Our first Family vacation at Disney World

[mirandag819]

We just got back from our trip to Disney World. I can now understand why some people take solo trips. Our trip was a lot of fun (but I doubt I will ever take extended family again).

I spent months and months of planning for this trip and most of it got thrown out the window (despite my attempts to be a vacation Nazi). Feel free to compare this trip report to the pre-trip report, you can see how little we stuck with the plan. I am still a little frustrated since I spent so much time working on the ADRs and we didn't even use half of them I think. We did have a few blow ups (stay tuned), but all and all it was a wonderful vacation. This was DD's (3) first Disney trip and our first real family vacation (we have mostly taken weekend beach trips since she was born).

In case you didn't read my pre-trip report the cast is:

Me (25) -Miranda
DH (27) -Sonny (but I call him Dee)
DD (3)- Taylor
My mom (53)- Ronda (but I doubt you will ever hear me call her that)
My Sis (23-but acts about 3)-Morgan

The awesome thing about this trip was all the money I made online for our trip. DH didn't realize until pretty close to our departure date just how much I had made and just saved for our vacation. Here is the break down of what I had to take with us:

Disney Gift Cards/Disney Dollars:

$470 from Sunshine Rewards (Earned since May 2008)
$576 Disney Visa Rewards (Earned since about July 2007)
$290 Disney Visa Rewards kindly given to me as a gift from my dad
$100 Disney Dollars from my MIL for my birthday
$40 Disney Dollars MIL gave to DD with her birthday present

Cash

$1352.10 from EXPO for my video reviews (Earned since April 2008)
$346.70 from Half.com for a few old books and DVDs I never watched (Earned since June 2008)
$88 for a couple broken chains I sold online for the gold (Earned in May)
$1250.70 from ChaCha (Earned since early August)


We paid for a lot of things for my mom and sister too, but they paid for their own hotel and park tickets. In total there was $4513.50, do you think it will be enough?

[mirandag819]

Now my sister had already screwed up the plans a little bit before we ever left. I had booked flights for the 5 of us for $490. My sister got married in July to someone who she had known for 10 days and moved from WV to Kansas. Originally my mom and sister were going to drive the 4 hours from WV to NC and fly out with us. Well Kansas to NC is an 18 hour drive so she no longer would be flying with us, and her last name changed. I wasn't able to cancel just her flight I had to cancel everyone's and rebook. Then a few weeks after I cancelled she decided her and her new husband would be driving into WV a few days before the trip to visit his family and she would just drive down here with my mom after all (of coarse she still wanted to fly back to Kansas after the trip). I was not real thrilled to be paying $1450 for the flights that were originally $490, especially when she decided to fly with us after all.
Our flights were scheduled to depart at 7:05 a.m. Monday, so my mom and sister were going to drive in Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon turned into 11 p.m. Sunday night. I should have gone to bed before they arrived, but I waited up to make sure they arrived safely. I needed to wake up at 3 a.m. so I headed straight to bed after they arrived. Apparently they stayed up until 1 a.m. highlighting my sister's hair (not sure why they couldn't have done this before they got into town). The alarm goes off at 3:00 a.m. on Monday and we hurry to get ready to head for the airport. It is about an hour and 15 minutes to the Raleigh airport, so we told everyone we needed to leave by about 4:15 a.m. Do you think those who stayed up until 1 will be awake and ready to go on time?

[jakeandsophiesmom]

Oh wow! Aren't sisters great?!? I sure hope things got better for you!!

[spring]

Man oh man, not an auspicious start to Disney. Hope things worked out better for you. I love TR's, so keep it coming! :love:

[jakeandsophiesmom]

BTW--What is ChaCha? I may have my head in the sand, but I've never heard of this.

[catnapfan]

I can't wait to hear more!

[mirandag819]

BTW--What is ChaCha? I may have my head in the sand, but I've never heard of this.
People text in questions and ChaCha guides recieve the question online, look up the answer and reply back.... the person then gets a text back with the answer to their question.

[mirandag819]

Okay we all race to get ready for the airport. My sister wasn't ready until 4:20, by normal people's standards she would have been okay. DH is military though, so when he says leave by 4:15 he means by 4:00. Dee had loaded his, mine, and Taylor's suitcases the night before in the car, but was in bed by the time my mom and sister arrived. He took one look at their suitcases and decided we needed to take 2 cars to the airport. I probably would have tried to make it all fit if I knew how expensive parking was at the airport in Raleigh. We normally fly out of Greensboro and parking is only about 3 dollars a day. Raleigh's parking was 80 per car for the week ($160.00 total since we took 2 cars).

We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and head for the Southwest ticket counter. Thankfully they asked for the heaviest suitcase first. We put my suitcase on the rack first. I had asked DH how much he thought it weighed the night before, he guessed 30 pounds.....boy was he wrong. For someone who lifts weights daily he isn't too good at guessing what something weighs (maybe I should ask him to hold and weigh me to make me feel better). My suitcase was 62 pounds. I opened it up and removed my make up case. Now I was down to 54 pounds (that just sounds sad that my makeup weighed 8 pounds..... I had some lotion and stuff in there too). I removed my hair dryer and straighting iron and was down to 49. Wheew, good thing I had packed some duffle bags for the trip home. I added my things to DH's suitcase. Next they weighed his bag... he now had 52 so he moved some jeans to DD's suitcase. Next was my mom and sister who both barely made it with 48 and 50 pounds.

We had planned to eat breakfast at the airport, but since we got there a little late and it took a little while to rearrange our luggage we just headed for the gate.

Here is Taylor awaiting her first flight with my sister:

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/005.jpg

This was my first time flying with Southwest and I was a little concerned we wouldn't be able to sit together, but we had A boarding passes so we were able to board pretty quickly and all sat near each other. Our flight left ontime at 7:05 a.m. and we landed in Orlando by 8:30 a.m.

Taylor was very good on the airplane. I get frequent ear infections and my ears hurt badly on the plane, but luckily the pain ended when we landed.

[wilsonfamily4]

i am sorry it did not go as planned. It sure was a nice schedule. :)

[pbhall13]

yeah...a TR!!!

Uh Oh a rocky start..........it has to get better.......you were heading to WDW

(ps.. your sis's highlights look nice:p)

[mirandag819]

After we landed we headed for National's Emerald Isle. The National counter had a very long line, so I was thankful for being an Emerald club member. I was keeping my fingers crossed that there would be an SUV or a van on the Isle. For those of you who have never heard of the Emerald Isle you book a midsize and pay for a midsize, but can choose anything available on the Emerald Isle. Dee instantly spots a Dodge Charger and tries to convince us all that we can fit.... HAHAHA Yeah Right! Thankfully there was 1 van and a dozen SUVs. We all like the SUVs better, but the van is much larger and would be more comfortable.

We load up in a Kia Sedona and head for the hotel. I was driving, but Dee didn't like that so we switched after a few minutes. We had brought DH's GPS from home and he accidently choose Yes to avoid toll roads apparently, but it only took a few extra minutes to get to Disney World.

Check in wasn't until 3 at Shades of Green, but we went to the hotel to get our tickets (Military discount tickets have to be purchased in person at SoG). We decided to see if we could pre-register at the hotel and were able to go ahead and check in early. While DH was checking us in DD insisted on seeing the Mickey statue on the lobby.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0064.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0060.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0058.jpg

I thought we would never get her to leave the statue, she clearly didn't understand where we wanted to take her.

We got our room keys to our connecting rooms and went to check out the rooms and unload our luggage. The rooms at Shades of Green are great for the price. We were a 10 minute walk to the Poly and had a nice big room with high ceilings for $89 a night with no sales tax. Here are a few pictures of the room:

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/SoGroom.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0446.jpg

[askomsky]

Ohhh love it so far, keep it coming!

AND HOLY COW!! You sure did earn enough money to take with you!

[mirandag819]

We wanted to head to Epcot right away so we were only in the rooms for a few minutes. I had my digital camera but I did forget to grab my video camera out of my suitcase before we went, I was kind of bummed.

We decided to go ahead and do the 10 minute walk over to the Poly and catch the monorail to Epcot. We probably should have just driven, but since we were going to the Magic Kingdom very early the next morning I wanted to make sure it was just a 10 minute walk and not longer. Since we had to get off at the TTC and get on the Epcot monorail it did take a little while, but we finally made it to Epcot.

We were all starving at this point since we hadn't ate breakfast and it was close to noon. DH wanted to head over to the world showcase for lunch, so we appeased him (we were hungry and grumpy and should have eaten in Future World). DH wanted to go to Italy, I told him 10 times there wasn't counter service in Italy, but he wouldn't listen and had to see for himself. We passed Mexico and the food smelled great...we should have stopped there, but DH wanted to keep going. After he saw for himself there was no counter service in Italy we were all dying to eat. We made it to Morocco before he agreed to stop at the next counter service we saw and get something to eat. We had lunch at the Tangierine Cafe. I had the Shawarma Chicken Sandwich, it was yummy. DH had the Chicken & Lamb platter, and really liked it. DD had chicken fingers, but was too excited to really eat. My sister also ordered kids chicken fingers. My mom apparently didn't like anything on the menu so she ordered the vegtable platter. I about peed my pants laughing when I saw it. Apparently she thought she would get American vegetables like brocoli and carrots. Instead she got Couscous salad, hummus, tabouleh, and lentils. I felt bad laughing at her, but come on mom..... why would a Morocan place have American veggies. She couldn't make herself try it so she shared Taylor's chicken fingers since she wasn't eating much.

Sorry guys I should have taken some food pictures, but I never remembered until we were done eating.

[Magical JenK]

Love it! Keep it coming Miranda! Wowsers!! I hope you really, really surprised DH w/the amount of money you brought!! Good for you!

[linanglab]

Great report so far! You sure did earn lots of money! I know you worked hard to get that $$, so I hope your trip was WONDERFUL! Cannot wait to hear the rest!

[bbangel]

:rotfl: I would have been laughing if that was my mom (although it is more like something I would do). Didn't they have pictures or sample platters to look at (thought they did).

The pics of your DD with the Mickey statue are so precious!

[mirandag819]

After we finished our lunch we spotted Aladin and Jasmine nearby, DD really wanted to go see them, but they had just closed the line. We went ahead and headed over to Soarin to grab fast passes. On the walk over we stopped and watched these guys for a few minutes.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0066.jpg

Taylor kept yelling at them to be careful and that you shouldn't climb on chairs. It was pretty funny to hear her on the other side of that lecture. Hopefully they didn't give her any new ideas.

We got fastpasses for Soarin and had about an hour before our return time so we took Taylor over to The Seas with Nemo & Friends.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0069.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/023.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/014.jpg

It took awhile to get on the ride because Taylor just wanted to look at the statues and stuff in front of the ride. Once we got in line it was like a 2 minute wait. Taylor was fascinated with the ride, and we enjoyed it too. Turtle Talk was pretty packed when we got off the ride so we skipped it (we meant to go back later, but never got around to it).

We did play around for a few minutes inside of Bruce's mouth.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/021.jpg

[mirandag819]

:rotfl: I would have been laughing if that was my mom (although it is more like something I would do). Didn't they have pictures or sample platters to look at (thought they did).

The pics of your DD with the Mickey statue are so precious!

If they did we didn't notice them, there were a few things in a glass case, but it looked like deserts and salads, but it may have been sample platters. If I knew why she was ordering the veggie plate I would have told her, but I didn't know what she was thinking until the food arrived.

[mirandag819]

After Riding Nemo we headed back towards the land pavillion. There was no wait for living with the land so we hopped on a boat. I was pretty surprised at how interested DD was, she loved seeing all the fruits and veggies growing. She really liked the mickey shaped ones.

After Living with the Land it was time to use our fastpasses for Soarin'. Dee, Morgan and I went on Soarin while mom and Taylor went to see The Circle of Life. I wish Taylor had been tall enough for Soarin', she would have really liked it. We loved it!

After Soarin' we grabbed fast passes for Test Track. We then went and got some frozen lemonade to cool off a little, it was very hot and humid. We were just walking around a little bit letting Taylor take everything in when we passed Innoventions. This then triggered my memory that we could take Taylor for a private meet and greet since we have a Disney Visa.

I was a little nervous to take her in. We didn't know who we would be meeting, and I didn't yet know how she would react to character's in costume. She doesn't like strangers and she doesn't like people who are really big, and I didn't want her to get upset. I had booked some character meals and I knew she would be happy seeing characters from a distance, but I will nervous that as tired as we were that things might not go too well. We got in line, and there was only 1 other family in front of us. It was no time before it was our turn and I was like a little kid dying to know who was behind the curtain. They pulled back to curtain to let us go in and there was........ Any guesses on who we met and how dd reacted?

[m4travels]

........ Any guesses on who we met and how dd reacted?

Oh, this is just wrong to leave us hanging like this!!!!

[m4travels]

After we finished our lunch we spotted Aladin and Jasmine nearby, DD really wanted to go see them, but they had just closed the line. We went ahead and headed over to Soarin to grab fast passes. On the walk over we stopped and watched these guys for a few minutes.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0066.jpg

Taylor kept yelling at them to be careful and that you shouldn't climb on chairs. It was pretty funny to hear her on the other side of that lecture. Hopefully they didn't give her any new ideas.

I LOVE watching these guys do their routine.

[mirandag819]

Okay I guess I have kept you waiting long enough. They pulled back the curtain and inside was Mickey and Pluto!!! I do not think I have ever seen Taylor so excited. She couldn't get out of her stroller fast enough. The photopass photographer got a great picture of her intial expression when she saw Mickey. I will update once I get my CD.

I only got the blur of her running very fast for Mickey.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0479.jpg

You can see she never hesitated, just ran with arms open for a hug and he bent down and opened his arms for her.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0073.jpg

I was so relieved so see her so excited and it was the cutest thing watching them interact. When I get a chance I will put a video together, I have some of them dancing together.

Hugs for Pluto too!
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/026.jpg

They are looking at the photopass photographer, so his picture turned out much better
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/028.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/029.jpg

Dancing with Mickey:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/030.jpg

Taylor was just talking away to them like they were old friends. She also sang the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song while they danced. She told Mickey she would teach him to tap dance and preceeded to tell him "heel toe, heel toe" It was sweet to see Mickey play along. She later asked me why Mickey didn't talk.... I told her he was just too excited to hear her singing to him, this explination seemed to be acceptable to her.

[mirandag819]

A few more pictures

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0085.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0081.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0087.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0480.jpg


DH really got into the Disney spirit after seeing how happy meeting Mickey made Taylor. I am so glad we had a Disney Visa and were able to do this, it was a great first character meeting and there were not any crowds rushing us. Plus we got a free 5x7 picture that we could pick up in about an hour.

We played around in Innoventions for a little while and then head over to ride Test Track. I liked our picture on test track and as soon as a I get my photo pass CD I will add it. I really wish all the rides were like Test Track and had the option to add the picture to Photo Pass, that was great! DD got mad she couldn't ride Test Track.....the child has no fear and would right anything they let her ride.

After Test Track we went to see Honey I Shrunk the Audience. I had heard it scares some small kids, I wondered how Taylor would do, but decided to take her in. I'll let you know soon how that went.

[mirandag819]

Okay Honey I Shrunk the Audience was probably not a good idea. She screamed like I have never heard her scream before when the lion and the snake were on screen. She did seem to like the rest of the show though. We decided we wouldn't try to take her to It's Tough to be a Bug later this week since she was scared, and I wondered if I would even be able to get her to put glasses on for Mickey's PhilharMagic later.

Dee, Morgan and I rode Test Track and grabbed fast passes to Mission Space. We probably could have just walked onto Mission Space, it was only a 10 minute wait, but we decided to catch up with my mom and Taylor who went shopping while we rode Test Track.

It had been more then an hour since our meet and greet so we decided to head over to the photo shop and ride Spaceship Earth while we were over that way. There were so many good pictures of the photo pass of Taylor with Mickey and Pluto, although at this point I wished we had all jumped in the pictures too! I guess we were just enjoying watching her too much.

Taylor really enjoyed Spaceship Earth, especially the interactive stuff at the end. Although the pictures came out wierd. Taylor was sitting on Daddy's lap when the picture was taken, so the images were my full face and then a face that was half Taylor / half Dee.

Some of us were getting tired and grumpy (my mom and my sis) so we decided to go see if there was any way we could get into Coral Reef sooner. I highly doubted it, but figured we would try to make them happy. Oh yeah I almost forgot to mention what a PITA my sis and especially my mom were on the first day. They both mentioned sandals/flip flops before the trip. I told them both, "BRING TENNIS SHOES!!!" Neither of them listened and they both were whinning about their feet by this point, especially my mom who wore the worst shoes.

It was an hour until our Coral Reef reservation so as I figured they couldn't get us in. In fact they told us it would be at least 30 minutes past our ADR time and to come back then. Mom's feet were hurting too bad so her and Taylor decided to just wait on the benches by Coral Reef while we went to ride Mission Space.

[mirandag819]

Mission Space was awesome! The barf bags made me a little nervous, thankfully we didn't need them. The 4th person who rode with us was fun, my sister and I were being a little silly with all the buttons and he played along too. I was assigned the role of pilot, and about half way through I feel DH reach over and grab onto my joy stick. Apparently he thinks I can't even drive a car much less the space ship! After doing Mission Space we slowly headed back towards Coral Reef and hoped it wouldn't really take 30 extra minutes after our ADR since it was getting late.

We only had to wait about 15 minutes for our table. Even though Taylor was grumpy and hungry she was very good while we waited. She hates to hold hands or sit in the stoller if it isn't moving, but she did both and was very patient (I was surpised).

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0072.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0088.jpg

We were seated sooner then expected for Coral Reef, so we were off to a good start. I was hoping the meal went well too.

Was the meal great as expected, or did it take a horrible turn for the worse? Stay tuned!

[Magical JenK]

Great TR Miranda! Keep the photos coming!

Couple questions for you...
1) How long has it been since you've been to WDW?
2) Has Taylor ever been before?
I missed it if you said this before...
3) I've read about the Disney Visa Meet & Greet, but I just assumed it was the character spot & you just got one of those photos free...from your description I believe I'm wrong. Can you tell me where to go for this perk?

Thanks

[mirandag819]

Great TR Miranda! Keep the photos coming!

Couple questions for you...
1) How long has it been since you've been to WDW?
2) Has Taylor ever been before?
I missed it if you said this before...
3) I've read about the Disney Visa Meet & Greet, but I just assumed it was the character spot & you just got one of those photos free...from your description I believe I'm wrong. Can you tell me where to go for this perk?

Thanks

1. I haven't been since right before DH went to Iraq last time so 2003. I was pregnant within days of him coming home and we weren't brave enough to go when I was pregnant or with Taylor when she was younger.

2. No this was Taylor's first trip, actually our first real family vacation, we had gone on little weekend trips, but never a full blown vacation

3. No it isn't the normal character spot, you have to have the Visa to get in the line and the line was tiny tiny and you get as long as you want in the room alone with the characters. They give you a card for a free picture when you go in, but the private meet and greet itself was awesome! The room is inside Innoventions West right beside the fire house thing (sorry I forget what it is called). It is daily from 1:30-4:30. The characters are different every day, and you don't know who it is until they let you go in.
It was great! You should check it out next week Jen!

[faithhope]

I'm really enjoying the trip report and pictures. I love seeing the excitement on your little girl's face. Can't wait to hear more...

[cglaura]

That is funny you mentioned your sis complaining about the shoes...the other day when I read your update, I actually noticed those flip flops and thought, oh man, she's in for a hurtin' !

I'm loving this trip report! Taylor's expressions and enthusiasm brings back so many memories from when dd16 was that age. :)

[mirandag819]

So we were seated at Coral Reef and given our menus. DH was given his customized birthday menu, he thought that was nice. Our view wasn't great, we were all the way in the back and the tank looked sort of foggy from where we were sitting. Taylor wanted to go look up close at the tank, but I didn't want to crowd near other's tables. I wish they had a small section without tables for little kids to view the tanks better. We were inside in air conditioning finally, so that was nice. I was dying of thirst and get pretty hungry. So we sat and waited and waited and waited. 15 minutes later we finally meet our waitress (YAY! I can finally order a drink, I was close to walking outside and getting one I was so thirsty). She says she will be right back with our drinks and to take our order.

We sit and we wait and wait and wait some more. We have had plenty of time to read the 6 entree choices. No one in the group was thrilled with the menu. This was Dee's birthday dinner and he wanted seafood. There were only 2 seafood choices on the menu, fish or pasta with seafood in it, neither of which sounded good to him. He really wanted the crab legs that were on the menu when I made the ADR. When we finally did see our waitress again he asked about this, her explanation was that the menu changes daily???? From what I have now read online they removed a few things because of free dining, but it doesn't change daily like she suggested.

Anyhow after waiting 15 minutes or so after our waitress took our drink order Taylor needed to go the bathroom, my mom took her. While they were gone Dee, Morgan and I decided 30 minutes was too long to wait for drinks and we hadn't even ordered our food. Since no one was crazy about the menu choices we decided we were going to give up and just go back to the hotel and eat (it was already almost 9 p.m.). I go to the bathroom to get mom and Taylor and see if there were okay with leaving, they liked that plan too. By the time I get back to the table to tell Dee and Morgan that Mom and Taylor were waiting out front for us the drinks and bread had arrived. Apparently that was enough to get them to decide to just stay. Since the rest of us weren't at the table though she couldn't take our food order. 10 minutes later she returned again, of coarse by this point we know what we want to eat, we even tell her that, yet she insisted on reading the menu to us. No she didn't make suggestions, just straight up read it word for word as if we were 2 years old and incapable of reading it ourselves. We had to tell her for the 4th time, no we are not on the dining plan (got pretty annoyed by that, and we still told her several more times before the night was over).

After we ordered our food was on the table within minutes, but tasted like it had been under a heat lamp for hours. Clearly they didn't just cook it or it couldn't have came so fast. Dee and Morgan both had a steak. Dee normally loves steak, but he was mad since he wanted crab legs. Morgan kept apologizing for ordering steak, but it was the only thing that appealed to her. Apparently she thought since we were paying she should order something cheaper, she must have a complex about ordering the most expensive thing on the menu (I felt awful that she felt this way and told her over and over again to eat whatever she wanted this week and ignore the prices).

They both said the steak was pretty good, but nothing special. Taylor ordered the pizza, but fell asleep at the table before the food came. We woke her up and she ate a few bites before passing out again. Mom had the chicken, she said the flavor was good, but it was a little dry. I had the seafood pasta dish (I forget the name). The fish was cold in the pasta, and there was wayyyyy too much butter and not much tomato at all. Our drinks sat empty the entire meal (DH's biggest pet peeve). We were hungry and tired so we ate, but were just very ready to go when we were done. It took us awhile to track her down. She was sitting in a booth with some other customers, reading them the menu. We handed her a couple of SR hundred dollar gift cards and apparently this was difficult for her to figure out. It took her 15 minutes to bring the receipt and gift card back (she brought us both of them back because she couldn't remember which one had a balance still - I called later that night to figure it out myself). After she had already brought the check back and we were all getting up from the table to walk out, she brought DH a piece of cake for his birthday. He was ready to go, but they did put it in a to go box for him. I helped him eat it later in the hotel room and it was pretty good.

No one was happy with dinner at Coral Reef and I felt bad since I had chosen it. It also screwed up a lot of my dining plans for later in the week since everyone was so turned off by the first nights dinner they kept wanting to cancel other places too. I should have taken some pictures during dinner, but when I am in a bad mood I forget to get the camera out.

We got outside and it was pouring the rain. The exits were crowded and we didn't want to wait forever to get on the monorail and then transfer monorails and then walk from the Poly to SoG in the rain, so we decided to rent a cab (well a van). The driver was very efficient and got us back quickly, well worth the $30 (well it was only $15, but we gave him a $15 tip).

We headed back to our rooms and were all ready to crash. Up next.... Magic Kingdom! We had an 8:10 ADR at Crystal Palace.

[bbangel]

Oh, I'm sorry your experience with Coral Reef was so bad! I've eaten there twice and had a great experience both times. So frustrating when you've done all that planning and things don't go well.

[mirandag819]

Oh, I'm sorry your experience with Coral Reef was so bad! I've eaten there twice and had a great experience both times. So frustrating when you've done all that planning and things don't go well.

I guess I should have re-checked the ratings and stuff on All-Ears before we went, not just when I made ADRs, because I just looked and the ratings are tanking for Coral Reef all of a sudden.

[mirandag819]

I think we were all asleep within 10 minutes of making it back to our room. Oh well I will unpack tomorrow. Dee had called and requested a 6 a.m. wake up call. I woke up at 6:05 a.m., hmmm no wake up call?? The wake up call came at 7 a.m. (I heard him say 6, oh well, luckily I was excited and woke up on my own). My shower that morning had never felt so good.

Dee and I got ready and then woke Taylor up around 7. Taylor woke up asking to see Mimi (oh yeah Mimi is what she calls my mom). I take Taylor over to their room and that is when I realized, not only did they not wear tennis shoes yesterday, they didn't even pack tennis shoes. Okay I was a little mad (since I told them before the trip they really did need tennis shoes). I didn't say anything mean because I wanted to start the day off good (I just called them stupid in my head about a hundred times). While we were getting Taylor ready Dee headed upstairs to get some Starbucks and he picked up a few things for Taylor in the SoG gift shop. He grabbed her a couple princess cups with straws and a mouse ears headband. I love the gift shop at SoG, the prices are much lower and there is no sales tax. He also picked up a lanyard to hold our park tickets and gift cards.

Today we were going to Magic Kingdom, YAY! Everyone was ready on time, so we were off to a good start. The path from SoG to the Poly isn't that bad, about 1/2 a mile, from the front door of Shades of Green. Of coarse along the path there is a pond with warning signs about not feeding the alligator. I really hoped an alligator wasn't going to walk up onto the path. Luckily we didn't see him this morning.

We arrived at the monorail station just as a new monorail was pulling in, good timing! The monorail sat for awhile at the Poly and sat for even longer at the Grand Floridian (note to self: leave a little earlier in the morning). We arrived at the Magic Kingdom on time for our ADRs, but didn't have as much extra time as I hoped to take some pictures on an empty main street.

We headed straight for Crystal Palace, I did video tape Taylor's first time seeing the castle, she was so excited. I will put some video together later and update.

There was a huge crowd in front of Crystal Palace when we arrived. It only took me a few minutes to check in though, and we were seated within about 10 minutes. Here are a few pictures in front of Crystal Palace while we waited.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0089.jpg

Taylor was so happy and excited she was kissing everyone like crazy.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/035.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/041.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0091.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/037.jpg

[mirandag819]

We were seated quickly and our waitress got our drinks very very quickly. Pooh came to our table within minutes of us sitting down. I sat with Taylor while Dee made her a plate. He brought her food while she was talking to Pooh and surprisingly she was actually ready to eat. She loved the Mickey waffles. I did too!

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0095.jpg

It was hard to get good pictures of Taylor with Pooh, she kept wanting to hug on him and talk to him and not look at me with the camera. Oh well, she was happy.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/044.jpg

After Pooh left Piglet stopped by

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0102.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0099.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0101.jpg

[pbhall13]

Miranda

the pictures are so darling. Taylor looks like she is really enjoying those characters.

As for your mom & sis not wearing sneakers.....I would have been repeating the same thing in my head!!

[Hedy]

So cute!

[mirandag819]

Miranda

the pictures are so darling. Taylor looks like she is really enjoying those characters.

As for your mom & sis not wearing sneakers.....I would have been repeating the same thing in my head!!

HAHA, well I could only keep it in my head for so long, I kinda blow up a little bit later.

[disney_girl]

Loving the trip report so far!!!

[mirandag819]

When Eeyore came by I realized I could get better angles for pictures if she stayed seated. She was okay with staying in her chair, plus she didn't have to leave her food. She normally is a light eater, but she really enjoyed her breakfast here.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0104.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0105.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0106.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0107.jpg

Tigger was also in Crystal Palace, but he never did get to our table. We were all kind of ready to go ride some rides and Taylor didn't mind not waiting. We will have to find Tigger later this week. Crystal Palace was pretty fast and the food was wonderful. Our waitress was very friendly and very quick to bring refills and clear plates. I would rate their breakfast a 10. Thank goodness or the group may have not gone to any of the other meals I had planned.

[mirandag819]

We paid for breakfast using more gift cards, I loved spending those! Oh and while we were paying the little parade around the resteraunt began. Taylor loved marching around with Pooh and friends. I got a little video of this too. Dee needed to run to the bathroom real quick before we went into the park. It always takes us girls longer to go the bathroom then him, except at Disney World, I don't quite get why he always get stuck in a long line we didn't. Apparently at Crystal Palace it wasn't so much a long line as it was some little boy who kept screaming "don't come in here" every time someone opened the door, even though there were several stalls.

Morgan and I walked outside and started plotting where to go first while we waited. My mom stopped and got a few good pictures of Taylor inside Crystal Palance, although I am not happy she let her pick up the pumpkin. We have been trying to teach her not to touch things.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0110.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/055.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/056.jpg

Now off to ride some rides in Fantasyland....

[jakeandsophiesmom]

Taylor is just the cutest little girl! Glad to see she is taking to the characters well! My niece, 7, is still afraid of any characters that wear gloves.:confused: I'm so glad both my kids love all of the characters!

Great report so far!! Can't wait for more!:popcorn:

[askomsky]

Keep it coming! I love it!!! Taylor looks like she' shaving a blast!

[fourfoxesinpa]

Wow! I just read your review of Coral Reef and you are a whole lot more patient that I am! I would have walked out, after talking to the manager. For that money, it's inexcusable. I'm sorry your meal wasn't up to your expectations.

I have an ADR there in a few months for the Candlelight Processional and appreciate the heads up.

BTW - Can you have a table request added to your ADR or is it just random based on what's open when you show?

Thanks!

[mirandag819]

We headed over to Fantasyland and there wasn't really a wait for anything. Taylor rode Dumbo with Daddy (This would be the last ride the goes around in circles he would ride this week-apparently he decided he didn't like spinning rides....what a wuss!) They only waited about 3 minutes to get onto Dumbo.

I thought his picture was funny... I didn't notice he was wearing her little girl mouse ears until I looked through my pictures!
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0113-1-1.jpg

We tried to get some pictures with the fake dumbo set up beside the ride, but Taylor just wanted to go ride more rides.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/060.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0117.jpg

This is pretty much how Taylor spend the rest of the day. I pushed an empty stroller while she road on Daddy's shoulders.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0114-1.jpg

Next we headed over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. We didn't have to wait at all for this ride. http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0123.jpg

Taylor really liked the Pooh ride, but she kept saying we were going to get sticky inside Pooh's honey pots.

[mirandag819]

Everyone except Dee rode the tea cups next, again we had no wait.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/062.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/063.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0130.jpg

I think Taylor wanted us all to barf up our breakfast because she kept yelling faster mommy, faster momo (Taylor calls my sister Auntie MoMo).

Alice and the Mad Hatter were nearby when we got off the ride, but there was a long line and we would see them at 1900 Park Fare, so we didn't stop.

We all rode It's a Small World with no wait and then Dee wanted to take Taylor on the "race cars". So headed over to Tomorrowland. Taylor rode with Dee and the rest of us joined in our own cars on Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. I was directly behind Dee and Taylor. Taylor is still taunting me that she beat me (well no duh, we were stuck on a track and there is no possible way to pass!)

It was starting to get a little hot by now, so Dee ran and got us all soda and water while we sat down for a few minutes (2 people were whinning about their feet already). He used gift cards even at the food and drink carts, we didn't see a single place all week that didn't accept gift cards. I did make a note to myself to wait and cash out for $500 next time, so we wouldn't have to keep up with balances on so many different cards when he forgot which one he had been using.

After we cooled off we decided to head over to Toontown. Taylor really wanted to ride The Barnstormer (Or Goofy's rollercoaster as she said it). The ride was being serviced though so we decided to go ahead and take her to Mickey and Minnie's houses.

[Sunni]

Wow Miranda! What a great Trip Report! I am just getting caught up on your trip. I love your pictures. Taylor looks like she had a blast. I love her with the characters. Thanks for sharing!

[mirandag819]

Taylor loved Minnie's house. It was very crowded so she could really check everything out. She wanted to look at every picture and every little nicknack in the place.

I'm not sure if she was getting tired, or just liked the house so much, but she did not want to get out of this chair.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0131.jpg

And she got mad she couldn't sit in this chair too
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0134.jpg

And she found another chair to sit in. I swear she needed to sit and stay in every room forever.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0136.jpg

The kitchen in Minnie's house was pretty crowded, so we didn't stay in there too long. Minnie wasn't in her back yard so we headed over to Mickey's House next.

Taylor's first comment was, "This isn't Mickey Mouses House, he lives in the clubhouse" She went on to decribe the glove, and the boot on the clubhouse. We tried to explain this was his country house, but she didn't like the explination and asked where the clubhouse was.

Once we got her inside Mickey's house she kept asking if Mickey Mouse had a baby, she thought there were baby gates blocking off all the rooms. She didn't like Mickey's house very much since she couldn't explore.

She did like his backyard though, and she is still going on and on about how big the pumpkins were.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0138.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0139.jpg

The line for the judges tent was about 30 minutes so we decided to skip it for now. I wish we had taken her into the princess room, but there was no way Dee was going to stand in line for an hour to see princeses.

[Hedy]

Taylor is adorable.

[mirandag819]

After we finished Mickey's house The Barnstormer was re-opened. Taylor was very excited about her first roller coaster, and I was glad she isn't afraid of the rides.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0137.jpg

My mom decided to sit this one out, her complaining about her feet was getting worse. Dee rode with Taylor and I rode with my sister. The Barnstomer goes a lot faster then most of the kiddie roller coasters we are use to. Taylor loved it, but it made Dee nervous that she would fly out. Taylor wanted to ride a second time and since there was no wait we got back in line and rode once more.

At this point it was getting very very hot and Dee was already talking about going back to the hotel to swim. It wasn't even 11 yet and he was ready to go!!! I talked him into staying a little while longer. Of coarse he then remembered he had forgot to pack swimming trunks and he lost his sunglasses the week before our trip, so we would have to go shopping first.

We headed back to Tomorrowland and rode the Transit Authority and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. Dee refused to ride Astro Orbitors because it spins and he didn't want Taylor up that high without him (What a party pooper!!!). On our way over the Space Ranger Spin we saw Push. Taylor was fascinated by him and he kept following her around.

Taylor was showing signs of being pretty tired while we waited for Space Ranger Spin. So I agreed we could head back to the hotel after this ride.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0140.jpg

I don't remember our scores, I just remember Morgan kicked all of our butts, then Dee/Taylor, then me, then my mom. Taylor forgot her mouse ears on Space Ranger Spin, so we needed to pick her up a new pair later.

I was not ready to leave the Magic Kingdom at this point, but I agreed to anyways. Taylor needed the rest and everyone wanted to go to Downtown Disney to shop some.

We rode the monorail back to the Poly and then walked over to Shades of Green. The walk normally wasn't so bad, but in the heat of the day I did not care for the walk. We get back to the rooms and everyone wanted to leave immediatly, so much for resting. We had gotten valet parking at Shades of Green so Dee called and asked for the van to be pulled up front. We never had to wait for the van all week, it was always sitting and waiting for us when we walked outside. It was very worth the $10 a day and tips. Well actually it was only $5 a day plus tips since we had to pay for parking no matter what.

Off we go to DTD.... do we find everything we are looking for without killing each other in the process? We'll see....

[mirandag819]

Taylor did get a little bit of a nap in the van on the way to DTD, she seemed pretty refreshed when we arrived. We parked near Disney Quest, the plan was to shop briefly and then go to Disney Quest for a little while. We passed the Disney Visa booth which reminded me to stop and pick up an empty card. My dad was going to give his points to me, but forgot to order an empty rewards card. It took a whole 30 seconds to pick up the empty card, wow that was easier then I thought. I called him after we got back to the room and he was able to load his disney dollars onto the card. YAY! Thanks Daddy!

We were all hungry, and it was making us grumpier so we headed for Earl of Sandwich. I had The Original and it was very very good. The bread alone could have been my meal and I would have loved it!

After we ate Dee wanted to shop for his sunglasses and swimming trunks. He handed Taylor a bunch of Disney Dollars and told her to go pick something out in the Once Upon a Toy Store. I love how I earned all the Disney money and he gets the credit by handing it to her!

Taylor was in heaven in Once Upon a Toy, but amazingly she was very behaved and didn't ask for everything in site. She choose to do the make your own crown. She made a blue crown with a Cinderella in the middle. She added lots of different color jewels and some crown and magic mirror icons. The crown was pretty cute. Here is a picture of the crown, but I have a better one on my photopass.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TaylorCrown-1.jpg
We talked to the nicest lady while making the crown. She was making one for her 5 week old grand daughter, he husband thought she was silly, but I thought it was sweet.

After we paid for her crown we popped into a couple places looking for tennis shoes for my sister and mom, no luck only disney crocs. We got Taylor an ice cream cone and waited for Dee to finish his shopping. We weren't paying enough attention to Taylor and she got pretty messy, that is okay I had a change of clothes for her in my back pack. I put her new clothes on her and give myself a mental note to add another change of clothes to my back pack next time we are in the room.

When Dee finally comes back (about $300 later, apparently the only sunglasses he liked were $260 Oakleys, and grrrrrrrrrrr I found the Oakley's he "lost" within days of us returning home from Disney World). Dee was back and could occupy Taylor, so it was my turn to shop.

Off to World of Disney I went. Gift cards in hand and ready to take advantage of my 10% disney visa discount. Within minutes of me entering the store my sister came in kinda huffy and puffy with Taylor. I made the mistake of asking her what was wrong and she goes on a rant about how we were suppose to be shopping for Tennis shoes for her and how Dee had just ditched Taylor with her. I got kinda mad and mean myself, it was finally my turn to shop for a minute and she just ruined it. I love my shopping, so I was probably a little mean, but we had looked pretty much every where for tennis shoes already and it wasn't my fault she didn't pack them, I had told her to afterall.

I just kinda stormed off, I was too mad to shop. Dee decides to take charge since we are fighting and tells us all to go to the van, that he will find somewhere to buy shoes. I was mad, I didn't get to shop, we didn't go to Disney Quest, I already had to leave the Magic Kingdom early. So yes in the van I was a little mean to my mom and sis. I finally told them how stupid I thought they were, and told them I wished we hadn't brought them with us, that they were ruining my vacation. Okay yes, now I see that was a little over dramatic and mean of me, but at the time I was ticked off. I sort of yelled at them a lot in the van. When we get to the outlet Dee had found on the GPS my mom was nicely trying to cheer me up since I missed out on shopping by pointing out a Bannana Republic outlet and a Ralph Lauren outlet, I was pretty mean again and yelled about how I could shop at those stores at home.... I wanted to shop at DISNEY!

Dee finds a Nike Outlet and drops them off at the door. He finally finds a parking spot like a mile away. He parks and decides to go join them. I decided to stay in the car and cool off and was hoping Taylor would take a little bit of a nap.

Something happens very very soon that changed the whole mood of the day in the most unusual way, but that is a story for tomorrow.....

[3dog2kidmom]

Something happens very very soon that changed the whole mood of the day in the most unusual way, but that is a story for tomorrow.....
Oh Miranda... I'm waiting with baited breath!!!!

Loving your report so much. I am so glad you blew up at mom & sis and put them in their places for ruining your vacation. I am a non-confrontational person but was cheering for you when you finally said something to them.

Can't wait to hear what happens next!!

PS Taylor is so precious! That is my DD's name too :)

[disney_girl]

Oh....what could have happened?? Can't wait to find out!!!

[mirandag819]

So there Taylor and I are in the van, me pretty annoyed still. Taylor started to take a nap, but after everyone had been gone about 10 minutes she shot up and said, "Mommy I need to go potty" Oh boy I get to make the 10 mile walk over to the stores and find a bathroom. I take the keys out of the ignition and go around to get her out. No sooner then I lift her out of the van she says, "Uh oh! I peed a little". Oh no! I check and she had gone a little. She had a dress on which was still completely dry, but her panties were pretty wet, and we had used her 1 change of clothes when she got messy at DTD. She says she still has to go potty. I go running with her across the parking lot. I am sure we looked funny, I was carrying her but trying no to get myself wet, and trying not to get her dress wet either.

I finally reach the front of the Nike Store, completely out of breath from the long run. I see Dee pretty quickly, so I hand Taylor to Dee and tell him to take her to potty while I go find her some new panties. He reminds me he can't take her in the men's room?. Oh yeah DUH! So he offers to go get her panties while I find a potty. I go looking in the Nike Store, I see my mom and sister before I find a bathroom. They found an employee who says the nearest bathroom is 8 stores down. My sister, who now has tennis shoes is nice and offers to carry Taylor since she can tell I am tired and out of breath from running across the parking lot carrying her. The whole way to the bathroom I can hear Morgan saying, "Please don't pee on me, please don't pee on me, I will buy you something if you don't pee on me"

They do make it to the bathroom without any other incidents. Taylor immediately asked Aunt MoMo what she was going to buy her?.. Lucky for MoMo there were vending machines outside the bathroom and Taylor only wanted Skittles. On a side note.... The vending machines accepted credit and debit cards, I had never seen this before and thought it was pretty cool. I wish we would get those at work!

We go back to the front of the Nike outlet and wait for my mom to come out and for Dee to return with some dry panties. My mom comes out pretty quickly, already wearing her new tennis shoes (Yay hopefully she won't complain as much now). We were all getting along okay again now, funny how a potty accident can fix things, and hopefully everyone would be in better spirits with new shoes.

Dee finally returns about 10 minutes later and he starts to fill us in on his adventure. Apparently he busted into several stores that sold kids clothes and asked where their big girl panties were. People turned and looked at him since he was kind of yelling. Several stores told him they didn't sell them. Finally he busts into a store that sells clothes for the whole family and asks, "Where are your big girl panties?" A sales associate takes him over and hands him a pair of very very very large women's panties and asks, "Are these big enough?" He about died, it never occurred to him that people thought he was asking for large women's panties... Taylor calls them big girl panties (since she doesn't wear a diaper and is a big girl now), so he thought that is what they were called, when really he should have been asking about little girl or toddler panties. I can just picture this sweaty out of breath man running store to store asking for panties and can imagine the looks he was getting. Poor guy!

After he explained to the sales person that he needed panties for a 3 year old she laughed for about 5 minutes and then told him where he could find the Carter's outlet and pick some up. He came back with 3 packages of panties, he wasn't certain of the size, and didn't want to have to go panty shopping again later. As he is telling us this story, Taylor blurts out, "But Daddy, you don't wear big girl panties, you wear big boy panties"... Dee is hoping this is a line she never repeats again and he tried to tell her he doesn't wear panties at all! She didn't like that explanation and continues to ask him about panties all day!

We all got such a good laugh out of Dee that all the fighting and mean words were quickly forgotten. Any time we got the least bit grumpy the rest of the day, one of us would say "big girl panties" and we were laughing again.

After changing Taylor we went back to the van to plot out the rest of the day... Did we salvage what was left of the afternoon, or did our detour kill too much time?

[LuvMyBoys]

Love your report, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who can get a little cranky on vacation! :angel:

Of course if other people would just listen to our advice and follow the plans, we wouldn't have to get that way now would we?? :rotfl:

What is up with people bringing flip flops and cute sandals for WDW?? So glad you guys had the van and were able to get them some tennis shoes! :)

[jenvance]

Somehow I missed this TR. Your dd is too cute. I can tell she loves the characters. Looks like you had a great time so far. I can't wait for more. We usually always go to Coral Reef, we have been there 4 times, and we mostly have pleasant experiences, but we ALWAYS wait a long time. We decided that with the menu change we are skipping it in January, and trying something new. I am anxious to see your opinion of 1900 Park Fare for breakfast, because we are trying that new this year.

[Magical JenK]

Your mom & sister need practice in their flip flops! I can & have worn flip flops (the nice squishy kind) on every trip & never had issues!! UNLESS, they just wanted an excuse to buy another pair of shoes...I've been guilty of that too!! :rolleyes:

But my goodness...Big Girl Panties is about the funniest story I've read in a long time!

[askomsky]

:rotfl: :rotfl: oh my "big girl panties!!" that is too funny!

On a side note DH REFUSES to call the girls panties "panties" just can't bring himself to do it (he's VERY modest) so he calls them underwear. The girls correct him all the time and I can see how frustrated he gets, wish he would learn not a battle he's going to win! :)

PS DH has HAD to take the girls potty without me before, DD6 doesn't care but DD almost 5 will refuse if she knows I'm nearby or will be back in time to take her. She''ll only give in if she knows I'm not around. Although he'll make sure there are stalls there and he covers their eyes going in if they have to pass urinals on the way.

[disney_girl]

Oh...the big girl panties story had me laughing! If only you could have been a fly on the wall to see the reactions first hand!!!

[mirandag819]

Your mom & sister need practice in their flip flops! I can & have worn flip flops (the nice squishy kind) on every trip & never had issues!! UNLESS, they just wanted an excuse to buy another pair of shoes...I've been guilty of that too!! :rolleyes:

But my goodness...Big Girl Panties is about the funniest story I've read in a long time!

HAHA Jen maybe you should give them flip flop lessons for me! They weren't the squishy kind though, they were thin soled and thin decorative straps, and then dressy sandals.

I am still laughing about the big girl panties myself. Especially because my husband is normally this calm cool collected person. It is a good thing I went potty with Taylor when she did go, or I would have peed my pants laughing, and then he really would have had to get some "big girl" panties hehe.

[mirandag819]

:rotfl: :rotfl: oh my "big girl panties!!" that is too funny!

On a side note DH REFUSES to call the girls panties "panties" just can't bring himself to do it (he's VERY modest) so he calls them underwear. The girls correct him all the time and I can see how frustrated he gets, wish he would learn not a battle he's going to win! :)



LOL see I don't think DH thinks of panties that way.... that is why he didn't think twice about what he was saying. Dee calls my panties underwear, or says thong or something..... I don't think he had ever really heard or used the word panties until Taylor was potty trained. It didn't occur to him that women's underwear is called panties too.

[mirandag819]

Oh...the big girl panties story had me laughing! If only you could have been a fly on the wall to see the reactions first hand!!!

LOL I know.... I would have loved to got the security tape from the store!

[bbangel]

I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! :rotfl: Do you think the poor people in the stores thought it was a panty raid?

[mirandag819]

I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! :rotfl: Do you think the poor people in the stores thought it was a panty raid?

LOL! HAHA probably did, or they thought he was a cross dresser, or just a wierd perv I am sure!

[Hedy]

Big girl panties. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

[howdyfrtx]

Great trip report....Taylor is such a little cutie. Love the big girl panty story...I needed a good laugh.

[m 'n c]

Oh that panty story is hilarious!

I am glad yall ate at the Tangerine Cafe. I had never tried it and we ended up eating there twice last week because it was so good. I have never eaten at Coral Reef so I can't really comment on it. I am sorry it was such a bad experience though and your waitress didn't even make up for it.

[Magical JenK]

Someone needs to continue her TR I see....

[icartjetta]

Someone needs to continue her TR I see....

And someone needs to start theirs!:rolleyes:

[Magical JenK]

And someone needs to start theirs!:rolleyes:

I did....

[wilsonfamily4]

I need more from a few people. Too much time in between posts!!

[askomsky]

HELLO??????????????? Still waiting!!!!!!!! :D

[mirandag819]

HELLO??????????????? Still waiting!!!!!!!! :D

HAHAHA Yes Maam! I have been so sick the past couple days I could barely hold my head up, and DD has strep too....making it extra miserable. She is all better now and going to school tomorrow, if I still feel this weak tomorrow I will be staying home, but I think I can handle writing some more in my trip report.

Plus last week was my worst week at work ever, I am an accountant and it was our hard close and nothing went right, I worked from 7 am to 2 and 3 am every day and just colapsed when I got home, no wonder I am sick this week huh?

I promise I will write something tomorrow.

[m 'n c]

Plus last week was my worst week at work ever, I am an accountant and it was our hard close and nothing went right, I worked from 7 am to 2 and 3 am every day and just colapsed when I got home, no wonder I am sick this week huh?

I promise I will write something tomorrow.
I feel your pain. I actually am impressed that yall close at the beginning of the month like that. My client likes to drag it out till mid-month which kills me for the quarterly reporting.

Can't wait to read more.

[mirandag819]

I feel your pain. I actually am impressed that yall close at the beginning of the month like that. My client likes to drag it out till mid-month which kills me for the quarterly reporting.

Can't wait to read more.

We would love love love to drag it out, but the PWC auditors begin to come on day 7 after September's close, so we have to be finished by then. We pretty much stick to a 5 day closing schedule every month, but the pressure is really on in Oct and Jan. I am done, but desperatly need to file or it won't do me any good to be finished. My desk is burried below about 12 stacks of paper 2 feet high each.

[askomsky]

HAHAHA Yes Maam! I have been so sick the past couple days I could barely hold my head up, and DD has strep too....making it extra miserable. She is all better now and going to school tomorrow, if I still feel this weak tomorrow I will be staying home, but I think I can handle writing some more in my trip report.

Plus last week was my worst week at work ever, I am an accountant and it was our hard close and nothing went right, I worked from 7 am to 2 and 3 am every day and just colapsed when I got home, no wonder I am sick this week huh?

I promise I will write something tomorrow.
oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that. I wasn't trying to be a PITA, just nudging everyone along. I completely understand and hope you and Taylor feel better soon!

[m 'n c]

We would love love love to drag it out, but the PWC auditors begin to come on day 7 after September's close, so we have to be finished by then. We pretty much stick to a 5 day closing schedule every month, but the pressure is really on in Oct and Jan. I am done, but desperatly need to file or it won't do me any good to be finished. My desk is burried below about 12 stacks of paper 2 feet high each.

Wow! That would be so awesome but I don't get anything till around the 23rd/24th of the month. Luckily we are there year round so we have other things to do.

Have fun filing.

[mirandag819]

Okay I left off right after the big girl panty incident as it would come to be called the rest of the week. On the drive back to Shades of Green we decided to just take it easy for the rest of the afternoon at the hotel pool and then head over to Chef Mickey's at 7:30 for our ADR.

We got back to the hotel and I remembered I forgot to pack Taylor's water wings. Everyone else got changed into their bathing suits while I went to the giftshop hoping to find water wings. Dee was convinced they wouldn't have any, but I lucked out and they did, and for only $1.00! Did I mention how much I loved the Shades of Green gift shop. Tons of disney stuff for cheap prices and no sales tax!

We head over to the Mickey Shaped pool..... I tried to get a picture of it, but I think the only way to get a good picture of the Mickey shape is to be on one of the balconies that face that direction.

It actually got a little cooler outside and windy while we were in the pool, it didn't phase Taylor, but Dee, Morgan and I were ready to get out as it got cooler (Oh yeah, my mom doesn't swim, well she can't swim...never learned how, and won't get in any higher then her waste. She didn't put anything more then her feet in the water while we were at the pool.) It took us at least 45 minutes after we decided we were ready to go to get Taylor out of the pool. She has always loved the water, but I thought for sure that if we told her she could go meet Mickey Mouse she would jump right out. Apparently the Mickey shaped pool beats seeing Mickey in person to her.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0142.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0143.jpg

By the time we get back to our room we decided we were a little tired and weren't really in the mood for the loud and hectic Chef Mickey's. Plus everyone was still unimpressed with Coral Reef for dinner, and weren't looking for another long wait. So we changed the plan a little.... we decided we would go to one of the resteraunts and Shades of Green, The Garden Gallary and see if there would be too much of a wait there. If it was going to be a long wait we would still head over to Chef Mickey's. Dee, Morgan and I also decided to head over to Pleasure Island after dinner, passes were included in our park tickets and I had never been, I wanted to go before it closed forever.

We headed back to our rooms to shower and get ready for dinner, we really needed to hurry since it was getting late. Do we get ready on time.... is there a long wait at The Garden Gallary....we will see.

I'll update in a few minutes, I swear!

[mirandag819]

Dee got ready a lot faster then us girls, so he went ahead and picked up a few Sam Adams and kicked back on the patio while he waited for us to get ready. Here was the view from our patio, it is sort of cloudy in this picture, but it was a nice view, lots of greenary and a small pond.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0444.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0445.jpg

He got bored waiting for us and decided to explore a little, he discovered that under the umbrellas you could see from our patio were some remote contolled boats you could drive around the pond. When it was time to go to dinner, all of us except mom walked the outside way so Taylor could drive the boats and see all of the really big fish that were in the pond. Mom went the inside way to the lobby so she could lock the patio doors for us. Taylor loved the boats and she liked feeding the fish (There was a machine that dispensed fish food).

Actually I said in my last post that we were going to go to the Garden Gallary, but we actually were debating between Magino's and the Garden Gallary. When we got over to the resteraunts we realized Magino's was closed Tuesdays and Thursdays for rehab in September.

Someone leaving the Garden Gallary sees us looking at the closed sign for Magino's and tells us the food is really good at the Garden Gallary. We head over to see how long the wait was. They got us right in, when we got inside there were less then 10 tables with people, so it was nice and quiet. Our server took our drink orders before we even sat down. Mom had wine, Dee had another Sam Adams, Morgan and I decided to save our drinking for Pleasure Island and just had diet cokes.

The Garden Gallary is a buffet resteraunt, it was very good. A big nice salad bar, lots of carved meats, pasta, a very good selection of vegtables and sides, and a great desert bar. Compaired to Disney buffets it was very very cheap too.... only $17 per person and Taylor was free (Shades of Green considers kids free under 4 instead of 3 at Disney). The nice quiet atmosphere and good food was just what we needed after hitting the Magic Kingdom so early, the DTD, then the outlets with the big girl panties, and then swimming.

We finished eating by 7:30, so we headed back to the room for a little bit to chill out before Pleasure Island....we picked up a few drinks from the gift shop and decided to relax on the patio for awhile. Dee bought some Jack Daniels and Cokes, Morgan and I picked up Smirnoff Ice, I wanted to get stuff for sex on the beach, but they didn't have any cranberry juice.

We were enjoying ourselfs so much just laughing at Dee for the big girl panties and talking that we lost track of time, before we knew it, it was 10:30... we were already pretty tipsy but also tired, so we decided to put off Pleasure Island to another night and just stay at the hotel for the evening. I think we finally made it to bed around 12. We had 8 am ADRs for 3 people at Tusker House and 2 people at Rain Forest Cafe in the morning. We set our cell phone alarms for 5:45 since our first wake up call didn't come on time and headed to bed.

Tomorrow we are off to the Animal Kingdom, do we get there in time for our ADRs? Do we ever make it to Pleasure Island? We will see....

[mirandag819]

5:45 came very very early. I got up and took a shower. When I got out I started to wake Dee up, he started mumbling something about doing McDonald's for breakfast instead since we would have to eat seperatly for breaskfast. I have to admit I was a bit tired and such an early ADR no longer sounded good to me either. I went next door to see if mom and Morgan were awake. Mom was, and she was having a tough time waking up Morgan. They agreed McDonald's would be fine with them too if it meant leaving the room later. So I crawled back in bed for about 30 minutes. Everyone was ready by the time we agreed. Dee called the vallet and had our van waiting out front for us. We pilled into the van and looked up McDonald's on our GPS. The GPS said the nearest McDonald's was only 3 miles away, only when we "reached our destination we were just in the middle of the road with no businesses nearby. This happened several more times during our trip, apparently our GPS didn't like Orlando. The weird thing is the GPS kept taking us back to this same exact spot kind of near Blizzard Beach.

So we gave up on McDonald's and just put in Animal Kingdom, we figured we would pass something on the way there or grab counter service when we got inside AK. Sure enough we passed a McDonald's a few minutes later. We just went through the drive thru and got biscuits to eat in the van while we finished driving to AK. I was kind of bummed we didn't make it to Tusker House since I have heard it is really good, but McDonald's was okay and it was fast.

When we booked our trip, I was told Shades of Green guest could park for free at the parks, but then I heard in August that it had changed and we would have to pay parking. The staff at SoG confirmed parking was no longer free anywhere except MK since our resort was after the MK gate and I heard several reports of people from SoG having to pay for parking on the DIS, but All Ears still insisted parking was free to SoG guest. I hate conflicting info, but I figured SoG staff would know the correct info. We could have taken the SoG buses to AK, but I hate waiting for buses, so we drove and decided to pay for parking. Well much to my surprise when we got to the gate we were waved through because of our SoG hanging tag. YAY! I didn't know if this would happen the rest of the week or not, but I loved not paying for parking at AK at least.

We arrived right before the park opened. Our parking spot was pretty close to the gate so we walked instead of taking the tram. Morgan's ticket didn't work at that gate, they said it may have been demagnitized, but waved her in.

Once we got inside there was a huge bottle neck at the Island of Discovery, but it didn't take too long to get through. We headed straight to Everest to get fast passes. My sister's ticket wouldn't work in the FP machine, so they had to give us this temporary ticket thing to use just for FP that day at AK. She would go to the ticket booth at SoG when we got back later this afternoon. Our return time was 10:00 so we had an hour. We decided to head over to ride the safari.

On our way over to the safari we ran into....

[bbangel]

My imagination boggles. What did you run into? How could you leave a cliffhanger like that?!!!

[mirandag819]

Okay when I left off we were walking to the safari. On our way there we had to take a little detour because we ran into Baloo and King Louie. Jungle book was Dee's favorite Disney Movie as a kid, so he didn't object to us stopping for once.

Taylor really loved snugglying up with King Louie.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0486-1.jpg

Baloo was obsessed with trying to knock Morgan over. He did finally succeed and she landed flat on her butt.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0148.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0149.jpg

Taylor played the drums for a second and then we waved goodbye and went onto the safari.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0484.jpg

The wait for the safari wasn't too bad, only about 15-20 minutes, and it wasn't too hot yet. I wonder what animals will be out....

[m 'n c]

Oh how cool! Glad yall are having a good trip report. I think drinking at the hotel was probably a wise decision. :)

[mirandag819]

I scored the seat on the far left of our safari vehicle after a little negotiating with Dee. Taylor has always loved the zoo and was very excited to see the animals.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0180.jpg

The Rhinos were sleeping, but were in plain site.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0155.jpg

We saw lots and lots of birds

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0158.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0172.jpg
We all loved seeing the baby giraffe
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0487.jpg

[mirandag819]

Taylor is still going on and on about the baby elephant.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0488.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0489.jpg

The lion was sleeping and I didn't get a very good shot.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0175.jpg

This ostrich came right up to us.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0174.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/100_0177.jpg

After the safari it was time for our fast passes for Everest. Dee, Morgan, and I headed for Everest and mom and Taylor headed for the character trails.

We agreed to just call mom and meet her at whatever character spot they were at when we were finished with Everest.

Everest was the ride I was most looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. With our fast passes we only had like a 2 minute wait. Morgan agreed to be the one who rode by herself. She ended up paired up with a little boy who was terrified. She was a little paranoid he was going to pee his pants, but he did okay. He asked her a million questions about roller coasters, I think it may have been his first one. During the ride a hat flew off the person's head in front of them and landed on the little boys hand. He was proud that he caught it, and come to find out it was his dad's. His parents were sitting in front of him, I still haven't figured out why if he was so scared one of them didn't sit with him.

After Everest we walked back toward Camp Minnie-Mickey. Do we make it in time to meet any characters, or has Taylor seen them all already....

[m 'n c]

OMG I would be pissed if I was riding Everest and someone else's small, scared child next to me when they were on the ride themselves. Glad your sister was nice enough to watch him and answer his questions.

So who do you find on the character trail??

[askomsky]

Oh yeah that's just plain MEAN! why would you not sit with your own child? Unless he insisted to be by himself???

[mirandag819]

Sorry guys, no update yet. I have been completly consumed making my photo album. I did add a couple of new pics to my blog though.... and you can see the photo book I have been working on. Here is the blog I wrote: http://sheneedstoknow.com/shopgirl/2008/10/23/the-best-photo-book-especially-for-disney-photos/

I will add to my TR this weekend, I got my photo pass CD yesterday!!!