The Dolleys Do Disney...June 20-27 - UPDATED 7/1 About This Page:

[disney_duke]

Thanks for the Aruba input!
There's 2 pics of Ian that are just adorable (not that the other ones aren't just as cute though!) - him sleeping in the pack-n-play, and him looking up at Mickey and laughing!! Absolutely adorable! I love that you took a break by riding the monorail around. My kids love to do that too as a "ride." Glad you got to ride Test Track too. You guys sure had a busy day, some pool time sounded much deserved!

[BeckiO5]

Lois, I'm loving your TR and it looks like you had a blast at Disney! Your kids are too adorible! Besides the room swapping how did you enjoy CBR? That's where we're planning to stay next year, and I do have to agree with you on not wanting to lug a sleeping child and stroller up and down the stairs every night, that will be our request is for a ground floor for the ease with Skyler! More please! I am thoroughly enjoying reading your TR! Thank you for sharing your trip with us! Right when you mentioned that you flew out of Manchester, I love that airport! Easier than flying out of Boston Logan. How sweet of your neighbor to help you load your luggage and drive you and your family in your car to the airport and drive it home for you! Saves on parking fees and your car was safe at home!

[dj1028]

Great TR so far...can't wait to read about your day at AK!

[mcc0313]

What agreat first few days...wow what high tempertures you had but glad that you found some places to get cool (who doesn't love a trip on the monorail) when it got really bad.

Looks like a great dinner at Garden Grill...we always have great interaction there as well. Looking foward to hearing all about AK.

[5SOXFNZ]

Again, we let the kids wake on their own schedule. We woke, had breakfast in the room and headed out to Animal Kingdom. We got there about 10am (GRRRR!!). Jacob had left his Red Sox hat on the monerail the day before and he had his heart set on a "safari hat" so we stopped at the store just past the Oasis on the left and found him just what he was looking for. He got so many positive comments on that hat for the rest of the week! He also kept commenting on how cool it kept his head! Then we headed straight to the Safari for our Fast Passes. From there we did the Pagani Walking trail.
I was taking pictures of the kids at this spot and a passerby offered to take one of all of us...it turned out to be one of my favorites of the trip!



By the time we got off that we were able to do the safari. It was good but a lot of the animals were hiding in the shade due to the heat. We hung around Africa for a little bit as it was almost time for our lunch reservation. We were able to see Baloo and King Louie and the kids played for a while on the drums. Then we headed to lunch!

Tusker House was good, nice selection on the buffet, exotic enough for Kevin but "normal" enough food for me! Ian ate about 12 corn dogs! (They were the mini cocktail frank size ones!!). I got an adult beverage called the Harambe Cooler...very yummy! I think it was one of my favorites of the trip! They brought out a cool cupcake because our reservation noted Jacob’s birthday and Meghan and Ian’s first visits! (Funny story, I was away from the table when the server came with the cupcake and made a big deal about the celebration, I had made all the ADR’s and picked all the meals to celebrate at so Kevin was clueless as to what celebration this was. The poor waiter put the cupcake in front of Kevin, who pushed it over to Jacob, who pushed it over to Meghan. Talk about a bunch of misfits!! When I came back I saw the cupcake and Kevin said “Whose celebration is today?” I said, “No ones I didn’t note anything on this meal!” Turns out that if you have a notation on your main package reservation it pulls into all your ADR’s in addition to special ones you’ve noted!!)

We headed to Asia to get Kevin a FP to Everest, but then on our way back to the walking trail we realized the single rider line was super short so he jumped in it. Ian had fallen asleep in the carriage so the kids and I waited in the shop (since it was cooler). The plan was to save the FP for me to go back and use later. Kevin was out in no time and we headed to the walking trail to see Tigers and bats and Komodo Dragons. The kid's found a lot of Hidden Mickey's on this trail!

One of Meghan's favorite pictures...she was using her "acting" skills!
We asked the kids but none of them had a desire to go on Kali River so we headed out of Asia.

From there it was onto Dino land, on our way there it started to rain, pretty hard…of course, we had been dragging the rain jackets around every day, but for some reason, today, decided that we would leave them behind!!, Luckily I left the garbage bag to cover the stroller in the stroller basket so we were able to cover the stuff in the stroller with that and Ian walked! The rain cleared out Dino Land pretty good so Kevin took the older two on Dinosaur while Ian and I did Triceratops Spin and ran into Pluto and Goofy!

When they arrived back form Dinosaur, Kevin took the three kids on Triceratops Spin while I rode Primeval Whirl (another I had missed due to pregnancy, and Jacob didn’t want to ride and Meg was too short!) . Then we headed to the bone yard/Dig site park. The kids ran around and had a blast on the slides. While we were in the Dig Site they announced that they were closing due to the storm (the thunder and lightning had started at this point). As we gathered our brood and headed out of there it started to downpour. We hid under a tree to reassess. We decided to head back to the resort and have an early night.It was now pouring rain, buckets and buckets coming down!

As we were running for the park exit we saw “It’s Tough to be a Bug” had no wait. Knowing it was indoors, we ran right on. I was a little nervous about Ian but he loved it! He was giggling and reaching out for the bugs!! When we left he even turned around and said “Bye, bye bugs!” the rain had stopped by the time we got out so we headed out of the park. There was only us and one other family on the bus to CBR. I think we had just missed the rush!

We all changed out of our wet clothes and headed to Old Port Royale for dinner. This was the first time we had actually eaten here and I wish we had found it sooner. There was a huge selection of food (not just the “basic” park regulars) and the staff was so accommodating and helpful! I had the Alfredo fettuccini with chicken breast, the kids all had pizza and Kevin had the meatball sub all from the Royal Pizza and Pasta Shop. While we were in lone to order Jacob spotted a hidden Mickey on the shelf behind the counter. He told the girl who was helping us that he found their Hidden Mickey and she answered “we have a Hidden Mickey?“ he pointed it out then she called over a couple of other cast Members who all reported they didn’t even know it was there!! He was very excited about that! (We already e-mailed Steven Barrett as it wasn’t listed on his site either!!)


We got back to the room about 8:30ish and got the kids settled down for an early night. I headed to the laundry to do a couple of loads of wash. It was super busy in there, I think it was the “mid-week rush”! I enjoyed a little quiet time sitting on a bench by the lagoon while I waited for the machines to go through their cycles. One note, a number of us in the laundry room found that even for a “normal size load” the dryers took 1.5 cycles to dry everything. After I folded and organized everything I headed off to bed!

Tomorrow we plan to be at Epcot for the World Showcase opening. We’ll be doing the countries and eating with the princesses in Norway!

[5SOXFNZ]

Day 5 was Epcot World Showcase day! I won’t bore you with too many photos from today…you can only see Meghan with so many Princesses before you get bored!!

We were going to sleep in and head to World Showcase when it opened at 11am but the kids were up and rearin’ to go so we headed over to Epcot about 9am.

Jake was really pumped to try Mission Space so Kevin took him on while I hung out with Meghan and Ian. He LOVED it! This was hands down Jacob’s favorite ride ad he bragged to anyone who would listen that he did the advanced version! He also got to be the pilot!

We headed to Inovations to check out some of the exhibits and did the Waste Management game. the kids liked that one because we could all participate and they got to push around a little trash truck! We played a little there then picked up our Kim Possible ticket. We were told to report to Italy for our “Kimmunicator” which worked perfectly in our plans because we planned to start in Canada and work our way counter clockwise to trough the countries.

The kids brought their ”Guide to the Magic” with them this day so they could get their passport stamps and autographs. It’s a great book but I wish it were a little smaller, they got very cumbersome into the day, especially carrying two of them!

Our tour was uneventful in Canada and UK, just looked around and enjoyed the scenery! When we got to France Jacob spotted Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) coming out for pictures so Meg jumped in line! She was so excited to meet her first princess! As we started towards Morrocco we ran into Belle by the Lagoon so she headed over to meet here (The boys had NO DESIRE to be in these pictures or meet the princesses!!) As you can see, even Belle was a little hot and asked Meg to cool her off with her mister fan!


Everyone was getting hungry so we actually walked past Morocco and Japan to the US for lunch. (I know,, I know…we should have tried something new, but it was hot and kids were cranky and hungry, we went with what we knew!!) After eating and refreshing, we back tracked to Morocco to get stamps and autographs. Both times we were there we missed Jasmine and Alladin by minutes, they had cut off the line as we got there! We headed to Japan for Mommy’s special treat. I wanted Jacob to pick me a pearl in Japan because it is his birthstone and I can use it to make the Mother’s ring I want. He picked a nice 7mm pinkish pearl, and was very proud of himself. (Although he was a little mad when I told him I got the pearl not him!)

About this point Ian fell asleep in his carriage. the Voices of Liberty were starting so I took Meg and Jake to see them and then to see The American Adventure! They really enjoyed the show! It’s one of my favorites in World Showcase (always makes me cry!). After the show we came out to find a recently wakened Ian and also a bunch of characters out in the walkway just past the American Pavilion so we went to catch some of them. I we saw Goofy and his son Max, and Donald.

Onto Italy where the kids couldn’t wait to pick up the “Kimmunicator” for the Kim Possible mission! We were dispatched to Germany. The Kim Possible Adventure is really great, they enjoyed doing it, although they had a bit of trouble sharing the one “Kimmunicator”. We watched the trains in Germany for a little bit and took a rest and a water break (it was really hot!!)
It was getting to be time for dinner so we headed over to Norway and decided to go on Malstrom. After the ride, Kevin went to check us in for the Princess Dinner and I took Meg to the rest room to change into all her Princess finery!!


When we came out Kevin let me know I had my times mixed up! Oopps!! I thought our dinner was at 6pm..it was at 6:45pm!! So, we headed down to Mexico to do the ride there. On our way back we stopped into China and Meg ran into Mulan. (Bad Disney Mommy moment when after waiting in line and having her picture taken she looked at me and said “Who is that???” Oh my goodness…had she never seen the movie Mulan???? Don’t worry, she watched it when we came home and loved it!!)

Now, back to Akershus where we checked in and waited about 10 minutes then were shown into the restaurant. We took pictures with Belle then headed to our table. We saw Snow White, Aurora, Ariel…and the crowning moment (for me)…Cinderella!! I had no expectations of seeing her, I knew it was rare for her to do the Princess Storybook Dinner. I was all excited when I saw her enter the dining room and Jacob looked at me and said “Breathe Mom!”

Meghan had a wonderful time! She was the Bell of the Ball!


After dinner we went out to stake out a place for Illuminations. We had looked at our trusty Passporter map and decided that the area right in front of Norway would be good. As we stood surveying the area a wonderful family from said “Come join us and the kids can get right up front”. They were from Massachusetts and did Disney every other year so they had a prime location! They were so wonderful and we sat and chatted with them for the wait and through the show! Ian found a new friend in their 11 year old daughter, he sat on her lap for the entire show!! Meghan came over and asked if she could give the 3 women who had invited us to sit there some Thank You cards, so she handed them some of the little Thank yous she had made…they were thrilled! About 1/2 way through the show it started to rain, we didn’t mind and it helped to move people out of the park because people started to leave! We took our time getting out after the show, hanging on a bench in Future Word until a great bit of the crowd dispersed! back to the Carribbean Beach for another night’s rest!

UP NEXT....Our day at the Studios...did anyone brave Tower of Terror ordid we all chicken out???

[5SOXFNZ]

Off to the Studios! We had some big must do’s today starting with Star Tours and Playhouse Disney. Again, we got a late start, not getting there until about 9:30am. (Ok...Mom's getting a little ticked off!! )

When we arrived we headed for Toy Story Mania to grab FastPasses. Our return time was 2pm. We rode the Great Movie Ride, then watched the High School Musical 3 Show, then it was off to Jedi Training Academy. Jacob was sad he didn’t get picked, but still enjoyed the show. Now onto Star Tours. Kevin took the first ride and the kids loved it.


We got a rider swap and decided to save it until after lunch. We headed to Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular then it was time for our TSMM fast passes to be used. We went there, have to say, Kevin and I both prefer Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland, we could see that it was new and everything but didn’t really see the hype and why it would warrant waiting 2 hours to get on! We were glad we did it but wouldn’t do it again if we couldn’t get FP’s.

It was time for lunch so we headed to Sci-Fi Dine in…actually, I ran ahead to check us in because we were cutting it close or our reservation time (we did that alot!!LOL!!) and Kevin got lost with the kids. So we were back and forth on our cell phones as I tried to guide him into the restaurant. He finally arrived and we were seated in our car right away! Sci-Fi was a good diversion, the kids enjoyed just tuning out with the movies while they ate. I had the Beef and Blue salad (can I still call it this if I got Thousand Island dressing???) We ordered Onion Rings as an appetizer (those were really good) The kids and I got milkshakes (DINING PLAN ALERT: The kid’s were not allowed to order milkshakes as their drinks so he did them as mine and Kevin’s drinks and we both got soda. My milk shake was counted as my dessert.)


After lunch we headed to use our swap pass for Star Tours. Then we headed down the streets of America.

(Can someone settle a debate we have been having??? Is this building on Streets of America the Tipton from Suite Life of Zack and Cody. I thought it was, the kids didn‘t!)


Ian had fallen asleep while me and the 2 older ones were on Star Tours so we decided to let him sleep and let the older ones run around the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground.

We headed over to the last show of Playhouse Disney once Ian woke up! He loved it!! I was alittle disappointed that the characters were gone or the day ater the show, I wish they had at least left them out until after that last showing, especially since the park was open until 10pm.

Now it was on to Meghan’s headliner…Tower of Terror! The plan was or Kevin to take her on the first time and me to take her the 2nd time. There was no way, no how that Jacob would go on this ride! There was a method to my plan…read on.) She and Kevin headed in to the stand-by line (no Fast Passes were being distributed) and I took the boys over to the Magic of Disney Animation. (BTW: I had to show myself to the CM at the front of the line with “proof” (Ian) that we were rider swapping, before they would give us the pass. Most other rides they would just hand it to whoever went through the line first and asked for it.) It started to rain a little at this point.

We had a little trouble meeting up after this ride because ToT is a cell dead zone (which we found to be quiet funny!) Once we met up Meghan informed me that she was happy she did it but no way would she go on TofT again…EVER! (Thus letting Mom off the hook…yeah, that’s right, the last 3 trips I have been able to bow out of TofT gracefully without looking like a scardy cat!!)

I did want to go on Rockin’ Roller Coaster but the single rider line was not open an I didn’t want to wait 40 minutes in the stand-by line alone, so once again, I missed it (this was the 1st trip since it‘s opened I haven‘t been pregnant).

The park was open until 10pm that night but everything closed by about 7pm. The only things open really were rides we had already done and the two coasters. Kinda lame for the kids actually. We decided to head out of the park before the Fantasmic rush and get some swimming in.

This was the night we had the most miserable bus experience of the week. It is now pouring rain, we head to the bus stop and there are about 15-20 people in front of us. We start chatting with the family in front of us who say they been waiting for 20 minutes. We watch as every other resort has at least 3 busses come by (no exaggeration at all! ) and another 20 minutes pass. Finally, I pull out my trusty Passporter and call the resort front desk and explain there have been people waiting at least 40 minutes and no bus. She gets in touch with Transportation and says a bus has been dispatched. About 10 minutes later a bus finally pulls up…mind you, it is now pouring, and thunder and lightning! We load the bus and suddenly a 2nd bus pulls up…great right?? No, he pulls up in such a manner that it blocks the bus we are on and we can not pull out of the spot. We sit there for another 15 minutes waiting to be able to move. Fantasmic has now been canceled (or let out, we weren’t really sure which) and the exits are crazy and bus traffic is out of control. All and all…we left Sunset Blvd at 8:15pm we did not arrive home to CBR until after 10pm!

Yes, you will notice that we missed one very obvious thing at DHS…we never got to the Backlot Tour. I couldn’t believe it. Just the way our day worked, wanting to get to the kid’s must do’s and the way the shows were timed we just couldn’t work it in! I was a little bummed but I know we’ll be back someday!

It was off to bed as soon as we returned because we had a 8:20am ADR at Crystal Palace the next day! They're going to HATE me or this picture someday!!)

UP NEXT….”But Mom, it’s not open yet, how can we get in????”

[vfair]

Wonderful updates! You got some really great pictures. Your kids are adorable.

[ArielsMomto2]

Great updates and pics. You sure are getting a lot done. We had the same thing happen with the buses last year trying to leave DHS. And it was pouring rain. Hurry back. Looking forward to more.

[Colexis Mom]

More great updates!! Sorry for the debacle leaving DHS though!! Great pictures!!

[dj1028]

Great updates...the picture with your daughter and Snow White is precious!

[KMB733]

Great updates! Glad to see you are surviving the heat. Sorry about the bus situation at DHS!

[elisa1006]

Great updates!! Your kiddos are so cute! You got to see a lot of characters in World Showcase. We didn't see any, but then again we just walked around the lagoon, didn't actually stop. We also didn't do the Backlot tour. I was wanting to do it, since that is where I worked when I worked there. But I know it has changed a lot since then, so it may have been weird.

Can't wait for more!

[OhToodles!]

All caught up! Great updates! Seems like you're going with the flow and enjoying your time together. I love how excited you look in your picture with Cinderella.

[CinderAbby]

Just catching up and it's a great TR so far - love the pics too. Keep it coming.