The birthday, we're posers, I wanna go home trip report: July 1-16, 2011

I'm back and ready to start another trip report if only so that I can remember it while making my scrapbooking pages. Now, just a foreword, this may get a little wordy as there are lots of things that I want to remember. This shouldn't be a problem, as you can just scroll through all the words, or block the report all together! :lookaroun:lol:

So, here goes! This is another road trip from Minnesota from July 1- July 16, 2011. We had been tentatively planning this for awhile, but I wasn't sure that it would actually happen until pretty close to the time we were leaving.

Before I go further, here's who is on the trip.

Me: turning 38 while there, certified Disney lover

Sam: DH 37, had his first trip at the age of 18 with his two sisters and mom, was the only one on the trip that had any fun, and (I believe) is now an even bigger Disney lover that me- he may debate that, but he has a friend at work who is another DVC owner, and they spend all day talking about Disney and sending texts to each other while on vacation.

Lexy: DD 16, not a certified Disney lover! She was actually really excited about this trip until three months ago when she got a boyfriend. Now she wants nothing to do with this trip at all!!! She has been whining that she DOES NOT want to go. She wants to stay home with her Nana and Papa. Not happening!

Lainey: DD 10, my teenager in training. She is getting those eyerolls and sighs down pat from her older sister.

Roddy: DS 9, our easy going one. He will do anything and have a smile on his face while doing it. He is the reason I'm not totally insane now! :ROFLOL:

Bella: DD 7, our thrill seeker. She is here for the rides and little else. She is the one known to complain when she's not feeling things are going her way.

Oh, boy, I have a feeling this is going to be a fun one! So let's get started!!

Thursday June 30th. Sam worked a full day and I was scheduled to work at the dance studio that the girls dance at. I work there a few days a month to help with my dance bill. I was working to 9 pm, which Sam was not happy about at all! He wanted everything packed and ready to go, which it was not. Now Sam is a doer, I'm the resident procrastinator. I always think that I have plenty of time to get things done. We were originally going to leave on Saturday, but then Sam said we should leave on Friday night so that we could get there earlier and go to the parks on Sunday too. We wanted to see the Fourth fireworks on Sunday at Magic Kingdom then go to Epcot on the actual Fourth. We decided to get a room at a cheap hotel we found a deal on at allears for $69 a night on Sunday night. I wasn't sure if they would let me fit all my kids in there for that price, so I said I only had two kids. Flame away! :drevil: So I was under the impression that we were leaving on Friday night. Plenty of time for me to get stuff done.

I got home from working at the studio to find Sam in a complete panic. He does not like things hanging over his head. We decided to hit Cub Foods up to get some things to bring in the car with us to eat. We were at the check out when Sam wanted me to grab something else. I knew that time was of the essence to Sam so I was really hurrying. I guess on my way back, you could hear my flip flops crazily coming. Sam said that the check out person was looking like what is that? There was a stock boy ahead of me that I was coming up behind closely. He kept looking back over his shoulder with a scared expression on his face. I think he thought I was going to run him over. Sam was laughing so hard in the car on the way home. He said that I was giving "stocking" a new meaning. He thought the guy figured I was stalking him. I think that lightened things up for Sam a little, or at least I thought so. It was now getting late so Sam went to bed to get ready for our day of leaving.

Friday July 1, 2011. Leaving day. Again, I thought I had plenty of time to get ready. So I woke up and went on the computer for a bit. I was not scrapbooking, but I was doing things related to it. Sam was furious that I was scrapbooking while he was trying to get things ready to leave. I thought that we were taking naps and such, so I figured I would just skip my nap. Nope, suddenly Sam decided that we were leaving ASAP. Why was I not giving the memo on this? He wanted to leave by like 1 pm. Yeah, that was going to happen. I still had to run to Target to pick up some things, and I really wanted Roddy to get a hair cut. The Justin Beiber look alike thing that he was trying to get started was just not working for me! So after some grumbling, we managed to get out of the house and packed up around 3 or so.
Are we one big happy family or what?

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

These are the people who as I inch past them I make sure to "accidentally" step on their feet. :goodnevil

Ooooohhhhh..... good idea!! I'll remember that next time.. I usually just say to my sister, loud enough so they can hear as we pass and VERY snarky "I love how people don't listen and STOP IN THE MIDDLE!!" hehe

 

[chrissyw14]

this is the first trip report i've read, but its great! i love looking at the pictures, you have a beautiful family! my trip is in 2 weeks so i cannot stop thinking about it!

ahh boyfriend problems, my teenage girl-ness would always disappear if we were going to disney haha.

 

[Ariel484]

Everest in the rain is no good, in my opinion...all that rain whipping you in the face...yikes.

Still loving your TR! The Goofy pics are great!

 

[mouselvrmom]

I love all your pictures during Everest! That's how I like to spend my time sometimes during the family's ride on Everest.

I also love Goofy's disdain. Hilarious!

It's so relaxing when to take pictures when I have no one sighing that I'm not hurrying up.

Gotta love that Goofy!

ditto the goofy's disdain. so funny. but what a great pic!

Thanks, Louella!

I figured rain was on the way judging by the sky in ur leaving Epcot pic,n I woulda went nuts if I was in that nook in the store I have issues with my personal space

I know, right? I was trying not to imagine what would happen if a fire started in there or something.

Loving your TR, especially all your photos. Keep them coming, your kids are beautiful

Thanks so much!

I really liked the group shot in the Everest gift shop, everyone's all smiles!

Ha! Those Camp Minnie-Mickey shots are great! *note to self* check out the character meet and greets next time at Animal Kingdom

I love that one too, but I so wouldn't have been smiling if I'd just rode in the rain like that! :lol:

Yaaaayyy!!!

Fantastic updates! I love that the rain had y'all finding other stuff to do. Looooved the Camp Minnie Mickey pics. I'll definitely remember that as the thing to do if we're in AK and it starts to rain. I am actually a little concerned how this next trip will go if we get rained on. We're not used to a lot of rain in the winter months. And the heat. Your TR totally gives me hope that we'll survive....especially since we're prob'ly better acclimated to that kind of weather than y'all.

Tracey happened to look over my shoulder at the pictures when y'all were on the bus back to the resort. I had to point out who everyone is. He commented that he really liked Sam's shirt with the Big Bad Wolf.

Can't wait to see what's next!

I'm sure you're much better acclimated to the weather than we are! I could totally stand it, but I did sweat a lot. It's hard to want to take a lot of pictures of yourselves when you are so slimy looking... :lookaroun:lol:

And that big bad wolf shirt is so old! I think Sam wears that one every trip- along with his Sher Khan one.

Happy Birthday!! My birthday is also July 7!! I thought I was lucky spending my birthday at the beach this year, but I would have much preferred to be at WDW!!

Love the trip report and reading about all the teenage boy drama has me being very thankful that I have boys Of course I will never let them be so mean as to break up with a girl while she is vacationing at the Happiest Place On Earth!!

Can't wait to read more.

Well, happy belated birthday! Hope you had a great one!

And boys are sooo much easier. At least so far!

OK, first off... I LOVE Lexi's flowered dress!! Super cute!!

Second, I am with you on the people who push and shove their way into rides, shops, etc and split families up... Such a peeve of mine!! That and people who go halfway down a row and plop right down in the middle, completely ignoring the CM who is saying quite clearly "Please move all the way down and make room for everyone" Ahhhhhhh!!!! OK... end rant. lol

Camp MM is one of the BEST places to meet the characters. We hit it perfectly in May and had zero waiting. Also, the place where Pooh and friends meet @ AK is never busy either. Its located so far down the beaten path it sometimes seems like people don't know it's there.

I'll tell Lexy that you liked her dress. She prides herself on wearing different things.

I know, right? There were people in Muppet vision that sat in the middle of the theater and refused to move down. People just kept making comments and stepping over them, but they just pretended not to speak english. It was pretty funny.

Don't you just love Florida weather?
We have more than our fair share of family poncho photos! haha

Well, they don't make the most attractive pictures, but I'll take Florida weather anyday over Minnesota weather. I'm already starting to fear the snow that I'm sure is coming very soon!

this is the first trip report i've read, but its great! i love looking at the pictures, you have a beautiful family! my trip is in 2 weeks so i cannot stop thinking about it!

ahh boyfriend problems, my teenage girl-ness would always disappear if we were going to disney haha.

Thanks! I'm glad you like the report! Have a fabulous time on your trip!!:sohappy:

Everest in the rain is no good, in my opinion...all that rain whipping you in the face...

Still loving your TR! The Goofy pics are great!

Thanks for still reading!

I guess the kids figured that Everest in the rain was better than no Everest at all! I think that they had waited so long at that point for the rain to stop, that they weren't giving up without a ride.

 

[mouselvrmom]

Friday July 8, 2011. We managed to get ourselves up and at 'em at a reasonable time this morning. The plan was to get to the Studios as close to park opening as possible. We were taking the bus again.

Are we all happy this morning?

I know that some people hate the bus and would much rather drive. But I love the bus. I love not to have to hassle with parking and taking a shuttle to the park. I guess it's just kind of fun to me too. You feel that you are really immersed in everything when you don't have to drive. So I get very excited about signs like this.

Yay, the bus is coming!

Well, we obviously didn't make it there by rope drop.

So get this silliness, Sam had a plan all mapped out for the morning. Of course he did. He's the doer in the relationship. He did not want us slow pokes tying him down, so he said that we would go off and try to get on Rockin' Rollercoaster while he grabbed fastpasses for us to Toy Story Mania. He thought that since the park hadn't opened that long ago, that we wouldn't have that long of a wait. So, we went our separate ways. We headed down Sunset Blvd. I drink a lot of cranberry juice and water every morning, so I usually have to hit the bathroom more often in the morning than I do at other times of the day. We got close to Tower of Terror, when I thought it would be a good idea to make a stop. Bella decided to go with me. As I was getting out of the bathroom and finding Lexy and Lainey, we saw Sam walking up. He must have really been speed walking. He couldn't believe that we hadn't gotten in line yet. But it worked out well because then we could all get in line, which was longer that we would have expected. We made the best of the line by having fun.

I was worried that it might rain, so I was just happy to get under the cover to wait. Bella can always find something to keep her occupied. Today she somehow discovered that if she took her park map-that her and Roddy had to grab at every park we went to each day- and put it on the wall and smoothed it with her hands, it would stick on the wall. She spent a lot of time with this one.

Who thought to put these here? If there is something that makes noise, my kids will discover it. We finally had to tell them to knock off the making noise with the beads.

 

[mouselvrmom]

I think that the ride is fun in general, but I really don't care for the launch. I think I must have an inner ear problem, because those sorts of things always make me feel very dizzy. I can ride once, but not much more than that in a day.

After that we were feeling that we could use some lunch. We had early dinner at 50s, so we needed to eat lunch early.

I got a burger. Now I know that the new buns are supposed to be healthier and all, but I don't care for them at all. I find them big and hard to eat. I like my bun softer and smaller, but that's just me. It looks delicious.

Since we were so close, Sam wanted a ride on Star Tours. He was still under the impression at that time that there were 50 actual different storylines to see. He was ready to ride 50 times.

 

[mouselvrmom]

So Sam was a little disappointed that we had a different experience, but it still some of the same parts. I explained to him that it had a couple different beginnings, middles and ends. You would never know going on what parts you were going to get. He loved the new stuff, much better than it was before, but he still would have loved to get ALL new versions each time. Not sure how realistic that is, but I think he just thought it would be more radically different each time.

Alas, our luck that we ran into on RnRC could not hold forever. There was a crowd gathered in the store as we got out of Star Tours because it was pouring out. So the ponchos went on and we got out of there. There was hardly a line at Great Movie Ride, so we went there. I'm a huge fan, not so much for everyone else.

We finally had the other scene. Sam was like, what's going on? He had never seen it before. He thought it was pretty cool.

It was still raining out as we got done. We put the ponchos back on and headed out again. This was getting slightly annoying at this point. But what can you do? We got in line to do the Narnia walk through mainly because it was covered. The line was probably the biggest I had seen it, I'm sure because of that cover. I can safely say that we were all unimpressed with it. But it did kill time so that we could now head over to dinner.

50s Prime Time here we come! I absolutely love this place! It was the unbusiest that I have ever seen it. We got right in. Yay!

We always make Roddy set the table.

What looks good for dessert?

 

[mouselvrmom]

We have gotten some of the AWESOMEST servers in the past, so I think that we have been spoiled. Our server this time was incredibly nice, but also incredibly awkward. He was so stiff and had no fun at all. I'm thinking that maybe he was new. Lexy kept commenting on how awkward he was. It got to the point that she would laugh anytime he came over because she thought it was so funny. So this was not one of our most fun experiences, but the food was good, and the environment was good. We didn't have anyone around us to socialize with or anything, so it was just a strange experience.

I got the sampler. MMMMM.

The emptiness was eerie.

But the smores were delicious!

Sam got the cobbler. Bleh.

Here's Lexy laughing at the awkwardness.

Kind of glad that was over now. It's time for our fastpasses. I had to get my head in the game if I wanted to try to beat Sam's score again.

I put up a good fight. I was beating him to start, but he pulled out the stops at the end, and ended up beating me. Darn him!!

 

[mouselvrmom]

At least it wasn't raining any more. We meandered around and ended up heading in to see some characters.

We got in line for Jafar right away.

We also saw the Queen of Hearts, and then Mary Poppins, mainly because she had those cute penguins with her.

We haven't had good luck in the past with both Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, so we got them this time.

I love Pinocchio who was out with Gepetto. It was pretty dark where they were though.

We also saw Captain Hook, but then decided that we were done with lines. No one wanted to get in the big line for Mickey, which is slightly disappointing, but I understand that they were done.

Sam, Bella, Roddy and I headed for the Tower next while Lainey and Lexy hit up the single rider line over at RnRC.

I love the queue at Tower of Terror. It is my favorite ride.

 

[mouselvrmom]

When we got out, the girls were getting out too. We walked through some of the shops on our way out.

Remember this silly movie?

Sam stopped on the way out to get his Studios mug. We hung around waiting and taking some pictures.

Bella enjoyed the mug.

When we got back to the room, we dropped the kids off. Then Sam and I headed over to Port Orleans to get Beignets for everyone. Sam had heard how delicious they were from a friend, so that was his big mission to get some.

Since they're made fresh, it took awhile. I headed out to take some pictures while Sam stood there.

 

[mouselvrmom]

They had some construction going on, but the pool looked pretty fun.

Sam had to come see the pool when he was done. He also wanted me to pose with some friends.

The beignets were delicious. The kids wanted us to get them every night.

Up next, breakfast at Ohanas and more Studio fun.

 

[HollyBelle]

YAY - an update!! Love that shot of you and Lexy waiting for RNR. And I'm with you on the lighting in the Animation building, it's always tough to get a good character picture in there.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

ToT is my favorite ride as well!!

POFQ looks so empty!! It's kind of eerie how there is NO ONE at the pool or anything.... :lookaroun

Those beignets looks SO GOOD!! I've never had them before but I'm thinking we might have to make a trip over to POFQ in November to get some. YUMMY!!! :slurp:

 

[Ariel484]

Amen to the ToT love! Best ride ever! :sohappy:

Too bad about the rain, but it seems like you guys made the best of it! Can't wait for more

 

[switts]

i now want some beignets when i go now

 

[mamamouse]

oh boy those look yummylish

 

[disneygirl1]

YAY I been waiting for an update!!! So funny you brought up the beads in the RnRc line... I don't know what it is about them but my DS has to touch them everytime we are in line!! Drives me crazy!! :lol:

Question, in the animation building, what time do all the lesser seen characters in the parks come out in the afternoon? I thought it was 4;45ish, but just wanted to make sure. Don't want to miss them all when we are there in 2 weeks!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Finally!! :lookaroun:lol:

Those beignets look delicious! I don't blame the kids for wanting them every night!

I'm sorry you didn't get a good waiter at 50's Prime Time, but I'm glad you still got Smores!!

 

[lbrad]

Enjoying your TR ... loved POFQ when we stayed there.
The smores looked yummy:slurp:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Eatin' up the report. Those were some awesome characters in the animation building. Every time we've ever eaten at 50s Prime we neeeeever get a table with a tv which always disappoints me. I wanna sit at one sooooo bad!

Can't wait to ride Star Tours next month! :sohappy: