Disney World November 2012
Alan 43
Lisa 42
Olivia 22
Owen 13
Pre-trip:
So, for the very 1st time ever we are attempting to go to Disney without Olivia! Well only for half of the trip though. She’s going to school at Eastern and is doing her practicum in Mattoon. She will be off the whole week of Thanksgiving and she gets every Friday off. But in order to get the free dining you have to check in by November 11th. The 3 of us are going to go down to Orlando without her for the first 5 days and then she will join us for 5 days.
We flew on Southwest for the 1st time ever and for free with a southwest point’s promotion. We also got Olivia’s flights free with southwest except for the tiny plane she will take from Decatur to St. Louis to catch her SW flight. Also, for the 1st time we are using the quick service dining plan instead of the full-service sit-down meal dining plan. It was going to be cheaper and we also knew that the days Olivia would be with us would be busy with trying to get a lot done and this way we didn’t have to stop for long meals.
Sadly, this is also the last trip with regular paper fast passes because about a year after this trip they started the new fast pass plus which we haven’t tried out ourselves yet but I don’t read much good about it.
Also, two months after this trip in Jan. is when I went for my yearly check up and was told that I would need to have heart valve replacement surgery. The Dr. was shocked that I had done 10 days at Disney World just two months prior.
We woke up early at home. Alan was up before his alarm at 6:00am and I got up a little after 7. We woke Owen and got ready to leave, we are not spending the night at the airport before our flight like usual. Instead we have an afternoon flight and will just drive to the airport and leave.
Olivia is working today at Tan Express from 9-4. I bet that felt really weird to her that she had to go to work while we were leaving and I know it felt weird to us to leave without her!
I was aware that this would be odd for Owen so I really tried to be upbeat about it and tried to make it seem as normal as possible. Oh, and it also felt weird not to be locking down the house for our departure since she was going to be there while we were gone.
But we left home at 9:00 and stopped by McDonalds for the boys (I had cereal at home like a good girl).
We arrived in St. Louis and had gotten an awesome parking deal that I found online. It allowed us to park our car at the Renaissance hotel where we always stay only it’s through some parking website called Global Airport Parking and you prepay online and then put the printed-out paper work in your car window and it was only $4.25 a day!! That is a great price because everywhere else is $8-9 a day or more. Plus, this is where we always park so we know our way around etc.
We took the shuttle to the airport. ($5.00 tip) got checked in and sat and waited. Alan and I had some Burger King for lunch but Owen wasn’t hungry.
This is our 1st time flying on SW airlines and they do the loading differently so we got loaded and all sat together in a row which was odd. All the planes we ever fly on are rows with 3 seats and so we split up and sit two and two in front/back of each other but this time with just the three of us we all sat together. Owen was supposed to do some homework on the plane but he had worked on his health notes on the drive to St. Louis so on the flight he played on his Kindle instead. For $5 he was able to use it to text with Olivia and others while in the air which he thought was cool.
The plane left at 1:35 and landed in Orlando 10 minutes early. We were not taking the magical express today because we have a rental car to go shopping offsite for one day. We went to baggage claim to get the luggage and WOW was that difficult. We had brought all of Olivia’s stuff with us so she just had to bring a small carry on when she comes. But the problem with that is there are only 3 of us to haul all of this luggage! And really only 2 and a half of us because Owen wasn’t overly helpful!
We are here for TEN days so we have a ton of stuff. Plus, we have Owens breathing machine and two CPAP machines! And then all the big rolling suitcases and some duffle bags as well. Alan had me overloaded with way more than I could handle and I was struggling. Seriously, I was out of breath and having trouble keeping up without dropping everything.
I think it was here that Alan dropped his bag that had his CPAP in it and we later found out it cracked the hose.
We made our way to pick up our rental car I had booked and it was $19.99 a day plus taxes and fees which came to $30. A DEAL!!
We loaded it all up and as we left the airport the sun was setting. We drove to Pop Century to check in.
I will say this whole luggage and rental car thing was the stupidest idea EVER! We could have had Alan pick up the car while Owen and I rode the bus and then Disney would have dealt with all the luggage for us except for the carry on’s. It would have all been delivered to our hotel room within 2 hours. Because we really did struggle with the amount of crap we had.
While I waited in line to check in the boys looked around. We got what we requested which was a 60’s building on the 4th floor. It was actually right next door to the room we had last time and when you consider this hotel has 2,280 rooms that’s pretty odd that is happens to us a lot.
We went back to the car and unloaded all of the luggage to the room so by now I’m totally sick of this stupid idea. By then it was 6:40 and we were starving so we ditched our plans for Wolfgang Puck Express over at Downtown Disney and just decided to eat at Pop. Owen had the pizza, Alan had penne pasta and I had fried chicken with mashed potatoes. It was really good. Then Olivia called me back from earlier.
We left the hotel to go shopping! Alan is on the hunt for Jacksonville Jaguars stuff. Owen and I are thrilled!
We went to TJ Maxx where Alan found nothing at all but there was a lot of stuff in the kid’s department. Owen got some t-shirts for $2, $7 sweatshirt and $10 new styled football jersey.
Alan was totally bummed, Owen was excited and I was getting bored! We spent $38 and then went to the Lake Buena Vista Outlet. The Disney store there was a joke so we looked in the Under-Armor store and the Croc store but didn’t buy anything.
After that we made a quick trip to walmart for some breakfast stuff, milk, juice and water and spent about $30.
We made it back to the hotel at 10pm (9pm Illinois time so 12 hours since we left home this morning) and struggled again trying to carry all this stuff to the room! The parking lot is really far from the 60’s building especially while carrying heavy drinks.
Where is Olivia when we need her!
Now that we’re finally at the room I spent the next 2 hours unpacking! WHY does it take so long? I did take a couple quick breaks and drank a lot of water because I felt dehydrated all evening.
Owen was busy texting his friends and Olivia and even grandma a little bit. I had called mom while the boys were shopping at TJ Maxx.
We are waiting on our camera batteries to charge before going to bed.
No alarm set today. Alan was mostly awake between 7-8 and I woke up about 8-8:30 but Owen slept on until 9am and only got up then because we woke him! I slept pretty good last night and had no “issues” like I had the last time we were here, so that’s good!
So up and showered and out of hotel to drive over to Coronado Springs for breakfast while we still have the car. They have a breakfast buffet over there that only counts as a quick/counter service meal and since
that’s all we get with the dining plan this year we thought we’d try it while we have a car to get there.
It was busy but we only waited a few minutes to be seated and Alan and Owen were impressed! Haha! It had all the usual breakfast buffet items and Owen’s favorite, biscuits and gravy. The only thing we didn’t like was they kept running out of bacon!
After “paying” we looked around the gift shop and took some pictures and then Alan and I took turns using the bathroom! While he was in there Owen and I went outside and took some pics of the hotel scenery it’s very pretty.
Later when Alan saw those pictures he said “where was I”? He was bummed he missed it.
We then left and drove over the other Disney outlet store by Little Lake Bryan and found 3 shirts for Olivia $5 each which was good because she needed some new ones. Owen got an AK tee for $6.99 it was of the Dinosaur jeep. He also got a leather Pirates armband for $6 (reg. $17-$18). The kids are outgrowing all their Disney clothing from past years.
I then sat on a bench and called Olivia while the boys walked down to check out the toy store. They got to open 3 cases of hot wheels but didn’t find anything. Then we were done and had to walk what felt like miles away to the new parking garage where we had parked. This place needed a parking garage because we can never find a parking spot but it’s a long walk away.
After we left we were going to stop at Marshall’s for Alan to check for Jaguars stuff and then we were headed to Wal-Mart for an SD card because Alan forgot to pack the extra one. (he was in charge of it).
However, the traffic was AWFUL, really really bad and so we didn’t go! THANK GOD! I was so happy when he said forget it and so was Owen, he was ready to get to a park! So instead we just pulled into a CVS that was right there and paid $14.99 for a 2 gig SD card. We pulled back out into the terrible traffic to go return the rental car and it took forever to get over to the gas station by Downtown Disney. We filled up $13 and then Alan dropped Owen and I off at DTD and he returned the car at the Wyndam hotel and then walked over to meet us.
Owen and I walked around the pin store while we waited for him but it only took a few minutes. We then walked over to wait for a bus and it took forever! We went back to Pop to drop off the stuff we had bought while we were out but since it was warm out Owen decided he wanted to swim so the boys changed and we went down to the 50’s pool because we thought it was warmer.
It was warm out but really windy so they only swam about 15 minutes while I sat and put my feet up and relaxed. When they got out I was enjoying my time so I made them sit out in the sun to dry off for another 15 minutes. After that they went to the room to get changed and I walked over to the 60’s pool and sat there in a lounger while waiting for them.
I was bored so I texted lib a funny text that was basically the Fresh prince of Bel Air theme song. It had just started out with me sending a text saying I was relaxing outside by the pool and it just snowballed from there! Haha! She was over at grandma & grandpas tonight eating dinner while I was sending her this and it cracked her up and she said I am defiantly crazy!
And just then my lounger which was in a sitting position fell down behind me (the back support part) and when it slammed down behind
me my feet when FLYING into the air! It was quite the sight but the boys had missed it by just minutes! I was still laughing when they showed up!
We went and waited forever for a bus to MGM. We were on the bus at 4pm and once we arrived we headed over to Star Tours. (I can’t believe we aren’t getting to a park till after 4pm!)
I went and used the bathroom while they went on the ride. I met up with them at the Star Wars gift shop and we bought Owen a Yoda t-shirt that said “Judge me by my size do you” it was so cute and we had it sent back to the resort.
Owen was hungry so we ordered an adult chicken nugget meal and we shared some of his fries while he ate. Then we walked over about 5pm to go to the 5:30 Indiana Jones stunt show. By the time the show was over I was about to pee my pants! I could not find a bathroom anywhere in the direction that the crowd was headed and I ended up walking all the way to the front of the park to use that bathroom! After that I met back up with them and we rode the Great Movie Ride and by the time we were done it was 6:45 and we wanted to leave before the Fantasmic crowd got out so we left and took a boat over to Epcot.
We actually managed to get on the 1st boat that arrived and 30 minutes later we arrived at Epcot! Why does that boat take so long! It’s such a pretty view though. Our plan now was to try some of the food booths at the Food & Wine festival! We hardly ever try things because of the expense of it but we could use our snack credits on the dining plan and we had extra credits because we have all the credits from Olivia’s dining plan. She’s got 10 days worth of meal and snack credits and she’ll only be here for 5 of those days! So, with extra credits to burn we got started! It was the last night the festival was opened and it was
busy. Oh, and it was dark! They don’t have as much lighting as they should have I don’t think.
I didn’t write down what country that every single food was from but I did write down everything we tried! We had ravioli, chocolate crème brulee, a chicken mushroom and macaroni dish, grilled mahi mahi, a cold Florida shrimp dish which was spicy, apple strudel, pot stickers and chicken satay.
Owen tried everything except the pot stickers! And he was SO excited about the chicken satay because they had just been studying something in Mr. Ladd’s history class about this dish in southeast Asia.
He also LOVED the mahi mahi we let him eat it all and we even went back and got him a 2nd one! We were actually enjoying the Food and Wine Festival for probably the 1st time because usually we just aren’t into it.
Then as we were standing at one of those high top tables that you just stand around but don’t actually have chairs, there was this couple beside us and the girl was VERY drunk! The man was basically holding her up and she was saying she didn’t feel good! Owen was REALLY freaked out by the whole thing, we were pretty sure this girl was about to throw up plus just seeing this drunk girl stumbling around being held up by this man was really upsetting him. And then to top it all off they started making out big time!
So, I took him and we walked ahead. I think the thing that got to Owen the most was the thought that this girl was going to throw up because as soon as Alan and I said that he actually got very upset and said “get me out of here” in an angry tone! Alan and I were trying hard not to laugh at Owen because we didn’t want to anger him more but he really didn’t care for that experience! We aren’t sure if he knew the girl had just drank too much and didn’t have the flu. Because maybe he wanted out of there so he didn’t catch the stomach bug he thought she had?
As we walked on ahead Alan got in line and got the lettuce wraps and then caught up with us. They were good but very messy and hard to eat.
We had made it about 75% around the World Showcase so we hurried our way over to Canada and for the cheese soup and the filet mignon but by that point Owen was done with the food so he didn’t try those.
We had been in line for those right before 9pm so then we headed over to Soarin and the sign said 30 minutes but we got in line and it was only about 15-20 minutes. By the time we got off the ride Illuminations was over and so we got stuck leaving the park at the same time as that crowd and had to wait for the 3rd bus! Owen and I got seats which was good because I was tired!
We got back to the room at 10:20 and the boys went down to the arcade till 11:10. Olivia called while I was in the room and we talked for awhile she was staying home alone tonight and it’s supposed to storm so she’s a mess!
It’s 11:45 now as I write my notes and bed soon.
By the way we had a really good time tonight at Food & Wine (minus the drunk girl) we’ve never had that much fun there before but Owen was really into trying all the food from the countries and it was a good time. It was funny how excited he got about the food he had just learned about in history class.
Last night we had lights out at midnight and I was asleep before I could say goodnight! I passed out and then woke up to pee at 3 and then
passed out again till I had to go pee again between 5-6 and then slept some more till the alarm went off at 7:30! I’m so pleased that I’m sleeping good after the last trip here when I had serious sleeping issues!
We were up showered and the boys ate a little in the room. Alan had cereal, Owen had a muffin and I had nothing. Then the boys went down to order a breakfast sandwich with potatoes to share and they thought the meal came with a dessert item like in the old days but the breakfasts don’t come with that anymore. Well not knowing that they had ordered me a cream cheese Danish but ended up having to get charged a separate snack credit for it. No big deal since we have plenty of snack credits!
I went down and couldn’t find them anywhere! My phone kept saying emergency calls only! And so, I FINALLY found them and I ate half my Danish, Owen had eaten the breakfast potatoes and Alan ended up having to take the food off the breakfast bagel sandwich and eat it separately because the bagel was too hard.
We headed out to the bus and I was thinking I’d eat the other half my Danish while in line but the bus was there and loading so we got right
on. There is no eating on the bus plus we had to stand so I still couldn’t finish it. I ended up talking to a woman from New Jersey about the hurricane that had just hit there recently and by the time we arrived to MK my legs were already killing me from standing. Plus, Alan said his arm/elbow hurt from holding on so tight. He had been having trouble with it bothering him before the trip. We are old! (he thinks it’s from his bike riding)
The boys took the bags and walked ahead to bag check while I shoved the rest of my Danish in my mouth and then we entered the park.
We took a picture of me and Owen in front of the castle and then he wanted to ride Splash Mountain so we walked ALL THE WAY back there passing by lots of rides we could have ridden.
I thought we should have taken advantage of the short waits and rode some rides on our way back to Splash plus I could have really used the rest along the way. That is a long trek from the bus stop (especially after standing on the bus) all the way back to Splash at the back corner of the park.
Alan rode in the front and he got soaked!! Owen and I were in the 2nd row and we got wet too even though we used the ponchos but my butt got soaked also!
We went next door to Big Thunder but it was down so we got a FP and then went and rode Pirates in our own boat which was pretty spooky. After the ride was over we took a picture in the gift shop of a t-shirt that had the periodic table of pirates for his science teacher. (Mr. Quast)
Then we went to ride Aladdin and Owen didn’t want to ride because he says it’s boring!!!! WHAT? But I love that ride for some reason (wimpy ride just my style) so we made him ride it anyway. Can’t believe I had to force him to ride a ride with me.
After our ride we cut through and rode Haunted Mansion and by the time we got off of it Big Thunder was back up and running so we made our way all the way back to it again and rode stand by 1st and then used our FP for a 2nd ride.
Alan and I were ready for lunch now but Owen said he wasn’t yet so we took the train over to the old ToonTown where we got a FP for Barnstormer and Dumbo.
While we waited for our FP time to be up we got a coke and sat down to rest in the new Storybook Circus area. We took some family pictures while sitting there and then in a little bit the boys walked around the area shops and pin traded and then Olivia called and Owen talked to her for a bit. She was very excited and proud that she had managed to spend the whole night at home…………. alone! (she is 22 lol)
It was finally time to ride barnstormer and after that we still had about 15 minutes to wait for Dumbo so Owen and I rode the Tea Cups. Then went for our ride on the new Dumbo and it felt weird for it to be in this new location I didn’t care for the change of location. It didn’t seem as special as riding it right behind the castle.
Once we were done Owen declared he is now STARVING! So, we finally got to go eat lunch. But as we were walking to lunch we saw that they actually had the new Fantasyland open and were letting people in (official opening is later this week) so we went and rode the new Little Mermaid ride and I was not impressed! 1st of all that is the longest line area to walk through to get onto a ride I’ve ever seen. And 2nd the
theming of the line is better than the ride because inside the ride just looks like a studio building if you look up and around. It was very odd they usually have such over the top themeing. The ride was also just like the Nemo ride at Epcot so it’s wasn’t something different!
They even had the new Be Our Guest restaurant open for a soft opening for lunch today which is totally NEW and only a counter service meal so we could eat there but Alan looked at the menu and didn’t like it! I was mad but pretended not to care because if I threw a fit and made us all eat there I was afraid it wouldn’t be any good and then I’d be to blame so I just let it go.
Instead we went to Columbia Harbor House for lunch and Owen and I both had the fried shrimp and Alan had the chicken and fish. The shrimp was excellent but Alan didn’t realize that the chicken in his combo was just boring chicken nuggets. Should have ate at Be our Guest! Haha!! I do love the shrimp at CHH but I still can’t believe I passed up a chance to try the new BOG before it was even officially open! My Disney internet friends would be so disappointed in me!
After lunch we made our way out of the park. We were so worn out and hot. But when we got to the bus stop we decided to take the Art of Animation bus instead so we could check out that new resort and then walk over the bridge to Pop when we were done.
We walked around Art of Animation and took pictures of Owen with all the cars from the Cars movie and the themeing of it was really cool you felt like it was right where the movie was filmed almost. Even though it was a cartoon!
After we were done checking out the sights we went back to our room and Alan took a nap while I took Owen down to the 50’s pool at about 3:15 and we stayed till 4:30. I didn’t write in my notes if I swam with
him or just let him swim while I sat out so I’m not sure. When we got back to the room Alan was still sleeping so Owen played on his Kindle and I wrote some notes so maybe I was swimming while we were at the pool otherwise I think I would have written my notes while down there.
Then out of nowhere I started having chills and felt sick to my stomach. I actually had to put on a sweatshirt and get under the covers to get warm. It was very weird.
Finally, around 6 I thought I was feeling better and we were going to go to Downtown Disney for dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. I had to wear a sweatshirt still because I was still freezing and it wasn’t cold out at all!
We were waiting for the bus but there was a long line so we sat on a bench and I was having stomach cramps and felt awful so we decided not to go after all. Instead we went in the store and got something for my stomach (because I thought maybe that was the problem since I have stupid diverticulitis) so I went on back to the room and the boys stayed down in the food court to eat dinner. They actually called me in the room to see if I wanted pizza! And I said NO! I watched Dancing with the Stars and called Olivia to check on her and the boys brought their food to the room to eat and we watched The Big Bang Theory on TV.
Oh, and I found Owens trip money that I thought I had lost! I had put it some place for safe keeping but couldn’t find it. I even had Olivia look at home to make sure I hadn’t left it behind. Then all of a sudden, I remembered where I had stuck it! Thank Goodness because I had been in such a panic because I made him give it to me for safe keeping!
So, then the boys went down to the game room for awhile and I stayed in the room still feeling like crap!
When they were done they brought me back an order of beef & broccoli for dinner and a crème cheese Danish as my dessert for breakfast in the morning. I didn’t eat very much of it and it only had 2
pieces of broccoli which Alan said he had to ask for and the guy was a jerk.
Then around 10pm I ate a bowl of honey nut cheerios for the fiber and I think I’m starting to feel better but still don’t feel great. Alan is watching Castle and Owen did some health homework and is now back on the Kindle. He is sunburnt on his face and I am burnt on my face, neck and shoulders so I am hoping the fever and chills was just from the sun burn!
Owen has also sat down the MGM map and planned out our day tomorrow including where he wants to eat lunch! Haha! He’s so cute! But the poor child is getting bored with us!
We are going to bed at 11 when Alan’s show is over but Owen and I are tired and ready now since we didn’t take a two-hour nap today like Alan did.
Our morning at MK today was good but we only lasted until after we ate lunch and left around 2pm because we were tired! I guess that’s ok since we have so many days here ahead of us but compared to our other trips it is almost embarrassing!
Woke up at 3am not feeling too well again! Then went back to sleep and we had no alarm set but I woke again still not feeling well at 7:30 and so we were all awake then. I had cereal for breakfast and I am feeling better not cured but better. We got to the bus stop at 9 but had to wait for 3 wheelchairs to be loaded so we didn’t end up getting seats which sucked. So once again we stood but this time just to MGM which isn’t nearly as far as MK! Got there around 9:30 or so and got FP for 1pm at Toy Story Mania and the line to ride was 50 minutes long already so we went over to Star Tours and I read in the times guide that the Lights Motors Action stunt show is not going on for 3 days because they are re-surfacing the roads! Good grief.
We walked into the book store to look for the new Diary of a Wimpy book that comes out this week and Owen is excited about it. He always buys them on release day but they don’t have it in yet. So, they went and rode Star Tours and then we walked over to the Animation building for the next drawing class but had to wait 20 minutes. Once our class started we got to draw Mickey/Minnie our choice with or without the bow and eyelashes. And when we were done we now had to walk all the way back across the park to Pizza Planet for lunch. Alan had the meatball sub and Owen and I had cheese pizzas that come with small salads. I couldn’t even eat all of my pizza I left one piece and we just picked at our desserts because we were too full. And of course, my stomach is still bothering me.
We were headed to the American Idol show next but we had some extra time so Owen bought a new lanyard for his pins and we sat down to move them all over to the new one. They keep falling off his old one.
Then we went into the 12:30 show a few minutes early and there was a professional opera singer so we all voted for the other person because that just seemed unfair and everyone else must have thought the same thing because the other girl won. Her dad was watching and just crying which made me cry of course.
Olivia had either called or texted during the show so when it was over we called her back and then went over to use our Toy Story FP which is always FUN! Owen beat me!
When we were done we left the park and caught a bus to AK at about 2pm. When we got there my feet/blister was killing me! I really wanted a wheelchair from the bus to the safari but there weren’t any sitting out to take. So, we walked all the way back to the safari which is a very long walk from the bus stop and the wait was 30 minutes so we got fast passes for 45 minutes from now and the boys went on the gorilla trails while I sat and rested! When they got back we bought a frozen lemonade and sat and shared it. We were at one of those high top tables but they had these low bar stools at them so Owens chin just barely reached the top of the table and he looked so funny.
Once we were done it was time to use our FP’s on the safari and then we walked over toward Everest but 1st we stopped at Yak & Yeti for some food. We used 3 snack credits and got two egg rolls and an order of fried rice. Owen ate the rice and Alan and I had the egg rolls. Owen was still finishing his food but Alan was done so he went on ahead to ride Everest through the single rider line and was able to just walk right on. Then they closed the single rider line right after he went through!
Owen and I went up and ordered a free large ice water and then met up with Alan as he came off the ride. He tried to get Owen to ride it with him but he didn’t want to so we walked on over to Dinosaur and
they rode that together while I waited. I sat on a bench and texted Olivia then went and used the bathroom after I finally found it.
Once they were done we made our way towards the front of the park pin trading as we went. It was around 4:30 or so as we were leaving. It was a long walk back to the bus but we did get seats. However, there was some woman on the bus sitting across from us coughing up a lung and not covering her mouth!
We got back to the room about 5:30 and just laid around till close to 7pm being lazy and resting. I was STILL having an upset stomach! Then around 7pm we walked over to Art of Animation resort to eat at their food court for dinner. Alan and I had the pasta from the make your own pasta station. You choose which kind of pasta, sauce and then if you want to add your choice of meat like meatballs or chicken or shrimp etc. I had the spaghetti and meatballs and I didn’t write down what Alan ordered. Owen got a bacon cheese burger and the food was all hot and fresh and good. But I could barely eat half of mine, they give you a lot and by the time I was done with it you could hardly tell anyone had eaten any of it!
For dessert Owen got a Mickey oreo cupcake that he was very excited about, Alan and I got the Babycakes because they aren’t available at our hotel and we took them back to the room to eat. Owen ended up eating one of my Babycakes and two of Alan’s (you get 3 per package) but he has yet to eat any of his cupcake! Haha! I think he’s just admiring it.
I ended up only being able to eat one of mine and then I was too full for the rest. (I don’t know what the heck is wrong with me I don’t know if this is diverticulitis or what! But my stomach hurts and is painful and bloated!)
Oh, I forgot about the excitement of our evening! While we were at Art of Animation eating we saw Aaron Weishar (YZ) Blake’s old friend from Shelbyville! Well him and his wife and daughter live in Indianapolis but his mom had told my dad at the library that they were going to be at Disney the same week we were but we never thought we would run into them! I noticed them from a distance at the food court and asked Alan if he thought that was them? He seemed sure it was but I hadn’t seen him in so long I was a little skeptical but once we got done eating we went over and talked to them! He was so bummed that Olivia wasn’t with us because he has known her since she was a baby and he said he would have liked to seen her all grown up!
Once we got back to the room around 8pm we watched some Dancing with the Stars and I called mom and dad to tell them we had seen YZ. But I have to say that mom didn’t act like it was that big of a deal or that she cared she just started talking about other things. But to us it was like a celebrity sighting or something to run into someone here from home that we haven’t seen in years.
Then Owen called Olivia when I was done.
He is REALLY missing his sister! He seemed to be very down in the dumps today I felt like. He wasn’t at the beginning of the trip we thought he was handling it really well for the 1st first couple days but I think he’s defiantly ready for her to be here!
We stepped outside and saw a little bit of Illuminations outside our room and we also had Owen do some homework tonight (and last night). It’s 10 now and we’re going to bed in about a half an hour.
P.S. Owen is a pin trading fool!! He just loves it!!
The alarm apparently went off at 7:30 this morning but I never heard it and we didn’t get up till a couple minutes after 8.
We got up, showered and I ate my crème cheese Danish that was in the room and Owen had a muffin but then the boys went down so Alan could get a breakfast platter since we have those extra meal credits with Olivia not being here yet. Owen ate one piece of bacon and some potatoes and Alan had the rest. And then to the bus for Epcot at 9:30!
When we arrived, we sent Alan on ahead for fast passes to Soarin and we went to the Sum of all Thrills. Alan got back and they built a tame roller coaster which Owen liked!! Then we walked to Club Cool for Owen and a bathroom break for me.
After that we walked to the Seas building but Owen didn’t want to ride Nemo! He said it’s boring! So, I said let’s go see Turtle Talk with crush and Owen again said no it’s boring! His attitude is starting to irritate me. I said too bad we’re doing it anyway! And he laughed through the whole show! It’s so cute what’s not to like! BOYS!
After this it was over to ride Soarin with our FP and then I was planning on having lunch in Mexico but Alan and Owen wanted to eat at Sunshine Seasons outside of Soarin. And I am nothing if not flexible! Haha so we did. Alan had spicy chicken with noodles which were NOT good! I had the beef and broccoli and Owen had sweet and sour chicken. I think Owens ended up being the best! For dessert Alan had crème brulee of course, I had strawberry shortcake and Owen had a big cinnamon roll. None of our meals were bad (except those noodles) but
none were great either. I need to stop letting them pick the restaurants.
Once we were done eating we walked over to World Showcase to do the Perry the Platypus scavenger hunt type game. We waited in a short line and got the phone with the clues and then went to Mexico with it and the boys took off doing their thing and I sat on a bench inside (they were inside too) and just rested. I also was on the phone with Olivia for a bit. Then we went on to Norway as they continued and we also rode the ride there. (that ride is closed now so that’s the last time we’ll ride that one. They are redoing it into a Frozen ride)
We wandered back to Mexico and ordered a nacho meal that came with a drink and churro to share but Owen was only interested in the churro.
When we were done with our snack we went over to Mission Space so they could ride and I went into the Mousegears store to look around. They were gone for about 45 minutes and the line only said 5 minutes so I don’t know what that was about. But I shopped for a new wallet to replace the Disney wallet I bought back when Olivia was in 4th grade and we came on our girls only trip. I had gotten that wallet on clearance in a gift shop at MGM and I have carried that thing for YEARS but it is literally falling apart now!
I found 3 different ones that were options but none were perfect. Eventually I went and waited outside the shop for them trying to figure out what was taking them so long! When they did show up I took them inside and showed them the wallets ……..hint hint hint!! But they didn’t seem to care. I mean I literally have never seen two people less interested in anything ever! Haha!
It was already around 3pm and we decided to go back to the hotel and we went to the game room and I tried out the massage chairs which by the way suck! Total waist of a couple dollars.
Then Alan went to the room and Owen and I went down to the pool and lounged. It was very cloudy so he didn’t swim but we just sat on some loungers and relaxed. We ordered 2 virgin drinks from the pool bar. One strawberry daiquiri and one pina colada. YUM!! ($5 each)
We also were listening to the music and then played along with the Disney trivia game that the CM’s were doing at the pool.
I then let him talk me into playing some ping pong which was funny because we both suck at it. But in order to play he had to take off his lanyard with his pins or else they were banging into the table so he laid them carefully on the ground by the table. A few minutes after we were done and back to sitting in the chairs nearby we noticed a family going to play ping pong and just as I seen one of them bend over I hadn’t even seen what they were picking up yet but I suddenly remembered OWENS PINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I looked at him and said YOUR PINS! Well he FREAKED OUT and I mean FREAKED OUT!!! all the color left his face! LOL He jumped up and took off just as those people had picked up the lanyard and were about to turn it in but I have never seen him looked so panicked! That worried look on his face!
Well after that drama we were too excited to just sit back down so we headed back to the room to bug Alan who had just enjoyed over an hour of quiet alone time. Haha! We just hung out in the room and watched 2 episodes of Friends on TV. At 5:45 they went down to the lobby for the pin trading thing that was going on down there. I guess they bring out a big board of pins at certain times during the day.
I got ready for the evening (which sounds fancier than it was haha!) and then joined them and we went out to the MK bus at 6 and there was a HUGE line. We decided to just sit on a bench and rest because the line also had 5 wheelchairs in it so we knew it was going to take forever.
A bus didn’t come until 6:30 and then when it showed up a 2nd one pulled in right beside it. We finally got in line and got on the 3rd bus but at least we got seats.
My notes say we entered the park at 7pm but that actually sounds pretty fast considering we had to wait for the 3rd bus. However, the Spectro magic light parade was starting so we made our way over and got Buzz Fast Passes and then got in line and rode with only a 5 minute wait. We’ll use the FP’s later.
Then we walked over to Cosmic Rays for dinner. We hardly ever eat here but I had read that they had BBQ ribs and rotisserie chicken as meal choices and thought that would be something different. Of course, the boys like usual have other plans and Alan ordered a chili dog with fries and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert. Owen had a hot dog, fries and chocolate cake! Meanwhile I had the chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans and a bottled water for dessert! HAHA! You know you are sick of fast food dessert choices when you pick a bottled water for later because our meals also came with fountain drinks. We had to order at separate windows because only certain items are for sale at each counter area so when we met back up at the table the boys thought I was crazy with my desert water.
We sat at an outside table with a pretty view of the castle and the parade going by off in the distance but there was a waterfall near that area and it was LOUD. It almost gave me a headache. Then just as we were finishing up with our meal they started this new light show where they project different scenes onto the castle to music and we had never
seen it before but we could tell it was awesome and we were missing it.
Our view was over to the side area so we cleared our table and hustled outside and that direction to try to see better.
We were on the bridge to Tomorrowland watching it and then we stayed there to wait for Wishes to start. It was very crowded and people were pushing and shoving their way through but then Wishes started and Tinkerbell flew right over us. It was a really good view of that. We haven’t seen Tinkerbell that up close in many years.
When it was over some people got up off a bench to leave but we just sat down on that bench on the bridge to let some of the crowds clear out and to rest our feet from standing so long. Then we made our way over to ride the TTA and after that we used our Buzz fast passes. Then after a bathroom break we walked over to New Fantasyland to the new Belle’s gift shop to look around while it wasn’t too busy. And then we watched Philarmagic before walking over to Sleepy Hollow and sharing a funnel cake which we washed down with my bottle of water from earlier. HAHA! We really enjoyed this. The weather was nice, the funnel cake was yummy and we were sitting with a great view of the castle.
After our break we went and rode the Jungle Cruise and Aladdin and then walked over to Big Thunder which had a 20 minute wait so we got FP and got in line so we could ride twice. It turned out to only be a 15 minute wait. When we got off, we had a few minutes to wait before we could use out FP so we called Olivia (she flies tomorrow!) then we went back on and rode with our FP with a 5-10 minute wait. After that it was about 11:15 and we were tired so we headed toward the front of the park. There were lots of empty logs on splash mountain but the boys didn’t want to ride! (BOYS!) I need Olivia!!
However, I ended up getting the last ride of the night when we found an abandoned wheelchair near the Country Bear Jamboree and I got to ride in it all the way out to the bus stop! It was awesome!! My blisters were so happy!
We got to the bus and back to the room at midnight. Writing this and then to bed at 1:00am! No alarm in the morning!
This whole day was GREAT! Everything went really well! Epcot was enjoyable and then our time back at the hotel and at MK tonight for Wishes and rides with very little wait! We had so much fun!
We had no alarm this morning but Owen doesn’t seem to sleep much. I don’t think he ever goes into a deep sleep; he just grinds his teeth, kicks, and flops around a LOT!
Alan woke up around 8 and laid in bed reading through his email on his phone. I got up around 8:30 and we all started getting ready and left the room at 10.
We had originally planned to go back to the Pepper Market breakfast buffet at Coronado this morning but we only had an hour to get there and it’s a couple bus rides away so we just ate at Pop instead. We had three breakfast platters but the fast food breakfast at Pop was a huge let down compared to the Pepper Market.
Then we went and got in line for the MGM bus and we had taken a bag with us of the boy’s swim stuff in case we decided to pool hop over to
Coronado this afternoon for Owen to swim and Alan to check out the hot tub. I hadn’t planned on swimming because I’d have to drag too much stuff along to do my hair after etc. But we got a locker outside of MGM for $1.00 to store the bag for the day. However, it’s a bit chilly today so it will have to warm up or we won’t be going.
Once in the park we went over to the Animation building and waited 25 minutes for the next drawing class. We got to draw Donald Duck which we’ve never done before but they need an age limit in this class! Some of the kids are so young they can’t draw anything and the place only holds a small amount anyway. They need a way to have the adults sit at the tables and give the little kids handheld clipboards and let them sit on the carpet area or something. (if only I ran this place! Haha!)
We then walked over to the other side of the park and they didn’t want to ride Star Tours! The park was PACKED today! It was listed as a not recommended park but we were here because the Stunt show had been down for the past few days and was opened up and Owen wanted to see it.
So, we just sat on a bench at the back of the park and the boys browsed some stores and then we shared a pretzel with cheese. At 12:40 we went into the stadium. I hate that stadium it’s so big and high up it actually brings out my fear of heights! Plus, it feels like it’s a 10 mile walk to get to it.
The show started at 1:20 and Olivia called us because she had arrived at the airport in Decatur and she saw a small plane outside and said “if that is my plane I’m not coming!” She was totally freaked out! Well it turns out that was her plane and it was SMALL! I think it was just her and the pilot and she could literally see out the front of the plane. Like
a private plane. But she did get on it! haha!!
So, we watched the show and they have added Lightening McQueen to it which I think is cute I know Owen would have loved that when he was younger! Once it was over we made our way to the front of the park. We did stop and watch some street performers on the way out. We then got our bag from the locker but it was just too cool out to go for a swim so we got on a bus to Pop instead. While on the bus we decided we should go to Downtown Disney so once we got to Pop we just hopped off the bus and got on one for DTD. We thought about running the pool bag to the room and grabbing sweatshirts but decided we wouldn’t waste the time.
So, on the bus and over to DTD and shopped at some stores. We of course went in the World of Disney store but that place was just crazy busy and they have moved everything around and basically, I did not enjoy my time in there because I spent all of it trying to find the boys!
We walked through Ghardelli and got a free peppermint chocolate square. And then over to Wolfgang Puck express for dinner. I got the meatloaf which is bacon wrapped and has onion straws on top served on mashed potatoes with gravy! YUM that was so good. Owen got the chicken tenders which aren’t exciting but were so much better than Disney fast food nuggets! And Alan couldn’t decide between the wood fired pizza or the fancy mac and cheese so we ended up ordering FOUR meals! Haha! But we all got to try the mac and cheese and then we just got our leftover food to go. For dessert we had to order 4 of those too! So, we got 3 cheesecakes and one crème brulee. The bill for this would have been $87.00! And these were quick service meals.
EVERYTHING was very good! The mac and cheese was excellent, my
food, Alan’s pizza too! (although he is in the bathroom as I write this! Haha!!) We ended up taking a little bit of everything back to the hotel with us to heat up later because we were stuffed!
When we left it was misting rain outside which it had started doing actually when we left the World of Disney store. So, we went out to wait for a bus and it was cold, rainy, windy and Owen and I were freezing! We got into the pool bag we were still dragging around with us and used the ONE hotel room towel I had packed to try to keep warm! We looked like fools!
We had a long bus ride back to Pop and we were on the bus at 4:50.
Olivia had called again earlier and said she made her connection at St. Louis.
We were SO EXCITED about her impending arrival! I felt bad for Owen because we had been saying all week that she would arrive today but of course it won’t be until tonight which made for a long day of waiting.
Once we were back at the room we unpacked her clothes and stuff and called down for a blanket and pillow for her. Alan is trying to blow up the air mattress but the thing that blows it up is dead and has to charge. Good grief if I had known it had to be charged up we’ve been here for 5 days and it could have been charged. This ALWAYS happens!
We just hung around the room. Owen read some of his Social Studies, I wrote this and Alan used the bathroom in the lobby and in the room!! Maybe the wood fired pizza wasn’t so good after all!! HAHA! He will not be happy I wrote that but if I know him he’ll never read it.
While we were bouncing off the walls in the room because it was still cold, windy and misting rain outside Owen made up some funny saying
about Alan!
It is said with a funny, weird accent:
“Mr. Feshe, annoying business man who still collects toys by day and by night mystic Feshe a world class billionaire who saves the world!”
Well that just cracked us up! Mostly me and Owen but I think we were just getting wound up by then as we are just waiting for her to call and say she’s landed but then she also has to make her way to Magical Express and get all the way here! Owen is VERY EXCITED!!!! BEYOND EXCITED!!
Ok so we heard from her and she’s landed at 6:20 and we spoke to her at 6:45 and she was on the bus. In an effort to chill Owen out we left the room and went to the lobby and got hot chocolate in our mugs and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more.
We sat inside by where the busses do the drop offs and 3 or 4 busses came and went while we were sitting there. Eventually she texted and said that she was on property and then at Art of Animation!
And then FINALLY the bus pulled up, the doors opened, the angels sang and off she came!! Dear Lord you would have thought we hadn’t seen her in YEARS!! HAHAAAA!! We took pictures AND video of her getting off the bus. We may have even embarrassed her a little bit but good grief we’ve been waiting for this since we woke up this morning. And we’ve done very little today. One drawing class, one stunt show, one dinner out and the rest was just waiting around.
She got off the bus and she started talking and she didn’t stop!!!!
And I’m not really kidding! She talked about her adventure of traveling all day and the flights and the small plane then the big plane and being in the 1st row with no storage under her seat etc etc. Then she talked about her practicum she’s been doing for school and she even showed us the things the kids had made for her because it was over.
So, between all the talking we went to the food court where she got to
fill her mug for the 1st time. Haha! (I took a pic!) She hadn’t eaten dinner of course so while Owen went with her to order food I went to the bathroom and came back and she still hadn’t decided. She ended up ordering the chicken strips and Alan went up to the room to get our leftovers and bring them down to the food court.
We got a table and he heated up some leftovers. Alan had his last 2 pieces of pizza. I had some leftover mac & cheese and chicken and Owen mostly ate the leftover cheesecake. Olivia ordered a cinnamon roll for her dessert item with her meal but saved it for breakfast.
We sat and ate while we listened to her stories and we filled her in on some things from our week when we could get a word in! hahah!!
Once we were done we went up to the room and the kids decided to take $10 and go to the arcade. Owen has been waiting for this. Alan and I stayed in the room and I wrote and he watched TV. The kids came back in about a half an hour for another $10 and went back down again. It’s 9:40 now and they are still gone and by the way we are still waiting for the air bed charger to fully charge!! SERIOUSLY!!
The alarm went off at 7am and we were showered and to the bus by 8:20! We got to MK about 5-10 minutes before opening and took pics on Main street once we entered and then on to Buzz, Space, TTA, Buzz again, tea cups and then we all rode the new Dumbo. The kids then took a ride on Barnstormer. And I’ve already gone pee 3 times!
Then on to show Olivia the New Fantasyland and we went to the story time with Belle with about a 20 minute wait. This was all new and we weren’t exactly sure what to expect. They have these cardboard signs of various characters and are looking for volunteers and I guarantee that I NOT volunteer but they had held up this one picture and apparently (according to Alan) I did an impersonation of that character’s voice! (I don’t recall this and I think Alan is full of crap) So, I got chosen!
Well I was not happy I was terribly embarrassed because the character was a large armoire and the guy working held up the picture sign and said that this character had big drawers to fill and then picked ME! So, I was insulted and embarrassed! My face turned an instant shade of red/hate! And we all had to march into the next room for the show. Alan could see I was horrified and he made Olivia take my place. Thank God!
At least that part turned out to be good because the only people who get their picture taken with Belle are the ones who have a part in the show. So, she marched around in the story and then got her picture taken with Belle and we got out of there. HAHA!
We took a ride on the Little Mermaid ride so she could see it and then it was 11:45 and time for lunch. We headed over to the Be Our Guest restaurant but there was a line a mile long (should have tried it the other day!) so we left and went to Columbia Harbor House again and we all had the shrimp.
After lunch we walked straight across to ride Haunted Mansion but it was down so we just rode the big steam boat around the river to rest a bit. It was about 12:30 when we did this. After that it was a quick bathroom break and then over to get FP for Big Thunder since it had a 40 minute wait and while we waited for our fast pass time we got in a 20 minute line for Splash Mountain.
My notes say we had poncho “incidents”! HAHA this was the time that Alan and Olivia were sitting in front of me and Owen and they had their ponchos on but were partially sitting on them and when they went to put up their hoods to the ponchos there was no “give” in the plastic and it totally ripped the hood off the back of the ponchos on BOTH of them at the SAME time! Owen and I cracked up because since they were sitting in front of us this happened RIGHT in our faces!
Once we got off, we only about 5 minutes left for our ride on Big Thunder and we grabbed more FP’s for it before we got on. After that 1st ride we still had more time to kill before we could ride with our 2nd FP’s so we went over and sat on some rocking chairs on the front porch of somewhere and the kids used the short-cut through to go do the Swiss Family Treehouse. Mostly we all just sat there and rested, took pictures and watched people TRY to eat turkey legs! Oh, and watch/listen to Olivia freak out about the birds! We also watched the CM’s set up for the afternoon parade.
Then at 2:30 we went back over to use our 2nd FP’s at Big Thunder.
I rode with Olivia and hit her in the nose! We then made our way to Main Street and ordered an ice cream cookie sandwich and got a yellow table and chairs in front of the ice cream place surprisingly and watched some of the Parade go by. We waved at the Beast! And he waved back!
We made our way to the front of the park to get a picture with Mickey and after that we were exiting the park. Olivia was about to pee her pants so we had to stop and deal with that and then we went to the TTC and got a bus to MGM. It was very fast there was very little wait and we were on the bus at 4pm which is pretty impressive since we were watching the parade and eating ice cream at 3pm and we still got our pic with Mickey after that.
Once we got to MGM Alan went to get FP’s for their rides but none were left for Tower so he got 4 for Rock n Roller Coaster. (the wait was 70 minutes). With 4 they can ride twice since Owen still won’t ride this yet.
Then we went over the Animation building to the drawing class and waited (standing!) for 25 minutes! We got to draw Fantasia Mickey. Then over to Star Tours and the kids rode twice.
Alan went into the Writers Shop to check for Owens Wimpy Kid book again and still none but he did buy us a carrot cake cookie to share. It was big and delicious.
Then we walked over to Pizza Planet so Olivia could eat because she was very upset, we ate here and she didn’t get to yet. We just sat and watched her eat and had our cookie.
When she was done her and Alan left to go use their FP’s and try to get on Tower while Fantasmic was going on.
Owen and I were on our own and we got in line to meet Phineas & Ferb (our morning cartoon show every day before school!) (“Ferb, I know what we’re gonna do today!”)
Then we walked through the Osborne Xmas lights and videotaped some of it. Then we walked back to Toy Story to check on the wait time but it was still 50 minutes and we were both disappointed. So, after a bathroom break, we went to see Walt’s One Man’s Dream. We walked through the building but had a 12 min. wait for the next show. I had my phone with me the whole time in case they called us but it never went off and even texted them to let them know where we were at but I got no reply. I just assumed they were on their ride.
Once we got out of the film, I called them and they said they were AT
THE HOTELLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!! I could NOT believe it! Here Owen and I are still in the park and debating about getting in line for Toy Story but they are already at the hotel! Well I had gotten our room keys from them before we separated in case, we wanted to leave the park before them but jeez. They claim they tried to text or call us and thought we were at the room so they left too.
So anyway, we decided to leave the park now and luckily got seats on a waiting bus.
Once we got to the hotel, we called them (they got that call! Haha!) and told them we were ordering our dinner since we hadn’t eaten.
For dinner Owen just had a cold turkey sandwich, some strawberries and chocolate cake for dessert. I had the turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, stuffing and corn bread. I just got a breakfast item for my dessert.
They met us down in the food court and Alan ordered the chicken parmesan. Olivia had already eaten dinner earlier at Pizza Planet. Then we went up to the room to crash at almost 10pm!
This had been a VERY long park day!! From open till close! And technically Owen and I lasted the longest! I still can’t believe all the things we did without them. Olivia seemed bummed she missed the Osborne Xmas lights.
The official start of Thanksgiving week crowds!
The alarm went off at 7 and while Alan and I got ready the kids took off and went down to the food court and got two breakfast bounty platters. Once Alan got ready, he went down and printed off my dining reservations because since we had the Quick Service plan, we only had a couple and I hadn’t printed them off! I had written down the times and days but not the reservation numbers.
I finished getting ready and when I got down there it was only 8:20! We were 1st in line for the Epcot bus and when we arrived at the park the driver dropped us off a little bit closer to the front of the park which was great!
We still managed to enter the park just after opening. Alan hustled over to grab us some Soarin fast passes while the kids and I went to Sum of all Thrills. There was no line so the kids got busy and made a coaster that they thought was tame but it ended up being an upside-down spinning one!! It shocked them but Owen ended up liking it! Then Alan showed up and it was still a “walk on” and Olivia and Alan made and rode one together and then Owen and Alan did one together after that. Olivia spent that time watching other people’s coasters and trying to figure out how to make their coaster do that stuff because other people’s versions were much wilder than theirs. I told her to just go ask the guy working the line for help.
After she figured that out her and Alan went again. The thing that sucks about this “ride” is that you can only do it 2 people at a time. So, they can’t all 3 build and ride one together!
Anyway, I just sat on a bench and watched them and of course went pee! and this went on until 10:10 when we went to go use our Soarin passes. That long walk across the park, then up the steep hill into the building, around to the far side of the building and to the start of the ride is FAR! Really FAR! And just about killed me!
We rode Soarin and they always announce something about if you have flip flops or dangly shoes to leave them there on the floor so they don’t fall off while riding. Well since I was wearing my Crocs with no socks on this trip (a new thing for me) I was afraid they would fall off so I took
them off. Then as the ride landed back down Olivia, unknown to me scooted my Crocs over so I couldn’t find them when our ride came to an end and I had a brief freak out moment! Meanwhile. She’s cracking up.
Before we rode we had grabbed another set of passes for 12:30 so when we got off I wanted to stay on that side of the park and go to Nemo and Crush until it was time for our 2nd FP’s but Alan said no let’s go to Mission Space so the kids can ride it! Well that’s all the way on the other side of the park that we just came from! So, we walked back over there and it had a 25 minute wait so I used the bathroom and then Alan and I sat on a bench and people watched since he doesn’t like that ride. I’m thinking he and I could have sat and waited somewhere else instead of walking all the way over here just to sit.
But while we were sitting
there, I saw a “famous” person walk by! It was Kevin Stringer he’s a well known trip report writer from the UK and I’ve been reading his reports for 10-15 years! It was him and his daughters but his wife wasn’t with them! It was SO exciting and I took a picture of them walking by! I thought of speaking to them but it was so crowded and they were walking very quickly and I couldn’t think fast enough of what to say etc. I later read his trip report that he wrote of that trip and it turned out that they got to the park that afternoon and his wife had left her park ticket back at the hotel and went back to get it that’s why she wasn’t with them.
After my excitement we were still waiting for the kids and it seemed like it was taking forever! When we finally saw them exiting the ride Alan told me to go on and get a head start walking toward World Showcase (because that’s how slow I am!) and we were on a time crunch to have lunch and get back over to Soarin! We wanted to eat at
a few different places in World Showcase for lunch.
So off I went and they caught up to me as we got to Mexico. We ordered a meal that came with one beef and one chicken taco and then Olivia also wanted the nachos meal too. We all shared everything except Owen he didn’t like any of it.
We sat and ate cautiously while watching the birds attack people and their food!
Then we went to Norway and the kids did the Perry the platypus spy thing that Alan and Owen had done earlier because Owen had told Olivia about it. The clue sent us to China and so we also had some lunch there too! We ordered two meals, the orange chicken and the shrimp/fried rice/egg roll. Both the meals came with a nasty tasting ice cream for the dessert. I think it was ginger flavored.
But Owen inhaled the orange chicken meal! And he did it using CHOP STICKS! Such talent.
The kids finished the Perry spy game and I went on ahead to Norway because this was the place I had wanted to try and all I had eaten in China was half of an egg roll.
I ordered a club sandwich and had it toasted, for a side I got the fruit cup and for dessert I had to pick something out of the bakery case which was not easy! But I chose the crème puff. Oh, also for a drink I was just getting a bottled water but Alan joined me at the end of the line and changed my regular plain bottled water choice for some extra fancy VOSS water! I don’t even know what Voss water is but I guess it’s expensive and on the dining plan it counted as a drink and so he wanted it. Guess what it tasted like? ……….Water! Ha!!
We were really short on time and had to hustle back over to Soarin because our ride time was for 12:30-1:30 and it was almost 1:10! So, we got the food in to go containers and as we walked the pathway at
one point we stopped and sat on a bench for just a couple minutes.
We had cut the sandwich into 3rd’s and so we tried a few bites of it before continuing on. I must say that this walk was very far and very fast and literally almost killed me for sure! It was also sunny and warm out.
Once we arrived at the FP line my face was SO RED! Alan saw my red face and he suddenly FINALLY seemed concerned for me! But up to that point it’s just go-go-go! And not just am I out of breath and slow but my blisters are killingggggg me!
I even asked last night if he would consider getting me a wheelchair today and he seemed to act like I was kidding! So anyway, once seeing my red face about to explode off my shoulders he starts fanning me and giving me drinks of water. He even got a napkin wet and had me dab my face with it. I kind of wanted to punch him at that point.
While we were doing this, we were waiting in line by a very annoying family! The parents just kept yelling at their bratty kid and saying his name over and over! Jonathon NO and Jonathon stop it! We were so glad that we didn’t get up in row 1 with Jonathon! Owen can’t stand bratty kids and he is not shy about it either! It’s very funny watching him just fume with hate!
As we strapped into our seats to take off I said “I think I am going to throw up…………….. Mexican, Chinese and Norwegian” and we all cracked up! luckily Soarin isn’t a coaster or I probably would have!
When we got off the ride Alan got more FP’s but they were for 7pm and we were leaving the park so he was going to give them away to someone else.
As we were leaving the park, we were trying to decide to either go on to Animal Kingdom or to go back to the hotel for a break and a swim. It was 2pm and AK closes at 7pm so we didn’t think we had time to do both. Owen was upset because it was sunny and finally seemed warm
so, he wanted to swim. The decision was made. Hotel it is.
Olivia and I told them to walk on ahead and go on back to the room but that we were too tired to walk fast so we would just catch up with them. However just as we got through the exit there was a wheel chair so they put me in it and off we went and then Olivia found a chair and Owen pushed her! JEEZ!
All of a sudden, we saw the Pop Century bus pull up so Olivia yelled “HAUL ASS” to the boys who were pushing us and we flew down there. It was a little scary but we made it on the bus and it was only 2:06! Once we got the hotel the boys went up to change and us girls went to the bathroom in the lobby and then to the 60’s pool because we weren’t planning on changing and swimming. However, the heater at the 60’s pool was broken so I called and told the boys to meet us at the 50’s pool instead.
Olivia and I had to drag some loungers over to the shade and the boys got in the water. I wanted to swim too since it was sunny and warm but I was just way too tired to go all the way to the room and change and then go back when done to change again and do my hair etc. Plus, as soon as we get in a pool the clouds always roll in!
The boys played ball and swam around for about 45 minutes. I’m sure Owen would have preferred to swim with Olivia but she was busy napping on the lounger. Out cold!
After their swim they went up to get changed and we told them to meet us back over by the 60’s pool area and we got up to walk that way. But we found an abandoned wheelchair behind the pool storage building so I got in and she pushed me (my blisters are killing me!) over to the bathrooms at the other pool area where she had to pee so bad, I thought she was going to pee her pants. That’s a serious issue with her! I guess she waits till it’s so bad she’s going to pee her pants like a newly potty trained 3 year old! HA!!
Anyway, we didn’t have the room key to get into the bathroom but some woman came out of the laundry room and unlocked it for us and we took turns going in to use the bathroom so one of us could save the chair! She went then I went and then she went AGAIN! What’s that about?
When I came out Owen was sitting in the chair because Olivia had gone back in for her 2nd bathroom trip and Alan was acting all upset like we had stolen a wheelchair from someone! It clearly says Pop hotel on it and is there to be used around the resort and it was not being used by anyone else. Then he sternly says “we are leaving it here right”? And I said well we are going to take it to the bus stop! It’s the hotels wheel chair so it can’t leave the hotel but I can get a ride to the bus stop in it. I could tell he did not like this idea.
So off we went and just as we arrive to the bus area up pulls an AK bus and it drives down and parks all the way down at the end. He picks up the pace pushing me down there and we managed to make it on that bus! But only because of the chair when leaving Epcot and now this chair we have managed to make good time this afternoon plus fit in a swim break for Owen.
We got on that bus and it was 3:40pm. Oh and we rode to AK on an almost empty bus with someone who REALLY needed some Deodorant! And no one was even sitting near us but it still took our breath away! And NO it wasn’t any of us.
Once we arrived at AK we found a chair by the busses to get a ride to the park entrance but once inside they said we couldn’t take it into the park it’s only for transport to and from the busses.
So, we went over to the area where we were supposed to turn it in and I thought we should just keep going in it because no one else was working over in that area but Alan just dumped me out of it and on we walked.
The parade was going on and so we split up and he went on ahead for Everest fast passes and we were supposed to go on to the safari and meet him there. We were hoping to get on before the last one of the day at 4:45 and it’s already after 4 now.
But we ended up being stuck on Discovery Island behind a roped area because of the parade with some angry people who had some dinner reservations they were trying to get to!
We had to call Alan and tell him and he was already over at the Safari. The really annoying part of this was that the parade wasn’t even near us yet. We finally just sat down at a picnic table and waited in the crowd for a few minutes and then we got up to start moving slowly with the huge crowd and Owen spotted a SNAKE! And it wasn’t in a cage! It was a real snake out and about in the “wild”!!
We met up with Alan and got on the Safari which was a walk on and we got the weirdest driver ever! There were hardly any animals out and he just kept getting SO excited about a rock! It defiantly turned out to be the worst safari we’ve ever been on. Also, the whole time we were watching some very dark clouds roll in and could tell it was going to pour soon.
Once we were done, they took lib to the gorilla walk while I just sat and rested but they came back very quickly because it had already closed.
We walked on toward Dinosaur but I just couldn’t do it! Each step just seemed like I couldn’t do it. I was very short of breath and felt awful. I told them to just go ahead and I sat down on a bench. Alan stayed
behind with me but I had just taken my bag from Olivia so that I would have my phone if we split up. But this means we just sent them off with no phone and no ponchos!
As we sat on the bench, I had a mental breakdown and cried and cried. Then it started to rain on us so we moved to the covered tables at Flame Tree BBQ. I pulled myself together and Alan went to order one meal for us to share. They are known for their ribs so we tried it and it was ok but I was still recovering from my breakdown and I was worried about the kids with no phones or ponchos and Owen didn’t even have his sweatshirt and it’s now dark, raining and chilly.
So, Alan left me there at the table and walked back to Dinosaur and found them and they came back with him just in time for Owen to eat the chocolate dessert that came with our meal.
Now that we’re all back together we leave to walk over to Everest because the FP is for 6-7 and it’s 5:45 now.
Once again, it’s dark, rainy and I am dying and can’t keep up so off they go with me trailing WAY behind and crying quietly in the dark because I don’t know why I feel THIS bad today! Yes, I have had difficulty keeping up other days and yes, I have had some nasty blisters causing me pain but whatever is going on this evening is defiantly something else.
When I arrived, I sat on a big rock outside in the rain with my poncho on crying because it was Owens 1st ride on Everest and I couldn’t even see anything since it was DARK!
They came outside after the ride to check on me and Alan had the nerve to kiss me on the cheek! Seriously? you left me for dead back on the walk way dude! And also, doesn’t seem to want to rent me a
wheelchair either. It’s not like I’m just tired! I have heart failure and don’t know what’s wrong with me right now because I haven’t felt like this all week!
So, after their 2nd ride they wanted me to come inside to see the pictures. After that I waited around inside out of the rain but there is no place to sit down. The ride was a walk on and they rode it 6 times in a row! Do you know how long that takes? A lot longer if you’re not the person riding.
At some point while they were riding, I went and used the restroom and then at 6:40 they were done they said they’d had enough and as we were leaving the ride area Alan found an abandoned wheelchair and so I got a ride out! THANK GOD because that is the thing that I had been sitting/standing around worrying about! How am I going to make it from the back of this park all the way to the bus stop?
When we got to the front of the park where you have to turn in your park wheelchair, he got me the other one to take out to the bus stop! That one was soaking wet but oh well it was better than walking. There was a Pop Century bus waiting and Alan didn’t think we’d make it over to it and onto the bus but we did. The kids and I got seats but not together and he got stuck standing.
We got back to the hotel around 7:00-7:30 and to the food court. Alan and I had shared that meal earlier but the kids hadn’t eaten anything so they each had the fried chicken dinner and Alan ordered the parmesan chicken meal but with mashed potatoes for some reason and he was going to share some of it with me. Ewwww.
But it turns out that Alan’s chicken was gross so I ate the chicken breast from Owens fried chicken meal that he wasn’t eating.
For dessert Owen had an ice cream sundae, Olivia had carrot cake and Alan got a breakfast item.
We watched Toy Story 3 in the food court while we ate but Alan and Olivia went on back to the room with their dessert while I waited with Owen for him to finish up his ice cream. We got back to the room around 8:30 and watched Toy Story some more until 10pm then lights out!
This had started out a good day at Epcot and a nice swim break for Owen but wow did I have a rough evening!
I decided that after last night I needed a break so I sent them off to MGM without me this morning! They are just going to go ride things while I sit and wait on them anyway at the beginning of the day. So, I don’t have any notes about the morning but I do know that I had a terrible time trying to go back to sleep so I mostly just laid around the room and watched TV.
I got ready and rode the bus over around noon.
For some reason the stupid bus dropped us off nowhere near where the usual drop off is. Nope instead they dropped us off a mile farther away! OF COURSE! It was over where the offsite busses do drop offs and pickups. WWHHHYYY!?!?!
So, I had to trek from way out in the middle of the parking lot to the front of the park and then meet up with them. It was 12:35 and we were going to go to the 12:30 American Idol show but we had just missed them closing the doors for it. So instead they drug me
all the way to the back of the park to the Backlot Tour. (seriously everything we want to do when we arrive calls for walking from the busses to the back of the park all at once!)
(Owen had been BRAVE this morning riding Rock n Roller coaster for the 1st time! But he still doesn’t like Tower of Terror! (it’s the heights thing! he gets it from his Momma!)
The wait was 25 minutes so we went to One Mans Dream 1st and as soon as we walked inside it, I walked back outside to take 2 Tylenol and then went back in to join them. We watched the movie and I cried as usual. When we got done, we went over to the 1:30 American Idol show but the judges were not as funny as last time.
After this Olivia just kept naming off stuff, we should go do next but I told them that we need to go back to the room for naps because tonight is late night extra magic hours at MK. No one was happy about taking a nap!! Which is funny because usually that’s right up Olivia’s alley! But we got back to the room around 2:30-2:45 and we were in bed ready to nap at 3pm.
Owen put up a fight about napping but we made him lay down and Alan slept on the floor on the air mattress! Ha! I’ve got to say when reading this I’m wondering why I even bothered to join them at the park earlier because we really didn’t do much while I was there. I should have stayed in the room but it’s so hard to just sit in the room when others are having fun in the parks.
We all slept till 5:30!! Even OWEN! But it did take him a long time to actually fall asleep.
Once we got up and ready, we took the bus over to Downtown Disney to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express. We had eaten here without Olivia the day she flew in and then reheated some leftovers that evening at the food court. It was all so good we wanted to eat here again and it’s such a good deal on the quick service dining plan.
For dinner Owen had the chicken tenders, Olivia had the spaghetti and meatballs, I had the bacon wrapped meatloaf again and Alan had the macaroni and cheese meal and added a bowl of tortilla soup which we
had to pay for out of pocket ($7!) and for desserts we had 3 cheese cakes and one crème brulee. Our meal which was considered fast food would have cost $104.00!!
We were all stuffed and we went straight back to the bus stop to take a bus to any of the monorail resorts to get to MK. Oh and it is COLD out tonight!!
We got on the Grand Floridian and Wilderness Lodge bus and had a long bus ride with a bunch of rich snotty people! Seriously!
Once we got to the Grand Floridian I had to pee and we took some pictures at the hotel and then onto the monorail to MK. We had planned to go see Mickey first for his birthday today but the wait was 35 minutes so we didn’t.
It was about 8:40 so we made our way to Haunted Mansion and it was pretty much a walk on and then over to see Philarmagic and walked right in.
After that we went to the front of the castle for the light show at 9:45. It was VERY crowded but we shoved in there and got good spots to see and this was the 1st time Olivia saw the projection show on the castle. Once it was over Wishes started and my feet were starting to kill me from stand in the same spot for so long without moving.
When it was over the kids moved their way out of the crowd and Alan followed and then me behind him but some kid who was on his dad’s shoulders was being lifted down and I got kicked with a tennis shoe right smack in the face! It hit me right in the cheek bone, HARD! and Alan had turned around just in time to see it. The kid’s parent wasn’t even aware it happened but we made our way out of the biggest part of the crowd in the center hub and found a bench to just sit on while some people cleared out. I leaned over and laid my head on Alan’s chest and had a good cry! My face hurts it felt like I got punched. Plus, I was still emotional about my rough day yesterday. The kids didn’t even know it happened and never even noticed me crying since it was dark.
Once it was less crowded, we went and walked on the Jungle Cruise and then Aladdin twice. Why do I like this ride so much? I don’t’ know but its fun to me. It’s about all my excitement level can handle these days, I guess!
After that Olivia and I took a bathroom break and Alan and Owen got in line for hot chocolates. Have I mentioned that it’s FREEZING!! Well it is!
We walked over and sat down in front of the country bear jamboree area to wait for the Main Street Electrical Parade. We had about a 30 minute wait because it was 11:00 and the parade didn’t start till 11:30! So, Alan went into one of the shops that has a candy counter and got us some treats. Owen went with him and picked out a peanut butter cookie, Alan and I shared a toffee and a turtle and he brought back a rice krispie “turkey leg” for Olivia! It was very funny because she had been wanting to try one those big nasty looking turkey legs but no one wanted to share it with her and they are $10 and not on the dining plan. So, when he brought this thing back it cracked us all up! She posed for a picture with it. I’ll bet it tasted better than a real turkey leg.
After the parade was over, we cut through and went to ride Pirates with no wait and then went over to Big Thunder which had about a 15 minute wait. Olivia had gone over here while we were waiting for the parade to get us fast passes but they were out.
Also, while we were in line for Big Thunder the park officially closed to everyone and our Extra Magic Hours began! These late-night hours
aren’t that useful with the crowds if the park closes at 7-8-9-10pm because then it stays open 3 hours later for EMH but lots of people can handle staying late an extra 3 hours if it’s closing early. However tonight the park didn’t close till midnight which means the extra house last till 3am! We were hoping not everyone had power naps like we did and they would all leave!
After our first ride we rode again without Alan because he woke up from his nap with a sore throat and it was bothering him. I rode with Owen and Olivia sat alone. Then Olivia and I rode one more time just the two of us. It’s a hike up that hill to get on that ride but each time we went on the line was a little smaller. Also, on our rides on Big Thunder we would yell out the time! “it’s 12:45am!”
When we were done, we walked past Splash Mountain which had been open earlier but is now closed because it’s THAT COLD!
We walked back toward Fantasyland and I wanted to stop for a funnel cake but we’d already had snacks earlier.
The kids rode the carousel and Alan found me an abandoned wheelchair in Fantasyland! Then we all went over and rode Pooh and there was the most awful family over there! They were in front of us as we were going through the line (it was a walk on) and they messed with all the interactive stuff in line trying to screw it up. Then they tried to fit like 8 full sized adults onto one ride vehicle! The CM’s told them no and they threw a FIT especially the mom she was the worst! (and that’s saying something!) It was all so stupid and Owen continued to imitate her for days! After we got off the ride, we avoided them and went the other way. We went and rode the cars at the Tomorrowland Speedway. I rode with Owen. Good grief those are hard to get in and out of and
there is no graceful way to do it!
Then back into my chair and we went over and rode Buzz twice, it was a walk on. It is now 2am and even with our naps we’re not going to make it till 3am! We. Are. Done.
We left the park and Alan was pushing me in the chair. We were just outside the gates and on our way to the busses when flying past beside us is Owen pushing Olivia in a wheelchair!! She is wearing the light up sunglasses and eating her fake turkey leg and laughing SO HARD saying that no one would ever question that she belongs in a special chair!! We about pee’d ourselves laughing! Also, where did Owen get that energy at after 2am!
Once we arrived at the bus we got seats and as we were entering the Pop Century area the song Stayin Alive came on the radio and the family standing at the front of the bus was singing it out loud and then the bus driver started flickering the bus lights to make it look like disco lights! This was very funny. Especially at 2:45am!!
We got to the room and went straight to bed at 3am. No alarm set.
And Olivia told Owen that when he wakes up in the morning to just roll over and go back to sleep! I didn’t say it at the time but I thought Owen won’t be the problem………..Alan will!!
Despite the freezing temps tonight we had a really good time! I’m sure the cold weather also helped with the lack of crowds! Fantasyland was completely empty and this is Thanksgiving week!
Thanksgiving week!
We slept in with no alarm. At 10 Alan woke up to use the bathroom and then made noise getting dressed in the dark and as he opened the door to leave the room it let in VERY BRIGHT sunlight and woke us all up!
Oh, and in order to get the door open to leave he had to wake Olivia up and make her move to the bed which she tried to do while still asleep and without any part of her body touching the floor! But somehow in her still asleep state while flinging her body to the bed she had enough sense to about herself to say one word to him……………….”waffles”!!! Seriously! I only had one eye open and the only reason it was open was to give Alan the stink eye! I thought it was so rude of him to wake her up and make her move and to wake us all up for that matter (hello, bed at 3am!) but Olivia wasn’t mad she just wanted waffles!
Owen finally woke up and we chatted for a bit mostly about being woken up! And then he came back with breakfast and we ate and I showered while they did NOTHING.
Then we all got ready and left the room about noon.
We went to Epcot and it was packed! Spaceship earth had a 30 minute wait and Soarin was 130 minutes! So, we checked Sum of all Thrills but even it was at 50 min. so the kids wanted to do the put out the fire game so they went to go to it. I was about to pee my pants (I have an excuse I take a water pill!) but everyone just keeps walking even though I said I had to go pee they just march on so I had to walk clear back to the other innoventions building where there was even a line for the bathroom.
They spent about 30-40 minutes doing the fire game and at 12:45 I sent Alan to go get in line for the free Visa picture with the characters. We have two cards so we get two free pics but then Alan tells me that he doesn’t have his on him so we only end up with one picture anyway. (I was not happy) Luckily, I had gone back to the room for mine this morning or we wouldn’t have had any.
Speaking of this morning we couldn’t decide where to go today AK or Epcot and we went back and forth with it and it got ugly!
So anyway at 1:10 we walk over and found Alan sitting in the line waiting for them to open up for the pictures. It was going to be awhile so the kids went on over to Club Cool quickly to get a drink.
It finally opened up and we were the 4th family in. Not sure all that waiting is worth the free picture. (ITS NOT!)
Then we went over to see the Crush show at almost 2pm. They were looking around at all the fish after it but I wanted to sit and rest my feet so I went outside to sit down. I waited and waited they were in there forever!
We decided to walk over and ride Figment because there was nothing else to ride without a line! Alan didn’t want to ride it so he went off to look for a whiskey for his sore throat. We found him after and turns out he couldn’t find what he was looking for and just ended up with a hot tea. We got some snacks to share. 1 salty pretzel, 1 sweet pretzel, 1 popcorn and a coke and sat on a bench to eat and freeze to death! It is cold again today but it is also VERY WINDY! And it just feels like you may die from the wind hitting you.
After this we walked over to Mission Space and the kids went on ahead to ride and Alan and I went to check the time of Sum of all Thrills. It was down to 25 minutes so I went out to try and find the kids before they rode mission space but they were already gone. The sign for MS said 10 minutes so I sat on a bench and waited for them because we had told them we would meet at the picture store by the park entrance.
Well I waited about 20-25 minutes and they still hadn’t came back so I walked back into Sum and Alan was about to ride. So, I walked back outside and there were the kids just now finally coming off the ride. I told them to go get in line for Sum but it still says 25 min and they are worried we’ll be late for our dinner at Ohanas. I said don’t worry it will be fine. It was 3:45 and we had an hour till dinner but we did have to travel to get there.
They went ahead and got in line and Alan was done already so we said we’d go on to the picture store as planned to pick up our free pic and they can meet us there.
At the store we were waited on by a very rude man who was in a big hurry and didn’t want to let us look at our pictures. We just got the free one and had it sent to Pop Century. Then we waited outside for the kids. The wind has REALLY picked up even more and it feels like a big storm is coming and I can’t believe how cold it is!
The kids finally showed up and we made plans for the evening. Olivia and I are the only ones going to Ohanas because we have to pay for the meal and the boys don’t care that much. The plan is for all of us to take the monorail and Olivia and I will go to the Polynesian and the boys will go to the Contemporary to eat at their fast food place to try something different. They have a mahi mahi sandwich there and a few other
things that are not the usual.
Then they will go to Pop Century to get warmer clothing for all of us and they will take the bus to AK and after our dinner Olivia and I will meet them there.
We had some major monorail confusion though and took it from Epoct to the TTC and then got on the MK one because Alan said that was the only way. But we should have just gotten on the resort monorail. DUH!! So, we all rode to the MK and then waited for a different one and rode it the Contemporary where the boys got off and then on to the Poly. Oh, and it stopped at the TTC between those two hotels also!
Shockingly we weren’t that late but I don’t know how! We checked in and got a buzzer then went to use the restroom and while we were in there the buzzer went off before we’d even shut the stall doors!
We got a window seat facing the marina with a side view of the castle. I remember in 2005 when we got the window seat facing the castle and I cried! And Alan ordered me a fancy drink with a blue light up fake ice cube to celebrate Haha! (I still have that light up ice cube thing)
We had a very nice waiter but he sucked. Our drinks sat empty and it took him forever to bring us some meat and when he did, we were always the last table he visited so there would be hardly any meat left on the skewer. It would be one tiny piece each. We finally got some shrimp and steak but our noodles and broccoli were cold by then.
We also waited a long time for dessert and then our bill.
I think it would have been different if there were more people in our group because he wouldn’t have come to the table with only two pieces of meat left. Also, at some point during the meal Olivia had to leave to use the bathroom for awhile and leave me there alone.
There was a family of 4-5 people seated after us that were done and left before we did.
Anyway, we got the bill and apparently since it’s Thanksgiving week they charged us for Holiday pricing instead of the regular pricing! Jeez. $40 each instead of $32.
So, I had a guilt trip about how much we spent on it.
After dinner Olivia had to use the bathroom AGAIN. And then out to the bus stop. The boys called us and said they were leaving Pop with our warmer clothing and on their way to AK.
We were at the Poly bus stop with some annoying rich families but we were the only ones who got on the bus to AK! We had the whole thing to ourselves. I did my best to text with the boys on the way there. I’m very new to texting.
They got there for one ride before we arrived. We looked for a wheelchair as we arrived to help us move faster but didn’t see one. So, it was a long walk back there and as we entered the park the ticket girl laughed and asked if we were there to ride Everest? We said yes and there was only one hour left till closing.
The ride was a walk on so they rode it over and over from 7-8:03 and then they yelled LAST CALL and they just missed it by one second as they were coming off the ride then.
I had just stood around the whole hour while they rode. Luckily the wind had died down this evening by the time we got to AK.
There was no chair to be found for making our way to the front of the park so again it was a long walk. Alan did get me one for the ride from the park exit out to the bus though.
We were thinking about taking the bus to MGM for evening EMH from 9-12 because AK had just closed at 8 but we decided it would be too busy and we would be better off to go to bed early so we can get an
early start in the morning.
Once back to the room at 8:40 and the kids had plans to go to the arcade but Olivia was on the phone with Tim and didn’t seem to be getting off so I took Owen down to the arcade because it was already after 9 but we no more than got there and she showed up. So, I went back to the room because I had to start packing stuff. It’s ok I needed the walk! Hahahahahaha.
I packed and watched Dancing with the Stars (seemed to watch a lot of that during this trip. On accident haha) and then at 10 I sat down to write some notes from today and I ate half of Alan’s red velvet cupcake he got tonight at the Contemporary. It was awesome! I was nice and gave him the other half.
He watched Castle which was just stupid because it was on till 11pm! If I had wanted to watch a show that didn’t end till 11pm he would have said no lights out! The kids had come back to the room at 9:45 so they weren’t gone long at all. Olivia laid down at 10 and fell asleep. We finally had lights out at 11 after Alan’s show was over.
Last full day.
Alarm was set for 7am and we went down for breakfast quickly and then on the bus to MGM about 8:20. Made it into the park and to Toy Story Mania and Alan grabbed us fast passes for later and were getting on the ride at 8:50. We were back out front at 9:10 and we thought Owen and I could go again while they went on to Tower of Terror but the line was already at 60 minutes!
We all went back to Tower but of course they went ahead of me and I caught up with them. Owen waited in the gift shop for me because he wasn’t riding and then we sat on a bench outside the exit. There was a long line of people waiting for RnR coaster when we went back to Tower, I am not sure if it wasn’t opened yet or the ride was down or what. Luckily the line was gone by the time they came off Tower and we headed that way. The wait time was listed at 30 minutes but they all went in the single rider line so it was a little faster. I waited outside for awhile and then went into the gift shop to wonder around but it’s really small so I ended up back outside sitting on a concrete wall area. They came and got me because they wanted me to buy the picture of the kids because it was so funny. However, they had taken off to go ride again and I was left with no money and no room key to charge it to the room or anything! So, I just went back outside to my concrete wall to sit and wait again.
I made friends with some old man who was on a scooter and he was asking me tons of questions about the parks, restaurants etc and I was filling him with info. He was on a trip with his family and I think we bonded because he loved that I knew so much stuff. Eventually his wife showed up and she was NOT friendly she was a total rip! Figures! Then some young teenage boy came up to me and asked if he could use my cell phone to call his mom because he had left his phone at the hotel. I was hesitant because I thought maybe it’s a scam but then again, it’s not like I have a fancy phone! So, I told him he could use it but he couldn’t make fun of my phone! Haha! He called and got her voice mail and left a message then he gave me back my phone and left. About 10 minutes later my phone rang and it was her but she hung up on me! I think she thought she had a wrong number when I answered the phone and not her son. I looked around for him but didn’t see him in the area anymore. Oh well hope he found his mommy!
My family finally showed up I don’t know if they rode 2 or 3 times but it felt like it took all morning!! I should have gone to see a show or something! Anyway, now we went back to go use our Toy Story fast passes and after that over to do the Backlot Tour. Little did we know this would be the last time we ever do this because about a year after our trip they closed it down for good and removed it. As we started to get in line Olivia said she had to go to the bathroom so we got out of line and just missed it starting. We gave Olivia a lot of crap about that. Once we got back in line, we were at the front waiting for the next show so we had to wait for awhile but being at the front meant that they were looking for volunteers for the show. As we were all standing there talking apparently Alan heard them ask and he got picked and the rest of us didn’t even hear them ask or see him get picked! He just handed us his fanny pack and we were like why? where are you going? Well then, we got excited we get to make fun of dad!! This should be good!
The thing started and out he came all dressed from head to toe in rain gear for the ship/water scene. He was the ………………wait for it……………………wait for it………………… comic relief!! HAA how funny is that! I videotaped it and Olivia took pictures and after they are done filming it, they play the finished product on the overhead screens so I tried to tape that too but the stick in the video camera was FULL!
At least we got most of it and the kids were just cracking up! Oh, and we had been giving Olivia a hard time about having to use the bathroom earlier and making us miss getting on the tour and then having to wait for the next one but now she’s pointing out that if it hadn’t have been for her having to pee dad wouldn’t have gotten picked!!
Once our actor was done with his filming, he joined us for the rest of the tour and then when it was over, they had fast passes for
Tower of Terror so they went back to ride and Owen and I were ready for lunch so we walked back that way to get food. We got in a HUGE line (hello, two days before Thanksgiving crowds!) and we didn’t see any empty tables anywhere so Owen left the line to go walk around and try to find us an empty table. After some searching, he found us one and sat to wait for me. And wait and wait because I stood in that line for 30 minutes! Once I got the tray of burgers and fries and sat down the burgers were COLD! How can they be cold if it’s this busy? I was not happy it was the only burger I’d had on the whole trip. Also, just as we were eating Alan texted and wanted to know where we wanted to eat lunch! HA!
They got done with their ride when we had just finished eating so we met up and left the park. We took the bus to Art of Animation because it came 1st. When we were walking through that hotel Alan and Olivia decided to eat there where they got hot freshly made to order burgers! Owen and I walked on to Pop Century and he got changed into swim trunks since it was warm out today and I took him to the 50s pool. We checked the temp at the Nemo as we walked past over at AoA and we checked the 60’s pool at Pop and both of those were freezing! So off to the 50s pool it was. Have I mentioned how cute Owen is that he still wants to go swimming at the pool? He really wishes his sister would get in and swim and play with him but she’s over that! I sat at a table and chairs and wrote in my notebook and watched him swim he looked so cute and lonely because he had the whole pool to himself! Alan and Olivia showed up and she fell asleep on a lounger. Again. Owen got out after about 45 minutes and Alan took him up to the room to get changed. We came up a few minutes later. When we got there really only a few minutes later Alan was asleep on the bed and Owen was on his kindle.
Olivia laid down and went back to sleep too while I did more packing!!
When I was done, I was going to take Owen down to the lobby to pick up our picture from yesterday and pay part of our bill with reward cards. I also needed to print off our boarding passes. But Alan woke up and came with us. Owen wanted his arcade card so he could spend his points but couldn’t find it anywhere! I had to dig through a big suitcase that I had just packed and we ripped the room apart looking for that thing! Then we gave up. Owen stayed behind in the room because without his arcade card he didn’t need to go with us to the lobby. But once we got down there he showed up (alone!) and had it with him! It turns out that this entire time that we ripped through the room and I dug through suitcases Olivia had it in her pocket all along!! She had been asleep and didn’t know we were looking for it! Jeez.
The bill was $191 and we took off $65 and $14 with our rewards cards. Also, they had rang up one of our food & wine snack items as a charge instead of as a snack credit but we got it straightened out. Then off to the arcade where they picked out items and I went to the room to get ready for tonight!
We left the room around 4pm to head to Magic Kingdom. We arrived at the park at 4:45 and took some video on Main Street and saw a Vet doing the flag ceremony. Then we walked over and got in line to ride Aladdin and waited 20 minutes to ride! Then over to Big Thunder but the wait was 70 minutes so we got FP for later (8:30) and we checked out the wait for Splash but it was 45 so we took the train around to Fantasyland and got FP for Dumbo and Barnstormer even though we still hadn’t used our Big Thunder ones yet and shouldn’t have been able to get more it let us! Then we all rode the teacups with about a 10-15 min. wait.
Then over to Pinocchio’s for dinner at 6pm and had the flatbread pizzas. I got the BBQ chicken it wasn’t bad but the plain cheese looked
better. That’s what the kids got and I’m not sure what kind Alan got. We sat outside with a view of the carousel lights and the back of the Castle it was very pretty.
After we ate, we went to see Philarmagic and then back to Barnstormer. My stomach was feeling icky (I blame the BBQ chicken flatbread!) so Alan and I sat down and let the kids ride it twice. Then we got the train over to Frontierland and walked right onto Splash now at about 7:30. We all used our ponchos but Alan was in front and he got soaked! Then we walked on again and got our own log! We each sat in our own row and were supposed to all make a scared face but only Olivia and I did it. Owen just sat very calmly and put up the peace sign and Alan shrugged his shoulders and didn’t even look at the camera. We bought the photo and since we are so close to the end of the trip and can’t have it sent back to the hotel, we just did the digital download. (big mistake because we forgot all about it and I’m not sure whatever happened to that pic!)
By now it’s 8:30 and time for our FP at Big Thunder so we went on that one last time and got the back row. The wait was still at 40 or 60 minutes I can’t remember which so we just took the train back to Fantasyland because Owen has decided he’s brave enough to try Space Mountain. We got off the train and Alan found me a wheelchair to use but when we got to Space it was over an hour wait so they didn’t go on. Such a bummer it was a 10 day trip and he waits till the end to want to try this ride.
There was some song and dance party with Goofy and Pluto at the stage in that area and the kids danced around to maybe two songs and then we went to check out the wait for Buzz but it was at 40 minutes so we rode the TTA and then it was 9:40 and so we made our way to the front of the Castle for the light up projection show at 9:45. We gave up the wheelchair because there was no way to get it through the crowds in this area. We got a good spot and after it was over, we stayed there for
Wishes.
Then made our way over to the funnel cake place and actually got a table and Alan ordered two funnel cakes and two cups of water. We sat here and watched half of the 2nd projection show on the Castle and then we started making our way out of MK because the 11pm parade would be starting soon.
So out to the front and I cried like a baby as we left. It’s so bitter sweet.
We tried to find a wheelchair to take to the bus stop but didn’t see any till we got almost there and then I rode a very short way in one. But once we got to the bus stop that’s where they were all sitting empty! And the bus line of people was SO long that we all four of us just sat down in the row of wheelchairs (there were no benches!) out of the line along the fence and just waited there. We knew it was going to be several busses before we got on so we just sat back there and waited but people sure were staring at us with disapproving looks. Not sure why they cared because with us out of line it’s 4 less people in front of them trying to get on that bus. And we didn’t take those chairs from anyone who was using them they were sitting abandoned.
We also kept an eye on the bus line for AoA to see if maybe we should just ride over there but it was pretty long too.
There was a CM with a clipboard at the busses calling for more busses and after THREE came and filled up and left we finally got into a still pretty long bus line. It was then that we also noticed that while Pop has had 3 busses AoA has had 6! And by the time we got on our bus to get out of there AoA had another 2 show up!
So, we defiantly should have gotten in that line!
We were back to the hotel around midnight. I actually think it was closer to 12:30 and we all crashed into bed. We have to get up early tomorrow and go home!
Alarm went off at 7am and Alan and I got busy! He dealt with the air mattress and packing of the CPAP machines and I did the other packing. We were doing fine on time but Alan only has one speed at times like this and it is FAST!! And I had to tell him to chill a little!
We were all packed up and we pulled our own bags down front to the airline check in area and they printed out our boarding passes and took all our luggage besides the CPAP machines and the kids each had a backpack that we kept with us. Then we went into the food court and got a table and sat with our stuff while Alan went to get the food. It was VERY busy of course being the day before Thanksgiving and it was about 8:30-9am. But the kids and I were really tired and very slap happy so we were laughing and cracking up. I was apparently telling some funny “story” that ended with the sentence “and then I lowered my standards and married your father”! Well at the moment I said that sentence the food court had suddenly gotten quiet and I am loud as it is so we looked around and yes people defiantly heard me! The kids just cracked up laughing and then Alan walks up with a tray of food and a very stern straight face and says……………….. “I can hear you guys from all the way over there”!! He was not happy!
But it was damn funny.
So anyway, we had 4 bounty platters which really do kind of suck, I think.
And then we had two snack credits left and Olivia had wanted a carrot cake and only had a half of a piece on the trip. (I ate the other half while alone in the room that one morning!) So, she’s mad this morning because they don’t have any out. So Alan went and asked someone if they had any more in the back and yes they did so she got her carrot cake and I got the last crème cheese Danish! We took them both to go for later.
We walked out through the gift shop and made one last stop at the bathroom and then to wait for the bus.
We took a family picture while waiting and we were bracing ourselves for the nightmare that we expected at the airport because today is the busiest travel day of the year!! The day before Thanksgiving!! But we got there and it was FINE! It was actually better than fine. We didn’t have one person in front of us at security and it’s normally always busy at this airport no matter what day it is.
There were news crews around all set up to film the crowds and the chaos but no crowds.
We sat Olivia down on a bench to guard our carry-ons and we walked around some gift shops. The Universal, Disney and Nasa stores and then used the bathrooms one more time before going through the last security check. We also stopped in a book store and bought Owen his new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book (Third Wheel) that we had looked for all last week. Woo Hoo he’s happy.
At the gate Owen read his book and Olivia got on facebook with his kindle. I called mom but just got the machine and left a message. Alan went and got him and Olivia starbucks drinks and a bagel for her and I to share. Then we boarded the plane and the creepiest most talkative guy ever sat beside Olivia! HAA! He would not shut up and at one point he got up to use the bathroom and was gone for about 30 minutes!
We landed early. Really early for me because I thought we were getting in at 3 but it was actually 1-2 instead. We went to the Renaissance for the van and the kids BOTH (yes even OWEN) fell asleep as soon as we got on the road. He woke up just before Vandalia so Alan made us stop
for hot wheels at Walmart! Seriously! I thought Olivia was going to kill
him but he was in withdrawal. And then we went to the KFC/Taco bell and got “snacks/meals”.
Got home at 4:30pm and tomorrow is Thanksgiving! And then we have Black Friday! Turns out that Alan and I were still so tired from the trip that we didn’t even go Black Friday shopping this year! Alan went to the Dr for his sinus infection (and had fluid in his ears too).
Oh, and at 6am on Thanksgiving morning Olivia woke up (at Tim’s house!!) puking and continued to throw up and have diarrhea all day long and she totally missed the entire Holiday! She and Tim had gone uptown to the bars after we got back that night before Thanksgiving because so many kids her age were home from college and up there. So, we don’t know if she caught something there or what. But she had it bad and totally missed Thanksgiving.
After Thoughts:
** This trip was totally different for us. Going without Olivia for that 1st 5 days was weird and Owen didn’t handle it well after day two! It was also the last trip where I feel like Owen was really a kid.
I will say that we had such a laid back relaxing trip during those first 5 days before she got there. We slept in and took breaks and spent evenings at the hotel. But then she arrived and so did the Thanksgiving crowds and we felt like we had to go go go from early morning till late at night. And we did!! Also, I miss long trips like this.
Of course, I had several health issues on the trip that sucked! My stomach issues early on in the trip were very weird as it wasn’t a typical “stomach issue”. Don’t know if it was diverticulitis related or what but glad it went away.
And then of course my inability to keep up with the walking and shortness of breath on those days that we were going strong also was no fun. Who knew that just a few months later I’d be having my surgery! And that we wouldn’t be returning to Disney for a few years after this trip.
We also did the quick service dining plan for 10 days which means no table service meals and while it wasn’t bad at all I know near the end we were ready for some other food. Also, sometimes the sit down meals are nice to give you a rest during your park time. It’s also nice because it’s one of the times where we aren’t split up. We all sit and talk and have fun at those dinners too rather than me sitting on a bench while they ride stuff.
However, we had a great trip! We got so much done even with a holiday week and we totally kicked the Magic Kingdoms butt that one night till 2am!
*As I read this and see that we came home on the night before Thanksgiving I can’t help but think we could have stayed 4 more days because there was no work or school! But is 14 days too many? HAHA!!