We're Going To Disney, But It's Our Little Secret

[cajunfan]

Yay! You're back...I can't wait to hear all about it (more soon please!!! )

Lynn

 

[mom_of_3_70737]

Hey everyone! Thank you all for the replies! I am so glad that you are all following along. I just have to make sure that I don't go too long in between updates for you.

When I left off we were heading to POR for the first time. I was very excited to get to the resort. Being that we had only stayed at POP in the past we were looking for a change. When we arrived, I really liked the look of the resort from what I could see. What a difference from POP! We got all of the luggage out of the van and headed into the check in counter. The lady told us that before we checked in we needed to bring our luggage to Bell Services. OK! So me and DBFF and our familes walked outside to bring the luggage. The man that was handling our luggage was quite pushy, and insisted that we tag all of our luggage together (like 10 pieces) even though we had different reservations and were going to be in different rooms. It was quite aggravating, but we did it his way and headed to check in.

Check it went smooth. All of our info was correct. We recieved our Grand Gathering buttons and the CM that was helping us was great. Our room wasn't ready yet, but I was expecting that b/c we arrived early that morning. They gave us a card to call and check back later. They said that it would be ready by 3pm. DBFF's room wasn't ready either so we decided to head to Epcot for a while. We headed to the Bus Depot at POR and quickly caught a nearly empty bus to Epcot. Too bad the transportation system wouldn't be nearly as great all week More on that later!

Here are the kiddos on the bus to Epcot the 1st day!!!

DD5 (Emma) She was so excited and being silly!

Here is DD4 (Sydney) and DBFF's daughter Brooke:

We arrived at Epcot around 11am. I had to admit I was a little surprised at how crowded it looked for a Thursday during the "off season". I know it was b/c of FD. We went through the turnstyles, and DH headed over to choke up a whopping $160 bucks for a double stroller rental for the week It was worth it though for tired little legs, and we were hoping to prevent whining from a particuar child. We loaded the girls and we all headed to Sunshine Seasons for lunch since we were all starving. We split up and everyone picked what they wanted, and we were able to grab a couple of tables together and sat down. I had this Veggie Pannini sandwich that was weird. I mean I like veggies, and like all of the ones that were described on the menu, but this sandwich just tasted off to me I ate a few bites of DH's yummy sandwich and dessert and when the kids were done, we headed to Soarin....We love this ride. The wait time was 30 mins on the sign, but it didn't take us that long. DD Emma was a little scared at first (wasn't at all last trip) but ended up enjoying it.

DBFF then made one of many calls to POR to see if our rooms were ready yet. No luck! On to the next ride!

We then headed to Test Track!!! The wait time escapes me right now but I am thinking that we waited about 20 mins. The kids LOVE this ride.....Here they are waiting:



This is one crazy bunch! Haha! Ages 8, 7, 5, 5 & 4!

I stole this pic from DBFF! Thanks Mel This is us on Test Track on the 60mph loop!!

After Test Track we headed to do Mission Space. DH and DBFF's DH are not able to do this ride. It makes them sick. I wasn't a fan of it from our first trip but DS Peyton really wanted to ride it this trip. We opted for the less intense version of the ride, and he really liked it. Here we are waiting to get on. You may notice that I am looking a little rough...haha! I had been up since 2:15am!

Once again, DBFF made another call to POR....No luck!

After Mission Space DBFF's DH was getting a migrane, so they headed to the resort to plead their case and try and get into a room. We decided to stay at Epcot and headed to Spaceship Earth. This was the first time that we rode it since it had been refurbished. We liked it and the kids liked they way that it takes your pics now. They had fun with that. By this time, it was about 2:30pm and our room was supposed to be ready for 3pm, so we hopped on a bus to POR to see about our room and hopfully get a nap and shower in before our ADR for HDDR for dinner!

Stay tuned for more:

Would we get into a room???

 

[HappyDisneyMemories]

What a great report! I'm only on page 2 but I had to stop and say all of your kids are so adorable and I can't wait to read more! Back to reading..... Can't wait to hear your kids reaction!!! We surprised our kids once and its priceless!!!

 

[mom_of_3_70737]

Ok so I had this huge update typed with tons of pics, and DD jumped into my lap and I accidentally hit the back button on the laptop and guess what.....it's all gone!!! I am so frustrated right now!! Grrrrr....

Update coming soon.....

 

[shortkathleen]

Can't wait!!

 

[sherreis]

Welcome home! I loved watching the reveal - looks like they truly were shocked which is great considering all the work you put in to surprising them.

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip and hearing about what happened. Hope it's not too bad.

 

[Paparazzimama]

Great update my friend!!!! Bummer about losing your next post, though. I'm sure it'll be better typed the 2nd time around anyway, right? Anyhoo, can't wait for the next installment!

 

[Dancegrl624]

I just subscribed to your TR and read the whole thing! I am loving it so far and can't wait to read more. My DH and I are surprising our DD with a trip in January. We went two years ago, and she's been asking us if we can go back lately. We keep telling her we don't have time or we don't have the money. She then offers to use her money too (so sweet!). Your video made me cry! It makes me wonder what my DD's reaction will be come Jan. 4 months seems so far away still! It sure is hard to keep it a secret, but by reading your TR, I know if will be worth it!

 

[FreFam5]

Aw - they look so happy and excited (and a bit shocked!!!) at the airport. I hate that the trip wasn't completely magical for you guys!!!

I can't wait to read more about your trip.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Great update! I'm sure the kids had so much fun with eachother during the week. I hope you were able to get in your room soon......

 

[mom2mek]

Great update Katie! That picture of you and Mel on Test Track is priceless - a keeper for sure! I'm sure I could never look that good riding at 60mph - you guys look like you just have a little fan blowing on you like a supermodel!

Hope you get in your room soon!

Sara

 

[mom_of_3_70737]

Great update Katie! That picture of you and Mel on Test Track is priceless - a keeper for sure! I'm sure I could never look that good riding at 60mph - you guys look like you just have a little fan blowing on you like a supermodel!

Hope you get in your room soon!

Sara

That's hilarious!!! I would like to think that we have as much fun on that ride as the kids do

 

[mom_of_3_70737]

Ok you are not going to believe this, but I had retyped everything and lost it again I will try to do better this time. Forgive me if I start saving the updates more often....Sooo annoying.

When I left off we were back on a bus heading for POR. We were all exhausted and ready to relax a bit before dinner. I snapped this pic of DD4 on the way back to POR. She was so tired. Here is a little sidenote for you.....This child requires 10hrs of sleep to function normally without her terrible "whine factor". Unfortunate for us, she had been up since 3:15am and this was the first nap that she had and it wasn't that long of one. Unfortunately her "whine factor" will set the tone for the rest of our trip.

We arrived back at POR and I headed for Concierge while DH entertained the kiddos in the lobby. I wasn't too optimistic b/c I had already spoken to DBFF and their room wasn't ready either. They opted to change to an available room in the Magnolia Bend section due to her DH's serious migrane. I asked about our room and the CM told me that it was not ready and would not be until after 4:30pm. WHAT?!?!?! She informed me that it was undergoing preventative maintenance!!! I was soooo aggravated. DH came over to see what was going on, and I filled him in and expressed my unhappyness to the CM. I told her that we were exhausted and that our room was supposed to have been ready for 3pm. It they knew it was going to be later, we should have been told upon check-in. Maybe it could have all been handled then. I mean, come on....seriously! We told her that we would like to move to another room, but she said that there were no other rooms in AB available and since we are a family of 5, we have to stay in AB! I knew that, and at this time DD4 was beginning to have a meltdown and I wasn't far behind her. I asked her to please look one more time and she magically found us a room in the same building that we were origoinally assigned but on the other side! Yeah, like it wasn't there before .... Geeez! She printed up our KTTW cards and we headed to the room. On the way we stopped by the food court and picked up our refillable mugs and everyone got to choose what they wanted to drink. The kids just loved the mugs. Here are a few pics I took while walking to our room for the first time:

DD4 with her mug

Part of my crew:

Our building:

View from the "porch" outside of our room:

I am going to stop here and save. Will continue in next post.

 

[Paparazzimama]

Great update!!!! LOVE the pic of Syd asleep on the bus! Ugh just reliving that room assignment nightmare brings it all back! It stinks that they handling things so poorly and we ended up on oppossite sides of the resort!!! Oh well, nothing we can do about it now but vent . . . keep the posts coming! (Oh, and last night I was typing my first TR post and the laptop just shut down! The fan in it doesn't work, so if it gets too hot it just turns itself off!!! Ugh!!!!) So, I'm feeling your "technical difficulties" my friend!

 

[mom_of_3_70737]

We found our room quickly and were pleased with the location. Then the horrible thing happened. DH put his KTTW card in the door to unlock it and nothing happened. None of the cards would open the door. Sooo, DH and DS headed down to Concierge to get things straight. I decided to stay back and hang out on the "porch" with the girls and let their legs rest. Here they are waiting for DH and DS to get back.

He appeared about 20 mins later with new KTTW cards for everyone. Thanks goodness. He put the KTTW cards in and guess what?!?! They didn't work either. We could not get into room. I was so mad, not to mention DH. This set his mood for pretty much the rest of the trip. This was not our magical start to our trip! I took the KTTW cards down to Concierge while DH waited with the kids. I expressed my disappointent and she told me that there wasn't a problem with the cards, that it must be a problem with the lock itself and that they would send a CM to the room with a hard key to open the door for us. I headed to the room to tell DH the news and he was less than thrilled. A CM came with the hard key and let us in. He told us that an engineer would be there shortly to find out what the problem was. Hurray, we get to go into our room......

The Engineer came pretty quickly and said that the problem was the actual lock inside the door and that it would have to be changed out. She said that someone would be up soon to replace it and then our KTTW cards would work. At this time, we were leaving for dinner at HDDR in one hour We quickly showered, got changed and made sure that the lock would be fixed when we returned from dinner and they assured me that it would. So we were off to dinner. We open the door to a down pour. Monsoon!!! I used the ponchos that I had purchased during Gustav and totally fogot to pick up some more. We made a mad dash to the food court, stopped wiped off a bit and headed to the gift shop to purchase ponchos for everyone. Almost $40 on ponchos.....Dh was not a happy camper. Hey at least we were somwhat dry though, right??? We dashed towards the bus depot to catch a bus to DTD so we could then catch a bus to Ft. Wilderness. The bus system between resorts makes my head hurt...lol. While we were waiting for the bus to DTD, DD4 decided that she didn't want to wear her poncho anymore and before I could convince her to keep it on, she ripped it down the front Here is a pic of her that I snapped right after she did that....you can tell my DD5's face in the background that Sydney was in trouble.

It was pouring while we waited for the bus:

DD Emma, fell asleep on the way for Ft. Wilderness from DTD.

That is all the time I have for now.....Stay tuned for more!!

Up next:

HDDR Dinner
Magic Kingdom Day

 

[amytheobald]

I m glad they found you guys a room!

 

[amytheobald]

OH NO the locks don't work...I hope it's fixed by the time you get back!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

That picture of Sydney after ripping the poncho is priceless! I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time but I 'm glad you thought to take a picture!

I sure hope your lock was fixed when you returned to your room....

 

[mom_of_3_70737]

When I left off we were on our way to DTD to catch a bus to Ft. Wilderness. We made it to DTD and waited for a bus to Ft. Wilderness. We didn't have to wait terribly long, but long enough....lol. The driver we had on the bus to Ft. Wilderness was awesome. He so much fun. We made it there and tredged through the water to check in for HDDR. The rain had stopped for a bit which was good. We all gathered under the porch of Pioneer Hall and waited for them to start checking tickets for dinner. Finally they did and I got in line and then it started raining again....Ughhh! I hate to be wet and just knew it would be freezing in the building. DBFF and her family arrived shortly and it was time to be seated. We did HDDR on our last trip and really enjoyed it. This was the first time for DBFF and her crew to go. We were seated quickly and the kids were excited to see the show. It was funny. Our waiter could have been better, but the service was still good. Good show. Everyone seemed to like the food and had a good time. It was a good way to end our first VERY long day! Here are a few pics from dinner:

Twirling Their Napkins:

Silly Sydney

Me and DH

Playing the spoons at the end of the show! This did not help poor DBFF's DH's migrane The kids enjoyed it though!

After dinner, we of course caught a bus back to POR. Emma was tuckered out and passed out on DH.

We returned to POR with 3 very tired kiddos. Told DBFF and her fam goodnight and were on our way to find our room again. We arrived and were very happy to have our KTTW cards open the door! It was a very long first day and we were all enhausted. I called the front desk and set up our wake up call. I think we were all asleep before our heads hit the pillows that night. Tomorrow we are going to Magic Kingdom!

 

[FreFam5]

UGh - I can't believe the hassle just to get into your room. You guys must have been so tired - I cannot even imagine!

Looks like the HDDR was great fun - I couldn't get ressies for it for our trip - I'm bummed!!!!

I look forward to reading about the MK!