A Day out with Thomas and Dutch Wonderland COMPLETED 7/26 About This Page:

[chezp]

Originally Posted by mommapants

Thanks everyone - this TR business is harder than I thought but I am enjoying it and hope you are too. Next installments coming soon - they are written but I'm still messing with the photos.

I'm really enjoyng it - and I hear you about trip report writing, it is harder than perhaps you first think, but it's also a lot of fun.

[BeckiO5]

Great update and pictures Holly. Don't worry about the messy hotel room pictures, as that's what hotel rooms do look like when your're traveling with little ones. How convenient you were right across the street from Dutch Wonderland. Sorry about those line cutting kids. Yeah that would annoy me too, especially when an 8,9, or 10 year old would know better than a 2,3, or 4 year old on line cutting and waiting their turn. I would have been irate too, especially with no parental supervision of the other children. How annoying. More please Holly.

[mommapants]

Post date June 25, 2010
Day 1 Part 3, Saturday June 12, 2010

Around 6pm both boys were shivering and we decided to get something to eat. I just went over to the grill and got 4 drinks, 2 hamburgers, 2 hotdogs and one order of fries and lots of ketchup. Evan will eat anything with ketchup; he even dips his fruit and black olives in ketchup - gross – I hate ketchup. I gave Eric (remember Mr. half hour nap, I won’t be cranky) a hot dog, but no, he doesn’t want a hot dog. “I hate hotdogs” (since when???) I offer him a hamburger. No, he doesn’t want that either. “I’m not hungry”. Now I was hungry, Mom was hungry, Evan was hungry, Evan ate so fast I thought he inhaled his hot dog but Eric just wanted to keep playing and not take the time to eat. Again, my mom, the voice of reason, tried to tell him we were taking a break, to eat, and we would play in a minute. Blah, blah, blah. Eric was having none of it. He wouldn’t eat any of his hot dog – he HATES hotdogs (remember that). He wouldn’t eat even 4 bites; just dug his heels in (OMG he is so much like his father sometimes).

“Okay,“no ice cream later for you if you don’t eat your hot dog” Mom said.
“I don’t like hot dogs and I don’t want ice cream” replied Eric.
Round and round my mom went with Eric. This was going to be a battle of wills... So he didn’t eat anything . After the rest of us ate our dinners, the boys went to play some more.

I had barely returned from throwing out the trash when Mom showed up with the boys with blue lips and shivering. It was now time to leave. We walked back to the hotel where they got a nice warm shower and back into some warm clothes.

I tried to hook up the DVD player I brought with me but the TV was old enough that it didn’t have an “AUX” or “AV” channel and the menu didn’t have anything either so they ended up watching iCarly while we finished unpacking.

Mom had brought the hot dog back to the hotel and tried once again to get Eric to eat 4 bites – NOPE – his lips were sealed. Now my mom is very easy going and doesn’t get mad easily but she was getting really annoyed with this behavior. She told him how disappointed she was and that he will be sorry when he gets no ice cream. She actually said it had ruined the day enough that she didn’t want to go get ice cream. I told her Evan and I are going and she could stay back at the hotel with Eric but thankfully she decided against that.

So about 7:30pm we headed out to Friendly’s or Rita’s (whichever we found first) to get some ice cream. Eric was fully aware he wasn’t getting any. We found a Friendly’s and got seated immediately (an uncommon event for us). We sat down to look at the menu and Eric blurts out “I’m getting a hot dog”. I looked at him and said “Are you kidding me? You have GOT to be kidding me?!!”

The unwritten rule when we travel is my mom handles Eric and I handle Evan, so she spoke to Eric. In the end she gave in and got him a hotdog with mac and cheese. He ate all of the hot dog (even though he hates hot dogs) and he and Evan split the mac and cheese and we all got ice cream. He is very lucky because I wouldn’t have allowed him a second chance. I had a Recess Pieces Sundae which I haven’t had in years. It was good and I got the smaller size which was just perfect.

Then it was back to the hotel for books and bed. Tonight Eric went off to bed fairly quickly (big surprise having only had a half hour nap) and Evan gave me a minimum amount of trouble. Last year they spent so much time looking at what the other one was doing and giggling during bed/nap time that I brought a sheet with me this year to hang between the 2 beds. Fortunately, I didn’t need it this year. Once Evan was asleep I tried the DVD player once more without luck. Then I headed to bed as well.

Coming up next: The only tears of the weekend

PS. I Just realized there are no photo updates this time. Well I took over 100 photos in DW so the next few updates should make up for it

[Kenny]

Great update, Holly! Kids will be kids... and boys will, definitely be boys! Now, in Eric's defense, he probably didn't like hotdogs at that particular time, but later, he began to realize the culinary benefits of the wondrous, delicious, wiener! And, besides, grandparents always give in... except for me, not me, I would never give in... never...

[chezp]

Oh wow, fun time - not! It sounds like you guys had the patience of saints that night...

[Colexis Mom]

BTDT! Great update!

[Lemap760]

I'm enjoying your trip report. I remember taking Andrew to DW and Duke's Lagoon and ran into the same problems with the lack of supervision on the slides. It's enough to drive you insane.

[pamcarey]

Ah yes... there are some things that I don't miss now that my kids are a bit older!

[mommapants]

Originally Posted by Kenny

Great update, Holly! Kids will be kids... and boys will, definitely be boys! Now, in Eric's defense, he probably didn't like hotdogs at that particular time, but later, he began to realize the culinary benefits of the wondrous, delicious, wiener! And, besides, grandparents always give in... except for me, not me, I would never give in... never...

Originally Posted by chezp

Oh wow, fun time - not! It sounds like you guys had the patience of saints that night...

More my mom than me.

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

BTDT! Great update!

Originally Posted by Lemap760

I'm enjoying your trip report. I remember taking Andrew to DW and Duke's Lagoon and ran into the same problems with the lack of supervision on the slides. It's enough to drive you insane.

Yes it can really drive you insane - I'd "go off" on a parent, if there were any around that is.

Originally Posted by pamcarey

Ah yes... there are some things that I don't miss now that my kids are a bit older!

Glad I could remind you of the good old days. - kids gotta love them!

[mommapants]

Post date June 29, 2010
Day 2 Part 1, Sunday June 13, 2010

I slept fairly well this night. Evan grinds his teeth at night so that bothered me somewhat but I managed ok.

We didn’t even set the alarm because Dutch Wonderland didn’t open until 10am and knew we would be up WAY before then and we were. I think Evan slept until about 6:30am today and we were out of bed by 7am. Mom and Eric followed soon after.

Evan and Eric had some juice and grapes and watched PBS while I had a shower. They spent some time playing with the Monster trucks I brought from home. My mom needed to call to check on her mother (my grandmom) who is in a home and I took the boys for a walk to see the pool.
We discovered there was a small stream behind the hotel and a golf course too. We spent some time watching the fish and ducks and the wind blowing through the weeping willow trees. I just love those sort-of unplanned special quite moments, the “take the time to stop and smell the roses” moments.

Stream and golf course behind hotel


Little birdie on rocks by stream


fish in stream


2 handsome boys

Weeping Willow - my favortie tree

The hotel offered a free continental breakfast from 7am to 10am. By now it was 8:40am so we headed down for breakfast – along with the rest of the hotel. It was crowded but we did find a table. They were short staffed and most of the foods were low or empty. There was only 2 ladies working and they just couldn’t keep up with the demand. As soon as they would bring something out or fill something up, something else would be empty.

The boys each had a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice. Evan had a banana and Eric wanted an orange (which I gave to my sister last night so you see how much he ate of it - none). I had a waffle and mom had bagel.

By the time we got back to the room from breakfast it was just about time to leave. We had a bio break and diaper change and then we started to walk over to Dutch Wonderland. Although the entrance to the park was just about parallel to our door, the cross walk was up the street about a block so we took the “long” route.

Just as we were walking through the parking lot of the hotel to get to the crosswalk, a man was there fiddling around with his motorcycle. Eric and Evan made a bee-line to it, like flies on (you know what). We asked the man if they could see his motorcycle. He let them climb on it and wear a helmet and pretend to drive it. It was really awesome. I made sure they thanked him and we were once again on our way. Another stop and smell the roses moments.




I think his smile says it all

For the morning I figured we would forgo the stroller and bring them tonight if we needed them. As it turned out, the strollers never left the trunk of the car. We made it over to DW and through baggage check easily. We then met the theme park mascot Duke the dragon and were in line by 9:55am. Perfect timing.

So happy Evan wasn’t scared
We then stood in the bright, hot, humid, sun for 5 minutes. It was hot, hot, hot. I was dying already and it was only 10am.

Now I try to avoid crowds and I’m of the mind set, get there early to avoid the crowds. I usually always try to be at rope drop when in WDW so I thought the same would be true here. The problem was, since this amusement park is geared toward little kids. EVERYONE was up early. All the kids, I’m sure, were up in their homes/hotels by 7-8am. So it was more crowded this morning then I was expecting.

Anyway, we made it in and decided to head to the back of the park first. We stopped to measure the boys.


DW has a color coded/jewel system. All rides are marked for the appropriate jewel. Evan was an Emerald and Eric was Amber. We went to the sky ride from the front of the park to the back and got an aerial view of all the offerings.


Mom and Eric










They have a dive show and this little guy was testing the pool water for them


A happy camper!

Next it was onto the roller coaster – 2 times – and then the wiggle racers. At this point I needed a quick pit stop. Evan’s face was already flushed so I got a bottle of water too.





They rode the bulldozers and then we went to ride the flume ride. We got distracted on our way to the flume. E&E did the remote controlled race cars and we let the boys have a pony ride extra charge – 5.00 each.

You can see Eric's cheeks are already flushed


Move over Bob the Builder


Happy boy, hot pony


I think this girl is a Snookie wanna be

Next we found the flume and all went on it. We got splashed a little and the few drops were welcomed relief from the hot humid air.


Evan was on the flume ride and was at the very top of the drop and turned to me and said “I don’t want to go”. I told him we couldn’t get off now. He was a real trooper and had a smile on his face when it was done but didn’t want to go again.

Next it was the bumper cars, this was my favorite ride. An adult had to go with the kids and the cars were the overly sensitive type so one little turn of the wheel and you went spinning. It was a lot of fun.



Then it was over to the monster trucks where we had the only tears of the entire weekend.

The problem with the monster trucks was there were 2 steering wheels but only 1 horn between them. Who on earth designs these things? Don’t they know they all should be EXACTLY the same? Same color! Same size! And every steering wheel needs its own horn!! So the ride starts and they aren’t around the 1st turn and Evan is pushing Eric. Eric was dominating the horn and Evan didn’t have a turn so he took matters into his own hands quite literally. Both kids did something wrong but I’ve been having a problem lately with Evan pushing/hitting. I always tell him “if someone hits you, you come tell me or the teacher, you don’t hit back. DO NOT TOUCH ANYBODY WITH ANY PART OF YOUR BODY” He is getting much better but he failed miserably this time.

Of course I yelled at him to keep his hands to himself and he starts bawling. We sat down on a bench and I got him all calmed down. And that was that – no more tears the entire weekend.


A peaceful beginning

Coming up Next: Will the boys take a nap?

[chezp]

What a fun time!

[Colexis Mom]

Looks like a great time at DW!

[Kenny]

I'm glad you didn't include any pictures of the tears, because they look like they're having the time of their lives!

[pamcarey]

Sounds like a fun time so far (except for the brief tears)!

[mommapants]

Post date July 2, 2010
Day 2 Part 2, Sunday June 13, 2010

Next he tried the monorail and after that explored the little “distractions” they have. A pretend cow you can milk, a horse and buggy to climb on, a small pen with chicks and bunnies (although you couldn’t touch them).









Doing the Chicken Dance



Next it was off to the “turnpike”. These are the antique cars that the kids can drive themselves. Evan couldn’t quite reach the pedal so I had to ride with him but he was able to steer himself. I think this might have been his favorite ride. It was also the longest line we waited in. But it was only about 10 minutes.











We started to walk to the exit. Our plan was to leave at lunch time, have a swim and nap and head back in later tonight. Again we got distracted on our way out and we stopped to feed some ducks and then cross the barrel bridge and lastly take the train ride around the park.


As we exited the boys were allowed to make their purchase in the gift shop.

Evan bought the 3 cars on the mat and I bought him the mat.
Eric got some sort of truck.

We walked back across the street and went to the Pizza Hut right next to the hotel for lunch. They had the lunch buffet going so we had pizza, breadsticks, pasta and salads for lunch. As we were having lunch the sky opened and it began to pour. But by the time we paid the bill it had stopped raining. We went back to the hotel and took the boys swimming. We went to the outdoor pool. The water was cold and we were the only ones there. After about 15 minutes in the pool it started to rain again. We went inside got the boys changed and they fell asleep for their naps almost immediately.




Hallelujah, no fight today but stay tuned for tonight. It was about 2:45pm.

I fell asleep too for about 45 minutes. Once I got up I toured the hotel a little and took the photos I posted in the previous post.

We woke the boys up at 5pm to head back over to the park. We weren’t hungry so we figured we would eat in the park a little later. I think we arrived around 6pm and the park was noticeably less crowded than this morning. I don’t know if that is always the case or because it was a school night or Sunday but it was really great. The park was open until 8:30pm and in those 2 ½ hours the boys did everything we missed earlier and everything else they wanted to do a second, third or even fourth time.

When we first arrived back in the park we took a cute little log ride (not a flume, no drops) just a lazy glide along the river. We got some nice pictures of Duke too.






Then we were heading to the antique cars but, you guessed, we got distracted along the way. The boys played the remote control boats and then feed the fish in the lake and a few ducks showed up too.


Next Eric went on the parachute ride. Evan didn’t want to go which was fine because this was one of the rides he was too small for.



Next we took some silly photos of the cut-out you can put your face thru. Eric wanted to do the roller coaster again and along the way Evan wanted to do the Wiggle racers so we parted ways momentarily.


Eric did the roller coaster 2 more times and then joined Evan at the Wiggle racers.

I don’t know if you have ever seen these before. They are pretty cool. They are like a little scooter but you pick your feet up and you wiggle the handle bars and that makes the whole thing move. Evan was getting really good; He would go gliding through the tunnel or the maze and not hit anything. I even considered buying him one but they were $80.00. If they were $50.00 I might have done it but I wasn’t about to spend $80 bucks.

Next we headed back to the front of the park on the sky ride. This was the only ride Eric rode with me the entire day and Evan went with Grandmom.


I love digital cameras. They are way more convenient then the old fashion film cameras now when my first self portrait didn’t turn out,

I really didn’t waste any “film” so I was able to get this shot

And this one - he looks so cute.


There was a little Thomas the Tank Engine show going on so we caught the last 5 minutes of that and then the boys posed for a photo with the cheeky little engine.


After that we grabbed a quick snack – a bottle of water, 1 soft pretzel and one small bag of kettle popcorn and then another ride on the train.

Eric wanted to do the buccaneer ride. Evan was too small – thank God – I hate that ride. It makes me nauseous. My unsuspecting mother went on with him. I tried to warn her it is awful. She didn’t learn her lesson in May when we told her not to go on the Tilt-A-Whirl (tilt-a-hurl) with my niece. So the ride starts and my mom feels queasy within 2 “bucks” of the ship. She is trying to hold it together and not say anything to Eric. About 20 second later he says “my tummy feels funny”. Thankfully it ended and I think they are both a little wiser now. Evan passed the time looking at the Thomas souvenir cart and didn’t cause a fuss when I told him we weren’t buying anything.

The boys went on the whip next, 2 times in a row.

The crowds had really thinned and they were able to go on things 2-3 times in a row if they wanted. As they were whipping around the corner Eric yelled out his tummy felt fine.

After the whip we let them play one game (additional cost of $2.00 per child per game). I like these carnival type games where there is a winner every time. We just had to make sure they were the only 2 playing so they would both be able to win.

We do this every year on the Wildwood boardwalk. We go the week after Labor Day so it works out well. They played whack-a-mole and with a little help from mom and Grandmom they each won a game (amazing huh?). And you guessed it they each got the exact same prize. This time I was smart and put a dot on one of the tags so we could tell whose was whose and not have a fight.

Coming up Next: The worst ride in the park