Tears, Treats, Tumblr and Tropical Storm Isaac

[Victoriasmom98]

Let me take a moment and talk about the room/resort. We were given room 4507 which was extremely convenient to the busses and the food court. We had to just walk across the bridges of Caribbean Cay and boom, there we are at CenterTown which is where the food court, main pool and gift shop are. Our room was exactly what I had hoped for. There was a burn hole in the bedspread of Victoria’s bed, but that’s not really something I’d complain about. I am surprised that they are still using that particular bedspread. As for Mousekeeping, she did a good job with supplying towels & soaps, but we didn’t get any towel animals. I really was hoping for some towel animals during this trip. I know they aren’t guaranteed, but still, it would have been nice to have a least one. We did tip her daily and left our envelopes right on the mirror above the sinks. There are double sinks and a privacy curtain separating the beds from the sink area. It wasn’t until our rest day that we found the quiet pool and laundry. Again, we were very close to that as well.

This was the view right outside our door.

I just want to say right here that we didn’t find it any more hot and humid in August than we did when we come in September. It was very tolerable and for me to say that, it must have been since I’m always so hot. I even bought frog toggers to take with us, but we never needed them. I’m not sure if this was due to Tropical Storm Isaac or if this was the norm, but again, we were comfortable.

Saturday, August 18th Animal Kingdom Day

We had an ADR for Tusker House for 8:05am. This means we needed to be on the Animal Kingdom bus by at least 7:15am and would you believe we actually made it on time for this one? Yep! I tried taking a nice picture of Victoria and I at the bus stop, but it was so humid that this is how it came out:

We got to AK and made the trek over to Tusker House. I must say this is one of my favorite meals. Not so much for the character interaction, but for the food itself. I love breakfasts and especially when they are in buffet form. We had a nice server and great character interaction. Of course Victoria just loves the Guava juice --- they might as well just left the pitcher on the table for her! Victoria was also now in the habit of picking out cute guys. Every time I offered to get a picture of one, she’d get all embarrassed and freak out. I’m glad I’m not 14 years old!

I did manage to get this picture for Victoria. She likes the server with dark hair. I could have gotten a pic with her and him, but NOOOOOO, she was too embarrassed for that!

After breakfast it was off to the Kilimanjaro Safari. It was in this line (yes, I said LINE) that I encountered what was to be the first of many lines we were going to have to wait in during this trip. There is quite a bit of difference between August crowds and September crowds with September being a lot lower than August. Well, we had no choice. We had to go in August due to Victoria entering high school. It wasn’t THAT bad, 20 minutes, but still. We are not used to having even that for a wait time for the safari. We went to Rafiki’s Planet Watch as I just love it in there. I love watching the vets work on the animals. We saw an owl demonstration and of course, had our picture taken.

As always we loved the safari and the animals were quite active. We also went to Festival of the Lion King and It’s Touch to be A Bug. We were going to go to the Flights of Wonder show for 11:30am, but it was then that the skies decided to open up and POUR!!! We were let into the theater just to get out of the rain. They cannot do the show when it’s a thunderstorm so that there’s no chance of the birds getting hurt. Boy, did it rain! We sat there for a good hour as it was that bad! We then donned our ponchos (yes, my wonderful handmade Disney bag poncho) and headed out. Here’s where the trip started to go downhill fast for me. Now there were some really nice comments I overheard about my poncho. But then, there was this witch who said how low class I was to wear something like that! EXCUSE ME? The witch was just jealous that she couldn’t do something that creative! But even knowing that, her hurtful comment made me not wear it for the rest of the trip. Really people? Can’t you keep your hurtful comments to yourself?

We were able to do Expedition Everest before it started to rain again. Not pouring, just annoying. We went into Finding Nemo just to get out of the rain. We also got to ride Dinosaur, too. Lunch was at Restaurantosaurus and was just the usual burger stuff. Yeah, burgers for counter services was going to be annoying by the end of the trip, too.

And here Peter got to see a chicken since he was missing the chickens at home so much. (seriously, he was!) I made it my mission for the rest of the trip to find all the chickens I could.

Peter is being silly!!!

We stayed until about 6pm and then headed back to the resort. We just ate at the food court, filled our mugs, and went to the room for the evening.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

continued....

Now please notice what Victoria is doing……online updating her Tumblr blog. This is another cause of annoyance for me throughout the trip! Ok, fine….let’s tell it like it is ---- I WAS FREAKING PISSED THAT SHE WOULDN’T GET AWAY FROM THE INTERNET THE ENTIRE FREAKING TRIP! If it wasn’t her laptop, it was her iphone! NOTE TO SELF: Online usage will be limited to evenings at the resort on any future trips that she may come along on. That part right there is still very debatable!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Ann, first off, I cannot believe ANYONE said a thing about your poncho! I would be PROUD to wear it, and it clearly was MADE and took time. Some people are just negative no matter what, it really really is an awesome poncho, I wish I could figure out how to make one!

Secondly, what a fabulous picture of you and Victoria! I loved it so much that I wanted to fix the fogginess of it for you. Is that ok? I couldn't do it in color b/c the colors got messed up when I fixed the fogginess, so it's in B&W, but it's such a pretty picture, I wanted you to have it for your scrapping! Hope that's ok! You should be able to just right click it and save it to your computer.

As for Victoria on her internet, I think that's pretty normal! I figure I like my time to decompress, whether it be reading or getting online, so I'm pretty laid back about my kids doing it. Of course, they weren't doing it IN the parks, but the boys did take a day they didn't go to the parks...more out of exhaustion though, we didn't have free internet in January! They got it right after we left!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

oh Karen......thank you so much for fixing the picture! I love it and I'm definitely going to print it for the scrapbook! Yeah, I shouldn't have let that woman get to me, but I just couldn't shake it off. Ugh! I am going to make a few adjustments to it (ie longer length and a zipper or velcro up the front. I won't give up......maybe.......

 

[Angies1274]

I'm here! Great start so far!!

Glad you enjoyed your breakfast at the Tusker House! It's one of our favorite places to eat as well. The food and juice are always so yummy!

Sorry that lady was so rude!! I thought your poncho was so cute and very creative.

Great picture in front of the Tree of Life!!

 

[JDailey]

I am shocked that someone had the nerve to make a mean comment about your poncho!!!! I thought it was so cute and very creative. She was probably just mad because you looked better than her! I really like the picture of you and Victora. Karen did a great job taking off the fog and I really like it in black and white.

 

[mickeystoontown]

What a mean woman to make such a comment on the poncho that you worked so hard on! I've come to the realization that people just don't care what they say anymore...it can be hurtful, mean, mean spirited, etc....they just don't give a flying fig.

I'm glad to hear that you were enjoying the resort. I can't wait until I am back there again.

I hear you on the fact that teenagers are on the internet way too much. I don't even bring our laptop on vacation with us. Well, I take that back. I took it to Tennessee last Thanksgiving but only so I could make our Disney ADRs the day after Thanksgiving.

 

[ginny_lynn]

Peter pulls in the drive at 8:10am. He made a quick change into shorts and off we go! Will we make it to NH in time? I don’t know! It takes 3 hours from our house to the Manchester airport, so we were going to be cutting it close. I knew we were going to make it (I assumed) once we saw this:

We drove over this bridge on our way home yesterday!!!!

I am excited to read the rest of your report CBR is in the running for a trip next year, as my boy LOVES pirates!

 

[Judgey Judgerson]

Joining in a little late but excited to hear about how the parks were during the Isaac fiasco!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Sunday, August 19th Magic Kingdom Day

So, let’s see……this morning we were headed to MK! We all had gotten snacks last night at the food court that could also be considered breakfast, so that’s what we did --- had breakfast right there in the room. I don’t think many people wanted to go to MK that morning as this was our bus:

Victoria loves Tomorrowland, so that’s where we headed first. It was a nice non-poncho wearing day, as I recall. Someone might have to correct me on that one, but that’s what I remember. Our first stop, as always, was the People Mover. Again, there were lines for Stitches encounter and Buzz Space Ranger Spin. I just don’t get it. Yes, I didn’t expect to walk into every ride, but I’m not used to these lines! We definitely utilized the fast pass system to the fullest. I don’t think I’m going to pay attention to crowd calendars anymore, as I thought this day was WAY off. I don’t know what I was expecting, but not this. Here are some of the pictures:

Then we met up with Buzz Lightyear. There wasn’t much of a wait line for him, so we decided to get into it. Other than that one we didn’t really wait for any of the characters. Most, if not all, of our character interaction was at the character meals. Thank goodness I had a lot of those scheduled or else I probably wouldn’t have gotten to hug anyone!

Please excuse the fat rolls you can see through my shirt! Oh, and that’s another thing I’m annoyed with but it’s totally my own doing ---- I LOOK SO DAMNED FAT IN PICTURES. I keep saying next year and next year I’ll lose weight….grrrrr.

We headed off to Buzz and then Victoria and I hit Space Mountain! I still say that ride is very jerky. I’ll say it here that I loved having the photopass plus for all the ride photos and dinner photos! I think it’s so worth it! I was able to get Peter & Victoria’s car and my car ---- 2 pics that would have cost me at least $19 per pic! We then did Stitch’s Great Escape. I know some people hate that attraction, but I think it’s funny! We had lunch at the Starlite Café --- I think we all had the roast chicken. It was SO BUSY and it was hard to find a table. Again, I’m just not used to crowds. (you are all feeling sorry for me now, aren’t you….poor Ann, in Disney, with crowds…awe!!)

Finally we were able to leave that section of the park and head to Adventureland. Our first stop was POTC!!! Love, love, love this classic. And yes, there was some idiot using flash photography! Oh, whatever!

Jungle Cruise was next and we had a really funny skipper! I just love the back side of the water!

Since I had read about the referb coming for Country Bear Jamboree, I made sure we got to see that. It was scheduled to be closed on our second MK day so I knew it was important not to miss.

Oh look, it’s a picture of me and my roundness…….

Now you all know just how much I love the Haunted Mansion and how much I look forward to it on every trip, right? Well, Peter went into his own Doombuggy and Victoria and I shared one. Halfway through the ride she looks at me and says “where’s my croc?” I’m thinking what? Aren’t they on your feet? One was. One was somewhere lost along the buggy track now. Are you freaking kidding me?! Apparently she was kicking her feet and didn’t realize there was a space between the floor and the door of the buggy and off it went! OMG!! Then the ride stopped for about 10 minutes. I was so upset that she had lost that croc. It wasn’t cheap, either. It was a red Pirates of the Caribbean croc which I paid quite a bit for. Then Victoria started freaking out because she thought her croc was the cause of the ride stopping. Oh yeah, I really enjoyed the rest of the ride --- NOT! As soon as we got out, we explained to the CM what happened and she got a manager. The manager gave us a credit slip for a new pair of crocs on Disney’s bill. Wow! Now see that was incredible and definitely pixie dust. They did not have to do that as it was Victoria’s carelessness that caused the situation. Now, do you think anywhere in the MK would have crocs? Um, we were about to find out. We went into Yankee Trader and explained the situation. One really nice CM called each of the merchandise location throughout the park and it was either they didn’t have them or not in her size. Great. My child is now walking around with one croc. He did suggest that the place outside POTC may have some shoes that would work. Ok, fine, so Victoria is walking barefoot in the park to the store. Ugh! We finally found a pair of canvas shoes that was going to be ok. All this was going on as we were counting down the minutes to our 1900 Park Fare ressie. We no longer had an hour to make it there. Good thing you can take the resort monorail from MK to the Grand Floridian.

So, are we all getting the feeling this is working out not to be the trip of my dreams? Yeah, I thought so.

The infamous new canvas shoes, which it turns out, hurt Victoria’s feet……

The rest of the evening was nice, even though I was frazzled by the day’s events. We did get to our ressies within minutes of the time, so that was good. Of course I think the buffet there is excellent, so that was a good thing, too!

I don’t even want to know what Victoria said to Prince Charming that caused this face…

This is Victoria’s favorite step sister.

We did go back to MK to check with Lost and Found, and to get our pic taken with Mickey.

Oh, I do remember now that it was raining as we left as we had to put our ponchos on for the walk to the bus. Speaking of busses, we really didn’t have any problems with them at all. The monorail on the other hand……well, that’s a story for another day…..

 

[Victoriasmom98]

I'm here! Great start so far!!

Glad you enjoyed your breakfast at the Tusker House! It's one of our favorite places to eat as well. The food and juice are always so yummy!

Sorry that lady was so rude!! I thought your poncho was so cute and very creative.

Great picture in front of the Tree of Life!!

Thanks, Angie.....I'm going to make some adjustments to the poncho and attempt to wear it again. I just can't imagine being that rude and saying something like that out loud! Yeah, Tusker House is one we can't miss!

I am shocked that someone had the nerve to make a mean comment about your poncho!!!! I thought it was so cute and very creative. She was probably just mad because you looked better than her! I really like the picture of you and Victora. Karen did a great job taking off the fog and I really like it in black and white.

Oh, Karen did an AMAZING JOB!!! I can't wait to get that one developed in an 8x10 size! Gee, I'm still waiting to hear about your trip!!

What a mean woman to make such a comment on the poncho that you worked so hard on! I've come to the realization that people just don't care what they say anymore...it can be hurtful, mean, mean spirited, etc....they just don't give a flying fig.

I'm glad to hear that you were enjoying the resort. I can't wait until I am back there again.

I hear you on the fact that teenagers are on the internet way too much. I don't even bring our laptop on vacation with us. Well, I take that back. I took it to Tennessee last Thanksgiving but only so I could make our Disney ADRs the day after Thanksgiving.

OH Lisa, I just thought that comment was so awful! First of all, people are people and should never be judged by "class". You don't know by looking at someone how much money they have or if they hold up their pinkie finger when they sip tea. I mean, is that stuff really important in life? I don't think so.

I was wondering how you guys made out with Isaac? I hope you didn't have any damage. Oh, her and her internet usage.....it only gets worse!!!

We drove over this bridge on our way home yesterday!!!!

I am excited to read the rest of your report CBR is in the running for a trip next year, as my boy LOVES pirates!

I love that bridge!!! That's how we know we are home!

Joining in a little late but excited to hear about how the parks were during the Isaac fiasco!

Hi Judgey! Cute name! Welcome to the party and it's never too late!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

How did I miss a whole day of updates from you, Ann? Now I feel bad about giving you a hard time on my PTR for not updating enough! I like the “humid” picture of you and Victoria. (OMG, as I continued reading, I saw that Karen fixed the picture and made it in B&W! It is gorgeous! I hope you frame that!) I’m glad to hear that you felt that the heat and humidity were tolerable. Hopefully, it will be the same way next year when I go. I would have been mortified if my mom offered to take pictures of me with cute guys! This is definitely something I’ll have to do to True! I can’t believe that it rained that much that you had to stay indoors for an hour! My goodness! And where is this witch who made a nasty comment about your cool poncho??? I want to give her a piece of my mind! Some people have no class at all. If she didn’t like it, she should have kept her stupid mouth shut! I’m sure that she was just jealous that you could create something that interesting and unique! I’m sorry that you didn’t feel comfortable enough to wear it after that. The poncho was cool and I would make one if I knew how to sew!

You mentioned that it was still kind of raining after that. Was it a hot, gross rain or a rain that was like sweet relief from the heat? I’m really trying to prepare myself for this August trip! I totally understand how you must have been feeling about Victoria spending so much time online! Coy does the same thing. I think we should be having family time, but he is watching videos on youtube (That's what I want to do to the computer sometimes, so he can't use it! ) It gets really annoying and it hurts my feelings a little too. So I am copying your note to self: online usage will be limited! You’re scaring me a little with the lines. You’re right, 20 minutes isn’t that bad, but I am also used to walk-on attractions. So Photopass+ was worth it? I can’t wait to see your ride pictures Oh no! Victoria lost her croc? Sounds like something True would do. Another note to self: make sure my kids are wearing shoes that tie! That was definitely pixie dust that they gave you a credit for the shoe!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Was it a hot, gross rain or a rain that was like sweet relief from the heat?

No, it was a relief for the rain! I don't mind a little sprinkle, but it did POUR occasionally.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Ann, honey, please, you do not look fat in your pictures! You look as if you are having a great time and that's all that matters.

I'm sorry but I did laugh a wee little bit when you were describing Victoria walking around with just one Croc on while searching for another pair of shoes. I wasn't laughing AT her. I was just laughing at the situation because that's so something that would happen to us. At least the canvas shoes were cute!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

OHMYGOSH! I cannot believe she lost her shoe! I'm sure it was stressful, but so cool that they gave you a voucher for new shoes!

I think you look fabulous, I thought when I saw your pics that it looked like you had lost weight...but didn't want to say that b/c I dunno, sometimes people get offended when you tell them they look like they lost weight? AND...you don't look like the crowds or rain are bothering you, so I'm glad that there were lots of happy moments in between the not-so-happy ones! I was surprised by our crowds in Jan, but I think those were locals b/c the weather was so gorgeous. I don't think there's really superslow times anymore at WDW, even September is getting busier!

 

[beachmama3]

LOVING your TR so far!!! First: I also love Stitch and think it's funny, POTC is my FAVE ride EVER, and the story of your daughter losing her shoes is priceless! Sounds like something my kids would do- and it's awesome Disney gave you a credit for new ones!!

Your pics are great! You all look wonderful.

Lastly, I thought your poncho was awesome. I am sorry that woman said anything, she def must have been jealous. I was just telling my husband the story-- he not only agrees that the woman was completely rude, but he's wondering how you put it together! I think he wants me to make myself one! You may have explained in you PTR and I missed it? If you did, will you let me know where to look!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Just wanted to pop in quickly before I get ready for work and give Donia (and whoever else might want it) the link to How to Make a Bag Poncho:

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-plastic-bag-hoodie-How-to-fuse-plastic-bags-a/

Of course I tweeked it here and there for example mine doesn't have sleeves. Have fun with it if you try it!!!

 

[Disneylvr]

Enjoying your report and have subscribed!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Just wanted to pop in quickly before I get ready for work and give Donia (and whoever else might want it) the link to How to Make a Bag Poncho:

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-plastic-bag-hoodie-How-to-fuse-plastic-bags-a/

Of course I tweeked it here and there for example mine doesn't have sleeves. Have fun with it if you try it!!!

Thanks for the link! Now I just have to learn how to sew! I like your short sleeves better than the long, skinny sleeves on the instructions. It seems like the long sleeves would make your arms feel all hot, sweaty and restricted. Well, if you do tweek your poncho a little bit more, please post it again!

 

[Dave Dizney]

Any chance your Kilimanjaro Safari driver was Rebekah? Our daughter drove that day and reported that day she got soaking wet from the rain.