We're Baaaaack!! **The WLV's groupies & Trivia Thread chapter 3

[blossomz]

OMG! I cannot believe how much more we all have in common! Seriously...the Open House book is a life saver with GREAT info!

Disneynutzy...thanks so much for the great trip reports!! I feel like we are there with you!

 

[tea pot]

I can totally relate also. Both my kids are in their 20's, but with their special needs they still live at home and WDW is their absolute favorite place. DD is cerebral palsy (no speech and some fine motor difficulty) and DS is spina bifida.

A week after our 2007 trip DS went into the hospital with a shunt malfunction. He was in the hospital for 22 days and underwent 7 surgeries on his brain. Luckily, he had no problems while we were in WDW. We were able to enjoy all our vacation, it was just really touch and go after we got home.

As I have said before, the trip in May will be our first totally without kids. DD has been with us every time we have been. DS has been on all but 2.
It is always a joy to see things through those special eyes!!!

DN Have an awesome trip.

Oh twokats.....prayers and hugs to you and all the other special groupie families.. I wish you a truly Magical Trip in May
What a kind and wonderful group of people you all are... I'm proud to be a part of this thread and I agree with Muushka..I can't wait to meet you guys..

 

[Muushka]

Loving the live updates! Keep 'em coming.

Muushka - I don't think I ever gave you the date. I just rambled about the fact that I was taking my first cruise and quite jittery about it. The Mystery Cruise is June 25-28 on the Disney Wonder.

Good deal! Mystery cruise will be corrected.

I so agree with you Muushka. My brother didn't have any of those types of special needs but he did have a brain tumor which left him really dependant on my Mom. Having seen what she went through I sure appreciate and admire all of our groupie with special needs kids. This is for you.
And here is one for you Muushka for your work with the Special Olympics.

I am so glad to be a part of this thread. You are all awesome!!!!!

OMG! I cannot believe how much more we all have in common! Seriously...the Open House book is a life saver with GREAT info!

Disneynutzy...thanks so much for the great trip reports!! I feel like we are there with you!

What is the Open House Book?

Groupies Rock

 

[DisneyNutzy]

Muushka - The fact that you take the time to work with the Special Olympics shows what a truley special person you are!

JT & Groupies w/ Spec. Needs kids- Amazing that so many of us ended up on this one thread and have so much in common with our children and family members.

JT - I have been on the lookout for Ranger Stan. I have never met him but will make it a point to seek him out tomorrow. We will be doing a photo sitting all over the lodge for our photo pass at 10:30. I will see if we can get him to sit in on a few shots with us.

I am waiting for the pics from today to upload and I will post an update. Teapot - I was going to post almost identical pictures of Sturday Branches and the light. Thanks. You saved me some upload time..lol.

 

[DisneyNutzy]

Hey Groupies,

I left off last night with a promise to my niece to get up early and take her to DHS solely to ride Tower of Terror. The promise was kept! The only issue was I am used to allotting so much extra time to get somewhere with my family we were walking out the door of the Lodge at 7:40 for the 9AM rope drop. Apparently my niece shares no blame with my perpetually late ladies.
Here was our mission:

MISSION COMPLETE. We conquered TT and scooted out of the park before most had made it in. We returned to the Lodge to find everyone else had a nice morning of sleeping in and lounging around. By the time my tardy twins (wife & daughter) got ready we were taking the boat over to the Magic Kingdom around noon. The MK was very crowded but we had a relaxed touring plan so we were not worried. We did some photo pass pics on Main St. (By the way one of the Disney job cuts must have been photo pass photogs. They only seem to be on the main entrance into each park. Tough to find them anywhere else and since we have a pre-paid photo CD we are looking.) We let the teenagers get FP for Splash and Big Thunder while my wife and I took my son on Snow White & Pooh. We all met up in Tomorrow Land for Buzz, Stitch and Laugh Club. For those of you that have been there my daughter loves this show and is hoping I will get picked as "THAT GUY". I keep telling her if it happens she will run out of the theater because I will be the "THAT GUY" they never forget just to embarrass her..lol.

We split up again but this time I went with the teenagers for Splash and Big Thunder. My wife took my son to Small World (better her then me) & Peter Pan. We met at Mickey’s Philharmagic for one more show then headed for the gate. We had reservations at Garden Grill for 7 and it was getting close to 6.

We hit both monorails right on time and were at the podium by 6:30. We let the teenagers head over to Test Track while we waited to be seated. My son usually loves this restaurant and the character interaction but when we were called to be seated he didn't want to go in. He started pulling away and we couldn't figure out why. This is why I have always rented him a stroller/wheelchair. When he is uncomfortable about something and pulling away we can usually make him feel better about it by sitting in his chair and moving him that way. So we wheeled him in his chair to the booth and he sat without a problem. Something comforting and safe about the chair. Once we were all seated we realized our booth was close to the main entrance at that point and he could see the place slowly spinning so that was what was upsetting him. Once we passed the main entrance he was fine. Dinner was good and our waiter was exceptional. Every time somebody was thinking they needed something he was already on the way with it. Here is a picture of our group with the Main Man:

The plan was to stay for Illuminations but everyone said they were tired and I did promise a relaxing trip so I had to relent and we got back to the lodge by 9:15. Asked if anyone wanted to go to the beach for the Water Pageant but they were all half asleep. Here are some shots of the lodge I took while waiting for the Tardy Twins to get ready today:

Teapot- How familiar do these pics look? lol

That's it for day 4. Tomorrow the plan is to relax in the morning. We have a 10:30 photo sitting at the Lodge. After the photo shoot we were finally going to use the pool. It is supposed to be 77 degrees tomorrow which will be the warmest day while we are here. Tomorrow night is EMH at AK. We have reservations at Jiko at 8 but I am not sure we will make that. I'll be back with day 5 tomorrow night.

 

[Inkmahm]

Tomorrow night is EMH at AK. We have reservations at Jiko at 8 but I am not sure we will make that. I'll be back with day 5 tomorrow night.

Great pictures! We'll be there in about 4 weeks... looking forward to getting out of the cold and into the warmth. Winter has been LONG.

Jiko is our favorite restaurant on property-hope you make it there and enjoy!

 

[MaryJ]

Tomorrow night is EMH at AK. We have reservations at Jiko at 8 but I am not sure we will make that. I'll be back with day 5 tomorrow night.

DisneyNutzy--- In case you're not all ready out the door, when you go to AK tonight, be sure to ride EE after dark! DD and I did this in September and it was so much better! We actually went into the park just for that alone. We had eaten dinner at the Wave earlier and drove directly to AK from the Contemporary. When we walked thru the turnstile, the CM said "You know the park closes in 15 minutes, right?" We said that we did and made a beeline for EE. We walked right onto the ride and were going to ride it a second time, but by the time we got off they had shut it down for the night. It still ranks up there with one of our best all-time Disney experiences!

 

[eliza61]

Here's a couple of disney games (courtesy of WDW trivia calendar) to break the winter doldrums:

1) Can you Name?
Each of the four WDW theme parks now has at least one 3-D film. Can you name them?

2) Word Scrambler: Unscramble the letters below to find a popular WDW location.

lnnesypiao
remornptcoya
uoyrepcptn
rirsvroloraenieedtsp
kdsteewoly
ublcbheac
eomtrvrlialass

 

[tea pot]

DisneyNutzy....just Loving your Trip Report...can't wait for day 5 and gald to have helped you out.. (Sturdy Branches)
Take Care you Guys....Enjoy the Magic

 

[horselover]

Muushka - The fact that you take the time to work with the Special Olympics shows what a truley special person you are!

JT & Groupies w/ Spec. Needs kids- Amazing that so many of us ended up on this one thread and have so much in common with our children and family members.

Wow the ties that bind us together! I knew there was a reason I was drawn to this thread, but I had no idea how much we had in common besides our love the Lodge. I thought you were all a great bunch of peeps before & now even more so. I can't wait to meet some of you in May & more of you in Dec.!

Muushka - what DN said goes double for me!

DN I think great minds must think alike because you've taken some of the exact same pics I took in Jan. We won't mention that we also did the exact same thing with the sofa bed & the pillows.

 

[Muushka]

Here's a couple of disney games (courtesy of WDW trivia calendar) to break the winter doldrums:

1) Can you Name?
Each of the four WDW theme parks now has at least one 3-D film. Can you name them?
MK Mickey's Philharmagic
Epcot Honey I shrunk something, Soarin, body wars
MGM Muppet's 3D, Star Tours
Animal Kingdom It's tough to be a bug

2) Word Scrambler: Unscramble the letters below to find a popular WDW location.

lnnesypiao
remornptcoya
uoyrepcptn
rirsvroloraenieedtsp
kdsteewoly
ublcbheac
eomtrvrlialass

I hate scrabble! My 90 year old granny in law beats me!!!

DN, thanks for the reports! Keep having fun for us.

 

[DisneyNutzy]

Hey Groupies - Great day at the Lodge. We finished our Lodge Photopass Shoot. Ranger Stan was in and we sent regards from JT and the rest of the groupies.

They are refinishing the floors in the Villa lobby so we didn't take any photo's in there for our photopass. I'll update tonight.

 

[DisneyNutzy]

DisneyNutzy--- In case you're not all ready out the door, when you go to AK tonight, be sure to ride EE after dark! DD and I did this in September and it was so much better! We actually went into the park just for that alone. We had eaten dinner at the Wave earlier and drove directly to AK from the Contemporary. When we walked thru the turnstile, the CM said "You know the park closes in 15 minutes, right?" We said that we did and made a beeline for EE. We walked right onto the ride and were going to ride it a second time, but by the time we got off they had shut it down for the night. It still ranks up there with one of our best all-time Disney experiences!

Thanks Mary. My wife and I have done EE after dark on a solo trip for my 40th Birthday a few years ago. You are right, it is a completely different experience and one of the reasons we are doing EMH tonight.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

DN great picture of you and Ranger Stan!

 

[KeepSwimmingDory]

DN - Awww LOVE the picture with Ranger Stan. Great t-shirts! Really makes a nice picture. Great pictures of VWL. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

Eliza - Always enjoy the trivia! Do know the 3D movies, but the brain just doesn't work quickly to unscramble.

MaryJ - Thanks for the EE night tip. I don't think my boys have ever done that and would love it!

Muushka - Thanks for keeping the trip list!

 

[blossomz]

OK Eliza..I've got on my thinking cap!

lnnesypiao Polynesian?

 

[DisneyNutzy]

Hey Groupies,

Sorry I can't give a live update on day 5 tonight. I had a work issue that came up that has had me on the computer most of the night and into the morning. We did have a great day with the Lodge photoshoot. I will have lots of pics around the lodge to post. We closed AK and everyone got to ride EE in the dark at least twice

Thanks Mary.

I will update tomorrow night.

 

[jimmytammy]

Thanks for saying hi to Stan from all of us. Great Picture!!

Keep on having fun!!

 

[jimmytammy]

I think I got one

ublcbheach

Beachclub

 

[Muushka]

Bummer about the work at WDW DN. Wah. But 2 times on EE at night, well, I guess you are a lucky guy!