Trip Report Updated Trip Report: July 7th to July 13th

So we are almost two weeks from the start of our trip to WDW and our group continues to grow and is now up to 28 people, many of them first timers. My immediately family has grown by one as we are in the process of adopting the little brother of the girl described in a post I have attached from an earlier post I made. I left that part out of my original post as at the time, the birth mother wanted to keep him (Kai or as I call him "The little kahuna"). All of our other children made their first trips to WDW when they were 12 weeks old or younger so we are continuing the tradition with him. Can't wait for the trip to get here and also to get started with my trip report and post tons of pics of these special kids who are going to see Mickey for the first time.

During the past several months, my family helped close friends of ours bring the birth mother of their adopted son and his sister to the states to live. They previously lived in the Marshall Islands where it is very, very poor and also was an abusive situation with birth father. They are the most loving people I have ever met. The sister is around my two daughters ages and they have become very close as she spends most weekends with us and we love her very much as well (geesh I am getting choked up typing this). Well, we are going to WDW in June and decided we wanted to take her with us as they may move to a different state after the summer. This may be a once in a lifetime opportunity for us and for her. So this past weekend we added her to our reservation and decided to surprise her. We played several WDW vacation videos that show the different parks and attractions and then took video of her reaction when she figured out she was going. It was a "magical" moment.
My question to you guys, is this. Does anyone know where I could submit this video and maybe we could get her a few extra memories, as it truly is a miracle she is here.
Thanks in advance.

 

[bebert]

Baby Kai is enjoying his first of many visits to mickey's house.

 

[bebert]

 

[bebert]

Maybe building their own light sabers was not a great idea.

 

[FlaggNL]

Love all the live updates! Thanks for the share! Hope all the sick people will get 100% fit asap! Enjoy the rest of the stay!

 

[bebert]

Animal Kingdom today. Dinosaur first up.

 

[bebert]

Talked to Guest Relations about the salmonella issues. They seemed thankful that we reported it and will get back to us.

 

[bebert]

Festival of the Lion King

 

[bebert]

Disney Springs, wow what a crowded mess. Not a very relaxing place to come at night after being around the crowds all day.

 

[bebert]

 

[bebert]

The group had lunch at Tusker House, which was pretty good and unique food. One more kid bit the dust and puked at lunch, it was not pretty. They ended up taking him to the Baby care station for dehydration. The stations are a really nice feature at the parks in times like that.

 

[12in12]

Sorry to hear about the illnesses, hope everyone gets better soon.

 

[bebert]

Last day was at MK.
I think the only pic of my wife and I from the whole trip was as we were leaving MK that day.

 

[bebert]

This was how Luke spent most of the day on Friday when we returned home, I think he had a good time.

 

[bebert]

Overall this was a good trip. I will say it was a lot more effort than I expected being the "semi" tour guide for a group of 28 and so many newbies. My family moves at a pretty good pace when we are in the parks and I think we wore the rest of the group out.
The heat and humidity was also a factor, a heat index of 96 at 11 in the morning is an omen for the day.
I was very impressed with Pop Century. The room was very clean and the resort did not seem to large to get around and the crowd at the hotel seemed manageable. I would recommend this resort if you are on a budget, good value for the money. The only problem was the same kid who kept leaving a present in the pool each night and caused the pool to be closed for an "unexpected" cleaning. The lifeguards were very good about it and actually chuckled each time it happened.
The construction at AK is really taking away from some of the nice scenery at the park. Once, it is all completed that park should look nice.
The Seven Dwarfs coaster is a great ride but, waayyy to short, I would never wait in line for that ride for 2 hours. I think Disney really missed the mark on that ride.
We did receive some documentation from Disney to complete for the food illness we experienced. Once we complete it, I will give you an update if they offer any kind of compensation.
Another observation were the character meals. The format has changed somewhat and the characters are at your table as soon as you are seated. I recall at our past character meals, you usually got your drink and at least one plate of food before the characters came to the table. The whole process seems very rushed but, I dont know that the kids noticed and maybe that is all that matters.
As a big Disney fan the parks do seem to be in a state of transition and lack that "wow" factor right now. As of now, we our planning our next trip in 3 years when Kai is a little older but, also to allow the parks to complete some of the construction currently going on. The cost of the trip keeps going up and right now it just seems like we are not seeing anything new for the money being spent. I don't know if I can wait 3 years but, at least that will give us some time to accumulate Disney rewards so offset some of the cost.

 

[Billy6]

Yes that is a baby gator on Splash

View attachment 96854

Great report!

I was at WDW at the same time as you(last day was the 15th) and I saw this gator too! Got a good picture of it like you did!

 

[bebert]

Great report!

I was at WDW at the same time as you(last day was the 15th) and I saw this gator too! Got a good picture of it like you did!

Thanks, glad to see you survived the heat as well. We came home on Friday and I was still drained on Sunday from the heat.

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks for the wrap up! Was great to follow! Thanks again for sharing!

 

[bebert]

Updating my trip report for the our next trip to WDW. Kai is no longer a baby and my oldest Ashley is now a high schooler...yikes.

 

[bebert]

Heading to WDW for a week in the Cabins at FW. This will be our first time staying in the cabins so we are excited for this new Disney experience. Our family has changed quite a bit since I started this thread in 2015. Ashley is now in high school, Caroline a middle schooler, Luke is now in elementary school and a full blown football nut and Kai is now 3 and loves Mickey and can't wait to see "Mickeys Castle". I will also be doing quite a few "first" time pics as Kai can ride any of the 40" rides. Attached are some updated pics of the kids, as you can see they have all grown compared to pics earlier in the thread. Also, I will try to be "semi" live with some updates.