Party of 13 in the Most Magical Place on Earth a March 2018 trip Update: 7/23/2018

Sounds like a very productive and fun day!! I'm sure that lazy river felt like heaven!! ::yes::

The lazy river was amazing. The weather was decent at this point in the trip. Afternoons in the 80s. That is not swimming weather in Kansas, but with the heated pools, the pools in Florida felt good.

Typical!

Also, hello fellow Early Childhood Educator!

Hey! I just love early childhood. I just found your report. Your early childhood job sounds interesting.

impatiently waiting for the next day report...and I was even on this trip. lol

:rotfl2:
 
Yum- I love the Grey Goose slushie! you did so well on your EPCOT day! great pictures!
 


Hollywood Studios Pt 1
Today we were up bright and early. We had one mission...to get 4 Jedi hopefuls signed up for Jedi training. Trent and Brody did this on our last trip. Ronan and Annabelle were not old enough. They all wanted to do it this time. Trent is 11, so this is the last year he can participate.

Brett and Haley's family were doing the Star Wars VIP tour. Brett is a huge Star Wars fan, so I know he was really looking forward to this. They had to check-in at 7:45. Park was scheduled to open at 9. They left the condo before us.

My parents would be joining us today. It was their 42nd wedding anniversary. We made sure they had buttons to wear! They did not leave as early as we did, but they did meet up with us at the park.

We left the condo around 7:30. Wyndham Bonnet Creek is located right next to Caribbean Beach Resort, so Hollywood Studios is a short drive. We were in the first line of cars parking in the parking lot. We were to the front gates at 7:45. We were second in line to the left. We were next to the pre-park reservation line.

IMG_6561 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

I will mention that this was our first trip without a kid in diapers. We had decided that we wanted to get into the parks each day carrying as little as possible. I had been carrying a cross body Vera Bradley purse with necessities, and then, we packed the bottom of our stroller with snacks and water. We packed our snacks in a clear ziplock bag. We also had a gallon ziplock with first aid stuff, sunscreen, and wipes. This made getting through bag check way easier. The bag check people appreciated the clear bags. Today it was forecasted to rain and even tornado watches. We did bring a backpack with ponchos today.

We were in line plenty early. I checked to make sure where Jedi training sign up was located. It had moved since our last trip, so good thing I asked.

While we were waiting in line, Daisy Duck came out and waved to all of the people waiting in line. I lifted Annabelle up so she could see. A CM saw Annabelle waving to Daisy and waved her forward past the ropes. Annabelle went up and had an informal meet and greet.

IMG_6563 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

Daisy walked on, and then out came Donald. Brody had on his Donald hat today. Donald waved him forward, and he got to have a special meet with Donald. At this point, it was 8:24.

IMG_6571 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

IMG_6574 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

They then picked a family to open the park. They had 3 girls, and they were all dressed as Star Wars characters. I couldn't really tell what they did, but they got their pictures with Donald and Daisy and then they started scanning everyone's bands and letting us in. This is when my heart starts racing, trying to get 4 kids bands and fingerprints and rushing to get to Jedi training. I was so flustered, and I'm sure I looked like a nut. Ronan couldn't remember what finger he had used. We finally got in. I threw Annabelle and Ronan in the stroller and headed to sign ups. We walked briskly the whole way. We rounded the corner, and in front of Hollywood and Vine a man was holding a sign for Jedi sign ups. A line formed behind him. He explained the Jedi training sign-up process. They kept stressing that Jedi training is weather permitting and the afternoon had heavy chances of rain. He then walked us over to the sign up "kiosk". I was able to get all 4 kids into the first show at 9:40. Our check-in time was 9:10. I figured with the threat of rain, we better get in early. At this point, it was around 8:45. We thought the whole park was open, so we thought we would try for a ride on Star Tours before our Jedi check-in. The park was in fact not open. Everyone was being held at
the end of the street. We decided to just go back over where check-in was and wait. While we were waiting, my parents showed up.

The kids checked in right at 9:10.

IMG_6576 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

They got their robes

IMG_6578 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

IMG_6579 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

IMG_6581 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

IMG_6582 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

They lined the kids up in two lines and by height. After they got their robes, we decided we better head over to the stage to get our spots to view the show. It turns out one of the lines fights Darth Vader and the other line fights Kylo Ren. My kids were in the Kylo Ren line. They were on the lower stage.

IMG_6593 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr


They learned their moves and then out came Darth and Kylo. Each kid got the chance to fight the dark side.

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_410271102731 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_410271034541 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_410271034516 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr
This pic cracks me up!


Annabelle had been so excited to do this, but when Kylo Ren came out she got scared. The Jedi trainers were awesome. They came over and comforted and helped. She looked terrified and even shed a few tears. I was so proud of her. She fought through and defeated the dark side.

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_410271034519 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_410271034540 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

The dark side defeated we were on to the rest of our day. This show lasted 20 minutes. Our show time was 9:40, which did not interfere with any of our preplanned fast pass times. We felt that Jedi training was definitely worth it. Due to the rain forecast in the afternoon, we thought it best to be safe and do it first thing. It did make it to where we didn't get to do anything else for the first hour the park was open. On a day without rain, I might try for an early afternoon time, when wait times are higher.


 
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I am following along!!! I just read all of your posts so far .

Favorite Food: King Triton's shipwreck al Forno at the Bon Voyage breakfast
I am with him!!! So good. i am still dreaming about it!

This is why my girls don't want to do the Jedi Training.

40763358784_8388ba0e47_z.jpg
Way to go!!!! That is a tough little girl!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!
 


I'm here and made it up to Bon Voyage Breakfast :thumbsup2 Very interested to see the difference in crowds and experience a week before our trip.

The guy had dropped his cell phone, a jump drive, a bottle of Coke, and a cinnamon roll :rotfl2:
The whole thing stinks but.....yeah, weird stuff coming out of his pockets lol! I'm glad they caught him, not surprised to hear that he didn't have insurance :sad2: All in all you guys had a very interesting drive down!

This whole area had changed drastically since the last time we were here.
We were there quite often while they were redoing it and it was interesting watching all the changes take place. I'm still in awe though sometimes when I first get down there, remembering what it used to look like! In some ways I like the new DS, and in others I miss DD.

We hadn't been to Disney since the opening show moved from the train station. I miss the old opening, but understand the need to move it.
I guess I understand, kind of :( However I'm not a fan of the new show. I've watched parts of it while waiting to enter the park but haven't paid close attention; for kids though I'm sure it's still magical!

I was hoping one of their kids would get their name put on the signs. We rode the ride multiple times this trip, and the signs never had anyone's names.
In all the times we've ridden since this feature started we've never had our names there. Tons of times on EE and RnRC but never IASW.

to my favorite underrated attraction Mickey's Philharmagic. I just love this attraction.
I do too and so do my boys! We do it every trip :)

While in the line, I looked on the app to see if there were any more fp available for anything. There was not.
::yes:: Now this is very familiar lol. Although often for MK there was availability after 10 pm, the park being open every night we were there until 11 or 12.

You guys had a great first day! I'll be back to catch up soon.
 
This is why my girls don't want to do the Jedi Training.

Way to go!!!! That is a tough little girl!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

Thanks for joining in! I think Darth Vader is less intimidating. Having 3 big brothers she has to be pretty tough ::yes::

Annabelle was so brave. Kylo is super intimidating though!

She is pretty tough. She doesn't really know who Kylo is. I had prepped her for Darth Vader. He was pretty scary. Yoda is now her hero :rotfl:

You guys had a great first day! I'll be back to catch up soon.

Thanks for joining along!!
 
I have just read your report so far and am really enjoying it. I admire your skills in getting everyone ready and out so early! It's great that you are all together but enjoying things separately as well :goodvibes
 
Just found your report today! Traveling with a big family can be challenging! I think you were wise to spend some time all together and some time with just your immediate family! Looking forward to reading more!

I'm a K teacher in Iowa!
 
Loving your trip report and can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.
Seems like you have a great balance of together time and then your own family time :)
 
I have just read your report so far and am really enjoying it. I admire your skills in getting everyone ready and out so early! It's great that you are all together but enjoying things separately as well :goodvibes

Thank you for joining in! Getting everyone up and out the door was much easier at Disney than it is everyday for school. :rotfl2:I think the way we split up our time worked well for us. The kids never fought, and we got to enjoy Disney with our own families plus extended family.

Just found your report today! Traveling with a big family can be challenging! I think you were wise to spend some time all together and some time with just your immediate family! Looking forward to reading more!

I'm a K teacher in Iowa!

Thanks for joining in. It was nice to have time with just our immediate family, but then have time with the whole extended family. It worked out well. Then, we all got to see and do what our families wanted.

I taught kindergarten for 5 years before moving to ECSE.

Loving your trip report and can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.
Seems like you have a great balance of together time and then your own family time :)

Thanks for joining along. I'm glad we were able to spend our time that way. It made everyone happy.
 
Loved reading about the Jedi Training experience. The pictures were great, and it looks like overall it was a success.

Oh gosh, I get stressed trying to scan one kid's MagicBand. I can't imagine how crazy it must get shepherding 4 through!

How cool that some of your kiddos got an impromptu meet with Daisy and Donald. I'm sure that helped keep them calm while they waited for the park to open.
 
Hollywood Studios Pt 2
We had finished defeating the Dark Side, and our first fast passes of the day were ready to go. We were heading to an attraction that none of us had ever ridden. My kids like rides. Trent enjoys some roller coasters, big thunder, 7 dwarves, and similar rides. Brody doesn't like thrill rides at all. Ronan likes some. He did not enjoy BTMRR but likes 7 dwarves. We found out on this trip Annabelle hates fast rides. So walking toward this ride I knew my kids would probably have PTSD if I made them ride.:rotfl2: We had talked about it in great length before the trip. We had even watched ride videos. They talked to their friends who had ridden it. The younger 3 had given me a hard NO! Trent was still undecided. As we walked up, his mind was made up. He was not riding. The kids and Mimi and Granddad found a bench to sit on, and Peter and I decided to try our fate on Tower of Terror.

We decided to stop for a PP pic to document the occasion.

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_410235005275 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

We scanned our bands and walked into the queue. The theming was great. I knew Brody would love everything about the decor. He would even like the video. I knew Ronan and Annabelle would have been in tears at that point. I was getting anxious. I thought I knew what was going to happen, but the not knowing was making me nervous. :confused3 We weren't in line long and soon we were boarding our elevator. We went up, and I thought this isn't so bad. Then the doors opened, and we started moving through the rooms. I didn't know that happened. I started to get nervous wondering if the floor would just drop out with no warning. Anyway, I was pretty tense, and I knew Peter was probably really cussing me at this point. I was thanking my lucky stars none of the kids were with us. ::yes:: Then we started the drop sequence. My oh my was I thankful when that ended. Overall, I would probably ride the ride again. I would not take my kids on it for awhile. I know a lot of kids ride it and love it. My kids are just not those kids. They would have refused to ride other rides after.

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_8204708449 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

While we were braving TOT, my kids and parents were sitting on a bench lining the street that leads down to TOT. Some street performers came up to them and told them they would give each kid "$10" if they couldn't guess how Annabelle lost her front tooth. I guess that each performer tried to guess. My kids laughed and kept telling them "no". After all of their guesses were up, they gave each kid a play $10 bill. My kids and parents thought this was pretty funny. I was sad we missed out on the fun, but I know it's a memory that my kids and parents share. My dad did take one picture of the interaction.

28701510_1595335203877066_1719984381915230775_o by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

Side note: Annabelle lost the tooth because she took a bowling ball to the face. We went bowling in October 2016. Annabelle was 2 and Miss Independent. She always wants to do everything her brothers do. She was trying to carry her own ball. I was trying to grab the ball. Before I could get to her, she slipped, the bowling ball bounced off the floor and came up and hit her in the mouth as she was falling to the ground. Lots of panic and blood followed. She didn't lose the tooth at that point, but we had to watch for infection. In January 2017, Peter noticed a big bump on her gum above the tooth. Infection had set in. We tried
antibiotic, but the infection was still there. The only option was to pull it. The tooth and root were halfway dead anyway, so out came the tooth. I guess none of the street performers guessed bowling ball to the face.

We reunited with the kids and grandparents and headed toward our next fast pass, Star Tours. I knew all of the kids would ride this one. Annabelle wasn't very happy, but she was riding. Annabelle sat by mom and that probably helped. She didn't love the ride but she tolerated it. She at least didn't scream the entire time like on 7 dmt. The boys of course loved it!

After our tour through the galaxy, the boys were more than ready to build their light sabers. In their words, we had made them wait forever to do this. Brody and Ronan were the only two that were going to be building light sabers. Trent had decided to save his souvenir money for later. There luckily was just a small wait. The boys went through and selected each piece. You get to pick the handle, the connector piece, and the color of light saber. There may be one other thing. I think Brody picked a Hans Solo (ok see I just showed my lack of SW knowldedge. Brody just informed me it is Luke Skywalker's. Hans doesn't even have a light saber :rotfl2:) handle with a green blade, but he wanted the Kylo Ren side blades. Ronan picked the Kylo Ren handle, with side blades, and blue blade. I'm sure there a technical Star Wars terms for this pieces, but I'm not a huge Star Wars fan. What I know is from my brother, husband, and boys. They really enjoyed making these and still play with them now that we are home. They were $29.95 each. We saw multiple places to make them at different parks and Disney Springs.

IMG_6652 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

IMG_6653 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

IMG_6654 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

IMG_6656 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr
After we were done with the light sabers, we were off to Peter's only request for the day...The Indiana Jones Stunt Show for the 12:00 showing. We missed this on our first visit. On our second visit, a cheerleading competition was going on, so the show was closed. I had seen this show when I came as a child when the park was still MGM. I believe Peter saw it when he was younger, too. He really enjoyed the show. I was happy we were able to finally make it to the show. The kids and my parents like it, as well.

After the show, we headed to use our Toy Story Mania FP. My parents were on a bit of a time crunch at this point. The wanted to ride TSMM and make it to the 1:10 showing of Jedi training. Jackson, Avery, and Abby would be in that show. They had guaranteed spots in Jedi Training with their tour.

TSMM is a family favorite. Trent is a huge Toy Story fan. We used to call him Andy when he was little. He carried his Woody doll everywhere. His souvenir he kept looking for on this trip was Bo Beep. He needs her to complete his Tory Story collection. Sadly, we never found her. I'm not very good at this game and don't remember my score. Peter got best in car on our game. Everyone enjoyed the ride. After it was over, we split up from my parents. They rushed over to Jedi training, and we headed to lunch.

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_410241904080 by Katie Remsberg, on Flickr

Up next Hollywood Studios continued
 
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I am really enjoying your trip report. We are a family of 6 as well. 2 boys and a girl like you. We are going in November with my mil and fil and sil with her Dh and two children.
 
My kids are just not those kids. They would have refused to ride other rides after.
I do feel this is key! Not all kids are alike, not even within your own family! My girls have refused to ride TOT and it is def a ride I haven't pushed them to do. My girls would't even like the que.

My dad did take one picture of the interaction.
My husband does the same thing! I will ask him why he didn't take any pictures.

Annabelle lost the tooth because she took a bowling ball to the face.
Oh man! Could you imagine if the CM DID guess that?!? I am sure they did kind of silly strange things and it sounds strange. Poor thing! Will her big tooth still grow in?

In their words, we had made them wait forever to do this.
Was it more like you made them wait forevvvvvveeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr?

They were $29.95 each. We saw multiple places to make them at different parks and Disney Springs.
I kind of wish they only had it in Hollywood Studios. Make it more special. My girls have done it twice now. they are pretty durable. Of course we have a set of Purple light sabers....

After the show, we headed to use our Toy Story Mania FP. My parents were on a bit of a time crunch at this point. The wanted to ride TSMM and make it to the 1:10 showing of Jedi training. Jackson, Avery, and Abby would be in that show. They had guaranteed spots in Jedi Training with their tour.
Such a hard life for your parents! ;) #disneyproblems

TSMM is a family favorite. Trent is a huge Toy Story fan.
We love TWMM as well, we just never get to ride it more than once a trip which is always a little sad.
 
Loved reading about the Jedi Training experience. The pictures were great, and it looks like overall it was a success.

Oh gosh, I get stressed trying to scan one kid's MagicBand. I can't imagine how crazy it must get shepherding 4 through!

How cool that some of your kiddos got an impromptu meet with Daisy and Donald. I'm sure that helped keep them calm while they waited for the park to open.

Yes, everyday scanning all of those bands caused me anxiety. Finally, the reset Ronan's to my fingerprint and that made it easier. I love that a PP photographer captures the entire Jedi Training. We got some great pictures of each kid.

Oh I'm with your kids on the rollercoaster front, they're not for me either.

I'm not a big fan of roller coasters either.

I am really enjoying your trip report. We are a family of 6 as well. 2 boys and a girl like you. We are going in November with my mil and fil and sil with her Dh and two children.

You will have a magical time. It's so great that your kids will get to experience Disney with grandparents and cousins. I truly treasure this time.

Will her big tooth still grow in?

Yes, she will just be toothless for a few more years.

Was it more like you made them wait forevvvvvveeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr?

Yes, exactly. The very dramatic FOREVER!

I kind of wish they only had it in Hollywood Studios. Make it more special.

I convinced them that Hollywood Studios was the best place to build light sabers because it's the real Star Wars store.

We love TWMM as well, we just never get to ride it more than once a trip which is always a little sad.

I wish we could ride more than once. The only time we got to do that was when they had the paper FP system.
 
I am so enjoying your TR. Your family dynamics is awesome.
I was wondering if you got a parking pass when you stayed at Bonnett Creek. You answered my question.
I am thinking of staying there. Who do you contact to make a reservation.
 

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