The Year of Disney Trips: ***Update!!!! 8/20/08****

[LurrrvtheDuck]

I hope she didn't pay for full price day tickets and just had them add onto their magic your way tickets.

She had to, we didn't have MYW tix. We had tix called 3 day play pass w/ hopper, and they used up one of their 3 days.

Great updates Z.... 2parks in 1 day and then drivng home

Yeah, it was a good idea at the time. Stay tuned to see if we make it.

one question, would u ever go back with tthe minions? I would place very strict rules if I did.

Not to Disney no. They're at that age where all they want are thrill rides and speed. Maybe Universal/IOA or Busch Gardens and yes with strict rules. Of course I'd know what to expect better, I went into this vacation blind. I feel so sorry for my kids.

WHAT?!?! No stinky arm bars?? What's up with that? Am I the only one who smells those arm bars?

Wow, the minions were a handful, no? I would have made them sit outside the entrance and wait - no new tickets for you! Bwahahaha!!!

Nope no stinky arm bars for me, but you'll get stinky arm bars in the next trip.
The Minions were beyond a handful, I wish I could've been all Park Nazi on them.

Unknown charges from the Minions!!! ohhh.... I'd have been spitting fire!! At least Bre paid for them.

Ohhh, I would have been hopping mad if I had found those extra charges. I'm glad Bree did the right think and paid for them. I hope she made the minions pay here back for those charges and the park tickets she had to buy.

I was . I stayed in the bedroom until I calmed down before I said things I would've regretted.

Relaxing by the pool sounds like my kind of day

Lemme tell you that was one of the best days even though we didn't go to any of the parks.

Sorry Z I missed the pool day sounded nice though and why on earth would anyone want to go to the gym on vacation?


Well done on the win, how much do those games cost?

It's Ok Jo, I'm still not caught up on your TR, slowly slogging my way through all my subbed reports .

Mom went to the gym because she says exercise helps with her arthritis, but we had been walking so much the past few days I didn't know why she needed it. I think she mostly went to stretch. Maybe?
The games are like $1 a person. Not bad, I was actually surprised it was that cheap in Disney.

Hi Z!!! I've got some catching up to do, but friends don't let friends sit on Page 2!!!

Hi LL!! Thanks for the bump.

 

[puggymom]

You do look good on page 2.


Here's a bump for you!

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

Thanks for the bump Mo!

And now time for an update.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Thanks for the bump Mo!

And now time for an update.

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

After our delicious refreshing ice cream we decide to hit up Dinosaur that had a short wait. Luckily the line is inside with A/C. Everyone enjoyed the ride and our EE time was coming up, but had some time to kill. First though we went off to Africa to get some FPs for Kilamanjaro Safari. We met up with this lady on our way out:

I wanted Mom & Bre to see the Lion King show, so we trekked on over there only to find out that they were having technical difficulties with the show and didn't know when it would be on again. Well that sucks.

It was time to get our ride on so Mom and Bre decided to wait for us by Dinoland as the Minions and I headed off to get our ride on. On the way over to Asia Daniel started freaking out and hyperventilating and having a panic attack on me. Why? You ask, because it was like 100 degrees that day and all he had left to wear were jeans and a heavy polo shirt. Yeah, not a good combo. I offered to give him my undershirt tank top thingy 'cause I usually wear one, but it had stretched out so much that it just did not look good, so we hit up a kiosk to find a sleeveless shirt for him to see if he could cool down some. We found him one and it helped him and I gave him the last bottled water we had brought along for the day and all was well again. He kinda freaked me out though and was so glad that crisis was averted.

We eventually made it EE and passed the ginormous standby line and were on our way to face the Yeti and once again survived, I never saw our ride pic because it disappeared to fast. On our way out I noticed the window for the KS FPs was up and I was able to get some Kali FPs.

We met up with Mom and Bre, they were watching a group/band play some and I decided to use up some more SC on water since we had run out, then decided it was time to eat. Mom, Bre, Daniel and Joey ate at Flame Tree, while Ivan and I headed on over to Restaurantosaurus a.k.a. McDonald's. It was way too hot to be eating sticky BBQ, so I went with what I knew and had yet another delicious burger from Disney's version of McD's.

After we ate we headed on over to use our KS FPs. We passed the African Band and Bre decided to participate in the show. Here she is getting her groove on, unfortunately I only got one shot in though.

Don't ask me what possessed her to start dancing because it was so freakin' hot and by dancing she just got even hotter.

We were then off to save Little Red; here are some of the safari pics:

Notice the Croc with the Lime Green dot? Wonder if he's a Focker...

Baby and Mama. Awwwww

Not Little Red

Here's another Giraffe that was very close, this is without zooming in:

As we passed, zoomed in:

We decided to walk back to Asia to use up our Kali FPs. At the last minute Daniel decided he didn't want to ride, I don't know why, he just said he didn't feel like it. So we loaded him down with all our stuff and went to cool off. Of course Mom and I got completely soaked since we were the ones fated to plunge backwards on that first slide, so we ended up in the bathrooms after the ride because Mom's pants were way too wet and I had to dry them on the hand dryers a bit for her to wear.

Everyone was pretty much tired with AK so we decided to call it a day and head on over to MGM (by the way, I think I'll always refer to Disney Studios as MGM).
One last pic of the Tree:

On our way out we happened to catch the parade and I stopped everyone to watch it because I hadn't seen it yet and really wanted to. Here are some pics from the parade:

Didn't even have to zoom in for this shot:

And of course My Main Dude:

On the way out I spotted a Photopass guy and asked him if he did the Simba pic and he said he did so I handed over my card:

Forgive my glisten, it was really really hot that day.

And with that we bid AK goodbye and headed on over to the bus stop for MGM.


Next Installment: Click Here

 

[jcc0621]

Great update Z.

What is up with the Lion King. The same thing happened to us in August, but we were able to see a later show.

Was Daniel have ing a panic attack or the beginnings of heat stroke. Glad you were able to avert crisis!

MGM - Hmmmmmm. Tot and RnR

 

[scottny]

a polo shirt and jeans love, love, love the simba pic. I hope I can get that done when I go.

I hope the kids don't have any problems when I go. great update and pics.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Yikes, I can not imagine wearing pants let alone jeans on a hot day like that. I'm glad he was able to cool down and calm down.

You are so lucky to get the Simba picture, it is adorable.

 

[Disneyolic]

I wanted Mom & Bre to see the Lion King show, so we trekked on over there only to find out that they were having technical difficulties with the show and didn't know when it would be on again. Well that sucks.

That did stink because I think that is the bestest show ever!

Notice the Croc with the Lime Green dot? Wonder if he's a Focker...

So that's where all the missing Crocs have gone to! Is there a bunch of PETA members "rescuing" these crocs?

Here's another Giraffe that was very close, this is without zooming in:

I showed this to Rob because I was impressed. He looked at it and laughed, then said, "That's because they're mechanical." Story: It's an ongoing joke because my dad and Rob's dad both thought all the animals on KS were mechanical. I had to try to prove that they weren't.

On the way out I spotted a Photopass guy and asked him if he did the Simba pic and he said he did so I handed over my card:

Forgive my glisten, it was really really hot that day.

And if he couldn't I would have been able to do it for you! Ask Jo!

 

[DisneyJo]

He kinda freaked me out though and was so glad that crisis was averted.

I'm not surprised that would have freaked me out too! Glad he was fine but WTH was he doing wearing those clothes?????

We eventually made it EE and passed the ginormous standby line

What no suckers, you disappoint me That is you that says that isn't it? I read so many TR's I'm sure I mix them all up

I decided to use up some more SC on water since we had run out, then decided it was time to eat.

Just a tip but at meals we always asked for a cup of water which was free and with the DDP got bottles of water to take with us

Notice the Croc with the Lime Green dot? Wonder if he's a Focker...

Hilarious

(by the way, I think I'll always refer to Disney Studios as MGM).

Me too Z, me too!

And if he couldn't I would have been able to do it for you! Ask Jo!

Yep you did an excellent job

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

What is up with the Lion King. The same thing happened to us in August, but we were able to see a later show.

Was Daniel have ing a panic attack or the beginnings of heat stroke. Glad you were able to avert crisis!

I dunno, but I was bummed that my Mom never got to see it.
I don't know what was happening, maybe he was getting heat stroke, but I had brought along tons of water and we were constantly hydrated. It was really weird, because he was fine and then all of a sudden he started getting hysterical and practically hyperventilating. It was really weird.

a polo shirt and jeans love, love, love the simba pic. I hope I can get that done when I go.

I hope the kids don't have any problems when I go. great update and pics.

I know apparently he didn't have anything left clothes wise.
I loved the Simba pic too , not all PP do it though.
January isn't as hot in Orlando, but just make sure to bring along some water because a lot of people have reported difficulties in finding water.

Yikes, I can not imagine wearing pants let alone jeans on a hot day like that. I'm glad he was able to cool down and calm down.

Neither could I. I felt bad for him, 'cause it was super hot.

That did stink because I think that is the bestest show ever!

I really wanted Mom to see it too. We couldn't catch any later showings though.

So that's where all the missing Crocs have gone to! Is there a bunch of PETA members "rescuing" these crocs?

And if he couldn't I would have been able to do it for you! Ask Jo!

True! I had forgotten about that!

I'm not surprised that would have freaked me out too! Glad he was fine but WTH was he doing wearing those clothes?????

He says he ran out of clothes and that's all he had left. Which is weird, because we had done laundry the night before. I warned him before leaving he was going to be hot.

What no suckers, you disappoint me That is you that says that isn't it? I read so many TR's I'm sure I mix them all up

Yes it is me. I did type it Jo, then ended up deleting it. Figured I'd give the suckers in stand-by a break this time.

Just a tip but at meals we always asked for a cup of water which was free and with the DDP got bottles of water to take with us

I figured we could've done that, but we had quite a few SC left, so I decided to use some up since the kids liked to order soda during meals.

Me too Z, me too!

Glad I'm not the only one.

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

We ended up running to the bus stop because the MGM bus had just pulled up and we barely made it. *whew* Otherwise I think we would’ve been waiting forever.

We got to MGM and I rented a locker because I was tired of lugging all our carp and the Big Blue Dino. So with all the stuff crammed into the locker we were off.

As we were walking towards Sunset Blvd. Ivan says, “Look!” and he points to the chicks from MK that our walking towards us. I said, ugh here we go again. Daniel sees them and immediately stops thinking with the head on his shoulders. He begs his mom (Bre) if he can go with them and she’s just tired of dealing with him and lets him go. Ivan wanted to go too, but Bre didn’t let him. So he immediately goes into pout mode. Great.

Our goal was to get the 2 big rides out of the way. We head to RnR to see if they have FPs, but they’re all gone. So we decide we’ll check back later to see if the wait time comes down because we're gonna have to be the suckers this time. ToT had a 20 min. wait so we head into that whilst Mom and Bre wait for us near Rosie’s Café? Anyhoo, so we make our way through the line fairly quickly and end up getting first row! Right as the ride was starting, Daniel calls me on the cell, but I have proper ride etiquette and ignore his call. After we plunged our way down and screamed our heads off I tell Ivan to call Daniel and he wanted to know where we were because the chicks had left him. Ha! Serves him right. Apparently he was in line for ToT, but we had already left.

We check RnR again, and the wait is about 30 min. We decide to just brave it, but the line is NOT moving. Ugh. I see some people head into the single rider line, so I tell the Minions to follow me and we move on through the single rider line. I explain to them how the line works and that I would go first and wait for them at the exit of the ride. They’re fine with it and we move way faster through this line than the other one. We even passed a lot of the FP people. I get sent to a car and roll away to the tunnel entrance when it happens.


Next Installment: Click Here

 

[scottny]

ok first I fell off the chair after reading one line on here.

single rider sounds good.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Daniel get ditched, too funny.

 

[scottny]

Daniel get ditched, too funny.

i missed that part. that is a little funny. not to him I am sure.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

i missed that part. that is a little funny. not to him I am sure.

Probably not, but good TR fodder for us.

 

[DisneyJo]

What happened, what happened

And so funny those girls ditched Daniel

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

All of a sudden I hear this from the car in front of me:
Little Boy screaming at the top of his lungs: “I DON’T WANNA GO!!! I DON’T WANNA GO!!!!! LET ME OUT!!!! LET ME OUT!!!! I DON’T WANNA GO!!!!

The kid was having a panic attack, the mom tried to soothe him, but he was having none of it. Then a CM came up to the car and started talking to the little boy and he calmed down a little. She asked him if he wanted to get off the ride and the little boy said yes. The CM was like “Are you sure?” willing the boy to change his mind and the little boy just shook his head. So she says, “Ok buddy we’re gonna get you off the ride.” Then she pretty much says to the parents and anyone in earshot, but still talking to the little boy, “It’ll be about 15 min.”

Then there’s an announcement: “Rock and Rollercoaster is having technical difficulties.” And the music is turned off and all the lights are turned on. Meanwhile as all this is going on the father, who is seated next to me starts saying in his Jersey accent, “Stephen what’s the big deal, it’s a roller coaster like the one you went on yesterday. Remember Everest we went on that one and you were fine. What’s wrong with you? You just did ToT and that’s way worse than this one. This one doesn’t even have any loop de loops Stephen. Why are you acting like this? Look at what you’ve done, now they have to shut down the whole ride because of you.” Over and over this went on and it was so embarrassing to hear. Meanwhile the mom is trying to find out why the little boy doesn’t want to ride and eventually tells her DH to shut up.

Then all the bars go up and everyone has to get out as well as the second coaster that had already been loaded and they direct us all to the exits.

That’s when I had a Mrs. Broflosky

moment: What?! What?! What?!

Ivan and Joey see me leaving and give me one of these and I answer with my own , and they leave the line as they were next to be loaded and walk to where I am to leave. I tell them what happened and as we walk out we can hear the little boy’s dad still carrying on. The good thing is, we got some RnR FPs.

We left RnR to look for Mom and Bre, but they were nowhere to be found. I called them and found out that they had gone to VoLM. So the Minions and I start walking to do some other attractions. We headed towards the big hat to check out TGMR, the wait said 20 min. and we waited about 5 min. then decided to get out of line because it was not moving at all. We had missed the LMA shows, which I was bummed about because I wanted to see it. So we headed on over to Star Tours and encountered what was left of that day’s Star Wars Fans since MGM was still doing the Star Wars Weekend/Week thingy. We waited in line forever in Star Tours and I had to play referee to Ivan and Joey because at this point they started a punching game and I eventually had to stand between them for them to stop. I kept on getting nasty looks from other people in line too and that was embarrassing, especially since they’re not my kids, but they did stop.

After Star Tours we headed back to Sunset Blvd and found Mom and Bre at Rosie’s again and decided to use up some CS and bought some pizza. I don’t know if we were just hungry, but that pizza tasted sooooo yummy. Awhile later Daniel arrived from wherever he was. We walked around MGM doing some shopping and I think we wandered over to watch the Muppet Show. We ended up missing the first showing of Fantasmic, which had a ginormous line. So we went back to Rosie’s and the Minions took off to ride ToT and RnR again; we waited so long that the 2nd showing of Fantasmic was about to begin so we decided to see that one instead. We tried getting some popcorn, but the guy told us that they weren’t accepting KTTW cards because their machine is down and I argued that I wanted to use my SC, so he ended giving us the popcorn for free.

Fantasmic ended and we called the Minions who were on RnR and grabbed a table and waited for them. We still had some CS credits left so I stocked up on pizza and chicken fingers for the drive home to finish off the credits. The Minions finally appeared saying they had spent the last few hours riding ToT and RnR over and over since there was hardly a wait for them. They sat down and ate since they had worked up an appetite and then we packed up all our stuff and left MGM.

We got to SSR, piled into the van and were off back home. Unfortunately I was driver and way too exhausted to drive home, Bre had knocked out since she had developed a major migraine and Mom was tired too, so we ended up finding some cheap hotel in Kissimmee and slept over. Daniel’s reaction to our $40 hotel room? Daniel: “This place sucks, it doesn’t look like the last hotel.” Me: “Well you’ve just gone from a $300 a night room to a $40 a night room, it’s not gonna be as nice.” Of course we didn’t pay $300 a night for SSR, but he doesn’t have to know that.

The next morning we woke up and were on the road back to Miami.

Next Installment: Click Here

 

[jcc0621]

he wanted to know where we were because the chicks had left him. Ha! Serves him right.

“Stephen what’s the big deal, it’s a roller coaster like the one you went on yesterday. Remember Everest we went on that one and you were fine. What’s wrong with you? You just did ToT and that’s way worse than this one. This one doesn’t even have any loop de loops Stephen. Why are you acting like this? Look at what you’ve done, now they have to shut down the whole ride because of you.” Over and over this went on and it was so embarrassing to hear.

Meanwhile the mom is trying to find out why the little boy doesn’t want to ride and eventually tells her DH to shut up.

The next morning we woke up and were on the road back to Miami.

Oh no, it's over...But just in time to start your next trippie, which according to your ticker starts tomorrow

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

Time for my Jerry Springer Final thoughts on this trip:

Although the Minions drove me (us) crazy

I was glad to have been able to give them this experience. My cousin Bre has worked so hard going to school and trying to better her life, but with 4 kids it’s been really hard for her and the fact that she has graduated college is pretty amazing. She would not have been able to take this type of vacation with her family, so it was nice to give them that experience. I’m sure they’ll remember this vacation for years to come because they may never make it back to the World.

No matter how much Disney says it’s affordable not everyone has the financial means for this type of vacation and to have a Disney experience, and I was more than happy to give them this one. Everyone should experience Disney at least once. IMO

Also, Bre recently found out that Joey (Minion #3) has Leukemia. Right now he’s in the hospital undergoing extensive treatments. So I am even happier now that Joey got to go to Disney and enjoy it without being sick. It was great fun to see his face light up on the rides and whenever he saw the characters. I know Disney is for everyone, but for me kids will always enjoy this magical place a little more than adults do.

It was interesting going with kids, because I’ve never had that experience before other than going with my little brother when he was about 7, but it wasn’t the same. I now know what it’s like to be in the parks with kids, granted they were much older than many kids in TRs I’ve read, but sometimes I felt like I was dealing with younger kids and it’s really hard to stick to the plans or do the parks commando style as I’m used to doing. I had to learn to be flexible and take breaks and deal with their eating habits and moods, etc. I completely admire all the parents who brave the parks with their kids and am more aware of all that has to be done during this type of vacation.

Anyhoo, it was nice going with family and a much different experience than my April trip with friends. It was great to give my Mom a wonderful experience too because this was her first true Disney experience staying in a hotel onsite and eating nice meals in the parks and celebrating her birthday there was just an added bonus. Unfortunately as nice as Mom admits the vacation was, she still doesn’t understand my Disney obsession and doesn’t see the point in visiting so often. Once every couple of years is plenty for her, she’s a true pragmatist when it comes to Disney.

Well, thank you all for reading along with the craziness of my extended family and this portion of my Year of Disney trips and stay tuned for all the Pirate & Princess Party fun that is to come soon-ish.

TTFN!