Tim and Lesley Year of Million Compromises/TONS pics- 8/5 help me pg. 164!!!

[solgent]

Hi Lesley, We are on vacation in California but I just HAD to check in & get caught up on your trip. It is so fun to read and hear all the details. Also I want to thank you SO MUCH for the tip about going to the EMH park if there is a long line for buses. We have not encountered that but I did see huge lines for resorts sometimes when we were going to the parking lot & it's something I worried about. Your tip makes so much sense but I never would have thought of it. I really feel better knowing I have that strategy to go to if we're faced with that situation.

I'm sorry your trip and your TR are coming to an end!!

 

[timandlesley]

By this time it was time to head over and ride Soarin’. I couldn’t wait. I just LOVE this ride.

We waited about 15 minutes with our FP’s, this ride seems that even with your FP’s the wait is longer. Here are Lauren and I on the ride:

And our soarin’ feet:

Riding barefoot is the way to go!

After this I begged to ride the Figment ride. I just LOVE the Figment ride, for some reason Tim can’t stand it, don’t ask me why, he just doesn’t dig the purple guy. The kids and I love it.
What a pretty day, had to snap this photo as we walked towards the exhibit:

The kids and I on the ride:

My buddy Figment:

Told ya he doesn’t like Figment. . .. . .

Then we headed to the kids favorite, the play areas at the Figment exit, SUCH FUN!
Here is Lauren jumping on the sound pads:

When we exited I saw the sign for Honey I Shrunk the Audience, again something I had never experienced (the great thing about Disney, you can go year after year and always experience something new!!!) I had heard there were a few scary things in it, but figured Lauren did TOT and Tough to be a Bug with no problem this year, piece of cake right. . ..WRONG!
Personally I loved the show, it was AWESOME. It totally freaked Lauren out. The part when the mice are all over your feet (OMG, doesn’t that seem SOOOOO real) well, it felt so real to me that I screamed, LOUD and that freaked Lauren out, from that point on she was in my lap, sitting backwards with her head buried in my chest- oh well, you live and you learn. She made me feel like a horrible mom at one point saying “Mommy, you never shouldda had brot’ me in here!!!” Sorry baby!!!!
After the show (which we all thought was AWESOME except Lauren) the kids had fun exploring the magical fountains:

Took some pics on this beautiful day:

After this we headed to our lunch reservation. When we canceled our Wolfgang Puck Ressie earlier in the trip I made this reservation at Alfredo’s in Italy. I remembered what a great meal we had there last year and knew it was closing. I also thought it would be great experiencing one last nice meal on Disney property before we had to leave. I figured we’d be hot and tired and not having a room to go back and relax in this would be a good option, SOOOO glad I did this.
So, we headed to Italy, here is Alfredo’s (so pretty!)

Tim and I ordered drinks right away, a happy Tim with his Italian beer:

CHEERS to a FANTASTIC trip!!!!

Our waiter was awesome, he was of course from Italy and a pleasure to speak too. We asked him about it closing, he said many of them will work for the new restaurant but he was happy because with his contract ending he could return to Italy where his girlfriend was, I was happy for him. Our lovely waiter brought us the YUMMY bread, DELICIOUS!!

I ordered the Ceasar salad as an appetizer, it is outstanding here!!!!

Tim ordered soup:

The Alfredo’s kids menu ROCKED, it had tons of choices, great appetizers and awesome desert options. FINALLY!
Here is Luke enjoying his soup appetizer:

Tim ordered the Alfredo:

I had the lasagna, it was very good:

Here is Lauren with her pasta:

She enjoyed sharing some of Tim’s too:

Here is my desert, YUM, DOUBLE Y-U-M!!! That was gone quick:

Here is the cool desert Lauren got to order, chocolate butterfly canoli, soooo cute!

 

[timandlesley]

What an awesome meal, great way to wrap up the trip.
After this we had about an hour or so to kill before we had to be back for the Magical Express bus, I was getting sad, and was trying to soak in every moment we had left. I told Tim, let’s take some silly World Showcase pictures to wrap up the trip, didn’t have to tell him twice:
Pose 1:

Pose 2:

Pose 3:

Pose 4:

Now Lauren wanted in on the action:

Picture of my cuties around the lake on this beautiful day in Epcot:

Had to stop in Germany to throwback to my roots:

Stopped so the kids could enjoy the train:

Then we headed to Mexico to ride the boat ride, again something we had NEVER experienced, we had never even been inside. Tim wasn’t done with his pics:

Inside it was so beautiful, really felt like you were in Mexico at night, so pretty:

We headed to the boat ride:

There wasn’t a line, we walked right on:

We really enjoyed this ride, it is so cute, kind of a small world feel but different scenery and Donald Duck, bonus!!!

We then walked out of Mexico, here is Tim trying to make an escape from Mexico over the wall:

It was then the time I was dreading, time to head to the exit, I hate this time of the trip. We still had the AAA voucher to use before we left to get a photopass picture and I wanted to use it to get a 5x7 of Lauren from her bippety boppety boutique ressie, so we headed there. MAN THE LINE WAS LONG. 25 minutes later I finally had this:

We then headed back to POFQ. We got the carry on and laptop out of storage and headed to the foodcourt to get drinks and sit and wait. The kids watched some t.v.:

And I sat and sulked:

About a half an hour later it was time to head outside. The entire time we were walking to the bus stop the kids were whining saying they never wanted to leave, how they wanted to stay at Disneyworld forever, asking why couldn’t we move there, etc. It’s hard to be the strong parent when you feel THE SAME WAY!!! I kept telling them we’d be back next year. Here are my sad babies:

Then this pulled up (the worst sight of the trip by far):

As it did Luke LOST it, he was bawling his eyes out, being the Trip reporter I am I snapped a pic of him loosing it and he told me NOT to post that on here, so I will honor his wishes and I won’t, just know that Luke was in hysterics and then Lauren was too, so I carried my sobbing babies onto the Magical Express bus.
We had a good ride to the airport, but then this NUTJOB made things bad. This man was probably in his 60’s, he carried an open beer onto the bus and in the middle of the video about your magical stay, talking about planning your next vacation, etc. that my kids were soaking in and really enjoying the last bit of Disney magic this man yells “DRIVER, HEY DRIVER, can you turn this crap off, I already paid for my ticket and don’t need you guys trying to sell me any more of this garbage”. I was ticked, could this guy be for real? Tim turned around and said “well then plug your ears, the rest of us are watching it” that silenced him, THANK GOODNESS!!!! What a jerk.
Anyway, we made it to the airport, got through security, bought some candy for the plane and went to McDonald’s at the foodcourt to grab dinner. As we were sitting there Tim announced he had awards to hand out.
I got sweettarts for being such a “sweetie” the entire trip for getting all of the counter service meals the whole trip:

Luke got oreos, I forget what for, something about him crying every night as Tim and him raced up the stairs because Tim always won, he didn’t care, just happy to get the Oreos:

Lauren was awarded Cheeto’s (again, can’t recall the reason exactly, but it thrilled her to no end):

He gave himself a Twix Bar, I think for all the Fast Pass running he did all week:

We then headed to the gate. Tim got out the laptop so I could check the Dis and I was really ticked off to find a very hateful PM (I mean it was nasty) from Blayne regarding the jokes Tim left on her thread while she was out of commission for a month or so. Oh well, we let it go (or did we !?!) : )
Then we boarded the plane. Lauren and I were separated from Tim and the plane ride didn’t go so well. Her ears were bothering her, it was now close to 9:00 and she hadn’t had a nap, let’s just say it wasn’t a pleasant plane ride, there was lots of screaming. You know how when you are on the plane and you hear a kid screaming and you wish you weren’t on the plane, or if you are a mom you are thanking the good Lord it isn’t your kid doing that, well it was MY KID doing that, the entire last half hour of the flight. Suffice it to say I was extremely elated when we landed.
The kids and I gathered our luggage together while Tim ran to get the car from long term parking. We got it all in the car and headed back to our Landen home. We couldn’t believe the trip was over. SOOOO sad.
We are now at home waiting for rates to come out so we can plan our June 08’ getaway to the World, hoping for an early June getaway, I get out of school June 4th this year. I’ll keep you updated.
For now we are enjoying the summer, my kids are still enjoying every chance they can to run through sprinklers, and had to share this latest photo with you, they were dancing in the puddle the other day and I had to snap this of them (too sweet):

Until next time. . . . .(which you know will be sooner rather than later). THANKS FOR READING! I’ll be dreaming of the World until our return, thanks for taking this trip with us, sure hope you had a good ride. . .
Later!!!!
Tim, Lesley, Luke and Lauren

 

[Tanya90210]

I am shocked!! You'd never checked out innoventions!!! We did our 1st year... but it doesn't change much so we skipped it last year.... Really fun though....

 

[IluvXU]

Each and every day was magical! Thank you so much for sharing your trip, so many details and pictures! Glad that you enjoyed your last day at EPCOT- lots of fun hidden gems where explored. Can't wait to see what next years trip brings!

 

[scottny]

What a great ending. It has been such a pleasure experiencing the World through your families eyes. Cannot wait for next year to see the next report. thank you for posting.

 

[Tanya90210]

So I post a response to your 1st post of the day thinking thats it...to find 2 more!!! Wow... and NOOOO!!! because the trip is over.... I love tim's sillly pics at epcot!!! had me cracking up!

 

[Sooze]

Hooray! Amazing! Wonderful! Insightful! Touching! Hilarious! Chock-Full-O-Pics!!

Loved it, Lesley! Thanks for taking the time to share your trip. I'm sad to see it end, but glad you all got home safe and sound (even after the screaming.... )

Hope you stay around for my TR. Unfortunately, we won't have NINE days to talk about, only 5... but it should be fun.

Take care, and enjoy the rest of your summer. My first teacher day is Aug. 10.

 

[HockeyMomR]

Lesley,
Thank you for sharing your trip with us. We just returned last Sunday from the World and had a wonderful time! We did try Coral Reef, it was great.

Thanks for your advice regarding getting a Dream. We just missed the Dream Team several times. We received a magical moment at Primeval Whirl (right to the front of the line, no waiting), but other than that no "Dream Team Dreams". However, we did have a lot Pixie Dust at our resorts. I will look for your pre trip report for your 2008 vacation!

 

[Sooze]

Ooops.. I forgot. I will be showing Tim's awesome pictures to Matt tomorrow when he returns home. I will be challenging him to top Tim's pictures! We'll see what he comes up with. That waterfall one will be hard to beat!

 

[eemmie1]

Thank you so much for sharing you wonderful family and trip with us. I am going in less than 2 months. I really have to enjoy this trip because I think it might be our last for a while.

 

[LauraAnn630]

Another great trip!

We wish you many more to come!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

Excellent trip report, Lesley.

I really and truly felt as though I was there with you and your family.

I've gotten so many great ideas from your TR. Thank you!

Tim is hilarious. I was laughing out loud about "Nopants".

Thanks for all the entertainment and for making my wait go a little bit faster!

Can't wait to hear about your plans for next year.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

BRAVO!
Loved your TR!

So sad to hear Luke breaking down as you were leaving. WTG to Tim for telling that guy to put a cork in it.

Your Alfredo meal looked scrumptious!

Thanks for the entertainment -- I really enjoyed your TR and look forward to reading your next one!

 

[sharonW]

THANKS!! THANKS!! THANKS!!! Have so enjoyed
your disney adventures Can't wait till
you start your 2008 planning..I'll be there for the
ride!!

 

[pooksma]

Wow Wow wow

And thank you thank you thank you

for sharing your trip with us.

 

[Nicole786]

so sad to see it go but looking forwad to the next one!!

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Again, loved it Lesley. Your family is adorable and you guys have soooo much fun, it's contagious. Love the funny WS pictures, John and I have done some crazy photos but most of the time I don't have the guts to pose the entire length of time it takes him to figure out the camera while masses of people walk by laughing...lol.

Can't wait till you start your Pre-Trippie for next year, hopefully we can meet up again. Tell Luke and Lauren we said "hello".

Thanks for sharing your Disney Adventure with us.

 

[i3utterfli82]

Awesome trip report Lesley! You inspire me to make one of my own this year.
Your family is beautiful!

 

[punkin413]

i'm so sad it's over, too! i seriously had tears well up in my eyes hearing about your little ones' tears! so sad.... and what a jerk on the bus! i'm glad tim said something to him. i would've, too! i can't wait for your next TR......what is that? 11 months away? okay.....i'll be here waiting!