DD’s Sweet Sixteen Safari

sissa216 · Oct 10, 2008

I can't wait to read your report! :wave:

WildLodgeFan · Oct 15, 2008

Are We There Yet? – Day 1

Warning: This trip report is long and hopefully makes you want to go, vs. puts you to sleep!

I’m not sure any of us got a great deal of sleep, but when the alarm went off at 4:30 am, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed to visit my favorite place on earth! The girls were up, the DS groaning as we made noise and packed all the final toiletries and such. Chocolate Gem Donuts (I know, not nutritious) were passed around as we made final preparations.

Just as we started to head out to the driveway to pack the car it started raining cats, dogs, bunnies, and everything else you could think of.

I haven’t seen it pour like this in ages! So DH dashed out to the car and pulled it back next to the garage door (yeah, half of it’s full of junk and the other half already had another car) and we opened up the back door of the car and the garage door, so we could shove all our luggage in. Then we all laughed as we dodged rain drops to dash into the car after closing the garage.

And then we were off on a very wet, but lucky short drive to the airport. I should have taken pictures of the lightning that was going on, but since our car was slightly hydroplaning because of the amount of rain that was coming out of the skies, I was more concerned with arriving at the airport alive! :lol:

The rain slowed down as we pulled up to curbside check-in. We unloaded the luggage and then we took advantage of a perk – we parked our car in the Airport Police lot – DH is a traffic officer there, so it’s nice that we don’t have to pay for parking or shutters. Trust me when I say it’s about the only perk involved with that job! :lookaroun

His parents were taking a flight with Delta around the same time as ours, but they were in another terminal, so we didn’t get to see them until later in the day, though DH went and retrieved their car and parked it in the lot as well. Their check-in took a little bit longer as my FIL uses oxygen tanks and there seemed to be some issues. So DH was cutting close getting back to our terminal, but we went through the security checkpoint without any issues and hopped onto our plane.

This was our first time traveling on AirTran and we were pleased with the service that we received and I like the feature of the XM radio. Their cocktail napkins absolutely cracked me up – have to love a witty ad writer! If you haven’t taken the time to read them or their pretzel packages – make sure you do the next time you travel with them.

We arrived about 10 minutes ahead of schedule in ATL and since we had about a 3 hour layover, we went to one of the food courts via the shuttle (funny photo of DS here http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3343) and grabbed lunch. DS had a quarter pounder value meal from Mickey D’s and the rest of us opted for Qdoba’s – which was quite good and very filling. Boy those portions are big! The DD ordered the three cheese nachos, DD BFF ordered the vegetarian taco salad, while I went with the chicken version of the salad and DH went with the beef version. As we headed back to the gates, the girls spied a Ben & Jerry and wanted to look inside for the John Lennon special flavor – they are both big fans of the Beatles. They were quite excited to find they carried it, but they were too full from lunch to have any, but DD’s BFF took pictures of the wall and they decided to try to get some on the flight home.
We also spied a Muppet friend along the way, “Hippy.” Since we tease DD’s BFF about being a hippy, we felt we had to take a photo: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3342

The flight from ATL to MCO was uneventful, though we took a couple of photos along the way: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3344, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3345, and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3355). We arrived about 5 minutes early and headed down to the Disney Welcome Center to check in for DME. No crowds here folks, of course it was about 2:30 in the afternoon, too. We quickly check in and hop on the bus. We had to wait on the bus about 15 minutes, which is hard to do when you are ready to go, go, go! But in truth, it wasn’t a long wait and soon we were off! Of course, we watched the great video and I was near the front of the bus, so I got a picture of our beloved Welcome to Disney sign - http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3346. The bus stopped first at ASMo and then the next stop was ours, ASMu!

We loved the lobby, it’s bright and fun (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3356) and of course, they had some great musical artist photos on the wall. Check-in went in fast and we were pleased to find out that they had honored our connecting room request for our two rooms. We were in Broadway Building #8 on the ground floor – BONUS! It’s not really a long walk at first, but I admit after long days in the park it definitely felt like one. Lesson Learned – the next visit to All Stars – pay for preferred room and get closer!

We opened up our rooms to discover Mickey Head Towels (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3347) in both rooms. We open up the connecting room and chat a little bit as DH calls luggage services about our delivery of water from Costco. Unfortunately, they say it has arrived, even though the Costco website said it had been delivered the day before. Of course, this is not a great time to realize that you were a moron and forgot to print that information off and bring it with you. :hammer: :brick:

I decided I would stop by the front desk area to see where we could access the internet on our way to Epcot, so we grabbed our park bags and headed back up to the lobby. Unfortunately I learn they don’t have a place where I can access the internet – I would have to go to Coronado Springs to do so. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? :fork: Oh well, Plan B, grab the cell phone and try to access Costco.com via it as we make our way to the bus area to grab a bus to Epcot. Does that work – NO, of course not, what was I thinking!?! I couldn’t get any of the links to work even to find an 800 number for customer service. ARG! Can you tell I was feeling frustrated? The bus arrives as I am still formulating my next plan of attack. Aha! I thought, I will look up the local warehouse number and see if they can give me the phone number. And at last success, I scored the number, wrote it down in my trip journal and since we had just arrived at Epcot, I decided I would call a little later – it was time to RIDE!

We hopped off the bus at about 4:45, headed over to guest relations for DD’s birthday pin. Kudos to the castmember (my bad that I forgot to grab his name) on his Mickey penmanship – it was awesome! Even as we are putting in our KTTW, she received her very first birthday wish – yahoo! Bring on the embarrassment! We buzzed right over to SE and hopped on for a ride immediately. (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3348) Best part of trip – VERY SMALL LINES! Yay us! We absolutely cracked up on the descent activity – we are such complete dorks. We took photos of our crazy selves (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3362 and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3361) and spent a few minutes in the after show, before we headed off to M:S and TT. We decided to grab a FP to TT, so we could hop right on after our trip through M:S. http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3350 (Brilliant old lady expression on DD’s face – she will kill me later for that photo!)

We immediately stepped up and told the castmember that we weren’t wimps, so give us the orange card! Now the last time DD was 11 and DS was 6 and both chickened out, but they didn’t this time and the absolutely loved it! It rocked yet again. I love the feeling of the G’s – adrenaline junkie, here! We skipped the empty end show and popped into the shop for a quick mosey – have to laugh at that astronaut food.

We had a few moments for our FP to TT, so DH took a quick bio break and when he returned our time was up and we hopped on for a fast ride around the track. (someone else’s fast ride comes in http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3351).

After we got off TT, DH received a call from his parents that they had arrived and they were over at Innoventions, so we met up with them and dodged into Club Cool. (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3358) Now I had told everyone about the Beverly – but would you believe that they all tried it except for me and my MIL? Crazy people! They all agree – it’s absolutely awful. The watermelon soda was absolutely fabulous – why can’t they sell that here in the States?

We stepped out of Club Cool as it closed at 7:00 pm. We realized at this time we wouldn’t get to visit World Showcase and we took a few moments to lament this fact. Next, we breezed through MouseGears, where my DS pulled me aside and said he wanted to buy his sister a pair of Tinkerbell Ears for her birthday. So I had DH distract the girls to another area and we purchased the said ears.

After our secret shopping, we headed over to the Seas. I, of course decided to take pictures of the gulls in front, except I was perhaps a little too close and got splashed by the water, where my mouth happened to be open – ______! (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3352) Yep, everyone else laughs at my expense, but hey you can’t be too mad – you are in Disney World!

So we hop inside and get in the clam mobiles. BTW, I am probably easily impressed. I thought it was very cool in how the incorporated the animated fish with the real fish. After our ride to the seas, we take a quick peak at the Dolphins in the tank and the Manatee.

We then head over to the Land. After realizing the boat ride was closed, we check on Soarin’ which had about a 30 minute stand-by. As our bellies growled with complete hunger (we ate lunch at 11:00 and its 8:00 folks!), we decided to grab a FP, eat on Sunshine Seasons and then we can hop on a glider. We got the very last FP’s for the evening; the CM was closing it up as we grabbed them.

This was the first time we had eaten at Sunshine Seasons and I think for the most part it was pretty good. There were definitely many choices and I was having an entertaining time explaining the dining plan to the group – yes, I’m sorry, I am the bearer of knowledge for our hoard, please feel sorry for me. After the spiel and going through the non-existent line, this is what we all ended up with:

Me – Rotisserie Chicken, Carrots, Mashed Potatoes, Chocolate Cake
DH – Rotisserie Pork Chop, Carrots, Mashed Potatoes, Chocolate Cake
DD – Veggie Plate, Chocolate Cake
DD BFF – Veggie Plate, Chocolate Cake
DS – Ham & Cheese Sandwich, Chips, Chocolate Cake
FIL – Veggie Plate, Fruit
MIL – Veggie Plate, Strawberry Cake

The only complaint was that my husband’s pork chop was really dry – it soaked up two packets of soy sauce! The cake – wow, was it rich! Glad it was the only one we had on the trip.

After stuffing our faces, we hopped onto Soarin. This was the first time all of us and WOW, it was simply amazing. What a fun, fun ride. I could to that again and again. It does get to be a running joke about the number of celebrities that do introductions for rides, with Gary Sinise doing M:S and Patrick Warburton (not sure if I spelled that write – I better know him as the voice of Joe on Family Guy and Steve on American Dad) on Soarin. My FIL who doesn’t ride too many rides really enjoyed this one, so I was so glad we convinced him to get on. In fact, the other day he even said he was ready for another ride on it. I know some people don’t like the idea of cloning rides, but I think they can make it a great and unique experience if they did one in Africa at AK, with you flying over the Savannah. I am such a fan of breathtaking views. I’m probably one of the few that enjoy many of the films in World Showcase because I love all the amazing imagery.

After our ride, we stop by the little kiosk there, as it was my goal on this trip to get one pin from each park and our hotel. I found a great Soarin’ pin with Mickey in the hang glider that moves. While we are browsing, the CM was challenged our DS to stack golf balls. We were the only folks around, so I imagine he was trying to pass the time. While DS is working on the challenge, the CM noticed DD’s bday pin and asked her if she had talked with Goofy yet. She kind of laughed and said no. He said, “Well, Goofy likes to talk to the girls. Hold on a moment.” He proceeded to pick up the phone and Call Donald and asked him to put Goofy on the line and handed the phone over to my DD. She starts cracking up as Goofy sings Happy Birthday to her. That CM rocked! After they hang up the phone, our DS says he did it and there they were – three golf balls standing on top of one another! The CM said he had never seen a guest who could do it. So of course, we are dorks and take a picture (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3353) for posterity.

As we head out of the Land, we hear and see the fireworks going off for Illuminations. We make a quick dash over to MouseGears to check the price on a hat DH spotted, but once we got there and he seen the price, he decided not to indulge on it. So we headed out of the park and back to the resort.

We grabbed refillable mugs at Intermissions and filled them up. BTW, this time we really didn’t get our monies worth from them, but we treated them as souvenirs and they will remind us of our trip each time we drink from them like our WL ones. We headed back to our room where our bags and would you believe the two cases of water that hadn’t arrived?!? All that frustration, for nothing! The DH filled our collapsible cooler with ice, we threw some water in and we were off into bed with an 8:00 wake-up call. :snore:

Raven66 · Oct 15, 2008

You have definately pulled me into your trip. I can't wait to read some more.

bayoumoon · Oct 15, 2008

Glad you all made it safe their and back. Can't wait to hear more of your report.

rshell68 · Oct 16, 2008

Can't wait to read more!!!

WildLodgeFan · Oct 16, 2008

A Birthday Safari – Day Two

At 6:30, my body decided it was time to get up and start the day. I had slept with the girls this night, so I slipped through the connecting door to where the guys were sleeping, grabbed my clothes and dunked into the shower in their room. Everyone was still asleep when I stepped out and since it had been a really long day the night before, I let everybody sleep until the alarm went off at 8:00 am. This was the only day I attempted a wake-up call and not thinking I stuck in on speaker before I answered, so it didn’t say anything fun. What a moron! :brick:

Today was DD’s birthday, so I gave her the birthday card from us, her BFF gave her one as well, and DS gave her the ears we bought the day before, so we started the day a little sappy. To take a moment to reflect – it’s hard to believe how fast those 16 years have gone by. She had a rocky year or two when she was young, but you would never know it now. She is a bright, mature, and well balanced girl, which the DH and I were blessed with! :cry:

Anyway, the crew was slow moving this morning, everyone was finally ready by 9:00 and we headed toward Intermissions for breakfast (the girls got extra topping on their waffles in celebration of DD’s birthday) using our counter service breakfast. As we check out, I find out that we basically got two beverages, so I scrambled back and got waters for all of us. We hit the bus queue around 10:00 and with a short wait, we were soon heading to the park.

Once we arrived, I spied a Photopass photographer and corralled the troop over there – I wanted this picture to mark the special day. So after taking photos (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3380 and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3379), we headed into the park. I took the necessary Tree of Life photo: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3359 and then we made our way to DinoLand first, with Dinosaur as our destination. But as we were going by, I noticed that Finding Nemo had just started and thought we might head that way to catch the show. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that once it starts that you can’t get in, so we headed back toward Dinosaur.

Now, I had read enough on the various websites to get an overview of the ride, but I really didn’t share much with the crew, because I was a little concerned that DS might not want to ride if I did. (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3365 and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3366) Yet again, we basically walk right in on the preshow, where yep, there were even more celebrities. I spent the entire trip trying to remember the guy’s character name on CSI, and I still haven’t had a chance to look it up!

So off we go back in time, trying to track down that elusive dino and I must say wow – this was one wild and exhilarating ride! Even though I knew about the dinosaur at the photo point – I still cringed! After being scared half to death and barely making it back in our time, we headed to the monitors to catch a glimpse of our ride photo. BEST PHOTO EVER! (We are in the last two rows http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3378) Our expressions were absolutely priceless. :ROFLOL: I rarely indulge in ride photos, but this was one we had to own, so I headed with the girls to the photo line and the guys browsed the shop, where DS picked up a lanyard with an id badge. I decided on the 2 5x7’s (ouch $21.95?!?), so we could give one to DD’s BFF and arranged for resort delivery, since I didn’t want to worry about it getting damaged during our adventures through the park.

As we headed back toward Expedition Everest, we expressed disappointment in not being able to ride Primeval Whirl – we had thought it would have been fun, but maybe next time! We grabbed photos of the mountain as we approached – when we were here last, it was under construction, so we were excited to get a ride on this baby. As we arrived, we noticed the stand-by was 30 minutes, so we decided to grab FPs and head over to Kali River Rapids for a quick ride on it. There was only a 10 minute wait there, so we hopped into the queue. As we walked along, we figured the wait was just walking the queue! Wow, I hadn’t realized how long it was. The family behind us put on ponchos as we finally reached the 2 – 3 minute line. I know this may get me flamed, but honestly, what is the point of riding a water ride and NOT GETTING WET?!? :brick:Kind of takes the fun out of it in my opinion, but oh well, different strokes for different folks, as they say.

We hopped in our raft with the family behind us and head straight into the rapids. And immediately hit right into the geyser, where most of us proceeded to get trenched! OH YEAH BABY, bring it on! I swear we must have hit every gusher possible, ha! Our group climbed out pretty trenched, with me and DD being the wettest. It was time for a restroom break and browsing through a kiosk, where the girls picked up some goodies – the DD picked up cool t-shirt and DD’s BFF picked up a lovely sundress. We took advantage of a snack cart nearby where DH had a Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich, DS & DD had Mickey Head Ice Cream Pops, and DD BFF and I had Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas – hmm, yummy! :slurp:

After indulging in our snack and killing some time before our FP for Everest, we returned to Everest. (Some pretty pics of Everest: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3360, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3367, and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3368) We spied a small souvenir kiosk in front, so we stopped where I picked up my pin for the park – the Cutie Yeti, who slides down the mountain and DD picks up the Cutie Yeti Plush. Afterwards, we found a rock to sit, where the girls went on first, since DS decided he didn’t want to ride. I think he was still nervous from his Dinosaur experience! While they were riding, DH received a call from his parents that they had arrived, so he shared where we were located at, so they could meet up with us.

The girls came off excited and wanting to ride again. We had to quickly hop into line before our FP’s expired, so we told them we would see when we got back. DH and I went through the FP line and got right onto our cart! WHEE! What a fantastic ride – we loved it and I didn’t care what mode Yeti was in, he was still awesome to see! What a rush to go backwards. Here in Kansas City and our local theme park, Worlds of Fun, they have a roller coaster called the Boomerang that goes all the way forward then goes all the way backwards, so we have experienced before, but it is all outdoors, so experiencing the backwards feeling in the dark was completely different. So as our cart gets back, DH and I both look at each other and say, “Oh, yeah, we have to ride again!” :sohappy:

As we skipped through the end ride store, which I had originally though the kiosk store was, we found that DH’s parents had made it over, so we left DS with FIL (who doesn’t care for coasters) and took MIL (who my DH got his coaster fever from) with the 4 of us into the Standby line, which now read 10 minutes. We were really are glad we went through the standby line, because as everyone has said, this a very detailed queue. The only thing is that I wish people wouldn’t ring the bells – we must have had every wannabe Quasimodo in that line. My ears were ringing – no pun indeed. DH tried to shoot pennies into the cup next to the budda statue with no luck. Ride number 2, was just as awesome as the first ride! This time DH and I stopped in the end store, where he wanted to acquire something. We spied a really cool tee, but they didn’t have any 2X’s out, so we asked a castmember if they had any in the back. She popped in the back and SCORE, she came out with one so he purchased it and we headed back out to meet with everyone. As we headed out the girls met up with us and asked if they could go inside to see if they could get a sharpie to fix DD’s birthday pin – the marker was getting smudged. So that ate up some time and it was about 2:30 once we were all gathered again.

At this time, we were getting hungry so we headed back over to the front to eat at the Flame Tree Barbeque, which in hindsight messed things up. But we had seen them really raved on Food Network and DS is a big rib fan and since he is a bit picky, we thought it was a good choice. We arrived there and ordered the following:

Me & DS shared – Rib plate, Key Lime Pie and Onion Rings
DH – Rib plate, Key Lime Pie
DD – Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad, Frozen Lemonade
DD BFF – Ceasar Salad Plain, not sure what she grabbed for dessert
IL’s - Didn’t catch what the in-laws ordered, my bad

I guess because we come from a big barbeque town (As far as we are concerned, Kansas City is THE place for barbeque), we thought they were okay, but we know we can get better from our neck of the woods, so we probably wouldn’t visit there again. We all grabbed our trays and sat at the tables behind the restaurant, which would have been nice, but man, everyone is right, that is such a bird fest – it makes it kind of distracting.

We finished up about 3:30 and we thought we could try to do the Safari. Yep, this is where the Flame Tree was bad decision, because we didn’t realize they were already starting to block off for the parade and we would have totally reroute back through Asia to get to the safari. I’m afraid, I knew everyone’s feet was too tired to do that long journey, so we decided against it, which I felt bad for because I know everyone enjoys it. So we decided to head back to our rooms to rest before we started getting ready for the Luau. We cut into a store on the way out, because of the way the parade route was being blocked off and DS seen a pair of Sorcerer Mickey ears he wanted, so we detoured for the purchase of that and then we had gotten separated, so we sat at a bench and watched a few moments of the parade until we hooked up. So I totally agree with everyone here – this park is definitely not parade friendly! :fork:

Finally we all reconnected and headed toward our respective buses to our resorts. We arrived back to our rooms around 5:00, we rested for about a half hour and then we all started getting ready for the Luau. We dressed up a little for it, since it was to celebrate Caitlyn’s 16th birthday and I wanted a photographic moment. We were all ready and began our long journey over to the Polynesian. Lesson Learned: If we stay in a value resort and we need to go to one of the other resorts, we either decide to rent a car or we take a cab!

By the time we took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and the monorail to the Polynesian, we were cruising at 7:40 and we were supposed to check in around 7:30 for the Luau. It had been 18 years since DH and I had been to the Luau, so we had completely forgotten how far Luau Cove was from the Ceremonial House. But we finally made it there and checked in - http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3369. We received our lovely leis, where my daughter received what she considered a magical moment – her first kiss from a man who wasn’t family! He had seen her birthday pin, and as he placed her lei on, he gave her a lovely kiss on the cheek. RATS! I didn’t get to see it though. I had moved ahead to the next person to get my lei and missed the whole thing, probably a good thing because DH missed it too, and he is a bit protective of his girl!

We took our photo, which when I see I want to cry, because my daughter is looking so grown-up. She reminds me a lot of my mother at that age from photos I have seen. Sorry, mother moment there, it’s hard to realize one of your birds will be leaving the nest soon.

So the girls were giggling about this as we were seated. Unfortunately we were not able to get our table together with the IL’s as they had managed to snag Category 1 seats and we got some really crappy Category 3 seats. That was a bit disappointing considering. However we had a rockin’ castmember as our waitress - http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3374. I feel really bad that I didn’t note names down, because we were very lucky to such wonderful people taking care of us during our trip and they deserved some shout outs. We only had one bad experience with a castmember and would you believe it was a bus driver?!? Our waitress told us she worked part-time and she was married to one of the chef’s at Jiko’s. She stays at home with the kids and works on his days off so he can take over. DH and I could respect that because we did something similar – he worked nights and I worked days, so that we could take care of the kids and not use day care very much in their toddler years. But anyway, we were never without a beverage, everything was cleared efficiently, and she just was awesome!

My crazy guys during the Luau http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3371 and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3370)

The food was mostly yummy; I really enjoyed the salad and the Pineapple Coconut Bread. They brought out vegetable lasagna for DD’s BFF, as she is a vegetarian and we arranged this the week before. (Again, Rainfully, THANKS!) She said it was really delicious and it was different because it used a white sauce versus a red sauce. A pic of the smokin’ volcano they have on the platters they bring out: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3375.

The show was great – I know some people are not big fans and perhaps if I had been to Hawaii and seen a real one, I might think this is lame, but we were entertained, especially with the Fire Knife display. WOW – some serious guts that has to take! They had all the September birthdays get up on stage for a birthday hulu dance (I know crappy photos, but what can you do: DD is the one with the white flower in her hair: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3373 and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3372), so we pushed our daughter toward the stage. Sometime through the evening they brought our photos to show us and told us that our IL’s had already arrange to purchase the package for us. Are we lucky or what? They are some of the most generous (in their hearts, as much as their pockets) people I know.

After the show, we headed to the ceremonial house and parts of the group started browsing a little in the shops, until I realized the time and that we needed to hop on the monorail if we were going to be able to catch a bus back to the hotel, so we hopped on the monorail and made our bus connection. It was during this journey that DD decided that the platform shoes she had worn were not such a great idea. We were also a bit punchy, so there was some racy commentary with the girls about those lovely Samoan dancers! J Some fun photos of MK that we caught on our journey home. The park had already closed, so it was a nice time to snap a few quick pictures between transpo - http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3377 and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3376.

Unfortunately, we made it back later than we hoped – about 11:45ish, so we were not able to take advantage of the pool liked we had hoped, which was a big disappointment to DS and mom was definitely on his list. Ugh, kids can be so great at the guilt thing to their parents. So I ended my night with a little bit of a personal meltdown and set the alarm for 6:30.

Oops, almost forgot, we came to our rooms with lovely towel lovebirds waiting for us!

rshell68 · Oct 16, 2008

My oldest (DS) turned 16 in June. Boy it really does go super fast!!!

Lovin' every minute of the report. Keep up the great work!

spectrodanny · Oct 16, 2008

more,More,MORE!!!!(please)

bayoumoon · Oct 17, 2008

can't wait to read more!!!!!!!

WildLodgeFan · Oct 17, 2008

For those reading, just a quick note that I will not be posting the next edition until Monday, but I promise, it will be worth the wait. I want to get our disposable water camera developed this weekend so I can include those pics in our next day's trip report. Thanks for the nice comments and I hope you are enjoying our adventure - we know we did!

DormaNesbit · Oct 17, 2008

Monday is a long time, but we shall wait! Great Trip Report!!!

HollyBelle · Oct 17, 2008

Yes, great trip report. A Sweet Sixteen celebration at Disney World... what a lucky gal!

WildLodgeFan · Oct 23, 2008

Stinky Cab, Speedos and Spooks – Oh My! – Day Three

Note: I am sorry I am delayed in posting this next day, I was hoping I would get our water camera developed before I posted, because I am sure I have an absolutely funny photo involved with a speedo, but I haven't had a chance yet, so when I do get it developed, I will edit this post with the link to the photo.

At a very groggy 6:30 am, I slipped into the shower, changed, and then knocked onto the connected door, which was answered by a yawning DD, who I let know that she and BFF had about 45 minutes to get ready for our ADR at Whispering Canyon at 8:00 am. DH & I decided to take a cab, because I was afraid that the buses might not be running and to be honest, we figured we needed the extra time getting ready and transportation between resorts was proving to be a painful process. So as everyone else finished getting ready, I called for a cab van to pick us up outside of the lobby at 7:30. We received a call from DH's parents that they were feeling a little under the weather, so they wouldn’t be joining us for breakfast and would meet up with us later in the day.

The cab driver was right on time and we were off. He wasn’t very talkative, so it was a quiet ride, other than his French talk radio station. I really think he took the long way around – it was about $17 for the trip, so I only gave him $20, which I admit wasn’t much of a tip, but truly I think he took a long route, because when I looked it up on Mears cab fare estimator, it was only $14. And his van didn’t smell the freshest either.

The good news was that we were on time for our reservation and Mustang Sally served as our waitress. She was fun, poking at us to finish our food, throwing straws at us and such. We ordered the skillet, though I miss the acorn waffles they used to have – they are using Mickey head ones now. She was also really sweet and brought out a cake for DD to enjoy, complete with gummy worms. Unfortunately, DD was pretty full from the skillet, so she wasn’t able to eat much.

We rolled ourselves out of Whispering Canyon and moseyed over to their store where we browsed. DD bought some scrapbooking stuff and then we headed down to the bus stop to catch a bus to Blizzard Beach. We had to wait about 10 minutes before a bus came up for BB & AK. We loaded on and it was SRO. So we stake our spots and as we are waiting there, our bus driver gets out of his seat to ask someone to sit down. EXCEPT WE ARE MOVING! My husband quickly points this out to the driver, who jumps around and quickly slams on the brake before we hit the cement barrier! WHEW, it was a close call! The driver did thank my husband, so that was good. The bus goes to the Grand Floridian next, where quite a few people spewed off and we moved to the back for seats. Then a bunch of people came on, so we were back to being a can of sardines. Now this bus is for both AK & BB, but wouldn’t you know it BB was let off first and it was the smallest amount of people off and we were all crammed in the back! After climbing over people, we headed to the entrance gate, where lines had already formed, since the park didn’t open until 10:00 and it was about 9:45.

It was toasty under that sun and they were about 10 minutes late opening the park, so we passed the time watching the people around us. This was the first time we seen any tour groups, but it was a pretty small group and they were well behaved, so that was a nice change. We seen several interesting tattoos, something we like admiring. The guy in front of us at the Pink Floyd prism on his ankle and across the way, this woman had incredibly detailed depiction of Predator on her entire arm.

Finally they let the masses slide in and we immediately walked into the rental place to rent a locker, towels, and buy sunscreen, since I had been so groggy in the morning I had left it in the room.

All of us girls had worn our swimsuits under and the guys had worn their trunks with tee-shirts, so it was a simple process of throwing our clothes, shoes, and packs inside. We kept out the towels, sunscreen and various pairs of goggles.

We immediately decided to hit the lazy river for a quick turn around the park. Unfortunately though, Duncan lost his goggles on our first run through, so we had to hit all the lifeguard stations along the way to ask if they found them – lucky for them, we finally found them! By the way – the water in the caves – COLD! And darn if I didn’t practically hit them every time.

We got out of the river landing that was near the wave pool and played a little while there. After about 20 minutes, we decided to hit the river again (BTW, the theme of this trip is that the lazy river served as our version of the highway – LOL) to get over to teamboat springs. We exited the river and while DH and DD’s BFF took restroom breaks, DS asked if he could do the ice floe walk. I told him it was fine and we would meet him on the other side in front of the stairs for the slide. Once everyone finished their respective trips, we walked up the really loooonnnngggg flights of stairs. Okay, I didn’t realize that they were that long and being overweight it was no picnic, but hey we made it and there was a bit of a line for the slide, so at least I was able to recover my breath.

So as we stood in line, we did our favorite pastime of people watching, which included 13 instances of speedos. Speedos are attractive only on men with very fit and athletic bodies and let me tell you they were not at the park on this occasion. It was also a lovebug fest at the top of the summit – there was quite a swarm of them up there. Also I was really surprised to see that they had holly growing up there!

Finally it was our turn on the raft and considering three of us are plus size – it was quite a ride down – but boy it was fun. Unfortunately though, I admit, I couldn’t face another set of stairs, so since we only had about 45 minutes left before we needed to leave, we decided to head back to the river and enjoy the floating time (Photos of us in the lazy river - http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3542). Truly, if I ever get lucky enough to own a few acres, I think it would be a blast to have my very own lazy river built. It absolutely relaxes me. After our 45 minutes, we hopped off the river near where we left our towels and sunblock. Toweling off, we headed over to the lockers, grabbed our stuff and returned our key to the shop where we got our $5 deposit back.

After an uneventful ride back to our resort, we stopped at intermissions for lunch. We ordered the following:

Me – Italian Sandwich, pasta salad, and fruit salad
DS– Pepperoni pizza and grapes
DH – Chili Dog, fries, and cheesecake
DD – Cheese pizza and cookie
DD BFF – Veggie Burger, fries, and cookie

Everyone seemed to enjoy their food, except for the cheesecake – DH said it was definitely not mine. LOL!

We headed back to our room after lunch to change from our swimsuits into our Halloween wear for the MNSSHP. We all elected for Halloween colored apparel vs. costumes, so it didn’t take us too long. We were ready by 4:15, so I handed everyone their Halloween tickets and we were off to the bus stop. And after another uneventful bus ride, we were at the Magic Kingdom! (Some funny photos on the bus ride: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3403, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3404 and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3381).

We headed through the lines they had marked as the party entrance (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3406) and received our wristbands after we put out tickets through the scanners. Then we received our trick or treat bag and our MNSSHP map. http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3407

I always love that first moment that we step into the Magic Kingdom – there is just something so magical in the air and with all those Halloween decorations up, it seemed like twice the magic. (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3411, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3412, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3413, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3417, and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3421)

We stopped to take some photos of the Main Street Pumpkin Characters (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3529, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3531, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3532, and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3533) and as we started to head up Main Street, DD’s BFF said “Ouch.” She said something hit her light-up bunny ears headband. She took them off and it look like a bird decided to poo on her! So we grabbed some napkins from the ice cream shop and cleaned off the worst with a promise to find a restroom in the near future so she could take some water to them.

At the bridge, we stopped and had a photo taken of us in front of the Castle by the Photopass photographer (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3546) and then we headed over to AL to jump on our first ride. We broke tradition this year and went on the Jungle Cruise vs. POTC as our first ride, since we knew Jungle Cruise wasn’t open during the party. We had a great skipper (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3534) on the Jungle Cruise and since we sat right near the front, she asked DD to navigate the boat for a short while. He confessed later that he wasn’t doing anything, it was moving on its own, but he still thought it was really cool of her to do that. Our skipper had a technical difficulty with the gun, but she covered it up with a great joke and we left with smiles on all of our faces!

It was a little warm, so we stopped for some water – we had went by Aloha Isle earlier and it was crowded – I had wanted to try a Dole Whip and yet again missed out on the opportunity. Next time, I vow! So next we headed to Pirates, where we literally walked right on! That was amazing, we have never managed that. Got to love these smaller crowds! We loved all of the updates and we all sang and laughed. We tried to see if we could stay on, but alas, we realized that we couldn’t do that with the system of this ride.

We stopped in the shop for a few moments while DD BFF cleaned her ears in the restroom, and a couple of others used the facilities. After we all got together, we headed over to Splash , where we hopped right into line and yet again, NO LINES. Oh yeah, we are definitely digging this! I sit in the front by myself with DD & her BFF behind me and DD & DS behind them. Oh my lordy, did I get soaked! But man it was a blast and yep, we were all singing with the music! Next it was off to BTMR, and you guessed it – no line. So we hop onto our runaway train and scream for the sheer fun of it. Poor opossums, sure missed them on the branch! We pulled into the station and they said if we all wanted to ride again, just stay in our seats. Of course, high fives all around and we are off screaming again! After a double dip ride, we received a call from Bryan’s parents that they had reached the park and were up near the Castle, so we told them we would meet up with them there and we doubled back. The first Villain’s was getting ready to start, but when I had seen the line up of events, I had thought we would catch the last show, because we could time it really well with the fireworks and the second parade. Funny how those plans didn’t come to fruition as well. LOL!

We chatted for a little bit, while I pulled out our flow bracelets I picked up for a $1 at Target and these cool Halloween flashing rubber bracelets from Oriental Trading to hand out to everyone to wear. (Castle photos: I think there is a ghost in this one: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3420, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3422, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3535)

We left my FIL in front of the castle to watch the show and the rest of us headed over to the Haunted Mansion. We made a quick stop through a treat stop along the way. Oh wow! I don’t think I’ve actually ever seen the mansion at night – we always seem to be in Fantasyland at night. It was quite an amazing sight, especially with the fog they were piping through! If there hadn’t been a line for the Photopass photographer in front of the hearse, I would have tried to convince them to take a photo. The castmember gave DD a red card, which I promptly shouted out, “Hey, I know what that is; it’s a FLIK (sp?) card!” The castmember smiled in his ghoulish makeup and said, “Yes.” My family all looked at me like I was nuts, so I explained what it was about before we went further.

The lady out front was great – she was poking at DD for her candy and teasing her a little about her light-up devil horns (she received lots of funny references to the devil through the evening) and asking for devil dogs!

Only DH, MIL and myself had been on the HM, so it was interesting to see the kids reactions to the stretching room – which is always fun. I don’t seem to remember the image on the ceiling before, but it had been about 8 years since I had ridden it. Then we hop onto our doom boogies and enjoy the newly rehabbed ride. It was really great – lot’s of wonderful new touches – especially enjoyed how Madame Leota was floating now.

After we hop off the HM, we received a call from FIL that he was near Splash Mountain and did we want to ride again, because MIL tried to ride earlier in the day and it went 101 and she didn’t end up getting to ride. So we said yes. Okay, here I have to admit feeling a little frustrated, because I knew this detour would add a kink to our plan, but I had to remind myself to let go.

Unfortunately though, the parade was getting ready to kick off, so we had a bit of rerouting. We did get to see the Headless Horseman ride by – so cool! That just added to the fun. DS really wanted to see him because he is dressing up as the Headless Horseman for Halloween this year. Along our reroute, we stopped at another treat stop and picked up some more candy. We got over to Splash Mountain, except FIL wasn’t there, so we ate up some time tracking him down and with kids needing to use the restroom, where apparently the ladies bathroom was haunted according to the girls. Something about a mysteriously flushing toilet and neighboring sinks turning on - J! After the kids were finished with the restroom, they were talking with a castmember near the Splash Mountain entrance, who made another call to Goofy for DD. Goofy must really love the ladies!

They chatted with the CM for a few moments, discussing how they were waiting for her grandfather, when the CM asked if he was walking or on a scooter and DD replied that he was on a scooter. The CM said pointing, “Is that him?” And sure enough it was, so we all finally got in one place and DD stayed with FIL who doesn’t like coasters) as the rest of us headed into the Splash Mountain line, which to continue to the theme of the night, was empty!

I have never ridden Splash Mountain at night and I have to say, it’s a different experience on those outside parts. Really kind of cool and would you believe, I got soaked a second time! J After we sloshed out of our logs, DH and I needed to use the restrooms and everyone else met up with my FIL and DD. After we were finished, we were off to Space Mountain to complete the quest for the three mountains!

As we neared the mountain, I realized that the fireworks were getting ready to start, so we decided to take seats around the entrance to Space Mountain and boy did we have a stupendous view of many of the fireworks. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED HALLOWISHES! I loved the beautiful colors they used, the choreography with the music, the different style of fireworks. I was just so breathtaking and I took as many pictures as I could while still enjoying the show. (pics: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3536, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3537, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3538, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3539, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3540, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3541, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3543, and http://forums.wdwmagic.com/picture.php?albumid=366&pictureid=3544)

After being wowed by the fireworks, all of us except my FIL and DD went into Space Mountain. We took a little time in the queue – as DD and DD’s BFF had never ridden it and it had been 18 years since my husband and I had been able to ride it. We even found a hidden Mickey in one of the star fields. Before we knew it, we were in the loading area. I had forgotten to share with my husband that the seats had changed, so he was a little startled by the fact that you had your own individual seat now. And then we were shot off into space! Still love this ride for its sheer adrenaline rush. Unfortunately, there it much more light leakage than there used to be, so it wasn’t as dark and I could see the tracks, which I didn’t used to be able to do, so that is something I certainly hope they will correct in the future rehab (please let it be longer, please let it be longer). But still it was great to be back in the mountain! DD loved it though she said she kept trying to duck as she realized how close the track was to your head – and she is only 5’ 2”! LOL!

After we finished with Space Mountain, we all knew we needed some food and I have to admit by this time, my dogs were really hurting. I had already started nursing some blisters and even though I had blister bandages on, they were starting to hurt a bit, so I hobbled with the rest of the clan to Cosmic Ray’s and gave DD my dining order and then staked some tables out. Stitch’s Dance Party was underway, so I watched as “Elvis” Stitch rocked with Lilo and the DJ. Lot’s of fun and Stitch looked so great in his sequined jumper and slicked back hair!

This time we were eating out of pocket, so no desserts, but we had all been munching on candy any way, but we got the following:

Me – Cheeseburger and fries
DS– Chili Dog and fries
DH – Chicken nugget and fries
DD – Veggie Burger and fries
DD BFF – Veggie Burger and fries
IL’s – gosh darn it, I wasn’t very good at tracking their food intake!

We were pretty hungry, so we probably could have eaten cardboard and it taste fine, but I thought everything tasted pretty yummy. I was too tired to visit the fixin’s bar, but I hear it had plenty! DH brought me back some lettuce, onion, tomato, and pickle.

After stuffing our faces at 10:30 at night (man, I’m surprised that late meal didn’t come back to haunt us all!); the IL’s decided to head on out of the park and we headed toward the tea cups, which is one of DD’s favorite rides. I couldn’t believe they wanted to do that right after eating – of course, at their age, I used to be able to that as well, so I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised. So DD, DD’s BFF and DS rode the teacups and DH and I got a glimpse of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. If I hadn’t of been so tired, I would have moseyed over and took their picture, but man I was dragging at the point.

After the kids had spun themselves silly, we headed toward Main Street as it was approaching 11:30 and we thought to get ourselves out before the crazy crowds. I lamented at this point that we hadn’t seen the parade and show, but on the other hand, we got to ride several more rides and still had a grand time. We stopped in at the Emporium, which was a complete madhouse, so that I could pick up my pin for the park. I grabbed the event pin with Mickey in the skeleton costume (so cute!) and a set of three Halloween lollipops for the kids (my daughter really had been aching for one, so I decided to treat them!); while DD picked up the same pin and I think DD’s BFF picked up something as well, but I can’t quite recall.

We seen the balloon guys as we headed out and I thought about picking up one for DD because she had said she wanted to get one, even though she had really wanted the one with the Mickey Head. I stopped and asked how much and about hit the pavement when they told me 10 bucks. ARE THEY CRAZY? I mean, I know they are double-stuffed, but I’ve done many balloons for a variety of events, so I know what they pay wholesale on those things. I just couldn’t find it in myself to pay that and DD said she didn’t want me to do that, since she even wouldn’t be able to enjoy it that long.

So we waved our final goodbye to Goofy who was standing above and headed toward the bus stops for our resort. I may have been numb, because I don’t recall much from that bus trip, but waiting in our room was a toothbrush holder with our toothbrush holders (yep, we had cases, so I didn’t mind her touching the cases) and our little mini toothpastes tucked in. The girls didn’t get one, but we did notice on both of ours, how mousekeeping had made a subtle M with the washcloths on the towelbar. It’s all those small little touches that you just have to love about Disney!

We all crawled into bed about 12:30 with alarms and wake-up calls for 8:00 am – hey we needed to recharge folks!

WildLodgeFan · Oct 27, 2008

Lights, Camera, and Mouse – Day Four

Note: For some reason, none of us managed to take photos on this day, so no fun photos for this segment!

The alarm went off at 8:00 and I think we were all a bit more refreshed than the day before. We were all dressed and out the door by 9:00 am. Unfortunately the reminder of our early flight home the next morning was hanging on the door – the DME envelope with our (groan

) 5:45 departure time! We stopped by Intermissions, where we decided to use up some of our snack credits this morning for breakfast because we had an early 11:05am ADR at the 50’s Prime Time Café.

Me – Bagel with Cream Cheese
DS– Fruit Loops Cereal and Milk
DH – Cheese Danish
For the life of me, I can’t remember what the girls had. I think I was still a bit sleepy. (or at least that’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it!)

After our quick bite, we headed out to the bus stop and hopped on our bus to Hollywood Studios. Once we arrived, we breezed in and picked up a guide map to decide our path. We immediately walked right over to Pixar Place, but because it had been an EMH morning, so TSM was busy with a 70 minute stand-by and FP’s were not available until 4:30 and unfortunately we had to leave by 4:00 for the 5:00 Hoop De Doo Revue that was a gift from the IL’s. We only had about 45 minutes until we needed to check-in at the café, so stand-by wasn’t an option for us either. I told the kids we were try back after eating, but forewarned them that this might just be a disappointment for this trip.

So we headed back to the GMR and began our tour through the movies. I enjoy this ride, but I agree, it needs some new blood with some additional movies, though I must admit, it would be hard for me to pick what would stay, what would go and what I would replace with. DH kept saying out tour guide was an out of work actor as he was quite into his role – maybe a bit too much. J

After the ride, we headed over to the Café and since I had made reservations for the whole group including the IL’s and we hadn’t heard from them yet, I had DH call his parents to check on their status. They were at the gate, so I went ahead and checked in and we waited for them to meet up with us. Once they arrived we were seated. I have to say that I don’t think that restaurant is set-up as well for large groups. Aunt Melody served as our waitress for the day and she was nicely into character. Immediately she set us all straight about our elbows on the table. Oh boy!

Actually though, the table next to us provided quite a bit of amusement for us all. There was a young man (approximate 18 – 20) named “Buddy,” who was quite into the swing of things. He had a lovely bib with Ariel on it and oh boy, he had to go stand at the wall because he put his elbows on the table three times. When he asked if he could sit down, the waitress made him shout that he would not put his elbows on the table again three times. :ROFLOL: It was all quite a hoot. She didn’t pick on us too much, but she made DD nervous enough, she asked our waitress if she could be excused to use the restroom – something she never does at home – LOL!

This time we ordered the following:
Me – Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans
DS– Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and brownie sundae
DH – Stacked Sandwich with ham and house salad (He also snagged a BeBop drink and if I had known the cups were so cool, I would have gotten one for myself as well to use at work!)
DD – Chicken pot pie (she said it was as good as mine)
DD BFF – Roasted Pepper stuffed with whole grains and smoked ratatouille
FIL – Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, greens, and peach cobbler ala mode
MIL – Old Fashioned Pot Roast

As you can see only two of us ordered dessert. There is a lot of food on those plates at lunch. Personally I think they need only two pieces of chicken on that plate. But I have to tell you, that was some of the best fried chicken I have eaten in a restaurant. It was nice and crispy, not greasy and very moist. I did manage to earn my clean plate sticker, but I was completely stuffed!

After rolling ourselves out of the Prime Time, we decided to head over to Star Tours for a ride. As my IL’s have some medical issues, they were using ECV’s during our trip. When we arrived at Star Tours, the castmember indicated that the queue was too small for ECV’s (which actually they never used in queues during the trip) and that if they would park them, they would transfer them to wheelchairs and escort us to the guest assistance line. This was the only time we ended up doing this and it worked out nice for them. I helped DS with pushing FIL up the ramp sections and he assisted on the flat surfaces as we went in. So we took our journey into space with a crazy droid. I admit I am interested in seeing what they do with Star Tours 2.0 when it happens. After our ride, I assisted my MIL, while DH and DS assisted FIL and we returned back to the front entrance of the ride for their ECV’s.

We decided to track down the Tips board to see the wait time for TSM, and unfortunately it was show a 120 minute wait time for it. So we had to forego it this time :cry:

. We decided to go over to the Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster. As we walked over to Sunset Boulevard, we passed by the Indiana Jones Stunt show, where for the first time, I seen someone pull the rope. I can’t quite recall what it said, but DD and I looked at one another and laughed because we didn’t know anything happened, so we will have to put that on our to-do list for our next trip. We stopped outside of the entrance for a restroom break and to leave FIL and DS in a shady spot – this day was turning out to be the hottest on our trip. DS normally loves to ride the ToT, but he was being really sweet and keeping FIL company. While I waited for everyone else, I checked what the wait times were for ToT and RnRC – ToT was only 15 minutes, while ToT was about 25, so it was ToT first! DH picked up a quick soda in a collectible cup to give to a friend at work.

I don’t really think it was a full 15 minute wait, but we have to admit, we were a little disappointed this time – it seemed like the ride was much shorter than before. It was still lots of fun though and as we exited off the ride, we stopped in to browse in the shop. I picked up DS a replacement pin for ToT, as his previous one lost its pin portion. It was the pin with Mickey on it and I also picked him up a fun Indy pin with Mickey dressed as Indy, running from this rolling ball. He is a big Indy fan, so he really was excited with that pin and gave me a rare hug. (He is not a touchy feely person, where DD is exactly the opposite – she still gives me a kiss every night)

It was about 3:00 at this time and we knew we would be cruising getting on Rock ‘N Roller Coaster, but I knew DD really wanted to ride, since it would be her first ride on it, so we decided to go for it. Believe it or not, this was the longest line we ever really had to wait in during our entire trip. We stood about 40 minutes for the ride and YES, it still rocks! DD loved it and even though time was cruising, we browsed in the shop. The IL’s and DS decided to head up to the gate to turn in their ECV’s while we did. DH picked up some drumsticks, I picked up a cool DHS pin in the shape of Mickey ears with a movie reel, DD picked up a RnRC pin with Mickey and crew in the limo where the spin around the track and DD’s BFF picked up a guitar bag to replace her bag that was it’s last legs during the trip.

We meet up with IL’s and DD at the front gate and high tailed it to the bus stop for Fort Wilderness. A bus came about 5-10 minutes later and we were on our way. We had gone to Ft. Wilderness by bus before and unfortunately it shares a bus stop with WL and we stopped there first, which was hard on our time schedule. We arrived at Ft. Wilderness at 4:45, but where the launch it pretty close to Pioneer Hall, the bus stops are not. My FIL stepped into one bus and talked with a bus driver as we started to make our walk toward the hall, and found out it was an internal bus that we could take – unfortunately though it was the bus that had the most loops, so we arrived at the hall right at 5:00 and missed our opportunity for a photo, which disappointed my FIL who was hoping for one. But at least we were able to get seated. We had really good seats on the left side of the stage near the front I can’t believe they got such great seats just a few weeks before our trip! :king:

We dug right into our salad and cornbread, which was quite delicious. We were very disappointed with the chicken and the sides this year, they didn’t seem as good as past years. DD’s BFF had a grilled veggie platter that she said was really good (thanks for that tip, Rainfully!). The show was great as usual – a whole new crew since our last trip in 2008. And wouldn’t you know, my husband got picked on yet again. This time he didn’t have to wear a tutu – he was just the toot toot guy! :ROFLOL: I didn’t take pictures this time; I figured I had embarrassed him enough last time.

The trip had really started to wear on us and based on what I had heard about the crowds at pleasure island the closer they got to closing, DH and I, decided with a twinge to not go to Downtown Disney. We discussed with DD, who expressed sadness that I yet again was going to miss Fantasmic, but she agreed with us that we needed some down time.

We hopped on the launch to head over to the Contemporary as we figured it would be easier, then hopped on the monorail to MK and then a bus for back to our resort. All those bus connections take time, so it was about 8:00 by the time we arrived at our resort. We stopped by Maestro’s for some last minute items – we still had 6 snack credits to use, so we picked up some 2 rice krispies treats, 2 bags of Mickey Head pretzels, and 2 chocolate mint bars. I also picked up a pin for the All Star Resorts, since they didn’t have one that was just for Music and a cool pin for DH that was reminiscent of the old ticket booklets they had when MK opened. He got a huge kick out of that – kudos to the DD who spotted it first.

We had plans to go to the pool, but DH said he thought he would pass and just relax in the room. I was going to go with the kids and told them to change while I went back to the front desk to ship water back home. After all the fuss, we hardly drank the water and wanted to send one back. Lesson Learned: Don’t ever do that again, way expensive and it took forever to get back.

By the time I got back it was 10:00 and I knew there was much packing to do, so I sent the kids on to the pool and told them to be back by 11:00 since we needed to get up at 4:30 am.

I spent the next hour with DH packing his, mine, and DS bags – the girls were on their own! I was finishing when they returned, so after DS got changed, it was lights out in our room and we set the alarm for 4:30 am.

WildLodgeFan · Oct 29, 2008

I Don’t Want to Go Back, Mommy – Day 5

Okay, it wasn’t just the kids saying that, it was DH and I saying it as well. That 4:30 alarm seemed to zoom up fast and I admit, I was groggy as I prepared for our journey home. We were all ready and out of the room by 5:15 and checked into the desk by 5:30. They labeled all our bags for pick up and we waited for the DME. It seemed everyone was pretty groggy on the bus. I know I dozed from the resort to MCO.

MCO was pretty quiet when we arrived. We headed upstairs and decided to grab breakfast at the McDonald’s. Breakfast sandwiches were had by most with DD’s BFF going with pancakes. After we ate, we breezed into the airport Disney store – I was trying to find something for our cats with no luck – dogs always seem to have preferential treatment. No luck again. We headed to the terminal and checked in for our flight.

The trip to ATL was uneventful – I think I slept through most of it. We did arrive early, which made the girls happy as they were able to stop by Ben & Jerry’s for the Whirled Peace Ice Cream, which they lapped us as we waited to board our next plane. Again it was pretty uneventful and we arrived on time at our home airport. DH went to collect the car from the airport police parking lot, while the rest of us claimed bags. DD’s BFF bag had a hole, in hers, but luckily nothing broken I guess.

We stopped by Taco Bell for a quick lunch and then back to our home. DD’s BFF left her bag their from the night before and also school bags, as we needed to drop her off to her father’s house. DH very graciously offered to drive her home and DD went with them. I promptly went to the bedroom and faded off into a nap, while DS amused himself on the computer.

WildLodgeFan · Oct 29, 2008

Final Thoughts

This was the first time we made a trip this short – normally we go for 6 to 7 days and follow it up with a trip to the beach. I think if we do this short of a trip again, we will do less table service and dinner shows, because that seems to eat up a bit of time. However, I think we all agreed we would be okay with the shorter trip, if we could go more often.

We think we are now spoiled to the fall season – we absolutely loved the short lines and kudos to touringplans.com for being pretty accurate on their crowd calculator. The one day I couldn’t avoid going to park that was going to be busy (DHS) it really was busy compared to how the other parks had been. We wouldn’t hesitate to follow their advice again.

It never rained during any waking hour of our trip! We couldn’t believe it! We have always had at least one pop-up shower during the trip. We had decent weather when we were there. Only on one day did it seem unbearably hot and it was at DHS.

For the dining plan, I enjoyed the convenience of being prepaid. I didn’t spend enough time trying to figure out if we came out ahead or not, but really I don’t think that’s the advantage to the plan. We liked not having to think of money for the trip other than our souvenirs for the most part.

As for the value resort, we thought it was a decent value for the price, but as I said earlier in the report, that if we did again, we would pay the little extra for a preferred room so we could closer. The walk after a day in the parks was a bit more than our feet wanted to go.
However, I admit, I admit I’ve been spoiled to staying at one of the MK resorts, so the bus transportation as our only means of travel was a bit time consuming, so I would probably take that extra money saved by staying at a value and apply it to a rental car.

We really enjoyed MNSSHP and as long as they continue to let you in at 4:00 pm for the party, we would do it exactly the same way to attend it or maybe we will try a P&P party in the future. And possibly if there are two parties occurring on our trip, we would do it twice – once to enjoy all the activities and the second time to enjoy the empty rides!

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and we enjoyed having our DD’s BFF along for the trip. I hear she is already clamoring for another trip too, so we have turned her into a WDW FANatic as well!

Thanks for reading my report and enjoying our photos! I hope you gained some pleasure in reading it in preparation for your next trip!

HollyBelle · Oct 29, 2008

We also take shorter trips, so that we can go more often... which is a great idea, as you don't have to wait as long between trips!

Great trip report...thanks again for sharing!

Raven66 · Oct 29, 2008

Your report was a very entertaining read. And I was hooked from the very beginning. Thank you for sharing. Glad you all had a good time.

WildLodgeFan · Oct 30, 2008

Raven66 said:
Your report was a very entertaining read. And I was hooked from the very beginning. Thank you for sharing. Glad you all had a good time.

Thanks Raven! I didn't mean for it to be so long, but I guess I wanted to be immersive.

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