The Chipmunks Might Be Cute But The Squirrels Are Nuts!

Enjoyed your update. I'm so excited that "you're there" you would think I was in the back seat of your car. :rotfl2: I love the Pop - hope you did as well.
 
When last we left our traveling family they were (well some of them were ) bouncing in their seats and entering the Pop Century parking lot….can’t you hear the angels singing…..:angel:

With huge grins on our faces we trudge into the lobby and are greeted with….more angels:angel: …..no check-in line up!! Having carefully researched all aspects of this trip I guided our children to the waiting area where they were immediately engrossed in the cartoons while I bounced with their daddy to the lovely young gal from France and cheerfully began our check in process. Now some of you might have gathered from our last name that we (our at least hubby) has French roots. And you would be right…..proud French Acadian roots. Joe has always been proud of his “bilingualism” so when he started speaking French with our check in gal the look on her face was priceless:lmao: ….not sure she’d ever heard her language quite spoken like that . She smiled broadly for him and switched to English….since I was OBVIUOSLY in charge and I barely have a lick of French. All went well until we got our room assignment…..dang……90’s. :sad2:

See, back when we originally booked our room I had booked a preferred room because I had heard how huge the place was and how far the rooms were from the bus and the parking lot. And then the “free dining” frenzy started and armed with my newly found Dis knowledge I had hubby call to rebook our room with that deal at precisely 9am the day it was open to the general public. Apparently the “free dining” button on the Disney computer is attached to the “standard” room button because that’s what our reservation was changed too….unbeknownst to us until our final papers came through.

Then I spent two days on the phone, two faxes and several teeth grinding minutes trying to get back my much anticipated “preferred” room to no avail. At some point pre trip I threw up my hands and said “oh heck, it’s Disney we’re lucky to be going at all…..” and let it be…my only hope was that we wouldn’t be in the 80’s or 90’s section because everyone said it was sooooooo far away…..and quite frankly the computer and cell phone items just ain’t as cute as the Lady and the Tramp. And now here we were with our Pop Century map with the 90’s section circled on it. Dang……

After standing in a second line at concierge to upgrade our tickets and nearly having a panic attack because half my ADR’s were missing and then recovered (note to readers…be sure you book all your ADR’s under the same phone number to avoid panic attacks…failing that be sure to bring confirmation codes) we headed to the car and with a little air out of my Disney bubble headed to our new home. In the 90’s section….dang…

But here’s the thing….I’M AN IDIOT! The 90’s section is perfect, people! Perfect! Yes, we may have been a ways from the dining hall but that’s where the noise is! Our section was so quiet I didn’t even hear the infamous flushing toilets! We were directly, ground floor, in front of the computer pool which thrilled my children and made running back to the room mid swim perfect. It was a stones throw from our car and 2 minutes from the buses! By the end of the week I came to the conclusion that the only thing wrong with our room was that it was a ground floor and thus pretty damp on the floor from the humidity. Didn’t really mind except that our towels never dried which gave my environmentally conscious mind a seizure because we had to use fresh towels every day instead of drying them and reusing them.

Side note…this week I was putting our SkipBo cards away from my “hurricane kit” and I got to have a little Disney memory time. See, I was so conscious of the fact that it was hurricane season when we went that I took a flashlight, snacks and games in case we got stuck in our room for a day or two. Didn’t happen….anyway I finally got around to putting the SkipBo cards back in their box when I realized that nearly all the cards were stuck together…..I nearly wept thinking about the Disney humidity that had stuck them together while they laid in the “hurricane kit” suitcase the whole week we were there.

Back to your regular scheduled program…..

So our bags are dumped on the beds and we head back to Everything Pop to search down and purchase the requisite refillable mugs! Talk about sensory overload! Colors! Noise! People! I think we purchased something to eat but I can’t remember what it was….I was too focused on those mugs. Funny but I can remember very clearly the moment when the cashier took her pliers and snipped the yellow tag off it to make it truly mine.

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What I do remember is my daughters taking 10 seconds flat, once we back in the room, to get their bathing suits on and go swimming! And not in just one but two pools!! I’m afraid it is all a blurr so I can’t remember which one we hit first but here’s a shot from the Hippy Dippy Pool…..note my big old back in the shot….at least you can’t see the farmer’s tan so well in the dark.

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And then of course we were all exhausted so at some point we had to put an end to our “we’ll be in Disney today!” day and were in bed, I believe around 1 am.

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Next up….the girls and I hit the Magic Kingdom!! And a coffee snaffoo….

Please be patient with me...I'm driving to New Hampshire tomorrow for a fruit and vegetable conference and won't be back until Friday, at which time I jump in the vehicle again and take the girls to the big city to a performance of The Nutcracker. So it might not be until Sunday that I can post again....but if it's any consulation to you the camera really starts to get a work out now so my next posts should chew up a lot of your computer's download time :). Have a great week everyone!And thanks for all the feedback! It's great! Making my head swell a bit though.......
 
Wow that was a busy long day and how great that your bad room turned out really good, not good about the sticky humidity though :scared1:
 
Great start! I love your title...:lmao: You have a beautiful family!

Consider me subscribed.

Cheers,
Kim
 

It's amazing that someone's bad room can turn into someone else's great room. :love: That's why I try not to worry about reviews unless 80-90% are bad.
I'm from New Mexico, no hurricanes, what are SkipBo cards?
 
Why is it so expensive to fly from Canada?

I'm loving your report!
 
Whoa Applemomma! I'm all caught up. You are on FI-YAH!!! :lmao:

Lovin' it so far! :teeth:
 
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I know some will disagree but I don't think you can get a "bad" location at the Pop. I've been there four times and have been in the 80's, 90's, 70's and 60's. I never felt the walk to the food court and busses was long.

Last time we stayed at CB (for twice the amount of the Pop) we were so far away from the food court that it was a good 30 minute walk. I know they have internal busses at CB but I'd rather walk then wait for a bus.

I'm enjoying your trippie. Any chance of an update soon? popcorn::
 
Hello Folks! I'm back and survived the storms in this North East this week.....we left Manchester, NH at noon Thursday thinking that we could get far enough north and get some shopping done in Portland before the storm arrived....nope...found us in Portland. We ended up spending the night in Brunswick after a VERY scary drive down the highway with zero visibility! :scared1: Got home just after midnight Friday night which meant our drive ended up being 24 hours longer then expected. Oh well, we were safe home.

After all that, the 1.5 hour drive into Halifax with my girls for the Nutcracker ballet on Saturday was a snap (clear roads too!). I HIGHLY recommend starting your holiday off with taking your kids to see The Nutcracker....mine loved it and it's a little high culture shoved down their throats in anotherwise farmers lifestyle :)

Got our second blast of winter last night so the roads are a mess this morning, hence the girls have a storm day, which I don't mind but it's going to screw up the weeks schedule! So I've fired up Photobucket and I shall continue on my journey down memory lane....amidst the sounds of High School Musical 2 Extended Edition coming from the living room, which I'm sure will be playing all day but heck it's my fault because I bought it for them as my penance for missing their Christmas programs this week......

First to catch up....

Wow that was a busy long day and how great that your bad room turned out really good, not good about the sticky humidity though :scared1:

It was VERY long but filled with so many new experiences for the girls that it was fun (people probably thought I was a kook when I had them hugging a palm tree though). The humidity was just one of those things.....

Great start! I love your title...:lmao: You have a beautiful family!

Thanks! I think I'll keep them for awhile :) And welcome!

I'm from New Mexico, no hurricanes, what are SkipBo cards?

We get the occasional, usually downgraded, hurricane here in Nova Scotia so I knew what could happen. Skip-Bo cards are a game of number sequencing. Fun but easy enough to play that our 6 year old has no problems playing. It would make a great stocking stuffer!

Why is it so expensive to fly from Canada?
QUOTE]

Because they like to hold us hostage in Canada! No seriously....it's because of the taxes...we have really high sales tax in most of Canada, 14% in Nova Scotia, so there's that on top of fuel tax, airport tax, air you breath tax....etc...etc... Our base rates start at about where the discount airlines in the US are , after taxes, and go up. Though our Kenyan taxi driver in Portland, who you may meet at the end of my report, did tell us it was cheaper for him to fly home to Kenya out of Toronto then anywhere in the US....go figure...

Whoa Applemomma! I'm all caught up. You are on FI-YAH!!! :lmao:

Lovin' it so far! :teeth:

Thanks!

I know some will disagree but I don't think you can get a "bad" location at the Pop. I've been there four times and have been in the 80's, 90's, 70's and 60's. I never felt the walk to the food court and busses was long.

I think you're right...we explored the whole resort and loved every inch of it.

Your title intrigued me, and your TR kept me here. Subbing. THanks!

Welcome!
 
And now we’re on to our “first full day in Disney!!” day! But if you think I’m wrapping it all up in one day you are insane..I mean mistaken. The best thing about a trip report is that you get to relive your vacation and make it last much much much loooooooonnnnnngggerrrrr then the real trip….plus it’s hard to put a gazillion pictures in one post.

But I left of with the coffee cliffhanger…..

As I discovered in my DIS research, one of the number one discussions in the restaurant forum, apart from free dining, refillable cups and ADR’s, is how BAD the coffee is in the resorts. Now this is not a good thing as I am a serious coffee drinker. In other words…addicted. It’s hard for me to function before my second cup. The kids have learned that they are taking their little lives in their own hands if they ask me to do ANYTHING before cup # 2. But that doesn’t mean I can drink boiled shoe leather just because there’s caffeine in it. So I had a plan. We would bring a can of good old Tim Horton’s coffee with us and purchase a small simple coffee pot at the Walmart when we did our supply run on the way to POP. Which we did, along with a few * ahem * “noncaffeinated” beverages, for only $9…the coffee pot that is…not the alternative drinks.

So after a long, tiring travel day, and a short sleep, I lay in bed after scrabbling for the speaker phone so my kids could hear Stitch and Mickey, listening to the sounds of my husband rummaging around the room, setting up said coffee pot. Water goes in….It seems to be taking a while to get to the next step….slowly an uneasy feeling is dawning on me…..this is taking TOO long…..finally a voice from the darkness (I had yet to actually find the energy to open my eyes) “Dear….did you think to pack a can opener?” CRAP! CRAP- CRAP- CRAP -CRAP!

See the jumbo size cans I buy have a peal back lid instead of the “titanium steel saw through it with a circular saw” lid under the unassuming plastic lid. NEVER occurred to me to look under the stupid plastic lid of the stupid little “get me through the week” can….can you tell I’m still a little bitter?

But we’re at Disney…..there is a feeling of pixie dust in the air as my husband makes the ultimate sacrifice for his caffeine addicted wife. He uses his precious GM keychain (basically a big metal arrow symbol) to pound a hole into the top of the coffee can. Another good reason to be on the ground floor…had we neighbors below us they probably would have been very puzzled by the pounding and then cheering coming from above them. Success!!! Hubby’s keychain wins, though it was showing some war wounds (don’t worry he bought himself another one) and Mommy’s caffeine need is appeased….ahhhhhhh.

Crisis averted we slip in to hyperdrive and Daddy goes off to his conference and the girls and I explore a little of the resort while we get some fruit and danishes from the food court…….

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Look very closley...you can just see them at the base. I never said I was a GOOD photographer, people!

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Can't have a Tramp without a Lady

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They were NOT impressed that I made them hold this position for a picture :)

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See our refillable mugs in the foreground?

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What ARE these mom?

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Can we make a call?

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Too cool!

And then I snapped a shot of the girls with what they were wearing that day incase they wandered away from me….course they changed clothes later and I forgot to take a picture then! It also gives me a chance to show off my window decorations…..I have all kinds of ideas for next time though! Hubby thought I was nuts until he saw other windows!

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And we are off to the buses….and I have a “bad mommy” moment…….


Side note….don’t feel too bad for Joe…the first day of his conference was a golf tournament so he had a good time…..
 
Love the pictures. I'm glad you did get close enough so we could see them. :laughing:
They thought the positions on Twister were terrible. They should do the game with 4 people...you really get twisted up!
My DH has a tiny screwdriver on his keyring it gets used for a lot of projects. Glad you got your coffee fix. :thumbsup2
 
So back in the room I smear my kiddies with sunscreen, slime their feet, and mine, with Body Glide and check and double check for our park tickets we are finally ready to head for the buses. Unfortunately a Magic Kingdom bus has just pulled away and there are still people waiting but armed with my DIS Knowledge I know it won’t be a long wait for another bus. And I reassure my children for the 100th time that they will get used to the heat….yah right….

Of course this would be one of several rides that we stood on the bus but the kids thought that was cool so we swung around all the corners, tried not to land on people’s laps and generally clung for dear life….what IS it with those drivers that feel they must slam their breaks on in front of Disney buses? Are they jealous of all of us?:scared1:

Here comes “embarrass my eldest” moment number one of the day…..we were lucky enough to be on one of the newer buses and as we turned the final corner into the Magic Kingdom is belts out a fanfare! “Welcome to the Magic Kingdom”…I lost it…..pass the tissue please.

The three of us literally skipped down the walkway from the buses to bag check and remarked that it even felt cooler at the Magic Kingdom ….a false sense of cooling since all the air conditioning from the shops must have been flowing down the slope from the main gates because our “cool” feeling was short lived. Seems we chose to go to the Magic Kingdom on what turned out to be the hottest day of the week. I believe it hit 94 degrees….ugh. Anyway, skipped through bag check and approached the turnstiles where magically all our tickets worked perfectly! Whew! Another one of those DIS boards discussions I won’t have to join in on! :thumbsup2

Here’s our “must have” Main Street shot. I’m amazed I could get the shot since I was literally floating on cloud nine! :cloud9: I’m not very good at keeping other people out of the shot but maybe someone recognizes themselves!

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Then up ahead we could see that a show was going on and I warned the girls that by the time we got up there it would probably be done but not so! It had really just started and we got to watch most of it from a pretty good spot!

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Here’s where I lost it again….my children standing at the feet of Walt himself, watching a show in the Happiest Place On Earth! More tissues please…..

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I didn’t downsize this photo too much so you could see Peter Pan doing his best. That’s L’s hat taking up so much space…again…a photographer I’m not….

I snapped a pic of Pinocchio, fully intending to take pictures of all the bronze statues over the week but it didn’t quite happen.

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After the show was done we walked THROUGH the castle! Through it, people! I don’t think you could do that when I was there as a kid….I was nearly hyperventilating. Good thing R was there and fully prepared to take on all the responsibilities of an adult should her mother completely lose it because believe you and me I was sure close! (Side note…you can tell the excitement of the day by the number of exclamation marks I’ve used.)

It was predetermined by the three of us that we should ride It’s A Small World first because it is their grandmother’s favorite so that was what we did. That was the last time there was complete consensus on our next step….and also the last time we kept to a plan. And yes, I realize we have only just entered the park, but keep in mind at some point during this day we shall encounter my “bad mommy” moment.
 
oooh, bad mommy moment coming up . . . I love a good cliff hanger. :rotfl2:
Thanks for all the pics - you're doing great! Glad your dh managed to save the day with his keychain/can opener. :lmao:
 
Pictures are great. You can't take a picture in WDW that doesn't have other people in it. :crowded:
My plans last just about as long. They usually end up as: 1) go to Park (what ever one we pick) 2) ride all the good rides first. That's it. :lmao:
 
So glad you got your coffee :rotfl:

What a great reaction to MK it's so sweet :goodvibes
 
Great installment! Your girls are adorable! I am looking forward to reading more popcorn::
 
I think theres a universal law that says you must have at least one bad mommy moment for each family vacation!

So, spill the beans and make me feel better about my own "moments"!:rotfl2:
 
So I mentioned the heat, right? Hot and sticky but at this point we are still oblivious to it because of a mix of adrenaline and air conditioning. It was lovely and cool inside IASW and just as I remembered it from when I was a kid. Don’t quite recall that woman in the control booth waving to all the passengers like a maniac back then but oh well, she looked like she was having fun. As I recalled to hubby my reaction to experiencing this ride again was best summed up by this thought:” Oh wow this is so cool! Oh good there’s another room….and another one….oh lord there’s another room…..is that the exit? Thank God!”

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After a quick stop at Cinderella’s fountain we were off to the Carrousel. This time I stood on the floor to take pictures but the kid in me took over the next time I rode it and sat on a horse. I didn’t let them know about Cindy’s favorite horse because that might have started a fist fight between my two urchins over who would have rode it first and then we would have had to stand in line multiple times beating other people’s kids to the favored equine.

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Of course Dumbo is in plain sight of Cindy’s Carrousel so that’s what L wants to do next. Again my DIS board research tells me that this is a slow loading ride and one look at the line up tells me it will be a very…..very…..very….long time standing in the heat before we got to ride an elephant so I promise her that we will do it before our trip is over. In hindsight had it been a few degrees cooler it would have been in my best interest to let the kid do it there and then because I suspect the meltdown that is to occur before too much longer began to root inside her at this point. Even though, to the naked eye no one could tell, there was a major pout erupting below the surface.

Instead we are off to Mickey’s Philharmagic and some welcome, though temporary relief from the heat. The best part? No wait! Like good little dooby’s we walk all the way to the end of our row with our glasses. And let me say right here and now I LOVE THIS SHOW! No amount of reading can clue you in for what the actual experience is like. Both girls loved it though R had her fingers in her ears most of the time (she has noise issues ….what’s a preteen without issues though ). L is still talking about Donald’s butt sticking out of the wall.


Unfortunately, while we were in Philharmagic someone in charge cranked the heat up a few more degrees and we again hit that wall of humidity when we exited. So in a heat induced stupor, and with out a solid grasp of direction, we started to wander and came across the girls first chacaters! Captain Hook and Smee! They were great but let me just say that if you have sensitive children that worry a lot DO NOT make them wear a Tinkerbelle shirt anywhere near Captain Hook. His hate for that fairy makes him shake his hook at even her picture and when he did that to R’s shirt L refused to wear her Tinkerbelle shirt all week.

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Next came across the Jungle Cruise, which of course, was on my “relive my childhood” todo list. This was our first posted wait time (I think it was 20 minutes but it only ended up being 10) but we bravely stood in line, just glad to be under the roof and out of the sun. Unfortunately for the purpose of picture taking I was too involved in bouncing up and down (yes, still) to think to use my camera. I was also too absorbed in other people’s parents and keeping track of their kids. A father with his no-more-then-three-year-old was gabbing on a cell phone and the son was wandering from rope to rope. You could just see the “lost kid crisis” coming. It was obvious to every that Cell Phone Dad wasn’t paying a wick of attention to the kid. One of the handy parts of winding a queue around and around is that you get multiple views of who is behind you, in front of you, behind you again, etc. So when we got closer to the front and a large group was loading into their boat they knew “Cell Phone Dad”’s kid wasn’t in their group and pointed it out to the CM….tears ensued…from the kid, not the CM. While it seemed to be a very culturally diverse group with several different languages being spoken around us,“whose kid is this” has apparently the same meaning in every language and “Cell Phone Dad” was reunited with his wandering child….yes, all the while with said cell phone still to his ear.

One moment please….

My youngest is making me stop my trip report to proudly proclaim to all of you that she ate an ItsAKadoozie in every park, except for Animal Kingdom, where she ate frozen lemonade. This fact actually figures prominently in the reason behind the title of my trip report so I suppose it’s prudent…..back to your regularly scheduled program….

Our Jungle Cruise director was good but our fellow passengers were a bit of a dud…seems they didn’t know you are supposed to laugh at the corny jokes and try as I might I couldn’t get them to follow along. Oh well, here’s a few shots of the view….

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So all is well right? Wrong! Remember…there is still a huge internal pout brewing in L and we reach the part of the jungle journey where we enter the very dark cave ….where our chatty-cathy tour guide decides no talking is necessary, spooking my kids to no end. They are NOT happy and mad at me that I didn’t warn them it was a dark ride. The fact that I had last ridden it more then 20 years ago was no excuse to them.

And we stomped our way through Frontierland towards Splash Mountain which I was trying to convince them to do. They were almost convinced until they saw it. “mommy you said you wouldn’t force us to do anything we didn’t want to!” Dang….that came back to bite me in the butt didn’t it….Oh but look! There’s the raft to Tom Sawyer Island! Come on kids…… BUT they are hot, they are hungry they are tired, they are loosing the Disney magic….But kids! There are special paintbrushes, and caves and trails and maybe something cool to drink…..

Now this is where my DIS research failed me. Aunt Polly’s on the Island, that I was hoping would be my salvation, was closed up tight. Dang, dang, dang. Get us off this island mom…. So back to the mainland we go and the pout is beginning to erupt. I want to go swimming, I don’t want to be here….full blown whine…no not from me! From L!

And then it happened....the bad mommy moment…..I became ONE OF THOSE MOTHERS! And yes, the words “Stop whining, we are at Disney World, you need to stop it” came out of my mouth. One look from the woman beside me in line for ice cream made me realize that I was probably going to get talked about once she had walked away…..

DANG!

Okay troups, time to regroup. And the purchase of the first ItsAKadoozie happens, along with a Mickey Head ice cream bar for R and one for me. Small price to pay, folks. We sat in the shade to eat them (fast! they are dripping!) and listen to another little girl rattle on to us about how fun Splash Mountain is (no mom….we aren’t doing it!) And we decide to start heading out of the park with the promise from them that if we see something fun they may try it. We did climb the Swiss Family Tree House but the girls trudged up the stairs and down again like they were being punished for something and refused to stop to let me take pictures.

I put my foot down on Main Street where L proclaimed that shopping would make her feel better, but I did snap this shot of a very hot princess.

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So as we head back on the bus to Pop Century and the promise of a swim I reflect on the morning….

I realized I was expecting my kids to act and behave differently at Disney, simply because it was Disney, and thus set myself up for disappointment. Even though I said I didn’t have a plan of what to do, I secretly did and needed to STOP IT! I really need to let the kids take more of a lead….except that one could get dangerous because then all we would do is shop and swim.

So we’ve had whining, tears, shirts dripping with ice cream, heat stroke and the day isn’t even half over….

Next up….storm clouds roll in but it’s a good thing.
 
Liked the pictures especially of the little princess boy her cheeks were pink! princess:
The bad mommy moment wasn't too bad assuming you weren't yelling. When it's hot patience wears thin. :goodvibes
I liked your description of IASW as you were riding. :rotfl2:
 


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