The Darling Family June 2010 Trip Report: When are the Parents Showing Up?11/5 New TR

[dismagiclover]

After our character bonanza we headed over towards Mexico. By this time it was quite hot and the boys were doing their fair share of complaining. They had the spray bottle and were making liberal use of it. You know it is hot when the boys fight over a pink spray bottle. Normally they won’t be caught dead with anything that color! We finally made it to Mexico where we met up with Liz and the Lost Boys. We were happy to see them and happy to be inside the nice cool Mexican pavilion. We hopped onto Donald’s Mexico ride.

To be honest I didn’t even pay attention to the ride. I was too busy chatting. Maybe Liz focused a bit more. We headed out of Mexico and toward Norway. Love how the boys are holding hands in these pictures. John and Michael really do love those Lost Boys.

We headed over toward Maelstrom where I snapped another photo.

We hadn’t been on this ride since our first trip back in 2006 so the boys didn’t remember it at all. They seemed to like it just fine, but once again I was too busy talking Liz’s ear off to really pay attention. After we exited the ride we stopped for a shot with one of the trolls.

Liz and her boys were going to head over to watch the American Adventure, but we’d seen it the night before plus my boys were pretty done with the park. It just gets too hot for them in the afternoon in the summer. So we parted ways with the hope we’d meet up again soon. (Unfortunately we never got to spend any more time with the Disney Family this trip, but I’m sure we’ll see them sometime at Disney before too long.) There was one thing we did have to do before we left the park. Remember back to rope drop when we’d gone with the masses to get those Soarin fastpasses. Well we hadn’t used them yet. So we headed over to Soarin to take our turn flying over California.

I still love this ride. It is so exhilarating yet calming at the same time. After Soarin the boys were more than ready to head back to Old Key West so that is what we did. I thought they would want to swim, but they didn’t. They wanted to play with their newly acquired Pokemon cards. So I left them in the room to play while I went out on my lovely deck and read my book for an hour or so. This day I thought to take a picture of my view.

I know it mostly looks like overgrown landscape, but it was so relaxing and felt very private. I really did enjoy my time out there. However, we didn’t stay in the room the rest of the day. What were our plans for the late afternoon/evening?

 

[mickeystoontown]

It seems like I just get caught up when I get behind again. I love how your trip report title came to be. Your boys are so cute.

My son loves shopping in Japan! I believe he could just wander around that one little area for hours.

We didn't see the American Adventure this year because....we were on our way to Japan. I thought we'd make it back but didn't.

I have to agree with you on getting Fastpasses for Soarin'. There needs to be some better way to obtain Fastpasses than going through the building and getting squished by so many other guests.

Woohoo for being brave enough to do Mission Space!

I was happy to read that you were able to spend some more time with the Disney Family. Your boys and her boys seem to get along so well.

 

[dismagiclover]

It seems like I just get caught up when I get behind again. I love how your trip report title came to be. Your boys are so cute.

My son loves shopping in Japan! I believe he could just wander around that one little area for hours.

We didn't see the American Adventure this year because....we were on our way to Japan. I thought we'd make it back but didn't.

I have to agree with you on getting Fastpasses for Soarin'. There needs to be some better way to obtain Fastpasses than going through the building and getting squished by so many other guests.

Woohoo for being brave enough to do Mission Space!

I was happy to read that you were able to spend some more time with the Disney Family. Your boys and her boys seem to get along so well.

I'm glad to know my boys aren't the only ones a little bit crazy about Japan! Maybe I'll mention my Soarin' suggestion if I ever get stopped by one of those survey guys again. And I'm glad we got to spend some time with Liz and her boys too. I wish we could have spent more time together, but it didn't work out this trip. Hopefully we'll have another trip at the same time in the not too distant future.

 

[mermaid764]

That's funny about them arguing over the pink spray bottle...obviously the heat and humidity was at it's worst.

I love the pic of all the boys in front of the troll...it turned out awesome

Can't wait for more

 

[Queenofallthings]

Sounds like a great day...great pictures of all the boys!!!

 

[Stefy]

Great update and I love how you ended the day. Nothing more relaxing then reading your book, esp with a lovely private view like that

 

[carissanboys]

You are fast with the updates, Jenny!

I completely understand the boys not being able to handle the summer afternoons at WDW. Heck - I can't handle the summer mornings! I really can't see myself every going in the summer. It has been such a hot and humid summer here this year and we pretty much hole up in our house during that time.

 

[Angies1274]

Great updates!! I definitely agree about the Soarin' Dash. Putting FP machines outside the building or even close to where you walk in would be better than having to run around to the other side of the building and down the stairs.

That's so cool that you found so many characters...wow!!

I'm glad you met up with the Disney family! Those pictures of the boys holding hands are just adorable!

 

[dismagiclover]

That's funny about them arguing over the pink spray bottle...obviously the heat and humidity was at it's worst.

I love the pic of all the boys in front of the troll...it turned out awesome

Can't wait for more

The pink spray bottle thing was cracking me up! It was hot, but that is to be expected in FL in the summer, right?

Sounds like a great day...great pictures of all the boys!!!

The pictures of the boys all together are cute

Great update and I love how you ended the day. Nothing more relaxing then reading your book, esp with a lovely private view like that

The day isn't over quite yet. That was just the afternoon break. More to come real soon

You are fast with the updates, Jenny!

I completely understand the boys not being able to handle the summer afternoons at WDW. Heck - I can't handle the summer mornings! I really can't see myself every going in the summer. It has been such a hot and humid summer here this year and we pretty much hole up in our house during that time.

The good thing about Disney World is they have lots of air conditioned places so you get breaks from the heat. It really is hot though. Honestly I like it better than the cold. I like the fact that all we have to pack is shorts and t-shirts and we can swim whenever we want. Beats the freezing weather I had last January. My DH, on the other hand, would rather freeze any day.

Great updates!! I definitely agree about the Soarin' Dash. Putting FP machines outside the building or even close to where you walk in would be better than having to run around to the other side of the building and down the stairs.

That's so cool that you found so many characters...wow!!

I'm glad you met up with the Disney family! Those pictures of the boys holding hands are just adorable!

Maybe I should write a letter about the Soarin fastpasses. (Like that would do anything) The characters were a fun suprise. I just wish there had been photopass guys there And we do always have fun with the Disney family!

 

[dismagiclover]

So after our incredibly relaxing downtime I asked the boys how they wanted to spend the evening. The original plan was to head over to Animal Kingdom because it was EMH evening. None of us were really feeling it though. Partly I think because AK is just so dang hot in the summer. (And we’d already been dang hot that day.) Instead we decided to head over to Downtown Disney. Another little perk of OKW is there is a boat ride to Downtown Disney. So we made the short walk over to the dock and soon saw this.

This was an absolutely lovely boat ride. Last year we stayed at Beach Club and took the Friendship boats that runs between Epcot and DHS. Frankly, I really disliked those boats. They were hot, crowded and noisy. I preferred walking, but the walk from DHS was a bit brutal in the heat of the day so we ended up taking those boats more than I would have liked. This boat was nothing like that. It was open and airy. We were actually the lone passengers. Here are some shots from our private boat ride. This is the dock we’d just left.

Here is the lighthouse by the pool. (There is actually a sauna in here.)

Here is the pool from the river.

And here we are on the private ride.

A couple of the buildings that we passed. These villas I'm sure have fabulous views.

We then went by the Treehouse Villas. The Disney Family stayed in these last summer and we’d checked them out then. They are awesome!

Then we passed by Saratoga Springs.

Here is our destination: Downtown Disney.

I think it’s obvious this is a really lovely ride. It probably took around 20 minutes. Definitely a great way to travel. So where did we head first when we arrived?

 

[Charlefours]

Love the ending to your Epcot day. I hope to see Voices of Liberty perform. The EP evening shots are beautiful!! I hope Lilian enjoys Epcot, I think creating the masks will help!!

I'm so glad you were able to get onto MS!! Your DH must have been happy to hear it. I don't know how you could do it--Disney with two young ones all by yourself. Did you not really have any meltdowns? That is what I am most worried about for our trip.

You hit the character goldmine in EP!!

The boat ride to DTD from POFQ was a nice change of pace when we stayed there on our last trip. Glad to hear you enjoyed this one this go around.

 

[Queenofallthings]

I completely agree with you on the boats...we loved the one we would take from SSR to DTD....it was so relaxing and quiet...quite enjoyable!! How nice that you got one all to yourselves....wonderful

 

[mermaid764]

The boat ride looks really fun and relaxing and how fun that you got the boat to yourselves.

Can't wait to hear about Downtown Disney

 

[klacey1]

I love the hotels with boat transport! We stayed at POR last summer and loved the ride to DTD. The scenery is just gorgeous...
That lighthouse/sauna is SO cool! Don't know why I think so, but I really think that's the neatest thing! Leave it to Disney to house something ordinary in a beautiful structure!

 

[Angies1274]

for your private boat ride!! Love all your pictures on the way DTD! Can't wait to find out where you went first!

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

I love the boat to DTD too. We stayed at POR a few years ago and loved the boat.

EPCOT was a fun day for you. I'm not sure of the time of day but did you head to The Earl of Sandwich for dinner?? or Goofy's candy Co.??

 

[dismagiclover]

Love the ending to your Epcot day. I hope to see Voices of Liberty perform. The EP evening shots are beautiful!! I hope Lilian enjoys Epcot, I think creating the masks will help!!

I'm so glad you were able to get onto MS!! Your DH must have been happy to hear it. I don't know how you could do it--Disney with two young ones all by yourself. Did you not really have any meltdowns? That is what I am most worried about for our trip.

You hit the character goldmine in EP!!

The boat ride to DTD from POFQ was a nice change of pace when we stayed there on our last trip. Glad to hear you enjoyed this one this go around.

My kids really did well on the trip. There was some resistant by Michael towards the end of the week. He was tired of the heat and walking. I'll talk about that on my AK day. I really tried not to over do things. We avoided the parks in the afternoon and we mostly did what they boys wanted to do. That really helped. Plus we've been often enough in the past few years that I didn't feel like we had to fit everything in. That made it easier too. Hopefully your trip will go smoothly. Just pay attention to your DD's moods and hopefully you'll be able to preempt any meltdowns.

I completely agree with you on the boats...we loved the one we would take from SSR to DTD....it was so relaxing and quiet...quite enjoyable!! How nice that you got one all to yourselves....wonderful

It was really nice that we had our own private ride. And the driver wasn't chatty at all so I really did just relax

The boat ride looks really fun and relaxing and how fun that you got the boat to yourselves.

Can't wait to hear about Downtown Disney

Hopefully I'll get the Downtown Disney update up today. You know it involved spending a little money

I love the hotels with boat transport! We stayed at POR last summer and loved the ride to DTD. The scenery is just gorgeous...
That lighthouse/sauna is SO cool! Don't know why I think so, but I really think that's the neatest thing! Leave it to Disney to house something ordinary in a beautiful structure!

The lighthouse is a neat looking structure. I never tried out the sauna myself. Probably not too popular in June! If I ever stay at OKW in the winter months I might give it a try.

for your private boat ride!! Love all your pictures on the way DTD! Can't wait to find out where you went first!

It was a fun boat ride. A nice way to be doing something, but it was completely relaxing

I love the boat to DTD too. We stayed at POR a few years ago and loved the boat.

EPCOT was a fun day for you. I'm not sure of the time of day but did you head to The Earl of Sandwich for dinner?? or Goofy's candy Co.??

We do have dinner at DTD. I love EOS, but we tried something new this trip. We definitely hit Goofy's Candy Co. No visit to DTD is complete without a stop there

 

[teacher2525]

I am enjoying your report. I love that your not a grown-up. that's the role I take in Disney. I actually take it in my everyday life. I teach special education, 3rd and 4th grade. Through the years I have had many a student tell me, your not like a regular teacher. They are always waiting to see how I will behave next. It really keeps them paying close attention

You have convinced me to head down early with my 3 boys in August I have been on the fence but since we have the time(off all summer!), the tickets and will be flying down we might as well go down ahead of time. Plus it is something I have always wanted to do Just me and my boys They are getting so old now that they always want to bring friends everywhere we go so this would be perfect

 

[Charlefours]

My kids really did well on the trip. There was some resistant by Michael towards the end of the week. He was tired of the heat and walking. I'll talk about that on my AK day. I really tried not to over do things. We avoided the parks in the afternoon and we mostly did what they boys wanted to do. That really helped. Plus we've been often enough in the past few years that I didn't feel like we had to fit everything in. That made it easier too. Hopefully your trip will go smoothly. Just pay attention to your DD's moods and hopefully you'll be able to preempt any meltdowns

I'm normally pretty good at gauging DD's moods. Though one came up so quickly on Tuesday--there were no signs. I think that was more due to really still not feeling up to par from being sick.

 

[dismagiclover]

I am enjoying your report. I love that your not a grown-up. that's the role I take in Disney. I actually take it in my everyday life. I teach special education, 3rd and 4th grade. Through the years I have had many a student tell me, your not like a regular teacher. They are always waiting to see how I will behave next. It really keeps them paying close attention

You have convinced me to head down early with my 3 boys in August I have been on the fence but since we have the time(off all summer!), the tickets and will be flying down we might as well go down ahead of time. Plus it is something I have always wanted to do Just me and my boys They are getting so old now that they always want to bring friends everywhere we go so this would be perfect

I'm glad to have you along! I love that you are able to be a kid with your students! It takes a great person to work with special education kids! You should definitely head to Disney with just your boys! It will give you more time and it really is a fun dynamic. There were times we missed DH, of course, by the times with just me and my 2 boys are memories I cherish.

I'm normally pretty good at gauging DD's moods. Though one came up so quickly on Tuesday--there were no signs. I think that was more due to really still not feeling up to par from being sick.

You will do great with Lilian! She may have a meltdown or two, but she'd probably have a meltdown or two if you were at home too. Better to have those meltdowns in Disney World