2 sisters, 4 kids, in one room!

[december]

Tue 6/1
AK (GAD FP-had debated this one, but not having to run around the park collecting FPs at every window will be nice)
Dinner at WCC at 5:25


I didn't make notes during the trip, so I don't know exact times or details!

I wasn't too worried about rope drop today, because we were up late the night before, and we had GAD vouchers for FPs. We got to the bus stop about 9, and got seats on the bus with no problems. But at POR, there are 4 stops, so by the time the bus headed towards AK it was packed! We had no problems exchanging dd10's GAD voucher for 5 FP cards. There were huge lines at the turnstyles (around 10 by now) so we headed into RFC, walked through, and went through the turnstyle there with no wait.

We went straight to the Safari, used an instant FP, and got regular FPs for later (which we didn't use). Then we did the Pangani trail, which was already crowded. Then we headed to Asia, and did EE (me and the kids) with an instant FP, and got a childswap for later. My sister had been ok with AK, thought it was beautiful, but started complaining about watching Katie while I rode with the older kids. We had talked about it, how the kids would get 2 rides and we would take turns, but she griped the rest of the trip about being "used." That got to me more than anything else on the trip. I was bending over backwards to make her happy, and watching my baby for a few min while I had her son was just too much for her.

She didn't want to do EE, so we got lunch at Flame Tree. We all enjoyed the food here. My sister got the pulled pork sandwich, and said it was the best she ever had. My nephew got chicken and liked it. My son got ribs, and devoured them! Dd10 got the half chicken, and I got the fruit plate. Then all 4 (including the baby) of us shared. We sat by the water and watched the ducks. This was a wonderful meal. After that, we did the animal trails in Asia while our food settled.

Next we headed to Kali. We got GAD FPs, even though FP was not enabled on Kali that day. The wait was 50 min! We used C/S, and I let her go first while I found a quiet spot and nursed Katie. She said she enjoyed the ride, but told me that people were making ugly comments when they walked through. I had heard reports on the Dis about people in standby lines doing this, but had never really experienced it. We immediately rode again with the C/S, while my sister watched Katie nap in the stroller. And yes, people were complaining! I was asked several times as we walked through how I got passes (I'm sure my kids had passed the same people twice), and people were making comments as we walked by. I almost didn't use the GADs this day, but I'm so glad I did!

She still didn't want to do EE, so I took the older kids back on. I gave her a map and sent her to Dinoland to wait on us. My nephew loved EE and Kali-EE was his favorite ride of the week. It is also my ds12's favorite.

****Note on C/S (childswap): It is good for 3 people. There were 4 that wanted to ride again (1 adult and 3 kids). They never took the FP from the person waiting to ride-only the 4 from the people riding the 1st time. So my son used that 5th FP to ride again, while the adult and 2 other kids used the C/S.


We met up in Dinoland, and I got GADs for my sister and the older kids to ride Dinosaur. She was whining about keeping the baby again, and it was getting late, so I just took the baby to ride Triceratops Spin. We rode 3 times in a row while waiting on them, and I gave away our GAD cards to a random family.

We headed over to see the Lion King show, and the bottom fell out! It stormed, and we all got soaked. The show was awesome as always, and Katie loved it! I told my sister we had a few min to shop (all she really wanted to do) and then we had to leave. We had WCC adrs at 5:20.

We got on the bus to Wilderness Lodge looking like drowned rats. We got there with time to spare, cleaned up a little in the restroom, and headed to a great meal. This place was fun. I didn't have to worry about Katie making noise, because everyone here was loud. Ds12 got the ribeye, and said it was almost as good as his daddy's, and the rest of us got the skillet. The cornbread was delicous! They brought Katie milk, and she shared everything on the skillet with us. We took our dessert to go-way too much food!

We tried to get this meal for later in the week, to replace CM's since Katie did not react well to characters, but no luck. We will go back here on our next trip to WDW.

We took the bus back to MK, and then a bus back to POR. It was still early, so my sister took the big kids swimming while I bathed and nursed Katie and got the room a little more organized.

This was a good day overall. Everyone was happy with AK, we had 2 great meals, and dn7 got to swim

 

[harleyquinn]

I don't understand why people can be so rude. It's not like the CMs would let anyone cut by using the FP line, so everyoene should just assume that someone is in the line for a reason or eventually a CM will kick them out. Being rude with so many children present is so annoying!

Sounds like it wasn't too bad of a day...was it super hot? You got a lot done!

 

[december]

It wasn't too bad until the weekend-the rain kept it a little cooler. You have to remember that I live in MS, so my heat tolerance is different than most! It is already getting into the upper 90s here-after a miserably cold winter.

The GAD FPs were so awesome! There really was no need for touring plans-we rode things as we came to them, and worked in the shows.

****Try to get seats right behind the handicapped benches at the Lion King. dd10 and dn7 were both picked to be in the show for the finale. Dd10 was also picked for our last trip in 2007. They had so much fun parading around with the actors. It was one of the few things my nephew enjoyed.

 

[december]

Wed 6/3
Epcot (GAD FP)
Dinner at GG at 4:35


My kids love Epcot. It is dd10's favorite park, and Test Track is her favorite ride. I had another half day planned here, but canned it after my sister's reaction. I regret it, because my kids got the short end of the deal. I hadn't planned to go back until 2013, but now I'm thinking I will try to save for Christmas 2011, depending on the school calendar. If we get out the week before Christmas, I'm there!

I wanted to do ropedrop, even though we had GADs. That didn't work out of course. When it was just me and the kids in 2007, we were at the parks by 8:20 every morning. This trip the only time we made ropedrop was the day I took the girls to CRT and left the others in bed.

We got in the park about 9:20, and headed to The Seas. With GADs, we didn't have to worry about the Soarin' dash. We rode Nemo with no wait, walked straight into Turtle Talk (which my nephew said was "boring"). I had planned to take our time and tour the pavilion, but they weren't interested (still should have done it-spent too much time this trip trying to make them happy).

So then we headed to the Land. We rode Living with the Land, then got regular and GAD FPs for Soarin'. I let my sister go with the kids first, and nursed Katie. I just knew they would love Soarin'-nope. It was labeled as "ok." I rode with the kids (c/s), and then we ate at Seasons. Very good CS here! Next time, we will just get the quick service plan!

I meant to get salmon, but for some reason when I ordered I got 3 chicken plates? I was letting my frustration get to me! I got mashed potatoes and rice for sides, to see which Katie would like. She ate both, and some chicken, too. And the strawberry shortcake for dessert was delicious.

Next we headed to Test Track. We got GADs, and C/S, and I let my sister ride first. Then I rode with the kids. We had 2 in front and 2 in back, and they put this really fun gay couple in with us. They had never rode before, and made the ride so much more fun! I tried to tell my sister about it when we got off, but she was mad that a gay couple rode with her son.

Next we did Mission Space, with GADs. I took Katie to the play area to wait. And waited. And waited.......The ride broke down with them inside. They were stuck looking at blank monitors for 20 min! NOT fun! We let the kids play for about 30 min while we waited for the ride to come back up. They needed a break. I had no interest in getting back on POR busses and trying to get to the room for a break. So we just took our time here.

When the ride came back up, I let her go with the kids first again. They had gotten a pass for up to 5 people for either Mission Space, Living with the Land, or Maelstrom for being stuck, and I gave it to a nice couple I was waiting with. Again, there was no way to use all the FPs we had! Then I rode with the kids.

By this time, my sister was being very vocal about her hatred of Epcot. I talked to my kids, and we decided to add another AK day instead of a 2nd Epcot day. They weren't happy about it, but they were also trying to keep the peace. So we had to work in some of the things that we were going to do the 2nd day.

We did TT again, and since she didn't want to ride, I rode with the kids twice (still got the C/S). Then we walked on Spaceship Earth. We had barely enough time to get to our adr at Garden Grill. I asked for a booth, but was told the wait would be 40 min, so we took a table.

I was hoping Katie would do better with the characters, but she didn't. She screamed if they came close. And my sister and her son didn't like any of the food. It wasn't as good as I remembered, but not as bad as they thought it was. I really liked the sweet potato fries on the kids' menu.

 

[december]

Dh just came in with a newspaper. 2 of my former students, 2 that I was really close to, were arrested in a drug bust. A big drug bust. I feel sick, and can't stop crying. I have too many of my "babies" in jail, for drugs, even for murder. What turns these sweet kids into criminals?

 

[december]

After a less than pleasant meal, my sister and the kids rode Soarin' again. We didn't have time for me to ride if we were going to see World Showcase, so we headed out. We did walk on Figment on the way. I thought my sister would like World Showcase, but she didn't. She didn't want to go in any of the shops, so we just walked around.

We did stop in Japan, and dd10 and I did Pick a Pearl. It was so much fun! I let dd10 pick both oysters, and pick the pearl she wanted. They made a big deal over her, and was one of the best parts of the trip.

We continued around, and stopped again to ride Maelstrom. My sister and her son both had these looks on their faces of misery the whole time, and I was ready to scream. We didn't stop to ride in Mexico. I just wanted to get dd10 back to Test Track for one more ride before we left, and it was about 8:30 at this point. A storm was coming up, and my sister wanted to just leave. I told her no-I had promised one more ride since she was giving up her 2nd day at Epcot.

I knew it was a long shot, that the ride would shut down for bad weather, but we headed in with our last GADs. We gave away some Soarin' FPs on the way in. They stopped the ride right before we got on, and the weather got really bad. We ended up making a run for it and hiding out, soaking wet, in MouseGears. I had to listen to my sister go on and on about how we should have left. I had all I could take, and told her that my life is for my kids, that this was for them, and that dd10 was already giving up a lot for her. She said I was better than her, because she did what she wanted, not what her son wanted (already saw that). We separated to shop, and ds12 got a bad nose bleed. Someone had a seizure in the store, and paramedics had to come. It was chaos. We were all soaked when we got back to the room. We sat separately on the bus, and I told my sister to go ahead and we'd catch up when we got to POR. We sat down on a bench and talked about how this was our trip, and that we were going to enjoy it in spite of the others.

This was NOT a good day

 

[december]

Thu 6/4
Off-DTD and swimming, laundry day!
Lunch at TRex at 11 (planning to take the boat to DTD)


I paid for internet that night, and stayed up most of the night looking at changing plans. I knew what I had down wasn't working. About 3, my sister started vomiting, and then her son. I got up with him and cleaned him up as best as I could. Obviously they couldn't go to DTD, and my kids and I really needed some alone time anyway.

We went fishing for awhile that morning at the fishing hole, then took the boat to DTD. Katie LOVED TRex. She liked the noise, and the food was really good. It was our best meal of the trip, but that may be because it was just us. We talked and de-stressed and made up our minds to have fun. We did some shopping after, then fished again when we got back to POR (by boat again).

Dn7 was feeling better when we got back. We all changed into swimsuits, and I gathered up all the laundry. My sister was still really sick, and I just wanted her to be able to sleep. We headed to the pool, put the clothes in the washer, jumped in the water......and a storm came up! We swam for about 5 min. I didn't want to go back to the room with my sister, so we just stayed in the laundry room. The kids had so much fun! They played games, danced around, and just let off steam. We washed and dried 3 loads before heading back to the room about an hour later. While there my nephew informed me that his mama said they were going home if she could figure out how to get there.

I took all the kids to dinner at POR (CS), which was good. Then we swam for about an hour. We got in bed early and I got online and finalized some new plans. There was no way we could do EMH at DHS the next morning, and the weather didn't look good either. The only thing they were interested in was AK. So I made an adr at Tusker House (and dropped SciFi). I didn't know that a lunch at Tusker House at certain times gave you reserved seating for Nemo. That got dd10's attention. And I canceled our CM for Sat and made a late lunch at Planet Hollywood.

 

[cmskok]

I am so sorry that your trip isn't as magical as you were hoping it would be. In theory, travelling with family should be fun, but I can assure you that from my experience as well, my kids actually suffer when family comes...we cherish our alone time. It is tough when people don't share the Disney magic that us Disers do. Then again, "make-up" trips are really fun to plan!!!

 

[hotveggy]

Sorry your trip wasn't as you expected. We went with my MIL and 3 BILs in January 2008. They didn't complain, but they relied on me to plan EVERYTHING!! and then when they wanted to swim and DH and I wanted to do parks they got mad that we left them at the hotel.

I don't think travelling with family can ever be easy!

Would love to see some pics from your trip!

 

[december]

I'm waiting on photopass pics. We relied on Disney for most pics, since I had my hands full! I was in a share, but hopefully we'll get our discs soon.

 

[Minnie&Nana]

I just read through the thread and feel terrible for you. Impressed by how you were able to go back to the POR room every night with them, then find a way to look forward to the next day.

The really bright side is the upgrade to the Tower MK view... think it was good Karma repaying your patience!!

Fingers crossed for a trip soon to make up for this one. Bless their hearts, your kids sound like real troopers!

Looking forward to pics.

 

[december]

Thanks-my kids are awesome! I had told them we were going to make this a great trip for my sister, so we'd have someone to travel with. After this, I said forget it! We'll just travel alone. I love being with my kids-don't know why I thought bringing other would be more fun.

Next summer ds12 wants to go to Universal for a few days, just the 2 of us. I'm hoping I'll be able to leave the baby (she'll be 2 by then) and give him his wish. He does a lot for his sisters. He'll be 14 then (13 next month), so I know I won't have too much more time before he thinks he is grown!

So of course, dd10 has picked out her trip for her 14th birthday-she wants to do DL and tour Hollywood. Sounds good to me!

I want to do a cruise, too. Disney of course. So many plans, so little money...........

 

[harleyquinn]

All of those trips sound wonderful!!

Sounds to me like your sister got sick with the Karma bug! lol

Is there a reason you didn't just tell them to go do whatever they wanted to do? I know I tried to do that on my mother/daughter trip with my mom that was a disaster. She refused to be seperated from me, because she was afraid she would get lost. It was so frustrating.

Any future family trips I will be clear that there will be a lot of seperation!

 

[december]

I tried to get her to go and do what she wanted, but she wouldn't! She just wanted to complain about our plans I guess. By Friday, she was leaving early every day to go an swim. That is when my Disney magic started coming back-early in the week I thought she had cured me of my addiction. By the end of the week I was thinking of my next trip!

I had told her that she could use her room key for the dining plan and to get into the parks, but she really wouldn't venture out on her own until the end.

 

[december]

Fri 6/5
DHS for SWW (GAD FP)
Lunch at SciFi at 12:55 (late due to SW parade at 11:40)

Those were our plans, but we switched to
AK (no GAD) w/ 1:10 lunch at Tusker House, reserved seating for Nemo included

This is the morning that I quit trying to make them happy. I wanted to make rope drop since we weren't using GADs today. We got to the bus stop at 8:20. GREAT! Um, not so great. I had asked them 3 or 4 times if they had everything, went through a check-backpacks, park tickets, money, etc. We had been waiting for about 5 min, when dn7 says "where is my backpack?" Of course, it was in the room. I had double checked my kids' stuff-can't really figure out why she couldn't check hers? So I asked if they really needed any of it-she gets mad and starts yelling that her stuff is in it too.

So she starts walking, in slow motion (I kid you not-she is almost 6 ft tall and took the slowest shortest steps-almost like she was doing it to piss me off) to the room. We sat there and let 2 buses come and go, and then she came walking back in slow motion. I was so mad-and never saw her open that bag the rest of the day. I wish I had told her to take her son and meet us at AK, but I didn't.

We went through RFC again-no one else was there. Never wait at a crowded gate at AK! AK was almost empty-I would have been so mad if we had used GADs here today. We did the Safari and saw tons of animals. We did EE, walk-on. Then we did Kali, twice. She didn't want to ride anything (still felt weak). But she was still mad about keeping Katie? Her son was getting to ride-wouldn't that be enough for most people? We walked right on, then circled around and did it again. I got wetter than I ever have! But it was hot, so didn't really feel too bad to be wet.

She was mad when we got off the 2nd time because Katie was awake. We went to the Flights of Wonder show, and I nursed Katie there. My nephew is scared to death of bugs, so we were avoiding ITTBAB. But he saw the signs and wanted to go. We did, and they didn't like it. I tried to tell them.....Then we went to eat. I enjoyed lunch. My nephew enjoyed it because he was able to make his own PB & J, and got a donut for dessert. Here they gave Katie a coffee type cup top, instead of a straw, which worked out so much better for us. I hadn't even thought about using that kind of lid. She really enjoyed this meal-none of those pesky characters sneaking up on her!

 

[december]

At lunch my sister said they were going back to the hotel to swim. I told her I had the Nemo tickets for the 3:15 show, but she didn't want to stay. I got her to let us ride EE one more time, then they left. We walked right on Safari with no wait. Then we went to the Nemo show, which was really good! I'm so glad we went back this day, or we wouldn't have seen it. The lines are always so long, but the Tusker House lunch tickets let you show up 15 min early and go in a separate entrance. All 3 kids (and me) really enjoyed it!

We went to Lion King show, then spent some time at the Oasis, just looking around. I called my sister and told her we were going to eat at POR foodcourt, and she met us there. Then we all went to the quiet pool to swim, and packed for our move to CR.

 

[december]

Sat 6/5
Move to CR, breakfast at CRT at 8:10 for just me, dd10, and dd1
*we plan to ride Dumbo and meet the fairies after breakfast, then do some girly stuff!
MK (GAD) meet up with my sister and the boys around 11am
Dinner at CM at 5:05


Those were the plans. But I dropped CM after Katie's response to characters, and I added a late lunch at Planet Hollywood. It seemed to have a more extensive menu than the others, and that elusive ribeye my son loves so much.

My girls and I got up bright and early, and were at MK at 7:45. There was a bus arriving right when we walked out of POR, so our timing was great. This was Gay Day at MK, and there were some couples in red already there for early breakfasts. Not a problem for us, I was actually happy to see that the fuss really was overblown, but my sister was going to be another story later.....

We had a great breakfast at CRT, and Katie LOVED the face characters. Cinderella was great in the lobby. We got a window seat with a glorious view of an empty Fantasyland. Snow White was the 1st to come around, and gave Katie a big red kiss. we also saw Ariel (nice surprise!), Aurora, and Belle. Katie was given a free meal, with mik and french toast sticks. She didn't like them, but ate a ton of my pastries and eggs. We had a really good time here.

We left the stroller parked at the castle, and headed out to rope drop at Fantasyland. This part of the park was empty, and we were among the first on Dumbo that morning. Then we did Snow White, Peter Pan (got FPs for later), and Its a Small World. Katie LOVED this ride. So much to see!

At 9:40, we were at the Toontown rope. The sign says ropedrop is at 10, but it is really at 9:45. We were the 3rd family to see the fairies, and were out on the street by 10am! We looked around Mickey and Minnie's houses, then took the train to Frontierland. We were looking for Tiana, and finally found her behind the Christmas Shoppe. This was a great character interaction. They spent tons of time with each child. Katie was asleep in the Ergo, but Dd10 loved meeting them.

We went back and got the stroller, and headed out to meet the others. We got some ice cream on the way out, and sat on the curb on Main Street and watched the parade (several times a day-not sure about the name). We talked to and got pics with some of the main street characters. Main Street had become a sea of red at this point (around 10:30?), but nothing inappropriate that I saw. There were some cute shirts (like a female couple - one shirt said I'm with Princess Charming, and the other said I'm with my Cinderella), and a few guys holding hands.

Today was hot! I was ready for a break from the heat.

I had left money for my sister to take the boys fishing. She did, and of course complained about this, too. But the boys enjoyed it. She called bell services to get our bags and move them to the CR around 10, then they went to the arcade to meet us.

 

[december]

I had told her that she could use her card to get them food, that we had an extra meal (from when she was sick) and a ton of snacks that would expire at midnight. But they had eaten nothing! It was late now, so I really didn't want ds12 to eat since I knew he wanted a ribeye for lunch. We got on the boat for DTD, and got off at the marketplace. At this time, I had no idea how far it was to Planet Hollywood!

We shopped for about an hour, and all 3 older kids built light sabers. My nephew had souvenir money from several relatives, but she was so strict on how he spent it. I had to talk her into letting him do this. Then we headed to PH. It was really loud here, and Katie had gone to sleep in the stroller on the way. There was a stepdown inside, and I didn't want to have to get her out. I asked to make sure we could take her in the stroller, and they told me they'd find a place with room.

This was another pixie dust moment. We got seats in this little hut area. I don't know how else to explain it. It was like a little closed off room, just enough room for the table and chairs, and the stroller. The doorway was open, but it was just enough out of the way to give us some privacy. It was a nice relaxing meal.

I got a strip steak, which was good. Ds12 got his ribeye. I don't remember what the kids got (chicken and pizza maybe) and my sister got fajitas. They looked delicious, but she said they were awful. I didn't taste them, but wonder.......Katie slept until the end, but woke up to eat some mashed potatoes. I asked about using the package voucher for something for her, but was told I couldn't use at the same time I used the dining plan.

Everyone enjoyed this meal but my sister. And when we walked out, we saw that there were busses right there! We got on a bus to the CR, and the pixie dust continued.....

 

[december]

We got to the CR, and were told that we had been upgraded to MK view in the tower, which was awesome! The only reason I had even booked CR was the 40% off code, and I had booked the cheapest rooms in the Garden Wing. The room was so nice! Huge, and the view was astonishing. We called bell services, and our bags were there, so we had them sent up. We unpacked some then headed to MK, where we traded our GAD vouchers for FPs. Walking to MK was awesome!

It was more of the same. We rode Big Thunder walk on (no c/s-she didn't want to ride), Splash with GADs and C/S (so 2 rides for the kids). I rode 1st, then took Katie to Peter Pan and used FPs I had gotten that morning. We met at Philharmagic (they didn't like it either) and I gave her Pooh FPs we had picked up that morning to use with Katie while we rode Space. She didn't even like Pooh. We met at Buzz, and she and dn7 finally liked something!

We ate supper at CRs. Dn7 wanted something from another line, but she made him get a hotdog from the line she was in. And made him get water to drink. It was packed, and a cm helped me find a table. When I turned around, she and dn7 had gone to another table. Fine, I was so tired of the attitude by now anyway. So my kids and I watched Sonny Eclipse and had fun. Dn7 didn't touch his food, because it wasn't what he wanted! Then they went back to the room.

My kids and I stayed and did Buzz 2 more times, then found a place to watch the fireworks and 2nd parade. They were really good! This was the preview night for the summer nightastic stuff, and it was worth fighting the crowds to see! My sister and nephew did enjoy the fireworks from the room, which was good. They took the monorail and were back to the room in less than 10 min from the time they left us. I could be spoiled in a hurry if I could afford to be a deluxe snob!

 

[december]

After the fireworks, we had about 40 min to use a CS credit and a ton of snack credits. We went in a packed bakery, and I was able to get a huge brownie, a huge cinammon roll, and a bottled diet coke for the snack credit. I got more cokes, and the kids got candy, with the snack credits. No use wasting them!

We got back to the room a little after midnight. Katie was wiped out. I nursed her on the monorail, and the whole way to the room). We got the queen bed that night! Ds12 got the blow up bed, and dd10 got the daybed. We slept like rocks!