Well l wasn't expecting that! A Sept 2011 trip report:Day 6 completed.

[Antigua08]

Day 4 continued.

So we left off with us finishing lunch, and it was now time to explore DinoLand. As we made our way into the area we spotted our next character meet for the day. This queue wasn't too bad so we jumped in, just as this happened to the weather!

Yep, just a little bit of rain! Everyone was already stood under the shelter apart from mil and fil, so we told them we'd meet them in the gift shop. It would be only be a short down pour then we could be on our way again, or so we thought! Soon enough it was our turn, luckily as the rain was starting to drift under the shelter. This would be dds first meeting with two characters at the same time.

Love this one of dn

We learnt from this that when there were two characters together, she really would just focus on one of them and you'd have to remind her the other one was there. We had quite a few funny situations with this!

Just have to include this pic too. This is probably my favourite photopass picture, at first glance to me it looks like Pluto has eaten dd's head. Still makes me chuckle everytime l see it!

We made a quick dash to the gift shop to find the rest of the family and discuss what to do next. It was still absolutely pouring down, but we were convinced it would let up so we browsed a bit more (along with a huge amount of other people) and then braved the weather. About an hour had now passed since the rain had started and it was starting to ease off with the sky looking like it was clearing in places, so we decided to head back over to Asia and have a look around the Maharajah Trek.

We were happily wondering around admiring the animals when the heavens opened again. The weather really was not looking good, and unfortunately we all had different opinions on what to do about it. One idea was to go home but to come back later for dinner. Another was to stick it out but go home before dinner as people were worried about how they'd look! This is the indecisiveness that l mentioned at the start of this TR! Eventually we opted to make our way around to Africa and just see what happens. Dh and l knew that if we left the park we probably wouldn't come back on another day so really wanted to see as much as possible, and l really wanted to make our adr for The Rainforest Cafe. I was also of the opinion that everyone else in the restaurant would be in the same situation as us, so really wasn't worried about how l'd look.

So pleased to say the rain turned to a fine drizzle, so we all agreed we'd stay the rest of the day but agreed on a no photo pact at dinner! Dd had got so fed up of the standing around trying to figure out what to do that she decided to have a nap, so dh and I walked around the Pangani Forest Trail while the others did the Safari. Once we came out they were getting the area ready for the parade, perfect timing! Dd woke just in time too, and we were soon joined again by the rest of the family to watch our first parade.

Gimme five!

Dd loved it, was glued to the whole thing. She got so excited when she spotted Mickey and Donald, really couldn't wait for her to meet them. The day had practically gone so there was just time for us to do the safari while the others did the trail, before we headed to the front of the park for dinner.

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[Antigua08]

Continued from post above:

Really like how this one came out

Dn learnt here not to dare his Daddy to do something, because he will!

Now dh and I both loved the Rainforest Cafe from our previous trip and really hoped everyone else would too. Was slightly concerned that dd would be unsure of the noise in there but she didn't even notice it until the end of the meal! Yet again everyone loved it, with fil saying he even prefered the food over Ohana's. Really wished l taken some food pictures but it was all so yummy everyone tucked in straight away.

These stools were amazing!

So our first day of having a bit of bad luck with the weather, but still a good day. Bil said he definitely prefered the park this time around but still wasn't one of his favourites, but thought it was good for the kids. Mil had been on her first rollercoaster and although she hated it, she did see the fuuny side and was pleased it had made everyone else laugh! And l got to drive the van home, which l was happy about! When we got back it was a quick play in the pool then early nights for all, with a rest day at Aquatica to look forward to the next day.


Next up: A change of plans, and the huge surprise of the trip!

 

[WDWRids]

What a great TR on Animal Kingdom. Have to say its not my favorite but did like it. My DH hated it!! He is not a zoo loving person so from that stand point I think is why he didn't care for it. Plus it was super hot that day! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your DD expressions and actions with the characters. This is why disney is the greatest place on earth!! Totally warmed my heart today and made me realize what is most important during a stressful day - family, friends and good times. Cherish all the great memories and remember them often to warm your heart!! Can't wait to hear more - GREAT TR!!!

 

[Disney_Jill]

What an awesome trip report!!! Your dd is sooo flippin' cute! The pictures of her with the characters are priceless! The look on her face, her happiness, is what (in my mind) Disney is all about!

 

[Antigua08]

What a great TR on Animal Kingdom. Have to say its not my favorite but did like it. My DH hated it!! He is not a zoo loving person so from that stand point I think is why he didn't care for it. Plus it was super hot that day! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your DD expressions and actions with the characters. This is why disney is the greatest place on earth!! Totally warmed my heart today and made me realize what is most important during a stressful day - family, friends and good times. Cherish all the great memories and remember them often to warm your heart!! Can't wait to hear more - GREAT TR!!!

Thank you so much for still following along! I agree Animal Kingdom's not one of my favourite parks either but l definitely wouldn't miss it out. Both times we've been its been a little quieter than the other parks too which l like. Disappointed we didn't get to do the Boneyard as think the kids would've loved it. There's always next time l guess!

I still find if l'm having a rough day l look back at these pictures and it does wonders for cheering me up!

 

[Antigua08]

What an awesome trip report!!! Your dd is sooo flippin' cute! The pictures of her with the characters are priceless! The look on her face, her happiness, is what (in my mind) Disney is all about!

Thank you so much, and thank you for reading.

I'm obviously a little biased but l think my little one is kinda cute too! I have many more character pictures of her coming up, hope you continue to follow along

Should have the next day up very soon

 

[Antigua08]

Day 5: Aquatica!

We all woke this morning with a decision to make. Should we still go to Aquatica? Due to yesterdays torrential downpour, we checked out the weather forecasts and it was not looking good. Non of us had every been to this park, and were all really looking forward to it. We had all heard some really good things about it from friends, and really didn't want the day to ruined by bad weather. So the decision was made to not risk Aquatica, but what would we do instead? We decided that we'd swap a day that was planned for the end of holiday, our shopping day!

So our day would now be.....

Day 5: Florida Mall and Downtown Disney. And trip report title explained!

So today would be a longer drive, with fil at the wheel as usual and myself navigating. This would be our longest drive so far, but again we got there with no troubles. Well fil somehow drove past the huge entrance to the mall twice, but we were eventually parked. Who said we needed a satnav!

We all took notice of where we parked and agreed to meet back later in the day. Today we would be splitting up as we all had different shopping needs. For mil and fil, we guessed the day would be spent drinking lots of coffee, people watching, seeing lots of things they liked but not buying anything! For bil and sil, they had to hunt out the Pandora shop first for dn9 then find a toy store for dn5. We also guessed they would buy the most and come back with a huge amount of bags! For dh and I we simply wanted to find the Abercrombie shop, as there is only one in the UK and the prices are ridiculous!

We spent the morning happily browsing the shops, and l have to say l think dd was loving the air conditioning! She was full of beans, happily wondering around the shops with us and running into ones she felt she needed to go into!

Dd getting very good at posing for the camera!

Soon it was time for lunch, with us trying a Taco Bell for the first time. We both loved it, no idea now what we had but we all enjoyed it and thought it was very good value for money. After that it was more browsing, and then spending a small fortune on dh in the Abercrombie shop. He was very pleased with his purchases! The only other thing we got was a couple of Yankee Candles, as again there's a big price difference back home. Dd decided it was nap time, think the cool air helped with that as she had a 2hr sleep. We maybe only had an hour left until it was time to meet the family so we decided we'd over to Toys R Us that we spotted from the car park, and also find a chemist on our way!

This is where the trip report title comes in! While dh and l were chatting over lunch we released that something should have happened, that hadn't just yet! Not to go into too much detail, we thought it best to invest in a pregnancy test while we were by ourselves. You see we had always planned to start trying for another baby after the holiday, but after speaking to my doctor we decided that we'd give it a go just before we came out. The doctor said in the unlikely event that l should fall pregnant straight away, the baby would be so tiny that not even the roughest roller coaster could not possibly harm it in anyway. So armed with a test l headed off to the bathroom, reassuring dh that there was no way we'd be so lucky as for it to happen so quickly again (happened first try with dd!). Well l was wrong, and much to our shock am delighted to say the test was positive!

I'm now actually 14wks pregnant, but being only a few wks at the time of the holiday, we agreed not to mention it to the rest of the family until we got home. I just hoped my huge grin wouldn't give it away!

So we headed off to Toys R Us, giggling a little to ourselves. We soon spotted bil and his family about to enter the shop too so we calmed ourselves. It was soon time to go, so back to the van then off to Downtown Disney for dinner. Oh and our guesses were correct, the van was now full of bags from bil and his family. And mil and fil brought nothing! They had seen lots but couldn't decide whether to get them or not. The indecisiveness again!

Dh trying to decide which Mustang he'd rather have!

The rain had typically held off all day until we got to Downtown Disney, but it was only small showers so we just popped from one shop to the next trying to keep dry. About 10mins after we arrived dh came up to me and said he'd just told his Mum! So much for keeping the news quiet! And within no time everyone knew, apart from the kids as we wanted to wait till we were further along to tell them.

We went to Planet Hollywood for dinner, which dn5 slept through! Sil tried to wake him but he really was out for the count! Again here everyone enjoyed the food and the atmosphere of the place, but this was the first place the service wasn't quite so great. We just felt a little rushed, the waitress even asking if we were ready for our bill before she'd even offered us dessert!

We did a little more shopping picking up a few more cuddlies for dd's collection then headed home after a very eventful day!

Up next: Busch Gardens

 

[Antigua08]

Day 6: Busch Gardens

We got up a little earlier this morning as we had a long drive ahead, today we would be going to Busch Gardens. This was actually one of my favourite parks from our previous trip as l do like roller coasters, so l was really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately this was to be the first time of the trip that we got lost! We headed the right way, followed all the signs but must have just missed our last exit sign. I was the first to start to wonder if we'd gone wrong, as we seemed to be on the road for too long! Soon enough the rest of the van started to ask if we were in the right place too, so it was time to ask for some directions. We pulled over at the first gas station and asked for help, and soon enough we were back on our way again. Thank you kind man It seems we had just literally just missed one sign as we just had to get back to the main junction and turn off, where as we had driven straight on.

When we finally got to the park we were very pleased to see a really quite car park, so our little detour hadn't really caused any problems. Once at the gates we went and booked a safari tour. Everyone apart from dd could do this so the idea was to book it in two sessions so dh and l could go while she stayed with everyone else, and then everyone else would go on after. Somehow though we were all booked on the same time and although I’m sure we could have changed it, it took so long to sort out l decided to just miss it out. Told dh we would just have to come back again sometime when dd was older so we could all do it!

So again no real plan for today other then we now had a time for our safari, but l wanted to make sure dd had some fun too so wanted to head in the direction of the kids area for her first. It was incredibly hot today and l think that and the longer drive weren't going down very well with the two younger kids, both of them had a little grump on which was quite out of character for them.

The first attraction we came up to was Gwazi, the wooden roller coaster. I absolutely loved this last time, but remember it being particularly rough and jerky. Having only just found out l was pregnant, l decided to give this one a miss today much to dn Mollys surprise! When she asked why l wasn't going on it l just didn't know what to say, but luckily sil thinks quicker than me and simply said l had an upset stomach. This would be very much an on going thing throughout the trip. (We have just now told the kids by showing them the 12 week scan pictures, and they're both thrilled to have another cousin on the way).

Dh went on the ride with bil and dn while we all waited. It was a walk on which is what we found for most of the rides throughout the day. They all loved it, with dn again coming off giggling. Next we had a wonder around some of the animal exhibits before making our way to Sesame Street Safari of fun!

As we came up to the Sesame Street area, Big Bird was just on his way out to meet people. Now dd had never seen Sesame Street before so she didn't have a clue who any of them were. She was the first to see him and actually wanted to be held for the first time, that bird was big! But as l said she wasn't quite herself that morning. She did fine with him though, but didn't want to be put down. After this we went to look around the area but dd didn't want to go on anything, she was in a “no” mood! There was however a little water play area which she was more than happy to get in, and we figured cooling her off would probably do her good. So bil took his kids on the rides, l got dragged around the water area, and dh sat with his parents in the shade.

Soon the other characters were on their way out. Now l only know the names of a couple as I’m just not that familiar with the program, but dh and l were both quite excited to see Cookie Monster!

It was now nearing time for the safari so once the kids were all ready we wondered over to the Serengeti area, getting lollies on the way as today was definitely a day for refreshments!

Next up: Safari tour and lots more pictures!

 

[Antigua08]

Ooops, l seem to have gotten a little behind on my report!

If anyone is still reading l will get back on track and finish and up day 6 hopefully tomorrow, with the rest of the updates hopefully back to being more regular.

As l guess a lot of you are, just been very busy with Christmas coming up

 

[Antigua08]

Day 6 continued

So we left off heading to the Serengeti area ready for the safari. Can't remember what the age restriction was for this but dd was too young, so we checked out some animals of our own while we waited for the others to come back.

Everyone loved the Safari, with dh saying that we would definitely have to do it again some day when dd was old enough. I'll only include a couple of pictures from this. This was one of the rare occasions when dh had hold of a camera. He just does not like taking pictures, and l actually think he takes deliberately bad ones so that l wont ask him to take any more. By his usual standards though, these weren't too bad.

They did see other animals too but these were the best pics!

Next up was Rhino Rally, we used the parent swap for this as again dd couldn't do it. This ride has changed a lot since our last trip, and have to say it really isn't the same without the water part of the ride. Turns out that part was taken away to make way for the Cheetah Hunt roller coaster, which is a shame. What stopped the ride from being too disappointing though was our driver. Can't remember his name but he was hilarious! So surprised, and l'm sure he probably says the same jokes each time around but he had eveyone in stitches. Very funny man. I seem to have very few pictures from this, must have been laughing too much!

Dn got asked to be navigator, which she loved.

We grabbed a bite to eat in the Timbuktu area, at a place called Desert Grill Restaurant. This was a restaurant that had live entertainment as you ate. Dd absolutely loved it and was very happy dancing away while she ate. The men in the family however thought it was awful, and very relieved when the singers left the stage for a break!

Everyone was fed and rested from the heat, and ready to head off again. It was decided at this point that the families would split up for the rest of the day so we could all cover what we wanted to do. Mil and fil were starting to struggle a little with the pace and just wanted to take it easy for the rest of the day. Bil and his family had roller coasters on their agenda, and we wanted to head to the Jungala area for dd. We did arrange with mil and fil to meet towards at the end of the day so they could watch dd while we rode the new coaster together.

Right outside the restaurant there was a carousel so we went on this first, dd however really didn't like it. She didn't cry but she spent the whole ride telling us she wanted to get off. There were some arcade games in this area too so dh had a few goes to try and win a toy for dd, but today wasn't to be his day!

We headed over to the Jungala area, which was new to us from our previous trip. It's a mixture of a children’s climbing area with some rides, and a good way of seeing some of the animals. We spent quite a bit of time here, just letting dd lead the way and head off where she wanted to. It was very quiet, so for a lot of the time she had the area pretty much the area to herself.

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[Antigua08]

Continued from above:


After Junagla it was refreshment time again, so we got a drinks refill (such a money saver at the parks that offer this) and spent some time browsing the shops and enjoying the air-conditioning! We bumped into bil and family at this point, with dn9 running up to us begging dh and I to go on Sheikra with her. For anyone unfamiliar with this ride, it's a ridiculously tall drop ride. She had already been on it with her Dad but he said once was enough for him, dh claimed to suddenly feel unwell, so it was left to me to take her on it. I have done this once before, and I’ll be honest the height of the thing really bothered me. I was happy though that it was a very smooth coaster so wouldn't cause a problem with the pregnancy, and really didn't want to disappoint dd. She was so excited when l said yes!

There was no wait at all so straight on it we went, and l will say it's not nearly as scary the second time around! Dn absolutely loved it, declaring it as her favourite ride of the holiday so far over taking Expedition Everest. That little girl just has no fear, such a little dare devil!

We split again after this and headed over to the train station thinking a train ride would be a good rest for dd. Well seems dd was one step ahead of us as she had fallen asleep just as we had gotten to the station. We weren't going to disturb her so decided to just take a leisurely wonder around the park, in the direction of the Cheetah Hunt to meet dh's parents. We saw lots more animals along the way that we had missed, and got some pictures. Dd didn't nap for long, just enough of a rest to recharge her batteries in time for Nanny and Grandad to watch her.

It was time for dh and I to try out Cheetah Hunt, which l had been really looking forward to. Dh said it looked a little slow to him so wasn't didn't think it would be that great. Well he was wrong! A big hit with both of us, l thought it was just great! This was now my new favourite ride so far, and again was pleased with how smooth it was.

Not quite big enough for it yet!

We were no time at all on the ride as again no queue, something l really like about this park! When we came out mil said they had planned to meet bil here too at the same time as us, but were still waiting. This unfortunately became a bit of a regular event throughout the holiday and although we didn't mind the first few times, it did start to grate a little as the fortnight went on. We decided to wait with them, so that we could then all leave the park together. Sil and dn5 eventually arrived, saying that bil and dn9 were on the Cheetah Hunt ride. Turns out they'd already done it twice but loved it too so wanted one last go before they left.

Dh and I realised that we had pretty much missed most of the rides in this park, but really weren't worried. We knew this would be a different holiday with dd, compared to our previous trip and it was really about spending time as a family. I thought dh would struggle not going on as much, and even he said he was surprised that he wasn't concerned in the slightest. We both agreed that although we hadn't done as much as previous days, we had enjoyed it more and it was certainly less stressful. We were secretly hoping that everyone else would feel this way too so we could split up more for the rest of the holiday.

Am pleased to say we found our way home a lot easier than we found getting to the park. We had planned to stop at a restaurant on the way back but fil was too tired so drove straight back to villa. He stopped at the shop on site, with dh jumping out to get some bread and bits for sandwiches for dinner. The rest of the evening was then spent in the pool until it was time for bed.


Next up: Islands of Adventure