Seals

This picture is a little freaky. Could you explain cause I'm thinking Poseidon was emerging from the ocean, and he has cool flip flops and painted toenails.

Wow! Thanks for the quick and detailed answers. So now you know I will be posting more as I think of them!

I will call to be certain our reservations are linked for dinner. Because we are not the most social people in the world (I'm pretty shy and I'm the most outgoing one in the family) it might be nice not to have dinner companions. There is a famous quote from my husband when we were going to eat at the German buffet at Epcot. When the waitress said it was family style, he said "I'm not paying that much money to eat with other people" and we left. I haven't actually explained that aspect of it to him yet.

I assume the rooms have a rule about an adult being in each room? Even if not, because of the rate we got they will assign rooms later so there's a good chance we won't have rooms near each other so no adults only/kids only rooms. But we may swap kids around.

Good to know about the wandering around. My kids are pretty responsible but I want to set up some rules ahead of time. My older son has already decided he's going to drink all the "free" caffeinated beverages so that he doesn't have to waste even a minute sleeping.

I've read some things about Nassau that make me think we don't want to get off. But my kids have "never been to a foreign country" and want to get off. Maybe we can just touch down and turn around.

A quick scouring of other websites hasn't given me the answers to these questions (except #4 and the opinions are all over the place). And I have a bunch of questions. We're going on a 3-day cruise at the end of November. First time ever cruising.

1. It says you dine with your stateroom members. We are getting two staterooms because it's less expensive and we will have 2 bathrooms. I made the reservation for one stateroom and then "add a stateroom" for the other. Will we be automatically be seated at the same table or do I have to request?

2. I booked the staterooms as 1 adult/2 kids and 1 adult/1 kid. Do the kids have to sleep in the staterooms I reserved them for or can we swap kids around?

3. What is the atmosphere for tweens/young teen roaming the ship either together or individually? Have you seen kids walking around the ship, eating meals, etc. not with adults?

4. Should we get off at Nassau and if so what should we do? (Note:we are already spending more than our usual vacation $ to go on the cruise and want to limit extra expenses).

5. Can I somehow use Disney gift cards / Visa rewards to tip?

Thanks for any advice.

What a fantastic TR. Looks like you did a lot. You should send it all to Disney for a commercial. Your children are adorable and I love the way they will pose as you tell them and wear various head gear. You have them well trained. Or maybe they are just really great kids. Or both. I am always fearful of the stomach virus on vacation. I'm glad yours turned out ok and that the rest of you didn't get it.

I wish I had the hammock when I was in boyscouts. Encourage your son to get his Eagle Scout. I stopped at Life Scout and regret it at my age now.

All 3 of my boys are in scouts although only the older one has an Eno. The other two will probably get them for Christmas. The Older one is determined to get Eagle and is going to Philmont next summer. I think at least one of the twins will also continue through to Eagle. We are lucky to be in a troop that has produced a lot of Eagle scouts..

We are going on the Dream at the end of Nov. (can't believe I can actually type that as I didn't think it would work out). I'll be reading your TR carefully. Although yesterday I was reading about what happened to the Fantasy during Sandy and I informed my family that if there was a hurricane in the area we were going to cancel. Told them to file that away in the back of their minds so they would be prepared. I'm already nervous about cruising since I've never been before.

As a mother of 3 boys, I love seeing pictures of your 5 girls having fun together. Looks like they had a blast.

Looks like a fun trip and beautiful scenery. We were at Dollywood the weekend before. Did you know you can bypass the PF strip with the road that goes by Dollywood? Takes you almost to Sevierville. We've been through GSMNP several times on our way to and from Dollywood but need to stop and enjoy the park more. Last weekend was the first time we'd driven through Gatlinburg in several years and I was surprised at how many new buildings there were.

Love the fall foliage photos. Looks like a nice campground. My son and many of the boys in his scout troop have Enos. They like to stack them too. He sleeps in his all night and says its comfortable. About 24 years ago my husband drove a U-Haul over Monteagle while I followed in the car. It is quite a mountain.

I want to thank you for writing this report!

You poured it on there at the end, and you have a lot of funny/witty stories there!

I loved your description of your monorail ride with the turkey leg lady. Very funny. Especially when your boys began to speculate about what might happen.

I loved your description of the wannabe cast from Glee!

I even loved how you looped on foot.

I really wish you would have said hello, or you could have met up with some Fiends. I would have been happy to let you use my golfcart while we were away at a park so you could have done some proper looping. I know a lot of Fiends who would have done the same. Also, you missed out on getting spiked.

Your next visit to the Fort will be better, because you will let us know when you're there.

Right?

TCD

I'm quiet but I like to write. My niece writes a travel blog and I think that would be fun to do some day. I'll work on a scheme for "accidentally" running into Fiends on the next trip, whenever that turns out to be.

Awesome trip report!!!! Thanks for sharing!!

Wonderful report! Thanks for sharing your vacation with us.

Wonderful report! Thanks for sharing. I can totally relate to the being so busy that you run out of time to enjoy the fort. My goal whenever I get back there is to change that.

Thanks for reading. I found it's a lot more work to write a TR than I thought. Although I wrote most of it a while ago and it was just downloading and then linking the pictures that took a while. I now have a new camera since the battery compartment cover of the one I took on this trip broke at the beginning of this trip and I had to hold it together with duct tape, and then even the duct tape wasn't holding by the end so I had to hold it closed while shooting.

Saturday

I decided I was going to explore the Fort before we left. Once again we hadn’t really seen much of the Fort because we’d been too busy at the parks. It’s hard to visit only every 12-18 months. We really need to live where I can say “and an hour later we were at the Fort.”

I had a nice time walking around with my mug as my companion.

Camera fog

mug shot:

Then I decided I’d go looping. I’m always reading in TRs about people looping. It sounded like so much fun. “And then we went looping.” However, I had no golf cart. Not even a bicycle or scooter. So I had to loop by foot. Which turned out to not be as much fun. I looped the 100 loop and the 200 loop and got that excitement out of my system.

Back to the cabin:

I collected my children who were in the cabin watching tv (“but it’s the Disney Channel !”) and made them loop with me around loop 100 so we dream about the motor homes their Dad and I will get once they leave the nest.

We loaded the car and drove to the Meadow Trading Post for a last check of pins. The pin board was out and we did a little trading. Then we sadly crossed through the FW gates.

One last shot of the pins I acquired on this trip (2 purchased and 2 traded for):

Next was our usual trip to DTD for lunch, more chocolate samples, a last check of the pin store and lunch at Pollo Campero.

Our next traditional stop is the Disney Outlet at Orlando Premium Outlets. I’m not really sure why we stop here. Its always super crowded and driving around the parking lot causes major stress. But last time we got some cheap pins that we traded this time. Including two starter sets of 8 pins for $11 for each set. This time there wasn’t much and no pins. Just a lot of shoppers.

By mid afternoon we were on our way to see my sister-in-law and niece who raise/train horses near Apopka. We got lost and it took twice as long as it should have, but it was nice seeing their place. It was so peaceful and hard to believe they are that close to the craziness of Orlando. It also was interesting to see their sandy soil and the types of plants that grow there. We live in the middle of red clay country so very different. Then on to Jacksonville for the night.

Sunday we drove except for one stop at St. Simon’s Island . We hadn’t seen the ocean all summer so we made a short stop. It’s a pretty place. I’d like to stay there sometime.

And that was our trip. We packed a lot in, as we usually do. I think I'm done with Universal for a while so hopefully our next trip, whenever that will be, will just be Disney and we can spend more time. Although I do want to go to Sea World sometime. I love tent camping at the Fort although the three times we've gone have been late March/April and almost perfect weather. But now we may have been spoiled by the cabins. It's a lot to haul all our camping gear there. And now we've also been even more spoiled by the VIP cabins. The 100 loop is so convenient. I'm glad we got to experience it.

Friday

Friday morning we headed for Typhoon Lagoon at the 9 am opening. We’d been to TL 2 times and Blizzard Beach once so for fairness we should have gone to BB again. But I like Crush and Gusher and the raft rides at TL. I don’t like slides or anything where I use my body to go on the ride. And my husband likes the shark tank at TL. We stayed until about 2. We mostly all wandered around on our own, although Twin N was willing to go on Crush and Gusher with me. I tried the shark tank for the first time and once I got over the initial panic at putting my face in the water and breathing through the mouthpiece I enjoyed it.

My big complaint was all the people free swimming in the lazy river. I’m a lazy river purist – I believe you should use a tube. I don’t mind a parent out of a tube to push a baby or small child in a tube. But after the first few hours there were people all over the place not in tubes. And the lifeguards said nothing. My meanness started to come out and I refused to paddle away when I was going to bump into some free swimming kid’s head. So I bumped into a lot of kids, accidently of course. Not very lazy river relaxing by that point.

We finished up on the family raft ride, although like almost everything else at WDW a “family” means no more than 4 so we had to go in two rafts.

Next up, of course, was to go to MK and play Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. We hit some bus luck and were back at our cabin in ½ hour and made it to MK around 4.

First we went back to the firehouse and each got a deck of SOMK cards.

So we now had 7 decks in all. Twin D was campaigning heavily to split up to play. He just knew that the rest of us were going to hold him back. I’ve let my DSs wander around together at theme parks but never split up completely. I was a little reluctant but agreed after reviewing the rules. We agreed to meet near Walt’s statue in about an hour.

I followed my DSs at first to see how they played, or so I thought. Then I was on my own. I went to the first portal in the train station to begin my mission. It then sent me to another portal about half way up the street. It told me to cast a spell. I waved my card at the keyhole but it kept telling me the spell didn’t work. After 3 tries it sent me on to another portal to try again. Same thing at that portal.

About that time I realized something. I was wandering around MK *BY MYSELF*. That never happens. Was I going to continue playing this game that obviously I was incompetent at? No, I was going SHOPPING! About the time I was checking out of the Emporium with my purchases, Twin D called to say he’d finished one game and could he continue on with another. Then he asked where I was in the game. I confessed. I could feel his disappointment in me.

I dove back into the game and the next portal. I tried the card backwards. It seemed to be working. I waved it a few more times that way. Went to the last portal and I finished my mission. Yay!

It said my next mission was in Fantasyland. On the way I took a couple of photos of my favorite places, what I call the “edges” of the park.

I’d love to just sit here for a day.

I met up with Twin N in Fantasyland.

The portals are in some interesting places.

I’d never really looked at this statue before.

He was well into his second mission. I explained to him how I’d finally realized I had to wave the card backward to cast a spell. “Ummm no you don’t,” he said. “Yes, you do,” I insisted. Then I watched him. He stood on the mark on the ground and simply held up his card in front of the portal. No leaning over to wave it front of the key hole. No waving at all. And there was a image on the screen that related to the specific spell card. So it occurred to me that the game must have recognized my incompetence and let me finish the mission without me actually doing what I was supposed to do. Sort of like being promoted to the next grade because you’ve been there for 2 years already. I get a dunce cap instead of a sorcerer’s hat.

We met up and had Mickey ice cream bars and then decided to play another round of SOTMK for about 45 min. I finished my Fantasyland adventure and started one in Adventureland. There were a number of people with elaborate notebooks filled with cards. Twin N traded with one girl when I was with him, but we really didn’t know all the rules so we didn’t know what cards were the best and we were afraid of doing a sucker trade. Although I was playing the game by myself (and several times being watched by some kids who I knew were thinking they wished their Mom was that cool) it was a little unsettling to me to see some adults really into the game and trading. One man was sitting in Tortuga Tavern near one of the portals at a table filled with notebooks of cards and piles of cards on the table. I don’t think he was a CM, but maybe. Another 20ish guy asked me if I wanted to trade cards and kept looking all around like he was trying to avoid someone or not be seen by someone. Both were just a little strange.

But I’m glad we got to try SOTK. I think if we get there again we will read more about it first and have a better idea of how to play and what cards we want. I don’t know if they will still be interested, though. The twins, who are 11, really liked it. Older Son, who is 13, actually didn’t play at all. He went to Space Mountain and stood in line but then had to leave without riding because it was time to meet up. The second time he went to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor.

Next, it was time to be moving on to DHS. I said maybe we’d come back to MK for the pm EMH. I said I’d like to ride the train since I hadn’t gotten a chance. It was around 6 pm. We decided to take the monorail to the Contemporary Hotel and then a bus. I’ll admit we are not the best at figuring the most efficient transportation.

There was a small crowd at the monorail when we got there. The crowd grew and grew behind us. The sky also was getting darker. It was time for the afternoon storm. The monorail finally arrived and we squeezed on. There was a woman eating a turkey leg. The monorail smelled like a combination of turkey leg and late afternoon body odor. I’m short, so my nose is at the average person’s armpit level so the body odor was slightly edging out the turkey leg smell. And we were packed into that monorail. At least it was a short ride to the Contemporary. Until the monorail stopped. There was lightening in the distance. Have I mentioned the three things I’m most afraid of: heights, tight spaces packed with lots of people, lightening. The trifecta of my phobias. Accompanied by turkey leg/body odor smell. Accompanied by tween/teen boys whose topic of conversation in such situations is things like “what do you think would happen if the monorail fell off the track?” and “what do you think would happen if lightening struck the monorail?”

Although it seemed like a few days, we were only stopped about 5 minutes. Off at the Contemporary and down to ground level to wait for a bus. A wait and a long ride and we were finally at DHS.

We got FP for ToT and got in the RNR standby line. I made my DSs remind me why I will actually ride RNR. “No sudden drops. It’s dark but not too dark. It has loops but you don’t mind them.” Ok, I was good. I do actually like that roller coaster. I don’t like TOT. Even though I’ve never ridden ToT. And I still haven’t.

A tired feet shot:

The sky was still dark and stormy.

Next was The Great Movie Ride. The line wasn’t long but it didn’t move. By the time we got out it was dark. We walked on Star Tours. There was only a row and a half of people in the space craft. Older DS said maybe one of us would be the Rebel Spy. Nope, a very unworthy woman in the row behind us was the Rebel Spy. I’m not certain she even understood enough English to know she was the Rebel Sky.

A brief dinner stop at ABC Commissary and we were on our way to TSM.

As we approached Pixar Place I looked to my right and saw some people walking fast toward us. It occurred to me that Fantasmic was probably just getting out. We got to TSM as the CM there was saying “and here they come!”. The wait time said something long. We’d experienced wait time inflation at TSM at the end of the day before so we ignored it. We got in line and the crowds filled in behind us. We were still pretty far back though. Until we got around the corner to the stairs. There was no one lined up on the stairs. They were making the line look longer than it was. I don’t have a photo of our scores, but I’m sure mine was the highest.

By the time we left TSM the park was closed. Our plan was to go back to MK for a while. We asked a CM how to get to the MK and he told us to take the TTC bus “over there.” We looked “over there” and a bus was starting to pull out. We ran and waved our arms. The bus driver gleefully (I imagined; I didn’t actually see his face) sped off. Fail. We were not the center of the universe. We waited. And waited.

Finally the next bus arrived and we took the back row of seats. People filled in around us. Teenaged people with drawstring bags that said something like “ Disney Performing Arts.” And then some of them met some other teenagers near the front of the bus who came back to visit. The performing arts teenagers sat on each other’s laps to make room. They exchanged short but dramatic life stories. They found out one had never been to Disney before. They yelled “OMG it’s his FIRST TIME!!!!! FIRST TIME !!!!.” They found out it was one’s birthday. They encouraged the bus to join them singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! They announced multiple times that they would be performing at DTD the next day at noon. AT NOON!!!! Yes, we were on the party bus with the wannabe cast from Glee.

Finally we arrived at TTC. You’d think all that youthful energy would make us energetic. Nope, just the opposite. The day’s activities had caught up with me. We left the party behind and took the monorail to MK. The MSEP was almost over. I love the MSEP if for nothing else than for the nostalgic memories. My Dad loved the MSEP on our 1974 and 1977 visits. He even had a record of similar music that he played a lot. My Dad also loved the Tiki Birds and Big Al. He was that kind of guy. We watched the end of MSEP from the train station.

I thought that the train wasn’t running because of the parade. It will be running when the parade was over, I thought. It will be fun and peaceful to ride the train around the park in the dark. Well, that was a pleasant dream. The train was apparently stopped for the night. Oops.

Then we hit the wall. We were hot, tired and had no real plan. I realized Twin D hadn’t said anything since we left DHS, usually a sign that he’s very tired. Older Son wasn’t tired and was up for several hours of riding things that go fast. He wanted to go to Space Mountain. I just couldn’t process the thought of my tired body hurling through space at that point. In fact, I could only process the thought of hurling my body into bed. We walked toward the FW boat.

We got in line for the MK ferry and I was in a state somewhere between sleep and awake just waiting to fall into bed. Suddenly I realized I was dreaming that I saw TCD and his twins from FF.net walking off the ferry. Weird. They looked like their pictures but they were moving. In my brain fog it then occurred to me that it actually was them. I started to say something to my family but realized they had no clue who these celebrities in our midst were. I briefly thought about following TCD and Twins since I was sure they would be having fun. But I was too tired.

I think we took the ferry back and walked to our cabin but I’m not sure because the next thing I remember I was waking up in the cabin and it was light outside.

Our last day. And I’d barely seen the Fort.

Thursday

Thursday was parks day. We got to the opening show at Magic Kingdom.

First Space Mountain, then Buzz Lightyear and a visit with Stitch (TwinD’s favorite character). Stitch had a Buzz Lightyear doll that he wanted to hold and the CM said she’d hold it for him.

Tomorrowland Speedway and then Barnstormer. I took a bunch of pictures of the newFantasyland construction site, but they’re out of date now so I’ll just post a few of what was open.

Then Haunted Mansion.

Picked up a FP for Big Thunder Mountain and rode Pirates of the Caribbean. Then picked up a FP for Jungle Cruise and rode BTM. Lunch at Pecos Bill.

Then we rode Jungle Cruise.

My children love JC. They love the jokes and we often repeat Jungle Cruise jokes on relevant occasions (like when we see the back side of water, or a ride ends in a gift shop.)

Last summer we rode JC and the sound system was horrible. We were near the back of the boat and couldn’t really understand anything. This time we were at the front of the boat and the CM was trying his hardest but little response from the crowd, except for us. Because we could hear him without the sound system. I could tell the people at the back of the boat couldn’t understand him. And then some didn’t seem to speak English even if they could hear with the sound system. So the CM was dying, except for us.

When we entered MK I said that each boy could pick 3 rides/attractions. We’d ridden all 3 choices of each except Twin D really wanted to do Stitch’s Great Escape. We hadn’t done it in several visits, with good reason, but he wanted to do it. It had been closed while we were in Tomorrowland but he wanted to go back and see if it was open. Well, unfortunately it was open. With a long line that stretched around the back of the attraction.

But I’d PROMISED... So we waited. And it was just the same bad as always.

At that point we were ready to hop to Animal Kingdom. But first I wanted the boys to see about the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game I’d read about (in TCD’s trip reports). The firehouse had been closed when we went by at opening and I didn’t realize there was another place to get cards. The boys wanted to leave but I insisted they stop since I thought they’d really like to find out about the game and get some cards. So we did and Twin N and Twin D each got a set of cards and a brief explanation. Then they were torn between wanting to play and wanting to go ride EE. I said we could come back in the evening since MK was open until 10. Another one of those PROMISEs.

On the way out I saw these balloons and took about a hundred photos. I really wanted to buy the whole bunch.

We took the monorail to TTC and a bus to Animal Kingdom. The boys rode EE twice. Then Dinosaur and Festival of the Lion King. That is such a wonderful show.

Then Kilimanjaro Safari. That was the best experience on Kilimanjaro we’ve ever had. The animals were everywhere and twice blocked the road so all the vehicles had to stop for a while. Nothing like a rhino in the road to slow you down.

At that point we decided to take the bus back to FW and have a GAG and then head to MK. We got our GAG, filled out mugs and got back to the cabin just as the skies opened up. It poured and poured with thunder and lightening. And we were cozy in the cabin watching the Olympics. But I had PROMISED we’d go back and play Sorcerers. We waited “just a little longer” a couple of times but it was still thundering. When it hit 9:00 I made the decision to alter our “one park or one extra per day” policy and said we’d do a half day water park and then go back to MK the next day. A promise is a promise. And we didn’t know when we’d be back to WDW.

When I read other TRs I feel like I need to finish mine first, so let me get this thing going again.

Wednesday (August 8th that is)

A little more exploring and another swim at AofA before we checked out. When I first told my kids we were going to WDW their first question was “Can we go to Disney Quest?” When I told my husband we were going to WDW his first statement was “I don’t mind going to a water park, but I don’t want to go back to Disney Quest.” This is my life sometimes. The result, as it frequently is, is that we would go to Disney Quest for a while on Wednesday. We had non-expiration Parkhopper Plus tickets with 2 remaining park visits and 4 remaining extra visits.

We debated going to DTD for lunch but decided to move on to the Fort to see if we could check in and then decide about lunch.

[note that photos with dates are from my son's camera, and he apparently had the date set wrong but later fixed it.]

This visit we would be staying in one of the “Wilderness Homes.” We’ve tent camped at the Fort three times in the 2000 loop and apparently I never really noticed where the cabin loops were. The CM showed me a map with a cabin in the 2400 loop. I saw how close to the front it was and asked if there was anything a little more centrally located, like near the Meadow pool (thinking about our refillable mugs, for one thing). She said that all of the cabin loops were up at that end so the closest to the middle was 2100.

After a long wait while she searched and chatted, she said that they had two cabins in the 100 loop if we were interested in one. She said they were called VIP cabins but anyone could stay in one. I tried not to appear too excited and casually said yes, I thought we would be interested in one. Inside my head: “SCORE!”

Finally she released us and we drove to the cabin. Opened the door, and there were empty pizza boxes on the counter, a dirty floor and dirty towels in the bathroom. I called the front desk and talked to a male CM who said “Oh, I’ll send someone to investigate.” I hung up feeling a little leery. What was there to “investigate”? I just told him the cabin wasn’t clean. This wasn’t CSI-The Fort.

We didn’t want to leave our luggage in the hot hot hot car for too long so we decided to eat at the Fort. When we were talking at the counter the CM said that there was a lunch buffet at Trails End. I was pretty sure I’d read there wasn’t anymore. And sure enough I was right. We looked at the menu but nothing (particularly the prices) appealed to us. We decided to get a GAG. Nope, no takeout until 4:30. So we decided to boat to Wilderness Lodge and eat at Roaring Fork.

Walking down the dock at the Fort is when I feel like I’m really there in my wonderful happy place. The air just feels special and exciting and … I can’t describe it but you know what I mean. On the boat I told my usual story of going to the legendary River Country when I was a kid.

Twin D shows off his new pin:

A decent lunch and some exploring around WL. Twin D hoped the “geezer” was going, but it wasn’t. And back to the Fort.

Back at cabin we opened the door and the pizza boxes were still there. Apparently no investigation had taken place. I called the front desk again with what my children call my “mad voice.” I talk very slowly and e-nun-ci-ate. Eventually I talked to the head of housekeeping. She would personally come with someone right away and clean the cabin. I asked if we should wait but she said it would be a while. I explained that we wanted to go to DTD but we didn’t want to leave our luggage in the hot car. She suggested we drive the luggage back up to the front and put it inside the office. We had a lot of scattered luggage and I wasn’t interested in lugging it all into the office and then back out to the car later. She offered that someone could drive us to DTD. I was tempted but considering how the “investigation” went I was afraid we would be sitting around waiting for a couple of hours before someone showed up, if even. Do they have people waiting around to drive disgruntled guests places? I thanked her but no. We bussed to DTD.

The two times we’ve been to Disney Quest we’ve gotten there when it opened at 11 and it wasn’t too crowded even though both times it was the week before Easter. This time we got there around 4 and it was pretty crowded. We split up with meet back up times. There’s not too much at DQ that I like. I’m not a video game person. The skee ball, my favorite from childhood trips to the Jersey Shore, was being monopolized by toddlers who were throwing balls from one lane to another. I played the one Pirates of the Carribbean pinball machine I like. I also like the shooting basketballs and got a good workout with a couple of rounds of that as well as on the Might Ducks Pinball Slam. But, that was about 45 minutes and I was done. My kids wanted to stay for a couple of hours although they found they were spending a lot of time waiting in line. My husband likes the drawing sessions which I’d never done before. They were pretty crowded too so you had to grab a seat and wait. Twin D wanted to try drawing this time too.

Mine:

Twin D’s:

Eventually we all did the Pirates of the Carribbean which is fun, but another long wait. My head hurt. I was ready to go. The boys left under protest. We headed for Pollo Campero where we’ve eaten before.

This is a little blurry, but this guy was playing a conch shell. I’d never seen that before.

We were heading for Pollo Campero, but while walking by Cooke’s of Dublin the fish and chips smelled so good we decided to stop and try them. They were good, although not much food for the price.

While we waited for the food, the boys made a stop action movie of the malt vinegar bottle and a styrofoam cup. This is just one of many scenes.

We went through Ghiradelli a couple of times for the free chocolate samples for dessert and did a little window shopping. We made it to the bus stop just as the Fort bus was pulling out. We waited a loooong time for the next one and finally got to the Fort. One of the many nice things about the 100 loop is that we could take any Settlement bus. We got on the first one and there were only two other families on the bus. And one was a teacher at my son’s school who’s also the assistant coach of my son’s team. They were staying in a cabin in the 2100 loop. Things like that just amaze me. It’s a small world after all.

Luckily for all involved, our cabin was cleaned and we settled in. The boys got the bedroom with the bunk beds and double bed and their own tv. My husband and I took the Murphy bed in the living room. It was all very cozy. Nice kitchen if we'd been inclined to cook anything. And they gave us about 20 towels. The only drawback in relation to the AofA was that there was only one bathroom whereas AofA had two. But, we were a short walk from the bathroom at Pioneer Hall if needed.

I'm blinded! AoA is sensory overload for me!

It is at first. But it's so much fun to walk around.

I can't wait to explore the resort in February!

You're going to love it!

Does anyone know what this plant is? I like the way it looks.

And more photos from around the resort.

I love these stickers.

And a picture I just found of the table that with the folded Murphy bed over it.

So we wandered around for a while and then had dinner at Landscape of Flavors (food court). I had the Tandoori Acorn Squash with Naan bread and choice of two sides. It looked like it would taste better than it did. The squash was small and it tasted like it sat out for a while. I was considering the pickled vegetables and the CM let me try a piece of squash. It was pretty good so I had that as my side. Well, she scooped out a big old scoop of mostly carrots and just a couple of pieces of squash. I’m not too big on carrots. I made the kids each eat a few. They had sandwiches that they said were good.

As we walked into the food court there was a display of refillable mugs. I’d said we weren’t going to buy refillable mugs. But it was like those mugs attached themselves to my hands and made me carry them to the check out. It wasn’t even practical since we were only staying 1 night at AofA and then 3 nights at the Fort which isn’t very refillable mug friendly. And I didn't really like the design. And the color choices were black, turquoise and pink -- not real "boy" colors there. But some of our fun WDW times have been had with refillable mugs, especially drinking hot chocolate, and so there I was. Sometimes it’s the memories that get you. I think Disney has figured that out.

You can see in this photo that my mug accompanied me while I was exploring.

Then off to the pool. The dive-in movie was Lion King 1 1/2 . I like that movie. I also think it was the first movie we ever bought on DVD. My kids discovered that there was music playing under water which kept them entertained. Late night hot chocolate in those refillable mugs and it was time for bed. Tomorrow we head for THE FORT!!

I really was impressed with AofA. I kept imagining being a 4 or 5 year old kid who loves Cars. How amazing it would be to see your friends life size. Although some parts of the Lion King section might be a little scary for that age group. You might not want to see some of those “friends” life size.

I know a number of people have already posted pictures of AofA but I’m posting mine anyway. Some are from that evening (stormy) and some from the next day (sunny).

The Lion King section wasn't open when we were there but it was opening a few days later.

Come and play children, and I will eat you.

Seriously -- no climbing?? On this attraction that screams "climb me"? I wonder how that's working out.

More in the next post.

Tuesday

Packed up and loaded our bags in the car and got to Universal Studios gate a little before 9. For some reason I thought the early hours were 7-8 and we were in regular hours. Turned out 8-9 was for hotel guests so Older Son ran to Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, the only ride in that park that doesn’t have Express Pass. Using the single rider line he rode twice in about 20 minutes. That’s one ride I can’t even look at. I’m sure those cars are going to fall off the track.

We moved on to The Simpsons

Another round on Men in Black.

View from near Men In Black. This is where they've taken out the Jaw ride but it still looks a little like a New England fishing village. I'm not sure what they are going to put in here next.

And then Disaster. In Disaster, the director says “When I say ‘we are’ you say ‘moving on.’” And they repeat that through the attraction. That became my phrase for our trip. “We are….moving on.” Next was ET and then Wood Woodpecker Roller kid coaster. I love that my boys will still ride some kidde rides with me!

This guy was out and about

Then the Animal Actors on Location show. We’d seen this last year and so we knew what was supposed to happen. But a few of the dogs were doing their own thing this time. Possibly some work grievances were being played out. Or they were just hungry.

It was lunchtime. We went to one place that was packed and so walked across the park to Classic Monster’s Cafe which was just as crowded. And the food was frightful. Not really, I just wanted to work that in.

After lunch the boys wanted to see the Terminator attraction. We had to wait a while so we watched some characters that were out and about.

We never stand in line to pose with characters, but these guys were just coming through the gate so we were first. Not telling which are my children.

We left Universal around 3:30.

One last view:

Goodbye from a monkey:

Then it was time for DISNEY!!! The first reservation I made for this trip I made in June when I saw discounted rates for the cabins at the Fort. I made reservations for Wed-Fri. nights not really knowing if we would even keep them or what else we would do. Then I decided to add two days at Universal. The week before I’d pushed Universal ahead to Sun/Mon so I needed a reservation somewhere for Tues. I decided we could probably swing a night at Art of Animation. Especially since I really wanted to stay there.

As we pulled into the AofA parking lot it started to pour and then thunder. “I don’t mind being out in the rain, but I’m not going out in a thunderstorm.” So we sat in the increasingly hot car as the parking lot filled with water around us. We’d just piled things in since we weren’t going far so everyone was a little crowded. We all got cranky, although we were momentarily entertained by a woman walking along pulling her suitcase behind her who got in the car next to us. She, and her suitcase, were soaked.

Finally we were tired of sitting and watching the rain so we drove around the parking lots. Then we all started to get excited. This place was really cool. As we drove by the front of Art of Animation we saw there was actually a covering and the CM said we could stop there as long as one person stayed in the car. Why didn’t we notice that before? And why didn’t that woman leave her suitcase under the covering and drive back in her car to get it?.

Check in was quick at the Yellow counter

I loved the lobby art

They assigned us to the Finding Nemo building right behind the lobby building. We were all impressed with the theming as we walked to our room. And then we were all impressed by the room. Its rare for us to stay anywhere where we have much room. Which is fine since we rarely spend time in the room when we’re on vacation. This room had three distinct areas and we quickly claimed them.

Parents in the bed room with attached bathroom (pictures from the next day; sorry about the mess)

Older Son the table/Murphy bed area. Coolest piece of furniture ever! Sorry I didn't take a picture of the bed pulled down.

Twin N and Twin D in the sitting area with sofa bed (although they had to allow Older Son tv privileges). And they shared the 2nd ! bathroom.

Having staked out our territories, we saw it had stopped raining and set out to explore the resort. I’ll pick that up in another post.

Let me try to finish Monday. We were on our way to Universal Studios by bus. But first a couple of pictures I forgot to post from our morning. Lots of comic book characters walking around Universal. I don’t know much about Marvel characters. My childhood comic book reading leaned more toward Richie Rich and Archie and Jughead. They were pretty normal compared to some of these characters. But apparently a lot of people like them.

Ok, now we’re back to our late afternoon at Universal Studios. Our first stop was the new Despicable Me attraction.

Some views of the waiting area.

I don’t remember much of the Despicable Me movie, but I like the Minions.

The attraction is a 3-D movie where the seats move. it was entertaining, but even my children who are used to the frantic pace of most kids movies and video games these days thought it was too fast. it was like someone pushed fast forward while viewing a VHS tape.

Then Shrek.

Next W, Older DS and Twin D went on the Mummy ride while Twin N and I watched people waste money in the arcade.

Then two times on Men In Black: Alien Attack, voted our favorite whole family ride. Again we passed the same people in the regular line on both of our trips through the Express Pass line.

Hamburgers and fries at Mel’s diner. And a visit to the Curious George ball pit and the park was closed. Universal has added an evening show called "Universal's Cinematic Spectacular: 100 Years of Movie Memories” where they project movie scenes, by theme, on walls of water. They say how clear the images are. I thought they looked like movies projected on a wall of water. It was long, there was no where for us to sit and it had started to rain so we were watching a wall of water while getting wet. There were also some fireworks. Nothing spectacular and I wouldn’t stay for it again. We dragged ourselves back to the hotel. Which in the dark and rain seemed like it had been moved a couple of miles further away. And bed.

Wow! You had an action packed, fun-filled day!! Love the Harry Potter pics! Can't wait for more!!

I'm glad I just saw this. You like cliff hangers!!! We haven't been to US yet but I am excited to go some day. Didn't want to deal with the big crowds. Your pictures are great!! Looking forward to the TR!! Don't keep us hanging too long. Oh and welcome to FF you'll feel like family in no time.

Thanks. Maybe more tomorrow.

Did you get to ride the Pteranodon Flyers? I thought it looked like a very fun ride but adults can not ride without a child. How stupid is that!

http://www.universal...don-Flyers.aspx

No, I wanted to last year but that has to be the slowest loading ride in the world. We waited and waited and hardly moved so we gave up. This year we didn't even try, and my kids may be too big now. Even though I'm not!.

Finally, a brief break in my overscheduled life and I want to get back to this trip report before it’s next year.

Welcome to our Orlando theme park adventure of early August 2012. Myself, my husband W, Older Son (13), and twin sons (11) -- here named Twin N and Twin D .

We arrived in Orlando Sunday evening. First stop was dinner at the Golden Corral near Universal Studios. At home my kids often ask to go to Golden Corral. Usually i say “no.” But I caved this time. Purple cotton candy and a chocolate fountain that diners can, and do, put everything in. I’ll say no more (and, sorry, no pictures. or maybe I’m not sorry). Unfortunately, this TR will be somewhat short of photos due to a combination of camera malfunction and photographer laziness. I did steal a few photos from Twin N, however, and I’ll work those in.

After dinner and a Walgreens stop to stock up on breakfast foods, we checked in at Royal Pacific Resort, one of the Universal - Orlando on site hotels. Universal hotels have the great perk of Express Pass which lets you go in a separate line at any time on any ride or attraction except two (I think only two). We knew from last year that they moved the Express Line pretty quickly and it saved us lots of time. We’d spent 2 ½ days at Universal last August and also stayed at the Royal Pacific. I still had my annual pass so I used that for room discount, discount on tickets and 10% off dining.

Check-in, an amusing time using the new this year Express Pass photo kiosks in the lobby, and we were ready for the pool. The “dive in” movie was “Goonies.” Haven’t seen that one in years. It includes the “s” word – broadcast across the pool. We definitely weren’t at Disney. Eventually we settled in our room, with older DS sleeping on the floor and twin DSs reluctantly sharing the other double bed. The Royal Pacific Resort rooms are pretty standard hotel size, which means small for a family of 5. But what we are used to. Alarms and wake up calls set for 6 am.

Monday

A quick breakfast from our stash and we were on our way. I also like being able to walk to the parks from the on-site hotels. Along with all the other hotel guest early arrivers at Islands of Adventure we were heading for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey which opens an hour early for on-site guests. Last year we went to Universal mainly because of Harry Potter world. My sons have read the books many times and seen all the movies. I had never read the books nor seen the movies. And i was never interested in them although many people, including my children, kept telling me I’d like them even though i don’t like fantasy type books. But early in the summer I’d decided i’d finally try the Harry Potter books. And i enjoyed them. I’d read 3 ½ books by the start of our trip, enough to make frequent Harry Potter references and declare myself “the world’s biggest Harry Potter fan”.

And here I am in all my fandom:

I enjoyed Forbidden Journey and the whole Harry Potter area more this year since I knew what I was seeing. They’ve done a good job with it, although it gets way too crowded.

Next up was Flight of the Hipppogriff tame roller coaster, Three Dragons more advanced roller coaster for Older Son and Twin N, being knocked around by the crowds in the shops and then butterbeer at Three Broomsticks Restaurant. W found a nice quiet place on the back side of the restaurant and we relaxed there for a while.

More Harry Potter scenes:

We walked through the Lost Continent area. We did the shows there last year but not this year.

One of my favorite scenes:

The Dr. Seuss area:

We went on the Cat In the Hat ride and the Carousel.

Then the three boys went on Hulk roller coaster while W and I sat in the shade and had some ice water. It was hot.

Next was Spiderman which is one of our favorite rides. Then lunch at Thunder Falls Terrace. We’ve only eaten a couple of places at IOA but I like Thunder Falls. Lots of food and it’s pretty good. Twin D and I split a chicken tortilla wrap with black beans and rice side for $8.99 and it was plenty of food for both of us. Bigger eaters in our party got ¼ chicken plus side (roasted corn is one choice) for $9.99.

After lunch, it was time to get wet. Having walked around in wet shoes and underwear in theme parks before, this time I said I would only get wet if it was followed by going back to the room to change. Jurassic Park River Adventure, pretty wet. Dudley Do-Right Ripsaw Falls, a little wet (and a pretty lame ride that is no comparison to Splash Mountain). Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges, soaked. I really like this raft ride. Our theme park experience is Disney, Universal, Carowinds and Dollywood and I think this is my favorite of the raft rides. Soe we rode it twice. Breezed by the long regular lines with our Express Pass.

Then we squished our way back to the hotel. They had the most delicious “free” strawberry lemonade in the lobby. And “free” popsicles. “Free” because we paid enough for the room to cover the cost of lemonade and popsicles. But it was still nice. Change of clothes and a tiny bit of relaxing. We were just about to leave for Universal Studios when the skies opened up and it poured. Thankfully we hadn’t left yet or it would have been wet shoes and underwear all over again. I think this was the first, but not the last, time I said “I don’t mind being out in the rain, but I’m not going out in a thunderstorm.” We waited it out and then took the bus since it was still drizzling.

I’ll continue the rest of the day in another post.

We rode the Auto Train to my childhood visits to WDW in 1974 and 1977 and I still remember how much fun it was. We carried all our camping equipment in our station wagon. I wish there were more Auto Trains around the country.

Looking forward to more of your TR.

I've never been to the F&W Festival. After looking at these pictures I realize I now have yet another goal in life. Although I will probably be broke and unable to move by the time I leave. It's interesting seeing all the choices and prices.

Our town bakery when I was growing up in NJ sold Napoleons. They were my favorite. I had one at the French bakery in Epcot last year. Now I'm getting hungry.