Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay....My oh My Zoo's family is coming to stay!!!

[Zookeeperof4]

a 1989 Eagle Summit. I know its old..but it has 45,900 original miles. This literally was the car that grandma only took to church and Bingo.
Its about darn time we have a second car again. Mine is starting to act up, and I refuse to speculate what it could be as my luck i will just jinx it...LOL

Wish us Luck.....< the "rabbits foot" print

 

[Zookeeperof4]

So I woke this morning at 6 am. I set my phone and had requested a wake up. I had thought the characters would say my wake up. Maybe there was a glitch in their system but I heard nothing at all when I answered so I chose to not use it anymore after that.
I decided that today I would be totally prepared for the day. I had my planner out with my park map so I could decide what were must do's. The park opened at 9 that day so we decided to get the kids up at 730 and dress them, then head to the POR Riverside Mill restaurant for breakfast.
I figured we might as well eat healthy and start the day on full bellies. So all ordered a meal. Eddie, JJ and I ordered a platter that had bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and a biscut. The girls each has a mickey waffle, a bacon, and hmmm was it eggs? That was the only day we complained over the eggs...they werent really hot but we figured ehhh its getting a bit busy so they probably make it in advance. (Like I said it was the only day we had a complaint..the rest was of the days were really good). We packed up the OJs in my back pack and hoofed it over to the bus stop. After a short wait we got on the bus...almost empty. I was hoping the park would be this empty.
We went through the turnstiles...joking with another family how we feel like herding cattle at this part and make out way into HWS. I see that American Idol Experience is nearby...so I steer us in that direction making my mind up at that moment, I am going to audition.
You all know what happened than so I wont retell that part...I will add the pictures from photopass though.

Only one thing happened prior to this moment. In between my American Idol audition we had gone to ride Star Wars...Eddie didnt like it much. Said it made him sick, but the kids thought it was cool. ( I hear they are redoing it...wonder how it will change.) We had missed the Jedi Training and was bummed about that and knew that they made the BYI light sabers in DTD so I was hoping we could do that for JJ. When we were exiting the shop I saw by the exit they had a stand there that was making them. (I hadnt heard that they were doing this at the ride and thought Oh great..now we wont have to do DTD.) There was a lady with her two kids and they were just finishing up the second of the two sabers they were making. The man said I will be right with you. So we patiently waited for our turn and JJ was planning the pieces in his head. Just as the two boys crawled out this family charges over and crawls under the rope. The guy just looked like...'what should I do' at me. I made a comment that my kid was in line waiting but other kids were already picking up parts so we left. I was so mad. JJ was upset at this point and I tell him its ok, there will be something better.(Whats better then a BYI saber though?)
Eddie found a spot he could smoke nearby so he quick lit a cigarette and kids just kinda chased each other around. I saw it was time for me to go report for AIE so we headed for a quick bathroom break and I went to my meeting place.
After the show Eddie had this new attitude. He was HAPPY. He just kept saying how he was so happy for me and how it was so cool for them to see me up there on stage.
After we left the AIE it was time for our lunch at the Play and Dine at Hollywood and Vine. We were in a tight spot to sit but we were by a window and we could see all the families who waited awhile to be seated. I could not remember Golliath's name..LOL...I was calling him Leo. Oops... The kids loved this meal and characters and there was plenty to choose from. We ate plenty figuring we would get a light meal later...I was hoping for Toy story Pizza Planet for Dinner.
After lunch we headed to see the Muppet show. We liked it...the kids have not really ever seen the Muppets and I was excited to watch the show. We cracked up the whole time. Now about this time I decide to not tell Eddie what Honey I Shrunk the Kids was....I just said lets let the kids blow off some steam. When we approached it even Eddie was like WOW....
My only problem with this part is I had a very hard time keeping track of who was where. We tried to follow and could not keep up. They all had a blast but my heart was in my throat every time I lost them under a root...so I said Ok lets move along.
I asked them what were you guys doing when I was at AI?? They said Daddy took us to watch the HSM dance parade. And JJ said then he got us ice cream. (I was a little surprised, I figured he would huff and puff about it all)
The kids decided to get a tattoo so we took this time to rest out feet on a bench nearby.
After the tattoos I see the line for the Great Movie ride. Gracie's Favorite movie is Wizard of Oz so I knew we had to go here. I wish I had my camera....her face in the pictures I took we amazing. She could not believe she was in Munchkin land!
I look at my watch around this time amazed at all we have done today. I had my planner I knew where things were here and it was just so smooth. (Remember we also had 4 fast passes each to use so waits were not long).
Before we head over to Pixar Place we stopped for some Photopass ops.

 

[Zookeeperof4]

So I am stressing over money these last few days. On one hand I was happy that we had found a price affordable car for the DH even if it is only meant to be a temporary fix to the one car problem. I was stressed over the gas bill and decided ahh what can I do?
I was back to thinking yay on the trip plans and how I would be so ready to place a heafty deposit on WDW with my income tax.

Well of course for those who are getting to know me...life seems to get in the way of life. Things happen and you are put in positions where you must dust the dirt off your shoulders and say ok we move on.

My car has been suffering with a few minor issues..minor, so I thought. WE tried changing plugs and wires but the problem was still happending with a shake as we drove. Well we then saw that my coolant level keeps dropping to empty and there are never any wet spots on the engine or puddles under the car.
After many questions with many people...the conclusion is we think the head gasket is about to go. I am sad and tired over dealing with unexpecteds. I always feel like when life kicks me, it figures well shes down so lets kick harder. I find it rougher sometimes to get back up from the downs.

I need a change.....

So I decided there will have to be a change of vacation plans to.....of course in my time of need I can always turn to WDW to cheer me up. I thrown in a planning DVD, watch a few You tube videos, and read my daily dose of TRs and I am good to go.

My new "idea" is instead of Nov we will aim for Sept. I am reluctant to do Sept but I figure it will be worth the option of trying to get free dining.....and if circumstances change we can always change to Nov should they offer the special later. (Try to save a few dollars anyway)
I had looked into the Family Suites at All Star Music....and even though I got great reviews on it..for the extra few dollars we save at POR we can buy our Uni passes.

So I just wanted to update you all on my struggles right now. Its not all happy and silly like my past posts..I promise that girl will be back. She is trying to wipe the dust of her shoulders....I think she needs a shop vac. LOL

 

[MHTeacher]

I'm sorry things aren't working out right now, Tina. Here's hoping for sunnier days ahead.

 

[Zookeeperof4]

I'm sorry things aren't working out right now, Tina. Here's hoping for sunnier days ahead.

Well my dad said to me the last thing you should be doing at this moment is still trying to think of the mouse when what you need is to buy a car.....ok shush it up, dad. I need happiness to be filling my life. If seeing my kids joy in a mouse fills me with the warm fuzzies..then so be it. Now find me a cheap awesome running car so I can still put my WDW deposit in motion...LOL

 

[Zookeeperof4]

So the stressing got worse last night. "D"H..yes I am back to being irritated with the man..LOL...says he is going to CHECK my coolant and add some if needed. He then calls into the house and says where is my thermostat so I hand it out and he changes it saying it will be a piece of cake to change. 40 mins later I am late for work and there is green radiator fluid in the street. He says it is something silly my dad says it sounds like the casing cracked. In ANY case....the car at least DROVE before. Now it is sitting outside next to my house like an ugly step child. And here is the kicker....we are due for snow and my car is on the WRONG side of the street.
(I am banging my head on a concrete wall) Why oh Why oh WHY????

On a happier note I did my taxes on Turbo tax today and made out a bit better then I expected. So now I guess I can give my dad a dollar ammount to spend on a new car. I am just tired....and and tired of feeling like this.

I am going relax this weekend and just say Life is in the Good Lords hands...

 

[MHTeacher]

I am going relax this weekend and just say Life is in the Good Lords hands...

That's the best attitude to have, Tina! I love those verses from Matthew, where it talks about worrying---Why do we worry? If the Lord takes care of the birds, surely he will take care of us! (This is paraphrased, but you get the meaning! )

 

[Zookeeperof4]

Michelle I have felt for a very long time that if I did not chant the Serenity Prayer through my last few years I would not have survived. Everyone says the Lord only gives what you can handle. I used to say well I feel like I got someone elses helping to.
Then one day I just said you know what...there is so much I can fix myself..there must be a higher power for the rest.

I dont always know the plans that are set for me...and I dont always know why they happen..but I know that everyday is a day that makes you grow in some way....so the stressful days are just gonna make me stronger.

On a side note...I am feeling very drained. More then usual and I have had my share of some medical issues(with my woman parts if you catch my drift). I decided I am no good to myself or my kids if I keep putting off the dr appointments I should be making. So I am going on Monday.....hopefully I am being silly, and its nothing.....

 

[Zookeeperof4]

Last we left the family had stopped by a Photopass photographer and got a few family photos.
Then we headed over to Toy Story Mania to use our fast passes.
When we hit the line, the standby line said 70 mins. YIKES!!! Thank god for our fast passes. We headed into the fast pass line and made it through to where the CM held the line. I wish the line had moved slower as we missed quite a few photo-ops here. Then they called us forward to go down the steps to the ride. We were all laughing at this point, the mood had lifted and we were all light and happy. At that moment I start to walk down the steps and .......


The man behind me stepped on my flip flop and I fell down the steps!!

Immediately the CMs came to my side asking was I ok, do I need any help. Honestly I was laughing a bit..more out of being embarrassed than anything and I wasnt hurt so I just moved on. The whole time the man who stepped on my flip flop is saying to his wife wow is she clutzy. Ummm no buddy you stepped on my shoe....so either he was slightly embarrassed and not wanting to admit he had done it or he just honestly did not know he had done it. It was obvious to me it hadnt been intentional and I was fine...so we just laughed about it and boarded our car.
We let Eddie take Gracie alone and then Ashley, JJ, and I shared a car. I took a little while to figure out how it all worked. Once we did it was kinda cute. I did have pictures of our scores for our car(ahem..on my camera...)so I cant share those.
When got off the ride Eddie said "I will have to tell my friend at work we did that, it was pretty cool." and then as we got outside he said "OMG look at the line...it now said Standby time was 90 mins."
So my thoughts on this ride...cute and fun. However if its a line like that and we did not have fast passes, I dont know if I would have felt the same way....LOL We saw across the street there was a meet and greet for Toy story and the line appeared to be short so we took a spot in the line waiting. Now I feel this line is very deceiving. It LOOKED short..but it was about 45 mins long. Still not CRAZY long but at this point we were all starting to get hungry and cranky and as we walked through the line the kids in other families were getting rammy waiting. There were a few spots for pictures in here and they may look really cool if you get a chance to set up your kids for some pictures(like a rocket that you strap yourself to, a "toy" package so it looks like your the toy insde a box, ect.)...we did not, as every time we tried the other kids were right there. I think really it was just very crowded and I am hoping when we go again that we are able to take some more time here. When we made our way to the end we were greeted by Woody and Buzz. This was one of our favorite character meets. It was not rushed at all...now we know why the line was moving so slow and we are happier knowing that now.

After we finished up with Buzz and Woody we went back and got our stroller. Eddie found another smoking area here so we stopped and waited. I think this is where I saw the Narnia attraction but we have never seen it and figured it was one we could miss. I kinda regret that choice as I think JJ would have enjoyed it. I saw that the Little Mermaid had already started and I was trying to figure out if we had enough time to grab dinner before coming back to watch this show. We were so hungry at this point so we made our way back towards the Pizza Planet.
I had heard mixed reviews of this place. My review is this..its OK. First off the line was very crazy..they took orders and then had us move to the side, but then they filled orders that came AFTER ours and other families in our line so we ended up in line for a while. Now in their defense it seems like maybe this place closed early or something and they were packed. We finally got our food and found a table downstairs. There were few arcadey type things here and there may have been more upstairs..we never made it that far. On this side of things I was really not impressed.
We had ordered two plain pizza meals, and three pepperoni meals. they all came with salads, cookie and a drink. I figured we could eat the cookies later in the room so I put them right in my bag. The girls ate most of their salads and then about half of their pizza. The pizza is about the size of a personal pan pizza at Pizza hut. I think if we go back here I will have the girls share a meal as it was to much for them. Two of our 5 pizzas were cold and we were just starting to feel tired. The day had been hot and we just felt it begining to take its toll. Its still a little early and I am hoping we see the Osbourne lights tonight.
Heading out of Pizza Planet I whispered to Eddie that it the line is short in Star Tours gift shop I wanna stop and make him a BYO light saber. So he says ok....as we noticed he was a little sad throughout the day after the whole episode here earlier. We walk past and we see NOONE in line. The guy was very cool with us. He even tried to get JJ to do a double ended one and JJ kept saying "no thanks I am using my own money.."(what a great budgeter I have!!) and he got the blue light. As he is making his own saber the girls say they want to make one to. I look at them and say "Why on earth do you wanna make a light saber?" They say "So we can play"...umm the switch in my head clicked over that translates what kids say and after a boop boop boop..translation was clear. It said "We want to hit each other with them.." So I said "NO you are not making a saber but if you want to each get a saber keychain I will buy them." So they each picked out one and I paid for it all...I felt bad making JJ pay for his if I was buying the keychains.

Heading back over to the Pixar area I realize we had taken to long with dinner and making our saber, and that meant we missed the last show for the Little Mermaid....rats. I looked on my list to see what we had left on our must do's. It suddenly seemed very dark and we were kinda enjoying just looking around..its very different looking at night and I felt like we were in a real CITY...LOL

We decided to make our way towards the Tower of Terror. We all got to do this one and Gracie knew it was something about an elevator. We of course used our fast passes and were in our "car" within minutes. My family LOVES this ride! We were all yelling and screaming....what a great time it was. They even asked to go on again...so back in line we went again using fast passes....

Up Next: the last installment for HWS

 

[MHTeacher]

Sweet pics of your kids with Buzz and Woody!

Hope you get good news at the doctor's visit!

 

[Dyerneeds]

hey!! sign me up to read about your adventures.

sorry i'm late Tina but i've been kinda busy.

nice to see pics of you guys!!

 

[Zookeeperof4]

Yeah I am so glad you have come by to read. Of course I am not as funny as you all but who is??
I am just glad to have you on here every day.....been missing the fun with you..LOL...

Any chance the Red Bra Mystery has any more to the story? Even though I figured it out...shhhhh it was me!!!!!!

 

[Dyerneeds]

Yeah I am so glad you have come by to read. Of course I am not as funny as you all but who is??
I am just glad to have you on here every day.....been missing the fun with you..LOL...

Any chance the Red Bra Mystery has any more to the story? Even though I figured it out...shhhhh it was me!!!!!!

dont sell yourself short kiddo.

i've been going back and reading your adventures.

love the american idol experience,

the Red Br@ was you??
tell me....did it fit you? if so, you're my new best friend.
(i'm kidding folks)

 

[Zookeeperof4]

dont sell yourself short kiddo.

i've been going back and reading your adventures.

love the american idol experience,

the Red Br@ was you??
tell me....did it fit you? if so, you're my new best friend.
(i'm kidding folks)

LOL.....you dont know me very well. I like to chair the monthly Itty Bitty Committee meetings.....

Selling myself short..the story of my life..I should do a post on what "adventure" my life is having for me now. I will share some in a PM to you....

 

[Dyerneeds]

LOL.....you dont know me very well. I like to chair the monthly Itty Bitty Committee meetings.....

Selling myself short..the story of my life..I should do a post on what "adventure" my life is having for me now. I will share some in a PM to you....

is that anything like the club (to quote Seinfeld)
"They're real and they're spectacular"