charitycase20....Charity

Am I right in thinking that the only pet loops are Full sites? We were planning on leaving our Lab-mutt George home with my mom when we come down in January, so I reserved a partial. We'll have 2 tents, a screen house and/or an easy up on the site. If for some reason (drama) my mom decides to not grand-dog sit for us, we will have to change the ressie to a Full won't we? We stayed in loop 1700 this past January in Donnie's 5er and the coquina pad was kinda small, like maybe the size of OUR tent, how would I put up the rest of what we need for the week on concrete? Not to mention if George comes along, we'll have to have him boarded (daycare) at Best Friends for the days we go to the park and bike riding is pretty much out of the question too. But I would feel EXTREMELY guilty about bringing him all the way to FL and then boarding him all week. :gaah:

Ok - this is turning into a vent now...Thank you for any advice you can offer.

Stef - I just saw this and read through the whole thing...Jordan is in my prayers. And you, Trevor and Nate are too...its hard when someone you love is over there...I'm looking at a sister and a brother-in-law being over there somewhere before the end of the year. :heart: :hugs2:

I know DH and I had a fabulous "date night" in January just walking around Epcot. Kids were with the grandparents and we didn't ride any rides but the one in Mexico...we walked, held hands, talked (without being interupted) and ate little snackies with drinks and grabbed a table by the Crepe cart in France and watched the fireworks. It was lovely!

Well as predictable as I am, I'd hate to disappoint.

To borrow a phrase I've heard before, we'd "Go with the flow"

or we'd debate if they are real, original, enhanced.

Yes we would!! :rofl2:

(Genia you're so funny!)

Carol! You are awesome!! I am in awe of you. :jumpforjoy (that and I'm REALLY jealous!!)

Awesome report! Now I REALLY want to take cruise!! :wave1:

If you check craigslist in Orlando there are pin traders that sell them locally and will even deliver to DTD or nearby. A lot cheaper than buying full price.

Ooo I gotta check that out!! :parrot:

We're not allowed to sell plasma so I'm just going to have to win the lottery. This seems like a solid plan with no chance of failure.

Oh there will be no driving. We made that mistake last time, 2 days each way with small kids in the backseat. I was ready to jump from a moving vehicle by the time we hit Kentucky. And then there was the part where we got sideswiped by some Italian guy leaving Epcot and almost pushed in front of an oncoming Disney bus (thanks for not hitting us, by the way :laugh: ) I've sworn off driving on vacation.

Don't judge, 2 days in the car and you'd be drinking too.

Dear Heavens! 2 days, yep I'd be drinking. :rofl3:

Rachel, I know you were asking about February, but we were there in January and are planning on going back in January 2013. It was beautiful! I did pack for any possible weather but we were good!

And in January/February - there is a good chance you could take advantage of the YES program for cheaper park tickets. If you don't get a package deal. :fairydust:

Can't wait!! :jumpforjoy

Oops sorry! Lol

First of all, sorry that its been so long since I've done a post. Its been kinda crazy at my house lately. Anyone that is friends with me on FB, knows that we adopted a new pup from our local Humane Society the weekend before last. He's about 9 weeks old now and a black lab mix, we call him George.

This was George on Saturday nite (2/4)..

George stopped eating and drinking for the most part on Monday night, so I called our friendly neighborhood vet, Healing Hands. They saw him at 10AM Tuesday morning, George had Pneumonia. He spent 2 days with Healing Hands and 2 nights at Pet ER for critical care, IV meds and fluids, nebulizer treatments and general babying. Roughly $1000 later, this is George on Thursday night (2/9)

George is continuing to improve. He's acting like a normal puppy now, which means that he's in to EVERYTHING!! But before I could recover from George's sickness, my other 2 kids got slammed by the ugliest GI bug I've ever seen! It just wouldn't go away!! So this past weekend was spent recovering from everything...even George needed the rest...

So thats why its been almost a week since I've updated my trip report...forgive me?

Ok - on to the rest of our day at Magic Kingdom.

We left Tomorrowland after having lunch, I wanted to get some pictures of the castle so instead of walking through Fantasyland, we went back out to Main St. and walked through the castle. As we were headed in that direction, we ran into a parade! I think it was the "Move it, Shake it" parade...it was fun, we danced, we hollered...we were laughed at.

(Zach and Uncle JJ, I love this picture! It makes me melt!)

Also, in case you haven't noticed...it was HOT that afternoon! Zach had striped off his layers, Gracie came out of her princess dress. We were loving it!!

We went through the castle, I know someone took some pics of the walls but for the life of me i can't find them...if I do later, I'll edit. :wiz: I stopped in the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and asked if they could Pixie dust our Princess for her birthday. Not only did they "dust" her real good (I was scrubbing that stuff out of her hair for a week) they also gave her a sparkly jewel for her face. FREE! Can you believe that?!

She was all a twitter about it! But everyone was hot and getting kinda cranky, we hadn't really caught up on our sleep from the drive and we wanted to come back later for EMH so Daddy decided one more ride and we would hit the boat for FW to have some downtime. So we headed to Frontierland for Splash Mountain. The one ride Gracie begged to ride. So we all headed to it, somehow we all ended up on the same boat. And got SOAKED!! Zach didn't care for it, he said it made his tummy hurt. But Gracie loved it!

So we headed for the dock, I had to get a Turkey Leg on the way out...so good! Sorry, I don't think anyone thought to get a picture. And we rested, well everyone else rested, I had to take my MIL to Wal-mart and got lost! Yeah I know...with GPS!! Go ahead you can laugh, I know. LOL :laugh:

I'm going to break this up a bit...I'll be back a little later this evening to see if I can find the missing pictures. :bugeyes: Stay tuned.

Great update!

And LOL at the comment about not wanting to teach your kids how to drive. All three of the TCD girls are now licensed drivers, but I'll tell you it wasn't easy!

TCD

Thank you Andrew. Between these "driving" rides and Mario Cart on Wii, I'm really not looking forward to either of them getting their license! :whew:

Charity, your report is great. It was a pleasure helping your family with the camper. Your mom and Wes were really nice people too.

Thank you Donnie! You were a lifesaver! Alex and I are trying to figure out how soon we can get back down there now! Its was so nice having the camper.

Awesome update. Can't wait for more (but you know we will).

I know I know...I'm working on it. :laugh:

I agree with Zach...those darn princesses are over rated! It's funny that he was so excited to see Buzz and then was scared of him. :rofl2:

Looking forward to the rest of your day. I'm always jealous of people at Disney with little ones. (Well, except for the whining, crying and temper tantrums! )

Poor Zach wasn't really interested in any of the characters at all. Maybe when we go back, he will be. We didn't have much whining, crying or temper tantrums, not unless you counted the ones Mommy and Daddy had!! :rofl3:

Awesome!!!

Thank you Carol!

Ok we are starting to twitch here.... still trying to wait patiently :waiting2-smiley:

Sorry, I know...its been a mess around here lately...working on it now, I promise! :holysheep:

Day One - Magic Kindgom - continued

So I left off at the boat dock with our Birthday Princess, Gracie. Everyone was excited and really anxious to get in the gates...but to back up a bit...Alex had some pictures on his phone from the boat ride...I'm going to put them here.

This is Gracie, my neice Taylor on the left and my mom (Grammy) on the right. This was Taylor's first trip to WDW also!

"Look! Its Cinderella's Castle!" (No i'm not certain thats exactly what was being said but considering the group, I'm probably right!!)

My step-dad (Poppy) being silly.

My baby brother! I love this guy!! He and his girlfriend, Sarah, were able to sneak away and spend 3 days with us!! It was great!

Ok - on to MK, of course what is the first thing you do when you go through the gates? See Mickey & Minnie and the Princesses of course! No pics of Mickey & Minnie, Zach wasn't too sure so Mommy couldn't hold him and take pictures at the same time. But Daddy was good about taking pictures of the Birthday Princess with the Disney Princesses...

(I think Daddy was trying to take a "close up" here of Belle)

Then it was on to Tomorrowland. We had promised Zach that he could ride "Buzz Lightyear".

But, Wait! Who is that outside of the Theater...(Dave don't look!!)

At this point, Zach is beyond DONE with Princesses, he's ready to go to Buzz NOW!!

But not before we were able to snap this picture. Doesn't she look a little star struck?

And this one after her very first pin trade!

Tomorrowland! I swear, we spent half the day there!

Zach talked a good game about Buzz Lightyear, but I guess he was just smaller in his mind! I don't think he could've have gotten any farther away and still be in my arms!

But I held up my end of the deal, I rode the Buzz Lightyear ride with him (can you tell I have no idea what it is called?).

And some other pics from Tomorrowland...Including Zach's favorite ride at Magic Kingdom, can you guess what it is?

Yes, its the Tomorrowland Speedway! We rode that thing 3 different times! Don't ever ride it with the 4 year old driving! I swear he beat me to death! Then we rode it again only this I rode with Gracie driving...no different!

Alex and I have discussed it, and neither of us are teaching them to drive. Even if it bankrupts us, we're hiring someone to do it!! :whew:

And with that, it was decided that it was lunchtime. The kids and grandparents found a shady spot to dish out the PB&Js while the adults rode Space Mountain. BEST. RIDE. EVER!!! :jumpforjoy It was awesome!! and of course no one thought to get a shot of the picture! Yeah, I know we suck! :hah:

Coming up next...the rest of our Magic Kingdom day.

If I did read TRs, which I don't, I would read this one.

Thank you Lou! :heart:

Poor misguided Lou.

You don't know what you're missing.

That was a great update, Charity!

It looks like you had picture perfect weather for your first MK day!

TCD

Thanks Andrew! The weather was wonderful! Much better than the cold and snow we had at home after we left! :whew:

Looking foward to more.

Did you like Walker Mobility? We might need to rent one when we go someday

Hi Michele! Yes, I have to say I was very pleased with All Star/Walker Mobility. They were one of the least expensive I found. The ECV was waiting for us when we checked in, we had some issues with it on Monday, I called the office and they gave me some tips for trouble shooting and told me if it didn't work to call back, they would get me another before our next day. Momma said it was easy to drive and we didn't have any issues getting it on and off the buses.

I know it ain't easy with a big family. I can't wait to hear about the Birthday Princess's day at the park!

Oh she thought she was SOMETHING!

great trip report.. love the pics from the boat. i hope the princess had a magical day.

Thank you! More is a comin!! :stars-shower-smiley:

Great start Charity! I'm just trying to catch up on all that I've missed while at the fort.

11 people on vacation together?!? Holy cow, you must have the patience of a saint. I can't hardly keep track of myself, let alone 10 others.

There is a silver lining to "bringing up the rear" all day....no one is behind you taking pictures of your rear.

Looking forward to more, and Happy belated Birthday to the princess.

Thank you Stef! I did find a couple of "rear" shots but its standard when Alex has the camera...

Charity, thank you so much for sharing! I know how much work goes into resizing of the pictures..lol

I have a back log of trip reports to read but I'm dying to hear how you managed all those people. Seven drains my will to live at times, I cant imagine 11, although our next trip will include my inlaws and two lab's so I'll be up to 11.. shew..

After the first day Judy, I didn't even bother...I just made sure I knew where Alex and the 3 kids were. :banghead:

Lets see where did I leave off, we made it to FW, right? Checked in, texted Donnie who was eating lunch at Trails End waiting for us, and started unloading. **Why did we bring so much stuff?!**

The sad part is I didn't get any pictures of us unloading, Donnie setting up the camper or anything! The fun part of the afternoon was picking up the ECV that I had rented from All Star Scooters (aka Walker Mobility). I ended up just riding it back to our site. It was a nice scooter, had some get up and go! :siren: My brother also had a good time "joy riding" on it. Mainly cause we wouldn't let him have the GC! But here's a couple pics Alex (alerope) shot of the surrounding area.

Saturday evening was taken up by a Wally World run for food, dinner and to bed so we could be up when my in-laws got in about 1:30am. Their flight was delayed in Dallas, thank GOD for the magical express. Neither Alex nor myself could've made it MCO that night.

Sunday was our Magic Kingdom day, it was decided before the trip that we would pack a cooler for lunch since my munchkins are picky eaters and to save some $$. So we had 11 people, 1 scooter, 1 double stroller rented from Baby Wheels Orlando (fabulous!!), a cooler and a backpack. Looking at us heading for the bus, you would have thought we were moving in!!

And a note on the busses, all in all, we had a pretty good experience. But I can say we did get some cranky drivers. That ECV doesn't make them too happy apparently! Lou - whats up with that!!??

Some of us weren't sure if we wanted to go to the park or go back to bed!

So we finally made it off the bus and headed to the boat. As you see I was bringing up the rear all day!

On our way to the boat, we met this adorable little guy! (I had to convince some members of our party that yes, he was real!!) He was enjoying his breakfast, which I think I neglected to have that morning due to all the excitement!

Some more pics that Alex took from the boat...

And with that, we made it to Magic Kingdom! Here's a pic of our birthday girl Princess.

Charity-

You are off to a great start!

I can't wait to read the rest.

Gracie isn't getting ready to hurl in that first photo, is she?

TCD

LOL Andrew! No she wasn't "that" kind of sick. I think she had just finished throwing a massive melt-down fit. That look is her trying to calm herself so Daddy doesn't strap her to the roof of the van!! :)

I was thinking the same thing!!

Too funny!!

Can't wait to hear more!

Thank you for reading along. I'm trying but facebook and photobucket doesn't want to cooperate. And I'm still trying to find pictures taken with the Photopass that are lost!! Ugh!!

You are off to a great start! Don't worry that it is wordy cause I can reads good!

Thank you!! Its a good thing you can reads good cause I can't type good most of the time! :clint:

I'm here! Great start!

Hi Rita!! :wave1:

As others said don't worry, just write the TR you want. We will enjoy it. Off to a great start.

The hard part is trying to remember what all we did! :rofl3:

Awesome start!!!!

Thank you Carol!

Hurry, more pictures!!!

Best Regards,

Norm

Norm - I'm working on it!! LOL :jumpforjoy

So, to start at the beginning...I've been planning, begging and pleading for this trip FOREVER! And last spring Alex (Alerope) said "Ok". So for the past 9 months I have been generally driving him batty about going to WDW and FW. I don't know who was more excited me or the kids! But January finally got here...and off we go!

Now to back up just a tad, this excursion turned into a multi-family trip. So not only was it Alex, myself, Gracie (who had just turned 6 the previous weekend) and Zach (4). It was also Alex's parents, who flew into MCO extremely late saturday nite, my parents, who pulled their brand new fifth wheel down and my brother and his girlfriend from JAX that tagged along. So count 'em, eleven, yes 11! people in our "Grand Gathering". (Remember this, it will figure in to many headaches down the road.)

So January 20th, friday nite roughly 5:45pm, we pulled out of our driveway in Salisbury, MD. Gracie had been sick all week, Zach was bouncing off the walls and I was just in a bad mood all around. Here's what I saw when I looked into the back of the van when pulling out...

If you look closely, you can see all the "stuff" we had piled in the back there. This was in addition to the Roof Bag we had on top. **Note to self: We don't need all that stuff next time!**

We swung into Princess Anne, MD to pick up my neice from my mom's house and heading south. We hit the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel about 9ish. This was after having to stop for Zach to go potty before we even got off the shore. We were in South Carolina somewhere around 2:15am. I drove most of the night, of course, it caught up with me the next day. And it rained the whole time I was driving!! This is significant because everytime we drive to OK and I'm behind the wheel, it rains...the whole entire time!! Downpours, deluges, squalls!! You name it and I've driven through it.

But we hit the FL border at about 5:30a. Found the nearest Starbucks before heading to my Aunt & Uncle's for breakfast which was where we met up with the rest of the crew. My brother, JJ and his girlfriend, Sarah was late as usual so we didn't get back on the road until almost 11am. Which in hindsight, was good, as Donnie was running late that morning too. He had the camper to deliver! :)

I believe we saw this lovely site around 1pm...

And this one not long after...WELCOME HOME!!

Because we didn't have a camper, I got to go inside to check in. While Mom & Wes drove through the gate. They put us in 1726 & 1728, which turned out to be perfect even with the sites having the weirdest set up for the connections. But we were real close the the comfort station and it was so quiet even though the loop was practically full.

Still uploading pics to photobucket...more to come...

When we were at Asherkus last week Belle was the "hostess" and we saw Ariel, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty in rotation.

I got our tickets through the YES program for last week. It was great. My niece and Gracie did the Synergy in Science class at EPCOT. Alex enjoyed it, I am assuming Gracie did too. Their class started at 8:45 and was over by 11:45. It saved us a bunch of cash when I got our tickets...I bought 7 5 day passes for less than $1600. Its definitely worth checking into it if your dates match up.

Hi Go Braves! Welcome! We just returned from our first trip to the Fort. We stayed in the 1700 loop! Had a blast, seemed like it was in the middle of everything. But my parents have a 38' fifth wheel that they didn't have trouble parking there at all. Just my 2 cents. :)

Probably Shad Landing State Park, Snow Hill MD :wave1:

Yep...this little baby is my to do list! Contempo cafe? Check

Have a great trip! Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back!

We're bring our lunch into the park everyday. Yes, we'll save money but mainly my little guy won't eat anything but PB&J! :)

Oh how I wish they had dance parties every weekend! Gracie would love that!

I can't wait until Saturday!!!!