The 'This is Totally Awesome.' Memorial Day weekend trip report

Well hello there. So here we are. A few days post vacation and already finding it hard to get back into the daily routine. What better way to relieve the blues than to start a trip report. Most of you by now know who we/ I am. But lets recap just in case.

Your host (Me) Aleisha: I just celebrated birthday #33 (eek) two days before we left. Love Disney, Hockey, Kenny Chesney and summer. Hates her two hour commute into DC every day and is allergic to just about everything, including animal fat found in beef pork and dairy. Yes its a pain, no I do not recommend it.

Andy: My DH, 35. Eats breathes and sleeps hockey, is also employed by the Caps, which probably explains why most of his wardrobe is something Caps related. Loves Disney, Star Wars and thinks he is a lot more funny than he actually is. Hates the heat, but says he is getting used to it.

Logan: 4. Star Wars lover, Disney lover. Heart breaker in the making, loves the ladies and has an empathy that is far beyond his years. Mommy's boy, and allergic to dairy.

Now originally this trip was supposed to be back in March but had to be postponed when hockey season ended its lockout. So instead of cancelling it right out, we decided to just postpone it, celebrating my bday (May 22nd) and our 7th anniversary (May 27th) down in our favorite place. Bonus, it was Star Wars weekend

So this was the plan:
May 24-29th at the Wilderness Lodge Villas....
Celebrations: Birthaversary (as titled by a Cast Member)
Dinning Plan.
Annual Passes.

But I am assuming this isn't what you came to read. Which means I shall get started with the actual report.

 

[foreverbelle]

Alright folks, update will have to wait til I get home this evening...

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

Your son is just too cute for words!!!!! Headaches at Disney are the worse!!! Last trip, hubby had a horrid headache and plus the heat (a rare 90 plus degree day in October) he was a bear!!! Can't wait for updates!!

 

[real mad hatter]

Hey! Awesome photos & story..My nephew in Dubai is also Logan..

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Happy belated birthday and anniversary!! You've got such an adorable family! Looking forward to reading more.

 

[disney1077]

Great trip report so far, cant wait for the rest! Your son is absolutely adorable!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I must say I was super excited to log on yesterday and see you had started on this!

I was on the lookout for you guys when I remembered, but never saw you That might have been due to the fact I was preoccupied with my family traveling with us and wasn't really paying much attention to other people in the parks. This is one of the several reasons we will never travel with a large group of family again!

Logan is so cute! Glad to see he still has love for Nemo and the Gran Fiesta Tour

Oh, and we beat the Rangers! YAY!!!!!

 

[LuLaSue]

Looking good kid! Your son is a cutie!!!

 

[Figgy1]

Happy birthday a little late! I love your tr and your son is the cutest little guy! I wish mine were still that age!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Looks like you guys had a great time! Making me so much more excited for July

 

[imagination30]

Yay!! , your back! .. and so is the heart throb.. ( did he break any girls haerts this year , like he did last year) , the little mermaid thing was cute! .. i couldnt help but Laugh.. -- cant wait to hear more .. hope your doing well!

 

[foreverbelle]

Your son is just too cute for words!!!!! Headaches at Disney are the worse!!! Last trip, hubby had a horrid headache and plus the heat (a rare 90 plus degree day in October) he was a bear!!! Can't wait for updates!!

Oh yeah the hubby is dif not one to mess with himself when he gets that way, thankfully it only lasted the day so he was good. But yes it was a pain in so many ways for him!

Hey! Awesome photos & story..My nephew in Dubai is also Logan..

Its a great name!!! I happen to love it

Happy belated birthday and anniversary!! You've got such an adorable family! Looking forward to reading more.

Thank you so much, should be posting more shortly....I was having issues with the site last night.

 

[foreverbelle]

Great trip report so far, cant wait for the rest! Your son is absolutely adorable!

Why thank you!!!

I must say I was super excited to log on yesterday and see you had started on this!

I was on the lookout for you guys when I remembered, but never saw you That might have been due to the fact I was preoccupied with my family traveling with us and wasn't really paying much attention to other people in the parks. This is one of the several reasons we will never travel with a large group of family again!

Logan is so cute! Glad to see he still has love for Nemo and the Gran Fiesta Tour

Oh, and we beat the Rangers! YAY!!!!!

We looked for you as well, we were so busy there as well, especially with it being a shorter trip...but yeah it was great times

And you sure did, and doing well in this round!!!!

Looking good kid! Your son is a cutie!!!

Thank you!

 

[foreverbelle]

Happy birthday a little late! I love your tr and your son is the cutest little guy! I wish mine were still that age!

Why thank you...I am trying to soak in as much of this stage as I can!

Looks like you guys had a great time! Making me so much more excited for July

We did, and there is more to come....

Yay!! , your back! .. and so is the heart throb.. ( did he break any girls haerts this year , like he did last year) , the little mermaid thing was cute! .. i couldnt help but Laugh.. -- cant wait to hear more .. hope your doing well!

Yep I sure am back. And of course he did!! LOL just you wait. There is more to come, and I am sure I will have a story or two about some breaking of young and not so young hearts.

 

[foreverbelle]

Sunday May 26, 2013: Day Three

This will turn into a big day for us!!

See when we first found out we had to postpone the March trip, we were sort of depressed because we were really looking forward to it, but after then we thought long and hard about what we wanted to do. The decision seemed to come pretty easily as we knew Memorial Day weekend would not only be a great way to celebrate our anniversary but to also bring Logan to Star Wars Weekend, because at 4, Star Wars is where its at. The boy pretty much lives by the Star Wars stuff, and had no clue what was coming when we boarded the bus. This morning it was packed, and Logan for the first time, this trip didn't want to get on the bus, took us a minute but as we boarded and sat down, Andy nudged me and pointed to where Logan was staring. A pretty blonde across the way, she was probably 16. Yep. The kid all of a sudden became shy..He had plenty of time to look at her and try to get her attention as the line to get in to the parking lot was amazing. I think it took us a good fifteen minutes just to turn the corner into the parking lot area. Finally however we pulled up, and wouldn't you know he didn't want to get off the bus until she did either..because he said. 'Mommy, I am a little shy and she is really pretty.' But with the cute blonde gone, he quickly got off and we headed in.

The last time Andy and I had done Star Wars weekend we were on our honeymoon. I had forgotten just how busy it was. I can not remember the last time I had seen the parks so packed. To say it was busy is probably an underestimation, it was nuts. Then again the I suppose the parking lot line should have been an indication. We got through the lines no problem and having no clue about any of it, Logan thought we should head to Toy Story. As did everyone else who didn't want anything to do with Star Wars. We made our way back to TSMWM, only to find it a three hour wait and fast passes between 8:30-9:30, yeah neither would do. We would have to reserve it for another day.

And this is when a big event happens!!!!

You see, this is the first year little man is tall enough to ride big kid rides...including Star Tours, and so we immediately made our way to that section, running into the following as we did:

Hello Mr. Vadar.

And while Logan loved him in the cartoons, and his playsets, in person however, he was suddenly a little afraid to meet the real Mr. Vadar. Still that didn't stop him from admiring him from a far. Including when we got in line for Star Tours, which at an hour wait for it, didn't seem nearly as bad as three hours...

Mommy did you see that?? Darth Vadar!!!! And Chewy too!!!

And the face above, well that made the crowds, and the postponing of the trip til then all worth while. I mean seriously?? The little boy was in 7th heaven for sure. Or so we thought, I mean it couldn't get any better than that right? The line turns out only to be a half hour and as we walked up the Cast member measure him once again, and after years of waiting for him to be, he is officially tall enough. Which made it all that much more official, little man's FIRST BIG KID RIDE would be STAR TOURS:

And what a joy it was from the moment we got in line. He lit up and was in love with it as we approached every turn that led us closer to the front, and as we got to the last cast member, he bent down took one look at Logan and began having a full blown conversation with him. About Star Wars and the fact he was now a big kid and how much fun he was going to have. I wish I would have gotten the name of the cast member because he was sort of wonderful. They sent us down to gate F and we patiently waited to board. And afterward, when the ride was done, Logan jumped up and down and exclaimed. 'THAT WAS THE MOST AWESOMEST THING EVER!!!!'

And that made the entire day the entire crowds truly worth it.

He also went up to the cast member at the exit and said. 'Ma'am that was totally awesome thank you for letting me ride, you have a magical day now..'By the look on her face I assume he had charmed yet another one. Poor girl stands no chance.

After our big Star Tours event we hit up the Honey I shrunk the kids playground before grabbing lunch at Fairfax Fare. I do not talk much about food.Logan had the standard PB&J, while Andy and I had chicken., the place was once again so packed we found it would be better to enjoy the rest of the afternoon by the pool and so once we finished our meal, we headed home to get some major swim time on.

Let me say we enjoy the parks, sometimes being lazy and doing absolutely nothing on vacation is amazing in itself. But soon we found ourselves having to get ready for an evening in the parks, the evening would be spent at MK, and dinner would be the Liberty Tree.

 

[foreverbelle]

Day three continues....

Waiting for the bus....

Magic Kingdom much like HS, was packed. Even in July and August we haven't seen crowds like this in a long time. Logan's mission other than buying lollipops that is was to get on the following: Buzz, Barnstormer Jack Sparrow and Big Thunder (as he calls them) He would hit two of them this evening. We grabbed fast passes to Buzz then jumped on the people mover with time remaining, we hit up the Laugh Floor, which Logan had never done. He found it hysterical. We had just enough time to get in line for Buzz, and clearly Logan and I need practice and Andy once again beat us hands down. All the excitement Logan had no desire to stop, and did not want to eat dinner, though when we got to Liberty Tree and actually sat down, well I have never seen the kid eat so much. Including helping mommy finish off her special dessert.

After dinner the crowds only seemed to pick up and with wait times for pretty much everything we knew we would be lucky to get on one ride before he officially crashed for the evening. We let him pick one ride, which he wanted to get to this evening. His pick: Barnstormer and so we marched our way over. Andy not feeling well left Logan and I to ride it together. The wait was over an hour, but thankfully he was a good sport through the entire thing even if my prediction was right, and he was fading fast. He managed to make it through but crashed on our way out of the park.

Getting out of the park tonight was a long and slow process. Apparently everyone wanted to watch the parade and Wishes. And then you had the rest of us, who didn't. I think we would have liked to have stayed, but with Logan already out, well we needed to get home. So we began our exit along with everyone else who was trying to get through,half of them deciding to stop right in the middle and the half decided to go off on people. Even with the cast members telling them to keep moving, a little bit of patience and some deep breathes helped us get through the amazing lines. I gotta say, I was even impressed with my husband, who only somewhat lost it then again, he didn't get the title of most minutes in the penalty box for nothing. But we managed to get through it and out of Main Street. It was smooth sailing right to the boats.

Ah....shh I have a secret.DVC is not the best kept secret. What is rather is this. I know the best place to was the fireworks. And its not on Main Street or even in the parks itself. But actually on the boat heading back to the resort. We didn't even have to fight the crowds! Or a light being flashed. And it did not bother us we couldn't exactly hear any of the music. The show itself was amazing enough. And it was a great way to end the night, Logan out, fireworks on in the background and nothing but a great evening with the husband and I ahead...

 

[WDW_Emily]

Great TR so far! We were also at DHS on the 26th and decided to leave before fantasmic because the crowds got the best of us. We would have left around 6pm but we didn't want our TSMM FPs to go to waste.

Glad your son enjoyed Star Tours! Thats a favorite of mine as well (and I'm not even a huge Star Wars fan). We rode it twice during this trip and if we had time would have rode it more.

 

[jrab0616]

We were in MK on the 26th too! The crowds before the fireworks we crazy! We were in town square for the parade and then went to meet the princesses, so we just watched the fireworks from the train station instead of trying to fight the crowds to get back in front of the castle. Looks like you had a great trip! Can't wait to read more.

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Great TR! Your little guy is adorable- so glad it worked out for you guys to go to SWW even though you had to wait a couple months!

 

[fractal]

Great update!

Talk about a big day for your son at DHS. Cute blond, Lord Vader, and old enough to go on the "big boy" rides. Hard to top that!

 

[pluto13]

Your son is absolutely adorable.