[missymouse]

Cast:
Me (missymouse)
Jon (DH)
Lily (DD10)
Jay (DS)
Bonnie (DD5)

Location: All Star Movies


*The title of this TR will make sense, I promise!

[missymouse]

Our vacation tale must begin with a story of what happened to me on Friday, August 7th as I was trying to get my family ready to leave that night. All of you moms will appreciate this.

We were mostly packed and ready to go by about Wednesday night, but you know you always have all of those last minute things that just can't be packed until it's time to go. Well, some of those things needed to be washed and I figured I should just go ahead and wash up any other dirties as long as I needed to run the washer any way. I HATE coming home to a dirty house and I'm pretty anal retentive about getting everything done before we head out on any trip. So, I had my little plan to toss some things in to wash, pack up the car and get everyone cleaned up and ready to go. I put one load of clothes in when I got up and everything was just fine. No problems, clean clothes. I tossed the things in the dryer that go in there, hung up the other items and tossed in a load of towels so we wouldn't leave a bunch of damp towels in the hamper from the pool the afternoon before. I went into the laundry room about halfway into that load's wash cycle and my washer's SPIN light was all lit up, but the washer wasn't spinning, it was just making a funny little humming sound. I pressed the stop button, opened the door and found that all the towels on the bottom were soaking wet, but the towels on top were only about as damp as they were when I tossed them in. The washer barrel had not moved once during that cycle. I tried restarting, unplugging to reset the washer, everything, but nothing worked. I was completely panicked because we were supposed to leave for Disney World that night, and I had a washer full of soapy, soaking towels, and I knew if I left them, I'd come home to a big moldy mess. I called Jon at work and told him I thought a belt on the washer was not working because my washer wasn't spinning. Bless his sweet heart, he left work right then, came home, pulled the front bottom panel off of my washer, and sure enough, we could see a belt hanging in the back. He pulled the back off while I called parts places and found a replacement belt. He went to the store, bought the belt and replaced it for me. Then he got the washer back in place so I could finish my task. All of this took him about 2 hours. He works as a merchandise manager for a major US retailer, and he had a lunch meeting with a vendor at 12:00 noon that he totally forgot about. Luckily, when his cell phone rang at 11:50, it was the vendor calling to tell him he was running a little late. WHEW! He got cleaned up and changed and was back at work for his lunch meeting just 30 minutes later! He is an amazing husband, and I could have had a lousy start to vacation if he wasn't so good to me. I got all my laundry finished, everything packed, the car loaded and we pulled out of our driveway at 9:00 p.m.

[missymouse]

DAY 1~ Saturday, August 8, 2009

I drove until about 2:00 a.m., and then Jon took over and drove us into Disney World. We arrived at our resort, All Star Movies, at about 6:30 Saturday morning. Jon was able to check us in and get our tickets, but our room wasn't ready yet. We decided to grab a quick breakfast at McDonald's. Bonnie had changed her clothes and had me fix her hair in the car before we ate, but Lily and I chose to freshen up in the restroom. Jon and Jay did the same. We were ready for a morning of adventure!

We went back to our resort and hopped the bus to Magic Kingdom. We arrived just as the park was opening. Talk about timing! Whoo-hoo! We saw the Fairy Godmother by Cinderella's Wishing Well as we came around the castle on our way to Fantasyland. The kids had a little visit with her and then we went straight to Dumbo, which Jon rode with the kids and I made pictures. Then we hit the carousel and also tried to pull the stone from the sword, with no success, and then rode Snow White. The kids were ready to kick it up a notch with Goofy's Barnstormer. Bonnie did not remember that ride, and so she got a little thrill from it! It was cute to watch her facial expressions. This was the first trip Bonnie was tall enough for 40" rides, so everyone was excited to get her on Splash. We took the train over to Frontierland, and with a 20 minute standby line, we zipped right through, and before we knew it we were in our log plume. Bonnie LOVED all of the Song of the South characters, but I knew she would because she's my animal lover. She said she liked the drop, but she wasn't ready to go back right away. We were very proud of her for her bravery. She is a bit of a control freak, so letting go and trying Splash was big for her.

By this point, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad had a big long standby line, so we grabbed some fastpasses, grabbed a couple of popsicles for the kids and waters for Mommy and Daddy and headed toward the Haunted Mansion. Bonnie was a little scared, but she and I discussed the funny aspects and silliness of the ghosts as we rode, and she was fine. Next, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean, always a family favorite. While we were in Adventureland, I thought we would be remiss by not having a first day celebratory Dole Whip Float, so we grabbed 2 of those and all shared. Yummy! Then it was time to use our Big Thunder fastpasses, so back to Frontierland it was. Bonnie was somewhat apprehensive about it because she was afraid it might be too fast, but she went anyway and seemed to enjoy it. She even threw her arms up in the air one time when she notice Jay had. So cute!

We felt like Bonnie deserved a reward for being so brave so we went back to Fantasyland to enjoy Mickey's Philharmagic. Next, we rode Small World--the never-ending ride. We could tell the kids were beginning to drag, and Jon and I definitely were tired after just a little sleep driving through the night, so we left and made our way to Downtown Disney where we ate supper at Wolfgang Puck Express. It was delicious! Next, we let the kids do a little browsing in World of Disney. Then it was back to our resort. We encountered some very friendly families on the bus, and enjoyed some nice conversation on our way back. We unpacked the car, got all settled in our rooms, and bathed the kids. Time for bed so that more adventures could be had the next day.

[natemansmom]

Nice. I loved it

[dancing4disney]

Great trip report so far. Your older daughter looks like Hayden Pantierre when she was younger.

[missymouse]

Originally Posted by dancing4disney

Great trip report so far. Your older daughter looks like Hayden Pantierre when she was younger.

Thank you! Lily is so funny-she has always been a posing-for-pictures kind of girl, and this trip she seemed to think she was a movie star every time the camera came out.

[mickeysgirlz]

Your kids are too cute!

[tinkerbelle24]

Great start. Love the pics too. Cant wait to read more

[Dopey]

Melissa, your kids are adorable. On with the report

[missymouse]

Originally Posted by mickeysgirlz

Your kids are too cute!

Thank you!

[missymouse]

Thanks everyone! Here comes day 2!

[missymouse]

DAY 2~ Sunday, August 9, 2009


Jon, the big kids and I were up at 6:30, so I began to get ready and Jon and Lily and Jay went to the food court to get our refillable mugs. The boys chose black handles and lids and the girls all got yellow handles and lids. I brought some snacks to have in the room, so we just had some granola bars for breakfast. After everyone was dressed and teeth brushed, we drove to the Animal Kingdom. Jon and I had decided ahead of time to drive because we always save Kali River Rapids for last so we don't have to walk around the parks all wet, but we didn't want to ride on an air conditioned bus either and freeze. We arrived in time for rope drop, but we were fairly far back in the crowd, so we weren't able to see Minnie, Goofy and Mickey, but we could hear them. As soon as we were able to move on into the park, we headed for Expedition Everest for fastpasses, then we moved on to the safari so we could get some good morning views of the animals. We had the most wonderful safari tour guide. He was sooo funny, and he interacted a lot with the riders. There were some boys sitting in front of us who had their faces painted like a lion and a tiger, and he really had them in on the conversation. As we unloaded our safari truck he said, "Hakuna matata. It means no hurries, no worries. Man, what a wonderful phrase." The kids thought that was hilarious. After the safari, it was time to use our fp's. Lily, Jay and I rode first. I was so proud of Jay, because he hasn't been too into the more thrilling rides, but he discovered with riding EE this trip, that he does actually like it! Last trip, he did ride, but was somewhat apprehensive. I guess he's really growing up! Next, Jon and Jay rode EE while Lily, Bonnie and I went for a frozen chai. Yummo! We met up with the boys after they're adventure on the mountain, and it was off to Dinosaur. I HATE Dinosaur. It really scares the poopy out of me, but rode it anyway. I just bent over and closed my eyes, and screamed every time we came to a dinosaur. I think the people next to me and Jay thought I was nuts! I didn't care--I was just trying to not see or hear the dinosaurs. After Dino, Lily, Jay and I rode Primeval Whirl (a first for Jay since he was finally tall enough), and Jon took Bonnie to ride Triceratop Spin. We were all getting pretty hungry by now, so we went back to Asia and grabbed the honey chicken from the Yak and Yeti counter service. It was delicious! We were very impressed with it's yumminess! Bonnie is our little nature lover, so we went over to Rafiki's Planet Watch so she could enjoy the Affection Section. There weren't too many animals out this day, and I think it may have been from the heat. The llama that was out just laid down in the sun and almost looked dead! The kids thought that was hystercial! We had grabbed fp's for Kali River Rapids, so we went back to use those. Of course my side of the raft went down backwards, and I ended up drenched. It was pretty hot that day, so I didn't mind too much, and we were ready to head out, so it was all good.

We went straight back to our room and cleaned up. Once everyone was ready, we went out to Hollywood Studios with a plan to see Fantasmic. Alas, our plan was not to be. It was about 5:45 when we arrived, and the line for Tower of Terror was a short 45 minute wait. The fp's were of course gone for both ToT and RRC, so we hopped in the ToT line because Bonnie had been waiting to ride it since she was about 2-seriously. The child used to practice how she was going to scream when she rode it because she had sat waiting for various family members to ride and heard all of the screamers! She never once balked. She walked right on and rode and LOVED it--in fact we kept hearing the rest of the trip how she wanted to go ride it again. When we came off of ToT, it was only 7:15, and the most ridiculous line I've ever seen stretched all the way down Sunset Blvd. for the 9:00 Fantasmic showing. I was not about to wait in line for 1 hour and 45 minutes to see the show, as much as I love it. My kids didn't want to wait like that, and Jon did not want take them on his own while I waited. Soooo . . . we went to ride Star Tours and check out Toy Story Mania, as it was new to us. Once we satisfied our curiousity, we took off for the Magic Kingdom. We figured we could catch Wishes, at least. And we did. We arrived during Spectromagic, but were able to make our way around to my favorite viewing spot, right under Tinkerbell's magic line. We saw the fireworks and waved to Tink. It was Extra Magic Hours, so rather than get in the craziness of the exiting visitors, we rode Winnie the Pooh and the tea cups. We figured everything had calmed down, so we left for our room. We had had another fabulous day at our favorite place in the world!

[missymouse]

[missymouse]

[cowanfamily]

Wow, I'm impressed! Three parks in one day and with three little ones. Good job! sounds like a wonderful day....your family could all be models, I say!

The lines were like that for Fantasmic last year - standing room only at around 8:10 - and we missed it! This year we have the Fantasmic Dining Pkg, I am hoping this helps, since I dont want to miss it again!

Great TR!