Update 07/20!!! 1 Mom, 2 Kids, 3 Resorts and 6 Parks! An October 2014 TR

Tink-erin-belle · Jan 18, 2015

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Victoriasmom98 said:
Love, love, love this update! You have never made S'mores on a campfire before? Too funny!! Good thing you had a lot of mellows to practice with!! And, no offense to you, Erin, but Dale is my favorite!! Actually that works out perfectly --- we can double-date!! Your pics of AoA are awesome. Maybe someday I'll stay there --- who knows! The way DVC works is I could stay there with the same amount of points as Grand Floridian -- crazy, I know, but they want you to stay at the DVC villas instead of the regular resorts so they make staying at the regular resorts a higher point value. Oh well.

Don't you just love all the construction at DTD?? Ugh! Hopefully it will be alot better by the time I go back in September. It seems like the kids (except for True's little tantrum) really enjoyed the trip so far. Teens! Victoria is a lot easier to deal with now that she's almost 17. (Holy crap!! She's going to be 17 in a month!!! ) oh, and the Prozac helps, too!! Speaking of that, her doctor has cut her dosage in half last Friday, so let's hope she can deal well with the lower dosage.

Anyways, great update. Looking forward to another one soon!!!!

Nope, never made s’mores before! I saw a recipe online about how to make a s’mores bar, so I might try that. We most definitely have to do a double date with Chip and Dale! :laughing:

I hope you get a chance to stay at AoA. It was absolutely adorable there. I was so turned around at DTD! I think I need to study the map a little bit before going to Playlist. Teens and their tantrums, huh? I am glad that Victoria is getting out of that phase. That shows me that there is light at the end of the tunnel! :lmao:

You’ll see a few more in the upcoming updates! Including one from Coy! I will have to update like a mad woman over the next couple of weeks to get this TR done before we go back in February!

-Hope- said:
Fantastic update! Kya and I are staying at AoA for our trip in November and I'm so excited- your pics are only adding to that excitement!

Love that you try to incorporate new, unique experiences each time as well. That's always my goal too and it also helps keep me from overplanning- gotta save something for next time!

Too bad about the CM not being helpful though. I have a client staying at FW in May and I've been trying to figure out the bus lines and maps so I can help her navigate but was also counting on helpful CMs since I can only figure out so much online. I will be sure to tell her about the campfire and s'mores though! (Incidentally, we used to camp a lot when I was a kid and we have s'mores at the kids annual fall bonfire/hayride as well as when we go to the beach and we still have a hard time perfecting the marshmallows, lol.)

We've always been too full for the Volcano or Earthquake every time we've been to RFC or T-Rex (though we've never been to either on Disney property, always on other vacations). We are planning to split ONE appetizer on our trip so we can finally have that volcano, lol!

I hope you like AoA as much as we did! It was so cute there! I really want to stay at FW now. I hope your client enjoys herself there. The campfire was super fun… to me, at least! I feel better now to hear that roasting marshmallows isn’t as easy as I thought it should be! Splitting one app is a good idea if you want to have room for the Volcano! I really hope I can take the kids back to RFC so that we can get one.

AMVmom said:
Just read your trip report and love it! I can't wait to hear more! I love the Tsums Tsums my kids are crazy for them! I will have to friend you on Line to play Tsums Tsums but I have to confess that sometimes I skip a couple of days and not play but will try to send hearts; I want hearts for the coins too! Your kids are so cute!

I’m glad you are enjoying the TR! Aren’t Tsum Tsums the cutest? Have you gotten the 101 Dalmations collection that they just released? With everything else going on, I forgot about them, but I have to see if I can order them online soon. I think the plushie Tsum Tsums are helping to fuel my Tsum Tsum game obsession!

Twoboysnmygirl · Jan 18, 2015

You've been on my mind Erin!! I was thinking about you yesterday, wondering if you even knew you needed to sign up with everything going on. I didn't want to bug you because I felt like signing up for meet and greets certainly can't be a big deal when you are dealing with this right now. I'm so sorry!

We didn't get ANYTHING. NADA. It sucks. We were on asap as well and the site was a mess. ALL of their picks were gone, we got some but then the site crashed. I refuse to pick any now, the only people left are ones they don't really want to meet. I'm waiting on an email back, I feel like they need to honor the ones we had in our cart when the site crashed (Tyler and Zoella) but I doubt they are going to oblige. It seems like even more of a mess...Savannah would have rather stood in a 10 hour line and at least had a CHANCE but now anyone she wanted to meet is gone and she feels like the trip is almost a waste. It sucks.

Pesky · Jan 18, 2015

Just caught up on your TR which is great. I'm so very sorry for the sudden loss of your brother. What a tragedy at such a young age! Big hugs to you and your family. :grouphug:

tcherjen · Jan 18, 2015

Enjoyed reading your trip report. I am very sorry for the loss of your brother. :grouphug:

Biggie Smalls · Jan 18, 2015

So sorry to hear your bad news! It's so hard to lose someone at such a young age and I'm sorry for your families loss. My mom had a massive stroke at 50 last year and it was a real eye opener for all of us to be very aware of family hereditary factors for our health.

I hope that the next trip brings a little laughter and happiness back into your days. It will be nice to have a small distraction hopefully. Big hugs!

Victoriasmom98 · Jan 18, 2015

Oh Erin, like Karen, you've been on my mind so much lately, but I'm horrible with tragedies and I really don't know what to say. Sorry just seems to be such a lame thing to say, but I guess there's nothing else really to say. You are in my thoughts and prayers and you know how much this hits home to me as I'm a diabetic and this just makes me rethink a lot of my health choices. Yes, have EVERYONE tested as soon as possible, like you are doing. The sooner it is diagnosed, the sooner it can be treated, but again, you of all people know this.....see? I have no idea what I'm saying. Just know I am here anytime and I really mean it!!! You have my cell, you are in the same time zone, and even if you weren't, you could still call or text.

As for Playlist, I guess I'm glad listening to all your troubles (and Karen's) that we aren't going. I'm still excited for you, though, and especially for True to meet her faves! I've think I've come to terms with losing $340 (ok, who am I kidding?) but I'd rather be financially stable and to go would cost me more than that, so it's all good. Besides, I'm having fun planning the September trip and getting my Mom all excited. I even got her to agree to wear a matching tie dye Mickey head shirt and if you would know my mother, you know that this is DEFINITELY something she wouldn't ever think of doing if I didn't have my heart completely set on it!!!! Hugs to you!!!.

-Hope- · Jan 18, 2015

I've been thinking so much of you and your family, Erin. It's just so unfair. I lost my cousin who was more like a brother (as in I lived with my aunt and uncle for several years while my mom was trying to get her act together) a few years ago. It was also really sudden and we had a big family trip planned for just a few weeks later. We decided to go and I don't regret it. I wish I could tell you it healed my soul but it didn't. But it did give me the opportunity to begin to understand that it can't wait to live until my grief goes away because it's never going away. On that trip I realized that grief and joy aren't mutually exclusive when you're trying to pick up the pieces from a big loss. I find that grief is a not a visitor here anymore, it's a resident. But that doesn't mean it's taken over just that it has a seat at the table. I don't know if that's comforting or not but it's my truth. I still think of B every day, multiple times a day as I'm sure you will your brother. Hugs to you and know that I'm here if you need me.

LuvEeyore · Feb 8, 2015

Been thinking about you and your family. Diabetes is a tough disease. Prayers going up for you and your family. I hope you have a great trip and enjoy your annual passes.

Tink-erin-belle · Mar 10, 2015

Hi, All! I am sorry that I had to take an extended leave from the boards! Everyone has been so kind for responding after I posted about my brother passing away. I will respond to your messages below, because I really do appreciate all of you! After that, I will have a four-part update!

So much has happened since then. I’ve had a knee injury, the kids and I have been to Orlando and back for Playlist Live (but we didn’t go to the parks), and I have solidified our plans for our May trip to Disney World!

My knee is in a brace because I have bone fragments in it! Apparently, it is from an old injury, but I can’t remember injuring my knee! The only thing I can think of is when I went to the gym 10 years ago and I banged my knee on a piece of gym equipment. But my doctor said the fragments didn’t necessarily come from that, so who knows how they got there? For years, I would wake up some nights with my knee either stuck in a straight position or stuck in a bent position. All I would have to do would be to pop it back into place. Sounds gross, I know. But I didn’t think it was a big deal because lots of people have “trick” knees. But about a month and a half ago, my knee got stuck in the bent position and I couldn’t extend it! It was extremely painful. I refused to go to the doctor, though. My mom finally convinced me to go the next day. My doctor took x-rays (I should have posted them! :laughing:

JK!) and put me in an immobilizing brace. This actually helped me because my knee was feeling a lot better the next day. I’ve found that wearing the brace during the day made my knee feel almost normal at night without the brace.

Because of that injury, I cancelled the WDW part of our February trip and we just went to Playlist. I will give more details later (I have to finish this TR first!) but we stayed at the World Center Marriott from Thursday to Sunday, and we stayed at POFQ from Sunday to Tuesday. We had a blast! It was difficult to go to Orlando and stay at a Disney hotel without going to the parks, but we still had some Disney fun. My kids were so great and understanding about not going to the parks. They didn’t want me to push myself with the knee brace. Anyway, I will definitely post a Playlist Live mini TR at the end of this TR to tell you about the Disney stuff that we did get to do! By the way, about two weeks ago, I switched to a stabilizer brace that I could wear under my clothes. That is a lot better than the bulky immobilizing brace! It works just about as well because it gives my knee the support it needed. It helps to be able to bend my knee and walk almost normally! But my knee feels a little sore by the end of the day.

Anyway, before I get into replies and the new TR posts, I’ll let you guys know a little bit about our May trip. It is going to be a Mother’s Day/Flower and Garden Festival/Star Wars Weekends trip! I haven’t booked the room yet, but this past weekend, I brought the tickets for our flights! We are arriving early in the morning on Saturday, May 9th and we stay until Sunday, May 17th! The kids and I are so excited! My knee will be better by then because I am having outpatient surgery next Thursday, March 19th to take care of the bone fragments. The surgery will only take 30 minutes, and I‘ll be able to walk out of the hospital. My doctor said that I will only need Friday through Sunday to recover (if that) and I should be able to resume exercising a couple of weeks after that. He said there should be no problem with me walking all of those Disney miles come May :goodvibes

Twoboysnmygirl said:
You've been on my mind Erin!! I was thinking about you yesterday, wondering if you even knew you needed to sign up with everything going on. I didn't want to bug you because I felt like signing up for meet and greets certainly can't be a big deal when you are dealing with this right now. I'm so sorry!

We didn't get ANYTHING. NADA. It sucks. We were on asap as well and the site was a mess. ALL of their picks were gone, we got some but then the site crashed. I refuse to pick any now, the only people left are ones they don't really want to meet. I'm waiting on an email back, I feel like they need to honor the ones we had in our cart when the site crashed (Tyler and Zoella) but I doubt they are going to oblige. It seems like even more of a mess...Savannah would have rather stood in a 10 hour line and at least had a CHANCE but now anyone she wanted to meet is gone and she feels like the trip is almost a waste. It sucks.

Thank you, Karen. I really appreciate that you have kept my family in your thoughts.

Even though it was hard for me to do much else, I knew I had to stay on top of the Playlist trip, so I was ready to register as soon as registration opened up. It really was too bad that the registration process went so poorly. I know that a lot of people must have been disappointed. I’m sorry that you had to be one of them! I haven’t gotten caught up on TRs yet, so I don’t know if you posted about this on your TR, so I won’t comment about anything from your trip

But way back when I originally wrote this reply, I was going to say that there was always a possibility of meeting YouTubers in the convention hotel. The kids met quite a few and they were so happy that we stayed in the convention hotel this year! I am so glad that Savannah ended up having a good time!

Pesky said:
Just caught up on your TR which is great. I'm so very sorry for the sudden loss of your brother. What a tragedy at such a young age! Big hugs to you and your family.

Thank you so much, Pesky :hug:

and

to the TR!

tcherjen said:
Enjoyed reading your trip report. I am very sorry for the loss of your brother.

Thank you, tcherjen :hug:

I’m glad you’re reading along! :welcome:

Biggie Smalls said:
So sorry to hear your bad news! It's so hard to lose someone at such a young age and I'm sorry for your families loss. My mom had a massive stroke at 50 last year and it was a real eye opener for all of us to be very aware of family hereditary factors for our health.

I hope that the next trip brings a little laughter and happiness back into your days. It will be nice to have a small distraction hopefully. Big hugs!

Thank you and I am sorry to hear of your mother’s stroke, as well. If any good comes from my brother’s death, it will be that our family will be more health conscious. Even though we didn’t get to the parks in February, we had a good time and it was nice to get away for a while :goodvibes

Victoriasmom98 said:
Oh Erin, like Karen, you've been on my mind so much lately, but I'm horrible with tragedies and I really don't know what to say. Sorry just seems to be such a lame thing to say, but I guess there's nothing else really to say. You are in my thoughts and prayers and you know how much this hits home to me as I'm a diabetic and this just makes me rethink a lot of my health choices. Yes, have EVERYONE tested as soon as possible, like you are doing. The sooner it is diagnosed, the sooner it can be treated, but again, you of all people know this.....see? I have no idea what I'm saying. Just know I am here anytime and I really mean it!!! You have my cell, you are in the same time zone, and even if you weren't, you could still call or text.

As for Playlist, I guess I'm glad listening to all your troubles (and Karen's) that we aren't going. I'm still excited for you, though, and especially for True to meet her faves! I've think I've come to terms with losing $340 (ok, who am I kidding?) but I'd rather be financially stable and to go would cost me more than that, so it's all good. Besides, I'm having fun planning the September trip and getting my Mom all excited. I even got her to agree to wear a matching tie dye Mickey head shirt and if you would know my mother, you know that this is DEFINITELY something she wouldn't ever think of doing if I didn't have my heart completely set on it!!!! Hugs to you!!!.

Thank you so much, Ann! :hug:

And thank you for reminding me on FB that I needed to get back to this TR! I have been doing a little bit better every day with dealing with the loss of my brother, so I think that writing this TR will bring a smile to my face. So, seriously, thank you for making me feel guilty about not updating! :laughing:

I wish you were at Playlist, but I understand better than most how it is sometimes necessary to cancel a trip if it means more financial stability! Plus, it really wouldn’t have been worth it if Victoria wasn’t excited about going anymore. Your September trip sounds amazing already! I have to catch up on your PTR!

-Hope- said:
I've been thinking so much of you and your family, Erin. It's just so unfair. I lost my cousin who was more like a brother (as in I lived with my aunt and uncle for several years while my mom was trying to get her act together) a few years ago. It was also really sudden and we had a big family trip planned for just a few weeks later. We decided to go and I don't regret it. I wish I could tell you it healed my soul but it didn't. But it did give me the opportunity to begin to understand that it can't wait to live until my grief goes away because it's never going away. On that trip I realized that grief and joy aren't mutually exclusive when you're trying to pick up the pieces from a big loss. I find that grief is a not a visitor here anymore, it's a resident. But that doesn't mean it's taken over just that it has a seat at the table. I don't know if that's comforting or not but it's my truth. I still think of B every day, multiple times a day as I'm sure you will your brother. Hugs to you and know that I'm here if you need me.

Thanks, Hope! Your words helped me not to feel as guilty about going on the trip :goodvibes

We didn’t go to the parks, so I didn’t get to spread David’s ashes, but I am still planning on doing it when we go to the parks in May. I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your cousin. Thank you for sharing that because it really struck a chord with me. I think about David every day, and I try to turn my grief into a happy memory of him as often as I can

Tink-erin-belle · Mar 10, 2015

OK, I have to post four updates today because if the amount of pictures I have! I realized that I have to get rocking and rolling in order to get this TR done before the kids and I go back to WDW in May! I hope you guys don’t mind these long posts today!

On our first full park day, we always start with the Magic Kingdom. I was happy because I was able to get a before-park-opening ADR at Crystal Palace. I couldn’t wait to get pictures of me and the kids on an empty Main Street! But first, we had to check out of AoA and into All Star Movies. I woke up at 5am just in case I had to check out of AoA, get a cab to ASMo and drop off our luggage and take a bus from there to MK! Whew! But I knew from the day that we checked in that I could just take the luggage to bell services and have them transfer it to ASMo. Still, I wanted to be up early just in case something unforeseen happened. I’m usually up at 5am at home anyway because I have a long commute to work, so it wasn’t a big deal getting up that early. I showered and got dressed, then I packed up any odds and ends that had been left out. By 6am, I was walking to the lobby of AoA and the path was almost completely deserted! I feel safe in Disney, but I am not naïve enough to think that there aren’t bad people in the world, so I was sure to keep aware of my surroundings. It was very very dark. After a couple of minutes, two other resort guests walked by and I felt a little better knowing that I wasn’t on the long path alone. I stopped at the Elephant Graveyard on the path and tried to take an artsy picture:

Yeah, not so much! LOL! When I got to the AoA lobby, it was all but deserted, too! I decided to take advantage of that and snap a few pictures. It was simply beautiful in there:

I loved the animation cells:

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The Ink and Paint Shop was cool, but I don’t recall buying any souvenirs from there:

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I also liked this ceiling fixture:

After taking pictures of nearly every wall, I finally checked out. I confirmed with the CM that they could transfer our luggage to ASMu and that our bags should be waiting in our room there later that afternoon. I grabbed a luggage rack from bell services and made my way back to our room. On the way back, I took a picture of Crush in the dark that I thought looked pretty cool:

Let me tell you, there is a big difference at AoA between 6am and 6:45 am! The resort was positively bustling! People were rushing to check out, rushing to get to breakfast, rushing to get to the busses! I got the kids up so that they could get ready. About an hour later, we left the room and it was 57 degrees out. True commented, “Wow! I never thought I’d see my breath in Florida!” LOL! Yes, it was cold that morning! By 7:48am, we had taken our luggage to bell services and we were on the bus to MK!

I cannot get enough of Main Street when it is empty! And this was the first time we were able to see it in the daylight with all of the Halloween bunting:

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The kids and I stopped at a photographer and got our castle shots:

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Tink!:

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I saw a family of two parents and one little kid do the holding-hands-walking-away shot, so I asked the photographer if we could do that! Even though the first picture is crooked, these two pictures are some of my favorite of the trip!

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Tink-erin-belle · Mar 10, 2015

One of the things I love about going to the Crystal Palace before the parks opens is having the ability to take pictures with no one else around! As we made our way to Crystal Palace, I remembered a picture that I took of the kids way back in 2009:

They sat under that tree and both happened to look to their right as I took the picture. I thought it was so cute! So I asked the kids if we could recreate that picture. They agreed and walked over the bridge to the tree:

I love it when they cooperate with me! LOL! They sat down in the same places but I accidentally told them to look to their left! D’oh! LOL!

I still love the picture, though! True is taller than Coy was at the time and Coy is taller than me! I think I will make taking a picture under that tree a tradition, too! I might see what other pictures we can recreate, but that one is my favorite.

I saw these flowers that I thought were pretty, and I took a picture just as they called us inside for breakfast:

We sat down and our waitress took our drink orders before advising us that Piglet was just around the corner and that we should wait until after seeing him before going to the buffet. A minute or so later, Piglet sort of snuck up on True and I think she was a little surprised that he went right in for a hug! I wasn’t prepared to take a picture that fast, but he did pose with True:

You can kind of see on her face that she was a little embarrassed because Piglet caught her off guard with the hug! Piglet also went to Coy with open arms and Coy hugged him, but I didn’t get a good picture of that, either! I was off my game! I thought it was funny that Coy thought he needed to crouch down to get into this picture:

After we said our goodbyes to Piglet, we went to the buffet:

Shortly after, Pooh came around and hugged True:

Then Coy:

Then I got to take a picture of the three of them together:

Not far behind was Eeyore:

I’m sorry, but aside from the cute little pink bow on his tail that goes perfectly with his grey fur, Eeyore is one of my least favorite characters! He’s such a downer! LOL! Although, I will admit that I almost got a souvenir of him because I saw this super cute and fluffy pillow pet type plushie of him all over the parks and in the shops! The fur was beautiful and curly and I thought he would make a nice addition to my bedroom because it isn’t totally obvious that it is a stuffed Disney character! I didn’t get it then, but… maybe I got it when we went to Orlando back in February… :scratchin

Soon we saw my favorite resident of the Hundred Acre Wood, Tigger!

Breakfast was great and we all went back for seconds. Maybe thirds? Who was counting?!? I just love Disney breakfast! Our waitress was fantastic, too. By the time we were done with our meal, the park had been open for a few minutes. I checked my Touring Plans app and it said to head to 7 Dwarfs Mine Train if we wanted to ride it at all that day! LOL! Seriously, that app was a lifesaver! We were able to get on a lot of rides even when we didn’t have FastPasses for them. Oh! I almost forgot to tell you guys! When I went on the My Disney Experience app the day before, all of our tickets were on there, but all of the FPs I made were gone! I couldn’t believe it! I wondered if it had something to do with adding our APs. But instead of panicking, I just rebooked all of the FPs. I was able to get all of the same stuff at roughly the same times as I had had before. The only ones I couldn’t get were Toy Story Mania and 7DMT. Oh well. We didn’t ever get on TSM, but we did get on 7DMT with just a 20 or 30 minute wait. I can’t remember how long it took because we really were occupied by the games! I was having fun taking pictures of everything and the kids were having fun with the games:

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Tink-erin-belle · Mar 10, 2015

After riding the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, we headed over to the Hundred Acre Wood to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The kids and I liked the new play area! If I was in a bad mood, though, all of the popping and drumming would have been annoying! Haha! But it was cool that they had interactive stuff to occupy the kids. Luckily I have Mommy Ears and I can usually ignore things I don’t want to hear! LOL!

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Oh, Eeyore! You see what I mean? Eeyore’s Gloomy Place is in the middle of Disney World! Doesn’t seem too gloomy to me! LOL! True enjoyed playing on the honey screen:

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Before we knew it, it was time to ride the ride! One of my favorites! After that, I saw the White Rabbit and I had to get a picture! True was not at all pleased! She sat down and didn’t even bother to crack a smile!

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I found out after taking the picture that she was grumpy because her feet hurt. We saw Cheshire Café right across from us, so we decided to get some drinks to cool down and to take a little break in the shade. We all got Lemonade Slushes and they were delicious!

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They were the perfect balance of sweet and tart, and they also were a little fizzy. Maybe they were made with Sprite? Whatever it was, it was GOOD! We were all refreshed, so we decided to go to my least favorite ride in all of Disney World:

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Well, the kids decided that they wanted to go, and that they wanted me to go with them! Ugh! I reminded them that they were old enough to ride things by themselves now LOL! They weren’t having it! They wanted us to do Splash TOGETHER! I was a bundle of nerves getting in line. So much so that I didn’t bother to take any pictures besides the one of the sign! Now, I love roller coasters. Love LOVE L-O-V-E them! But Splash? No. Nope! No way. I hate log flume rides because they have that terrible drop at the end but no safety harnesses to make sure that people don’t fall out! Granted, I have never ever heard of a person falling out of a log flume ride at Disney World or anywhere else, but I don’t like that feeling! Every time I have gone on one, I felt like I was going to fall out. Of course, if I am worried that I am going to fall out, I am worried that my kids are going to fall out! Nope. No. Don’t like it. I don’t trust gravity enough for that! LOL! The last time we went on Splash a few years ago wasn’t as bad, though, because we sat in the front. The very front seat is moving slower down the last drop, I guess, and doesn’t speed up until the force of the rest of the log pushes it down. So I only felt that sickening free fall feeling for a split second that time. That was the ONLY reason I agreed to go on Splash with the kids this time. I was fully prepared to throw a hissy fit and stomp my feet on the ground like a child in order not to go on that ride! LOL!

Time passed too quickly! We were probably only in line for about 5 minutes, but it felt like 5 seconds to me! Coy and I were going to ride together on this one, so we made our way to the corrals and… I was relieved! There were lap bars on Splash! When did that happen? I was so happy! I started smiling from ear to ear – I am not even kidding! Coy and I took our seat and True took hers. Since I didn’t feel anxious anymore, I suggested to Coy and True that we do a terrified face during the last drop for the ride photo:

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LMAO!!! Mine was excellent, if I do say so myself! Coy just looked like he was laughing! True WAS laughing! The lady in the front of the log took one look at that picture and said, “Look at your face!” Haha! I tried to explain that we were making faces for the ride photo, but I don’t think she believed me! LOL! In reality, that was probably how I looked on all of my previous rides on Splash! Haha! But this ride was awesome! I was able to truly enjoy it this time because I wasn’t afraid I was going to fall out! I know it was a totally irrational fear, but now that it is gone, I can truly enjoy that ride with my kids.

After we left Splash Mountain, we stopped at the crystal kiosk and took a look around. They had some beautiful pieces there!

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We didn’t get anything because I was concerned about putting something that delicate in a carry-on bag. Maybe the next time we drive. Or maybe we could have some figurines shipped. Anyway, it was at that point that we decided to go to EPCOT. True got an attitude again about something, but I can’t remember what. I’m willing to bet it was her feet again, but instead of telling me she needed a break, she just lashed out. It wasn’t a big teenager moment, but it was enough that I knew she needed to sit down and chill for a minute! LOL! Luckily, on the way out of the park we saw the Dapper Dans! We never stopped to listen to them before, so this was a perfect time to do that. True and Coy are both very interested in music, so they willingly stopped for the show. I was glad that it had just started because #1 True was able to sit on the curb and just relax, and #2 we got to hear a lot of songs! They were absolutely wonderful!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/rxRbrj]

The one on the end made a lot of eye contact!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/rgoeVS]

Tink-erin-belle · Mar 10, 2015

We got to EPCOT after a quick ride on the monorail. True was getting cranky again, so Coy and I tried to cheer her up. We started singing the party pooper song to her. If you don’t know it, the song is from Father of the Bride 2 when Martin Short’s character sings, “Every party has a pooper, at this party it is you! Party Pooper!” LOL! I don’t think the kids have ever seen that movie, but they know the song because I always sing it when they are grumpy! It made True laugh when Coy and I sang it that time (not so much later in the trip LOL) and she got into a better mood. We headed to Spaceship Earth. Here’s a terrible picture for proof:

LOL! Poor little True fell asleep on the ride! I think it was the dark part at the end that did her in! After that, she started complaining again about her feet hurting. Now, I thought that this was because she just wasn’t used to walking as much as we were on this trip. I figured her feet would get used to it after a few days, but it just wasn’t letting up. I made sure she didn’t have any blisters, and she didn’t. It was just a matter of her shoes hurting. Poor thing! So I did something I said that I would never do! I brought her Crocs! LMAO!!! I’m sorry and I mean absolutely no offence to people who like them, but I always thought Crocs were UG-LY! But so many people on the boards swear by them, so I thought I would give them a try on True. We went to MouseGears and found a pair. She loved them! She thought they were so cute with the little Mickey head cutouts in them! She couldn’t wait to get out of the store so that she could put them on. She took off her shoes as soon as she could find a place to sit down, and she said the Crocs were incredibly comfortable! Her feet didn’t hurt anymore! Yay! I told her that I had to take a picture because no one would believe that I brought Crocs!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qpeBeP]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pJDV2L]

I had to admit that they were cute! But the most important thing was that she was comfortable. I don’t think that she complained about her feet hurting for the rest of the trip! So, I took off my shoes and put them in my bag because they were lighter to carry than her shoes. I put on her shoes and I thought they were very comfy! They just must not have been right for her foot type. I wore her shoes for the rest of the trip! LOL! In fact, I have pretty much taken over her shoes! It’s OK because she does the same thing with my shoes! I have a pair of black boots that I have only worn about three times because she keeps wearing them! Haha! Tangent! Sorry! Back to EPCOT…

Since we were feeling a little thirsty, I suggested that we go to Club Cool! Unfortunately, Beverly was out of stock! Aw man! I really wanted the kids to try it again! There is something about Beverly that is so bad that you can’t remember how bad it is until you taste it again! It is so bad that it is good! Well, not really. Ew! But I had to try it again. I made a mental note to come back later in the trip to see if it was back in. The kids and I had a few soda samples and then left to go to Food and Wine.

Don’t get too excited. The kids didn’t see anything they wanted at Food and Wine, so we ended up going to Sunshine Seasons. The kids got Sweet and Sour Chicken and I got Mongolian Beef:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pKrdUD]

We also got dessert! Coy got a Red Velvet Cake, True got a Chocolate Mousse Cake and I got a Carrot Cake:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qpD7MG]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qDVznN]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qGd7Qc]

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I snuck a picture of True eating because she was mad at me for always taking pictures of food! LOL!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pKrj5t]

After eating a delicious lunch, the kids and I went to Journey into Imagination Figment.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qDntTq]

It was OK. I don’t think I had ever been on it before, but my understanding is that it is so different from what it used to be back when I was a kid, it is basically a different attraction now. The interactive stuff at the end of the ride was kinda fun, though. After that, we went to Captain EO. As soon as the theater dimmed for the movie, the house lights came back up! Ugh! We waited in that preshow all of that time for nothing! There was some sort of technical error happening, so we couldn’t just wait for it to be fixed. We had to leave the theater. I think I was really only mad because I didn’t want to see Captain EO in the first place LOL! I used to be a huge MJ fan when I was younger, and I thought Captain EO was amazing back in the day. but as an adult, I was basically thinking, “Been there, done that,” so I didn’t want to see it. But the kids did, so I made a mental note to come back another time so that the kids could watch it.

Then we saw a lizard! I stopped to take a picture of this collection of trees:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qp63kj]

…And I put my bag down on the planter in front of this sign:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qp645A]

…And just as I took that picture, I said to the kids, “Wouldn’t it be funny if a lizard crawled into my bag?” and a lizard popped out of the grass! I was too slow to take a picture, so all I got was this:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qFDYei]

Boring!

Ok, I definitely lost some pictures on my phone because that is the last one I have from that day! Grr!!! My pictures weren’t automatically saving to my memory card, so I had to manually upload them. Oh well, I guess I will just have to describe what happened next! Nemo was a 10 minute wait, but we had FP, so it was a 1 minute wait for us! Haha! We always love Nemo, so we didn’t care that it was kind of a waste of a Fast Pass. After that, we explored the aquarium area. We saw a manatee, lots of fish, a shark, and a dolphin! We waited for about 10 minutes for Turtle Talk with Crush, but then we all lost interest and we decided to leave. Coy really wanted to go on Ellen’s Energy Adventure, so we decided to do that next. We kept calling it “the ride that Coy wants to go on” even though True and I wanted to go on it, too! We just wanted to give Coy a hard time! Especially after we realized the ride was 45 minutes long! We really enjoyed that ride, though! It wasn’t quite what I expected, but it was educational and funny. I’d go on it again, but only if crowd levels were at a 2 or 3 and we have already gone on everything else we wanted to do that day! LOL! It is just a REALLY long attraction! After we left the ride that Coy wanted to go on (haha) we went on Test Track! We liked the new set up! It was really cool building our own car and then getting ranked against other builds! We were in first place for a lot of the customizations!

After a long first day at the parks, we finally left to check into ASMo. After checking in, we went to the World Premier Food Court. True got spaghetti to go, but Coy and I weren’t hungry. We all got refillable mugs (by far, the best purchase I made on that trip!) and we went to our room. We were underwhelmed. I didn’t take any pictures that first night, but I am pretty sure I took some later in the trip. After staying at Cabana Bay at Universal, and then Art of Animation, we didn’t think much of ASMo. It was OK, but not even as nice as Pop (where we stayed in March). It wasn’t bad by any means, but it definitely was our least favorite resort of all time LOL! To make matters worse, our bags weren’t in our room! I called bell services and they said the bags should be up in a few minutes. I think it was about 10pm at that point, so I tried very hard to stay awake. The kids fell asleep and I dozed off, too! When I woke up, it was 12:45am and no one had brought the bags up yet. I called bell services again and they apologized. They got the bags to us about 5 minutes later, but by that time, all of us had already fallen asleep in the clothes we had been wearing all day! Yuck! But I wasn’t going to wake the kids up to change into PJs because they were knocked out. So the whole luggage thing didn’t help with my opinion of ASMo.

I’m not going to end on a bad note, though, because the kids and I had a wonderful first day in the parks! Here are a couple of Memory Maker photos of us in EPCOT that day:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qBb2HR]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qAXSW7]

LuvEeyore · Mar 10, 2015

Great updates!! I love my crocs...They aren't pretty but my feet don't hurt so bad in them when in Disney

Victoriasmom98 · Mar 10, 2015

well, that just took me a while, but I'm sooooo happy you updated!! Your first park day sounded great. I keep going back and forth on whether or not to book Crystal Palace for the empty castle shots. We just don't really like CP. We are going to be seeing Pooh and Tigger at 1900 Park Fare, so that should be good for those particular characters. I'm sorry True's feet hurt, but we also had to buy those crocs and boy did they save the day!! We still have them and I think they are soo cute! I also have the croc canvas Mickey shoes which I love! That's so nice how the kids recreated the picture from years ago. I can't believe True fell asleep on SE. She must have really been tired. I'm sorry you weren't as happy with All Stars. That's disappointing. Oh well.......

Will you be doing a ptr for May's trip??? I hope so. I miss talking to you. I know I could text, but it's not the same.

Twoboysnmygirl · Mar 13, 2015

So glad you updated Erin! I'm reading, just haven't had time to properly respond. Wasn't Playlist awesome?!??! I'm so glad they worked out most of the issues from the previous year. I'm sure it's an adjustment to kids that want to meet certain people and cannot (b/c they were gone right away in the choosing process) but I think the weekend was worth it either way for the girls and they want to do it again, even if they don't get the picks they really want. :goodvibes

Ann, DO CRYSTAL PALACE! Just do it! First off, you can't beat those empty shots and if you get an 8:10-8:15 ADR they let you in about 10 minutes early so you'll have nearly 20 minutes! AND...it's BREAKFAST. How can you not like breakfast food? Have you eaten at CP for breakfast ever? I'm telling you. Do it! (Bossy Tweedle) :teeth:

Victoriasmom98 · Mar 13, 2015

Dear Bossy Tweedle.........I have altered my plans. I will bow down to you!

Tink-erin-belle · Mar 13, 2015

LuvEeyore said:
Great updates!! I love my crocs...They aren't pretty but my feet don't hurt so bad in them when in Disney

Thanks, Lee! I took a peek at your TR to get your name

I’m going to have to read along! I actually love the Crocs now, too. I’ve slipped them on when I have had to run out to the car or something, and they are incredibly comfortable!

Victoriasmom98 said:
well, that just took me a while, but I'm sooooo happy you updated!! Your first park day sounded great. I keep going back and forth on whether or not to book Crystal Palace for the empty castle shots. We just don't really like CP. We are going to be seeing Pooh and Tigger at 1900 Park Fare, so that should be good for those particular characters. I'm sorry True's feet hurt, but we also had to buy those crocs and boy did they save the day!! We still have them and I think they are soo cute! I also have the croc canvas Mickey shoes which I love! That's so nice how the kids recreated the picture from years ago. I can't believe True fell asleep on SE. She must have really been tired. I'm sorry you weren't as happy with All Stars. That's disappointing. Oh well.......

Will you be doing a ptr for May's trip??? I hope so. I miss talking to you. I know I could text, but it's not the same.

Yeah, sorry it was such a long update :lmao:

but I felt like I owed you guys! The Crocs have definitely grown on me. True wears them ALL OF THE TIME and I am just glad they are comfortable for her. Where did you get the Crocs canvas shoes? I didn’t see anything like that in the parks. Yeah, we really didn’t like All Stars, but it was OK since we spent so little time in the room. I think I will end up mentioning this later in the TR, but we did love our room location. We were super close to the lobby!

Should I do a PTR for May? I do have a lot left to work out (I just found a SWW thread on here and there is so much I don’t know about that!) and I miss talking and planning with you, too! I don’t know if I can run a TR and a PTR at the same time! But I am trying to be better at updating on a regular basis…We’ll see!

Twoboysnmygirl said:
So glad you updated Erin! I'm reading, just haven't had time to properly respond. Wasn't Playlist awesome?!??! I'm so glad they worked out most of the issues from the previous year. I'm sure it's an adjustment to kids that want to meet certain people and cannot (b/c they were gone right away in the choosing process) but I think the weekend was worth it either way for the girls and they want to do it again, even if they don't get the picks they really want.

Ann, DO CRYSTAL PALACE! Just do it! First off, you can't beat those empty shots and if you get an 8:10-8:15 ADR they let you in about 10 minutes early so you'll have nearly 20 minutes! AND...it's BREAKFAST. How can you not like breakfast food? Have you eaten at CP for breakfast ever? I'm telling you. Do it! (Bossy Tweedle)

Playlist was awesome! I am going to do a mini TR on that at the end of this TR. I definitely think it was run better than last year. Hopefully, the organizers will continue to learn, and next year there won’t be issues with reserving meet ups. Maybe the YouTubers will even be willing to do two sessions so that they can meet more kids. Playlist needs a suggestion box! :laughing:

I totally agree with you about CP, Karen! It is a must do! Ann, you will definitely love the castle pictures even if you don’t like the food. But we love the food, too! So good! Right, Karen?

Victoriasmom98 said:
Dear Bossy Tweedle.........I have altered my plans. I will bow down to you!

Crystal Palace! Uh oh, I don’t think we can make our ADR to CP now because of our flights! Yeah, I guess I do need to write a PTR to get this all organized!

Victoriasmom98 · Mar 13, 2015

See??? I told you that you needed to write a ptr just to keep your plans straight!!! That Karen is soooo bossy!!! I just don't know how Nicole put up with her for that entire weekend! Ugh!!! So, did you notice Erin that neither bossy nor Dum have updated their trip report since Monday??? Just sayin'!!!

Tink-erin-belle · Mar 13, 2015

I haven't noticed that! I am trying to squeeze in a little TR reading at work right now, so I will have to check that out! I am halfway in your PTR, I think, Ann. I am at the point when you finally got to book the room!

Update 07/20!!! 1 Mom, 2 Kids, 3 Resorts and 6 Parks! An October 2014 TR

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