Blessings upon Blessings Trip Report

[smf 9]

I'm in...which I assume means I'm reading ?? Lol I'm such a newbie!

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I am so late to the party.  Hopping on with everyone else, those magic bands are great.  I love them.

 

And yes, EE on an empty stomach is a terrible thing to do.

[Abagpiper5 8]

:pc:

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Loving the delight in all of your children :)

They all had a wonderful time! :D

 

I'm in, and darn it... I missed page 1. 

 

Yay for Fiends and pixie dust. 

 

The look on your DD7's face has me questioning taking my son on EE. 

 

I can't wait to read and see more! 

I would recommend not taking him on EE unless he has done really well with other coasters.

 

YAY you've started!! 

 

Safari ride is my favorite, early morning, last ride of day or after a rain storm.

I was very glad we were able to hit the Safari ride so early.  There seemed to be many animals out and moving around.

 

I'm in! Can't wait to read more! Oh, boy - did we ever see some periods of torrential rain, that week!

That was more rain than i was mentally prepared for, but I did have enough ponchos.

 

I am glad to see my children are not the only helpful ones around. When the phone rings in the house, they like to announce, "the phone is ringing."

I have trained my children to say that sort of thing, since I am beginning to lose my hearing.  But when it rings right next to me and they say it, it can get annoying.  I can't blame them - they are just doing what they were told to do!

 

I am in and wondering how your knee held up

I should make you wait until the end, but I will spill the beans and say my knee did great!  The physical therapy definitely helped a great deal.

 

I have been waiting!!  Didn't make page 1 but I am so in!

 

Welcome!

Great pix.

I love the EE pix.

How did the older kids get back on EE so fast? Or at least it seems like they got back on fast.

What great blessings from all those fiends.

Did y'all like the Nemo show?

 

They did get back on fast.  Remember, this was during morning EMH, so the park was fairly empty.  I think they had a ten minute wait the second time through.  It took them just long enough for my 7yo to stop shaking and crying.

Page 2.  Not too bad!  I am in and ready for more!

I will work on my next update as soon as I finish answering all the encouraging comments. :)

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Your dd's face is priceless. I hope she isn't traumatized!

Great safari pics!

And you calling your kids offspring is making me LOL

I don't think she was traumatized, but she definitely didn't want to ride anymore coasters this vacation.  

 

My 19yo took all the safari photos with her iPhone.  A fiend had sent me a camera to use on the vacation, but when I turned it on it said I had to call an 800 number for service.  Sounded too much like work on my vacation.

 

I call them offspring because some of them seem too old to call kids or children.  I am glad it makes you LOL. :)

 

Oh and did you decorate your MB? They look great

 

My 19yo decorated the bands with paint pens.  The designs started to wear off by the end of the week, but were still really neat.

I am in and loving seeing the pictures of EE.  Can't wait to read more.  That was quite the Grand Gathering list of Fiends you got to see.

 

Looks like I have started Page 3.  

Page Three Bragging Rights!

 

I am late but in!

This sounds like an epic trip!

 

It was definitely epic!

 

Love the EE ride pics!  Y'all look like you're having so much fun!   :yay:

 

Can't wait for more!

More coming shortly!

 

Late to the party as usual, but I'm caught up! Looking forward to more!

Welcome!

 

I am on Page 3 Woot Woot!!  LOL late to the TR but better late than not!

Loving the TR so far Marty!

I hope to keep up each night while I am "working" 

 

Well then, I better get to work.

Looks like I'm late to another great TR but enjoying the posts.  Those photos of Animal Kingdom are so inviting, wish I could get back there in cooler weather and enjoy the scenery without feeling like I was melting into the walkway.

 

The weather that morning was perfect.

Love the bands!  Very cute...did you make the designs?

My daughter did them.  She is very talented.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Sorry about the bus to AK.  I hate it when that happens. We've had the opposite happen to us- a bunch of AK buses coming when we wanted to go somewhere else.

 

The MB decorations are great!  I also want to hear the story behind those.

 

Glad the purple crayon drawing helped with the Tree of Life. I wish I knew you wanted to get from the 1500 loop to the 600 loop. I would have drawn you a map to show you what a short walk it is by taking the bridge across from the 1500 loop bus stop and heading to the Meadow Trading Post.  The 600 loop is right next door. If Bob was in his usual spot, you could have walked right in from his back yard.

 

TCD

The next time we were headed for a park, we saw a bunch of AK buses before the Epcot one arrived.  We just laughed.

 

As said earlier, she used paint pens and just free handed them.  Mine is a Minnie Mouse them with white dots on the pink band and a bow on top of the Mickey Head.  7yo daughter got a Frozen theme with snowflakes drawn on a blue band.  12yo boy got Ironman.  15yo boy got Stitch on a blue band.  13yo boy was fine with plain red.  17yo boy wanted the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. symbol, but my daughter didn't thikn she could make that look right on the band so his stayed plain grey.  For her own band, my daughter painted Peter Pan flying over the London skyline.  However, Peter Pan told her she got the time on Big Ben wrong.  Ah well.

 

Cheryl and Jeff showed us the way back from Bob's site, so we knew after that.

 

Oops.  Sorry.

 

The ghost arrived early for Halloween.

 

TCD

Well, MNSSHP is going full swing, so it doesn't seem early to me.

 

That "ghost" gets a lot of us.......

 

OK Marty!! I think it's time for another installment!!!!!

Sorry, 17yob had his wosdom teeth out this morning, so i have been busy.

 

I'm in...which I assume means I'm reading ?? Lol I'm such a newbie!

 

Yes, please do read along! :D

I am so late to the party.  Hopping on with everyone else, those magic bands are great.  I love them.

 

And yes, EE on an empty stomach is a terrible thing to do.

Not sure scarfing down muffins while walking through the park put much on the stomach, but no one got sick or even complained about feeling nauseous.  7yo was just terrified.

 

:pc:

Did you bring enough for everyone?  I'm hungry!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The next time we were headed for a park, we saw a bunch of AK buses before the Epcot one arrived.  We just laughed.

What can you do? It is very rare that we have a problem with the buses, but sometimes the timing can just be off. I don't trust the buses for rope drop. The rest of the time, I don't worry about it.

 

As said earlier, she used paint pens and just free handed them.  Mine is a Minnie Mouse them with white dots on the pink band and a bow on top of the Mickey Head.  7yo daughter got a Frozen theme with snowflakes drawn on a blue band.  12yo boy got Ironman.  15yo boy got Stitch on a blue band.  13yo boy was fine with plain red.  17yo boy wanted the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. symbol, but my daughter didn't thikn she could make that look right on the band so his stayed plain grey.  For her own band, my daughter painted Peter Pan flying over the London skyline.  However, Peter Pan told her she got the time on Big Ben wrong.  Ah well.

Please tell your daughter she did an excellent job! I've seen people decorate their bands with nail polish, and that doesn't look as good as your daughter's work.

LOL at Peter Pan saying the time was wrong. Maybe if he wasn't always jumping on the clock hands, it would work better?

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Before I continue with the next update, a quick explanation of Disneybounding.  Some years ago, a young lady named Leslie Kay wanted to combine her love of Disney with her love of fashion.  She came up with Disneybounding - "Using items you can find in your own closet or local mall [or thrift store], create looks outside of costumed or cosplay looks, which represent your favorite Disney character, while having fun with fashion."  http://disneybound.tumblr.com/

 

For our Animal Kingdom day, my 19yo Disneybounded as Robin Hood from the Disney animated movie.  She wore Robin Hood type colors with a fox purse and some fox jewelry because in the animated version, Robin is a fox.  Here is a picture of her outfit for that day:

 

 

I covered that here because this is where in the day she had me snap a picture of her outfit.

 

After this, we headed out of the park.  But wait!  There was a Photopass Photographer.  Remember that Memory Maker some fiends had paid for?  I was determined to get their money's worth.

 

Here is my 7yo getting posed for a magic shot:

 

Here is the magic shot:

 

 

Here is another Magic Shot:

 

 

(Quick note for any photopass photographers reading along.  Don't do all the Magic Shots with the same child.  I think my 12 yo felt left out.)

 

A Magic Shot with the whole family:

 

 

Standard shot of whole family at AK: 

 

 

Oops!  Need to back up a bit.  I found some photos on the Memory Maker account of all of us near the Tree of Life:

 

 

 

As we were leaving AK, I noticed that my son William did not have a hat on.  Turns out he had not brought a hat to Florida.  Fiends to the rescue!  I pulled out one of the gift cards I had gotten and bought him a hat.  He chose a really cool one that you can see in later pictures.

 

After that, we “hopped” over to Disney Hollywood Studios.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After wandering about a bit getting our bearings, we found a table by Min and Bill’s Dockside Diner.  I had brought BLT makings in my backpack kept cool with a ziploc of ice wrapped in a towel.  The lettuce and bacon had traveled fine.  The sliced tomatoes now looked more like tomato soup and the bread was a bit smooshed, but we made do.

 

While we were eating, we saw Stitch doing a meet and greet.  On our 2010 trip, we got a great picture with Stitch, so we wanted to try again.  Some of the kids got in line for the meet and greet and while the rest of tried to quickly finish our lunch.  I stuffed half a sandwich in my mouth and quickly cleaned up from our lunch.  We joined the family in line just before they meet Stitch.  It had started to rain, so we were the last family to meet Stitch.  

 

 

 

From there, we headed in the rain to ride Toy Story Mania with our first FastPass Plus (FP+).  I was thrilled to see the sensor light up green!  

 

 

William in his new hat:

 

 

 

 

 

Toy Story Mania was  lots of fun!  I didn’t score amazingly high, but I did better than my 7yo.

 

After that, we got some Premium Mickey Ice Cream Bars.  Yummy!  

 

 

After we cleaned up all the melted chocolate and ice cream, we headed into Wandering Oaken’s Trading post, in part to get out of the rain.  We enjoyed looking, but didn’t buy anything.

 

Frozen backdrop pictures:

 

 

 

 

Next up:  More DHS

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Loving reading about all the fun you all are having!!!!

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Next up, we went to watch the Beauty and the Beast show.  You might get the impression form these next pictures that my daughter likes Gaston.  You would be right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we went to the Indiana Jones stunt show.  By the time we got to the Indiana Jones show, most of the seats were filled.  I just split the kids up into groups of two with my 17yob sitting by himself.  Then I carefully went to each group and explained where we would meet after the show so we could quickly get to our next FP+.  We would be cutting it close, so I didn’t want any delays.

 

Then they asked for people to be “extras” in the show.  They had to be over 18 years old and in good physcial condition.  All thoughts of my bad knee flew out of my head as I eagerly waved my hand.  Yes, I was chosen.  

 

With only minor misgivings, I signed the waiver and put on my costume.  

 

 

I had a blast! 

 

I was a little concerned when the director told us to crouch down quickly so we wouldn’t get hurt by the exploding truck.  I just quickly sat on the ground and even managed to get back up again!  I really enjoyed being an extra, but realized later that meant I had missed most of the show.

 

 

 

After the show, the kids all met at the agreed spot and we were off to Star Tours.  As we were lining up to go in, my 7yo started to panic.  She and I ducked out of the line and waited for the others while they enjoyed the ride.  

 

Waiting in line for Star Tours:

 

 

They did the Wookie planet one and none of them were chosen as the Rebel Spy.

 

Duckie Momo:

 

 

 

Duckie Momo with Phineas and Ferb in the background:

 

 

Next, we went to Muppet Vision 3D.  The 3D on this was not as good as other 3D things Disney has done.  I realize that it is older, but I wish they could update it so it doesn't give me a headache.

 

The next thing on our touring plan was our FP+ for Tower of Terror, followed by waiting in the stand-by line for Rockin' Roller Coaster.  I realized that my 7yo would not want to do either and a quick poll revealed that my 12yo and 13yo weren't certain they wanted to ride them either.  We decided to split up with the older three going to ride the rides while the younger ones and I stood on the stand-by line to see if we could get into the Frozen Sing-Along.  

 

We were the second group in the stand-by line and the rain certainly helped.  Not only did we get in, but I think most of the line did.  Yes, they weren't the best seats, but we had a blast.  If you are thinking of trying to get in using the stand-by line, I say, "Go for it!"

 

Here are pictures my daughter took on the way to the Tower of Terror:

 

 

 

 

Here is their Tower of Terror ride photo:

 

 

Here is a picture taken on the way to Rockin' Roller Coaster:

 

 

And here, after a 35 minute wait in the stand-by line, is their ride photo:

 

 

From there we went to get seats for Fantasmic.  It was an hour wait of will it get canceled or not, but it didn't.  No pictures, but we enjoyed it very much.  

 

I had thought of herding them back over to an area in the park to watch the Frozen fireworks, but we were all exhausted.  We made our way to the FW bus stop and after a short wait, our bus pulled up.  Just as we sat down on the bus, the fireworks started.  The bus driver waited until they were over to pull away, so everuone in the family but me got to watch them.  I was too tired to stoop over enough to see them out the window.

 

We got back to our campsite where some had wrap sandwiches for dinner and some just went to bed too tired to eat.

 

Next up:  A non-park weekend.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

What a great TR you are writing!  Your family is beautiful.  But I have to ask one question -- did your husband not go with you?  Haven't seen him in any pictures.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I agree with Gwen, you have a great looking family.

 

You guys packed a lot in to your first day!

 

Thanks for the Disney Bounding explanation.  I understand it now, and have seen a lot of people do it. I still wouldn't have guessed Robin Hood, so thanks for telling us.

 

The Magic Shots are awesome.  And a tip for future trips- if one of the other kids wants to do it, ask.  The photographers are there for you, and will accommodate any reasonable requests if they can.

 

I am glad that you got to use the My Magic system- the family photos you got were great!

 

There were a few more Gaston photos than necessary in that last update, but that's just me.

 

There had better be at least one photo of your Indiana Jones performance.

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

What can you do? It is very rare that we have a problem with the buses, but sometimes the timing can just be off. I don't trust the buses for rope drop. The rest of the time, I don't worry about it.

 

Please tell your daughter she did an excellent job! I've seen people decorate their bands with nail polish, and that doesn't look as good as your daughter's work.

LOL at Peter Pan saying the time was wrong. Maybe if he wasn't always jumping on the clock hands, it would work better?

TCD

The buses got us to rope drop okay.  Yes, that first morning, by the time I got done with Guest Services, the park was open, but only by minutes.

 

I told her and she was very pleased. :)

 

Loving reading about all the fun you all are having!!!!

 

Thank you!

What a great TR you are writing!  Your family is beautiful.  But I have to ask one question -- did your husband not go with you?  Haven't seen him in any pictures.

 

No, my husband stayed home to get some work done.

I agree with Gwen, you have a great looking family.

 

You guys packed a lot in to your first day!

 

Thanks for the Disney Bounding explanation.  I understand it now, and have seen a lot of people do it. I still wouldn't have guessed Robin Hood, so thanks for telling us.

 

The Magic Shots are awesome.  And a tip for future trips- if one of the other kids wants to do it, ask.  The photographers are there for you, and will accommodate any reasonable requests if they can.

 

I am glad that you got to use the My Magic system- the family photos you got were great!

 

There were a few more Gaston photos than necessary in that last update, but that's just me.

 

There had better be at least one photo of your Indiana Jones performance.

 

TCD

Did you see the editted post?  I initially hit post before including most of the pictures.  There are photos of me in costume and waving to the crowds, but no photos of my epic acting skills.  You are not nearly as relieved upset as I am.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Saturday was mostly getting grocery shopping and laundry done.  I believe some of the kids went swimming that day also.  My oldest went to Downtown Disney by herself to get some Starbucks.

 

 

 

In the evening, some kids went to the campfire sing-along and the movie, Tangled.  I decided since they were mostly occupied, I would go back to the 600 loop to see if any fiends were about.  This time, I knew to just go across the Meadows area.  My son, Jeffrey came with me.  We saw Bob, Kathy, Lorna, Richie, Doodle, Mike, and TJ.  They were making hot dogs for dinner and graciously offered us some.  Jeff and I split one, as we had already had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner at our campsite. I don’t remember what kind they were, but that was one good hot dog! 

 

Shortly after that, Jeff heard the movie getting to the point he had wanted to see, so we said a sad good-bye to the Fiends and went back to the movie.  When that was over, we all went to bed.

 

Sunday, I know there was more swimming.  We also went to Downtown Disney that day.

 

On the bus to Downtown Disney:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Panoramic picture from World of Disney:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wandered a browsed as far as the middle boat dock, then took a boat back to the Marketplace area and then a bus back to the Fort.  Yes, my very talented daughter made these ears:

 

 

 

Back at the Fort:

 

 

 

The girls and I decided to visit the TCD Ranch:

 

 

 

 

And then went to the Settlement Trading Post:

 

 

That night, some of the kids wanted to be sure to get to the campfire early enough to meet Chip and dale so my 7yo could ge their autographs.  (Oldest daughter bought youngest daughter an autograph book and she loved getting it autographed!)  The activity that evening was a trivia quiz.  We won!  They gave us s’more makings, which the offspring really enjoyed.

 

 

Since they didn’t want to watch the movie for that evening, The Aristocats, we went to the beach to see the Electric Water Pageant.  I was surprised by all the people who were on the beach.  I mean, I love the EWP, but could all these people be here to see that?

 

Nope!  They were there to see the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party special fireworks!  And we had great seats!  It was excellent!

 

Next was the EWP, which I had never seen start to finish.  Loved it!

 

 

Next up:  Epcot

[Beckers 1,136]

I'm glad you

[Beckers 1,136]

I'm glad you

[Beckers 1,136]

I'm glad you mentioned you edited the post and added more, I missed a lot! That's great you were picked, how exciting!

[Beckers 1,136]

Good grief I've got posting issues!

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

Another great update, I love the picture of the older kids under the RNR entrance.

[CitaPita...Carmen 59]

Great update and beautiful kids!  I especially love that pictures of your DD with the lego girl. She looks so radiantly happy!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Your older DD is a mini you.

Well actually she is taller than you so, I guess that makes her a talli you.

Did you remind your older 3 that RNR inverted?

So glad to see those gift cards coming in handy. Love the hat your son chose.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I'm glad you mentioned you edited the post and added more, I missed a lot! That's great you were picked, how exciting!

The trip was supposed to be mostly for the kids, but i couldn't resist trying to get picked for that.  Once I was picked, i started wondering what i had been thinking.  In the end it was great fun and didn't really cost us too much touring time.

 

Another great update, I love the picture of the older kids under the RNR entrance.

I am enjoying seeing the pictures my daughter took.  It is another facet of her creativity, but one I was not aware of before now.

 

Great update and beautiful kids!  I especially love that pictures of your DD with the lego girl. She looks so radiantly happy!

She had so much fun, as long as there were no roller coasters near-by.

 

Your older DD is a mini you.

Well actually she is taller than you so, I guess that makes her a talli you.

Did you remind your older 3 that RNR inverted?

So glad to see those gift cards coming in handy. Love the hat your son chose.

Talli Me!  I like that!

 

The older ones reminded me that it inverted.  LOL

 

There is more gift card fun coming!

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Looks like you had a great trip and some wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

We left the campsite at 7:30 the next morning to get to Epcot for Rope Drop.  As soon as they opened the park, we headed for Test Track.  Here is where I was a horrible mom.  I told my 7yo it wasn’t really like a roller coaster.  Of course, she hated it.  Bad mommy.  (Maybe that is why I pulled my bandana over my face?)

 

 

 

From there, we went to Sum of All Thrills.  Since there was no way she would ride it, 7yo enjoyed exploring the area of Innovations near there while I sat on a bench and rested.  Those 6am wake up alarms were coming way too early!

 

Next up was Spaceship Earth.  Dear, sweet 7yo wanted no part of it, but I finally convinced her to ride.  You can see by her ride photo that she wasn’t sure yet it would be okay.  I made a funny face to make the end video more interesting.

 

 

We were going to go to Mission; Space next but we were running behind schedule.  I decided we would try to catch that early Thursday.

 

We had FastPass+ for the Character Spot.  That worked great!  Prepare for major cuteness! (Editing to confess that I am pulling pictures from two different photobucket accounts, so the pictures don't always end up in order.  Sorry)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there, we headed to Ride the Seas with Nemo and Friends.  After that, we were to explore the aquarium area and then do Turtle Talk with Crush, but decided to try for those Thursday as well.

 

One quick picture from the aquarium:

 

 

Next we headed to The Land for our Soarin’ FastPass+.  7yo nixed that, so she and I just hung out in The Land while they rode the ride.

 

Next was Captain EO.  The offspring insisted.  Again, the 3D effects were not the latest technology, so I got a headache.  But the offspring liked it and this was their trip.

 

Next: World Showcase

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Love the character spot photos!