WDW Trip Report - LIVE March 6 - 14, 2009

[MouseRunner]

Whew... with all the mishaps on Day 1, I thought you would forget about daylight savings time (we did and my son was an hour late for a basketball game where he is one of the scorekeepers)...

Glad you brought this up Joe. Disney goes out of their way to make sure you know what time it is. We had a message on our phone saying that the clocks in our room would adjust at 2:00 AM. We also made a wake up call to warn us. Some of the clocks were still wrong in the theme parks, but the cast members would tell me people when they walked by that they were incorrect. Plus, whenever I run, I don't sleep well the night before. Especially when it's at Disney. Too many rules, keeps you thinking so you don't relax.

[MagicJoe]

Forgot, we are using the Hidden Mickey guide and have found a few. One at Play and Dine thanks to our waitress and some other's that I have taken pictures of. Man, time flies by while your here. But the boys need to catch up on their sleep, and with the soft sounds of heavy breathing behind me, so does Erin. See you in the evening.

Don't know if it's in your guide, but since you're staying at AKL, look inside Jiko's (even if you are not dining there) and see if you can find the large Hidden Mickey. This may be over your head, but if you give up, let me know. This was pointed to us by our waiter when we were there Xmas Eve 2006.

[Mortis]

This may be over your head, but if you give up, let me know.

Bet it's on the ceiling.

[MouseRunner]

Thanks Magic Joe, we will definitely swing by Jiko's to find that hidden Mickey. Erin is obsessed and holds the book in her hands wherever we go. I've been taking pictures of the hidden Mickeys, but they aren't coming out too well. Amateur photos has me to a 't'.

Not sure if I mentioned but I went down to Mara's before nap time and picked up some delicious Zebra Domes, included in the snack plan. They were delicious and I'll probably get more before the weekend is out. Those things are awesome.

After nap time, we headed back to the Studios and had dinner at Sci Fi Dine In. I should mention that the kids menus have really stepped up their game since the last time we were here. They really keep Conner's attention through dinner, sometimes he works on the puzzles and coloring during dinner.

Brodie could care less and he was climbing all over the cars. During dinner, Erin had me looking for Hidden Mickeys. I finally got up to take a picture of one in the trees when a waitress showed me two others. One in another set of bushes and another in a complez tile image. I have a picture of the tiles and can't see the Mickey yet. I'll probably take the tile figuration and highlight the yellow ones and make all the other ones black so I can see it better. Maybe work will be slow when I get back.

As for dinner, we bought Brodie mac and Cheese which he inhaled. Conner got the hot dog and fries, which he also inhaled. I got the onion rings for my appetizer (tasted like onion rings) and had a cheeseburger with bacon and fries. Erin had another salad, which she inhaled and ate half of her burger. She then got a hot fudge sundae with a candle to celebrate her birthday. This is the first time she wore the badge since she got it. The boys got sundaes with mickey sprinkles, and I got the cheesecake with m&m pieces and carmel corn sprinkled around. My stomach is hurting just thinking about that meal. It was delicious.

Behind us were newlyweds. The cars, for those that haven't been, have three rows. We were in the first two rows and they were in the back. We tried to give them privacy, and they kind of needed it. Hard when your in the first row of cars. Video was the same, but you always see something new. Like Donald running with the aliens, was that there last time? Probably.

Afterwards, we checked out Honey I Shrunk the Audience play area, closed. No more showings of Lights, Motors Action, so we'll have to go back to do those two items. Erin wanted to go back to Mama Melrose's to find the other hidden Mickeys that we didn't know about. Found the one on the dog, the waitress showed us the leaves that formed a Mickey, and the walls also had two more. Quite the collection.

Off to Muppets. Thanks to the desire to find the Mickeys, we found ourselves in the unused queue on the side of the building. Talk about a whole bunch of cool stuff that nobody has probably seen. Took tons of pictures of all the little monsters hiding back there. Great stuff. As for the pre show, I showed Erin the net full of jello. She got it, and rolled her eyes. I love the Muppets. Brodie actually sat through the whole showing of the Muppets without moving. His glasses remained on his head. Conner took his off half way.

Again, this is something I've seen a hundred times, but never saw the Small World dolls at the end of the show, and I didn't hear them singing It's A Small World. GENIOUS! The book says there's a hidden mickey on their hats, but we didn't see anything. Saw the balloons. Oh, and Erin saw Miss Piggy's head fall off, great stuff.

After the 3-d, we walked to Epcot. Again, we love to walk and do it as much as possible. Why? We wanted to see Illuminations. Unfortunately, with the time of year, they really screwed up our schedule by not showing all the night shows every night. We fear that we may miss Spectro Magic, which only plays on Sunday and Friday while we are here. I'm hoping to change a dinner reservation in order to see it. We hope.

On the walk over, we raced a boat, which is always fun, and yes, we win. Always do. We also played bumper strollers and let the strollers be pulled by gravity. Erin heard an older man tell his wife "don't bother them, they aren't our children." It's called fun people, oh well.

Illuminations was fun, and the kids did fantastic. Conner was on my shoulders and Brodie on Erin's. Neither child cried and both watched. Conner was amazed by the globe, and was disappointed that the globe broke at the end.

On the way back to the Studios, we played a lobster game on the Boardwalk. We made one basket winning a small prize. Conner got a shark (okay, Erin made one basket out of 12, I made none, and Conner made none; we shared the 12 lobsters). Brodie wanted one so we played again, Erin made it again, but so did I. So Brodie got a medium prize, a crawfish.

On the way back, more racing, more bumper car stuff, and we showed the boys the pool at the Boardwalk. Conner loved the elephants.

Extra Evening hours at the Studios was packed. We decided just to window shop and head back. We bought 4 small plastic glasses, and 4 big glasses, and Erin got a Tinker Bell bottle that was actually dishwasher safe. At the villain's store, Conner and Brodie bought Pirate Telescopes, a Dory and Nemo fish, Erin got a caramel apple, and I got an Italian Ice, or whatever they call it.

We flew through the other stores and headed back to the hotel. Still late, still shocked how quickly time flies here. When we got back we looked outside and had two giraffes eating from a tree right outside our window. Four zebras were also there, and some antelope. This excited all of us quite a bit. Time for bed.

Tomorrow: Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. See you then.

[MouseRunner]

Today, no nap. We went straight through the day. So I'm going to do a quick list of things I did, and go into more detail later. THe Mudslide, the swimming, and no nap has really put me to sleep.

We woke up late, missing our breakfast appointment and not really caring. We arrived at Animal Kingdom at around 10 o'clock. We did the Karamanjaro Safaris, Lion King Festival (Brodie fell asleep half way through it, making it the only show that both boys fell asleep when they were 2 or almost 2), ate at Flame Tree Bar B-Que (fries cost extra, not included in plan), saw Finding Nemo (crazy woman in electric wheel chair running people over), saw the Jungle parade (crazy woman returns), went to the Kid activities, only have one more left. Then we headed over to the Magic Kingdom with Brodie asleep.

We took the boat over from the TTC, Brodie woke up. Ate dinner at 5:15, we had reservations at 6 for Tony's and were let in early. We didn't have a problem with our meal, but a family of 6 weren't waited on for over a half hour. My dinner was awesome (Chicken with white sauce and noodles and a house salad, Erin had spaghetti and Meatballs, Conner had pizza, and Brodie ate one of Erin's meatballs, also bread with olive oil and for dessert, another kids sundae with Mickey sprinkles, I had the ice cream bomb and Erin had gellato again).

We finally saw MILF (Monster's Inc Laugh Floor) and really enjoyed it. Erin thought it was hilarious and Conner says it's his favorite, before he even went on it. TTA, Small World and Philharmagic followed. The fireworks scared Conner again so we headed out with the masses. An hour and a half later, we were at our car. Erin is starting to have problems with my ability to know things about the Disney Theme Parks, thanks to podcasts. Says when she comes up with an idea I tell her no, then tell her how it is. Always right, got to start being wrong or find a nicer way to do it. My bad.

Got back to the hotel and got the munchies (that's why I had a Mudslide and a Butterfinger). While getting munchies we realized we didn't have any swimming diapers, so we bought some and that's when I found out a little about 23. I bought the new magazine, but have yet to actually look at it. Also got a new hat, I know, head is red. At Mara, I took Brodie out to the pool where he fell in and got soaked. Went back to the hotel room, changed, and went back for swimming. Erin followed soon after. It's now almost midnight, and we have a full day of swimming planned for tomorrow (Blizzard Beach) as well as Chef Mickey's. I'll try to elaborate tomorrow if we get back early. Talk to you all later,
jeremy

[MouseRunner]

Woke up exhausted. Not the best sign, but we moved forward. Headed out to Chef Mickeys at around 8:10 for an 8:45 dining reservation. At 8:25, we hit major traffic just after the parking lot at the TTC. They redirected us to the road that is between the TTC and the ticket center. At 8:45, we pass the Polynesian. At 8:55, we pass the Grand Floridian. At this point, we knew they weren't going to get us in, and there was no way we were going to get there before 9:30.

So, we turned around and headed towards Blizzard Beach. We stopped at Coronado Spring's Pepper Market for breakfast. Weird way to do the restaurant. They give us a form with squares, you take the form to the different sections in the cooking area where you order your food and they stamp your card. You eat and then you take your card to the register where you pay. I got a Breakfast Burrito (Eggs and peppers with cheese, a side of potatoes). Very good, just not a big fan of peppers. Erin had a waffle with banana nuts on top, she thought it was delicious. She shared her three sausages with the boys. Conner had eggs and a muffin, he asked for a waffle which was part of another meal, and the lady gave it to him anyways. The guy that made my meal asked if I wanted Maranga, I looked at him funny and then he started dancing. Pretty awesome.

I ran into a guy in the bathroom who had one of our skinny mugs. I had seen that the Coronado Springs cup was the old fashion mugs which are a lot bigger. He said that he stayed at the All Star and was disappointed, so moved over to the Coronado. So he brought his cup, and was disappointed when he saw the size of the 3 Caballeros cup that was offered at the Coronado hotel. The hotel, from an outsider, looked awesome. In the distance you can see the temple, which I believe is the pool. The 3 Caballeros theme intrigued the points, and the cute little donkey from one of the old Disney cartoons in the store was a great addition.

At Blizzard Beach, we took the boys on the Teamboat Springs after Erin and Conner tried jump roping. Erin still talks about the jump roping. Back to Teamboat Springs. Conner cried all the way up. He thought we were going on the Humbunga whatever it's called, the one that goes straight down. He calmed down when we got on the raft and the two of us screamed all the way down. And we laughed hard. One of his favorites, but he doesn't want to go on it again. This is when we realized it was Spring Break time. Oh boy.

The boys in the raft behind us were loud and obnoxious. We thought they were going to run us down, so I jumped out and did a retreat. Erin took Conner to the ice/cargo net area which he was able to do for the first time. I guess you could call this area the elementary school, while the pre-k area, the Tikes Point, or something like that, was more Brodie's size. He played in the foot of water for about 10 minutes, and then I took him upstairs to the little slides, where he played for about a half hour. Conner showed up during that time, and went on the tube ride. Brodie tried it out and amazingly enjoyed it, they did it about 3 times each. The sad thing about this trip is no Photopass at Blizzard Beach. I left my camera in the car expecting Photopass, so I was pretty bummed.

After a bathroom break, that's right my oldest does not go to the bathroom in the pool but walks quickly to the bathroom. Not too shabby. We then went on the lazy river. Conner, Brodie and Erin all had their own rafts while I swam behind. The boys quickly ditched Erin, while she slept in the sun. A couple of things happened on our little 3 round trip journey: First, Conner got out of his tube and ran a good chunk of it. Two tubes with very large women collided with Conner who was right next to the wall. All I saw was his head go down, he popped up downstream shocked and frightened. I was freaking out. Wasn't the ladies fault, they were asleep just like my wife a couple of yards back. Conner was crying and screaming, which led Brodie to cry and scream. Picking Conner out of the water, his swimming suit fell off and he was buck naked. The ladies were apologizing and freaking out. I calmed everybody, and soon Conner was off and running again.

Next up, an asian lady was sleeping in her raft, one cup was covering her chest, the other cup was not. That will make an interesting sun burn. Unfortunately, none her friends were able to make her, she kept telling them to leave her alone. Talk about weird. Spring BREAK BABY!! Brodie got tired of his tube, so ended up sitting on my tube with his feet in the water. Fun and interesting trip.

We took the boys on one last trip of slides in the tike area, got toweled off, got some popcorn and chips and cheese, returned our locker key and headed next door to...the Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course.

This was Conner's first time golfing, and same with Brodie. The castmembers that worked the miniature golf course were incredible. First, they gave Erin a free round of golf for her birthday. They gave Brodie a free plastic golf club for him to practice, and they helped Conner find the right club for his golfing experience. The holes were fun and entertaining. Things popped up that we weren't expecting and Conner did amazingly well. His biggest problem was letting the ball stop before swinging again. Brodie liked walking to the hole and dropping his ball, and then going around and picking everybody else's ball up and putting them into the hole, which made it kind of tough to play. At course 15, we finally ended up locking him in his stroller.

Not sure who won, but I'm going to guess it was Erin. I'd tell you that I was just being nice because it was her birthday, that's a lie, I suck. On Hole 18, one of the ladies at the desk came to collect the balls. After collecting all the balls, Conner helped her carry the balls to the desk. It was cute watching them carry the balls. At the desk, she gave Conner a golf ball with Pete on it and let us help ourselves to Sharpie Markers and candy canes, then gave us all our own golf balls with Pete. All of this was free. Just for reminder, this is what we got FREE at the golf course: Erin's round FREE, Brodie's club and ball FREE, candy canes and Sharpie markers FREE, and four FREE golf balls. Pretty sweet deal.

We headed back to the hotel and Brodie was out before getting there. We all took a nap, I was exhausted and actually was asleep before Conner and Erin. This is when I found that the little scratch on my big toe was actually two large scratches with the skin hanging on for dear life. Nice, limping for the rest of the day, but I can't complain, I'm at DISNEY WORLD!!

Waking from our nap, we realized there was no pizza delivery at the hotel. So we headed over to Rainforest Cafe at the Animal Kingdom (Erin was craving nachos). At 6:05, we got in, sat down, and when our waitress showed up we ordered everything we wanted. Conner had mini hot dogs and an icee; Brodie had mac N Cheese and an icee; Erin had her nachos with no sour cream; and I had my normal pizza of pepperoni, sausage, and black olives. And no, this was not on the dining plan. But when the wife is craving something, you don't dare say no, right Men??

After dinner, we walked over to the Dino area. On the walk, Erin actually convinced Conner to go on Dinosaur with me. The deal that I had made with him is this: If he went on a scary ride that he had never been on before, he would be able to get a toy to remember the ride. So we went on it. In the line, an older boy saw the huge T-Rex skeleton and freaked out screaming and yelling. I thought this would freak Conner out, but it didn't. We watched the pre show, and then headed in to the attraction.

We sat in the back row, I sat on the far left with Conner next to me. I put my arm around him and we were off (with Indiana Jones music playing in my head). Dinosaurs went flying by with Conner's eyes the size of half dollars. I had my hand right over his heart, and there was no increase in pulse. I was hoping he was okay, because a couple of times I was freakin a little, Hochburg Style. After we flew down from the Carnataur's head and flew to the right, I turned to Conner and said "Now that's big fun." I thought it was funny. Conner's favorite part? When we flew down under the Carnataur's head. He talked about that for hours. The toy he picked, a collection of little rubber dinosaurs that he played with in the bath tonight.

Conner told Erin that ride was awesome, and she promised that the dinosaur eating the baby wasn't in it, and it was. Erin apologized and asked if he wanted to go on it again with her. He said no, she was relieved, she hates that ride, and I mean HATES that ride.

Afterwards, Erin headed over to Primeval Whirl and I took the boys on the Triceratops spin. Conner got to sit in the front row by himself while Brodie and I hung out in the back. While waiting for Erin to get off Primeval Whirl, we headed over to the games area. To my surprise, they are no longer accepting money, you have to go and by these "vouchers" at the local pin store. The pin store is a slow moving wagon type store, and it took us 10 minutes just to get the stupid vouchers. Then we went back to the games. We played the ball and the cups (lost), the roll the ball into holes (I won a turtle), the water spraying the bullseye (I won a seahorse) and the hit a mole game (Conner won a dragon). All for 12 bucks. Fun stuff, would rather an E-ticket ride, but the kids enjoyed it.

Erin enjoyed her ride and we headed out of the park, Extra Hours if I didn't mention it earlier. Still haven't been on Expedition Everest or finished the stamp collecting. Maybe our last day??

Back to the bus which we rode over on. The bus was somewhat packed, but we found seats. At the hotel, I picked up our Hoop Dee Doo show tickets, do not rip, write, or tear the tickets or they will not be valid. Nice, we got kids that like to rip, write and tear. Odds aren't in our favor. While I picked up the tickets, Erin took the boys over to a photopass guy who offered to take their picture as long as they behaved. Um, is this Disney World or Universal, I see glimpes of both while here at the hotel .

Erin and Brodie went up to the hotel while Conner and I went and checked out the night vision goggles. AWESOME!! Talk about crystal clear. If you ever get a chance to come to the Animal Kingdom Lodge between 8 - 11 PM, check this out. It was sweet. Then someone asked if the shuttle was going off tonight. I FORGOT!! Called Erin who checked the internet and called her dad (man filled with useless information and is proud of it) while I checked with the manager staff. Unfortunately, shuttle launch was postponed til tomorrow at 8:20. Best viewing place, the Grand Floridian. Perfect, we'll be right next door. I hope it happens, I'm totally excited.

With more Zebra Domes in my belly, boys are in bed, and Erin (with a knee injury from the run) and myself (with a toe injury) are preparing for sleep. Tomorrow is Erin's big 3-0 birthday and we will be having breakfast at Cinderella's Castle, riding some rides, and then spending a chunk of the day at Fort Wilderness going on bike rides, boating, canoeing, everything we can think of. Then it's Hoop Dee Doo. I'm excited, but it's also depressing knowing that we are leaving in a couple of days. Hope all is well, jeremy

[MagicJoe]

...Waking from our nap, we realized there was no pizza delivery at the hotel. So we headed over to Rainforest Cafe at the Animal Kingdom (Erin was craving nachos). At 6:05, we got in, sat down, and when our waitress showed up we ordered everything we wanted. Conner had mini hot dogs and an icee; Brodie had mac N Cheese and an icee; Erin had her nachos with no sour cream; and I had my normal pizza of pepperoni, sausage, and black olives. And no, this was not on the dining plan. But when the wife is craving something, you don't dare say no, right Men?? ...

Yup - want to be on their "good list" especially on vacation...

...With more Zebra Domes in my belly, boys are in bed, and Erin (with a knee injury from the run) and myself (with a toe injury) are preparing for sleep. Tomorrow is Erin's big 3-0 birthday and we will be having breakfast at Cinderella's Castle, riding some rides, and then spending a chunk of the day at Fort Wilderness going on bike rides, boating, canoeing, everything we can think of. Then it's Hoop Dee Doo. I'm excited, but it's also depressing knowing that we are leaving in a couple of days. Hope all is well, jeremy

Happy birthday to the Mrs. Yep, see the Hoop Dee Doo Revue while you are there. I think Ricky mentions that it will be gone. Thanks for sharing all these memories while it's still fresh on your mind. Brings back memories when my kids were very young going to Disneyland.

[MouseRunner]

First, I'm going to need to get sentimental. Days like this is why I come to Disney World. When you don't know when you plan to come back, it's even harder to leave. In 2008, I had two trips in July and one trip in September to look forward too. Plus with the Annual Pass, I knew we would return soon. Now, with the Economy on downward spin, our next planned trip isn't til 2011, and that makes leaving REAL hard. So, guess you could say depression is starting to set in, just a little.

We woke up with singing happy birthday to mom. Then we headed to the Magic Kingdom. Wouldn't you know, the express monorail (purple) broke down as it was entering the TTC station, so they moved everybody over to the red Monorail, which was on the Hotel Route. Got to the Magic Kingdom later than planned, but we still arrived at Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast on time. Anybody know why you can't walk through the castle? I'm thinking work on the tiles, but I don't know for sure.

Breakfast was fun. Erin received a chocolate cake with a candle, and we sang Happy Birthday to Erin. I love the fried french toast with cream cheese in the middle. Brodie got a "free" breakfast which included two french toast sticks and a muffin. Conner, I believe, got two french toast sticks, eggs and a muffin. Erin and my meals included muffins and fruit to start, orange juice, and our plates had bacon, sausage, fried french toast with the blueberry topping and eggs. Princesses in attendance were Mary Poppins, Snow White (the worst Snow White I ever saw, had this really high fake princess voice), a great Aurora and Belle.

Something I haven't discussed, at each restaurant we ate at that Erin was wearing her button, she received a birthday card signed by our waiter, and sometimes other waiters signed it also. This time, our waiter signed the card, and then Erin had all the princesses sign it also. Pretty sweet. We also received a picture with Cinderella, and for the first time I saw Jok and Gus. Huge fan of Gus Gus.

FAVORITE STORY OF THE TRIP: Okay, in 2006, Erin and I celebrated our anniversary at Disney World with Conner and my mom. We had breakfast with Cinderella and had David as our waiter. You can see David on some of the dvd's, don't remember if they were the free ones or the ones you buy in the store. Anyway, he asked how many 9's are between 1 - 100 (hint, more than 10). I was off by a couple, which shocked him because of a few some people forget, but I was wrong nonetheless. So he gave Erin a wishing star, this button that twinkles. He told her to make a wish. Later that day, Erin told me her wish was to have another baby. Brodie arrived 11 months later. After telling David the story, he had a huge smile on his face and patted my back everytime he saw me. We have a picture of David with the boys. No time to add pictures to the trip report while on the trip, I'll make sure I do it when I get home.

After breakfast, it was crazy busy at the Magic Kingdom. The one thing my little family doesn't do is crowds. Our first ride was Snow White, I can't remember the last time I went on it. It was pretty awesome. I like how long the ride was. Disneyland's seems so compact to the huge presentation the Disney Worlds had. I was impressed and gave it a huge two thumbs up.

We got a fastpass for Peter Pan and headed over to see the Fairies. 90 minute wait, but it was out of the sun and we could relax. An hour later, we got in to see the fairies. It was worth the wait. Far different than Disneyland, the entree way to see the fairies is where you "shrink" down. Fairies can be seen flying around in the trees (little sparkling lights). As you got farther down the hallway, the bugs and the trees got bigger, and there were two huge ladybugs, which Conner thought was way cool.

Entering Pixie Hollow, there were only three families allowed in. Which gave us a huge opportunity to talk and "play" with the fairies. It was really a one on one experience that was well worth the hour wait. Photopass was positioned at each fairy, and we got tons of pictures. Tinker Bell attacked Conner with a sword we got at breakfast. The three fairies were extremely playful and kind, Disney did an awesome job with this little attraction. Now if they can just get rid of all the complaining adults in the line everything would be fine in the world.

We rode on Pooh which was fun. Finally saw the picture of Mr. Toad, which was sweet. The ride was fun, but the boys were starting to drag. We headed over to Peter Pan where, once again, I had the same opinion as Snow White, well spread out and a lot more presentation, or bang for your buck. I just don't understand Fast Pass in Fantasyland, they need to shut those units down. It really screws up the flow of the line.

We headed out to Main Street and saw the Celebration thing they have on Main Street (Jeremy: Not a Parade; Erin: If it has floats, it's a parade. Jeremy: Still not a parade). I changed Brodie in the child services where the bench had a cushion, I think Brodie almost fell asleep on it. At City Hall, Erin got her gift certificate for her birthday. Okay, we tried to get it at City Hall, but they said no, we had to go to Will Call so we left the park and headed over there, where she actually received the card. We then hopped on a boat to Fort Wilderness.

This is where the fun really started. First, we went to the outpost to get snacks (Crunch Nips (Ice cream things), chips, cheese dip, soda, water, and chocolate milk). We sat on rocking chairs and enjoyed our snacks. Then we headed over to the Sea Raycer docks and rented two, Conner with me and Brodie with Erin. We had to back out of the docks because the front boat wouldn't start.

Erin and Brodie took off. As soon as they got to top speed, Brodie fell asleep. He awoke when she slowed down to go over the road, and then went back to sleep when she reached the Grand Floridian side.

When Conner and I took off, Conner told me not to go fast. I said okay, but went fast anyways, to thunderous applause and laughter. His favorite part: Turning. So I turned a lot. On the Grand Floridian side, some waves combined into one massive one, and we took off into the air, and I landed on my tail bone pretty hard. It hurt, but sent Conner and I into fits of laughter. 45 minutes just wasn't long enough.

After boating, we took a walk down to the other Outpost where we got more to drink (we were pretty burned from our little boat ride). We walked by some massive construction, looks like they are finally going to get the pool the camping ground deserves. What is this? Outside the outpost was the bike barn, with canoes. I'm thinking OH YEAH. Erin is thinking, not too much fun. So we headed over there and for a half hour, it cost us 15 bucks. Again, Conner was with me, Brodie was with Erin again. Both boys were at the head of the canoe, which was really cute. Brodie sat there, Conner tried rowing, but was more of a drag than a rower. We headed out past ducks and other wild life. It was relaxing and awesome. Well, kind of relaxing, I have no upper body strength and my arms really had a work out.

So what did Erin think? She just walked by me as I type this and asked if we had time tomorrow, she wants to go back and do it again. Guess we're heading back .

After the canoe trip, I mean canoe race because there was another family out there the same time we were and they wanted to race back. They won, they also had three rowers each to our one. We then headed to Hoop Dee Doo. We got our picture taken and people talked about our shirts. My shirt had Beaker and Dr Honeydew "My wife is turning 30", Conner had Rhino and Brodie had Stitch "My mom is turning 30", and Erin had Tinker Bell "I'm turning 30". The wives and mom's loved them, men just shook their head. I couldn't complain, they were my idea and surprised Erin quite a bit.

The show was great. It's our 5th time seeing it. The blonde looked a lot older than we think the character asks for, but she was awesome. Just not as ditsy. The two male leads, not counting the big funny one, were the same as last time. And the bigger, cornier male was brilliant. I think he really added to some of the improv that happened last night. At times, the whole cast was laughing and couldn't move on with the show. For me, that makes the event. They also had Erin stand up to say she was celebrating her 30th. To my amazement, only one family was celebrating their anniversary. Usually there's more. For all of you that haven't been there, the meal was the same: all you can eat corn bread, beans, salad, ribs, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and Strawberry Shortcake.

After Hoop Dee Doo, we took a carriage ride. On the ride our horse got spooked and for a second, we weren't sure what was going on, but everything was cool. We saw two armadillo's on the trip, to the amazement of Conner who thought they were chowchillas. Brodie kept wanting to pet the horse, and kept making horse sounds, talk about cute stuff. Erin and the driver talked quite a bit, I relaxed and took pictures.

Our original plan was pizza and a bike ride at Riverside, but we were told that bike rides end at sundown, so we nixed that ride. We also cancelled our viewing of the Space Shuttle, which has been postpones until Sunday. I was really bummed about this one. I've always wanted to see a shuttle launch.

Instead, we took the boat to the Contemporary (beautiful sunset, pinks and purples) and then the monorail to the TTC and drove back to our room. Erin decided she wanted to go swimming, and the boys and I didn't eat too much at Hoop Dee Doo. We go for the show, not the food. So we headed down to Mara where: Conner and Brodie shared Mac N Cheese, I got a double bacon Cheese Burger, and Erin dined on peanut M&M's and a Krispy treat.

At this point, Brodie was going crazy. He almost pulled out a bottle of wine, but we were able to stop him before it went too crazy. So I ate and then took him back to the room while Conner and Erin swam. Erin said the water was too cold and followed behind us about 10 minutes later.

Besides Brodie taking his diaper off and running around naked instead of going to bed, things are pretty quiet here. Tomorrow is our big Epcot day. Breakfast at Norway, lunch in Germany. Then we are supposed to head over to the Magic Kingdom to catch SpectroMagic. Lots to do, probably another day with no nap. We'll see. See you all later.

[jodylynn]

Pat and I went to Cinderella's breakfast on our trip last December. The best part was having the Princesses come around and I got to have my picture taken with each one, we even had Jasmine join us that day. Our waiter gave me a wishing star wand and Pat a sword, which we still have.

My wish came true later that day when he proposed while we sat near the Castle. It was the best day ever!

We also went to see Hoop De Doo and had the best time. When they sing the song that brings out dinner and they drop the pots on the table, Pat's plate was the first one that went bang! We both jumed, but had the greatest time. Thanks for telling about all the stuff there is to do at Wilderness Lodge, we didn't know. Have to check it out on our next trip.

I know how you feel about leaving, you never know when you are going to get back there.

[MouseRunner]

Hey friends, first thank you all who have kept with us the whole trip. I was amazed that so many actually read about our little trip.

The trip is coming to a close and frankly, I'm exhausted. So tonight I'm going to give a list of things we did, and then go into detail when we get back. Tomorrow, it's almost a full day with us flying out at 6 o'clock pm, so I'll write that either on Sunday or at work on Monday.

We woke up and headed to Epcot:

Breakfast at Norway (waiter was Knut, pronounced Kunut, and was an on going joke for the day, but the guy was awesome). Princesses: Belle, Jasmine, Aurora and Mulan.

Rode Nemo (Brodie loves fish), Living with the Land (best quote ever, took a picture), Figment, played around with the games in the back, took a picture on a green screen, pasted in an Epcot photo, Spaceship Earth. Spaceship Earth stopped once for about 5 minutes, and a second time for less than one.

Had lunch in Germany, got to know two older couples who were impressed with the boys. Finally got to see the band that plays in there, they were really good. Conner LOVED the food. Afterwards, we caught Off Kilter. Those guys rock. They played Run Run Away, one of my favorite songs, and Conner and I clapped and sang.

We then rode the trolley bikes over at the Boardwalk. The second hill was a doosy, and I don't think I would have been able to do it a second time, but we did. I really felt the backside after that ride. Brodie loved it, and we got a photopass photographer to take our picture. Can't wait to see that photo, but boy was I glad he was there. We also passed a loan biker, who got the boys to ring the bell every time we passed.

We headed to the monorail and to the Magic Kingdom. We got fastpasses for Jungle Cruise and Erin and Brodie went to ride Pirates (Conner is scared to death of that ride). Conner and I climbed the Swiss Family Treehouse and then got in an extremely long line at Aladdin's carpet ride, which only lasted 10 minutes!! Shocking. Why? They told you which aisle to stand in, and that aisle was the number of the carpet you rode. No screwing around, you went straight to the carpet, rode, got off. That simple, they should really do that with Dumbo. Right before we got on the ride, Erin and Brodie showed up and Brodie got on with us.

Quick side note, Brodie has a tooth coming in and is using us all as teething toys. Conner got bit quite a bit today.

After Aladdin, we saw the Tiki Room, which was okay. Brodie enjoyed it. Then we rode Jungle Cruise. It seemed like our skipper was yelling into the mike, instead of just giving her speal. But she was enjoyable. Brodie wasn't too sure of the whole thing.

Spectromagic was next. We sat by one family who laid out a huge area and did not want to move, even for children, and on the other side was a lone mother and her child. She followed Erin and Conner to the bathroom and I watched her stuff. When they got back, I got Peco's Bills for dinner (french fries and cheese sauce, yummy). The single mom asked how long the line was (none for the order by computer which was sweet) so she headed off. 2 minutes before the parade started, she popped out and they were telling her to walk the long way, with a tray of food and a child on a leash. So I took off running to help her with the food. When we got to our spot, two older ladies helped her with the drinks and we scooted our strollers over to let two more children sit. Oh, and that family of four did not move a muscle the whole time. There's one thing I believe in, kids should be up front and the adults should be in the back. I hate adults who demand to be in front of kids, especially when all they have to do is kneel to look over them. Oh well.

Parade was great. We took off to the monorails and watched some of the fireworks on the ride. Back at Epcot, we rode the Grand Fiesta Tour twice, Erin was hoping to get a margarita but it was closed. Then we did some shopping so we could pack tonight.

The boys slept while we shopped, slept all the way home, slept while we used some of our snack coupons (still have 14 left), and are asleep as I pack. Tomorrow, we hope to get Conner a haircut at the Barber shop, but we'll see. See you all on Sunday or Monday, hopefully our trip home will be a good one.