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?
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Okay...I'm finally caught up. Great report and great pictures so far. And as a resident of East Central Illinois that lives 5 minutes from I-57, I apologize. It is a tremendously boring drive. It's funny though, every time my kids and I drive over a 57 overpass we always say, "I wonder how many of those cars are on their way to Disney World?" It was obviously at least 1 the day you went through!
 

eagles

Active Member
i was wondering if you would update again. :ROFLOL:
lexy is starting to look happy again.
love all the characters you got!
hate all the rain though.
i always took the internal bus system and never gave it a thought. i just went with the flow because it was just part of disney.
we did drive around 1 or 2 trips ago. and it was ok driving ourselves to the parks, but i can't say i like one over the other.
i so can't wait for our adults only trip.

more jenn, please more. and don't make us wait to long. :lookaroun
 

mouselvrmom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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.

The lighting just seemed worse this time. Maybe the characters we chose were just in the wrong areas!

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....

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!!!

There were some people at the pool, maybe the construction going on around it was keeping some people from going.

You will definitely have to try some beignets! They are delish!

Amen to the ToT love! Best ride ever!

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

Woohoo for some ToT love!! We really tried not to let the rain bother us.

i now want some beignets when i go now

You're welcome! :D

oh boy those look yummylish

Trust me, they taste much better than they look!

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!!

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!

Oh, good! I'm glad to know that my kids are not the only unruly ones touching those darned beads! :ROFLOL:

I wanna say it was around 5 pm when they had the characters out at the Animation building. Have an awesome time!!

Finally!!

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!!

Yes, I know. You're leaving and I still haven't finished! Get some smores for me!!

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

They were super yummy!

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!

I don't think we've ever gotten a table with a TV either. Although usually we have a fabulous server which makes up for it.

Okay...I'm finally caught up. Great report and great pictures so far. And as a resident of East Central Illinois that lives 5 minutes from I-57, I apologize. It is a tremendously boring drive. It's funny though, every time my kids and I drive over a 57 overpass we always say, "I wonder how many of those cars are on their way to Disney World?" It was obviously at least 1 the day you went through!

Isn't that funny to think about people that are on their way to vacation while you're drudging through daily life? :lol:

i was wondering if you would update again.
lexy is starting to look happy again.
love all the characters you got!
hate all the rain though.
i always took the internal bus system and never gave it a thought. i just went with the flow because it was just part of disney.
we did drive around 1 or 2 trips ago. and it was ok driving ourselves to the parks, but i can't say i like one over the other.
i so can't wait for our adults only trip.

more jenn, please more. and don't make us wait to long.

I know, I'm a horrible trip reporter! :lol: I guess I just let real life get in the way. I so need to get this done before I forget things though. I promise I'll try to be better!
 

mouselvrmom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday July 9, 2011. I was so looking forward to our breakfast at Ohanas this morning. We hadn't been there for breakfast for quite awhile, and Lilo and Stitch are always a good time. We drove there since our ressies were at 8 am. Gotta love seeing this!

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I so love this place. I wish they had DVC rooms so that we could stay there comfortably.

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Lainey was in her glory finding hidden mickeys.

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I checked in, and we were called to a table immediately. We were pretty much in the first round seated.

MMMMMM, juice!!!

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Who wants to fill up on fruit and bread?!

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Stitch came around right away. Good old Stitch!

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Lainey really wanted to take a picture of Sam and I.

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Lilo was there too before we even got our hot food.

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mouselvrmom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ahh, and there's the food.

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Everyone wanted to show off those mickey waffles.

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Bella and Roddy got up to do the little parade around the restaurant. I was surprised by how interested they were in these things. But they were laughing and having a great time!

Mickey came...

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Then, Pluto.

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We were just finishing up our breakfast and relaxing a minute when Stitch came by again. We had the BEST CHARACTER INTERACTION EVER with him. It was so awesome!

Now notice in these next pictures Lexy's face. She totally looks like someone who desperately wants to go home! Or NOT!

Stitch came up and he had a waffle in his ear from the last table. Bella made a point of telling him about it. Here he is teasing her.

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He proceeded to put the waffle on Bella's plate and tried to get her to eat it. She of course refused. So he plopped himself down on her chair on top of her, and started cutting the waffle up like he was going to eat it himself.

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Lilo noticed that Stitch was being naughty and she stopped to scold him.

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mouselvrmom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Stitch then tried to get Lilo to eat the offending waffle.

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She refused. So Stitch decided to turn his attention elsewhere. He spied Lexy's coffee mug and some grape stems. He had an idea.

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He made a show about putting the grape stem in the cup of coffee.

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He says are you gonna drink that?

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Lexy peers in to think about it, but ultimately decides not to drink it.

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Stitch gets bored again, so he pulls Lilo on his lap, so now both Lilo and Stitch are sitting on Bella.

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I guess he figured Bella's been sat on enough, because he gets up and gives her some razzing.

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And then he was off, but it was seriously the best character interaction. The kids all got such a kick out of it, even Lexy.

Then they had to play with the leis and find new ways to wear them.

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And participate in another parade...

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mouselvrmom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We were ready to move on at this point. I went to the bathroom, and I instructed Lexy to hold my camera. She decided to try taking some pictures. I was happy that she was showing an interest in something other than her cell phone. She thought it would be a good idea for me to get a new camera so she could have this one. I told her to talk to her father.

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Now while I had the best time ever here for breakfast, I still think that I prefer Ohanas for dinner. I love those noodles! And I felt that maybe 8 am was a bit too early for a Lapu Lapu. So I had to go without.

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My camera was fogging up as we walked out. It was humid! Now feel free to flame me if you want, but we decided to take a bus to the Studios for a little while before heading back to our resort.

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HopLow

Member
Yayyyy, an update!!! :sohappy:

Love the character interactions! Ohana is my favorite place for breakfast because we always went there when I was a kid, so it has a lot of nostalgia for me. The Mickey waffles taste better there than anywhere else... I swear! And I definitely think they should offer Lapu Lapus with breakfast. There's juice in it, why not???

The compositions of Lexy's pictures are really good!
 

PolynesianPrincess

Well-Known Member
I would've gotten a Lapu Lapu anyways.... You're in Disney!! Why not?! lol... It's vacation!!! :)

And how awesome was Stitch?! When character interactions are good like that, it's something you will always remember!
 

mouselvrmom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yayyyy, an update!!!

Love the character interactions! Ohana is my favorite place for breakfast because we always went there when I was a kid, so it has a lot of nostalgia for me. The Mickey waffles taste better there than anywhere else... I swear! And I definitely think they should offer Lapu Lapus with breakfast. There's juice in it, why not???

The compositions of Lexy's pictures are really good!

I could have gotten one at that time, you're right it is juice, but we were whisked in so quickly I didn't have time, and everyone was ready to get to the park after. Do you think that the bus would have allowed me to bring it on? It's fruit after all...:lookaroun:lol:

LOVE the Stich/Lilo/waffle pictures! So fun!...

...and yes, 8AM probably IS a bit too early for Lapu Lapu!

I guess you're right. It was a bummer though! :lol:

I would've gotten a Lapu Lapu anyways.... You're in Disney!! Why not?! lol... It's vacation!!

And how awesome was Stitch?! When character interactions are good like that, it's something you will always remember!

I like your attitude! :lol: I hear ya about the character interactions and remembering that! I'm sure even Lexy will remember that one!

Now i cant wait to eat at o'hana with my son in December. Hopefully he will like stitch

I hope you all have as much fun as we did there!

What a wonderful picture of Lexy smiling. So glad she was having a good time. It makes the day much nicer when everone is happy.

Exactly!!

That breakfast looked like a great time!

Thanks for the update.

Thanks for sticking with me!

see stitch is so fun!!! I love it!!!

He is quite a fun little monster, isn't he?

Great update!!! Only 4 more days till we are there! Can't wait!

Woohoo! I'm so jealous! Have the best time ever!!! :sohappy:
 

mouselvrmom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The bus was at the stop as I was taking that last picture, so I figured we'd have to wait for the next one, but the driver was kind enough to wait for us to get on. It was completely freezing on the bus, though. The kids were dying.

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Well, I guess not all of the kids, mainly Lainey who has absolutely no meat on her bones.

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I can't believe how many nearly empty buses we encountered this trip.

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After having to pass by the characters out at the hat yesterday, I was eager to go back. You know they have those cool out on the town costumes now that I just HAD to have a picture of. The family humored me and went to the Studios. Ahh, I wish we were taking this there.

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But, no time to lolligag, I have characters to meet. Let's get in line!

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Have I mentioned yet that the kids would race ahead since they had no bags, as soon as they got their APs in hand, and try to beat each other through the turnstiles? They are obviously just WAY to comfortable here. Because they had absolutely no problem waiting in separate lines trying to be the first of their family in the gate. What a bunch of weirdos. Although, this time I happened to be the first one in. Muahahaha!! I got to take pictures of them coming through.

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mouselvrmom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You know where I went to right away.

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We met Chip and Dale first.

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Love those ties! After that line, the characters had to go in though, so we had to catch the rest later. Bummer.

We decided to take a walk down Sunset Blvd.

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We decided that if we waited for RnRC, then it would be almost time for the next round of characters. So we did. Roddy found a snail in line. He's really into snails and lizards and such.

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This time through, he had to touch the guitar strings.

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Lexy was ready to rock!

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After we had our ride, it was back to the hat to wait for a character. They weren't quite out yet, but we though we could get first in line. We waited by where Goofy and Pluto were since I love Goofy's outfit. Lexy tried her hand at her artistic photos, but she found it was much more boring with just plain old trees.

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HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Seriously... the Stitch encounter = AWESOME SAUCE! I just shared the montage with Brett and we were both laughing out loud, especially at the picture of Stitch cutting up the Mickey waffle while sitting upon Bella. Absolute perfection! And it's so good to see that Lexy got caught up in the moment. I heart Ohana. I'm with you... dinner trumps breakfast, but breakfast at Ohana is still my favorite character breakfast on property.
 

mouselvrmom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The kids try to hold up the hat while we wait for the characters.

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Also, while we waited, there was the sweetest photopass CM that took some pictures of us just hanging out. She had a nice conversation with us afterward. Really she was the main reason that we stayed in the line after the characters came out.

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So after our pictures and nice conversation, the characters come out. It's not Goofy and Pluto though, it's just Pluto, in his regular get up. We had already done him, but we felt that since we were first we should still take the picture. Bummer. I so loved Goofy's outfit, it just wasn't to be.

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The place where they have the ducks set up and Minnie are just super bright, but we wanted to see them too.

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Ahh, I feel soo much better now. My agenda has been satisfied, and I'm ready to move one, sans Goofy of course. I really didn't need anymore characters at the moment. However, Sam suggested that we do Phineas and Ferb. Is that how you spell Ferb? I don't know, anyway, I didn't particularly care to do them, but the kids thought it would be okay. I was hot from waiting already, and their line was longer, but we waited and sweated anyway. P and F were actually loads of fun, not that my kids would have anything to do with it. They were dancing around and playing. My kids just stood and smiled for the picture. I guess I've trained them too well. And Lexy was just humiliated to even have to be there. She was NOT going to dance with them!!

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