Trip Report "You stop it, you bad boy Captain Hook!" **COMPLETED **

Aloha! Welcome to my first trip report!

We just returned from a 6-night stay in The World from May27-June 3rd. This was not our first trip but we tried a lot of new things! Including visiting during a holiday weekend in summer and staying at our first deluxe resort by renting DVC points.

Let's start by introducing the crew (be warned, there will be a lot of pirate talk if you couldn't tell by the title!):

Poohbear-Keegan(3) we were celebrating his birthday this trip, Pluto-Ty(almost 7), Chip-Matthew(5), Minnie-Me(gan), and Mickey-DH. Thanks to Etsy for our matching shirts that DH just loves to wear

We ended up driving as we've done it in the past and our boys do pretty well in the car. Last trip the last 3 hours were the worst with traffic and construction. So, we decided to break it up this trip and arrived in Gainesville about 7:30pm. This way we didn't waste a night at a Disney resort by arriving after bed time. We decided to visit the Swamp while we were in town.

Boys needed time to run around after 15 hours in the car and being huge college FB fans we wanted to check out their stadium. I was not overly impressed with their facilities. I will add that growing up in Nebraska in the 90's made me hate any program that came from the state of Florida so that may have had something to do with my reaction

Next morning we decided to drive 30 min to the next stop in Ocala for breakfast at one of our favorites, First Watch

On this last stretch we notice that Ty's nagging cough that he had for a week was getting a lot worse and then Matthew started complaining that his ear was hurting I will say we debated taking Ty to the Dr before we left but anyone with kids knows unless they have had it for 10+ days and a fever they are not going to prescribe anything. Don't want them getting immune to antibiotics and all...but we had been down this road before. Last year during Spring Break at Disney Matthew developed an ear infection on night 2 of our vacation at 2am. Screaming 4 year old in the middle of the night can put a damper on things! DH had to take him to Florida centra care the next morning.

I bet you know where I'm going with this...we decided to make a detour to Centra Care and good thing we did as they were closed the next day for Memorial Day along with the pharmacy. Note:the centra care website makes it so easy to book an appt online and we were in and out in about an hour.

Bronchitis, ear infection and two antibiotics later and we were finally ready to head to our resort!!!

Where are we going???

We arrived around 1pm our goal was 11am but we will find out that our delay was for the best. The valet guys were awesome...even refrigerated the antibiotics for us.

Check-in was smooth except for this guy on his EVC decided he didn't need to wait in the line like the rest of us and almost ran me over cutting in line When I told him I was in line he just kept moving. This will be a big pet peeve of mine this trip, the total disregard for other people and the mindset that their time is more valuable. I will even get into it with a 10 year old later on...

Anyway, nicest gal at check-in. I request a building closest to the main house but also checked the box for first available room. We had an early ADR and wanted time to settle the room and get ready. She said they were cleaning it now and should receive our text anytime! In the meantime we had promised some pool time and a dole whip or 2. Dole whip floats are a great use of a snack credit!!

6 going on 16!!

My little pirate

Next:Getting into our room...maybe!

 

[amjt660]

OK - All these great pics of smiling young men meeting their heroes is great.

But give me a break - it can't be all rosy all the time right???

Tell me at some point some one was not a happy camper

Otherwise I will be serious jelly of you for this entire TR!!!!

Max

 

[mlegerto]

O.M.G....Keegan's expression when meeting Pooh Bear. THIS is why I love Disney. I cannot wait to experience moments like that with my own children (you know, when I decide to have them LOL).

I want to know what the big surprise is!!!!

 

[21stamps]

We checked out the "volcano" pool as my boys call it. Though, I'm pretty sure after the last refurb it's no longer called that. It took a few laps to find a open chair. I'd say 10% of the chairs had people using them and the other 90% just had towels on them. It was Sunday and it was packed...overheard a lot of guest saying it was either their first or last day.

After a couple hours we were getting antsy to get in our room so we followed up with the front desk... said it should be done soon, as the cleaning crew started cleaning 4 hours ago but didn't have an exact time to give. They did however have a room abailable in Pago Pago...wait what...I thought we were getting the first available room?!?

At this point it's 3pm we had already waited 2 hours and I know they were trying their best to fufill our request so we decided to go ahead and wait...surely it couldn't take much more than 4 hours at this point to clean one room. But, what do I know?

Now it's 4pm the deadline for when rooms are to be ready and still no text. Back to the front desk. This time they physically sent someone to check on the room. 4:15pm my phone dies right as I'm reading the text with our room #.View attachment 208973View attachment 208979

A lot annoyed but we got a 2nd floor garden view in Tokelau. Just like I wanted

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I fell in love this trip. I love every little detail about the Polynesian! DH fell in love as well and I quote, "we will never stay anyplace else at Disney"
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Luckily our 5:30pm ADR was for OHana. Not far to go but we only had an hour to get our luggage from bell service, shower and get dressed. Bell service was very prompt so that took a little stress out of it.

Phew...we made it just in time!
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I definitely needed one of these after today's events... Lapu Lapu! DH was boring and ordered a bud light. He asked for the largest one they had and that's what they gave him
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I apologize as the food pics are going to be a little hit or miss. The drink pic apparently was the most important! We were all very hungry and 3 little boys were on the verge of hangry so no OHana food pics.

This was our second visit and DH and I love the food. However we have yet to have the wow experience that I have wanted. Last year I saved it for our last meal and the boys were over Disney. I also didn't know you could order something else for picky eaters (Ty). He didn't eat a single thing last time and as we were leaving I noticed a table with chicken nuggets and French fries I knew to ask this time!

This meal I felt like we were rushing the whole time. Rushing to get there, rushing to get drinks, rushing through dinner. It just felt rushed and I didn't get to enjoy it. Next time I will try planning this meal during our resort day!

DH took the boys on a monrail ride while I unpacked and then it was off to bed.

Up next:Early ADR at BoG

We still call it the Volcano Pool! I'm so excited to see and hear all about this trip!

 

[21stamps]

It was a rough nights sleep. We had the 2 sick kids on the pull out couch and Keegan was in the Murphy bed. Matthew kept tossing and turning he said in the morning it was because he was cold. In fairness DH turns up the AC as soon as he enters any hotel room so we forgot to turn it back down and Keegan kept falling out of the bed. At one point he was curled on the floor with his Pooh pillow pet DH of course slept through everything. On a positive note, the antibiotics seemed to be working and all said they felt good!

Another reason we are now sold on the Poly and prob all monorail resorts is that we have stayed at value(AoA) and moderate(CBR) and have sold friends and family on staying on property because of Disney transportation and how convenient it is. We have had good experiences with bus transportation. I guess what you don't know you don't know because we had a fabulous experience with transportation at the Poly! Not having to fold up the stroller and the quick transit times were a huge amenity! I can not say it enough...Location location!!!

We left our room at 7:30am and the time stamp from our first photopass was 7:59am. 29 min from room to taking pics at MK is unreal!

We had one of the best photopass CM of the whole trip very first thing and love these creative pics.

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He wanted Keegan to take the selfie but you can tell his answer by this picture

We were able to hit 3 photopass spots in 20 min!! That is the new perk of park opening at 8am.
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So the new morning show and letting all guests enter at 8 am put a wrinkle in my original plan. Which was an 8am @CP to get those coveted empty park photos and a jump on the crowds. I ended up switching to 8:20am at BoG to get a jump start on FL instead since they don't let guests back there unless you have an BoG ADR. BoG is also my favorite place to eat! Even if he breakfast food is just ok.
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It would have been a flawless plan...we finished breakfast at 8:55am thanks to pre ordering and were first in line for PPF...but CM said it wouldn't open for another 30min

On to plan B...

Next: Plan B and a stampede of people like I've never seen before.

Wow! That's the best photo pass pic I have seen! Some photogs are definitely better than others..but you lucked out with that one!

The convenience to MK is the main reason I have a hard time leaving the monorail line...it really is so efficient and a pretty ride regardless of boat or monorail.

Day 2 MK (cont.)

After 7DMT we had a FP to meet the main Mouse himself! Edit: I forgot to add that at 11:10am the wait was 90min! I don't wait that long for anything at Disney. I'm glad we used a FP for this!

Let me rewind for a sec. back in 2013 we were on vacation in Naples and decided to do a day trip to MK with our BIL, DH's DS and their two boys. Ty at the time was 2.5years old and his cousins 5 and 2.5. We always said when the youngest was 5 and could remember is when we would take our first trip to Disney but my BIL can be persuasive!

We ended our one and only day with Mickey's meet and greet on Main Street and it was in that moment that reawakened my Disney spirit! The Magic of Ty meeting his idol and the pure joy of the moment was something that will stay with me forever. Thus, the reason we have taken all of the boys for their first trip at 2.5-3 yrs (bonus that they are also free).

The characters are real to them and the memories of witnessing that through a 3 year olds eyes is something that I cherish. These years at the ages our boys are will go fast and we choose to make memories at Disney while we can

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I'm not sure when they changed to the talking Mickey but I'm assuming it is the same time they refurbished the set.

I miss the curtain Walking around the corner and really being able to capture that special moment.

The set up now has you entering the room through a door into a line of about 8-10 people. Instead of capturing the moment we were trying to curb that excitement in order to not disturb anyone else's moment. As Keegan kept excitedly screaming for Mickey.

The first picture is of Keegan trying very hard to keep it together...which is not easy for a 3year old super fan!

We still had that moment it was just a little anticlimactic.

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One of my favorites (above). Big bros letting him have his moment and enjoying it
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The talking Mickey is pretty cool! I though we might have questions later on in the trip why all of the Mickey's they met didn't talk but that was not the case.

Below, we are bouncing with Mickey because he mentioned that he had just been with Pooh's good friend Tigger
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Another great moment with Mickey...but the next two Character meets with their Friends and Mateys make the top two memories of the trip!!

Next: More Characters for Keegan and Matthew and a thrill ride for Ty.

Precious moments!

 

[PineapplePrincess]

Just caught up. As the mother of a single princess who is now 19, I am endlessly fascinated with how families handle trips so smoothly with more than one little one (especially when they are boys)! Being a teacher, I am certainly no amateur at wrangling kids, but I don't know if I could handle it on vacation!
I am enjoying your report immensely and my eyes are welling up at the priceless photos you have shared with us. I'm looking forward to reading more!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I love trip reports but never comment!
However, I love,love the pictures of your little ones with the characters. It brings back memories for this grandma of 6 I remember the looks on the little ones faces when they first meet the characters. So enjoy these hectic days with your sons! Love this report!

 

[PrincessL]

So, life got in the way! Catching up today I promise!

 

[PrincessL]

OK - All these great pics of smiling young men meeting their heroes is great.

But give me a break - it can't be all rosy all the time right???

Tell me at some point some one was not a happy camper

Otherwise I will be serious jelly of you for this entire TR!!!!

Max

Believe me it's not always sunshine and rainbows. But, on the first day everyone was just happy to be there.

O.M.G....Keegan's expression when meeting Pooh Bear. THIS is why I love Disney. I cannot wait to experience moments like that with my own children (you know, when I decide to have them LOL).

I want to know what the big surprise is!!!!

It will be a completely different expirience wonderful but different! Enjoy your trips now with your DH, I wish we had before kids!

I'll get to the surprise later today after ball camps...again enjoy your time before kiddos

 

[PrincessL]

Wow! That's the best photo pass pic I have seen! Some photogs are definitely better than others..but you lucked out with that one!

The convenience to MK is the main reason I have a hard time leaving the monorail line...it really is so efficient and a pretty ride regardless of boat or monorail.


Precious moments!

Definitely the most creative photopass photographer we have ever had! They are definitely hit or miss.

You are right, I underestimated the convenience of being on the monorail!

 

[PrincessL]

Just caught up. As the mother of a single princess who is now 19, I am endlessly fascinated with how families handle trips so smoothly with more than one little one (especially when they are boys)! Being a teacher, I am certainly no amateur at wrangling kids, but I don't know if I could handle it on vacation!
I am enjoying your report immensely and my eyes are welling up at the priceless photos you have shared with us. I'm looking forward to reading more!

DH and I both needed a vacation when we got home lol!!

The first day was by far the best. Later on, we definitely start to feel out numbered and will have our moments

Thanks for being a teacher that is not an easy line of work but can be oh so rewarding! Thanks for following!!

 

[PrincessL]

I love trip reports but never comment!
However, I love,love the pictures of your little ones with the characters. It brings back memories for this grandma of 6 I remember the looks on the little ones faces when they first meet the characters. So enjoy these hectic days with your sons! Love this report!

Wow 6!! That moment is priceless and so nice that you got to share in that.

Glad you are enjoying. These are indeed hectic days but I try to slow down and enjoy the moments. Everyone says how fast it goes! Disney is a fun way to focus and enjoy those precious moments. Thanks for following!

 

[PrincessL]

Day 2(cont.)

Keegan was asleep in the stroller on the way back to our resort he was so exhausted. Did I mention it was HOT?!?

We then took a much needed nap. The boys needed to be rested for the surprise later!

We had a quick dinner at Capt. Cook's. Again no food pics But, DH had the pulled Pork Nachos which he thought we ok, a little on the sweet side. I had the Pan Asian Noodles with Chicken. I liked that there was a variety of fresher veggies and plenty of them. Again, it was pretty sweet with not much to balance it out. We were beginning to find that most of the food at Poly has some sweet component in it. Boys shared two of the flatbreads and finished so I guess they were pretty happy with them.

We reminded the boys that after dinner we had a surprise and the guessing began. Ty was sure it was back at MK

We went through security and hopped right on the monorail.

The suspense was starting to get to Ty and when we did not get off at MK his face fell.

We finally got off at...the Contemporary....dun dun dun!

Ty says "Why are we going to Chef Mickey's? We already ate?" Very receptive isn't he?!?

I stopped at concierge to figure out where we were going. I couldn't understand his foreign accent so he had to draw me a map. Good thing because it wasn't an easy place to find. We went through the lobby out the door into the next building and up the escalator.

We turned the corner to see the check in for this:

Durring check-in we were given bandannas and our boarding pass. We we assigned to Captain Hook's ship and told everyone needed to have the bandannas on in some fashion to tell which crew you were with.

The boys were totally pumped, they had no idea even though I dressed Matthew and Keegan in their Jake Shirts.

At one point we were huge Jake and the Neverland Pirate fans but recently they prefer the original PP which is also one of my favs...isn't quite a PC movie(but way over their heads though!).

Ahoy! Our skippers Patch and Patch came out. They were quite the characters. We then entered the ball room where they had snacks set up-Mickey ice cream bars, ice cream sanwiches, Olaf pocicles, cotton candy, popcorn, pretzels, chips & salsa, cake, ice tea, pink lemonade, water and of course chocolate pirate booty-gold doubloons.

ARRR SUGAR!!

For a Disney dessert party and pirate theme there was little creativity when it came to the desserts. The cake was a sheet cake with the pirate pal screen print on it. One you could get at your local grocery store. The pictures I've seen of other dessert parties they offer you more of the Disney touch.

All that didn't really matter though because the main guys had just entered the room...

Next: Keegan skips the Parlay and goes straight for Mutiny!

 

[PrincessL]

Matthew's reaction to meeting Captain Hook and Mr. Smee...

...Keegan's reaction. Boy was he mad and excited all rolled into one!

Smee-"Oh boy Cap'n is not going to like this."

Keegan- "You stop it, you bad boy Captain Hook!"

And then he shook his hand

The photopass photographer was dying said she had never seen any reaction quite like that!

Smee he had no problem with.

He refused to get in a picture with that bad boy Captain Hook though. Lol!!

Ty and Matthew thought it was the coolest thing ever!!

We were one of the first in line for the Meet and Greet so we had plenty of time to enjoy some more treats.

Yo-Ho-Ho, it was time to get to our Ships! Captain Hook led us to the docks.

Poor pic but you get the point.

Another negative was the boat itself. Again it's Disney I'm sure they could be more creative and make it athstetically look more like a ship. But, we had happy, happy boys and that was all that mattered.

Now it was time for Cap'n patches comedy show...this guy was hilarious. It was very interactive and made the time fly by before Happily Ever After.

What is a pirates favorite animal?

This little girl raised her hand and replied a Racoon

Cap'n Patch, "well I was going for an Arrrmadillo" hahaha!

Now I may get some flack for this but I never had an emotional connection with Wishes. I was excited to see something new.

I didn't take any video or picture because I was really taking it all in and in the moment.

I loved everything about Happily Ever After, the music, the narration, the light show and of course the fire works! The view from the water was AMAZING! You really got the full picture with the light and the side fireworks.

Next time though I would like to see it closer to see the projections on the castle!

All in all, we would highly recommend the Pirate and Pals firework voyage!! It was a great end to a great day!

Edit(I got ahead of myself)
Next: "Second star on the right and then straight on til morning."

 

[DryerLintFan]

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Matthew's reaction to meeting Captain Hook and Mr. Smee...
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...Keegan's reaction. Boy was he mad and excited all rolled into one!
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Smee-"Oh boy Cap'n is not going to like this."

Keegan- "You stop it, you bad boy Captain Hook!"

And then he shook his hand

The photopass photographer was dying said she had never seen any reaction quite like that!

Smee he had no problem with.
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He refused to get in a picture with that bad boy Captain Hook though. Lol!!

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Ty and Matthew thought it was the coolest thing ever!!

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We were one of the first in line for the Meet and Greet so we had plenty of time to enjoy some more treats.

Yo-Ho-Ho, it was time to get to our Ships! Captain Hook led us to the docks.
View attachment 209818
Poor pic but you get the point.

Another negative was the boat itself. Again it's Disney I'm sure they could be more creative and make it athstetically look more like a ship. But, we had happy, happy boys and that was all that mattered.

Now it was time for Cap'n patches comedy show...this guy was hilarious. It was very interactive and made the time fly by before Happily Ever After.

View attachment 209819
What is a pirates favorite animal?

This little girl raised her hand and replied a Racoon

Cap'n Patch, "well I was going for an Arrrmadillo" hahaha!
View attachment 209820
Now I may get some flack for this but I never had an emotional connection with Wishes. I was excited to see something new.

I didn't take any video or picture because I was really taking it all in and in the moment.

I loved everything about Happily Ever After, the music, the narration, the light show and of course the fire works! The view from the water was AMAZING! You really got the full picture with the light and the side fireworks.

Next time though I would like to see it closer to see the projections on the castle!

All in all, we would highly recommend the Pirate and Pals firework voyage!! It was a great end to a great day!

Next: Day 3 We have Jedi among us!

I'm definitely in the "make your own magic" camp when it comes to a Disney vacation, but that is SO disappointing that the boat is just a boat. They could have at least decorated the inside of it to look like a pirate ship

What a great surprise for your boys though!! They look so thrilled!!

 

[PrincessL]

One last surprise when we got back to the dock.

Peter Pan!!

He was great and totally in Character! Having all boys there are few face characters that I have met and was surprised at how spot on he was! It was a fun end to the night.

On the way back Ty was already asking to sleep in tomorrow which is totally out of character. Side note-my boys are early risers always have been..7am is sleeping in to them.

They were giving the signs that maybe another early morning was not such a good idea. So we told them we could sleep in tomorrow but that would mean missing Jedi Training.

Ty's response, "I'll set the alarm!"

Next:There's a Jedi among us.

 

[PrincessL]

I'm definitely in the "make your own magic" camp when it comes to a Disney vacation, but that is SO disappointing that the boat is just a boat. They could have at least decorated the inside of it to look like a pirate ship

What a great surprise for your boys though!! They look so thrilled!!

I totally agree with you on making your own magic!!

Don't get me wrong we had a wonderful expirience I just wanted to point out a few things that would make it that much better. Disney is King of Pirates cough...Captain Jack...cough, cough. So, I just think the possibilities are endless and they could improve the theming a bit

Your sn...has your 2017 trip happened yet???

 

[DryerLintFan]

I totally agree with you on making your own magic!!

Don't get me wrong we had a wonderful expirience I just wanted to point out a few things that would make it that much better. Disney is King of Pirates cough...Captain Jack...cough, cough. So, I just think the possibilities are endless and they could improve the theming a bit

Your sn...has your 2017 trip happened yet???

The possibilities are really endless for designing a pirate cruise around the lake. I thought for sure the pirate ship would look like a pirate ship at least. I love how you kept this as a surprise from the boys! They look like they had a really fantastic time!

We're booked to visit Disney World at Christmas I selected my screen name before I learned that "Disneybounding" was a thing

 

[PrincessL]

Day 3-HS

We were at HS at 8:05am. I was so concerned about getting a good time for Jedi training...but probably didn't need to be that early

They started letting everyone in around 10min till park opening when this single guy comes and tries to cut right in front of me. No, no, no we've been waiting here 45min and you think you can just saunter up here and cut me off don't think so. He was trying to wedge right in between our family. In my politesse (passive aggressive) voice I said we are together. He wouldn't even acknowledge me obviously knowing what he was doing wasn't right. Why are some people so rude?!?

So I ran him over with the stroller

In our haste though, I was scanning my band and Ty was putting his finger on the scan pad at the same time This caused all kinds of problems. They had to call over the dude with the iPad and had to take pictures of all of us.

Thanks guy for delaying us and putting me in bad mood!

DH took Ty and Matthew to sign up and Keegan and I were planning to rope drop TSMM. That was the plan...

I was still pretty fuming from earlier and as get Keegan out of the stroller to join the mob in line he starts screaming that he does not want to do this...really???

As @amjt660 would say he was NOT a happy camper! Fit ensuing, the Mom in front is like just make him he'll love it. Not my style so we get out of line

I take a deep breath and reset. Keegan calms down "enough" so we can go...

Meet Sheriff and Space Ranger!

He's still mean muggin a bit. And I forgot the autograph book. I really needed to pull it together!!

Called DH and they were all signed up. 11:40am, one of our preferred slots! Ok things are starting to go as planned...I just needed to calm down.

I needed a warm hug

Olaf was about a 5 min wait. Rope dropping for characters was not the plan but it worked out.

Also, Olaf doesn't do signatures but I had read on this wonderful site that he would sign things that were out of the norm. We were using an encyclopedia of Disney characters so I really thought he might...but nope CM said he's a snowman he doesn't know how to write.

He drew a pic instead. Not nearly as much fun.

Next: Nothing is really going as planned so we are improvising!!

 

[PrincessL]

HS was the hardest park to plan for because:
1.Not many attractions or many that are family friendly meaning Keegan could go on them
2. I couldn't plan for the Jedi slot we'd get
3. The show times are all over the place

Our next FP window was open and right next to Olaf so we walked over to Star Tours. Knowing this was a waste of a FP this early we really didn't need to use it but there was nothing else worth switching to. We would save our RS pass for later.

We got the Wookie planet mission.

Note- these frog toggs were a life saver! Wish I had brought them with us the previous day at MK!

I love how all these rides dump you into the gift shops

The boys did extra chores for quarters for 100 days leading up to our trip. They were really into it! They turned their quarters in for a gift card each.

They had beeen saving to build a light saber and now it was finally time!

We had the best CMs help us and it was a fun time. These things are huge! CM said they are true to movie prop size!

On our way over to our next FP Ty saw ToT and got really bummed when I told him we didn't have a FP. Deep down I still felt he was too young. DH disagreed.

I needed to change our Disney Junior FP since that was the same time as Jedi so, I ended up grabbing a FP for DH and Ty for ToT and a different slot DJ for Matthew, Keegan and I.

This is where we have another melt down because we were not going to let Matthew go on ToT. He's technically tall enough but no way! I knew this would happen.

So we did what any normal parents would do and I bribe him...promising to get cupcakes while big bro goes on ToT

Crisis averted. Time for TSMM.

IMO this is the most well done ride at Disney. The details are magnificent! Love everything about this ride!

Next: "The only reason we came to HS"

 

[Tiggerish]

Great surprise!

Rocky start to DHS, but it seems like things are straightening out. Adorable character pics!!

 

[Tiggerish]

This is where we have another melt down because we were not going to let Matthew go on ToT. He's technically tall enough but no way! I knew this would happen.

So we did what any normal parents would do and I bribe him...promising to get cupcakes while big bro goes on ToT

Well done, Mom!!

Can't wait to hear Ty's reaction to ToT. I'm a grownup and it was one and done for me!