The REAL Epcot day! We got to the park fairly close to opening, and headed right to The Seas, one of our favorite places here. We went on the Nemo ride (a favorite of our crew) and then to Turtle Talk with Crush (another huge favorite of ours). We spent sometime in the aquarium (we love visiting aquariums on vacay, really..) and just took it easy.
After The Seas, we had a little time before our Fast Passes started. Ry and I took the boys to Mission Space. Fun ride! We did the green level, but I wish we'd tried orange. The kids really got into it and we played along.
We then split up, Ry and Dave took the boys to Test Track to use FP+'s and I took the girls to Morocco to see Jasmine. Amelia LOVES Jasmine, and was excited to meet her. We waited in line, and when it was her turn.... she REFUSED to even go near her. Wouldn't talk to her, wouldn't go anywhere near her. Well that was fun! HAHA!
We met back up with the guys and then walked around the different countries. We've NEVER walked around the countries as a family. The last time I'd done all that was when I came to Disney with my grandma and aunt in ohhh 1991?? It was all pretty familiar, but it was so neat to explore it again. Not sure I'd do it if we were on a time crunch, because it really is just a bunch of food places but the atmosphere is great. I got a picture of the kids in each world, so that'll be cute to have :)
In Japan, Hudson had some issues.... he's had a lot of tantrums and stuff this trip. He seems to be having a hard time with changes and we're going through this regression stage right now. UGH. I let the kids pick out some cute chopsticks (that are easy for kids to use... they have some at home they use to eat soup and some foods with just to make eating fun, so I thought it'd be neat to let them pick out a new pair). They picked out their chopsticks and then we came upon these little glass owls that were different colors.... they were supposed to bring luck, wealth, happiness... etc.... Hudson wanted one BADLY. They were $5. Nope. He asked if he could put the chopsticks back and get the owl instead. I told him no, because I was offering to buy the chopsticks and it wasn't a trade. He got pissed. I gave him the option to get the chopsticks or nothing. He chose the chopsticks. At the register, I paid and then took the bag and told the kids that the chopsticks go in the stroller and we are not taking them out until we get home. He threw a tantrum, stomping and saying this is stupid. I calmly turned to the cashier and took out his chopsticks and told her I needed to return them. She looked at me like I was crazy. I returned them right there, 2 seconds after buying them. GRAR. He was pissed, and fumed for quite awhile. (At the next world, I gave the kids pennies to throw in a water fountain to make wishes. He said "Guess what I wished for, Mom." I suggested "A better attitude? Or did you wish for a new family?" HAHAHAH! He said he wished for a pet parakeet for Christmas. HA! Fat chance!)
We had lunch at Via Napoli Restaurant (ok that's not the name but that's what I can remember of the name). Italian food. Delish! I love Italian food though!
We ended the day back at the pool. We didn't leave the park until 4pm or so, so I figured it was too late to try to nap. We all had so much fun at the pool. The kids swam until dark. We grabbed food at the cafe and ate by the pool. At dark they set up an inflatable movie screen and played Big Hero 6. The boys watched for a bit and then headed back to the room for bed.
Showing posts with label Disney World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disney World. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Disney Day 4
Magic Kingdom
The morning I don't want to speak of because it started out SO crappy.
We had 8:15 reservations at Akershus for Princess Breakfast. I should have known this was a stupid idea. Of COURSE we were running late. Everyone was cranky as we left the villa. We got to Epcot and I thought things were fine... we made it a few minutes late for our ressies and was sat within 5 minutes or so.
It just kind of went downhill from here. Eloise was in the carrier and as I took her out to put her in a high chair I realized she was soaked. The carrier was soaked. How did this happen? ACK. So, after we attempted to squeeze into the smallest area possible for an 8 person table (the back corner of the room, with like 12" between the table and the wall), Ryan then had to finagle the backpack in that small area to find the diapers and wipes. I took Eloise to the bathroom and realized we had ONE diaper left for the entire day at the park. As I was washing her pants in the sink I heard the cute little Princess procession outside in the dining room where the girls were dancing with the princesses. Of course I'd miss this part of our breakfast.
Grumpy, I returned to the table in about tears.... being stupid emotional about a rotten morning. I tried to keep in mind it was just a few bad things. Our day would be fine. Breakfast was good, our server was great. There was another Princess Procession but Amelia really didn't want to participate again. The princesses came around and Amelia refused to even get out of her seat to see them. The princesses didn't disappoint though... they knelt down near her and had little conversations with her. Sleeping Beauty discussed her blue dress (cinderella) and talked to her about her fairy godmothers and how Merrywhether loves blue and that her dress used to be blue before one of her fairy godmothers changed it to pink. Arielle noticed Amelia's Rapunzel hat and ditzily grabbed, giggling, and said "Oh what a fun hat! It reminds me of a sea shell hee hee hee!" They truly play the part so well! She DID stand next to Cinderella because they were wearing the same dress :)
After breakfast, we headed to Magic Kingdom to use Fast Passes there. I didn't plan out this day too well... I wish I'd made it an Epcot day but unfortunately I planned our Fast Passes before all of our meals I think, so everything didn't coordinate that well. On our way in we watched a few minutes of the Dream Along with Mickey performance. We've seen it before, so the boys couldn't care less. Amelia watched a few minutes and then went back to picking up sticks in the landscaping.
Most of the morning Ryan was crabby and negative. I tried to offset that but the boys were being moody, Hudson was throwing tantrums about everything and I pretty much was done once Amelia refused to take a picture in front of Rapunzel's tower. You can only attempt to offset negative moods for so long before you explode. I sent the boys on Thunder Mountain and the girls and I just walked around. They both fell asleep, probably much needed, and I got a Diet Coke and ate some gummies and chilled in a quiet spot and people watched.
After some chill time, I rode Thunder Mountain with Ry, Porter and Hudson and by then the girls woke up. We all had ice cream, went on the Jungle Cruise (a first for us), and that was so well narrated. Our guide was hilarious. Like... he was sarcastic and funny and we LOVED him. The cruise itsself was a bit cheesy but the kids enjoyed it and the adults enjoyed the guide HAHA!
We at lunch at Cosmic Ray's in Tomorrowland... pretty decent food and selection. Afterward, we decided to head back to the hotel to nap. We stopped and got cake pops and caught some of the Festival of Fantasy Parade. It was AMAZING. I always avoid the parades and shows because I hate hate hate crowds. But... I kind of wish we'd gotten good seats for this. We could see a good part of it but there were so many people in front of us.
At the hotel, we attempted to rest. The boys all slept but Amelia didn't at all. I decided to nix our idea to go back to the park and instead head to the pool. It was too chilly for me to get in a suit, but the kids didn't care. They swam for a bit and had a blast. I think some chill time was just what we needed. We went back to the room and had crabby kids again. I heated up some leftovers, we tossed the kids in bed and then Ry and Dave went to the cafe and brought back dinner for us adults. WHEW.
I'm glad this grumpy day is over.
The morning I don't want to speak of because it started out SO crappy.
We had 8:15 reservations at Akershus for Princess Breakfast. I should have known this was a stupid idea. Of COURSE we were running late. Everyone was cranky as we left the villa. We got to Epcot and I thought things were fine... we made it a few minutes late for our ressies and was sat within 5 minutes or so.
It just kind of went downhill from here. Eloise was in the carrier and as I took her out to put her in a high chair I realized she was soaked. The carrier was soaked. How did this happen? ACK. So, after we attempted to squeeze into the smallest area possible for an 8 person table (the back corner of the room, with like 12" between the table and the wall), Ryan then had to finagle the backpack in that small area to find the diapers and wipes. I took Eloise to the bathroom and realized we had ONE diaper left for the entire day at the park. As I was washing her pants in the sink I heard the cute little Princess procession outside in the dining room where the girls were dancing with the princesses. Of course I'd miss this part of our breakfast.
Grumpy, I returned to the table in about tears.... being stupid emotional about a rotten morning. I tried to keep in mind it was just a few bad things. Our day would be fine. Breakfast was good, our server was great. There was another Princess Procession but Amelia really didn't want to participate again. The princesses came around and Amelia refused to even get out of her seat to see them. The princesses didn't disappoint though... they knelt down near her and had little conversations with her. Sleeping Beauty discussed her blue dress (cinderella) and talked to her about her fairy godmothers and how Merrywhether loves blue and that her dress used to be blue before one of her fairy godmothers changed it to pink. Arielle noticed Amelia's Rapunzel hat and ditzily grabbed, giggling, and said "Oh what a fun hat! It reminds me of a sea shell hee hee hee!" They truly play the part so well! She DID stand next to Cinderella because they were wearing the same dress :)
After breakfast, we headed to Magic Kingdom to use Fast Passes there. I didn't plan out this day too well... I wish I'd made it an Epcot day but unfortunately I planned our Fast Passes before all of our meals I think, so everything didn't coordinate that well. On our way in we watched a few minutes of the Dream Along with Mickey performance. We've seen it before, so the boys couldn't care less. Amelia watched a few minutes and then went back to picking up sticks in the landscaping.
Most of the morning Ryan was crabby and negative. I tried to offset that but the boys were being moody, Hudson was throwing tantrums about everything and I pretty much was done once Amelia refused to take a picture in front of Rapunzel's tower. You can only attempt to offset negative moods for so long before you explode. I sent the boys on Thunder Mountain and the girls and I just walked around. They both fell asleep, probably much needed, and I got a Diet Coke and ate some gummies and chilled in a quiet spot and people watched.
After some chill time, I rode Thunder Mountain with Ry, Porter and Hudson and by then the girls woke up. We all had ice cream, went on the Jungle Cruise (a first for us), and that was so well narrated. Our guide was hilarious. Like... he was sarcastic and funny and we LOVED him. The cruise itsself was a bit cheesy but the kids enjoyed it and the adults enjoyed the guide HAHA!
We at lunch at Cosmic Ray's in Tomorrowland... pretty decent food and selection. Afterward, we decided to head back to the hotel to nap. We stopped and got cake pops and caught some of the Festival of Fantasy Parade. It was AMAZING. I always avoid the parades and shows because I hate hate hate crowds. But... I kind of wish we'd gotten good seats for this. We could see a good part of it but there were so many people in front of us.
At the hotel, we attempted to rest. The boys all slept but Amelia didn't at all. I decided to nix our idea to go back to the park and instead head to the pool. It was too chilly for me to get in a suit, but the kids didn't care. They swam for a bit and had a blast. I think some chill time was just what we needed. We went back to the room and had crabby kids again. I heated up some leftovers, we tossed the kids in bed and then Ry and Dave went to the cafe and brought back dinner for us adults. WHEW.
I'm glad this grumpy day is over.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Disney Day 3
Everyone slept in today until 8am or so. Our destination today was Hollywood Studios.
First ride: Toy Story Midway Mania. I swear, we could ride this a hundred times. We all love it! We had a FP+ for it adn by the time we were out, the standby line was already at 70 minutes. Craziness.
We hopped over to meet Buzz and Woody. Amelia was wearing her Jessie dress today so I thought that'd make a cute picture. There was a little boy in line near us wearing a Woody costume and they were playing peek a boo in line and it was SO adorable!
Amelia, though she is SO outgoing and SO fearless.... is FREAKED OUT by the characters! Thursday when I took her to meet Ariel she shoved her blanket in her mouth and refused to look at her. Same deal with Buzz and Woody. Wouldn't even look at the camera. Boo! Oh well. She's cute anyway!
We had early lunch reservations, which was probably nice since we had a super light lunch on the run. We ate at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. LOVED the hilarious atmosphere and the service.... made you feel like you were back in teh 50's. Their food was probably great, but more like dinner "comfort food" (think pot roast, pot pie, fish, meatloaf, fried chicken), so I had a chicken caesar salad. Our meal came with a drink, milkshake, entree and dessert. Woohoo!
Other attractions we visited today:
Frozen Sing Along Celebration: Amelia LOVED this. It was really cute and I'd definitely do it again.
Little Mermaid show: This was ehhh... short. I probably would skip it unless Amelia requested to see it again.
The boys did the Indiana Jones show, rode the Star Wars ride and Porter tried to sign up for the Jedi training but got on the wait list. Let me tell you... the Star Wars area was INSANE today. GAH!
Honey I Shrunk the Kids play place: CROWDED AS ALL GET OUT! I've never seen it this busy. We let the kids play for about 10 minutes and by then I couldn't wait to get out of there. Pure madness.
The people on this trip... oh my gosh... we're all just kind of flabbergasted at how so many adults can be so completely wrapped up in themselves that they are literally running into people, not watching where they're going or even looking around them, cutting in front of people, tripping over kids (which isn't hard to do at Disney but there have been some pretty blatant "I'm not even paying attention and walking right OVER your stroller" incidences). Yesterday we were getting on Its A Small World and were LITERALLY walking into the gate and this asian (frick... what's the PC term??) couple and their daughter shoved past us. Mind you... there was NO line. The husband had a suit on. He was the one to shove by Ryan and Porter. The wife and daughter followed. We looked at each other like..WTF... so did the Cast Member who was standing there. They continued to rush through the lanes (where there were no people) and then caught up to the people ahead of us (like 50 feet or so) who were casually walking to the ride and the rude family CUT in front of them too! I couldn't believe it. We've encountered some of the rudest people ever. Insane.
Ry, Hudson and Dave did the Tower of Terror. Hudson was hilarious afterward. I guess there's a story about the Twilight Zone and how a family died etc... and he was like "YES I was SCARED! There was a family that was KILLED in that elevator! I thought I was going to DIE!" So hilarious.
We ate dinner at Hollywood and Vine. DELICIOUS! Characters came around to the tables, so the kids got autographs and some pictures. It was a buffet and it was AWESOME! I'd definitely do this place again!
We planned on heading to the 7pm Fantasmic (and even had special seating that came with our dinner reservations) but didn't make it so we headed home early. Tomorrow morning we have 8:15am reservations at Akershus for Princess Breakfast!
First ride: Toy Story Midway Mania. I swear, we could ride this a hundred times. We all love it! We had a FP+ for it adn by the time we were out, the standby line was already at 70 minutes. Craziness.
We hopped over to meet Buzz and Woody. Amelia was wearing her Jessie dress today so I thought that'd make a cute picture. There was a little boy in line near us wearing a Woody costume and they were playing peek a boo in line and it was SO adorable!
Amelia, though she is SO outgoing and SO fearless.... is FREAKED OUT by the characters! Thursday when I took her to meet Ariel she shoved her blanket in her mouth and refused to look at her. Same deal with Buzz and Woody. Wouldn't even look at the camera. Boo! Oh well. She's cute anyway!
We had early lunch reservations, which was probably nice since we had a super light lunch on the run. We ate at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. LOVED the hilarious atmosphere and the service.... made you feel like you were back in teh 50's. Their food was probably great, but more like dinner "comfort food" (think pot roast, pot pie, fish, meatloaf, fried chicken), so I had a chicken caesar salad. Our meal came with a drink, milkshake, entree and dessert. Woohoo!
Other attractions we visited today:
Frozen Sing Along Celebration: Amelia LOVED this. It was really cute and I'd definitely do it again.
Little Mermaid show: This was ehhh... short. I probably would skip it unless Amelia requested to see it again.
The boys did the Indiana Jones show, rode the Star Wars ride and Porter tried to sign up for the Jedi training but got on the wait list. Let me tell you... the Star Wars area was INSANE today. GAH!
Honey I Shrunk the Kids play place: CROWDED AS ALL GET OUT! I've never seen it this busy. We let the kids play for about 10 minutes and by then I couldn't wait to get out of there. Pure madness.
The people on this trip... oh my gosh... we're all just kind of flabbergasted at how so many adults can be so completely wrapped up in themselves that they are literally running into people, not watching where they're going or even looking around them, cutting in front of people, tripping over kids (which isn't hard to do at Disney but there have been some pretty blatant "I'm not even paying attention and walking right OVER your stroller" incidences). Yesterday we were getting on Its A Small World and were LITERALLY walking into the gate and this asian (frick... what's the PC term??) couple and their daughter shoved past us. Mind you... there was NO line. The husband had a suit on. He was the one to shove by Ryan and Porter. The wife and daughter followed. We looked at each other like..WTF... so did the Cast Member who was standing there. They continued to rush through the lanes (where there were no people) and then caught up to the people ahead of us (like 50 feet or so) who were casually walking to the ride and the rude family CUT in front of them too! I couldn't believe it. We've encountered some of the rudest people ever. Insane.
Ry, Hudson and Dave did the Tower of Terror. Hudson was hilarious afterward. I guess there's a story about the Twilight Zone and how a family died etc... and he was like "YES I was SCARED! There was a family that was KILLED in that elevator! I thought I was going to DIE!" So hilarious.
We ate dinner at Hollywood and Vine. DELICIOUS! Characters came around to the tables, so the kids got autographs and some pictures. It was a buffet and it was AWESOME! I'd definitely do this place again!
We planned on heading to the 7pm Fantasmic (and even had special seating that came with our dinner reservations) but didn't make it so we headed home early. Tomorrow morning we have 8:15am reservations at Akershus for Princess Breakfast!
Disney Day 2
Last night we ended up heading out to The Springs (aka Downtown Disney) and spent a couple hours there. We mainly shopped, pin traded, checked out the Lego Store and ate overpriced soft serve ice cream.
Porter, ahhh let me tell you what a wet blanket he's been. He has that pre-teen attitude through and through and it is going to make me crazy. He doesn't want to do anything. He's grumpy about everything. He's arguing with everyone. He's disgruntled about everything. AUGHGH. Its kind of sad to me that he's not really feelin' the Disney magic this trip :(. Though when I think about it... he doesn't like to ride roller coasters, and he is too old for "baby" rides.... so yeah, it might be a bit boring. There is SO many other things to ride and do and see, so I don't know.... I just wish he'd be happy and excited for one stinking day.
Animal Kingdom was on our agenda today, with one of our meal plan reservations at Rainforest Cafe.
We all got up and around kind of late, so we weren't at the park right when they opened. Not a huge deal since we had our FP+ set up already. It was chilly this morning and I was glad we all wore sweatshirts/sweaters. Amelia woke up not feeling so hot (she's been fighting this cough for the past 4 or 5 days) and was so grumpy. She has been so uncooperative lately, which isn't typically like her and it is DRIVING me nuts.
Ryan's dad hasn't been to Disney since 1993, so he's never seen Animal Kingdom. We stopped by the Tree of Life first and took some pictures, and spent some time searching for animals. Then we did the Tough to Be a Bug show, which is always so cute!
Call me crazy, but Animal Kingdom is probably my least favorite world??? Anyone else? Maybe because the activities seem similar to a zoo and we can do that anytime? I don't know. After the Bug Show Ry, Dave and Hudson used FP+'s on Expedition Everest. Porter refused to go. Hudson has gone on it before (when he was 6 I believe was the first time) and had no fear. Ryan did say that partway through teh ride he was scared and screaming "Mama mama mama!"
After Everest, we made it into Finding Nemo, The Musical (we had a FP+ for later but walked right in at the 11:00 show!). This is one of my all time favorite shows at Disney. I think it's so adorable!
We had about 15 minutes before our Kilimanjaro Safari Fast Pass, so we walked the Pangani Forest Trail. I feel like we always skip this because, again, it's like the zoo. It was a nice little walk, though, and the naked mole rats are SO dang cute!
The Safari ride was great, though our tour guide wasn't all that enthusiastic. We were able to see the giraffes SO close to the truck! Lots of great animal sightings today.
Lunch was at Rainforest Cafe. We used one of our table service dining selections and LET ME TELL YOU it was so worth it. Adults got one entree, a non-alcoholic beverage and a dessert. Kids got their kids meal and a dessert. Helloooo overpriced, delicious steak! Each day we use the meal plan we realize how awesome it truly is.
We were stuffed after lunch, and pretty much done with Animal Kingdom. We never really do Dino Land, so we skipped out on that and headed back to the hotel. Everyone (except Porter) napped, and got up around 5:45 or so. We decided to go back to Magic Kingdom, since they were open until 11pm.
Porter, ahhh let me tell you what a wet blanket he's been. He has that pre-teen attitude through and through and it is going to make me crazy. He doesn't want to do anything. He's grumpy about everything. He's arguing with everyone. He's disgruntled about everything. AUGHGH. Its kind of sad to me that he's not really feelin' the Disney magic this trip :(. Though when I think about it... he doesn't like to ride roller coasters, and he is too old for "baby" rides.... so yeah, it might be a bit boring. There is SO many other things to ride and do and see, so I don't know.... I just wish he'd be happy and excited for one stinking day.
Back to our evening plans.... We got back to Magic Kingdom around ohhh 7:30 or 8? We headed to Fantasyland and the kids rode the Barnstormer. This was Amelia's first roller coaster and she LOVED it. I can't wait to share the pic I got of her on it. Grin a mile wide! Porter rode on it with us and he had a great time, too. YAY! We rode Dumbo, too, and tried to get on the carousel but apparently they close that down when the fireworks show starts. We rode Its a Small World for the first time ever. I'm not kidding. When we came to WDW in 2013 it was closed for refurbishment. In Disneyland last year, it was closed. So, we've ran into bad luck with it! I LOVED it... it is so so cute! I could have went through a few more times :)
We watched the fireworks from Fantasyland and then headed to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Everyone rode on that even though Porter tried to psych himself out after reading that it had a "14 foot drop" HAHA!
On our way out we caught the last bit of the castle show and fireworks. I adore the castle projection show! I want to try to get to it another time this week to see the whole thing. Just as we were leaving, they started setting stuff up for the Electrical Parade. It started in 10 minutes, at 11pm, so we decided (much to Porter's dismay) to stay since we were already there and could park literally RIGHT near the exit. We watched the show and then turned around and walked out! SWEET!
We watched the fireworks from Fantasyland and then headed to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Everyone rode on that even though Porter tried to psych himself out after reading that it had a "14 foot drop" HAHA!
On our way out we caught the last bit of the castle show and fireworks. I adore the castle projection show! I want to try to get to it another time this week to see the whole thing. Just as we were leaving, they started setting stuff up for the Electrical Parade. It started in 10 minutes, at 11pm, so we decided (much to Porter's dismay) to stay since we were already there and could park literally RIGHT near the exit. We watched the show and then turned around and walked out! SWEET!
We didn't get back to the hotel until around midnight. Amelia fell asleep on the bus! It was a long night.... Not sure we could do too many of those!
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Disney Day 1
First off.... I have to brag on my kids. I was nervous about traveling with 4. FOUR. But you know what? I was so proud of how go with the flow they have been. We finagled the airport, grabbed some dinner at Chick Fil A (WHY DON'T WE HAVE MORE OF THESE IN MICHIGAN??) and made it on the plane with a double stroller. Porter and Amelia claimed seats next to me. Ran into a hitch when Hudson realized his seat was across the aisle from Ryan, and he had to sit next to STRANGERS! Then, after we're all on the plane and back in row Timbuktu 46 and 47, Ryan realizes he left my camera back sitting out by the gate... with my new Mark III camera and 2 Canon L lenses in it. ACKKKK! He had to dodge past people to get back off the plane and then the stewardess chased after him because he was running off the plane. Kind of hilarious. Anyhow, the flight was great- the last half hour was a little iffy but for the most part the kids stayed entertained with the iPad and Delta's awesome back of the seat screens and new Usborne activity books. Eloise fell asleep and slept most of the flight. I adore the excitement that Hudson and Amelia had about flying. They were so excited to fly and to go to Disney!
This trip is our first staying on property at Disney World. (Last year we did stay on site at Disneyland at the Grand Californian and it was amazing and so convenient... but Disneyland is a world of different from WDW. The entire park, Downtown Disney and hotels are ALL convenient. Convenient is NOT a word I'd use to describe any part of Disney World, even though they have so many accommodations to attempt to make the massive distance between parks and resorts convenient).
ANYHOW.... back to this being our first on property trip. It's also our first time using the Dining Plan and having the wrist bands and utilizing all of the Disney transportation. The Magical Express from the airport was great. It was very easy to get to, get assigned to our bus and to get to the hotel. We are staying at the Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa in a 2 bedroom Villa. Check-in was easy and we lucked out with a building really close to the main part of the resort. (Originally we were going to book the 3 bedroom Treehouse Suite at Saratoga Springs but realized they were quite a ways out of the way from the restaurants and any main part of the resort. I do hope to try those out in the future, maybe when we have zero kids in strollers).
The 2 bedroom villa is perfect. The bathrooms are huge, the bedrooms are great and so soundproof, and it has a washer and dryer in the unit as well as a kitchen. PERFECTION. The resort isn't "cutesy" and that's one thing I kind of wish it was, but I'm ok trading that for all the convenience. Last visit here in 2013 we checked out the Art of Animation and the resort is SO SO adorable. I really really wanted to make that resort work but we'd have had to book 2 rooms for our group and there wouldn't have been a full kitchen nor washer and dryer. We ended up at Saratoga Springs and so far, its great!
Last night when we arrived, we were all starving. It was 10pm and we headed down to the quick service restaurant. We realized that since we were staying that night, we had food credits for that day. We each picked out a meal (they're around $10 a pop for meals) and we got the refillable travel mugs ($16.99 each) with the meal plan. THEN they told us we got 2 quick service snacks for teh day as well... and it could be ANYTHING from their huge snack area. Cups of fresh fruit, desserts, rice crispy snacks, coleslaw, bakery goods... WHAT THE WHAT? We picked out 6 things of fresh fruit and ended up bringing them back to the room to eat later. This seals the deal... I'm ALL ABOUT the dining plan. That quick service meal alone would have been $100!
This morning we had breakfast at Ohana with Lilo and Stitch. The kids were SO excited and adore Stitch. I was hoping for a buffet like we had at Goofy's Kitchen in Disneyland, but it was food brought to our table. They bring out this yummy bread, and then these HUGE 2' round bowls with waffles and bacon and sausage and biscuits and scrambled eggs. Super super convenient. The kids loved the characters. Hudson was over the moon that he got to meet Stitch ;)
We went to Magic Kingdom after breakfast. We had fast passes for a few rides already set up. We rode the Little Mermaid and then the teacups, and then it started to rain. The boys did Tomorrowland Speedway while I took the girls to see Ariel and then to hop on the mermaid ride (again). By the time we were done it was just about pouring. The boys rode Stitch's Adventures and by the end I was ready to head back to the hotel. It was pouring rain and it was making me (and everyone else) crabby.
On our way back to the bus, we got a chance to see the Rainy Day Main Street Parade (not official name HAHA!). The normal parade was cancelled, and they made a big announcement. Then, music came on all the speakers and all these singers and dancers came out in rain boots and raincoats and danced and splashed in puddles. It was adorable! I guess that's an up side to the rain, right?
Back at our room, we threw clothes in the dryer (WOOT WOOT for the villa amenities!) and the boys all went to get lunch while I'm blogging and Amelia is crashed out napping. It's supposed to rain the rest of the day, but the rest of our week looks pretty darn clear! YAY! So, today we'll lay low here at the resort and maybe hit up The Springs (aka... Downtown Disney) via the water taxi. We'll see.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
diy Disney trading pin mini zip up book
Last year when we went to Disney World, I made the kids lanyards and ordered them some trading pins off eBay. We all had fun trading pins with the cast members, but I didn't realize how much the boys remembered (or cared) about it until we pulled out our pins the other day in anticipation of our January trip this year. They remembered pins they had, and traded, and had favorites and ones they wanted to collect more of. (Who am I kidding... Ryan and I are kind of excited about finding new pins this trip too!).
The lanyards were not a favorite of the boys. Maybe they'll like to pick a favorite or two and wear on their lanyard, but for the most part, the lanyards rode in a pocket in the stroller.
When preparing for our first big family trip to Disney in Dec 2013, I totally cracked up when I heard people had huge binders of pins. And then after the lanyards weren't a favorite, I thought.... Hmmmm it would be nice to have a zip up mini book. So I decided to make one.
I searched Pinterest and found a few ideas and kind of modified my own book. It really was quite easy!
I bought 4 sheets of the stiff felt at JoAnn (the sheets were legal paper sized). They were $1.19 each I think? 2 sheets per kiddo.
I also bought two Case Logic zip up cd cases that hold 32 cd's from Best Buy. They were $9.99 each. I carefully took scissors and snipped the threads that attached the cd holder to the outside casing.
I traced the cd case insert onto the stiff felt and cut it out. I ended up using 4 of these templates per book.
I sewed together the 4 sheets of felt. I put two lines of stitching down the middle.
I used a super duty craft glue (E-6000) to glue the sewed felt to the cd case. I clamped them down with clampers (pic not shown, and also clampers is not the actual name of them I'm sure). I let the clamps and glue sit overnight.
And here we go..... Ready for pins! The first two pages I wrote "TRADE" on the top so the boys could keep the pins on those pages that they are willing to trade. The rest of the pages I helped them organize by theme/character/set etc.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
I've come to the conclusion....
This was my 4th trip to Disney. I went as a child, when I was around 10. I went again as a senior in high school. My 3rd trip was when Porter was around 16 months old (and in June, when it was 104* ouch!!!).
While I think Disney is great, and fun, I've never been a die hard Disney addict--- I'd much rather be on the beach relaxing for vacation. Disney--- Disney isn't a vacation. Is it just me that thinks that??
This trip was the first I'd really done a lot of planning for. I researched and scheduled and read up on things and got super excited about the trip. I was really actually thinking maybe this trip would turn us… that we'd fall in love and want to come back every year.
Uhm, no.
I've come to the conclusion that I don't love Disney as much as I *wish* I loved Disney.
While we've had a great vacation, I'm just not feeling the love, ya know? The kids whine about walking, they're tired, it's too hot, they keep asking to go back to the condo to the pool. Blah blah blah. I know they're having a great time and they're really enjoying the trip, but it surely hasn't been this over-the-top-magical-insanely-breathtaking vacation.
Maybe there are just certain people made for crowds, and lines and busy-ness. I'm not one of them HAHAH! Give me a tiny beach town away from the hustle and bustle and that's the perfect vacation for me!
I will say, however, we DID look into the Disney Vacation Club while we were there. Not because you can visit Disney World but because they have locations all over the world (over 500 resorts I believe??) and you buy in for $15k (make a down payment and then pay off over 10 years) and get annual stays at resorts for 50 years. It really is a great deal, especially to be able to stay at the freak-frackin expensive resorts. Points roll over for up to 3 years, and you can even sell them for up to $5k+ for the pricey resorts during prime season. Not that its something we're going to do right away but we're on our way to getting student loans paid off (thuuuaaaankkk you Young Living!) and this might be something we look into in the near future!
My decision on Disney is possibly this.... while we loved the freedom of having a rental car and not being limited to taking busses and such back to the hotel, I think if/when we go back to Disney (because we'll surely go back by the time Amelia is 5/6 or so.... if not sooner??) we will stay on site and do less days at the parks. I was really bummed that Porter spent most of the day whining to go back to the condo and swim and do the g.d. arcade. I think if we were to plan a 7 day vacay, do 4 days at the park (2 at Magic Kingdom and then 2 at say, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom or something) and then leave the other 3 days for relaxing at the pool and doing things at the resort. I don't like the idea of the COST of this... even at the cheap ass economy resorts with teensy tiny hotel room accommodations its still freakin' expensive compared to renting a 1200sq ft 2 bedroom 2 bath condo. We are contemplating a trip in another 2 years... maybe if we go with less days at the park it'll be more fun? I doubt it but... maybe. HAHA!
While I think Disney is great, and fun, I've never been a die hard Disney addict--- I'd much rather be on the beach relaxing for vacation. Disney--- Disney isn't a vacation. Is it just me that thinks that??
This trip was the first I'd really done a lot of planning for. I researched and scheduled and read up on things and got super excited about the trip. I was really actually thinking maybe this trip would turn us… that we'd fall in love and want to come back every year.
Uhm, no.
I've come to the conclusion that I don't love Disney as much as I *wish* I loved Disney.
Maybe there are just certain people made for crowds, and lines and busy-ness. I'm not one of them HAHAH! Give me a tiny beach town away from the hustle and bustle and that's the perfect vacation for me!
I will say, however, we DID look into the Disney Vacation Club while we were there. Not because you can visit Disney World but because they have locations all over the world (over 500 resorts I believe??) and you buy in for $15k (make a down payment and then pay off over 10 years) and get annual stays at resorts for 50 years. It really is a great deal, especially to be able to stay at the freak-frackin expensive resorts. Points roll over for up to 3 years, and you can even sell them for up to $5k+ for the pricey resorts during prime season. Not that its something we're going to do right away but we're on our way to getting student loans paid off (thuuuaaaankkk you Young Living!) and this might be something we look into in the near future!
My decision on Disney is possibly this.... while we loved the freedom of having a rental car and not being limited to taking busses and such back to the hotel, I think if/when we go back to Disney (because we'll surely go back by the time Amelia is 5/6 or so.... if not sooner??) we will stay on site and do less days at the parks. I was really bummed that Porter spent most of the day whining to go back to the condo and swim and do the g.d. arcade. I think if we were to plan a 7 day vacay, do 4 days at the park (2 at Magic Kingdom and then 2 at say, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom or something) and then leave the other 3 days for relaxing at the pool and doing things at the resort. I don't like the idea of the COST of this... even at the cheap ass economy resorts with teensy tiny hotel room accommodations its still freakin' expensive compared to renting a 1200sq ft 2 bedroom 2 bath condo. We are contemplating a trip in another 2 years... maybe if we go with less days at the park it'll be more fun? I doubt it but... maybe. HAHA!
Disney Day 6: Resort Tour
We bought 6 day passes to Disney but on our last day we couldn't muster up the energy to go back to one of the parks. The thoughts of walking in the sun all day, and standing in lines, and pushing a stroller and wrangling kids and quieting whining... bleh. It was also my birthday, so I got to call the shots.
First off we all slept in. We needed it! (Well... wait... I bet my kids were up early with my mom, but she is awesome and I got to sleep in!). Then I thought it'd be fun to go check out some of the resorts. The main one I'd been interested in was Art of Animation so... we headed there!
I kid you not.... I think this was the happiest I'd seen the boys all week- posing with all the different Cars characters! What. the. hell.
First off we all slept in. We needed it! (Well... wait... I bet my kids were up early with my mom, but she is awesome and I got to sleep in!). Then I thought it'd be fun to go check out some of the resorts. The main one I'd been interested in was Art of Animation so... we headed there!
I kid you not.... I think this was the happiest I'd seen the boys all week- posing with all the different Cars characters! What. the. hell.
Ryan also surprised me with Cirque du Soleil tickets for that evening! I was SO excited, and really couldn't believe it! I've wanted to see Cirque for quite awhile but could never justify the expense of the tickets. Well, our motto this week was "We don't do Disney often..." We were going to eat out afterwards but the kids were really excited to eat dinner with me on my birthday so we all headed to Applebees before Ry and I hit the town.
Cirque du Soleil was AWESOME! We had great seats--- the stage was like less than 10 rows away. I loved the performance. Just amazing. Afterward we walked around Downtown Disney enjoying a kid-free evening and then headed back to the condo. I'd forgotten I really wanted to check out the outlets too, but oh well!
Disney Day 5: Back to Magic Kingdom
Monday we went back to Magic Kingdom. Our plan for this day was to hang out until a bit after lunch, then head back to the condo to nap for the afternoon and then go back to MK for the parade and fireworks at night.
My mom stayed back at the condo for the morning trip to Magic Kingdom. The weather was great- not too hot at all (I'd say mid 70's in the morning??) and the crowds were VERY low, despite hearing that Mondays were a busy day for MK. We did arrive early- we were in time to see the welcoming show before they opened the gates to Magic Kingdom. The characters came in on the train and they sang and danced. It was great!
Since we didn't get to ride Peter Pan on Thursday, Ryan headed straight there once we got inside. The kids and I took our time wandering Main Street trying to figure out where the characters were going to be so we could see them. Turns out the disperse all throughout the lands of Magic Kingdom so we decided to head back and meet Ryan in Fantasyland.
The castle was closed on Thursday when we were there (I think possibly because of the Mickey's Christmas Party that was Thursday night??). We were able to walk through the castle and decided to hop in line to meet some of the Princesses. Amelia really doesn't know who they are right now, but we did prep the boys in the past 2 months by watching all sorts of old Disney movies. They were super shy meeting the princesses and really didn't want to get near them.
Amelia was so darling with Cinderella! She did this funny little quirk she has when she's nervous and plays with her fingers. All of the princesses were great in character. Amelia high-fived them and Snow White says "Oh you can give high fives! I've been trying to teach Dopey that for months!"
Amelia's favorite... MINNIEEEEE!!
She passed out in Tomorrowland during the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor.
Waiting for Space Mountain!
The parade!
We came back for the night festivities. This was the last night we were able to see the parade/fireworks as the following evening was the Mickey's Christmas Party (which would have cost us $300 to attend). I'd read that for the Electric Parade we could find seats around half an hour early but.... we got there at 5:15 (the parade started at 6) and the streets were PACKED. One of the cast members told us to head to Frontierland as the crowds would be thinner and we'd find a seat, then we could move back in toward the castle for the fireworks as they fill the streets in. Seemed like a good plan at the time.
We watched the parade- awesome. Kids loved it. Then we went to head back to the castle and the streets were packed. See... the parade ended in Frontierland which meant by the time it ended for us it had been over for awhile back on Main STreet... thus the crowds had filed in and packed the streets before we even finished watching the parade. We had barely got in sight of the castle and the castle projection show started. And at this point Porter had to take a dump BAD.... he has his father's stomach and he had to get to a bathroom ASAP. Well, Ry took him so my mom, the kids and I tried to get in view of the projection show- one of THE main things I soooo wanted to watch. The crowds were awful, it was hot, sticky and claustrophobic. UGH. We barely got to see the show and then we met up with Ryan and by then the fireworks started and we were behind a tree with terrible view of the fireworks. I was bummed. Porter was whiny and wanted to go back home. We made him stick it out for a little bit while we took Hudson on Thunder Mountain Railroad one last time and then we headed home. I was disappointed that our evening was cut short. I figured Fantasyland would have low crowds since a lot of little kids head home to sleep and we'd be able to get on some of the rides quickly but Porter wanted nothing to do with it.
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