Thanksgiving with Mickey again...a November 2016 TRIP REPORT! (DONE)

[ariane37]

Hi Dina! I've been meaning to comment but the last week has been crazy I hope you had a good Christmas. I can only imagine what you're going through and I am truly so sorry about your moms health, I just don't know what else to say. I've been thinking about you though
On to happier things, YAY for your next trip booked!!! I hope your VGF WL comes through, that's my next "dream" resort to stay at but since Steve doesn't like to plan far in advance, I don't think we'll ever be able to rent points there lol. We also planned our next trip, just Steve and I, and we're also going in May but the weekend before Memorial Day-18th-22nd. Flights are booked and right now we're booked at Wilderness Lodge, I'm just hoping for a discount to be released because rack rate is a little nuts!

Happy New Year, and all the best to your whole family

 

[kittylady1972]

Hi Dina! I've been meaning to comment but the last week has been crazy I hope you had a good Christmas. I can only imagine what you're going through and I am truly so sorry about your moms health, I just don't know what else to say. I've been thinking about you though
On to happier things, YAY for your next trip booked!!! I hope your VGF WL comes through, that's my next "dream" resort to stay at but since Steve doesn't like to plan far in advance, I don't think we'll ever be able to rent points there lol. We also planned our next trip, just Steve and I, and we're also going in May but the weekend before Memorial Day-18th-22nd. Flights are booked and right now we're booked at Wilderness Lodge, I'm just hoping for a discount to be released because rack rate is a little nuts!

Happy New Year, and all the best to your whole family

No worries at all...I know all about crazy though mine has mostly been at home.

Christmas was good, I did talk to my mom on Christmas day which is a bonus. I talked to my brother since he and his family visited my parents on Christmas Eve and he called to give me an update on her health. She's doing....okay I guess.

I am very excited about our May trip and still haven't pulled the plug on the plane tickets. I read that you booked your return trip for May also...definitely too bad they aren't at the same time! Here's hoping for a discount for you also!

I'm also thinking I want to return next Thanksgiving but haven't booked that either. Since it will most likely just be the five of us for that trip, I'm not as concerned about booking it right away.

 

[kittylady1972]

So life has been busy and I had high hopes that since I was going to be home for a few days I'd get some more trip report knocked it.

Clearly it hasn't happened. Caring for a girl recovering from surgery has kept me plenty busy.

So here's a quick recap of the last week or so...

FRIDAY 12/23: This was our annual Christmas Eve Seafood Feast shopping day. We started out by having lunch at a local hibatchi place and while we enjoy it, seems my husband's family prefers Sakura. It was still good. We left directly from the restaurant to head to the seafood market where we picked up our seven different kinds of seafood for the Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes meal.

SATURDAY 12/24: Spent the morning getting all the seafood ready for dinner that evening, as well as getting the house ready to host the family. It would just be our five, my MIL and FIL, my SIL and the au pair she brought with her, who is from France. Dinner was delicious of course...and way too much food...also of course.

Why my kids are making goofy faces is beyond me! There is my SIL on the left and the au pair on the right closest to me.

Totally blame my husband and his Italian family roots for that. When everybody finally left for the evening, the kids got to open up the traditional ONE gift before Christmas...and it's always PJs from me. My 17yo wouldn't let me post the PJs photo...but here is the before photo:

CHRISTMAS DAY: We had a nice morning at home opening gifts. I actually like that we didn't have much to do in the morning but just do gifts between us. Everybody did very well. The best part was when they had opened almost everything...and they were all quite happy with what they got...and then DH pulled out the 3 identical boxes from Santa that we had hidden behind our couch. We had them open them all at once...as they were TVs for their rooms, something my daughter had been BEGGING for for a while but the boys...not so much. I think they were happy as well, but she will clearly get more use out of hers than they will I'm sure.

Everybody else came over around 1:15pm...my MIL, FIL, SIL, nephew and the au pair...for dinner. We ate around 2:30pm so we could get the food cleaned up before the Ravens-Steelers football game at 4:30pm. We watched that intense game...our Ravens lost which means no playoffs for them this year...then everybody left soon afterwards.

MONDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS: Quick trip to the mall to see if we could find some after-Christmas bargains. Not so much...but we got a few things;

TUESDAY: Surgery day for my daughter had arrived. We showed up at the office around 6:30am even though we had never been called with an official arrival time...which we failed to realize until the day before when the office was closed! Thankfully they were able to get her in early, good since she was already a nervous wreck the night before. Everything went well...here she is in the recovery area:

Her day would be spent in her room all day...and that first day went well, as we administered meds on a regular schedule and provided ice and lots of fluids for her.

Yes the TV was already setup as we had re-arranged her room the day after Christmas to get it all setup there. Notice she has a loft bed...above her the mattress we ended up placing on the floor below and pulled in an extra mattress from my oldest son's bunk bed that he NEVER uses. She likes her new setup. Day one went well but the pain meds given locally for her foot would last well into the night. She even had a cat to keep her company:

WEDNESDAY: Not as great of a day for her at ALL! Overnight Tuesday, as my husband proceeded to set timers to wake up and administer drugs to her, the local on her foot wore off and the pain hit her HARD! He upped the dose on her "good" pain meds a bit...still within the allowed dosage...and she got sick. She would continue to be sick all night and the entire next day. She couldn't even keep water in her stomach. I tried giving her all kinds of fluids: ginger ale, soda, gatorade, water...nothing. She tried toast for breakfast...it didn't stay. Crackers? Nope. Just a rough, rough day and I was concerned that she wasn't getting any pain meds so I went out and bought liquid Motrin and Ibuprofen gel caplets since they both would digest quickly. I would end up making her take them right after she got sick, since the empty stomach would allow the meds to process faster. It was a LONG day for her. She finally started feeling better around 7pm that night thankfully.

THURSDAY: Much better day...yay!

And one cat next to her and two others keeping her company:

She even managed to get up and around a little more, she ate all day long, she sat at her computer for a while to combat boredom. She has yet to make it downstairs to the main level of our house since being home from surgery...but maybe we'll try that today or at the very least tomorrow.

And that's the crazy that has been happening. I'm amazed at how little I've gotten done since being home all week. I'm trying to gear myself up to take down our Christmas tree today. We'll see how that goes. I have a tennis match to play tonight at 9:30pm also.

 

[kittylady1972]

WE HAVE ARRIVED!

So when we last left off, we had a few hours left to go. As we approached the resort, I FINALLY told the kids where we were staying. Too bad it was dark and we couldn't get a video...but we pulled up the the Royal Pacific Resort, parked in the lot and rolled in with our luggage since it was just a one night stay and after 5pm so I assumed the room would be ready and it was of course. There was no line at checkin, so we checked in and went right up to our room immediately. I must say, the room here was much smaller than our room at Universal's Portofino Bay Resort back in June, but it was fine for just one night. We dropped our bags off and went back downstairs to get some food.

First stop though we did get our Front of the Line passes made, which was comical as the photo taken for those was just so bad for all of us. You could not make out really any of our faces...but that was fine.

It took us some time to find Jake's, but i knew that was our best choice for food. DH was happy with the beer selections and the way they served it in this propeller:

We ordered a bunch of appetizers and a flat bread to split which worked out very well. It was a good meal and afterwards we figured we'd hit Citywalk to walk off our food. That was the one place we didn't spend much time in back in June and we have yet to eat at a restaurant there but hopefully one day. We did spot this one place and DH and I decided we needed to get an adult beverage:

We walked around for a while just checking out the area. Really a neat place to be at night and very busy. Loved this window:

Just walking around:

Eventually we stumbled across this place:

HOLLYWOOD DRIVE-IN GOLF! We LOVE mini golf...so of course we had to play. Just LOVED this course...we had a great time despite the small kid in the family behind us constantly invading our personal space, practically playing the course with us at times. Anyway I did my best to try to ignore the fact this his parents were not controlling him well at all. It did get a bit better towards the end.

Course photos:

The last hole was awesome though. The ball went through this contraption...just too cool to describe. Wish I had a video.

Cool photo once we were done:

More around the area...one day I want to eat at Cowfish:

Before long we headed back to the room since we had a big day the next day...and planned to be up somewhat early. The walk to and from our resort was quite nice, but we did take the boat back at least once.

Up next: THE HULK AWAITS

 

[ariane37]

Wow, you packed a lot into the holidays! I thought I'd get more done too, but between having a full house 2.5 days and my sister being here the 21st through yesterday, nope. Now besides the house being a mess I'm behind with work as well as PTA stuff, so it's going to be a busy New Years' day for me tomorrow!
We didn't spend any time on Citywalk on our Universal trip last year, but we weren't staying on property, either. I didn't even know they had mini-golf but that course looks so cool! I'm considering doing some Uni time if we go down with the boys this summer and we'd most likely check that out, looks cool!
I love all your kitties so much We used to have an all white cat, Allie, she was a stray we found at my cousins house and I couldn't believe her coat had stayed clean despite being outside on her own.
I hope DD is feeling much better and has made it downstairs by now.

 

[kittylady1972]

Wow, you packed a lot into the holidays! I thought I'd get more done too, but between having a full house 2.5 days and my sister being here the 21st through yesterday, nope. Now besides the house being a mess I'm behind with work as well as PTA stuff, so it's going to be a busy New Years' day for me tomorrow!
We didn't spend any time on Citywalk on our Universal trip last year, but we weren't staying on property, either. I didn't even know they had mini-golf but that course looks so cool! I'm considering doing some Uni time if we go down with the boys this summer and we'd most likely check that out, looks cool!
I love all your kitties so much We used to have an all white cat, Allie, she was a stray we found at my cousins house and I couldn't believe her coat had stayed clean despite being outside on her own.
I hope DD is feeling much better and has made it downstairs by now.

Well I finally got around to at least putting 90% of my indoor Christmas stuff away on Monday...so there's that!

The mini-golf course was definitely cool. You must do it and I would suggest at night because I think it's really geared to be a night course. There are actually two courses so we may have to return one day and play the other one!

Awww...I love my kitties also...they are all very sweet for the most part. It's a good thing we like them since we have already had to divide our house due to two of them not getting along, so one lives in our master bedroom currently and the rest get run of the house. I'm hoping to one day be able to integrate her back into the group but unfortunately she completely terrorizes the youngest cat so badly that it may not ever happen.

DD went back to school yesterday and did pretty well overall. Today is her post-op appointment so we will finally get to see what's under all the bandages!

 

[kittylady1972]

UNIVERSAL PARKS REVISITED!

Our Universal park days had arrived. We were very excited to revisit Universal and we had plans to get there as early as possible.

The walk to the park was so short so we decided we'd just take that in the morning. Before long we were here:

Yes had to make them take a quick photo, and you see me with my can of breakfast in hand. We were ready to go! I had to stop at the kiosks outside the gates and print off the passes for the rest of the family, as I was the only one with an AP but my friend who works for Universal managed to get us four complimentary 1 day park to park passes...so awesome!

We entered the gates and our first order of business was Gringotts as that is just one of my favorite rides in the parks. I really am not fond at all of simulator rides, and most of what the Universal parks have are just that. They are cool...but they don't work well for me. Gringotts is a simulator in a way but also a coaster-like ride and I just think it's so well done. We decided to hit it first knowing lines would only build later, and we went via the single rider line to make it even quicker. This isn't recommended if you haven't done it at all, since the inside stand-by queue is actually pretty awesome and should be experienced at least once, especially for big HP fans. As it turns out, we were all on the same ride anyway, just spread about in different cars, so it worked out well.

Loved the decorations throughout the park for sure:

I don't recall what we did afterwards, but I know we also rode Men in Black (another adult favorite....the kids tolerate it) and the The Simpsons (kid favorite...but definitely a simulator that I can BARELY tolerate) and by then we needed some food. I had really missed out on the giant DOUGHNUT during our previous trip, and was determined to get it this time.

Mission accomplished:

I split this with two kids and my husband and oldest son ended up getting a 4-pack of various doughnuts also, which I tried a bite or two of and they were also good.

Food in belly, we were ready to continue. I think we caught a ride on E.T., as well as Rip Ride Rocket and Mummy. Having hit all of our favorites, we then soon made our way back over the Harry Potter area to ride the train over to the other park.

I'm sure at some point we had food...but maybe not...though I recall thinking that doughnut was NOT food for me. Since I don't remember eating at any restaurants, we may have just snacked our way through the day. I do know we couldn't leave the HP area without getting in line for these:

Can you see the line in the distance...the barrel in the center?

Yeah we waited in it.

I have to go with frozen butterbeer all the way, but these three are good with regular. We were only interested in a few attractions once we arrived at Islands of Adventure...and the main one was HULK of course. Kids didn't get to ride it during the summer as it was down for refurb...so we made a beeline for it this time.

Really do love the details of this park:

Before we knew it, we were in line for Hulk..and SUCCESS!

There were only a handful of rides we were interested in here, so we did make our way over to do Jurassic Park. While it wasn't a terribly hot day, it wasn't too cold to do a water ride. We did get a little more wet than we would have liked...but it was all good.

Selfie:

We also took a ride on Skull Island: Reign of Kong as it had been in preview mode back in the summer. We did the FOTL queue this time. The kids still have nightmares about the 2+ hour wait we had back in June for it.

I think we rode Spiderman and then hung out for a little bit taking some photos of the area around the park.

Goodbye Hulk for now:

And goodbye Universal:

I can't recall if we walked back or took the boat, but before long we were back at Royal Pacific. We headed to our car as it was sometime in the early afternoon, plenty of time for DH to drop me and the two oldest kids off at Shades of Green while he and youngest DS headed out to Port Canaveral to catch a rocket launch!

So here was my plan for our day:

SATURDAY Nov. 19th: We should be up early to maximum our time in the Universal Parks. We'll have FOTL access which should help a lot. We have to check out of our resort sadly, so we'll get stuff in the car before heading out. First on our list is going to be The Hulk since the kids haven't been on that one yet. We'll do all of our favorites at both parks for most of day and will probably leave around dinnertime. If we get in early, we should try to knock out the Harry Potter rides. After that, I expect we'll want to do The Simpsons, Men in Black, maybe Kong, the Mummy, Rip Ride Rocket...those for sure. My family should arrive close to dinnertime and we will need to meet up with each group as they arrive in town so we can check them into their room at Shades of Green. Perhaps we'll all grab dinner together somewhere, either at a SOG restaurant or maybe ride the monorail around for fun. Perhaps we can head to the Polynesian beach area to catch the fireworks that evening. I read somewhere that the D23 is having a special event at the Polynesian, so this may NOT be an option for us. Instead I have booked an 8pm dinner reservation at T-Rex for everybody except my parents, because I'm not sure they would be up for it. Hopefully if they do want to join us they can squeeze two more people in for our party of 9 currently. I'm thinking this is just for dessert and to see how the boys like all the Dinosaur stuff there.

We pretty much did everything there in the first few lines already...and we were now making our way to Shades of Green, finally seeing this:

And this:

We were dropped off and the two kids and I checked into the resort and got the paperwork completed for the rest of our party so we wouldn't have to be there when they arrived. I have NEVER actually seen the Mickey pool during my last two or 3 stays at Shades of Green...so I was thrilled when we had a pool level room that overlooked it! Time to check it out:

Very cool...but unfortunately the weather this time around would not be pool weather. Maybe one day we'll actually use ANY of the pools at Shades of Green!!!

It wasn't too long after getting settled into our room that we got a call from my dad...and he was making his 3rd loop around the Magic Kingdom parking area looking for how to get to Shades of Green. I had explained to him about going through the MK gates and staying to the right...but he thought he still had to head to the MK parking area...and I think he did that twice before finally stopping at the gas station right outside the MK gates and asking somebody there for directions to SOG!

Eventually they made it to the lobby...so the kids and I headed up to find them...and dad was already hitting up the gelati stand:

One thing we love in my family...ice cream!! How better to unwind after a 9+ hour drive from home right?

We ended up hanging out in the lobby for a while, as my brother and family were also on their way and would be arriving soon enough.

So great to see them again!

The boys were very excited to finally be in the land of Mickey Mouse, but judging my my oldest nephews toys...he would have also enjoyed Universal. Maybe in a few more years??!!

We got everybody settled into their rooms and then headed for dinner at Manginos. We had some pretty good food there, and brought back some leftovers to the room that I ended up giving DH and youngest DS when they returned from Port Canaveral later that night. The rocket launch was very cool, we even watched it Live via my husband's cell phone...but it was delayed quite a bit so they didn't return back to the room until close to 8pm.

Our room ended up connected to my brother's room, so the little ones scurried back and forth between our room and their room, loving having some kids to entertain them. At some point I took them out to the playground which was also near our back door and was very cool!

Before long it would be bedtime for all...and our next day would be a busy one and our first Disney park day!!

 

[kittylady1972]

So yes...finally got another update here. Go me!

I'm still planning out my next Disney Trip(s) right now. I really think the Memorial Day trip will be a go...but somehow I'd love to do the weekend in March. The problem is flights are expensive...and I was hoping to stay at Shades of Green but that Thursday and Friday night are booked. I looked into Disney Resorts...but they are pretty expensive even with an AP discount. I guess I need to look at DVC points again so see what's available, last time I tried there wasn't much. I don't know if I could convince my family to just make the drive...leave on Thursday after the kids are out of school, then drive back Sunday. That would give us only Friday and Saturday there...is it worth it? I don't know.

Right now I think I need to wait and assess our finances first because tax season is here and I'm not sure we'll do that well this time. I made some adjustments mid year to avoid a big tax hit, but I don't know how much of a difference they will make. I think if I do our taxes and they work out in our favor...then we'll celebrate with a trip!

 

[kittylady1972]

As much as I don't want to do it, I think I'm going to end up giving up on a March trip. It looks like the kids will have the county science fair that Saturday...if they end up getting to the county level...so I'll know more after tomorrow when they have the school science fair. My kids have won prizes at many levels of the school and county science fair in the past, so we'll see what happens this weekend. If nobody wins...then they most likely won't advance...and maybe we'll go after all...but it's doubtful.

It's really difficult to plan a trip these days. I worry so much that we'll need to be around for the sake of our parents and their health issues. It's just a thought that is ALWAYS there these days. I guess I just need to start buying trip insurance to make me feel better about booking something, especially flights.

I'll be honest also...I'm not as fond of flying as I used to be and I would much rather drive or take the train. I looked up train rates this week. They were not that great. Kids would love to fly though.

So the current plan is for the Memorial Day weekend trip to happen...with an arrival on Saturday...by train or by plane most likely. I got a great rate on a room at Shades of Green that weekend so I booked it. I have a 1BR at BLT booked but the points value is pretty high and I'd much rather have a studio. I'm waitlisted for a DVC Studio at either Grand Floridian or Wilderness Lodge. If either of those comes though...we'll stay there. If not I'll most likely cancel BLT and keep SOG instead. We have NEVER used the pools at SOG and I think Memorial Day weekend would be a great time to change that!

I booked a few meals also.

Dining Reservations
Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria Dinner
Date: Sunday, May 28, 2017
Time: 5:40 PM
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/trip/my-vacation/#
50's Prime Time Cafe Dinner
Date: Sunday, May 28, 2017
Time: 6:55 PM

Beaches & Cream Soda Shop Lunch
Date: Monday, May 29, 2017
Time: 3:00 PM


I know I can't keep both of the Sunday reservations...just haven't flushed out parks to visit and days to visit quite yet but that should be next. In two months I can make our FP+ reservations so I need to have parks hashed out a bit more. I've been wanting to revisit Beaches and Cream for quite some time...so that one will most likely stick for Monday, which means we'll try to stick to either EPCOT or Studios for that day and just walk or catch the boat over for a late lunch.

I am so conflicted right now with planning out vacations and having such sick family members. I spoke to my brother last night about my mom, who apparently had a really rough last few days...but nobody bothered to tell me. One of my mom's friends texted me and it sent me into a panic...she made it sound like I need to plan a trip down to see my mom ASAP but I think it's because mom refuses to let any of her friends see her in this condition. She's had 7 radiation treatments on tumors in her brain so far and 3 to go and so far they can see they are effective, which is good. However she is extremely weak and having many other issues and while my dad is awesome at taking care of her, and always has been, it sucks that at just 70 years old she has deteriorated so much when she used to be so active. I immediately felt guilty for not having spoken to my parents since Christmas, thanks to my brother who could not believe I haven't called them since then. I have no good excuse and will make plans to call tonight for sure, even though I emailed my dad who provided me with an update this morning. I HATE living so far away with no easy way to help out. I'm glad my mom has her sister nearby who has been helping according to my brother, but mom is very private and really doesn't like having to rely on anybody but my dad. It's sad that just two months ago, we were going through something similar with my husband's mom...her health was in a bad way for many weeks and his dad was struggling but at least we were nearby and could help there. Now that his mom has suddenly taking a turn for the better and is doing much better than she has in quite some time...now we have my mom on a downward spiral. I can't even describe how draining it can be and how hard it is to try to be happy with your own life and live it while having parents who are struggling.

So...vacation planning is my outlet and I need it right now. It keeps me thinking positively. I balance that out with tennis that also helps me take my mind off things. Plus the kids and dealing with caring for my daughter as she recovers from surgery. Plenty to keep my busy. Plenty to keep me distracted from the things that I can't do anything about.

Anyway looking forward to a busy weekend here. We are in for some cold and miserable weather which means I will try to take advantage of staying inside and do some much needed cleaning and organizing at home. That's the plan and if I get the chance and allow myself to get on the computer...I'm hoping to post a few more trip report updates!

 

[kittylady1972]

So big surprise that I've spent a good portion of my day planning out my next trip in May. I think I need to pull the trigger soon on our plane tickets...as the prices for the flights I want keep changing. Now I'm thinking of going out Friday night on another airline...and so I applied for their credit card to get some points that I can apply to those tickets. I'll now wait for that card to arrive and when it does...I'll book the flights out hopefully.

I also made several more dining reservations and I have a spreadsheet put together to map out this trip. Oh and I have too many DVC room reservations to count right now. I dropped the 1BR at Bay Lake Tower and I have rooms at Beach Club and the Polynesian now...plus the waitlists still out there.

Eventually this trip will come together a little more I'm sure.

Spoke to my parents today for a very brief moment. Mom definitely couldn't get off the phone fast enough with me. I used to have long conversations with her every Sunday night when she'd call me and today she may have talked for 2 minutes total...mostly me talking.

So taking my mind off all that with trip planning today. Gonna make this happen somehow.

 

[ariane37]

Hey there, so first of all it looks like you guys had a good day at Universal I can't stand simulator rides at all and when we went to Universal the Simpsons ride just about did me in Loved MIB though and so did the boys. Kong was being built so I'd like to try that if and when we get back there.

About your trips: I can completely understand the planning keeping your mind off your mom and MIL (whom I'm glad is doing better BWT) and I think you should go ahead and keep planning the trip. What airline are you thinking of booking with? What's their policy if you have to cancel?

 

[kittylady1972]

Hey there, so first of all it looks like you guys had a good day at Universal I can't stand simulator rides at all and when we went to Universal the Simpsons ride just about did me in Loved MIB though and so did the boys. Kong was being built so I'd like to try that if and when we get back there.

About your trips: I can completely understand the planning keeping your mind off your mom and MIL (whom I'm glad is doing better BWT) and I think you should go ahead and keep planning the trip. What airline are you thinking of booking with? What's their policy if you have to cancel?

Yes we did have fun at Universal but it's funny that we were really "done" with both parks by 2pm. That really never happens at WDW but I do enjoy the lack of planning required for Universal and the FOTL access is just great...though not really needed for the most part we found for this trip. Yes simulators are not my friend, I tolerate the Simpsons well most of the time...but the Minions ride they have there...now THAT one which we did back in June really almost did me in but that's the kind where you just sit in a big huge theater with moving seats. UGH...I can't handle it. Kong was also cool.

As for our May planning...we will most likely be taking JetBlue down (because they have better flight times and we can leave earlier) and then SouthWest back. SWA has a great policy where we could cancel of course and get credit towards a future flight, which would be fine. JetBlue doesn't have that so I've already decided to look into buying trip insurance for this one. It just makes sense for us right now and will give me peace of mind.

 

[kittylady1972]

READY FOR THE PARKS!

So our first morning with the whole family arrived on Sunday. It would be a crazy day but so much fun overall.

We got up and got all packed. We planned to hang out in the room as long as possible because we had no idea when our other rooms would be ready (my parents' room at BLT and our room at SSR) so there was no rush. My dad, brother and SIL were heading to the golf course at 8am so that left us with my mom and two little boys to occupy...and parks were out of the question because we needed to wait until we could all do those together. So what to do?

The kids took the little boys to the playground for a bit that morning:

So great that they had such fun keeping an eye out for their little cousins and chasing them around...made it much easier for me and DH to just sit and watch. We were getting hungry though, so we figured we'd grab sandwiches from the downstairs food cafe at SOG because we remembered they had a nice selection of breakfast sandwiches.

This is where I realized just how weak my mom was at this point. Walking from our room at SOG to the lobby was a challenge enough. I wasn't sure she could handle the stairs so we spent quite a bit of time trying to find the elevator to get down there...only to learn it was out of service. So finally I just sat mom at a table in the lobby, and had DH send me a menu, but he wasn't getting phone service in the basement there...it was a mess.

During this time I realized...I really need to get her a wheelchair to use for this trip or she wasn't going to be able to do much of anything. So I started looking for the number of the company I've used in the past to rent mobility equipment for my MIL...and I ordered mom a wheelchair and requested delivery to Saratoga Springs which the earliest they could do was 1pm. That was fine.

She then decided she didn't want any food, so I took her back to her room (which was next to ours) and DH got some food for us and brought it to the room. I grabbed the kids from the playground and that's when I realized...did the boys get food? I wasn't sure so we shared most of our food with them...which is when I learned the 2yo and 4yo boys can EAT!

Yes you'll see there...we had leftover pizza from dinner the night before in the refrigerator...so that became part of breakfast!

Once we were done eating, I figured we'd just make our way over to Saratoga Springs Resort and hang out. I had gotten a text that mom and dad's room at BLT was ready, but the logistics of getting mom there and settled on her own just wasn't going to work anyway, so SSR was a better option since that's where the rest of the family was golfing and that's where the rest of us would be staying.

We said goodbye to SOG for now:

And my little nephew laid claim to my travel backpack:

I found this so funny since I'm a Baltimore Ravens fan...and my brother is Washington Redskins...and this backpack was loaded with most of my travel stuff...but he really loved it.

My brother had left me his truck to drive since the boys needed to be in carseats, so I loaded up the little boys in that and my daughter came with me, and DH loaded up our SUV with my mom and our other two boys and we headed to SSR.

We arrived and headed to the lobby. The kids found a place to hang out:

I knew most resorts offered courtesy wheelchairs to use around the resorts, so I went off to hunt for one for my mom. Turns out DH did something similar but eventually I got the luggage handlers to head to the locked storeroom to retrieve a wheelchair for mom. This was just going to make things easier to get around as we weren't sure how long we'd be hanging out at the resort.

Wheelchair in my hands, I got mom from the lobby and we decided to grab some lunch at The Artist's Palette there. They have some great flatbreads and paninis but of course we didn't know what the boys would eat. I asked my oldest nephew if he liked chicken nuggets and he said yes...which I found out later was not the case. We got a selection of food but we ended up once again sharing it with the boys when we realized they liked some of our food better than the food we ordered for them. Go figure. Plus I had to try to get my mom to eat because I knew she needed to eat as well...and probably woudn't...so I told her we'd be staying at the table until she finished eating at least half of her food.

Once lunch was over, we headed outside to hang out a for a bit, and I got a voicemail that the wheelchair I'd ordered was arriving. I managed to track down that guy, picked up the wheelchair for mom and transferred it to the new one and handed the loaner back to SSR. We also got a text that our room was ready...perfect timing so we loaded everybody up and headed there next.

Our room was located around the corner in the Paddock section, on the top floor. We got everybody inside and then went about unloaded all of our luggage and stuff. My mom relaxed on the couch and my daughter and youngest son took on childcare duties while me, DH and oldest DS unloaded our car. It does suck that there are no luggage carts here, so after making several trips with our stuff, we then decided to unload my brother's car for them also and holy cow did they have some stuff. Food, food and more food in large storage bins and coolers, nothing on wheels, so it took some time but we finally got most of it into the room.

Around 12:30pm or so I think the family was done golfing and they met us at the room. Dad loaded up mom and her wheelchair to head over to Bay Lake Tower but since he had such a hard time finding SOG the first time, I decided I'd ride over there with him and take Disney transportation back to our resort. My brother then said he'd go along as well with his car and just drive me back, so that's what we did instead.

I got mom and dad to their room with their stuff and gave them a quick layout of how to find everything. I told them we had plans to do EPCOT later that day, and that their best course of action was the monorail over. I'd let them know when we were leaving.

We got settled into our room and probably between 2pm/3pm we were ready to get out and about. We had a 4:20pm FP+ reservation for Soarin' and I knew my dad really wanted to ride that one, and mom would like it too. I checked with them but mom wasn't feeling well so they were going to stay in for the night. They had gotten some food at the Contempo cafe and were fine. I learned days later that mom had had a pretty major nosebleed that went on for almost an hour that I think they even had some help from Disney medical with at some point.

In the meantime, we headed to the bus stop right in front of our building and the boys were soon on their very first Disney bus!

Next up: EPCOT!!

 

[kittylady1972]

So this was my original plan:

SUNDAY Nov. 20th: We'll try to grab breakfast together at SOG that morning. My dad and brother and maybe SIL are golfing at LBV at 9am, so they'll need to leave NLT 8:30am. We'll have to be checked out of the hotel and that leaves the rest of us...possibly with two little ones with us...and my mom. If by chance any of our rooms are ready, we'll go there and get stuff unpacked. If not...then perhaps we'll take the boys minigolfing to kill some time. At some point we should just head over to SSR since that's where most of us are staying...and where golf will be taking place. I have booked a 1pm lunch at Kona Cafe, so everybody can fuel up after golf, so worst case we can kill time at Shades of Green, then walk over to Kona Cafe when everybody else is done. If our room at SSR is ready after lunch, we'll head there to checkin and also see if BLT room is ready for my mom and dad. We will head to EPCOT no later than 4pm since we have some FP+ reservations there. If we have checked into our rooms, we'll hang out longer and have dinner there maybe at Sunshine Seasons or another counter service. If the rooms are ready sometime while we are gone, we'll leave EPCOT a bit earlier, come back and check in and maybe have dinner at our respective resorts. If we are still up for it after checkin, we can try an evening show at a park, perhaps Hollywood Studios Jingle Bell Jingle Jam.

How did it go? Read on!

EPIC EPCOT DAY

After a short bus ride we arrived at EPCOT...so exciting!

As we walked through the gates we spotted Daisy Duck with a short meeting line. This would be the boys first character meet...awesome! It was so cute to watch their reactions, especially the 2yo who was all gung ho about meeting Daisy...until he actually had to approach her. See the video below:

http://vid1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg572/disneyholic/Disney Nov 2016/VID_20161120_160219109_zpswdxirjdp.mp4

This was certainly a good indication of how our future character meetings would go, and lucky for the boys we had several more planned this trip.

We did get a great photo though:

Character meeting done, we thought we'd next get our first Disney ride over with as well. Since we were right at Spaceship Earth, and it posted about a 20 minute wait, and we had time before our Soarin' FP reservation...that's what we did next!

Boys seemed to enjoy SE and we spent a little bit of time after the ride exploring the fun activities inside. At one point my 4yo nephew needed to use the bathroom, so his mom rushed him out to do so, but at the time he had been waiting to play one of the energy shuffle games there. We all hung out inside waiting for them to return, and the kids played a bit and were anxious for us to move elsewhere. However I knew my nephew had wanted to play the game as well, so when he returned and was in tears thinking we were leaving, I told them we were in no rush so they stayed and played a round with my two nephews enjoying having some fun. Once we were done, it was time to move on to Soarin'!

This would be our first time riding the new Soarin' ride, but of course when we measured my 2yo nephew he was just a bit too short for it. While we all had FPs, we also got a rider swap FP since we were towards the end of our window and there was no guarantee that the second group would get though on the current FP reservation. It was decided our family of five would ride first, then my brother and SIL and nephew would go next while we waited with the little one.

Of course we LOVE the new Soarin' ride...really can't say enough about it. Once off, we sent my brother and family through and we took my youngest nephew over to Sunshine Seasons and got some food.

It took a REALLY REALLY REALLY long time for my brother and family to get though. So long that my kids were wondering if they went through the REGULAR line instead of the FastPass line. I was sure we directed them into the right one...but even I was wondering at some point. They did eventually finish and also LOVED it. My 4yo nephew really had a great time!

Next up was a 5:25pm FP for Mission: Space. This is one I'm fine with skipping, so I sent the whole rest of the group on it while I waited with the little one playing some of the games there.

At one point he even went through the play area for a bit. My brother and family had selected the NON-MOVING side (my brother gets motion sickness easily) but I think the rest of the group did the REAL side (I can never remember which is orange and which is green) but they were all done without too much of a wait.

I think we may have done Imagination next...but I can't recall for sure. I know we did at some point and the kids loved it of course, and I feel like it was right before our next FP which was for Character Connection because we were worried about getting to it on time.

My kids did really well even when realizing we had to wait in a LINE (even with our FP) for characters. The knew this trip was all about my nephews and their first experiences and they really didn't complain for the most part.

First up was Mickey...my youngest nephew started to approach him again...but then backed off. My older nephew walked right up and loved it though.

Of course we met Mickey also:

Next was Goofy...that went a little better:

Goofy was trying to make us do some weird pose with our feet I think...we didn't really get it but this is what we ended up with after nearly falling over:

Last up was Minnie...my oldest nephew did great:

And then the youngest one FINALLY had the courage to walk up to her:

And he REALLY wanted to kiss her:

It was sooooo cute!

He LOVED Minnie:

We got a big family group shot with Minnie afterwards:

I think after this we stopped at Electric Cafe and got some food. I had told DH about the Prime Rib Burger and he was really looking forward to trying it. I figured for the cost we'd just split it...that wasn't a great idea after all. No photos but we did split just the sandwich and got drinks, the kids got some food and so did my brother and family. The burger was smaller than I thought it would be, however it was QUITE good. It was moist and not some dried up piece of beef. I would get it again.

Last for the night we decided to head to Finding Nemo. The boys were big fans of this one, having seen Finding Dory over the summer at the theaters. After the ride, the very last showing of Turtle Talk with Crush was starting, so we headed there next. My daughter sat up front with the little boys. We actually got a bench only two rows back, but still the little one wasn't happy about the separation:

Once the show started he was fine, and wouldn't you know it the first person Crush called on to talk to was my oldest nephew! It was so cool that he got to talk to Crush, who asked him his name and said a few things to him. The boys were thrilled.

We had gotten quite a bit done on our very first park day with only a few hours, so I was good calling it a night before Illuminations began and things got crazy.

Next up would be our first FULL Park day!!

 

[kittylady1972]

My MONDAY plan:

MONDAY Nov. 21st: The first FULL park just HAS to be Magic Kingdom so with any luck we'll arrive here at park opening, so breakfast will likely be in the room before we leave. Our first FP here doesn't start until after 1pm and that is for Jungle Cruise, so my plan is to hit as many rides as we can in the early morning, most likely starting with Fantasyland. We can have a light lunch/snack somewhere in the park. We have dinner at the Crystal Palace around 4pm, which should be perfect for a rest time. After dinner we have a FP for 7DMT which everybody should be able to ride.

So how did it go? Tune in again soon!

 

[kittylady1972]

So quick future trip update. Currently I am booked in 3 different resorts for May. I have ONE night at Beach Club, then 3 nights at Polynesian Studios. I am homeless on Saturday night as of now, but since I have SofG booked for several nights at least there is that as a backup. I'm hoping to get at least one more night at Beach Club since I'm waitlisted there. I would waitlist the Polynesian for the other nights, but I promised my DD we'd try for Grand Floridian so I'll hold onto that waitlist for a little while and see what happens. It's one resort where we have NEVER stayed thus far.

I'm hoping I get my approved credit card soon because once it arrives I'll book our flights down on that airline. I think I have a little more time before booking the flights back.

I have several dining reservations right now including: Chef Mickey's (breakfast), Via Napoli (dinner), Beaches and Cream (late lunch/early dinner), Rainforest Cafe at AK (lunch) and Skipper Canteen (dinner).

Two of those are new to us (Rainforest Cafe at AK and Skipper Canteen), one we haven't done in ages (Beaches), Via Napoli (haven't done that in many years) and Chef Mickey is a tradition and I PROMISED the kids since we skipped it in November that we'd do it on a future trip.

 

[kittylady1972]

Planning for an extra?

I'm not going to lie...this has always been a thought in the back of my mind, but I've pushed it aside recently because things were going well as of late.

Then a shoe dropped yesterday and instead of thinking my MIL would be around for a whole lot longer than we ever imagined...the countdown has begun as to when we will have to say goodbye to her for good. They have stopped current treatments for her in terms of oncology because the growth of the cancer has now picked up speed and continuing to take meds to combat it is no longer reasonable. She will now only be receiving hospice care to keep her comfort as she lives out her remaining time here.

Nobody can predict how much time that will be of course, but the estimate is less than a year. Could it be longer? Perhaps. However her level of pain has increased quite a bit as of late so that's not a reasonable expectation.

That could mean one of two things right now. If she is still with us as of May (not looking highly likely) then there is the thought that we may cancel the trip to spend more time with her if things aren't looking great as of that time.

If she is no longer with us...then my FIL will surely need an escape after spending the last 3 years or so taking care of her...and we'd invite him along with us.

Problem is I was only planning on booking a studio room (which holds 5 people) for this May trip. He'd most likely have to book his own room (with our help) at wherever we end up staying.

As for dining...I'm not going to change any of that right now, as I'm sure an extra person can be added to almost all of our current reservations if needed. After all, not much difference between a table for 5 and 6...it's usually about the same setup with an extra chair.

My in-laws will celebrate 50 years of marriage in early February. My hope is that they get to that point at least right now.

My MIL turns 71 in mid March...it would be nice if she was around for that as well.

So we will focus on celebrating every milestone she gets to this year. Our kids have been informed and while understandably upset, this news isn't totally shocking to them as back in Sept 2015 the original diagnosis MIL was given was 6 months...and with oncology treatment she made it over a year. We had much longer than we ever thought we'd get with her and she had a great Christmas and New Year with us this year. I'm happy for her for that reason.

Anyway...we will continue to focus on the positive. For those who are lucky enough to have your parents still around with you and healthy...treasure every moment. You just never know. I've been watching my own mom battle health issues related to cancer for the better part of 10 years now...it's not easy and even worse when you just can't do anything to help. We've watched my MIL in her own battle for about 3 years now. She's been living without any kidneys for about 18 months and hanging in there.

Promise to update with our fun MK here soon now that I've posted such unhappy news.

 

[piglet1979]

I am so sad to hear this news. I had a grandfather that I watch battle with cancer. I was in my first year of college when they stopped all treatment. I will be praying for your family.

 

[kittylady1972]

A GREAT DAY AT MK

So after a pretty full evening at EPCOT on Sunday, I was determine not to rush anybody for our very first full park day. I knew I wanted to stick around as much as possible, and getting an early start didn't really matter too much to me.

I woke up and took a photo of the view from our room:

Saratoga Springs is a HUGE resort and it truly is beautiful...if only it didn't seem so far away from the parks I might be more willing to stay there more often. This photo was taken just before 7am, just for reference.

So the plan here:

MONDAY Nov. 21st: The first FULL park just HAS to be Magic Kingdom so with any luck we'll arrive here at park opening, so breakfast will likely be in the room before we leave. Our first FP here doesn't start until after 1pm and that is for Jungle Cruise, so my plan is to hit as many rides as we can in the early morning, most likely starting with Fantasyland. We can have a light lunch/snack somewhere in the park. We have dinner at the Crystal Palace around 4pm, which should be perfect for a rest time. After dinner we have a FP for 7DMT which everybody should be able to ride.

Obviously we didn't arrive at park opening and I'm sure that we did take some time to grab some food in our room...we had SO MUCH! I think I called my parents sometime around 8am and let them know we were eating and would make our way to the parks between 8:30am and 9am I believe. I don't recall when we did eventually leave the room and catch the bus. What I can recall for sure...was the LINES for security when we arrived! I don't have photos...but I remember that we call kinda split up and found a security line to wait in and of course I picked the SLOWEST one. The rest of my family was through and waiting for me for at least 20 minutes...maybe more. We were on the phone with my parents to try to arrange a meeting point and they arrived not to long before us I think. I told my brother and family to go ahead and get a stroller rental once they got through, and they also went ahead and bought some Mickey ears for the boys and had them personalized with names. My parents said they were waiting for us under the tree on Main Street:

This is the area around Main Street...can you say crowded?? Yes we knew it would only get worse.

We met up with my parents and made a plan to hit Tomorrowland first I believe...so we headed down Main street as you can see above...with a few hundred of our closest friends.

I'll never be able to recall everything we did...but I do recall we got to Tomorrowland and decided the TTA/Peoplemover would be great...as everybody could ride and even mom could handle that. However it was closed...and so we contemplated our next move which I think was Carousel of Progress. I think Mom wanted to skip that one...and I told her she could handle it plus we could take the wheelchair in with us. Boys loved it of course.

We came out and found a long line for TTA but decided to chance it since it was open...plus mom could stay in the wheelchair through the line until we had to go up the ramp.

I took this photo as we were actually STOPPED on the ride...for some reason. Here is a link to a video I took while we waited:

http://vid1244.photobucket.com/albu...v 2016/VID_20161121_111542759_zpsp2mkazjc.mp4

We had a great view of Space Mountain though:

This ride was awesome as I heard my 2yo nephew in the cars in front of us just SQUEALING with delight each time the cars would pick up speed. I've never heard somebody have so much fun on this ride...but he was loving it!

We emerged and I knew we had to make Fantasyland our next priority. I believe we headed to It's a Small World and due the wheelchair we were given a pass to return after the current designated wait time (which I think was around 25 minutes) and then we would enter at the exit ramp so we could take the wheelchair all the way down with us. That was good.

We made our way over to Haunted Mansion next. There was a long wait here...and also a confusing one. I can't explain this well enough, but at some point they wrapped the line to go down the ramp where you get onto the Riverboat...but they knew that wheelchair people would find that difficult because of the harsh slope down and up...so they would allow the wheelchair person to wait at the area beyond the walk down and back up where the line continued near Haunted Mansion...but not the whole party...and of course half or our party had wandered off to get a snack while we were waiting in line before this new split the cast member concocted. So I think I ended up making the walk myself, and then when I got back to the top I had to call over to whoever was waiting with my mom with the wheelchair to join me but the rest of my party wandered back late...so then THEY also had to do this walk down and back up and I waited for them...anyway it was just strange and we probably ended up waiting way more than we should have for this. I want to say the overall wait for HM was 40 minutes and we did probably most of that, and yes my kids weren't happy...but as we kept telling them the lines for everything were going to be bad so might as well wait.

Waiting in line:

During this time our return time for IASW did come up, but they told us to return anytime after that so I wasn't worried about it. I was disappointed that a lot of the interactive elements in line at HM didn't seem to be working though.

Plus with the wheelchair only some of our party could wait with my parents in the back area where they loaded wheelchair guests, so I think my brother and family split off to join the regular line after the stretch room, with I think maybe one or two of the rest of us? I know I went with my parents and I had a kid or two maybe with me to help them.

HM wasn't a huge hit but the boys did okay overall. Then we emerged and it was off to ride IASW which went over much better of course.

I think we then decided it was close to our 1:25pm JINGLE Cruise time so we decided to make our way over there. At some point we had to stop for snacks:

I MUST have a Mickey bar while here. I also recall there was a hunt at some point for Dole Whips and I think some of my family ended up just having soft serve from the OLD Dole Whip location (it has moved for those unaware). I know eventually we made it to the JINGLE Cruise:

REALLY enjoyed this one...as I think everybody did including Mom.

We had some time to kill once it was over...so I think we do Enchanted Tiki Room next. Another good one for all of course.

Then we had to make our way to Winnie the Pooh because we had a 2:50pm FP for that so the plan was to make that our last ride before our 3:55pm dinner at Crystal Palace. Mom and Dad chose to skip this one. My daughter rode with her aunt and uncle and cousins:

At some point I know we watched a portion of the 3pm parade because I remember watching it from Frontierland somewhere. I remember trying to weave through the crowds with the stroller and wheelchair and just giving up. Then I remember weaving through the post parade crowds, up the path behind the castle, to get to Winnie the Pooh.

Anyway with Pooh complete, we made our way back to Crystal Palace for dinner.

More castle pics of course:

And the view from CP area:

One of my favorite photos of my mom and dad was taken in January of 2006 near this area. I didn't take one this trip though. Mom hates having her photo taken anyway.

Check in was easy at CP and while we waited I remember DH wandered off to find a restroom...and of course during that time the buzzer went off for our table. It was VERY quick...but we had to wait for him. Eventually he came back...from INSIDE the CP using the restroom. If we had known that (I didn't see him head off) we could have just been seated I guess!

I know my mom really enjoyed finally seeing the boys interact with the characters. I know I enjoyed seeing the characters interact with MY parents. Photos here:

(not sure if she is part of our family or my brother's sometimes )

TIGGER is my FAVORITE:

(Ok both my SIL and I found it a bit creepy that as we hugged him he would make PURRRRING noises)

He gave my husband some ears:

And he posed with Mom and Dad:

And the boys:

Piglet too!

And of course Eeyore:

Eeyore gets love from Mom:

I must say that it has been a few years since we've done CP, and I hadn't read great things about the food here recently, but we REALLY enjoyed it. I feel like I spent too much time taking photos and videos and too little time enjoying the food, but it really was good. If it wasn't so pricey (since it's a character meal) I'd love to return.

It was during dinner that my mom broke the news that they had plans to leave in the morning. She just wasn't feeling well and wanted to go home. So I'm extra thankful that for the few hours she got to spend with us at Disney, we had a GREAT day at MK.

I made sure to get at least a family photo before they left the park:

Mom has been struggling with her eyes for quite a while. I know she wouldn't like this photo but it's the best we could get. It would be a day or two after she returned back home to NC where she'd learn the cause of her eye issues was tumors on her optic nerve.

In any case, we still had lots of park to explore and lots of time to do it. It was time to see how much energy we all had to get more of the MK done!

I can't recall what we did next but we had a 5:45pm FP for 7DMT so we probably headed there. I know it was a big hit for ALL of the kids, even the youngest one who held his hands up though you can't see him behind his brother here:

(CONT'D in NEXT POST)

 

[kittylady1972]

A GREAT DAY AT MK PART 2

After the 7DMT, we decided to make our way to Main Street. We had never seen the Castle Lighting ceremony...and it was close to that time. The boys were big Frozen character fans. I thought they might enjoy it.

We found a spot near the hub, not the best view but okay.

Such a GREAT show...so glad we saw it! Not so great camera photos though...sorry!

Next up was a MUST do at MK..the teacups. I am not a fan of spinning...and my brother gets motion sickness easily...so he and I and the little one got our own cup:

The BIG boys got their own cup:

And my daughter rode with her aunt and oldest cousin:

Next we made our way over to the Circus area...because of course we had to do DUMBO as well:

We had thought we'd let the youngest boys run around inside the Dumbo play area, but the line was non-existant (it was QUITE cold this night) so there was no line. We ended up riding Dumbo and then my brother and family (and I think my daughter and maybe one of my kids) went off to ride Goofy's Barnstormer. I waited that one out with DH and I think one or two of our kids.

We then decided to go back to Dumbo and just let the kids do the play area for a bit, so that's what we did. The adults were able to kick back and sit and let the kids get out some energy...plus it was warmer in there than outside!

After a little while, it was now getting a bit late. Some of the kids were done (in fact I think my oldest son ended up taking the bus back by himself while we were waiting in the Circus area) but my SIL really wanted to try to ride Space Mountain. That reminds me that I totally forgot one of the extra special parts of our trip.

While riding 7DMT earlier, my SIL emerged from that ride and discovered she no longer had her Magicband on her. She went back in the ride exit to see if she could find it...no luck. The perils of always having a 2yo in your arms and carrying him...not good for Magicbands!

I remember we made our way over to the gift shop near Space Mountain and she purchased a replacement band. While there, I was with her at checkout to see about activating it for her (since I have control of everybody's accounts and tickets in the family) and I noticed on the APP that it showed up as the band was lost...what? I hadn't done that. The CM at checkout informed us that means it was most likely found, turned in and a CM scanned it and reported it lost. That means we could probably get it back at some point...and my SIL was torn about getting the cool Minnie Mouse Magicband replacement or just waiting to try to find hers. She decided she'd just buy it...and as my brother went to pay for it (and two sodas he purchased as well) the CM told them both the replacement band was "on the mouse". Yep...a magic moment...Mickey paid for her band for her. Very cool.

Anyway so later that night it was decided that my brother would take the two little boys back to the resort and put them to bed (FREEDOM for my SIL who is a SAHM and rarely gets time alone without the kids) and my husband and son also decided to head back...so it was now GIRLS NIGHT at the MK for us!

What to do? Well of course hit Space Mountain first!

My SIL hadn't been on this ride since she was little...she was probably more excited than any of us. We waited standby about 30 minutes I think?

While in line, I decided we should "test" out the new Magicband by making a FP+ reservation...but there wasn't much available. I ended up getting one for POC just for fun...though we didn't need it when we got there later as it was a walkon. Still gave us the chance to test it. That would be our next ride which we ended up hitting AFTER we watched the Once Upon a Time Castle light show:

What was nice about watching this late show was that everybody around the hub was SITTING for the show...and remained that way throughout. We found a nice spot, sat down and enjoyed a Mickey Pretzel while watching.

After the show we rode Pirates and then spent some time wandering through the gift shops on Main Street for fun. We then decided to hit Guest Services so my daughter and I could upgrade our 7-day passes to DVC Annual Passes. This was easy enough to do...but while there we encountered a very NON-MAGICAL Disney moment. The woman in line in front of us could be heard complaining about her vacation...as she sported the Disney ears she told another person waiting in line she had gotten from Disney Paris. All I remember was that she was complaining about the fact that they had MISSED the opening show at the MK despite showing up at 9am one morning and maybe 8am another morning? She thought the lines were too long. She was going on and on so the poor CM ended up adding a day or two to her passes I think. She clearly wasn't happy and she clearly hadn't done much planning. It was quite sad and I felt bad for the poor CM dealing with her.

Passes upgraded, we hopped a bus back to our resort...but before that ONE last photo opportunity for us:

Goodnight Magic Kingdom!