon gets really pissed at Kate because she was yelling in the toy store? He says that she was yelling at him in public and it embarrassed him. And, he gets really mad and doesn't talk to her.

Well, we had a John and Lisa Plus 2 moment. John was embarrassed because he said we were all yelling at him in front of everybody. He didn't want to talk to us. We tried to tell him that we were not yelling but, you know, a line full of park guests isn't the best place to talk.

The door opens and we know to go all the way to the front of the room towards the doors. And, we know not to sit down because the castmember is going to come in, get on the microphone and tell you to stand up. We get up front and everybody else is stopping in the middle of the room and sitting down. Maybe this would be a good time to say something to John since we are relatively alone in front of the theater. But, he didn't want to even look at me or say anything to me.

At this point, it hit me. Some of ya'll know that John has epilepsy and his seizures are controlled by lots of different meds. When his medication levels dip or are low, even the littlest of things make him upset. Sometimes the levels stay low for a long time and sometimes they even out in no time at all.

The best way to approach the matter is to just sit back and shut my mouth. Most of you know me well enough by now to know that keeping my mouth shut is pretty darn hard. I tried to talk with him a little but he was having nothing of it. All he said was "You yelled at me like I was a little kid and I hate that." The kids started to say something but I just gave them the "he's not feeling good" look and they backed off.

Lacey, Hunter and I watched Ellen on the big screen and laughed a little but John didn't watch any of it. The doors opened and John walked right on in without looking back. Gosh doggit, this better not be how the entire day goes. We get seated in the nice cool air conditioned room and John falls asleep immediately after the piggy bank, the ding dang, I mean.....the bing bang part. Once the entire attraction was done, Lacey nudged John to wake him up and he was a total different person. It was like it had never even happened. Thank God! I hate epilepsy!

Determined to start the day all over again, we walked over to Test Track to use our Fastpasses. It was shut down! Frickem frackem! I walked over to the castmember and confirmed that we could use our Fastpasses later in the day. He said absolutely.

Hunger was starting to set in so we decided to go over to the Electric Umbrella. We ran into the Jamminators who were just finishing up their last song of the day. Well, not day.....what is it they say about bands.....oh yeah, their last song of the set.

*******Interruption: Boss just came in from court. Be back later.