Caleb's 9th Birthday Jan 16-19

DH let me ride ToT first because it's my ultimate favorite!!! I picked up a child swap so he could go after me. The nice castmember at the FP queue was also nice enough to let the birthday boy go with me w/o a FP.







The Birthday Boy did ok on ToT. Last time we went he was 7 and it freaked him out it upset him. So this time I warned him and he wanted so badly to be brave. He did ok til they let the group out of the library and into the boiler room and that was where he started having second thoughts. He almost backed out, but instead let me cover his eyes and ears through most of the rest. He basically tolerated the ride, but after that wouldn't go again with his dad.

Once we got of ToT I let my DH go on his turn. I immediately took my ticket and grabbed another FP for it. Like I said, it's my favorite!!

Once DH was done with ToT, he took DS and used our FP for Rock n Rollercoaster, castmember again letting DS go w/o a FP cause it was his birthday. As I waited, I took some pictures.



Then out of nowhere, we ran into some friends! They were at WDW watching their daughter in the National College Danceteam Championships. It was funny just "running into" them. A few minutes later, DH and DS came of RnR, DS was so excited! He couldn't wait to take me. We used our child swap.



It was so fun! I love the launch and first inversion, plus the corkscrew! Awesome. I took a picture of our camera photo, but not great quality...I guess I'm too cheap to actually buy it.







After RnR, we headed over to the Indy stadium, Indy wasn't playing because the Dance Competition was being held there. It was cool to watch some people we knew though. So far we still have't seen Indy! Oh well, something we look forward to seeing next time. We had a little fun while we were in the area.

Yay for Caleb's birthday :sohappy:. I never knew they held a dance competition on the Indy stage... it must be fun for the kids to get to compete right in the park. And I love that picture of Donald playing with the Thomas train. Looking forward to more!

Happy birthday Caleb!! I agree with Holly, that picture with Thomas is absolutely adorable!!

We waited after playing in the Indy gift shop and said hello to our dancer friend and then headed over to the Star Wars themed area of the park.

Our middle son (5-years-old) had never been on Star Tours and he loved it! It was only a 15 minute wait so I got in the front row for Jedi Training Academy and DH took our boys. Next we all waited for the JTA to start. They picked a ton of kids, but they all seemed quite a bit younger than my now-9-year-old. He was bummed but still wanted to watch.

Next it was time for our TSMM FP time. Unfortunately we hadn't thought it through when we got our FPs, and we needed one for each member of our family...we only had 2(since it was our habit to get 2 and child swap). They let myself, the 5-year-old and 3-year-old go.





The kids noticed the Battleship game first, they loved it!





I sure didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to because the FP went pretty fast. I never even saw the Mr. Potato Head that I've always seen pictures of :shrug:. Everyone is right about the FP and all, get them early, they run out! First thing in the morning, about 9:15 when I went to get our FPs there was a line just for that, and the Standby was already 80 minutes.

After TSMM, I met DH and BB (birthday boy) over at Honey I Shrunk the Kids Play Area. The kids needed to run around for a while. On our way there, I noticed yet another closed attraction:



There were quite a few people at the HISTH Playground and in just a few minutes I was at my whits end trying to keep track of my 3 kids. Thank goodness there is only one Entrance/Exit!



DS really loved the grass stumps that made musical sounds when you stepped on them:





At this point, we scooped up the kids and proceeded over to Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano tucked away:



It was pretty good food, I really enjoyed my Caesar Salad, and the kids loved their pizzas. At the end, they brought BB his cool birthday dessert and of course drew attention, etc. They also gave him a personalized "Chef Caleb" taupe (sp?).

DSBB looks like he was having a wonderful time!:wave:

After BB's birthday lunch/dinner, we headed our way over to Lights, Motors, Action! On our way we saw Lightning McQueen and Mater with very little wait. They've tucked them away and I think most people miss them unless they specifically go to find them.



Literally Jumping for Joy





Caught this billboard on the way over.


Lights, Motors, Action! Preshow


BB in his taupe


We love LMA!!! Always a great show! Unfortunately it is very loud with the engines reving and the fake gun shots. Our youngest son is especially sensitive to loud noises (we can't even watch fireworks) so DH had to take him out of the show. They went to a little cafe where DS got to watch cartoons and DH got a coffee.

My camera battery died at LMA, but after the show we went back over to do RnR and ToT again, and see when Fantasmic! was playing. Unfortunately, RnR was broken down and the Fantasmic! show had been canceled. We were so disappointed at the amount of attractions that were down or canceled that day. But we still had a lot of fun. At the end of the day, we watched more dance team competition then went home ad got a really good nights rest.

Attractions closed or canceled:
Sorcerer's Hat
Backlot Tour
Indiana Jones Stunt show
Fantasmic!
Rock n Rollercoaster (late in the day)

I also wanted to mention that a lot of Osborne's lights are still up and I asked a CM if they were still showing the show. He said that it just takes them forever to get all the lights down because there are so many. But we spotted bits and pieces of Christmas decor still lingering, as well as Year of a Million Dreams details.

However, I'm not sure where they were shopping, but I did see my first merchandise bags for the Celebrate theme. We only got Dreams bags though.

Up next...Day 2

Aside from the downfalls, I forgot to mention that I was able to get my souveneir popcorn bucket and 6 new flattened pennies. Those two things have become a sort of tradition for us.

Great report and pictures so far & Happy Birthday Caleb! Tell him he is much braver than me.. it took me forever to get back on ToT and when I did I screamed my head off!

I always look forward to and absolutely love your TRs! Thank you for sharing so far. Can't wait for more.

Ok, so finally some sort of continuation!! First I forgot to mention that somewhere toward the evening, we'd done all we wanted to do so we went on The Great Movie Ride. By the end I was like, Oh for heaven's sake, please can it be over?!!! This ride desperately needs improvements. The overall concept to me is fantastic! But it seems that they need to make it a little more exciting. If it were me, I'd say make the ride move a little faster, and for heaven's sake, get rid of Alien...how on earth is that a "timeless" movie? Ok, off of my soapbox...on with the trip report.

Day 2: Seaworld!

Don't leave!! I know that many of you will be less-than-interested in reading the Sea World portion of my trip report because, let's face it, we're a Disney fan website! But bear with me, because you may decide to visit in the future. We really had a great time! (And if you are military, there is no excuse not to since they let you in for free-which is what we did). Also take heart, because there is plenty of Disney fun later on in the trip report!



So we got to Seaworld a while after opening because we were pretty relaxed this trip. The guy at the parking booth took a while and had to reboot his computer at one point and for our "trouble, gave us preferred parking. A great start to the day!



Kids checking out the birds along the path:



We had in mind to go straight for Kraken, because we figured since it was the only big coaster, it would be busy. But we ran into a employee(how weird not to call them a castmember?!!) who recommended we go to Arctic Wild, See the big Shamu Show, Believe, then let the kids spend some time at Shamu's Playground. So that was what we did, since we had no touring plans in mind.

Sam figured there would be animals in every single body of water and kind of slowed us up when we were taking the bridge




Wild Arctic is a simulator ride much like Star Tours in which you take a helicopter ride through the arctic and it leads to an adventure! My kids loved Star Tours, and naturally this ride thrilled them as well. It was a bit jerky for me

But then at the rides' end, you walk through their arctic exhibit, seeing polar bears and beluga whales. The kids loved it of course!

The belugas were really active, playing togther and blowing out of their blow holes. It was really fascinating.


The kids exploring a polar bear cave replica. They even had sound effects in some tunnels where a bear growls! Cute!


Next we got in line for the first showing of Believe, got some snacks and just cooled our heals. This is a MUST-SEE show! The stadium packed out and those poor people in the "splash zones" got soaked! lol

More of Shamu:



During the "believe in your dreams" portion, the trainer was talking and they do this very heartfelt story, etc...well the whole crowd wasn't even listening because these mischevous birds kept lurking around the fish holding tanks, trying to snag some. It was funny.



Shamu soaking the crowd:





Trainer surfing the whale:



Our son Sam loved it so much, he was giving us huge hugs telling us, "thank you, thank you, thank you!!"



Next we headed over to Shamu's Happy Harbor where there is tons for the kids to do.



"What? You are NOT spinning this thing!"

Nice report - thanks for sharing

After riding 2 kiddie rides, the lines were getting long since everyone flooded out from Shamu's show. So the kids went over and climbed in and out of the tube/rope play structure. I followed our 3-year-old up there and regretted it!! The endless tubes pretty much could lead you in infinate, non-ending directions. I hate play areas where it is easy to "lose" your child because it is so huge you can't see them. The kids had fun but as soon as they emerged, it was time to get out of there!! The kids came out of these slides. They had fun there.



I was happy our youngest just wanted to go on the carousel.



After we got out of Shamu's Happy Harbor, we proceeded over to the Clydesdale horse area/ Hospitality Deli to get a bite to eat. There were nice photo op areas along the way and the landscaping was really pretty.

Aaron wanted to climb on everything!






After we ate lunch, we headed over to explore the sharks and more:





Inside Shark Encounter:


Samuel's Sharkface:

After the sharks, DH and I headed over through the Penguin exhibit then each took our turn on Kraken...awesome rollercoaster!! There was hardly a line so we really could have gone more than once, but we were interested in making it in time for the Silly Sea Lion show. Just a note, I noticed a sign in the queue line that warned "plus-sized guests" that if they were larger than X inches, they may not fit in the seat and would not be allowed to ride...I thought it was interesting. That subject gets plenty of buzz on this website so I thought I'd mention that.

Next thing we did was go over to check out the Seals and Sea Lions exhibit adjacent to the show stadium. We found a relaxing spot and just sat for a while, taking a break.



called Disney Dining to get ADRs. We had Boma in mind but they were full...then we checked TRex, but it sounded really busy so we made ADRs for Trails End.

It was nearing 4:30 and we could have caught the Sea Lion show, but we decided to head out of SeaWorld for the day and go over to our Happy Place instead



This dinner reservation would be the start to quite a few resort tours for us. We'd never really done that, so it was a whole new adventure!

We parked at Wilderness Lodge...which my husband fell IN LOVE with!







We took the resort boat out to Fort Wilderness, it was so relaxing.

More of the boat ride...




Wilderness Lodge from the water:


Progress from new Contemporary tower (DH noticed there will be a bridge between the two, I've see much better pics on here other people have posted though)



I also got to see the remains of River Country and hear a little history behind it. Once we reached the Fort Wilderness dock, it was getting quite dark so the kids didn't get to stop to play on the playground like they wanted. Instead there were all these huge toys on the wrap-around deck at Trails' End restaurant. We got seated and I whispered to our awesome server that we were celebrating DS's birthday. We absolutely loved all the homecooked dishes and filling buffet. It was a great selection for our whole family.



DS got acustomed to making silly faces this whole trip



DSBB with his birthday surprise.



After dinner, I noticed quite a line of people waiting for the Hoop De Doo Musical Revue, something that we'll have to do next time. I could hear the music and excitement, it sounds really fun!



We headed back to Wilderness Lodge by bus, to get our car

Our plan for the rest of the night was simply to drive over to the Grand Floridian, park our car, explore the resort a bit, and let the kids ride the monorail (one of their favorite things to do).

When we got there, I took a few shots. I noticed that the flowers are very Valentine colors, very sweet.











Next we headed over to the monorail station where to our surprise, DS got to ride up front! Really a dream come true for him!





After a few stops, our other DS got to join him:



We rode one full loop before we noticed the kids were just getting tired, so we got off back at Grand Floridian, and went to get our car. Then we heard the MK fireworks going off so we caught a viewing spot, at the outdoor seating area to (I think) 1200 Park Fare. I got a few pics





DS is NOT a fan of the loud booms fireworks produce so we headed out about as fast as we came. It was bedtime then anyway.

Up next: Last day

Polynesian and Wedding Pavilion, including carriage!

Departure Day:

Well, we woke up on MLK day knowing it was time to go home, so we went down and had breakfast and before we left, drove around to check out our resort we are staying at in April (Off-property). We also had started to really enjoy checking out the Disney resorts as well. We dropped by Old Key West, Port Orleans (both), Caribbean Beach and a few more before we headed over to the Polynesian.











After exploring the Polynesian, and deciding that we have to see the Spirit of Aloha Show in April, we headed over to the Wedding Pavilion. DH and I are renewing our vows this year...probably not at Disney (although we'll be honeymooning via Disney Cruise/Disney Parks), but it was fun to check it out anyway. We got to see a bride and groom just as they were leaving!!! )









That's about it for our trip report! It was so much fun being there again. I have to admit that when we drive under the WDW Gate, it never ceases to give me butterflies in my stomach, no matter how many times we go. We feel like we haven't even scratched the surface as far as fun things to do at WDW!

We are going again in April, for my birthday! Today I booked our reservations for Boma (first time for us), Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show (first time for us), Beirgarten and Crystal Palace (some of our favorites). In April we get to experience Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, and go back to AK(haven't been to that park since 6/07) I'm so excited for another new adventure!