Supervising children ages 2 to 72 while running a Half Marathon! *update 3/5*

[liznboys]

Oooh, I want to meet Rabbit! I don't think we ever have! He looks so yellow and soft!

Great pics with your medal!

We love the TIW card too! I loved Cali Grill the one time I ate there...had an awesome filet!

 

[-Hope-]

I'm still trying to get caught up- I'm on page 5 so I'm getting there! You're check-in day sounded full but fun. I really want to try viewing Wishes from the Poly this time but don't know if I'll be able to fit it in.

I love the PP pic with the border added. Jessica looks so cute peeking over Tom's shoulder!

 

[DrMomof3]

Oooh, I want to meet Rabbit! I don't think we ever have! He looks so yellow and soft!

Great pics with your medal!

We love the TIW card too! I loved Cali Grill the one time I ate there...had an awesome filet!

He did look yellow and soft! I thought he kind of looked like the shopping mall Easter Bunny that they have locally.

I'm still trying to get caught up- I'm on page 5 so I'm getting there! You're check-in day sounded full but fun. I really want to try viewing Wishes from the Poly this time but don't know if I'll be able to fit it in.

I love the PP pic with the border added. Jessica looks so cute peeking over Tom's shoulder!

The 1st day was crazy long! But still nice. I think for our August trip that we're going to NOT go to a park on arrival day. We're also taking a mid-morning flight instead of the early morning one.
Jessica is a cutie!

Amanda

 

[natebenma]

He did look yellow and soft! I thought he kind of looked like the shopping mall Easter Bunny that they have locally.

Amanda

Well, what do you think the Easter Bunny does in the offseason?

I can picture the TV Commercials now:

"Easter Bunny- you just delivered chocolate eggs to millions of kids around the world. What are you going to do next?"

"I'm going to Disney World!"

 

[-Hope-]

All caught up! Your race time was amazing! And the pic running down main street just made the whole experience seem amazing.

Sorry that you didn't have a great experience at CP but at least you got to meet Rabbit. I'm sure you'll have other opportunities to meet Pooh and Tigger.

I'm very impressed at how much you accomplished after getting up so early and then running a half-marathon! You go girl!

 

[DrMomof3]

Well, what do you think the Easter Bunny does in the offseason?

I can picture the TV Commercials now:

"Easter Bunny- you just delivered chocolate eggs to millions of kids around the world. What are you going to do next?"

"I'm going to Disney World!"

Hilarious!!!

All caught up! Your race time was amazing! And the pic running down main street just made the whole experience seem amazing.

Sorry that you didn't have a great experience at CP but at least you got to meet Rabbit. I'm sure you'll have other opportunities to meet Pooh and Tigger.

I'm very impressed at how much you accomplished after getting up so early and then running a half-marathon! You go girl!

Thank you Hope!!!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

Back to our regularly scheduled trip report....

Let me start this update by saying that I LOVE rope drop, especially at MK. I love the little show they do. I love being there early in the morning. I love the whole experience. My kids tend to be early risers. So I thought I was safe in telling my step-sister to meet us at MK at 9am. I was SO wrong!

We didn't set any alarms and we all woke up around 8am. So we were already running a bit late. We got dressed and ran up to the lounge for some breakfast food. Still a bit behind schedule for rope drop but not too shabby. We got to the monorail station and waited. And waited. And waited. No trains. Finally a CM told us that there was a stuck monorail on the tracks and it would be at least 45 minutes if not longer.

My DH is a life-long New Yorker. As such, he thinks like a New Yorker. He thought we should go downstairs in the valet area and try to get a cab. I didn't think this was a great idea for several reasons - One, it was marathon day so I suspected the roads would be closed; Two, we'd still have to go to the TTC and take a monorail. But I kept my mouth shut. The CM called us a cab. Since we were planning to take the monorail, I had lots of loose stuff in the stroller basket which needed to be reorganized. We folded the strollers, installed the car seats, and got the kids buckled into the cab. And then the cab driver asked where we were going. When we said MK, he freaked out. He said, "No way, no how. And SHE should know better." He was pissed. We were pissed. And we had to unload everything and find another route. My sister was already on Main Street at this point (luckily she was very mellow about the whole experience!).

Now we headed over to the dock to take a boat. The line was incredibly long and we waited 3 boats before getting one (by now my parents were with us). All in all, it took well over an hour to even get on Disney transportation to MK. I was really unhappy about this but trying to keep my act together so we could still enjoy the day.

We found my sister on Main Street (God bless her, she had gotten me a decent cup of coffee!) and headed over to Tomorrowland. 1st stop, Buzz Lightyear! I actually got a pretty good score (can't remember what it was now), at least for me.

My parents!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

We then did Astro Orbiters. For some reason this is one my kids very favorite rides. I think it's because we were in Disneyland (in 2007) for a medical conference and brought the kids. Zachary wasn't even a twinkle in Tom's eye at that point and Jessica was about 16 months old. Nathaniel was 3.5. They have Astro Orbiters in DL and that was Nathaniel's favorite ride. He called it The Rocket Ride. It's always been a happy place for us! The 1st trip we made to DisneyWorld (at least as adults, in 2008), Nathaniel was afraid of the indoor rides (including IASW). A nice CM at Astro Orbiters gave me the suggestion of buying a small flashlight so he wouldn't be scared (yes, I know people get all upset that he would ruin the dark experience with it but we weren't taking him on scary rides like HM, just nice rides like Nemo and IASW). Anyway, when we got off of Astro Orbiters, she gave me a coupon for a free light-up toy (the ones that spin around and light up). The toy worked and we were able to take Nathaniel on Pooh, IASW, Peter Pan, etc.

While waiting in line for Astro Orbiters, we saw this lady:

That WILL be me in a few decades!

Nana with Nathaniel

Jessica with Aunt Wendy (Jessica attached herself to my step-sister with glue! It was SO cute and they both enjoyed the time together.)

After Astro Orbiter it was time for Jessica to have her 1st ride on Space Mountain!!!!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

My mom decided to skip Space Mountain and stay with Zachary. So my step-dad, Tom, my step-sister, Nathaniel, Jessica, and I made our way over to Space Mountain. In August Jessica was about 1/2 inch too short to ride. She was VERY excited to ride this time. (Funny story: When Jessica found out we weren't doing a Princess dinner on this trip, she was quite upset. She told me that she "wasn't sure she was even going to go to Disney World in January if we weren't going to have dinner with the princesses." I reminded her that she would finally be tall enough for Space Mountain on this trip and she agreed to join us! ). The ride was a walk-on and as we were approaching the loading area, Tom started to worry - a lot - about whether or not Jessica should ride. We had already decided that Wendy would ride in front of her and I would be behind her. Nathaniel, Tom and Popsie (my step-dad) rode behind us. And, by the way, 6 is the perfect number of people for this ride!

I love Space Mountain. It's the first roller coaster I ever went on and it holds lots of happy memories for me. I really enjoyed this ride but I kept thinking that maybe it was too scary for Jessica. I know that Nathaniel isn't so sure he likes it all that much (he rides it but I'm not sure he really likes it). As we're getting off the ride, I looked at Jessica. I was a little worried. Maybe she'd be scared. Maybe she was crying. NOPE! She was happy as could be and eager to ride again (which we didn't do).

At this point it was time for a quick bathroom break and also, finally, time for my favorite Disney food. The Cream Cheese Pretzel. As far as I know, you can only get it at the Launching Pad and they only start selling them at 11am. Which stinks because it would be the PERFECT breakfast food. Tom bought a few for us to share. Refreshed, we headed for the People Mover. What a great ride!!! While waiting to board I met a super nice older man who is a DVC member (at OKW). Lovely person! I really enjoyed chatting with him about DVC and he really knew his stuff (we aren't DVC members but often think about it).

Jessica and Wendy

After People Mover, it was time to head over to Liberty Tree Tavern for our lunch ADR. I found a Photopass person but she wasn't very good:

Ha-ha!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

A few pics that I forgot to post...

Waiting for the boat to MK:

Back to MK!
As we continued our walk to Liberty Tree, we encountered this:

Yup. The stage show. We watched for a while and then went to lunch.

I know Liberty Tree gets a bad rap but I wonder if that's mostly for dinner? We've eaten lunch here several times and really like it! Fresh sandwiches and salads. Pleasant service. I hate, hate, hate the bathroom!!! But we enjoyed our lunch break!

After lunch I agreed to take Zachary so everyone else could ride Big Thunder Mountain. I was a little sad because I missed this ride in August but it was also my turn.

Nathaniel waiting to ride.

Zachary and I headed to ride the Magic Carpets again. He was very, very happy!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

We re-united at this point. Jessica announced that she needed to ride Pirates again (ironic since she always says she hates Pirates because it's scary). Zachary is pretty scared of Pirates so I wanted to spare him. Tom and Wendy took Jessica and the rest of us headed to Fantasyland.

1st stop, the Carousel of Death. I mean, Prince Charming's Carousel.

I honestly don't think I'd ever ridden this before! We then stood in line for Snow White. They had some musicians playing for us while we waited. They were quite good and I was sad when they finished! Tom showed up with Jessica while we were in line. We let her join us (but not the adults - I know, don't slam me, it didn't change the number of ride vehicles). My kids had never done Snow White because I was worried about them being scared. The bigger kids enjoyed it although I didn't think it was anything special.

After that the kids discovered the Sword:

They even had a Photopass guy there.

We headed over to the Teacups. Which Tom can't ride because it makes him sick. And Zachary wouldn't stay in line. So Tom, Zachary, and I watched everyone else.

At this point everyone was getting tired and cranky so we starting heading back to Main Street. Tom wanted to look at Mickey Mouse watches (and he bought one!) and I bought the kids a treat (cotton candy, I think???).

(Oh, it was cotton candy. Duh!)

The 3 o'clock parade was starting but we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. Wendy went to the TTC to move her car for dinner (we were eating at the Grand Floridian so she parked it over there - I know, scandal!). We went back for snacks and to change into nice clothes for dinner. (Yes, the monorail was up and running again!)

Amanda

 

[dismagiclover]

Sounds like a great Magic Kingdom day, except for the monorail breaking down part. Especially on marathon day I would imagine that would be a bit of a problem. I laughed when you called the merry go round "The Carousel of Death." Is there a story behind that?

 

[DrMomof3]

Sounds like a great Magic Kingdom day, except for the monorail breaking down part. Especially on marathon day I would imagine that would be a bit of a problem. I laughed when you called the merry go round "The Carousel of Death." Is there a story behind that?

Recently an older woman died after riding the carousel. She apparently had a heart condition. Sad!

Amanda

 

[-Hope-]

How frustrating to be staying at a monorail resort for the convienence and then have the monorail break down! And I'd have been so irritated if I'd already loaded my stuff into that cab when he said he couldn't take you!

It's so sweet the way Jessica bonded with your sister. I had an aunt that I was close to growing up even though we didn't live close- it always made me feel special when she was around.

I'm always amazed at how much you get accomplished with three young kids in tow! Sounds like a great day!

 

[DrMomof3]

How frustrating to be staying at a monorail resort for the convienence and then have the monorail break down! And I'd have been so irritated if I'd already loaded my stuff into that cab when he said he couldn't take you!

It's so sweet the way Jessica bonded with your sister. I had an aunt that I was close to growing up even though we didn't live close- it always made me feel special when she was around.

I'm always amazed at how much you get accomplished with three young kids in tow! Sounds like a great day!

Thank you for the compliment Hope! My kids are (mostly) good kids and they also know Disney pretty well. We have our moments - like any other family - but I know that they can behave when it really counts.

I totally agree about the monorail! The Polynesian is VERY expensive - partly because it's a monorail resort (it is a beautiful resort with many nice amenities but it was the monorail that sold us this time). It is what it is. And it didn't ruin our vacation - or even our day!

My sister has 2 kids of her own - Abby is 7.5 and Chase is almost 6. I get the impression that the kids fight with her quite a bit (not a judgment, just an observation) and I think it was really nice for Wendy to have Jessica adore her. It was great for Jessica (and me - Jessica and I fight a fair amount!) but I think it was a 2 way street.

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

I don't remember exactly what we did when we got back to the hotel but I'm sure it involved changing into nice clothes and getting ready for dinner! The plans for the night included a lovely dinner at Narcoosee's. I had never been there before but I would definitely go back!

We took the monorail over and met up with Wendy. We had a lovely walk over to Narcoosee's. This was another time that I had made an ADR for 7 before I realized Wendy would be joining. They were able to accommodate us (although they said if we had come 30 minutes later they wouldn't have been able to accommodate us - this seems weird to me as I would think that a table for 7 would have an empty chair anyway but whatever!). We waited a few minutes to be seated and kids played outside.

The view!

We were finally seated at a table near the kitchen. Our waiter was great and patiently answered my family's questions. The food was wonderful and Nathaniel even ordered fish (off the children's menu - a nice piece of tilapia that he devoured!). We drank some nice wine and enjoyed our meal. We had coffee afterwards and I commented that it was the first decent coffee I'd had since getting to Disney. The waiter quickly made me some more and put it in a travel cup for me to take with me!

This was Zachary's Nemo cupcake.

And Jessica trying to eat S'mores!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

We walked back through the Grand Floridian and encountered a photopass person. In my experience the resort photopass photos are awesome!!!

The kids picked their own borders for these!

Now that I look at the pics, Wendy must have left by then. We actually left the restaurant before Wishes, although the waiter made sure that we knew that we could stay 10 more minute and catch the show. The kids were tired. The grown-ups were tired. It was time to go!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

I started a new PTR for our August trip:

August 2011 PTR

Amanda

 

[-Hope-]

Looks like a lovely dinner- beautiful views!! I'm glad they were able to fit you all in- I agree that it shouldn't matter to add another to a reservation for 7, just one extra chair. :

 

[DrMomof3]

Looks like a lovely dinner- beautiful views!! I'm glad they were able to fit you all in- I agree that it shouldn't matter to add another to a reservation for 7, just one extra chair. :

Right? I thought it was odd that he did the whole "Well we can accommodate you THIS time but...." thing. I understand that going from 4 to 5 could be an issue but this shouldn't have been a problem.

Amanda