The Young Commando Takes On The World Aug 15-20 **Updated 10/6** COMPLETE About This Page:

[emtpej]

Very nice report on the FMT!

[lissybri]

Sounds like you are having a wonderful time so far. The FMT sounds great. Sorry it ended so abruptly. More please.

[PrincessSharon]

The Family Magic Tour sounds like fun, Pam (and thanks for giving some love to Goofy ). I agree that ending is a little abrupt, though. Glad you and Andrew enjoyed it!

[DawnDenise]

Just getting caught up and love the TR so far. The FMT sounds like a great time! Looking forward to more!!

[ArielsMomto2]

Great updates Pam. The FMT sounds great. I may have to look into that for next year. Hurry back. Can't wait to hear more.

[CinderAbby]

Side note: later in the week we saw workers unloading new mattresses from trucks.

I saw this twice at AS Sports when we were there (the 11th to the 19th).

It sounds like you had fun on your tour, but I remember that rainstorm. We were on our way to WL for lunch at WCC. We had decided to valet park that day and were so glad we had when the rain started.

[Lemap760]

The tour was over by 11:30. They had said it was a 2 hour tour when I booked it, so I don’t know if we were sold short or if we just rushed through it.




I had made Andrew stop in the morning for this picture.


It didn’t take Andrew and I long to figure out where to head next. Splash Mountain. We were already wet from the rain so why not. Andrew was also excited to ride his first “big” ride.


The wait was only 20 minutes so we jumped in line. We kept our ponchos on but I shouldn’t have worried about being soaked. We were in the second to last seat and we ended up just getting sprayed with water.

I had fun tricking Andrew that every drop was the big drop and screaming “This is it.” Then letting out a big scream.


We stopped to look at our picture. You couldn’t see Andrew because the guy in front of him was blocking him. So much for capturing his first big ride on film.


We went on BTMRR next. Another first big ride for Andrew. We asked the CM if we could ride in the front and he let us. Truth be told, I didn’t see him past the crowd motioning for people to move down to a certain row. When I realized my mistake he let us stay for the front since there were only 2 of us. Andrew had some problems with the noise in the beginning of the ride going up the hill but then started woo hooing when the ride really got going. Motherly instinct kicked in and I went to put my arm around him when we were going around some curves. I guess I must have underestimated Andrew's ability to not slide around in his seat. He immediately told me "DON'T WORRY!" When we got off the ride he declared it “THE BEST RIDE EVER!”.


From there we headed over to Adventure land to ride Aladin’s carpets. While waiting for this the rain started again. After a wet carpet ride, we booked it into the Tiki Room. A show was starting in a few minutes. The show was cute and a nice break from being in the rain.

While we were on the bus earlier Andrew asked if we were going to ride the monorail. I used this as my way of getting him to go to lunch. The park was getting very crowded by this point and I was ready to move on. I told Andrew it was time to go ride the monorail. First we had to stop and buy a balloon. I figured it was better to give into the balloon requests on the first day and enjoy the balloon for the next few days rather than buying it later and just having to deflate it right away.

I realize that Disney inflates the prices of everything, but $10 for a balloon is a little steep. After all it’s just a regular balloon put inside a bigger clear balloon. I made Andrew use his own money for it if it’s really what he wanted.


Now that we had our ultra expensive balloon, we headed out of the park and to the monorail. We had an ADR for the Kona Café for lunch. It was close to 2:00 and that pop tart I had earlier was long gone.

Can I see a show of hands of everyone whose kids will listen to anyone except their parents. Yes, me too.


I told Andrew numerous times to stand away from the doors of the monorail. Thank goodness there was a nervous mother in the same car as ours who told him to stand back at one point. We joked about how our kids will listen to perfect strangers but not their mothers. The woman’s daughter was sitting on the other side and pipes in “Mom, you know I’m right over here and can hear you.”


We arrived at the Poly and got off. We checked in at the Kona Café and had a few minutes to wait. From the looks of things they were quite busy. Andrew’s impatience was starting to shine through again. To make a long story short, we returned our pager and told them we wouldn’t be dining there. The hostess tried to convince Andrew to sit and eat because they have really good french fries. Ok, this was nice of the lady to try and get Andrew to cooperate a little, but he hasn't really had an interest in french fries in over 2 years. Not that I'm complaining about that. This would be the first of many ADRs that were cancelled because Andrew wasn’t willing to sit for a meal.


Now it was after 2pm and I’m hot, hungry and cranky. Not a good combination. I told Andrew that we were going back to the hotel, getting something to eat and going swimming. He seemed ok with this plan so we took the monorail back to the MK to get the bus back to Coronado.

This plan had a bit of a melt down detour when Andrew saw the boat launches and wanted to take a ride on one of the boats. I stood my ground and informed him that the boats went back to the same places that we had just stopped on the monorail and there wasn’t any reason to go on the boats. All of this was happening while trying to swim upstream again against the masses that just got off the boat and were trying to get to the MK.

We finally got to the bus stop and had a short wait. A glorious air conditioned ride later we were back at the Coronado. We dropped the massive balloon off in the room and headed for the Pepper Market.


We walked up and stood in front of the podium and the guy asked us if we would like a table. Well yeah. We’re not standing here just to admire you. Not what I said, but I sure felt like it. He seated us and left us with the “menu” and told us how the Pepper Market worked. The menu is actually just a list of what is available at each station.

Andrew had a coloring page and some crayons to keep him occupied while I got the food. When I got back to the table he had a very sad expression on his face. It turns out that the woman who was taking drink orders had taken the menu off the table and Andrew didn’t think she should have done that. Everything was fine once we explained that was her job and he was happy again once he saw I had come back with his hot dog. His hot dog came with a bag of chips and cookie. For under $5 this is a pretty good deal. I had a chicken ceasar salad which was huge. The salad was good until I found an undercooked piece of chicken in it. I was almost done with it so I didn’t complain, but I was put off by it. I was also hoping I didn’t get sick later. All the other pieces of chicken looked fine though.

No food pictures again. Sorry, I didn’t remember until it was almost gone. And let’s face it, a picture of a hot dog just isn’t exciting.

After lunch we headed back to the room and got ready for the pool. This is when we found out just how far away the dig site was from our room. We started walking and walking and walking. Oh look. There are hammocks. Andrew went to try one out and was turned off by the amount of sand on the hammock. Even after I brushed it off it was still “too dirty” and we moved on. We walked and walked and walked some more. Finally the dig site was upon us.

Andrew was fascinated by the beach volleyball court, but there were some older kids playing so we didn’t stop. We found some empty chairs over by the kiddie fountain area then headed to the slide. This slide was a lot of fun and we both went down several times.




I could tell Andrew was getting tired and having some difficulty so I told him to hop on my back. Now I had the perfect opportunity to get him with the squirting statue. Haha. I turned so that the water was spraying him on the back. He loved it. Thought it was great fun and asked me to do it again several times.

At one point I had lost my glasses in the pool. Luckily they had landed sort of on my leg so I was able to grab them rather quickly. Good thing too since I didn’t have a spare pair.

After we had enough of swimming Andrew asked if he could play in the fountain area. There were some other kids there around his age so I told him to go have fun.




Before we headed back to the room we stopped by a now empty beach volleyball set. It was funny to see Andrew try and hit the ball over the net. I don’t think he could even hit it so it got up to the bottom of the net. Of course when he realized I was taking out the camera to capture this moment I was told “no pictures”. I was soon being beckoned to come join him in the sand to hit volleyballs over the net. I served one over the net and the look of jealousy I got was priceless. Sorry kid, but I’ve had a lot of practice with high school gym class, beach parties and backyard BBQs. Plus I’m taller and stronger than you are.


After it was clear to him that there was no way he would be able to hit the ball over the net we washed the sand off our feet and headed back to the room.

After showering and getting changed we headed out to the Studios.


Up next: Will we get into Toy Story Insania?

[Griffin]

We fell for the old $10 balloon as well...best to get it the first day or so and enjoy in the room all week! More please

[CinderAbby]

Abby typically loves balloons, but in the two times we've been to Disney, she never once asked for one. I guess I'm glad as that is kinda expensive for a balloon.

It sounds like you had another good day, so more please.

[disneydani]

Glad Andrew conquered Splash and Big Thunder and loved it! Sorry the meal at Kona didn't work out though sounds like Pepper Market fit the bill, minus the undercooked chicken. I think there is nothing like an afternoon swim to cool down and rejuvenate!

danielle

[chezp]

What a shame about the Kona Cafe, but it looks like a fun time at the pool.

[B.M.]

Sorry you had to miss your Adr, but glad you enjoyed the pepper market!
Hurry back with more!

[Colexis Mom]

Sorry you missed Kona Cafe Still sounds like a great afternoon! More please

[DyanKJ130]

Great update! Glad to hear Andrew loved his first experience with thrill rides!! So to hear that Kona didn't work out, but it sounds like you made the right choice going back to CSR. I'm sure he'll get better with sitting at a TS as he gets older. Can't wait to hear more

[lissybri]

Sounds like another great day. I love the picture of Andrew on the waterslide. More please.