future_imagineer819
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2008
- Messages
- 256
Great TR. Can't wait to hear what happens.
Genie: "In case of emergency, the exits are here, here, here, here, here, anywhere! Keep your hands and feet inside the carpet. We're outta here!"
5 a.m!Yes, that's when the alarm went off. I managed to get a little bit of sleep. But it's "D-day" and if that doesn't get you movin', I don't know what will!
Other than being really tired, we seem to get everyone ready fairly quickly and out the door. Only about 10 mins. behind schedule! It's about a 30-40 min. drive to the airport. Nothing eventful here. The kids watched "Finding Nemo" in the car on the way. "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming" I love Dory....
Get to the airport and head for our airline. A long line, but we see DBIL family at almost the front, so everything is good. They get through the line and come talk to us for a bit as we wait, then head of to the TSA line. We follow soon behind about 5 to 10 mins. later.
Okay....the TSA lines. I get nervous going through these. I think it stems back to when we traveled to the UK right after 9/11. We kept getting pulled out of line constantly and being searched.So, we jump in line with ID's out. The lady was very nice, but she kept looking at me. Oh, great. Another search. Finally she says, "Are you traveling with another family?"
"Yyeessss," I said. She started laughing. "There's another family wearing shirts just like yours and I thought, 'How weird would that be to have two families come through here with the same shirts on?'"
We got a good laugh out of that and took some of last nights tension away!
So, I better stop and tell you about these shirts, right? LOL This 1st thanks goes to my DISigner friend, Rumblytumbly. Iyou, girl. I've haunted Kari's photobucket so much, I can tell you where everything is. When I 1st saw her "Life is Good" section, I knew I had to make shirts. So, the DSIL and I got together and assigned everyone a shirt. The DD and DNi(niece) wanted their favorite princesses. The DS and DNe(nephew) wanted "Cars". DBIL is Goofy, DSIL is Spot. I had to chose Mary Poppins- love her. And finally, my DH can be nothing else but Grumpy! Everyone's shirt says "Life is Good" except good ol' Grumpy. His just says "Life is." Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself, but here is pic #1. (I hate pics of me
)
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This was taken later in the day, but I wanted to go ahead and show you our great shirts.
Back to our story- Plane ride to MCO was uneventful, but I still did not get any sleep on the plane. After touchdown, we ran to the DME (Disney's Magical Express). And got in line. About a 10 mins. wait for our bus. As soon as we got in the bus, the skies opened and it started raining! Oh, well. Soon, we are off! After making stops to let riders off at the Poly and the GF, we are pulling into Wilderness Lodge!!!![]()
Unfortunately, my pics of pulling up to the Lodge did not come out do to the rain (all blurry).
DSIL and I ran into check-in. No one in line! At check-in, I don't even have to remind them. She handed me DS's birthday button. And, score!, our room is ready! We've had issues at other resorts with the rooms not being ready, so this was so nice. I did ask about "flag family". Not available. Oh, well. Maybe next time.. Oh, and before heading to our room, we had to stop and do this:From reading the WL board, everyone needs to rub Humphrey's nose!![]()
We get to the room- Inner Courtyard overlooking the Stream- and find this waiting on our bed.A towel Mickey! (pssst....can you find the hidden Mickey on the bed comforter?) We received to towel creations on this trip. It was a nice touch. We had not received any during our stay at a different resort.![]()
At this point, we received a call from FIL/MIL wanting to meet us for lunch. DBIL wanted to go to DTD, so we settled on Earl of Sandwich to meet them at. Off we go to the buses.
So we wait, and wait and wait. 35 mins of waiting for a bus to DTD! We stopped a couple of the other bus drivers and got a "Oh, well" attitude. (This is majority theme on this trip..Buses took forever!) Finally, the bus shows up!
We get to DTD and Earl of Sandwich and , no kidding, the place is like this:Who would've thought DTD would be so busy on a Thursday at 2pm! But, I gotta say, that was one of the best sandwiches I've had at Disney. I think I got the "Earl's Original". Yum. After eating, DBIL wants to go to "Once Upon a Toy". Again, it's packed. You can barely get through the store. As we are walking through, I hear, "Ma'am" and someone touches my arm. Very nice lady says, "I've seen you all walking around in your shirts and wanted to know if I can buy them here at Disney?"
I explained to her that a friend had designed them and we made them at home. Thanks again, Kari! But this isn't the last time I'm going to get stopped by this shirt!
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At this point, I just want to get back on the plan- which was to go to EPCOT. We have dinner reservations at Akershus in just a few of hours! So, we herd everyone to the buses and make the crazy trek from DTD to EPCOT (did you know you can't get a bus straight from DTD to EPCOT?I knew this, but forget in my food and sleep deprived brain!)
{I'm going to stop here for now. "The Real World" is calling me back. I'll come on and post Day one- Part 2 later.....promise! Have a great day everyone!)
I'm sorry, not to be rude or feel your pain, but this had me cracking up, you handled it SO well!I was just reading about you hot glue incident. I sooooo feel your pain, literally. I teach Kindergarten and two years ago for Christmas I decided to take on doing one of those Oriental Trading Company craft kits that was a reindeer with 500000000 pieces per student. That year I happened to have 23 students .
Well after two days of taking them to the side two or three at a time and helping them put it together, I had to hot glue a magnet on the back of the completed foam reindeer. For 2 days I repeatedly said,"Don't get near the hot glue gun it is VERY HOT and it will burn you." I was helping one of the last students and I dropped the magnet and a large puddle of hot glue on the top of my wrist. Needless to say I had to try and successfully stiffled a curse. One of my "angel" students said, "You said that is really hot. Does it burn?" My responce was very dignified given the situation. "Yes, Yes it does burn and that children is why YOU do NOT touch the hot glue." I still have a dime size scar on my wrist, but I now know they don't call it hot glue for nothin'. Sorry for stealing your thread but I had to share that we all have had THAT moment.
I'm sorry, not to be rude or feel your pain, but this had me cracking up, you handled it SO well!![]()
and for you Heather... I LOVETHE TR!! Your family is fabulous, you look so purrrty! love your shirts! I'm so excited!!! See honey, I do have friends as crazy as me! How fun is that in the airport?? OMGoodness, k, i stink at writing (unless you know me as i happen upon a lot of humor, sometimes dry, mostly sarcasm
) but i just may have a go at it... I'm dying here cuz NOBODY knows we're going, so everything is HUSH HUSH...ugh!! Please continue, I must live vicariously through all of you, please they are gonna have to put me in a straight jacket before long... i can't stand the silence... (slap to the face
ok, i got a hold of myself..
) please continue....
![]()
Hi, Kristin! Thank you...I am really enjoying your DISigns. Keep up the great work!Great TR. Can't wait to hear what happens.
Oops, misunderstood. I thought you were at WL this trip. The funny thing is my DBIL said, "Next time I want to stay at POR because that's the only bus we keep seeing.We were at POR this trip but stayed at WL last December. We really didn't have any problems with the busses in Dec, but they were bad this trip. I think all the resorts had problems though. Looking forward to reading the next update.
Kari,Oh Heather! You have totally and completely made my day and my week.I love your family photo at Epcot and the one in WL. What a beautiful family you have and what great photos!
Love the shirts too by the way. Great job. Did you use light transfers for those??
Oh, MY! I feel your pain! How awful! It's one of those you can laugh about after....but not during.I have to hijack your thread for a second. I hope you don't mind.
I was just reading about you hot glue incident. I sooooo feel your pain, literally. I teach Kindergarten and two years ago for Christmas I decided to take on doing one of those Oriental Trading Company craft kits that was a reindeer with 500000000 pieces per student. That year I happened to have 23 students.
Well after two days of taking them to the side two or three at a time and helping them put it together, I had to hot glue a magnet on the back of the completed foam reindeer. For 2 days I repeatedly said,"Don't get near the hot glue gun it is VERY HOT and it will burn you." I was helping one of the last students and I dropped the magnet and a large puddle of hot glue on the top of my wrist. Needless to say I had to try and successfully stiffled a curse. One of my "angel" students said, "You said that is really hot. Does it burn?"![]()
My responce was very dignified given the situation. "Yes, Yes it does burn and that children is why YOU do NOT touch the hot glue." I still have a dime size scar on my wrist, but I now know they don't call it hot glue for nothin'. Sorry for stealing your thread but I had to share that we all have had THAT moment.
I can't wait to hear more about your trip.
Evalani, how sweet you are! Thank you for the compliments! As with any mom, I think my kids are the bestI'm sorry, not to be rude or feel your pain, but this had me cracking up, you handled it SO well!![]()
and for you Heather... I LOVETHE TR!! Your family is fabulous, you look so purrrty! love your shirts! I'm so excited!!! See honey, I do have friends as crazy as me! How fun is that in the airport?? OMGoodness, k, i stink at writing (unless you know me as i happen upon a lot of humor, sometimes dry, mostly sarcasm
) but i just may have a go at it... I'm dying here cuz NOBODY knows we're going, so everything is HUSH HUSH...ugh!! Please continue, I must live vicariously through all of you, please they are gonna have to put me in a straight jacket before long... i can't stand the silence... (slap to the face
ok, i got a hold of myself..
) please continue....
![]()
Great TR so far. Love the shirts!
I saw the hidden mickey in the comforter!![]()
Wish they would make it so you could get to DTD from all of the parks. After telling my DH what a hard time we had getting from Epcot to DTD and back one day, he thought there was a boat. He gave me a hard time about not knowing that. Well, I went out and researched and there isn't a boat to DTD from Epcot, only resorts! I haven't informed him yet because he gets mad when I prove him wrong!
Looking forward to the next update!
Melissa
Thank you for reading. I was a little intimidated to do it at first, but I am enjoying talking with everyone here. Thanks so much everyone!Enjoying your TR! Thanks for posting it!
So, I left off with us trying to get from DTD to Epcot. Sometimes at WDW, I feel like I'm in my own version of the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.![]()
We grabbed the first bus that pulled in- Contemporary. Good! We can get on the monorail. Well, kinda. We get to Cont. Take the monorail to the TTC. Then take the other monorail to Epcot.If only!
I'm not exactly thrilled that we are getting to Epcot so late, but at least we are finally hereIf I'd had the energy, I would have been jumping up and down. We head into the park and of course have our pic taken by PP (see previously posted pic). Now, where to first?
The birthday boy has been talking about Test Track (his favorite ride!) and how he wanted to ride it for his birthday. So, let's go! Wellll...unfortunately, FP's are already gone for the day and the Stand-by line is 90 mins. We have dinner ressies in an hour and 40 mins. Don't think it will work.![]()
We head to Spaceship Earth. Only a 20 min. wait!!! This is my DD's favorite ride. When we get to the front of the line, the CM says, "How many are in the 'Life is Good' party?" We all laugh. All the CM's start referring to us that way. "1st 'Life is Good' in this car. 2nd Life is Good is next car." We had to laugh. The one CM said, "Those shirts are great!" We love SE and it has been refurb'd since our last visit.
After we get off, we don't have a lot of time before dinner. What to do? Well, last trip, I totally missed Club Cool. For whatever reason, we never went in. And I have heard so many people talk about the "Beverly", that I am not going to miss it this time! So I said, "Anyone interested in tasting some Cokes from around the world?"![]()
They never saw it coming!
Now, I don't have any pictures of "the tastings", but I did take some video. If I can figure out how to post it, I will try to put the video on here. (Anyone that wants to PM me and tell me how- please do!) I made sure everyone got a taste! I think my DBIL's comment was, "OMG! Why would you do that to me?"Yes, even I tasted it!
Actually, we all found one that we liked. I think my favorite was from Israel. We had a blast in there!
Well, we better head off to our reservations at Akershus. So, we split up from DBIL's. And walk to Norway. The line was huge! We checked in a little early, but were seated at our ADR time. And when you walk in, you are met by 'Her Royal Highness':![]()
This dinner was a surprise for DD. So much attention was on DS for his birthday trip, that I wanted her to have one special dinner. And she was surprised! Especially when she learned that Jasmine was there (her current favorite!)![]()
Other princesses that appeared were Cinderella, Aurora and Belle (in her blue dress). I must say, the Princesses are amazing! They gave the kids so much time and attention. Signing autograph books, taking pictures. The food was so-so. DH had the Pork shank, DD- Mickey ravioli (she liked hers), DS- pizza (didn't like) and I had the Salmon (a little on the dried out side). At the end, they brought DS out a birthday card signed by all the Princesses! (He likes seeing the Princesses more than he will admit) That was nice, since I did not say anything about his birthday when I made the reservation or even when I checked in.
But we were eager to leave and get to the rides! I promised DS we would do Test Track tonight, no matter how long the wait. So, off we went!
I think TT is a fun ride. It's not my favorite ride in EPCOT, but I do enjoy it. It was a 70 min. wait. Have you ever ridden TT at night? I think that is the best time to ride it. When you get to the outside part and it is dark out, it is so cool. And guess what? We come to the outside part of the ride and the 1st fireworks for Illuminations go off! It was very cool to see the fireworks from on the ride! I'm sorry that we didn't get to sit down and watch Illuminations. But we have done that before and I'm sure we will do it again!
It was EMH night at EPCOT, but I told DH after TT we needed to go back to WL. I was exhausted. I had slept maybe 7 hours in the past 48 and I was dead on my feet. Actually, the kids didn't put up a fuss about leaving the park. They were tired. We got back to the room, took quick showers and everyone was asleep before their heads hit the pillows.
Up next: Day 2- Magic Kingdom and a Birthday (no, his 'real' birthday)
Thanks, Kari! I'm so glad you are reading it!Great update. I'm loving it!!![]()
Hey, Melissa! I really like TT, but I think it is even better at night! You have to try it sometime.Great update. I haven't ridden TT at night, so now I really want to.
I'm so happy you are enjoying itmore, more, more!! i must not drink coffee before i read, i can't seem to sit still waiting for the commercial to end.....![]()
Thanks, Tricia! I say get on TT both day and night!Great update. I have never been on test track (It's been 10 years since I was last at Disney) I will have to try it at night.
Can't wait to see more.
thanks
Tricia