"There's a 104 days of summer vacation..." updated 12/16 page 13!!

[The Moonk's Mom]

We got over to the backlot tour and the line was pretty long, but I recalled this to be a pretty neat tour. A good amount of sit down time. So, I thought we needed it. But it was a lot longer wait than I thought and it was hot and the air was not moving! They need to put some fans under there.

Poor Moonk sure was hot!

Finally we get to go! Yipee! We saw the first pre show that was just hotter with the explosions! Then another line to wait in. Yippee…

Then we get on the tram…took the tour…more hot explosions…then we were done? Wait…didn’t this used to be a whole lot better?

We got off and it was time to use our fast passes at Toy Story Mania. We walked over and got in the fast pass return line. It was a long line too. I started to worry! I knew we needed to be at H&V 15 mins early for our reservations and this line seemed LONG! Keep in mind, this was our first FP.

So, the rest of the family was worried too. They decided that if time got too close that I could get out of line, go check us in for dinner and wait for them to do the ride.

WAIT, the person that did all of the planning, ran to get the FP and has talked about this ride with the kids for months gets to get out of line and not ride? I don’t think so! I looked at my cell clock and said I think we will be okay.

The line finally started to move…we were going to make it!

This would be our first time dividing up for a ride…so then the debate…who rides with who? It started to look like I would be riding by myself…no kids…HEY! Again…the planner here! I wanted to see my kids faces! Not all of them, but at least one! Pepaw spoke up and said he thought if we took Bits, that there would be plenty of room for the 3 of us. See why I’m a Daddy’s Girl?

The ride was soo much fun! We all laughed! I LOVED IT! Bits giggled all over. Even Pepaw was laughing. I think I was a little misty again!

Oh…I kicked everyone’s rear!

We came out and it was the great storm of 2008 going on out there. I HATE storms. Seems I have a lot of fears. Wonder where Big Boy gets it from?

I, being the avid DIS reader I am, got out my ponchos that were way too cheap for anything good. I only had three for some reason…CRAP…the rest were in NC sitting on the bed!

Oh well, we found a bench with an umbrella and waited out the main part of the storm…it was getting close to reservation time. Again, I was nominated to go ahead to the restaurant. Wow! These people love me!

But the storm slowed down long enough for us to jump form puddle to puddle all the way over. I checked us in while the family waited on a bench outside.

We were even called a little early.

Can I just say for the first time all day…I was freezing! Nothing like getting soaking wet and going into AC…really though, I was not complaining.

We were seated in the best seats in the house…right next to the restrooms! It was really okay…at least not in the middle of the floor and I like a booth I can trap my children in!

So, here is my review of Hollywood & Vine

…good for me…not so good for the kids. I liked everything okay at best. The children being so picky…they did not eat that much. They did have ice cream! DH said his was okay and my parents agreed. We got the check and I went into first big meal shock! We didn’t do DDP because of the picky eaters…would have been a waste. I asked if they took my Disney Visa Rewards…he said yes. I had around 150 points, so I told him to put the rest on my Visa. He came back and said we had enough points! I did not question, I was happy…nothing out of pocket…it was like the yucky meal was free!


Next, my favorite…the Great Movie Ride! This was special because me and Moonk LOVE "The Wizard of OZ”. I had not told her that we would see them, so it was a great surprise. She nearly cried. Okay they all nearly cried during the Alien part…that I forgot about! Oops! I am pretty sure Big Boy was under the seat.

Next we had to pay respects to “One Man’s Dream.” How can you not love a man that wanted to have a cool place to hang out with his kids. Moonk said she thinks that Walt is a lot like her Daddy!

By now it was time for Fantasmic seating. We headed to the back entrance you get with the dinner package. There was a man there arguing with the CM that he had lost his pass. The CM tried and tried to explain things to the guy, but he just wanted to argue. Thankfully the CM saw us with our pass out and let us go thru. I could hear the guy from some distance still arguing. Poor CM!

Walking up the hill another CM gave us bags to sit on. Thank goodness because when we got to our seats, they were soaking wet. I headed out to get snacks…more popcorn and I NEEDED a coke. When I got back to the seat Big Boy was crying.

What was wrong? He knew that this was a show about the villains and Mickey fighting. He did not want to see the bad guys…especially Melificant! He was scared stiff and crying! I felt so bad for him!

Wave anyone? Oh that was fun and got him to laughing! I love that this silly thing started! He settled down just as it ws time to start the show. The lights went down and there was MICKEY!

The entire show was great. I know some people hate it …but we really enjoyed it.

After it was over, heading to the buses, Big Boy was laughing and talking about he wanted to see it again! He just thought they needed to turn the sound down a little!

What a great day! Long…but great!

We still had to unload our luggage at POP.
This is our only towel pup of the week. And can I say...I tip GOOD!

Thank goodness DH took care of the bags and stuff. I bathed the kids and got them in bed. I took Moonk to Memaw and Pepaw’s room. They took turns staying with them so that we would only have two kids with us and it saved us all money because we could stay at POP.

I ironed everyone’s clothes then off to bed.

Within 5 minutes…everybody was asleep.

Tomorrow - Magic Kingdom!

 

[LuccaDrake]

subbing...this is gonna be fun!

~Beka~

 

[tadamom]

Great installment!

 

[HeatherSue]

How sweet that Moonk said Walt is like her dad!

Hollywood and Vine not anything to write home about, huh? I'll keep that in mind!

Don't you know that the person who does all the planning is the one who's always nominated to do the legwork? Just ask my sister!

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

subbing...this is gonna be fun!

~Beka~

Thanks and

Great installment!

Thanks!

How sweet that Moonk said Walt is like her dad!

Hollywood and Vine not anything to write home about, huh? I'll keep that in mind!

Don't you know that the person who does all the planning is the one who's always nominated to do the legwork? Just ask my sister!

She is also a self admitted Daddy's Girl...takes one to know one I guess!

I guess H&V would have been okay, but it wasn't great...I won't be going back.

So, you'll be legworking in Feb?

 

[Cherlynn25]

I cant wait to ride the new toy story ride. I am on the fence about fantasmic, not sure how my little two would be, we might try it and see how it goes. I have never been.
And how sweet is your dd comforting her brother when he was scared. i just love those moments!

 

[minnie2]

How sweet she thought Walt was just like her daddy! Love that!

Sorry about Hollywood and vine. I haven't been there but my kids went with their aunts and weren't found of it. We are doing Mama Melrose dinner package. Glad ibg boy liked the show in the end.

 

[irky416]

I just got all caught up.

I love the outfits! They look so great on the kids.

I'm glad the kids got to hear the call. I would be so worried about missing the call.

It's so cute the Moonk tried to reassure her brother that the ride was safe. My parents never took us out of line either, unless we were really upset. I don't think I would have liked as many rides if they did.

Sorry to hear about Hollywood and Vine. It seems like most people don't like it.

I'm glad you enjoyed Fantasmic. I think it was my favorite of all the night shows!

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

I cant wait to ride the new toy story ride. I am on the fence about fantasmic, not sure how my little two would be, we might try it and see how it goes. I have never been.
And how sweet is your dd comforting her brother when he was scared. i just love those moments!

TSM really was fun! The kids and I loved it! Fantasmic was fun but intense at times for the kids, but they did like it.

How sweet she thought Walt was just like her daddy! Love that!

Sorry about Hollywood and vine. I haven't been there but my kids went with their aunts and weren't found of it. We are doing Mama Melrose dinner package. Glad ibg boy liked the show in the end.

She's a sweety!

I really wanted Mama Melrose, and we will have it next time.

I just got all caught up.

I love the outfits! They look so great on the kids.

I'm glad the kids got to hear the call. I would be so worried about missing the call.

It's so cute the Moonk tried to reassure her brother that the ride was safe. My parents never took us out of line either, unless we were really upset. I don't think I would have liked as many rides if they did.

Sorry to hear about Hollywood and Vine. It seems like most people don't like it.

I'm glad you enjoyed Fantasmic. I think it was my favorite of all the night shows!

Glad you caught up!

Thanks about the outfits!

Glad we aren't the only parents to torture our kids!

I really have to put Fantasmic a close second...mainly because I had a halfway comfy seat...but I LOVE Wishes!

 

[mommyof2princesses]

Another great read! Glad they gave you bags to sit on for the wet seats. I hate wet seats. Sorry the food wasn't too good. We have never eaten there, and now we never will!

don't you hate it when little ones walk away in a big place. Makes me want to throw a leash on them! After much talk, we have decided to take a small stroller....just in case!

oh, and they look cute in the outfits!

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

Another great read! Glad they gave you bags to sit on for the wet seats. I hate wet seats. Sorry the food wasn't too good. We have never eaten there, and now we never will!

don't you hate it when little ones walk away in a big place. Makes me want to throw a leash on them! After much talk, we have decided to take a small stroller....just in case!

oh, and they look cute in the outfits!

I would have taken a stroller in a heartbeat but DH is opposed to them. He didn't like them when the kids had to ride in them. And Bits hated it when he was the only one in a stroller, so I think the last time we used a stroller was when he was 2. So he became a bolter...drives me nuts. He is much better now...but WDW has so many people that I think he just got cunfused...so much to look at...for all of us!

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

I was pretty sure I had my morning for MK laid out pretty good. My main goal was to make rope drop. See several months ago I read that they picked a veteran of the day to retire the flag. I soooo wanted to get my Dad in for this, and I wanted it to be a surprise. I had tried calling in advance and could not get put thru to city hall. I even stopped at guest relations in DTD to see if they would call. The unknowing CM told me that this was only a wish granted. I knew he was wrong, but I did not ague. So my only hope…rope drop.

The alarm went off at 6:00.

I jumped out of bed and showered…see I beat DH this morning.

He ran Moonk’s Tink bucket down and put it outside Memaw and Pepaw’s room, then knocked and ran off.
We set the boy’s outside our room door.
I woke him up and got him in the shower. I finished getting ready then woke the boys up.
Really…they slept thru the hair dryer!
As I headed out of the room to go get Moonk, the boys found their buckets. They were so excited. Great way to start the day if you are a kid!

We all finished getting ready and met my parents at the busses at 8:15. Good we could make rope drop…not first…but still there.

We got there just in time to see the train pull around and hear them sing. I rushed the family thru bag check and found a line to go thru. Good we were doing great…

I had DH take the kids and told him to meet me at city hall. I ran in…no line. I really had my hopes up at this point. The CM called me over, I asked if they had a veteran of the day yet. She smiled and said she would be right back. By now the rest of the family had joined me and were sitting on a bench behind me.

I had my fingers crossed.

The CM came back and told me that they had somebody already signed up today and for the next 7 days. So, there was not even a chance he could be it later in the week. She said I could check back, if someone cancelled, I may be able to get him in.

Oh well!

I know I started to tear up…I was really hoping to do this for him.

I told Dad what I was trying to do and he said, “That’s nice…but it’s okay…I love the kids outfits anyway…Thanks”

Yep…tears…

Those are the outfits I made for the kids...I had this great idea of how nice they would look with Pepaw taking down the flag.

We went out side and I said okay…let’s just take the train around to the back of the park. They all looked at me like I had three heads…really did these people think I didn’t know what I was doing!

We took the train around to Toontown Fair about ten minutes before it opened. They started selecting families to go in and meet with Mickey…I really didn’t care too much about all of that, because I knew we had dinner at Chef Mickey’s. We would see them all soon enough.

But Memaw didn’t get it…she wanted HER grandkids picked…DH just thought it was all a load…I tried to explain the “wishes” and the whole magic it was to others….they didn’t get…they were making me mad …I took the kids to the little playground area till rope drop.

The rope came down, I grabbed the kids and said “Let’s ride babies!”

Off we all went to Barnstormer. I rode alone…theme here? It was okay…I could see them all and hear them laugh…

Then…if you are a Disboutiquer, you KNOW where we went! Yep! Off to the required shot!

Then we got off and headed to the Pooh ride. I loved it. I got to ride with Katie…her first room was all Pooh…and I have always loved Pooh!

Then I drug everyone over to the Snow white ride. Big Boy was not thrilled at the title of the ride having “scary” in it. I made him ride with me…we laughed at all the stuff…he was cool with it…but didn’t want to come back.

Moonk demanded we ride Small World next. Okay…I demanded! I know many people are driven crazy by this ride…not me.

See when I was little my mom had all the cool Disney Records with the books. I would lay on the floor and listen forever to the Small World one. I wanted to go to Disney soooo bad as a kid. Our first trip was over a Christmas break when I was 8 after a lot of bad things had happened in our family. (Won’t go into too many details…just say the my entire extended family fell apart due to the worst things you can imagine…not to me, but others) So, when we got to Disney, I just remember Small World meaning peace to me…it still does…it’s just calming.

So, Small World was great. We got to the long line…really didn’t mind…then a CM came up, grabbed us and said come on…took us to the front!!!! It was great! It was a FP without a FP! They knew what it meant to me! I know they did! I get tears now thinking about it!

We got off and headed over to Peter Pan’s flight. Moonk and Big Boy both rode with me on this one. We had a blast!

While in line we had decided on an early lunch to beat the crowds, plus the kids were hungry because they only halfway ate breakfast. (Had nothing to do with me rushing everybody!)

We headed over to Pinochicco’s . We all got food…Yipee! The kids were hungry. My salad was not that good, but I loved my COKE!

After that Moonk wanted to ride Cindy’s Carousel…but there was no line at Mickey’s Philharmagic. So went over there and went right in. The kids loved the 3-D and just laughed the entire time…you know those great belly laughs!

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

Then it was onto to the Carousel. Pepaw said he didn’t think he wanted to ride, so he sat this one out.

Since we were right there at Dumbo, we hopped into that line. That was the one line I really didn’t plan for. It was way too long, and hot! DH and Pepaw didn’t ride this one, so Memaw had the boys and Moonk rode with me. She thought she could scare me by staying up, but she scared herself! I loved the view!

Next we headed towards Tomorrowland. Pepaw decided we all needed a drink, so we headed into Cosmic Ray’s. He went up and ordered a bunch of drinks while we found a bench to sit on in the corner. It was taking him FOREVER!!!!! What was the hold up! Did he get lost?

I went to look for him. There he was at the counter. He looked peeved! Not good…we call him Grumpy most of the time! I saw him finally lean across the counter towards the girl serving food and say something. Our drinks were on the little mat, but not on the tray. Finally, she put them on the tray. He came over and I asked what was wrong. He said he complained because he had been at the counter for 15 mins just to get the drinks that were sitting RIGHT THERE! She just kept ignoring him. I took a sip of my coke…YUCK! Watered down Coke! Oh well…it’s wet!

We headed out the door. I grabbed FP’s for Buzz Lightyear.

There was no line to speak of at the Laugh Floor, so we went in. It was pretty cute…again, anything to hear my kids laugh.

After that, Moonk had been begging to ride TTA. So we went up there. Can I say we had more fun on the flat escalator up then anywhere else. The kids thought it was a hoot. Bits kept getting off balance!

All the kids rode with the Grandparents so me and DH got to ride alone!

We joked with Moonk and Big Boy that we were going on Space Mountain. (They had no desire to ride SM!) They started to get a little scared…mean parents!

When we got off TTA we got to see Stitch.

Then, HEY THERE”S BUZZ!!!!

We had to go see him! We hopped in line. Just as we almost got to him, the CM came over to tell the kids that Buzz had to go check his messages with Star Command and he would be right back.

Let me tell you, Buzz must have had some good messages while he was gone, because he was full of energy when he got back!

Okay...it seems my Mom has a thing for Buzz?

Then, since we were right there, we did the Carousel of Progress. Laugh if you must, but I love it! Plus, bonus, the CM running it complemented the kids outfits! She is now my favorite CM at WDW!!!

Oh, and if you pay close attention on CoP…you will see a sewing machine that looks almost identical to mine!

When we left here it was time for Space Ranger Spin. It was fun, but I have to say I liked TSM much better. Plus my score was not as good!

We decided it was time for a sit down and some popcorn. Do you get the feeling we like popcorn? Yes we do. At home we even have a movie theater popcorn machine!

The kids wanted to then go drive the cars. By now, Memaw’s feet were killing her, so she took the cameras and sat this one out.

Moonk rode with me. I let her drive. BIG, HUGE MISTAKE!!!! That kid nearly killed me.
I have had a slipped disc problem only once in my life, right after Bits was born. I took lots of meds, swelling went down…no more problems. Until my lovely daughter decided to bounce the car as hard as she could from one side of the rail to the other! When we stopped, I could barely walk. I didn’t want her to feel bad…she was on vacation in the happiest place…she couldn’t hurt Mommy…so I managed.

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

We headed back towards the castle and then back for some pictures at the wishing well when the daytime fireworks started.

We ran, I limped, around to the front to see the show. Moonk was thrilled to see the princesses! This was the first time she had seen them…yep…tears! During the show she whispered in my ear “Mom, that ‘s what I wished for at the well…to see the Princesses!” More tears…

We decided after the show to head back to POP and do a little swimming.

First a picture with Walt.

Then we the kids did some hoola hoops! Fun!

Sometime around now, I believe everyone was getting tired.

I had wanted to go to the pool to do some laundry and hoped it would relieve some of the pain in my back.

DH said on the bus that he was not sure we would be going to the pool since the kids seemed so tired.

When we got off the bus at POP, I went by the front desk to pick up a map of Epcot for the next day. The rest of the family had gone to the room. When I got to the room, DH and the kids were dressed for the pool and heading out the door. Wait? I thought no pool? I still need to do laundry…he announced that they would be at the pool and they left! I was…mad!

I called my parents to let them know they were at the pool.

I was getting madder.

I called my BFF to vent. She helps me at times like these!

I grabbed the laundry and headed downstairs. I walked by the pool, they never even saw me! AAHHH!!!!

Then I came out and Moonk yelled…there she is! I sat on one of the chairs to watch…still mad, but not really showing it. DH came over and told me to go put on my suit. I told him I didn’t feel like it. He kept insisting that the kids wanted me to.

After a few minutes of him apologizing …I went and changed…

Man, did that pool feel good. My back really needed it!

DH feeling REAL bad (and he should have ) went and finished the laundry. We all went back to the room where we had dinner and fell out.

Tomorrow: Epcot…all day!

 

[irky416]

I love the outfits! Did you make the purse?

It's so awesome that you got pulled up to the front of IASW. Isn't it weird how it seems like they just know sometimes?

I can understand about you getting mad at everyone for leaving you. I hope later in the week, they start to listen to you and that you get to ride with your kids!

 

[mommyof2princesses]

you got me over here crying. I am such a sap. So sweet that Moonk just wanted to see the princesses. I can't wait till we go!

Sorry Peepaw didn't get to do the whole flag thing. I thought you had to sign up that day, not in advance! Maybe on your next visit!

 

[Micday]

Great trip report !!

This IS a "Small World". We also live in Salisbury, NC.
My DH is a huge Tony Stewart fan. DD and I love Kasey Khane too.

Can't wait to read more.

Michelle

 

[LuccaDrake]

Nice to see you stopped at Pinocchio's for lunch, it's a must for DBF as he always went there as a kid!

~Beka~

 

[kjbrown]

Okay they all nearly cried during the Alien part…that I forgot about! Oops! I am pretty sure Big Boy was under the seat.

I'm a little behind on reading your TR, but this made me laugh! I did the same thing to DD when she was only 2 1/2! What was I thinking? Oops, nevermind that giant ALIEN!! She came out of the ride fine, just repeating "too scary" over and over. Oops. I'll have to start saving now for her therapy.

 

[dshouse4]

Hi, I have just started reading your trip report and wanted to sub since I can't finish reading it all the way right now. It is great!!! Just a side note, we are from Gastonia and will be driving down on Sept 12 straight through.