Yes, I know it's been about 5 months now, so it's about time I posted a trip update.
PHOTOS HEREDAY ONE: So our drive to Florida went very well. We stopped overnight on the way down somewhere in South Carolina as it was approaching 10pm. We had a great nights rest on some very comfy beds, then were up early the next morning. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel (as promised) for breakfast, then hit the road. By about 3pm we were at Walt Disney World FINALLY and our room was even ready for us too.
Old Key West 2 Bedroom Villa: It was really, really nice. Very spacious for our group of seven. Frank and I took the bedroom with 2 queen beds as it was closer to the main living area. We had 4 nights here, and for every night we had one child sleeping on the couch (which was a sofabed but the kids were fine sleeping on the couch) and two children in the queen bed next to ours. It worked out perfectly. We'd stay there again in a heartbeat.
After arriving at our room and unpacking a little bit, we headed right out that night for dinner. We decided to hit MGM Studios, as it was a smaller park and Noelle was determined to ride the Tower of Terror. We used the first of our dining credits and had dinner at the
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. Unfortunately, without a reservation we couldn't get a cool car, but we got a "flying saucer" in the back and were seated immediately without a reservation. I wasn't expecting much from the food, as we had eaten there in the past and I wasn't impressed. The kids weren't terribly hungry, so we only got two meals between the three of them, and Noelle was wheezing so bad and wasn't feeling well so she didn't eat at all. The did each get a glowing drink which was a soda with a straw and a clip-on light-up character (Noelle got tink, the boys got Captain Hook) and those cost a small fortune (I think at least $5 each or so). Anyway, they were happy.
Frank and his parents got burgers and enjoyed them. We had a WONDERFUL waitress there as well. I got the Beef and Blue Salad and it was INCREDIBLE. I would later try to recreate the disk at home with some lettuce and beef and bleu cheese but it wasn't the same. I was very happy with my food.
After dinner we headed over to see the Osborne Lights and can I just say it was AMAZING! I was nearly crying with joy just seeing the beautiful lights, having the "snow" falling, listening to the music, and my father-in-law hugged me and thanked me for bringing them on the trip at this time. Truly a magical experience being there and the kids were also in awe of everything. We walked through the street for about 20 minutes or so, watched the dancing lights show with music, and then Noelle was ready to hit the Tower of Terror so that's where we headed next, as it was closing in on 8pm, park closing time.
Of course, Noah wasn't big enough for the ride, and Noelle barely made it, but the attendant had her stand up very straight and measure her. My father-in-law stayed with Noah and the rest of us headed up for the ride. It was a very short wait and the kids weren't sure what to expect, but they still managed to get on the ride. When it was over, they certainly weren't thrilled with it, but they weren't too shaken up about it. It definitely wasn't what they expected, but they would still end up on it again a few days later to our amazement.
After that, it was late and we headed back to the room
DAY TWO - Friday Nov. 16th: Since we would spending the evening at the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, we decided to spend the day at EPCOT. Our first order of business was to make sure the scooter that I had ordered for my mother-in-law to use had arrived at our resort. It was there, so we picked that up first while spending some time figuring out how to use it and get it into the back of our minivan WITH our double-stroller. It was a challenge, but the men got it all figured out and by the next day they'd be pros and getting it in and out quickly. This was a bitter cold day for Florida for sure, and we were all bundled up in sweathshirts, jackets and long pants. We arrived at EPCOT and decided our first stop would be Character Connection to have some photos taken for the kids. This line was longer than we had expected, but it was warm (and a bit smelly) inside so we waited about 30 minutes for the chance to have group photos taken with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Chip and Dale all in one quick session. It worked out well and this would be where Nicolas would see other kids getting autographs and decided that he wanted to do the same thing. After photos, we headed to the Living Seas to ride the Nemo ride for the first time. This was a bit disappointing, I admit, but it was okay. Then we were right on time for the next showing of Turtle Talk with Crush, something we haven't done before, so we waited for that next. This would be TOTALLY worth it in the end! The show was VERY cute, and when Nicolas learned he could ask questions of Crush, he was already deciding what he would ask him. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he may not be picked to ask his question though. I really didn't know what to expect for the show. It was adorable, all the kids sat in the front on the floor while the adults sat in benches behind them. Nicolas took care of his brother and sister and sat with them. I was running the video camera but I could not see the kids from where I was standing. When I heard Crush say "little dude in the red shell (jacket) holding onto another little dude" I somehow knew they were probably talking about Nicolas. It would be the last question of the session, and Nicolas piped right up with "Where do turtles live?" Crush answered his question, then he had one for Nicolas. He swam off and pulled out a bikini top, then asked Nicolas if he could tell him what it was. Nicolas said "Ummm...those are ladies things!" and the whole audience chuckled. Crush responded "Dude, are you saying these belong to a lady? Dude, does it make me look fat?" More laughter. It was too cute. The show continued and ended about 10 minutes later and then it was the scramble to try to get through the crowds to the front to retrieve our kids. They were all standing together, but Noelle was crying because she didn't see us. Poor kids! They were fine a few minutes later though, and then we headed over to the Land to ride Soarin'. Noah was again too small, but Noelle met the height requirement so they all went to ride Soarin' while Noah and I hung out, walked through the park, stopped and watch a band play.
Now it's approaching 11:45am, which happens to be our time for the Princess Lunch at
Akershus and I'm anxiously waiting for everyone else to return. Noah and I wait by the big fountain, we finally get the call that they are out, and we agree to meet at the fountain. There is some confusion, but they finally arrive and we haul tail over to Akershus. We arrive just a bit late, but still wait a good 20 minutes or so for our lunch reservation. Noelle meets and has her photo taken with Belle in front, and then we eat as the Princesses come around to meet us. Noelle is instantly shy about meeting ANY of them, so skip the first meeting, but the next Princess Jasmine arrives and Nicolas goes with Noelle so she gets to meet and have a photo with Jasmine, Aurora and Cinderella (her favorite). Lunch is pretty good, and "free" again due to the dining plan. We leave there and decided to hit Maelstrom right next door next. After a short wait and that ride, we go over to Test Track. Again, Noah is not big enough, but everyone else is so we get a child swap for that ride, and Frank and his dad take Noelle and Nicolas while I wait with Noah and my mother-in-law. They get through the ride in about 35 or 40 minutes, and when the come out we are allowed 3 people to go back, so Noelle goes with us to ride while the boys all stay together. Noah enjoys sitting in all the different cars in the showroom area, and Noelle loves the ride again and proclaims that she was SO excited about it. This is our last ride of the day, as we head back to the room to relax and get ready for dinner that night. We do make a stop at MouseGear in EPCOT, which is where I purchase 3 autograph books and pens for each of the kids at Nicolas' request, and I get myself a pair of tennis shoes as I had managed to leave mine at home!
That night is dinner at Chef Mickey's and the kids, especially Nicolas, are very excited about getting autographs from the characters. We get visit by Minnie, Mickey, Pluto and Goofy and head to the front to meet Donald and get his autograph also. Even Noah, who is shy around the characters, warms up a bit for some of them. We leave dinner and head right to the Magic Kingdom for the Christmas party. It is awesome to walk down Main Street and have it snowing! The kids are excited about that once again. We head to Tomorrowland and hit Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, which we've never seen. It's very cute and enjoyed by all, but the kids, as always, want to do RIDES! We leave and Frank takes Nicolas and his dad off to ride Space Mountain, while I take the little kids on Astro Orbiter...3 or 4 times while the boys do Space Mountain 3 times as well. We meet back and decide to head to the front of the park to catch the holiday fireworks special at the castle. Very, very cool. After that we head back into the park and ride the Teacups and the Tomorrowland Speedway, before deciding to secure a spot for the parade. By this time, the oldest child has fallen asleep in the stroller, and the youngest one is awake as is the middle child not too long later. We sit and watch the holiday parade together and it's close to 10:30pm when we finally leave the park, after getting some free hot chocolate and sugar cookies.
DAY THREE - Saturday Nov. 17th: We had been up late the night before, so had decided ahead of time that this would be a day to take it easy. We weren't going to risk the little kids NOT getting naps while in a park, so we know if we leave it won't be until much later. We decide to have a late breakfast at our resort, but after checking out the selections there and not finding much, we end up driving over to Saratoga Springs instead to try out their food selections. We sit down for a late breakfast there, then head back to our resort. On the trip back, I realize that I don't have my wallet...which of course contains my park pass/key, as well as the kids passes/keys, my credit cards, driver's license, cash...not good. Since I had promised the kids some playground time at the resort, I take them there while Frank and his dad head back to Saratoga to search for my wallet. The kids play on the great sandy playground and I wait but when the guys return about 20 minutes later they are empty handed. No luck with my wallet.
We go back to the room, get the little kids down for naps, and I decide I want to go back myself and check for the wallet. It's been only a short time, maybe somebody has turned it in by now. We arrive back at Saratoga, I check around where we were eating, and head to the front desk to ask there. A nice manager asks if she can help me, she disappears in the back, and she returns about 10 minutes later WITH MY WALLET. I check through it, and everything is there...except of course the cash, but it's a small price to pay so that I don't have to replace everything else. I'm pretty happy overall and we return back to our room.
Noelle has an appointment at 3:30pm at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Downtown Disney, right before a scheduled 5pm dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. Frank drops us off at Downtown Disney around 3pm and we go to check-in for the appointment. There are already lots of people standing around outside the Boutique and they tell me they are running about 20 or 25 minutes behind. So Noelle and I walk around the World of Disney store. And walk around. And walk around some more. Noelle at this point is tired of waiting after about 20 minutes...she wants to be DOING something...anything but waiting. However I've made this "appointment" and we will have this done because I know she'll love it. At around 4pm or so I take her into the bathroom to change into her Snow White dress. More waiting. At close to 4:30pm they finally call us, a good hour past our appointment time. It's hard for me to concentrate knowing we are already closing in on our dinner reservation pretty fast and although I am in constant communication with Frank by cell phone I'm not sure how long it's going to take, but I really can't rush them through. Noelle is loving life, picking out her nail colors, makeup colors and just being pampered. I'm a wreck trying to videotape, talk to Frank, take photos and figure out our next plan of action. At closet to 4:45pm I tell Frank to just pack up everyone and come over to wait for us in the parking lot, hoping it won't be much longer. He calls 1900 Park Fare to apprise them of the situation, but they have no sympathy for our plight and tell us they can't take us any more than 15 minutes past our reservation time. We finally get out a little after 5pm, but it's clear we won't make it to dinner. We drive around to various resorts, call Disney Dining to try to arrange for dinner, and after about an hour we decide it's just enough. This is not a vacation for the kids, so I make the decision to just head to Disney Studios, we'll catch a quick meal there and then see Fantasmic! since I really wanted the kids to see that. We do just that and it works out very well.
DAY FOUR - Sunday Nov. 18th: This morning we have a planned Family Magic Tour at the Magic Kingdom. We decide to have breakfast at Boma's that morning first thing, which is delicious just as we remembered from the trip that Frank and I took last October. We arrive at the Magic Kingdom for our 10am tour. As it turns out, we are the only ones in the group so the 7 of us head out on the tour. It's very cute, though I guess it would have been much more fun had all of the kids really been more involved. Nicolas is getting into the whole thing though, reading the map, searching for clues, it's clear this tour is definitely for his age. We go throughout the park with our guide, getting to ride Buzz Lightyear (Nicolas rides with our tourguide) and trying to save Tinkerbell from Captain Hook and prevent him from taking over the Magic Kingdom. It ends with a personal meet and greet and thanks from Peter Pan and Wendy, we get a photo with them. Since we are close, we decide to ride Pirates of the Carribean and then see the Country Bears. Now it's lunchtime and I decided that I really want to eat at one of my favorites the Columbia Harbour House. Noah falls asleep in my arms as we are waiting in line for our food, so he naps as we eat. Frank and his parents decide to take Nicolas and Noelle on Spash Mountain while Noah sleeps. He wakes up not too long after they leave, so I feed him some lunch as we wait. Once they get off the ride, we head over to catch the train around to Mickey's Toontown because the kids really want to ride Goofy's Barnstormer coaster. The wait is terrible, but we still hop on it and the kids love it of course, plus Noah can ride too and he loves it. We then take the train back around the park to get our stroller and scooter. We decide on the train ride that it's approaching our dinnertime at LeCellier at EPCOT, and it would be easier if we end our evening there and have the car there. So Frank takes Noelle and they hop off the train at the front of the park, and they will leave and get the car and meet us at EPCOT. The rest of us head back to Frontierland, get the stroller and scooter, and make our way to the front of the park. We exit the park and hop on the monorail to head to EPCOT. We have a 5:50pm reservation at LeCellier so that doesn't give us much time to do anything. As we wait to be called at LeCellier, which takes a long time, the kids make some masks and KidCot there. Dinner at LeCellier is very good, and even more so when it's covered by the dining plan and we aren't paying for it. I'm not sure it's something I feel I HAVE to do again, but at least I can now say that we tried it.
DAY FIVE - Mon. Nov. 19th: This is early entry day at Animal Kingdom, so that's our planned park for the day. Frank's parents have yet to ride Expedition Everest and neither has Nicolas, so that's on our agenda for the day for sure. We head there first thing, decide to child swap, send Frank's parents on first and Frank and I head over to Dinoland with the kids so they can ride Triceratops Spin. We ride that twice with no line, and then head back to Expedition Everest to meet Frank's parents. We then take Nicolas on that, while his parents take the little kids back to Dinoland. Nicolas is quite concerned about the Yeti, but he seems to like the ride. We get off the ride, head to Dinoland, get Frank's parents and the kids and then grab a Fastpass for the Safari and get some breakfast while we wait for our ride time. We ride the Safari and then head back to Dinoland and Frank and his parents ride the coaster in Dinoland while I take all 3 kids into the Boneyard playground. We climb and slide all over the place for quite a while, and when we are done we grab some ice cream to cool off. Frank and his parents meet us at the playground and we head to the Dinosaur ride, which both Noelle and Nicolas are big enough to ride at this point. Once again, I stay with Noah while everyone else heads off for Dinosaur. While they are on that ride, I'm in touch by phone with my parents who have arrived in town, and we make plans to meet them at Saratoga Springs so that we can all check-in for our next 4 nights in the Grand Villa there. We stop for autographs a few times in the park and outside the park for the kids and then make our way out to Saratoga Springs. We meet up with my parents right at the check-in area, our room isn't quite ready yet, so we all head inside Saratoga to grab a bite to eat while we wait. Our room is ready pretty quickly, so we all head over to check it out, unpack our stuff and get settled into the Grand Villa which is GREAT! Frank and I take one of the top bedrooms with the kids, my parents take the other top floor bedroom, and Frank's parents get the king bedroom on the lower level. We stay long enough to unpack and get settled a bit, but at 5pm we have to head out to the Magic Kingdom for our 5:40pm dinner at the Crystal Palace.
Dinner at the Crystal Palace is good as always, it's one of my favorites, especially for a buffet. At one point Pooh grabs Nicolas by the hand for the parade and they end up going around the restaurant together - Nicolas, Noelle and Pooh leading the line! After dinner we just decide to head back to the room, as it's been a long day already and we'll start fresh tomorrow!
DAY SIX - Tues. Nov. 20th: This is our day to visit Disney Studios again. John (my brother) and Rebecca (his girlfriend) are due to arrive in Orlando that morning, so this should be an easy park for them to meet us. We actually get a late start, eating breakfast in our room, and then head out to Disney Studios together. We make a beeline for the Tower of Terror and grab a Fastpass for that one, enough for everyone including my brother and his girlfriend to ride. Frank's parents want to ride Rock N' Roller Coaster and we take the kids over to the Great Movie Ride. When we get out of there, my brother John is at the park, so we meet them over at Tower of Terror. He and Rebecca and the kids (minus Noah) plus Frank head over to the Tower of Terror to ride, while Mom, Dad, me and Noah grab lunch. After everyone is back, we head out to ride some of the other rides in the park. Nicolas and Noelle go on Star Tours with Daddy and the rest of the group. Mom and I walk over to the Cars Meet N'Greet because ALL Noah is talking about is getting his photo taken with Lightning and Mater. We head over there but there is a long line and it has already been "closed" by the cast members. They tell us to come back at the next greeting and to show up early, so Mom and I take Noah to see MuppetVision 3D. We get out and head back to the meet n'greet, it's about 5 minutes beyond the time they told us to be back and once again the line is CLOSED! WHAT? We meet the rest of the group and do the Backlot Tour together and before we know it it is the afternoon. Since John and Rebecca haven't checked into their room yet and we have dinner plans for that night, everybody decides to head back to the hotel. However, I have decided that I will get that photo for Noah so he and I stay behind for the next Cars Meet N'Greet and we will meet everybody back at the hotel room. We make our way over to the meet n'greet area, stopping first at the bathroom because I don't want to be caught in line and have him have to use the restroom with nobody else to hold our place. We get to the line which is already pretty long and it's still a good 1/2 hour until the meet n'greet time. We're in line only about 10 minutes before they announce that the line is now CLOSED! Whew! We just made it. Now we're sitting in the hot sun in line and it's been a long day so Noah passes right out in my arms as we wait. When I hear the announcement about the characters arriving, I try to wake Noah up and he's NOT stirring at all! I decide to just let him sleep since we still have a ways to go before we are at the front of the line. When we are only 3 people away from the meet n'greet, I start shaking Noah to wake him and he is really out cold. I have to stand him on the ground to somewhat wake him up and even then he clings to me so I hand my camera to the cast members there and they snap photos for us. Noah and I then make our way out of the park to the bus stops to head back to the room. Dinner that night for all of us is at the Kona Cafe, another favorite. Nicolas stands outside the restaurant that night and ends up pulling his tooth out as we wait to be seated! Dinner is excellent though as usual, right down to the desserts!
DAY SEVEN - Wed. Nov. 21st: We have breakfast scheduled at O'Hana, a character meal with Lilo and Stitch. The only ones who join us are my parents so it's just the seven of us. Breakfast is good but the characters don't even make it to our table. As we are getting up to leave, Lilo stops by and we snap a photo with her and the kids get an autograph. Then it's over to the Magic Kingdom for the day. Noah really wants to ride Dumbo, which already has quite the line. The other two kids want to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad so everybody heads over to that while Noah and I wait for Dumbo. Now here is where I should mention that my mom does NOT do coasters, at all, no fast rides or thrill rides. Yet somehow they convince her to go on this "train" ride with Noelle and when I hear that later I am in shock. She'll never do it again, that's for sure, but she manages it for her beloved granddaughter! As Noah and I get off the Dumbo ride, we meet everybody else at the carousel and the kids ride that and we get some ice cream as it's already quite warm. My brother and Rebecca show up and we decided to head over to Haunted Mansion. This also has quite a line, and Nicolas is determined that he does NOT want to go on the ride. I end up bribing him to get him to stay in line. My dad somehow ends up sitting out while the rest of us go on the ride. Nicolas gets off the ride and loves it and would later proclaim it as one of his favorites...go figure! We then walk over to Frontierland and before we know it Woody and Pals are coming down the street to do a little show and we are right there so the kids are asked to participate. Noah declines and sits in the stroller to watch as Nicolas and Noelle dance with the characters in the street. We then take a stroll over to the Aladdin's Carpets and ride that and then the kids want to do Big Thunder Mountain Railroad AGAIN so Mom stays with Noah this time as I ride with everybody else. After this we head out of the park because Frank has to dive at DiveQuest that afternoon so we're going to head over to EPCOT for that. We get to EPCOT and Frank heads over to do the dive. The kids and I wander around elsewhere, Frank's parents meet us and my parents go grab some food. We head over to Nemo and get on there to ride into the Living Seas. It takes quite a while before we finally see Frank and his group heading up to the tank area, and even longer before he is in the tanks, but we watch him dive for a while. Once he's done, we head out to wait for him outside. My parents head back to the room and Frank's parents join me over to get some Fish N'Chips from the Yorkshire Fish & Chip place, my FAVORITE in EPCOT! We run into my brother and his girlfriend there and the group of us sit and eat along the water while waiting for Frank, who again takes FOREVER to finally show up and meet us. It's now close to 8pm but lines for some of the rides are pretty short so Frank and Nicolas head into Mission:Space. They would end up riding it a few times that night because there were no lines, while the two other kids ran around outside the area with some other kids and had a blast. It's a great evening. We head out of the park close to 9pm or so, well before Illuminations.
DAY EIGHT - Thurs. Nov. 22nd: Thanksgiving Day in Walt Disney World! How cool! Despite some objections by Frank, I decide that I just MUST visit a park that day, since it's our last day. So we decide to hit the Magic Kingdom before it gets too crowded. We arrived and hit many of the rides we haven't had a chance to do yet or that we want to do again, such as Buzz Lightyear, Snow White, Peter Pan, Tomorrowland Transit Authority and we get a photo with Stich too! We even end up running into PUSH, the talking trashcan, on the way out of the park which the kids are just thrilled to watch. We manage to leave the park close to 1pm and head back to the hotel for the rest of the day. We decide to do some shopping, since we are within walking distance to Downtown Disney. Frank and I do some shopping alone, and his dad takes Nicolas to a shop to purchase something for him as well as for the other kids. Dinner that evening is at the Concourse Steakhouse with everybody. I must admit, I miss the "real" turkey dinner but this does okay and nobody has to clean up afterwards! We head back to the room after dinner where there is packing to be done for our drive back the next morning. The kids have been BEGGING to get into the pool this entire trip, and now at 8pm that night we decide to take them so we all head over to the pool and have a swim for about an hour or so. The kids think this is one of the best parts of the trip, not only swimming in NOVEMBER but also at NIGHT! How cool! Then it's back to the room, finish packing and preparing for the hardest day of any Disney vacation the next morning....leaving Walt Disney World!
DAY NINE - Friday Nov. 23rd: Time to go home! We hit the road early in the morning for our long drive back. The kids by now I think have had enough vacation and they are ready to get home. We actually make the trip back this time without stopping overnight. This is accomplished by stopping for lunch as well as dinner. Dinner is somewhere in South Carolina at a Cracker Barrel so it breaks the trip up nicely since we arrive home close to 1am. However, it's really not a bad drive at all to make all the way back, but I'm not sure Frank really wants to do it again anytime soon.
We have been lucky enough to be able to include our extended family with us for many of our Walt Disney World vacations. This particular photo was taken during a January 2006 trip that included Dina's parents, Frank's parents and Frank's sister and her family - her husband and their son Zachary. During this trip, Zach was just over a year old, Noah was 18 months old, Noelle was 3 years old and Nicolas was 5 years old but close to six. We had some decent January weather for Florida...some chilly mornings but also some sunny afternoons.
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