The "I Can't Believe We Are Actually All Here" TR w/pics UPDATE 9/19

[lizardqueen]

This is my first trip report, so please be gentle. After reading everyone else's fabulous reports, I thought I would try my hand at my own. Hopefully I won't bore my fellow DISers to death...

PRE TRIP RAMBLINGS OF A MAD WOMAN

INTRODUCING, WELL, US...

Shell (me), 29 -- obsessive trip planner and lover of all things Disney; SAHM to my 3 beautiful (foster, soon to be adopted) children and wife to one NON Disney loving DH (but I'll forgive him); WDW Vet

Jamie (DH), 30 -- dislikes almost EVERYTHING about Disney, always says he will NEVER GO BACK, but I've yet to make a solo trip; is a workaholic, who busts his butt to make sure the kids and I are taken care of; WDW Vet

Leila (DD), 3 -- our extremely SPIRITED little pixie; I somehow managed to turn her into a Disney freak just like me soon after she joined our family in 11/05; has drilled me about everything related to WDW since she found out we were going; WDW 1st Timer

Jonnie (DS), 1 -- turning one at the house of mouse; he is our very happy little explorer (and a little flirt, we really have to watch this one!); 2nd WDW Trip

Frankie (DS), 2 -- DD and DS' bio brother; sadly, he came to us 10 days after we arrived home from this trip; he is eagerly awaiting the day that we can take him to WDW to meet Mickey

Holly (DMIL), 54 and Mark (DFIL), 54 -- the best Grammy and Pop in the world although they can't understand why I LOVE Disney and why I would want to keep vacationing there; they are going along just for the grandkids, but that's ok with me; last trip to the world was a little over 20 years ago

JUST A LITTLE TRIP BACKGROUND

Okay, now that the intros are out of the way, here's a little background info. DH said absolutely, no way would we be going to Disney this year. Yeah right, 2 kids and no trip to Disney, not even a possibility for me. So early in the year I played around with some dates and booked a trip for DS and I. Then the free dining promotion came along and DH changed his tune real fast (at least long enough for me to convince his parents to go and to get our trip all booked). So we are booked at Pop Century August 30 - September 5 on the free dining package. YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

"TO BE OR NOT TO BE, THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS THE QUESTION"

Being foster/adopt parents is not an easy thing to do. I can see why there is a shortage of foster homes around the country. One of the biggest problems we ran into was getting permission to take DD and DS on vacation. They have been with us since 10/05 and 11/05, and we had already taken DS to WDW about a week after we had gotten him, so I didn't think it would be a major problem this time around. WRONG. The kids caseworker approached the biological parents about us taking them and they flat out refused -- said they didn't want some strangers taking their kids so far away from them. Um, hello, we might be strangers to you, but to your kids we are their parents. So, needless to say, we had to go to court and get the judge to give us permission, which he did with no hesitation at all. At the hearing, the bio mom said that there are so many abductions in Florida and she was worried that we would let something happen to DD. I tried to reassure her the best that I could that, barring any acts of God or terrorism, I would not let anything happen to the kids. Guess I should also mention here that these kids are our life. DH and I prayed for kids for so long, and even though we fully realize that they could be reunified at any time, we really are praying that they are not. At this point in the case, it is looking better and better for us everyday that we will get to adopt them. With written permission from the Judge, we left the courthouse happy as could be. Problem solved.

Let's skip to a couple of months later. We are hosting DS' first birthday party and DMIL and DFIL's house on August 27th (3 days before our trip). Everything is going swimmingly, we are surrounded by family and friends. Then it happens, DMIL gets up from the couch and slips on a piece of broccoli from someone's slice of pizza. Now, she has always (at least as long as I've known her) had problems with her back and legs, so let's just say that this was worse than it sounds. After having her relax, prop her leg up and put ice on it, it was still hurting pretty bad so her doctor told her she needed to be seen at the ER. A quick seven hours later, she called to inform me that she would be having surgery tomorrow and needed to be in recovery for two weeks after that.

ME: You have to have what when? How did a slip on a piece of broccoli do all that damage?

DMIL: Just kidding, I thought you just needed some more stress.

ME: Oh, haha, very funny, the next time I see you I am going to murder you. And trust me, it will be a very slow and painful death!

Come to find out, she just needed to take it easy over the next couple of days and needed to rent a wheelchair for vacation. No problem, I just popped on over to the DIS to get a referral for a reputable wheelchair rental company in the Orlando area and after calling the next day, we were all set.

Crisis 2 beat.

ERNESTO BE GONE!
Yeah, I heard about our good buddy Ernesto, but in tracking it, I didn't feel that it would hit Orlando, or at least not have a major impact on that area. So I was confident that we wouldn't be having any transportation problems. Jump ahead to 11:30 the night before we leave. I check the Southwest website to make sure there are not any delays, and lo and behold, good ole SWA had cancelled all flights to and from Orlando. Now, trust me, I am all for keeping my family safe -- but MCO was still operating at regular schedule and as a matter of fact, so were all of the other airlines. But no, SWA had to be the oddball. This is NOT good. This is not just about a trip to Disney. It is about DD and DS and the fact that I don't know how long they will be with us, the fact that this was supposed to be the one week that nobody could call me up and tell me that in 2 hours, they would be coming to take my kids away from me forever. It was supposed to be a magical dream come true kind of trip. Well, it's starting off FAR from it! So, I break down -- emotionally and mentally. DFIL starts yelling at me for crying and I tell him to go, well, I can't really repeat what I said to him, but let's just leave it that I was not very proud of it after the fact. Breakdown over, I jump into action, calling the fine travel insurance folks while checking all of the other airline websites at the same time. At about 12:30am, DMIL and I find that AirTran has a 7:15am flight, and with only a moments hesitation, she whips out her credit card and buys us 6 one way tickets for about 4x the price we paid for our SWA tickets. She doesn't care, she just wants me to be not stressed, and she wants to see DD and DS at WDW.

Major Crisis #3 over.

So like I said, 12:30am we book the flight and our plane leaves in 6 1/2 hours, with us living one hour from the airport. You can figure it out, nobody except the kids got any sleep (DMIL and DFIL were still packing as we were walking out the door) and I was way too stressed to sleep.

Will this be the start of a total trip disaster or will things finally work themselves out? Stay tuned.

 

[DeterminedOne]

Hi Shell. Looking forward to the rest of your report and the pics.

 

[MEK]

Great start. I guess since SWA had a plane skid off the runway in Chicago during a snowstorm, they weren't taking any chances. Hardly rained at all in Orlando that day.

.........I really am the luckiest traveling alive.

 

[JAA'smom]

Great start. I can't wait to read the rest and see those pics.

 

[Lan]

I can't wait to see the pictures

 

[lizardqueen]

"DO YOU KNOW WHO LIVES THERE?"
DAY 1 -- WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30

I'll spare you our ordeals at the airport -- mainly with security and DD. Suffice to say, the people at AirTran were wonderful. It was the first time that any of us had flown with them and we were very happy with their service. The kids did great on the plane, DS fell asleep as soon as we got him settled into his carseat and DD, well I think that she was just in awe that we were actually on "her" airplane. After months of talking about it, I don't think she really believed it. Two uneventful hours later, we arrived in Orlando where there was a light drizzle and 10 mph winds. Not bad at all. We made our way to Disney's Magical Express desk and with 5 minutes were waiting for our chariot (ok, so it wasn't REALLY a chariot, but a girl can dream, right!). After waiting only about 10 minutes, when the bus was about 75% full, we were really off to a week with the mouse.

As we passed under the Walt Disney World arch, I cried and said a little prayer. Honestly, I never thought I'd get to bring my kids here because of our situation, so it was quite a personal moment. Passing under the arch, you could see some of the Pop Century buildings and I pointed them out to everyone. Seconds later, we were pulling into the Pop Century and I did a little victory dance . By the time we had gotten off the bus and into the lobby, my in-laws had said "oh cool" about a dozen times, so I had a good feeling that I had picked the right resort.

SIDE NOTE: DBIL's wife had told them how tacky and "white trash" (her words, definitely not mine) this resort would be. She only stays at the best, you know, the ones offsite that take you at least an hour to get to the parks from. But anyhoo, I was glad that they seemed to be impressed.

DMIL and I dropped the guys and the kids, along with our gazillion carry on bags, off in the TV area and waited in the longest check-in line EVER. It was so long that DMIL went off in search of DFIL so he could go find her rental wheelchair. Once she got that, we were all happy again and continued to wait. Finally, we wound up at the front of the line at about 11:10am. The both of us checked in together as we were hoping to get rooms somewhere near each other. We handed over our ID's to castmember Michael, who was very pleasant and helpful, signed our paperwork and were given our packet of goodies. I gave my DMIL my ID to put in her wallet so I didn't lose it anywhere (REMEMBER this for later). Michael gave us our room assignments and we were surprised to find out that we had gotten our requests, connecting rooms in the 50's section. More specifically, we were in building 3, rooms 3326 (them) and 3327 (us). The view from our room was gorgeous -- we could see Spaceship Earth and also had a very nice view of the Pop lake!

After dropping off our bags and checking out our digs, we were in search of grub, so it was off to Everything Pop. Even though we were on the "free" dining plan, DH and I elected to pay OOP for this meal. DH and DD each had the double cheeseburger meal, DS had the mac & cheese and I had the cheesesteak wrap meal. Add 3 refillable mugs and the total came to $60.02. DH said his burger was just ok, I had been craving the cheesesteak wrap, so I thought that was delicious. About half way through the meal, DS started getting extemely cranky, so rather than annoy the people around us anymore than they already were, I took him back to our room for a nap. When we got there, the pack n play and all of our luggage had already been delivered! So about 3 - 3 1/2 hours after we touched down, our luggage was there. About 10 - 15 minutes later, DH & DD got back and everyone went down for naps.

Except for me, I was too excited to sleep -- we were in Walt Disney World! So I unpacked everyone's bags, walked around a bit and had concierge print out a list of our ADR's for the week.

 

[lookingforward]

As a social worker and mom I have to say that you will be on the top of my prayer list! May God grant you your wish and a lifetime of happiness.

 

[Mouse's Shadow]

My best friend went through the same thing when they took their two foster kids to Disney. They were very fortunate and were able to adobt both kids. Good luck. I'll say a prayer. can't wait to hear more.

 

[KatGarcia]

I love reading these trip reports esp. with great people like you writing them! Looking forward to more!!!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Great trip report!! I pray for you and your family and many, many more WDW trips to come!!!

Beth

 

[lizardqueen]

DAY 1 CONTINUED...

Around 3pm, I started trying to wake everyone up. We had a special engagement today -- a 5:10 ADR at 1900 Park Fare, it was all DD could talk about for months. SHE was having dinner with "Finderella". So of course, none of the adults wanted to get up. I got both of the kids up and ready with no major problems, soon after DH got up, only because the kids were jumping all over him and screaming! A knock on the in-laws door at 4:10 and they said they still needed at least 10 minutes. I was really getting mad at that point and DFIL & I got into it enough for him to tell me "fine, whatever, just go". DH was siding with him, which ticked me off to no end. So DD, all dressed in her Cinderella gown, and I took off for the bus stops. Everyone knew how important this meal was and still they wanted to fart around. The in-laws seemed to have developed what I like to call the "don't they know who I am, it will all be ok because I'll just tell them how it is" mentallity. After awhile, it really got to me, especially because DH kept siding with them even though he knew it was wrong. So finally, everyone caught up and we were off to the MK bus stop. DMIL is in her wheelchair, so she and DFIL wait in the appropriate area while the rest of us wait in the "regular joe" line. Not only this time, but several times throughout the week I was amazed by how rude people could be. Excuse me, but that person in a wheelchair is more than likely with someone standing in that line with you, so please be careful what you say. I heard everything from the standard "well she looks fine so why does she need a wheelchair" to the more creative "I can't believe people in wheelchairs, why do they need to get on THIS bus?". At that one, I turned around and asked them if they thought my three year old should push her Grammy back to the resort. You should have seen the reactions I got from that! But anyhoo...

We all get on the MK bus and are off. As we pass under the Magic Kingdom arch, I am once again crying. I'm also trying to point out Cinderella Castle to DD, but of course she is too short to see it from where she is sitting. Off the bus and we head up the ramp to hop on the monorail that will take us to the Grand Floridian. Of course, GF has to be the last stop, now I realize that not even the Great and Powerful Oz can rearrange the order of the resorts on the monorail stops, but time was ticking!! Finally we get into the GF and of course I have NO IDEA where 1900 Park Fare is. I stop somewhere to ask and make a mad dash. After all, you don't want to keep a Princess waiting. We get there (about 15 minutes late), check in and meet the Fairy Godmother who is receiving guests in the lobby. She is the first character of our visit and DD was in love. There wasn't anyone else around, so the FG spent about 5 minutes talking and playing with DS and DD.

We are called in shortly after the kids are done playing and are seated right near the buffet. Our server informed us that there were specialty drinks, smoothies of some sort, that we could order on the DDP and practically forced us to get them. That's ok though, cause I had the strawberry one and it was delish! For me, the food was just so-so with the exception of the strawberry soup and the mashed potatoes, which were both out of this world. DH really liked the ribs and had a couple plates of them. The kids fare was pretty standard, chicken fingers, pizza, mac and cheese, but it was enough to keep my little ones happy. I think I may have been to excited to really enjoy the food. Suzy and Perla were the first to come visit us. DD thought they were just great, DS, however FREAKED OUT. They could just look at him from across the room and his tiny bottom lip would start to tremble. When they actually came around he would let out a blood curdling scream and jump from his highchair into my arms. Poor little guy!

Prince Charming came around next

Then, THE ONE showed up. Cinderella came to our table & DD's mouth just fell open in awe -- it was at that moment that the magic became real for me. I don't need a picture, the look on her tiny face will forever be etched in my mind. She just sat in her chair totally speechless, which let me tell you is something very rare for her. After she came to, she gave Cinderella the biggest hug ever.

All said & done, dinner for the 3 of us was a little over $107. Unfortunately, I didn't keep track of DMIL and DFIL's dining over the week.

After dinner, we sat in the lobby of the GF for probably close to an hour to let our dinners settle and just enjoy the atmosphere. The piano player was doing his thing, so we sat and listened to him and then later, to the band. DD had a magnificent time dancing around in her Cinderella finery.
The piano player is playing "A Whole New World" and DD is dancing around like she is a Princess and doesn't have a care in the world and I am just bawling my eyes out because I am so proud that she is mine (even if for a little while) and because I have never seen her so happy or well behaved. It was just a beautiful moment.
After awhile, she started playing run around the piano with some kids her age. She had a ball. When we were ready to leave, I had to bribe her with a visit to Cinderella Castle. Back on the monorail we go, headed for the Magic Kingdom

 

[lizardqueen]

Thanks for the kind words and prayers everyone. It really means alot. I am having a blast writing this report. Kinda like living the trip all over again. Hopefully, our whole fostering situation will be over with very soon and we will be able to at least adopt our 2 children that we have now. Not sure how it is going to work out with their DB that is doing weekend visits with us, but we'll see. Can't wait to plan next years trips with them!

 

[lizardqueen]

THE END OF DAY 1

As soon as we got through the turnstiles at the Magic Kingdom, the heavens opened up upon us. DH & I had our ponchos from last year, but everyone else was without, so DMIL stopped at the newsstand out front to purchase ones for the rest of the crew. Then YAY! The next thing I knew, we were emerging from under the train station onto Main Street USA! It was a totally indescribable feeling. I don't knew who was more excited, me or the kids! This was the moment I had waited so long for -- walking with my babies in the Magic Kingdom. I point out the castle to DD and ask "Do you know who lives there?", her first answer "DonkeydonkeyO" (Pinocchio), then on second thought "Finderella". She couldn't believe she was really there. Her burning question was to see if she could, in fact, touch Cinderella's house. So, as a family, we walked through the castle and let her touch the walls. Somehow in her little 3 year old mind, I don't think she actually believed we were there until she touched it. A Dream Come True.

The park was dead, probably, in big part, due to Ernesto. So we figured now was as good a time as any to get a big part of Fantasyland done. Due to DD's issues, we knew that she would have major difficulties waiting in lines, so we were glad to get the park this empty. First stop for us was It's a Small World (at DD's request), which was a walk on. Everyone loved it and DD could not stop singing the song -- neither could I (it's a fall world affer all...). Poor DS, I thought his little head was going to fall off. He was just turning it so fast to make sure he didn't miss a thing. The only small world pic I have is of the hippo. Not sure what draws me to her, but every time I come, I wind up with a picture of her. So, not to leave ya'll out, here she is...

Off to a great start, right. Next we hit Peter Pan with about a 3 minute wait. DD was really looking forward to this one -- she loves Peter and Tinkerbell. Well, DH and DS ride together, DMIL and DFIL are together and DD and I pilot our own ship. She was fine for the first half of the ride and then for reasons only known to her, she had a major freak out. She started jumping and flailing around, screaming that she wanted to get off NOW. Try as I may, I could not calm her down, I seriously thought she was going to fall out of our ship. Off of that and she wanted to see something else. Now, looking back, it doesn't seem like the best choice, but we hit Mickey's PhilharMagic next.

She hated it before she even knew what it was, while we were still in the "holding" area. Imagine, if you will, those cartoons where someone is trying to bathe a cat, and the cat is not real happy -- I kid you not, that is what DD looked like on most attractions for the rest of the week. So we did manage to keep her calm for the show by telling her that she could just bury her head in my shoulder and cover her ears with her hands. She did like the music. Although, she couldn't tell us what was scaring her either.

By the time we got out of PhilharMagic, it was raining pretty hard. Everyone was tired and wanted to go back to the resort. But DD wanted to ride Cindy's Carrousel and since it was right there, I couldn't refuse. So she and I went to do that while everyone else opted to shop and stay dry.

While on the ride, DD listed several rides she wanted to see, but I vetoed anymore for the night. Done with the carrousel, we all made our way to the front of the park and were out at the Pop bus stop by 8:30pm.

Because of the lack of crowds in the park, we were surprised to see a line for the bus back to Pop. In reality, we probably only waited 10 or 15 minutes for a bus. Back at Pop, DH took DS off the bus first and headed for the lobby. I went to get off the bus with DD -- it was rainy and slippery and just take a guess at what yours truly did next. I fell on the stairs of the bus, right on my tailbone, knocked the wind right out of me and in general hurt like a monkey. Somebody must have yelled up to the bus driver who came back to assist me, DMIL is asking me if I'm ok and DFIL is telling me to get up and move out of the way because people were trying to get off of the bus. Sorry, but not that I cared at that particular moment because I was sort of dazed. All the while, DH is sitting on a bench, totally clueless. I was able to make it to the bench and after relaxing for a few minutes was able to get up and walk with only minimal pain.

Everyone made it back to our rooms without further incident. DH and I put the munchkins to bed, left DMIL in charge and we, along with DFIL went off to the food court. DH and I shared a chicken strips meal and tye dye cheesecake (YUMMY!). Not sure of the price, but my notes say that once again we paid OOP. Filled up our mugs, ate dinner in the room while watching the news and were off to bed.

 

[DeterminedOne]

I love the pic of Main St. With the kiddos all wrapped up in their pochos and the guy standing behind them on a cell phone, makes for a cute pic.

 

[Glendamax]

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m119/lizardqueen76/DSCN0600.jpg[/IMG]

Wow . . . I wish I could sleep like them!

 

[HMHunters]

Great TR - loving it! In my family there are 4 adopted kids (my sister and my husband's sister both adopted). I'll add you to my prayer list!

Can't believe how empty Main Street was!

 

[lizardqueen]

"OK, CAN YOU GO GET MINNIE FOR ME NOW?"
DAY 2 -- THURSDAY, AUGUST 31ST
HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY JONNIE!

My goal this morning was to be at the Magic Kingdom for the opening ceremony. You guessed it, didn't happen. Pretty sure we did get there somewhere around 9:30am though. While waiting in line at the Pop for a bus I did meet a fellow DISer and her family and we talked for a few minutes. Unfortunately, I didn't get her name, but if you're reading this and it's you -- HI IT WAS NICE MEETING YOU! When we got into the MK, Mickey and Minnie were out front for pictures and autographs. Somehow, somewhere between the beginning of the trip and now, DD has developed a love of Minnie Mouse. So DD sees her, shrieks and the next thing I know, we are waiting in line to meet her. Our turn comes and Minnie is teasing DD because she has a dress with Princess' on it and Minnie, being the Princess she is, wants to know why she isn't on it.

DD is loving it, she thinks that is the funniest thing she has ever experienced and is cracking up so hard I thought she was going to pee herself! We get DS close to Minnie and he doesn't cry, so that's a plus. When we got out of line, I said to the in-laws, see THAT'S why I keep coming back here. The little bit of magic that DD experienced with Minnie in those few minutes is something that she still talks about.

Today was DS' first birthday and I was so excited for him to be celebrating it at the MK with us. First goal for the day was for DS to have his first haircut at the Harmony Barber Shop. We had about a 20 minute wait, DS was fine, but DD was NOT a very patient waiter. She did keep herself busy towards the end playing with another little girl. Finally, it was DS' turn, Marylou put him in the chair and stuck a million and one stickers on him before she started.
She was so patient with him. DS was such a big boy, he didn't fuss or cry once. All said and done, the haircut along with a pair of mickey ears embroidered with "First Haircut" on the back and a certificate, it was only $14. Marylou did a phenominal job with him. Of course, i cried when he was done, he didn't look like my little boy anymore. Actually, truth be told, he reminded me of Kelso, on That 70's Show when he changed his hair during his last season. After his haircut, we made a quick stop into the Emporium to get DD her first pair of Mickey ears and we were off to do some rides.

First we stopped to take the obligatory photos in front of Cinderella Castle. I love how they turned out.

Our first stop was Tomorrowland. DMIL and I "rode" Stitchs Great Escape, it seemed to me that they tamed it down alot, because I remember being freaked out last time (although, it wasn't nearly as creepy as Alien Encounter). They just parked her wheelchair against the wall and had a harness to pull down over her just like that. Chilli dog belch was nasty as ever. DMIL thought it was a riot. DH and DFIL rode Space mountain with about a 5 minute wait. CM Chris at Space gave DD a "Mousernaut in Training" certificate, which she thought was great.