[BusyMom5x]

Date~~May 29th

A little bit of background info:
I'm Samantha, wife to Craig and the very busy mom of 5:
13yo Joshua
11yo Hunter
9yo Tucker
7yo Tanner
5yo Isabella

We've taken 8 family vacations to Walt Disney World in the past 11 years.
Craig is one of those, umm.........."strange" people that think *one* trip to
WDW is enough! (You know the old saying "opposites attract" LOL) Anyway,
this fact combined with the fact that it's very rare for us as either parent
to spend one-on-one time with the kids, caused us to come up with a terrific
idea last year! I would take the kids, one-on-one, on a mini-vacation
wherever said child chose to go, leaving Daddy home with the other 4.
Hmmmm........sounds like a *really* terrific idea for Mom, eh?
As I already had plans of going on a "girls retreat" last October, it made
perfect sense to kick off the "Mom & Kid" trip by taking Bella along. We
stayed at the All Star Music with one of my bestest friends and had a blast!

Now~~jump ahead to May 2002. We all load up into the truck to *supposedly*
take a field trip to the airport, to watch the planes take off & land.
Unknown to 9yo Tucker, he and I are flying out of Jackson, MS
to..............where else???? ORLANDO, FLORIDA!!!!!!! The look on his face
was 100% priceless when he realized that we weren't joking with him!
We arrived in Orlando at 8:30pm; waited approximately 20 minutes for a Mears
bus to take us to the All Star Sports. Upon check-in, we had a few minor
problems that were quickly straightened out, mostly in part because I had all
of my paperwork, receipts, etc....with me. The computer kept saying that I
owed an amount that was more than my initial price, which was hilarious to
me, as I had paid off all but $100.00. The girl at the check-in desk kept
trying to come up with all sorts of possibilities as to why this may have
happened. Such as "OH! I see! It's because you're in a preferred room!"
To which I replied, "NO! I did NOT request a preferred room and do not wish
to pay for something that I did not request." This was quickly taken care of
by a supervisor.

We were in the first building outside of the Food Court, so quickly deposited
our little bit of luggage (I had fit everything into 2 backpacks!!!) and went
back to the Food Court so we could grab a bite to eat and Tucker could
purchase a refill mug. Total for supper & mug came to less than $17.00 as I
was using my All Star Music mug.

We returned to the room to unpack; set a wake-up call so we could catch the
first bus to Magic Kingdom. Took us awhile to fall asleep as Tucker kept
repeating, "I can't believe this is really happening."



"Happiness is a state of mind,
It's just according to the way you look at things."
Walt Disney

[BusyMom5x]

Trip Number: 10

Park: Magic Kingdom

Guests: Samantha & 9yo son, Tucker

Weather: Hot

Crowds: Extremely Moderate

Both Tucker and I woke up way before the wake-up call came. Guess you could
say we were a little excited, eh? We quickly dressed and decided
to eat our breakfast bars (that we brought from home) while waiting on the
bus. Took our refill mugs and the backpack to throw them in, so as to not
have to come back to the room, and also to be able to refill them on our way
back to the room this evening. Magic Kingdom was to open at 9am this
morning, so we expected the first bus to run around 8:30. We were at the bus
stop way early by 8:05 and there came a bus! Whoohooo! We thought "well,
this will just get us in the long line at MK that much earlier." Surprise
surprise ~~ they opened the gates 20 minutes early! What a terrific start to
our day!
By lunch time (Cosmic Ray's for $17.00), we had done all of the following:
WDW Railroad all around the park; Cinderella's Golden Carrousel; It's a Small
World; Mad Tea Party; Peter Pan's Flight; Tomorrowland Indy Speedway and
Space Mountain. After lunch, we went and rode the Tomorrowland Transit
Authority and hopped over to use our Fast Passes at Buzz Lightyear's Space
Ranger Spin. We then did the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. Asked a CM
about the Carousel of Progess only to be told that it's closed "indefinately"
:(
We had an hour & a half to kill before staking our spot to view the parade so
we went and did the following: Jungle Cruise; Pirates of the Caribbean; The
Enchanted Tiki Room; The Magic Carpets of Aladdin; and Tucker went through
the Swiss Family Treehouse while I rested.
We sat in front of the Frontierland Shootin' Arcade to view the parade;
terrific spot but HOT! I saw this parade this past October but Tucker hadn't
yet; he absolutely loved it!
After the parade we quickly strolled over to Big Thunder Mountain and walked
right on with our Fast Passes. Decided against doing Splash Mountain as the
wait time was 90 minutes and the Fast Pass machines were down for the day.
Walked back to Main Street to "browse" the shops and explore the Main Street
Expo Hall. Took lots of pics in here!
We couldn't believe it was only 5:00pm at this time; we had done everything
Tucker wanted to do, with the exception of Splash Mountain. I informed him
of his next surprise~~supper at the Downtown Disney Rainforest Cafe. Big,
big grins from him as he had always wanted to eat here!

Upon arrival at Downtown Disney, we went straight to RFC as I was worried
about having to wait a long time. We only had to wait for 20 minutes! <GRIN>
We ate in the Elephant Room and shared the Awesome Appetizer Platter for
$13.99. Terrific food and terrific service! We browsed through the gift
shop and thanked heaven that I had thought to pack our Disney ponchos in the
backpack when the bottom dropped out of the sky! I'm talking torrential
rains with thunder & lightening!!! No biggie as we were heading to the BIG
Disney Store to do our souvenier shopping. I was very excited at lucking up
on some sales and walked out only having spent $30 for souveniers for
Tucker's 4 siblings; my 2 nephews; and 2 friends of mine. Tucker wanted to
check out the Lego Store; we then went to the Gourmet Pantry and each picked
out a huge, fresh-made cookie, which we saved to eat later.

The rain had pretty much let up by the time we arrived back at the AS Sports.
The highlight of this day was when a knock came upon the door and I
*innocently* said, "I wonder who that could be?" I opened the door to have
Tucker almost faint when his favorite uncle & aunt (Sam & Paige) yelled
"SURPRISE!" They were there to share our room & help us to have F-U-N!
Sheesh! This ole' Mom did sooooo good keeping all of these surprises! LOL

~Stay tuned to tomorrow's report~~EPCOT


»§«*´`»{@}«´`*:»§«*´`»©»§«©»§«©«´`*:»§«`»{@}«´`*:» §
One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire
cat in a tree.
'Which road do I take?' she asked.
'Where do you want to go?' was his response.
'I don't know,' Alice answered.
'Then,' said the cat, 'it doesn't matter.'
~~Lewis Carroll~~

[BusyMom5x]

Trip Number: 10

Park: Epcot

Guests: Samantha & 9yo son,Tucker
Tucker's Uncle Sam & Aunt Paige

Weather: Hot, muggy, and rainy in the afternoon

Crowds: Moderate

We again hopped out of bed before the wake-up call (okay, *I* hopped out of
the bed! LOL) and again refilled our mugs and ate breakfast bars while
waiting on the bus. Just like yesterday, the bus was a few minutes early.
And yet again, pixie dust was ours when they opened the Epcot gates 15
minutes early. We immediately headed towards Spaceship Earth and walked
right on! We then went through the Living Seas and spent about an hour in
here as it's one of Sam's favorite attractions. We had a 11:00 PS for the
Garden Grill. I absolutely love the food in this place! Farmer Mickey,
Pluto, Chip & Dale had alot of fun with Tucker in here; we took lots of great
pics. After we all complained about being too stuffed and needing a nap
(haha) we headed towards Test Track (yeah, I know~~~~great thing to ride
after having had such a huge lunch!) On the way, a CM excitedly hopping back
& forth (he rather looked & acted like a little elf!) was waving and
hollering at us to "Come see Figment! Figment is back!" I knew that Figment
was returning *tomorrow* as I had scoured every DisneyDollarless email I
could, to find out the exact date that my purple buddy would be back. I
asked him "Are you sure? I thought he was coming back tomorrow?" He
excitedly pushed us to the entrance of Journey Into Your Imagination, saying
"Go see! Go see!" We all looked at each other, grinning like mad fools and
made our way inside. Sure enough, there were huge "Figment is back!!" signs
everywhere! We also found a whole bunch of "important looking" men, all
dressed in suits and ties, just sort of standing around watching us. I asked
one man, "What is going on? I thought Figment was returning tomorrow?" He
grinned and said, "Yep! But we're grabbing a couple of people and asking
them to come test us out!" He then, along with half of the crowd standing
around, commented on how much they liked my Figment tshirt and Figment
baseball cap that I was wearing. (My typical Epcot attire! LOL) All I can
say about this ride, is that I love it 100% more than the 2nd JIYI, but it's
still not as good as the original. We were asked for comments when we
exited, I told them and was answered with "Yeah, that's what we keep
hearing!" I of course, had to buy a new tshirt proclaiming, what else?
"FIGMENT IS BACK!" :)
We headed towards Test Track and waited about 25 minutes before loading,
which wasn't too bad of a wait as neither Sam nor Paige had ever rode this
before. They enjoyed looking at all of the "pre-ride" stuff. We all finally
got loaded and took off! We were just starting the really-fast curve when
this black smoke, an awful smell, and an even more awful screeching noise
came out from under our car and we lurched to a complete STOP hanging
sideways on the curve!!! Sam thought it was really cool, until I explained
to him that this was *NOT* part of the ride! LOL We hung that way for more
than 20 minutes with people down on the ground standing there looking up at
us while we just grinned and waved at them. I will admit that after about 15
minutes it started to get rather nerve-racking with me hanging onto the bar,
trying to keep myself from falling over onto Paige. <grin> Our car finally
lurched and stuttered to the exit where the girl handed us all purple passes
so we could come back later. We gratefully said "no thanks!"
By this time, we had decided to ride the monorail to Magic Kingdom, as Sam &
Paige had never rode Space Mountain. Tucker just couldn't imagine this! LOL

We arrived at MK to find it pouring rain but this did not stop us! We
sprinted towards Space Mountain through the *crowds* of people (MK was NOT
like this yesterday!!)
Rode Space Mountain; went towards Splash Mountain to decide *not* to ride as
there were no fast passes (again!) and the wait was over 2 hours! NOT!!!
We returned to Epcot and headed directly towards the World Showcase. It was
lightly raining, but did not stop us from enjoying all of the beautiful
exhibits set up for the Flower & Garden Festival. We took lots of pics which
I hope turned out as this place was simply beautiful, in my opinion. We
toured the outside of Canada, United Kingdom, and France, stopping to see the
"Mannequin Lady" who was hilarious, as usual. We then all decided to splurge
on desserts from the France Bakery (don't ask me where we put it all after
that huge lunch!) Toured the outside of Morocco, Japan (stopped to watch the
ladies beat on the HUGE drums!), America, Italy, Germany, China, Norway (had
to ride the "Troll ride" here!), and Mexico. Sam & Paige then split up from
us to go do some shopping. Tucker and I just strolled around looking at all
of the flowers and topiaries, finally staking out our spot in the Showcase
Plaza to watch Illuminations. Sam & Paige found us so we all watched the
awesome fireworks together. This was Sam & Paige's first time to view this
and they were duly impressed.

We were the fools that some of you may have seen go running by (laughing our
heads off) immediately after Illuminations. We caught the first bus back to
All Star Sports; ate supper at the Food Court; Tucker swam while I did some laundry.

Stay tuned to tomorrow's report~~~MGM





"You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."
--Walt Disney

[BusyMom5x]

Trip Number: 10

Park: MGM

Guests: Samantha & 9yo son, Tucker

Weather: Hot, hot, hot!

Crowds: Busier than previous 2 days of this Surprise trip

We did not hop out of bed as we had done on previous mornings but did make it
to the bus stop to catch the first bus. This was the Saturday that they were
opening an hour early to accommodate the expected crowds (Gay Day). On this
note (Gay Day) I will say that we never had a problem on this trip until this
day, seeing several gay couples blatantly flaunting the fact of why exactly
they were here. :( I'll say no more on this subject so as to not start an
email war on the list. LOL

MGM opened the gates right on time and we headed towards Tower of Terror.
Walked right on and laughed so much at Sam & Paige (actually we laughed at
them all morning as they had never been to MGM so everything was a "first"
for them). Went and obtained Fast Passes for Rock & Roller Coaster, saved
them for later but went ahead and walked right on and rode it! I believe the
hardest I ever laughed was when Sam asked Paige "do you think I ought to take
my hat off?" and she replied "Nah~~~it doesn't go upside down or anything!"
Too much fun! Walked back to the entrance to Tower of Terror as we were
meeting one of my bestest friends, Barbara, and her hubby, Toby. We all
(except for Sam who decided to sit this one out as he had hurt his back the
first time) went back to Rock & Roller Coaster and rode again! As The Great
Movie Ride is mine, Tucker's, and Barbara's very favorite ride here, we all
went and rode this together and then told Barbara & Toby "goodbye" as this
was their Anniversary Trip and we didn't want to intrude.
Sam, Paige, Tucker, and I went and obtained Fast Passes for the Indiana Jones
Epic Stunt Spectacular. Went to see the Muppet Vision 3D; rode Star Tours;
had lunch at the BackLot Express (less than $7.00 for two kids meals with
souvenier lunch boxes); went and thouroughly enjoyed the Indiana Jones show.
Tucker found a baseball cap in the Indiana Jones gift shop, marked down to
$9.99 from $19.99. We told Sam & Paige goodbye as they were returning to the
resort to catch a nap before they headed to Pleasure Island. Tucker and I
went on the Great Movie Ride again; went and toured the Backlot Tour; browsed
through some shops before claiming an empty bench (semi-in-the-shade!) for
the parade. Tucker was very excited when I told him that he could go do Star
Tours again---by himself! He then reported back in to me and gained
permission to go look in some nearby shops. By the time he returned, the
parade was about to start. Tucker proclaimed this parade to be much better
than the Magic Kingdom one, even though he had claimed that one to be
awesome!
After the parade, we wandered around taking in the sights and debating over
whether or not we wanted to stay for Fantasmic as the skies were looking very
black & angry. I left the decision totally up to Tucker as this was the last
evening of his trip. When the winds began blowing like crazy (as in hold on
to your hat!) he decided that we'd just return to the resort and tour it
fully since we hadn't had a chance to yet. We packed; ate supper at the Food
Court and completely checked out the resort. It's just as awesome as it's
sister resort, AS Music.
Went back to the Front Desk to pick up Tucker's last surprise, his bag of
chocolates & goodies that Minda from the DisneyDollarless List had fixed up
for him. All I can say is that I'll definately be using her services again!
She makes some absolute beautiful creations out of chocolate!

Set the wake-up call for 4:00am as Mears is picking us up at
4:45~~~~YIKES!!!!!
Sadly went to bed, as all Disney-aholics sadly lay their heads down on the
last evening of their trip. LOL


If you read all of these without deleting~~~wowie! I'm impressed! I mainly
did this report to be able to put in the scrapbook for Tucker. This was a
trip that I do believe he'll remember for the rest of his life.

[brumcg]

Samantha,

Great report! 3 more trips to go, huh?

Bruce

[BusyMom5x]

Thanks, Bruce!
Actually, I guess I only have one more trip in the planning stage, which is at the end of August. I took my daughter this past October. My two oldest sons, about to turn 14 & 12, want to do something "different" as they feel too "old" for Disney
<sigh> What's wrong with these kids? :dazed LOL
Hmmmm.........guess I could always start taking the nephews to WDW, right? :p

[Goofette]

BusyMom5x, I really enjoyed reading your trip report. I don't know how I missed it before. I was just going through some posts looking to see what I missed, and there it was.

I was BURSTING with excitement when you typed the part about JIYI. I can't wait to ride that again, but to be one of the people who got to ride it first..How Exciting!!!

I love the Great Movie Ride too. Everytime I ride it I video tape it also, so we have lots of video so I can watch it again & again.

Did I understand you correctly...did you only have 2 backpacks for your luggage? I was rather embarassed by all the stuff we took on our trip, but we did have a 2 day drive so we had things in the car to make it an easier trip. But still, next time I need to do some serious re-thinking of the way I pack.

Thanks again for posting. I would love to be able to go just me and dd, but I'm afraid that will probably never happen. How lucky you are :)

[BusyMom5x]

Originally posted by Goofette
BusyMom5x, I really enjoyed reading your trip report. I don't know how I missed it before. I was just going through some posts looking to see what I missed, and there it was.

Did I understand you correctly...did you only have 2 backpacks for your luggage? I was rather embarassed by all the stuff we took on our trip, but we did have a 2 day drive so we had things in the car to make it an easier trip. But still, next time I need to do some serious re-thinking of the way I pack.

Hey Goofette! So glad you enjoyed my trip report! :)
Yes, I had one backpack each for Tucker & I~~~~made it rather easy at the airport as we just carried them on with us!

[Goofette]

Busymom5x, I have a question for you. I thought I had read somewhere in your trip report about you giving your son a special basket from someplace that does chocolates. But now that I go through here I can't seem to find it again. It might not have been you, it might have been a different thread. If it was you, can you tell me the name of the place again?

Thanks,
Paula:)

[BusyMom5x]

Paula,
I ordered the chocolates & goodies from an online pal I met on the DisneyDollarless List. She does fabulous work and her chocolates are beautiful!
Her name is Minda and her email is minjoe_bri@yahoo.com
Please tell her I sent you!

:)

[Goofette]

Thanks for the information. I also saw on a thread here (it was in Disney theme parks) about someone wanting ideas for their Hubby's BD. If you see the thread you might want to mention to them about this idea too. I personally love chocolate, can't think of anyone who doesn't. :D So this might be something she might want to do for her Husband.

Thanks again busymom

Paula


I had to make an edit because I put the wrong place of where the post was located. I went back and checked out the thread, but sleeplesinny (sp) hasn't replied back so I'm not sure if she's still looking for ideas.