My Incredibly Long Trip Book...err Report.

The Marlin’s Marvelous Migration To The World!​

-Our Party: Heidi (me/32) been to WDW about 5 times
Kevin (DH/45) been to WDW 2 times and DL once
Hagan (DS/5) been to WDW once at 2 ½
Austin (DS/2) been to WDW once in utero
Oma (80) hasn’t been to WDW since ’90, she’s my Grandma

- Our Journey: We will be leaving the night of April 26th at midnight and returning the evening of May 6th. We drive down (about 8 hours including time change and gas stops)

-Our Lodging: We’ll be staying at the Yacht Club in a standard view room April 26th – May 5th. Then on the night of the 5th we’ll move to concierge for one night.

- Our Special Plans: We decided 3 years ago on our way home from our last trip to the World, to do this one up right. We decided to do the Platinum Plan and take a nanny (our niece who would be 16 at the time). We were going to stay in the Grand Floridian. Well, needless to say plans changes and we decided on the YC instead. Then the 16 yo niece fractured her foot 2 months ago and missed too many days from rehab and couldn’t go with us. That was right at time to pay the remainder of the package, so it was changed to her 13 yo sister going in her place. Well, evidently that didn’t sit too well. The 13 yo ended up missing a few days of school as well so if she went with us, she’d miss 6 more days of school and that would put her into failing. So Oma to the rescue! My grandma graciously offered to go in their place! Her only question was “Do I have to bring my purse?” “No Grandma of course not!”

On the Platinum Plan pretty much everything is included, including 3 sit down meals a day. So here’s our plans:

Character Breakfasts include – Play & Dine, Donald’s Breakfast @AK, Cape May Café, Crystal Palace, O’Hana and Chef Mickey’s

Lunches include- 50’s Prime Time Café, Rainforest Café, Grand Floridian Café, Tony’s Town Square, Liberty Tavern, Rose & Crown and San Angel Inn (on Cinco De Mayo)

Dinners include- Yachtsman’s Steakhouse, Flying Fish Café, Hoop Dee Doo, Victoria & Albert’s (Me & Kevin only, it’s our 12th anniv and his birthday on this day), California Grill, Fulton’s Crab House (on my birthday), Whispering Canyon, Marrekesh and Narcoosees

Extras include- Illuminations cruise, reserved seating for Fantasmic, Spa treatments for the adults (on Kevin’s b-day/our anniv), Pirate Cruise for Hagan, Golf at the Palm for Kevin, Cirque Du Soliel (on my birthday) and The Family Magic Tour.

This is a surprise trip for the boys. Do you know how hard it is to keep a secret for 3 years?? It’s been killing me! It will be great though. Both are HUGE Disney fans and have been begging to go. We look at our scrap book from our last visit often. We also make a point to go see photos from friends who recently have been to the World. We Tivo all the Disney specials on Travel Channel and Animal Planet and watch them over and over, as well as planning DVDs. Beginning in January the kids began getting a post card each week from a different Disney character, wishing they would come visit or congratulating them on some accomplishment. Last week they actually got 2 postcards! Thanks to our Fairy Godmailer! (Thanks so much!!). I also used my Disney Movie Rewards and got 4 phone calls from the characters. Mickey called in January “just because”, Pooh called and wished the boys a happy Valentines Day, Tigger just called this morning to say Happy Easter and Mickey will call on April 26th to congratulate them on their upcoming trip. We will be at dinner at a local restraint when that call comes in. At that point our waiter will bring in Mickey Ears and Name Tags for each boy and we’ll tell them to go home and pack cuz we’re leaving at midnight!! Of course, I’ve already packed most of the suitcases out of excitement. All I have left is a Garment bag and my suitcase, everyone else is packed. Oma has to pack her own lol. After dinner Kevin will go home and get some sleep and I’ll take the kids to Oma’s and meet up with their Maw Maw and Granddaddy so they can tell them the news. We’ll also have to call Hagan’s teacher and tell her about it (she already knows of course). Then we’ll pack Oma into the car and head home until time to leave!

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Thursday, April 26th​

Crispen, the Elf, made a surprise visit this morning. He brought the boys some Mickey Crocs and made a horrible mess with a bag of pretzels. They decided they wanted to wear their new crocs to school with a Disney shirt. The boys were so excited to tell Hagan’s teacher about Crispen’s visit.
After school, everything started falling into place. The kids fell asleep on the way home, so I packed the suitcases in the car while they slept. Just as I was finishing, Amy from concierge at the Yacht Club called to tell me she had upgraded us to a water view room for our entire length of stay! Then I had one of my nieces watch them so I could do a little last minute shopping at Target. While I was gone, she called me, freaking out. She said Austin had bitten a plug out of Hagan! Sure enough, Hagan had a nickel size bite mark on his chest. Not a good start to the trip for him and he doesn’t even know it yet.
We met Kevin for dinner at Longhorn about 5pm. After we got seated, I said I had to go to the bathroom and went to the car to get the boys name badges. I also had a Charlotte’s Web DVD for Hagan and a Mickey Mouse counting glove for Austin. I gave them to the manager and went back to wait. At 5:30pm, Mickey Mouse called on my cell. He told the kids how excited he was for them, since they were going on a trip. Hagan just kind of looked at me confused and Austin was yelling “Mickey Mouse! It’s Mickey Mouse”. Then our waitress came to the table and handed them their goodies and said “You guys are going to Disney World……TONIGHT!” It took a little bit, for it to sink in, but once they finally realized we were really leaving that night they got excited.
Kevin went home to go to bed and the boys and I went to pick up Oma (my grandma). On the way, Hagan’s teacher called us (she couldn’t stand waiting anymore hee hee). Hagan told her he was sorry but he was going to miss a lot of school! The boys told Maw Maw and Granddaddy that they were going to Disney World and finally we got Oma packed in the car and headed to the grocery store for snacks. As soon as we got back home I packed up the rest of our stuff in the car. By then it was almost 11:30pm so I woke Kevin up and we hit the road at 10 minutes after midnight. We got about 20 miles down the road and realized I forgot the radar detector. AHaha, of course, Kevin can’t drive anywhere without that! So back we go and finally get back on the road about 1am.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Friday, April 27th​

The drive down was uneventful, for the most part. We slept pretty much the whole way. Kevin woke me up a couple of times to refill his coffee, but other than that I just snoozed. We arrived at the Yacht Club around 8am. Kevin and I left Oma and the kids in the car while we went to check in. Our reservation was flagged to call Amy in concierge upon arrival. She came to the lobby to meet us then took us up to the concierge floor. She used our key card in the elevator and was telling us all about concierge. I shot Kevin a look, like what was going on? We had booked a concierge room for our last night, so I just assumed she was telling us this stuff because of that. She kept on and finally I said, “Yea but we’ll only have access up here our last night right?” She said “No, you’ve been upgraded to water view concierge the entire stay.” I’m not sure who’s jaw hit the ground first, mine or Kevin’s! We finished up with her and she said she would call us as soon as our room was ready. We decided to run to McDonald’s for some breakfast before we hit Typhoon Lagoon.
We got to Typhoon Lagoon around 10am, changed and headed for the wave pool. The kids had a blast! Oma didn’t like it so much. The undertow kept pulling her down. After a while, Austin was getting tired so we went back to where we had parked our stuff. Hagan was playing in a puddle about 15 feet away. I turned to say something to Oma and when I turned back, Hagan was gone. Kevin and I looked all around and couldn’t find him. I alerted the nearest life guard and she sent me to the Lost Parents section. The CM there took down all the info and put out an alert on the radio. He told me to come back in 15 minutes or as soon as I found him, whichever came first. Kevin went around the right of the wave pool so I took off towards the other way. I was about to head back to Lost Parents, when I saw a CM walking that direction pretty fast. Then I saw Hagan through the bushes and called him. The little goofball was in tears and kept saying “Mommy I was looking all over for you!” The CM found him halfway around the park from us. I could have kicked a little boys butt!
After a few more hours we decided to head back to the Yacht Club and hit the pool there while we waited for our room. Just as we turned in the gate, Amy called and said our room was ready. So we headed there instead. I had no idea the Yacht club was so huge! It seemed to go on forever. Our room was on the farthest hall from the lobby. This, actually, turned out pretty good. There was a door that led outside to the boardwalk 2 doors down.
We opened the door to the room and every where we turned there was a surprise! Mousekeeping had left the cutest little towel chicks on the bathroom counter. There were laminated posters on the wall saying “Happy Birthday” for Kevin and I, as well as one that said “Happy Anniversary Kevin & Heidi”. On the desk we found an autographed photo of Woody for Hagan and one of Mickey and Donald for Austin, each with 3 candy bars beside it. There was also a Happy Anniversary Yacht Club pin and a crystal Mickey Mouse with a card for me and Kevin! While we were checking everything out, someone brought in a large bowl of fruit too. The view from our room was awesome. We looked straight over to the Boardwalk and we could see Illuminations from our balcony.
We had an ADR at Yachtsman’s Steakhouse that evening at 5:30pm. The service there was wonderful as usual and the food was great. After dinner, Kevin was pooped so we dropped him off at the room and Oma and I took the boys and headed for the marina to catch the Illuminations Cruise. Our captain, Kevin, was also a lifeguard at the pool. He took us all over the lake, telling us interesting facts along the way. There was an older couple on the boat with us, who had done the cruise before, so they didn’t mind that we sat up front so the kids could have unobstructed views. We docked under the bridge at Epcot and the captain asked the boys to help him blow out the torches. He told them to blow real hard when he told them to. They were so amazed that they were able to blow out those huge torches by themselves! Being on the water was really a cool perspective to watch the show from. The only thing that could have been better would have been if our Kevin had been with us.
After the cruise, we ran back to the room for the stroller, and then took off for Epcot. We were supposed to meet Steve and his family at Maelstrom at 10:30pm. We were a couple of minutes late (but they waited for us). The whole way there Oma kept freaking out because I was meeting “a man from the internet”! We had fun riding Maelstrom with them. It was really neat to meet someone face to face that you talk to often on here. While, we rode it a second time, Austin pitched a fit with Oma and kicked off his new crocs. We looked all around the little circle and couldn’t find them. We said Goodbye to Steve and family, and then continued to look for Austin’s shoes. Oma mentioned that they had walked through the store, so I went in to ask if they’d seen it. The CM at the first counter had one. I walked through the store and asked another CM and he said he saw his manager heading to the back with one. I tracked her down and we finally had two crocs again! Little did we know this would be the first of many croc finding adventures. We slowly walked back to our room and passed out in our beds after a long exhausting, but exciting, day.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Saturday April 28th ​

This was our MGM day. We got to the park at 8am for EMH. We convinced Hagan to ride Tower of Terror with us. He was not a happy camper, but did it anyway. After he did it he realized it wasn’t so bad. I told him since he was so brave I’d get him a pin for every big ride he rode. He liked that idea. Kevin and I hopped on Rock n Roller Coaster, and then we went to breakfast at Play & Dine. The boys loved having breakfast with Jo Jo & Goliath and the Little Einstein characters. They got up and danced with them and paraded around the restaurant. As soon as we finished breakfast the lizard hunting began! Hagan absolutely loves catching lizards and watches for them constantly. The first one he found was on the other side of a railing so he settled for a picture of it instead. We managed to pull him away from it long enough to ride some more rides and catch the meet & greet with the Power Rangers. I’m sure this was kind of surreal for Austin since he thinks he IS a Power Ranger. A little more lizard hunting and we went on Catastrophe Canyon. Austin thought it was great until the water and fire started. He covered his eyes with his fingers spread apart just far enough to see everything going on. This became his assumed position for anything he deemed scary for the entire trip.
After the Canyon it was time for lunch at ‘50’s Prime Time Café. As our hostess was taking us to our table, our waiter yelled “STOP!” We all stopped and watched as he jumped through the window behind our table and into our booth. Early in the morning, Kevin had stopped by the Disney Vacation Club booth and set up a time for us to check look it over. After lunch we met up with a driver at the gate who took us to the DVC office to meet Audrey. The kids got to go to a little child care place (which they loved) and Kevin, Oma and I talked to Audrey about DVC. We really liked the “no pressure, go home and decide” approach they have to this. It didn’t take much and Kevin was hooked. I really loved the show rooms they have set up for the Animal Kingdom Villas. Audrey gave us some info and we hurried back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner at Flying Fish Café. This is now one of our new favorite restaurants! The food was delicious and the service was awesome! Hagan wanted some calamari and he dug in as soon as it got to the table. He had eaten a bunch and was sitting on his knees when he decided to unfold his legs and sit on his bottom. Well he got stuck and proceeded to fall out of the chair flat on his stomach. Within seconds, out comes the calamari! We ran to the bathroom with a napkin covering his face and cleaned up. Luckily, most of it went on the floor and not him. On the way back to the table, the CMs and even guests were asking him if he was Ok. He finished dinner like nothing had happened, then he asked the waiter if there were any hidden Mickey’s there. (He got really excited about finding them when he found his first one by himself in a cave at Katchakiddie Creek at Typhoon Lagoon the day before) Amazingly we were actually sitting about 10 ft from the hidden Mickey and the waiter pointed in the general direction of it. It didn’t take long for Hagan to find it.
We left there and took the boat to MGM for our reserved seating for Fantasmic. This was our first time seeing it and we loved it! I only wish I had remembered to bring our larger flash for our camera from the hotel room. Actually I wish I had remembered to buy batteries for the flash that I left in the room. Kevin managed to get some decent shots with the smaller flash though. After, Fantasmic we took the boat back to the Yacht Club and hit the hay.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Sunday, April 29th​

We started this day off at Donald’s Breakfastsaurus. I’d have to say this was my least favorite character breakfast. There was hardly any interaction with the characters and the lighting (or lack of) caused lots of shadows in my photos. The food and the service were good though. After breakfast, we had to wait about 10 minutes before the park opened. We went straight to Expedition Everest. Hagan said “No way!” So Kevin and I rode it by ourselves. I LOVED it! I tried to talk Hagan into going back on with me, but he didn’t want to. Besides he was looking for lizards. We pulled him away from lizard looking so we could ride some more rides. Lunch was at Rainforest Café. We all really enjoy that place. We went back into the park after lunch in search of Marcia at the Tip Board. When we found the Tip board there was no Marcia. A CM there told me she had headed to Flamingo Odyssey to relieve someone. I looked all over for Flamingo Odyssey and finally asked a CM where it was. She said “Flamingo Odyssey? Uhhm I don’t know what that is but we don’t have one”. I explained to her that I was looking for Marcia from the Tip Board and was told she was relieving someone at the Flamingo Odyssey (can you tell I like saying Flamingo Odyssey?). She finally decided I had to be talking about the Flamingos and Otters! So off we went. The guy she was supposed to replace had not seen her all day, but he promised to let her know we were looking for her. We watched the Flamingos and Otters for a little bit, then decided to stop by the tip board one last time before heading back to the room for a nap. I’m glad we did because I finally got to meet Marcia! As we were leaving, the guy from the Flamingos and Otters came running up with Marcia in tow and said “See I told you I’d find her for you!” Then we left Animal Kingdom and headed back to the room. Austin had passed out by the time we got back so Hagan and Kevin snuck down for a swim. About an hour later they came back. Kevin was wet and Hagan was dry as a bone. I asked Hagan why he didn’t go swimming. He said he was busy looking for lizards.
So everyone showers and changed to go to Hoop Dee Doo. Oma decided she needed a longer nap and stayed in the room alone. Hoop Dee Doo was wonderful! It was so much fun watching and listening to Hagan and Austin cracking up! We were sitting right against the stage. Hagan had caught a lizard while we were waiting for the bus to take us and he had put it in a cup. Even though I had warned him that he better NOT open that cup, I just knew he was going to open it any minute to check on that lizard. I finally made him give me the lizard for safe keeping and my peace of mind. We got back just in time to catch a couple of fireworks from our balcony.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Monday, April 30th​

This was Kevin’s 46th birthday and our 12 anniversary, so we thought we had planned a relaxing day for ourselves. NOT!! We had breakfast at Cape May Café at 7:30am. This was a great character breakfast. The food was really good and we had a lot of time with the characters. Next we headed to the Grand Floridian. We dropped Kevin off at the spa for his massage and the rested of us went in search of the Pirate Cruise. At first Hagan wasn’t too sure of going without one of us. Once all the other kids got there he was fine though. He paired up with a little girl who was wearing the cutest little pirate dress. We waved bye to them and they “Arrrggged” us and they were off. Oma, Austin and I went back to the spa. Oma was called in for her manicure and pedicure and they let Kevin know I was there se he could take Austin. He came out and took Austin to the men’s locker room with him so I could get my massage. It was wonderful! I’m sure I was snoring at some points. When I was done I met up with Kevin and we headed back to pick up Hagan. On the way Kevin told me that Austin had one look at the men walking around naked and started peeling off his clothes. He said he had his diaper off before he could even stop him. (Oh to be a fly on the wall!)
As Hagan’s boat came back we were all greeted with another “ARRGGGHHH!!” He had so much fun and was talking 90 to nothing to tell us all about it. Kevin went back to the spa to get Oma while the boys and I went to sign in at the Grand Floridian Café for lunch. We were seated very fast and we waited for what seemed like forever for Kevin and Oma. Finally, our waitress said she’d check to see if they were out front, but they weren’t. About 10 minutes later, they came up and said they had to go to the concierge desk to get in! They people at the front of the restaurant told them they didn’t have a reservation. Kevin explained that we were already seated and the lady again said that they didn’t have a reservation. So he went to concierge and explained the problem and a CM from there walked him back over and the lady let them in. That was a little frustrating, but oh well.
After lunch, Kevin was supposed to go play golf for a while. Because of the reservation mix up, he missed his tee time, so we went back to the Yacht Club for a swim instead. While we were in the room, Mousekeeping came in to clean. Oma decided to stay in the room with her and learn how to make towel animals instead of go swimming. At 5pm we headed back to the Grand Floridian and dropped Hagan of at the kid’s club there. We had ordered room service for Austin and Oma to be delivered at 8pm. After we dropped Hagan off, we headed to Victoria & Albert’s for dinner. It was as awesome as we had remembered. We got to try Kobe beef for the 1st, which was so delicious and tender. It melted in your mouth like butter! When we finished, they brought us a bag with our menus, some chocolates and some date bread. We picked up Hagan headed back to our hotel.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Tuesday, May 1st​

This day started with a wonderful breakfast at Crystal Palace at 8am. This is by far our favorite character breakfast! The kids love all the time we got to spend with Pooh and his friends. Not to mention, the food here is great! After breakfast we went to town hall to find out where we were supposed to go for the Family Magic Tour. We got signed in and waited about 15 minutes until our guide came to get us. The kids had a blast running around Magic Kingdom doing all the silly things while looking for Captain Hook’s hook. The boys really got into it and I must admit, Kevin and I did too. At the end of our journey, Hagan was looking around for lizards (of course) and he started yelling “I see Peter Pan!!” Peter Pan and Wendy snuck up on us through the woods. They decided to help us look for Captain Hook’s hook. Austin finally found it attached to a stroller. We took some pictures from Peter and Wendy, and then they were off. This actually surprised me. I thought we were supposed to either ride a ride with them or watch a show with them.
After that we headed for tomorrow land and rode Buzz Lightyear four or five times. Kevin watched Stitches Escape with Hagan, and then I went with him to it too. About a minute before they were going to open the doors, Hagan decided he had to go to the bathroom. While coming back from the bathroom, we ran into PUSH the talking trash can. We watched him for a few minutes then went back to Stitch. After that we rode Space Mountain. Hagan LOVED it! By the time we got off that it was time for lunch at Tony’s Town Square. The service was great and the food was pretty good too. When we were done with lunch we rode a few more rides then went back to the room for a little rest.
We had 7:15 reservations at California Grill that night. We got seated at about 8:15. Our waitress came over and brought coloring books for the kids and took half of our drink orders then walked off to another table! At 8:30pm, we still didn’t have drinks or crayons and we hadn’t ordered yet. They dimmed the lights and started playing the music for Wishes. Oma, the boys and I headed outside to watch while Kevin stayed behind to put in our order. Wishes was beautiful as always. When it was over, we got back to the table and still no drinks or crayons. She finally brought the drinks; Hagan took 1 sip and passed out on the bench. The food was wonderful. Hagan had ordered pizza and since Austin can’t eat that we just boxed it up to take back to the room. We boxed up what was left of our appetizers as well. When the waitress brought the check, I asked for a bag and she said they didn’t have any bags. So as we were walking out, the guy at the podium was giving someone a bag. I told him our waitress had said they didn’t have any bags. He said “Well, she was wrong”. I said it didn’t surprise me since she wasn’t a very good waitress anyway. As usual, it was back to the hotel and time for bed.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Wednesday, May 2nd​

This day was my birthday. We went to O’hana for breakfast (Hagan’s favorite) at 7:30am. This is another great character breakfast. Great food, great service and lots of interaction time with the characters.
After breakfast, we played at Blizzard Beach for a while. Austin loved the kiddie area. Hagan did too, but we couldn’t talk him into going on any of the bigger slides.
We finally decided to go back to the Yacht Club and hit the pool again. Austin and Hagan both loved the water slide! After a couple of hours at the pool, we got ready and went to Down Town Disney for the 6pm showing of Cirque Du Soliel. Our seats were front row and just a hair to the right of center stage. We all absolutely love this show. The kids sat through it wide eyed the whole time. After the show we had an 8:30pm reservation at Fulton’s Crab House. We went there in December and it was awesome. This time the service was still great, but we ran into a couple of problems. Our entrées were taking an extremely long time to come out. Our waiter noticed this and went to the kitchen to see what was going on. A little bit later, he came back with our food. Mine and Oma’s were right but as soon as he opened Kevin’s he said he was sorry, but it was the wrong order. They also were re doing Hagan’s shrimp because it had gotten cold waiting. Some one brought Hagan’s shrimp out, and then our waiter came out with Kevin’s food. He said he had alerted management that the kitchen had lost our order. The manager stopped by the table and asked how the food was then walked off. That’s the only problem with any of the dining plans. If we had been paying out of pocket for that meal, it would have been free, because I would have pressed the issue. We skipped the dessert because the kids were starting to get a little cranky. So guess what? Back to the hotel to hit the hay.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Thursday, May 3rd ​

The morning was supposed to start with breakfast at Chef Mickey’s, but we decided to skip it and hit extra magic hours at Magic Kingdom instead. We caught all the rides and shows we hadn’t done yet. This was a big lizard looking and pin trading day for the boys too. It seems that every corner we turned there was another lizard to catch or someone to trade pins with. Lunch was at 1pm at Liberty Tree Tavern. We had a wonderful waitress and we loved the food there. After lunch we decided to drop Oma and the kids at the hotel and run to the Disney Vacation Club office to meet up with Audrey again about purchasing. We had dinner scheduled at 6:30pm and we were cutting it close, so we decided to wait and actually sign the papers the next day. We made it on time to our reservation at Whispering Canyon. My friend Marsha, who lives in Orlando, met us there. The boys had a blast playing with the Lincoln Logs while we waited. As soon as we were seated, our waiter, Rodeo Rick, took our drink order. When he brought the drinks he threw a huge handful of straws and napkins into the air and on the table. I don’t know whose eyes got wider, the boy’s or Oma’s. We all ordered the All you care to eat, BBQ plate. I love the way they serve it family style. The food was great, Oma said it was the best meal she had. I told Hagan to ask Ranger Rick for some Ketchup. Boy were they all surprised when about 20 bottles of Ketchup showed up at our table. About that time, the table next to us asked for a fork and out they come with a HUGE fork. The kids had fun riding in the stick horse race. We had a great time visiting with Marsha for a while too! Kevin, Hagan and Austin got ice cream for dessert, Oma and I went for the Kahlua chocolate cake. A few minutes later here comes Ranger Rick with our desserts and chocolate all over his face!
After dinner we walked outside. Hagan evidently had a different idea. He stayed inside and got lost. As we were headed out the door, I noticed he was gone. So we spent 5 minutes or so tracking him down again. Finally we get out to look over the Wilderness Lodge. What a beautiful place this is. I definitely want to stay there one day. It was getting late, so we told Marsha bye and went back to our hotel. When we got to our room we found a beautiful chocolate picture frame with a picture of the Yacht Club painted on it.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Friday, May 4th​

Today was our full day at Epcot. But first we walked over to Spoodle’s for breakfast at 7:30am. We really enjoyed this place. It was quiet, the food was delicious and our waiter was wonderful! After breakfast we walked to Epcot. We rode everything; Hagan even rode Test Track with us and Mission Space (green) with me. Soarin is absolutely beautiful! By the time we rode all the rides, it was time for lunch at Rose and Crown. This was another on the top of our list. It was fun talking with the CMs who were there on the International Program. I also like the laid back atmosphere. After lunch Hagan fell asleep in the stroller on our way back to the hotel. We sent him and Oma back to the room, while Kevin, Austin and I went back to see Audrey and sign the papers. We ended up buying 160 points at Animal Kingdom Villas and 92 points at Beach Club Villas. We also told her we had been tossing around the idea of staying another night and asked if she could book us in the BCVs in a 1 bedroom for Sunday night. They didn’t have a 1 bedroom that night but they had a 2 bedroom so we took it.
We had decided to skip our dinner at Marrekesh this night and just order room service and take it easy. But after purchasing DVC, Kevin was energized and we headed back over to Epcot just in time to catch our reserved viewing for IllumiNations. No matter how many times I see this one I never get tired of it. When it was over we meandered around the World Showcase. By the time we got to China we were hungry, so we stopped at Nine Dragons to ask if they had any openings. They did so much to Oma’s dismay we ate there. Then we took our time walking back to the hotel.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Saturday, May 5th​

This morning we had breakfast at Boma at 7:30am. We love this restaurant for breakfast! The Animal Kingdom Lodge is my favorite resort of all of them. After breakfast we went to Animal Kingdom to see the shows and rides we missed. I talked Hagan into riding Expedition Everest with me, with the promise of lots of lizard catching afterwards! We rode on the front row. When we got off I asked if he wanted to ride it again and he said “Maybe later when I’m not mad at it anymore. Right now I’m mad at it because the tracks are broken!” Austin loved Festival of the Lion King and the Nemo Musical. Both are really great shows.
After a good soaking on Kali River Rapids, we drove over to Epcot for our 2:30pm reservation at San Angel Inn. I think it was a tie for worst with Nine Dragon’s for Oma (she’s not a very adventurous eater). Kevin, the boys and I enjoyed it though. As we left we stopped at the water fountains to let the kids play. Austin had the best time trying to “Power Ranger” the water shooting up.
We went back to the hotel and swam a little then headed for our 7:30pm reservation at Narcoosees. Oma and Kevin had the surf and turf and I got the whole lobster. All of it was absolutely fantastic! We had a window seat view of Magic Kingdom, but we decided to go outside for Wishes. I think it was even more stunning from this angle than from the Contemporary. We went back in and started dessert. A few minutes later the Electrical Water Pageant came by. This was our first time catching it and it was as great as everyone has said. I think we have a new number 1 favorite restaurant here. Since this was our last day on the Platinum Plan, we had some dining points left. There was no way to use them before midnight so we asked our waiter to bring us the bill for the table next to us. It was a very young couple, maybe honeymooners. They had shared their entire meal. After we used our points to pay their meal, I walked over to their table. I handed them the blank receipt and told them that we had extra points on our plan and there was no way we’d use them by midnight, so we paid for their meal with them. The girl’s eyes welled up and the guys jaw dropped. They were extremely grateful. We had had such a magical vacation, it felt so nice to give someone else the magic.
On the way back to the hotel, both kids fell asleep. When we got to the room, we found another chocolate picture frame with a different picture in it. We stayed up until almost 2:30am slowly packing our stuff since we were changing rooms the next day.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Sunday, May 6th​

Today was supposed to be spent in the pool the whole day. We slept in until 8:30am. The boys hopped in the shower and as Kevin was about to join them, I heard him say “I bet that hurt”. They stayed in another 15 minutes or so. Hagan came out and said “Mommy, is my chin bleeding?” I said I didn’t think so. Then he moved the towel and there was a little pinkish tinge on it. I had him tilt his head back and sure enough there was a big cut on it. It was pretty deep and probably needed stitches. I called Amy from the Platinum Plan and asked her if there was a doctor or anyone nearby who could take a look at it. I told her, I thought it probably needed stitches but we might be able to get away with just some derma bond. A few minutes later, she, the manager and 2 EMTs were in the room. The EMTs said it probably did need stitches and we’d have to go to the ER or the Urgent Care Clinic for that. We decided on Urgent Care. They sent a car for us and Hagan and I headed over there. We went in and filled out the paper work and I asked how long the wait was. The lady said 2 and a half hours! I went outside and called Kevin. I told him there was a drug store next door and he agreed we should just get some steri strips and pull it together. I asked Hagan if he wanted to stay there and get stitches or go back to the pool and swim. Didn’t take long to get an answer for that one! By the way, Hagan had already told me he wasn’t hurting or anything. I went back in and told the girl what we decided. She refunded my co pay and everything! The driver took us back to the hotel and we headed straight for the pool. I put a water proof bandage on Hagan’s cut and off he went.
At 3 pm, Amy called and told us our room at Beach Club Villas was ready. Oma and I went to check in and call bell service to bring our bags. The villa was awesome. As soon as the bags got there Oma started doing laundry. Kevin called and told me to hurry to the pool he was having a tough time with the boys. When I got there he told me he had had to go to the restroom and couldn’t get the kids out of the water, so he left them! As he was coming back from the restroom he saw some life guards running towards a bridge. Even though Kevin had left the boys in the 2 foot wading pool with the sand bar, he just knew Hagan was involved in this somehow, since he was always swimming under the bridges looking for lizards. Sure enough there are all the life guards surrounding Hagan. He was fine and had just scared the life guards. He was talking to Hagan and the life guards when a woman came up and was telling one of the life guards about this baby she had found swimming all alone. Kevin looked up and said, “Austin what are you doing?” Austin said “Hi Daddy”. The woman said she had just seen him swimming by himself and couldn’t find the parents so she got worried. Kevin told her the situation. She told him he wasn’t in that wading pool anymore, she found him in the deeper area! Kevin had just gotten the boys back to the wading pool when I got down there. After a little longer we decided to go back to the room and get some sandwiches on the way for everyone. The Marketplace there has yummy sandwiches! We spent the evening just lounging around and swimming at the pool that was right outside our room. Hagan caught another frog and it spent the night in the shower. Austin loved the whirlpool tub in the master bath! He played in it for over an hour. Oma was pretty happy to have her own room and the boys enjoyed having their very own pull out sofa bed. I ended up passing out around midnight, but Kevin stayed up for another hour or so finishing up all the laundry.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Monday, May 7th​

We slept in until almost 9 this morning then packed all our stuff into the car. Then we headed to the pool. Our plan was to stay in the pool until about lunch time then head home. The weather wasn’t on our side though. The pool water was very warm but it was a cool and windy day, so as soon as we got out of the water we were freezing! After 2 times down the slide, we had had enough. So we changed into dry clothes and headed out by 11am. The drive home was also pretty uneventful. We stopped at Oma’s and spent a little time there visiting with Maw Maw and Granddaddy before heading home. We got to our house right at 8pm. We hurried to unpack the car and get the kids in bed. Then Kevin and I settled in to watch the 2 episodes of 24 that we had missed.


Now if my little book wasn’t enough for you, please check out my photos at www.twotigersmom.smugmug.com Just click on the vacation album and go to Disney 2007.

 

[Laura]

What an awesome vacation!!!

Sounds like that Platinum Plan really spoils you rotten..geesh! Makes me wanna try that someday!

3 sit down meals a day? I think I would be stuffed from morning to night. :lol:

Looks like you did almost every single thing you could possibly do at WDW. Glad you had a good time!

 

[eagles]

wow, it sounds like you had a real magical time!

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Nice report - thanks for sharing your trip

 

[maggiegrace1]

Great report Heidi...

Next time take me and I will watch the boys for you..

They are too precious..Love the pic of him in the sink...

 

[tigsmom]

Wow! I'm exhausted just reading all that! :ROFLOL:

So glad you guys had a good time, well except for the trip for stitches.

Thanks for sharing :wave:

 

[pinkrose]

Great trip report! I'm off to look at the pictures now.

 

[sbkline]

I haven't read it yet, as I am watching my little munchkin right now, but will try to read it later. But at least I don't have to feel bad anymore for writing such a lengthy trip report myself! :ROFLOL: