Trip Report The Power of Meema 2014

Courtney6682 · Nov 12, 2014

I love you guys!! So glad you all had a great time!!

Dads 2 Boys · Nov 12, 2014

mrdrift said:
Nice trip report, especially when the family can come together at a magical place. The photos are really nice to go along with the report. Following along.

Thank you and PLEASE send me that avatar pic!!!!!!! LOL My youngest and I are 49ers fans too!

Dads 2 Boys · Nov 12, 2014

Courtney6682 said:
I love you guys!! So glad you all had a great time!!

Thank you very much. We did but the best day I haven't even posted yet.

Dads 2 Boys · Nov 13, 2014

DAY 6…….EPCOT!!!!!

Epcot, like DHS, is made easier in our opinion by FastPass+ by not having to go to either Test Track or Soarin to get Fastpasses since they are so far away from each other. We had FP+ for SSE (10:10-11:10), Soarin (11:15-12:15) and Maelstron (3:20-4:20).

This allowed us to hit TT right away and Mission Space and then make our way to the other side of Future World without having to get a FP and go back to Soarin (it’s so inconvenient due to its location). Although it was so busy that by the time we took a picture in front of SSE and got to TT, the wait was already 20 minutes.

For us, doing TT right off the bat is always a great way to start the day at Epcot. Meagan and I created a car and Steven and Nicholas created one. Ours won by 2 points!!!!!! We had a traditional type of car while theirs was hysterically funny. It was like a NASA modified smart car. Meagan called it a suped-up Hoover vacuum. We were constantly joking about how their vacuum almost beat our car.

All four of us do TT which is cool but Meagan doesn’t do Mission Space. She’s not a fan of small spaces and MS is that once the doors close and the control panel comes forward. The boys and I had a capsule to ourselves and accomplished our mission.

We played a little in the advanced training lab and then got some water on the way to Spaceship Earth. We stopped and watched the Jammitors…..this was the chefs version though. That’s one of the things I requested to do this trip as I caught part of the show in Feb 2013 and thought they were really entertaining.

SSE seems to be polarizing since the refurb but my wife and I really like, but for some reason both of my boys really enjoy it. When I say really enjoy it, we did it 4 times and they wanted to go again on our departure day but there was no time. We all love it!!! Everything looked great in my opinion…..the Burning Rome smell was excellent and we thought the rest of the effects were “on point” (as my kids like to say).

After SSE, we met our friends @ The Land pavilion to do our Soarin FP+. Excellent… …..on point….LOL It’s perhaps my wife’s favorite attraction on property and definitely a big family favorite.

Living with the Land was next and it seemed to me all the effects were working….dog there, etc… The only thing I found odd was there seemed to be a lot less fish (in the fish farm) that any other time I’ve been on it. We all enjoy that ride and my sons like to tell us about…”hey I learned that in school”.

When we got off the boat, my kids were hungry again. Shocking right? It was a little earlier than our normal lunchtime…..around 11:15. Then again, they always seemed to be hungry down there….lol So we split from our friends and they continued on while we ate @ Sunshine Seasons. I think it has become a staple for us in the future. We had a breakfast snack together there in 2011 and our lunch this trip was excellent. I think the kids enjoyed their desserts as much as anything. My youngest got the strawberry shortcake and complained we wouldn’t let him go back and get 8 more.

But first some family pics!!!!!

One of two very specific requests my wife had before the trip was to see Duffy. She was never “attached” to a character until she saw Duffy in 2011 and is now a fanatic. He is so damn cute and I think he might be my favorite character as well. So we headed over to Duffy’s meet and greet spot and would return to finish Future World and shop later. The wait was very brief which made Meagan very happy.

Dads 2 Boys · Nov 13, 2014

DAY 6 CONTINUED.......

The other request she had is to see The World Showcase Players. It’s definitely her favorite show….hands down. We actually all really like it especially since I was chosen to be “the king” in 2011. We knew as were preparing for the trip they were ending and it was coincidental that their final day was the day we had planned to go to Epcot. The two final shows were @ 2:00 and 4:00 so before the day began, we specifically planned our day to make sure we got to the 2:00pm show.

On the way, we stopped in Canada to check out the entire back of the pavilion which we always seemed to miss. The sun was out in full force and it was really hot and according to WESH app on our phone, the heat index was @ 103. We grabbed water on our way. Some of the things we brought with us to beat the heat were Gatorade energy chews and this was one of those times where they were the perfect thing for that instance. So we stood by the waterfall area, had some water and Gatorade chews……energized and refreshed.

Then it was on to England. It was about 1:00 so we knew we had some time but we also knew we wanted to get a good spot….in the shade for the Players. As we approached England, another roving Photopass photographer grabbed us to take some pictures in front of the phone booth area. There also turned out to be some of our favorites.

One of Steven’s favorite characters is Tigger and Nicholas’ outright favorite is Pooh so it was also planned we would see them in England. Well…….this turned out to be one of the highlights of any trip that any of us had been on. It was 20 minutes of pure fun and silly-ness. I laugh typing this and thinking about it.

The meet and greet wasn’t in the same spot we were accustomed to. It’s now “around” the back in an area behind the pavilion with an outside entrance. There was no one in there and no one behind us. They let parties in one at a time…I assume probably to keep it cool since it’s inside in the air conditioning. The CM escorted us in and the mayhem ensued. It was flipping hysterical from the get go. My kids started walking over to the characters thinking this was going to be the “normal” picture thing. HA!!! No way.

What was really funny was Pooh went up to Nicholas and Tigger went to Steven before any of us said anything. The characters grabbed their hats and put them on their ears…..rubbing the boy’s faces and just being plain silly. I started recording some of it and wished I could figure out how to post it so you could hear everyone laughing our off. The Photopass person was cracking up, the CM there was as well……along with all of us. It was epic.

SEE THE HATS ON THE CHARACTER'S EARS??

EPIC WINNIE THE POOH PHOTOBOMB

It was now about 1:40 so we walked out to the street area, sat on the curb IN THE SHADE and waited for The WSP. We had only seen the Christmas version or King Arthur and the Holy Grail version. When they came out to a roaring ovation, they announced they would be performing the Romeo and Edna version. That was pretty exciting for us since it would be our first time seeing this one and their last time performing it. Many of the alumni cast were sitting next to us and were kind of “heckling” which was pretty amusing. It added to the performance and threw them off a bit. I smile just thinking of this.

Next up......DAY6 conclusion.......

wannabeBelle · Nov 13, 2014

Lovin' it so far!!!!! Marie

Dads 2 Boys · Nov 14, 2014

We check out menus before ours trip for interesting and different snacks. Although the Food and Wine festival was going on, the Pumpkin ice cream filled macaroons in the ice cream shop in France was something we knew we had to get. My wife and I are pumpkin spice fanatics…..me especially if it involves ice cream. This was our next stop and the macaroons were amazing. While ice cream is generally not the smartest thing in hot weather, these were small enough to satisfy without having too much dairy on a hot day.

The kids don’t have the same interest in World Showcase as we do but they understand it’s a family trip and that there are things Meagan and I want to do. We watched a little Mo’Rockin, checked out The American Adventure Pavilion a bit, strolled through Germany and wished there wasn’t a humongous line in the candy store that never diminished and briefly checked out Mexico before hitting our FP+ for Maelstrom. It was nice to be able to ride it again before it become "Frozen in time". HA! See what I did there? Lol or groan

We purposely skipped Japan, Italy and China as we “had plans for them later including dinner”.

The remaining part of Future World, Mousegears and Innoventions were next up prior to our 6:20 dinner reservations @ Teppan Edo.

The rain continued to hold off and it stayed pretty damn hot so it was definitely another water break time on the way back from WS. We then got our pics in front of the F&W Festival sign/topiary that was there this time in place of the cranberry bog.

The boys wanted to go to MouseGears first since we were pretty close and they wanted to spend their money…..lol Both of my kids brought their own spending money….they are old enough for us to teach them (especially since my oldest has a job). We pay for the entire trip, any and all food and drinks and will buy them one souvenir or split the cost of them on an expensive one if they want.

Mousegears is one of our favorite stores on property. I have no idea why but we just love it.

After being in there for an hour, it time to have a chat with the Crush-man since we showed up and everyone was entering right then. Even at 16 & 13, my kids love Turtle Talk with Crush. They get some of the older jokes now and my wife and I have always enjoyed it.

We did The Seas with Nemo and friends ride with all of its 10 minute wait and explored the rest of the Pavilion.

SEE THE CLOUDS OVERHEAD??? LOL

Time to see Figment!! While many may not think of JII with Figment the same as past but it’s still fun for us. My kids loved it so much on their first trip in 2007 (when they were 9 & 6) so it’s always held a special place for me too. We were in the Figment gift shop area when it started to downpour. We wanted to shop prior to dinner in the Japan pavilion so we kind of “had to leave”.

We decided we would take the boat from the World Showcase plaza over to Japan since it’s not that far from Figment. So we all donned the ponchos and started in the rain but remember my title? We were about 20 yards from the Figment pavilion when the rain slowed dramatically….lol We arrived at the boats fairly dry and by the time we docked near Japan…it stopped. J The boats that traverse the World Showcase Lagoon are actually pretty cool. It was a first for all of us.

Teppan Edo was excellent. It ended up being the four of us and we were seated with a family of four also from New York. They were from Long Island and we’re from the Albany area but still both New Yorkers!!! LOL

Our chef/performer was really cool. He actually studied in the Dallas area and spoke English as well as we did so that made things easier. The primary servers are fairly difficult to understand but their service is done with such timing and precision that it makes any communication breakdown virtually un-noticeable. This was such a fantastic meal that it’s been added to our permanent rotation for future trips.

Prior to dinner during our brief wait, we asked the boys if they wanted to see Illuminations or head back towards Future World for more rides. They chose the latter so I immediately set up a FP+ for Soarin for 8:00-9:00.

After dinner, we stopped in Italy for a wine toast to my late Mom. She loved her red wine being full blooded Italian so we stopped for an excellent glass of red (and my wife got a great white wine since she cannot drink red). We went out front and toasted my Mom and let the boys have some of ours (a little wine won't hurt them).

We headed back towards future world and used our Soarin FP+ and since it had no wait, we took the boys on SSE again. Told you we love it.

It was then back to the resort for another awesome unexpected moment. This night was Derek Jeter’s final game @ Yankee Stadium. Since we are all huge Yankees fans, we were recording it at home so we’d have it in case something memorable happened and also because we were not planning on being anywhere to watch it (since we were in WDW).

My phone gets updated for my favorite sports teams so I knew what the score was and when we returned to the room after stopping at the food court for snacks and drinks, I turned on the TV just to see if it was on the MLB network (we get all the games on the YES Network at home). It was on and the 8th inning just ended so it appeared we missed his last at bat…no biggie, we were taping it right? Well, the Yankees closer gave up the lead in the top of the 9th so Jeter would be coming to bat in the bottom of the 9th. We had changed and were chillin on our beds watching the game with Minnie’s bake shop cookies……can’t get better than this. Or can it? J Well, as many of you know, Jeter came up with the winning run on second and got the walk off single to end his final game in Yankee Stadium!!! I can remember my wife and Steven jumping up off the bed and Nicholas and I both had our arms up when the winning run scored. It was such a memorable moment to end an awesome day.

NEXT UP………THE GREATEST DAY I’VE EVER HAD IN WDW…….AND PERHAPS EVER.

Dads 2 Boys · Nov 16, 2014

DAY 7…..MY GREATEST DAY EVER IN WDW

It was our final full day in WDW and awoke to the GTFO (get the F out) packet hanging on our door but after what happened the rest of the day…….it made the GTFO packet irrelevant. This day turned out to be without a doubt my best day ever in WDW and one of the best ever….period.

As you’ll see, we ended up doing a lot and traveling all over WDW but it was the most relaxed, stress free day that you could imagine. I’m not sure how but it was amazing!!!! It honestly felt as if the clock moved twice as slow as normal.

We had planned all along to go to Typhoon Lagoon on Friday and that plan wasn’t going to change even with the forecast for rain.

After missing out on pictures behind the Tree of Life on Sunday, we decided that since AK had early magic hours on Friday (8:00am), we would go there before heading to Typhoon Lagoon so please pardon the odd outfit choices…..we were going to the water park! LOL

We arrived @ AK around 7:50 and went right thru the turnstiles and went to EE. Meagan went thru the queue with us for the first trip and when we got to the load area, she went and got her coffee….lol

We had some fun with the ride pic, especially the first time. We rode EE a second and third time and it wasn’t even 8:45!!!!

It was Steven's idea but was petrified he'd lose his shoe....lol

Since part of the reason to go to AK was to get pics behind the Tree of Life, that was where we headed.

With our successful little venture to AK in our rearview mirror it was off to the bus stop to get our bus back to Pop and then to TL.

A bus showed up within 3 minutes for Pop and when we arrived at Pop…….a bus for Typhoon Lagoon was waiting!!!!

This allowed us to arrive @ TL around 9:50. When we arrived and staked out our 4 chairs (kind of under the trees), my wife had the great idea to place our shoes face down on the chairs with the soles up and put our shirts/socks in our backpack (which is almost water proof). Our towels went over our shoes for “some” protection. This proved to be an awesome idea when we left.

The rain threatened all morning and after being in TL for about 30 minutes it started to rain. It wasn’t raining hard but a light, steady rain…..one that would be a pain in the butt in the regular parks but we are already getting wet in the water park!!! It was actually pretty fun and my whole family thought it was a blast. The temp was still in the upper 80’s so it’s not like it was cold.

Steven went to do the water slides as we wanted to chill in the lazy river for a while. We floated around a while with the rain starting and stopping frequently….it was quite fun actually. Steven returned to find us around 11:30 and we all went it to the wave pool for a little while. It’s a lot of fun but was more intense of a wave pool than anything we’re accustomed to around us.

We then grabbed lunch at Leaning Palms which was ok and then returned to the lazy river and the wave pool again. It began to rain harder and we heard a crack of thunder. While that’s not a big deal, seeing lightning next is what made me decide…….uhhh….time to go….LOL I called to the boys to get out of the wave pool.

We talked at the entrance of the wave pool and all decided to leave. It was around 1:45 so went and picked up our stuff how it was sitting and carried it that way to the bus stop since it was raining pretty hard at this point. My damn feet hurt from walking barefooted for that distance!! When we got to the “bus hut”, we kind of dried off with our towels and were able to put on dry shirts, socks and shoes which is a bonus since it was cold on the bus. By the time we boarded the bus, it was just downright pouring!

We had dinner reservations @ 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian so we went back to Pop for showers and fresh clothes. By the time we arrived at Pop….the rain stopped!! LOL

After 4 showers and getting ready, we were off to MK to get the monorail to the Grand Floridian. Not quite sure how but we arrived at MK about 4:00ish. Since we had some time to kill, we took some pics in front of the train station before going in to MK.

NEXT UP......DAY 7 CONTINUED.....

Dads 2 Boys · Nov 16, 2014

DAY 7 CONTINUED........

We still had time and since it was a Halloween party night, we wanted to go into MK and check things out a bit and see what some of the guests were dressed up as. We strolled up Main St seeing some really amazing costumes, some who mailed it in and everywhere in between. We noticed the clouds were darkening up again when we got over to the TTA but yet had a great relaxing ride on what is to me the most underrated attraction in all of WDW.

It was now after 4:30 so we had to get to the monorail to make our reservations @ 5:00. Another “power of Meema” moment occurred as we were exiting MK. As we approached the train station on the way out it started to sprinkle. When we got thru the exit gates heading towards the monorail and facing the Seven Seas Lagoon, you could see a “wall of rain” coming right at us. (Feel free to use your best Lloyd Bridges voice from Airplane!) It was a weird, ominous sight and just as we got under the overhang for the monorail, the skies unleashed a torrential downpour. Thanks Meema. J

The monorail arrived @ the Grand Floridian @ 4:58 thank you very much.

My wife chose the Cinderella dinner @ 1900 Park Fare when she found out about Lady Tremaine and the step sisters. She always calls herself the evil stepmother to my kids and they jokingly call her that as well. Like I said, they love to death and she loves them as they are her own so it’s all in fun. It made this dinner highly anticipated as we’ve read about how great the character interaction is.

It didn’t disappoint!!!! Absolutely phenomenal. We had a blast.

My kids were having fun with the step sisters and the interaction. Even Nicholas, who is generally very shy in situations like this, came out of his shell and was talking with them and everyone was going back and forth.

My wife wore her #1 Step Mom shirt which drew a bow from Lady Tremaine and struck up one heck of an entertaining conversation. She was at our table for over 5 minutes and had to go tell Cinderella about my wife’s shirt.

It was such an incredibly fun time with a lot of excellent food. Nicholas became a big fan of the strawberry soup. The desserts were a bit underwhelming considering the rest of the food but we were stuffed from so much food.

My wife thought Prince Charming was very good looking…..lol

NEXT.....DAY 7 CONCLUSION

Dads 2 Boys · Nov 16, 2014

DAY 7......CONCLUSION.

We didn’t have anything planned after dinner (which was always the “plan”) so we talked about what to do next on the monorail to the TTC. Oh yeah!! Did I mention it stopped raining? We didn’t experience another drop of rain and had a wonderful evening of weather.

We watched our heads, grabbed our large children by the hand as we disembarked…….and we talked about what to do while waiting for the next monorail.

Nice skies huh? We got lucky!!!

The kids decided they wanted to go to Epcot for a few things and to watch Illuminations. Okay cool. On the way to Epcot, I was able to score a Fastpass for Soarin’!!!! I wanted one for TT but no times were available at that point.

Riding the monorail to Epcot from the TTC is extremely enjoyable with some great views. We love the ride through the park and when Steven saw the area by Captain EO where the “jumping water” I, he instantly went from 16 to 6 and said “can we go over there?!?!?!?” It was really funny.

Of course we had to go on SSE!!! No wait so on we went. We played some games afterwards for a little while trying to beat scores we got the day before.

Soarin’ over California was next and took a picture of “a screw”. Brief story from our trip in 2011…..I took way too many pictures and when we were in the queue for Soarin, the boys said, “Dad you didn’t take a picture of this screw” (pointing to a screw in the wall). So Meagan took a picture of us pointing to (what we’re calling) our screw. LOL

Meagan called it my thinking pose………smh

We laughed and talked on the way to the “jumping water” area. It was hysterical watching two teenage boys trying to jump and try to hit the water, playing like kids. It was a blast and so much fun taking pictures and seeing all the smiles.

From everything I’ve heard, seeing Illuminations from the bridge connecting Great Britain and France is the best viewing area. Well, did you know it’s also an awesome viewing area for the Frozen fireworks in DHS?!?!?! LOL Let me explain.

Before our trip, Illuminations on Friday was scheduled to be @ 9:00 but sometime during our week it switched to 10:00 but we didn’t know it. We walked over to the bridge around 8:40 and there was hardly anyone standing there. I thought it was odd and thought we got lucky. Nope…..lol

However at 8:45, while we were standing on the bridge facing the lagoon, we heard a loud boom behind us. We turned around and with a perfectly clear view, there were the Frozen fireworks @ DHS!!! So we turned and watched the Frozen fireworsk show (just without the music) and it was really cool. Nice surprise huh? Ha ha ha

When it was over, we turned back around face the lagoon to watch Illuminations. Nope. It was 9:00pm and the guy’s voice came over and said “Illuminations:Reflections of Earth will begin in one hour, join us for……” Ugh…really?? LOL

We asked the boys of they wanted to wait and Steven said “nah…I got to see fireworks, I’m good”. Nicholas said….”yup…..sounds about right”. It was classic.

We did plan earlier to go to DTD to get some of the specialty snacks form Goofy’s Candy store to bring home so we walked out the Int’l Gateway towards the Beach Club to get a bus to DTD. What a great walk we had…..sounds stupid I know but it was such a nice night and was capping off a terrific day. We stopped by the beach area looking towards the Boardwalk and sat on a swing together and relaxed while looking over the water at the Boardwalk all lit up. What a sight!

Begrudgingly, we got up and walked to the bus stop and got a fairly empty bus to DTD. Before getting our snacks, a pair of hot fudge sundaes from Ghiradelli’s was on tap! See!?!?! I told you this day was awesome….LOL.

Since my wife had gastric bypass in 2010 and I lost a lot of weight since then and continue to eat as clean as possible, we all split two of them. Meagan can’t eat a lot of sweets (or she’ll get sick) but these were her favorite dessert in the world prior to her surgery and I won’t eat a lot of it; all of which made the boys happy! We sat inside Ghiradelli beginning to get tired but reveling in the aroma of that place.

We shopped a little in WoD and then went to Goofy’s to get our snacks. Steven used his snack credits to get 5 specialty rice krispy treats and Nicholas got a couple of special treats and some cookies. I almost fell asleep in the chairs waiting for them. All with a smile on my face….I was exhausted but happier than I had been in a long time.

It was almost midnight as we walked to the bus stop and thank goodness the bus came quickly. It was a long but wonderful day. My best day ever in WDW!!

I capped it with a cool pic of the bowling pin stairs.

FlaggNL · Nov 17, 2014

A short but great TR! 7 days in just 2 pages here

We were also 7 days but TR will take much more pages to finish

Thanks for sharing!!

Dads 2 Boys · Nov 18, 2014

FlaggNL said:
A short but great TR! 7 days in just 2 pages here We were also 7 days but TR will take much more pages to finish Thanks for sharing!!

Still have another day plus. I have a tendency to get "wordy" so.......I guess I find it difficult to have the balance.

I also write it as I would like to read it...less words, more pics.

mrdrift · Nov 18, 2014

Dads 2 Boys said:
Thank you and PLEASE send me that avatar pic!!!!!!! LOL My youngest and I are 49ers fans too!

I have attached the Avatar, enjoy.

FlaggNL · Nov 19, 2014

Dads 2 Boys said:
Still have another day plus. I have a tendency to get "wordy" so.......I guess I find it difficult to have the balance. I also write it as I would like to read it...less words, more pics.

I understand you completely! We have the same! Wanna share as much as we can, off course not all pictures can make it to the TR. It also depends on how you 'lived' that day. Like our TR the Epcot part is short, not many words, almost just pics. Since in our opinion that park was not as great as the other parks

Dads 2 Boys · Nov 19, 2014

FINAL DAY……well…..sort of.

It was check out day. Sadness.

We did however have plans for breakfast and then to MK for our final ride tradition. We received the notification that we were all set and didn’t need to go to the concierge desk upon check out which was a bonus. We did however have to make the long, dreaded walk and dragged our luggage, with long faces, out to the front of the resort for the resort airline check in and left our carry-ons in the holding room.

That went much quicker than expected and we headed to MK earlier than expected for our 10:30 ADR for ‘Ohana and the Stitch breakfast.

We arrived @ MK around 9:30 so we had an hour to kill. On the way, Steve realized he lost his magic band at some point in the morning so he and his gf had to stop at guest services in front of the park to get a “ticket” for the remainder of the day.

As they got their ticket, Meagan, the boys and I went into MK and did Buzz. Steven and Nicholas beat me and Meagan this time!!! I call shenanigans….they had to cheat! LOL The sun was out and it was damn hot but it was bonus time in Magic Kingdom…..I wasn’t complaining. Nothing beats bonus MK time.

We headed out to get the monorail to the Poly and met our friends to check in. We got seated by the window to look out towards MK. It was nice but the construction right outside the window was a little bit of an eyesore but certainly didn’t do anything to diminish our time.

We absolutely love ‘Ohana and like our dinner on Monday, my two teenage boys made sure to get their money’s worth of food.

It’s great to know you have guaranteed face time with characters when you book a character meal. That’s especially true for me and my family who want to see only a few particular characters and don’t want to wait in line for them. Two teenage boys (and a father) with attention spans of garden gnomes will do that to you. Steven wanted Stitch and Tigger, Nicholas wanted Pooh, Meagan wanted Duffy and Lady Tremaine and I wanted Sorcerer Mickey……..we got them all with very little total wait time. We waited for 15-20 minutes for Sorcerer Mickey and 5-10 for Duffy. The others we part of character meals or the room in England.

The Stitch breakfast was Steven’s choice since that’s his favorite character by far. We didn’t know about this breakfast in 2007 for the boy’s first trip so he now looks forward to it on each trip. Regardless of his age, it’s his favorite thing and I think it makes him feel “like a little kid again” when he sees Stitch.

He looks so happy.

This will be always be part of our permanent rotation. We’ve had nothing but spectacular food and service each time @ ‘Ohana so why would we not keep going.

Our friends also really enjoyed it and it was nice to get a picture together with him.

After breakfast, our friends went to DHS and we went to MK for our final walk through and ride. It’s been a tradition for us to begin and end our trips in MK. Everyone has their own traditions and this is ours.

We got another ride on the monorail back to MK and arrived around 11:45. I set up Fastpasses for us to ride Dumbo and Haunted Mansion for us during the time we’d be there (the other was for Splash @ 6:00 but we would be gone by then). The sun was out at that point and it was so hot. I had worn all my dri-fits so I was wearing a red, regular t-shirt so that probably didn’t help…..ha ha

We absorbed it all as we walked through Tomorrowland towards our final destination of Haunted Mansion via FL for our last ride. We stopped and got one last ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. It was really nice for us to let the food settle, relax, laugh and fondly recall all our fun times although it did make us sad that we weren’t going to ride it again.

We grabbed another round of water on the way to Dumbo. It was bizarre we didn’t do it on Monday but for whatever reason, it just kept getting pushed back due to the wait time never going down and we wanted to use our fastpasses on other attractions. Yes, we are line snobs. The 4 of us want nothing to do with waiting in line for more than 20-30 minutes. It’s how we choose to do things. Everyone has their own way and we hate standing in line. That’s what FP+ is for right? ;-)

Next up.....the FINALE.

mrdrift · Nov 19, 2014

You got some real cute family pictures at Ohana with Stitch. Following along in the last day sadness. Will be watching for the finale.

Dads 2 Boys · Nov 19, 2014

We walked through Fantasyland on the way to Liberty Square for our final ride…..Haunted Mansion. It was another great ride on our Doom Buggies. Remember my story from Monday night about the CM who scared the be-jesus out of Nicholas??? Well, guess who the CM was that escorted us into the library??? Yup…..Addison. Nicholas was freaked out……it was quite comical. He did everything to make sure she stayed in eyesight no matter what. The whole scenario was funny as hell.

We had to be back at the resort by 3:00 for the DME so we began towards the exit. I wanted to stop and get a Dole Whip on the way out but there was a giant line and we were pressed for time so unfortunately and sadly…..no Dole Whip. The only good thing at this point was the sun was no longer out so it “cooled” off a bit.

We wanted to get exit photons on Main St and have a little fun with it to “soften the blow” of having to leave.

Time was getting critical and for the only time of our trip; it was getting away from us quickly. Steven wanted to get a stuffed Perry from the Emporium for our niece and Nicholas wanted to get a couple of special treats (from The Confectionary) to bring home for their Mom from both boys.

We all took that “deep sigh” as we passed under the train station on the way out…….but we did it while walking pretty fast. LOL I was slower than them so I took a pic on the way to the bus stop.

It was around 2:30 at this point and we knew we were cutting it REAL close at this point. We figured worst case, we could walk over to the Contemporary and get a cab but we tried the bus stop first. Bad choice. When we got to the bus stop for Pop it was 2:40. The bus takes 15-20 minutes from MK to Pop…..uh oh. “That bus better get here now” we said. Well, we waited like 3 minutes before making the call to walk as fast as we could to The Contemporary and got over there at 2:45!!! Meagan texted our friends to ask them to hold the DME while told the driver where to go and to get us to Pop by 3:00 using whatever means necessary!!!

Well…….we arrived at 3:01 and people were boarding the DME. I paid the driver ($30) but it was well worth it and went over to inform the driver while Meagan and the boys went to claim our carry ons from the “holding tank”. We are rarely, if ever, late for things so this really stressed us out (well, me more than anyone).

Now that we were on the bus heading back to airport, when we started to relax from the stress of the past half hour, it finally hit that we were officially going home. That moment sucks. Well, the drama and stress was only beginning. When our friends checked earlier in the afternoon, our flight was still on time but when we arrived at the airport, it was now delayed for 2.5 hours. OK…..that’s not the worst thing in the world I guess. UGH.

We shopped a little with our friends a bit and then shopped separately for a little while. We knew we had time to kill but we were getting hungry. So the four of us went to get something to eat seeing as we had a late breakfast but haven’t eaten since. Meagan had to use the rest room after we ate and it turned out it was a good thing she did.

When we booked the airfare to return home, there was a great price of $118 per person leaving @ 6:05 and stops in Chicago before arriving in Albany @ 11:35. We’ve never booked airfare with a connecting flight but the difference was a savings of over $100 per person……that was over a $400 savings overall!!! Too substantial of an amount to not do it for us. However this would be a problem……..here’s why.

When she came out and found us, she said she was listening to a woman telling a horror story of how she was supposed to have been going home the day before (Friday) to Chicago but had been stranded and how she’s tentatively scheduled to go home on Monday!!!!! This was due to the guy who set fire to one of the control towers @ Chicago’s O’Hare airport and then to one of the towers @ Chicago’s Midway Airport……then tried to kill himself.

We went over to the Southwest desk and I said to the ticket agent there, “I’m not here to yell at you” and we both laughed and she looked relieved. I just asked her about other options. I knew there was a flight leaving @ 6:00 stopping in Baltimore before going to Albany. Her name was Yvette and she was one of the nicest people we’ve ever come across in any business. She looked it up and it was over booked already so that was out. She then said that our flight may or may not even leave Orlando that night. Midway airport was reduced to 12 flights per hour from 60 per hour!!! Then she said even if it does depart Orlando, we may not be able to leave Chicago for Albany and that there were no hotel rooms remaining in Chicago. She was giving us the “wink wink, nudge nudge” type of thing without actually telling us what to do. We appreciated the honesty a great deal.

She looked at all the flights arriving in Albany for Sunday. When it was first brought up, I quietly thought how that’s not my favorite idea but “it was what it was”. At that point, the boys and our friends were over at the gate. She then said there were 6 seats remaining on the 1:00pm flight which was a non-stop to Albany and would arrive @ 3:20!!! She said we can wait for the flight we’re on and take the chance it leaves, then take the chance it leaves Chicago and arrive home no earlier than 2:45AM or take the non-stop on Sunday. We said we want to discuss it with our friends (the boys weren’t consulted…lol) and we’d be right back. Meagan and I had basically made up our minds that the four of us were leaving Sunday but it would have been disrespectful for us not to tell and talk it over with our friends.

Yvette gave us a few coupons with severely discounted hotel rooms and some other information before we went to talk to our friends. $69 for the night @ Hampton Inn and Suites 5 minutes from the airport was singing to me right away….lol

We went over and had the conversation with our friends. I asked them to talk off to the side so no one could hear us as to not alert anyone to what we were offered since there were 6 of us and 6 seats remaining!!!

There was some back and forth (and some trepidation on our friends part as we basically just blindsided them with all of this) but eventually Meagan, Steve and I went back to the counter so Steve could ask some other questions. After speaking with Yvette for a few minutes, we told her that the four of us were definitely taking her up on her offer to return for the flight on Sunday. She processed our tickets and gave us our boarding passes. We walked back to where the boys where and told them to “pack it up” and we were leaving and coming back the next morning.

Steve went back to talk to his gf just to get confirmation. He knew it was the best choice as well but respectfully wanted to talk it over with his gf. They made the decision to also fly out on Sunday but decided on other arrangements rather than going to where we were so we said our goodbyes and would see them in the morning.

I called the hotel to have the shuttle pick us up on the way to the tram. Meagan and I told the boys the entire situation. We always talk as a family for the most part and we felt it was important as there was a lot of tension throughout the airport at that point and they wanted to know what was going on.

By the time we got over to the shuttle pick up area, the shuttle pulls up and brought us to the hotel. I called the hotel on the way to the shuttle so they knew we were coming and they were super nice on the phone. Well….they were even nicer in person and made a stressful situation completely stress-less. We were greeted by Allison, the guest services manager and she was so incredibly sweet. She set us up with our room but also a care package of 4 toothbrushes, 4 things of Colgate toothpaste, 3 men’s Speed Stick deodorants, 1 woman’s SpeedStick and a few other things. Also, we talked about not having our luggage and extra clothes, she then offered to take us to Walmart to get anything else we needed.

We went to our room which was really nice!!!! It was so relaxing to just be able to sit back and decompress after what had just transpired in that previous 90 minutes. The time it took from when we walked away from the Southwest gate @ MCO to the time we stepped in our room at the Hampton Inn & Suites was 20 minutes!!! 20 Minutes!!!!

We had the boys do their homework (which they were not thrilled at all about) and then Meagan and I decided to go to Walmart to get clean underwear for everyone and a cheap t-shirt to sleep in (and Meagan got a $2 pair of shorts to sleep in b/c she didn’t want to sleep in her underwear with the boys in the room). We’d have to wear the same clothes we had on all day to the airport on Sunday but oh well……@#$% happen right? This was everyone could sleep in t-shirts and boxer briefs and then have clean underwear to put on in the morning.

We were there and back in about 40 minutes. Everyone was hungry so we decided to go to IHop which was right next door. While it wasn’t WDW, it was comfort food and hit the spot. LOL

We watched TV, relaxed on our really comfy beds and then crashed. I take a sleep aid pill and thanks to my very smart wife, she convinced me to pack it in my carry-on just in case. Well “just in case” happened and I was so glad she is smarter than me. Ha ha ha

We got up the next morning and went down to have breakfast that was included. It was a pretty good breakfast. We all took showers, got our stuff together and left for the airport @ 11:00. I looked online and our flight from the previous night actually got to Albany around 3:00am. I was still glad we waited.

In an effort to make our day easy, I took pictures of our baggage receipts and texted them to Meagan’s sister and she went to get our luggage early Sunday morning. It made coming home soooooo much easier.

We got through security in a breeze, our flight was on time and met our friends at the gate. We had a snack before departing and left right @ 1:00pm. We arrived in Albany around 3:30 and thanks to her sister (again), they brought our car to the airport and we were home by 4:00. We live 7 minutes from the airport.

It actually added a little adventure to the end of our trip which was an amazing adventure in itself. It was nice to get home, relax with our cats and watch the 49ers game.

Thanks for reading along and I hope you enjoyed reading half as much as we had while there.

DisneyFreakEst1994 · Nov 20, 2014

I loved your trip report! Your sons remind me of my sister and I when we get to WDW. My sis is 17 and I'm 20 so the age gap is the same. We turn into little kids again whenever we enter the parks. I really enjoyed it!

FlaggNL · Nov 20, 2014

Loved the TR!! Thanks for sharing!!

wannabeBelle · Nov 20, 2014

Good job!!!!! I know what you mean about being flexible on flights, I have been delayed and even snowed in causing a delay of a few days in Florida. Not the worst thing!!! Welcome home and time to start planning the next trip!! Marie