[jenbarnwell]

For some reason, this trip seemed to be our family's most magical trip. I can't even tell you how many times I welled up and started to cry over something silly. Just seeing Mickey, and the castle, and the sorcerer's hat, and spaceship earth, and Peter Pan etc. all made me cry. Maybe it's the pregnancy, or the fact that the kids were really into this trip or old enough to enjoy Disney and remember it from last year. We were going to wait two years before going back but DH and I agreed that we don't want to wait two years, so we plan on going back Jan. 3 to the the 17th of 2009.
So here is my TR without pictures for the first 5 days, that I will hopefully be able to add later!

Feb. 2 ~ At about 4:30 am, we leave our house in New Jersey to head down to the Sunshine State, we are driving so we are prepared for a very long ride and so very excited. We stop in Georgia at about 7:00 pm and stay at the Holiday Inn Suite and Express, it was very lovely, two rooms, so that the adults and the children can watch tv. They had an large tub which I enjoyed.

Feb. 3 ~ We leave at about 8:30 am and arrive at the Caribbean Beach Resort at about 2:30. We have reservations at the Crystal Palace for 4:00 so we were eager to get started and on our way!! There was a problem with their computer and the tickets were not printing out properly, so there was a little bit of a wait. Because of the wait, they upgraded up to a preferred room with a water view room. The building was right next to the food court, and we could see real water from our window. It was great. Since we were now cutting it very close to our reservation time, they offered to personally escort us to the CP. We declined as we wanted to freshen up in the hotel room. We made it to the reservations with about 10 seconds to spare, lol. Dinner was great as usual, superb waiter, characters were great! Because it was Super Bowl Sunday and I am a good wife and My husband LOVES the Giants, I let him go back to the room, while me and kids checked out the Magic Kingdom. We got front row seats for the stage show and I took some great pictures and cried. Then we headed to Fantasyland for some rides. We did Dumbo, Cinderella's Carousel, Peter Pan, It's a Small World twice, and the teacups. We also saw Philharmagic. By this time I was completely exhausted so we left the Magic Kingdom, We got back to the resort at about quarter to nine and watched illuminations from right outside our room. It was very lovely and then we collapsed to the bed as we were getting up early for Animal Kingdom tommorrow.

Feb. 4 ~ My favorite Park!! We get to Animal Kingdom pretty early, we head right over to Expedition Everast and grab fastpasses for the safari. We check out some of the scenary. The kids play the drums and meet Baloo and King Louie. We do one of the two animal walking trails, the gorilla one first. Then we go on the safari. I saw more animals than I have ever seen on the safari, it was great. Then we did the tiger walk and the Flights of Wonder show, which was very amazing, it was our first time seeing the show and it was great. I cried again, lol By this time it was about three and I was exhausted, we had reservations at the Yak and Yeti for 5:30, but after seeing the menu, which the baby apparently didn't like, we decided to cancel our reservations and make new ones at Shutters instead. We went back to the hotel to relax for awhile. We played in the playground and hopped into the pool, then went back to our room to get ready for dinner. I got steak at Shutters and it was no doubt the best meal of our trip. I LOVED my steak. Dh's looked pretty gross though. I wanted to complain for him, but he wouldn't let me. Then we went to bed.

[Andrea]

We're off to a good start!

[iluvwdw]

AWESOME start!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to hear more!

[jenbarnwell]

Feb. 5 ~ Today was Fat Tuesday which I didn't even know what it was prior to this trip, lol. We had planned for Epcot today, but the buses were so crowded we decided to go to MGM instead. As soon as we got there I was starving so we went to ABC comissary and I had the worst breakfast sandwich I have ever eaten. Then we wanted to do the Jedi Training which we have never done, and my son got picked to go up. IT was great. My son loved it. The Jedi was pretty funny, my son was the tiniest kid to be chosen and he kept making cracks. He had a bit of a hard time having the light saber come out and he made jokes about it. When it was his turn to fight Darth Vadar, the Jedi said 25 pounds of fury,and everyone laughed. Then we rode Star Tours, watched the Little Mermaid Show, and did PlayHouse Disney Live. We met the Incredibles and played in the animation studio. On the way out, there was a Photopass photographer taking pictures by the fountain with HSM pom poms and a basketball, the pictures looked adorable but they never showed up on our photopass card, so I was a bit bummed about this. Anyway we had 2:00 reservations at Coral Reef so we took the boat over to Epcot, which took FOREVER. When we got to Epcot Chip and Dale welcomed us and then we saw Mary Poppins. We ate a Coral Reef, which was good but not as good as it was in the past. My steak was a little bit overcooked for me. But it wasn't bad. PP Party was tonite so we headedback to the resort to nap. We ended renting the Jet skis when we got there and I got a broken one for my first time lol, we had to get rescued. They adjusted our time and we went back out, then we went to the room for a quick nap. We left at about 6 for the PPP. And the bus was packed on the way there but once we got there the crowds weren't to bad. I was a little bit disappointed with the PPP this year, but I guess it is hard to compare because I went to the first PPP. When we got to the gate I realized that Disney had accidently printed out the wrong dates for the tickets, but guest services fixed that up right away. We headed over to Captain Jack first and waited forty five minutes to see him, but this was a must for my son who was absolutely thrilled to meet him. So thrilled we forgot to get his autograph, We were about 15 minutes away from the parade and I was super upset because I thought we would miss it but we found perfect seats for it. And they were great. I love the Enchanted parade and it was very bit as exciting as I remembered it. We then saw the fireworks. We hit a few treasure spots and headed over to Toon Town. We saw the two sets of characters. I was a little upset because right before it was our turn, my Ds had to go potty so my husband took him and then of course we went into the room to see the princesses. The CM told me that when DH and DS got back he would send them right in, well somehow they must have switched CMs and the lady was like so rude to my husband in front of everyone he refused to go back in. He said she like belittled him in front of everyone. We hit a few more treasure spots. We rode Indy speedway and it's a small world and decided to call it a night.

[mickeysgirlz]

Me too! Me too! Sounds magical already . . . room with a view! Gotta that!

[jo-jo]

Wow. I'm always amazed hearing people driving down, get to the parks and still run around like crazy. We fly down and are still tired. (maybe cause we're old )

That boat from DHS to Epcot can be soooo slow sometimes. Once my DD and I debated if we should walk, but the boat was coming so we waited. Well, there was lots of boat traffic and we had to wait our turn to do all the stops and it took well over 1/2 hr to get there. I think after that we walked all the time.

[jenbarnwell]

Feb. 6 ~ We decided to go to Animal Kingdom in the morning to finish up some of the must dos. We went to dinoland and the kids rode the rides and then headed to the Safari, for another safari ride, it was just as good as the day before. On the way out, we saw Flik, Chip and Dale, Rafiki, and Kenai from Brother Bear. Then we went back to the hotel for a nap. At about 3, we went back to Epcot, the kids traveled around the world doing their face masks. I have never seen so many characters around the world. It was quite good. We saw both Brother Bears in Canada, Mary Poppins and Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore in United Kingdom, We Marie and Aurora in France. Aurora gave my son a big kss on his cheek and embarassed him, lol. Wait til you see the pictures. We saw Belle in France as well. We saw Mulan in China. Snow White and Dopey in Germany. We had dinner at O'hana's which was great as usual. We did fel very rushed though, in fact half of the food we never received like the veggies, the scalloped potatoes, and the chips. I asked for the potatoes because they are my favorite. They did add shrimp to the skewers, which wasn't there last year. I am trying to remember what they took away. There was shrimp chicken pork and steak.

[jenbarnwell]

I am skipping Feb. 7th because I am having a brain freeze and can't even remember where we went. I only know we went 1900 Park Fare for dinner and it was fantastic. The stepsisters were awesome. They really played their part very well. Anastasia said to my son, Aren't you so cute, I think I am gonna throw up. They were hilarious. And we had the same waitress this year as we had had last year. But that was where DH reformated the memory card.

[dixie]

really enjoying reading this!

[mickeysgirlz]

Originally Posted by jenbarnwell

But that was where DH reformated the memory card.

Ever time you say that my heart skips a beat . . . I would so cry!! My Mom did that once to her camera . . . I didn't know there was recovery software, or I would have recommended it to her . . . NOW I tell her NEVER ERASE while it's ON THE CAMERA, wait until they are on the computer . . . this way they are in two places!! I hope you can figure out how to save them!!

Great TR! Yes Epcot is so fun for the kids now . . . with the Kidscot and the characters . . . it's one of our favorite parks!

[jenbarnwell]

Feb. 8 ~ I have pictures now!! We head to Hollywood Studios because we want my son to do the Jedi Training again since we lost the pictures, but my son was not picked. My daughter was though. I thought my son was going to be super upset but he wasn't. He was just as interested in watching the show as he was being in it, which made me very happy.

[jenbarnwell]

Here is Darth Vadar

[jenbarnwell]

Here is Samantha fighting Darth Vadar

[mickeysgirlz]

Originally Posted by jenbarnwell

Here is Samantha fighting Darth Vadar

WOW, this is SO COOL! We always skip this . . . next time we're going to have to check it out!

[jenbarnwell]

What a group of Jedis