Trip Report The Texas Ranger, The Beast, and We "started the fireworks": A trip of firsts!

blreinsel · May 22, 2016

Finally all caught up! The little Prince Charming.. Oh my goodness is he precious. :inlove:

Love all the matching outfits, especially the tie dyed shirts!

docdebbi · May 22, 2016

blgauger said:
Finally all caught up! The little Prince Charming.. Oh my goodness is he precious. Love all the matching outfits, especially the tie dyed shirts!

thanks, he is truly a sweet little guy - little prejudice working there though!

and my daughter says the matching shirts makes it easier to count the whirling dervishes going by in crowded places, less chance of losing one!

notice the bright orange ones for the pool.....that was no accident. we just spend the day counting orange shirts: 1......2......3......yup.....all still alive.......1.......2......3.....

thanks for following along

dupac · May 23, 2016

docdebbi said:
thanks, he is truly a sweet little guy - little prejudice working there though!

and my daughter says the matching shirts makes it easier to count the whirling dervishes going by in crowded places, less chance of losing one!

notice the bright orange ones for the pool.....that was no accident. we just spend the day counting orange shirts: 1......2......3......yup.....all still alive.......1.......2......3.....

thanks for following along

My last trip to WDW was with my husband's (relatively) large family, and my brother-in-law who is experienced in graphic design and screen printing made us all matching family vacation shirts! At first it was cheesy, but really it was a great visual signal in the crowds AND it got a lot of attention for CMs.

Also related, my first trip to Disney back when I was still a kid, there were 6 kids between my siblings and myself and my three cousins ranging from 14 to 4. One of my memories is of the adults constantly counting heads.

docdebbi · May 23, 2016

On the way out, we let the kids stop and play for awhile with the car "stuff". Nicole and I really have no interest in cars, but they do.

We don't usually play in Innoventions, but Hunter is going to be an engineer, no doubt about it. Stuff I find BORIIINNNGG, will interest him for hours, so we let him go over and fiddle with some stuff. The younger guys were a little bored, so everyone got to play in the new Colortopia exhibit.

Now, one of the highlights of the day, and every day at every park, lizard watching. Yeah, you heard me, lizard watching. We can spend 20 minutes just searching for a lizard so they can stare at it.......honestly, almost makes me wish we have them here in Pennsylvania. Well, not really, probably not worth it, but ALMOST.

Finally, lunch at Sunshine Seasons, one of our favorites. We didn't take pictures of the real food once again, but did dessert. Anyone see a pattern here? No, it's not that we like dessert better, it's that......that......OK, we like dessert better.

Strawberry shortcake

and Key Lime pie

Stopped at The Land on the way out

Not exactly a thrill ride I know, but sort of like Wedway People mover, slow, but one of our favorites.

And then the classic shot in front of Nemo on the way in to The Seas- yeah yeah yeah, again, I know. But it will always just be The Seas to me, I'm old. Old people don't take (or like very much either) change well. I actually do like the change for the kids, but miss the "hydrolators". As a kid I really thought I was going miles down in a water elevator. Great memories.

docdebbi · May 23, 2016

The boys love the manatees

And almost posed in the shark. You know, it's always almost posed with those guys

Watching the sharks

and actually taking a minute to try to learn something

Took in a turtle talk with Crush show, and then headed over to Journey Into Imagination.

Lest you wonder what the heck the boys are doing, Hunter got a figment earlier in the morning, and Nicholas got some plastic turtles in The Seas, and they wanted them to be in their picture.

docdebbi · May 23, 2016

Then the best part of Imagination for our boys, playing in the fountains. You can get drenched trying to catch that jumping water. At least, Nicole's kids can.

No we did not let them climb on the fountain, Nicole and Steve went running over to stop them (while I of course snapped a pic of them misbehaving for future use)

but as you can see in the popcorn eating pic, too late! They though it was a great idea to dunk their heads in. No guys, not meant for that, get out! Now get dry!

Notice, this is the first you see of them in a rented stroller. We brought one stroller, thinking it would be enough, but by the end of the week, and a lot of carrying, realized that 5 miles a day is a lot more for little legs, than big legs, so for the last 2 days, we broke down and rented them a stroller in the parks. They were thrilled and grateful.

Then off to the butterfly house

And the requisite trip into Club Cool, to torment small children by promising them free soda and giving them Beverly. Just another demented service we offer.

At the end, we lined up a bunch and had a thumbs up thumbs down showing. Mostly thumbs down, but some thumbs up.

docdebbi · May 24, 2016

Off to World Showcase next. Now I want to lodge a complaint. We all ate very small (actually shared an entree) lunches at Sunshine Seasons so that we could get lots of food from the kiosks at Flower and Garden Festival. Yeah, another "first", but not a good one. Nicole was unhappy about the intermittent rain and violent life threatening thunderstorms and wouldn't let us stop at any of them. So, from noon to 7:30, no food for us. First time EVER at a food festival without eating a THING!!! Bad Nicole.

Now in her defense it threatened rain all day and actually gave us a few good downpours, so she kept saying she wanted to get to the next attraction before the skies opened up the next time. But still, I lodge my complaint.

We did stop at England,

and had to explain to the boys what a phone booth is. And how Superman was able to actually change his clothes in there????

We visited Mexico and did the requisite "try on the lice infested hat that everyone else from all over the world has already tried on" ritual.

And of course rode The Three Caballeros. Boys know all the words!

We played a round of Phineas and Ferb

As the skies started to open, we ran to Japan and needed something to entertain us. The boys thought playing with all the toys on the floor of the extremely crowded( with people hiding from the rain) store was going to be it.

Yeah, we didn't think that was such a good idea , so picking pearls it was. ANOTHER FIRST FOR US.

I was surprised by how seriously the boys took their assignment to find a good one with a pearl in it as a present for Mom. You would think their lives depended on whether there was a pearl in their oyster or not. Yeah, we know there's one in every pearl.....but we weren't telling.

So anxiously waiting to see if there's a pearl in there

Yup, a pearl, a pearl. We did it! The excitement and amazement was palpable. This was actually an educational activity, they learned a lot. They had no idea about oysters and pearls before this. Seeing is remembering.

Let's size it up. 7.5 mm. Pretty big one.

You want the best news of the day? We bought 2 oysters, one each for Hunter and Logan,

and they both turned out to be EXACTLY 7.5 mm. Thank goodness, no sibling rivalry today.

Now, where is poor little Nicholas' oyster? Poor guy fell asleep on the way to Japan and got a good nap so missed it, but was able to be up having fun the rest of the day. So it was worth it.

docdebbi · May 24, 2016

Someone was a little excited

Walked around the countries a little longer, dodging intermittent rain storms, and coloring Duffy the Bear at various countries, and then it was time for dinner at Rose & Crown. Purposely timed for 7:30 so we could watch the fireworks from our seats.

Wouldn't you know- we were actually seated out on the deck without even asking. Score! We were feeling mighty happy.

But this

made me even happier.

Now why they have spaghetti on the kids' menu in the United Kingdom is beyond me, (I'm thinking Italy for some strange reason) but it made my kids happy, so it made us happy. They love spaghetti.

I swear they have been taught table manners, really, but spaghetti is one thing they seem to have a little trouble with.

Finally Nicole noticed and the manners returned

but not before I got the proof. Again, future blackmail !!

This is where the title of the report comes from. While finishing their dinner (thank goodness the CM didn't see the spaghetti mess going on before he came over, or he might have chosen another group of adorable boys) the CM who checked us in, came and had a conversation with the boys.

He told them that Mickey Mouse was on the monorail, coming over to start the fireworks, and the monorail got stopped, and Mickey wouldn't make it on time. Mickey asked if our boys could start the fireworks for him. They really weren't sure what this meant, but they knew they wanted to do it.

So, he brought over 3 crowns, three sashes made of mickey stickers and a magic wand.

and shortly our boys were kings of the world.

docdebbi · May 24, 2016

Shortly before Illuminations started, they walked them over the center stairs leading out of the restaurant to the water, and got all lined up, and with a well practiced count by our host, they counted backwards 3-2-1 waved their magic wand and all the lights around the countries went out.
They were amazed at their power!

Then once again, 3........2.........1..........wave of the wand, and the first fireworks went off

OH MY GOODNESS. WE DID IT!!! WE STARTED THE FIREWORKS!!!!!!

They were uncontrollable the rest of the night. At bedtime at the hotel, they STILL couldn't fall asleep!

Again, it's the little things that make the most magical moments, a lifetime memory for all of us.
They even asked for a photopass photo on the way out to remember the night

MinnieM123 · May 25, 2016

Your three boys are so charming!! I particularly enjoyed their looks of wonder as they watched the woman in Japan pavilion working her magic with the pearls. :happy:

The other photo that caught my attention was the 2nd one, where they were standing alongside their father, gazing into the window of the toy store. That was precious. Reminded me of the old-time Christmas movies with little kids window shopping and hoping they'd receive a special toy in the store window.

minnie2000 · May 25, 2016

I'm loving your report.

I love the prince costume you made - my grandmother used to make special things like that for me!

Tiggerish · May 25, 2016

What an exciting evening at Epcot!! First, matching pearls (did mom get a pair of earrings out of those?

) and then starting the fireworks. Great photos of their reactions--they looked a little dubious about shutting the lights, but the excitement of setting off the sparklers is all over their faces.

I can imagine that it took them a while to get over that!

docdebbi · May 25, 2016

minnie2000 said:
I'm loving your report.

I love the prince costume you made - my grandmother used to make special things like that for me!

thanks for reading.

yeah, he felt pretty special because I made it for him, he knows it was made with love.

sewing seems to be a lost art, alas, will probably die out with us oldsters.

docdebbi · May 25, 2016

Tiggerish said:
What an exciting evening at Epcot!! First, matching pearls (did mom get a pair of earrings out of those? ) and then starting the fireworks. Great photos of their reactions--they looked a little dubious about shutting the lights, but the excitement of setting off the sparklers is all over their faces. I can imagine that it took them a while to get over that!

yes, she brought her pearls home and took them an old boyfriend of mine from high school who does custom jewelry, so it was easy.

It was indeed a special night at Epcot.

thanks for following along

docdebbi · May 28, 2016

As great as the night before at Epcot was, the next morning at Animal Kingdom was equally NOT great.. Good thing I am getting better at "being flexible" with my schedules. Because Disney shot the heck of my laminated pocket cards this morning.
We arrived right on time, had time for some photopass shots on the way in,

and waited for the park to open and headed ALL the way back to the safari. The plan was to do the safari first thing and make the 10 o'clock Lion King show.

So we arrived in time for the 8:45 AM "you are allowed to start heading back to the safari area", and walked quickly back there. For some reason there was a real bottle neck entering Africa. Waited like 10 minutes just moving slowly up toward where the entrance for safari is. When you get to the front, there are 2 cast members there telling folks that the safari is closed. They have no idea when it will reopen.

Ok, I get it, sometimes things happen. But I heard several other overhead park wide announcements made while we were walking. Before we trekked with one stroller and two little kids with little legs, all the way to the furthest part of the park, maybe one of those announcements could have been-

"For the masses of people racing back to the safari, STOP- it ain't open". How about a loud speaker instead of 2 CMs so we didn't all have to wait in a long line to get to the front of the line to be told "it ain't open". ?

So we decide we will walk over and go Pangani Trail. Unfortuantely, you had to get all the way to the entrance of the trail before they told you that was also closed. Really? Could the 2 CMs telling folks that the Safari was closed have said "oh, and Pangani too".

Now, we've got some tired cranky sweaty parents, no, not the kids, they have no idea what's going on. They were doing their traditional manhandling of each other and ignoring the planning phase. As it should be.

. We were, I think justifiably, a little annoyed about how this all played out. Tell us before we get there and we can stop at something else like Tough to be a Bug on the way. No harm, no foul. But now we're at the far part of the park with one hour to kill, and no attractions close by. No time to get all the way somewhere else, do the attraction and get back for our FP for Lion King.

So we let the kids play with musical instruments for a little while.

But that can only entertain them for a little while. Music is not their talent or gift, inherited all their musical talent from me.......sadly.

Tried a couple of pictures of "Hawaiian Shirt Day".

Yeah, another little tradition of ours. Animal Kingdom Day is Hawaiian Shirt Day. I have no idea why, other than it used to embarrass Nicole when she was younger if anyone wore one, so of course we all did it to annoy her. She'd be the only one without a Hawaiian Shirt, and DIE all day long because we were.

But once the kids came along, she had to join in because they like it. Ha Ha Ha. A parent's joy never just goes on and on.

Yeah, that only last for so long too. People all around were obviously at a loss for what to do. It was so bad, that Nicole and I turned around and Steve was holding court, giving a lecture about his Goofy hat/pins.

Now he does get a lot of comments and questions about it on a normal day, but doesn't usually gather a crowd. Unless of course, everyone is in Africa and can't figure out what to do next. When His Majesty was through with his subjects, we walked over to see the monkeys. Yeah, they weren't out either. Traipsed all the way back and just waited around outside for time for Lion King. Needless to say the place was mobbed since everyone was in the area with nothing to do. Glad we had a FP. Full house, no empty seats long before show time.

My baby and her babies, just a warm fuzzy feeling for Mom. I am blessed.

Now my next annoyance. When they came out only 3 tumble monkeys were there. I thought it was a little strange but didn't realize how big a deal that was. YEAH, APPARENTLY THE TUMBLE MONKEYS DON'T PERFORM IF THERE AREN'T FOUR OF THEM. More bad show today Disney. You would think they would have an alternate program that can be performed if someone calls out sick. So the show lasted all of about 15 minutes. Oh, and the birds didn't fly today either.

All in all a wasted few hours. So popped over to Tough to be a Bug and listened to lots of little kids scream in terror for a while. Surprised so many parents don't know how scary this innocuous looking show really is for their little tykes. Our kids on the other hand have all loved it since they were babes. Go figure.

Then it was already time for lunch at Tusker House.....

Tuvalu · May 28, 2016

Ugh, so sorry about your bad AK morning :bored:

.
But I love Hawaiian shirt day! :happy:

MinnieM123 · May 28, 2016

I, too, love the Hawaiian shirts -- exquisite!! :happy:

(I especially enjoy how all the different colors and designs compete with one another, in that family photo!

)

Got a kick out of Steve "holding court" and explaining his pin collection to his "subjects". :joyfull:

It seems to me that he was a "hit" because with some attractions down (Safari, Pagani), park guests were probably ecstatic to find any "live" entertainment in the parks, even if he wasn't a CM?!! :hilarious:

Way to go, Steve!!

docdebbi · May 28, 2016

As of noon when we headed to Tusker House both the safari and exploration trail were still closed. We had mutiple discussions about what could possibly cause BOTH to be closed. My obvious answer was that an animal escaped and until they found it, they couldn't let us in. Nicole said that's crazy, there was a dead animal on the safari that needed to be moved. I said that they could move an animal faster than that, but more importantly, they wouldn't need to also close the trail. Steven- a very very smart man- knows to never pick a side when Nicole and I disagree. So he had no guesses. We never found out.

We checked in at Tusker House and were seated quickly. Finally, our mood began to lighten.

It was a lousy morning so far, but watching your kids light up when Mickey comes by just melts it all away.
We had not met Mickey before on this trip so it was a big deal for the boys. Meeting Goofy was a big deal for Goofy.

First, a little love from Daisy, Nicholas loved her.

Then Donald,Goofy, and Mickey

Now you don't think Goofy behaved when Goody came by did you?? Heck no.
Had to explain the pins again.....

Little bit of food and children's infectious joy and we were all back to being happy again. Happy enough to pose for this lovely family photo

When we found the animals that I TOLD Nicole had escaped from the safari. She never believes me

So fortified and happier, we headed off to Dino Land, or so we thought

fractal · May 29, 2016

Sorry about all the hassle and disappointment at AK.

Steve's cracking me up with his Goofy hat and pins!

ScarletBegonias · May 31, 2016

The pics from starting the fireworks!! Priceless!!!

Trip Report The Texas Ranger, The Beast, and We "started the fireworks": A trip of firsts!

blreinsel

Well-Known Member

docdebbi

Well-Known Member

dupac

Well-Known Member

docdebbi

Well-Known Member

docdebbi

Well-Known Member

docdebbi

Well-Known Member

docdebbi

Well-Known Member

docdebbi

Well-Known Member

docdebbi

Well-Known Member

MinnieM123

minnie2000

Well-Known Member

Tiggerish

Resident Redhead

docdebbi

Well-Known Member

docdebbi

Well-Known Member

docdebbi

Well-Known Member

Tuvalu

MinnieM123

docdebbi

Well-Known Member

fractal

Well-Known Member

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member