The happyhaunts go South... the endless trip report!

[1000thhappyhaunt]

Part 1

Before I get started on the long and tedious trip report, let me introduce the happyhaunts:

DS4: aka Tommy, Bama, The Filer and Streps. Our youngest, gentle, usually easy-going son who has a scream,especially for his older brother,that can shatter glass and cause sudden, temporary deafness in those within close range.
DS8: aka Calvin, CALVIN!,CAAAAAAALLLLVVVVVVVVVINNNN!, and Chia. Our middle child who is full of energy, something 'n vinegar and who never, really, stops talking, EVER. He is drawn to trouble like a magnet. But he also can also be very compassionate and generous...
DD10: aka Beth, Tiny, The Tick. Our oldest, mature, sensitive, conscientious, bossy and slightly timid, at times, daughter. Rules her two brothers with an iron fist. It's Beth's Way... or the highway.
DH41: aka Daddy, Dad or Mel. Big, quiet, gentle and decent. The patience of Job. We're lucky to have him. Ok, he drives me crazy sometimes,though.
Me37: aka Mommy, Mom or Mel. (Yeah, sorry...never claimed this would be EASY to follow. Right, same name. Don't worry, you'll get it after a while.) Oh... and I'm perfect.
DC2: aka Lotus, Luscious and The Lady. Our cat. Not on the trip but we refer to her sometimes.
DH1: Pepper, The Mouse and The Rodent. Our hamster. Which is... somewhere(?). Long story... NO TIME!

Day 1, Dec 10th: After a good twelve hours of packing, unpacking and repacking the night previous, I got a solid 3 hours of sleep, woke up the troops and filled my carry-ons to maximum capacity and we loaded up the van and were off. The van is in bad shape, it's old and it has a certain smell, sometimes. Not a good smell. We need to replace it, soon. We realize it will not survive another long road-trip and that is why we decided to fly to Florida. Also, I cannot bear the thought of Valet parking this barge. I feel sorry for the attendant who will have to "touch" anything inside. When DH decides that we'll fly... I'm THRILLED. We can rent a new, clean car... and the kids will demo the interior within 3 days. Note to myself: Get a leather interior which is wipeable! Well, the van makes it to our airport hotel in Buffalo and DH brings all the luggage to our room, along with the stroller and carseat for Tommy. It takes him, like, 7 trips and, lucky for him, Calvin decides to help. Calvin helps by walking beside him up and down the stairs and to the car and back seven times, talking the whole way. And, DH tells me, carrying the same pair of mittens the whole time. DH is a sweaty, cranky DH. There is an upside to this, though, he discovers the source of the SMELL in the van. It was a piece of chicken(?) or something... stuck behind the carseat. God... I hope it's not the hamster. No... wrong tiny bone structure. So when everything is safely stored inthe room, we decide that we better head out for dinner. Now, this should be easy because there's a Cracker Barrel fifteen feet from the front door of our hotel. But we never do anything the easy way. So DH wants to go to Chili's (because we can't in Canada) and we head down to the car. Where we realize there is no carseat for Tommy... because it's in the room. Because we're doing Park n' Fly and will be needing it tommorrow on the plane. OK, he gets Calvin's booster seat and Beth gets nothing. We head out into the blowing snow. It's icy, snowy and freezing in Buffalo. Surprise. DH says he knows where the restaurant is. So we drive, and drive and drive. We drive for 20 minutes, not finding it, before I ask DH "Melly, are you SURE you got those directions right?" DH says, "Yup!" and I ask to see them. He won't let me. Now, just an aside here... DH gets lost when he drives. A lot. And he blames it on me. He says that I talk constantly and it distracts him and that's why we get lost. So, now we're lost and he won't even let me see the directions. The kids are hungry and whining. We drive for five more minutes until I insist that we better turn around and ask for directions. Calvin is busy counting all the McDonald's we've passed. Three. Beth is power-whining that she's going to STARVE to death and Tommy has fallen asleep, by now. I put on a crabby voice and tell DH to please just turn around and go back to the Appleby's we passed 15 minutes ago. DH is frustrated and so decides that he might as well. We turn around and drive back. Another 20 minutes and we're finally at dinner. Now we just have to wait 40 minutes for a table. So we go to the bar. We HAVE to. I order three milkshakes for the kids. It's because they're so hungry, we're on vacation and, even though they won't eat their dinner now, what the heck! I have a Margarita. DH has a very bad Bloody Caesar that he actually has to make himself finish. That's not usual for DH. We finally get seated and order and eat. Then we head back to the hotel which is only, wow, five minutes from the restaurant. We get ready for bed, watch a little TV and blow up the little air-mattress for Tommy. He sleeps between the two beds. I sleep on one with Beth and DH and Calvin share the other. Yep... it's awfully cosy in our room. Barricade the door so Tommy won't wander out, lights out and we try to sleep. Calvin starts us out with our nightly ritual: He yells, "Goodnight all, love ya all!" Everyone else answers, in turn, with the same. Then he says it again. Then everyone else says it. Then he says it. He likes to be the last one to say it. He HAS to be. It's a bit of an OCD thing. It continues until DH says his usual goodnight, "EVERYONE CAN IT! NOW!"... "Goodnight Melly, love ya Melly!". We sleep. I don't. I'm afraid we won't get our wake-up call and we'll miss our very early flight. And I'm excited.

To be continued. YES... We're not even out of Buffalo yet. This will be ENDLESS...

 

[THE HAT]

more more more

 

[debster812]

I very much enjoyed your dining reports, and am TICKLED you've decided to do a complete Trip Report.

Can't wait for more more more.

 

[Master Gracie]

Very nice start. Looking forward to more.

As an aside, you do realize that if you had faith in your husband you would have gotten to Chili's, right?

I'm sure it was merely another mile or two up the road.

It was nice of him to pretend to be lost though so you could eat at Appleby's.

 

[jenrose66]

Thanks for writing the trip report. Being from Buffalo myself I can just see you driving all over looking for that Chili's I think it was by the Galleria Mall (but I could be mistaken since I'm a little more south than that and don't really hang around up there too much).

As an aside to worrying about not getting the wakeup call; I'm the same way. If the tv has an alarm we will set that; as well as the alarm in the room; we will also call for the wake up call; we also set an alarm on each of our cell phones!

 

[DisneyMomTo2]

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[sunny04]

Loved the dining report, so I'm just subscribing to catch the whole story!

 

[Fishy&2guppies]

Ditto!!!

 

[1000thhappyhaunt]

Part 2

Day 1(yes, the REAL Day 1), Dec 11: At 5:45am our wake-up call DOES come. And, I'm very happy because it's been a long night of listening to the sounds my family makes as they sleep. I haven't slept at all. I never do the first night on a Disney trip... not even as a child. I'm much too excited. So let me warn you all that I've slept about 3 hours in the last 2 days... I'm running on adrenaline, only. But soon, I pray, there will be caffeine, too. In the form of coffee. Lots of it. So, we all panic at once and head for the bathroom as a pack. I win because I have the advantage of being awake first and the quickest to my feet. Then DH gets ready, then Beth and then the boys enter. As I pack up our few belongings, that we got out of our suitcases for the night, I hear giggling, banging and a few shrieks from the locked bathroom. "Boys, what is going on in there?" I ask. Tommy answers, "Calvin is pushing on my stomach and making my bum toot!" I'm sorry I asked. "Well... just make sure you turn the fan on!" I finish packing up our stuff. The most important things to bring are my Official Chief Disney Vacation Planner Bag... which has our whole trip in it and Baby Lion. Baby Lion is Tommy's stuffed animal. It's crucial that we don't forget Baby Lion. Or DH will have to fly back for him. So we start hauling all our stuff to the lobby for the shuttle bus to the airport. It's booked for 6:30am. It's 6:29. We have A LOT of baggage to move in one minute. I wait with the kids and a few of the things in the lobby while DH runs back and forth like a madman until everything is together in one tremendous pile. DH is a sweaty, cranky DH, again. We ride the shuttle to the airport in the dark. The driver is amazed at the quantity of luggage we are hauling. It's a good thing we are the only people in the van. And Calvin talks to him the whole way, telling him our whole trip itinerary. I can tell he's VERY interested. We tip him generously. And drag our bags to the check-in counter for Southwest. We check 6 large bags and keep our six carry-ons, my purse, plus our stroller, plus our carseat and head to the security check. SIX! Oh, crap! There's only one per person, allowed. I pray no one notices. The security check goes smoothly this time. Thankfully. A small aside, here... the last time we flew to WDW(last time in May we drove), in the summer of 2003, I had a little problem in the security check. First, my boarding pass and I.D. did not match. We had not gotten our passports, yet, so they asked for current I.D. It was at this moment, after 10.1 years of matrimonial bliss, that DH discovers that I had neglected to LEGALLY change my surname to his, as I had promised, when we got married. And... he had made my boarding pass out to read "Mel happyhaunt"... well, both the security lady and DH DEMANDED to see ALL my I.D. I had a few credit cards in the name "Mel 'my name'-happyhaunt"... but my OHIP card, social security card and driver's license were all in my "other", less desirable(in DH's opinion) name. Then... I keep setting off the metal detector. I have NO idea why. My shoes come off, my jewellery, my belt, and basically everything that can come off in public comes off. The wand thingie keeps beeping right around my, ummmmm, mid-section... but a little lower! I have visions of being dragged to a tiny, windowless room by a beefy security woman to have a "moment" to ourselves... and a private body search. I also fondly recall my wedding night. Thankfully, I eventually figure out what the problem is. Down very deep in the pocket of my skirt, buried completely in the hem, I find a penny. My God! Whew! They finally let us go through as I look very Irish with blue eyes, blond hair and freckles. I am not so threatening. DH was pleased with the whole extravaganza, let me tell you. Ok... back to present day. We get through security and head for our gate. A porter takes one look at us and offers to give us a ride on his little cart thingie. Except for DH. He drives AND stears our stroller with the other hand and it rolls along beside us. Tommy likes this. He shrieks and squeals the whole way. Right in the guy's ear. Very loudly. I tip him generously. DH lines up with Calvin and Tommy in the pre-boarding area and Beth and I set off to get coffee, muffins and juice. Beside our gate there is an automated sidewalk that just slides you along and Beth dashes straight for it. I see her move and start running. The game is on! She plans to run to the snack bar on the moving sidewalk. I plan to beat her on the regular floor. I am fast. But not that fast. She wins. Curses. DH is back at the gate pretending not to know us. We get stuff to eat on the plane and have another, slower, race back just in time to board the plane. Beth wins by a large margin because I have two coffees to carry and can't really run. I just use the speed walk technique. This also embarrasses DH. We're the fourth group on to the plane and sit near the front. We get two rows of seats together. DH, Calvin and Tommy are in the 3 seats in front of Beth and I. Beth is by the window. I am in the middle. There is an empty seat beside me. The rest of the people begin to board and a tall, dark and handsome stranger man asks if the seat beside me is taken. "No... please sit down." I tell him. In front of me, I can see DH start to giggle. I know exactly what he's thinking. Poor, poor strange handsome man. He's stuck with ME the whole flight. We start to taxi down the runway and he pops on his i-Pod. Then we take off. And, suddenly, he says to me "Gee. You really don't enjoy flying, do you?" It's because I'm holding Beth's hand, tightly... and HIS, too. No. I don't care for flying. Never have. But, all is well because he likes to talk and so we become fast friends. We're discussing canoing versus kayaking in Algonquin Park when I realize the coffee has kicked in and I have to go to the ladies room. Now, I never take my seatbelt off, and avoid getting up on planes whenever possible... but sometimes nature does call. So I bravely head for the front of the plane and the washroom. I go. And head back to my seat. DH looks at me with an evil grin and says, "Tommy says he has to go, too. Will you take him?" Geez. And I suspect, knowing Tommy as I do, that he only wants to SEE the washroom... not actually use it. But we can't take that chance. So I pull him out of the carseat(planeseat... whatever) and take him in with me. The washroom is very small. And he is dancing. I realize that he does have to go. Badly. I pull his pants down and see that he's, ummmmmm, kind of "stuck" to another part of himself. I yell, "TOMMY! Noooooooo...WAITTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!" and reach down to help him. I'm too late. An arc of pee goes up my sleeve and arm and across the wall in front of us and down the side by the little sink. Oh, super. Ten minutes later, after much switching of places, water turning on and off, banging, bumping and 100's of paper towels... we exit the washroom. From the looks on the other passengers' faces and, knowing the sounds they must have heard from us, they are all patiently waiting for us to perform the Irish Step Dance that we must have been practicing in there. Sorry. Not today. My arm is too wet. I pass DH going back to my seat. He smiles sweetly, "Honey, I think Calvin has to go now." Forget it. "Mommy" Calvin asks, "Why does it take ladies so much longer in the bathroom than guys?" "Well, Calvin, it's because we have to wash our clothes and then a whole wall or two while we're in there. Anything else?" He wisely goes back to playing chess with DH for the rest of the flight. They play quite a few games. Calvin does not win, even one. We expect that. Calvin doesn't. So finally he starts to cry and DH gives him the usual "I've been playing chess for over thirty years and you've only been playing for two..." speech. Chess over, Calvin launches in to his favourite pastime... annoying Tommy or Beth. Tommy's in a great mood and so that doesn't seem to be working so he decides to concentrate his efforts on Beth. He keeps turning around and making faces at her over the seat and between the seat crack. It doesn't work. He finally gives up. Now, I have to tell you that we had the FUNNIEST flight attendant I've ever had the pleasure(?) of flying with. He was sooooo funny. He cracked everyone up. He was busy, too. He seemed to be doing everything himself. The other guy's only job seemed to be to laugh really hard and slap his thigh whenever Funny Flight Attendant Guy said anything. I'm serious. I didn't see him actually DO anything. Other than laugh. I began to think that maybe the other guy didn't really work for Southwest. Maybe he was just Funny Guy's Posse. Anyway. The rest of the plane ride goes smoothly and when we start to land my new friend beside me offers me his hand. And I hold it tight. Yes... it WAS the same hand that starred in the previous washroom incident. He talks me all the way down and just before we land, I agree with him that, yes, his mother IS the reason that he cannot commit in his relationships. The plane stops and we are down and safe. I am happy. I cheer. I am the only one cheering. I am embarrassed. I say a sad good-bye to my new friend and he leaves. I'll miss him. He was nice. We wait for everyone to get off the plane before we all try. We have to unhook the carseat and haul all our stuff off. Then the happyhaunts head for baggage claim to find all our stuff, yell at Calvin for climbing on the conveyor belt with the baggage and attemping to go through the little flaps into the bowels of the airport and, finally, head out to rent our car.

To be continued. I'm sorry. We're not even OUT of the Orlando airport, yet.

 

[Cinerama]

This is great--I'm so glad it's "endless". I have a lot to look forward to!

 

[THE HAT]

once again... more more!!

 

[Minniespal]

Really enjoyed the dining report ~ Now I'm going to enjoy the trip report just as much.

 

[1000thhappyhaunt]

Part 3

Day 1, Dec 11: The thrifty happyhaunts have decided to rent a car through Enterprise which is an off-site rental agency. That means they will shuttle us from the Orlando airport to their office where we can pick up our car and then when we return it they will give up a ride from their office BACK to the airport for our return flight home. It's cheaper than renting at the airport itself. Sounds easy enough. DH pleasantly surprises me by asking someone for directions to the shuttle pick-up site. I think that by now even HE realizes that the magnitude of our luggage demands that we do as little useless wandering as possible. It's so unlike us, though. The shuttle comes in about 5 minutes and we pile in with about three other couples who are dressed to the nines. Well... at least they don't have pee on them. Or muffin. Or juice. Or coffee. Calvin looks like he actually rolled in the muffin instead of eating it. And, because it was a double chocolate muffin and because he sat on a big chunk of it, he has a large, round, brown stain on the butt of his jeans. This makes his sister very happy. She points it out several times. Loudly. Ahhhh... one pair of Calvin's pants down. Five to go. So, one of the well-dressed, clean older women on our shuttle tells me our children are adorable. And they are. From a distance. Like twenty feet. I smile and thank her and pray for a quick ride to the rental office before they can change her mind. Calvin chats nicely. Beth smiles at her. And Tommy starts to chant, "Juicy, juicy, Daddy. Juicy, juicy Daddy. Juicy, juicy Bethy..." and so on. Tommy likes to chant things. It helps him pass the time. His favourite chant, presently, is "Mommy on a bun with ketchup, cheese. Yum, yum, yum... more Mommy please!" My fault. I make up stupid songs and rhymes and chants all the time. That original one went like this: "Monkey on a bun with ketchup, cheese. Yum, yum, yum... more monkey, please!" I made it up to drive him crazy at the African Lion Safari as we drove our car through the monkey area with three bananas on the dashboard as bait. Tommy loves monkeys, too. So this serves me right. But I was quite sure the lady was now wondering if he was going chomp down on one of our arms for lunch. DH says maybe we should get something to eat soon. We get to the rental agency and I wait outside with our bags and the boys while DH and Beth stand in line for the car. It takes a while. Pretty soon Calvin has Tommy screaming and doing donuts in his stroller trying to grab his shirt. The brakes on the stroller no longer work. I ask them to please behave. I beg them to behave. Then I TELL them to behave. Then I make Calvin sit on my lap and cuddle on the sidewalk in penance. Because 8 year old boys love to sit on their Mommy's laps in public. If we were actually walking somewhere... I would have made him hold hands with me and hum and skip. That works well, too. Beth comes rushing back. The car is almost ready! Apparently DH got a new, black, clean and shiny Jeep Grand Cherokee with a leather interior. Oh, happy day! He used to have a similar ride before we had kids. He's now a happy, young and carefree DH, again! With a jeep packed to the brim with kids' crap, a carseat, a stroller, the kids and me. We bring him right back to reality. He's still happy, though. We drive off with the sunroof open wide and the radio blasting. We pull over and stop. Baby lion check. Yes, Beth can see Baby Lion. Good. We continue on. Two toll booths later and we're almost there. I can see DOWNTOWN DISNEY!!!!! Yahoooo! We follow the signs to Saratoga Springs and are welcomed home. I like that. We are DVC members at Saratoga Springs but have never stayed there before. This will be a first for us. We go to the main building... the Carriage House(I think?) and I get out to check in. DH and the kids head off to park the car. I meet two ladies in line and we start chatting while we wait our turn. It's pretty busy. A CM comes along and hands the older of the three of us just one Welcome folder. I ask for one, too. So does the other lady. Oh. She thought we were all together. Silly her. I check in and get our room number. It's ready for us. We're spending only one night here, though. Then it's off to the Beach Club Villas for the rest of the trip. Now we decide we're all very hungry and head off to Artists Palette to eat.

For those of you who would like a blow by blow of all our dining experiences please check out "$1000 Disney Dining: the endless review" in the Restaurant Boards section. Don't say I didn't warn you.

We finish lunch and go to find our room. We park outside of the building. It looks pretty nice and new. DH has the map and leads us up the elevator to the top floor. Where we cannot find our room number. I suspect that we're lost again. And DH isn't even driving. We're just walking. But... we're lost, once more, nonetheless. So I ask to see the map and room number. I say, "Uhhh, Mel... I think we're supposed to be two floors down." He thinks I'm wrong. We keep looking. Nope. No room. "Mel, can we just check two floors down? I'm pretty sure that's where our room is!" I look at him beseechingly. Okay. Fine. DH thinks I'm wrong but agrees that we should go have a little looky, anyway. We get off the elevator and I lead the way. I find the room right away. "There it is! That's our room! I TOLD you!" I tell him. Then... I do my dance that I call 'The-Mick-Jagger-Just-Scored-A-Touchdown-Dance' while chanting "Oh Yeah! Oh Baby! Oh Yeah!". Calvin takes a look and joyfully joins in, doing the chicken walk, while spanking his own bottom and yelling, "Oh yeah! I'm bad. I'm bad. Oh yeah!" We end up startling a member of the housekeeping staff. And DH wonders, aloud, how many days he has until he can go back to work? We check out our room and send DH and Calvin down for some of the luggage. The room is very nice. Dark wood furniture. Nice neutral colours. Nice, new granite countertops in the kitchen area and the bathroom. An ottoman with a tray instead of a coffee table. Very nice. The view is ok. We change our clothes. Finally! Calvin and I REALLY needed to change. And, THEN FINALLY, we head out to the Magic Kingdom.

Must dash, now. But I will try to continue this later tonight or else tomorrow. And... at least we're actually AT WDW, now.

 

[sunny04]

All I can say is.... and more

 

[frannn]

Next trip will not be until Sept, no planning in the works yet, so I neeeeed to live thru someone elses experience.
Waiting patiently for more.

 

[VanniGirl]

Wow - what a trip - can't wait for the rest!!

 

[tiki23]

Loving your trip report!

 

[1000thhappyhaunt]

Part 4

Day 1, Dec 11: We are FINALLY on our way to the best of the four parks: thefirst, the original...The Magic Kingdom! I always feel the need to go straight to this park when we arrive. It's where I always get "The feeling"... the Disney "magic" or whatever you want to call it. It's a nostalgic experience for me... and I'm sure for a lot of people out there. And, walking through the gates and underneath the railway station and coming out onto Main Street, signifies to me that we are actually, truly HERE! It's our tradition. I think the kids feel the same, too. They always want to head here first... but that being said, it's also their favourite park of the four. We drive through the gates of the Magic Kingdom, whooping and hollering. The attendant sees our parking pass from S.S. and waves us through. We head to the Poly. We have an ADR for dinner at 'Ohana this evening. We figure that we'll just park there now, if they'll let us, because it'll be more convenient. The lady at the booth agrees and lets us go park. Now... I've been checking DH's watch, a lot, as we drove here and now, as we circle around, looking for a spot to park, because I'm afraid we're going to miss the afternoon parade if we don't hurry. DH likes this. He once again, suggests to me that I go out and purchase a watch of my own. He really, really hates how I grab his arm and drag it over so I can check the time. Especially when he's driving... or shaving. I don't like to wear a watch. I don't need to. Everyone else has watches. We finally find a spot that suits DH's high parking standards. He's on a constant quest for the "Dream Spot". We pile out, load up the stroller with tons of crap... and Tommy. Make sure we have the annual passes and head towards the entrance of the Poly. I stop and turn to DH, "Mel, we better remember exactly where we parked." DH tells me there's no need... he'll just walk around and listen for the "beep" to find it when we come back. Whatever. As long as we can find it, again. I certainly didn't note the license plate number. As we walk through the entrance to the Poly, Beth and I look at each other with our special secret smile. This is another tradition for us. This one is called "Smelling the Smell of the Polynesian". So we stop just inside and breath deeply. "I smell it. I smell it!" Beth tells me. "Me too!" Beth and I are smellers. We remember things by scent. It's not always good to be a smeller. There are MANY bad smells out there. But this is not one of them. This is the MOST WONDERFUL smell. It's another sign to us that we're HERE, at WDW. The funny thing is, though, we've noticed that Splash Mountain smells exactly the same. Hummmm. Maybe our wonderful "WDW AT LAST!" smell is dirty water. The boys aren't smellers. They miss this whole moment. We head up to the monorail. I want to take pictures of the decorations but I'll have to do that this evening. NO TIME! We have to get to the Magic Kingdom in time for the Share a Dream Come True Parade. We jump on the monorail and while Beth, Calvin and I head to the front of the car, DH pushes Tommy away from us to the back. We start to pull out and leave the Poly's Station and we begin to round the corner. I'm sitting on the edge of my seat looking, looking, looking... aaahhhhh! I see the CASTLE! Finally! I get the lump in my throat, I feel the tightening around my heart and my eyes get all wet. Beth and Calvin notice me wiping some tears away. They spring up off their seats and head back to DH. "Daddy! Mommy is crying again!" Beth tells him. "It's because she just saw the Castle!" adds Calvin. "I KNOW." DH tells them, "Why do you think I sat all the way back here? Watch and learn... plan ahead!" Tommy looks at me and asks DH, "Mommy's sad?" "No, Tommy, Mommy is very, very happy." DH answers. DH likes to tease me about this particular thing I do. I can't help it. I really, really can't. He claims he doesn't understand it... but I think, deep down, DH is a little envious. I really believe that everyone must feel a bit of this certain feeling that is a mixture of awe, excitement, anticipation and innocence, if they went to WDW FIRST as a child. It's the return of the same feeling you had when you first saw the Castle whether it was as an eight year old, a five year old or a ten year old. It's very special. I feel exactly the same every time: I am Mel... age 8, again. Sadly, DH did not ever go to WDW as a child... just as a grown man. It's different. The other thing is I cry a lot... mostly when I'm very happy. Hello, my name is Mel happyhaunt and I'm a crier... and an over-packer. Sorry. Can't be helped. We all get off the monorail and I head through the bag check with the stroller. DH and the others head through the entrance you go through if you're not carrying anything. The CM security guy that checks my stuff says, "Hello, Princess!" to me. I like that. This place is just so DARN magical! We head to Main St. and it's almost time for the parade to start. We get seats on the curb just around the side past the huge Christmas Tree and everyone sits down but me. I get my camera out. And I realize that Tommy is very sound asleep, all of a sudden. When did that happen? Oh well, he'll miss the parade. The parade begins and I start snapping tons of pictures. Finally, I relax and just watch. Then I start to get all teary again. I reach down and grab DH. He automatically offers me his arm with the watch. No, no, no! I bend over and kiss DH. Then I kiss him again. "Mel, I LOVE you! I love our kids! I love it here! Thank you, Mel, thank you so much!" I tell him. DH isn't one for much PDA but he tolerates it as best he can. He even smiles at me. The thing is, as much as DH enjoys WDW... and he does very much... I know he's mainly here for us. And for ME as much as for the kids. DH is a selfless DH. It means a lot to me. Ok... all these icky, sentimental moments are now over for the day. Parade over, and time for RIDES! OHHHH BABY!!!!!! There is no question what the first ride will be. We head straight up Main St. and straight to Splash Mountain. We love Splash Mountain. We love it A LOT. All of us... it's our Official Family Ride. But we call it "Zipply Do Da" because that what Tommy calls it. Not Zippity, mind you, Zipply! Too bad The Bama is asleep. The park looks amazingly empty. Wow. This is gonna be great. I offer to stay with the sleeping boy and the other three get out the rain ponchos and suit up. Then they're off. They ride Splash once and come back. Tommy is still sleeping. I tell them to go again. No arguments. They're off, again. This time while they're gone Tommy starts to wake up. He stirs and opens his eyes... then sits straight up, "MOMMY! Zipply Do Da!!!!" He's thrilled. I get out his poncho and put it on him. It's a child's sized one but still way to big. DH and the other two return. Apparently there's no line. DH bunches up the front of Tommy's poncho and ties a big knot in it. He does the same with the back. Tommy looks very cute. Like a little Christmas present. I take pictures of his cuteness. We all ride Splash Mountain. Calvin and Beth are desperately looking for hidden Mickey's. Yes... we play this everywhere. It's starting to become a blood-sport, though. I'm beginning to regret I offered to pay for each hidden Mickey they find. They are getting too competitive with each other over it. Soon it'll be like DH and I with Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin aka "The-Ride-Which-Will-Be-The-Cause-Of-Our-Divorce". Something must be done about it. DH, I think, agrees because we discuss this telepathically as we watch them argue throughout the entire ride. Tommy is oblivious to Beth and Calvin Bickerman. He's in absolute heaven. He's so cute. I take another picture of his Splash Mountain cuteness. We ride it one more time. Four times in all. Then we head to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This ride is one of our favourites, too. We ride it three times with little to no lineups. Beth looks over at me after we get off the third time, "Mommy, it's happening, again. We're stuck in Frontierland!"... I know, I know. It tends to happen to us.

To be continued... I might have to pare this down at bit. Is there a word out there for "longer than endless"?

 

[Wickedmom75]

Subscribing , Don't want to miss a thing , keep up the good work

 

[1000thhappyhaunt]

I have photos which I would love to add to this excrutiatingly, labourious trip report. I don't know how. I can barely use an iron. Please help me.