The "We have one whole year to wait" Now a Trip Report

[tiggerbell]

I'm IN! I loved the looks on the kids' faces when they were opening the gifts - isn't it amazing how things just go right over their heads and then BAMM - they get it?!?

 

[Laura.bora]

OK! We are up to Day 2 in Disney World!

Our goal this morning was ropedrop at the Magic Kingdom, but our box not arriving yet had put a little kink in our plans. Our box had the all important breakfast cereal. Good news is that we had found our box! It just wasn't at the Wilderness Lodge like it was supposed to be.... Anyway, the front desk told us they'd have it delivered when we came back to the hotel in the afternoon. So after we were all dressed, we headed downstairs to our first meal at the roaring forks. We made it downstairs by 7:45 and were eating by 8:00. We ate outside which was very nice....except for the birds. They were a little pushy when it came to the food. Nathaniel left the table for a minute for one thing or another and suddenly there was a black bird munching on Nathaniel's pancakes! Ephraim was thrilled with the ducks. He kept giggling at them and reaching for them. They of course kept coming over thinking that he had food for them.

We made it to the boat dock about 8:40 and knew we weren't making ropedrop. We decided we needed to leave earlier next time. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom a little after 9 and went straight to Fantasyland. We were at Dumbo at 9:17, and already the line was too long for my liking. We decided since we had rode it yesterday, we would skip it this morning. I was glad we rode it yesterday! Ephraim had fallen asleep on our trip down main street so Ken stayed with Ephraim while I took Nathaniel and Ainsley on my favorite ride - Winnie the Pooh! Then I let Ken have a turn riding Peter Pan with the kids while I stayed with Ephraim.

This wound up being Nathaniel's favorite ride in the Magic Kingdom. He came off BEGGING me to ride it with him. I told him we could ride it together later. We headed over to Snow White's Scary Adventure which had a 0 minute wait. I had never seen a sign say that before.

We each took a turn riding that ride with the kids since it was literally no wait. I think we may have been one of the only ones on! This was Ainsley's favorite ride hands down. And our hidden mickey hunters discovered hidden mickey's in the witches eyeballs. There are hidden Mickey's EVERYWHERE! We decided to skip "Lala's Horse" because it was getting late, and we had rode it yesterday (and I was still sore from my encounter with them yesterday!) There was no wait for it's a small world so Ken took the kids on It's a Small World while I went into Pinnochio's Village Hause to wait for them. It was getting hot outside and it was air conditioned! Plus I remembered from the DisBoards that there was a gigantic window so you could watch parts of It's a Small World.

I wandered around inside and admired all the beautiful murals and thought of my Pop Pop (his favorite Disney movie is Pinnochio).

When Ephraim woke up, we sat by the window and watched the boats go by.

 

[Laura.bora]

We waited until I saw Ken and the kids leave the boat, and then I went out into the heat to meet them. The 15 minute AC break was just the pick me up that I needed. We decided that it was time to head over to Frontierland. We ran over to the WDWRR and just caught the train! Woo hoo! Don't have to stand there for 10 minutes waiting!

Originally I was going to grab a FP for BTMRR and ride Splash, but Splash was shut down, so I grabbed a FP for Splash and told Ken if he wanted to, he could take a ride on the railroad with the kids and we'd meet him under the umbrella by hte railroad afterwards. Then Nathaniel and I took off for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was about 11:10 at this point. Nathaniel of course LOVED it! We got off and headed back to teh train station. I didn't see Ken so we took a bathroom break. Still no Ken.... I notice Goofy was nearby so we stood online and met Goofy. Nathaniel and I get our picture taken with Goofy because there was a photopass photographer there! We got our use of the Photopass guys! We come back....Still no Ken.....At this point I noticed 2 trains had gone by so I figured he'd be on the next train. Under the train Depot is a playground. So I sat in the shade while Nathaniel played. The train came....and still no Ken... Now I'm starting to get worried. How in the world am I supposed to find him? He has a cell phone, but I don't. He has all my stuff, so if I leave the park without him, I can't get back in AND I can't get back into the hotel room! What if Ephraim's getting hungry? It's getting closer and closer to our Liberty Tree Tavern lunch. I know they won't let us check in without our whole party. I think, "maybe he's waiting by the enterance to Big thunder Mountain?" I go over and look - no luck. I check near the exit. No luck....I better just wait by where we said we'd meet. Maybe he needed to change a diaper or something. I asked someone what time it was and it was 11:35! Ok, WHERE WAS KEN!??! We start wandering around looking for him. We stop to say hi to Jesse (no autograph or picture because Ken has everything!) and still no Ken....We go over and check Big Thunder again - no Ken. I check down by the Tom sawyer docks - no Ken! As we are coming up from the docks I hear my name - THERE HE IS! He didn't listen to the plan and waited for me at the exit instead. He figured he had time to run the kids to the bathroom, so while he was in there, Nathaniel and I finsihed the ride. The one time I looked over there, he was out searching for me......This is why we STICK TO THE PLAN! After a pact to stick to the plan and be VERY clear as where to meet each time we split up we RUN to Liberty Tree Tavern. It's 11:45 and we needed to be there at 11:40. On our way there, a cast member stops us and starts to talk to Ainsley. She asks if she likes Tinker Bell, which of course - She does! And then she hands her a Tinker Bell pin! Ainsley is thrilled and Nathaniel is jealous. We tell him if he can't be happy that his sister was blessed with a pin, then we could take him home to sulk in the corner of the hotel room. Since he knows we don't threaten, that was the end of him being jealous! We made it to Liberty Tree Tavern where we met another Ainsley with another Tinkerbell pin! Ainsley isn't exactly a name you hear often, so when my Ainsley introduced herself to this little girl and she said "That's my name too!" I gave her mom the look of "I think your kid is confused!" but no! There was another blond haired tinkerbell pin wearing Ainsley in Liberty Tree Tavern.

Liberty Tree Tavern lunch was GREAT! It's on our "places to go to again" list. I had the thanksgiving meal. Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, cranberries mmmmmmmmmm. It was GOOD! Turkey was moist, Stuffing was of the stove top kind (which I love), mashed potatoes were out of this world, what I had of the green beans were delicious, but Ainsley kept swiping them. Ken had the tri corner sandwhich which he liked, but wasn;t his favorite. I had a toffee cake for dessert and Ken had a cinnamon apple thing both which were delicious! I loved this place and can't wait to go back!

It was getting late so we decided to end our morning with Mickey's Philharmagic. The kids were chosen during the pre-show to play the music. Ainsley was very happy. Nathaniel was not because the CM picked one too many kids and Nathaniel didn’t have an instrument.

This was the first 3-d movie for the kids ever. Ainsley was so funny to watch during this. She could not grasp the concept that the stuff in front of her was only part of the movie. When tinkerbell would fly by, she would reach out to catch her. When things popped at her, she would fling herself backwards so she wouldn't get hit. It was more fun to watch her than the movie!

 

[Laura.bora]

We headed back to the hotel and Woo Hoo! Our box is delivered! We start unpacking all the things I packed. The pins I thought I forgot to pack for Nathaniel - turns out I packed them! Same with the swimmies! Nathaniel then noticed 2 letters waiting on the floor...who could that be from?? Turns out one was from Mickey Mouse himself inviting us to Chef Mickeys, and another inviting us to Cirque du soliel! After a small nap, we went down to the pool to swim for about an hour. Ainsley had no sooner put her pinkie toe into the water before she looked at me and said the dreaded words "I have to poop!" I shooed her out of the water and Ken took her to the bathroom....after about 15 minutes, I wondered what was taking them so long...then he returned not so happy...turns out something did not agree with Ainsley's stomach and she had not made it to the bathroom!! I was so happy that I didn't volunteer to take her! So ken had to take her up to the hotel room to wash the 2 of them up. When he came back, I asked him if he put sunscreen on Ephraim, which he had forgotten and guess what we forgot in the room - that's right - the sunscreen! Because my husband is wonderful, he took Ephraim up to sunscreen him up and I got to hang out in the pool with the kids. So While I got a nice long hour in the pool, poor Ken only got 30 minutes. At 4 we headed upstairs to shower and get dressed for the evening. We were still full from lunch, so we headed to MK earlier than we had planned for the evening. We figured we would eat when we got hungry. We made it to the boat dock by 6.

While we were waiting on the boat dock, it started to get colder out, and a good breeze started up. We thought for sure we were going to be hit with thunderstorms, but the weather held and it made for a beautiful night in the Magic Kingdom. We stopped at the train station to grab a family photo.

 

[Laura.bora]

We had made it into the park in time to watch the Dream along with Mickey Show. The kids were hooked and loved every minute of it!

 

[Laura.bora]

We hit It's a Small World at 7:00 because I wanted Ephraim to see it. I figured he would like it. I was right. He didn't move a muscle the entire 15minutes. If I had to guess which was his favorite ride, I'd guess it was It's a small world.

We then went on Peter Pan's Flight again because Nathaniel wanted to go on with me. It was now 7:20 and we decided to go get a spot for the firework show and a bite to eat. On TOur Guide Mike, he suggests different places to watch Wishes from, so we went to one of his spots. I see the cutout he's talking about, I see Tink's wire, I see the castle....this must be the spot.....only there is a big oak tree in the way....

I ask Ken if he wants to try and find a different spot, but Ken insists that Mike hasn't steered us wrong yet, let's not deviate from the plan. I leave everyone there and run to Main Street Bakery to get dessert for dinner. I've been dying for those Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches I had heard about. 2 warm Tollhouse Cookies with ice cream in the middle...Mmmm. I grabbed 2 for all of us to share. Bad move. We were a MESS by the end of Wishes! But boy were they good! Anyway, I get back, and Wishes starts. We have a clear view of Tink flying by and then we see....the leaves. The kids had a better view than we did, but we saw a tree the entire time. After Wishes, we walked down a little bit towards Fantasyland to shop while the crowds left. As we walked, we suddenly see a SECOND cutout with a CLEAR view of the castle and tink! Oops! Ok, turns out Mike didn't steer us wrong! We weren't in the right spot!

We made it to the Pooh store where we met Beth from Scotland and Jessie from San Fransico. We talked a lot, and Nathaniel did a little shopping for his friends. Beth gave Ainsley a glass slipper and Nathaniel a little frog. The kids were so happy. By now it was 9:30. We thought it was odd that the park was still open even thought it wasn't supposed to be. Turns out that the park was opened to a few people who won with the dream team. They weren't kicking us out, so we stayed and took in the sites of an empty park lit up. It was beautiful. As we got to the castle, I decided I'd take a picture with our Nikon.

I reached into the stroller where I had left it and it wasn't there!!! I knew it was there when we went into the Pooh store! Where was it! We search the stroller, and can't find it anywhere! Ken heads back to the Pooh store and hope we left it there, but we think maybe someone swiped it. I start thinking that we were the ONLY ones in the store, and I know I had it when we went into the store, so I search a little more carefully in the stroller and I find it! Phew! We strolled around enjoying the scenery.

Nathaniel noticed hidden Mickey’s in Cinderella’s Castle.

We made it down to the MK boat dock just in time to see the Electric Water Pagent float by.

We really had the Perfect End to an almost PErfect day in the Magic Kingdom!

And by the way – if ever you doubt Mike and his wonderful Red/Yellow/Green days then check out this picture of a “Green Day” according to Mike. Keep it in mind, because I’ll show you a “Yellow Day” later on. After experiencing the yellow day, we decided not to try the “red days!”

 

[cjackearl]

Yea updates!! Everyone looks adorable in their matching outfits. So glad your camera turned up So glad TGM was spot on. I subscribed and then second guessed the money spent. I'll definitely pay attention to his advice LTT looks yummy. Were there characters? I "only" have 2 more months until I can make ADRs, but I have WAY too many restaraunts on my list now.

 

[Laura.bora]

Hey Christine - I cannot tell you what a HUGE difference Tour Guide Mike made in our vacation! His information was always right on! When we had a bad time, it was because we deviated from the plan! Follow his advice and go to the forums to have people double check your iteneraries and you'll be set. (and don't deviate from the plan!) Look for me over on TGM too - I'm Laurabora over there. I have my TR over there too, in a little more detail if you want to go look.

 

[Laura.bora]

Ok - so here are the videos from Day 2 that I finally downloaded! WE told him about Chef Mickey's first, but I wasn't quick enough on my feet to record it. Then we told him about ..... I mean MICKEY ...told him about Cirque.



And here is the Dreams Come True Stage Show....sighhhh I want to go back NOW!

 

[cjackearl]

Yea, you're back!! Nathan's got your number. Cinderella IS inviting them to the castle, right? And, he's 6? Wow, his reading is really fantastic! Good job, teacher mom! Loved the video of the Dreams Come True show. I can't wait to see it in person.

 

[Laura.bora]

Yup! I'm back! It's fall, so therefore Fall Harvest is upon us! I've been spending my days harvesting the garden, canning, picking apples, will be making applesauce and pie filling soon - so things have been a bit busy! And I've been succsesfully keeping up with homeschooling and cleaning the house all at the same time....Jesus is awesome, because I could not be doing this all on my own! (HE both strengthens me to accompish these things AND gave me an awesome family who is always more than ready to help out!)

Nathaniel is really bright - especially when it comes to reading. You can't get the boy to put a book down! He's reading at around a 4th - 5th grade reading level, but that has NOTHING to do with me!

Funny story I'll share with all of you - We're in the middle of reading "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder and we get to a part of the book where Pa and Ma snap at each other, and then Ma apologizes for her behavior. Today when Ken came home, Ephraims screaming, the kitchen is a tomato mess which I cannot/refuse to clean up because of the very large brown and yellow spider who has made his home in my tomato box , trying to get dinner ready around the tomato mess/scary man eating spider - needless to say - stressful. I was asking Ken a question and repeated myself a few times and he kept getting distracted and therefore not answering me. I became frustrated and snapped. He told me he understood I was frustruated, but not to take it out on him. I became stubborn and refuse to appologize. When what do I hear from behind me but "Mama....do you remember what we learned from Little House today?" Ut ohhh - caught red handed by the 6 year old!So of course, I started laughing and apologized. At least I know he's paying attention!

 

[Laura.bora]

Oh and by the way - the Dreams Come True Show was awesome! It made it seem even more real when Mickey and everyone can blink their eyes and move their mouths.

 

[Laura.bora]

Are you ready???

Day 3 in the world

So here we are on day 3 of our vacation. We slept in until 8 (doesn’t sound like sleeping in, but we had been up around 5 or 6 the past 2 days, so 8 was late!) We had breakfast in the room which was so nice.

Because the Dining Plan gave you soooo much food, instead of getting 2 adult sodas which is included in the plan, we would usually get one soda for everyone to share at dinner, and then a chocolate soy milk for the kids to split at breakfast. It worked out well for us.
The kids worked a little bit on their journals before we started our day. Nathaniel made a mistake in his journal which made his mood turn 180. Suddenly he was complaining that he wasn’t very good at writing since he had made one mistake and just in general being really hard on himself. We told him no one’s perfect except Jesus, and it’s OK to make mistakes. That’s how we learn. Ken had noticed that they were giving a tour of the Wilderness Lodge, so he and Ainsley went at 10 to take the tour while Nathaniel, Ephraim and I did the laundry (somehow this doesn’t seem fair… well I guess after yesterday’s poop incident, he deserves a break!) We wandered around the mercantile and lobby waiting for the laundry to finish and then we met up with Ken and Ainsley by Roaring Forks (the counter service place). We went up to the room to get ready because we had our Photo Shoot at the Grand Floridian at noon followed by Chef Mickey’s!
When we were closer to being ready, I sent Ken down to get our clothes from the dryer. He came back up with barely damp clothes, but we couldn’t wait any longer for them to dry or we would be late. And here is where Nathaniel has a MELTDOWN! He begins sobbing hysterically over the thought that he would need to wear barely damp shorts. So we pray with him and explain to him that this behavior is not going to fly, that the pants are not that damp, and they’ll be dry in a few minutes once we step outside. We also explain that it’s important to us that he put on the shorts and continue the day with a joyous attitude – even though he was upset. So off we go, with Nathaniel trying his very hardest to be joyous, and he did a pretty good job. I could tell he was still close to tears, but no one else would be able to figure that out.
We made it to the boat stop and just missed the boat! At this point we realized we were going to be late…..I was hoping they would still take us in and that we’d make it to Chef Mickey’s on time! We made it on a boat, got to the Magic Kingdom…..and was forced to wait 5 minutes for the other boats to leave the docks! All the while we get to watch the big clock on Town Hall click the minutes by. Finally at 5 after 12 we get off the boat….and now we need to make it to the Grand Floridian….We can see it from where we are standing if only we can get there quick! WE contemplate which to use – Monorail or Boat. We finally decide Boat will be quicker because GF is the last stop on the Monorail. So we sit down on the boat stop and…..we wait. And we wait….. and we wait some more. We contemplated swimming across the lake – we thought it would be quicker – but FINALLY the boat came and we made it to our photo shoot! Evelyn was our photographer and she was great. She really paid attention to detail, was great with the kids, jumped on opportunities she saw for great improve photos. We were very pleased with her. And the photos came out great. We did have the squinting problem that I had read about on the Dis, but I’d rather have some squinty pictures and a relaxing morning. It was during the photoshoot that Nathaniel’s heart did a 180, and he was finally joyous inside and out! And after seeing the Grand Floridian, I don’t think I’d like to stay there. Sure, it was nice, it was big, grounds were beautiful, but it just wasn’t the Wilderness Lodge! Evelyn told us to come back for our CD of photos, and to head to Chef Mickey’s first so we wouldn’t be late. (you’ll need to wait on the photo shoot photos – It won’t be long!)
We miss the monorail by seconds (this seems to be the theme for the day) and are forced to wait. And then I remember something I learned from the Dis! I go up to the Monorail attendant and ask if we can sit up front with the driver in the monorail. No one has asked yet (of course not – we were the first ones here!) so as long as no one is sitting there, we can ride! I knew that it was a 4 person capacity up front, and I hoped they would let us all ride since Ephraim was a baby. Stan did let us ride up front, but warned us that all of us riding up front might not always be allowed, it would depend on the driver. The kids LOVE it, and Stan, our driver was nice.

The kids got there monorail drivers license, we gave Stan a great big thank you

and off we went to CHEF MICKEY’S - Our very first meal with the characters! While we were on the monorail, I suddenly realized that I forgot the autograph books in the hotel room!! I was miffed at myself! Our first time with characters and I didn’t bring the autograph books!

 

[Laura.bora]

Chef Mickey’s was a lot of fun. It was nice to get so much character interaction without standing on a long line (not that we ever did that thanks to TGM – but theoretically, we could have been standing on long long lines without TGM!) The food at CM was great – we really enjoyed our meal. The kids thought the build your own sundae bar was great (as did I!) And Nathaniel was THRILLED that Ken found hidden Mickey’s in the pasta!

The first two characters to come around were Goofy and Pluto. Ephraim was TERRIFIED! HE was fine at a distance, but if they came up close, he was screaming and trying to claw his way out of the seat to get to me. And the characters would cover their eyes like maybe that would help!

Ainsley was also not too happy. She wanted NOTHING to do with Goofy or Pluto.

I was thinking “Great – I really SHOULD have rethought all those character meals I booked!” But then Mickey made his way over and won my daughters heart. She looked at him a little weird, I thought we were about to lose her, and suddenly she flings herself into his arms with a great big “MICKEY!”

Oh yeah – the tears were flowing!

 

[Laura.bora]

Minnie comes over and Ainsley loves her too

– but clearly it is Donald who is the favorite!

Donald is who she kept yelling to and who she was most affectionate towards. We have a Donald fan!

We had a great time with the singing and napkin twirling too.

Chef Mickey’s will be on our visit again list!

 

[Laura.bora]

We ran back to GF to get our pictures and then to WL. I had a migraine brewing and did NOT want one during Cirque! We grabbed a little money and a lot of Excedrin migraine and off we went! Nathaniel was bubbling with excitement the entire time. He was SOOOO excited as was I! Ken was not. HE was still convinced he was going to be bored out of his mind and made no bones about the fact that he was doing this to bless me and nothing more. I was not to be upset when he didn’t like it.
We left the Wilderness Lodge at 4:30 and didn’t make it down to Down Town Disney until 5:15! IT took FOREVER! Everything I had read about the DTD busses not running as well as the other busses was right!

I remembered from the Disboards that there was a boat and bus that took you from one side of DTD to the other – but I wasn’t really sure where those were and how long it took, so we hoofed it! We made it to Cirque with SECONDS to spare, but we did make it!

After we arrived, I almost wished we had been late! The late comers become part of the show. Some were even pulled onstage to be stared at for being late. It was hilarious! We bought some popcorn and soda in a souvenir bucket and cup. The theatre became dark, the show starts and CRASH went our cup of soda. Some older lady was having trouble seeing so she held onto the railing and over went our cup. Cracked and all. I was really annoyed at myself because 2 seconds before when I saw her edging her way along the railing I thought “hmm I should really move that cup….nah -It’ll be fine.” And then crash – no more soda to go with the heart stopping pop corn, and no more souvenir cup because it’s smashed. Grrrrr. After a few deep breaths I was able to let it go and enjoy myself. If ever you have the chance to see Cirque in person – DO IT! It was AMAZING! I love watching it on TV, but this was nothing like TV, this was just amazing. Ainsley and Ephraim were asleep within a few minutes – confirmed my decision not to buy Ainsley a seat! I would not have been happy if we paid for her to go and then she slept the entire time! Nathaniel on the other hand was glued! He loved every minute of it. We had awesome seats! We were front row of balcony 2 – section 202 I think. It was amazing! The preshow went marching/dancing/flipping/riding past us and lots of character interaction at that point. Ainsley was awake and yelling and waving during this part. In case you’ve never seen it – this was the finale of La Nouba.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7tfyVbyD08&feature=related
It was just Amazing! And our favorite act – the little girls doing the Chinese yo yos – These little girls couldn’t have been much older than Nathaniel. We were spellbound watching them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h22o6cDMH3g
I have nothing but praise for this show! If you can visit it – I suggest you do! The show was over, and Ken leans over and whispers “I think that was the best $80 I’ve spent in my entire life!” I was so happy he enjoyed it!!!

After the show, we wandered around DTD for a little while.

We visited the Lego Store and thought of our friend Josh (my sister’s boyfriend). I can’t imagine the amount of lego’s they used to build the statues! They were cool!

We visited the World of Disney Store.

Nathaniel bought a Leo (from Little Einsteins) doll. I really wish we had more time to wander around DTD and shop more. But it was late and time to head home. We’ll have to plan for more time there next time! I wanted to go to Earl of Sandwich, but Ken and the kids weren’t hungry. So home we went. Of course, as soon as we were home, everyone decided that they were indeed hungry! So we went to Roaring Forks and picked up a pizza meal and a chicken nuggets meal and we all split it. Ainsley had a PB and J from stuff we had in the room. We wound up not getting to bed until about 11:30! That was NOT going to make rope drop at Animal Kingdom tomorrow fun!
All in all, we had a GREAT day, but next time, we’ll make sure it’s more restful. We’ll stick to just 1 outing on a rest day instead of 3!

 

[Laura.bora]

Ok, so here are our Photo shoot pictures!

One of our favorites

Hope you all enjoyed the tons of pictures!!!

 

[cjackearl]

Um, I'm not sure how I missed the Photo Shoot pics before, except that I may have gotten frustrated by the snails pace of my computer and gave up. Anyway, they are GORGEOUS!! The clothes picks were great and everyone looks beautiful. Is that the Grand Floridian? We're definitely buying the photo pass CD ahead of time and think I may try to set up a photo shoot. Hope all is well at your house. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[Laura.bora]

WEll, Christine - you are not the only one annoyed by a crazy slow computer. In fact as I write this, nothing has shown up in teh box yet. still empty space.... and still... empty...space...ahh here we go. Words finally! Sorry I seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. Just been busy. But man oh man has Disney fever hit again! I got a pin code today in my email - free dining from April until June if I stay at a value. And then there is the buy 4 nights at Disney get 3 nights free with a $200 gift card. MAn oh man do I want to go back. You think it's bad when faced with the decision of a house of our own and Disney, I'd pick Disney?

Ok, so where did I leave off? I believe we are up to day 4 - our first visit to Animal Kindom!

Well, TGM has a "secret entrance" which we could not find AT ALL! search and search as we might, we finally gave up and joined the "them".

We waited patiently in line waiting for them to let us in.

Because we weren't at the front of the turnstyles, we were far back for ropedrop.

But with the help of shoulders and benches, the kids made out all right!

This was my second favorite park opening (after MK, but at this point I hadn't had the pleasure of the good morning somg at MK)The kids loved having to "help" open the park, and the characters coming out. I'm glad I found TGM because I would have missed this otherwise - we are not normally morning people, but Disney did something that made me wide awake every morning!

We split up first thing that morning. Ken took all the kids to Dinoland USA to ride triceratop spin until I made it back from grabbing Fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris. There was so much ambience in this park - I loved it! As we were all walking quickly to wherever all of us were headed, they had a few people making music to the beat of our walking.

The Tree of Life was quite beautiful!

I grabbed my FP's and decided to go through Asia to get to Dinoland USA and I was glad I did! It was EMPTY! I got some great pictures and it was nice to feel like I was literally the only one in the park!! It was so quiet and peaceful and a great way to start the day!

It wasn't long before I found my family on the Triceratops Spin. I asked the kids how many times did they get to ride. Nathaniel replied they were about to get on their second ride. Oh, Ken what did you do?? How did you only get in 2 rides? And then Ken explained how. Apparently, Nathaniel's idea of "times to ride" was you needed to exit the ride. They rode 3 times, but never needed to leave the dinosaur. When I came it was their 4th time, or according to Nathaniel, the second.

Here are some views from our ride on Triceratop Spin:

We rode one ride together and then Ken left to go ride Dinosaur. I told him we'd meet up at the boneyard. The boneyard was cool! I think of all the playground areas in the world, this one was my favorite. It had great areas for the parents to sit (which I did and nursed Ephraim to sleep) and watch the kids play. I instructed Nathaniel and Ainsley to stay together at all times and to come back and visit every few minutes. It worked great. We waited and waited and waited for Ken to come back. I was getting nervous that we were going to have a repeat proformance of the other day at MK when a cast member came up to me and said "your husband is waiting across theway for you on the bench." As she follows me towards the exit, I suddenly see my husband sitting across the "street" sitting on the bench as clueless as a clam. He has no idea that we are over here which leaves me with the question "How did you know he was my husband?" "The matching shirts" oooohhhhhhhhh. Turns out they look good in pictures AND help bring families back together! I holler to Ken and the look of "Thank goodness, I didn't want a repeat proformance of the other day" creeps across his face. Great minds think alike. He came over and joined us in the boneyard. I asked him how he liked Dinosaur, and he said he liked it, but it was scary. Now I'm getting nervous. I'm trying to decide if I REALLY want to go on this or not. Ken tells me to go, that I'll like it, but it was way too scary for NAthaniel.

 

[Laura.bora]

So off I go to see Dinosaur, and some juggling act was out.

They even posed for me.

I left there and went towards Dinosaur. As I come around the corner who is there but Pluto and Goofy! So I then run like a little kid back to the boneyard to tell my kids since we haven't gotten any autographs as of yet and we remembered the autograph cards this time!

The kids are happy to go, and Ainsley even agrees to go, so long as I hold her!

And then I was off to Dinosaur. As I walked through the queue area, I thought that we needed to take Nathaniel through the queue area later, because he would love it! Dinosaur fossils everywhere, including a huge skeleton – totally up my almost 6 year old boy’s dinosaur loving alley! I rode Dinosaur and the whole time I was thinking Nathaniel would LOVE this ride. I didn’t think it would be too scary at all. I grabbed a Fastpass as I left incase Nathaniel did want to ride.

It was a little after 10 and time to head over to Kilimanjaro Safaris…..to be continued……