Disneyworld-Day 5

Day five, half our trip was already over! We headed back to where we were the night before- Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was a mad dash to the new ride, Toy Story Mania, where there was a ridiculous line at the fastpass machines due to people who didn't understand how the machines worked. They had gotten up early to secure passes for their families sleeping soundly in their rooms. You have to BE in the park for your card to work, people! Anyway, we got the passes and rode the ride. It is pretty cool. It's a midway arcade style video game ride, much like Buzz Lightyear but much better. I took some pictures of the line area, because it was so cool with the big retro toys. You wear 3D glasses to see the screens, and have a little shooter to score points. Even E did pretty well after the second ride of the day.
After that, we split up to do/not do "little kid" things. We had just missed the first showing of both the shows we wanted to see, so we had a bit of waiting. (All that stoller riding is SO exhausting!) The kids just COULDN'T stand up any longer and had to use dad's feet as a chair. The first show we saw was Playhouse Disney Live. It was a cute show, featuring Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Tigger & Pooh, and Little Einsteins. I'm sure they would be too cool for it if they were any older, but it was right up their alley, especially the bubbles and streamers. We then saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which was okay. It was time to meet up for the Indiana Jones Stunt show, but the rest got held up too long and we didn't get to sit together. I couldn't tell you much, E needed a diaper change a few minutes in so I left with him and we watched ducks in a pond and checked in for lunch. This is the stunt I saw:


Lunch (for our family) was a character buffet with Jo Jo, Goliath, and the Little Einsteins. Not so much for adults, so the rest went to the Sci-Fi Drive In Theatre, which I heard was cool. Here is a pic of the cars you sat in to watch the old horror flicks. We thought the buffet at Hollywood and Vine was really good. Evidently so did M, who opted to eat instead of meeting any characters. E got up and danced a few times with Leo.

After lunch, we headed to see Toy Story Mania for a second round, then saw Muppet Vision 3D and some went to Star Tours while we saved seats for Beauty and the Beast. It was SO hot. We thought the theater would be inside, but it was just a covered area, so no AC. It was a good show, but DH and I had seen it when it came to town, the real deal, so we left about halfway through to ride the "big" ride, courtesy of fastpasses from the brothers. Rock 'n Rollercoaster was really fun. Probably the biggest rollercoaster at Disney, and we like Aerosmith, who are featured, so it was fun. By then the show was over and we split up to do some different things. We really thought the kids would enjoy the parade, which featured all of the different Pixar movie characters and was more of a street show than a moving parade.


Unfortunately, it was just too hot and we all lost focus. What better than the ice cream cart and sitting in the shade to fix that? After we found the rest, who had been on "The Great Movie Ride," M, DH, and I headed to Tower of Terror, which M had flip-flopped about wanting to go on many times. He assured us that he DID want to go now, so we took him and he LOVED it. He would have gone again, but we had ridden it with fastpasses from mom and dad and we didn't want to wait in the regular line. (So spoiled by now, we didn't wait in a line over 7 minutes the whole trip!) So, he'll have to settle for waiting until we go to Disneyland sometime.


It was our plan to stay, do some more shows, use the fastpasses we had for Toy Story Mania Again, and eat dinner at Pizza Planet, but the heat and humidity got the better of us, E was asleep, and we were all cranky so all but my brothers (they did this) went back to shower, nap, and later swim and eat at Downtown Disney (we loved the Wolfgang Puck Express, and had to return!)

It was a good day, but trying to do it without a break was hard and we didn't last as long as we thought we could. There were quite a few rides we didn't ride, shows not everyone saw. It is a hard park to try and schedule, because the attractions take a lot longer for the most part.

Disneyworld- Day 4

Day 4 was Tuesday, and our first "real" day at the Magic Kingdom. We were all anxious to get back, as we had just ridden one ride the night before. This was my day to be the Fastpass runner. We started out with Space Mountain for those who wanted and Dumbo for the rest. E loved Dumbo, but we only did it this once since the line gets so crazy. We all did a bunch of Fantasyland rides and then I went to Splash for Fastpasses. They rode Thunder Mountain a few times while E and I met Woody. It was so adorable watching him run to him and hug him, when at home he cries and runs away from me or M in a costume. Amazing. Then M and my family rode Splash while we took E to see "Woody's Cowboy Camp" where they learned how to be a cowboy. We got him a star badge with his name engraved on it. He is going to be Woody for halloween and wear it.

I think afterwards I ran to get fastpasses for Jungle Cruise. We all rode Haunted Mansion together and E tolerated it, though didn't want to go again when offered. M loved it! I think at this point we had lunch. We went to Columbia Harbour House which was a fish and chips place with fun colonial theming.

After lunch, we saw Mickey's Philharmagic and rode teacups and Winnie the Pooh again (a favorite of E's) Then it was time for Adventureland. We went on Jungle Cruise (not as good as Disneyland) and visited the Tiki room.

Then it was pirate time! While DH and I rode Splash Mtn. with M, the rest rode Pirates then waited in line to meet Capitan Hook and Mr. Smee. We made it back with M just in time. Grandpa was feeling indulgent and let them pick out their weapon of choice. M got a pirate gun and E a sword (shocker) Then it was time for the "Jack Sparrow Pirate Tutorial" The boys loved this show, and were all decked out in the pirate stuff we'd hauled there just for that. M got picked at one point to go into the circle with the pirates.

It had been a long day, and was time to go back for a break before our big night. I didn't mention this, but we were celebrating mom's 50th this day and she wore a shirt I had made her saying it was her 50th birthday, so everyone was telling her happy birthday all day. This night we went to dinner in Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) and at at Mama Melrose's Italian Restaraunt. It was a fun dinner, and they brought mom a hat to wear, dessert with a candle, and brought out the phone for a call from Goofy.

It was part of the Fantasmic Dinner Package, so after we ate we headed over to the show where we sat in a reserved section just for those who booked that package. I was glad we didn't have to wait any longer than we did. All the non-reserved seats were pretty full by the time we got there, and the boys were getting restless as it was. Fantasmic! was a fun show, and E wasn't scared like I thought he might be. It was a fun night. We shopped afterwards while waiting for the crowds to thin. More pressed pennies were bought, as always.

Disneyworld- Day 3

Our second park day started with getting up early, being at the gate for Epcot in plenty of time, and using that time (E at least) to shove Goldfish crackers up into the nose as far as possible. I'm glad DH is a real man and always has a pocket knife handy, or I don't know what else I could have used to extract that poor fish.

Anyway, the kids really enjoyed the characters that met us at ropedrop, and pretty soon DH was headed to Soarin' over California to get to the Fastpass machines. We all made our way over there, where mom offered to wait with E while we rode first. He got a little drum action with some entertainers while waiting. M really enjoyed that ride. Whit said it was her favorite. DH was dissapointed that it was so short. We went on Living with the Land while the others rode, and it proved to be my dad's favorite. DH ran to get fastpasses for Test Track and met us at The Seas, where we all rode Nemo, explored the aquariums, and then joined Crush for Turtle Talk. It was a cute show. DH took E to get Mission: Space Fastpasses while we headed over to Test Track where we promptly got in line, waited a minute, then realized we didn't have M, who was supposed to be riding with us. I ran back to the front of the line where he stood looking like he was about to cry. Bad mom. As soon as I held him, he did cry, and was pretty upset for awhile. He needed Grandma to hold him and I think was a little mad at me. Here he is in front of Test Track saying he didn't want to ride.By the time we were on the ride, he was okay again and we enjoyed playing crash dummy and whipping around at high speeds on the "freeway." I got to ride twice since DH was off with E when I went the first time.
At that point, it was time for our lunch reservation. We were celebrating Chase's birthday this day and went there in honor of him. He had seen this restaraunt, the Coral Reef, on Full House when he was a kid and harbored secret hopes of one day eating there himself. He got a special birthday menu. For those of you without a full series of Full House memories emblazoned upon your memories, the Coral Reef is a nice restaraunt surrounded by a large fishtank complete with sharks, divers, giant turtles, and tons of fish. It was a fun atmosphere and we were seated all together right in front of the tank. The food was pretty good. M especially enjoyed his dessert, a build-your-own-sundae.



After lunch, we rode Soarin' again with our fastpasses and then confusion ensued when Whit left her purse on the ride, dad went to ride Spaceship Earth without our knowledge, and E fell asleep. The humidity seemed particularly bad this day, and it was crazy. We managed to all meet up, E had his nap, and those who wanted rode Mission: Space, a space flight simulation ride. We got the official picture and headed back for a much-needed break.

We all showered and put on our best Mickey T's and hopped on the bus for our first view of the Magic Kingdom. It was fun watching the kids. This is what they had been waiting for, in fact, E maintained throughout the trip that Magic Kingdom WAS Disney world. I guess everywhere else was just something "else" to him. They had it decorated for Halloween and it was very festive.So we got the official picture in front of the castle and split up. We went to get Mickey Hats and treats for the boys, then saw a show at the Castle, then got dinner, then rode Pirates of the Caribbean.

The others rode Pirates of the Caribbean and had a more relaxed dinner. We all met up to see the light parade, Spectromagic, which was wonderful. We had a great view, and there was a nice breeze as well. After that, we went over to the front of the castle for "Wishes," the fireworks show they have there every night. I can't say much about the show, but it was probably good. Things got crazy as soon as it started. It was raining, E's diaper gave way and ruined his outfit, and it was just really late. After shopping with a near-naked two year old in hopes of waiting for crowds to die down, we stood in the steaming line for the bus, and there was this guy with BO that was about killing everyone. Good times. Needless to say, we had another early morning the next day and it was a very short night.

We interrupt this Vacation report with real life

Okay, I haven't had time to finish about our trip, but I can't keep going on without saying something about what's going on now!

Big news- E is toilet trained (at least in the day) He did this of his own accord, and ON our trip! DH and I decided we deserved something with him to be easy, since he still doesn't sleep all night and is crazy hyper. Anyway, here's a cute undies only shot of him playing trucks.



My older son has now been 4 for a whole week! Happy late birthday M. He had a bash like no other with a pirate theme. A great time was had by all. We ate a treasure chest and dug for pirate treasure in the sand. He also got lunch with Grammy & Pops and dinner with Grandma & Grandpa. Of course, the traditional cake for breakfast here at home. Spoiled kid!
We are still working on learning to conquer the fear of the 2-wheeler. He will ride it, but if there's even the SLIGHTEST hint of an angle downhill, he freaks and stops. I took him for his checkup, and was really surprised that he is in the 75th per. for weight. He looks so skinny, esp. next to E. He's still 50th for height, as he's been pretty much since 6 mos. Maybe he's putting on weight to get ready to shoot up again.

We went to the Gateway a few days after we got back from our trip and saw the Circus Parade. It was fun.




Other than those, I've been really busy with the Primary Program coming up, preschool was here last week, M's party, some family stuff, and we're all sick, or have been sick, this past several days. I'll try to keep going on the trip as I get time. I don't know if you want all those details about our trip, but it's like a journal for me, so that's why it's kinda long.