Surprise!!!

[bucket o' butter]

The rest of my story is rather anti-climatic!! All the good stuff happened at the beginning of the trip, but there is still more to be told. I really need to go get my Passporter because it is amazing how much you forget in less than a week! I think it has something to do with old age setting in!!

The night of the ceremony we were all meeting at O'hana for dinner. We decided to leave our children behind again. Only because of their extremely picky eating habits. With the exception of DS14, they wouldn't haven't eaten the food. I am sure they would have had some kind of children's menu if we asked, but for that price, we decided to let them eat at Captain Cooks. Since Ohana is right at the Poly, I felt okay leaving everyone behind. We all have cell phones, so we could be reached in an emergency.

While we were waiting, I had one of the drinks that is served in the pineapple. That had come highly recommended on these boards and the podcasts that DH listened to daily. (Another story altogether!!) Wow! That was one good drink! Thank goodness they were expensive, or I would have had another, and another and maybe another. Well, not that many because I would have passed out after the second one! (I am not a big drinker, so it doesn't take much anymore!!)

The dinner at O'hana was great! Food was wonderful and the entertainment, was for a better word, entertaining! Of course, I felt like waddling out of the restaurant when we left. I don't know the meaning of slowing down when there is a buffet! (Huh? Could that be where that extra 60 pounds has come from???) Here are a few pictures that I took at O'hana.

I know it looks like he is praying, but that is not the case. This is FIL and he is showing his exasperation at MIL for something she said. It was just a good Kodak moment and the camera was ready to go.

This is DH's grandmother and her husband. These are the people that we rented the scooters for. (You can stop laughing now!! If you don't know what I am referring, go back to the part about the scooter accident!)

Well, anyway, I do recommend going to Ohana. If your children are not picky eaters like mine, then they will have a great time. They have all kinds of games and activities for them while dinner is being served. It keeps them occupied so everyone can enjoy the evening!

 

[bucket o' butter]

Now I am experimenting with different colors. Hopefully, the font color is blue. If not, I have done something horribly wrong! We'll see what happens!

After dinner at O'hana, we decided to go as a family (yes, I finally included my kids in something! Ha! Ha!) to the Magic Kingdom. On the way over, DH, DD12 and DS8 rode in the front of the monorail. I don't know who was more excited, DH or kids! He had never ridden up front before. I had several times, so I elected to stay back with DS14 and ride in the main part of the monorail. They got their first of many co-pilot cards from the monorail driver. I was amazed at how many times we got to ride up front. It just seemed to be empty everytime the kids asked and we never had to wait for one. The two younger ones had a great time riding in the front. If you have never had the chance to do this, do it. You don't have to have kids with you. I saw many adults riding alone up front also.

When we arrived at Mk, we headed straight for Space Mountain. We are a roller coaster / thrill ride family. We had to stand in the regular line because fast passes were gone for the day. It only took about 20 minutes which wasn't too bad. Well, at least not for the adults. The kids got whining after a few minutes, but I think that is par for course as far as kids go!!!

Before heading the Space Mountain, we did manage to get Fast passes for Buzz Lightyear. When we got off SM, we still had about 20 minutes until we could ride Buzz. We decided to go to the Laugh Floor. That was pretty funny. DD12 wanted me to text them a joke. Well, this was going to be a problem. First, I didn't know any jokes, at least ones that would be clean enough for Disney standards, and second, I am just learning how to text. I am amazed at how fast these teen-agers can whip out a text message. They have a paragraph done and I am still one the first word!!! She did manage to give me a clean knock knock joke and I tried to text it, but I don't think it went through. I just told her they didn't choose it. She'll never know!

Anyway, we sat close to the front at the Laugh Floor. I was hesitant to be in the front because I know you can be picked on. But thankfully, that didn't happen! Well, not to me anyway. DH was chosen to be "That Guy". We all got a kick out of that. I had no idea what "that guy" was until he was chosen. He got a sticker at the end to wear around. Many people said things like "Look, there goes that guy". We heard that all night. Again, I am glad it was him and not me!!

After leaving the Laugh Floor, we headed to Buzz Lightyear. I like the ride, but I am not that good. Of course, we are a very competitive family and everyone had to compare their scores. DH won hands down, followed by DS14, then me, then DD12 and DS8. By next year, I am sure I will be in dead last place though.

We left Buzz Lightyear just in time for the fireworks to start, so we just stayed there and watched them. DH tried to get some good pictures of them with his new lens for the camera, but since he didn't know we would be there for the fireworks, he didn't bring his tripod, so they didn't turn out too well. Maybe next time!

Well, this is the end of day one. A pretty busy day with all things considered. We headed back to the resort with the mass crowd. DH took shortcuts through all the shops and we got out of the park just ahead of the mass and got right on the monorail.

 

[MickeyReeds]

Just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying reading your trip report--It's great that you all pulled of such a wonderful surprise!!

 

[bucket o' butter]

Just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying reading your trip report--It's great that you all pulled of such a wonderful surprise!!

I have to say I can't believe that we pulled it off. It was a wonderful surprise and we were so relieved that she didn't suspect a thing - at least not something as big as it was! Thanks for reading!

 

[bucket o' butter]

We began our day by going to the Princess breakfast at the castle . DD is 12 now, so it is probably our last princess breakfast. Again, I know I have given plugs to Magical Vacations already, but I have to do it again. The last time we went to Disney in 2002, it took four people calling Disney at the same time to get a ressie at the castle for breakfast. DH was the lucky one who got through and we are still hearing about that today! Ha! Ha! (i.e. - "Who is your favorite parent Baylie? Remember, it was me who got the reservations at the castle?", or "Don't forget dear ol' dad. He is the one who got the princess reservations".) This time was much better! Lisa did it for us! I just told her the date and "poof" we were there!!! I am sure there are other travel agents who do the same thing, but Magical Vacations is the one we have had experience with.

I did learn one thing about the princess breakfast. I think I mentioned before that my children are very picky eaters. Since DD is 12, she automatically got the adult breakfast. I thought it was great. She snubbed her nose. If she would have been 9 or under, she would have got "normal" french toast and other "normal" food as she calls it. I didn't think to request a child's breakfast for her. The waiter did realize that she wasn't eating and brought her some more cinnamon rolls which helped. After all the money you pay to eat there, I was a little miffed that she wasn't eating. So, if you go there and your child is over 9, you might want to request a child's meal.

DD and Princess Jasmine

After breakfast, we met up with the rest of the family to ride some rides. We went on Snow White and It's A Small World. DD12 then realized that the Teacups were nearby and insisted that DH go on them with her. Now, mind you, he absolutely hates spinning rides, but he had made a deal with her beforehand and had to go. The deal involved her riding the Tower of Terror is he rode the Teacups. So, he had to go. DH and DD rode in a teacup together and I rode with the boys. We are like spinning, so we spun like crazy. DD likes to spin too and she spun DH like crazy. He tried to take some pictures, but it is a bit difficult to take pictures while your whole world is spinning around you!

DD spinning DH on teacups

DH took this picture of me while he was being spun around and around and around and around

We returned to the resort after all of these rides to eat lunch and let the kids go swimming. We were to meet the rest of the family at 4:00 to head to Fort Wilderness for the Hoop Dee Doo Review. DH had never been to the HDDR, and I hadn't been since high school. DH grandmother really wanted to go, so we decided to take the whole family there for dinner. We decided to take the boat to Ft. Wilderness. There was a total of 13 people going. We arrived around 4:40 for the 5:00 show. We got to the window and found out that we didn't have reservations. Now, thankfully, I had my confirmation number with me. It turned out the reservations had been made, but at a different restaurant (Spirit of Aloha). YIKES!! There was no way we could get back to the Poly in 10 minutes and had 12 very hungry people standing behind me. What to do! At first, I was a little upset with Magical Vacations, but I found out it was a Disney error and not hers. The cast member at Ft. Wilderness, Stacy, was able to cancel the ressies at the Aloha and somehow got all of us in for the HDDR. It was a tight fit and we had to sit at two different tables, but we got it. Had this been my error, I don't think they would have bent over backwards to get us in. Regardless, we got in and enjoyed the show. It is a rather expensive show, ($270 for a family of 5) but it was nice to see once. Probably won't go back until I am 70, but I am glad I went. Ha!

After dinner, we decided to go over to Epcot to ride a few rides. We went on Mission Space and Soarin'. I LOVED Mission Space. (Remember, I love spinning rides!!!) DH wasn't too thrilled, but said it was okay. I told him to go on the green side, but his ego wouldn't let him since the rest of the family, including DS8, was going on the orange side.

After Mission Space, we headed to Soarin'. Once we got on the ride]/b], I really liked it. It took forever in line and I was about to kill my kids by time it was over! (The whine fest began about halfway through the ordeal) Ha! At one point the line split and went two different directions. Our part turned to the right and instantly came to a halt. The left side moved in an orderly fashion. After about 15 minutes of our line going nowhere, someone ahead of us went back to talk to a cast member. He said he had no control over how fast the lines were going. He just did what the computers told him to do. We waited again for about 5 minutes with the left side moving smoothly and our side going nowhere. Now you think that someone would have come out to let the poor kid know the ride had obviously broken down, but they didn't. The guy was so frustrated (he was only doing what the computer told him to do!!) and was at a complete loss on what to do. He finally combined both lines into one and had us all go to the left. We finally got on the ride about 10 minutes later and really enjoyed it! This experience goes to tell us that this generation is entirely too dependent on computers. People have no idea what to do if there is a failure in the system!

Well, that's all for now. I have went on long enough. My next installment will be about the Tower of Terror. This is tied to the Teacups ride and why DH had to ride them.

 

[bucket o' butter]

Okay, does anyone know how to make the pictures smaller? I have resized them to "tiny" on Photobucket, but they still come across huge. If anyone knows more about Photobucket and how to make my pictures smaller, let me know.

 

[nurtz]

We began our day by going to the Princess breakfast at the castle . DD is 12 now, so it is probably our last princess breakfast.

I am glad she wanted to go one more time...my boys do not "do" princess breakfasts so this is my only chance to go!
It was a great time, but Baylie did not eat any of the good stuff!

It turned out the reservations had been made, but at a different restaurant (Spirit of Aloha). YIKES!!

That was a little scary for a moment but it all worked out! I hadn't been to HDDR since 1990 and was really looking forward to it. I think every one had a great time.