Recovering

4 weeks ago we were on a flight to the Happiest Place on Earth. We've all finally recovered our sleep after that amount of time. Looking back on our trip, I've likened family vacations to labor and delivery. While you're in it, it is a whirlwind of emotions, some physical pain and quite a bit of screaming and yelling but after time it's remembered as the most blessed event in a lifetime. I was hoping that going on this trip would help satiate my appetite for Disneyworld but it's actually only whetted it. We can't wait to go back and do it again!

Last Day - October 5

I was up at 7 but I let everyone sleep in so I could start getting a start on the packing. Awwwww! I put a pretty big dent in the piles and about that time the family started to stir. We had a lot of meal credits left due to Annabelle's illness so we wanted to use some of them for breakfast. We finally got moving toward Hollywood Studios around 10:30 and were hoping that would give us some time to enjoy a few of our favorite attractions before heading to Epcot for our 1:45 lunch reservation in Norway.

It was another hot day and we noticed the humidity was quite high. Nate and I were both glistening by the tme we hit the park entrance and not in the beautiful way that Edward Cullin does. We went straight toward Toy Story Mania but that had a huge wait and the Fast Passes were booked until 5 pm. We noticed we were by the Prince Caspian -Voyage to Narnia so we decided to check that out as we handn't yet. That was the lamest attraction ever. It was just a glorified movie trailer. Don't even waste your time on that one. We wanted to see the Little Mermaid show but one had just started and we didn't ant to wait for 30 minutes for the next one to begin. Our next stop was the Rock n Roller Coaster and that too had a lengthy wait so we grabbed fast passes for that but we couldn't get on it until 12:45. We headed over to the Tower of Terror and were able to enjoy that one twice in a row. There wasn't really any time to try and find something else to experience so we just sat in the shade by the R n R until we could use our passes. At this time the girls were eyeballing the temporary tattoo station so we indulged their wild fanatsies and let them get body art for our last day. We rode the rollercoaster and ralized that we had about 45 minutes to get from Hollywood Studios to Epcot. So we decided to take the fastest way possible........by boat.

We actually did arrive at Epcot at 1:40 so we ran like we did a few nights ago and made it to Akershus in Norway by 1:55. We were really sweaty and drippy by now as it had started to rain a tad. Nate found a beer stand, of course so quenched his thirst by grabbing a 20 ouncer.

A little back story on Akershus, it is a Princess Character meal, we didn't tell Nate this at all as the girls thought it would be really fun for their daddy to meet all of those beautiful princesses. Nate had no clue even though there ere little girls dressed up as Disney princesses as far as the eye could see. He even read the little banner in front of the place that said we'd e dining among royalty. It wasn't until he ordered his beer when the bartender said, "Say hi to the princesses for me." did he realize what he was in for. I didn't realize that they took our family's photo with Belle at the beginning and that picture is priceless as we are completely drenched in sweat and totally shiny. Nate got a huge kick out of the experience and the girls were thrilled to have gotten the autographs and photos of themselves with Belle, Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White and Ariel. The princesses were perfect ladies and we had fun conversations with them. Cinderella asked thegirls if they had any princes and if they didn't then losing a glass slipper usually helps. Ariel asked them which sea they came from. Snow White talked in her high pitched Snow White voice. It was great. The food was alright but the atmopshere and knowing we didn't have to stand in a long line for each of the princesses was so well worth the money we didn't pay because we were on the free Disney dining plan. We definitely recommend the place for sure.

After lunch we rode Maelstrom once again. Josie loved that ride! We then walked to Soarin' to get a fast pass then on to a few attractions we didn't get to while wating for Soarin'. It started to storm a bit but the rain was evaporating before it hit the ground. We finally did Soarin' and then made our wa to World Showcase for the rest of the evening until fireworks.

Epcot has a new interactive attraction featuring Kim Possible. It is glorified geocaching and we loved it! Each girl got a mission and a 'Kimmunicator' - like a cell phone- they had to follow the prompts and do what the thing told them. Annabelle's first mission was in Mexico and she had to follow clues on her phone. They would show her a picture and she would have to find out where that was in the land. When she got there she had to point the thing at something like a picture or a sculpture and then that thing would do something special. She also did a mission in Germany and that was fun because she went to this display case of beer steins and then they sang for her. Josie had a mission in Norway and she and Nate said that one took forever. It was great fun and like geocaching it was great in that you noticed things or went into shops that you otherwise would've looked over. After our mission Josie finally found a face painting stand. She's wanted to get her face painted for days now so we let her do that despite being 2 hours away from bedtime.
We found a spot to view the fireworks near Japan and waited for the show. Again, IllumiNatins is amazin. Nate and I got goosebumps it was so good. When the show was over we slowly left the park and took everything in.

We did stop at a gift shop to by souvenirs. Nothing like waiting for the last minute to do so. This was nice as the corwds had disappated and we were able to get an actual seat on the way "home." When we arived at our resort we checked out, arranged for luggage pick up and went back to the room to shower and pack the rest of the way. Nate and Josie went swimming one last time, grabbed dinner with the last of our meal credits and we were finally in bed by 12:30 am. We slept with the bathroom light on to treat our sleep as a nap because the alarm was going off at 2:30 am.

We are now in the airport and waiting to board our plane. Thinking about our vacation we ha some tense moments but the memories will lways be happy positive and full of Disney magic. We can't wait to go back!

ATTRACTIONS
Chronicles of Narnia - It's a crummy commercial
Tower of Terror X 2
Rock n Roller Coaster
Maelstrom
Test Track
Seas with Nemo and Friends
Living with the Land
Spaceship Earth
Ellen's Energy Adventure
Spaceship Earth
Soarin - We noticed that this wa our first attraction and our last
Kim Possible
Soarin'

Typhoon Lagoon - October 4

Annabelle woke up this morning with so much energy and in much better spirits. This made us all so happy. We got ready to spend the day at Typhoon Lagoon Water Park. We knew right when we got there that we were going to love this place. It's so tropical and kitschy. We found a nice quiet shady place to drop our belongings. Our first stop was the Crush n Gusher slides that shoot you up, down and around. Then we went to the wave pool which the girls absolutely loved and spent a majority of their day there. Nate and I rather liked the lazy river. We realized that Typhoon Lagoon was one of our favorite places so far just for the fact that there was no time pressure to be at show, turn in a fast pass ticket or to be at a completely different place in the park. We could just hang out and enjoy ourselves.

The water park closed at 5 pm and we went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for our dinner reservations at Boma at 8pm. Nate and I wanted to get a caricature done of the girls before we left but the artist at our hotel was already busy doing a portrait so we were pleasantly surprised to find one at the Animal Kingdom Lodge who was just wrapping up with a customer. He was very nice and the picture turned out very cute. It's of the girls fighting which is something they have been very good at this trip. While one was posing we'd go with the other one to look at the animals. The Animal Kingdom Lodge has a huge wildlife preserve on property so you can view zebras, giraffes, flamingos and other animals up close. It's very impressive.

Boma is a buffet that serves African-type cuisine. I sampled all of it and it was very good. Annabelle, of course, only wanted the mac and cheese. She was starting to burn out from being outside in the sun all day.

Over dinner we contemplated going to the Magic Kingdom one last time as it was open until 1 am. We ha to go to a park anyway as Disney transportation doesn't go from resort to resort. We decided to go for it. We arrived there at 9:30 and couldn't believe the crowd size. It was much more busy than it had been on Thursday. We still managed to make a few rides but were perplexed as to why there was a 40 minute wait for the Peter Pan ride at 11 pm!

We finished off our evening with a Dole Whip from Aloha Isle. We decided we'd do our best to get up early to hit Hollywood Studios one last time with the afternoon spent at Epcot. Upon arrival into our "suite" the girls thought it would be fun to imitate their art and had a huge fight in our room so as of now we're all sleeping in and packing our bags INSTEAD of going to Hollywood Studios. How is it that can they can be so good one minute and the next just blow up?

It's 1:30 am now and I'm thinking of all the things that need to get done for the return trip home. We haven't even done any souvenier shopping. ACK!!!!! *frustration squiggle*

ATTRACTIONS
Everything at Typhoon Lagoon
Haunted Mansion
Hall of Presidents
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain
Philharmagic

INJURIES
*Sore feet from the rough ground at Typhoon Lagoon
*Sunburns from the day at the water park - apparently I should've been better at reapplying but you should've seen all the poor lobster bastards we encountered there our small burns have nothing on those red guys


WHAT I'VE LEARNED
*Lazy rivers get you away from reality and then the fighting children will bring you right back to it
* I am thankful that we stayed at the cheap resort as we were hardly in our room. However, I do think it's a great idea to tour the other ones to see what you're missing out on. They are amazing!

October 3 - Part 2

Where I left of yesterday I was in the room with Annabelle and updating the blog. After I wrapped that up I went to the food court to grab a bite to eat and then called my mom to wish her a Happy Birthday. Annabelle woke up around 3:30 and said she was feeling much better and wanted to do something. Since it was still so hot out we decided to go check out Blizzard Beach for a short time period thinking the water would cool her core temp. We raced to get swimsuits on and walked briskly to the bus stop and waited for about 10 minutes. I looked down at poor Annabelle and she looked like a zombie. "I don't feel so well," she told me in a sad little voice so we walked back to the room. She didn't even want to jump in our pool to cool off. She immediately went back to bed. I decided that I should try to nap as well when Nate and Josie arrived around 4:45. I was a little disappointed that they came back so early given that Animal Kingdom is open until 6. I would've stayed there and taken in all the shows and parades and characters. I asked them if they did any of that and they said no. They just rode rides.

Josie came home pretty cooked and wanted to go swimming which was good because I was starting to go stir crazy in our room knowing that there is a world of fun just outside our doorway. About 6:30 I decided I really wanted to go back to Epcot and watch IllumiNations. We're kind of playing our last day by ear so I wasn't sure if I'd get to see this show at all. I finally convinced Josie that she needed to come with me and at 7 pm we were on the bus to Epcot. On the bus we checked out dining in Epcot and decided to try out the Tangierine Cafe in Morocco.

When we arrived all lot of people were leaving so we were fish swimming upstream. Something that I do that drives my family nuts on this trip is that I like to walk really fast to get to where I'm going. I'll glimpse behind me and see that they are there and take off. Since I have the map and know where I'm going I just assume that they do too but.......... upon getting yelled at many times for it I guess they really don't. This really bothers Josie and has been a contributing factor in some of her attitude issues so to demonstrate my walking behavior and see if it got me riled up Josie just started speed walking and tried to lose me. Now I may have little legs but those suckers are fast when they need to be. She couldn't lose me if she was James Bond so this sent us both into fits of giggles.

When we entered Epcot we thought we'd see if we could squeeze in Soarin' but there was a long wait so scooted over to the Seas with Nemo and Friends where we hopped right into a clam shell. Time was of the essence but after the ride Josie just wanted to dilly dally in front of the dolphin tank. If I wasn't so hungry and needed to get a good spot for the fireworks I would've let her stay there as long as she wanted. I finally was able to pull her away and we took off fo World Showcase. We soon realized that Epcot in the evening is a different monster than Epcot in the daytime. There were so many new things to see! The sidewalks lit up with little LED lights in very colorful patterns. We walked by water the fountain just in time to see small scale Bellagio type water show. When we actually entered World Showcase we could tell that patrons were having their fill of the Food and Wine Festival as most of them were quite drunk and happy. Hopping along, beer and wine in hand and singing and their native language - either that or they were so far gone that they were indecipherable. We finally made it into Morocco and grabbed some dinner. I love that Josie likes to try out different cuisine. She's more adventurous than I am. She ordered the lamb and chicken platter while I just got the boring chicken. There was a ton of food: chicken, lamb, hummus, some sort of parsley- tomato salad, and couscous along with a honey nut dry pastry thingy. Very good and way too filling neither of us finished it all. Just as we sat down th band Mo'Rockin' started so we had some ethnic music to listen too. We also noted that Nate would be bummed out knowing that he missed the live band and the belly dancer.

After dinner we settled into a spot between Morocco and Japan. Josie really wanted to ride Maelstrom in Norway so I told her I'd stay and save our spot while we went. I wasn't too worried that she'd be back in time to see the show as there was 30 minutes left. Illuminations was awe-inspiring and wonderful. I even felt a little tear come to my eye as I ws observing the wonder. It is quite amazing what the Imagineers have come up with.

After the finale Josie and I took off like rockets, zig-zagging through the crowd at warp speed. We passed thousands of people, strollers, and motorized carts. The Magic Kingdom was open until 11 pm so we made a decision to go there for a few rides. We took a bus then we took the monorail and arrived a little after 10 pm and then on to Splash Mountain. That ride takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r. We were looking forward to it being done so we could ride Big Thunder Mountain before the park closed. We were nearing the exit when the cast member mumbled something about not getting our picture taken and that we could ride it again without even asking us if that was something that we wanted to do. Not too far into going around a second time the ride stopped and stalled for about 10 minutes. Great! I don't go to Disney often enough but I can't imagine that this many technical difficulties occur. Maybe they do. We finally got going again, slept during the second trip around and bolted for Big Thunder. We made it there and soon realized that we were on the last train departing.

It's one thing to be the first to arrive at the park but I find it so much more magical to be the last one to leave. Josie and I poked around the castle for awhile, sauntered our way down Main Street, bought some ice cream and found a bench at City Hall and waited for the crowds to subside. We loved it! We finally arrived back at the hotel shortly after 12 am.

ATTRACTIONS
* Maelstrom
* The Seas with Nemo and Friends
* Splash Mountain X 2
* Big Thunder Mountatin

WHAT I LEARNED
* That it's 1.5 miles from where you driver under the Magic Kingdom sign to the point where the busses drop you off in front of the park
* Disney has 304 transportation at their disposal but this time of year they are running about 88 of them

Animal Kingdom - October 3

Wanted to get out the door and into Animal Kingdom early to get on the Safari ride and Pangani Forest before the animals called it nap time. The girls struggled to get up and Annabelle didn't really want to eat anything but since we did so good a few days earlier of getting something in their tummies I made her eat some cinnamon roll again. On the bus ride to Animal Kingdom she started looking really pale and complained of a stomach ache. We kept saying she was hungry but gave her a Tums to settle her stomach.

We entered the park and as I was getting the backpack looked through I spied Nate and Annabelle over by a bush and sure enough Annabelle threw up. Shortly after that she got her color back and said she was fine so we went got fast passes for the River Rapids (the girls wanted to get their faces painted so we thoght we'd do the wet ride first) and made our way to the safari. We also wandered to Pangani Trail at which point Annabelle started clutching her stomach again. We were about to embark on the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch when Annabelle and I decided to head back to the room ut she pulled through and said she was fine. We made it the Planet watch and th girls met Pocohontas, Rafiki and Jiminy Cricket. Back on the train Annabelle didn't look so well and threw up shortly after we got off.

Nate and Josie stayed at Animal Kingdom and I am here keeping an eye on Annabelle who is sound asleep at the moment. It stinks she is not feeling well and I can't decide whether she may have a stomach bug or is suffering from a heat stroke. It is 90+ degrees here and there is a huge temperature fluctation going from the hot outside into air conditioned attractions that sometimes the body can't regulate so quickly. We'll see how she's feels in a little bit and we may hit Blizzard Beach this afternoon for an hour if she is up to it. If not we'll just chill out by the pool the rest of the day.

ATTRACTIONS
Kilamanjaro Safaris
Pangani Forest Expedition
Wildlife Express Train
Affection Section petting zoo
Conservation Station - met characters and saw a procedure done on a macaw at the vet
Kali River Rapids

WHAT I'VE LEARNED
* Cast Members smile even when you tell them that your daughter threw up all over the walkway. They just get out their pixie dust and spread it over the crime scene
* People have no problem telling you what a pussy you are for wearing a rain poncho when going on the Kali River Rapids ride. I look at them and smile at least I look like a normal person strolling through the park and they are drenched from head to toe and standing bow legged because they are so chafed from walking with wet jeans on
* Animal Kingdom is our favorite park and I could just hang out there all day and look at all of the detailing that they've put into the place.

Animal Kingdom - October 2

Slept in until 9:30! Nate and I loaded up laundry while the girls were still sawing logs. I was thinking that getting a washing machine would be a breeze but it was more like finding a parking spot at the mall on Christmas eve and the people were guarding those things just as closely too. I was little frightened in there. We were ableto score two machines fairly shorly upon arrival though. While laundry was going, Nate grabbed the girls and they swam while I watched the laundry to make sure no one would throw my wet clothes on the ground. During that time we watched a sky writer. I was hoping he was going to spell 'Surrender Dorothy' but instead he wrote 'Praise Jesus'.

We had lunch at the food court and got onto the bus for the Animal Kingdom at 1 pm. We loved it there! Our first attraction was Dinosaur and we loved it. Annabelle screamed so loud and dug her fingernails into my arms. After the ride we went on it again and again. we hung out in Dinoland until our fastpasses for Expedition Everest were ready. Chocolate Mike and Caramel Spike LOVED Dinoland and are excited to post on their blog about their adventures there.

We stayed at Animal Kingdom until 5:30 as we had dinner reservations at Port Orleans at 6:30. We really enjoyed Animal Kingdom and looked forward to spending a whole day there the following day.

We arrived at the Port Orleans resort and really wished we could've stayed there. It's a wonderful theme and so much more laid back and relaxed than the All Star resorts. It does look like it takes a lot longer to get to places though because it is so spread out. We ate at Boatwrights and had prime rib, steak medallions with squash and crawfish and Annabelle had cheese pizza (but we snuck her some steak). Dessert was Bananas Foster, Apple Pie ala mode and lemon spund cake with strawberries. We loved Boatwrights and the service was speedy and good.

Because there isn't any transportation from resort to resort we had to go to Downtown Disney to get onto a bus to go back to our resort. Port Orleans has a boat ride to DTD so we chose that option. It was a lovely relaxing ride.

DTD was a zoo! There were way more people there than at any of the theme parks we'd encountered. I felt like I was on Fremont Stree in Las Vegas for a moment and kept looking overhead to see the LED screen. The only thing that differed was the fact that there weren't any bums laying around and it smelled a whole lot better. We checked out the pin store and World of Disney - the largest Disney Store in the World and it was huge! We finally made it to Disney Quest and checked it out for a little bit. That was 5 stories of loudness. We did play a few video games but finally couldn't take the stimuli anymore and left.

We made it back to our resort at 11 pm. So much for thinking that we'd get to bed at a decent hour.

ATTRACTIONS
Expedition Everest X 2
Dinosaur X 4
Primeval Whirl
Kali River Rapids
It's Tough To Be A Bug
DisneyQuest

INJURIES
* Racked my head on Expedition Everest and it gave me a headache/ neckache for the rest of the day
* The Primeval Whirl ride stopped abrubtly and Annabelle hit her forearm on the bar which made it bruise pretty good right away

Magic Kingdom - October 1

Another early morning, this time we made Josie drink some milk and got Annabelle a cinnamon roll to prevent any pre-mature meltdowns. When we arrived at the park we made our way to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. We took a wrong turn and ended up at the Haunted Mansion so we went there first. The girls weren't too impressed given the thrills they were used to at the Hollywood Studios. We were able to get on Splash and Big Thunder without any wait as well. The girls could've ridden just those two all day but we told them to check out then rest of the park before it got too crowded and that we'd be there until midnight so there'd be plenty of time for them to do so.

After Frontierland we wandered into Adventureland to ride Pirates and the Jungle Cruise. While wandering around there we decided to stop at the Enchanted Tiki Room where Josie thought it would be a great place to get moody. I think she likes to see just how high our blood pressure can get and just when we get to the point where steam is about to come out of our ears she starts to smile and act like nothing is wrong except now Nate and I are so angry that we sart bickering with each other. After the "Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" song and the party atmosphere hit we mellowed out again. It's so frustrating though and I think the next time I go to WDW, I'm going by myself.

Next we went to Fantasyland and got out first fastpass of the day to Peter Pan's Flight as there was a 40 minute wait for that. What's so popular about that ride? We're not sure but we really enjoyed it. Most of the other attractions in Fantasyland were pretty open so we went on those.

Next stop was Toon Town. Now we know where all the families went! It was jammed packed with children and strollers. We went to see if we could meet some princesses and fairies but the wait time was 90 minutes! Ouch! We did tour Mickey and Minnie's homes and got our pics taken with them. They were very friendly and took there time with us.

Now it was time to eat lunch at the Crystal Palace with Pooh Bear. We checked in and waited......waited.......waited......for an hour! By this time we were hot and starving. Thankfully we sat on bench and had a great view of the castle which had a show going on so we watched that. We had a good lunch and the characters were a lot of fun. Annabelle was a little disappointed that there wasn't any Boston Cream pie despite it being advertised on the menu.

After lunch we got our wristbands and hightailed it back to the room to change into Halloween attire. We also were able to sneak in a 30 minute power nap.

Arrived back at the Magic Kingdom at 7 pm just in time for the party to start. The entrance was very neat with special lighting effects and fog rolling out. I told everyone to just stand there and take it in for a moment.

All the cast members were in a party mood and the music fit the atmosphere. Since we didn't get into Tomorrowland during the morning we walked over there first. We got onto all of the attractions there with no wait time at all, then we went to the trick or treat spot and watched Goofy, Stitch and Pluto dance around at the dance party. Very fun! We soon got hungry and ate hamburgers at Cosmic Rays. Right after dinner the fireworks were ready to start. We had a great view of the front of the castle. The HallowWishes fireworks show was amazing!!! I even got a little teary eyed it was so good.

After fireworks we ran back to Splash and Thunder Mountain and again ran right onto the ride. It was so empty that when we were done they asked if we wanted to go again. We really like Splash Mountain but it is a pretty long ride so we declined the offer. We soon realized that the 'Boo to You' Halloween parade was ready to begin not far from where we were so we found a great spot in Frontierland and waited for the fun. Some spooky music started and we soon heard the clippity clopping of the Headless Horseman. The parade soon followed and we loved every bit of it. Since we were right on the street almost all of the characters on our side would wave at the girls. After the parade we walked onto several more attractions, the last one of the night being Aladdin's Magic Carpet. While the girls were on that I went to Aloha Isle and grabbed my first pineapple Dole Whip. Very tasty! We didn't see everything that was happening at the Halloween party and didn't met any characters even though there were a ton around the park. The lines were so long for them though.

After the party wrapped up and the crowds were leaving the park we sat on the benches in fron of the castle and just enjoyed the moment. Arrived back at the hotel at 1 am. We decide to call tomorrow a sleep in/ do laundry morning as there is no way we will be able to function.

ATTRACTIONS
Swiss Family Treehouse
Magic Carpets of Alladin X 2
Enchanted Tiki Room
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Caribbean
Splash Mountain X 2
Big Thunder Mountain X 2 - More fun in the dark
Hall of Presidents - We got in and sat down then they had technical difficulties so we had to exit
Haunted Mansion
It's A Small World - Kids didn't want to go on it but then loved it
Peter Pan's Flight
Mickey's PhilharMagic - Favorite 3D attraction
Dream Along with Mickey Stage Show
Snow White's Scary Ride
Cinderella's Carrousel
Adventure's of Winnie the Pooh X 2
Mad Tea Party
Mickey and Minnie' Country Houses
Donald's Boat water play area - Kids got soaked
Barnstormer
Tomorrowland Speedway
Astro Orbiter - for me scarier than Tower of Terror
Tomorrowland Transit Authority - nice leisurely ride through tomorrowland...it even broke down for a few minutes while we were on it
Space Ranger Spin
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor

WHAT I LEARNED
Mickey throws the best Halloween Parties!!!

INJURIES
We're doing better!

Disney Hollywood Studios - September 30

Another day up and at 'em at 6 am. My girls did NOT want to wake up but we mentioned Tower of Terror and they conceded. Our first ride of the day was Toy Story Mania - a 4D ride based on the Toy Story characters and midway games. It was fun but we weren't like the obsessives that steal all of the Fast Passes. haha! The stand by wait time for the ride the rest of the day averaged 50 minutes and all of the Fast Passes were gone by noon. So..... we only rode it once.

Our next ride was the Tower of Terror. I was not looking forward to riding this one and once we were seated I was thinking of ways to get off this ride. I worked myself into a cold sweat and was shaking profusely before we even got to the big drop. It was less of a traumatic experience than I had envisioned so I went on it twice more. I still screamed my head off though. Our other favorite ride was the Rock n Rollercoaster which we did three times as well.

The crowds were very manageable today and the weather was great. 85 and sunny, not too humid like yesterday. We were able to see most of the attractions and all in 20 minutes or less. One thing our girls (and Nate) have fallen in love with is the Disney pins. We have to stop at every store that sells pins and well, that literally is almost every store.

Overall we had a fantastic day filled with thrills and chills - the kind I get when my 12 year old daughter gives me attitude and she was filled with it again today. You know that Mother Goose poem about the little girl with the little curl...that's Josie. When she's good she's so wonderful but when she turns bad well......

ATTRACTIONS - All great
The Great Movie Ride
American Idol Experience Finale
Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
Star Tours X 2
Lights, Motors, Action
Toy Story Midway Mania
Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage
Rock n Rollercoaster X 3
Tower of Terror X 4
Block Party Bash parade

WHERE WE ATE
Lunch - Pizza Planet
Dinner - Hollywood Brown Derby - Rib Eye Steak, Salmon and Fish Fingers w/ grapefruit cake and creme brulee'

WHAT I LEARNED
* There are many modes of travel around Disney Theme Parks. The most popular being slow moving motorized carts. I shouldn't knock it though as that will be me in 20 years.
* Tomorrow we are force feeding Josie protein before she goes into low blood sugar mode. There were several times it got close to being a "knock down/ drag out". It was semi-reassuring to see several other parents with teens dealing with the same issues.
* I've heard Disney has been losing money but I thought, "Really??? How bad could it be?" until I saw a Cast Member repairing the vinyl stairs at Pizza Planet with duct tape. Yep, you read that right....DUCT TAPE!

INJURIES
* Nate's still in pain and will be even more so this time tomorrow as he is down to his last prescription painkiller
* I managed to rub a hole near my crotch yesterday so now I'm walking like I rode a bull all day and NO that is not a metaphor for something nasty. All I can say is that I bet 1 in 4 women have a serious chafing problem while at the parks

THINGS WE ARE NOT VERY GOOD AT
* I pre-paid for a photopass cd but have been very bad about actually getting photos taken of us
* We have yet to stand in line to meet any characters, we're hoping this will change tomorrow
* Getting Chocolate Mike out of our backpack. He's stuck in there again.

Tomorrow is going to be another long day as we will head to the Magic Kingdom in the am and will come back to change into our Halloween costumes and go back for Mickey's Halloween Party until midnight.

Epcot - September 29

The day started at 6 am. That's 3 am Idaho time! No wonder my eyes were so puffy this morning. Everyone woke up happy and ready to go until we got to Epcot. Josie decided to play the part of surly teen while waiting for the park to open. Argh. We forced some peanuts on her and she started to perk up. During this time Nate reaized he left his room key/ park entrance back at the hotel. He started to go back to the buses to go back to the hotel when I realized that this is Disney, there's got to be a way that we can get another key. Thankfully we could do that at guest relations which was good to know as halfway through the day Josie lost her key in the park.

Our first ride was Soarin'. We were able to get on within 5 minutes. The rest of the day was like that so we never even had to get Fastpasses as the crowds were fairly manageable. After several attractions we made our way to the World Showcase. The food and wine festival was happening so Nate kept steering himself toward the beers around the world. We ate lunch at Teppan Edo in Japan. Our chef was very entertaining and the food was great. The bill for lunch was $140! Thank goodness for the dining plan! (I'll probably praise this all week, just so you know.)

After lunch Nate wanted to go to the Sam Adams beer seminar so the girls and I wandered to Norway and Mexico. The seminar was full so Nate met up with us and the girls decided that they wanted to go to Soarin' again. So back to The Lands. During Soarin' we checked out the WDW Dining app on Josie's iTouch (I highly recommend this app) and decided to eat at the Liberty Tree back in the World Showcase. During dinner we sat outside and listened to Richard Marx put on a show. Man, he still sounds the same.

After dinner and the show we went to the boat dock to make our way to Disney Hollywood Studios to see the only showing of Fantasmic that we were able to catch. The kids (and Nate) started falling apart about then just as I was catching my second wind fom the giant cup of Diet Coke I'd just consumed. Just as we entered the park there was a big line forming for the show. I told Nate to take the girls to an attraction and I'd hold their place in line. We'd heard that lines for Rock n' Rollercoaster would be short due to everyone being at the first showing of Fantasmic. Boy, were they wrong. They had a 40 minute wait. We met each other at the show and it was wonderful.

After it was over, we made our way to the bus lines which were incredibly long. We kept bypassing people as we just assumed that they were going to a different resort and then realized they were all in line to go to ours after we cut into it. I feel really guilty about that. Back to the resort for snacks and showers and bed.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
I thought I was being smart by putting my phone in my bra. Not so, the thing got too hot in there, steamed up and fried.

ATTRACTIONS
Soarin' X 2
Mission Space
Turtle Talk with Crush
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Test Track - this ride quit mid-ride we were stranded in a dark tunnel for about 15 minutes. Thanks goodness we weren't outside.
Reflections of China
Maelstrom in Norway
Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico
Fantastmic - DHS
Rock n Rollercoaster - DHS

HOW THE FAMILY FAIRED
Hmmmm......not sure how to answer this. I did well, Nate came and went and the girls fought towards the end. Not so much my vision of the perfect family vacation kick off. More along the lines of the Griswolds/ Bundys.

INJURIES
Nate's back and arm that keeps going numb also some unmentionable side effects from the pain medication
Josie has some nasty infected ingrown hairs on her knee due to volleyball kneepads

We Made It - Recap of September 28

We woke up at 4 am yesterday morning with big smiles on and a ready to go attitude. The girls alarm clock consisted of me cranking up When You Wish Upon a Star on our computer. I soon realized the neighbors probably didn't enjoy the wake-up call like we did.

Everything went so smoothly yesterday: getting our boarding passes, airport security, airplanes being on time, getting our baggage, getting on Magic Express and checking into our hotel. It was all wonderful except for the fact that it took the entire day.

We knew we were in for some Disney Magic when we boarded the Magical Express bus with it's red seats and yellow stars and my personal favorite, the glittery floors of the bus. Since the bus was pretty empty we sat up front and chatted with Rick, the bus driver who provided us with a wealth of information.

Our hotel is pretty wacky with the oversized sports theme. We're in the tennis building next to the surfboard pool and our view is of a tree and the tennis court. The food court here is something else very loud and chaotic and Anita is right, the food is overpriced and not very good BUT we're here on the free dining pan so no more complaints about food from me. We also unpacked everything and totally made ourselves at home. I think I brought everything except the kitchen sink, well, scratch that I did forget to pack Josie's black underskirt for her costume. Poop!

All good things muct come to an end though as we all had a small meltdown about 12:30 am when we decided the best remedy was to just go to bed.

I'd love to post pics but the connection here via the cell phone is pretty S L O W. We're off to Epcot!

T-minus 12 hours!!!!

I'm taking a small break from packing to free up space on our camera's memory card. It's been a whirlwind around here trying to pick up last minute things from the store, clean the house, drop off Butterscotch at the kennel, check and recheck to make sure I have all of the proper tickets and documentation. The girls have been worried that I'm not as excited as I have been but the truth is I'm so bogged down in all the details right now but believe me I AM EXCITED!!!!!

If you noticed around Moscow today that lights seemed to be a little bit dimmer and it took you longer to microwave your popcorn it was probably because we were charging all of our electronics: Nintendos, camera batteries, phones and Nate's laptop.


I was still sewing costumes as of this afternoon but I'm proud to say I finished them. Annabelle models hers for me and I'm so happy that she loves it. Jeannine lent us the crown. Annabelle will definitely be more dolled up for Mickey's Halloween party.


The back

I made these Mickey luggage tags with the Mickey Cricut cartridge. All of our pertinent info is on the back of them. Thanks Remberts for the use of your suitcases!

You may have noticed that there is no clothes in my suitcase yet......BUT I do have the all important bottle of Captain Morgan, my trusty travel companions Chocolate Mike and Caramel Spike and a plethora of pharmaceuticals as one never knows if you'll get diarrhea, constipation, allergies, a cold, eczema, chafing, headaches, sunburn and/ or hot dog fingers on your 7 day vacation and one can probably guess that Disney charges an arm and a leg for these items.

We have an early morning tomorrow so I better finish packing. Woo Hoo!!!!!

T-minus 3 days!

The nerves are starting to kick in as I'm looking around at my trashed house, my unpacked luggage and my to-do list that seems to be getting larger by the minute. I have accomplished sewing the girls' Halloween costumes for Mickey's Halloween party though so that is a huge relief.

Today I am going shopping at Ross to find something for me to wear in the hot humid FL weather and then on to Wal*Mart where my shopping list is almost as long as my to-do list. I need to get this done this afternoon as Josie has a volleyball game in Clarkston and we won't be getting home until later tonight when I'll be too pooped to do anything.

What??? I Can't Live There?

One week from today we'll be en route to Orlando. I just did online check in for our resort and wanting to make sure I dotted my 'i's and crossed my 't's I read everything clearly even that pesky 'terms of agreement'. It started off very formal and typical and then got downright funny when I came across this line "Neither I nor any member of my party occupying any resort accommodation have/has any intention of making, and will never make, this resort accommodation a legal domicile or principal dwelling. My/our legal domicile is and shall forever be outside the Walt Disney World Resort." There must be a lot of visitors out there that would love to reside at WDW. I also agreed to not feed the animals at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and Park. Phew! Now I just need to read the terms from Southwest Airlines to figure what I can and can't take on carry-on and how much my bags need to weigh.

Into the Single Digits until Vacation!

9 more days until we arrive in Orlando! Annabelle and I are getting super excited while Nate and Josie have taken the more 'we'll get excited once we get down there' approach. I can't begin to tell you how many hours I have logged into the internet researching maps, hours of operation, message boards, etc. It's like I've virtually gone to WDW 100's of times now and some days I feel like I'm suffering from Disney research fatigue. Isn't that awful to say? I know once I get down there all of the hours I have put in to looking up info will be greatly worth it.

Now I am starting to get into panic mode. I haven't even begun to pack and my list of things to get keeps growing on a daily basis. throw on top of that all of the things I've neglected since spending so much time on the computer: housework and yard work being the main items I realize that I need to stay up later and get up earlier to do all those things. It hasn't helped that all of our favorite TV shows have returned for the fall making evenings even more hard to get things done.

Aye yi yi! I shall prevail so off I go

Disneyworld Pre-Trip Planning: Part 1

I've read this cover to cover and have many pages "ear" -marked

It's true what they say: People spend more time planning their vacation than they do their retirement. And why is that? Because it is so much more fun! I have become Disney obsessed these last few weeks and my frenzy isn't waning. I swear Mickey ears are going to soon grow out of my head.

I first started reading the book Complete Guide to Disneyworld then that didn't statiate my appetite so went to the Disneyworld.com website. From there I was directed to a palethera of other websites, message boards and even podcasts! Who knew!


One of the message boards suggested making a countdown calendar which I promptly did. Annabelle has enjoyed making the Mickey silhouettes and exclaiming every morning "---- days to go!" 52 as of today.


This is the website I go to for the message boards. http://www.wdwinfo.com/ They are chalk full of all sorts of interesting information: both practical (bring two good pairs of walking shoes that are already broken in) to impractical (buy disposable rain ponchos for each member of the family/day and rather than try and reuse them just throw them out. Hmmm...that means that I would need to buy 28 disposable rain ponchos.)



Our Laughing Place has a great transportation wizard. Since we'll be using Disney Transportation aka DT during our stay it has been great to know beforehand how we're going to get from here to there.


All Ears is where I checked restaurant menus. When we first booked our trip and got the free dining plan we all read the restaurant guide and highlighted which places we wanted to eat. When the Disney calendar and hours posted for October I made a general itinerary of what parks we were going to and when. Soon after I went to make my advanced dining reservations aka ADRs. I was soon to be disappointed as a lot of the restaurants were already booked and this was a full 85 days before we're leaving. The character meals were especially popular and the eating times I got are quite strange. So a word to those of you who are planning on WDW trips in the future and would like to eat at the table service restaurants: Get your ADRs at least 90 days before you get there as there are some serious people who have the 90 day mark on their calendar and are up at the crack of dawn getting their reservations.

When I finally realized I wasn't going to get to eat where we wanted to I finally relaxed and just picked random places and times.


The website I check out on a daily basis because they have a great Mom's Panel, calendar of events, park hours etc. is http://www.disneyworld.com/ .

Our itinerary is as follows and is subject to change:

September 28
Arrive in Orlando @ 8:45 pm. Don't get to do any playing but hope we aren't tired enough to at least go hang out in the pool for the rest of the evening

September 29
Epcot
Lunch at Teppan Edo - When we were thinking of going to Disneyland Nate wanted to take a trip to Benihana so we were excited to see there was a restaurant like that in WDW
Go to Disney Hollywood studios around 6 pm to see Fantasmic

September 30
Disney Hollywood Studios
Early dinner at the Hollywood Brown Derby. We really wanted to go to the 50's Prime Time Cafe but it was booked

October 1
Magic Kingdom
Lunch at Crystal Palace. The only character meal we're getting this week which I'm glad as Annabelle really wanted to meet Pooh and Tigger. Josie wanted Donald Duck's Safari breakfast in the Animal Kingdom but alas, that was not to be....booked solid the entire time we're there.
We may sleep in this day or after lunch retire to our room for a few hours as we have tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. I'm not saying we couldn't last the whole day in the park but am being realistic about our family's stamina.

October 2
Animal Kingdom
Dinner at Boatwrights - Port Orleans Riverside - After the Animal Kingdom closes at 5 we are going to wander over to the Port Orleans resort to have dinner. I really wanted to stay there but since it would've increased our vacation $1000 we opted to stay in the All Star Sports resort. We don't plan on spending much time in our room anyway but thought it would be fun to explore what could have been.
After dinner if we are up to it we will take a boat taxi and spend the remainder of the evening at Downtown Disney.

October 3
Morning in the Animal Kingdom - Thought 2 days would be good here as my kids love animals
Lunch at Yak and Yeti - Was hoping it would be breakfast with Donald
After lunch we'll decide if we've seen enough of Animal Kingdom and make our way over to the Magic Kingdom

October 4
Breakfast at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Another resort I am excited to tour.
Typhoon Lagoon until 5 pm weather permitting - Excited about the Crush n Gusher and floating in the Lazy River
Back to our resort to shower and then Magic Kingdom to see Wishes and stay up until 12 am.

Ocotber 5
Epcot
Finishing our vacation where we started it
Dinner at the Coral Reef - Loved the interior of this place even though I do have a small phobia of being surrounded by aquariums. Let's hope they don't break like that scene in Jaws 3.
We'll stay until the park closes with the fireworks show IllumiNations a great ending for a great trip.

October 6
Leave early in the morning to get back home

So that's what I have planned so far and now it's getting into the finer details. I can't imagine anyone coming into a WDW vacation with just a lassiez fare attitude and no planning. I'm trying not go overboard the other way and plan our days down to the minute. I am also bracing myself for knowing that I can't see and do everything and hopefully (fingers crossed ) my family will have such a blast that we'll just HAVE to go again.