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

[dismagiclover]

Flik! I love Flik! I've got to admit that I did chuckle about Michael getting a little "friendly".

I still chuckle everytime I see the pictures.

Lol, loving the Flik pics. There are so many new characters coming out of the woodwork. Did you hear about Maleficent at International Gateway?!?

That would be cool to meet Malificent. We saw Cinderella once at International Gateway. Are they making that a more regular character place?

I love the pictures with Flik...Flik's reaction in the one too is hilarious.

WOW, awesome you made it to rope drop before the crowd too. Nice job winning the race.

I told Michael to maybe move his hand and that is when Flik giggled.

Oh, Michael did get a little friendly, didn't he? LOL!

That is a great spot for photographs!

Michael often gets a bit friendly with the characters. He just must be that perfect height. Hopefully by next trip he will have grown a bit

Love the Flik pictures! We have some of my mom with Flik from California Adventure a few years ago that I love.

Amanda

Flik is rather photogenic I think.

Great updates!! What great luck being the first at the KS rope drop. Poor Michael--I'm sure he will not be fond of those pictures at some point in his life.

You're right about Michael not liking those pictures someday. I have pictures of my boys with the princesses that they currently really don't like.

 

[jmskinner]

about Michael being so friendly. One of the PTR's I am reading has a great pic of a boy being friendly to one of the Things at Universal.

Too cool about being first on a ride again. I think Flick is one of the best photo ops because of his location.

I still need to ride that "Dino Dumbo".

 

[dismagiclover]

about Michael being so friendly. One of the PTR's I am reading has a great pic of a boy being friendly to one of the Things at Universal.

Too cool about being first on a ride again. I think Flick is one of the best photo ops because of his location.

I still need to ride that "Dino Dumbo".

Oh just wait until we hit Universal. Michael gets a little friendly with one of the Things as well. I really need to have a talk with him about that

 

[dismagiclover]

We finally made it to Dinoland where there was no wait for Dinosaur Dumbo. Can someone explain to me why in Animal Kingdom this ride is basically a walk on, but in the Magic Kingdom you have to wait for eeons? Anyway here we are soaring above Dinoland.

While we were on this ride my mom called and told us they were off the boat and just a few minutes away from Disney World. So we needed to be heading back to the resort to meet them. There was one more thing I really wanted to do though. I’d read about a character meet ‘n greet going on in the Good Times Gathering Spot in Camp Minnie-Mickey that included some characters we had never met before. So we headed over that way. At this point Michael really started complaining. It wasn't even 10:00, but it was already hot. I don’t know why Animal Kingdom seems so much hotter than the other parks, but it definitely does. It was tough even getting Michael to walk as he dragged behind John and I. We eventually made it to the Good Times Gathering Spot and were rewarded with some characters. Michael wanted nothing to do with any of it, but here is John with Terk.

Right after we took this picture they announced there would be a dance party so the kids could go in and dance with the characters. We headed towards the dance floor. This next picture shows Michael was done. He didn’t even care that Dale was right there next to him.

So there were some new characters on the dance floor including Thumper’s girlfriend.

Thumper himself was there too and John tried to get into the whole dance floor thing.

Frankly though it was just too hot. So since we weren’t having much fun I agreed to head back to meet everyone at the resort. Getting Michael to walk towards the car was brutal. A couple of times he sat himself down on the pavement and refused to move. Of course we had to make a stop for Photopass pictures. Michael refused to participate so here is what we got.

Wouldn’t they be cute if Michael just turned around and smiled?

John took a picture with Baby Simba

Then we headed out of the park. This was the moment I decided 2 things. First of all we were going to rent a stroller for the parks the next day. Second we weren’t going to come to Animal Kingdom in the summer again. It is just too hot. On the walk to the car Michael called DH to ask him to bring the stroller with him on the plane. It took some convincing (DH thinks Michael is a bit old for strollers and I agree. Plus he didn’t want to bother with it at the airport), but DH agreed. So Michael perked up a bit at the thought. I thought Michael would be fine in the parks because we weren’t planning any marathon days. However even if the days hadn’t been jam packed he was still tired out so we clearly should have brought the stroller from the beginning. Lesson learned. Now it was time to head back and hear the Cruise report.

 

[Stefy]

I still chuckle everytime I see the pictures.


That would be cool to meet Malificent. We saw Cinderella once at International Gateway. Are they making that a more regular character place?

I think so as alot of characters are turning up, which is kind of good and bad as that spot is/was not really well known so was like stumbling across a cool find.

Miss Bunny!!! She is so cute, can't wait to meet her

Bless Michael, he really had had enough.

Cute Stitch pic, didn't know you could get him in AK

 

[DrMomof3]

Great pics of the dance party! I don't like the Triceratop Spin as much as Dumbo.
Poor Michael. My eldest is 6 so he gets the advantage of having younger siblings and a stroller. I just find it helps when the kids are hot and tired. I know it'll be much easier on the buses without the strollers but they were great this trip!

Amanda

 

[Queenofallthings]

Last summer we rented a stroller everyday for my niece who was 5....she never uses the stroller at home, but we decided we would have it just in case. It was great, because with the heat she would get tired by noon so she could just jump in, worked great!

I love the Flik pics....I almost spit out my water I was laughing so hard

 

[dismagiclover]

I think so as alot of characters are turning up, which is kind of good and bad as that spot is/was not really well known so was like stumbling across a cool find.

Miss Bunny!!! She is so cute, can't wait to meet her

Bless Michael, he really had had enough.

Cute Stitch pic, didn't know you could get him in AK

I've never seen Stitch before in AK either. I didn't ask for it. The PP guy just offered it. I hope you find Miss Bunny (I didn't know that was her name.)

Great pics of the dance party! I don't like the Triceratop Spin as much as Dumbo.
Poor Michael. My eldest is 6 so he gets the advantage of having younger siblings and a stroller. I just find it helps when the kids are hot and tired. I know it'll be much easier on the buses without the strollers but they were great this trip!

Amanda

It was so nice not to mess with the stroller most of the trip. But by this point Michael was tired out so it would have been very nice to have.

Last summer we rented a stroller everyday for my niece who was 5....she never uses the stroller at home, but we decided we would have it just in case. It was great, because with the heat she would get tired by noon so she could just jump in, worked great!

I love the Flik pics....I almost spit out my water I was laughing so hard

The heat really does make it tough to go all day with the little ones. Most days Michael did fine, but AK was just so hot!

 

[Stefy]

I've never seen Stitch before in AK either. I didn't ask for it. The PP guy just offered it. I hope you find Miss Bunny (I didn't know that was her name.)

It suits her doesn't it, esp when you see her scenes in Bambi

 

[dismagiclover]

It suits her doesn't it, esp when you see her scenes in Bambi

I agree it is the perfect name

 

[dismagiclover]

We made it back to Old Key West and the whole gang was waiting for us in the parking lot. I felt a bit bad that we kept everyone waiting, but nobody seemed to mind. We happily greeted Wendy and she raved about what a great time she had. I will do a cruise report in the next update. (So you all still have to wait.) My parents also had a fabulous time, but they needed to head to the airport. They took a quick picture with all the grandkids. (Sorry about the blank faces again, but my fam isn’t as familiar with the DIS as me.)

Then my parents were off. However, my sister-in-law and her kids were sticking around for the afternoon. So we had my nieces, ages 13 & 10, and my nephews ages 7 & 3. The kids all get along great. Everyone quickly changed into their suits and we headed to the pool. The kids all had a grand time together this afternoon at the pool.

While the kids swam I did some laundry. The laundry was very convenient at Old Key West. First of all, it was free. One of those DVC perks. Secondly, it was right next to the pool. Plus it wasn’t crowded at all. Most DVC villas have washers/dryers. It is only the studios that don’t. So not many people use them at the resorts. After a few hours of swimming everyone was hungry. We debated about where to eat. We considered Downtown Disney, or maybe heading over to one of the monorail resorts. Ultimately we decided not to leave Old Key West. It’s just such a relaxing place to be. So lunch was at

I think I had the Chicken Caesar Salad this time. Quite tasty. While everyone was finishing lunch I made a quick trip back to the room with the clean laundry. On my walk back I took these pictures of the resort. Such a relaxing place to be.

When I arrived back to the table I saw the Disney Family standing there chatting. They were on their way to the pool and had noticed my kids. Liz and my SIL were chatting like old friends. It was just a quick hello, but it’s always fun to see them. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the last time we saw them this trip. So after lunch the kids decided they wanted to do a Scavenger Hunt being offered by the Community Center. This was a tough hunt. They wanted details from the whole resort, but we just did the questions around the Hospitality House. At one point we ended up by the Shuffleboard court and Michael was excited to see some bamboo. He is a huge panda lover and bamboo is a panda’s favorite food. For some reason Michael decided he wanted to try some bamboo too. So he picked a leaf and ate it. We all found that pretty amusing so I took this picture to commemorate the moment.

As you can probably tell we really were just hanging around enjoying being together without any agenda. The next activity scheduled was umbrella making which sounded intriguing. So we headed back over to the community center and decided to give it a try. They were $10 each so I decided my 3 kids would share one. Here are the kids working on the umbrellas.

The boys tired of this a bit sooner than the girls so they decided to play some Fusball.

Here is the finished umbrella.

The kids and I each did two sections. Anyone want to guess which sections are mine?

This was a really fun activity and a great souvenir. Anyway it was now after 3:00 and my SIL wanted to head back home. My brother’s family lives in Miami which was several hours away. We said goodbye with promises to see them all soon (We had a family reunion scheduled for later that summer. And a very eventful reunion it was) I’m so glad they were able to come spend the day with us! It made our trip even better.

Up next: You finally get to hear about Wendy's cruise!

 

[acox17]

Really enjoying your TR, can't wait for the rest!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Oooh, do you have more OKW pictures? I really can't wait to stay there in March!

Did you happen to look at all the pictures on the wall (that you can see in the pic of the kids working on the umbrella)? What are those of? Just DVC members? That looks kind of cool!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Great update! I used to never do laundry at WDW, but since last summer, I love it.....grab the lounge chair, grab a cocktail and wash away

 

[Stefy]

Great update, sounds like you had a nice time chilling at the resort

How cool is that umbrella?!? I love it Certainly something different then your normal colouring etc

 

[dismagiclover]

Really enjoying your TR, can't wait for the rest!

and thank you.

Oooh, do you have more OKW pictures? I really can't wait to stay there in March!

Did you happen to look at all the pictures on the wall (that you can see in the pic of the kids working on the umbrella)? What are those of? Just DVC members? That looks kind of cool!

I don't have many other OKW pictures. Sorry. We spent quite a bit of time at the resort too so its suprising I didn't take more pictures. Guess I was just too relaxed The pictures are of DVC members. They have them in the Community Center and in Olivia's too. I think most of them are from back when OKW first opened. They are quite cool.

Great update! I used to never do laundry at WDW, but since last summer, I love it.....grab the lounge chair, grab a cocktail and wash away

The laundry wasn't bad at all. Especially because it was right next to the pool

Great update, sounds like you had a nice time chilling at the resort

How cool is that umbrella?!? I love it Certainly something different then your normal colouring etc

The umbrella activity was fun, especially for Wendy and her girl cousins. I'm very glad I only bought one though. It took quite a while and it would have been tough to finish three.

 

[dismagiclover]

It's finally time to hear about Wendy's cruise This will primarily be a photo report of the cruise. Since I wasn’t there I can’t give a good blow by blow account, but Wendy and my dad took lots of pictures so I have those to show you. I’ll try to give the best info I can, but remember it is all second hand. First stop after getting dropped off was the check in where they took these adorable shots.

It appears after they got on the ship they met up with Daisy.

I am loving these sailor outfits
Then I think they got something to eat. That’s my guess anyway after seeing these pictures.

Next a walk on the deck was in order

Then they went on a photo taking spree so here are all the pictures.

Next up was the life jacket drill.

Then it was finally time for the sail away party.

The girls apparently decided on swim attire for this event.

It’s pretty obvious they are having a great time. There is still plenty more to come.

 

[klacey1]

Great updates!! Sorry Michael got so bothered in the parks-- I think we all know what it's like to drag in the heat. Not fun. Seems like a relaxing pool/fooseball afternoon perked him up, though! That's great that all of the cousins were able to hang out together.
You can tell just how much fun Wendy was having in the pictures! That's so great!

 

[DrMomof3]

Love the afternoon at OKW! Sometimes those are the best days!!!

Great cruise pics! I'm SO jealous!!!

Amanda

 

[Angies1274]

Aww...cute pictures of the boys playing the drums in AK! My boys love to do that too!

Yay for seeing Flik! We've never seen him before! And wow you got some really great pictures of the Tree of Life in the background!

The photopass pic of John and Baby Simba turned out great! But... poor Michael. AK is so hot in the summer! I remember how it was when we went last August!! UGH!

Looks like it was a fun time at the pool!! I've loved seeing all your pictures around OKW!

Wendy looks like she's having a wonderful time on the cruise!! Those sailor outfits are soooo cute!!