The MERBS Poppn', Show stopn', Hoppn' Swim w Sharks WDW/US/ IOA Trip Stop in and post

[Candy30]

HI Everyone! I am back and wanting to be at Disney. It hasn't even been a good 24 hours!

Let's start with the cast members of the MERBs (Mack Epps Ruffin Bruce)!

From youngest to oldest..

There is my Mom..DNana to everyone! Over 50 (we don't talk age, let's just say she is Mom to 7 and I am her youngest. You do the math) Spry, loving women who kept up with us!!! DAuntie (who was born from another mother but totally belongs to us) Christel. Lovingly Known as "Auntie" Fistel.
DH Shawn, Me, DS Seth, and DD Chayce. My best friend DBFF Bernadette, my adoptive DN Chauncey, and DN Kayla. Is that everyone.....yes!

It's great because our kids are around the same ages and they are each others BF too. So Just a great BFF Fest!
So I got off work early on Tuesday and did some last minute running around. My family and I cleaned house and went out to eat. The kids were excitedly talking about what they wanted to do first. This is our 2nd trip to Disney, DNana's 3rd and everyone else's first. On the way home I called my friend in Hilton Head to remind her to call me. She is away on vacation and called to wake me up. See I have a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad memory! I am sometimes affectionately and sometimes not so affectionately Known as "Dory"! (And I planned the trip. Thanks to you all and these boards) So she thought that I would forget to set the alarm.... I told her no way I am going to Disney tomorrow how would I forget to set the alarm........ Um so....I um woke up to my girlfriend saying..."Girl, if you didn't answer this phone this time...I was calling Nana!!!" So up at 4:05 Am, dressed, washed, and ready to go! Loaded the car and got in it and .......RINGGGGGG cell phone. DBFF is running late. The original plan was that all of us would meet at the airport. Instead we all met at DNana's and left from there. We park our cars at the Airport parking which was great. They came to the car pick us and luggage up and we were off to the airport. It was nice because I had a 50% off coupon to park there...."Dory moment"....Later in the trip report. At the airport we check our bags curbside and DNana couldn't find her ID License Our Flight left at 7:00 AM and we were checking in bags t 6:15AM. Yes cutting it close. We grabbed something to eat and were boarding the plane. Oh and this is the first time my DBFF and DN flew! That was funny! On take off DBFF had her face covered and DN was positioned strategically at the window and kept saying, "What was that?!?"
She loved it after being in the air. The take off and landing...not so much...We got to the airport 20 minutes early and went to the magical express check in. Breezed through that (because we had our preprinted passes) and we were on the bus in 20 minutes. Watched a movie about Disney...and Arrived at Pop Century in 35 minutes.

My family and DNana and DA could not check in online due to some kind of blip with the online check in. DBFF did. But honestly we were done about the same time. We got our stuff and checked our carry ons with "Luggage" because our rooms weren't ready and hopped on the next bus to........drumrollll....little longer because I forgot....No just kidding. MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Hi, Candy!

Sounds like things are off to a pretty good start!!

 

[Candy30]

Hey Jacks! Your my first poster! You win an trip to Disney in December.....oh wait you already have one!! I am trying to upload pictures. Hoping I can do this.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Cant wait to read more!! and please tell me about the food, unless you are doing a seperate dining review.

 

[Candy30]

LMP!!! I will. I have to figure out how to do the pictures.

 

[Candy30]

Was the first thing out of my kids mouth. Then I remembered that all of the sunscreen was in the luggage. Note to pack a small bottle in carry on. Bought some fromt the gift shop and sprayed everyone and we went to the bus stop for Magic Kingdom.

While waiting for the bus, Seth and Chauncey try and push the luggage cart.

On the air conditioned bus!

My hair was starting to frizz already!

DNana and DAuntie Fistel

We get to Magic Kingdom and we all have pep in our step! All of us get through the turnstiles except DBFF and kids. Turns out that her tickets were cancelled for some reason and she had to go to Guest services. They str8tened everything out and gave her a fast pass for all day!!!!!

We finally walk in and down mainstreet and see the castle! I don't know its just something about the castle. A nice guys saw me trying to take a picture and asked if I wanted to get in. YEAH!

Not the best but it works. We were all hungry so we decided to go to Cosmic Rays Starlite cafe. My husband and I got the double cheeseburger which was good. My DD got the hot dog with fries. My DS and DBFF got the St Louis ribs which were awesome! DNana and DAuntie got salads which were big and they couldn't finish. DNeph got the barbeque chicken and DN got cheese fries. Everything was very good and a plenty of it. Ray was funny (if you listen to him) and I enjoyed the show. It was very loud in the restaurant and very busy!

After we ate, we went to Stitch's Great Escape. This ride my son was so afraid of last time. It was called Alien something I forget. This time my daughter was a little afraid but loved it afterwards. We got on Buzz Lightyear and I took the advice of some on the boards here and got the highest score. My DS and DNeph couldn't believe it. They had to ride it again with me and guess what!!! I still beat them. We saw Stitch and got a picture of the girls with him. My camera started acting up and I couldn't take pictures with the first one. Good thing Dory packed a 2nd one just in case.

After riding that DS and DNeph and DH left us girls to go do the big rides.

 

[Candy30]

Comment of my DD. I got a message on my phone that my room was ready and shortly after so did the rest of us. After taking pictures with Stitch we went to see Monsters Inc. I loved this show. Especially how they incorporated the audience. It was great! Well it was getting close to 2:00PM and DNana and DAuntie were getting tired! So they went to the Hall of Presidents and DBFF, DD, DN and myself went to ride Peter pan. After seeing the line and it was so hot the girls wanted to go back to the pool. I wanted to get a Dole whip so we walked toward Aloha Isle. On the way we rode Thunder Mountain. DD was afraid but after riding it once, she wanted to ride it again and again. 3x riding that we walked toward Aloha Isle and saw The Magic carpets of Alladin. Will I ever get my Dole Whip? The girls rode that twice. Then we finally got my Dole Whip. It was melting immediately but I didn't care it was sooooooo good. DNana and DAuntie called and said they would meet us at the entrance. They were setting up for the parade and the girls didn't want to see it because it was so hot! We met up with DNana and DAuntie at the entrance. We walked to the bus stop and got in line. I was about to call the guys to let them know we were leaving and saw they were walking toward the bus stop. We all got on the bus tired. I met a woman with 2 girls that was a Diser but couldn't read her name on her tag. Sorry! She said they had taken an early flight in too! Once we got back to the Resort, I went to Concierge to get our tickets for Hooptee doo. The cast member Ralph was so funny and helpful. Loved him! Told us how to get there and everything. I also called for our taxi Mears pick up for the park tomorrow. It came with the tickets. We finally got to our rooms which were in the 60's with Baloo and Mouglee. The girls took off with DNeph to swim and I unpacked the suitcases. And our food was there from Garden Grocer. I forgot (Dory) to mention that they called while I was checking in before we left for the park. Once I unpacked and we relaxed a minute we decided to go and eat at Everything Pops. I got a delicious greek salad and decided to try the tye-dyed cheese case. It was a favorite of our group. My DS loved the chicken and pasta meal. The food was good. DNeph bought a refillable mug. After eating we decided to hit the bed early. We had to get up early and go to US/IOA.......

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Heah Candy!! I am loving the report so far. Its so nice to actually "see" you. Looks like you guys really enjoyed yourselves. Stitch is ds17's favorite too!! That is awesome that you beat them at Buzz. O.K. I admit I am pathetic at Buzz, I bet a 4 year old could probably beat me!! Waiting for the next installment!!

 

[Candy30]

Just bumping it up. Don't be shy and post.

 

[Candy30]

LMP! Yeah my son loves stitch and the pictures with him and Stitch at the parks is on the camera that is acting up. I hope I can get them off the disc. If so I will post them here. It has most of my Universal pictures on it.

I loved Buzz lightyear. I was a little nervous about my Mom (DNana) and the moving walkway, that I almost tripped myself. I think they should make that transition a little smoother. Thanks for following my trip report.

 

[bookmama]

subbing

 

[Candy30]

Hi BookMomma! Welcome.

 

[Candy30]

So I got my wake up call but I let my DS answer the phone. When he heard the message he got a silly grin on his face. Stitch is his favorite! Then he used Stitch's phrase to wake up his sister. "No Sleeping". We woke up at 7:30, ate breakfast in the room (I must say that all of Garden Grocer's food items were very fresh) and got dressed. Clothes and showers were done the night before. I knocked on my Mom's door and she opened it and stumble on something and fell on her bottom. There was a mad rush to help her up. I swear my DH almost knocked me over to get her up. She was laughing the whole time so I was sure nothing was broken. She told us to quit fussing and hand her shoes over (I told you she has more spunk than all of us). I knocked on my DBFF door and they were running behind. I told them I would meet them outside. Once there I asked where do we stand to catch the Mears taxi and the cast member told us right at the red carpet. I text the info to everyone and we were all there by 8:20 AM. Pick up was at 8:25 Am.
The girls made a little Princess chair out of Legos while we waited.

Here's Chayce 'Sitting Pretty'.

The Mears "Taxi" was a huge bus like the Magical express! Our driver Victor was awesome. We made one more stop at Carribean Beach and then off to US. Victor gave us a mini tour on the way. Told us where to shop and how to get there and back to our resort. He was great. Told us about Hurricane Charlie was the reason why some of the trees were bent. Really nice guy.

We got to US at about 9:20 and decided to go to US first. Here's our group pictures in front of the world.

Me, DH, DNana, DS, DNeph
DD and DN

Everyone but me I love my family

We go into the park and did Jimmy Neutron first.
Here's the girls waiting to ride JN

This ride was Da Bomb! It was so much fun. I was worried about DNana but she was laughing and clapping at it. Then we rode Shrek 4D. That was great too but I could do w/o the ghost business. Not my cup of tea.

After that DH, Me, DS, and DNeph wanted to ride the Rip Rockit rollercoaster and everyone else did Twister. The Roller coaster went down 3 times and after the third time we left it. We met up with the rest of the group and went to Disaster. DN Kayla and DS Seth were picked to be special extras in the movie. It was really fun. Kayla was the little kid that falls onto the Rock and Seth was one of the Menacing men that the rocks fell on. It was a hoot to watch the movie at the end of the ride. I was mad that I couldn't video tape it.

After that DNana, DAuntie and DBFF had to make a stop and the rest of us went on Jaws. I liked it and our captain certainly made it fun. He said at the end to take all of our belongings and "make sure we take the complimentary souvenir of wet shoes, socks and underwear." And boy was he right about that. After Jaws we decided to eat in the park. We couldn't decide until we saw our DNeph with a hot dog. This hot dog place had all kinds of hot dogs. Philly, Rueben, and others with all kinds of fixins. After lunch the boys went to IOA and DH stayed with us. We then rode MIB and I scored well as an agent on that too! Here's the picture we took. The adults took it more serious than the kids!

We were going to do the Simpsons but the wait was long. We then went to ET and rode that. It was cool when he said your name at the end.

We then went to Terminator but he next show was at 3:00 so we browsed some shops. I found my favorite character had her own shop. Betty Boop. I would have pictures but now the 2nd camera was acting crazy. I hope to add some from DNana's pictures. Terminator was excellent too. I liked how they incorporated actors into the scenes. After Terminator DNana found a cool little diner and said she was starting to feel her fall. DAuntie and DBFF stayed with her and they began to shop around too. DH, myself and the Girls ventured to IOA. It was 4:00 when we got there and the park closed at 6:00. But there were no waits for anything. We rode the HULK my favorite ride 3 times. Chayce was not game for that one but she did ride Jurassic park ride. I loved the theming in Jurassic park. The fossils on the ground it was great. Chayce did not want to ride dueling dragons so we met up with the boys and rode that twice. By the time we were finished it was about 5:30Pm and we were spent. We met up with our group and ate at at Hard rock cafe. We got a picture there but I can't upload that for some reason. I got my favorite salad the Haystack salad. DAuntie got the sampler appetizer and love that. DS got Fish and chips. DNana got the Haystack salad. The girls got pasta and meat sauce and DH got Wings. Everything there is always good. We left there and went to the bus stop for our pick up. We were exhausted but look at the girls.

 

[Candy30]

Look at this video of them.


A lady sitting next to us asked if they were at the parks all day? Where did they get the energy? If only I could bottle it....

Up Next EPCOT and my DH and DS swim in the Aquarium!!!!!!!!!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Wow Candy, looks like you had a great time at Universal!! You look like one cool mama on MIB!! I guess they know not to mess with you!! Last time we went to Universal I think I only rode Shrek and ET. That was it. I know what you mean about Jaws. After I got the stuffin scared out of me the lst time I decided not to do that one again either. My body is getting to old for Universal!! o.k. i can't wait to hear about your dh and ds swimming experience.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Loving your report, Candy! Looks like you all had a terrific time!!
US/IOA is on my agenda for 2010. Theoretically. I have been carrying water park tickets around for 3 years, so just because I have tickets for something doesn't mean we will actually GO.

Now, tell us MORE!!!

 

[Candy30]

I forgot to tell you (Dory) all that the day we went to US/IOA there was a bomb scare on the Bus at WDW. We didn't find that out until we turned on the TV in our Room. They shut the whole bus system down and did an inspection of every bus that was active. They found a parcel on the bus and no one claimed it. So it turned out to be a great day to visit US/IOA. I heard that the buses were about an hour to hour and half late but at least Disney was on it.

Jacks, I know the last time we were at Disney a family gave us their tickets to the water parks and we didn't use them either. We ended up giving them to another family of 4 for them to use. Hopefully they got to use them. YOu have to go to Universal! Your son will love it! It's not too big of a park but if I had the time I would have spent 2 days at US/IOA.

 

[Candy30]

We got up early to get to Epcot. Ate breakfast in our rooms and got dressed. Sidenote: Our room was not cleaned well these first two days. Small things like our cups were not thrown away or replinished. The bed was made and garbage emptied but that was it. My DBFF bed wasn't even made so we did make a call and after that the rooms were a little better. I make it a habit to clean my room when I first get in there anyway. So I knocked on the doors of my family to give the ten minute warning and DNana and DAuntie were ready! DBFF was having problems with her knees. So we met at the bus stop. Once at Epcot we stopped to take pictures in front of the Spaceship Earth.

DNana wanted to make it look like she was holding it with her finger. She is such a strong woman I actually can visualize her handling a worlds worth of problems on her finger. Love her.

DSon wanted to make it look like he carried it on his shoulders. That's my Boy!!!

The ever bouncy girls.

The crew

So after pictures we headed for Soarin'. DBFF knees were really bothering her so she went to rent a scooter (which turned out to be the best thing. More on that later). We got to Soarin' with 15 minute wait time.

THIS WAS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!! Loved the pine smell and orange effect. It was great. We met up with rest of the crew and walked over to The Seas with Nemo.

 

[bookmama]

Hey y'all look like you were having a great time. We're going to US for two days while we're in WDW next year.

The trip report is lovely. can't wait to read more.

 

[Candy30]

BookMama you will not be disappointed in US/IOA. It has so many things for people of all ages. There was something there for everyone. We didn't get to explore there Citywalk much or IOA. But I think 2 days would let you cover it all at a decent pace.