Adventure #9: Firsts, a Dream, an Anniversary, & Three Destinations...

...I need another drink! :hammer:

I know I've neglected a whoooole lotta TRs out there for a long time. There's a reason for that. I vowed to myself to stop reading and start writing. I also vowed not to even begin posting until the report was completely written and assembled so posting would literally be cut & paste. This puppy was quite the monster to tackle but I did it! Enjoy.



Greetings to my dedicated readers, friends, family, and noobs alike! Boy, do I have a story to tell you so let’s get this thing rolling...

First, the basics:

Who? The usual suspects, of course. That would be me (The SweetPee), the old man (Tracey), the 15 year old all-knowing son (Chandler), and the 13 year old not-so-baby-of-the-family son (Brian). Later in the trip you’ll see a character from my very first trip report return for more fun. Yep, you guessed it! My big brother, the uncle extraordinare, Jerry!

What? Duh. Vacation. Anywhere but home fits the bill. Thankfully, we had 3 awesome destinations to hit. And celebrating. Can’t forget that we celebrated our 18th anniversary in style!

When? September 9 - 24, 2011.

Where? September 9: on the road & Hampton Inn, Clermont
September 10 - 15: Wilderness Lodge
September 15 - 18: Disney Cruise Line’s Dream
September 18 - 24: Yacht Club

If this is your first time reading a SweetPee report, feel free to peruse my previous reports down there in my signature. There’s better intros with pics there.

Like most folks, it’s amazing how much life you can live in less than a year. When I last left y’all at the end of our 8th adventure in November 2010 I wasn’t 100% sure where or when we’d be back. I wasn’t even sure WDW would be our destination of choice. I managed to find us some new Disney experiences to try...one of which has taken over our souls! You won’t believe it! We sure don’t!

Life has a way of keeping the adventure alive. Towards the end of January this year Tracey got sent on a project in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Don’t know where that is? Yeah, there’s a reason for that. LOL! It’s about halfway in between Dallas, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The good part was all the moolah all that overtime brings + paid expenses. The bad part was ice, snow, and working 7 days a week for months on end. We got to see a different part of the country, experience real snow & ice (which completely blows), see the Oklahoma City National Memorial, meet new people, and learn new things. After Tracey finished up in Oklahoma he came back to an assignment on a project that was plagued with deadline challenges. Again, great to have all that income from the overtime but bad because he never had any days off. Literally. The only days I think Tracey had off this year were when the snow & ice were dangerous enough for the project to shut down, Easter, and a couple sick days. That’s it. Not even July 4th or Labor Day. And so, that’s how we funded our adventure and were able to shoot for the stars. Tracey worked so hard for so long. If he said “upgrade us to club level” or “add another day to the front of the trip” I didn’t argue. He earned it.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

After breakfast we ran back by the room to put some sunblock on the boys. They totally hate having to have sunblock. Told ya we don’t usually do this hot weather. I never make them do sunblock during the cooler months. Here’s a tip if you have finicky teenage boys who sulk and argue when you utter the word sunblock: mix it with a little regular lotion. I mix the sunblock with regular lotion (the H2O stuff in the rooms works fine) about 50/50 then apply. It absorbs fairly quickly and doesn’t leave as heavy a feeling after. No sunburns so the block still works fine.

We headed out to go wander the MK a little. Ooooh...there’s that magnificent example of a long-neck blue crane!

It was another pleasant boat ride over:

Cruising over the water bridge:

Hi guys!

Here we are! I had the perfect shot then Chandler inadvertently bombed me. Drat!

Better.

One for the Photopass.

Walking in I made Brian stop and read the plaque to me. I had a feeling he had never seen it before. He hadn’t and was quite impressed with the message.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We didn’t really have anything in particular we wanted to do. I suggested we go check out the new Mickey meet-n-greet. It was cool inside and not much wait at all. Here we had the joy of experiencing another unleashed “Little Johnny” along with his overly-loud obnoxious mother who felt the need to yell everything that came out of her mouth. She had plenty to say to Little Johnny, his slightly older sister, Little Susie, and their Dad. We heard it all. As did everyone else within a half-mile radius. Ugh. Where’s the volume ????

We got inside to see Mickey in a very short time. The Disney Gods were smiling upon us. Nice pictures. Lovely experience.

Awwww...

They may not look like it to the rest of the world but they’ll always be my sweet babies...

How very Disney that they exit you straight into a gift shop. They get you all dazzled on the Disney high from an awesome character interaction then try to sneak some bucks out of your pockets. We kept our wallets shut but enjoyed seeing the decor.

I love pretty dresses. Mary Poppins wears a very pretty one, too!

It’s been forever since we rode the train so we headed up to the platform on Main Street. Brian wanted a Coke before we got onboard so he was soon behind us:

A view worth pausing to take in:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Loved these inside the train station:

All aboard!

We took the train to Frontierland in hopes of scoring a ride on BTMRR. No dice. It was down. Nobody wanted to ride Splash Mountain (none of us like the funky-feet smell plus the standby was looooong) so we decided another visit to Master Gracey would be a nice option.

On our way Tracey needed to make a potty stop. I wanted the boys to pose with this statue because my mom has a pic from back in like 1976 of my dad and Grampa standing with it. I took this pic of Chandler:

A nearby CM heard me telling the boys about the old picture of Dad & Grampa and he informed me I was doing this all wrong. This is what I needed:

I like it...but what the heck is Brian doing with his bionic arm holding the popcorn bucket???? LOL!


Were you reading your phone again, Tracey???

We continued on to Haunted Mansion. Geez it was one HOT wait.

Photopass!

I took this picture on the way out. Interesting story about the red eyes on the bench arm serpents:

Back when Tracey & I did Keys to the Kingdom in May of ’08 we were told all sorts of little stories that we had no way of knowing if they were true or not but they sounded nice so what does it hurt to go along and buy ‘em? Right? So the story we were told about the red eyes on the serpent arms of this bench goes like this: Not every little detail you see is intentionally designed to be that way. Some things are the result of guests. These red eyes served as the example. Once upon a time there was a family who wanted to ride Haunted Mansion but their teen daughter was too cool to go along so she opted to sit on this bench and wait. While she sat there a CM had seen her and was keeping an eye on her from a distance. Every few minutes or so the CM would cast a look her way then move his/her attention back to all the other passing guests. Well, after a while the CM noticed the girl had taken a bottle of red nail polish out of her purse and was touching up her fingernails. Another few minutes and another glance and the girl was carefully touching the red polish to the eyes of the serpents on the arms of the bench. The CM moved to step over to her and ask her not to do that when another guest approached and distracted him/her. The next time the CM had a chance to look over towards the teenager she was gone. The CM meant to say something to a manager about the red eyes but forgot. That night after the park was closed maintenance came along and picked up the bench to take it for a refresh. It was sanded, cleaned, then repainted the way it was received...red eyes and all. I have no idea if there’s any truth in that story at all but, like I said, it sure sounded nice at the time and I love a good story. Why not just pretend that that’s why the eyes on the serpent arms of this bench are now red?

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Wow. Something is missing here.

Next we went to Philharmagic to soak us up some air conditioning. It doesn’t hurt that we love the show. While waiting we met a really sweet older couple celebrating 40 years together. I just wanted to hug them. People like this are what I want to be. So adorable. They talked us up on Disney cruising as if we could be any more excited about our cruise coming up in just 2 more days!

After the show we hit Pinocchio Village Haus for a snack. We had fries, breadsticks, and a salad. What a combo, right??? LOL! One of the boys noted on our Small World voyage a couple days ago that we’ve never sat by those windows where the children are always waving at the departing boats. This was our chance. I grabbed us a table by the window and Brian waved his little heart out.

Brian wanted to ride the Tea Cups but Chandler wasn’t quite feelin’ the spin yet so Tracey went with him. Tracey is really good at getting those cups whipping around fast. The countdown begins:

Getting started:

If memory serves they were moving pretty good for this shot. It was hard to get pics of them. They were spinning so fast!

We all rode Space Mountain (even Tracey) with just a 10 minute wait.

Waiting for Chandler to come out of the bathroom. Poor guy. His stomach was still giving him fits.

When he emerged we found some Smart Water to try to keep his electrolytes up then took a leisurly cruise on the Peoplemover. We saw Chip & Dale but I couldn’t get a good picture:

And we enjoyed the views:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

From our vantage point we saw MNSSHP bracelets being distributed so it seemed like the right time to head back to the resort. Noooo problem. While waiting for the boat back we enjoyed watching all the different costumes going in. There were some good ones. Then the guy in the full-on gangster zoot suit who looked really awesome also looked extremely hot. Eeek!

Upon return to the resort we picked up our packages at the Mercantile from the previous purchases at Epcot. I noticed the H2O products were all 30% off so I scored some Spa body butter for me, solar gel in case the boys got burned on the cruise, and Oasis face hydrating spray (which I have ordered from their website and loooove). Love me a good buy!

We all suited up and hit the pool...including Chandler! At first he was adamant that he was going to swim in his tshirt. After just a little while out he quickly caught on that the vibe wasn’t about who looks like what at this pool so he stripped it on off and let go of the teen angst a bit. All the guys had a ball with multiple trips down the slide right along with other big kids, little kids, and everyone in between.

We got out after a good cool-down, threw on some clothes, and headed out to DHS for some evening fun. We arrived at about 6 or so. Tracey & I hit a Photopass pic:

We made our way directly towards a few old favorites we didn’t get to when we were here before.

I could NOT believe the crazy line that stretched all the way down down Sunset for Fantasmic. That is not an exageration. It was nuts. We walked right on by and got in line for RnRC with about a 20 minute wait.

This will be next on the agenda:

Checking Lines???

Or playing games?

Next, Chandler and I made a beeline for ToT. Tracey wasn’t feelin’ it and Brian didn’t want to go for some reason. Whatevah. Standby was posted at 20 minutes but we were done in more like 15.

Brian was dying to go back to Star Tours so we went back over to go for another ride. We got the same sequence as our first ride. Of course, one ride and I was done with it. Tracey opted to sit with me and relax while the boys hit it again. They had the same sequence again. Hhhmm.

We hadn’t been on Toy Story Midway Mania yet. As I’ve said before, I had my fill of the rope-drop stampede on our last trip. Been there, done that, aced it, and got the tshirt. I’ve come to the point where I don’t think the stress is worth the ride so I put my foot down and refuse to do it anymore. Tracey, Chandler, and I were up to braving standby. It was the one thing we hadn’t done yet that we wanted to. We walked over there to check the line. Standby was posted at 50 minutes but the line didn’t look it at all. We decided to give it a shot but Brian didn’t want to go. He wanted to make more rounds on Star Tours. We let him go back over on his own while we jumped in line for the long-haul. Our entire wait + the ride took only 25 minutes. I guess Chandler really wasn’t feeling 100% because I actually beat him at a video game. That NEVER happens!

Of course Tracey spanked us both so it doesn’t really matter in the end. I like to think he’s got that hand movement down pat which gives him the edge. Yes. I said it. LOL!

Brian met us back at the exit to TSMM. He said he managed to score a ride entirely by himself. He was absolutely tickled over it. It was amazing how much Brian enjoyed doing things by himself. He really made a fuss over us not babying him so much and letting him “be a man”. **sigh** It’s sad, in a way, but then it’s fun to see him flourishing all on his own like that.

We were headed back to the bus at about 8:50 or so. As soon as we approached the bus stop a bus showed up. Perfect timing.

Back at the lodge we hit the Roaring Fork for a late dinner. I had the ham & Tilamook panini with cucumber salad and a chocolate caramel cupcake for dessert. The panini was pretty good, the cucumber salad refreshing, but the cupcake was another evil impersonation of a cupcake. It’s just so wrong to look so good but taste so blah!

At some point today Brian went to the arcade for a bit. He brought me back these fun pics for a keepsake.

I’ll interpret for you. First we have a sweet boy. Then you get the full smolder. Oh yes. Brian can smolder like a pro. LOL! Then you get sweet and innocent again. The last one, I think he was trying to summon another Disney emotion. This would be leaving. LOL! That kid of mine is such a ham!

We all ended the evening with another refreshing dip in the pool and showers. Everyone was in bed and fell asleep watching old Seinfeld reruns. Niiiiice. I signed off in my notes at 11:10.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Wednesday, 9/14: Critters, herds, & a looooong, tiring day....

The alarm went off at 5:50 a.m. and I was in the shower before 6. This is nothing short of miraculous for the anti-morning person that I am. Everyone was up early, even the critters outside.

Brian says this is the baby of the pretty white crane we kept seeing. I guess the babies start out grey.

We were out the door at 7:30. Waiting for the valet it was almost surreal it was so quiet. See how early & peaceful it was???

Here’s my Doom Buggy! I remember when I took this pic Tracey asked me, “Why are you taking a picture of our car??? It’s just the car.” Well, yeah. But I love my car. Like really. I. love. my. car. Plus, this isn’t what it normally looks like when they bring it to us. It looks sleepy, like me!

Here’s another picture I took that incited all sorts of questions. Geez, Tracey. We’re never out this early. Everything looks different. Just shut up and drive.

Our destination for the morning. Arrival time: 7:45.

Front row! It’s so empty out here! Brian is ready to go check out some critters!

I have yet to see a Unicorn in Animal Kingdom. I’ll let ya know when I do.

Good morning, Chandler.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We were at the rope along with a small herd of other resort guests for morning EMH at 7:55. Miracles never cease. When we got to the rope we had a short discussion about what our strategy for the morning would be. We figured when the rope went down 75% of the herd was going to stampede left towards the safari. We predicted another 24% would split right to make a run to Everest. That last 1%, we thought, would think in our direction and opt to start at the less-obvious first ride choice: Dinosaur. Within 15-20 minutes everyone would all be done with their first attractions of choice and be moving on. This would make rides at Everest and the safari even less of wait for us.

When the rope dropped we moved along with the group down the hill, across the bridge, towards the Tree of Life. As predicted, the majority of the crowd turned left towards the safari. Bam! We are goooooood. Of those who split right another large percentage veered left around the tree towards Asia. Dang! I’m fully impressed with us! See??

I like this shot I took. Pretty good considering I literally was in full stride taking it.


See those people in front of us 2 pictures back? Yeah, as soon as they crossed the bridge towards Dinoland they veered left to take a different route to Everest. This left us with absolutely nobody else in front of us. How cool!

I think I liked when this guy was wearing a Santa hat better:

Being in parks early with nobody around is something I really like. I just want to take a bazillion pictures of everything and soak in the moment because these moments are kinda rare at WDW in general.

Roar.

We ended up being the first people on Dinosaur. Cool. I say it every trip but I just can’t say it enough: earplugs are a must on Dinosaur. Seriously. I’ve done work as a safety tech on a big job site. Tracey has to know standard OSHA safety practices well to work in the facilities he does. The sound in Dinosaur is well above safe decibel levels. We wear earplugs every time we ride. We don’t miss a single sound in the ride, either.

Dinosaur pics:

Dinobuttosaurus.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

That turtle right there made one biiiiiiig pot of turtle soup!

So after Dinosaur we were on a mission to see if the rest of our theory would play out. Tracey was the group leader. There was no slowing down for pics. This started a cycle for us. Brisk walking. I stop to take some pics. Tracey fusses or turns to glare at me without slowing. I run to catch up. Brisk walking. I stop.... etc.

Next stop:

Ooooh...preeeetty..... “You better hurry up!”

“See, Tracey? We’re doing fine. Relax, dude.”

Slightly blurry. The train was in a hurry, too.

More pretty. Tracey can’t leave me behind strapped into the ride, tho.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I’m in full picture mode because I can.

Oh Tracey. You tattooed freak. You’re going to regret that for the rest of your life. (The statement that will live on in Sutton Family infamy.)

Yes, it was fun.

I don’t see “hurry”. I can walk like a normal person.

Our first ride was literally walk-on. The boys wanted to go again. Us old farts were happy to watch them go without us. Of course I was excited to have a few minutes of peace where I can snap pictures in an empty gift shop that normally is mobbed with bodies.

I’m glad this is up high. If it were closer to small children they may be freaked out by it.

Colorful.

Ooooh...more scary.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I didn’t know Disney shopped at World Market!

Wandering outside while I can...

Watch out for the snowballs, kids. They can bite.

Cute & cuddly zombie kitty army.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Are we back in Louisiana?

Nope. More pretty.

I walked around and snapped all those pictures fast because I knew the boys wouldn’t be long with no wait time for those Expeditions. Once they returned Tracey cracked the whip and we’re off...

“You’re going to get left behind.”

Right about now I figured “Screw him. This is what I’m here for.” So here’s the pretty pictures I took. I lined this one up and Chandler bombed it.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

If at first you don’t succeed...

Tell your kid to get the heck out of your way and snap again. LOL!

Coolness.

I just wanted to spin in circles snapping away. Well, sorta I did.




Oh look. It’s Speed Racer!

More pretty. Even an upside down tree can be pretty.

We made it to Kilimanjaro Safari to further prove our theory of crowd movement. I think we were pretty spot-on. The entire wait including the hike thru the long queue area was 5 minutes.

I liked the way the sunshine was coming thru the trees. Sorry about the blur. Now there’s people behind me so I did actually feel like I couldn’t come to a full stop to take my pictures.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

My strategy with people behind me was to walk really fast to get ahead of the group behind me, slow for my picture, then take off again to create a new gap. I’d have been shot down had the people behind us been like Tracey and in a full-on race with the clock.

Once on the safari I wasn’t going to take pictures. To me, they all look the same as every other critter picture from this ride. If I want to see the animals from the safari I’ll just refer back to last year’s pics or the year before that or the year before that or the year before that..... You get the idea. Tracey, however, asked for some pics. Or maybe he took these. I don’t remember.

At the end of our safari I wish I had noted the time. We had to hurry so much because Tracey was hell-bent on riding the 3 big rides in our early hour with as little wait as possible. I feel like we were totally successful in accomplishing a good bit. I was just thoroughly beat by the time we had done it and wished I had taken more pics or slowed down to bask in the peace. I’m getting more and more where hurrying or feeling anxious irritates me. I don’t want to do it.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I don’t remember what we did between the safari and the next thing I wrote in my notes but the times don’t really jive. After a quick consult with Tracey and the boys apparently when we finished our ride at Everest earlier we got FastPasses for it. After the safari we went back to use the Fastpasses then returned to Harambe for our breakfast reservation at Tusker House.

We checked-in for our 9:40 ADR @ Donald’s Safari Breakfast / Tusker House at 9:30. The hostess CM that checked us in said they were pretty backed up and we could be as far out as 15 minutes past our ADR before we got in. The whole area was mobbed with people. We were afraid we would be doomed to really terrible wait. It ended up not too bad. We took our picture with Donald and were seated at 9:50, just 10 minutes past our ADR time.

More bad luck. Not only were we seated in the big room where it’s most noisy (when standing in front of the restaurant it’s the room behind the windows that face out), we were sandwiched between unhappy kiddies. It didn’t take long to figure out what the annoyance was. First of all, it’s so chaotic in there. I can imagine being a small child in that environment and feeling very stressed. Then there was the horribly slow service. Little kids aren’t that patient by nature. Pair that with Mom & Dad being unhappy and it’s just not going to go well. Right after we sat down this is what I wrote in my notes: “Sitting next to another screaming & moaning toddler. Frickin’ shoot me.”

Tusker was a total bust today. It took 20 minutes just to get our drinks. Chandler had a hairy doughnut. Seriously. I big ol’ hair in it. It’s kinda hard to see but it’s on the left about halfway down the doughnut. Poor guy was pretty grossed out and wouldn’t eat anything after his discovery. No, these doughnuts aren’t prepared by Disney but still. Just an eww moment to add to the overall experience.

The character interaction was pretty lack-luster at best. We watched as the characters would make their way around the room and they all seemed rushed on different levels. We tried to make life easier for them and be ready when they arrived. Daisy is my favorite. When she was approaching the guys all urged me to get up and get ready. Okee-dokee. So Daisy walks over, I’m standing there ready to greet her, and she walks over to Chandler sitting in his chair. Um. Okay. He hopped up and took a picture since that seemed to be what Daisy wanted.

Then he said, “Take a pic with my mom. You’re her favorite.” Well, okay. It was kinda awkward by now.

As soon as we snapped that picture Daisy literally darted away. No goodbye, nothing. I was sad. The rest of the character pics:

And that’s it for the pics. Not many for us, huh? I’m telling you, the characters were just ‘meh’ this go around. Not much interaction or fun.

The food was okay. Not good. Not bad. Just ‘meh’ sorta like the characters. The restaurant was total chaos then they had the little parade around with the kids which takes it to a whole other level of anarchy. It took forever to get our check and pay. It definitely wasn’t just us, either. The families around us who had the same waitress were pretty steamed, too. Once we were out the door a few steps a manager-person was walking towards us. Tracey stopped her and explained how crumby the whole thing was in contrast to all the other times we’ve eaten at Tusker House. The manager-lady was very nice, came off genuinely concerned, wanted to see our receipt to identify who the server was, and was really nice. I’m glad we were able to let someone know how awful the whole thing was. With prices that steep it makes the crappy dining experiences almost an insult. I can honestly say that we won’t be returning in the near future.

Post breakfast:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

How can scenery like this not melt you back into a peaceful state?

Next we had a quiet, relaxing browse thru the Island Mercantile. That was nice. Chandler and I had fun with the Duffy display.

Wildlife experiences can be had literally anywhere in Animal Kingdom even in the shops. The boys found and caught a little bitty gekko.

Brian took it outside to a more appropriate habitat. I was so glad he didn’t eat it. I know, you’re thinking “Whaaaaat?!?!” The whole scene reminded me of when Brian was a baby and we lived in a townhouse. He loved to crawl over to the sliding glass door in the living room and look outside thru the verticle blinds. Well, one day he had crawled over and was over at the sliders a while. I checked on him and he seemed to be chewing something. When I swept his mouth with my fingers out popped a tiny gekko skeleton. I absolutely freaked! He must’ve gotten the skeleton from the door track area. I spit-shined the entire area after that and inspected it more regularly. LOL!

While in the shop we were eyeballing this dinnerware:

We do need new dishes because my current Mickey stuff is showing wear. Tracey really wanted me to buy this stuff and ship it home but I just don’t think I like it for my kitchen. Plus, at the cost of that stuff and with the vibrant designs on it I wouldn’t want to put it in the dishwasher which would create a ton more work for me. No thanks.

Bird.

Amazing, huh? LOL!

After our Island Mercantile adventures Tracey & I went over to see It’s Tough to be a Bug. The boys headed back to Expedition: Everest together.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

ITTBAB was a bit of a let-down this go around. First of all, there was some stern CMs working today. They really made a big deal about us going all the way to the first door at the end. No problem. Well, we ended up sitting on the front row all the way to the left if you’re facing the stage. It was interesting perspective of the show we hadn’t had before so it wasn’t a problem. Then, again, when it came time for Hopper to make his appearance he was a no-show. We could hear his disembodied voice but no AA Hopper. The disconnect makes that portion of the show totally crappy. It bugs me. Please, Disney, if you can’t keep the AA working consistantly (we haven’t seen him since January 2010) have a B-Mode show where he’s still on the screen when he talks. K?

After the show Tracey & I took a Photopass shot in front of the tree and headed out. While waiting for our turn to take a picture we saw this lady wearing wearing Minnie ears. Tracey shook his head and said, “That just don’t look right for some reason.” I shush’d him.

And the picture:

Back to the car. Here’s a time where the little feature the car has that will open all the windows and sunroof for you when you click the unlock twice real fast is a nice thing. It was hooooot...

While in the car the boys called to let us know they were on a bus back also. Good timing. We thought they’d stay longer but apparently they were hot and tired, too.

Ooooh...bam-boo-lance!

When we walked back in it sorta dawned on me that we’re checking out tomorrow and I haven’t taken any pictures of the lodge. Heck, I’ve taken more pics here when we were visiting the restaurants and not hotel guests. Sheesh! I tried to get with the program.

We had a last package to pick up from the Mercantile. We did 4 loads of laundry, settled our room account, and took a nice 2 hour nap. After we woke up we figured we should get started packing up the next leg of our adventure. Tomorrow we’re setting sail on the Dream! WooHOOOO!!!! But, what to pack to take with us? What to leave in the trunk? Each and every little thing was debated. We had no idea. We’ve never been on a cruise before. Packing was frustrating and no fun at all.

All afternoon while we were at the resort Chandler had gone off to fly solo over at Epcot. Wow. This was a big first. He had his phone. He knows his way around well. He just up and wanted to go so why not? He’s not a kid anymore. Actually it was kinda cool when you think about it.

At 5:30 or so we started making our way out to the boat to Magic Kingdom. We called Chandler to tell him he needed to head that way, too.

It was a nice boat ride. We asked the skipper if he had any of the transportation cards. He said to wait after we got to the MK and he’d get them out of his bag for us. Cool! Well, Brian ended up scoring every boat in the fleet except the Grand 1! Awesome!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Okay. I hoped to get more posted but I'm dying here. It's after 6 a.m. and I haven't been to sleep yet. My eyes literally will not stay focused anymore. I'll get more posted after some sleep. :wave:

Just an FYI: To this point in the report I'm on page 82 of 232. Lots more to come. :animwink:

 

[dixiegirl]

Sweetpea, I'm so lovin this TR!!! The family shots came out Beautiful!!! Got me thinking that possibly we'll have to do that with our girls next year! Was it terrbly, costly? I know its Disney so whats not, but when"s the chance to do that again? Anyhow keep up the great report, love the perfect combo with pics!! Got me missing it something terrible.......!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Yay yay yay!! I'm so excited you started!! I will never remember everything, but here's a few things I wanted to say -

Stephen does the same thing to me with taking out suitcases!! It makes me nuts! I pack really early and some are done. But there's always a few we need that last morning to stick in our toothbrushes, my make up, etc. He asks every 10 minutes if they're ready. Of course not, the kids just woke up and won't brush their teeth until we are walking out the door! We can carry these as we go out!:lol:

We’ve homeschooled twice and gotten very interesting reactions also so I can relate. Have you ever seen Tim Hawkin's homeschool song and video? He homeschools, it's hilarious.

The photo session was awesome! Your hair looks gorgeous, not frizzy at all!! You have some great shots. It's amazing that only took an hour! I think the Morocco ones are my favorites.

The series of the boys through the years in Epcot is also adorable! I love it!

I have the Mickey bowls you were looking at. I like a little magic for breakfast. I always put them in the dishwasher, by the way, and they still look great!

Okay, that's all I can remember except that I am loving this trip report!! And I know my favorite part is still to come!!:sohappy:

 

[NewfieFan]

Yay! The TR does not disappoint... it's great, really great!

There's so much I wanted to comment on but I've been reading it inbetween dealing with the two kids by myself (Pete's at a conference/course) and I can't remember half the stuff I wanted to comment on.

I'm really enjoying some of your pics... I totally understand the speed up, slow down and take a pic, speed up again walk - I do it all the time at WDW!

Maybe you should try Sunshine Seasons (or the Four Seasons :lol during peak dining hours... the place is a madhouse but the food has always been good for us.

When I get my thoughts together I'll be back to comment some more...