Am I Crazy to go with my EX again Trip!!

[pbhall13]

Okay Gang I am ready to do a trip report.

Cast:

Me (Pamela....just loves WDW)
Sydney (9 and thinks its funny to make a peace sign in all the pictures)
Sadie (5 and informed me it was my job to push her in a carriage since
she IS a princess!)
Bud (Ex....who knows that WDW is my territory and just follows the PLAN)

We decided to head to WDW this year on October 31st. Yup...Halloween and my girls were so excited. Our flight was pretty uneventful.......love JetBlue!
We arrived at the Polynesian at about 5:30 pm and all the cares of the world dripped off my body........I know most people become exhausted when the go to Disney, but honest to goodness I become totally relaxed....no matter if we do the parks commando or just take our time! I have no worries in WDW.

Right when we arrive the Torch Ceremony was about to begin.....great...the girls will enjoy this....who doesn't like to see someone twirling flaming batons. Very nice to see.

Well we then go to check in to our room...the gave us a room in Rapa Nui...well this ain't my first rodeo so I know that a room there could be a crapshoot.......but I decide to wait until we get to the room. Open the door and go to the balcony....yup.....parking lot view....so I politely tell the gang to not touch anything and that I am going to call the front desk and politely ask for another room. I call down and explain that I just would rather not look at the parking lot during my stay....CM tells me no problem to come back to the front desk and he has someone working on getting me a better view...great!!! (and the best part was that the gang was in agreement that they would like a different room)....so we get our new room assignment at FIJI....oh the view was beautiful. Looking out our balcony we saw the beach, the wedding paviliion and Grand Floridian. Now that is a view!

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We settle in and decide to get a quick bite at Captain Cookes. Well while there we find out that we don't have to head over to DTD for trick or treating...the Poly and GF are putting on a beach party/halloween party. The girls put on their costumes and we take the path over to the GF beach area. It was great. They had a DJ, hula hoop contests, tatoo stations, campfire & s'mores, and the icing on the cake: mickey, minnie, goofy & donald dressed in costumes! (note to self....glad I did not spend $xxx.xx on the MK party) The girls had such fun, Sadie even won the hula contest (I'll tell you that little girl can shake her hips like no tomorrow...should I be worried??:blush:)

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We wanted to call it a night early since we had a full day of school, flights etc...and tomorrow is my baby girl Sydney's 9th Birthday. Her first time celebrating her real birthday in WDW.

We took a nice walk back to our room.....if you have time to go over to the Poly grounds you should and just walk the paths.....so nice....we even caught the Halloween fireworks as we headed to our room....Oh I am really here.................make a wish quick....someone pinch me and let me know that everyone is skipping along is actually happening.............and then bammmm Sydney wipes out and I can hear that dreaded cry that snaps you back into reality.......I quickly jump into mom mode and calm her down, brush her off and check for any cuts......okay we are good....let's continue mom's little fantasy sequence over again.....

Up Next: The Celebration of all Celebrations......the 9th birthday of my first born beautiful little girl Sydney (okay I am still running high on disney magic)

[amarazas]

Sounds great so far! Can't wait to hear the rest :-)

[linanglab]

Cant wait to read the rest! WDW sure does have a way of taking you out of ANY realty and putting you in this little bubble of perfectness!

[catnapfan]

Yay! Another trip report! I can't wait to hear more and see some pictures!

[3dog2kidmom]

Oh Pam, you are making me "home"sick. Sounds like you are off to a wonderful trip - can't wait to read the rest.

[askomsky]

Ohhhh I can't wait to read more!!!

[disney_girl]

Can't wait to read more! Definitely feeling "homesick" here too!

[PSL1013]

Can't wait for more. We just came back 3 weeks ago and had to get up at 3am to catch the plane...isn't it amazing that the adrenaline kicks in the minute you land in Florida, all exhaustion goes away instantly!! :heart:

[faithhope]

I love trip reports!!!:clap:

[pbhall13]

Day 2: MK (in morning)

Well it is a Happy Birthday to Sydney.........we started off with breakfast at her favorite place, Kona.......they even brought her out a cream puff and sang Happy Birthday to her

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Once breakfast was over we were headed to the Magic Kingdom.......oh how I love walking under the train station and coming upon Main Street. it never disappoints. As we walked by the Castle the show is going on so we get to catch this. Girls loved seeing all the princesses dancing and some of the villans. On our way to the tea cups we ran into Cindy's stepmother and stepsisters (Sadie would not go in the picture) Boy are they a hoot!

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First ride was the Tea Cups (a personal favorite) and then off to Toon Town for some Goofy Barnstormer (at least 5 rides!!) Then on the train we went over to Adventure Land. We opted to fastpass Splash and ride Big Thunder Mountain first. No wait so we walked on that 2 times! I think this is one of my favorites as well! As we were getting ready for our ride on Splash Mountain we notice Goofy hanging around at the exit of it....I love my photo ops so into line we went

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So we head onto Splash and have a grand old time (they laugh at me because I wear my rain cover, but hey I don't like walking around looking like I am ready to enter a wet tshirt contest (trust me no one should be subjected to that) Well we go to check out our picture and poor Sadie is blocked by the guy in front of us...no biggie...I figure we well ride this one again during the trip, but the lovely CM at the photo counter asks me if we want to ride again for a better picture and I say SURE! So she walks us back onto Splash Mountain thru the back way and we get up in rows 1 & 2 and let me tell you the picture came out so cute..............I opted to not wear the rain poncho and luckily the only thing that really got wet was my hair! Off we went to get our picture!

Now it was time to do Alladin and Pirates....always fun...getting a little hungry to we head on over to Liberty Square and get my beloved tuna sandwich at Harbor House. I will tell you we were shocked at the small crowds for a saturday. Meal was great as always.....

we then finished up with The Carousel, and Mickeys Philharmagic (soo good) grab a Mickey Bar and decide to take in some of Main Street and then go back to Poly for a swim.

Day 2 con't: will it be warm enough to swim??

[Hedy]

The girls are so cute.
I can't believe it was so cold you had to wear stuff under the costumes.

[Sunni]

Oh, Pam! What a great TR! I can't wait to hear more.
Then girls look so cute What a fantastic way to celebrate a birthday!
I knew I should have snuck into your suitcase.....

[schaery]

Hey! Don't soak up all the relaxing down there. Save some for the rest of us. Yeah, even on a commando raid, I'm totally relaxed at WDW. DH breaks out in hives if I even mention a Disney word around him. Let's hear more.....

[pbhall13]

Day 2 con't

So we get back to the Poly and the girls are heck bent on swimming....it was in the low 70's (too cold for me to want to swim) but the girls couldn't wait to get to the pool. I sent Bud down with them and tell them I will meet them in a bit (my stalling tactic for having to get in my bathing suit!!) I also wanted to put in a call to Traci (icartjetta) to find a time to meet up tonight.

When I get to the pool they are in Heaven.......went down the volcano slide a few times and just swimming to their hearts content. I even made it in (reluctantly, but I did go in)

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After they get their fill it is back to the room to shower up and then I hear from Traci and we decide to meet at Epcot (In England). I am thrilled to finally be able to meet someone I have chatted with for over a year! And it seems like everyone else gets to meet her, why not ME.

The gang and I make our way to Epcot and we stop for a few photopass options, I get some cheddar cheese soup in Canada, Bud got the salmon, and the girls (being so adventurous) ask for chicken nuggets from the McD stand (some day they will realize all of the good food they missed out on)

Now it is off to find Traci, Kevin and Kylie over in England........

She spotted us and I could hear her calling my name. What a great spot to have a meet up. It was as if I had known Traci for years. Your hubby was very nice (Bud and He chatted the whole time), the kids had fun in the maze and listening to the 'beatles' band, while Traci and I talked and laughed up a storm. Gosh we talked so much and I was sad when the night ended. Fireworks were over and they were kicking us out of the park.

Everyone had a great time and I cannot wait to get together with Traci again (October 09 meet). Sadie cannot wait to see her friend Kylie again. here is proof that we met:

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(Traci & Me)
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(Sydney, Kylie & Sadie)

Up Next: Where will Sunday morning take us?

[3dog2kidmom]

Loving your report so far! So glad you got to meet up with Traci. I see she is still sporting her Castaway Cay sunburn! I love those Beatle guys in England, too.

[Sunni]

What fun...meeting Traci! And in England of all places. :D

I can't wait to read about what's next.

[icartjetta]

Thanks Pam, We had a great time meeting up with you, and your girls are beautiful. We have some great Sunshine Kids out there!
I also can't wait unitl Oct. 09, I just wish it was here already!:sunshine:

[wilsonfamily4]

Hey, you left us hanging! Sounds like a great trip so far!

[pbhall13]

Day 3

We slept in a little today (thanks to daylight savings!) and grabbed a little breakfast at Captain Cookes. We were checking out of the Poly today and heading over to OKW, but we still hadn't decided what we wanted to do during the day today.

So we opted to wait to see what Bus showed up first. So Animal Kingdom it was........which worked out great because this is the one park we did not plan on spending a lot of time at this park on this trip. We wanted to hit Everest, DinoLand (Sadie really loves palying those carnival games) and It's tough to be a Bug. All of this was accomplished. We rode Everest about 5 times! Sydney was thrilled. We even took in lunch at the Flaming Tree.

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(sadie playing her beloved games)

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(Sydney ....the winner)

Most of my pictures are on photopass so when they come in I will make sure to post all of those (well some of them)

we had a great morning at Animal Kingdom...........took in some of the sights and really had a good time..........so now it was off to Old Key West to check in and get ready for our night at Magic Kingdom............this night I did have plans.............

I'll clue you in during the next installmant!

[mirandag819]

Sadie is so cute playing her game!

[JillyFish]

Oh Pa-am!!!!! How long are you going to keep us hanging???? :angel:

[pbhall13]

Day 3 continued:

Okay so we get checked in to our 1 bedroom at OKW ....love the space in a 1 bedroom.....so nice and great location (close to Hospitality House)

That night we had dinner reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern (the girls and I have eaten here before, but Bud hadn't so we thought we would give this a tree since they are stopping the character dinners in January). Girls were a bit tired so I was panicked that this night could go all wrong......and we planned on staying for the Extra Magic hours tonight!!)

Dinner ended up being great....girls perked up....and the character interaction was wonderful....

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I even jumped in on this picture

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I got a kicked out of goofy....the girls had no idea he was doing bunny ears!

So we all rolled out of LTT and headed on a few rides....Haunted Mansion for Sydney & I (sadie and daddy sat this one out and people watched)...then off to Fantasyland.....we walked on Peter Pan, IASW and only waited 10 minutes for Dumbo. then we did Winnie the Pooh and of course had to hit the Mad Tea Cups a few more times.......

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I knew tonight we wanted to finish up in tomorrowland...so that is where we headed....we even ran into PUSH (Bud had never seen him and couldn't figure out why I introduced myself to a Trashcan...until he heard PUSH talk to me....the girls couldn't stop laughing)

Sydney and I grabbed a fastpass for Space Mountain and then off to Buzz and Monster Laugh Factory.....Carousel of Progress was closed tonight, but no problem we would be back to MK again....

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Sydney and I used up our SM fastpass while Sadie and Daddy went to the arcade. By the time Sydney and I got done with the ride Sadie was sound asleep in the carriage. So we decided to head out.....but we did stop in the Bakery on Main Street for a little snack to take home.....

Up Next: Epcot...and Coral Reef...will it live up to my expectations???

[fourfoxesinpa]

Oh, I'm really looking forward to your review of Coral Reef. We have Candlelight Processional ressies there in a couple of weeks and the mixed reviews are making me nervous.

[fourfoxesinpa]

Oh Pa-am!!!!! How long are you going to keep us hanging???? :angel:

:angel: Ditto. :angel:

[pbhall13]

I'll try to do more tonight..........dealing with ear infections and haven't had a chance to concentrate.......

will put this on my list of things to update!! I promise:sunshine:

[Pooh's Pal]

:thanks: for the update, I'm dying to hear about Coral Reef. I'm going on my upcoming December trip and have heard pros and cons on this restaurant.

Keep the TR coming.

[pbhall13]

Day 4:Epcot

Well we headed out this morning near opening and new that we wanted to get fastpasses for Soarin and Test Track. We were able to get these set so that when we came back in the pm we could use them. We even walked on Nemo (and this got me excited about our dinner ressies at Coral Reef later tonight)

It was a beautiful day today! I love the Sunshine! We walked around the front of the park, even took in Ellens World of Energy, before heading over to the countries.......we figured we would have lunch early so I knew that I wanted to head over to France. I love getting a CS lunch there....well actually the girls do...I like to get my lunch at Morrocco......here are the girls enjoying there yummy mousse:

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc12/pbhall13/wdw%20nov%202008/100_2227.jpg Sadie didn't want to put her spoon down

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc12/pbhall13/wdw%20nov%202008/100_2228.jpg Totally yucky, but Sydney loves spreading the mousse on french bread!

After they ate I headed over to Morrocco to get my swarma plate.....and unfortunately it just did not hit the mark........and boy was I sad!!!!!! I always love this, but not this time.....so time for me to look for dessert to make up for it...where is my Mickey Bar (I am so easy to please)

We then continued around the countries...popping in for some of the different performers and shops. We wanted to head over to test track to ride that before we went back to the hotel for a swim. Gosh Sadie just loves this ride...........she sat with me this time.....and when we exited I grabbed us some more fastpass for tonight after dinner.

Went back to let the girls swim a bit and bud took a rest (poor guy can't keep up with us!)

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they humored me and let me take a picture

Time to freshen up and get ready for our dinner at Coral Reef!!

Up Next: Is anyone hungry??

[pbhall13]

Day 3 cont:

All showered up and ready for Coral Reef. We had never eaten here, so i was really looking forward to it....and hoping the birthday surprise went off without a hitch.

As we walked in to Epcot I of course had to get everyone to take a photopass picture or two! and as we were walking by Spaceship Earth there wasn't a line so we walked right up. I had not been on it since they did the changes and purposely did not read any post on it. I actually liked the changes. We got a kick out of the end and so glad that I did not know tis because we all really got a good laugh!


Now dinnertime!!!!
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Checked in a few minutes early and I was so hungry!!!! and a bit parched....I think they say a martini can help when you are parched:D I reminded the CM that we had a special menu and a window request ...and she assured me all was set. The waiter we had was wonderful....he even told Sydney and Sadie to pick any seat that they would lke (all along knowing that there was only 1 window seat open...and somewhat stearing them in that direction)....so mission accomplished...great seat at the tank....we ordered our drinks and checked out the menu....the girls both had personalized menus......Sydney's for 9th bday, Sadie just for being her. They did a great job with the pictures that I sent them. So thrilled with menus......and then the diver appeared. He got Sydney's attention and then held up happy birthday sign. She was so surprised....

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As I was happy snapping away with my camera.....along came my pomegranite martini....good but had a kick. The meal was fantastic. I had steak, Bud got tuna, sadie pizza and sydney pasta with meatballs. Everyone was happy! combine that with the view of the fishtank and I was a happy camper! i had some chocolate cake for dessert (molten cake) but bud got the creme broulee (butterscotch) and it was too die for.


we waddled on out and walked over to Soarin (last ride of the night I think)....what a great ride......i love the citris grove....favorite scent.

We continued to walk around a bit more .......even ran over so we would do test track one last time.........great again.....

Now time to fight the masses and head back to our room and get some rest!


Up Next: MGM (yes I said it and I won't stop saying it)....and Fantasmic

[mjjmbnmm]

I'm glad you had a great time at Coral reef, we did that for Megan's birthday last year, and had a great time too. Love your reports so far and I too will forever say MGM.

[Sunni]

What a great birthday surprise! Sounds like you had a great time!

[amarazas]

I'm really enjoying the reports! The restaurant sounded like a lot of fun!

[askomsky]

Ohh missed this the other day... Can't wait to hear the rest. ONly been once but it'll be MGM to me since it was still MGM the first time I ever stepped foot inside! The bday dinner just sounds so awesome!

[disney_girl]

Sounds awesome!! Glad the dinner worked out as planned! Can't wait to read more!