The Poppins are heading(have headed) back to the World! Day 1 part 3 update 6/21

[MommyPoppins]

The plan:
Trade in our GAD tickets for the Florida resident 4 day ticket deal for $99. After our trade in value it would only have cost us $20 more per ticket...for 4 days. Let that sink in. I got my DH to agree to a trip with that deal. But...what about park hopping, we can't go to only one park per day. That's ludicrous...so we have to add hopping...but... what about our annual weekend away for Food and Wine? We would have to buy tickets for that too...so I think it would be money well spent to just get Florida resident seasonal passes. We haven't had those in our possession since 2006. This bad economy crap has hit us hard since DH is in the construction field. So the plan became: Florida resident seasonal passes for all, AP room rate at POR and dining plan.

Our family:
DH: Chad, hard worker, loving husband/father and best friend.

Me: Amanda, stay at home Mom, homeschooling Mom, try to be a good Mom and wife.

DS's: Jeremiah 9(a joker, very caring and mostly sweet), Seth 8(used to be a sweet happy boy, but has aged into a sour, cranky boy. Though recently his attitude has taken a turn for the better and we are seeing our old Seth back), Ethan 7(Goofball, sweet, but we call him the noodge because that is what he constantly does.), Kaleb 5(I sometimes think he is demon possessed. I love him dearly and really appreciate him more after he got so sick last year with 2 types of pneumonia at the same time...but dang he sometimes scares me. He is high energy and doesn't always act like he's 5. I love those moments when he does act only 5.) and Isaac 2(my baby. He is the sweetest thing, I chose to continue to nurse him even when I got pregnant with our last and I didn't wean him when she was born. It's definitely not for everyone, but I have so enjoyed tandem nursing and he has stayed little because of it. Instead of running off to play with the big boys he and Ellie have a special bond and play together so nicely.)

DD(I never thought I'd be able to write that for myself!): Ellie 9 months. Our big surprise. The pregnancy wasn't a surprise, but we didn't find out what she was going to be until she was born. Both Chad and I KNEW she was a boy, we had both given up on ever having a girl. She was born in a birth center, in water and it was the most AMAZING experience of my life. I never pushed, she just came out(all 9lbs 3 oz). All was calm, Chad pulled her out of the water and we looked together to see that she was a girl. It was surreal. She is SO different than my boys. I always knew a girl would be different, HELLO I am a girl after all. She is so calm and happy and content to just be. And dang is she pretty.

Previous TR's if you want to get to know us.
[/URL]thread.php?t=758754"]http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=758754[/URL]
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=892319
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=987509
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=987547
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1061895
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1125552
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1300292
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2006697&page=3

So, introductions aside...

On with the show!

Our trip was set for May 26th-May 31st. We illegally stayed at POR. Over the limit, but we didn't want to stay at Pop in two rooms and we couldn't afford 2 rooms at POR. It's over though. Next time we are just getting two rooms at Pop. Because it was too dang crowded. No need to add your opinion about how wrong it is to cheat the system. It's over and done with now.

I requested bldg 38, which seemed nice on a map, but in hindsight if sucked. Or maybe it would have been fine if I had thought to make sure we were on the 1st floor. Because dragging all of our crap up those stairs and constantly unloading and reloading the stroller to get it up and down. Not fun.

The plan was for Chad to take off early on the 26th, so we could hit up the MK that evening.

Rewind back to May 25th about 8pm. We are sitting watching TV and hear several gun shots(or firecrackers). My mind starts freaking out and I have the neighbors dead in their house and the perp coming for us next. We try to call them and no one answers. So I am freaking even more. My heart is racing, I'm lightheaded and suddenly I am in full on panic attack mode. Which hasn't happened to me in years. I seem to calm down some and we head to bed. As I am laying there I start to feel nauseous. I don't throw up, or at least I hadn't in like 4 years. I don't even throw up when I get the stomach bug, I just refuse to do it and it never comes. Well as I am laying in bed telling myself I will not throw up, it starts. I run to the bathroom and for the first time in years I throw up. Afterward I felt much better, but now I am anxious that not only have my neighbors been slaughtered but now I am starting a stomach bug that will most likely rip through my large family while we are on vacation. I didn't sleep much, the next morning I felt ick and now I was having chest pains. Another sign of anxiety. I laid around all morning not feeling well and super tired from not sleeping. One of the boys came to me, (Seth)"My stomach hurts, I don't feel good." I think to myself, "Its starting" More chest pains, Kaleb comes to me a little bit later, "I think I'm going to puke" More chest pains. Finally I've packed up the van and Chad is headed home. All the while I'm thinking something is going to happen any second now to keep us from going.

At 1:14pm we are on the road. I know because I wrote down the EXACT time and it was 16 whole minutes ahead of schedule. Yeah! We are on our way and ahead of schedule!

We lost that extra time though because someone had to stop and poop. Which we should have expected since one of my last TR's actually has "craptastrophe" in the title. Then we lost more of our time because DH HAD to have coffee about an hour later. It wouldn't have made sense to get it at the first McDonalds we stopped at. Better to get off the road and get it somewhere else. No worries, someone else had to use the bathroom at this location.
Finally we made it to disney! Well, almost...

Now we are here!

So I had planned to go straight to POR, hop a bus to MK to get our tickets and spend a few hours there before going back to our resort and checking in. I was TIRED. I hadn't slept the night before, I was still having chest pains and I didn't want to be trying to find our room in the dark while it was late and everyone was cranky. So I changed the plans to go to DTD to get our tickets(didn't want to risk trying to check in without the AP on hand) and then to POR to check in and unpack and swim. A nice calm evening. So we go to DTD, unload everyone happily walk to guest relations and she says we have to do it at the park. Why didn't I know that? I could have sworn you could do ticket upgrades at guest relations at DTD. So new plan is to go back to the old plan, only now we were way behind the plan schedule.

Something I forgot to mention was this trip was a secret from the boys. They thought we were just spending a couple nights at Pop and using our 1 day free tickets we had gotten. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited for them to find out the surprise. I had the video camera out and recording as we heading towards POR. Jeremiah wasn't even paying attention. It's his favorite resort and just that morning he said to me, "Wouldn't it be cool if we got there and our tickets said we could stay at New Orleans(Port Orleans)?" So I was mostly excited for him to see that we were indeed staying there! We got all the way to the check in parking lot(at 5PM) and I was talking to him in the camera about where we were and he was clueless and not paying attention(stupid PSP). So my wonderful surprise fell flat and the video camera captured nothing but my frustration. lol.
Some pictures from the bus stop. Isaac wearing Ellie's bonnet(backward)

Jeremiah is excited to be here.

He got his ears from Chad. Unfortunately so did my sweet little girl.
Ethan sitting with Chad(he's behind the much loved Joovy in purpleness)

We boarded a bus and arrived at the MK at 5:40. It was good to be back.

Up next: Lost plans, lost food, but no lost kids...this time.

 

[december]

We checked into POR the day you checked out! We got building 27, 1st floor, corner room, which was great. We had a legal 6 in the room, and we were walking all over each other. Katie (1) and I slept on a twin aerobed, dd10 slept on the trundle, ds12 got a full (was supposed to be mine and Katie's bed, but it was tall and the wood railing around the bottom scared me, so ds12 got lucky), and my sister and her son got a full.

 

[NAB]

Love all the picture! Chad looks so happy.

You need to list the boys in the order of the picture. Still can't tell them apart...lol. At first I thought Issac was in that picture too , thought when did he get so big.

Can't wait to here more .....

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Great start to the TR. Bummer on the DTD thing, I thought you could do it there too (but what do I know, LOL)

 

[MommyPoppins]

We checked into POR the day you checked out! We got building 27, 1st floor, corner room, which was great. We had a legal 6 in the room, and we were walking all over each other. Katie (1) and I slept on a twin aerobed, dd10 slept on the trundle, ds12 got a full (was supposed to be mine and Katie's bed, but it was tall and the wood railing around the bottom scared me, so ds12 got lucky), and my sister and her son got a full.

We brought a twin air mattress and two little ones slept on it(it fit perfectly between the two beds and slipped under the bed in the morning), the big boys shared the full, Isaac slept on the trundle and Ellie in the pack in play. Of course she and Isaac took turns sleeping with me. So much for my hopes of Isaac self weaning while we were away. lol

Love all the picture! Chad looks so happy.

You need to list the boys in the order of the picture. Still can't tell them apart...lol. At first I thought Issac was in that picture too , thought when did he get so big.

Can't wait to here more .....

In that picture it's Ethan, Jeremiah, Seth and Kaleb.

Great start to the TR. Bummer on the DTD thing, I thought you could do it there too (but what do I know, LOL)

I know, I'm bothered by it. I have to go and check it out on the theme parks board and see if I was right or not. lol. At least Isaac got to see the big hot air balloon and they all got free chocolate while we were there.

 

[WendyLovesPeter]

you have a handsome family! And that little Ellie is so pretty. My 9 monther is "Ella" .... we both have pretty "E" names! Looking forward to reading more of your adventure.

Wondering how did you handle a "crawler" on Vacation. I never traveled with a crawler before. They were either too young or older. I hate the idea of her being on hotel room floors, but she "needs" it, man. I am wondering if our pool time will be her crawl time. It doesn't seem so bad to let her crawl around during that time knowing that she will be heading to the bath anyway. Or may be the baby centers wouldn't be too bad for that or grassy areas in the parks.... hmmm not sure how this will work out. I know the whole germ thing... they are everywhere. They help our immune system blah blah. But still....

 

[MommyPoppins]

WendyLovesPeter - It's hard with a crawler, but you just have to bite the bullet and let them crawl on the hotel floor. I would let her down to play before her bath and after her bath she played in the pack n play.

And my DH calls Ellie, "Ella Bella" Because Ella rhymes with bella and bella means beautiful in Italian.

 

[monymony3471]

I'm so glad you are writing a TR! When the girls were little I let them crawl on the floors. That's what soap and water is for. The only one to ever get sick in wdw is my DH, and he never crawled on the floors.

 

[MommyPoppins]

So we arrived at the MK at 5:40.

We brought our GAD vouchers up to guest relations and in no time had our annual passes. She noticed that my birthday had been the day before and gave me a birthday pin.

I passed the tickets out to everyone so we could go through the entrance ticket passer througher thingy. Two of us had the same characters so I always had to check the back of the ticket to make sure the right person has the right ticket.

We got through with no problem and in minutes were heading down Mainstreet USA. Isaac says, "Big castle!" Chad is about to pass out from not eating properly that day and I wasn't feeling too swell myself. So our first order of business was to stop at Casey's Corner and get some corn dog nuggets. Mainstreet was mostly empty because everyone was in the hub watching the dance party thing.
The boys getting their grub on.

Ellie watching them.

After everyone had a little snack we headed across the street to walk through the Rose Garden to get into Tomorrowland. I had planned this night with a ridemax plan. I was anxious to try it out because I paid for ridemax and our of our whole trip it only came up with one plan that made sense. I ended up getting a refund, because seriously it wanted me to see Star Tours BEFORE Toy Story Mania. LOL!

But I had this plan. Jeremiah and Seth really wanted to ride Astro Orbiter and the stupid Speedway. I wasn't wanting to waste our morning time on those lines, so I decided to do them tonight. I went to grab out my plan and I couldn't find it. Anywhere. I knew it started with getting a FP for Jungle Cruise, but since we were late getting there I scratched that off. I decided I would just try and wing it, so we went to Tomorrowland first to start at AO.

Jeremiah and Seth talked it over and decided that since not everyone could do the Speedway(we don't have enough drivers tall enough) they would forget that and first we would ride Buzz for Isaac. The line was just about a 15 minute wait.

Isaac first spots Buzz.

I took some fun pictures while we were riding.
Chad, Ellie(can't see her) and Kaleb.

I rode with Isaac. He had so much fun shooting and jerking our car back and forth.

Then I passed the camera off to Chad so I could be at Disney too.

After our adventure on Buzz it was time for Jeremiah and Seth to ride Astro Orbiter. The line was about 25 minutes long. I sat down on a nearby bench to feed Ellie some baby food. After she was done we(Ethan, Kaleb, Isaac and Ellie) rode the TTA. It is Ethan's favorite ride. I'm sad we never got a chance to do it as a family.

Oh look, I'm here too! I am hardly ever in vacation videos or pictures. My DH is a very capable man at his job, but for some reason when it comes to the simple things he is a space cadet and he can't handle taking care of himself, helping me corral the kids and take pictures.
The bad thing about your 7 year old being the photographer is the unflattering angles that the pictures are taken from.

And my three little boys together.

Do they look a like to you? People are always saying how the boys all look alike, but as their Mom I don't see it. To me they all look 100% different from one another.

As our ride was coming to an end we spotted Daddy and the boys! Can you?

As seen by my above picture the Magic Kingdom was not crowded that night. It was really nice.

We reunited and decided to go ahead and head back to the resort to get checked in, unpacked and have dinner. I wanted to make sure we got to HS really early in the AM and I was really tired. We stopped for a photopass picture before we left. If they come before I'm done with this report I've post a photopass episode. I have to wait for my share to end(I think June 14th is when she is ordering)

We headed down mainstreet and out to the buses. There was already a line, not long enough that we wouldn't get on, but a line. And that's when I remembered how much I hate taking the bus at POR. By the time a bus actually showed up there was a LONG line and the bus was beyond full. Isaac, Ellie and I sat right up front and Chad and the boys went all the way to the back. I was so lucky to get to ride all the way to POR with my face in a foreign man's armpit.

As we got close to POR, I realized Chad probably had no idea which bus stop to get off of. So I called him and told him to WATCH FOR ME to get off the bus. When we got to our stop I got up with the babies and then stood right outside the window so he could see me. The bus empties out and no Chad, no boys. The driver closes the doors and I see him, sitting in the back in Chad's World. Thankfully one of the boys sees me gesturing wildly for him and they get off just before the driver leaves.

We went back to the car so I could nurse Ellie while Chad checked in. I was able to get my bldg 38 request and in a few minutes we were heading that way to park and unpack. I wish I had taken pictures of how much luggage we had. Two suitcases, 2 HUGE duffel bags, a cooler, another bag with the air mattress 2 24 packs of water, A big bag with an assortment of things that were last minute and didn't fit in one of the other bags and a smaller suitcase. And I only brought enough clothes for 3 days, after that I was going to have to wash them. lol. We managed to get most of it up in one trip. Unfortunately we were on the second floor. I do not think we will stay at a resort without an elevator again until we are stroller free.

Next time we'll be trying to get dinner without sitting the kids down at a table first.

 

[december]

Just getting the stroller up and down the 3 steps to the first floor rooms was a pain-I can't imagine a 2nd floor room. And the buses were miserable! Thankfully, we used the South (main) bus stop, so we got a seat every morning. But those poor people at the other stops.........As beautiful as the resort is, I think I'd rather stay at AllStar Sports!

 

[babynurse1]

I'm in. Hopefully this TR will be finished before I get back from MY trip to WDW.

 

[WendyLovesPeter]

good writing, Mommy Poppins. You made me You see my sweet hubbie occas hangs out in a place I call "Mike's World." This happens esp when he is in down time or family time. I try not to be offended because I know his days are stressy but sometimes my snarc gets the best of me, and I let him have it. I also like how you handed off the camera so you "could be at Disney too." From all our family vacation photos you would think it was just Mike and the kids that went away. I admit to being camera shy, but looking back, I do regret not showing up in SOME of those photos.

 

[celerystalker]

I'm here! I knew you were going and wondered if you'd do a trip report - I don't see how you have time to, but you are super mom!

 

[monymony3471]

I think that in that picture your boys each have a look of their own. Maybe when they were smaller I might have thought they looked alike, but now I can see how they are each becoming their own cute little person.

Ellie is so lucky to have all those brothers to look after her.

 

[MommyPoppins]

good writing, Mommy Poppins. You made me You see my sweet hubbie occas hangs out in a place I call "Mike's World." This happens esp when he is in down time or family time. I try not to be offended because I know his days are stressy but sometimes my snarc gets the best of me, and I let him have it. I also like how you handed off the camera so you "could be at Disney too." From all our family vacation photos you would think it was just Mike and the kids that went away. I admit to being camera shy, but looking back, I do regret not showing up in SOME of those photos.

I gave my 8 year old my old camera when I got a new one(the flash stopped working, but everything else works) he brought it with him and wore it on his belt in a case the whole time. I was so proud of him for taking good care of it and he actually took some really good pictures.

I'm here! I knew you were going and wondered if you'd do a trip report - I don't see how you have time to, but you are super mom!

Thanks for reading. I write when the babies are napping. lol

I think that in that picture your boys each have a look of their own. Maybe when they were smaller I might have thought they looked alike, but now I can see how they are each becoming their own cute little person.

Ellie is so lucky to have all those brothers to look after her.

Ellie's brothers love her so much. It is so sweet.


I haven't forgotten about you all. My babies have been sick for 2 weeks now and Ellie has gotten worse. So I've been busy loving on her and keeping her from crying so she doesn't start coughing.

 

[WendyLovesPeter]

My babies have been sick for 2 weeks now and Ellie has gotten worse. So I've been busy loving on her and keeping her from crying so she doesn't start coughing.

oh, I hope they get better soon! I know you are taking good care of them! Stinks to be sick but esp in the summer

 

[MommyPoppins]

Back at our rooms we were met with a great big slap.

Besides the horribly stupid location(totally my own fault) our room was not up to par. Our beds had no faux mosquito netting. Just an obvious lack of it. I was pretty put off by that.

I didn't look too closely under beds and in corners for dirt and debris, but I did notice while brushing my teeth that there is enough DNA behind that sink to make the strongest stomach turn. What a let down.

Why can't Disney keep their rooms clean?

After unpacking(I can't remember if I unpacked last update) it was time to get some dinner. In my notes it was 8:00 when we checked in, so we were long overdue for eating. I carried Ellie in my Ergo so we didn't have to drag the stroller down/up the stairs.

I do love this resort. Missing mosquito netting, dirty rooms and all. It's so peaceful and beautiful...until you get to the Riverside Mill. Holy crap. That place was never NOT at 100% capacity.

We went all together to get our food. I went to get Chad and myself a salad to share and Chad went to get burgers for the kids. We met back in the middle, seriously, of the floor. He had 3 double cheese burgers and extra buns. He hadn't followed instructions. I had instructed him to get kids meals, because we were on the dining plan and EVERYONE on these boards insists that counter service dining credits HAVE to be used as adult and child credits. So I got on his case. In the middle of the room, which wasn't such a great idea on my part. Then Ellie grabbed my little open container of salad dressing and threw it on the floor. We were quickly reaching the boiling point. Chad walked away from the whole salad dressing debacle and I got someone to come over and make sure it got cleaned up before people start slip sliding around the Riverside Mill food court.

We got in line to pay, only never got desserts, we didn't know where to get them. The girl told us we then had to stand in another 20 minute long line to get our cookies. Like that isn't intentional. I wonder how many people don't really get to use their dessert portion of their counter service dining at Port Orleans?

So you know the whole using kids credits to buy adult counter service food thing? It's crap. She rang up the food on my tray and my receipt said, "4 counter service entitlements used". No kids/adults and she didn't even charge me for the buns. She saw the whole melt down in the middle of the room, so I'm sure she felt bad for us. lol.

We could have actually got only adult meals all week with our counter service entitlements, there is no such thing as adult/child with counter service.(we didn't, but could have) So take that you dining plan freaks.

After dinner we walked back to our room to get showers done and get in bed at a decent hour.

Thankfully Ellie nursed and went right to sleep without a fight and we were all in bed by 10:30. I was able to fall asleep easily, which is not normal for me at a hotel. I was however up half the night nursing. Between the two of them someone was always in my bed with me. At least I can partially sleep while nursing and soon enough it was time to get up. I set the alarm each morning for 7am, but every day I was awake about 15 minutes before that. It's a good thing too. If I had got up as late as 7 we would have been late everywhere. It was good to get up before everyone and get myself mostly ready before I had to start getting everyone else ready.

On this particular morning of our first full day I was totally on my own getting everyone ready and was getting pretty ticked.

Up next: Our first full day, MGM fun and not so much.

 

[december]

Don't hate me, but the next week we ate at POR twice, and it was not crowded either time.

And we never buy kids' meals at the CS places.....