What exactly DID you do at Disney? May 2011 TR (TR link pg 44)

[pinkxray]

[QUOTE I was happy we got the rain out of the way. The next few days ended up being perfect and then towards the weekend it got way too hot.

We were delayed an hour and a half trying to leave Atlanta because of the storms that rolled through the area, we were an hour late boarding, then sat on the tarmak for another 30 minutes, THEN, we had to divert around the storm clouds so the flight took another half hour longer than it should have. Didn't make for a magical start for us either.

I totally agree, the weather at the beginning of the week was perfect, it was almost too cool in the evenings. I wish I would have packed jeans and sweatshirts, we ended up buying hoodies just to survive on Sunday and Monday night in particular. We went to Blizzard Beach on Monday and it was almost too chilly to be there when the sun was under a cloud. But by the end of the week, I was ready to come home. Thursday was bad, Friday was worse. I was miserable by lunch time and ready to come back to 60 degree weather here.[/QUOTE]


The first few nights were a little chilly for the pool, but perfect for the hot tub

On Sat. I spent a good part of the day wishing I hadn't extended our trip to Mon.

I was thinking about buying a hoodie too. All I packed was shorts and t-shirts. I ended up wearing capris that I wore down on the plane. I had assumed those would remain packed away until the day we went home.

Glad to see you've arrived at WL; too funny that Caitlin was bored and decided to do the dishes. Does she do this at home when it rains too?

Great pictures at DHS by the streets and in Sci Fi.

I don't think Caitlin has ever washed a single dish in our house. I think she might wash them when she is at her Grandma's I was surprised she knew how, she might have another chore to add to her list soon.

Nice mix of characters in the animation building.

How odd that they seated you with that large party when there were so many empty tables.

I was so excited to see the penguins and Genie. Would have been better if Bert was there too, but I'll take what I can get.

When I agreed to one row I assumed I was helping someone by cutting down the wait. No idea why they felt the need to put us in the car with 5 other rows occupied by a large party.

Doing a little trip report pimping. I just started my new report and thought I would let you know.




Feeling Hot Hot Hot! The Rain Curse is Broken! Two Weeks of Fun in the Sun!

Whoo-hoo. I can't wait to read it.

Yippee, caught up !!! Boo for all that rain that reduced you to doing dishes. I can certainly understand a bit of whining for that!

I've never seen the penguins out with Mary! How cool! And what a treat to get a set of FiPs too. gotta love that!

Caitlin ended up washing the refillable mugs a few times during the trip. Most of the time they were clean so I would accidentally knock them in the sink to give her something to do

I have never seen the penguins in person. I was so excited to see them out with Mary.

 

[pinkxray]

I'm so glad the rain finally stopped so y'all could get out! I love going to the Animation building to try & catch lots of characters. I was sorry we didn't get to go there on our last trip.

I was sad that we did get to do the animation class. That was one of my few things I wanted to do at DHS and no one wanted to do it. I think Caitlin would have liked it but she wouldn't give it a chance. Hopefully when she is a little older she'll want to try it.

I'm in! It's funny because I have the shirt and the ears that Caitlin has in your intro pic...and I'm 16.

Great job so far!

If I was skinny enough to fit in that shirt I would have gotten myself one too. I love the sparkly red one it.

Loved the Sci-Fi update!! I don't like not facing people there with the eating!! That's my issue. So what's this about a Darth Vader cupcake?? What is it and where can I find it? We're going back this saturday for the passholder lanyard, and maybe can try to find it LOL I did get the passholder shirt, and I LOVE it, I got one and the pin for our Niece, she was grateful!! She also got a cd of the disney music they played at DTD cause she loved it so much!!!

I got it at the food place near Star Tours. Backlot Express right? It tastes exactly like the Starring Rolls PB and choc cupcake but it has a white choc. circle with a picture of Darth Vader on it. If you like the one from SR you'll like this one.

I kind of like that you can't talk to your party at Sci-fi. It gives everyone a break from each other.

There was nobody at DHS that day because everybody was at Epcot!! That place was a zoo!

Loving that smooching picture.
Q

So that's where everyone was! I can't wait to see how your day was in Epcot during Pixar weekend. We didn't really spend much time there like wanted to.

 

[Moira222]

Hello, and welcome to my 2nd trip report. We have been home for a few days and it is still a bit tough for me to even process this whole trip. DH and DD had a pretty good time. DH even said he enjoyed this trip more than last year. Did I? I don’t know yet. I guess I’ll figure it out by the end of this trip report.
Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself again.

This is us at Discovery Cove.

Introductions-
Me- Diane
I am a 28 year old x-ray technologist. This was my 8th trip to Disney. If I had it my way we would be DVC owners with APs.
DH-John
He is 30 years old and works full time at his city job and has a small lawn care business he does on the side. This is his 5th trip. He went once as a kid and has stated that would have been enough if I didn’t force him to go all the time.

Caitlin
How do you describe your child in a paragraph? She is a super sweet, 6 year old girl. There are times that you just want to pick her up and squeeze her b/c she is so adorable. And then, there is that other 90% of the time. She is full of attitude and likes to get her way. DH and DD have the same personality and likes/dislikes so I am pretty much always outvoted on everything.

This is our 2nd family trip, with the last one being in May of 2010. When we came home last May, I had that feeling that I just had to return. I started planning on going back in Oct. 2011. DH reluctantly agreed after daily begging. Then, I decided maybe we could go in Feb. 2011 so I could do the Princess Half Marathon. Once the weather started getting colder I decided there was no way I would keep up the training once winter came so I moved our trip to May of 2011. Why May? Star Wars Weekend, if course. Caitlin discovered SW last year and become obsessed. She simply had to come back to see Leia and Luke. Unfortunately her SW love died down over time and she had pretty much no interest in attending SWW this year by the time the trip came.

Found ya! haha I found your phone number saved in my phone on the 20th. figured there was no time at that point to meet up. oh well! Katie made a friend at the pool one day but I am pretty sure it was not caitlin. would have been funny though.

will read on a bit later, Dog is nagging me to go out.

 

[pinkxray]

I must have found your trip report at exactly the same time. I just upgraded Photobucket so hopefully the pictures should be fixed soon.

Glad Katie found someone to play with. We didn't spend much time in the WL pool since it was chilly the first few nights. Caitlin was sad she never got to meet Katie. I was really hoping to meet you but as you will see in this trip report pretty much everything I planned to do did not happen.

Honestly not much of this trip went the way I thought it would. I look at it as a great big learning experience on how to make the next trip better.

 

[pinkxray]

I woke up the next morning at 4am. I tried to go back to sleep but it was not happening. I was in finally in Disney and I wanted to get going. Unfortunately there is not much to do at Disney at 4am. It was black outside and pouring rain so I could walk around outside. I didn’t want to turn on the lights or TV and wake anyone up. I ended up dragging a chair into the doorway area and playing on my phone for awhile. I went into the bathroom and read a book for awhile.
Finally around 6:30 I started to wake everyone up. Somewhere in the past 2 hours it had stopped raining and that was the last of the rain we saw all week. It was still pretty dark when I headed to RF to refill my mug. I took a bunch of pictures along the way.

Bathroom

This was my favorite place in all of WL or VWL. . The train room. The main lobby always had someone sitting by the fireplaces or water. The lobby of the villas was much quiter. The chairs were comfy and there was never anyone here in the morning. I would grab my coffee and sit in a chair the next few mornings.

I know that I have said we probably won’t stay at WL or VWL again but it really is very pretty and relaxing. I loved the train room, it was just that it reminded me of the way I would want my living room to look during a big family X-mas party. I should look out the window and see snow falling and someone carrying in a big x-mas tree to put in the corner.
I have always told DH I would to move to Vermont when we retire and this room is exactly how I want my living room to look. I guess it's just not what I want when I go to Florida.

continued next post

 

[pinkxray]

I got back to the room and helped Caitlin with her hair. I had packed all of her outfits in Ziploc bags and it was so nice to just grab a bag and toss it to her each morning instead of digging through the suitcase to find matching socks.
We were soon on our way to the Poly to have breakfast at ‘Ohana.

We only waited a few minutes before we were seated.
Caitlin was really hoping that we would not have the table we had last year. Last year for both breakfast and dinner we had the table right out of the door that the characters come out of. We were lead right to our own personal table right in front of that door again. I thought it was actually nice b/c we were the first table that the characters come to. We had seen all of the characters early so we didn’t have to wait around to see them when we were done eating.

It was only our first day and already Caitlin was annoyed with getting her picture taken.

We were out of there quickly. I think it took us maybe a half hour to eat.
After breakfast we headed to the gift shop b/c I was looking for a Poly mug or bank. At this time in the trip I was convinced that the Poly was where I wanted to stay next time so I really wanted a Poly mug or something that I could save our change in for our next trip to the Poly. I couldn’t really find anything though.

We had to go back to WL b/c of course DH forgot something and we had to run back to the room to forget it. Every morning I would put everything we needed such as Caitlin’s camera, sunscreen, and autograph book in DH’s backpack. All he had to do was grab the backpack. I am pretty sure this morning we had to go back to retrieve said backpack.

We arrived at Epcot right when it opened. I wanted to go to Soarin, get FPs and then ride Test Track. I was outvoted. We went to TT were there was no wait. We rode it and it was great. Really, I do like TT, I do. Since there was no wait we got off and went right back on. Well, wasn’t that fun? Now how about we go get Soarin fast passes. No? You want to ride Test Track again. Deep breath, okay then.
So we rode TT 3 times in a row. Shockingly we actually stopped to take some pictures in Bumblebee.

We headed over to Soarin and grabbed fast passes which were now sometime in the early afternoon.

It was only about 2 hours past breakfast time but Caitlin was hungry. This was something that happened pretty much every day in the beginning of the trip. We would have an early breakfast, Caitlin would say she was full and then 1 or 2 hours later she was hungry. It annoyed me. Yes, it was easy enough to use a snack credit but it just annoyed me that we had taken the time to do a TS breakfast that she wanted to do and then had to waste more time getting a snack. And then, since DH never ate a big breakfast (didn’t want a heavy meal before going on the rides) on hour later he would need a snack. I filled up at breakfast and was pretty much good to go until dinner. Maybe a snack around lunch time to tide me over.
Anyway, it was not even 11 and Caitlin got a nice, big chocolate chip cookie from Sunshine Seasons. This is where I started to figure out her plan. She knows I let her eat badly at Disney. She figured if she didn’t eat breakfast she could have Doritos or ice cream whenever she was hungry.

After Caitlin’s snack it was time to head to WS. Today was Pixar weekend which I had been very excited about.

We headed straight over to see the Toy Story gang. Caitlin was looking forward to seeing Bulls eye.

This is where DH started to dislike Epcot. He was very annoyed that he had to walk all the way from Soarin to the American pavilion which really did seem to take forever. I ended up giving Caitlin a piggyback ride most of the way so if anyone should be complaining it should have been me.

It was not even noon yet and I looked down to see that my camera battery was about to die. Right before our trip I purchased the Sony cyber shot b/c it was waterproof. It was nice for the water and took some good pictures with the anti blur function but the battery life was horrible. I had ordered a spare battery before we left but didn’t bring it to the parks b/c I figured the battery could last a few hours. I was wrong.

I started to get in a very bad mood. I had been so excited about Pixar weekend. DH was starting to make me very mad. I had gone into this trip with the attitude that I was going to go slow, stop and smell the rose. Go with the flow. Whenever we were in a Disney park it seemed like he was just in a hurry. Where exactly, I don’t know. First, it was hurry to TT and then, hurry to Soarin, hurry to WS. I even said “You know at some point I would like to stop and take pictures of the topiaries and stuff” Even looking back now I just don’t get it. Where was the fire? It wasn’t really very busy in Epcot at this point so why were we rushing?

DH and Caitlin started to mention that they wanted to go back to the hotel and go swimming. I don’t even think it was noon yet. Seriously, what about Remy, Up, anything in World Showcase?

Okay, let’s go see Remy. We walk to France only to find a long line waiting to see Remy and Emile, who are not out yet. We get in line and I am just getting madder and madder. We have been in Epcot for 3 hours and ridden 1 ride 3 times and meet the Toy Story characters. We are not stopping to do anything I want to do, we are rushing through the park and doing NOTHING!

I was really about to just call it a day. Go back to the hotel and sulk. I happened to look in my bag and found my Kodak playsport. ( I ordered this when I saw it on AKL lovers thread and am so glad I did) Now at least I could take some pictures.

Remy and Emile finally came out and I decided to just snap a picture of them instead of waiting in line.

I told DH that he should go take Caitlin back to WL and swim and I would stay in Epcot. There was a souvenir I wanted to buy so I walked with them out of WS. I picked up this flamingo for my mom who likes flamingos.

I wanted to get one for myself but the box was pretty big, plus I wasn’t really sure where to put it in my yard. Looking back I should have just gotten it.

We said our goodbyes and I headed back to WS alone. I dream of doing a solo trip and really wanted to spend some time on my own this trip to see how I liked it.

First stop was the caramel shop.
I bought a pretzel and strawberry and headed to find somewhere to sit.

I found a bench in front of Italy and I sat down and slowly ate my yummy treats. There was some type of performer doing something so I watched that. I just sat there for awhile and people watched. I have to tell you it was fantastic. I could get used to this being solo thing.
I strolled through WS slowly to check out all of the Pixar characters there.

Afterwards I headed to France to get a snack at the bakery. I got a Napoleon based on everyone raving about it but I wished I had gone to back to the caramel shop instead.

I found a cute little table on the side of the building and sat down to people watch. As I people watched I saw a girl run by me towards the shops in France. She looked an awful lot like Lessa. Was this you Lifelong dreamer? Were you in France on May 15 around 130-2 in a red tank top?
My view

http://i764.photobucket.com/albums/xx290/pinkxray/Disney%20on%20playsport/PlaysportatDisney017.jpg[/IMG

I had been in WS for about 2 hours when I decided it was probably time to get back. I knew we had another Epcot day planned so I could always come by myself when we were at the BC right?
I made it quickly to the bus stop and after about a 5 minute wait I was on my way to WL.
On my way we passed the Ironman competition. I had no idea this was going on but that weekend there were tons of people at WL with bikes all over the place. The completion is made up of a 1.2 mile swim in Bay lake (which I thought had some deadly bacteria in it that made it so you can’t swim), 56 mile bike ride followed by a 13.2 mile run. How do people actually survive this? I really want to do the princess marathon one day and wonder how I can possibly do a 13.2 mile run. It takes place around WL and FW. When DH found out what it was he said that he would like to do it. I really think the idea of swimming in Bay Lake makes him happy b/c I have told him you aren’t allowed to swim in there. I highly doubt DH will ever do it but the thing that annoys me is that he could if he wanted to. He is just one of those types that would train and just do it.
I overheard a girl walking in front of my when I got back and she had completed it in 6 hours. 6 hrs of exercise.

Here are a few people towards the end of the race. I would hate buses driving by me and having to keep waving and smiling, which many of them seemed to be able to do after only 60 miles.
[IMG]http://i764.photobucket.com/albums/xx290/pinkxray/Disney%20on%20playsport/PlaysportatDisney030.jpg

I found DH and DD ate the pool and knew they would be hungry by now. I didn’t want to get them a big meal since we were going to ‘Ohana for dinner that night so I grabbed them some chicken tenders and fries to split.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Awww, I'm sorry you were not having a good day. I get upset too when my brothers want to zoom past everything.

I WAS in France on the 15th around that time. In fact, we were near the very front of that line for Remy and Emile!

Taken at 1:19! Good eye! You probably saw me as I was looking for a Pixar Weekend map!

Did you happen to be in Epcot on May 21st in the Japan pavilion around 1pm? My mom thought she saw you.

 

[bouncycat]

Great Epcot update!! I've never gone solo, but I have gone with a group of girls I met here on the boards that are local, we got a facebook page, some single girls and such, and whenever we go and want company, we advertise it, so people can join us, if we want them to. Sometimes, I just want my 2 guys, sometimes I want the girls. One Monday before my disability appointment, I had some girls walk me around Epcot, it was the beginning of F&G, so we stopped and got pictures of EVERYTHING. It was awesome!! We ate at Biergarten that day, something my DS would NEVER do!!!

I LOVE Ohana breakfast and dinner. I'm starting to plan my 40th birthday trip, and I think I wanna stay at the Poly. It's not for a few years tho, but I wanna get a HUGE bunch of friends and family together for some fun. I want ONE day with EVERYONE together....which is the actual day. That will be our next big trip, I think.

 

[crostorfer]

Caitlyn's tunic shirt is absolutely adorable, btw, I LOVE it.

You got a lot more done in Epcot that day than I did, LOL, I feel your pain. We didn't even get to any of the Pixar characters. We started the morning at DHS to ride Toy Story, then hopped to Epcot around 11:30ish. She wanted to meet the Fairies but the wait was and hour and half. I wish they gave Fastpasses for the Fairies, it would have made life easier. All Kassidy wanted to do was ride Test Track and go back to the pool to swim, even though it was not all that warm. It was the most common theme our whole trip. Like you, I spent a lot of time asking myself what we actually "did".

I love the inside of the Wilderness Lodge, it's really beautiful, but I don't think I could ever stay there because it looks too much like it does here. When you are from the Pacific Northwest, it looks too familiar. If I go to Florida, I want it to look like Florida, LOL. The Villa rooms look much prettier than the Lodge rooms. The bedspreads on the Lodge rooms are hideous.

That said, I said I wasn't going to stay at the Poly in November and I tried to book the WL. Kassidy threw a fit while I was on the phone. Apparently with my little Diva it's the Poly or nothing. So we're going back after all.

 

[KatMark]

Love the photos of WL. Like you, it's not the type of place I want to stay at in Florida (plus we had some issues with a CM there which turned me off staying there); but the place is beautiful.

I don't think I've ever been out of a buffet in 30 minutes.

Sorry you are not having a good day at Epcot. Although I LOVED traveling with the boys when they were younger, I do NOT miss rushing from here to there and not doing any of the things I wanted to do.

 

[amandaw]

Awww, I'm so sorry that you weren't having a good day! But, I'm glad you decided to stay for a little bit when they went back to WL to do their own thing. Good for you! The Pixar weekend looks so cool! Reid would've been over the top excited if he had been able to meet Bullseye.

 

[Moira222]

I'll apologize now for just commenting on everything as I get caught up!!!

I don't know if I would call our trip super fun? But thanks for joining in anyway.




I was very surprised he said that. I worked very hard to give plenty of time to relax so I was glad it was apreciated.

By the end of the trip DH insisted he is never coming back. I could go with my sister or just by myself, but he is done! The next day something changed his tune and by the flight home I was already getting him to agree where to stay next trip.

Wow that's pretty good, I can't wait to see what changed is his mind.

Deep breath, Diane.

I know THAT song!

I didn’t take many pictures b/c I didn’t want to annoy DH or DD. I figured they would have enough picture taking once we hit FL.

A jetta. Really?

that does NOT look like a mid size car

Welcome and thanks for joining in.

Wasn't there a Dismeet that day? I remember making a mental note to try to get to UK for 1pm and then remembered that at about 2pm. I was surprised that EPCOT wasn't as busy as I expected b/c it seems like anyone who was going that week was going to be in EPCOT that day.

LOL We missed the DISmeet too... we were on a quest for food, Katie was starving despite a huge breakfast at Akershus

What resort could possibly make me toss my dream of staying at the Poly next trip?



That’s right- Animal Kingdom Lodge!

It was AMAZING! I loved everything about it. DH and Caitlin are all in agreement that we will be heading back next time. Gone is my desire to try all the resorts Disney has to offer. I don’t care about watching Wishes from the beach at Poly or strolling from my room at the Boardwalk Inn to Boardwalk Bakery. I could spend every trip at AKL and be happy.

Looks awesome, but I have to get Joe to at least visit it first!

Um...you just made me RE-THINK my whole plan....

And P.S....I think my husband just might kill me!

Tina --

I felt bad for her b/c who wants to spend your first few hours in the room but there was no point heading out when it was raining so hard.

She decided she was going to wash the dishes b/c there was nothing else to do. That’s right. You are in Disneyworld, at the Wilderness Lodge and there is nothing to do but wash the dishes.


I offered to take her to expore the hotel but she didn’t want to go. She kept whining and back talking which landed her in time out. I have a lovely picture of her in her time out corner, but I would be such a mean mother to post that. It only took her about 3 hours after we arrived to get sent to time out. Must be a record.


Up next: Will the rain ever stop? Do we ever leave the room?

I know exactly where we were .... on our way BACK from DHS to find out if WLR had finally gotten our room right! that was a wicked storm ...

LOL 3 whole hours, eh?

I had heard there could be some rare characters at the Animation building on non Fantasmic days so we headed over there.

They had the regular Sorcerer Mickey and the Incredibles along with a few other s scattered around. Leo and Annie from the Little Einsteins, Genie, Winnie the Pooh, and Mary Poppins with her Penguins.

No one wanted to wait to see Genie so I snapped his picture while waiting for Mary, since I have never seen him out before.

We found out which character we are most like.

Caitlin got Nala which she was happy with at first.

Of course she exclaimed “No Fair!” when I got Belle.

DH got Aladdin.

I really wanted to do the Animation class which was starting soon but it was voted on. Can you guess how that turned out? I was of course outvoted and we moved on.

.

you saw some cool characters! Earlier in the day only the Incredibles were there .... I looked for other characters but saw none

I must have found your trip report at exactly the same time. I just upgraded Photobucket so hopefully the pictures should be fixed soon.

Glad Katie found someone to play with. We didn't spend much time in the WL pool since it was chilly the first few nights. Caitlin was sad she never got to meet Katie. I was really hoping to meet you but as you will see in this trip report pretty much everything I planned to do did not happen.

Honestly not much of this trip went the way I thought it would. I look at it as a great big learning experience on how to make the next trip better.

Every trip is a learning experience, isn't it?

I woke up the next morning at 4am. I tried to go back to sleep but it was not happening. I was in finally in Disney and I wanted to get going. Unfortunately there is not much to do at Disney at 4am. It was black outside and pouring rain so I could walk around outside. I didn’t want to turn on the lights or TV and wake anyone up. I ended up dragging a chair into the doorway area and playing on my phone for awhile. I went into the bathroom and read a book for awhile.


This was my favorite place in all of WL or VWL. . The train room. The main lobby always had someone sitting by the fireplaces or water. The lobby of the villas was much quiter. The chairs were comfy and there was never anyone here in the morning. I would grab my coffee and sit in a chair the next few mornings.

.

Is the train room in the Villas lobby? I have never seen it. pretty.

Joe had his alarm set for th etime you got up so he could run but he decided not to venture in that rain. it was wicked!

It was only about 2 hours past breakfast time but Caitlin was hungry. This was something that happened pretty much every day in the beginning of the trip. We would have an early breakfast, Caitlin would say she was full and then 1 or 2 hours later she was hungry. It annoyed me. Yes, it was easy enough to use a snack credit but it just annoyed me that we had taken the time to do a TS breakfast that she wanted to do and then had to waste more time getting a snack. And then, since DH never ate a big breakfast (didn’t want a heavy meal before going on the rides) on hour later he would need a snack. I filled up at breakfast and was pretty much good to go until dinner. Maybe a snack around lunch time to tide me over.
Anyway, it was not even 11 and Caitlin got a nice, big chocolate chip cookie from Sunshine Seasons. This is where I started to figure out her plan. She knows I let her eat badly at Disney. She figured if she didn’t eat breakfast she could have Doritos or ice cream whenever she was hungry.

Katie tried this game too but I caught on fast & made sure to have fruit in my bag in case breakfast was pure junk.

I started to get in a very bad mood. I had been so excited about Pixar weekend. DH was starting to make me very mad. I had gone into this trip with the attitude that I was going to go slow, stop and smell the rose. Go with the flow. Whenever we were in a Disney park it seemed like he was just in a hurry. Where exactly, I don’t know. First, it was hurry to TT and then, hurry to Soarin, hurry to WS. I even said “You know at some point I would like to stop and take pictures of the topiaries and stuff” Even looking back now I just don’t get it. Where was the fire? It wasn’t really very busy in Epcot at this point so why were we rushing?

WOW are our hubbies clones or something? that was totally my gripe about power walking from ride to ride with barely time to breathe. BREATHE!!!

We said our goodbyes and I headed back to WS alone. I dream of doing a solo trip and really wanted to spend some time on my own this trip to see how I liked it.

I AM SO JEALOUS! I WISH I could have had Joe & Katie head back to the resort. why didn't I think of that?


Diane I am loving your TR!

 

[lbuzz52]

Hi! we were just there in May as well, and my daughter is almost 6. sounds like a great start to your trip! i'd love to try the resorts as you did. my dh has the same park style as yours- gripe about having to get up early to miss the crowds, and whine when you try to slow down Pixar weekend looks so fun! I can't wait to hear more!

 

[Vwdiva93]

Sorry I'm so late, I didn't realize you'd started a TR! Excuse me while I go and catch up

 

[Nermel9]

The VWL look so nice! I'll have to check out the lobby there when I go, I've never been over there!

I'd never pick TT over Soarin! It's fun, but I would rather do Soarin any day! Brandon isn't a fan of Soarin either, he thinks if you've done it once, why do it again and again?

Pixar weekend looks fun, I wouldn't mind going for that sometime!

I can't believe you walked around WS alone for 2 hours. I'm hoping to go to a park alone in October for a few hours, to see if I can handle it...I really want to do a solo trip someday too. Maybe one afternoon when Brandon is sleeping, I'll just go to MK or Epcot for a little while, see how it is being alone in WDW!

 

[PirateKate]

Hi! Great TR so far, although I was shocked by the part about turning to the back of a mystery to know who did it all along. I'll definitely stick around to see how AKL came to be your favorite, though.

Pixar weekend looks pretty cool. I'm glad you got to stay and enjoy some alone time.

 

[jenbear123]

I stumbled upon your TR as I was browsing through the TR thread. Then as I read along, I see tons of your readers are people I've come to know! So I thought, why not join in here too? Love the start. I'm sorry to hear that DH kinda rushed you through everything. You have every right to have felt upset. I'm so glad you finally got a bit of solo time at Epcot.

WL/VWL is a personal resort favourite. I stayed at VWL during the holiday season and it was gorgeous. The train room was exactly how you described you'd like it to be during christmas time (minus the snow outside of course).

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

I'm subbing in too. I just randomly found your report last night and just got caught up. You have some great pictures of WL!

I know how it is to feel rushed and be questioning why you are rushing. I feel bad that you keep getting out voted. If I were you, I would establish a few "overide" moments that you can use at any time. That way, you know you could get what you want a couple of times and they couldn't argue.

I would love to eat at Ohana for breakfast sometime. It looks delicious.

 

[pinkxray]

Awww, I'm sorry you were not having a good day. I get upset too when my brothers want to zoom past everything.

I WAS in France on the 15th around that time. In fact, we were near the very front of that line for Remy and Emile!

Taken at 1:19! Good eye! You probably saw me as I was looking for a Pixar Weekend map!

Did you happen to be in Epcot on May 21st in the Japan pavilion around 1pm? My mom thought she saw you.

What a great picture!

I was in Epcot on the 21st. We did the Kim Possible mission around that time in Japan. I can't believe we were in Epcot together two times and I didn't get to talk to you. I know your mom loves to meet Disers. Was I in the middle of having a meltdown or arguement? If so that was me. That was pretty much how all of our Epcot time went.

Great Epcot update!! I've never gone solo, but I have gone with a group of girls I met here on the boards that are local, we got a facebook page, some single girls and such, and whenever we go and want company, we advertise it, so people can join us, if we want them to. Sometimes, I just want my 2 guys, sometimes I want the girls. One Monday before my disability appointment, I had some girls walk me around Epcot, it was the beginning of F&G, so we stopped and got pictures of EVERYTHING. It was awesome!! We ate at Biergarten that day, something my DS would NEVER do!!!

I LOVE Ohana breakfast and dinner. I'm starting to plan my 40th birthday trip, and I think I wanna stay at the Poly. It's not for a few years tho, but I wanna get a HUGE bunch of friends and family together for some fun. I want ONE day with EVERYONE together....which is the actual day. That will be our next big trip, I think.

I really need to take a trip with someone other than DH. He would never like Biergarten either. He just doesn't get it.

A family trip to the Poly would be . 'Ohana looks like a really fun place to go with a large group too.

Caitlyn's tunic shirt is absolutely adorable, btw, I LOVE it.

You got a lot more done in Epcot that day than I did, LOL, I feel your pain. We didn't even get to any of the Pixar characters. We started the morning at DHS to ride Toy Story, then hopped to Epcot around 11:30ish. She wanted to meet the Fairies but the wait was and hour and half. I wish they gave Fastpasses for the Fairies, it would have made life easier. All Kassidy wanted to do was ride Test Track and go back to the pool to swim, even though it was not all that warm. It was the most common theme our whole trip. Like you, I spent a lot of time asking myself what we actually "did".

I love the inside of the Wilderness Lodge, it's really beautiful, but I don't think I could ever stay there because it looks too much like it does here. When you are from the Pacific Northwest, it looks too familiar. If I go to Florida, I want it to look like Florida, LOL. The Villa rooms look much prettier than the Lodge rooms. The bedspreads on the Lodge rooms are hideous.

That said, I said I wasn't going to stay at the Poly in November and I tried to book the WL. Kassidy threw a fit while I was on the phone. Apparently with my little Diva it's the Poly or nothing. So we're going back after all.

Uh-oh, Kassidy is a Poly snob already
Caitlin is not impressed when we stay in a regular room like POR or WL. Ever since the 2 bedroom villa we rented offsite she needs her space. I guess from now on we will be getting at least a 1 bedroom. I grew up staying in a Comfort Inn on International drive. Kids these days.

Caitlin wanted to see the fairies too but she refused to wait for anything longer than 20 minutes. I can't imagine how our family would do if we ever go at a peak time like summer or xmas. We will stay in our room the whole time. I remember waiting 2 hours as a kid for everything since we always went in summer.

Love the photos of WL. Like you, it's not the type of place I want to stay at in Florida (plus we had some issues with a CM there which turned me off staying there); but the place is beautiful.

I don't think I've ever been out of a buffet in 30 minutes.

Sorry you are not having a good day at Epcot. Although I LOVED traveling with the boys when they were younger, I do NOT miss rushing from here to there and not doing any of the things I wanted to do.

I've learned to eat fast when eating out with DH. He just doesn't like restauants, but he did pretty well with going out 2 times a fay this trip. He was usually pretty patient while waiting but I could always tell when he wanted to leave. I did tell him for 'Ohana dinner we would be there for quite some time b/c we weren't leaving until I was done.

It is tough traveling with a kid, but I really tried to let her decide what to do this trip. I know the day when she doesn't want to travel with us will come all too quickly but I had to draw the line somewhere. If I left it up to DH and Caitlin we would have gone to Epcot, done TT a few times and then left to go swimming.

 

[pinkxray]

Awww, I'm so sorry that you weren't having a good day! But, I'm glad you decided to stay for a little bit when they went back to WL to do their own thing. Good for you! The Pixar weekend looks so cool! Reid would've been over the top excited if he had been able to meet Bullseye.

Caitlin and I were so excited to see him. He is only out for the x-mas party or something so I thought we would never see him. He is so adorable

I was glad I decided to go out on my own for a bit. I always had this background guilt though. Caitlin would say "Mommy doesn't love us and doesn't want to spend time with us"

She looked sad when they left but it was her idea to go back to the pool!
I think she got over it pretty quickly once they hit the pool. She did ask why I took the bus without her, she loved taking the Disney buses.