Using My Powers for Good - 4/29-5/7 - Thread 1 - thru Day 4 About This Page:

[GATechGal]

[ QUOTE ]
I feel the un-packing took more than 10 minutes, but what does a silly DH know?

Months of planning. A week of execution. Weeks [at least] of TR call-and-response. If you average out the cost per day, it's a very economical vacation. For the PassPorter, of course.

Happy Mother's Day.

-DH

[/ QUOTE ]
Hooray!! Now not only do we get a great TR from Eileen, but a little he said/she said from Bob!! Welcome to the boards. We feel we already know you.

[zacksmom_1993]

Eileen,

Welcome back! Happy Belated Mother's Day! And, great start to the trip report! Now I really have to start mine since I beat you back home by a week. Thanks so much for the info on the rocket launch. Zack and I saw it at Epcot while we were waiting for Illuminations. It was very , yet a little unnerving when it split into a couple of pieces and broke the atmosphere. Can't wait to about your reaction to Fantasmic!

Karen

[Caldercup]

Hey, Karen!! I was literally just typing in the part about setting up the PP meet at Fantasmic. It must be kharma! Check back later today for more trip report!

Eileen

[BabieeMelly]

Great start, Eileen! That was so nice of Chris to give you son so much stuff to bring back to his class. I can't wait for more!

[Luv2plan]

I'm so excited to read your Trip Report!!! I've just caught up with all your pre-trip planning, and I must say it sounds like you had your hands full, but did a wonderful job!! (and enjoyed every minute of it, right?!)

[Caldercup]

Day Two – April 30th

<u>Our Party:</u>
Me (Eileen), 38, complete Disneyphile, 10th trip
DS (Calder, also called CJ), 9, all-around-great-kid and Disney World addict, 7th trip
DH (Bob), 39, long-suffering spouse of a WDW-aholic, he thinks it’s his 10th trip
DStepB (Frank), 37, my dad’s wife’s son, 3rd trip
DStepSIL (Donna), 36, Frank’s wife, 3rd trip
DStepN#1 (Brian), 12, Frank and Donna’s eldest, 2nd trip.
DStepN#2 (Michael), 9, middle son, good friend of Calder, 1st trip!!
DStepN#3 (Stephen), 5, youngest son, 1st trip!!
DFather (Bud), 69, WDW skeptic and my targeted “convert”, 3rd trip.
DStepMom (Joan), 60-something (friends don’t mention ages!), wonderful Mom-Mom, 3rd or 4th trip?

The wake-up call came at 7:22 and it was that little blue bugger Stitch again. It was the same message that we heard in November, but it was still charming! I took a quick shower and when Bob hopped in for his shower, I made Calder climb out of the trundle into Bob’s bed as an attempt at waking him up fully. I turned on the TV and Chrissa worked her magic on my son. (I don’t know if my husband is pandering to my ego or not, but he claims that Chrissa does nothing for him. Jasmine and the belly dancer at Morocco are a different matter, however. He and Frank shared many comical looks whenever these two ladies were mentioned!)

Bob stepped outside to check the weather and the Esterle boys were opening their door. Until that moment, we hadn’t known where their room was – how exciting, they were right next door! We all hugged and kissed and we started greasing up the kids with sunscreen and making sure everyone had breakfast. Donna had brought lots of breakfast goodies from home and bought lots of snacks at the grocery store. She happily handed out cinnamon rolls to the Lloyds (since our “food box” was not due to arrive until later that day.) Their fridge wasn’t working and she was worried that their milk was going to go bad. We all drank it up and I recommended that she ask for a replacement fridge before buying more milk.

It was only a little after 8 AM, but it was sunny and already quite muggy after a hard rain the previous night. I later learned that we had 87% humidity that day – it was crushing at times and really zapped our energy. I handed out the little neck wrap “coolers” I had whipped up in the 45 minutes I had before I picked up Calder at school the previous day. (I found the gel beads on-line and bought a 1 pound bag for $13 and each neck wrap only took about a teaspoon of beads!) At first, the Esterles all looked at me like I had two heads when they got these little strips of Mickey fabric with what felt like a few grains of rice inside, but they learned to love the neck wraps as the week wore on. They really make a difference when it’s hot.

We finally made it to the buses at about 8:45. I knew it was going to be tight to try to get to the 9 AM park opening ceremony, but I had my fingers crossed. Alas and alack… it wasn’t meant to be. As we race-walked up to the turnstiles, the last of the characters was climbing back onto the train. Calder nabbed some streamers anyway.

When we got inside the base of Main Street, there were tons of characters all around us. Stephen ran up to Prince John and got the first autograph of the trip. He was very cute about it – even though I’m not sure he knew who Prince John was.


[Stephen with the Prince]

I turned up Main Street and I got my first glimpse of the castle – boy, did it look terrific with the gold trim and characters all over it. It really is a spectacle and comes off even better in person that the lovely photos I had been seeing in people’s trip reports recently! Bob was properly impressed (especially since his last glimpse of the castle was in November when Stitch had TP’d the joint.)


[Castle in all its golden glory]

The boys really wanted to do Space Mountain so, against all better advice, we headed after the mass of people towards Tomorrowland. Immediately into the Timekeeper area, we saw Stitch and the boys dashed to get his autograph. Calder proudly showed off the autograph book that I made him, which had Stitch on the cover. The little alien was thrilled that he was Calder’s top choice! He signed all the autographs and then tried to keep Calder’s book.


[All the naughty boys]

Immediately afterwards, we ran into Buzz Lightyear and Stephen got really excited. His original choice for “his” character was going to be Buzz – that was before he saw the Incredibles video and changed to Dash. They all ran up for Buzz’s “stamped” autograph and posed for a picture. Well, all but Calder, who had a little snit for some reason and sat off to the side. (Every once in a while he gets “too cool” to do certain things. This time it had something to do with Buzz that I still don’t understand. Brian, who’s a very tall and mature looking 12 year old, was dashing around Buzz, very excited. But still Calder wouldn’t go over. So, it was an Esterles only picture with Buzz.)


[T minus Calder]

We then checked out the stand-by line for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and found that we could be blasting Zurg in less than 5 minutes. We spent most of that time walking through the turnstiles. I didn’t even have a chance to point out the cool visuals in the waiting area –- I just love the ViewMaster as slide projector and the MagnaDoodle attack plans. Anyway, we all paired up – Brian and Stephen, Calder and Michael (a.k.a Frick and Frack), Donna and Frank, and Bob and me. The most amazing thing was that Donna, who is not into video games and who claims not to have any gaming skills whatsoever managed to get the highest score possible – 999,999. Frank still tries to say that her blaster or score counter was malfunctioning, but I could see her score readout from where I was sitting behind her and I watched the thing jump 100,000 points and then 10,000 points and then 100 points and then another 100,000. So I know that she was legitimately hitting the targets and doing extremely well. Her look of triumph in the ride photo is priceless. (They had a photo package I hadn’t seen before -- 4 5x7 for $29.90 – a good deal for us in this instance!)



[Ride photos]


[Joining Space Command]

After a quick browse of the Buzz merchandise and some pics, we headed over to Space Mountain. The stand-by was only about 10 minutes. Calder had never done this before and was a little nervous. Michael, who is a wonderful boy and just as sensitive as Calder helped me to convince him to ride it. They both followed young Stephen, who seemed unfazed by the most intense rides – he just went where you pointed him and loved every minute of it. Donna wanted to wait with me so she could fill me in on the fiasco of their check-in nightmare. In less than 10 minutes they all came out and looked a little woozy, but very excited. Yay… another pin for Calder!


[The crowd at Space Mountain]

I wanted to grab a picture with the Pleakley statue since it was on the list of images Sharla (from the http://www.plansnapscrap.com/ site) wanted us to grab. (In fact, Bob and I took it as a personal mission to try to get as many pictures as possible for her – what a great lady and what a cool book idea. Check it out!) The boys started really hamming it up, begging Pleakley for an autograph. Boys… he’s fiberglass. It ain’t gonna happen!


[Some celebrities won’t put out!]

At this point, it became clear to me that I was going to be the point-man for the “where are we going next?” questions. Each of the four boys started chanting that they wanted to go on Splash or BTMRR – wow, they were insistent and loud. I started pointing them towards the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway – with the intention of getting them to ride everything between here and Frontierland, if possible. The wait for the Speedway was only about 10 minutes and I hadn’t ridden this since my honeymoon in 1990, so I was determined. We all paired off – it was convenient that we were an even number of 8!! Brian (12) wanted to ride with DH (39, but acts like he’s 12 when he’s in a theme park). For once, Calder and Michael separated and Michael rode with his dad. Donna and Stephen took another car and Calder and I pulled up the rear. I had to press the accelerator pedal and Calder did the steering. Ugh, we didn’t do so well and there was a lot of grinding against the center rail – I think CJ won’t want to drive again for a while.


[The Speedsters]

We headed over to the teacups and lots of deadly looks went back and forth between the parents-- none of us wanted to go on with the kids and we were all daring the other parents to make the offer. Luckily, the kids were distracted by the White Rabbit (my chosen “character” for the trip.) Calder remembered that you’re supposed to tell the White Rabbit that he’s late. The bunny didn’t disappoint. As soon as the boys started in on him, he began grabbing his head in mock despair and trying to find my watch to see what time it was. It was a hoot. He finally settled down and we got a good group photo.


[Silly Wabbit]

We hopped on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - all four kids in one honey pot and the adults in the one behind them. I had told the kids about the hidden things at WDW -- and they had *laminated* cards detailing them all!! -- so they were psyched to see Mr. Toad handing over the deed to Owl. (But I forgot to have my camera out and I figured we'd ride this again -- alas... this also wasn't to be....)

We skipped The Scary Adventures of Snow White because Calder hadn't warmed to it on the last trip and the other kids weren't interested in doing it now.

The kids all started playing around the Sword in the Stone, but we weren’t near a show time and I didn’t want to wait around.


[None of them is destined to be king]

I did manage to slip away for a moment to snap this pic of the giant in the gift shop at Sir Mickeys. I had missed it before and it’s absolutely adorable. How did I not see this huge thing above me?!


[Peeping Giant]

We headed into Mickey’s PhilharMagic and grabbed our glasses – which the boys found funny.


[Us in our specs]

We had good seats – a few rows in front of where you see Donald at the end of the show. I had Michael sitting next to me and boy, did he *get* me during the show. Now, I should preface this by saying that I always cry during this spectacular show, but it’s usually just tears of wonder and appreciation for the incredible beauty and nostalgia of everything in MPhM. Well, this time, as we crested the clouds to see Jasmine and Aladdin flying towards us on the magic carpet, Michael lets out this deeply felt “Oh, wow…!” I don’t know why it got me, but… boy, did it get me. I started getting weepy, knowing that it had struck a deep cord in him. I was a bit of a mess and it took me until we were out in the sunshine to finally stop the tears.

Anyway, I got a glimpse of It’s a Small World and marveled at the rehab – man, it looks glorious. Brian (12) balked at this kiddie ride and even Calder was reluctant. Both Donna and I reminded them that Stephen (4) had been doing every “big boy” ride and they should cut him some slack and do some of the things geared for him. We all climbed on a boat after about a 10 minute wait and sailed off into the gloriously shiny and clean ride. Wow, the sound system sounds great and the figures look fantastic. The “Live Strong” bracelet is indeed gone – or, at least, I didn’t see it. I noticed some figures that had moving mouths – something I never noticed before. Are they new?

&lt;more to come&gt;

[Tara O'Hara]

What a fun day you are having at MK, Eileen! Love the pictures! It cracks me up that you were staying right next door to each other and didn't know it!

[DrDolphin]

Great update Eileen!!! And wonderful photos too!

[Luv2plan]

Your Buzz ride photos are so fun!! A great shot of everyone! And I'm definitely going to look up for the giant at Sir Mickey's - that will blow DD away as she loves the Mickey &amp; the Beanstalk cartoon.

Looking forward to more...

[MAria R]

Just catching up !

[pluto_n_goofy]

More More More!! I am loving your TR!! and your pictures are fantastic!! Lol. They make me laugh!

[lauren-roxy]

I just got caught up with your trip report Eileen and it's so entertaining!!! Your pictures are so cute!! Can't wait to read more!!!

[Annabel]

Looking forward to more Eileen, your report is great and your photos are fab

[Jennifer2003]

Great update!!! You're an excellent story teller!

Cant wait for more!
Jennifer

[Wild4Diz]

Sounds like a fabulous trip so far and your pictures are priceless! Thanks so much for sharing them with us !