The Ups and Downs of Labor Day weekend 2010

[annmarieda]

I'm here to follow too. I'm off to bed now, but will catch up in the morning.

Yay!! I hope I don't bore you to tears!

 

[annmarieda]

The fiasco the night before made for a short night sleep. The excitement of the trip made it so that it was hard for me to stay asleep.

I woke at 4:45am. I was ready pretty quick. Kira was already up and almost ready by the time I began milling about. it tried to let mom and Zoe sleep a bit longer. This wasn't maybe the greatest idea since by the time I wanted to go, mom was just getting in the shower. She was ready soon enough, but by that time all for the guys wanted to come and see us off.

That really was a nice thing, but the chaos of everyone loading in the bags and themselves made us forget something important. What did we forget? We forgot something that is a must if you have a small child...the stroller! I have a nice Maclaren Stroller. It is perfect for trips. It is durable and light weight and has a perfect strap to carry Disney mugs on once the are not in use. I was driving and we were only about 15 minutes from home when I realized that it had not been added. I wanted to turn around, but no one would let me. I guess it was for the best since we left the house 30 minutes later than we had intended to. (maybe it was that time I let mom sleep) We live about an hour from the airport and traffic can be unpredictable. Luckily, we arrived only 5 minutes past the "2hours prior to departure" thing. Not having the stroller did make getting through the airport a little easier, so I quickly relaxed about not having it.

We made it through the check point fine and were on our way to our gate in no time. It turned out that our gate was not one of the main ones that has all the shops and restaurants near it. We had planned to at least get some coffee. There was (I kid you not) only one shop, one coffee stand, one bagel shop, one table service restaurant and one counter service restaurant. (man, can you tell I was recently at WDW on the dinning plan?) We settled on a quick cup of HORRID coffee and it was time to board. We didn't even have time for a bathroom break. (right about now, I was definitely thanking all those who made me NOT turn the car around to get the stroller)

Once on the plane, we found our way to our seats. At least, what we thought were our seats. We got all settled in in FEDand C of the correct row. A lady and her grandson came and nicely didn't make us switch to the other side. She just took our seats and sat with my mother. We should have had seats ABC and D. I was grateful that the woman didn't make us move. Now was the time I had been waiting for. The glorious plane ride where I would FINALLY get some sleep.

Of course, if you guessed that I did not in fact find that sleep....you would be right. Still it was not a bad flight and went by much quicker than I expected. Hardly any turbulence and my mother had someone (the older woman who was traveling with her grandson) to chat with.

Up to this point, I do not have ANY pictures. I promise, promise PROMISE..if you stay with me just a bit longer I will have some to share.

Next chapter:

Arrival!

 

[annmarieda]

So last update we had just flown out on 9/1.

I mentioned that the flight was nice, with ittle to no turbulence. That was up until landing. I could not believe how rough it was. The plane went up.... The plane went down. The plane banked right.... The plan banked left... I felt sick. As suddenly as the turns and drops started they stopped and we landed just fine.

I am not sure why I have no pictures of ANYTHING to this point. I should look through Kira's pictures. I think she doesn't have any either.

Once we landed, we went straight to DME. We had no problems got on our bus and settle in for just a moment while we waited for more passengers. Soon enough we were on the road to Pop Century.

We have been to Pop once before. The girls and I had reservations to stay there in 2009. We did not end up doing so as it was one of those magical Disney moments where we got upgraded and then were whisked off to another resort. Still, the lobby and the drive up were familiar enough. I do like Pop for how exciting that first few moments can be as you drive up to the main building and walk into the lobby.

I had done online check in prior to our arrival. There were not really anyone checking in, so I am not sure that made much of a difference. In fact, the only other guests checking in were in the "online check in" line so we were assisted at the regular counter. They did have our packet ready. They had placed us in the 90's section. Since this was my least desired section I politely asked if they had anything available in the 70's, 60's or 50's. (I also didn't want the 80's) Sure enough, they had something in the 60's. Within minutes, we had new KTTW cards for a room facing the lake. Yay!!!

When we got to our room we found it was one of the newly refurbished ones!

It was a nice quiet room. It was up high and even though they were working on the floors below us, we never heard any of it.

A couple pictures of the view from outside our room.

We did not have time to unpack. If you remember my issues on my PTR regarding our dinner ADR at Ohana, you will know that we anticipated being short on time. We had ONE hour until our ADR. Will we make it? Remember, I was told by multiple people on DIS that 90 minutes would be cutting it really close and that we should just cancel it.

Next Chapter:

Ohana

 

[Joyciemc]

I hope you made it to Ohana!

Glad your flight was mostly smooth, but too bad you couldn't get some sleep.

I missed Pop Century a lot on my trip- I hope you had a good stay there!

 

[Simba22]

yay! i love arrival day! I'm hoping to be able to take advantage of online check-in this year. The site was down when I tried to do it last year and then I forgot about it. We ended up in the 80s section, but even if I thought about asking for a different building, I don't think our CM would have been able to handle it, if you know what I mean

 

[tankgirl427]

You were across from me! Well sort of, we were in 5437. So the next building over, one floor up and facing the 70s. I really wanted to face the lake.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Yay! you guys made it there safely! I can't wait to hear about 'Ohana, as it was one of our best experiences during this trip. I hope you guys at least made it there!

 

[KatMark]

Okay, I'm all caught up. Your girls are very pretty. I'm so sorry about the cats...that had to be awful and I would be "getting rid of them myself" at that point.

Glad to hear that you arrived safely (wonder why all the drama landing?). Can't wait to see if you made it to Ohana on time.

 

[Madformickey]

We were close as well
3402 facing the pool. Little noisy, but not toobad

But it sure was HOT

 

[annmarieda]

You were across from me! Well sort of, we were in 5437. So the next building over, one floor up and facing the 70s. I really wanted to face the lake.

I was surprised by how close that really was to the main building. I am glad we switched though, I think the 90's section would have been a bit far...but I don't know for sure since we never made it over there.

Okay, I'm all caught up. Your girls are very pretty. I'm so sorry about the cats...that had to be awful and I would be "getting rid of them myself" at that point.

Glad to hear that you arrived safely (wonder why all the drama landing?). Can't wait to see if you made it to Ohana on time.

Thank you for the nice compliment regarding my girls. I am not sure why the descent was so strange. I wonder if there was cloud cover. All I do know is it was enough to turn me green.

We were close as well
3402 facing the pool. Little noisy, but not too bad

But it sure was HOT

yes, HOT. So I bet I had to walk by your room (at ground level) every day to get to the elevators?

 

[annmarieda]

I know you are all wondering, did we or did we not make it to our first ADR. After all, we didn't have a lot of time to get from Pop to the Polynesian for our ADR.

I think that there was definitely some Disney Magic going on. I wrote in my journal that we had about an hour to get to our ADR. I also then wrote that we arrived at the Polynesian at 8pm. I can't imagine how that could be accurate. That would mean it took us somewhere around a half an hour to get from Pop to the Polynesian. I must say based on all of our other travels this trip...that can not be right. Yet, it must be since I remember sitting on DME and realizing we had 2 hours till our ADR.

So after getting to our room we rushed to get cleaned up and on our way to Magic Kingdom. Once there we realized that we did not have enough time to venture into the park. (so we wasted the extra day park ticket) Since we were not going to go into the park, it did mean that we no longer had to rush so much. So we decided to take the bus across the lake instead of the monorail.

Here is the girls waiting for the boat to load.

The boat ride over was nice. The sun had just begun to set and it was peaceful. I was able to get a shot of the CR as we headed toward the GF.

Once we got to the Polynesian we checked in for our ADR. (YAY, we made it). Since we still had some time we decided to check out the gift shop as well as some of the resort.

Zoe admiring one of the tikis?

Mom and Zoe. This is a good shot of my mother's purse. I hated this thing. Furry animal looking item. I can not tell you how many times this thing became a conversation piece.

It finally became time for our dinner. We were all pretty hungry from the long day. We had not ate much knowing that we would be eating at Ohana. (or at least hoping to)

Here are some pics from dinner.
Chicken wing, potsticker and the amazing salad. I followed a tip and put the peanut sauce on the salad. YUM!

Broccoli salad

Noodles

Zoe eating some broccoli. I know she shouldn't have been eating with her hands, but I just thought she was so darn cute!

The meat

Dessert This was the BEST!

Throughout dinner, Zoe and even my mother participated in activities such as coconut races and the limbo. It was fun. Too bad the only pictures I got of the activities were less than great.

Another thing I may have forgot to mention was that we were celebrating my mother"s birthday on this trip. With a birthday wish and a special cupcake, she blew out some candles.

This overall was one of my favorite meals. It was a bit on the sweet side, but it was such a neat experience. I would definitely come back here!

Question for you all...should I resize these pics? They seem a bit too big.

Next Chapter:

Finishing up 9/1

 

[chunkymonkey]

Soo glad you guys made it! the boat ride looked really relaxing, we didn't take the boat this year. I agree the sauces they use on everything was a tad too sweet. Food-wise, we liked it, with the appetizers, shrimp, and dessert being the winners. That dessert was probably the best we had during this trip. And the ice cream ball on top of it was huge! I loved the whole ambiance, and everyone looked like they were having a lot of fun, regardless if they were a family of 12 or a just a couple, like us.

Happy birthday to mommy! It looked like she had a great time!

I think the pic size is good. I thought mine were too big too, but I think peoople here seem to like larger pictures more. LOL. Also everyone's computer is different, my pictures appear smaller on my home PC than it does on my work PC so it really depends on your settings. I say the size is fine!

 

[KatMark]

So glad that you made it to Ohana on time and had a little extra time to look in the shops, etc. Your mom's purse is certainly a "conversation piece." We've never done Ohana and it looks really good. Love all the candles in the cupcake.

Your picture size is just fine.

 

[annmarieda]

After being completely stuffed at Ohana, we decided to ride the monorail back to Magic Kingdom and from there catch a bus back to Pop. It was fairly late, after all our Ohana reservation was for 8:40. We were all pretty tired so we were all eager to get back to the hotel to get some sleep.

The bus ride was one of our uneventful ones. Once back I had to swing through luggage services to pick up the fridge from the swap I was participating in. It was just a hair past 11pm. I remember thinking "oh no, luggage services closes at 11pm". Luckily, there was still someone there. The person found the fridge without any trouble and told me it would be delivered to the room.

I returned to the room where the unpacking process was underway. I barely started in on my unpacking when the fridge was delivered. The cm that brought the fridge "set it up". I tipped him and he was on his way. Once he left I noticed that there was no way to plug it in where he placed it. It was fairly light so I just moved it to a better spot. I then checked out the rest of what was in the box. Finally, I sent a text message to the moderator of the swap to let her know it arrived safe and sound. Meanwhile, the unpacking continued.

It was during the unpacking that we had our first injury. (luckily this was the ONLY injury this trip) I had placed a shoe holder next to the sink. I was down low next to the sink straightening the bottom pouches when I came up too close to the edge of the counter. SMACK! I hit the side of my face near my eye. It did not require stitches. (thankfully) It did swell a bit and in one of the pictures that Kira took of me, you can see a slight bruising. Course with all my freckles you really can't tell unless you are looking for it. (thankfully)

Finally it was time to shower and go to sleep. Surprisingly, I was exhausted.

Next Chapter:

We finally get to go to a Park!

 

[tinacaplan]

Yay for making it to Ohana. The more I read the more I want to go and take Max. I think he's going to love it there.

Your daughters are beautiful. And who cares that your youngest daughter ate with her hands? I'd be thrilled if I could just get Max to eat at all these days!

 

[annmarieda]

After all the preparation and planning for this trip, it was finally time to go to a park. I had made our plans with ridemax. This was the only day we were going to get to go to DHS, so I knew it would be a busy day. We were up by 7am to attempt rope drop at 9am on 9/2.

Among the many plans I made, were plans on how I would do Zoe's hair each day. I had found a wonderful site that showed a number of "princess" styles. Since I was quite excited at this point, the first thing I did (after Zoe got dressed) was to do her hair. This was the only time in the trip I took the time, sadly...the plan to do her hair daily is one plan that got tossed out.

Here is how it turned out.

Once we were all ready, we got on a bus. It was not overly crowded, but people did have to stand. It was a short bus ride to DHS. (the shortest of any of the routes) We were there in no time. YAY! We were in a park! Admittedly, it was kinda a strange park to start with. I think MK would have been better, however the only day for Fantasmic was this day..so we went with it.

Once inside the park, we needed to get those sought after fast passes for TSM. So Kira was given all of our tickets and she went to the front of the crowd near the rope.

Meanwhile, I decided to search for a stroller. (remember I had left ours at home) I was debating renting vs. buying. When I found out that it was $15 a day to rent or $50 and some change to buy...it was a no brainer. The cm who sold me the stroller set it up for me and away we went. (this is an important fact to remember for a later chapter) We actually were done in enough time to still make rope drop.

While Kira made her way to TSM; Mom, Zoe and I walked to Star Tours. There was no line at all. I was glad to get one more ride on this before they refurbish it. After riding, I can see why it is getting the update! Still, it was fun. Mom tolerated it well too. After Star Tours, Kira found us.

Next thing on the itinerary was the Great Movie Ride. At this point we are staying pretty close to the ridemax schedule and are seeing the expected wait times it forecast. (yay!) We got right on this ride and already appreciated the cooler air. (it was only 9:30am and getting hot!!!)

Once out of the Great Movie Ride, we were definitely hit with the heat. Mom was starting to slow. At this point she was still holding to her "I don't sweat, and I don't need sunscreen" I think that attitude quickly began to change from this point on. She was really slowing down and the park had only been open an hour. I was seriously concerned.

Next on our list to do was the Back Lot Tour. This has been closed the last two times we have been to WDW. I was looking forward to going on this again. Mom wanted to leave the park. I felt so bad for her. She really seemed to be struggling.

Next chapter:

Will She Stay or Will She Go?

 

[tankgirl427]

That was the day we went to see Fantasmic! We landed that morning and got into DHS around 4 ish?

 

[chunkymonkey]

Zoe's looks sooo cute! She must have loved her hair, it looked like she did. It's kind of like a BBB home salon! But yeah, that must have been a lot of work to do just that 1 style, I can't imagine doing it every day. But at least you got some nice pics of her updo!

Wow 50 bucks for a stroller to purchase? You mean you get to take it home? What kind of stroller is it? That's a great deal, and much better than renting!

Looks like a nice start to your day! Poor Mom, I guess she was feeling the effects of the heat and all the walking around. I do hope she makes it to Fantasmic though.

 

[annmarieda]

That was the day we went to see Fantasmic! We landed that morning and got into DHS around 4 ish?

That crowd for Fantasmic was crazy, wasn't it?

Zoe's looks sooo cute! She must have loved her hair, it looked like she did. It's kind of like a BBB home salon! But yeah, that must have been a lot of work to do just that 1 style, I can't imagine doing it every day. But at least you got some nice pics of her updo!

Wow 50 bucks for a stroller to purchase? You mean you get to take it home? What kind of stroller is it? That's a great deal, and much better than renting!

Looks like a nice start to your day! Poor Mom, I guess she was feeling the effects of the heat and all the walking around. I do hope she makes it to Fantasmic though.

That was the idea, to do some updos..and skip the BBB. The one I did was actually one of the easier ones. Just a pony rolled up around a ribbon and then tied.

Yeah...the stroller was a heck of a deal I thought. It is not a horrid stroller...but not as good as my Maclaren. I think it is a Kolcraft. It was a tad small for Zoe. If she fell asleep...her head was not supported right. The Maclaren is meant for preschoolers so it fits her a tad better. Course, she has done some growing just since the February trip...

It was a nice start to the day. I will post the next update later today when I get home from work...

 

[KatMark]

I am glad you didn't need stitches.

I love Zoe's hair...great job.

We are leaving for our trip tomorrow, but I will catch up when we return (it may take a day or two, but I'll be back).