We're Baaaaaack- Just call me "Crash"

[bettyann29]

Well our family of 10 is back from "The World" as of September 4th..

We enjoyed 7 wonderful days at The House of the Mouse!

Further in my trip I will tell you all about how I earned the nickname "Crash".. I will give you one hint.. SEGWAY!!!!

Our cast includes:

Me (38)
DH (43)
DSD (20)
DSD boyfriend (22)
DSS (18)
DD (16)
DS (14)
DD (10)
DGD (2)
DGD (3 months)

I took many pictures but not any prior to getting to Floriday.. So my first post wont include any, but I will make up for that throughout my trip report.. as I said.. I take bunches of pictures every trip!

Let me first say that I have never gone with this many people before.. The most has been 4, so this was definitely an experience, to say the least.. It was challenging at times, but I think overall we had a good time..

OK.. let me get on with the report.. Our arrival day started out bright and early.. Our flight left DFW at 6:05 am.. we live about 15 minutes from the airport. We planned on taking both mine and DH's cars so that we could fit everyone in and all the luggage. We planned on parking at the parking area at the airport. We couldnt sleep the night before so I knew we were going to be in trouble when we tried to get up to get ready the next morning. The plan was to be out of the house by 4:30 am.. Hindsight, we should have been out of the house by 4 am! We parked the cars and took the bus to the terminal..

We had sooo many bags, it was ridiculous! We had purchased our airfare in early April so we were allowed 2 checked bags each and then 1 carryon each.. If I remember correctly we had 14 checked bags total and 4 carryon bags besides a few backpacks.. We got off the bus and DH was looking for his checked bag.. He knew that he had not put a lock on it so we kept going thru all the bags without locks and couldnt find his bag. He freaked! I kept reassuring him that if needbe, we would take a taxi to Walmart and replace all his items.. but he was evidently upset.. after careful inspection, we deteremined someone had put a lock on his suitcase and it was there afterall.. We went to the self checkin kiosk to turn in our checked in bags.. we were half way thru when a message popped up saying that it was now within 45 minutes of our flight and we couldnt check in anymore bags..

OK.. now the freaking was on.. My nerves were shot by this point.. the agent reassured us that we would be fine but our bags wouldnt make it to Orlando til the next flight.. We had our Magical Express tags on them all, so we decided we were fine with that.. We finished and got our bags checked in.. With so many of us and all the carryon and the babies and strollers, etc it felt like a nightmare getting thru security.. but we did it!

We headed straight to the terminal.. we were in line to get on the plane when the agent inquired on the ages of the 2 grandbabies.. we advised 3 months and 2 years (she just turned 2 last month).. That was when we found out that once a child is 2 they need their own ticket for a seat!!

I had absolutely no idea!.. I dont know why I thought it was 3, maybe because Disney starts at age 3, but I honestly thought it was age 3 or I would have bought her ticket before getting there..

It was time for our plane to leave and the agent informed us that in order for her to get on the plane we had to purchase her a ticket.. When I say the plane was waiting on US, I mean they were waiting on US..

The agent informed us that the going price for the ticket was $989!! It must have been a golden ticket..

Stay Tuned.......

 

[OhMari]

You caught my attention~~
Don't leave me haning.

What the heck is with the price of these last minute airline tickets. Do people really pay that price?

 

[TheDISneyFamily]

Oh NO! Segway crash?! Now I'm freaked out. We're supposed to do the Segway tour in a few weeks!

Can't wait to read all about your trip!
-Michelle

 

[VanniGirl]

Oh my - $989

Looking forward to hearing the rest

 

[bettyann29]

You caught my attention~~
Don't leave me haning.

What the heck is with the price of these last minute airline tickets. Do people really pay that price?

I sure hope not! I thought maybe it was the lucky ticket to the lottery or something.. I was trying to decide which lung I was going to sell

 

[bettyann29]

Oh NO! Segway crash?! Now I'm freaked out. We're supposed to do the Segway tour in a few weeks!

Can't wait to read all about your trip!
-Michelle

Lets just say I told my DH to call me the "Lone Loser" Out of about 10 of us on the tour, I was the ONLY one who went flying.. It wasnt pretty.. I bruised a little more than my ego..

 

[bettyann29]

Oh my - $989

Looking forward to hearing the rest

Believe me when I say I freaked I knew there was no possible way as I had everything budgeted on this trip and there wasnt much room for any miscalculations

 

[bettyann29]

Well I finally made it back to post.. Ive been trying to download my pictures to the computer for a few days and finally got it to finish today.. so Im now transferring to photobucket..

Thought Id pop a few in here..

Here is DGD2 sleeping on the plane.. In her $275 seat.. She was with DSD at this time..

Waiting in ME bus line..
DD16 with DGD 3 months

DGD2

Heading to the ME bus

DSD and DGD2 on the bus!

and we're off!!

 

[Jack'sGeeMa]

Ahhh....love the babies! My DH and I are taking our just turning 3 grandson to WDW in December, and BOY am I excited!

989 dollar airfare? "Uh, oh, did I say she was two? I meant she is one. Well, one and a half. One and three-quarters, even. That's a typo on the birth certificate...darn hospitals can never get things right."

Man, you are brave. taking all those folks to WDW with you. How long did you plan your trip? How did the babies handle it?

Tell!

IKE! Get lost!

 

[bettyann29]

about 30 minutes later, we arrived at Allstar Sports for a glorious 7 days..

It was sometime around 12 noon when we made it to the hotel so we checked in.. found out one of the rooms was ready and the other one that was connecting wasnt cleaned yet.. so we were given all of our papers and KTTM cards and were on our way to our room that was ready.. Dropped everything off, changed into our swimsuits, grabbed towels and headed to Blizzzard Beach!

I dont have any pictures because I had forgotten to pack a water camera..

In all of our trips we have never taken advantage of the water parks, so this was a nice change!

We had a blast..

DD16 didnt want to get wet so she took DGD2 to the kiddie area.. DSS18 didnt want to get wet either, so he took care of the baby.. The rest of us went on Teamboat Springs several times, then we all went to Cross Country Creek which is the lazy river that goes around the waterpark.. After that we decided we were tired, so we went back to the hotel.. As soon as we arrived we stopped off at the front desk to get the second room# which we were certain which room it was, but they said they couldnt give the # out till it was ready.. They gave it to us at that time and then we headed to the rooms..

We couldnt get the room keys to work in the 2nd room.. We immediately went up to the front desk and they gave us new keys.. Tried those.. guess what? They didnt work either.. we called the desk from our other room.. We were told maintenance would be down there.. so most of our clan sat outside the other room waiting while I was getting our order together to order from Dominos pizza.. one of the mousekeeping staff let them into the room as they were sitting outside.. the one room we were able to get into was too small for all of us to be in there so the only other option was to sit outside.. luckily she came by and let them in.. All in all, it took 1 1/2 hours before the mess was straightened out with the room keys

I did order our dinner from Dominos and we headed to the pool while we waited for the delivery man to come.. it was super easy.. we placed our order and gave our cell phone #.. once he was down the street he called us and we met him in the hotel lobby.. We were able to get 5 pizzas for much less than what we would have paid for pizza from WDW..

After eating we took showers then headed to Downtown Disney..

Here is DGD2 as soon as we got onto the bus:

and here she is before we made it to DTD

 

[bettyann29]

Ahhh....love the babies! My DH and I are taking our just turning 3 grandson to WDW in December, and BOY am I excited!

989 dollar airfare? "Uh, oh, did I say she was two? I meant she is one. Well, one and a half. One and three-quarters, even. That's a typo on the birth certificate...darn hospitals can never get things right."

Man, you are brave. taking all those folks to WDW with you. How long did you plan your trip? How did the babies handle it?

Tell!

IKE! Get lost!

Thank you!

I thought I was up for this many people, but Ive never been with that many people before.. it certainly was a challenge and different from the commando style trips that Ive done in the past.. For the most part it was good.. There certainly were moments that they were all getting on my nerves..

If I remember correctly I started planning about 6 months out.. Looking back I wouldnt have taken the 3 month grandbaby.. she slept most of the time anyways, but didnt get to experience anything really and we would have been able to do a little more had she not been there..

I remember the first time I went to WDW in 2000, my DD was 8, DS was 6 and my youngest DD was less than 3.. We opted to leave the youngest home so the older 2 could experience more and I was glad we did.. but I did want the whole family together on this trip..

 

[bettyann29]

So off we go on the bus and arrive at DTD.. Of course we did the obligatory walk thru Goofys candy shop and then onto the Pooh Store.. DD16 loves Pooh Bear! She ended up spending around $80 there which was almost half of her spending money.. she definitely is NOT a thrifty shopper I swear.. that child could spend any amount of money she has.. she doesnt know how to save it to save her life..

Heres a shot from inside the candy store..

and a few of inside the Pooh store:

Then a few shots outside:
DD16

DD16 and DD10

DGD2 was so tired

Here is DD16 with the little one (not her baby )

She was such a trooper and loved looking after her little niece.. so many of her pictures are with DSD's little one..

and a few more shots around DTD:

We then went to Disneyquest and all the kids stayed there to play.. me and DH walked to Hess and picked up some beer, cokes, styrofoam cooler and cigarettes.. then walked back to the bus stop and took the items back to the hotel..

My plan was to decorate the windows but just as we got back to the hotel they called to tell us they were bored and were heading back to the room Bored?? How could they be bored???

At lightning speed I decorated the windows..

Once they made it back-- we were all off to bed...

Stay tuned for Day 2- Breakfast at Akershus with the Princesses..

 

[bettyann29]

Day 2- Epcot..

We got up bright and early for an 8:55 ADR at Akershus for breakfast with the Princesses.. I had told everyone the night before that we needed to be at the bus stop at the hotel by 8:00.. Miraclulosly (however you spell it ) we were there by that time.. We headed straight to Epcot.. There was a sign with an arrow pointing to one side with Princess breakfast and we went to that line and were let into the park.. they have CM's all over to greet you and get you going in the right direction.. We got there and checked in and waited for our name to be announced.. While waiting for that me and DSD left the group and went to Soarin and got Fastpasses for everyone since that part of the park opened at 9 am.. we got the FP's and headed straight to the restaurant.. Everyone else was seated by that time and food was being served.. and the Princesses were heading our way!

DH had said that when they were heading into the restaurant you go into this area with a Princess and get a picture made.. On this day it was Belle.. They give you 3- 5 x 7's and 6 - 4 x 6's I believe for FREE! Well since the breakfast costs an arm and a leg, I guess its not really free but it was a nice surprise..

Aurora:

DGD2 getting giddy while waiting for the next Princess

She spotted Snow White:

Snow White:

Jasmine:

Yummy strawberry!

Mulan:

DS14 with Mulan:

Once all the Princesses came by and we were finished we left.. I did think it was nice that someone did come around to ask if we saw all of the Princesses.. Several other trips we've done the character meals and never saw a character because our table got skipped.. so I thought this was nice..

As we left the building and started heading to Future World we spotted Mary Poppins

The whole group of kids

DD16- it was nice to see a smile on her face.. she's had a rough few months and I havent seen that smile in quite some time..

Afterwards we realized DGD2 had a kiss mark on her cheek.. very cute! Not sure which Princess did it.. but I HAD to snap a picture!

Next.. Hear about the rest of our wonderful day in Epcot!......

 

[heaven2dc]

I must have missed a post or something - What happened to the $900+ air fare? You left us hanging lol and then I saw it was $275

Beautiful grandbabies!

 

[dvc at last !]

I am enjoying your TR -

give us more !

 

[estherhead]

Glad to see your DD16 smile also. I was just about to comment on her consistancy in NOT smiling. She's GORGEOUS so she should be required to smile. Beautiful people should smile all the time, don't you think? They owe it to us average people.

I love those princess kiss photos too. When my eldest was 4 she met Ariel & Ariel left big marks & my little one wouldn't wipe it off for 2 days!

Can't wait for more.

 

[bettyann29]

I must have missed a post or something - What happened to the $900+ air fare? You left us hanging lol and then I saw it was $275

Beautiful grandbabies!

oops sorry

The agent saw that price and when she saw how many tickets we had purchased she said that she would see what she could do for us.. she picked up the phone and made a few calls and was able to get us the ticket for the price we paid for DGD's mom and dad's tickets.. so with fees and everything it came to $275.. definitely much better than the almost $1000 for the current going ticket..

 

[bettyann29]

Glad to see your DD16 smile also. I was just about to comment on her consistancy in NOT smiling. She's GORGEOUS so she should be required to smile. Beautiful people should smile all the time, don't you think? They owe it to us average people.

I love those princess kiss photos too. When my eldest was 4 she met Ariel & Ariel left big marks & my little one wouldn't wipe it off for 2 days!

Can't wait for more.

I agree about the smiling... over the last month she has been thru a few huge life changing things and will take a long time for her to get things back to normal I think.. I almost decided to cancel this trip but decided that what she needed was some time to be a kid again and have some fun and spend time with the family.. You really wont see her smiling too much in most of the pictures, but not for me not trying.. I did snap a few here and there though.. I think in the end this trip was just what she needed and she had a great time..

 

[bettyann29]

I must have missed a post or something - What happened to the $900+ air fare? You left us hanging lol and then I saw it was $275

Beautiful grandbabies!

Your comment got me to wondering.. I went back and saw that I surely did jump Now I remember what happened.. Ive been having such problems the last few days with my computer.. I remembered doing that next post and I got to the end and my computer had knocked me off and everything I had typed was gone I had meant to go back and do it..

Now thats its done and gone, ask noted above we ended up getting her ticket for $275 after nearly missing the plane as we were held up trying to get her ticket.. the flight left a few minutes late but we arrived safe and sound.. When we were on the plane I noticed that they had arranged DGD2's return flight for Sept 24 and we were all coming back on Sept 4 I was able to get that straightened out once we were on the ground.. the sad thing is that DGD sat on everyones laps the entire trip so we paid $275 and she didnt even sit in a seat..

We utilized ME to get to the hotel..

Thats pretty much what was left out Im sure in less words than the original but wanted to get you guys caught up..

sorry..

 

[bettyann29]

Ok.. we just finished breakfast with the Princesses.. We walked out and spotted Mary Poppins and then we looked at our FP's for Soarin and realized that we were able to go there then to ride but we also realized that the time on it showed we were eligible for another fp at that time, so we headed to Test Track to snag some fastpasses and then we headed to Soarin... DD16 absolutely hates that ride.. I dont get it, cause I think its the bomb.. Since she doesnt like it, she opted to sit out with the kids while the rest of us rode it..

It was confirmed-- This is my favorite ride in Epcot.. followed by a close Spaceship Earth.. I know.. I know.. Im weird! Its ok..

Some of that day is a blur.. I dont remember exactly what we did next but I know after Soarin, we went to Test Track and did the child swap pass.. I sat out while everyone rode it and then when they were done, I got to ride it with DD10 and DD16 as the pass is good for 3 people.. Its super easy to do.. You go to the fastpass line with your entire party and the kids.. They watch your party get in line, whether its fp line or standby line.. they will give you a child swap pass to come back at any time during that day.. The date is stamped on the ticket so it does have to be used that day, but there is no time stamp on it..

Then the rest of the rang went on Mission Space.. I dont like that ride at all! Ive rode it a few times but every time I come out feeling nauseated and feel like Im about to blow if you know what I mean so I stayed out with the kiddos.. I walked around Mousegears and did a little window shopping and then went and waited on the benches by the ride.. I looked down and both grandbabies were fast asleep..

I went over and got in line for a Mickey icecream bar.. This was my first Mickey bar of the trip.. followed by a few more.. I went to give the CM my card and he said that it was FREE.. He said that I was the customer of the hour and therefore I get an item free! WOOHOO.. I felt like I was on top of the world.. its kinda sad that I was that excited over an item that was less than 3 bucks! But you dont understand.. I have been to WDW 5 times since they started the Years of a Million Dreams and had hoped and hoped and hoped to win something.. This is my last trip before the promotion ends and I had hoped I might get something this trip.. Well I was NEVER approached by the Dream Squad.. although me and my husband had many jokes over the trip saying things like "our luck and on our last day they will come up to us and tell us we get to stay in the castle that night" or we'd say " our luck and we'd be on our way out of the park on our last day and the dream squad would give us one of those cool necklaces with all the fastpasses on them and we wouldnt be able to use them because we had to leave to go to the airport" so by getting this FREE Mickey icecream bar I felt redeemed in some way and felt that all those thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars spent on those 5 trips were somehow worth it!

We also made it by the Cool Spot.. AHHHH.. this is a must do for us each trip.. its one of my favorite things to do.. although I do remember my first 2 trips to WDW and going in here and you had to walk by that caveman.. I still think they should have left him there.. I thought that was so cool to go thru that little area where it was nice and cool and walk by him.. but I still love going there.. We had a few more victims to succumb to Beverly.. oops I mean a few more people in our party who have not experienced that lovely lovely drink Beverly DSD's boyfriend said he liked it! the only thing I could think to tell him is that he is a freak! Who likes Beverly??

Here is the one picture I took in all that time since earlier that day..

She is sporting a new drink in her new cup we bought her.. Its one of those build your own cups.. We opted for the princess cup.. Its a pink cup with princess shoes and a princess hat..

About this time it was time for our dinner ADR at Garden Grill..

I'll pick up with that next and then tell all how I puttered out soon after dinner..