The Epic continues.....The Party's Over (***COMPLETED 3/19***)

[Ellester]

Love it so far! What part of South Florida did you live in? I just moved to West Palm Beach. Similar 21/2 - 3hr ride to disney! (although this is only my second time there since moving, and the first one was a last minute trip for about a day so doesnt count haha)

Hi Nicole! Thanks for the props, it's been fun writing. I'm sad I'm getting towards the end! I grew up in mostly in Plantation, although we did live in Davie for a few years (both in Broward County). My dad and stepfamily moved up to Lake Worth about 5 years ago, so they are just south of you. Until just recently, my stepmom was at a property in WPB (she, my dad, and stepbrother are all in real estate). No chance you live in Ventura at Emerald Dunes? In any case, welcome to my trip report! Depending on how tomorrow shapes up, I'm hoping to get a bit more done by the weekend.

 

[DisneyMom14]

I've been checking every day! So glad Andrew felt better and y'all were able to enjoy the next day! Mommy to Mommy - Were you at all nervous about sending your two girls on a boat without you? We don't go boating often and the thought kind of scared me (even with the life jackets). Kind of on the same topic, have you or anyone you know ever taken advantage of child-care at Disney? Can't wait to hear more of your trip!

 

[Nicole786]

Hi Nicole! Thanks for the props, it's been fun writing. I'm sad I'm getting towards the end! I grew up in mostly in Plantation, although we did live in Davie for a few years (both in Broward County). My dad and stepfamily moved up to Lake Worth about 5 years ago, so they are just south of you. Until just recently, my stepmom was at a property in WPB (she, my dad, and stepbrother are all in real estate). No chance you live in Ventura at Emerald Dunes? In any case, welcome to my trip report! Depending on how tomorrow shapes up, I'm hoping to get a bit more done by the weekend.

I live in an area inside WPB called "Wellington" which is right now populated by europeans visiting for the equestrian season! It's kind of weird. Go down one road (say Forest Hill Blvd if you're familiar) and you're in the midst of mall after mall after mall after shopping center. Turn around and drive about 5 minutes and youre surrounded by horse farms! It's...weird for this new yorker.

I travel to lake worth almost every day for school! I go to palm beach community college which is right off of lake worth.

 

[PrincessV]

It had not warmed up at all and was still quite wet. We were worried that the cruise would be moved to the “alternate indoor location” at the GF which would seem to take all the fun out of a pirate cruise, if you ask me.

Seriously? They’d just move the “cruise” indoors?? Would there be special effects to simulate waves and such?! What The Mouse won’t do to avoid giving a refund!

Pooh entered the room next and Andrew just about had a fit! “Over here Pooh! Here I am Pooh! Pooh! Pooh! Pooh!” You get the idea. We made him sit back down, since he was literally jumping on his chair. He was most definitely feeling better! Pooh finally made it to our corner and Andrew was ecstatic. Big, big hugs.

Awww!

 

[Ellester]

I've been checking every day! So glad Andrew felt better and y'all were able to enjoy the next day! Mommy to Mommy - Were you at all nervous about sending your two girls on a boat without you? We don't go boating often and the thought kind of scared me (even with the life jackets). Kind of on the same topic, have you or anyone you know ever taken advantage of child-care at Disney? Can't wait to hear more of your trip!

I really wasn't nervous. I was much more nervous last fall when I let them both go on an outing to the movie theater while we were staying at Disney's Hilton Head resort. They had three cast members on board and both my girls can swim. I might have been more nervous if the water was choppy or if it was a ski boat, but the pontoon boat seemed pretty sturdy and slow. I haven't done the child care at all, maybe once Andrew is older and all three can go. But, from the boards I have heard mostly good things. Glad you're enjoying the report!

I live in an area inside WPB called "Wellington" which is right now populated by europeans visiting for the equestrian season! It's kind of weird. Go down one road (say Forest Hill Blvd if you're familiar) and you're in the midst of mall after mall after mall after shopping center. Turn around and drive about 5 minutes and youre surrounded by horse farms! It's...weird for this new yorker.

I travel to lake worth almost every day for school! I go to palm beach community college which is right off of lake worth.

Oh yes, I am familiar with Wellington and the mall. My dad used to be at a neighborhood just south of the mall off 441 called Fieldstone, very nice, very large houses. They live in Winston Trails, off Jog Road. Yeah, Florida and it's development is a bit weird. When we first moved there we had cows across the canal from our house, now it is developed another 10 miles into the Everglades!

Seriously? They’d just move the “cruise” indoors?? Would there be special effects to simulate waves and such?! What The Mouse won’t do to avoid giving a refund!

Well, to be fair I think they do offer a refund if they move inside. I don't see how it would be nearly as much fun though. But, I'm guessing my kids would have still wanted to do it if only for the $3 worth of goodies they got at the end!

 

[Ellester]

Thursday, January 18th continued...

Heading back to the villa put a hitch in our plans, but it really needed to be done.

Grammy, Rebecca, and a squishy eyeball on the bus:

We headed to the GF bus stop and took a bus to Downtown Disney and then made the now familiar walk back to the villa. Again, I was thankful we didn’t have to change busses to get back home. It would have added much more time and I’m all about efficiency! We changed into jeans and grabbed our jackets and headed back out to the bus stop after the obligatory potty breaks. My mom decided that the kids needed some microwave popcorn, so she cooked some and took the whole bag with us on the bus. You have to love moms. The Epcot bus soon appeared and we were at the gate in just a few minutes. The security guard was amused by the popcorn during our bag check, she had just had a bag for her lunch.

John and Anabelle headed off to ride Mission:Space. No one else really wanted to, so we headed over to get FastPasses for Test Track for later and finished the popcorn. We then went into the exit area of MS to wait and let the kids play in the play area. Anabelle and John soon emerged and Anabelle joined her siblings on the playscape. John and I played the shuttle game, our team lost. But to be fair, we had two people sending us parts while the other team had about 8 or 10 by the end of the game. A little unbalanced if you ask me, one of the CM’s finally came over and joined our side to make it a little more fair. But, we still lost. I’ll get over it eventually…..

We headed back over to Test Track and waited in the FP line for a while, but then it broke down and Andrew fell asleep. So, we decided to head over and get FP’s for Soarin’ and hit Test Track later. Rebecca decided she really wanted to see Chip and Dale, so I took her in the character connection while the rest of the group waited on a bench outside. Andrew was still asleep and Anabelle had no interest in Chip and Dale.

Rebecca with Chuck and Dave:

We were quickly done with Chip and Dale and I sent the group on ahead to Canada while I ran in to get our Soarin’ FP’s. We browsed our way through Canada and England, stopping to catch the very end of an Off Kilter set and the beginning of a British Invasion set. My mom wanted to see the movie in France, so we did that and then let the kids start yet another Kidcot mask and try on some berets. Now, I realize that Sharpie is the sponsor, but who really thought giving young kids unlimited access to permanent markers was a good idea? Rebecca now has a spot on one of her shirts and Andrew has a nice big splotch on his new Incredibles sweatshirt. Que sera sera….

Qui beau enfant:

Et une belle fille:

Le artiste:

We got a picture with Belle in her everyday wear in France and headed onto Morocco. The girls browsed yet again and Anabelle contemplated getting a henna tattoo. The lined ended up being too long so we settled for pictures with the Genie and then with Aladdin and Jafar. Jafar was, well, odd. He was throwing kid’s pens to the ground and then had Aladdin do something with the back of his costume. Eventually the handler starting asking if he was OK. When it was our turn he followed me out of the line, kind of creepy. The handler called him back and we hightailed it on to Italy. I don’t know what Jafar’s story was that day, but it was definitely not a typical character experience even for a villain.

With a sweet, normal Belle:

With a nice Aladdin and creepier than usual Jafar:

We made a quick look through Italy and headed on to Germany for our 6:15 ADR’s at the Biergarten. My mom and John both requested this meal, they really love German food. I enjoyed it as well, especially the spaetzel. Yummy! Andrew was still feeling good, he went down to dance with his sisters. I went out with them for a little bit, it was fun polka-ing with my kiddos. We sat with two guys who were down for two weeks from Massachusetts, they do it every year. Their wives were coming the next week. Must be nice! In any case, they were very friendly and glad to be in Florida instead of shoveling out in MA! After dinner, we shopped in Germany (we didn’t buy anything in the World Showcase this trip, but we sure looked at a lot!) and China and then decided to try to use our FP’s at Test Track.

It really was a relaxing afternoon/evening strolling through the World Showcase. John commented that this was his favorite day so far, just being able to slow down and enjoy the sights and just being there. Who knew there was fun beyond commando touring? Well, actually I did but it is so hard for me to slow down sometimes! I was glad we were enjoying a slower pace today, and I’m sure Andrew needed it as well.

Rebecca had been asking all day to buy her other souvenir, so we stopped in MouseWorks to see if they had it. They did and she was the proud owner of a Baby Minnie, complete with baby blanket. Andrew decided he wanted a Baby Mickey and a bank, so I went ahead and got them for him. He really doesn’t ask for much, so I was hoping he’d find something he really seemed to like. Anabelle was unsure if she really wanted a Baby Marie (from the Aristocats) or not, so I advised her to hold off until later in the trip to make sure something she liked better didn’t come along. She was good with that, so we headed over to Test Track. Andrew made the height check this time (remember he failed on Sunday) and we rode after a short wait. I think he liked it, although he really couldn’t see too much. Rebecca was concerned about Baby Minnie’s safety, but I assured her that Minnie was safest remaining in the bag during the ride. She quickly returned to Rebecca’s arms after we got off. We still had our Soarin’ FastPasses burning a hole in my Baggelini, so we hit that for one final time this trip. Great again, plus since it was close to Illuminations we walked right on. We decided to head home instead of braving the crowds for Illuminations, I don’t think any of us were up to it at that point. The bus was the most crowded I’d see that week, but we still got seats and were home in no time. Hard to believe, but we only had two full days left. At least everyone appeared to be healthy……

 

[jaycns]

HAHAHA...the popcorn bag! I wonder if other people on the bus were smelling it and getting hungry for some popcorn!

I love the "dressed up" Chip and Dale!

 

[kaysmommie]

I saw your post on another trip report so I decided to click your link and am so glad I did. Your trip report is so much fun to read and I love your Christmas box idea, very cute. I love all your pictures too. I feel so bad poor Andrew got sick on your trip. Well at least I get to read about 2 more days of your trip before it's over .

 

[Lovemy3babes]

LOL at the creepy Jafar!! I would have booked it out of there too!!! Weird!

 

[bransworld]

Great trip report. I am really enjoying it. You have helped pass time at work this week. Now finish writing the report to help pass time the rest of the week.

 

[Ellester]

Hey there! Sorry I haven't been updating lately. My little guy has one of those fun 102 fevers going on. But, I did get some written over the weekend that I'll post today. I'm getting to the end and it's hard not to stretch it out! I know it's just the report, but I still don't want it to end! OK, on with the show.....


Friday, January 19th

Today was our second shot at MGM. John thought Andrew would really like the Lights, Motor, Action show and I wanted to make sure we saw The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. The girls were anxious to up there ride stats on Tower of Terror so we decided we would head there again first thing.

Waiting for the bus:

We made good time to the turnstiles and headed to the end of the street where they were again doing the preopening show. We decided to browse in the store just to the right and the CM said they would open the doors onto Sunset Boulevard when the preshow was over, so we just waited in the store. We ended up being right in the front of the throng headed towards ToT. We grabbed FastPasses for later and everyone got in the queue except my mom. Yes, that’s right, Andrew was about to take his first ride on Tower of Terror. I had big reservations, but John was very excited about taking him on it so I kept my feelings to myself. Bad mommy, very bad mommy. He sat between John and I and held on for dear life. He didn’t cry or make any noise at all but if you ask him to this day about ToT he’ll tell you “I no like Tower o Terror!”.

Rebecca was hungry again, I think she was in a growth spurt during this entire trip. We decided to use some snack credits at Starring Rolls. We got a bagel, muffin, and cinnamon roll to split and juice for the kids. The grownups had coffee. The guys making the coffees (two lattes, one mocha) asked what size I wanted and I told them we were on the dining plan so whatever that entitled us to. They made us larges and I went over to check out. The cashier said that the larges weren’t on the dining plan, but she’d let us have them anyway. I told her that the other CM’s told us they were and she said “they don’t know anything about the dining plan over there”. You would think they could have some sort of communication across the 8 feet that separate the coffee area from the cashier, but what do I know? I love how some CM’s make you feel like you are trying to get away with something when you have done all you can to make sure you are following the rules. Oh well, coffees and Danish in hand I headed outside where the rest of the group had found a nice table.

We tried to get Andrew to eat some bagel, but he really wasn’t interested. Note to self – If child doesn’t want to eat, there is probably a good reason. We got him to eat a few bites and surprise, surprise here comes the bagel and the rest of his breakfast back up. I thought we were done with this! John took him to the bathroom and got him as cleaned up as he could, but new shirt and pants were in order. I didn’t have any extras with me, only undies. We contemplated what to do. We were leaning towards taking him back to the villa, but we decided to hope it was a one time deal due to the bad idea in hindsight of taking him on ToT. There was nothing that would fit him in the store across from Starring Rolls and they suggested we try the store over by the Muppets. We headed over there and still found nothing.

On the search for clean clothes:

Meanwhile, Andrew needed to go to the bathroom and John reported that whatever Andrew had on Wednesday was working it’s way through the little guy’s digestive system, if you catch my drift, and that he was going to take Andrew back to SSR. I was very disappointed, but I knew it was best for everyone (except for John, maybe). We made our sorrowful goodbyes and I retrieved the girls and my mom from the store. The girls had gotten a YOMD certificate for playing a ring toss game with the CM’s in the store. Not one of my top dreams, but hey, we’ll take it!

My mom offered to buy the girls each a tattoo from the kiosk, Rebecca picked a Minnie Cutie and Anabelle continued with her pirate theme. We went ahead and saw Muppets 3D while we were there.

Rebecca's tattoo:

Anabelle's:

The girls:

The girls thought it was OK, but they don’t really know the Muppets. I was very sorry John wasn’t able to see it since we are both of the Muppet Show generation. After Muppets, I was at a bit of a loss. My second shot at a day at MGM and we were once again faced with a barfy boy. Well, I decided that we would have the best girls day that we could. The girls saw Mike and Sully while I headed over to the SciFi to try to rearrange our ADR’s once again.

With the Monsters:

We figured we’d have to head back to the villa before dinner to give John a break, so our late lunch at SciFi didn’t look like it would work. I was able to switch it to 12:30, which was only a half hour or so away. I found my mom and the girls and we went ahead and checked in for lunch. The girls really liked the SciFi and sitting in the car. I was sorry Andrew and John had to miss it. We originally had ADR’s at 50’s Primetime Café, but John had said he’d rather try the SciFi and here he was missing it! The food was fine, we got milkshakes to go for our dessert and headed back out.

In the SciFi:

We made it to Beauty and the Beast in time to hear Four for a Dollar, we all really enjoyed them and the B&B show. Tower of Terror was up next. We got yet another set of FastPasses and then the girls and I got in the queue. In front of us in the line were a dad and his daughter, joking around. Anabelle looked at me and said “they must be from England or Brazil”. I asked her why she thought that and she told me it was because of their accents. Well, I just about lost it right there. The man was wearing a shirt advertising a chowder house in Boston and they could not have sounded more like Cliff from Cheers if they tried! I told Anabelle I thought they were most likely from New England. I asked the guy and he affirmed my suspicion, they were from right outside Boston. I told him what Anabelle had said and he thought it was hilarious. Anabelle made fast friends with the little girl, who was 9 or 10. Soon we were on our elevator. I cannot get over how much my girls loved this ride, especially my little Rebecca. Every time we would get to the part where the elevator enters “the shaft” she would yell, “Oh Baby! Here we go!”. Got laughs every time! During the drops I’d look over at her and her hands would be in the air and her little feet too. Her little gold Crocs were even with her ears on every drop, the whole time she’d be shrieking with laughter. It’s one of those memories I know I’ll have in my heart forever.

Anabelle would love to work at ToT:

We headed over to Little Mermaid next. We had just missed a show, so we browsed around the stores in the area. I looked in the Playhouse Disney shop hoping to find a little something for Andrew. But really, he doesn’t know any of the characters they feature in that show or in the shop. I mean, when was the last time Bear in the Big Blue House was actually on the Disney channel? Andrew knows the Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Higglytown Heros, and Handy Manny. He only knows Jojo from the little shorts they put on between the other shows. That’s probably the biggest complaint I have about the Disney channel. They show the same four or five episodes of four or five shows continuously for a few years and then the shows vanish. I remember Anabelle loving Out of the Box, PB&J Otter, and Stanley. Those shows are MIA now. OK, mini rant over, back to the trip…..

We finally got into Little Mermaid and we all loved the show. Rebecca is in an Ariel loving stage so it was perfect for her. After the show, we decided a little snack was in order so we split some candied nuts under the big hat. We saw a little of the parade from there, but the girls were much more interested in using our ToT FastPasses so we headed back to the Hollywood Tower Hotel for the last time this trip. We used the FP’s and since the line was so minimal, we hopped right back in the queue. I begged off a third time in a row and told the girls it was time to head back to the villa to give daddy a break. Once I mentioned that they would be able to go to the pool while the slide was actually still open, they were much more compliant.

Anabelle wanted to pick up one of her well thought out purchases on the way out. She had seen a few kids with a toy called “String Thing”. It’s basically a moving string that goes in random patterns. I thought it was a waste of money, but she was spending her own money and really wanted it. So I let her get it and I have to say it has been quite entertaining. I actually have to buy new batteries for it, she has used it so much! She opened it up waiting for the bus and it occupied her and Rebecca for quite a while. Then the family we had met from Boston joined the line. They were also staying at SSR and were heading to the pool as well! Anabelle was ecstatic! A new friend to swim with at Disney World! Life is good…

Soon we were back at the villa and got the latest on Andrew. He was feeling better, just worn out. He had not been sick again since Starring Rolls, but John said that it was good they were near a bathroom all day, if you know what I mean! He was not interested in eating yet and this time we did not push it! We just tried to keep him loaded with fluids, blue PowerAde was his preferred beverage. John was starving, subsisting for the day on the snacks left in the room. Some pistachios and beef jerky only go so far with a grown man! So the girls suited up and we headed over to the pool, my mom stayed in the villa with Andrew.

Anabelle met up with her new friend at the pool and Rebecca even braved the slide! Of course, only after she insisted I get her a life jacket. OK, kid, whatever you need! John and I decided some adult beverages were in order. I had some kind of berry colada, very sweet, frozen, and tropically. Very tasty as well! We let the girls swim for an hour or so and got take out from Artist’s Palette to take back to the villa. I think we all enjoyed the quiet evening at home, it was early to bed for us all. Tomorrow was our last full day and we had an early ADR at Crystal Palace!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I'm sorry to hear your little man has been sick. We just had a week of the same stuff. But I was thrilled to see another installment!! Poor Andrew got sick again. Glad you had a nice girls' day at MGM.

 

[4boysrus]

subscribing!

be back later to catch up!

 

[Ellester]

Saturday, January 20th

We were up an at ‘em even earlier than usual today, as we had an 8:15 ADR at Crystal Palace. The past two trips to Disney I had tried to get into the park before opening with an early ADR. Both times I had been foiled! In 2003, we had 8:05 ADR’s at Cinderella’s but unbeknownst to me when I made the reservations, it was an early entry day. That was the only day we were at the parks that trip so there was no way to change it. Then, in January 2004 we had early ADR’s at Crystal Palace, but the parks were all open early all week since it was New Year’s. This time looked like my plan might actually work. Then Anabelle came in our room. She had slept with my mom and reported that Grammy was sick and had been throwing up. Oh man! I had hoped the rest of us had skirted Andrew’s illness! Now, it may not have been the same thing Andrew had. My mom is diabetic and had not been eating very wisely. There is only so much coaching I can give her before I have to just give up and realize that she is, in fact, a grown woman who can make her own decisions. So, it is entirely possible that her illness was not viral at all. But in any case, she decided it would be best for her to stay back and rest. So, one short, we headed to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived at around 7:50 and there was a huge swarm of people in the early ADR queue! I was really surprised at how many people were there! But, we did get in and get to walk down a mostly empty Main Street.

There were hot air balloons over the Grand Floridian:

Rebecca insisted I take a picture of the ad for the P&P

Finally, a early morning at MK!

We checked in at the podium and were soon seated. While the food and service were quite good, we were frustrated with the character rotation. We had gotten our food and were eating when Pooh came out. We were the closest table to the buffet and the first ones sat in our section. Well, Pooh started at the other end with our table dead last! Piglet came out and did stop by our table, with Tigger shortly after. By this time we had all finished with our meal and were looking forward to seeing Pooh and Eeyore. Right then, half of Brazil came in and was seated in our section. It was a huge tour group, at least 30 or 40 teenagers. Well, Pooh went back to them first! I was getting a little bothered now. We had been sitting for almost 45 minutes and the park would be opening soon. Pooh finally made it over to us, but we gave up on Eeyore. Our server felt bad, she had checked on Pooh and was finally the one who got him over to us. She said she would check on Eeyore, but he was still clear in the other section and the girls decided that Space Mountain was more important that a visit with Eeyore especially since they had seen him in Epcot earlier in the week. Alrighty then, on to TomorrowLand!

Eeyore may have dissed us, but we'll always have Tigger!

I decided that Space Mountain was not to be on my agenda today, so I took Andrew on the TTA while John took the girls. Andrew and I then decided to take a spin on Buzz while we were waiting. Well, blow me down! There was a Dream Team CM there handing out gobs of Dream FastPasses from a backpack! I was only able to get two, one for me and one for Andrew. The CM said that the rest of our party had to be present to get one. Andrew and I rode Buzz then I hurried to find John and the girls in hopes that there were still some Dream FP’s left. I didn’t tell them that I had gotten any, I just put the lanyard around my neck. Well, unfortunately the CM was long gone by the time we made it through the rapidly growing Buzz queue. But, we all enjoyed our ride. Outside Buzz, John finally noticed my new neckwear. The girls were disappointed they didn’t get one, but I let them each wear one and they were happy as they could be. We figured that we could get some use out of them combined with the Babyswap, even if we didn’t have enough for all of us. The girls wanted to do Stitch. I didn’t think it would be a good choice for Andrew, so I took him yet again on the TTA. Good thing I really like that ride!

Rebecca really, really, really wanted to see Minnie’s house so we headed on over to Toontown before it got too busy. I could already tell that today was going to be busier than we had seen all week. But, Toontown was very manageable and we were able to visit Mickey and Minnie’s pads and even get a picture with the Big Cheese.

Notice the Dream FP:

I was hoping to get a picture of Rebecca with Ariel. Her grotto had been down for renovation while we were there and they had told us she would be appearing in Toontown instead. Well, wouldn’t you know her Grotto reopened early and she was back over there. I wisely had not told Rebecca of my plan to see Ariel, so I dropped it right there. I really did not want to wait who knows how long for 3 minutes with Ariel. It was our last day and we had other things to do! Rebecca also wanted to ride the Barnstormer, although after Space Mountain and Everest I was surprised she still wanted to do it. We thought Andrew would be all over it, he loves Goofy. But he firmly stated that he did not wish to ride. After our Tower of Terror experience the day before, we did not even try to push it. He and John happily watched us ride. We decided to head over to Frontierland and ride Big Thunder before the lines got too crazy. Splash was closed while we were there, so we figured the lines for Big Thunder would be longer than normal. We let the kids play on the Toontown playground while we waited for the train. They had a blast! It was so nice to see Andrew playing and smiling. He was just about back to his old self!

The train arrived and we rode over to Frontierland. We decided to use our Dream FP’s for Big Thunder and get a babyswap pass. That way, I would ride with Rebecca and then John could take Anabelle. Andrew would not be riding. Well, that big group from Brazil was hanging around the FastPass entrance waiting for their window to open. Rebecca and I waded through the masses and asked for a babyswap pass. The CM told me that the person who had them was not there and would be back in a few minutes. The window for the Brazilians opened and they started streaming by. I saw our wait growing by the second so I asked the CM if he would let us do the swap without the paper pass. He spotted Andrew on John’s shoulders and said that was fine, he’d remember us. We hustled into line amidst the Brazilian horde. Once we stopped in the queue, the tour group leader told us to go on ahead of them so we hopped up 30 or so spots in line! Rebecca received many head pats on the way. My children are blessed with beautiful hair and for some reason Latin women love to touch their heads! I have had similar experiences so many times, especially with Anabelle and her white-blonde hair. When she was three or so Anabelle started crying in a Ross store, “mommy, I don’t like it when people touch my hair!”. She was tired of being patted like a little puppy! I know people don’t mean anything by it, but young kids like their personal space too! Rebecca didn’t mind though, she was just excited to be almost on the wildest ride in the west! This was her first time on Big Thunder and she was actually under whelmed! As we were going through one of the turns, she looked at me and said “this isn’t all that fun”. But she got her scream on none the less and was happy to go on it again with John and Anabelle and the babyswap. Anabelle was a bit put out that Rebecca got to ride twice, she thought it would be more fair if Rebecca had to sit out the second time. Perceived equity is everything to that child!

 

[krismom]

WE ended up with 2 string things on our last trip- believe it or not... they still play with them! Great report- beautiful family! (Glad your son is feeling better)

 

[DisneyJo]

Another great couple of days I can't believe Rebecca loves TOT so much I can't get my DD's on it! So pleased Andrew was better for MK, hope your Mum didn't have Andrews bug and give it to the rest of you. Well done on the dream fast passes

 

[Ellester]

Saturday, January 20th continued

It was approaching noon and the park was getting busier and busier. Everyone wanted to ride Pirates again so we headed over there hoping to beat the big crowds. Well, the line was not out the door yet, so that was good. Thankfully Pirates is such a high capacity ride that we didn’t wait too terribly long. The girls enjoyed browsing at the dump shop, but decided not to part with any hard earned allowance. We caught most of the Jack Sparrow show, it was cute. Anabelle was too scared at the end to go up and take the pirate pledge and then experienced sharp remorse when she didn’t get one of the scrolls they were handing out. Luckily, several other remorseful pirate wannabes had nicer moms who went up and asked for a scroll. The assistant pirate gave a huge stack to one of the women and told her to hand them out! There were plenty so each kid has their own pirate certificate. Anabelle was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t a treasure map. After a quick visit with Hook and Smee, we picked up FP’s for the Jungle Cruise and then realized that breakfast was long ago and we were hungry.

Avast ye bilge rats!

We opted for Pecos Bill’s since it was right there. It was absolutely packed, but we knew everywhere else would be the same so we stuck it out. I knew there was no way on earth I was going to get my girls to eat sloppy joes or cold chicken while John and I chowed on cheeseburgers, so I decided to cheat. Turn me in if you must, but I used one of my mom’s adult counter service credits for a double cheeseburger for the girls to split. I did get Andrew a chilled chicken meal. He liked the one with cheese earlier in the week at Columbia Harbour House. But this one had no cheese, only raw carrots and celery. Nice how they put choking hazards in the kids’ meals. Anyway, I liked the carrots (I don’t do celery). This was a bit of a stressful meal since it was so crowded. I asked John to find a table in the back towards Adventureland, but he grabbed the first one he saw and it was cozy to say the least. Eating lunch at 11:15 all week was so the way to go. If I had dealt with this craziness all week, I would have lost it. Tummies full, we headed over to use our FP’s on the Jungle Cruise. Neither of the girls remembered it from our last trip, so they really enjoyed it.

On Monday, Andrew had expressed great interest in riding the Liberty Bell so we wanted to do that next before it got put off again. We got on right before they cast off. No wait after boarding, so that was nice. I really don’t understand why they don’t put more seats on the boat. A row of benches along the edge wouldn’t take up too much space, seems to me. As it was, we enjoyed the brief tour around Tom Sawyer’s Island. We thought the kids would really enjoy the island, so that’s what we did next. As we suspected, they loved just running around, playing in the fort, and investigating the caves.

While at the fort, Andrew sat with another two year old at the checkers table. The other little boy's brother was trying to teach them how to play, but being two the little guys only wanted to stack their checkers. The older brother was getting a little frustrated, it was hilarious! I told his mom that if he could teach two year old boys how to play checkers, he certainly had a career in education ahead of him!

The finer points of checkers are lost on preschoolers:

The teacher became a bit flustered:

My mom had called and said that she was feeling a little better and was on her way. She met up with us as we were getting ready to leave the Island. She looked marginally better, but the kids were happy to see Grammy. While we were waiting for a raft back to the mainland, a DreamTeam CM arrived and sat on one of the benches. I kept waiting for something, but nothing exciting. She just sat there visiting with people. She didn’t get on our raft, so I’ll never know if she was waiting to give some big prize or not.

The day was flying by, as last days seem to do. We had not ridden Small World yet, so that was next. It was posted as a 30 minute wait, but I knew it would not be nearly that long. The queue line wasn’t quite to the edge of the building. Sure enough, we were happily singing along in less than 15 minutes. Normally I would not wait that long for SM, but Andrew had never been on it and time was running short. He absolutely loved it, he was mesmerized the entire time.

Rebecca on IASW:

Andrew on IASW:

John and the girls wanted to hit Space Mountain again before we headed to Kona Café for our last dinner. So back over to Tommorrowland we went. We had four FastPasses from earlier and we still had the two Dream FP’s, so they were able to ride twice in a row. Meanwhile, my mom and I used the Buzz Dream FP’s to ride with Andrew. As we were exiting Buzz, we saw Mr. Lightyear himself over by the Carousel of Progress. We took Andrew over to see him and Andrew was thrilled! I was really surprised at how excited he was, it was a nice way to wind down our trip.

Andrew and Buzz:

We hooked back up with John and the girls and realized that it was time to head over to Kona. This is where I had issues with the Dining Plan. If we didn’t have the plan, we would have stayed at the park and just grabbed something or headed back to the villa. Everyone was exhausted and mom still wasn’t feeling great, but we still had two table service meals worth of credits left. Andrew’s illness short-circuited a few of our meals and we had skipped our Le Cellier ADR’s when my sister came up (that would have been just too much money for her to spend after breakfast at Akershus). If our originally meal plan had worked out, Kona would have been out of pocket so easily skipped. As it was, we caught the train from Toontown to the front of the park and said goodbye to MK for the trip. We were a little late to Kona, for some reason my cellphone had gotten stuck on 5:45pm and I thought we had more time than we did to get there. Even so, we were seated almost immediately. The kids were so tired that they all fell asleep as their entrees arrived! We had our desserts packed to go and headed back to SSR one last time. Sniff, sniff. We watched parts of Wishes from the bus. I had originally planned on watching them from the Poly beach, but the kids were just too wiped out. I packed up a little and we all hit the sack.Tomorrow we were headed home.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

The last day of vacation is hard. Sorry to hear all kiddos were sleepy at Kona.

 

[Alyssa88]

Just found and read your report. I love it!!

So sorry you guys had to deal with being in sick in WDW, poor Andrew and Grandma, but it sounds like you guys still managed to have a great time!

 

[Ellester]

Welcome aboard Alyssa! I just have one more installment to get up, that always sad going home day! Glad you are enjoying it, despite the bumps it really was a great trip!