Will my kids need therapy or antibiotics? Dec '09 Trip Report: COMPLETED 4/22/10!

[kittylady1972]

You have done a GREAT job in pulling this trip report together from memory and photos! Your kids are adorable and I think it is so brave of Noelle to ride the more scary rides at her age!

It's too bad you didn't get to view the Holiday Illuminations - we saw it for the first time in December 2008 and I actually got to video tape it twice. I videotaped it the first time from Teppan Edo up at the balcony and it is awesome to see it from that vantage point (I was solo the first four days of our trip). The second taping was in Germany which I think that was the best view overall but my legs got cramped crouching down during the whole thing My grandson was only 14 mos old then and fell asleep during Illuminations, during the Stunt Show at HS and wasn't interested in Wishes Hopefully he will be more enthused when we go this year after Thanksgiving!

You really got some great pics and especially of the kids at MK!

Thanks so much! I'm sure I'll get my chance to view the Holiday Illuminations sometime in the future. Plenty more Disney trips ahead of us!

 

[kittylady1972]

We decided today would be our day to hit Hollywood Studios once again since we had YET to ride Toy Story Mania this trip. The weather report was calling for it to get colder and rain but I was sure both of those events would take place later in the day.

It sucks being wrong.

My in-laws chose the day to stay at the room and rest, so it was just us and the 3 kids and we headed out. I did at least think to grab some of the jackets and the ponchos out of the van to take with us as we headed to the tram...but it would not be enough. Have I mentioned that I've had these Disney ponchos for years and I think I drag them with me on EVERY SINGLE DISNEY trip expecting the rain and I have never used them.

That would change this day.

No sooner did we board the tram but it started getting considerably colder...and rainy...and windy. It was all we could do to get through the gates where we headed for the first store we could find to purchase another ponch. We had only 2 (since I bought them on a trip when we only had 2 kids) and we needed a third one. DH and I had jackets but at some point one of the ponchos was just dragging on one of the kids (it was adult sized) and I gave up my jacket for the poncho.

We headed right for Toy Story Mania as soon as we got our poncho. There was a line that reached outside...and it posted a 60 minute wait...but we figured at least most of that would be inside where it was warm and dry. We jumped in line for the wait.

It was a little shorter than the advertised wait at least and it went pretty quickly. When we emerged it was still raining...and cold. DH decided to take DS 9 over to ride Rock N-Roller Coaster and I headed out of the park, back to the parking lot with the other two kids. We would be getting our other jackets and sweatshirts...the ponchos were keeping us dry but not warm. Noah was the only one without a sweatshirt, so I stopped at a shop on the way back in to search for one for him.

We got back in the park just as DH and DS 9 Nicolas were getting off Rock-N-Roller coaster. Perfect timing. All 3 kids (yes even Noah who hated the Tower the first time) decided they'd be up for a ride on Tower of Terror.

This is where my mind gets fuzzy. I posted on Twitter that we rode the TOT twice that day.

I can remember sitting outside of the ride with Noah, eventually bribing him to ride it with this:

What I don't know is if I sent DH on the ride with the other kids the first time...then got Noah to ride it twice after that...or if I got Noah on it once, then they rode a second time, then we got on it for the third time. The lines were definitely short that day due to the weather...which actually improved as you see from the photos. It was overcast, but the rain did stop. We ended up having a good day there.

I don't know if we did much else other than having some lunch there after the rides. With the rain, I didn't take too many photos that day. I think we made it a pretty early day.


To be continued....

 

[kittylady1972]

So my lack of Disney photos tells me the remainder of my day was pretty low-key. This is VERY RARE for us...we are in Disney we should be DOING something. Perhaps we did some shopping? It wasn't pool weather so I know that didn't happen. All I know for sure is that the evening for us was spent relaxing. We had brought along a new DVD to watch - Night at the Museum 2 - and after dinner (which I think was in our room...though what we had I don't know) we let the kids spread out on the floor and watch the movie while we relaxed.

 

[heaven2dc]

Aww....I love movie night! It is fun to just have a relaxing down day sometime during the trip. The kids look so cute all settled in to watch their movie

 

[kittylady1972]

So next to the last ACTUAL day at Walt Disney World, the last full day is probably my least favorite part of any Disney vacation. Why does it go so quickly?

We decided to enjoy one last full day at the Magic Kingdom. It was a VERY chilly day and we ended up getting coffee and hot tea and some pastries at the little stand right near where you catch the boat at the TTC. Fantastic!

We arrived just as the opening ceremonies were happening, which is GREAT! I think we walked in the gates just as they ended...and as the park opened we went right for Fantasyland!

We manged to conquer Peter Pan and Snow White as well as a few shops for some gifts for the kids. Then it was off to the Speedway which is another favorite for the kids.

It was now around 11am...and we stopped at Space Mountain where the wait time was thirty minutes. DH took Noelle and Nicolas for one last ride on that.

Next we hopped on another favorite for all...the TTA:

I think she is mad here because I think we got on another time...she wanted to do OTHER rides!

Another fuzzy memory, but I think we did Buzz next:

For some reason we split up...and I ended up with MIL and Noah. Perhaps it was due to Space Mountain that he couldn't ride? I can't recall. He somehow got it in his head he wanted to do the Stitch attraction. I was sure he'd hate it and tried to talk him out of it. That wasn't happening. So we went on it...and he was actually okay with it. When we got out and met back up with DH and the kids...they wanted to ride it. Noah wasn't up for doing it again...so DH took those two. Nicolas (age 9) wasn't sure he wanted to go...but he did. They did fine. Amazing because this, like the A Bug's Life Movie, was another attraction that we were sure we would have to wait much longer to attempt with the kids. We ended up doing both this trip.

Next was Carousel of Progress...which was met with a LOT or resistance on the part of DD age 7. There were mommy threats and yelling that I'm not proud about. She was crying when we got on it and the cast member gave me fair warning that we could not exit once in the ride...and she ended up enjoying it. Of course.

I think after this we ended up heading for the front of the park as we had a 12pm reservation at Tony's Town Square.

This was our first time eating here and we were looking forward to some nice warm Italian food. While it was nice and the food was okay, I think for Italian we'd still prefer Mama Melrose or heading to EPCOT. Still it was good to finally try it.

After this I think we had one last ride on the Jungle Cruise, did some shopping and then said goodbye to the Magic Kingdom for good this year!

 

[kittylady1972]

Aww....I love movie night! It is fun to just have a relaxing down day sometime during the trip. The kids look so cute all settled in to watch their movie

Thanks! I think your profile photo looks a lot like another photo I took at the MK that day:

 

[kittylady1972]

Ah...the dreaded last day of the trip. At least our flight was not until about 6pm that day...but it still meant leaving the parks by 3:30pm or so to give us time to get to the airport.

Last park choices are always either EPCOT or Studios because they usually offer good choices in parking if there early enough. We decided on EPCOT.

So I don't remember what we accomplished at EPCOT. I'm sure there was some shopping...at Mousegear of course. I know we had a 12pm reservation with Chef Remy and that was what I was looking forward to the most...meeting the Chef! I seem to recall we did Spaceship Earth, the kids wanting to stay and play the games there, but us saying we had places to be and we'd come back to that. This would come back to haunt us later.

Lunch was very good...I do remember that. We all got the 3-course lunch and enjoyed it. Meeting Chef Remy was very cool as well. I was glad that we made the time to do that.

It seemed like we were heading back to the front of the park when the kids begged to ride Imagination...another favorite. No sooner did we get in the line but it broke down. We waited. And waited. Probably a good 15 minutes later nothing seemed to be happening...and we were in line watching. We started to leave the line and just as we did...the ride started to move. At that time we gave the kids a choice. We could stay and ride it...but then the promise of playing games at Spaceship Earth on the way out could not be kept. I'm pretty sure crying was involved...but we did ride it.

On our way out of the park, we took some photos:

Then it was off to the airport to catch our flight home!

 

[lledman]

Great trip report - thanks for sharing. Sorry to hear about your laptop. I always hate the last day at the parks - I wish life could be just one big Disney vacation.

 

[J&K'sPrincessMommy]

Great trip report Dina!
It sounds like we tour very similarly too- gotta be DOING sometihng when you are in the World!