Trip of a Lifetime, chapter 5 ADDED "Just hanging out Day!!"

[mousy_in_canada]

Trip of a Lifetime​

The reason I am calling this "Trip of a Lifetime" is because a large portion of this trip was compliments of a local radio station I was the 8th Caller through on March 1st 2006 and won 5 nights in Deluxe hotels and four 5 day park hopper tickets and spending money too! This enabled us to stay extra long at Disney. So our accommodations goes like this... 2 Nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge 3 nights at Disney's Polynesian hotel and 4 nights in a 2 bedroom home away from home at Old Key West.

On each day I am going to add a page for each day of our trip and I am going to give a run down of each day and the exciting things that happened on our trip, so if you want to be in the know, check out all the pages!

I am going to have tons of pictures, so that you can feel like you are right there with us!

Off to Buffalo part one of Trip of a Lifetime​

Well, we arrived in Buffalo. A day early mind you!

The weather channel was saying that we were going to be getting a FOOT of snow, in Buffalo on Tuesday, and that being the day we wanted to arrive here we decided not to drive in that. We drove in the October storm that they had down in Buffalo and we did not want to do that again. So we booked an extra night at Homewood Suites. When I arrived I found out that we had been bumped to a 2 bedroom suite instead of the one I had booked for the same price! This is a great way to start the holiday!


Our first night we were served Lasagna and on the next night we had Tuna noodle casserole. It was delicious! The pool was so much fun. DH & I loved the Hot tub so relaxing! It was nice to have a king sized bed when you were expecting a pull out couch. what a difference.

Breakfast was AMAZING. We had sausage, eggs, hash browns, make your own waffles. hot and cold cereal, bagels, muffins, you name it and it was there! The girls were all full which really does not happen much.. they seem to have a hollow leg these days. Later on this morning we went swimming again and DD4's skin is starting to show too much redness so I have to make sure she is creamed well the pool has too much chlorine in it and with all the swimming we are doing she does not need an eczema flair up now just before we leave.

Everyone is very excited to head out in the AM. I think what we are going to do is get up EARLY and have breakfast about 5:30 am then leave by 6:00 am and use the curb side check in and head straight to security, then to gate 16. We are set to depart at 7:10 so I hope that gives us enough time. I may plan to leave earlier. We shall see what time I end up waking up.

This is a picture of the lobby and us waiting for the shuttle to head to the airport on the 6th of December

Be on the Look out in the morning for "We are Arrived" Part 2 of the story!

 

[amy2girls]

Congrats on winning the trip! Can't wait to hear more. My dgt 4 also has ezcema, we went away 2 weeks ago and the pool we were in really aggreavated it. What cream do you use? I am still looking for the magic cream. We have tried avon, avvenno and eucerin.

 

[MA pigletfan]

I'm hooked..keep it coming

 

[mousy_in_canada]

We have arrived!​

"I'm too excited to sleep" that would be an accurate description of me today. I woke up at 4:00 am without an alarm! Unheard of for me, a girl who likes her sleep. As I am doing the finishing touches on our packing and cleaning everything up DD#3 is peeking her head out of their bedroom door. So I guess she felt the same way as me. We were downstairs and left after breakfast at about 5:45 am, we all got on the same shuttle so we are heading to the airport.

Here we are waiting for the shuttle to head to the airport in the Gorgeous lobby of Homewood suites!

Our plane left on time and got arrived about 20 minutes early which is great! DD#1 and I felt like we were on Tower of Terror early as we were descending, yucky feeling but I can't wait for that ride

We gathered our luggage rather quickly then went to check out the Emerald Aisle to see if there is a van there, I know I am taking a risk to see if there is a van there but I have a back up reservation with Dollar so I am ok but I would just rather have a car on EA. We got straight out to the lot and looked on the EA, there was 4 vans there waiting for us! We got a 2007 Buick Terraza Cx. SO SO nice!

We headed right to Animal Kingdom Lodge to check in, and our first impression of this resort is WOW every detail is met to make it look authentic, so impressive!

These are the lights in the hall.. so neat looking!

We have a bunk bed Savannah view room we are on the 2nd floor and our view is not the best but we can still see animals from our room, there is also a viewing area right across the hall from us so it all good.

In the afternoon we went swimming.. great pool! DD#3 loved the slide. She would only go on it with a life jacket but once she starting going it she did it again and again. DD#4 wanted to go up but got to the top and got scared, we brought her down and just swam with her in the kiddie area.

By 6:00 pm I gave up trying to call my mom to pick up the dust mite cover. I told her I would call her when we arrived and I have been trying since 2:30 but they don't see to be home.. we think that DSister is out shopping. We are very hungry for dinner so we head out to find a ponderosa but could not find it, so we hit a golden corral instead. Low and behold my Mom and Dad and the rest of the group are there what are the chances in a city of thousands that we would be at the same restaurant and the same time. Thanks God! I found out that they arrived at our hotel at 3:30 pm only to be told that we had not arrived yet.. we checked in at 11:00 am. Glad we made contact, mom looked a little worried that something happened to our flight and that is why we were not there yet. We made plans to meet at Animal Kingdom at 8:45 am and rainforest cafe to go together to see Animal Kingdom. We decided to go to bed early so we can feel rested tomorow and have a great day!

 

[mousy_in_canada]

Our Animal Kingdom Day​

Today we went to Animal Kingdom

The weather was nice and pleasant, we met up with Mom and Dad and My sister and BIL and Niece#1 and Neice#2 and Nephew#1 (from here in called "the gang") at 9:15 am and went into the park here is a picture of "the gang"

the gang of kids...

The girls wanted to hit Everest first and they LOVED it! DD#1 got a little bit afraid of heights but it must not have bugged her too much because she went on it three times! After that we all went on Kilimanjaro safaris

DD#4 and my Mom liked that, DD#4 loves animals! When we were leaving there we got stopped by the Dream team and we all got Dream fast passes! Awesome! We split up then and went our separate ways and said we would meet up at Pocahontas at 3:00 we went River Rapids two times, and the only ones without Rain coats (DH and DD#3) got SOAKED.. I think it knows when you are not wearing a coat.. did that to me last time lol... we went on that twice however, and DH fared better the next time. We used our Fast passes for Primeval Whirl and DD#4 and I went on Chester's ride and then we went on Dinosaur and the kids really got scared of that ride!
Lunch was at Flame Tree BBQ .. when I picked up my order they gave me a free large Diet Coke and a cupcake, they said it was for their million dreams celebration! COOL! DD#3 & DD#4 and I went shopping and DD#1 and DD#2 and DH went on Primeval Whirl again and when we were shopping The girls got a Magical memory certificate for playing the who am I? game about princess.. which caely could answer easily! They each bought a toy like Poly Pockets but princess.. I must say I hate dressing those things. The clothes do not go on easily! We had a bit of a mix up in meeting up.. the gang thought I said meet at Everest and I was waiting at Pocahontas.. but we did finally meet up. We went in Festival of the Lion King.. WOW.. what a show!

The musical was so well done I loved it! I wanted to see Nemo the musical but they had already done the last and only show of the day so I missed that one.. oh well there is always next trip right
On our way back to the room we went to Rain Forest Cafe to get a Volcano.. the kids loved that dessert last time and they really wanted it again this time! Here is 2 pics taken at RFC DD#3 and DD#4 are coloring at our table

The other pic that I am going to put here is just to bug DD#1.. DH often jokes with her that he is going to send Coral (her bird) to the monkey house if she does not quiet down but DD#1 always says there is no such thing as a monkey house.. here is a pic of the Monkey house at Animal Kingdom just to prove her wrong...

We arranged to meet up at 10:00 am tomorow morning so that we can see the morning show at Magic Kingdom and not worry about meeting up too early.
We are moving to the Poly in the AM I have arranged for Bell services to come at 7:30am to us move.
I am honestly in Awe of the Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby and if you want to see pics check out the page before this.. every detail is met to make it look authentic! I am so happy that I won this portion of the trip and we can try out new resorts! I have a lagoon view room booked and I am hoping for some Disney Magic and get an upgrade to Magic Kingdom View.. I would love to see the fireworks from our room over Cinderella's castle! I will update in the morning and tell you what I got.

 

[Madsofa]

Great report and pics! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Madsofa]

Congrats on winning the trip! Can't wait to hear more. My dgt 4 also has ezcema, we went away 2 weeks ago and the pool we were in really aggreavated it. What cream do you use? I am still looking for the magic cream. We have tried avon, avvenno and eucerin.

Hi amy2girls,
Have you tried protopic? Both my DD's have eczema and this seems to help clear up the "outbreaks" quickly.

 

[DutchsMommy]

Hi mousy!!! I am so happy to hear about your trip. Sounds AWESOME so far .


Wishing you a fabulous rest of the trip - can't wait to hear about it.

 

[mousy_in_canada]

We have protopic too but the thing I have felt works the best before and after swimming is plain old Vaseline.. it blocks the choline from going into the skin and really does help!

Thanks for all your kind words everyone.. I have lots more to post.. awesome trip!!

 

[jenkh]

awesome report. I do love the homewood suites. May I ask how the 2 bedroom is? We've been thinking of doing a weekend in a buffalo and was wondering if it was worth the upgrade.

 

[mousy_in_canada]

It is really nice! I liked that the 2nd bedroom has has it's own full bathroom so the kids did not disturb us when they got up to at night. I would say it is worth the money!
very spacious and well laid out too!

 

[mousy_in_canada]

Magic Kingdom We're here!!​

Today we moved over to the Poly and we called Bell services at 7:15 am and they were here at 7:20! Talk about quick! When we drove over to the Poly to check in I was amazed at the Lobby! I did not bring my camera in (sorry) but there is a gorgeous waterfalls in the lobby and it is decorated so nice! I asked on check in if we could upgrade to a MK view and was told our room as already picked for me.. and it was ready! We are in room 1026 in Tahiti..

we decided to head over to put our one bag that we kept in the room and check it out. Guess what??? We can see the CASTLE! from our room! There is a tree that blocks the view a bit but if we stand over by the daybed then you can see it great..THANK YOU DISNEY!!! You can really see Space mountain and other things, but because we are on the main level we can walk right out to the beach to watch the fireworks like we are doing here...

We headed over to Magic Kingdom via the monorail and WOW was it quick.. nice!

We were a bit later getting there than I wanted because of check in and looking at our room so we missed the full opening... we did see some of it however so that was good. DH took the two older girls on Space Mountain first and I took DD#4 and DD#3 in the store and her they were asked to play a car racing game and got another Magical Memory certificate for that! They also got another one for being a "junior space ranger in training" Saying that DD#4 was not tall enough to get on Space mountain this time but she may be able to get on it next time we come back! They loved getting these certificates! We then did the child swap thing and let me go on it with the 2 older ones then off to meet "the gang"
We saw stitch almost right away with absolutely no line to see him.. he was such a ham.. he pretended to put the pen up his nose then would not give it back then wiped it off on Melanie.. ha ha he was great! I love it when characters are so much fun!

We met them at Jungle Cruise then all 13 of us went on that ride.. a neat thing that happened there was the driver asked who wanted to drive the boat and DD#2 went up and did it! Then later she asked who wanted to dock it and DD#1 did that!!! SO they each got a certificate for being a helper! COOL!
Jungle cruise was just as I remembered it.. lots of Corney jokes.. ahh nice to be back at Disney!

We did about 4 rides with the gang then we split up and agreed to meet up at splash mountain and big thunder mountain so my Nephew can go on those rides.. today was a very cold day (high of 52) so we are only going on Splash Mountain once today I am glad we are coming back to MK because that is my favorite ride!

The girls did lots of pin trading today, I think they only have 6 left of their originals and DD#3 was even asked to trade today by a boy in line for Big Thunder Mountain railroad.

DD#3 has been asking all day to go shopping (something she loves to do.. I hope she has a good paying job when she gets older cause she has high end taste) She choose a Cinderella posable set and DD#2 choose a Sleeping Beauty Polly Pocket like set.. did I tell you I hate dressing those things?? DD#1 got a back scratch and DD#4 got Minnie Mouse headband with ears.. she wants to wear those all the time now.. I really wanted the woven throw blanket but my total was $52 and I needed to spend $60 to get it.. but I asked the lady how picky Disney is on meeting the $60 requirement and she said I could get one! YEA! I love it!!!
We took the monorail to the TTC and took a short walk back to our room it is a nice walk because of the music and the lights there and the thick green foliage.. Disney does a nice job with their theming!
We got our subs ready for dinner after getting our bags and we finished up the night by watching the fireworks from our room..We got to see the MVMCP fireworks too! Oh and we saw the electrical lights parade on the water too.. that has been a long time since I saw that!
Tomorrow we are going to sleep in and then do some shopping and check out the Poly Pool, It is going to be warmer tomorow (Saturday) it is going up to 69 which beats today's high of 52 better for swimming! We are also going to be meeting the gang at our room at 5:45 to watch the fireworks and then go to CiCi's for Dinner
Good night! We are tired!

 

[mousy_in_canada]

Just Hanging out day​

I was able to sleep in today until about 8:00 which is really good for me by normal standards of getting up at 6:00. After we ate breakfast we took a walk down to the beach and looked at the stuff down there on the Poly beach, the kids loved the white sand.. just the right consistency for making castles they said. We saw the ducks again the were pecking on our patio door this morning.. they were really tame I think that they are used to being hand fed. We took a walk to the great Ceremonial house and saw the hidden Mickey on the floor.. actually DD#3 has been really good at spotting those, I think the older kids are more interested in rides instead of the details of finding Hidden Mickeys.
Later on (about 11 ish) we went to the outlet mall and I wanted to check out the Character Warehouse to see what deals can be found there. I got Gramma and Grandpa their Christmas presents there. and some stuff for the kids too. DH was looking for some sandals and would not look at crocs.. lol.. DD#1 is bugging him telling him how comfy they are! All the Nike and other stores have is thong sandals and he does not want those so he is out of luck.. BUT he did get a Hoodie for $10 regular $60. it is Super warm, I really like it!

After we got back to the resort we went swimming.. DD#4 really likes it, although there was a breeze that came right off the lake that made her cold.

She was all smiles in no time however

I went down the slide and it gives a huge splash at the end

it was such a splash that I lost a contact lens.. Took a bit to find out I had lost it.. I was closing one eye and going clear, closing the other going blurry.. shoot I love my contacts! BUT I did seem to find it in the corner of my eye however.. how lucky is that? I had to go to the rest room to put it in and it took forever but I got it back in! I like swimming with contacts because this way when my kids call me I can actually see what they are doing..

All the other kids and DH went on the slide over and over again. When we got back DH's room key did not work.. housekeeping let us in and I had to go up and get another one made..I was glad that housekeeping was there because the kids were freezing standing in the hall dripping wet! The only issue with a new key was that I set the safe with his room key and it would not open with the new key.. so we had to have someone come in and reset it.. he suggested that I use a real Credit card to set it , but I wanted that IN the safe not out.. so I used a key I did not use that way I did not have to worry about it not working again. We think that because I had to hand it in at the marina to get the life jackets that he put it too close to a Credit card and it wiped the card.

We met up with the gang at 6:00 and we were going to watch wishes from the beach but I found out that on Saturdays wishes was at 9:00 so we went to dinner 1st.
We headed to CiCi's and it was GOOD! I think I ate 5 pieces of pizza, DD#1 had 4 DD#2 had 5 DD#3 had 3 DD#4 ate 2.5 and DH had 11! He was so full he could barely walk.. lol.. I think we will be going back there!

We returned to our room with plenty of time to watch wishes and we were treated to a Space shuttle launch at night! We could see it from the beach!!!! WOW.. I have never seen one before and it was spectalar DH got it on video tape I did not get it on camera I was just enjoying looking at it and forgot about the camera
Wishes came at 9:00 and it was nice to hear the music, and see the fireworks... I want to tape it tomorow night this way I don't get all the audio of the kids talking and this way I can relive the magic at home.
I liked the fireworks from the Mickey's very merry Christmas party better that we saw last night but this is nice too!
Tomorrow we are planning on going to Clearwater beach and spend the day there it is going to be 75 so that will be nice for spending the time there. I heard it is going up to 83 later in the week so that will be nice!
We are heading to Whispering Canon Cafe for Breakfast in the morning and I hope we get a fun server so I will update tomorow on how that went! Check out tomorrow's page for details.. here is some random shots from the poly that were taken of our room!