We took the family to WDW....and Survived!

[Chellymouse]

Monday: AK, Ohana and MK
As previously mentioned, DH and I don't do many RD anymore and so far, we had 3 in a row. It's EMH at AK this am with an opening of 8am. In the best interest of everyone, and given that it's summer, we drag everyone, including ourselves, out of bed at 6:45am to make EMH. DH and I were out the door at 7:10am for breakfast and the rest of the family.....well....suffice it to say the adults were grumbling something that I wouldn't post on here! We had just missed the bus however we were able to get on the bus that came at 7:40am (again...scary how good the bus service has been!) and what do we find? No family on the bus! Turns out they missed it! Good thing we had most of the gear! They made the next bus and arrived at AK about 15 minutes after us. We made a beeline for the safari and were not disappointed. The animals were very active and 40 minutes after we boarded our vehicle, we came back to Harambi village!
some of the animals!

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After our massive safari, we made our way over to EE where we grabbed FP then got in line as the wait was only 10 minutes. The 7 of us rode and well....we had 7 FP to use with only 3 of us that wanted to ride again! Grumpy, Dopey, FMG and Stitch said once was more than enough! We walked around and grabbed a few pics!

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After some discussion....it was decided that Minnie and I would put the FP to good use while DH took everyone else to the Boneyard. Grumpy was quite worried that Minnie was going to lose her breakfast and made us pinky swear that we would not "overdo it" Minnie at first said maybe we'll just do once and find a family to give the rest of them to. So during our first ride, about halfway through Minnie says "we have to do this again!" This was a recurring theme and we wound up riding 3 times in a row with the odd FP left for her scrapbook! Call from DH that they are still in Dinoland so we leave to catch up and find only a short wait for Primeval Whirl and decide to take a spin on that! The family had moved on to the Tree so Minnie and I ran to catch up with them. I called DH for a snack so he had popcorn waiting for me! We took a few more pics:

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And Stitch and Minnie wanted to meet Dug and Russell

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Grumpy took the kids to see Bug's Life while Dopey, FGM, DH and I went back to Harambi to buy Dopey a safari hat....not quite sure what he planned to do with it, but ok. We met back up with Grumpy and the kids with an hour before our lunch ressie at Rainforest Cafe. DH and I made our way back to Dinoland to ride Dinosaur while everyone else went to Camp Minnie/Mickey to see some characters. We met back up at noon then went to lunch at Rainforest at AK. It was adequate and by adequate I mean it was food. (thank goodness we were eating at Ohana tonight!) The kids were fairly well behaved so they were allowed to buy monkeys!

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We all needed a break and since AK is usually a half day park for us anyway, we hopped a bus back to SSR. The family took naps and DH and I decided to check out the new Paddock pool. It was very nice and we enjoyed the area. Sorry no pics...didn't want to chance the camera at the pool. We were impressed although it was a bit of a hike so it's not likely we will frequent the new pool. We went back to CP to shower and start getting ready for the evening. The family was also up from their naps by the time we arrived.
Next up....Ohana means and family.....and family means no one gets left behind....and late night at MK! How late do we make it???

 

[lundve]

Loving what I have read so far!!

 

[sazzifrazz]

Great trip so far! Isn't it funny how different people prefer to do Disney? I am a RD junkie so traveling with people who are not would send me over the edge

 

[Chellymouse]

Loving what I have read so far!!

Thank you! There is more to come!

Great trip so far! Isn't it funny how different people prefer to do Disney? I am a RD junkie so traveling with people who are not would send me over the edge

We are usually at the parks within half an hour or so of opening. DH and I haven't done summer for quite some time and we knew the importance of being out early in order to make sure that everyone gets to experience everything.

 

[Chellymouse]

Monday...continued!
Everyone was ready to leave on time so we made our way out to the bus stop at CP, where Stitch found a few pennies (thank you DFIL) and within a few minutes the MK bus rolled in. We actually started timing our departures with the "every 20 minute" idea and the buses were scarily nearly accurate! We made it to MK and then had to decide monorail vs boat. There was a split decision so we rode the boat to the Poly and the monorail back to MK. We arrived at Ohana and FGM had already said she was buying dinner and we weren't to argue about it! DH and I start....um....this restaurant is a bit pricey...well....we were shushed! I wanted my customary Lapu Lapu so DH and I went to the Tambu lounge only to have our beeper go off! Really? So DH and I planned a way to get one...I wasn't having FGM forking out the $$ for one of those until she asked as we were walking toward the restaurant..."what are those pineapple things?" I explained them and the she decided she would buy 1 round only for us girls! Can't complain! Now I can complain...it seems that someone made an error and seated a family at a table that had been assigned to our family. Finally after nearly 20 minutes, we were shown to a table. Needless to say I was NOT happy! I did ask to speak with a manager and basically was blown off. I certainly metioned that in our survey post trip but enough grousing! Dinner was exceptional and overfilling as always! Minnie and Stitch had a ball doing the children's activities and parade! On our way out, we sort of "lost" Stitch! Turns out he was lagging behind but we found him quickly! We hopped the monorail and made our way over to MK.
Stopped for a quick pic!

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Quick check of the phone app showed that we could grab FP for BTMRR so I ran to BTMRR while the rest of the family stayed near the castle to grab a spot to watch the Castle show! They also grabbed a few pics.

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Minnie and Stitch now refuse to go anywhere without the Monkey's they got earlier in the day!

DH is lost without me!

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I came back and we watched the castle show then it was off to BTMRR. Minnie and Stitch decided to ride with me and while everything started off ok, Stitch panicked after the first drop so it made for a long ride! He's crying until we've gotten off then says he wants to do it again! Grumpy and Dopey vetoed that idea! We went over to POTC to ride (Stitch loves pirates!) DH and I were unpleasantly surprised at how busy the park was tonight. Normally, DH and I would have bailed and went home, however, the family was REALLY wanting to at least see MSEP. DH couldn't take it anymore and decided to head home and I stayed with the family. It worked out because DH went back and did which was very kind of him! We staked out a spot in Frontierland and as always MSEP didn't disappoint!

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Given our location, we weren't in a good spot for Wishes and the family was fading fast! We decided to take a quick spin on the flying carpets...Minnie, Dopey and FGM said no thanks so Grumpy and I took Stitch who promptly flew us right into oncoming camel spit not once or twice but three times! Stitch found this quite entertaining! Grumpy and I...well..notsomuch! We made our way through the crowds and down Main St and just heading out of the park as Wishes was starting. We waited about 10 minutes for a bus and made it back to SSR by 10:30pm. The family crashed shortly thereafter!
Up next...my vacation is about to change drastically (conference going to start) DH and I (finally) take a "little" break day and the family REALLY needs a break day!

 

[sazzifrazz]

We have never done the flying carpet ride...I always thought it looked lame. Does it really have spitting camels?! DS would totally think that was a riot!!

 

[Chellymouse]

We have never done the flying carpet ride...I always thought it looked lame. Does it really have spitting camels?! DS would totally think that was a riot!!

It's a typical Dumbo type ride. The carpets are similar to Dumbo as you can "fly" them and yes...the camels really do spit! Stitch thought is was quite entertaining that me and his mother got wet!

 

[cj9200]

Enjoying riding along on the trip and I love the pictures (never met Doug and Russell, very cool get). Fun time at 50's. Love it there. Especially when other people are picked on.

Everyone looks like they are having a great time. Looking forward to the next update.

 

[Chellymouse]

Enjoying riding along on the trip and I love the pictures (never met Doug and Russell, very cool get). Fun time at 50's. Love it there. Especially when other people are picked on.

Everyone looks like they are having a great time. Looking forward to the next update.

So far so good! We really didn't have too many problems, which is great after reading so many disaster family TR from others! It was quite entertaining at 50's for sure! Looking forward to your next installment as well!

 

[Chellymouse]

Tuesday: Can't believe we've been here 6 days already! We're halfway through the trip and per DH and I usual trips, it's waterpark, I mean break day! DH and I slept in until a little after 8 (which really is sleeping in for us unless we've had quite a few late nights in a row!) DH and I decided to get up and head over to TL for a bit. The rest of the family was still sleeping when we left. Went up to AP for breakfast and then got the worst bus service of the entire trip. We had to wait almost 20 minutes for a bus to TL (we had just missed one) We finally boarded a bus and after a scenic tour though DTD we finally made it to TL around 10am. We grabbed a locker then went over to Crush N Gusher!

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We did manage to do all 3 slides before the park got busy and the lines got long. on our way over to the shark reef we caught up with my favorite Stitch (the real one! )

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for some reason, the shark reef was packed so we grabbed tubes for a ride around the lazy river. We really don't care for the selection of slides at TL so we didn't bother because the lines were so long. Thank goodness for PAP so it's not like we're wasting $$.
We made our way to the wave pool next where we hung out for awhile.

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DH and I really don't go in the summer unless we have company, but one thing I miss during other parts of the year is the FP folks at the waterparks!
After catching some waves, we found a QS stand and had lunch, because, quite frankly...the pit needed fed! Surprisingly the food wasn't too bad. By now it was 12:30 and we had to be up at the Carriage House by 2:30pm to go pick up my rental car so we decided to head back to SSR, so we stopped for donuts (I would go to the waterparks just to get donuts and leave!) The pit is now happy and fed! We made it back to SSR with plenty of time so we wound up playing with Minnie and Stitch in CP pool for a bit before we went in to shower and head up to Carriage House. We went up then went over to Alamo to pick up the car. I set the GPS on my blackberry and the "voice" said..."take a left onto Ep-kit Center Dr" DH and I were cracking up then started calling Epcot, Ep-kit. (the family upon hearing this story also started!) We made it the convention center, found a place to park then figured out where I had to go. Met up with a colleague from another practice (they were at AK the day before also...can't believe we didn't run into each other!) and finally they opened the booths so we could register. I got registered, said good bye to my colleague and headed back to SSR. We got home, picked up the family and walked up to Turf Club for dinner. We wound up waiting until 5pm so we could get a better menu. DH and I and Dopey and Grumpy were given a complimentary champagne (we were all wearing our anniversary buttons) and of course, it's groundhog day, I mean Stitch's b'day (again) and he received an extra dessert. DH and I had planned to check out the evening offerings at AK, however, dinner took too long and it wasn't worth it to drive over there for less than an hour. We all went to the boat and took the boat over to DTD. We checked out the West Side, which is seriously lacking. The kids and I were going to do the Characters in Flight balloon, only to find it was closed...again. I don't know why that thing is there. In all the trips we've been on, we have yet to get on it because it's almost always closed. Ok...rant over! We walked through PI (may the former PI RIP and PLEASE come back) another rant over....We were watching some of the street performers when Minnie decided she had a bellyache. One thing the family complimented DH and I on was our knowledge of where virtually every restroom in WDW is..... Crisis averted so we started walking back to Marketplace. Now Minnie is really crying about her tummy so I took her again. I could hear she wasn't faking and that's all I will say on that subject. Took her out only to find that now Stitch was in the same boat. Back in with Stitch (who did the same thing as Minnie) Grumpy and Dopey decided to take them back to the villa so FGM, DH and I stayed out. DH had to exchange a shirt he'd bought and of course, the pit needed a snack. FGM and I went to Ghiradelli where for once, the line wasn't out the door and we split an absolutely wonderful sundae! We went in to exchange DH's shirt only to find they didn't have the size we needed. The CM was awesome and called over the BW store who had what we needed and would hold it for us until 11pm. We made the decision to drop FGM off at the villa and make our way over there. Epcot had EMH so DH and I hopped a bus to Epcot and walked to BW to pick up his shirt! DH was happy...he's been trying to get this shirt for awhile now. The lines for the attractions that were open at Epcot were pretty long so we stopped for a quick pic

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The pit was needing a feeding so we stopped at the ice cream cart to get strawberry bars for us and the CM gave them to us as an anniversary gift! Which we thought was very cool! It's those little bits of magic that come from time to time! We made our way back to the bus and within a few minutes were heading back home to SSR.
Up next: Breakfast with Stitch (both of them), pure craziness at MK, I really don't like having to work while I'm at WDW and rain, rain go away!

 

[Chellymouse]

Sorry for the delay in updates everyone! We've had a crazy week culminating with buying DH a new vehicle! Now back to our regularly scheduled TR!

Wednesday
The day started with breakfast with Stitch at Ohana. We got everyone up and out of the villa by 8am, once again, good luck with the bus and managed to make it to MK lot by 8:20am. We decided to take the boat to Poly at the monorails didn't appear to be running very smoothly and arrived at the Poly at 8:50am for our 9am ressie. We were seated shortly and with much less chaos than our dinner the other night. Food was excellent as always and I drank WAY too much "Stitch Juice" as always.... Here's a few pics from breakfast!

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After we'd overstuffed ourselves, we all boarded the monorail. DH and I went to MK and the family went to the bus stop to head back to SSR. MK was jammed!! Normally, DH and I would have said forget it, but we didn't have alot of time as I had to be back to the villa by noon to leave for my conference. We decided to take the train around MK to see the progress of the construction and suffice it to say.....way too much Stitch Juice at breakfast and that's a looooooooooooooooong train ride! (on a side note...DH is still laughing about this!) After the train returned to Main Street and after a pit stop, it was already after 11am. DH took me to the Confectionary to buy some snacks for my conference....hey that's a long time!! The pit will most certainly need fed!! After securing my snacks, we headed to the bus and back to SSR. The family was in the pool so I changed and headed over the convention center and DH went to the pool. Nothing exciting about my conference, however, DH took the family to community hall for a bit and they really enjoyed that. Got done with conference just before 5pm and holy moly was it pouring! According to DH it had been pouring for awhile. I stopped at Walgreens to buy umbrellas for the adults (some of us had plans tonight!) and then it took 1 HOUR and 10 MINUTES to drive 8 MILES!! I will not report on what I had to say about that! Dopey, Grumpy, DH and I had plans to go out for the evening with FGM keeping Stitch and Minnie occupied! We had a 6:30pm ressie at Raglan Rd (Dopey's pic) and needless to say, with my not arriving at SSR until 6:15pm we were late! Thankfully, only 10 minutes and the CM at Raglan couldn't have been more gracious! (We needed the umbrellas because we walked to DTD) We had a fantastic meal and quite a few and stayed awhile for the entertainment. Finally around 8:30pm we left Raglan and wound up wandering and shopping (and stopping occ for adult beverages) around DTD. Earlier in the week we had stopped at Team Mickey with the intention of getting Stitch a bat, however, Stitch had a bit of a meltdown so no bat. We went back and DH bought Stitch the bat for Christmas! Grumpy and Dopey also bought Minnie a Minnie and Stitch a Stitch! We stopped at Goofy's for some snacks! Cheese popcorn for Grumpy and Mouse Krispie treats, gingerbread cookies and chocolate carmel corn for the pit!! (I did not eat all of that in 1 sitting!) We then stopped in the art store and pic I had wanted previously was available and what was even cooler was the artist was actually sitting right there. We chatted with David Doss for a few minutes and he signed the work we were about to purchase! We headed back to the villa around 11pm (thankfully the rain had finally stopped!). Minnie and Stitch were still up so we all said good night and went to bed! up next...BB, DHS and a surprise dinner for the family!

 

[LindaBabe]

VERY nice! Thank you for writing!

 

[Chellymouse]

VERY nice! Thank you for writing!

Thank you for reading!!

 

[Chellymouse]

It's Thursday and sad to know that we only have a few short days left!
I absolutely LOVE BB so I drug DH out of bed at 6:45am so that we could go to EMH at BB. Since I had to be on the road at noon to head back to the conference, we actually drove! Normally I don't rent a car but since we had one, it made better sense than to chance it with the bus! We went up to AP for our Mickey waffles then over to BB. Nice thing about EMH, we had a great parking spot! As usual, DH dumped gear while I went over to Summit Plummet! I love that thing! Even though it can bruise my backside! Then did 2runs down Slush Gusher. By the time DH met up with me, I was done with these slides then he and I hit the park. BTW...DH REFUSES to do either of those slides. He keeps telling me "next trip".... Oh well! We did the double dipper twice, all of the mat racing slides 3 times each then we hopped in the lazy river to go to the slides in the back. We love the dark slide! After a few more runs up many, many steps, the park was busy enough so that we could do Teamboat Springs....now that they are making it 4 people, we are often the "strays" that invade other families! I was rather disappointed that there were very few photopass photographers in the park but oh well! By now it was 10:30am and we decided to error on the side of caution and head back to SSR. Not without stopping for doughnuts though! The pit worked up quite an appetite! Our 1 pic from BB!

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We made it back to SSR by 10:45am, showered, got ready then we drove over to DTD so I could leave from there. Went to the Earl (oh do we LOVE the Earl of Sandwich) for lunch then DH walked over to Team Mickey to pick up Stitch's bat (and hide it before they got back) and I went to my conference.
While we were at BB and DTD, the family felt brave enough to tackle a park without us! They went over to DHS to ride TSM again and catch some character pics they had missed the first time around! They did very well on their own, didn't get lost, rode TSM once and got all of the character pics on their list! Here's their morning and early afternoon!

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Minnie made it a point to rub my nose in the fact that she got to meet Meridia! (I would post a pic, however, Grumpy hasn't shared the photos they took yet!) She was quite pleased with herself! DH said they made it back around 2pm and Minnie and Stitch went up to take advantage of some of the activities at the community hall and really enjoyed it.
DH and I told everyone they had to be dressed, showered and ready to go by 5pm tonight and we didn't tell them why! While we were planning, we had discussed doing Mickey's Backyard BBQ, however, it wasn't quite in everyone's budget so DH and I sprang for tickets for the whole family and we decided to surprise them with the BBQ tonight! We also ordered a bakery cake for Stitch to really celebrate his B'day tonight! We even made the party-poopers (Dopey and Grumpy) wear their anniversary buttons tonight!
I made it home by 4:30pm, changed and we were heading to the bus stop by 4:45pm. Grumpy HATES surprises, so DH was having quite a bit of fun tormenting his sister! FGM knew about it though and she didn't give away the surprise! We landed at MK then headed over to the boats. They figured out we were heading to Ft Wilderness and they thought they were going to BBQ but we kept telling them we were going to HDDR instead! We arrived at Ft. Wilderness and the game was up! They were very excited and surprised and DH and I loved that we could share the magic with them. We had done the BBQ years ago and we were looking forward to doing it again! FGM went over and told the person taking anniversary and b'day requests about all of our celebrations so that was fun! The family really enjoyed the whole event. Here's a few pics.

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After dinner, Grumpy found the desserts and was getting ready to take the kids to get some and we finally pulled her aside and told her about the cake! They were really surprised and touched! The cake was awesome! The Disney bakery did a fabulous job! Stitch loves Capt. Jack so we had that put on the cake that was a vanilla and strawberry cassata cake. It was AWESOME and actually no more expensive than our local bakery! Here is Stitch with Grumpy and Dopey and his cake!

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After the BBQ was over and we were walking back to the boat, Stitch found a "penny from his Papa" and everyone was a little emotional that Papa was with us for Stitch's b'day! FGM volunteered to take the remainder of the cake back to SSR so the rest of us could go to MK. FGM was looking forward to some peace and quiet for a few hours! We finally made it back to MK, put FGM on the bus and the rest of us headed in for the evening! We finally got the kids on Splash at night and they LOVED IT! We rode POTC again! We also finally managed to see Magic, Memories and You and Wishes! Here's a few pics of our evening!

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DH and Grumpy took Minnie and Stitch on the teacups! Dopey and I wisely declined!

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We finally decided to make our way and what do you know...it's park closing time. We caught the end of MSEP and finally headed out to the bus stop. We finally walked in the door at 12:15am with a very tired group!
Up next....the kids slept til when??? some time at the pool and it's almost over!

 

[Disney Princess]

It's so nice to read a trip report about a family that had fun together! It can be done!!! I'm enjoying it all. Sorry that you had to work though - that does put a damper on the fun. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Chellymouse]

It's so nice to read a trip report about a family that had fun together! It can be done!!! I'm enjoying it all. Sorry that you had to work though - that does put a damper on the fun. Can't wait to read more.

Our family really did well. We made sure to include everything that was important to them and we also stuck to the rule that it's everyone's vacation and we do not have to stick together like gum on our shoes! Everyone had very realistic expectations and that made it a fun trip for everyone! It was strange having to go to conference while at Disney. That's the first time I've ever backed a vacation up to a conference. Usually our conference is in Vegas!

 

[Chellymouse]

Ok, photobucket was acting up yesterday so to start I have a few more pics from our evening at MK. I can't remember the last time we actually bought a ride photo, but this one was absolutely priceless!

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Ok, now it's Friday! I had early morning sessions so I was up at 6:30am, out the door by 7am, quick stop at AP for my Mickey waffle to go...hey I eat in the car at home, so why not on vacation? I spent the am at my conference. DH and Dopey had a 10am tee time for LBV so DH said they were out the door at 9am to grab breakfast then head to the clubhouse. FGM said she was up with the guys and Grumpy, Minnie and Stitch slept until after 10! Guess we kept them out too late the night before... I arrived home around noon and figured out FGM, Grumpy, Minnie and Stitch were at the Springs pool so I changed, grabbed a bag and went up to meet them. Forgot my cash so I went to go back in to get it and realized I also left my key card on the table! Walked up to the Springs pool and found the family. good thing I picked the right pool! Hung out with the kids in the pool and we played on the slides for awhile. I went into AP around 1pm to grab lunch for the kids and pick up our lasted purchases only to find that our purchase from Raglan Rd never showed. Thank heavens for our friend Barbara, whom we had met earlier in the week and was usually working when we were picking up our stuff. After nearly half an hour she had figured out what had happened and she had the problem solved. They resent the items and I was able to pick it up first thing Sat. am. By now, I had food and we headed back to the villa so the kids could eat and the adults could shower and clean up. DH called around 2pm and said they were on the 18th hole and what was for lunch? FGM and I walked over to DTD to grab Earl of Sandwich for the adults and while we were walking we saw an acutal gator grab a bird and eat it!! No Joke!! I so wish I'd have grabbed the camera! It was kind of scary. We always joke about gators in the river....now we know it's no joke! Minnie and Stitch were bummed they didn't walk with us so they could have seen it. We arrived back to the villa with lunch just as DH and Dopey were arriving. After lunch DH and Dopey cleaned themselves up and took a rest in the AC. We had 5:30pm ressie at T-Rex so we left about 5pm to start walking. We arrived at T-Rex and were seated fairly close to our ressie time. Here's the kids enjoying the Dinos!

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T-Rex was by far, the ABSOLUTE WORST place we have ever eaten on Disney property in the 13 years that we've been going! $50 for a burger, a salad and 2 cokes. The food was horribly overpriced and definitely not good! Most everyone's food was lukewarm, the service absolutely stunk and it was so loud in that place that a tornado could have gone through DTD without anyone inside that place hearing it! I do not see the appeal in the place at all. Stitch really wanted to eat there so we did and Stitch didn't even like it! He said it was too loud and his dinner was "yucky" No thanks, never again!
After dinner, we all wandered around DTD, of course the balloon wasn't working so once again...no characters in flight this trip either. We decided to call it an earlier night as everyone was pretty tired! We went back to the villa and started packing some stuff up!
Up next....our last full day at WDW...last day of conference, sending love to Papa, DHS and the arrival of TS Debby!

 

[jjwelch24]

Thanks for the great trip report. Its so much fun to read. It makes the time between trips go more quickly. Its great that your extended family were all able to go and have a great time.

 

[Chellymouse]

Thanks for the great trip report. Its so much fun to read. It makes the time between trips go more quickly. Its great that your extended family were all able to go and have a great time.

Thank you! I agree...thank goodness for trip reports!!

 

[Chellymouse]

It's Saturday and our last full day at the world! My day started at 6:30am as I had conference beginning at 8am. Picked up my Mickey waffle for the road and the Dopey's package had finally arrived and headed over the convention center! DH got the family up and out the door in time to make it to RD at MK and they loved the opening show for MK. My last session was very poor so I ducked out early and made it back to SSR by 11am. Very hurrily changed and grabbed my bag then went to the car center to dump the rental. In my haste, I forgot my anniversary button! Returning the car was quick and they had me to TTC by 11:30am. (I was on a mission!) Had to wait for a monorail, but had been in contact with the family. Arrived at the MK gate and had to stop for popcorn! DH was annoyed that I stopped for a snack, but oh well! The pit is hungry and knows it's our last day and therefore will be fed well today! Met up with the family on the Adventureland bridge and found out that DH had been quite the tourguide this am! They had done Buzz, the racecars, teacups... , Dumbo, Philharmagic, Peter Pan, Splash and POTC by the time I caught up with them! DH has definitely earned his ears! DH pulled me aside and said that Stitch had been upset this am as we hadn't sent a balloon to papa. Our family now has a tradition that whenever we're somewhere as a family, we get a balloon to send to Papa (my DFIL). As we all know, balloons cost a small fortune so we hadn't planned to spend $15 on a balloon that we were just going to let go. So, DH and I put the family on the railroad for a scenic tour around the MK, I made a pit stop at Casey's for nuggets..yummy and then DH and I went to guest services. On the way to guest services, we had ducked into a shop and DH was still giving me grief for forgetting my button when a CM overheard us and came over to talk to us. She very kindly gave me a "replacement" button and DH finally quieted down! We asked the CM working if there was any place we could purchase an inexpensive latex balloon. When the CM asked why and and we explained, she very kindly gave us a voucher to get a balloon from a vendor. We weren't expecting them to do that, but we were very pleased! The family got off the RR and we met up with them. Stitch was in desperated need of nap and was getting grumpy, so we stopped at the vendor, secured our balloon and headed up to the partners' statue in front of the castle. We found a FP photographer and explained what we were up to and he did awesome! I think he took about 30 photos of us! Here's a few, including when we sent the balloon to papa!

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FGM really wanted to go back to DHS to do the backlot tour so she stayed with DH and I while Grumpy and Dopey took kids back to the villa for a bit. They were planning to be back at DHS in time for Lights, Motors, Action as they had missed it twice and Stitch really wanted to see it! DH and secured he and I some FP for Space Mtn so we grabbed a few pics then met up with Stitch before it was time to ride!

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FGM kindly kept all of our junk so we didn't have to take our bags with us! We got off Space and grabbed FP for later....5pm was the latest we could return so we were hoping we'd make it back as it was close to 2:30pm. We took the monorail over to TTC and thankfully a bus to DHS was sitting there so we were able to get over to DHS fairly quickly. We arrived and went straight to Backlot Tour, which hardly ever has a line, right? 35 minute wait! Really???? We of course waited and DH and I haven't done this for quite a while so we really found it to be very watered down from previous rides. FGM on the other hand really enjoyed it and that's all that matters! With our ride done, popcorn for me and a strawberry bar for DH and we headed out the bus. We passed Grumpy, Dopey and the kids as they were heading in to see the stunt show. DH was crabbing he wanted to change his shorts so we wound up going back to SSR. DH changed his shorts and is now happy again and we dropped FGM off and went back out to MK. Of course we had just missed a MK bus! There was no way we were going to make it back to use our FP for Space as it was already 4:40pm Surprisingly, another MK bus pulled and we did make it back to MK by 5pm but the CM wouldn't let us the FP. We did grab another one for 8pm so we went around and did our "wannas". We managed to ride Splash, HM, POTC, BTMRR and saw Philharmagic before it was time to ride. We also had dinner at Pecos Bills (1st time there and surprsingly wasn't too bad!) and did some last minute shopping. I also managed to eat 2 Dole Whips and another box of popcorn! As you can tell from the pics, the clouds were a result of TS Debby moving onshore and we knew we'd been very fortunate all day to have had only a quick sprinkle, but it was starting to get even more humid than it had been earlier in the day. I REALLY wanted to stay until park closing, but I was tired and DH knew it so he started herding me out. Needless to say I was dawdling and stopped for more pics..!

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Just as we were heading to the gate, the first rains from TS Debby began to fall! We made it back to SSR and by the time we arrived, it was pouring! We finished packing up, cleaned up and went to bed.

Up next....heading home and final thoughts!