gellybean
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2008
Continued from previous post!
We left Italy and took some more pics as we slowly headed back around toward Canada.
Another traditional photo op spot. I have a picture of myself, at 6, in the same pose. Gonna frame the pic of me and of Dash together, at some point!
My second favorite artsy fartsy pic. It, too, will be an 8x10 in the office. I hope to take more pics to add to the office wall of places we've been!
We eventually made our way to the Land in time for our FP window. Soarin' was as wonderful as I remembered. One of my faves for sure. I was anxious to see what Mr. I thought of it. However, because of the grouping of 5 and Jack-Jack not being tall enough, Mr. I rode with his Mom and I rode with my mom and Dash. We all chilled on a bench by the bathrooms, while we waited on the other group to ride. At one point, Jack-Jack was fussy so I took him into the family bathroom and nursed him asleep. By sitting criss cross apple sauce on the bathroom floor!!!
I know I know... but really what choice did I have?? I'm not saying there's anything wrong with public nursing. Lord knows I nursed him on the HM ride, in the middle of CoP. But it was dark and I was in a corner off to myself. Not in front of hundreds of people waiting to ride Soarin'. Just not something I'm comfortable with, whipping it out in front of people. So I did what I had to, and yes I was a little skeeved!!
In all fairness, it had just been cleaned... and I sat on the changing pad.... like that even began to cover the surface area of my tush but it made me feel better!! And it was worth it. A very fussy Jack-Jack fell asleep. And then the real problem presented itself. How the heck was I gonna get up off the floor with a sleeping, deadweight 25 lb baby, a bum knee and a bad foot. Real smart, gellybean! It hurt. Boy did it hurt. But I managed with a little help from the sink. I just knew I was gonna pull the sink off the wall!!! 
Thankfully that did not happen but man would it have fit in with the rest of the mortification on this trip!I laid a sleeping Jack-Jack into his stroller and he stayed asleep. He was so tired by this point. We were all reunited shortly after and I'm happy to report that Mr. I really enjoyed Soarin' as well!!!
After Soarin', we headed to Mousegears and did some shopping. I found a cute cute hoody that I had been looking for in my size and an antenae ball. About this time, Mom decided she wanted to head over to MK. We had a 7 day pass, and had only used 6 days and were leaving the next day too early to go into a park. So I had called some CM somewhere in the Disney ether and asked if you could do two parks in one day if you were willing to use two days off your pass. She said sure. So Mom wanted to catch Wishes. And she wanted to prove she could do it all by herself. She has a friend that keeps bugging her to do a trip and she's never been to Disney without me or my sister. So she was wanted to try it out, knowing I was just a phone call away. I was all for it.
She headed out and Mr. I and I were going to ride Test Track and Mission Space. We had barely covered Future World on our first Epcot day and Mr. I really enjoyed the theory of those two rides so we were going to do those. Until we picked up on what MIL was emoting.
Up til this point, she'd been all for sitting on a bench, watching the boys for us. But she was exhausted and cranky and wanted to go back to the room. Well that was fine. Except she wouldn't go back without us. She was scared she'd get lost. Both boys were passed out in their strollers at this point.
Dash was out!
As was Jack-Jack.
If you'll remember, this was the same woman that refused, the day BEFORE, to push a sleeping Jack-Jack in his stroller from CoP to Cosmic Ray's because she wanted to let him sleep.
Well, today her story was different. She was all for waking BOTH boys up so she could go back to the hotel. 
Not exactly consistent with her tune the day before. To say I was a little miffed at this point, well that would be putting it delicately.But...
What choice did we have? Force her to sit on a bench watching two strollers, containing two snoring boys while we went and had fun?
*sighs*
So we pushed the stroller as far as we could toward the entrance, got Dash out. Pushed Jack-Jack to the bus and woke him up to get on the bus. It was about 4pm at this point. On our last day.
Yeah, I was a little frustrated. But it was the last day. We'd been together 7 days. She had no idea what a 7 day trip would be like. She'd only done a 3 day trip before. So I bit my lip and went with it.
We got back to Pop and Dash wanted to swim. So Mr. I rested with Jack-Jack briefly, before joining us within 10 mins. Jack-Jack was awake now and wasn't about to sleep. So we played in the kid's swim area for about half an hour before it was getting too chilly.
Dash loved the kiddie area at Pop!
Jack-Jack didn't quite know what to make of it.
Well, we had contemplated going into MK ourselves and using that extra park day to see Wishes. Until I get a call from my mom. The information we had was wrong. You can't use two days on your park pass at once. Which makes sense, really. I mean it's cheaper to buy 3 extra days than a park hopper and if they let you just use extra days, everyone would do that instead of shelling out $50 a person for hoppers. Thankfully, Mom was her sweet little old lady, southern charming self and told the CM what we had been told and that she just wanted to see Wishes but understood and would never want to break protocal and they let her in!! THAT'S why I love Disney so much! So my mom, walked up to the train station, parked herself on the bench and just people watched until Wishes started. She said the crowds were considerably less that night since there was no EMH and no Spectro. Something we're going to take into consideration next trip!
So now that I knew we couldn't get into MK-something I'm glad I knew before loading all of us up and catching a bus to MK-we had to decide what to do. MIL was heading to bed for the night. And it was like 6:30. She was EXHAUSTED. Something else I'm taking into consideration next trip... less days for MIL. She gave us the keys to her Mimi mobile as I called it all week and we decided to head over to DTD one last time.
This night was one of my favorite nights. Which, frankly, surprised me. But it was one of my most warm and fuzzy moments of the trip. It was just the four of us and it was great! Gave me hope that we can do a trip without extra help. We shopped some, but not much. DTD was still really crowded as the parks were closing early for Winter hours. We ate at WPE again.
Eating... again! How he found room after lunch, I have no idea!! Remember me saying to watch his cheeks as the week progressed!! It was nice to see though, after he had lost 10 % of his body weightwith the scarlet fever!
Next we got sundaes at Ghiradelli and just soaked it all in. Walked around some and then headed back to the hotel about 9pm. I let the boys go on to the room and I bought all the souvies I had been looking at all week, from Everything Pop. There wasn't anything at WoD that I wanted that I couldn't get at the Pop gift shop.
When I got back to the room, Mom had just gotten back from Wishes and had thoroughly enjoyed herself! She was on
herself and MIL was feeling much better having rested and gone to Everything Pop to get herself something to eat. We started packing up and getting ready to leave the next day. 
Mr. I packing up.
Jack-Jack playing with his new toys, glad to be out of the stroller!
We woke up around 9am our last morning, finished packing and triple checked the room that we hadn't left anything. Said bye to our rooms on the first floor of the 60s building and took our luggage to bell services. I took a few last pictures of the Pop lobby and then we ate breakfast.
One last Pop Waffle!!I think Mr. I was done with pics by this point
Eventually it was time to load up on the ME. We hugged and kissed MIL and said our goodbyes and loaded up. When we arrived at MCO we found out that our flight was delayed. So we camped out at the foodcourt, ate McD's, and did some of Dash's homework. Took some pictures.
Dash loves fountains! So he asked for this picture.
One last Disney photo op
Harley Davidson store! Dash was in awe! He calls one of his grandfather's PaPaw Harley because he used to own a motorcycle and be a Hell's Angel! Which is always been too funny to me cus he's the sweetest man!
Mom wanted on it next. Said she's hadn't been on one since she was in her 20s. Her face cracks me up in this picture!
Full circle from the first pic of this TR. Boys eating in an airport foodcourt!
We nearly missed that the flight had arrived sooner than they thought. Thankfully we thought to ck the Arrival and Departure boards again and managed to make it by family boarding time and were all together on the flight home. Retrieved our luggage, found Mom's van and headed home. Mom stayed long enough to look at the pictures on the laptop after I downloaded them and then she drove the hour and half to her house.
IT was a great trip. Looking back 10 months later, it was a really great trip. We definitely had our (ok my) frustrations but it was a wonderful, memory making, hubby brainwashing trip. It felt like Jack-Jack was so big but looking back now he was so little. I don't care that he won't remember it. We will.
Can't wait to go back again, and again. And watch the boys grow up with the Mouse! And maybe take that couples trip just us. I just don't think I'll ever tire of it. It's so much more than a place, it's a state of mind. It's a promise of better times.
Thanks for putting up with me highjacking my own PTR!! I promise Dining plans for our 2010 trip, next update!!
And that 4/3 deal is great too...wish they would offer that for DVC members. 
We've had some sick people in our house so things are a little crazy around here!
But we try. And have lost a little bit but still need to lose more! We are currently doing Weight Watchers again seriously. We both want to lose 30 lbs ish before Disney and we are about half way there. It's doable but with the holidays coming up, it's gonna be a challenge! 
and 
Love the Magic!!! 
BUT, it turned into a great night for just you four, so that is perfect!
I've been sick this weekend.... woke up Friday morning with a stomach virus and it only lasted about 24 hrs but I still feel beat up and puney. Thank God the kids and Mr. I haven't caught it. Dash did miss his first day of school on Friday though because I was literally incapable of getting him there. But 1 absence, hopefully, for the whole first semester should make next semester easier to miss 5 days for Disney!! 
Not a great way to lose it but I'll take it.
Thanks for reading! 
I'm keeping this one a surprise in case they are booked or the park is just swamped that day
