First Family Trip - Let's Go Premium - Completed! 7/10-7/18 About This Page:

[Becky2005]

The rest of the day July 17 – Part 2

We go to the Fun Center for DD because she hadn’t had a chance to play the games and besides I need to finish up the game card, as this is our last day. One game doesn’t give out the tickets it’s supposed to, we tell the clerk and she gets it loaded, says DD will get “a few extra tickets” – OK, we think 3 or 4 as it gets loaded properly – the thing just keeps spewing tickets. Over 100 tickets later it finally stops! LOL! DD won about 49 tickets herself, we kept the extra separate as we were going to figure out how to divide them. Turns out DS-5 just wants one of those Styrofoam airplanes – so he gets that and is happy, doesn’t care about the rest. DS-8 wants a bunch of the little things, so gets a bag full of stuff and is happy! DD is just sitting there at the counter trying to decide what she wants, there was this Care Bear for 325? (close) which is the only thing she really wanted. I had decided to go ahead and give her the big chunk of tickets we have because the boys are happy with the smaller things. As she is sitting there, she must have just had a super sad look on her face or something but a teenage girl came up to DD and gave her a piece of paper that had 149 ticket credits on it! That was so sweet, thank you for the random act of kindness – it made DD’s day! I didn’t even see it happen as I was dealing with the boys. I saw the girls as they were ahead of us getting their prizes. So, we add the 3 tickets together and we have 321 – I’m telling DD she doesn’t have enough, after I say that the CM asks what it is she wants, when we tell her it’s the Care Bears, she “magically” makes our total be 325! (I did find 4 more tickets up in our room later! LOL! So, I guess technically we had enough!). DD was so excited, the CM asked her what color and DD didn’t even care! She just wanted one of the Care Bears (DD loves Care Bears they are one of her favorite things, so she absolutely treasures that bear now – it got special treatment the entire way home!)

We go back to MK, we get a few rides in before dinner. We manage to make it to Tony’s somewhat on time. I thought the food here was good and would return – other than if you were there, my DS-5 decided to take a fall from the booster seat at the end of our meal, I think he scared the guy next to him half to death and then I was the mean mommy! Before it happened, they had been getting a little TOO hyped up and I had been telling them to settle down, sure enough the reason he fell was that he was leaning too far over in the booster seat (1/2 the time we got him booster seats & ½ the time we didn’t!) trying to bug his sister. So, after I make sure he’s OK, I scold him for “I TOLD you not to do that and this is why” stuff. I’m sure the couple next to us thought I was being horrible that I didn’t feel too sorry for him. He was a little scrapped up but no worse for wear, maybe next time he will listen to me (ya think? I doubt it! LOL!). DH said the manager did come over to make sure everything was OK but I didn’t see it, I was too busy dealing with said child. Ahhh….no such thing as a quiet meal with our family. Always some drama involved. Also, this is where if you are on the Premium plan, there is a glitch. The waitress came back and said they were having trouble with the bill and the manager was working on it. After a bit, she came back and said, it was fine it was all taken care of but they had to call the hotel and it had to do with us getting another card, etc… (we had checked-out from the plan – which is what it had to do with!). So, even though we had to midnight to use our credits, at some point the computer apparently does a processing and wipes out whatever credits you have left on the card. They will need to call the hotel and get it straightened out. It’s more of a pain than anything else. At the sit-down it wasn’t too bad because you are sitting there eating anyway but I caused a problem at the Food Center.

Think we are tired? LOL! This was before the fall - I think!


DS-1 - I ordered him pizza but he wanted my spaghetti, so I had to share (not sure if he ate any or most ended up on the floor!)



Went on a couple more rides and DS-5 goes on the Haunted Mansion with DD & DH. He hated the ride but he was silent through the whole thing. DD did say it got stuck though and that is probably what freaked him out. Unfortunately, that was the last ride of the night so poor DS-5’s adventure ends with falling off a chair and going on a ride that spooked him out. DS-8 wouldn’t go near the Haunted Mansion, so I wanted with him and the 1 year old.

We go back to the hotel, we manage to make it out of the park before the fireworks – we did get stuck in an area with the Spectromagic parade. I get all turned around because it’s dark and I’m all messed up. So we did some wild goose chasing. ROFL!!! Get DS-1 a Mickey Mouse because DH said he has been wanting one, he loves it (he has a huge one at home in his crib but he wanted a smaller, easy to hold one apparently).

We decide we still have 3 credits left on our plan and I’m not about to give them up. I figure we can get some snack type things if nothing else. The grill is closed by the time I get there but that’s OK, we will just get some cereal/milk combo’s as our meal, juices & non-melting desserts. We can eat them in the morning or take them with, etc… HOWEVER, remember the card issue I had before. I TOLD the CM it was going to be a problem, they needed to call the hotel (I’m IN the hotel, I figure this shouldn’t be much of a problem). The food center is PACKED. There is 1 register open and apparently only 1 CM in the entire place. Sure enough, she swipes the card and says, “It says there are no coupons on this card” – Umm…yes, I told you that was going to happen. She calls, they tell her to do something that she has no clue what they are talking about. She goes to find a manager, none to be found. A backed up line behind me (sorry if you were stuck behind me!) but I was holding my ground on this as I didn’t bring any other means to pay and frankly, we already PAID for those credits, the rule is we have until midnight to use them and I’m playing by your rules, I can’t help it your computer isn’t set up for it. Finally, they just tell her to let me have it and they would deal with it later. Whew! Finally get my last food.

Tomorrow is check-out and head on home! I don’t have a set time to leave (obviously by 11 for check-out) but no early morning wake-up calls, etc…

Next up – Check-out & summary.

[Luv2plan]

Hi Becky, I've really enjoyed your trip report! It sounds like your family had a fun time! I love all the character meals you did - looking forward to the rest of your report

[lauren-roxy]

Another great update Becky!!! I have 3 kids and we rarely have a quiet meal. I am known as the mean mommy at our house too! Sorry your trip is winding down, but it certainly seems as if you guys did a lot!!

[Becky2005]

The end & reflections – July 18

We head home today! We have one major catastrophe, I can’t find the room safe key! We start tearing the room apart because our car keys are in the safe! We aren’t going anywhere without finding the key! So, that puts a wrench in our plans. The kids are just in my way for looking, so I have DH take them down to the playground while I do a methodical search of the room – and slowly move everything toward the door as I’m searching.

Finally, after the kids leave and I search the entire one side (I had kept it in one spot of my pack but the area was unzipped, so I thought baby got a hold of it. One of the chips for the digital camera that I kept in the same area was on the floor on that side too!), I have a brain blast – I wonder if it’s in the pocket of the shorts I wore yesterday? Go open the suitcase and dig those out! Ding, ding, ding we have a winner! And WHEW, another heart attack averted.

I start taking things out to the car because I was going to be cheap and not use bell services…that lasted, oh about 2 trips worth. LOL! I was taking it to the car in the far parking lot. I call bell services to do the rest (or most of the rest anyway! They got there quickly). Except we have to try and cram it into our car because the stroller takes up 90% of the space, so I just tell him I’ll pack it.

Do that, realize they have 30 minute parking spaces, so go over there and load the rest up and then go check-out and get the family. I think we got headed out around 10:30?

All was well on the way home, except getting lost an hour away from home going through the cornfields because they closed the road we were on and police made us turn so we were going on these back country roads. Unfortunately, it was dark and the road we were on didn’t have a name on it, so couldn’t find it on the map to know where we were going. Never thought we would need a city map, 1 hour away from home! ROFL!! We finally figured our way out & made it home in one piece.

View from our Room


REFLECTIONS!

My favorite parts were the tours.

It’s really hard going with an age span & someone who doesn’t really want to be there.

Try to not rush as much and don’t sweat being a bit late (try to not be late on purpose but we still got to do everything even being late) and it does take longer to get everywhere (I know I read that before but obviously didn’t grasp it! LOL!)

I also might try to wing the ADR’s a little more. It was getting tiring seeing the same characters at most of the meals. My favorite character meals were dinner at Chef Mickey’s and Liberty Tree Tavern. All the breakfasts seemed rushed but that might be because we were late to all of them, I think even if we weren’t just the set-up would have been rushed too. I thought the castle was neat but don’t know if I would specifically try for it again.

I really liked the Rainforest Café & Fulton’s, those 2 stuck out in my mind as better than average for the food, although we never had a bad meal anywhere. I know I had a great steak somewhere and can’t remember exactly where (it was at one of the 2), I think it was Fulton’s. I know I was surprised at the quality of the Rainforest Café because I wasn’t expecting much being that it is a chain restaurant.

REMEMBER the camera! LOL! At least that was the good thing with DH being somewhat disinterested, he got some great shots that I was so involved in the moment I would have never thought to get!

My kids loved the characters and I wished we had taken more time to just do characters but other ones than the ones at the meals.

Originally I was thinking about going back when DS-1 is 9 to get the last year of the kid’s price in but after this trip, I think older, even though will cost more, will be better. My DD seemed to be the perfect age. So, as of right now we are talking about going back in 10 years since Luke won’t remember any of this. (DH wants to go to Yellowstone first). What I would really like to do is take each kid individually and then it can focus on what they want to do since I have such varied personalities, it made it difficult. I just haven’t figured out how to make that work.

It was an enjoyable vacation, although not a very restful one but I didn’t expect it to be either.

Any questions?

[luv2sail]

Great report Becky! I'm exhausted from reading it. I don't know how you do it. My hat's off to you!

[bsblady01]

sounds like you had a great trip to the world.

[Colexis Mom]

Great report Becky And great pictures too

Thanks for sharing your trip with us

[Happymommy]

Reading your report was so much fun (tiring, but fun hehehehe!!!!) You guys really did alot of fun activities Loved your reflections at the end! Thanks for sharing!!

[BelmontBelle]

Great report, I had so much fun reading it! Although tiring, it sounds like you all had a lot of fun. for sharing!

[lauren-roxy]

Great report Becky!! I really enjoyed it! You guys really did a lot!! Thanks for sharing!!

[taymaesmom]

Great report Becky, sounds like a really great trip!

[Cinderbrella]

I really enjoyed reading your trip report, Becky. You guys did a lot of fun things besides just the parks! I'm glad that you were able to eat at a lot of great sitdown restaurants with your kiddos. Thanks for sharing your trip and terrific pictures.

[Holland]

I am only on the July 11th report. I am literally crying from laughing so hard.
This is what magic is made of...

[whoSEZ]

Great report, Becky! Nice to hear you got some really cool magical moments!! Thanks for posting.

[FanOfMickey]

Great trip report Becky! I enjoyed every bit of it.