We're going to Disney? But I wanna see the Alamo

[MK2010]

So here is my report from our first ever trip to Disney World. I had originally planned on perhaps trying to take the kids this May, but through a little pixie dust I managed to pull off a trip during free dining in December. So let me tell you how that happened.
My husband is a minister, I am a stay at home mom with a full time job. Huh? You ask. Well, I homeschool our four children (Jonathan-9, Lauren-7, Cameron-7, and Stephen 4) during the week and work as a CNA at nights on the weekend. One quick note in reference to Lauren and Cameron, they are irish twins, born 11 months apart (that's what they call it when Mommy and Daddy are not too smart!)
Last May I had started working a lot of overtime in order to pay for nursing school this upcoming year and to start saving for a Disney trip perhaps this May. The husband was too tickled about the Disney trip. I worked and worked (like 60-72 hour weeks)saved the money and lo and behold the first of August I was rewarded! An offer came out for free dining during the first week of December, which as all of you know coincides with Value Season, BUT all the Christ6mas decorations are up.
WooHoo! I booked us a trip for Monday November 30- Friday December 4 AND I DIDN'T TELL MY HUSBAND!!!!That was a little nervewracking. I'm ADD and forget stuff often. I was very nervous about planning the whole trip, but I got very focused and very organized. I had a huge binderthat I kept EVERYTHING in (usually in triplicate.) ANd I would like to take time here to say, if you're planning a trip I highly recommend Tour Guide Mike for some additional pointers. Between that site and this one I was set.
The husband finally got suspicious about the beginning of September and dragged out of me what I had done, but by that point I had almost the whole trip paid for.I think he was fairly astonished. Being the gallant man that he is, he stepped up to the plate and gave me the last $1000 we needed. He was even so excited he paid for us to go down a day early, so our official travel dates were Sunday November 29- Friday December 4. We didn't tell the kids, we thought it would be a lot more fun to suprise them.
Here is a quick pic of all of us.[/COLOR]

 

[MK2010]

It was time for the big trip. The kids STILL didn't know. (Thankfully, at tleast this way they weren't wound up for the entire trip to San antonio.) Our final travel itinerary included flying out of San Antonio on Sunday 11/29 and back into DFW on Friday 12/4. That was how it worked out for the cheapest flights on Southwest. Both airports were about an 8 hour drive for us. Luckily, my parents were willing to meet us in San Antonio pick up our car and drive it back to Dallas. They live just outside of Dallas.

The day dawned bright for David and the kids. They had to get up really early to load everything in the Durango and pick me up from work at 7 a.m. We made good time to San Antonio arriving around 4 p.m. We checked into the hotel and then met my parents at the Riverwalk for dinner at Casa Rio. Mom and Dad had birthday presents for Lauren and Cameron. Cameron's birthday was on Thanksgiving and Lauren's was about three weeks away. They both got Nintendo DS's. (Mom thought maybe that would help keep them occupied during the travel.) Jonathan already owned a DS that he earned through selling cubscout popcorn the previous year.

After Dinner, we headed back to the hotel for the BIG REVEAL. All the kids settled on the couches while the adults made sure all the camera's were ready. I take so many pictures the kids didn't even notice that there were two extra cameras pointed at them! I said, "We need to go over our plan for tomorrow." That got their attention. Jonathan was all ready for the Alamo and Lauren couldn't wait to hit the hotel swimming pool. "We're not going to the Alamo." Stunned silence except for the whir of the Nintendos that hadn't been turned off. I heard a chorus of "Why not?"s I passed out their shirts their Dad had made for the next day. (We had matching shirts for every day we were there.) These said "Its all about the mouse." That had become our motto over the summer whenever I would have to miss something the kdis wanted me there for.They would follow me out to the car chanting, "Its all about the mouse. Its all about the mouse."

The kids thought the shirts were cool, but were very slow to make the connection. When we finally said, "We're going to Disney World." There was stunned silence. Followed by tears and questions, "Do we have to? I want to go to the Alamo." "What about swimming?" My kids have definitely mastered the concept of being content where they are! We had to pull out the itinerary to convince the oldest, but excitement finally began to set in.

Especially after the kids started getting their money. My parents gave them money, my grandparents had sent money, we had the kids birthday and Christmas money from the previous year (They each had about $100.) My parents and grandparents had even sent money for David and I! Mom and Dad left fairly shortly after that. We had an early morning (4 am) wakeup call coming. David and I got the bags ready for the trip. I packed their carryons with suprise activities we had bought for them (Disney themed of course!)- including digital camera for the older three. I was the last one to bed at 10 p.m.

Sunday 11/29

The alarm went off really early the next morning. (Which was good- at least we didn't oversleep!) After a quick wash of the face, brush of the teeth, and comb of the hair we were off! David loaded the luggage while the kids looked through their bags. They liked the cameras and thought the whole thing was pretty cool.

When we arrived at the airport, curbside check in wasn't open! We unloaded the car and David went to park the car. Wrestling 11 pieces of luggage, 6 carryons, and 4 kids by yourself at 4:30 a.m. is no easy task! Luckily, I had Jonathan. I sent him, Lauren, and Stephen just inside the doors each with a piece of luggage. Then Lauren and Stephen watched the luggage on the inside while Cameron and I watched the luggage on the outside and Jonathan kept hauling pieces inside. (i could see the kids at all times through the glass, lest anyone was picking up their phone to call CPS!! )We finally got it all in. It was taking David a long time to return.

I was watching the baggage line for United grow longer by the second. Luckily, that didn't seem to be the case with Southwest, but people kept pouring through the front doors. Who would've thought anybody would be at the airport at 5 a.m.? After a few minutes, my Dad who had come to pick up the Durango walked up and agreed to help us get all the luggage up to the baggage check-in while we waited on David. It wasn't too much longer before David arrived. After a couple of pictures by "DadDad" he was off and it was our turn at the counter. We got all the luggage tagged and over to the baggage handler. Then it was off to security.

We got through with no hassle, except for the pocket knife Jonathan forgot he had in his backpack! It was 5:40 when we got to Gate 6 where we would be departing for Houston/Orlando. David found us some breakfast while the kids settled in with their Nintendos and I updated my Facebook status. I snapped a couple of pictures. The T.V. in the terminal was showing Happy Feet.

We began boarding at 6:35. We were in boarding group A. Very quickly we were settled into our seats. Of course, as soon as they called our boarding numbers Lauren announced she had to go to the bathroom! We made her wait until the flight was underway.

The first part of the flight was short. On takeoff, Stephen held Dadd'ys hand, but he wasn't afraid. He loved it when we landed in Houston a short itme later. Stephen said the flight was fun and loud. Jonathan was finally ready to admit that flying on the airplane was better than going to the Alamo! Lauren said it wasn't as fun as swimming though! She was a little nervous on takeoff and landing.

We landed at MCO on time. After a bathroom stop we were off to find the Disney Magical Express check in. We had to leave our terminal and go to the main terminal which meant a ride on a tram (that was VERY similiar to Disney's monorail service.) The kids loved it. At this point they were almost ready to forgive me for not taking them to the Alamo! Upon arriving at the main terminal we found several shops named after various Orlando themeparks.The kids wanted to look around the Disney Store. While David watched the luggage, I took the kids in. They found several things to get excited about, but I wouldn't let them spend any of their money yet.

Along one wall was this picture:

Lauren wanted her picture taken. I almost cried. I was so glad that they were finally getting excited!

Outside the store was a statue of Mickey:

We finally made our way down to the first floor and all the way to the end for our Disney Magical Express check-in. We had a short wait and our bus came. Once on the bus, it wasn't a long ride to the resorts.

We made 1 stop at All Star Sports before continuing on to our resort All Star Music.

Check-in took maybe 10 minutes! We found our room in Calypso I room1534. We had a family suite. (I'll come back and add a picture of the Calypso sign later). The room was on the parking lot side of the building on the 2nd floor, but we had a straight shot to the pool!

After dropping off our carry-ons we made the short walk back to the food court at Melody Hall. The kids all got cheese pizzas, 2 pkgs, grapes, and apple juice. David and i had double cheese burgers with fries and an orange soft drink. Lunch was only $27 +change. I was impressed.On our walk back from lunch, Garden Grocer called with our delivery. Shortly after we finished with Garden Grocer our luggage arrived. Unfortunately, only 6 out of our 11 pieces arrived. We decided to head over to the pool for a bit.

Here is a picture of some guy doing skywriting:

When we came back from swimming the rest of our luggage had arrived. Hooray! Unfortunately, the stroller was broken. We got dressed and unpacked to head out to Downton Disney.

I am going to stop here because I have so many pictures from DTD. But I will be back to put them up in another post! I hope that anyone out there who is looking for a good time to visit Disney World or, who has a larger family will find this trip report beneficial.Enjoy!

 

[MK2010]

Finding our way to the buses was so much easier than I thought. The bus lines are clearly labeled for departure for your chosen park/venue and then I was afraid that there would be confusion coming back. But nope, Disney is GREAT!!!! Everything is clearly labeled. I LOVE travelling around "the world"...especially when they're doing the driving!

I thought the ride to DTD from ASMu took forever. Once we were there, the kids went to the restroom. I saw a store Design-a-Tee which was actually several stores linked together. Inside they had scrapbooks. I am a huge scrapbooker. I narrowed the selection down to three and we voted as a family. The "Four Parks One World" album won. I decided to wait until we were on our way back to the hotel for the night to buy it. I wanted to go across to the Christmas Shop but the boys couldn't wait to get to go Build- Your Own Lightsaber.

There was a photo op outside the Christmas Store so I took a couple of pictures before heading to the Lego store.

Just past the Lego Store was T-Rex the restaurant. If you haven't heard of T-Rex, it is a restaurant totally themed with everything Dinosaur. To give you an idea, it is owned and operated by the same company who runs The Rainforest Cafe. I had been unable to get us dinner reservations when I called to make our other Advanced Dining Reservations, but I decided to see if they could get us in.

We got in! I was so excited. We were seated immediately in the Ice Age room
I didn't get a good picture of the giant T-Rex that greets you with a roar when you walk in. But I did get the Ice Age room in different colors as the asteroid shower rumbles through. At first, it is very cold and there is a blue atmosphere, but as the asteroid shower approaches you hear a loud rumbling sound and the room changes from blue to pink, to orange, to red. Its really cool. There are other rooms also.

It was really cool. The kids ordered chicken nuggets and those came in the shape of dinosaurs.

After we finished eating we headed next door to Build Ur Own Dino. It didn't take long for the three youngest to pick out their Dinos.

From T-Rex we headed to the Lego Store only to find out that the lightsabers were actually at Once Upon a Toy. However, Jonathan found a Star Wars Lego set he wanted. I took pictures of all the displays outside Lego.

We walked through World of Disney on the way to Once Upon a Toy. The kdis were really beginning to wear out at this point. However, we found Build Your Own Lightsaber at last. It took dad a while to figure out how to make them. He blames it on poor instructions. After a while, ( a LONG while) the boys lightabers were done and we were checking out. They all got double tipped lightsabers.

Lauren found a princess hat she wanted and bought that.

We were all pretty tired so we headed back for the buses. I decided to duck in and purchase that scrapbook we had voted on earlier. David wanted to walk through the Christmas Store and look at stockings. I found a Christmas ornament I thought was cute. I picked it up and had it engraved 2009.

When I came out, we walked to the bus stop where they had castmembers posted to direct us to the correct bus. Ours pulled up just as we joined the line. We had 1 stop at Disney West and then we were headed back to the All Star resorts. I didn't feel the return trip took nearly as long. We were the 2nd stop in the All Stars. We exited the bus and walked straight through Melody hall to the pool.

Unfortunately, just outside the entrance to the food court in Melody Hall, Stephen (the 4 year old) was run over by a guest in a motorized scooter! David lifted the lady and her scooter off of Stephen and stopped her before she ran over someone else. She ran over David's foot and bruised his ankle. Stephen had some scrapes and bruises but was otherwise okay. The family apologized and wanted to buy him a cookie. I declined because at this point I just wanted to get the child in bed. He had been up since 4 a.m. CST and it was now 9 p.m. EST. The guest relations CM offered to have the paramedics look at him, but I didn't see the need. I had checked him over and there wasn't any sign of a bump to the head or a broken bone anywhere. We got everyone back to the room and through the baths and into bed.

After the kids were in bed, I cleaned out their carry on bags and restocked them with new gadgets and gizmos I had bought to keep them busy during the lines at the park the next day. I hung up their clothes for Monday, including Lauren's princess dress which of course was a suprise! It had been custom made by her grandmother and was complete with the full swishy petticoats and everything! By the time I turned out the light it was 11p.m. EST. What a long (but very fun) day!

 

[javaj]

I'm in! Looking forward to the next installment. Cute kids

 

[Disney_Jill]

Wow, that was a long day! It looks like you are having a great time so far (minus getting run over by a scooter). I can't wait to hear how the rest of the trip goes.
I love your kids' reactions, my kids would have been the same way. :lol:

 

[JanetMom]

I hung up their clothes for Monday, including Lauren's princess dress which of course was a suprise! It had been custom made by her grandmother and was complete with the full swishy petticoats and everything!

Great TR so far. Can't wait to see a picture of the princess dress!

 

[v.t.]

Great report! We will be staying in a family suite over Memorial Day and I would love some tips. Our boys made the double lightsabers last year and still play with them.
Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[luvmybts]

Great TR! Looking forward to more.

 

[MK2010]

Thanks javaj. I think they're pretty cute too...until they start whining!

Disney Jill, how old are your kids?

Just got the picture of the princess dress scanned in. It isn't all out with glitz and glamour, but knowing that Grandma made it especially for you makes it pretty special!

v.t.- We're going to keep it a secret that you'll be there over Memorial Day Weekend okay? My boys really wanted to go during a Star Wars Weekend! I loved the family suite. We had a minifridge, a microwave, a coffeepot and two bathrooms! It was laso cool that my husband and I had our own bedroom. I really liked it.

luvmybts- here comes more!

 

[MK2010]

Disclaimer: I thought y'all might like an explanation for why this trip report is getting done now. 3 of my 4 kids are at their grandparents for the next 2 1/2 weeks until I finish with my college courses. I'm going back to school and this semester I'm taking A&P I and Nutrition. I'm supposed to be studying. I spent 2 1/2 hours working on A&P this morning and that was really just outlining what needs to be studied! Lol! anyway..on with the show!

The morning got off to a great start with breakfast in our room courtesy of Garden Grocer. Now I must say here, I have never planned a trip like this before. I was a little, no, a lot nervous about everything. It all worked out great, but especially my order from Garden Grocer. It was slightly more expensive than buying food at my local Wal-Mart, but I was able to get refrigerated items that I wouldn't have been able to pack in a suitcase. Besides, I ALREADY checked 10 suitcases. How much more luggage could I have kept up with?

Anyway, we went to the bus stop and waited about 5 minutes for the bus to Epcot. It was fairly empty. Now at this point, I had Lauren's Princess dress and huge swishy petticoat rolled up and stuffed in my backpack. I had it in one of those vacuum sealed airbag thingies. (this was a big petticoat. It came from when my grandmother used to square dance and she had saved it for Lauren. It came to my grandma's knee or just below, but on Lauren it was a full skirt. My husband's Mom made the princess dress.)

We made rope drop and saw several characters including Daisy Duck, Stitch, Mickey, Pluto, Goofy and Minnie. We didn't stop to meet any of them though, We were good Tour Guide Mikers and moved as far up to the right as they allowed. See, they dropped the rop to the park, but that only allowed you to move up to another rope they had set up in the park. when the rope dropped we WALKED (that is very much encouraged) with the rest of the crowd to Soarin'. after seeing the huge rush, i sent David for fastpasses while we waited around out front and took some scenic pics.

These sculptures (oh what do they call 'em? you know what word I'm looking for...that Japanese word. Oh heck, anyway) were just inside the gates.

A picture of the kids playing with their stuff from their bags while waiting for rope drop.

The scenic pics:

When he came back, we headed into the Living Seas pavillion. we rode Nemo and Friends and watched Turtle Talk with Crush. We just walked right up to both of them. There was no wait!

I took an individual picture of each of the kids inside Bruce's mouth, but I figured y'all only needed to see one to get the idea! This is Stephen.

We all though it was pretty cool the way Crush could swim right up to the screen and alk to people in the audience by saying things like, "You there in the red shirt. How many kids do you have?" "Two. Really? That's it?"

A picture of a sting ray in the aquarium

From there we went to Soarin'. We waited maybe 10 minutes. (Have I mentioned how awesome Fast Passes are?) I loved Soarin'. The kdis thought it was okay. then I took the kids to Imageworks while David went across and got FPs for Test Track. All the kdis took their picture and altered it. But the pictures didn't turn out so well. The kids were whiney, They all wanted their turn, but none of them would really be patient while I worked with another kid. I didn't really enjoy it too much because of that. With four kids, it was definitely a two parent job!

David eventually found us. he thought we had already ridden Journey Into the Imagination with Figment so he had ridden it without us. Now when I was growing up, Figment was THE spokesperson for Ecot. Everyone knew who Figment was and we all LOVED him. My neighbor had a whole figment collection. Now, he's been pretty mucg relegated to a dusty corner of the attic. However, I was determined to see Figment. (The kids could've cared less at this point.) We went back around to the ride entrance stopping at the bathrooms first. We pretty much walked right on. At this point, I remembered why I loved Figment as a kid- he has an upside down house!

From here, we went across the park to Test Track. I waited with the kdis while David went over and grabbed FPs for Mission Space. Here are some pictures I took while we waited.

The wait was about 10 minutes for Test Track. I took pictures while we waited in line.

I was amazed at how everything was themed. Even while you were waiting to get on the ride disney had visuals that relatd to that ride. I grew up going to Six Flags Over Texas several times a year and let me tell you, waiting in line there is nothing like this. I was really impressed by all of the "extra" . Another place I noticed the theming was at Star Tours. Anyway, I digress.

Everyone LOVED Test Track, except for Cameron. Now, he says it was cool, but at the time it mighta scared the pee out of 'im just a little. (but don't tell 'im I told ya so!) It was the highlight of Jonathan and Lauren's day.

The time had finally come! It was noon and we were 15 minutes away from our Princess Storybook meal! We walked back to the World Showcase stopping so Lauren could change into her princess dress made by Grandma! We arrived at Akershus Dining Hall in Norway and checked in at the podium. A few minutes later they announced for the "Royal Family of Ingle". We made our way forward and they gave us a ticket. Then Belle welcomed us to the castle, signed our autograph books, and took 2 pictures with us which she later sent to our table as her gift to us for visiting.

They sent us a 5x7 of each and 4 4x6s of each.

We were seated and they took our order. then we were sent to the appetizer buffet. As we were eating our appetizers the Princesses came by our table one at a time to greet us and sign our autograph books. Then they each took their picture with Lauren.

Now since it was Lauren's birhtday, Princess Aurora gave Lauren a real, honest to goodness, Princess crown straight from the Royal Vault at Akershus (via Mom's checkbook at the mall from back home )

I had smuggled a collapsable box with a pre made bow and the tiara. When she was in the bathroom changing I quickly put the gift together and then as Aurora approached I had a CM intercept her with the box and she presented it to Lauren as if she knew EXACTLY what was going on! I must say, the people they get as characters really do an AWESOME job. You hear of horror stories like a drunk Santa Claus at a big city mall or something, but not at Disney World. They are truly top notch!

This is one of my favorite pics.

After we visited with the Princesses, our meal was served. I noticed the entire meal was choreographed well. They seated families after the picture with Belle and that picture took just enough time to seat a family.Then by the time you returned from the appetizer bar the Princesses began making their rounds in your section. A few minutes after they finished with a room the main course was served. I noticed when we were about 3/4 done with our main course they began serving dessert to the room before us. we finished up and it wasn't long before our dessert arrived. One funny thing about our meal is at the appetizer bar Jonathan had gotten some boiled shrimp. Now, i love boiled shrimp. Like I could eat my weight in boiled shrimp and lets face it- that's sayin something! Anyway, i noticed he had only eaten a couple of his. I asked him why and he said they didn't taste very good. I started looking... he had eaten them with the little shell still on! I peeled a couple for him, but I think it was too little, too late. The magic had been ruined for him on boiled shrimp!

While we were eating this huge dessert, our check arrived. Now this was fun. My husband had never been on a big trip like this in his whole life. He had gone to Disneyland on Senior Trip in highschool, but never on a huge trip where if something went wrong he was responsible. It was fun to see his amazement when Disney picked us up at the airport, drove us to our hotel, delivered our luggage, and the Garden Grocer delivered our food. Remember, his only part in this whole trip was to fork over the last $1000 and make our t-shirts. I took care of everything else. So when the check arrived and it said $178, it was cool to see my husband's face when I handed him the key to our room and said, "Disney Dining Plan, hon. Remember, It's Free Dining." Let me say, I don't think my husband has ever been more impressed with me in our whole life than he was at that moment! i just paid the 18% gratuity and we were on our way.

We stopped by the castle bathroom so Lauren could change out of her dress then it was over to Maelstrom to ride while everyone's food digested before Jonathan, Lauren, and Dad headed to Mission Space.

A picture of the Epcot Christmas Tree.

We walked back by Mexico and in the big open space they had a stage set up. A music group was about to perform, Divine Voices from Central Florida. I found a shady spot to sit down with Stephen and Cameron. I tried to video part of the performance, but Stephen was beyond tired so I sat down and held him. We waited probably between 30 and 45 minutes for the guys to return.

They were super excited when they came back. They had ridden the green side, which is the calmer of the two. I wouldn't let them ride the other side because everyone said it pulled so many G's. david said even Cameron and Stephen could've handled the Green side. Lauren and jonathan had a good time. They really wanted to go back and ride the rougher version. (I said no, time to move on!) Lauren got to be the navigator, dad the pilot, and Jonathan the commander.

By now it was past 2 and I knew I was in violation of tour Guide Mike's "rest in the afternoon" rule. david wanted to go by Mousegears and pick up stockings for everyone. On the way we passed by an outdoor kiosk where Lauren was able to buy a Tinkerbell lanyard. It didn't take long in Mousegears since David knew what he wanted. Stephen was the first to pick out his stocking. It was from Cars. (And for the life of me i don't know why i didn't take pictures of all of this )) David had already picked out a Princess stocking for Lauren, and Mickey Mouse for himself, and Minnie Mouse for me, and Mickey wearing a top hat for Jonathan. Cameron settled on a Toy Story stocking with Woody and Buzz.

By now it was going on 3 and we began the long trek back to the bus stop. We didn't have to wait long for an empty bus and we only had a 10 minute ride back to the resort. While the rest of us took a nap, david ran down to the resort gift shop.

 

[javaj]

What a touching picture of your DD and DH. Our DSs are now 8 and almost 4 and we're 99% sure we don't want any more kids, but whenever I see a picture like that, it makes me consider talking to DH about trying for #3....for about 2 seconds. Then reality hits.

Where are you at in TX? We moved to TX last summer, we're about an hour NW of Houston.

 

[MK2010]

We live in the panhandle of Tx. No humidity- but the wind will blow you to Timbuktu!

 

[MK2010]

After our nap we headed out to Magic Kingdom. We left the room a little before 5 p.m. and caught the bus to MK. we arrived at the end of a parade. I took several pictures which slowed our progress.

We took this picture on the way into the park. I was really disappointed that it came out blurry because I have a picture of my family when I was 8 at this exact location. Reason #1 to go back right? Oh, no reason #2. Reason #1 is because the kids want to ride the rough version of Mission Space!

Stephen waving at the characters as the last of the parade wound by us.

I took this picture because of the Christmas Garland. I absolutely love Christmas. I set my Christmas Tree up on Halloween!

We wound through Liberty Square back to Fantasyland for a rushed dinner at Pinnochio's Village Haus. Again, there are places to eat at other Amusement parks. They might even have a theme name, but the inside of Pinocchio's really showed how Disney pays attention to detail.

I also like how they have the window that overlooks the boats going into Its a Small World. After our dinner we rushed back to sit across from Riverboat Landing and the Liberty Bell for the SpectroMagic parade.

We found a spot right at the rope and settled in for a long wait. the kids pulled out their putty and began sculpting. I passed out their glow sticks I had bought at the Dollar General back home (another suprise for the kids). The family on the bench behind us were also homeschoolers. They drove 20 hours straight with their 6 kids! They had trivia cards and the subject just happened to be Star Wars. Jonathan was quickly sucked in!

The Spectro Magic parade had all the kids attention except Jonathan's. He was talking theme park strategy with the 12 year old from Illinois! I think Stephen was the most excited. He waved to all the characters and I took pictures of all the floats while David filmed the whole parade.

Afterwards we said a quick goodbye and made a beeline for the restrooms tucked just outside Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride. Then we were off on a race across the park-through Fantasyland and Tomorrowland to the Rose Garden to watch Wishes.

I made a slight wrong turn and didn't end up in the exact spot Tour Guide Mike recommended. The spot was okay. Later I found the right spot and it would've been perfect. The kids loved the fireworks. I took tons of pictures. I think my picture total for the day was around 400. David again did video of the whole show.

I had planned on leaving after Wishes, but the front was still very crowded. I had forgotten that it was evening Extra Magic Hours for Magic Kingdom. The kids seemed okay so we headed back into Tomorrowland to ride the Carousel of Progress. Its one of my favorites, but we were going to have a tough time fitting it in, so this was perfect. On the way, we passed Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger spin so I had David grab a set of Fastpasses while we waited outside Carousel of Progress.CoP was good. I wish there wasn't such a gap between the 1940 scene and the current scene. I would still like the old ending, but I can see how that would still be outdated.

We had 10 minutes until our Buzz return time. We walked over just to see if they'd let us in early. (The answer is "no" just in case you were wondering! ) So, I packed David off to Space Mountain for more FPs.

It was our time for Buzz when he got back. Our FP return time for Space Mountain was going to be 10:25 so we gave those away to a couple standing in line.

All the kids loved Buzz and begged to go on it again. We took a couple of photos in the exit area of Buzz.

Then we headed to the front gate and our buses. Pausing a couple of times for photo ops.

I think we waited less than 10 minutes for a bus and exactly 15 minutes after we pulled away we were back at our resort. On the way back Jonathan, Cameron, Lauren, and I sang along to "Life is a Highway" This had become our theme song because of a video on youtube. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLOJ9HMkgAE&playnext_from=TL&videos=BMSUpkpgOtw

If the link doesn't work search youtube for Wolf's Dance Orlando. This family did a great job on their Disney vacation video. My kids loved it and would watch it 2-3 times a day and they didn't even KNOW they were gong to Disney World.

Anyway, on the way back to the Resort Lauren filled David in on all the princesses she saw in the parade. Stephen shared how much fun he had "shooting" on the Buzz ride.

It was an uneventful trip back to the room and the kids quickly took their baths and got in bed. I repacked their backpacks. David and I hung up their clothes for an easy morning. Then I hung up the Storm Trooper and Anakin costumes for Jonathan and Cameron. (I got these at Toys R Us for $5 on clearance after Halloween ) After a quick shower I was in bed and ready lights out!

 

[MK2010]

Its been a couple of days without an update, but I'm in the middle of my workweek. (Gotta love a 3 day workweek!) Anyway, I'll try to get some more up on Monday.

 

[vettegirl]

Great report so far I saw you guys ate at Casa Rio on the riverwalk in San Antonio, I was there last week with my husband. That was my first time at the riverwalk in about a year.

 

[15isto2]

Signing up for the report, love it so far.

 

[MK2010]

We started out the day at Disney's Hollywood Studios. jonathan and Cameron were very excited about their costumes! They wore them to the park.

They got a lot of attention. People have also commented all week about our matching shirts. That was one of the great deals. I picked up plain white T-Shirts for the entire family for the whole week for $1 each. Then my husband did all of the designs for the front of the shirts and personalized them by giving each one a special character.

Here is a picture of the Christmas tree at DHS:

And a closer up view:

Once we got into DHS and the rope dropped David took the oldest three to Jedi Training Academy. They were first in line!

Stephen and I went to Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror for FPs. We were able to do this becase we only Jonathan, David and I were the only ones who were going to ride. So we used non riders tickets to secure FPs.

On the way back through the park we saw Minnie Mouse, Tigger, Eeyore, Chip & Dale, Pluto and Donald Duck. We stopped and got our book signed with Donald Duck and Eeyore. Stephen had said all along theat Donald Duck was his favorite so this was really special. We didn't feel he would really want to do Jedi Training Academy so to get to meet Donald Duck all by himself without the other 3 kids was neat. Sometimes its hard to have things or experiences that are all your own when you're the baby!

and Eeyore:

A note on the Autograph books: I was so busy working to pay for the trip that a fellow scrapbook friend of mine made them for my kids. She used a really thick chipboard for the cover and then 8x11 white cardstock for the pages. She used her Cricut machine and the Disney cartridge to cut out the different characters and paste them on the page. Each character was like 3- 4 inches which left plenty of room for the character to sign on the page. Eventually, I'll print off the pictures of each one getting the autograph and put it on the facing page. They were really cool. Perhaps I'll eventually get pictures and can post them later in the TR.

Now back to the main attraction. It was a total of an hour wait in line at Jedi Training Academy. They didn't start signing peole up until 9:35, but by then the line probably had 50-100 people in it. They only take 15 kids per show. The first show started at 9:55.

Before it started they passed out the robes. Jonathan's was too short so we traded it for another one which was still too short!

Soon the Jedi Master came out. Or appeared. Whichever. Don't want to give the wrong impression though, since I have not personally met the man!

After a brief instructional lesson, Stormtroopers appeared! They ushered in Darth Vader.

The kids lined up to fight him and Cameron was the first of our kids to go. He did well and after he succeeded in fighting off Darth Vader the Storm Trooper came after him! he had to use "the force" to stop them! He was the only one who got that privilege! now everytime we go to the grocery store Cameron uses the force to open the automatic doors!

Thanks to Youtube videos, Jonathan had been practicing the moves for months and he looked quite the pro!

Dad videoed the whole thing. I need to upload it so I can paste the link here, but i don't have access to it right now so I'll have to come back, but its a pretty lengthy video so I may not. I took a ton of pictures which was good because I didn't like any of the pictures taken by the Photopass photographer.

After the show we rode Star Tours. Again, at most theme parks you wind through the metal bars outside in the hot sun. At Disney, you wait in airconditioned, totally themed pre attraction lines. (Where you wind through metal bars, but still...way cooler than Six Flags).

The kids of course loved it! the ride emptied into Tatooine Traders. I looked around with the kids and loaded up on stuff while David went to the bathroom. They all bought something, and I couldn't resist having their picture taken and their faces superimposed on the bodies of the characters from Star Wars.

We had everything shipped back to the hotel room. When we came out I took everyone's picture on the speeder bike. For some reason i shot the pictures from head on except for Jonathan's. I don't know what I was thinking.

From there we went to getFPs for Toy Story Mania, but the return time was going to be 5:10. We were planning on being in MK by then so we opted to skip that ride. We figured it was a fair trade since they made Jedi Training Academy. Plus reason #4 to return!

Coming up ToT!

 

[MK2010]

Signing up for the report, love it so far.

Wow! An international audience! I don't often get the privilege of interacting with people from other countries stuck in my own little corner of Texas- Mexico has ceased to count! Glad to have you along.

 

[MK2010]

We headed over to Tower of Terror. jonathan and David rode first. It scared Jonathan, but he liked it. I waited with the other 3.

They're park bags definitely came in handy. and since they had something new in them ever day, the kids didn't get bored! It was Mom's turn next. Mom's favorite ride used to be Cliffhanger at Six Flags Over Texas which had a similiar concept. As I buckled in I suddenly realized, my days of riding the Cliffhanger were a LONG time ago. Even Mom was a little nervous about this now.

The ride wasn't bad. Since it was enclosed you have no real concept of how far you were falling. The repeated up and down motion got to me a bit.

it was time for Rockin Roller Coaster! Mom and Jonathan rode first. Mom thought it was totally awesome! It was really scary for Jonathan, but he did it! He conquered his first roller coaster! We waited with the other kids while Dad rode.

I used the Kodak picture spot to get a good shot of Dad and the kids with the Rockin Roller Coaster guitar in the background.

From there we went across the park to eat at Pizza Planet.
Everyone of course had pizza, but we also used a snack credit and got everyone a Mickey rice crispy treat. Lauren got a chocolate chip cookie.

Inside Pizza Planet:

We ate upstairs because it was a lot less crowded up there. I have trouble distinguishing sounds, So, if you're talking to me and its crowded or loud I can't understand you. I hear the words, but they don't make any sense.

We still had a few minutes after lunch before the Indiana Jones stunt show so we went to the Indiana jones store. Jonathan and Cameron both bought a rifle and Stephen bought a Indiana Jones dress up play set. We had all of these also sent to the hotel room. The poor cashier was quite confused and very slow. I finally took the kids and got us situated at Indiana Jones while David finished our purchases.

Okay the rest will have to wait... "Chuck" is on NBC!

 

[jennifermae]

Ohhh......I cant wait to hear more!!!