Disney . . . Kardashian Style About This Page:

[Jillybean]

Saturday, October 6

Even though I didn’t go to bed until 2 a.m., I still managed to get my 8 hours of sleep because I didn’t wake up until 10:30! When I emerged from the bedroom, I discovered that I wasn’t the only sleepy head because Amanda, Chuck, Amy and Mary Devall were just waking up themselves.

Thom had already taken Morgan, Jack and Maddie to breakfast earlier, so the rest of us headed over to Contempo Café. I had a great breakfast and even managed to choke down a mug of Disney coffee by adding hot chocolate to it.

Once back in the room, we quickly got ready and then took the bus to DHS. Thom took off to grab FP’s for RnRC while the rest of us made our way to Star Tours. Once he caught up with us, we hopped in the short line. As we were taking our seats, Maddie asked me if I had ever been the rebel spy. I told her not only had I never been the rebel spy, but I had never been with anyone who was the rebel spy. Well, that statement was immediately made untrue because Morgan ended up being the rebel spy.

Everyone loved the changes to Star Tours and thought about riding it again, but the standby line had grown a good deal. Instead, we ventured off to the GMR where Morgan once again was targeted - - this time by the gangster who asked her what she was looking at. Morgan laughed afterwards and said that she wasn’t even looking at her, she was just looking around.

We still had tons of CS credits left and the early breakfast eaters were ready to eat, so off we went to Pizza Planet (I had promised Chuck that we would have pizza today). Amy and Amanda decided to pass on lunch, so they took off to find a table for us. Somehow the rest of us managed to convey to Thom what we wanted and he ordered for everyone. Once the CM knew that we were on the dining plan, she was determined that we would get everything coming to us. We had seven pizzas, seven salads, seven drinks and seven desserts (including cookies and ginormous cupcakes ).

Our table was covered in food and we ate and ate and ate and ate. Amy and Amanda finally even broke down and had a salad and cupcake. Thankfully, dinner was hours away.

After lunch, Thom took off for FP’s for ToT and then we shopped a little and watched a bit of Disney Rocks while waiting for those FP’s to ripen. Maddie had promised me for months that she was going to ride ToT on this trip and she kept her promise . . . much to Amy’s dismay who thought she would have someone to sit out with.

The funniest part of this ride was looking over at Amanda when it was over. She was completely in a fetal position and announced that it was her last time riding ToT. Maddie was a-okay, gave me a big thumbs up afterwards and told me that she enjoyed it, but then later hinted that she might take a break from riding it again. Poor Chuck probably didn’t have any hearing left because all I heard from the row behind us was screaming since apparently Morgan decided to use Jack’s neck as a handle.



When we came out, the group took off to use their FP’s at RnRC while Maddie and I sat on the ledge near the exit and chatted. She told me how to make soap.



As soon as everyone came out, the females were ready to go again so I joined them. The park was actually going to be open two hours later than had originally been published and FP’s were still available for the very last five minutes of park opening, so we replenished our FP supply before we hopped in the SRL.

After our ride, we all met back up in the gift shop. Mary Devall had been paired with a grandfather whose grandsons were riding in front of them. Apparently, this poor man had received the full “chatty” treatment from her because he told her that she had helped him not be nervous. He was definitely the “grandfather” type because she told me that he also made sure that her parents were waiting for her in the gift shop.

With the exception of Amy and Morgan who went back to the ToT gift shop, the rest of us headed down Sunset Blvd. Thankfully, Jack wanted a frozen lemonade because we stopped in front of the stand just as we head the rain coming.

Everyone ducked under that stand, but it was getting crowded so Maddie and I jumped over to the little stand right beside it. We all stayed under cover for about ten minutes while the bottom dropped out. It definitely made for good people watching - - we even saw Amy and Morgan run by.

When the rain slowed to a drizzle, we caught up with Amy and Morgan in the store next door and then decided what to do next (and I’m pretty sure that Chuck picked up something sweet while we were in there - - notice anything similar between the two brothers?). I suggested the AI finale show which was immediately given the big thumbs up, so off we went.

We only waited a few minutes before we were let in and then a few more before the show began. Perfect timing on our part!

This was my first time at a finale show so it was fun to watch people who had already made it through one round. The first three were women who were all good singers, but didn’t knock my socks off. The last two were men who were both so fantastic that it was hard to choose between them. Maddie had to go to the bathroom before the voting started, so Thom took her and they both left strict instructions as to who we were to choose for them. Maddie ended up picking the winner.

Thom and Maddie had ended up watching the end outside on the big screen, so they were able to quickly hop over to Sci Fi afterwards and check us in. There was a crowd in the lobby when the rest of us arrived, but it quickly thinned out so we could at least sit while we waited.



When several CM’s started a trivia game, that’s about the time that I knew we had a bit of a wait in front of us. At first, Mary Devall was excited about the idea of trivia, but when she found out that the CM’s were asking questions based on someone’s favorite Disney movie, she sat back down. Apparently, she just likes “Walt Disney” trivia.

I finally convinced Mary Devall to be a sport and play. She said that her favorite movie was Sleeping Beauty, so the CM gave her a question telling her that no one ever got the answer . . . what are the names of Sleeping Beauty’s godmothers? Although I know she knows the answer, Mary Devall couldn’t come up with the names on the spot. I then raised my hand when no one else could answer and mightily impressed Thom’s family when I received my sticker.

When our name was finally called, we let out a big cheer. I’m not sure if we were that hungry or just ready to get a move on. Everyone else in the lobby knew how we felt though because our enthusiasm got a laugh.

We were seated right inside the door at two side-by-side car. I get to eat with my family all the time, so I sat with Chuck, Amanda and Amy in one car while Thom sat with the children in the other car. Before you feel sorry for him . . . he had the back seat to himself and he was following the South Carolina/Georgia game on his ESPN app. He was literally giggling with delight at his good fortune.

Both cars ordered some appetizers that we passed around, but the true star of the show for me was my Space Invaders margarita. Everyone else in my car drank wine, but I know they were eyeing my margarita! For my entrée, I ordered the pasta with shrimp which was a bit on the dry and bland side, but I still ate it.

During our meal, I spoke highly of the Marsha’s Martian, so Amy, Amanda and I all decided to finish off our meal with one. With one sip, they became big fans of it also.



Due to the length of time that it took us to be seated, we were not going to make our FP time for RnRC because the park was about to close. No one seemed too broken up about it though. Thom even offered to take the children over to Star Tours for one last ride, but I think they were past the ride stage at this point and were just ready to veg back in the room.

I did remember at (literally) the last minute that Maddie had wanted to buy a “Best Teacher” Oscar for her teacher. We knew they had them at the Muppet store so the other car left (not literally ) while the rest of us stayed behind to slurp up our dessert. Ten minutes later, we were still just chatting away when Mary Devall came back and informed us that she was sent in to get us. Everyone else was outside waiting on us.

I love walking through a closed park at night . . . and that’s exactly what we did. Once back at the hotel, we finished off the wine and sat around enjoying our last few moments of this beautiful place. Poor Amanda had to get up with the chickens for her magical express pick up, so she said goodnight early.

About midnight, the rest of us turned in. Chuck, Amy, Morgan and Jack didn’t have to leave until 7 a.m. the next morning so we would get up to say goodbye to them.

[MontiMouse]

Sounds like a wonderful day and I really need to try one of those Marsha's Martians.

[Caldercup]

I'm absolutely loving all the expressions in this ride photo:



I swear, there's a whole sit-com script sketched out here!

[zacksmom_1993]

I am amusing myself greatly this morning imagining the conversations between Thom and all of his ride buddies. How come he always seems to be the one riding with a stranger? And how come he seems to be flirting with that crazy / creepy line in every single picture? At least his Rock 'n' Roller Coaster buddy seems like a gamer. Highly amused. HIGHLY.

[KMB733]

Sounds like a great time at DHS!!

[dutchdisneyfamily]

What a wonderful day at DHS. I just adore the stories about your kids. They are so entertaining!

[dwonderz]

Great time at DHS!!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great day at DHS!

[cubfancolleen]

Love imagining the conversation between MD & the grandpa on RnRC!
Great final day - but sorry it's coming to an end!

[Cam22]

Terrific day at DHS! Your family just has so much fun together, which makes me so excited about taking my DSis's family along on our June trip. Disney and family is so much fun!

[chezp]

What a great day!

[Jillybean]

Sunday, October 7

We heard everyone stirring about 6 a.m. and finally pulled ourselves out of bed to say . We sat around chatting and looking forward to next weekend until it was time for them to leave. You see . .. we wouldn’t have long to miss each other because we were all meeting up again in five days.

Shortly after our Disney plans had been made, Amy realized that it would be their dad’s 90th birthday the next weekend. So we actually had back-to-back Koenigs Bomb weekends - one in Orlando and one in Wisconsin.

After the goodbyes, we tried to go back to bed, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen when Maddie decided to crawl between us. She’s like me . . . once she’s up, she’s up.



We had a late breakfast scheduled at 1900 Park Fare, so we didn’t rush. I even did a load of laundry which took forever to dry so we waited until the last moment to call bell services. By now, we were even running a little late, so the girls and I went ahead to check in.

Of course, as soon as we checked in and took seats out in the lobby, our pager goes off. This never happens here! Thankfully, when I called Thom for his ETA, he was almost to the GF.

When he caught up with us, we took a quick picture and then were ushered in to our table.



The next hour was a flurry of characters and food. It was a great way to start our last day.



Two monorails later and we were walking through the gates at Epcot. Our first stop was at the Animation store where we found the painting that Mary Devall wanted to buy for her belated birthday present from us. We had looked for it at DHS the day before, but when the CM showed us the price list for similar paintings and the least expensive was $750, Mary Devall told him that we would keep looking.

So . . . she was really happy when she finally spotted the Sleeping Beauty Thomas Kinkaid painting that she had seen at Disneyland this summer. And this time we had the Premium AP, so we saved $25! We asked the CM to send the package to the front of the park and carried on.

We toodled around Innoventions where the girls pretty much touched everything in there. We did yet another height check on Maddie at the Sum of All Thrills, but she had not grown that additional ½” overnight.

From there, we rode Nemo, Living with the Land and Figment in quick succession and then spent some time in the interactive area of Figment.



I had been exchanging texts with Sharon and knew that she and her mom were making their way around WS enjoying the F&WF. As we walked through WS, Mary Devall was mesmerized by the different booths and pointed out every single one of them to me and their date of origin. I think I have a future F&WF gal on my hands.

When we reached France, the line for the Grand Marnier slushie was practically nonexistent, so I took it as a sign. Wandering around WS with a Grand Marnier slushie in my hand on a gorgeous day is pretty much my idea of heaven.



Maddie wanted to check out the gift shop in Japan, so she and Thom veered off while Mary Devall and I continued on trying to catch up with Sharon and her mom. We stopped at the Italy booth because Mary Devall wanted to try her very first F&WF offering, ravioli, and I wanted an Italian margarita. It was an extremely hot day, so my slushie had been gone since Japan.

About the time we entered the line, Mary Devall spotted Sharon at a nearby table and we joined her there as soon as we had our food and drink. We had all been thinking alike because Sharon had ravioli and an Italian margarita. I could tell that Mary Devall felt like “one of the girls” as she stood there with us enjoying her snack.



Mabel had been in another line and soon joined us. It was wonderful to see her again and be able to introduce her to Mary Devall.

About the time we were ready to move on, a PP photographer asked us if we wanted any pictures. I had the card, so why not! He then proceeded to put Mary Devall and me in three different poses.



He asked Sharon if she wanted to be in the pictures and she initially said no, but I may have given her “the look” and she decided to join us. He then put the three of us back through the three different poses. This man was serious about his job.



When we got back home, I discovered that Thom and Maddie had a photo shoot of their own.



Once our back-to-back photo sessions were over, we moved on to Germany where we wandered through the stores as Mabel looked for a present for a friend at home. I normally only go to the Kidcot station and the caramel shop in Germany, so it was fun to check out the other stores.

The four of us then continued on around WS checking out the booths as we strolled by. Mabel and Mary Devall wanted to ride Maelstrom (not me, I would never want to stress out Sharon ), but luck was on someone’s side when we saw that the line was out the door. We then decided on the boat ride in Mexico.

After our ride, Thom and Maddie finally caught up with us. Sharon had a present for Maddie, one of the little brother bears from Brave. On our way home that night, we looked up the names of the brothers and Maddie chose Hamish (at first, she chose Hubert, but changed her mind later). Just to prove that Maddie does indeed have a mind like a steel trap, we were recently looking at some pictures shot in the Mexican pavilion from a trip last year and Maddie said “That’s where I got my bear!”

Sharon also gave each girl a Disney gift card, so guess where we went next You guessed it, Mousegears. Both girls had a blast spending their gift cards and the adults all had fun watching them.

We hadn’t been on SE yet and had just enough time to do so before we had to leave to head back to BLT. Maddie and I rode together and, once again, I was able to get us to the conga line.



Sharon and Mabel walked us to the front of the park where we took a picture together and then said .



Spending time with Sharon and her mom was the perfect way to end our trip. Sharon and I have been able to avoid tearful goodbyes this year because we’ve seen each other about every two months!

After picking up Mary Devall’s picture from the shop outside the gates, we hopped a monorail to the T&TC and that’s where things really slowed down. For some reason, the express monorail wasn’t running so everyone was using the resort monorail and it took us forever to get around to the Contemporary.

When we did finally make it, we headed right for the Contempo café since Mary Devall was the only one who had any food that afternoon (FAB’s don’t count as food ). We still had tons of CS credits and had even given Sharon my key card so that she and her mom could use some.

We ordered a couple of flat breads and then I approached the dessert case and asked a nearby CM if these desserts were included with CS credits. She assured me that they were and then helped me get two. I mentioned to her and another CM standing there that we were about to leave and we still had tons of CS credits left.

The guy was apparently bored because he then made it his life’s work to help us immediately take care of 10 of them by buying 29 rice krispie treats for Maddie’s classmates and 1 bag of chips for Maddie. He informed us that we could trade 1 CS credit for 3 snack credits. Between this little trade, our flat breads and Sharon’s help, I do believe that we took care of every last credit. Can you tell that I hate leaving money on the table?

We barely had time to eat any of our food before my phone was ringing. I knew it was Tiffany Towncar telling me that they were downstairs so I didn’t even answer it. We quickly finished up, grabbed our bags and then made our way downstairs where our driver was indeed waiting for us. Once our luggage was brought out and in the car, we were off and soon at the train station.

Mary Devall still had a massive amount of homework to finish, so we spent our time in the station working on math. The train arrived on time and we quickly got settled in our roomettes before heading to dinner. After our late snack, none of us were starving, but we also weren’t going to miss a meal either!

As we were enjoying a very relaxing meal, the train came to a stop and we just sat there. That itself wasn’t cause for concern because that does happen every so often for one reason or another . . . but then the lights went out. We only sat in the dark for a minute or two before the generator kicked in and the lights came back on.

It’s funny how little things like this get people all aflutter. Before long, everyone in the dining car was laughing and talking with each other like old friends. I think the girls and I immediately had visions of getting stuck here and missing school and work the next day!

After a while, Thom spotted police car lights outside, so we had no idea of what was going on at this point. By the time we finished dinner, the train still hadn’t moved so went back to our rooms not knowing what was going on.

Mary Devall was in the room with Thom doing her homework while Maddie and I kicked back on our side. At one point, a police officer came down the hall, so I had no idea of what was happening. Thom was thinking that there was a fugitive on the train, but we also knew that we were having mechanical problems too.

The train eventually started moving again, but very slowly. We closed our doors for the evening and Maddie was soon asleep in the bottom bunk. I was reading when the train stopped again and then the lights went out again. I took that as a sign to stop reading and go to sleep.

Just as when the lights went out the last time, people started stirring in the hall and I could hear one of the conductors tell everyone that it was a mechanical issue and that we had to wait for a new engine to be brought in. Oh well, nothing I could do, so I might as well sleep.

At some point in the middle of the night, I felt us move again, but I had no idea what time it was. When the dreaded wake up knock came the next morning, I looked down at my phone and was surprised to see that it was 6:30! The normal arrival time in Columbia is 4 a.m., so we had been blessed with an extra 2 and ½ hours of sleep!

We actually could have slept a little longer because I soon figured out that we were about 30 minutes away from Columbia by using the map app on my phone. We always ask attendants to wake us up about 10 or 15 minutes outside of Columbia, but some of them get a little knock happy.

We were almost to Columbia when we realized that we could have eaten breakfast on the train since they start serving at 6 a.m. Since we always miss it, we had totally forgotten about it!

It was right at 7 a.m. when we arrived in Columbia. We got Maddie fed and in clean clothes before Thom took her to school - - only about 15 minutes late. Mary Devall doesn’t start until 8:30 so she was on time and I was on time for work. We couldn’t have planned it better if we had tried!



Final Thoughts:

I absolutely our fall Disney trips. Between MNSSHP, F&WF, lower crowds and gorgeous weather, you just can’t beat it.

Through the years, the Disney Koenigs Bomb has only gotten better and better because of a few things I’ve learned along the way . . .

(1) wishy washy allowed. Despite the size of the family, our trips are laid back yet highly productive. The Koenigs definitely speak their minds, so we always know what the “must do’s” are each day. And when they’re ready for a break, they let you know that too. This makes for a very relaxing trip because I’m able to leave the guess work behind.

(2) sit down meals before lunch. I finally learned this lesson on this trip. I thought I could get away with a late breakfast, but when you have to get everyone up and to a park by a certain time, it takes all of the fun out of it.

(3) commando. They didn’t come to ride every single ride in the park. End of story.

(4) to a Grand Villa. Well, now I’ve gone and done it. My nephew, Jack, is a man of a few words, but his parting words to me were “I want to stay in this same exact villa the next time.” Everyone absolutely fell in love with the Grand Villa. They had fun in the parks, of course, but everyone was always ready to go back to “our room” too. The size, décor and break taking views from the villa (along with its proximity to the lounge ) truly put the “wow” in our trip. And I am fully aware that there’s no going back.

I wasn’t aiming to put a Kardashian spin on our trip, but I loved that they were blown away by our villa. As soon as we walked in, an already great trip immediately turned into a fabulous get away where we all could feel a little rich and famous for a few days. We won’t go into the fact that the Kardashian’s are not necessarily rich and are only famous for being famous . . . details, details. The Kardashian’s do know about “over the top” though . . . and now . . . so do the Koenigs!

[Caldercup]

Oh, my stars! I swooned over a dozen of your pictures (especially the ones with Shashi in them!!)

But this one stole my breath:



Those girls are growing like weeds! It's simply astounding, especially after seeing Barb's pictures of the girls in a stroller from WAAAAAAAY back in the Wayback Machine.

[Colexis Mom]

What a great last day Jill! Glad you had such a great time with your family and got to see Sharon and her DM as well! Love the pictures! Thanks for taking us along for the ride!

[MikeL]

Not only do you have quite a cast of characters but what fun you all had. Thanks for taking us along