15 years, 3 kids, Radiator Springs and a Wizarding World

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

Not much left of this day

 

I forgot at some point we met Stitch.   Back when my oldest was 2 he loved Stitch so he's one of our favorites.  Last time we met him 4 or 5 times but we only saw him once this trip.

 

 

 

 

 

After the castle show I think it was after 5 and we were pretty much all worn out.  My dad and Bryce hadn't made it back from Splash Mountain so we slowly walked towards the front to the train station.  We ran into the parade.

 

 

 

Took pictures here

 

Climbed some steps

 

 

Saw more of the parade

 

 

And finally my dad and Bryce walked up

 

 

And somewhere on the way back Nate and I got this picture together.  

 

 

By then it was 6 so we left and headed back to A of A and my parents went back to their hotel.  

 

 

Natalie's taking after her dad in the selfie department.  She took selfies with all the Cars.  I don't think we've downloaded her pics from her phone, though.

 

 

 

 

We ate dinner in our room and then went swimming.

 

This is an interesting couple of pictures.  My husband took them from upstairs.

 

First, picture is my older son, daughter and me walking to the pool--along with some random person.

 

The next is my 2 year old following behind.  Apparently, I wasn't thinking and just expected him to follow.

 

 

 

When he's happy he lets his tongue hang out like a dog.

 

 

 

 

 

Amazingly, even though Chase had a nap he went to bed kind of early and that's when we had the best idea, yet.

 

Nate and I hardly ever get a chance to be alone.  Chase is high needs and with all his allergies I don't feel comfortable hiring a sitter.  My parents can watch him but they have so much going on with my crummy brother that I hate to bother them.  Bryce is old enough to watch Chase for a while but he's a handful so I don't want to leave him longer than an hour.  

 

We told Bryce if Chase wakes up to call us but that we were going to the Drop Off Bar for a drink.  

 

We spent about 2 hours out walking around and enjoying ourselves.  And we did it again almost every other night we were there.  It was wonderful. 

 

Here's it's midnight, no make up on, extremely tired-- let's take a hippie picture in front of Fillmore.   This one is for TCD.

 

 

Next up Hollywood Studios

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

More great pictures!  Looks like you all had so much fun!

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Wonderful that the two of you got some alone time.  Now that is truly magical... 

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

More great pictures!  Looks like you all had so much fun!

 

 

Wonderful that the two of you got some alone time.  Now that is truly magical... 

Thank you both!

 

Yes, I really think our time alone was the best part of the trip.  My husband and I really needed that.  :)  And we get time alone again this weekend.  My friend is getting married and we are going to the wedding without kids.  woohoo!

 

I am going to try to get our Hollywood Studios day started and finished.  Chase is watching Big Hero 6 so he's busy for the moment.

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

Hollywood Studios--Monday, June 1st

 

My parents opted not to come with us today.  They decided to drive to Cocoa Beach instead.  

 

So it's just the 5 of us and we had breakfast reservations at Hollywood and Vine.  Chase loves Disney Jr so I thought it would be perfect for him.  Problem was I didn't make our reservations until after 10am and he was starving.  Since he's an allergy kid it takes longer to get him food.  Would we have a meltdown or would things be okay?  

 

We hadn't planned on getting to Hollywood Studios super early but we still made it by 9:15.

 

 

We saw I think it was Goofy in line but by the time we got there he switched to Dale.  

 

 

We got a decent picture of everyone looking forward!

 

We walked around for a little bit but then went to Hollywood and Vine a little early to see if maybe we could get in faster.  Chase was getting hungry.  

 

Thankfully, we didn't have to wait too long and we were seated.  We then had to wait on the chef but thankfully he was quick.  It wasn't too long before Jake came around. 

 

 

 

Chase was interested in Jake's clothes

 

 

This picture cracks me up.  My big kids were just so thrilled to meet the Disney Jr. characters.

 

 

Chase doesn't watch Handy Manny so he didn't care about him.  My big kids didn't care, either. lol

 

 

Finally Chase got allergy friendly waffles!! And we made it without a meltdown. :)

 

 

 

Now that he has food in his tummy he was a little calmer.  He enjoyed meeting Doc.

 

 

Again he liked her outfit. 

 

 

But he liked the pictures at the front of the restaurant better.  He started getting antsy and got up to walk around.

 

Studying Jake's map

 

 

Jake came back around which was a good thing because we forgot to get his autograph.

 

 

Checking out his boots

 

 

 

Sofia and finally my older kids have smiles--my son's is faked.  lol

 

 

After that we tried to go meet Baymax but that line was way too long.  We settled on seeing them from afar.

 

 

So we met Sorcerer Mickey instead

 

By this time Chase was antsy and needed a sensory break.  He really wanted nothing to do with meeting Mickey.

 

 

 

After a little break it was time for our Toy Story fast pass

 

 

And then we got in line to meet Buzz and Woody

 

 

 

 

 

Chase got overwhelmed and hid

 

 

 

 

And that's around 30 pictures 

 

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Love the pictures of with Woody & Buzz; looks like everyone had fun with that one :)

 

Yay for Disney and working with food allergies!  Our little man only has one (peanuts), but even with that they were VERY helpful!

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

So just a note about Hollywood and Vine.  Even though it doesn't show on their faces my big kids and the rest of us really enjoyed it.  I thought the character interaction was good and just the right amount of time.  We actually saw all the characters twice except for Sofia.  They also had good spacing.  We were able to go up to the buffet and not feel rushed getting back to our seats before the next character.  And we got a 10% discount using our Disney Visa.  Woot!

 

 

After Toy Story we walked around Streets of America for a bit.

 

 

 

 

Saw Cinderella's carriage

 

 

 

Taking a break

 

 

We all loved Muppets 3D.  We missed it the last time we were there so it was a new experience for us.

 

 

We had a Star Tours Fastpass.  Chase got a nice long break since he isn't tall enough to ride, yet. He was refreshed and happy afterwards.

 

 

We also had a Frozen singalong fastpass.  It was cheesy, good fun.

 

 

I got into the Monster's Inc line while Nate kept Chase and the big kids busy.  Chase was starting to not tolerate lines.  Thankfully, the CM was fine with them not waiting with me and let them come right when it was time to meet Mike and Sully.

 

Here's what they did while I waited.

 

 

 

 

 

It was only about a 15 minute wait so not too bad.

 

 

 

 

After that we played at Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blurry but he was having so much fun

 

 

 

After that we made our way out.  It looked like a storm was coming and we were done, anyway.  None of us wanted to ride ToT or the roller coaster.  We rode ToT last time and that was enough for all of us. 

 

 

 

When we go to the AoA bus line it there were a ton of people in it.  The Pop Century line was much shorter so we hopped into it.  Good choice.  It came first and we were able to sit down.

 

Chase loves movies and watches a lot of them on his Ipad.  I use it a lot when we have to wait or he has to be with me up at school when I am volunteering or when I have to bring him to the store with me.  So he watches a lot of Disney movies and loves the Jungle Book.  He was so excited to see this.

 

 

We got pictures in front of the yo-yo's and then made our way back.  The lightning was starting to kick up.

 

 

 

It stormed all evening but stopped right after the kids went to bed.  The Drop Off Bar was closed that night so we went back over to Pop and had a drink at that bar.  We walked all over the property.   I loved all the huge statues.  So fun.  

 

The next day was a much needed break day. :)

 

 

 

[red...Susan 37]

Why I am not fond of the Shades of Green is with 28 plus years around the military the last thing I want on vacation more.

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

Love the pictures of with Woody & Buzz; looks like everyone had fun with that one :)

 

Yay for Disney and working with food allergies!  Our little man only has one (peanuts), but even with that they were VERY helpful!

Yes, Woody and Buzz were our favorites. :)  Disney working with food allergies was such a nice blessing.  I didn't worry at all while we were there. :) 

 

Why I am not fond of the Shades of Green is with 28 plus years around the military the last thing I want on vacation more.

Makes sense!  

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

Day 5 - Wednesday, June 2

 

Break day

 

We had a much needed break day planned but it ended up not feeling like a break at all.  

 

 

We had breakfast reservations at the Kona Cafe for all 7 of us so we got up and drove over to Shades of Green around 9:30, met up with my parents and we all walked over to the Polynesian.

 

I had the Tonga Toast.  I thought I took a picture of it but I can't find it. It was delicious!  

 

We paid extra for Chase to have a cup with a light up Buzz Lightyear. He played with it the rest of the trip.

 

 

 

Then Natalie decided she wanted the light up Tinkerbell.  Unfortunately, Chase took it as soon as it arrived.  

 

 

 

Bryce and my dad.  They are good buddies.  I really love the relationship that they have. :)

 

 

After breakfast my kids wanted to take a monorail ride so we did.  We went around the whole way and then we decided to switch to the Epcot monorail so we did that, too.

 

monorail selfie

 

We got kicked off at Epcot because the train was having problems.   We took a potty break and then it was back up and running again.

 

 

 

 

Once we got back to the Polynesian we then decided to go over to Downtown Disney.  My husband wanted to do something there that I was too chicken to do.  So we all hopped onto a bus to Downtown Disney.

 

My children sweet talked my dad into buying them candy.

 

 

Chase tried to steal some honey.

 

 

And then we finally got to the Balloon.

 

My husband took the 3 kids up while my parents and I stayed on the ground.  I am not a fan of heights.  But they all thought it was great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that we wandered around.

 

 

We shopped and then everyone was tired so we headed back to the Polynesian.   While on the bus ride home my husband and I were talking about the pizza we had last time and how much we wanted it again.  He decided to order it and go pick it up.  Our car was at Shades of Green so the plan was he'd walk over with my oldest and go get the pizza while I caught a bus back to Art of Animation.  I figured we'd probably meet up around the same time.

So I got Chase and Natalie back onto the monorail and we went to the Magic Kingdom.  Then we walked all the way to the bus.  We got lucky that there was a bus but it was so full.  I should have waited for the next one, but Chase was getting fussy.

 

Someone moved over enough for him to sit down but Natalie and I had to stand. I had to hang onto the stroller and keep Chase from sliding off the bench.  It was a miserable trip back.  I was so thankful when we pulled up.  But by then Chase was starving and threatening to melt down.  I got him a burger patty and fries, he ate it all quickly and by then the boys had arrived with the pizza.  Woohoo!

 

Unfortunately, the pizza wasn't amazing this time. To be honest I didn't even really care for it.  It was Giordano's pizza.  Last time it was so good but something was different and not in a good way. Oh well, that pizza ended up feeding us a couple of times so it turned out to be a cheap meal. 

 

I can't remember the rest of that evening.  We may have went swimming but I know Nate and I went to the bar again.   :)

 

Next up a very full day at the Magic Kingdom!

 

 

 

 

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Looks like so much fun!  Someone posted a pic of the Tonga Toast recently; that stuff looked amazing!!

[FEARtheEERS 18]

I love your trip report!! Looks like fun. We are also a family of 5, love seeing how another family like ours does Disney.

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

Looks like so much fun!  Someone posted a pic of the Tonga Toast recently; that stuff looked amazing!!

It was amazing. I am going to need to recreate it at home one of these days. 

 

I love your trip report!! Looks like fun. We are also a family of 5, love seeing how another family like ours does Disney.

Thank you.  What are the ages of your kids?  Sometimes it's a bit difficult because I have such a big age range between my oldest and my youngest.  They are 10.5 years apart, but we make it work. 

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

We are half way through our Disney park days. It goes by so fast but my feet and legs were so tired by now.

 

On Wednesday, June 3rd, we went back to the Magic Kingdom.

 

Again we had no plans of making it for rope drop but we still managed to get to the park pretty early.  My parents were going to take it slow and meet up with us whenever the got over there.

 

My daughter wanted to wear our matching shirts today so we did.

 

 

We decided to meet Tinkerbell first.  We probably should have started with Talking Mickey but all three of my kids love Tink so we got in that line first.  Sadly, we didn't get to meet Talking Mickey.  The line was about 25 minutes long after Tink and Chase just couldn't handle longer lines.  

 

 

I guess my husband cut off Chase because he wasn't cooperating. 

 

 

My big kids wanted to ride Stitch so my husband took Chase on Buzz Lightyear.  I think they rode it 2 or 3 times in a row.  He still has his light up Buzz from his breakfast the day before.

 

 

 

By then my parents met up with us. 

 

My dad really wanted to go the race cars so they everyone but my mom and I went off to do that.

 

 

Even though he doesn't look happy Chase liked it.

 

 

 

Then it was time for our Space Mountain fast passes.  My daughter finally remembered to put on her noise cancelling headphones.  Its a bit too loud in there for her.

 

 

 

I left my glasses on Space Mountain at this point but didn't realize it for a while.  Also, after we rode the fastpass line was really long so we decided not to rider switch at that moment.  We didn't eat much breakfast so instead we decided to go eat.

 

We went back to Casey's Corner because I knew they were good with allergies and it was right there. 

 

Chase enjoying himself

 

 

Then we went back to Space Mountain for the rider switch.  At this point I still didn't realize I had left my glasses. 

 

Bryce posed for the camera.

 

 

After they got out I finally realized I had left my sunglasses.  What a pain that was.  I had to go all the way back up to near the loading area and wait behind a roped area until someone could help me.  I think they whole process took 25 minutes.

 

While I was doing that they were taking photobooth pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am really not sure what we did after that.  I know we just wandered around for a bit.  I think we made our way over to the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs mine train.

 

We had a fastpass for it for the 5 of us and then I was able to get my parents one later in the day.  My parents rode the tea cups while we went on the mine train.

 

Chase did not like it one single bit.

 

 

The rest of us just thought it was okay.  I wanted to tell everyone waiting in the 90 minute line that it wasn't worth it.  We all agreed that we wish we would have gotten another Big Thunder Mountain fastpass instead.

 

When we got off my parents were still in line for the tea cups so we went to meet Tigger and Pooh.

 

 

After that Natalie and I had a fastpass to meet the Frozen girls while everyone else had a fast pass for Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed Anna.  :)  She was telling us about eating ice cream and how Sven wanted carrot ice cream. Yuck!

 

 

 

 

I can't remember what we did after that.  My fastpass was around 2:45 so I know we must have done something for a couple of hours.  I guess we stopped taking pictures because I don't have any for a 2 hour time period.

 

My husband and son did get this picture

 

I know around 4 my parents got tired and decided to leave.  

 

Chase started getting tired which ended up working out great for us.  We had reservations at Be Our Guest and he slept through the whole thing.  We had a nice relaxing dinner. :)

 

 

But before our reservation we went to see if we could meet Gaston.  Unfortunately, his line was too long.  We did stop and listen to him for a bit.  He's funny.

 

 

Then we went to dinner.  They let us bring in our stroller since Chase was sleeping. That was nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up we will eat and finish our Magic Kingdom day.

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

We suck at taking food pictures but my husband and I ordered the steak, my son got the pork dish and Natalie got the grilled cheese and soup.  She didn't like her grilled cheese.  Our steaks were good and Bryce thought his pork was the best.

 

 

We did remember to photograph the desserts.

 

 

We split them 4 ways and all had a bite.  We agreed that the chocolate and lemon cupcakes were the best.

 

 

 

When it was time to meet the beast he went on break right before our turn.  So that meant my husband and kids had to sit in his chair.

 

 

 

 

 

After that we took a train ride

 

 

 

Got Chase some popcorn--yay for it being Vegan-it means he can have it.

 

 

Took some silly pictures

 

 

 

And decided to meet Goofy and Donald

 

 

Goofy signed Bryce's hat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chase was more interested in the snake eyes than Donald

 

 

After that we rode Barnstormer without Chase.  Figured if he didn't like the mine train he wouldn't like Barnstormer.  Then I got us a 4th fastpass for the Jungle Cruise.  And then another for Haunted Mansion.  We finished the evening riding the carousel and tea cups.

 

Somewhere along the way we got some pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got the heck out of there before the fireworks started.  Chase Does not like fireworks at all.  We didn't want him to be scared. 

 

 

My parents ended up coming back about the time we were on the Jungle Cruise.  They went on Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain but not sure what else they did.  I know they stayed until it closed.

 

We have two park days left --Epcot and going to try Star Wars weekend at Hollywood Studios.

[FEARtheEERS 18]

It was amazing. I am going to need to recreate it at home one of these days. 

 

Thank you.  What are the ages of your kids?  Sometimes it's a bit difficult because I have such a big age range between my oldest and my youngest.  They are 10.5 years apart, but we make it work. 

We have a 9 year old, 6 year old and 3 year old.  And varying personalities from I want to meet and touch every character to I don't want to make eye contact with one person who will speak to me.  It keeps it interesting. 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Great pictures from the balloon!  But I would have been on the ground with you.

[ependydad...Doug 176]

I've enjoyed your report! The pictures have had me laughing and smiling. And I love that you guys got adult time at night- congrats for that. :)

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

We have a 9 year old, 6 year old and 3 year old.  And varying personalities from I want to meet and touch every character to I don't want to make eye contact with one person who will speak to me.  It keeps it interesting. 

Sounds like my kids!  My youngest pulled his stroller's sunshade down over him whenever someone tried to talk to him.  

 

Great pictures from the balloon!  But I would have been on the ground with you.

 

Yeah, I am not a fan of being up high.  But they may have convinced me to try it next time we go. 

I've enjoyed your report! The pictures have had me laughing and smiling. And I love that you guys got adult time at night- congrats for that. :)

Thanks!  I am so glad we got time to ourselves, too.  We really needed it and it has carried over to home.  I was babysitting at 11 so now we've been leaving our 13 year old with the other two for an hour or so.  It's been nice to run to the store together without kids!  I read a bit of your blog.  I am looking forward to your big adventure. :)

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

Thursday June 4th and our 5th park day

 

 

Epcot!

 

By now we were tired.  Really tired.  I was exhausted.  I don't sleep well in hotels so I was staying up until around 1 and then waking up by 6:00/6:30 everyday.  

 

So for that reason we didn't make it to Epcot until around 10am.   We had fast passes for Soarin which means we'd have to wait in line for Test Track.  Unfortunately, our late arrival meant that the line was already really long so no test track for us this trip.  

 

Arrival picture... Chase is already in a mood.  I think by this point he was done, too. Also, in case you happened to notice the kids are wearing shirts they've already worn because I did laundry a few times while we were there.   :)  They aren't wearing dirty clothes, I promise!

 

 

 

  

 

We had Bryce try some sodas.   :)

 

 

 

Actually, we all tried some and they kind of made my mom and me feel a bit queasy.  That probably wasn't a good way to start the day.

 

We went to the Nemo area and went on the Nemo ride.

 

 

I was already feeling sick from the soda and then the EAC part of the Nemo ride kind of did me in.  I didn't feel good at all.

 

We took a break in the aquarium area.  That helped a lot.  My kids love sea life so we spent a long time there.

 

 

 After a while we had a fast pass for Talking with Crush.  That's one of my favorites.

 

I think we had time to kill before our next fast pass so we went to Mexico and rode that ride there.  

 

 

Chase really liked that ride.  

 

 

I just realized I look really bored sitting in the back there.

 

 

 

We rode Soarin.  That's also one of my favorites. :)

 

My mom liked it so much we let her use the rider switch pass to ride it again.  My husband still had his fast pass so he was able to go while my dad and I stayed with Chase.  

 

They took a selfie

 

 

After that we went to the Chase Visa meet and great. 

 

 

And then we met Chip and Dale.  We already had Dale's signature from our Hollywood Studio day so he drew a mustache on Donald Duck in our character book. :)

 

 

After that my big kids wanted to go look at the store in Japan so we started making our way there.  

 

We got a nice picture of us along the way.

 

 

My husband and daughter did this at some point.

 

 

Oh and I got the orange grey goose slushie in France.  It was delicious!  And I am not sure why we didn't photograph it.

 

We made it to Japan and the big kids looked forever and ended up not buying a thing.  

 

My parents were really worn out by then so they took the boat back and went back to their hotel.  The rest of us were done, too but Chase decided to run off. 

 

Thankfully, my husband is a fast runner and caught up to him quickly.

 

 

They stopped in Germany for a bit to look at the trains.

 

 

But he kept going until he made it all the way to Mexico.  We caught up and decided to leave.  But first we went on Spaceship Earth.  We didn't get to ride it in 2011 and now it had no wait so we went for it.  That was an interesting ride, but I don't think I need to do it again.  

 

 

We got back to Art of Animation and decided to leave property to eat.  We found a Moe's Southwest grill.  Usually those type of places are good for us because Chase can have black beans and rice.  It ended up being a good choice. 

 

After that we had rested enough and wanted to take the kids around to look at the Lion King and Little Mermaid sections. Our stay was coming to an end and they hadn't seen those areas, yet.

 

We also wanted a picture of the boys wearing their Tow Mater shirts next to Tow Mater.  This was the best we got.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended up walking all the way over to Pop Century and showing the kids everything over there.  We have pictures but by then it was dark and they didn't turn out well.  

 

I think that was one of the nights we didn't have a date night and I fell asleep much earlier than 1.  I think I was asleep before 10:30 that night and I slept the whole night!  

[okgirlie...Brandy 6]

Friday, June 5th

 

Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekend

 

 

When I first planned this trip I didn't know if I wanted to try Star Wars weekend or not.  I had read trip reports and saw how crazy it was but my big kids love Star Wars.  So we did it.

 

The original plan was that my parents would come with us, but they were tired. 

 

I told the kids that we had to get there as early as possible.  We didn't get there super early but we managed to get there right before 8am.  I sent them on with no bags so that they could go get in Chewbacca's line.  Even though the bag line was long it didn't take me long to get through it.  

 

They saw these guys

 

 

Chase and I took this picture but obviously he didn't cooperate

 

I met up with them in line.  It was over an hour wait but most of the line was shaded and the lady in front of us was talkative and very nice so that helped.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that Chase needed to run off some energy.  I took him to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground while they wandered around.  

 

They saw the back of Darth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around then it was 10am and I wanted us to get a spot for the parade.  We met up and found what we thought was a good spot in the shade.  The CM standing there even said it was a good spot.  Then about 5 minutes before the parade started he asked me if I knew that the whole parade didn't go this way and that we'd only see a part of it.   Seriously?!  The guy couldn't have told me that almost an hour earlier.  I had asked TCD where to sit but I left my paper with that info on it back at the hotel so I didn't know.   I was so irritated.  

 

 

 

 

After that we were pretty much ready to leave but we had Toy Story fast passes so we hung around.