What's the Big Deal With Staying On Property Anyway? *Goodbyes* 12/17 p.114

[cjackearl]

After looking at your anteater picture, that's what I assumed your towel animal was!

The kid's mashed potatos at T-Rex look delicious!

 

[dismagiclover]

Your boys look pretty wet on Kali to me Sounds like a great DTD evening

 

[carissanboys]

Glad to read a positive review of T-Rex. We want to eat there on our next trip in a few years.

I'm not a fan of The Rainforest Cafe's food, so I decided to stick with a sandwich at T-Rex and it really was delicious. You're really going for the atmosphere anyway, but it was nice that the food was tasty.

Looking at your pictures it seems that T-Rex is somewhat dark inside, is it like the Rain Forest Cafe?

I'm not sure to be honest. I don't remember it looking that dark when we were there.

After looking at your anteater picture, that's what I assumed your towel animal was!

The kid's mashed potatos at T-Rex look delicious!

They do, don't they!

Your boys look pretty wet on Kali to me Sounds like a great DTD evening

I know. When I went back and looked at the picture, I thought Owen looked pretty drenched. But, my notes say we didn't get very wet.

 

[jmskinner]

You and pics of the bathrooms. I love it. We need to try T-Rex. Sounds like you had a very nice DTD evening. And I didn't know about the sea serpent.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Very cool pictures from T-Rex! Now I want to eat there!

I didn't know that about the serpent and Mardi Gras -- very interesting!

 

[MeMom]

Very cool pictures from T-Rex! Now I want to eat there!

I didn't know that about the serpent and Mardi Gras -- very interesting!

I didn't know that, either. It's fun to learn new Disney things, although they say the bus drivers are known for not always being so right. Maybe this one was right, and it's a fun fact - true or not!

I think T-Rex would be a perfect place to go eat with three boys!

 

[MRYPPNS]

Your steak and cheese looked delish!

 

[lazydoxy66]

Your AK day sounded and looked wonderful! Your boys are so cute. You can tell they are thinking, "OK, mom, enough with the camera already!"

What did they think of T-Rex? I would think that boys especially would think that the dinos were cool. It looked like you got a lot of food. I'm glad to hear good things about it. I'm thinking we may stop in at the bar for drinks and some snacks.

 

[carissanboys]

You and pics of the bathrooms. I love it. We need to try T-Rex. Sounds like you had a very nice DTD evening. And I didn't know about the sea serpent.

They were too funny NOT to take a picture! Although, there were quite a few people around and I almost chickened out.

Very cool pictures from T-Rex! Now I want to eat there!

I didn't know that about the serpent and Mardi Gras -- very interesting!

I loved learning details like that on this trip.

I didn't know that, either. It's fun to learn new Disney things, although they say the bus drivers are known for not always being so right. Maybe this one was right, and it's a fun fact - true or not!

I think T-Rex would be a perfect place to go eat with three boys!

I'll have to do some research now to see if it's true!

Your steak and cheese looked delish!

It was!

Your AK day sounded and looked wonderful! Your boys are so cute. You can tell they are thinking, "OK, mom, enough with the camera already!"

What did they think of T-Rex? I would think that boys especially would think that the dinos were cool. It looked like you got a lot of food. I'm glad to hear good things about it. I'm thinking we may stop in at the bar for drinks and some snacks.

The boys loved it.

 

[carissanboys]

Here are some of the pins we either traded or bought on the trip:

These are the two that I bought for myself (in addition to the F & G one):

 

[carissanboys]

~ April 3, 2009 ~

We woke up early on our last full day at WDW. We headed over to the food court and used counter service credits for breakfast (since we paid OOP for our dinner at T-Rex, we still had the CS credits we were going to use at WPE). My notes say the biscuits were good and they do serve Mickey waffles. So, there ya go.

We had no problems finding our way to Sea World and it only took a few minutes. We arrived at 8 a.m., but they didn’t let us through to park until 8:30 (the park was opening at 9). I was quite surprised by this. It cost us $12 to park.

When we got to the ticket area I was surprised and happy to see that they even had a separate line for military. There were some lovely former military men who worked there and helped answer questions and say thank you for our service. At 8:45 the ticket booth opened up. We got 4 free tickets and just had to pay $55 for Connor.

And then we went to go through the turnstiles. Chuck went through with Sully at a different one, but I had Owen (and maybe Connor – don’t remember) with me. This employee proceeded to ask me for Owen’s i.d card. The military will not give an i.d. card to a child until they’re ten years old. I told the employee this and he questioned me and basically told me I was wrong. To say I was upset was an understatement. Don’t tell a military spouse she doesn’t know what she’s talking about when it comes to military dependent stuff!! He called someone else over and she said if he was under ten it was okay for him to go through without an i.d. No apology or anything. This really gave me a bad feeling for the start of the day.

At this point, it was pouring outside. I mean POURING. Luckily, we came prepared. See my happy gang??

(I must apologize for the blurriness of these first few photos. I didn’t realize until later that I had my camera on the wrong setting.)

The first thing we did was find the stingrays. I was really hoping to feed them. My notes say we did feed them, but these pictures are so blurry you can’t see much.

After the stingrays, we headed over to the manatees. They were actually being fed when we arrived (I think they were eating heads of cabbage) and we were able to stand under a covered area to watch.

We decided to head inside the nearest building and hope that the rain would let up shortly. We were able to see the manatees under the water.

We always joke how Chuck is the pack mule for the family. When he had his poncho on over his backpack, it just made for such a funny look that I had to take a picture (and this one is really blurry, but you’ll get the idea).

I’m not sure what that is on his leg. Almost looks like a tattoo in this picture! Must have been a stray leaf that stuck to his leg in the rain.

When we finally made it out of the building, we saw that the rain had let up. We headed over to catch the Clyde and Seamore show. We all enjoyed it and laughed quite a bit.

Up Next – Walk Like a Penguin

 

[lisalonglash]

Another awesome update with fantastic pictures, Carissa! Lucky you for not getting too wet on Kali - we got soaked What a cute towel animal - isn't it fun when the mousekeepers do neat things for you to come back to?!

I'm glad you all enjoyed T-Rex - it looks really cool! Love the bathroom picture

The Lego Store is our personal "black hole" - our boys go in and never want to come out How cool about the serpent - never knew that.

Oh no, sorry in advance for the rain the next day...

 

[hhockman]

LOVE the Sea World pictures Carissa! We got to Sea World every trip. Will actually likes Sea World more than Disney. He has loved Whales his entire life and has a special place in his heart for Shamu. Unfortunately, we can't swing it $$$ wise this time, so I'm hoping he forgets how close Sea World and Disney are to each other.

We're going back to Orlando next June and are doing half Disney, half Sea World/Universal, so he'll see his beloved Shamu, just not a month from now.

Thanks for the pictures! I've been missing Sea World myself.

P.S. Sorry they gave you a hard time about getting in. That's just weird. In my experience they usually aren't like that. And why would you be trying to "sneak" a kid that's not yours in anyway. You had your ID, that should be enough.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

That would have been really irritating getting questioned like that about the id. It reminds me of our trip in 07 when TSA at MCO did not want to accept that Alek and Erich's government issued photo-id health card was a valid form of id.

 

[carissanboys]

My goodness - it sure feels like I have been neglecting my TR and Disboards in general these past few months. I thought I should take a minute to give you an update on how things are going around here.

We are gearing up for a short visit home from Chuck over Labor Day weekend. It has been two months since he left for Florida and while the meet up in Georgia was wonderful, it'll be nice to have him home for a few days.

The boys and I continue with school work. We've only completed four weeks since we've been taking time off for trips and visits. But, that's why I decided to homeschool year round - to have that flexibility. We'll be taking a trip up to Maine in October to visit with family and friends and shortly after our return, Chuck should be finished with school.

The boys, Connor especially, have really been missing Stitch. So, the other day we went to the Disney Store and I used my rewards card to buy our own Stitch. He's a bit bigger than our previous visitor, but just as cute.

I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer! I'd love to hear what exciting adventures you had these past couple of months.

 

[carissanboys]

Another awesome update with fantastic pictures, Carissa! Lucky you for not getting too wet on Kali - we got soaked What a cute towel animal - isn't it fun when the mousekeepers do neat things for you to come back to?!

I'm glad you all enjoyed T-Rex - it looks really cool! Love the bathroom picture

The Lego Store is our personal "black hole" - our boys go in and never want to come out How cool about the serpent - never knew that.

Oh no, sorry in advance for the rain the next day...

Thanks Lisa! We had a lot of fun anticipating what our mousekeeper would leave for us each day.

LOVE the Sea World pictures Carissa! We got to Sea World every trip. Will actually likes Sea World more than Disney. He has loved Whales his entire life and has a special place in his heart for Shamu. Unfortunately, we can't swing it $$$ wise this time, so I'm hoping he forgets how close Sea World and Disney are to each other.

We're going back to Orlando next June and are doing half Disney, half Sea World/Universal, so he'll see his beloved Shamu, just not a month from now.

Thanks for the pictures! I've been missing Sea World myself.

P.S. Sorry they gave you a hard time about getting in. That's just weird. In my experience they usually aren't like that. And why would you be trying to "sneak" a kid that's not yours in anyway. You had your ID, that should be enough.

I don't know if we would have gone to Sea World if we'd had to pay for all of us. It was a fun experience and I do wish we'd had another day to tour so we didn't have to cram everything into one.

That would have been really irritating getting questioned like that about the id. It reminds me of our trip in 07 when TSA at MCO did not want to accept that Alek and Erich's government issued photo-id health card was a valid form of id.

I ended up getting asked to take a survey later in the day and you can bet I let him know about my experience. He said they tell the employees all of the time about under 10 not needing a military i.d., but they don't seem to get it. It wasn't an issue when we purchased the tickets, so why should they care when we go through the gate???

 

[dismagiclover]

We've never been to Sea World but I'd really like to go someday. Sorry it rained on you, but glad it cleared up. And yah for a weekend visit from Chuck! I'm sure single parenting gets old What a cute picture of Connor with Stitch The flexibility of home schooling would really be great! I hope you get more chances to enjoy it

 

[Charleston Princess]

Love the pins you bought and traded -- especially the Davy Jones one!

I would have been peeved about the military ID as well -- you would think they would know this already -- surely you were not the first person to go through the turnstiles with someone under 10.

The Clyde and Seamore show looks very cute!

Stitch looks like a great addition to your family!

 

[mousescrapper]

Hi Carissa and family,


so wonderful that Chuck will be home again soon for another visit...

love the (blury) picture of him as the pack-mule w/ his new "tatoo"

Isn't it so fun w/ Mousekeeping has fun w/ your pals left in the roon and cute dog-towel-creation!

The end of AK sounded nice and for completed all the Kid stations...did they get a prize in the end

being so close to the Marketplace must have been so nice, we enjoyed that proximity too during our stay in 05 but I have to admit w/ my new disney "home" I'm gonna love my new proximity choice of MK

I didn't know you ventured off to Sea World...I went there back in the 80's...though I'm sure it is a lot different now. Hope the rain stops and you guys have a good rest of the day.

I'll be doing an end of summer report in my TR soon as I wrap that up as well. School starts for us on the 25th.

J-

 

[cjackearl]

Chuck looks like the Hunchback of Seaworld!

I like the looks of the Clyde and Seamore show.

Cute picture of Connor and Stitch.

I'm glad homeschooling is going well and you're able to take advantage of your flexibility to have some family fun.

I hope your next family time with Chuck is wonderful. You must miss him, and he you all, tremendously.