Trip Report It started with a toot and "Welcome to Hawaii"!!!! - Complete

Day 1 - Arrival Day

We woke up bright and early...in fact it was still dark outside. We rolled out of bed and scurried around to get out the door by 6:30am.

We made a quick pit stop at Wawa for some donuts (breakfast of champion).

This is my lil prince Evan and my daughter Hayley as we headed out of our neighborhood. I'm not quite sure what was shocking (Evan) and slightly funny (Hayley)?????

Btw, that brown piece of fuzz and fur that Evan has is his pillow pet, otherwise known as "P-pet". He goes everywhere with us and is probably the most well traveled pillow pet around!

Again, I think we all woke up too early and everyone was slightly confused. Lil Evan looks like he thinks he is Muhammad Ali and Hayley is trying to look awake and pose. That's Manny to the left.

We arrived at the little local airport that just recently started having commercial flights. It only has one airline that flies out so it wasn't bad in the way of crowds, etc.

As we are getting the luggage out of the car, I grab my daughters suitcase by the attached handle and it flies off and the bag goes flying to the ground. No problemo....we still have the telescoping handle and nothing is going to stop us or get in the way of going on this trip.

**Here is the first explanation of our TR titl e**
As we are standing in line waiting to check our bags, the guy in front of us just lets it rip!!!!! Really loud and long!!! I turn around and take one look at my husband whose eyes are popping out of his head. Hubs turns around and literally walks out of the airport!

Meanwhile, Mr. Tooter just stood there and didn't even flinch...as if it never even happened and so did Mrs. Tooter!

We finally got through check-in and security and here is us waiting to be called to board!

Isn't my lil prince and P-pet adorable?

Here is our plane and saver of our sanity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it was pouring outside that morning and because the airport is so small...you literally walk outside up to the plane. Again, nothing was stopping us or getting in the way of this vacation. Onward we go!!!!!

Frontier is known for their animals on the tales of their planes....we got this guy!

I wasn't sure how Evan would do on the plane and I came prepared with his Innotab, plenty of fruit snacks and a sticker book. Hayley on the other hand was slowly talking herself into a frenzy of nervousness. This was her first time flying too.

Here is the fam........

I still don't know what is up with these "shocked" looks on his face!

He is such a clown!

The day was so dreary and this was the view out of my plane window:

Out of picture space...gotta make a new post.....

 

[TinkandCrew]

It's about 3 stop lights down from the Disney exit on 192 if u exit to the right...

We have rented several houses in that area! It's a great location for staying off property...we usually stay in one of the neighborhoods behind that animal jungle golf course if anyone knows where that is? It's about 2 lights further down from the mermaid store...

But since we r flying this year and not driving, we will not get to see her

Thanks! See? I knew you would be more specific! I'm sorry you won't see her this year....at least you now have my TR pic!

 

[ShookieJones]

Reading along and enjoying myself. You've got a beautiful family! Some of the faces Evan is making in those pics are so similar to expressions my son would make when he was that age and it's bringing back great memories!!

I'll tell ya what, I have never considered staying off-site, but after getting a gander at that joint you stayed at I have to say I would reconsider my stance on that.

 

[TinkandCrew]

Reading along and enjoying myself. You've got a beautiful family! Some of the faces Evan is making in those pics are so similar to expressions my son would make when he was that age and it's bringing back great memories!!

I'll tell ya what, I have never considered staying off-site, but after getting a gander at that joint you stayed at I have to say I would reconsider my stance on that.

Awww...I'm glad Evan is bringing those memories back! As far as staying off site, we initially priced staying on site at the value resorts in a family suite. It was pretty expensive when we rolled in the costs of our flights, park passes, food, etc. My husband told me to research off site places just for the heck of it. When we found the one we stayed at, we fell in love with the looks of it right away, but to me...it just wasn't Disney. I was disappointed at the thought of not having the full Disney experience and I thought the kids would be let down by it too.

My husband told me to just show them the pics of it and sure enough, they were ecstatic! They started claiming bedrooms right away and saying how they were going to live in the pool every minute, etc. It ended up being a great time in a gorgeous house. If it wasn't for my husband, I would have never considered going that route.

After showing the pics to a lot of my coworkers, some of them are interested in staying there in the future!

 

[stevehousse]

Who did u end up renting from? I always use Villa Direct when I rent a house down there and always have had great success! And we alway r able to find a property that's a 5 minute drive to the WDW entrance...

I forgot to add in my post earlier about your little guy riding Tower of Terror! So brave! I'm trying to convince my 5 year old to go on, but no luck as of yet...

 

[TinkandCrew]

Who did u end up renting from? I always use Villa Direct when I rent a house down there and always have had great success! And we alway r able to find a property that's a 5 minute drive to the WDW entrance...

I forgot to add in my post earlier about your little guy riding Tower of Terror! So brave! I'm trying to convince my 5 year old to go on, but no luck as of yet...

We found it through homeaway.com. I'll have to check out villa direct too. ToT is one of those things where you either love it or hate it. I'm just thankful he wasn't scarred for life. I picture him growing up, being one of those "life of the party" type of individuals which means....I'm going to have my hands full!

Maybe you can show your son our picture and tell him how Evan rode on it. Good luck!

 

[TinkandCrew]

Day 4 - House Day w/T-Rex Reservations

We had planned for Saturday to be our "relaxation" day at the house, figuring we could take advantage of our private pool and then head out for our early dinner reservations at T-Rex in Downtown Disney.

Well, the rain that began the day before had never stopped and when we woke up that morning it was pouring!!! We flipped on the news and after waiting for the forecast while they drug the news out as long as possible, they proceed to say that it is expected to rain all day, stopping in the late eveing hours. Sigh!!!!!

Now, my thought was "okay, it's raining...but you get wet in the pool anyway, so as long as there is no thunder/lightening we can still make the best of it." Uh-uh......wasn't happening. Along with the rain was a cool wind that made you feel cold when wet.

We ate breakfast at the house because we had made it to the Publix grocery store and bought some cereal and doughnuts. We hunkered down and just relaxed for the morning.

My husband said, "Let's all go see a movie at the theater in Dowtown Disney." He is a huge movie person! I wasn't really up for a movie, but figured my daughter and I could use the town to browse the shops while the fellas were taking in Spiderman!!!

The movie started at noon and our way there, the rain had slowed to a light drizzle. Here is what it looked like from the car:

Bleh! I ready to have my sunshine back!!!!!!!

We got to DD and went our seperate ways. First stop was the Candy Cauldron. I LOVE this place! It amazes me how adorable these candy apples can be. I mean....I would hate to eat them and ruin the beauty of them, ya know?

I was so tempted to get one. They even had Olaf!!!!!!!!! Adorable right????????

I loved Olaf and all the ones on the bottom shelf. They were so perfectly made in that Disney magic way! A plain 'ol candy apple was $5.99 and these nicely decorated guys were $9.99. I never splurge on myself and opted to just admire them, but for the rest of the trip I regreted not making a purchase.

Just a note - a short while later, all these ones in the window were gone and the worker in the window that you can watch making them was busy making more Olafs. She had all these little carrot noses lined up!

We made our way around and I snapped this shot because the green water fascinates me and grosses me out at the same time.

Off to the side, this rather large fellow was cleaning his feathers. I decided to name him "s"!

No matter how many times I visit Florida, the wildlife never ceases to amaze me. It's all so tropical and beautiful. I'm from the northeast, so getting to see these kind of creatures is always a treat for me! The only thing I didn't see this trip was an Armadillo...that would have been the best.

When we stayed in Ft. Wilderness, the Armadillo's would come out at night and scare the bejeasus out of you when they would suddenly run out from the bushes, etc.

Onward we go...........to the Lego store!!!! I think this one is my favorite:

So cute, huh? Who does this for a living anyway????? I want this guys job! Really! I could get on a ramble about jobs, but that is off topic and a whole other issue. Can you tell I'm bitter about being back from vacation?????? Just a tad! Anyway....back to my store browsing....


We made our way around the corner and I told my daughter to pose for this pic:

This is one of my favorite pics of her from the whole trip. She hated it, but I love when you can see her dimples! See how wet the ground is? It was still spitting rain at this point, but nothing major and I'll take it!

Castle in the World of Disney store:

Now, I am girl who is a major fan of Margarita's! I do not get to enjoy them much, but I happened upon this and felt like it was made just for me:

In my typical style, I did not splurge on myself (rats!). We had our T-Rex reservations in a bit and I figured I would splurge then! hehehehe

My daughter with more friends looking adorable. Hey Buzz....watch where that hand is going!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh....a ferocious dragon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's revisit this again....who does this for a living? I mean, this dragons whole body is in the water. As I was admiring Puff, a little birdy came and landed right on his white tooth sticking up out of his mouth. It was cute and I tried to snap a pic, but he flew away. Darn!

 

[TinkandCrew]

continued....

We continued to make our way around and we got to the Irish pub. For some reason, when I first saw this sign...the "D" in Drapery blended in and I thought it said something totally different. What kind of place is this???? Then I finally saw the missing "D". Whew!!! I was concerned for a moment. Is it just me or does everything but the first letter stick out????? Tell me I'm not alone on this one!

By this time, it was actually at the point we had to start making our way back to theater to meet the guys. We did a u-turn and started our trek.

We got back to the area of the theater and I took this shot because I love the decor of this restaurant:

So.............because of the construction going on at DTD, we had the toughest time finding a restroom. The men's room was right there in your face, but no woman's room.

My husband comes out of the theater and tells me to just use the one in there. This is where I encounter her:

Isn't she the most curvacious restroom figure you've ever seen? What happened to the triangle dress? And another question...how weird is it that I took a picture of a restroom sign? Well...you're welcome! Now you can enjoy her too! Too funny!

When my lil guy was at the movies with his dad, I took his ears to be embroidered. He got to put his hat on outside.

The rain had pretty muched stopped at this point and it was getting more crowded. People were coming out of the woodwork.

 

[TinkandCrew]

continued....

Guess what? Supper time! T-Rex here we come! Will Evan be brave?

Remember Evan was scared the other night? Well, he did good! He kept a close eye on them at all times though. It was funny!

Now for the food:

My daughter's $7 tomato basil soup:

Nachos appetizer:

Hubs and I got Fish & Chips:

Guess who's plate this is? Not Manny's...it was Hayley's:

Chicken, Ribs, Fries and coleslaw (don't forget her soup!). Where does she put it all?

Manny's cheesesteak:

My boo boo's mac & cheese:

Our house/DTD/Movie rain day ended like this:

We went home to rest up for our next big day!

Next up: Typhoon Lagoon!!!

 

[TinkandCrew]

Aww, sorry about the rain. Evan is a trooper, doing TOT so little. I was TERRIFIED on my first ride. In fact, I was scared from TOT that I chickened out of RNRC. (I have to change that in November. Still terrified.)

I'm with ya! I'm actually going backwards the older I get. I used to be brave and now the rougher rides are starting to bother me. We never made it back to RNRC because of the rain. There's always next time!

 

[mrdrift]

First I would like to say thanks to both you and stevehousse for the help on the directions to the mermaid. I showed my kids the pictures and all they could say is can we go there? I just can't get enough of this trip report, your family is very adorable and just flows with what nature and Disney has to throw at them. Keep up the really great report with awesome pictures.

 

[TinkandCrew]

First I would like to say thanks to both you and stevehousse for the help on the directions to the mermaid. I showed my kids the pictures and all they could say is can we go there? I just can't get enough of this trip report, your family is very adorable and just flows with what nature and Disney has to through at them. Keep up the really great report with awesome pictures.

We have a running joke in my family involving my mother. She always loves outrageous sculptures/statues from theme parks, etc. She always asks us to get them and bring them to her house. She says she would fill up her yard with them. The minute we saw the mermaid she is exactly who we thought of. I told my husband, "Go pluck her off the building for mom...she LOVE it!"

Thank you so much for your kind words about the TR! You are too kind! I had the pleasure of reading so many before our trip and it really helped pass the time waiting for our vacation week to come along.

My next section is Typhoon Lagoon which was one of our most favorite days. Stay tuned.......

 

[TinkandCrew]

Day 5 - Typhoon Lagoon/Orlando Ale House/Disney Boardwalk

The morning came and boy did our patience with the weather pay off! This day was already absolutely gorgeous and it was going to stay that way!

Typhoon Lagoon was opening at 10am. We did our thang, and was on our way. We wanted to be there early from prime seat choices since we didn't know what the crowd level would be like.

Here we are!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!

We got there before it was opened and there was only a few folks ahead of us. Cars were steady pulling in though. Look at those blue skies!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love it!!!! What a difference a day makes!

Manny was already trying to find that bit of shade:

The parental units:

See my cover-up? I had bought it at one of "those" gift shops out on 192. Somehow I had lost my other one since last summer. Well, I happen to look down and see that my leg looks all bruised up by my thigh. I lift up my cover-up and EVERYWHERE is all black & blue, looking like bruising and I don't know what else!

This darn thing was leaving dye on my body everywhere! My husband found it to be hilarious. I'm not going to share what he had to say about it...I'll let your imaginations wonder!

So......since I'm no Miss America, I didn't want to take it off until we were actually in the water park. I figured I would rince it out in water once I got in and pray that the dye would wash off.

Let me tell you...it was tough! This stuff did not want to come off of me! Anyway....back to the trip.

While the CM's prepared to let us in, at least partially (to the next set of ropes), one of them took her rope down and made it into this:

I overheard her saying that it wasn't something they were expected to do, but that one of her fellow CM's had played around one day and made it and now they all do. Only at Disney....too cute!

I love the decor and landscaping of this water park. I think it is gorgeous and I couldn't wait to spend the whole day there. I wasn't sure if we would be able to stick it out until closing, but I was just happy to have the sun, fun and relaxation!

We got to the second rope and had to wait for quite some time. While we stood there, we plotted and planned which spot we thought would be best. We opted for one of the big umbrella spots by the "roller coaster" water slides.

The CM finally dropped the last rope and we were IN!!!! Alright baby!

This is our spot and there are the kids getting all settled. My boo with his little life vest even though he thinks he is Michael Phelps.

Isn't the scenery beautiful?

Again, I reminded the hubs about this kind of landscaping at home and you know what I got! I'm not even gonna say it!

So, we went to the locker and I put my camera away until lunch time since it's not water proof. We ran for the "roller coaster" slides immediately. Surprisingly, it was not really all that crowded. Me, hubs and Manny took turns going on the coaster slides.

After that, we decided to go on the one where four people can get in one round raft. Sorry for not having the names of the slides. My map got wet and I had to throw it away. The boys rode in one raft together and then I rode with Hayley. By this time, you know how she is and I wanted to try to help ease her into some fun! Everyone enjoyed it, now off to the wave pool (which I incredibly did not get a picture of!).

*Crazy story alert* - So, we go int he wave pool and since I've been to Typhoon Lagoon before, I knew what the deal was. I let my hubs and Manny go further in, while I stayed shallow with Hayley. She is not a swimmer and hates just getting water in her face. My husband tells me to give him Evan and I proceeded to lecture him about not letting go of my baby, etc, etc, etc.

Next thing you know, you hear the sound, "Wompf!!!". Oh crap, here it comes! This wave coming at us in monstrous. Hayley and I look at each other and turn around and take off running. Now, obviously we were shallow enough to be able to even run to begin with. I'm only running on her behalf because I didn't want her to freak.

The wave comes and instantly knocks us under water. I'm trying to get my bearings to come up and next thing you know, my daughter puts me in a headlock under water!!! I'm struggling, I'm running out of air, I finally get my face above surface to gulp more breath!

How can someone so thin and little be so strong???? She finally saved herself and I came up for air. My hair is all in my face and now that I know we're fine, I'm instantly trying to find the fellas with Evan.

I see them walking towards us and my husband sees me still trying to catch my breath and is asking me what happened. Oh, my daughter tried to drown me, that's all! They were all fine and we decided to move on. Needless to say, that was Hayley's one and only experience in the wave pool (and almost my last had I died). I could hear it now, "Well at least she died doing something she loved and having fun." Yeah....don't say that.

We took Evan to the kids section for a bit and he got obsessed with the tug boat thing. I couldn't get him to play with anything else. We finally pried him away after some time and decided to grab lunch. All this swimming makes you work up an appetite!

Lunch was fried shrimp and french fries:

Evan got the corn dog bites and hated them. That's not like Evan at all. The boy eats everything! He said, "Their nasty mommy." Poor guy...he ate his other food and was fascinated by the little sand bucket they served it in.

After lunch, we mosied over to the shark reef area:

Oh no....the shark ate the kids and the new sand bucket!!!

We checked out the shark reef area:

My husband and I love to snorkel, but I have phobias and I have to use my own gear. That's reason #1 why I didn't partake. Reason #2, the side where they have your snorkel had the least amount of marine life.

Can you see a few of the fish at the bottom of this picture?

I will say, I love that it is included in the price of admission if you want to do it.

We went into the little submarine to check out more:

Mr. Stingray came to say hello.

 

[TinkandCrew]

We went back to the chairs to let our food settle. I couldn't believe how fast the day was flying by! Evan was happy to play with his new bucket:

My view laying under the humungous umbrella:

We spent the rest of the afternoon riding more slides and ended it in the wave pool. Before we knew it...it was closing time! Wahhhhhhh!

We went home and showered to get ready for din din. Hubs and I wanted to try the Orlando Ale House since it seems to always have good reviews. Prior to leaving home, I signed up for their offers and they sent me a coupon for a free dessert. Free dessert? Free dessert? You don't have to tell me twice.

The entire menu sounded good, but I opted for the seafood mac & cheese:

Manny and Hayley opted for their famous Zingers:

And now...for the FREE DESSERT:

Captain Jack's something or another:

We all shared it, it was delicious! I always love the cherry on top. Well, Evan took it off. He proceeds to put it in his mouth, removed the whip cream, took it out of his mouth and gently placed it back on the cake to which there was a loud, unified "Ewwwwwwwww, gross!"

We were all extremely full from dinner and decided to walk it off at the Disney Boardwalk.

 

[TinkandCrew]

continued...

We arrived at the Disney Boardwalk. Our belly's were full and our feet hurt, but we hung in there. We just wanted to see what it was all about. Again, another gorgeously landscaped area/resort.

As we are making our way to the entrance, we take note that the valet parking employees take the guests tickets and then sprint way, way, way far off to the parking lot to retrieve the car. The first couple times, I didn't think nothing of it, but after we saw it over and over and over, we are thinking it must be a requirement of their job. What in the world??????????? That's a job I'll never have! Poor guys! I hope they get paid well!

As we slowly strolled around the area, burning off our supper, we noticed a young gothic bride and groom all by theirselves. They were still in tux and gown. They had one friend with them carrying a box of pizza. It was so random. It gave me the impression they came down and got married alone and just brought her along as the witness. It made me kind of sad that they didn't have more people to celebrate with them, but then again, that's what my hubs and I did too.

**Funny Story Alert**

We make our way around the bend and we start to hear some good music coming from a DJ on the beach. You can see they are having some kind of event and I assumed it was for something going on for the resort guests. We get closer and you see all these round table full of guests, the DJ, buffet tables. The DJ puts on the Cupid Shuffle and is practically begging people to get up and dance.

We get even closer and we see all the guests, sitting stiff as a board at their tables each wearing a hawaiian lei around their neck.

My husband and I start dancing down the boardwalk goofing off and then we see that they have Daisy & Donald there for private pictures. Nobody is taking pictures! What is wrong with these people.

It was like looking at kids at their first middle school dance....all awkward and uncomfortable. I was so tempted to crash the party and show them how to enjoy theirselves! Oh my goodness!

Well, since Daisy & Donald were being neglected, I tried calling them over, but they couldn't hear me. They proceeded to dance with each other to kill the time! Cracks me up! I look up and I see a sign that says, "Private Event/Soiree for Unom-nom" I can't remember the company name, but it started with a "U" and made me want to say Team Umi-Zoomi! lol

Part of me wants to work there to get the party, but then again, I would probably be bored out of my mind the rest of the year!

As we give up our thoughts of crashing the party and begin to walk away, we hear them say, "Look guys, it's Mickey and Minnie coming to join us!" Really people????? Really???????????????? If you don't get your darn a**es up for them you have problems! Just sayin.............

Pretty!

....and look at my handsome hubs!

See what Disney does to people? Below is a rare father/daughter moment. Usually these two duke it out together, but look! Aaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Peace!

Look! It's me! I exist!

Our exhaustion and full bellies were catching up with us and we were ready to call it a day. On our way home, I had to take a pic of this palm tree because it made me laugh every time I passed by it, I'll explain:

I know there are different types of palm trees, but mainly what you see are the tall, thin trunks with the little pouf of palms at the top. Not this guy! This one had an afro!

Believe it or not, when we got home, the kids got their second wind and wanted to go in the pool!

That was the end of our Typhoon Lagoon day!

Up next: Dare I say it.....our U-n-i-v-e-r-s-a-l day.

 

[TinkandCrew]

Day 6 - U-N-I-V-E-R-S-A-L Day

There! I didn't actually say it, I just spelled it! Monday morning was our scheduled day for "U" Studios. I honestly was not thrilled about this day at all. The last few times we've visited, we left feeling we never got our money's worth, ya know? Minus HP land, the attractions are getting dated and then you encounter the ones that are shut down. It is usually a blah experience to me and I would have rather had a day at Animal Kingdom or a second park day at MK instead. BUT!!!! Hubs really wanted to experience the new Transformers ride, so we opted to do it.

The day was expected to be gorgeous and about 90 degrees!

We got there early and the crowds were already gathering! Since we had been to HP Land before and our #1 goal was Transformers, we took off with that ride as our target. Most of the crowd went to IoA for HP Land so the crowds weren't so bad in our direction.

We made it to the TF ride and walked through a seemingly never ending queue. It was wild. My daughter said the previous summer when she went with my sister, the queue was full and out of the building! Sheesh!

We were able to hop right on the ride and it was awesome! The whole family enjoyed it, even Evan! He's a big Bumblebee fan so throughout the ride he's yelling "Hi Bumblebee!!! HI!!!!".

As we walk out of the ride, guess who was just brought out for meet & greet? Optimus Prime!!!!

Evan went running up to him and as he sees Evan coming he says, "You are a true friend! It is an honor!" It's cool how he can talk to you.

You are only supposed to stand on the little square in front of his square. These things are pretty big and since they move, I guess they don't want anyone getting hurt, but it would be cool if you could get closer.

On to Despicable Me ride!

We just thought some of the images on the warning sign are funny.

The Minion ride was pretty cute and everyone, including hubs, liked it. Although the line appeared short, it did seem to have a long wait to actually start the ride.

As we left, I snapped a pic of the Optimus figure on top of the TF ride:

Evan kept asking, "Where all he fwends, Mommy?" Our answer, "Protecting the Earth from Decepticons of course!"

 

[TinkandCrew]

continued....

We made our way around to Simpsons Land. I'm not a fan, but the ride ended up being pretty cute.

We ran into these guys on our way out:

Evan was fascinated with this lil guy on the bench.

Fighting over the donut!

As we are coming down the street, we see the Spongebob float in the middle of the road. The way it goes, the rope off the area when for the float. They get off, do a lil dance and then un-rope the area so the guests can interact with them. I will give "U" a thumbs up on this behalf. The characters were extremely accessible to us all day. In fact, all the time!!! One float shows up a time, it's not a "parade".

See the Bart Simpson Evan is holding? A random stranger walked up and gave it to him. Again, not a Simpson fan, but that was awfully nice of whoever that person was.

 

[TinkandCrew]

continued....

This is a close up of the float:

We were already hungry and it was close to lunch time so we opted to go to Mel's Diner:

My burger had that flame broiled taste which was yummy. As you can see, my shake overflowed...messy, but good! The day was hot so it was well needed!

When we left the diner, another float had showed up!

My daughter loves any kind of sweets and went crazy for these "candy ladies"!:

Check out Manny's big 'ol smile:

 

[TinkandCrew]

continued....

Now this next one just stole my heart! I am a Marilyn Monroe collector. I'll say "former" collector because my whole collection is at my parent's house. It got out of hand. We spotted her hanging out and look who ran right up to her! What four year old does this? He doesn't even know who she is! Anyway....too cute!

As I go to snap the picture, she made it look like her dress was blowing. Again, cute!

She told Hayley she liked her Marvel dress.

Manny, in heaven I'm sure! The face says it all! I think that's the biggest smile I've seen on him all week!

We walk away from Marilyn and run right into Rooby Rooby Rooooooooooooooo!

Waiting for Terminator. I'm not sure who hubs was getting ready to fight, but everybody looks happy that it's going down!????!!!

A shady restroom area!

We were waiting to visit with Shrek and my hubs strolls around the corner and says Bumblebee is now doing the meet & greet for TF and has no line!!! We jump out of the Shrek line (which had like 8 people) and run! My boo boo will be thrilled!

Now, Bumblebee doesn't talk like Optimus does, but he dances! I'll have a funny story about him later!

We made it!

Now, for Shrek and Donkey, it is interactive. Donkey talks to you and can hear what you say. I recorded a video, but I don't know how to share it. He asked where we were from and he said we were the only people he has ever had from there. He asked Evan why he was looking at him crazy and was he scared of him. Evan said yes! He said, "Why, is it because I have a big head?" Evan said yes! He said well you have a small head, I have a big one, it's all good. You got a bigger face on your shirt!" It went on and on and was very funny!

 

[TinkandCrew]

continued...

See what I mean about all of the characters? They were EVERYWHERE. You couldn't not see them if you tried!

Now, the Minions characters came out:

Here comes Dora & Diego:

At this point, Evan got character overload and didn't want to take a picture with Cheetah:

This pic was taken for my Hollywood monster loving mother:

 

[TinkandCrew]

I thought this picture turned out funny, because of the Minion eye on his shirt. Hi Gary!!!

Who lives in a pineapple under the seaaaaaaaaaaaaa????

See how sweaty Evan looks? It was hot ya'll!!!! At this point, he was starting to get a lil grumpo. I wanna see Spongebob. I don't wanna see Spongebob. I wanna see Spongebob!!! K???????????? Make up your mind crazy!!!

You don't want to know the vulger thing my hubs was insinuating. I told him he needs to go get tested!

Ball pit fun! Now, I'm conflicted about these. I'm always fearful of one child jumping on another. You always have unwatchful parents or the kids that are too big to even be in there. His face in this picture cracks me up, but it doesn't even look like him! After playing in it forever (we couldn't get him to leave), he came out and said it stunk in there! Ewwwwwwwww!

We took in a show about the animals that are used in shows/movies. It was pretty cute. I'm jealous these people get to do this for a living. There were birds, otters, racoons, skunks, dogs, cats...you get the jist. They said this was the dog used in Men in Black. I'm not sure if I believe it though....