TR: "The 9 of us, Make that 10, 1st Christmas Trip and Lots of Sick People!"

Departure Day, November 25th, Thanksgiving Day

ok so today is the day we are leaving. i cant even tell you the excitement that we were all experiencing. this was the first trip that my parents, my husband and myself, and my sister and her family were all taking together. we had been away before with one of the groups but not all of us together. so as is my usual tradition on thanksgiving day, i had to make my stop to starbucks in the morning for my pumpkin spice latte. yes i was pregnant at the time but i limited myself to one cup of coffee a day cuz without it i would not live!

it was very weird not to be getting ready for the thanksgiving day parade. we live 5 minutes from philly and our family tradition is to go to the thanksgiving day parade in center city. it was also weird not to smell thanksgiving dinner cooking at my moms house or for me to have baked the night before.i own a small out of the house baking business so im usually baking forever for thanksgiving and christmas.

so the plan was that the airport shuttle was picking us up around 11am, since our flight took off at 1pm or so. when mike and i got to my parents house with our luggage (they live two blocks away and my sister and her family like a block away), my sister and her crew were already there. and does it not start snowing/sleeting!! this made it interesting since my sister and her husband and their one son are deathly afraid of flying. my mom isnt so fond of it either. my nephew anthony was nervous because it was his first time flying ever. it was his brothers first time too but that kid doesnt have a care in the world. so everybody had their ipods, iphones, cells, all ready with games and books and everything for the flight. before we knew it, the shuttle was there and we were off!!!!!

we got to the airport with no problems getting through security. just a pain for my dad and my niece chynna and my BIL anthony because they had to bring the ipad and laptops and all that junk! we got to our area and grabbed some lunch while we waited and played games and talked about how excited we were. my sister popped a few pills to calm her down which made he loopy and goofy so that made for a fun time waiting! my mom gave out her pre-flight ritual aspirins to everyone so that we didnt get blood clots (yes, shes goofy too!). before we knew it we were loading the plane, myself, my dad and my husband in one row, behind us was my mom, sonny, and my sister, and behind them was my BIL, chynna, and lil anthony. the flight took off with lil anthony loving to fly! he loved it and wasnt nervous anymore which was great to see. we had my BIL in the back with all of his gadgets tracking our flight. you have to know that the ENTIRE trip, all we heard from him was "ya know theres an app for that" and we made fun of him the whole time for it. this became the saying the whole trip.

so we got in i think a little early from what i can remember. got our bags from baggage very quickly and went down to rent the cars. my dad of course upgraded cuz thats just how he is and we got our two cars and headed out. now for the first 3 days we were staying at a rental house in kissimmee because that weekend in disney was insanely expensive cuz of thanksgiving. so off we go to the condo. i had directions printed out for everything which were pointless because my BIL ended up finding some gps app and we followed him the whole time. but of course my dad didnt want to listen to me and he got us lost and we ended up back in celebration, fl. i did love hearing from him though that i was right! i dont hear this much from him because we are both very stubborn and will NEVER admit that either one is right to one another! well anyway, we ended up driving right past the place too because it was so dark by the time we finally found it! so now we are running pretty late with not alot of time to get ready for dinner.

the condo was awesome, nice and big. full kitchen, washer and dryer, 1 br for my parents, 1 br for my sis and BIL, 1 br for me and mike and 2 bathrooms. the kids slept on a sleeper sofa in the living room. we didnt really get to use the pool too much cuz we were too busy but the kids and my husband did go one day and said it was nice. so we get there and wash up fast and get changed and head out to Cape May Cafe for our 8:05 thanksgiving dinner buffet reservations.

Day 1 CONTINUED

dinner was really good. they had the usual cape may cafe clam bake buffet but then had thanksgiving items too. everyone really enjoyed it, which is a lot to say for the food this trip because honestly we were very disappointed and it was soooooo expensive, def should have gotten the dining plan this time! the decorations, as you can see, were also great. its amazing to see those gingerbread decroations up close, pics dont even do them justice. after dinner we went home and got some long needed sleep to prepare ourselves for our delicious meal at kona cafe the next morning!

Day 2, November 26th

This morning was our breakfast at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian! DH, DN, and myself LOVE this place. My parents have never been so they dont even know! we drove over to the POLY and went and checked in. we got seated pretty fast and enjoyed our AMAZING breakfast. most of us got Tonga Toast of course and Kona Coffee in the press pot but everyone really enjoyed it. we then went walking around to take some pics cuz my parents had never been inside the POLY before.

after this we got on the monorail and went to the contemporary to look at their decorations...

i cant really remember but i think after that we headed back to the room and relaxed a little. people may have gone to the pool, all i know is that this was a free day for the most part. that night we were planning on going to Downtown Disney to shop and walk around and go eat at TREX.

Day 2 continued...

so we got to Downtown Disney, in the rain!, just in time for our reservations. they sat us at a huge round booth table in the back. DH, DN, and myself were the only ones that had been here so we knew how good the food was. we all ate dinner and then went looking around DD for a bit, taking pics of decorations and elves, and Santa.

santa at DD, the line was too long, this was the best pic i could get from sneaking a look on the side

elves walking around with DH, DN, and both nephews

santas little house thingy

xmas belle in store

DAY 3, Universal/Islands of Adventure Day

today was the day DH, myself and my sis and her fam were going to Universal. my parents were going to stay in and relax cuz we had Spirit of Aloha that night and my mom doesnt have the best knees. they are also not too used to running around alot like that on vacation so they needed the time. they ended up shopping at the outlets! so we just ate a quick breakfast at the condo and headed off to Universal/Islands. chynna was very excited because she is obsessed with harry potter so she couldnt wait to get to that part. she was actually kind of a pain all day til we got there, and then when we finally did, it was filled to capacity so they gave us a fastpass type thing to get back in later. she almost passed out waiting! so dramatic!

well we got to universal/islands before they even opened so we were there for our first rope drop! i know its not disney rope drop but still!

this tree was HUGE!!!

it was kinda rainy that day, it did clear up but it made it all muggy. we decided to do islands of adventure first because there were wet rides there so they wanted to dry off the rest of the day. also this was on our way to harry potter.

Day 3 continued..

these sayings were very appropriate for each of us that took a pic with them....

me cuz well i was pregnant...

my husband cuz well he's a goofball and isnt really built and would say something like that...

my niece cuz shes an airhead...

my sister cuz shes a big kid...

and my BIL cuz hes a doctor and is always thinking of some fact or something to say...

Day 3, cont again...

here are some pics of harry potter world. we ate in harry potter and the food was very good. the butterbeer was pretty good, but i got the pumpkin juice and it was a bit too spicy for me for a drink, but everything was very good, and it was packed in there!









after that, we went over to universal, by this point we were getting a bit goofy cuz we were so tired. doing both parks in one day is a big task, especially at 5 months pregnant! all i remember is stopping to get a churro from a stand and she said we had to wait cuz they were making them someplace else and it was taking forever so i think they got corn dogs instead. my nephew sonny gave someone a bit of his then threw it out, idk, it was all very funny at that point. on that side we didnt do much, we rode ET of course, mike did some new rollercoaster that took him forever to get on while my BIL and one nephew went to the rocky horror makeup show, while the rest of us sat and people watched. it was getting late so we headed back to the condo cuz we had Spirit of Aloha that night at 8. we got back and rushed to get ready so we could get there in time.

DH, DN, and myself ate here last year on our trip for the first time and loved it!!!! my parents were amazed and how good it was. my dad is kinda grumpy when it comes to disney and stuff but he had a ball that night! we were all cracking up and goofing off and it was so much fun. this time i think we had category 1 and were right on the floor, we ended up upgrading last minute cuz it wasnt much more to do it. here are some pics....

parents...


very bad pic of me and mike...


parents with the kids...

DAY 4, last day at condo, GOING TO DISNEY!!!

so today was Sunday and it was the day we were going over to Saratoga! we were so excited! we decided to pack up and eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel. so we ate and went back to the room and got all of our stuff packed up and ready.





we went to go check in extra early, but we figured if the rooms werent ready we could just leave our luggage there until they were. well they were ready! for those of you who forgot, we rented DVC points here. we got two rooms, a 2 br place and a studio for my parents. the lady who owned there had requested close to the DD boat and rooms next to one another. well we didnt have either! well the rooms were only a floor apart but it kind of made it annoying because my parents were using our washer and dryer. but thats ok. so we went and dropped our luggage off and headed out to drop the cars off. we had to go drop off the cars at the Dolphin cuz we were just going to use the Disney buses the rest of the time. so we went over earlier than we had to and dropped them off. this is a very easy process for those who want to do it. we rented the car from alamo at the airport and you can drop it back off at the Dolphin. took a quick pic of the dolphin's tree before we left...



after this we were off to the boardwalk and beach club just to waste some time. we walked around and decided to go eat at beaches and cream since nobody was there before but DH, DN, and myself.

pic of beach and yacht club from boardwalk...


pic of my husband finishing his sundae...this is a big accomplishment cuz they are HUGE!


after we were done here we went back to the room to relax for our dinner reservations at Narcoossee's, me and my husbands favorite restaurant on disney property

here are some pics of the decorations and gingerbread house which were amazing!

Day 4 continued...






i have to say that we were very disappointed with narcoossee's this time. it just wasnt the same. over all the whole trip the food was not very good. not like it has been. mine was good but i know some of the other were upset especially cuz of how much narcoossees is. but it was a good time had by all. after this we headed home cuz tomorrow was MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!

Day 5, magic kingdom!

this morning we were up nice and early to make it to MK in time for the opening ceremonies. we did have reservations at Crystal Palace but ended up eating at SSR to make more time in the park. so we got there in time for the ceremonies and rope drop...here are some pics...

Day 5 continued...













so we decided to stay until after lunch and then go back and relax and go back at night cuz we were just going to eat at cosmic rays for dinner so we had nothing set. we rode pretty much everything that entire day. it was very hot and humid that day too which made it kind of uncomfortable but i still loved it of course.

this is a pic of the kids with alice...

Day 5 cont again

while we were in the area, the kids wanted to go on the teacups. so they went but my husband and BIL also went. they all squeezed on one cup..here are the pics. it was hysterical and they spun it so fast, we also have the after pics of how sick they looked..







after the ride...haha




with stitch...


husband with the sword..do have to say that lil ant did pull the sword out and we all missed it! poor kid was so upset!


this is the same pic that these two took last year while we were there, they had to do it again they said its tradition...


and so sonny gets in too...


and my dad...haha i love the two behind him

Day 5 yet again...

well we ate at Liberty Tree which was delicious of course, after this cuz it was so hot, we were beat, so we went back to the room to relax a little and were going to head back that night...just a few pics waiting in line for the bus...





here are the pics from when we went back that night...















lil anthony got obsessed with buying stuff, especially hats..


so we ate at cosmic rays which we like cuz they have such a big selection. we didnt stay for the parade or fireworks which i was kinda sad about but everyone was tired. so we headed back and went to sleep.

DAY 6 MVMCP, the day i was sick!

so today i woke up feeling horrible. i dont know if i was just run down or if it was the weather going from hot to cold so fast, but i felt so bad. we had reservations at Boma at the AKL so i told everyone to go without me. they all joked that they were going to get lost cuz their tour guide wasnt there. but my husband assured me when he got back that he took over for me! they also told me that i missed the best meal that they had the entire trip. i was like wonderful! but i needed to rest cuz MVMCP was that night and i had never been so i wanted to feel better. needless to say i really didnt feel much better the rest of the trip but i dealt with it. i think it was a combo of getting really huge while i was down there. my belly popped all of a sudden so it hurt to walk plus i was so stuffy i couldnt breathe. but that night we went to 1900 park fare for dinner at 4:35. again this dinner actually sucked. hate to be so blunt but it was bad and we usually like it alot here. but here are some pics from that meal...









here are some pics of the festivities that night. my parents ended up leaving early cuz they were too tired and the next day was epcot and they wanted to be rested. good thing cuz i remember it took us forever to get home that night. we loved the fireworks but hated the parade. overall i really wasnt a big fan of the MVMCP. the stations to visit all had the same snacks, hot cocoa and cookies. they gave you no opportunities to even see the characters because if you wanted to get to the shows you would miss them because they took the characters out of lines to "prepare for the shows". we were really disappointed in it. the snow on main street was cool and all the years i have been going to disney, this was the first time i ever saw tinkerbell fly during the fireworks. we usually sit up at the train station so you cant see her from there. the not so scary halloween party is a million times better than this ticket but at least now we know and we experienced it. ill probably only go back to it once so my daughter can see it.

Day 6 continued...

DAY 7 EPCOT and my dads last day

so today we were headed to EPCOT, my second fav park and my moms favorite. she was so excited to just walk around the stores cuz when we went when i was little, my dad always rushed us through so we never got to do that. that is my favorite part too. it got really cold this day, especially at night so that made it a little harder to deal with. from what i can remember i think we ate at SSR again so we could get there in time. we didnt make it for rope drop but thats ok. here are some pics when we walked in..

we did the land side first, did the usual rides, test track, ellen ride, spaceship earth, mission space, the land, we never ended up doing soarin cuz we had all done it and we just had too much to do. then we headed over to the world showcase. we had lunch at Tutto Italia in Italy. i have a whole bunch of pics from epcot so im just going to post them on here. for dinner we decided to eat around the world and just sample different things so thats what we did.

Day 7 continued



THE THREE MAGI


GOOFY SONNY










LIL ANT WITH HIS NEXT HAT


LA BAFANA IN ITALY

Day 7 cont again







GINGERBREAD HOUSE IN ITALY

Day 7 again



POOR DUFFY HAD NOBODY IN LINE WITH HIM, THEY MADE A BIG DEAL OVER HIM THOUGH AND SHOWED HIM SOME LOVE!