Two OCD Workaholics and Two Grateful Kids (almost) Left it All Behind (A Trip Report)

[disneyhockeymad]

Oops double post!!!

 

[ChrisMouse]

Ok, back for another installment (trying to snatch time here and there to do this!)

Let me tell you first that I was completely caught up in the hype over the lovebugs. I would madly read each and every lovebug thread. I even did a SEARCH for lovebug threads and read all about them on wikipedia. I was terrified that those pesky "two headed" bugs were going to ruin my vacation. I envisioned getting them caught in my nose or my teeth as we flew through the air on fast rides...squishing them when I sat down on benches or tried to enjoy the pool...and, worst of all, trying to EXPLAIN them to my kids, bringing on a full-scale conversation about the BUGS and the BEES. I bought packets of bug repellent. I packed NO white shorts. I was PREPARED FOR THE ONSLAUGHT OF LOVEBUG SWARM 2008.



Now, I am fully prepared to admit that I might have just MISSED the grand event. Despite the fact that my dates fell smack into the "middle" of what should have been the biggest swarm of lovebugs EVER, we saw MAYBE 5 pairs of lovebugs. In fact, it was an actual EVENT when I spotted a pair. Perhaps the lovebugs were already gone? Or (gasp!) perhaps the SWARM has been rescheduled for those of you planning to enjoy a June vacation (I hope not, for your sakes!) But I do have to say, that the lovebugs we saw were very busy doing "their thang" and did not bother us at all. I am now just cracking myself up when I think of all of the agony I went through worrying about lovebugs.

Which brings me to the "other DIS thoughts" part of this installment. Let me be the first to say I LOVE THE DIS. My husband sometimes feels like the DIS is my "other lover". Ever since I discovered it before our Disneyland trip in 2007, I have been a constant DIS surfer. You name it, I read it. And love it. I love knowing the effects of the changes to the DDP (even though I will never use it). I love reading about who got what ADR and how many days out. I love weeping over people's trip reports (especially those wedding/honeymoon ones... ) I read about the weather, the humidity, the right socks to wear, the right shoes, the right bag or backpack to carry (and have been known to drop everything to go right to a shopping site to snatch up the coolest DIS-endorsed gimmick of the week...aka in my household we call it the "great messenger bag fiasco of 2008"...dubbed this because I fell into the Disneyshopping.com messenger bag frenzy and bought them for my two SMALL children, who couldn't even manage to lug them through the airport on our trip )

So...I love the DIS. But I just want to say that the 5 pairs of lovebugs I saw on my trip taught me something important: don't panic about ANYTHING and NOTHING can ruin a WDW vacation. No matter what, there will be pixie dust. And although I whined through my pre-trip report about worrying about illness and not having enough antibacterial gel, I'm sure we would have survived it if someone had become ill on our trip. And even though I DID check my OKW mattress for bedbugs (thanks to another frenzy thread a few months back)...even THAT would have been surviveable. (And it's proof positive that my OCD is improving that although I THOUGHT about bringing all our own bedding from home, I did NOT...of course...I had so many rain ponchos, M&M tubes for penny pressers, drink packets for water bottles, homemade autograph books, and a million other DIS-endorsed items in my suitcases, we couldn't have FIT any bedding )

So...don't worry if you're planning your vacation. It will be beautiful.

(and I will be counting on you all to remind me of this as my next vacation approaches )

Ok, so...coming up:

Planes, trains, peoplemovers, clammobiles, doombuggies, boats, gliders, rockets, simulators, coasters, logs, and automobiles OH MY

 

[dananbethany]

Yay - I see pictures! Your kids are absolutely adorable!

 

[LegoMom3]

...I had so many rain ponchos, M&M tubes for penny pressers, drink packets for water bottles, homemade autograph books, and a million other DIS-endorsed items in my suitcases....

You read, plan and pack just like me!!

Planes, trains, peoplemovers, clammobiles, doombuggies, boats, gliders, rockets, simulators, coasters, logs, and automobiles OH MY

I can't wait for this one! (my but there are a lot of different modes of getting around in the World, aren't there?! )

.

 

[ChrisMouse]

simulators, coasters, logs, and automobiles OH MY

Our riding began in earnest after our tasty (if long) Mother's Day breakfast at CP.

We are ride people. We just love rides. Any which way you want to toss us, spin us, loop us, flip us upside down, or move us along a track or current of any kind...we are ready to sign up. And WDW adds to its rides what is usually critically lacking to rides in all other parks: THEMING. If there's anything I like in this world, it's some good theming.

And I just love how Disney MOVES me. I don't just mean the doombuggies and so forth...but the emotional kind. A good ride at Disney makes me laugh, cry, fear for my life.

Despite the fact that we went against Mike's advice and visited the MK on that particular day (notice my careful skating...no chance I'm ever giving up any of the goods and getting banned from TGM!) we got to ride a lot of great rides to start off our trip. And my kids were SO HAPPY.

For us, it's nearly always all work and not enough play. But on vacation...SWEET. It's all about them. (And when we STILL had to WORK..we stayed up late to do it so it didn't bug them too much.)

We stayed at the MK until around 2pm...then went back to OKW for some lunch (you will find through this report that we put a really good dent into the groceries I had ordered) and a bit of a crash. Ok, a LOT of a crash. We crashed so hard that we finally woke up just after 6 and had to literally RUN to the bus to go to the Studios so we wouldn't miss the AP preview of Toy Story Mania.

Which brings me to one of the coolest moments of our trip. It was KISMET that we got to try this ride. I was certain that it wouldn't open until after our trip was over, yet just the week before our trip they announced the AP preview dates. We LOVE the Toy Story movies. We quote them. We sing them (not in public or on Disney busses, I promise!) Sometimes we have been known to shout "To infinity...and beyond!" as we launch our minivan out into our suburb. So we NEEDED to try this ride, and it DID NOT DISAPPOINT.

I know LOTS of photos have already been posted, but I just can't help myself, so here goes:

And I have to include a few others--a nice passerby noticed me taking photos of my husband and kids and offered to take a photo (incidentally, I then made an effort to do this for others throughout our trip--it's so nice!)

And, fools that we are, we shut down the Studios for the night. (You might be asking yourself, "Does this woman never learn? What about that installment on the first day about the crankiest children?" And you would be right. I SHOULD have made my family hightail it back to the hotel after Toy Story Mania...but I *sigh* did not. Instead, we had a BLAST!

My sweet little girl learned to love Star Tours:

And she asked me to take this picture, "Just in case I don't get to meet the REAL Snow White, Mom!"

And, we ended the night with slushy drinks and kettle korn. And YES, that is ME, a grownup 34 year old woman, with a souvenir Minnie cup. Did I need one? NO. Did I WANT one? Supremely. So the three of us sat there in bliss with our slushies and corn, while my DH did the Rockin' Rollercoaster four times.

Gotta love it. Day two was pretty great. A mother's day I'll never forget!!

 

[ChrisMouse]

Ok, first of all.....you guys are SOOO cute!!

Aw...thanks!

Great photos- you have beautiful children.

Thanks so much! I just use a little point and shoot camera, so sometimes I don't get great results. I just like having a camera that fits in my pocket or my hideous but convenient fanny pack.

See people did read your pre-trippie. I followed you here and am not the only one.

Thanks for reading and following!!!

Loving your TR already!

Thanks, I'm enjoying writing it!

We also didn't have any napkin-waving nor a parade, so I'm wondering if they've changed things around. It honestly sounds more like our experience at Chef Mickey's, where there WAS napkin-waving and what could be construed as a parade, and we didn't have as many characters come to our table there as CP....

This confused me as well...as I'd heard about Chef Mickey's. I think they're trying to make the other meals as popular as CM. They had these signs for the characters to carry in the parade, and the napkin waving, etc., but it didn't feel very organized. Maybe it's new?...

You read, plan and pack just like me!!

That's why I hang out here...to find kindred spirits!

 

[dreamer17555]

Aww you guys look so cute! What rides did you go on at MK? My DD did not like Big Thunder or Splash but we put her on both... we are slightly evil parents.

-Becca-

 

[ChrisMouse]

Hi Becca!

I think that first day we did Goofy's Barnstormer (my kids continue to call this one "Goofy's Crash Barn" for some odd reason). We did lots of favorites in Fantasyland--got FP's for Peter Pan, then later got them for Pooh and it gave us bonus ones for Philharmagic. Oh, and we did Hm and Pirate's that first day, too...my DD's all time favorite.

Over the course of the week we did MOST of the MK rides. We somehow skipped Dumbo but did Flying Carpets...we did Big Thunder and my kids ADORED Splash, though I got DRENCHED. And let me tell you, my hair was already suffering from some serious FRIZ (thank you Florida!) but Splash just did me in entirely. It is just so fun though!

DS didn't try Space until our last night but LOVED it. He is a more tentative rider, and gets scared by some theming (HM, for one) but loves rollercoasters.

Maybe your DD will be more excited about BTMRR and Splash next visit...we just love those!

 

[disneyhockeymad]

Aww your kids are adorable :]
And there is NO shame in wanted a minnie mouse cup!! I would get one everytime!!!

 

[ChrisMouse]

We started our day at Epcot off on the right foot. We got there before RD. We got a FP for Soarin and then immediately rode it, too (we love it). We popped over to Nemo and took some great photos. I was somewhat disappointed in the ride. The clammobiles were cute, and the idea was ok, but again it felt like a waste of real estate. I'm sorry to the Nemophiles out there. I really like Nemo the movie and Nemo the fish character...just don't care much for Nemo the ride/attraction. I'd do it again for the air conditioning, though The best thing about it was getting to take pictures in Bruce's mouth:

We loved the flower and garden festival. Epcot looked just beautiful. Of course, I think it ALWAYS looks beautiful, but it was especially beautiful with all of the flowers. My son really loves flowers, so it was wonderful for him. He loved seeing everything in bloom. We didn't get around to doing very many of the activities for the festival because the size of Epcot nearly KILLED us, but everything looked so pretty.

On both Saturday and Sunday at the MK, my kids did terrific with all of the walking. But on Monday, the heat and the sheer real estate of Epcot got to them. Plus, I think their feet were really tired from the two days before. We'd been taking family walks every evening in "training" before our trip, but...heck...let's face it. We were not exactly doing those walks in the Florida heat, and we weren't walking 5-6 miles a pop. I have to post the picture of my goofy looking HUGE children in the stroller. I know...they looked rediculous. But they would not have made it all around Epcot all day. They were just pooped. (My kids would be bowled over with laughter to know that I actually just typed that word!) Keep in mind, we rented two instead of a double to avoid, "She's touching me." and "He's looking at me." and "She's hogging the footrest." That type of thing. YOU know, the type of thing that tells you your enormous poorly behaved children are really WAY TOO BIG for strollers!!

So, rather than have miserably whiny children at Epcot, we went ahead and bent over for the strollers. I'm sorry to put that so graphically, but OUCH! I could not believe the cost. The cast member at the Epcot stroller rentals convinced us to do the length of stay strollers. She said, and I quote: "If you don't use them all we will be glad to refund them at the end of your stay." We paid for the strollers, and went on our happy way...not realizing that this would be our end-of stay nightmare on our last day, ruining our last happy moments at Disney World. *sigh* I will tell that drama when I get to it. Needless to say, we spent the money for the length of stay strollers and only used them twice (we used them the Epcot day and the Animal Kingdom day, and that was it)...and then had a Spaceship-Earth sized hassle when we tried to get them refunded on our last day since we never needed them at Hollywood Studios or the MK.

So...off we went, forgetting the lesson of "take it easy". We raced through Epcot. Let me pause here to give you some advice. YOU NEED TWO DAYS FOR EPCOT. PERIOD. We did a bunch of Future World, and then raced over to World Showcase to be at our lunch ADR at San Angel Inn. Let me pause here to give you some MORE advice. DO NOT EAT AT SAN ANGEL INN. DO NOT PASS GO. JUST GET OUT OF MEXICO. Don't get me wrong, Mexico was BEAUTIFUL, and that's why we wanted to eat there. It was nice and cool and dark and lovely. But the food was just nasty. I'm trying to find an analogy, but there just isn't one. We live in Denver and love Mexican food, but this was very nearly unrecognizeable. And EXPENSIVE. So it was expensive unrecognizeable slop. Please, please, please don't eat there.

After moving the slop around on our plates we quickly paid and got out of Dodge. We thought it would be entertaining to ride the boat ride there in Mexico. My son loves Donald, and I can see why they added Donald to the ride, but Yikes. Can you say..."waste of real estate?" Are we sensing a theme here? Don't even get me started on Figment...

Later, we found ourselves a good old fashioned American hot dog. We are such typical Americans. Oh well! Notice that we couldn't resist the frozen lemonades. By the end of our trip, I think I had frozen lemonade running in my veins. Even now, I could SURE use one of those. SMACK.

In the next installment, I'll talk about Katie's experience with Mulan, which was the highlight of our Epcot experience. Let me just tell you that she greatly enjoyed the characters she found at Epcot. I think Epcot was DEFINITELY the best place for "character hunting" as we call it. If you are a character fan, Epcot is your spot.

We made our way around World Showcase. It was blisteringly hot by this time, so we moved pretty slowly. We couldn't talk the kids into leaving their mist fans in order to experience any of the tourism movies or other attractions, but we DID do the boat ride in Norway, which was quite fun, and we got to watch the candy lady in Japan--SO COOL! We went into the gift shops and watched the pick a pearl thing. Shopping in Epcot is VERY FUN. Of course, by this point, since we are such RIDE people, we were pretty much starved for a decent ride. We are Norwegian in heritage, so it was fun to have the kids pose for this picture for my dad, who loves trolls:

The other highlight of our World Showcase trip was the visit to France. Josh had been looking forward to it since he's fascinated with the Eiffel Tower. The Epcot version is a bit disappointing--hard to see, and most of it is backstage, but Josh found solace in a giant chocolate eclair from the Patisserie. Mmmmmmmmm. I don't remember much of my high school French, but I think MMMMMMMMMM is universal. They also had strawberry tarts in there that looked like they might send you over the edge.

This photo op was irresistable, too. I know it's just a phone booth, but COME ON. That is too cute for words. I know...don't worry...this goofy American won't go overseas and give us all a bad name. I'll just stay here and wear my crocs and my Mickey Mouse t-shirt and take photos of my kids in phonebooths.

So by the time we'd made our way around World Showcase it was early evening. We realized somewhere around the American Experience (halfway around) that we were NEVER making it back to our resort for our civilized planned midday break. So we were tired. We were starving. Our children were cranky despite having ridden around the world like babies. We had once again made THE MISTAKE. and it was too late to fix it.

We stood at the Electric Umbrella, trying to convince our children that they could eat there and be fine. We had a few disagreements and an ugly time out for my 5 year old. We were THAT FAMILY. (You know, the one you PITY.) I'm so sorry to say it. And we had had enough of Epcot. But here was the problem: we had FP's for Test Track in our pockets. How could we leave Epcot without doing Test Track? (See, we never learn?!!!) So instead of eating a sensible dinner, we headed over to Test Track, planning to head home after the ride and have dinner.

The kids LOVED Test Track. They were over the MOON about Test Track. They raved about it and wanted to immediately do it again. I'm not really sure it's that much fun, but I realized that World Showcase is sort of boring for young kids. I mean, let's face it--adults eat and drink their way around World Showcase, and kids can't really do that. They don't have that nice alcoholic fog from the frozen margarita or the glass of wine that smooths things over for them. There was a sad lack of rides of any entertainment value (and let's face it, that's not what World Showcase is ABOUT.) If we hadn't encountered so many characters in all of the different countries, the kids would have really hated it. So...when we did Test Track, the kids finally remembered they were at DISNEY WORLD. We gave into the smiles...rode Test Track again, did Honey I Shrunk the Audience and (retch: Figment) and then headed for Spaceship Earth. I quite enjoyed the refurbishment. It's a good thing to hear "M"'s voice in my ear during the ride. But in general it was the relatively dull ride I remember.

Please don't flame me...I guess we're never going to be big Epcot fans. And considering that two days later on our date night, I barely survived being recruited by Gary Sinise for Mission: Space...I'm not super eager to go running back to Epcot anytime soon.

To end the long, long day...we managed to get a bus before the huge Illuminations crowd left the park, and we went back to our resort...where we pigged out on PB&J sandwiches, fruit, chips, and milk.

I know...we are an incredibly boring family.

Next up: Mulan's Kiss and Katie's 43 characters

 

[dreamer17555]

I am a parent that fully endorses any means (short of decapitation) that will result in less whining so the two stroller idea seems great by me Our trip was right before Disney decided to raise the prices or I am not sure He (DH) would have let me rent her one. Those prices are scary!

I am sorry you didn't have a good meal in Mexico. We have yet to try there and I doubt we will. I just have heard too many bad things. And don't worry about being a family that people pity, we had a meltdown like that at the Earl of Sandwich on our first day. Not excatly a magical way to start the trip

Can't wait to read more!

-Becca-

 

[Marthonica]

Love the trip report so far!! Where did you find those really neat water bottles that I see your incredibly cute kids wearing around their necks?? What a GREAT idea!

 

[ChrisMouse]

Sorry about the delay in installments, school is ending and I can't get a moment in edgewise.

I'll work on the next installment tomorrow.

In the meantime, those water bottles are PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN waterbottles and were purchased at the DOLLAR STORE! Steal of the century, and let me tell you, my children stayed hydrated and did not mind carrying their own water. Yay!!!!

 

[OhMari]