We broke all the rules...

[indimom]

Monday, July 22nd dawned cool and comfy. Today was our Blizzard Beach day. We speculated on whether or not we would see the tour groups en mass at the water parks like we had at DHS. I wasn’t sure how they would manage to stick together in such large groups with water slides involved.

I made breakfast today. Pancakes and fresh fruit. Nothing too complicated. The kids had OJ and Matt and I ‘enjoyed’ more instant coffee. Ha ha. Actually it wasn’t too bad, especially when you added a little flavored creamer. I’ve had worse (and we bought worse later on this day).

We arrived at Blizzard Beach about 30 minutes before the park opened. As we got out of the car and gathered our things, I realized we had forgotten to bring our sunblock with us.

Seriously, how do you forget to bring sunblock to a water park? We hadn’t used any at DHS the day before and did fine, but a water park is a whole other thing. Ah well, if worse came to worse, we would just buy an overpriced bottle there. (I did mention in my PTR that we typically buy something we shouldn’t have to on vacation. It’s a family tradition.)

We entered the park and headed into the Beach Haus to get our locker rental. I had a coupon for Disney Visa members for a free locker. That was a nice perk. We just had to pay the $5 deposit for the key and would get that back when we returned it at the end of the day. Locker key in hand, we dropped off all of our belongings.

The kids and I ditched our shoes, but Matt opted to keep his.

Or should I say mine….

My navy blue Clark flip flops had an adjustable strap across the foot. It just fit Matt, and with the shoes on you couldn’t see the flower motif that clearly declared them women’s shoes, so he had decided to wear these to the water park instead of his nike sandals. They were so comfortable, he then decided to wear them all day.....

Ummm, you break 'em, you buy 'em, budy...


Our first stop was the chair lift to the largest rides in the park: Summit Plummet and Slush Gusher.



Emily had no interest in Summit Plummet, so first we all did Slush Gusher together. Matt and Garren and I agreed that this slide is actually much scarier than the faster and taller Summit Plummet. You actually get air time on the second bump and boy is that hairraising! But, it’s also a lot of fun.


The bar came down just as I snapped the picture of Garren. Bummer.

After that, we headed back to the chair lift for another run. This time, we split up at the top of the lift. Emily redid Slush Gusher and Matt, Garren and I jumped in the slightly longer line for Summit Plummet.

We had a bit of a wait since it’s popular and lines form quickly, but we entertained ourselves by trying to locate the various parks and hotels we could see through the treetops. You get quite a view from the top of Mt. Gushmore. Epcot, DHS and Downtown Disney were very easy to see and recognize. But, we never could find the Magic Kingdom. I guess it was just too far away.

We also watched the line for Slush Gusher so we could see Emily take her turn. She had to wait a while for us at the bottom, but we finally made it to the top of the tower.
Once we made our runs down the plummet (and dealt with the mandatory and painful wardrobe malfunctions which ensued), we headed to the stairs (since the chair lift line was starting to get long) to try the family raft ride, Teamboat Springs.

This is the best family raft ride in the two parks. Nice and long, a total blast!

This picture was pretty sad, but I included it anyway. Lol. Two others were photos of splashing water and nothing else. Ha.

Matt likes to ham it up for the kids. Lol.

After the raft ride, we headed around the park to try the many other slides.


Garren and Emily on Runoff Rapids, I believe.

We had an uneventful and good time on the rides, until we decided to hit up the Downhill Double Dipper, which is a side by side racing slide. That’s when things got interesting. The kids wanted to race each other, so Matt and I went down the slide first.

As I shot out of the tube at the end of my slide, I was looking to see who “won” and caught a glimpse of Matt’s float. It was at the very base of the slide, but he was nowhere to be seen.

My float flew across the entire drop pool before coming to a stop, (didn’t expect that? I must have had some serious momentum going) but Matt’s was floating right at the end of the slide. Then, I heard the life guard asking in a worried voice “Are you okay?”

Uh oh, What happened? I turn around and see Matt looking a bit confused, standing at the bottom of the slide. He's putting a flip flop back on, and looking around the pool. He finds his sunglasses and heads toward the stairs and assures the lifeguard that he is fine.

The lifeguard responds “I have NEVER seen that happen before.” At this point, I'm wondering what exactly is going on. ?????

Once Matt and I are on dry ground, while waiting for the kids to descend, he tries to explain what happened during his short trip down the speedy slide.

He said that just when his float hit the bottom of the verticle portion and start of the horizontal finish that leads into the pool, his float came to a screeching halt. It must have gotten caught up on the slide somehow. (You can see where this is going, right??)

And he went airborne out of the float, past the end of the slide (which is a pretty fair distance) and splashed down HARD in the catch pool.

I believe I can fly!!!!

Who knew this was really the most dangerous and exciting ride at Blizzard Beach. It certainly outranked Summit Plummet on this particular day.

He wasn’t hurt, but some water was forcefully driven pushed into his right ear and he was trying pretty hard to get it out because it was starting to hurt.

At this point, the kids exit the slide and Emily asks, “What Happened? The Lifeguard at the top looked freaked out!” Apparently, the lifeguard at the top of the slide looked shocked an awed at what had happened at the bottom of the slide to everyone waiting for their turn. She knew something had gone wrong with our trip down the slide, but not exactly what.

So, Matt runs through his arial acrobatics once more, while trying to get the water out of his ear, and we wandered on to tamer entertainment.


Emily and Garren demonstrate the proper way to exit the Downhill Double Dipper. Lol. (Aren't I a concerned wife? Even while Matt's narrating his narrow escape from the flying slide of death, I'm still taking pictures of the kids... )

The kids want to try the wave pool, and since Matt’s ear was hurting, it seemed like a good plan, and we head that direction. As we are approaching the wave pool, Matt asks “Do you think first aid would have a q-tip or something to help get this water out?”

I really doubted it. Doctors and Nurses are not fans of people putting q-tips in their ears, but it was worth a shot. So, we drop the kids at the wave pool and walk that way. As expected, the nurse on duty doesn’t recommend using a q-tip on the impacted water, instead she suggests we head to the Beach Haus and buy some medicine for Swimmers Ear that is stocked there and which will help dry the water trapped in his ear. Since we had to make a purchase, I decided to remedy our sunblock issue at the same time.

So, a trip to the locker for my wallet,

followed by a trip to the Beach Haus to make our $20 (ugh) purchases,

followed by a call to the credit card company when my card was denied again.

Oops, how did I forget that? I think I had Vacation Brain. Lol.

But, the problem was solved quickly with the answers to a few security questions.

And we head back to the wave pool to find the kids.

It was approaching lunch time, and we opted to pick up a few counter service meals and the refillable park mug at Lottawatta Lodge. We’ve eaten there in the past, and found it pretty good, so it seemed like a good place to repeat.

We found a table in the sun and shared a couple sandwich and some chicken strip meals. We’ve discovered on past trips that three counter service meals is just about right for our family of four. Any more and we just waste food. We refilled the mug a couple times and left feeling more than satisfied.


Now that we were dry, we applied the sunblock and decided to let our meals settle in our usual fashion, while making a lap or two around the park on the lazy river, Cross Country Creek.

These things are really anything but lazy. There are always quite a few active kids swimming, walking and splashing at any given time, but that doesn’t bother us a bit. We always get a chuckle from the cranky older women who seem to find this annoying (I don’t know why, but it’s almost always women over 40….??) I really hope I don't become that crotchety...

On our first lap around the park, we were close to a very LARGE family. Judging by the ages of the kids, I had to suspect that one parent had elected to do the lazy river with a large group of cousins or friends. Seriously, there were so many kids, I never could get an accurate count, but it was at least 8. All between the ages of about 5 and 10.

Whew. That momma had her hands full trying to keep them all corralled and in somewhat of a contained area. It’s really hard to stick together on the lazy river. Even our family of four (with two teens) found it a challenge. By our second loop, she had been joined by another woman who looked like her sister, and had a lot more help keeping the kids together.

A few pictures as we relax on the river….

Well, some of us relaxed anyway. Others seem to find that concept difficult to manage:


Once we felt adequately rested and lazy, we headed to the wave pool for another round. I actually enjoyed this a lot more on this trip. On our last trip, the entire pool was filled with floats and you were constantly getting run over because people can’t control those things when they are in them.

It seemed like they may have put a limit on the number of floats they allowed in the pool because there were a lot fewer, which made playing in the bobbing waves much more fun for us. Thumbs Up!!


I didn’t edit out my intruding digit as a word of warning to those who may use disposable cameras. They are NOT like the digital cameras we use today, I kept catching my finger intruding on the viewfinder and managed to get a photo of it more than once. Ugh. So, disposable camera users beware of intruding digits!

This photo also gives you a good idea of how quiet the pool was. I’m telling you, it was nothing like this in 2010. I actually felt a little endangered by the number of floats in the pool. They kept practically dunking you as they floated and bobbed all around your head and shoulders. Shudder.

A couple underwater shots of the kids:


After an hour or so, Garren asked to go play in the tween area. He remembered it from our last trip and wanted to try out some of the ice flows again. We headed that way, and watched while he tried to cross the icebergs using the ropes suspended above. On our last trip, he could barely reach, making his trip across pretty difficult. This time, he was sooo tall, the ropes hung too low, making it just as difficult. Lol. But, he did make it across. Thumbs up.



At this point, we were all wearing out and ready to head out, so we decided to try the family raft ride one last time (it really is worth it) so we head up the mountain one last time.

At the top of the hill, a nice family we had been chatting with, took our picture together.


At the bottom, a photopass photographer was taking pictures, so we snagged another one on our camera.


After our last hoorah, we emptied our locker, retrieved our deposit, and headed back to the campground for dinner.

Up Next, Chapter Seven: You call this coffee? Hats, and Disney Transportation. Monday, July 22nd.

 

[averill94]

Hi! I am really enjoying your trip report. Thank you for sharing.

I have never even heard about the canoes! Did you ever get to the campfire with Chip and Dale? (we leave on the 19th and might check it out!)

One night after HDDR we got stuck in the bus loop on a bus for an extraordinarily long time.... that place is huge.

 

[indimom]

Hi! I am really enjoying your trip report. Thank you for sharing.

I have never even heard about the canoes! Did you ever get to the campfire with Chip and Dale? (we leave on the 19th and might check it out!)

One night after HDDR we got stuck in the bus loop on a bus for an extraordinarily long time.... that place is huge.

The canoes are at the Meadows, they also have Kayaks. At the Settlement they have the small two-person speed boats (I forget what they are called). I really wanted to try those, but we never got the chance on this short trip. BUMMER.
Sadly, we never made it over to the Campfire either, although we could hear the sing-a-long from our tent at night. I'm a bit disappointed we didn't manage to do a few more Ft. Wilderness activities while we were there. Someday, I would love to take a nice leisurely 10-day trip and spend about 3 of those just enjoying the campground.

If there is one drawback to the campground, it is the internal transportation. I'll report on that a bit in my next Chapter. We spent one evening window shopping and resort hopping using Disney transportation and the internal buses (plus a bad call on our part) made for a very long trip. Once you know what you are doing and make some adjustments, it's perfectly reasonable, but you can't expect it to be like the resorts where you just walk to the bus stop and hop a bus to whichever park you like.

 

[indimom]

Once we left BB, we all showered and changed, then settled in for some dinner. On the menu tonight? Walking Tacos. We doped them up a bit with lettuce and tomato, sour cream and taco sauce. Matt was still fighting the water in his ear.

The Swimmer Ears drops had helped a bit, but it was being pretty stubborn and must have been pretty painful because Matt's not the type to complain about anything. (He had already soldiered through a day with nasty blisters without stopping. And, I just realized writing this, that this was not Matt's best vacation ever. lol.) We tried to relieve the pressure with q-tips, but it wasn’t budging.

Matt’s tennis shoes had finally dried out enough to wear and he was more than ready to break them in on a trip to Downtown Disney. The kids had each brought about $100 and it was burning a hole in their pockets. They wanted to do some window shopping to check out the souvenir options. Garren was thinking a hat or a shirt from the t-shirt shop, and a trip to Goofy’s Candy Co. Emily was interested in replacing a charm she lost off her bracelet from 2005, and just investigating her options.

We decided that tonight was a good evening to try the Disney transportation and take a break from driving. I wanted to see how the Ft.'s bus system really worked.

We planned to take an internal bus to the Outpost, catch an external bus to DD, shop, then grab a bus to one of the Monorail resorts where we would enjoy the monorail loop to shop some more, then finishing off the night with a boat ride back to the Ft. Wooh! It sounds a little crazy when you put it like that. lol.

So, we head out to the bus stop just outside our loop and wait for an internal bus heading to the Outpost. Sounds simple enough. And we wait, and we wait. It's feeling a bit hot and humid this afternoon and we're getting pretty uncomfortable sitting at the bus stop, even in the shade.

After a fairly long wait, maybe 15-20 minutes, we see a bus headed to the Settlement. I think quickly. Aren't the Ft buses on a looping system? So, it should go to the settlement, then back past our bus stop and then to the outpost, right? Sounds simple enough? And I'm not certain there is more than one bus on this side of the campground, so we would be waiting in the heat for this same bus to make the return trip. At least if we get on the bus, we'll make the trip in air conditioned comfort.

So, we hop on the bus. Our one major mistake of the trip. It does get us to our destination, but I had not considered how many stops it would make with all the loops in between. And, I also did not know, that the buses actually drive past the Settlement stop, through a set of resort-entry lift gates, and on to Wilderness Lodge, before turning back around, through the lift gates, and back through the campground. DOH!

I don't know if this is the regular routine, but it was on this trip. Yikes!
And there are more than one bus on each internal line. The right bus probably would have been at our stop within minutes. Instead, we rode this bus for at least another 20 minutes to make this loop, and get back to the Outpost. Possibly longer.

From that point on, the transportation went as I had expected and worked out fine… Here’s a trillion photos of our whirlwind tour. Apparently, I remember to take photos while shopping. Lol.



I love these new Lego structures. Very cool!

I made Emily try on these Mickey Ears because they matched her flamboyant outfit. We then decided to try on a few more crazy hats and ears:

We also thought this wall panel deserved a photo moment with my favorite Disney bag:

And, MORE light fixtures. Lol.


Emily and I could have spent all day in this store. Ooooh, girly wonder! And with the sports store right next door, we were able to spend a good amount of time without inconveniencing our guys. Someone planned the placement of those two shops very well.

Garren checked out the t-shirt shop, but concluded that they didn’t have any shirts that suited a teenage guy, so he moved on to hat hunting.

That proved to be just as difficult. They were all either silly, or too brightly colored, or just too Disney. He had a definite idea in mind and wasn’t willing to settle.

Matt was really wanting a caffeine infusion at this point, so we asked around at a couple restaurants to see if someone sold fancy coffees. A CM suggested Goofy’s Candy Company or Ghiradelli’s.

The kids wanted to go to Goofy’s anyway, so we headed that direction. As we were walking, a typical Orlando afternoon rain shower started to fall, so we hustled inside and took our time perusing the goodies…

I thought these looked really cute (but possibly not the best tasting?) and no way was I paying that price to find out. But, they were adorable. The kids were spending their own souvenir money, and each wanted a treat, so they took a long time deciding just what the wanted to buy.


Emily decided on a pre-made candy apple (because they were cheaper than the special order ones) and Garren got a made-to-order Rice Krispy treat with sprinkles and two types of chocolate.

While they were choosing their items, Matt picked up some saltwater taffy for a co-worker and got a coffee. Something mocha with extra shots of espresso, I think. He took a sip, ready to relax into caffeinated comfort, then made a nasty face.
Hmmm…
“No good?”
"Worse."
So, I tried the coffee too. Ugh, Nasty.

I mean really, really bad. And we are not picky people. I usually buy generic coffee for home, and this stuff was terrible. It was very watered down. And what coffee taste there was, was very burnt. I couldn’t detect any mocha flavor at all. It was just very, very bad. Really, there is no other way to put it, it was just awful. Matt couldn’t drink the stuff, and neither would I, so he just walked outside the store and pitched it into a trash can.

From this point forward during our trip, Matt would be on the hunt for a great coffee.



From DD, we made it to the Monorail for a tour of the Monorail resorts.
Emily took photos, and we all window shopped. Matt was trying to find me a Disney watch. (I need one with hash-marked seconds for the nursing program, and he thought this would make a nice souvenir.) There were several watches I liked, so I tried them all on, and hemmed and hawed over which I liked best.

While I was watch shopping, Garren continued searching for a hat. Not just any hat. It needed to be Disney, but not too Disney. And it needed to fit just right. No straight bill, but not too curved. Not high, but not short either. Sheesh, this kid was giving me fits. I thought school shopping with Emily was rough.

She, on the other hand, was unhappy with the charm selections and had given up on replacing her lost Cinderella charm. She didn’t know what else she wanted…so, she was just looking and taking pictures at the resorts.


At the Polynesian.

Emily managed to catch a couple photos of the MK fireworks from the Contemporary monorail platform (difficult due to the angle) and this photo of the Castle, which came out very well considering the distance and motion of the monorail. I was impressed.


At the end of our tour, we still hadn’t bought a thing (other than the kids’ treats and Matt’s nasty coffee) and we were getting exhausted, so we headed to the dock at the Contemporary Resort to catch a boat back to Ft. Wilderness. As we were waiting, we got to check out the Electric Water Pageant as it passed by. We could see several boats on the lake and it looked like they were waiting on the Parade to pass before docking.



Once the EWP headed off, we saw Peter Pan skipping to the front of the dock. Hmmm, what’s up with that?

It didn’t take long to figure out as two pirate tours arrived, singing A Pirates Life For Me at full volume, and full of smiling families. The boats were very big and very full, but it looked like children and adults alike had enjoyed their cruise. They all met Peter Pan, said goodbye to their Pirate Captains, and headed up the dock for photos.

One of the boats headed off to dock for the night, but the captain of the other made a radio call, letting someone know that he was going to take the waiting crowd of about 60 people back to Ft. Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge before docking for the night. Nice.

Here’s a photo of the boat: I left it full size because it’s pretty dark and hard to see.


As we settled into our seat and were headed back to the Ft., Garren glanced over at the side of the boat to his left and noticed a cute little frog just outside the plexiglass barrier which was about chest high. He pointed it out to me. Ahhh…. how cute. Hello little frog.

THEN he noticed why the frog had probably hopped on board and was hanging on in such a precarious place….



A HUGE spider right next to his shoulder.



He about freaked out! He quickly jumped to another row in front of us to escape the creepy critter. That didn’t make me too happy, now there was no barrier between the spider and ME! Yikes! Have I mentioned I just hate, hate, hate creepy crawlies?????

Matt shakes his head in exasperation, moves past me, and lets Em and I move toward the center of the boat and away from our “little friend.” I knew I kept that man around for a reason: Spider Barrier!

We finished off our whirlwind tour at the Settlement Trading Post in Ft. Wilderness where Garren FINALLY found the perfect guys guy hat with just the right touch of Disney. You can see it in the picture below, taken on the beach at the Ft.


Apparently, this hat was one was 'just right.'

And one last Ft. Wilderness light fixture before we call it a night:

The evening was quite cool and our tent was comfortable so we had no need for the A/C on this night. The frogs woke me once more, but for the last time, and everyone slept well.

Coming Up: Chapter Eight, Epcot, Oh how we love thee. Let me count the ways. Tuesday, July 23.

 

[natebenma]

Interesting day at Blizzard Beach!

on your husband's unexpected gymnastics.

Once, my husband was trying to board a raft at Atlantis and somehow tipped it over and did a somersault. Very scary!

Sounds like he didn't manage to lose your sandals, though, so that's good.

The chairlift and family slide at BB are great, but I don't really like the body slides. It is not the height or speed, I dislike the sensation of squirting water in my face.

I do like the view from up there, though. I have a waterproof camera and I always zoom in and take pictures of AK, SE, ToT and the EP resorts.

 

[natebenma]

The buses to and from DTD (from any resort) are never enjoyable, but sounds like your tour was especially trying.

Too bad the shopping was not more successful, but it sounds like you all had a good time.

on awful coffee!

Nice pictures from the monorail.

I love the Electrical Water Parade- how nice that you had a bonus viewing.

 

[lsenquiz]

commenting on Blizzard Beach

Forgetting the sunblock for a water park sounds like something I would do. It is always the most obvious that gets left behind.

Hillarious that Matt stole your shoes

I went without shoes the first time we went to BB and regretted it by the end of the day. The sandy cement was really tough on my feet.

Glad you guys had fun on Summut Plummet. I remember the first and only time I rode it. When I got to the bottom my back was killing me. Kenny who was waiting at the bottom took at look and informed me that my back was all scratched up and bleeding pretty badly. Not sure if I did something wrong or what but it was not an enjoyable rest of the day with all the cuts.

I love the family raft ride but not the stair walk to get to it. I am always completely out of breath by the time we get to the top.

Unbelievable about Matt's ride on teh downhill double dipper and a serious bummer about the ear problems that followed. Not much worse then a sore ear! I had an experience once on the ride at TL where you lay on your stomach on a mat. I lost my mat right after we took off and rode the whole ride without it. Not fun!

I completely agree with you about the lazy river although it is usually a bonding experience for us with strangers because you can not help but get close to people you do not know.

I am glad to hear they are limiting the amount of floats in the wave pool. I was genuinely scared the last time I was in there and I am a pretty good swimmer.

Love the pictures of Gavin in the tween area. That is Gabriel's favorite place in all of Disney. He could spent days there.

Great pictures. I am impressed at how well your disposible underwater camera worked (digits and all)

 

[dmoore718]

I am joining in as I am also a mom who is starting nursing school this fall!!!!! Yay for us!!!! We went to Disney in January and I felt a little teary not knowing when we would be able to go back!!! Looks like a great set up!! We are considering the Cabins for our next trip since we are a family of 5 so I can't wait to get all caught up!!!!

 

[lsenquiz]

Commenting on DTD


Ok what are walking tacos?? I continue to be impressed with your ability to make dinner on vacation

Poor Matt ear aches really stink.

I am a firm believer in parking my car when I get to Disney and not getting back into it until it is time to leave but DTD is the one place I would consider making an exception for. The bus to and from there are the worst. (which is probably why we rarely go there)

I am surprised by the coffee you got in Disney. I think I would have asked for a refund or a fresh pot?

Great pictures of your excursions in the shops

Glad Garren found his hat!

I love the water parade but rarely get to see it. We did the pirates and pals cruise last September and got to watch it from the boat. The cruise was alot of fun and we enjoyed meeting Peter Pan at the end.

Awesome ixiedust: when the captain of the cruise offered to take you guys back to the fort.

I guess you know where you stand if Garrin ever has to save you but impressed by Matt's bravery in the face of the spider

Can't wait to read about Epcot

 

[golf4miami]

Commenting on DTD


Ok what are walking tacos?? I continue to be impressed with your ability to make dinner on vacation

I'm responding just to answer this question because I LOVE walking tacos. A walking taco is typically made with either Fritos (How I like it) or cheesy doritos. What you do is you open the bag and leave all of the chips in there, then you pile on top all of the ingredients: Taco meat, Cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomato. Serve in the bag with a fork and eat it out of the bag. Yummy and easy to transport!

 

[Chief Powhatan]

We call then 'Petro's'. Tasty no matter what they are called.

 

[DisneyJo]

Loving your TR so far!

You're very brave camping with all those creatures, thankfully we couldn't bring a tent over from England it does sound fun though!

Your poor hubbie with his blisters, water in the ear and spectacular exit from the slide, it's something he'll always remember though

I'm so pleased your son finally found a suitable cap, both your kiddies are so cute by the way

 

[indimom]

WOH, the trip report is really taking a hit with nursing school. I think this may be a Dis record for me. I've been away EIGHT days!
WoW! So, if any of you junkies need to break the habit. Start nursing school. You won't have time to Dis anymore....

Seriously, I'm sorry for the late replies. I knew I'd be busy, but oh my goodness, this first month is going to be a challenge. We complete our first course (Fundamentals) in 4 weeks. It used to be 8, but they changed the system this year, and man are we moving fast. I started Monday and I had my first exam today over 7 chapters. Monday is our next exam, over another 8 chapters. I've been reading till my eye's bleed.

So, I apologize for my late replies. You may expect me to be slow for at least the next three weeks. Then, I hope, it should slow down a bit. Oh please, oh please, oh please, I hope it slows down a bit.

Interesting day at Blizzard Beach!

on your husband's unexpected gymnastics.

Once, my husband was trying to board a raft at Atlantis and somehow tipped it over and did a somersault. Very scary!

Yikes! We've never had any crazy adventures at a water park before. That sounds scary! I may never entirely trust raft rides again. lol.

Sounds like he didn't manage to lose your sandals, though, so that's good.

Nope, my shoes made it home from the trip (but he's still boring them occasionally, I'm gonna make him buy me new ones. Grrr!).
The chairlift and family slide at BB are great, but I don't really like the body slides. It is not the height or speed, I dislike the sensation of squirting water in my face.

I managed to block it this time. I cross my arms at the wrist AND cover my face with my palms. That is an unpleasant sensation!

I do like the view from up there, though. I have a waterproof camera and I always zoom in and take pictures of AK, SE, ToT and the EP resorts.

You've probably got some awesome ones! The view is really amazing!

The buses to and from DTD (from any resort) are never enjoyable, but sounds like your tour was especially trying.

Well, that was on me. I knew it wouldn't be easy, and I wanted to trial run it just to get a feel for it, then I made it worse. lol.
Too bad the shopping was not more successful, but it sounds like you all had a good time.

Oh yeah, my family seems to spend more and more time shopping on every trip. Go figure.

on awful coffee!

Nice pictures from the monorail.

I love the Electrical Water Parade- how nice that you had a bonus viewing.

It was an unexpected surprise, I didn't know what order the EWP traveled in. I thought it would be long gone. We get to see it again later in the trip as well.

commenting on Blizzard Beach

Forgetting the sunblock for a water park sounds like something I would do. It is always the most obvious that gets left behind.

Isn't that the truth!

Hillarious that Matt stole your shoes

I went without shoes the first time we went to BB and regretted it by the end of the day. The sandy cement was really tough on my feet.

Glad you guys had fun on Summut Plummet. I remember the first and only time I rode it. When I got to the bottom my back was killing me. Kenny who was waiting at the bottom took at look and informed me that my back was all scratched up and bleeding pretty badly. Not sure if I did something wrong or what but it was not an enjoyable rest of the day with all the cuts.

Ouch! Another crazy ride story.

I love the family raft ride but not the stair walk to get to it. I am always completely out of breath by the time we get to the top.

I was happy to see the two trim teenage boys walking up ahead of us were breathing hard too. Made me feel better about that. lol.

Unbelievable about Matt's ride on teh downhill double dipper and a serious bummer about the ear problems that followed. Not much worse then a sore ear! I had an experience once on the ride at TL where you lay on your stomach on a mat. I lost my mat right after we took off and rode the whole ride without it. Not fun!

Yikes, and another!!! I may have to think twice about water parks again!

I completely agree with you about the lazy river although it is usually a bonding experience for us with strangers because you can not help but get close to people you do not know.

It is fun. I like chatting with strangers, but the cranky hermits giving dirty looks just confuse me. What did you think was going to happen when you were trapped in a slow moving current surrounded by excited kids??

I am glad to hear they are limiting the amount of floats in the wave pool. I was genuinely scared the last time I was in there and I am a pretty good swimmer.

I agree. We had a much better time there on this trip. We actually got to enjoy the little waves some.

Love the pictures of Gavin in the tween area. That is Gabriel's favorite place in all of Disney. He could spent days there.

Great pictures. I am impressed at how well your disposible underwater camera worked (digits and all)

It did take some really good pictures. Better than most of our theme parks pix. I think that's because I had it handy on my wrist and wasn't trying to zoom or anything. Just straight, simply close up shots.

I am joining in as I am also a mom who is starting nursing school this fall!!!!! Yay for us!!!! We went to Disney in January and I felt a little teary not knowing when we would be able to go back!!! Looks like a great set up!! We are considering the Cabins for our next trip since we are a family of 5 so I can't wait to get all caught up!!!!

Hello! How is it going with you! I'm feeling more than a little crazed right now, although I'm sure it will settle down. I'm having to relearn some techniques because we do them differently at work and that has me stressed. We can't pass if we don't do it "their way." It's hard to break a year-old habit and learn a new one, especially when you still have to do it the old way at work. Ugh.

Commenting on DTD


Ok what are walking tacos?? I continue to be impressed with your ability to make dinner on vacation

You mean Matt's ability. ha ha ha.

Poor Matt ear aches really stink.

It was a royal pain, and took awhile to settle down. He was very happy when the suction finally let go and all that water came rolling out.
I am a firm believer in parking my car when I get to Disney and not getting back into it until it is time to leave but DTD is the one place I would consider making an exception for. The bus to and from there are the worst. (which is probably why we rarely go there)

Oh yeah, we much preferred the car. And we typically enjoy Disney transportation, but we found the driving to be pretty effortless on this trip. We may drive more on future trips.

I am surprised by the coffee you got in Disney. I think I would have asked for a refund or a fresh pot?

Probably should have, but Matt just figured they made crappy coffee and he wasn't in the mood to argue about it.

Great pictures of your excursions in the shops

Glad Garren found his hat!

Me too, and he's still wearing it, so he chose wisely!

I love the water parade but rarely get to see it. We did the pirates and pals cruise last September and got to watch it from the boat. The cruise was alot of fun and we enjoyed meeting Peter Pan at the end.

It looked like everyone had a real blast. We may have to check that out some day.

Awesome ixiedust: when the captain of the cruise offered to take you guys back to the fort.

I guess you know where you stand if Garrin ever has to save you but impressed by Matt's bravery in the face of the spider

Yeah, Garren will not be standing between me and the 8-legged Freaks of the world. I'm on my own there. Good thing I've kept the old guy around. lol.
Can't wait to read about Epcot

I promise to get it up soon. It's ready, other than pictures. I'm just moving S-L-O-W!!!

I'm responding just to answer this question because I LOVE walking tacos. A walking taco is typically made with either Fritos (How I like it) or cheesy doritos. What you do is you open the bag and leave all of the chips in there, then you pile on top all of the ingredients: Taco meat, Cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomato. Serve in the bag with a fork and eat it out of the bag. Yummy and easy to transport!

You got it. We went a little overboard and ate ours from a bowl though. Hard to share a family sized bag of Fritos. lol.

We call then 'Petro's'. Tasty no matter what they are called.

Ha, never heard that name before. Definitely yummy no matter what.

Loving your TR so far!

You're very brave camping with all those creatures, thankfully we couldn't bring a tent over from England it does sound fun though!

Your poor hubbie with his blisters, water in the ear and spectacular exit from the slide, it's something he'll always remember though

I'm so pleased your son finally found a suitable cap, both your kiddies are so cute by the way

Yeah, Matt definitely got an unfair number of painful reminders of this trip. Not sure how that happnened.
And thank you for the compliment. s

I promise to get the next update up soon. Maybe today if I can manage it, I just didn't want you to think I had bailed completely.

I'll be back!

 

[lsenquiz]

I can in here prepared to devote some time to catching up on your TR and realized that I was not behind You must be in the same boat as me and way tooooooooooooo busy

Hope you get to post and update soon

 

[indimom]

We woke up bright and early on Monday, ready to visit our absolute favorite Disney park: Epcot. From our first visit in 2005 (when Garren was 5 and Em was 7.5), all four of us have favored Epcot, and time has not dimmed the charm.

I really can’t say why we enjoy it so much… I think some of it is the variety, some is the spaciousness, and the list goes on. The only negative I can think of in regard to Epcot is how hot is always seems to become while we are wandering the World Showcase. I love the wide open walkways, but there is a serious shade limitation there, and I usually feel it.

We had a quick breakfast of Bacon and Hash Browns with juice and coffee, and made sure to top off the ice in the cooler, before we headed toward our destination. It was a ridiculously lovely day and maxed out at a mere 85 degrees. This was fantastic, and made touring the WS a breeze! By far our most pleasant world showcase tour, ever! I can’t wait to visit in the fall some day. Lol.

We arrived about 30 minutes before the park opened and were allowed to enter and move toward the internal rope drop. We discussed our plans with the kids and they wanted to start with Test Track, so we got ready to head to the left.

Once the park opened, we walked quickly toward TT and picked up FPs, then entered the standby line. We marched straight through to the portion where you create your car. The kids each designed their own car and this is what we ended up with:

Garren’s Car:


Emily's Car:


We thought the new interactive features were a nice change, The kids really enjoyed building their own car while we waited. And they liked it even more when they realized their plans were competing head to head, and they got the updates on which car scored better on the different categories.

I forget all the details, but I know that Emily’s car beat Garren’s overall on this round.

As we exited the ride, I hurried to grab a…
Redneck Ride Photo:

Otherwise known as a blurry blob. Lol. Well, I tried.

Then we were off… toward


We shot through the line in a mere 15 minutes before we were cruising over California. I was hoping for the front row so we wouldn’t have feet in our view, but no such luck. We were in the center row on the left side. Not a prime location, but we still love it. Such an awesome ride.

We had a couple minutes before our TT FP came due, so we had to visit another favorite in this pavilion: Living with the Land. Matt just really gets a kick out of this. (Don’t ask me why…) And the rest of us don’t mind so it’s a must do for our family.

It’s a nice relaxing ride, and there are always unique veggies and fruits or hidden mickey’s to hunt for. And, as an added bonus on this day, we would be able to pick up Soarin FPs as soon as we exited this ride to use later in the morning.

Here’s a few photos for ya:


We took a quick detour into Sunshine Seasons for a Powerade to share, picked up our Soarin FPs, then headed back across the park to TT. The kids worked hard to create more unique vehicles this time, and came up with these:





Oddly enough, the both picked trucks this time. And they weren’t even glancing at each other’s station. Hmmm.

When our ride was over, I wasn’t able to catch a redneck ride photo, but here is Garren’s score for this round. He beat Emily this time, overall, and was very pleased. Ha ha ha The competition never ends around here.



Our Soarin FP weren’t available yet, so we meandered over to the Seas for a ride in a clamshell and maybe a talk with Crush.

This CM must have been squatted down getting the rope and stood up just as I shot the picture because I never saw him at all until I checked my pictures at home. Lol.



Garren let me take a quick picture while we were “waiting” in line. Waiting is a relative term. This is the first time we’ve ever done this ride with a line, and while it was all the way to the entrance, we never stopped moving throughout so we had to take the picture FAST.

Emily struggled to get a picture of the fish school projection swimming across the wall toward the end of the line.


We visited with Nemo and his friends, toured the fish tanks, but opted out of a visit with Crush, and headed back to the Land to use our Soarin FP which were now due.

We got a much better seat this time, front AND top, so no feet in our line of sight. Nice! I got a seat near a little guy who was riding for the first time, and he was completely in awe and kept bending WAY over in his seat to look down at the bottom of the screen. His mom was freaking out a little bit. Honestly, I was a little bit too. He wasn't scared at all. Too cute!

After our flight, we decided we were a bit thirsty and headed for Club Cool to get a nice beverage. The kids and I fooled Matt into trying the Beverly on our last trip, and the silly man had forgotten (how can you forget that stuff?) so we managed to get him again.

(I tried to take a video or two while we were there, but have just realized I never checked them out after the trip. If they are worth posting, I’ll add them later.)

Once Matt realized how much fun pranking was, he set on several strangers and got them to try. They in turn, did the same to their family. And we spent quite a few minutes watching strangers gag on bitter Beverly. Ahhh, good times. Lol.

We were all having such a good time, a CM noticed, and said the kids should trying mixing all the different flavors because it’s pretty good mixed. So, everyone also gave this a try. It actually was pretty good, but the Beverly aftertaste was still strong. We repeated the process without Beverly, and it was a pretty good flavor. Check it out when you get a chance.

Up Next: Chapter Nine: Eating around the World. (Maybe we should have stopped at Norway?). Tuesday, July 23.

 

[indimom]

Wow, I'm BACK! Sorry for all the delays. The first month of Nursing school doesn't leave much free time in my schedule. We had three exams in the first six days (not exaggerating or kidding ). But, things should slow down in about two weeks when we are finished with Fundamentals. Clinicals will be starting, but at least I won't have classes five days a week.

I'm planning to finish up my Epcot posts before the Labor Day weekend ends, so be on the lookout for a second update soon!

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

 

[natebenma]

No worries!!! I, for one, have trouble keeping up with the reports I am subscribed to, including my own!

I enjoyed reading about your morning at EPCOT. Quite successful! Test Track and Soarin' twice, with some other fun stuff thrown in there.

We really liked the new, interactive feature of TT. And like you said, in a competitive family, it really adds a new twist. Don't like that you can't add your photopass picture onto your card unless you have PP+. Boo!!!

Wow, Soarin' with just a 15 minute wait AFTER doing TT! That is awesome!

I'm with Matt- Love Living with the Land. I'm not sure why, but maybe after all of the animatronic stuff at Disney, it is nice to look at real, living things.

Too funny about the Beverly!

And thanks for the tip about mixing flavors. I think the boys have done this, but I'm usually done after a couple of tastes, so I haven't tried.

 

[lsenquiz]

Ok so I could have sworn I already commented on EPCOT but do not see it so maybe I never hit submit

EPCOT is also a favorite of ours but I do agree about WS being hot. .

I really love the changes they made to TT and thing it brings an extra level of enjoyment to the ride.

We always ask to wait for the front row on Soarin. It usually just means being sent to the next Queue and we always get on the same ride we were originally slotted for.

I am bummed that you did not get to see Crush. I just love that attraction. Hopefully you will see it some day.

I also get nervous when little ones lean forward on Soarin. It happened to me once I so wanted to grab that childs hand.

We have never made it to club cool. Maybe next trip.

 

[disneylvr4vr]

I remember reading and LOVING your PTR, but somehow i never found your TR! Well im subscribing now! Now i'm off to start reading your TR!!!!