The Ducks are Back...A Birthday, An Anniversary and a Grand Gathering - FINAL THOUGHTS, Finally **Updated on 6/4** About This Page:

[janicelovesmickey]

oh definitly!! we dont know where we are staying yet.. at a mod resort this time, still figuring out which one.

[CastleWishes]

I finally got caught up.
I absolutely love that you prepared surprises for your boys. I think that it creates more magic and it was so sweet that Jason was crying happy tears...I think I speak for everyone when I say, "Awe..."
I liked the idea of sitting down and enjoying the Pina Colada while watching the fireworks. I think it's a great way to weave downtime in with the hustle. I can't wait to hear more!

[I live with a 'Stitch'!]

Okay--some marathon reading and I'm all caught up! (Don't worry, I'm still trying to decide if I should go back and finish my abandoned TR from the summer ).

So glad your surprise went off well! Looks like you are making memories for your boys that will last a lifetime--have you started planning your next trip yet!

And, again, all your pictures are absolutely adorable .

[EmilyJ]

Any updates on getting the lost pictures?

[dsteiny23]

Originally Posted by EmilyJ

Any updates on getting the lost pictures?

Apparently that is exactly what my DFIL did...he reformatted. So I guess we are out of luck. But, thanks for the advice.

[dsteiny23]

Originally Posted by janicelovesmickey

oh definitly!! we dont know where we are staying yet.. at a mod resort this time, still figuring out which one.

Well, we got a little time to figure it out . But it will be fun!

[dsteiny23]

Originally Posted by janicelovesmickey

oh definitly!! we dont know where we are staying yet.. at a mod resort this time, still figuring out which one.

We got time...will be fun to actually meet a PPer in person.

Originally Posted by CastleWishes

I finally got caught up.
I absolutely love that you prepared surprises for your boys. I think that it creates more magic and it was so sweet that Jason was crying happy tears...I think I speak for everyone when I say, "Awe..."
I liked the idea of sitting down and enjoying the Pina Colada while watching the fireworks. I think it's a great way to weave downtime in with the hustle. I can't wait to hear more!

I LOVE surprises but giving a surprise beats getting one. I loved to see the looks on their faces. (Of course now I've got to think of something for this year )

I wish I had more Pina Colada time here at home. But, alas, I think that will have to wait until this Fall back in WDW.

Originally Posted by I live with a 'Stitch'!

Okay--some marathon reading and I'm all caught up! (Don't worry, I'm still trying to decide if I should go back and finish my abandoned TR from the summer ).

So glad your surprise went off well! Looks like you are making memories for your boys that will last a lifetime--have you started planning your next trip yet!

And, again, all your pictures are absolutely adorable .

I don't know where the time goes . I really thought I'd get an update up there this weekend. We have started planning, we've got the resort...yup...that's about it. I don't have as much "stealth" going on with this next one so there isn't as much to plan this early. We've just got to start making airline ressies soon.

[vfair]

Looking forward to you update.

[allie1024]

OMG, I love your TR! I'm so happy I stumbled upon it because we are doing MNSSHP this year and I love to read other people's takes on it. Our dates are 10/24-10/31 staying at POFQ (our favorite!). Plus, we have 2 boys so I am the only girl in the family too! I'm sitting here at my desk, eating my lunch and reading your report. I do have a question though - how did you find the crowds to be on the night of the party? I've been hearing many different reports from it being very crowded to not at all. Did you actually go Halloween night??

[dsteiny23]

Originally Posted by allie1024

OMG, I love your TR! I'm so happy I stumbled upon it because we are doing MNSSHP this year and I love to read other people's takes on it. Our dates are 10/24-10/31 staying at POFQ (our favorite!). Plus, we have 2 boys so I am the only girl in the family too! I'm sitting here at my desk, eating my lunch and reading your report. I do have a question though - how did you find the crowds to be on the night of the party? I've been hearing many different reports from it being very crowded to not at all. Did you actually go Halloween night??

We did go on Halloween night. And the crowds were manageable. At least we thought so. The only line we waited on that was CRAZY was for a pic with Minnie. We ended up not waiting for any other characters. (Except of course our beloved Donald and a short line for Woody) We had no idea it was going to take that long until we were already in it and decided to wait. Other than that, it was crowded, but not nuts. We went to the later parade...based on suggestions from here...and got a great seat on the ground right on the rope in Frontierland. And by the end of the parade, things started to clear out. We are going again this year on Halloween...so maybe we'll see you there!!! (Not sure what we will be yet...but I'll let you know who to look for )

[dsteiny23]

Well it is about darn time you say…well the “you” who’ve stuck around anyway…Sorry.

Okay…so Day 7 and we are headed to DHS for the day with the whole gang. Little did the boys know that as fate would have it, my nephew, and the last of the grandsons, happened to be in WDW with his mother and her boyfriend/fiancé (Not sure…she’s my ex-SIL) and graciously allowed us to have him for the day. Just one more thing that we managed to keep a secret for 7 months. This one we were a little worried about. We figured for sure at some point Zach and Matt (the last grandson) would talk and figure out they would be in Disney at the same time. Clearly giving a 12 year old and 13 year old boy WAY too much credit. Thank goodness they’re a little dense.

Here is Matt and his mom showing up at DHS. My FIL was sitting waiting for him inside the gate. He was so surprised and excited as well and was waiting for us along with Papa, Grandma, Nana and Dylan when we finally arrived.



The first thing we did when we found everyone was to grab all of the KTTW cards and Zach and I hightailed it to TSMM to get FPs. At this time the FP lines were pretty empty. We started with our 10 KTTW cards next to a FP CM. He saw my buttons (have I mentioned I LOVE the Birthday and Anniversary buttons…oh, I have…okay) and asked me how many I was getting. I told him 10 and he said… “just keep getting yours” as he proceeded to print out 10 additional FPs on his machine and hand them to me. “Happy Anniversary…on one condition…you let your husband win one ”. “Sure” I said…(fingers crossed ). And so went our first little magical moment for the day. Everyone was so excited when we got back to the Hat and told them about all our extra FPs. But, above all of the FP excitement was the HSM kids doin’ their thing…which lead to Tyler doin’ his thing…



…more dancin!!

After the dancin’ was done… we headed over to Star Tours to get Dylan and Matt on it. Jason sat this one out with his grandparents. But I did manage to lock them all up in some Tatooine jail cell.



Okay…seriously…look at the upper right hand corner and tell me that isn’t what the devil looked like when he was 3?? After we broke them out of jail…against my better judgment…we dragged the little devil and the rest of the gang in to see Indiana Jones. Literally, we had to drag him in because he was scared. Yes, I was that mother…but once we got him in there he loved it! Craig and I wanted to be the couple, but we were not paying attention. My DFIL got some great shots with his new-fangled camera.



After Indy we decided to grab some lunch. The grandparents scoped out a few tables outside of Pizza Planet and Craig and I got the orders and Zach and Matt were the food runners. This travelling with a large party was working out well for us.



After lunch headed for LMA and stopped to say hey to the citizens of Radiator Springs on the way. (By the way…you’ll notice all of the “after lunch” pictures have pizza sauce prominently displayed on the boys’ shirts…)



Then it was off to LMA. We were walking in with no line thinking “hey this isn’t so bad” until we realized it was because everyone was already there. Then we had to walk up the outside staircase…yikes!! But, we got some pretty good seats and I had my trusty earplugs and the boys loved it!



When the LMA show was over, it was time to use our TSMM FPs. This is where Jason left me for Nana, pretty much for the rest of the trip.



But, it gave me the perfect opportunity to give Craig a good butt-whoopin’. Okay, I don’t have photographic proof…the flash ruined the pic…but I did whoop him.

At some point during the day, Craig and I ran to get FPs for TOT and RnRC. Good thing about the grandparents and the little boys not riding the big rides was that we could use their KTTW cards and get FPs for both rides for the 5 of us at the same time. So we managed a few minutes by ourselves, but ran into this guy.



(Totally happened earlier…but it’s been so long I can’t remember )
Then before using our second FPs right away, Craig and I used the FPs we got earlier and took the big boys over to ToT and RnRC while Tyler and Jason stayed with the grandparents and talked them into buying them stuff. (I’m sure they didn’t have to do much talking) Tyler got a sword…



And my total stolen TOT pic coming up…our 3 boys in the front row.



Then we hit TSMM for the last time this trip. Jason with Nana again…and yes…I whooped Craig again. He had me right up until the last room with the cave and the bats…then I poured it on. Kind of surprised us both when the scores popped up…good thing I had my fingers crossed earlier.

(Next post…)

[dsteiny23]

After TSMM the big boys got their turn to shop with the grandparents and Craig and I took Tyler and Jason to see Playhouse Disney. Jason LOVES all of the Playhouse shows (they’re watching DVR’d ones right now so I can get this done) so we knew he’d enjoy this. It was really cute.



There were bubbles…



And of course dancing…



Then we got some pics with Manny and Leo & Annie.



And I LOVE this mural…



Then it was off to dinner at 50s Primetime. We didn’t wait very long at all until we were shown to our table by our cousin.



The boys thought this place was great and this is where the “kissing fool” began his reign of romance . Jason has always told me he loves me and he’s going to marry me…but at dinner, he was all over me. (of course we all know the day will come when he doesn’t want to kiss me in public…so I’m not going to complain now).



Notice the hand under my chin…kid is too much!!

After dinner our cousin had everyone in the room sing Happy Birthday, and brought out a card signed by the characters and told everyone at the table to sign it as well. Another magical little moment…and another free cupcake!!

By the time we got out the park was closed and we decided this would be the only night we could get to DTD. Of course Jason fell asleep on the bus, and you can’t take a bus directly to DTD from the parks anyway, so we went back and got his umbrella stroller and packed him up on the bus to DTD. He can sleep while we shop…better that way anyway.

Tyler and Buzz…



Jason and Mr. Potato Head…



Tyler running from danger…



All Jason wanted was a Sorcerer Hat so I picked it up while he slept. Tyler talked me into an Indiana Jones dress up set (gun and all). But, we didn’t open it and had it shipped with everything else at the end of the trip to our house. After our little shopping spree…we headed home, tired, happy and ready for bed.

Tomorrow…Epcot…but no surprises. (but maybe a little magic)

[Kaileemb]

Great update! The picture with Jason kissing you with his little hand under you chin is ADORABLE!

[disneydreamer33]

Yeah! An update from Dawn.
Love the pics. The one of you and Jason is too cute. You definetly have to keep that one for when he is older. The one in the cage with that evil look is a keeper too.
Sounded like you had a great day at DHS.
More please! (sooner than later)

[Colexis Mom]

What a great day!! Congrats on the surprise and the extra FPs!! Great pictures too!! More please!!