Ohana' means Family~ PTR About This Page:

[honeybee723]

Josie and Hope should get together than. I'd say at least once a day Hope says, "I wish we could go back to Disney World". When a Disney commercial comes on it's the same thing. I told her we just got back, and she says, "No...it's been a while". Kids...just gotta love them.

Ohana sounds a little off to me as well. I'm glad you were able to make the most of the situation, but it seems there were too many "off" factors to make the night go any better. Hoping that breakfast makes up for it though.

[OhToodles!]

Dylan fits right in with Hope & Josie (and I'm sure Dawn will add her boys later too ). Lucky kid will get to go back before his parents though (in-laws are most likely taking him in April).
Besides Arnaud feeling under the weather that night (& after dinner) sounds pretty perfect.
Can't wait to hear about breakfast, but not the flying home part.

[Cam22]

We've had some favorite restaurants at WDW have an off night or we've had an off night. Bummer when it happens! Watching Wishes from your very own room at the end of a great vacation is priceless!

[mommapants]

Sounds like you all had a really amzing trip and that room - still gets me how perfect that was. Remind Josie about your cats and you'd have to get them so they don't get farted on. - oh wait that was her toy wasn't it, and by daddy and baby brother. I don't know why I remember that just now.

[OCEANGRLLG]

Finally got back on here (can only get on while at work when its a slow day) computer at home not working so its keeping me away from the boards more then I like . This have been a great TR and I have really enjoyed reading. Sorry this trip is coming to an end, but the one good thing at the end of each trip.....you know that you will be coming back!!!

[Linnynad]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Sorry dinner wasn't a great experience. I love the food there, but wouldn't want it all out at the same time!
Hope Arnaud is feeling better for the flight.

Well let's just say the flight wasn't all that great

Originally Posted by lauriep

Sorry Arnaud was feeling so ill, and that 'Ohana wasn't that great, but it was still a magical last night. Love the photo of the kids at the window watching the water pageant. I love Josie's wistful little wish that you could all just move there! This trip really was the stuff of dreams.

It sure was the stuff of dreams, that's for sure. No other trip can top this one.

Originally Posted by ilovedisney247

Oh such a beautiful night!

It was a nice end to the trip, well all but Arnaud being sick

Originally Posted by Thomhazel

I agree with Josie i want to live there.

When we moved to Paris Rory was 7 and we told him in the February and didn't move until the July so he had a lot of time to formulate his vision of what was coming. He kept saying but if we live there where will the
people that work there live and i really couldn't figure out what we was on about. Until we figured he was picturing living in the apartments above the shops in Main Street in DLP. We are such an uncultured family that when we said we are moving to Paris he thought we meant DLP!

Now THAT would be a sweet place to live

Originally Posted by chezp

Sorry 'Ohana wasn't that great, but how neat to see Wishes. I had no idea about the torch lighting ceremony. Very cool!

You would like that ceremony, it's about 6pm everynight and starts inside the lobby, then they move it out front.

Originally Posted by MayraLR

What a great trip! I hear you on the meltdowns. On our 2011 trip, my then 6 year old had a full blown meltdown at ABC Commissary. To this day I still don't know why he was crying.
I also tink that dinner at Ohana feels a little rushed. Don't et me wrong, I loved the food but they do pile it up. At one time, there was no room at our table.
So sad to see this trip coming to an end.

The food is always excellent, but it was way too much coming out way to quick this time

Originally Posted by sc507

What a relaxing last evening. So sorry Arnaud still felt lousy

I'm glad we planned this night to be laid back, who knew he would get sick.

Originally Posted by JKnott17

Sorry dinner wasn't the greatest tonight at Ohana I like Josie's idea of just moving into the Poly, sounds like a plan to me!

Yeah, she's full of great ideas

Originally Posted by Suzie-Q

I have really enjoyed your photos of the EWP from your room, you really did luck out and I'm glad you took advantage of the great location!
Our last dinner at O'Hana I think we had the same cousin and she cracked us up! She had a very slow sing-songy voice and she would ask a question of the kids "can you say Aloha?" and the kids would all start to answer , "Alo..." and she cut them off EVERY TIME with a big "Greeeeeaaaat!"
Our youngest still mimics her and it makes me howl!
I feel your pain - even your last photos seem melancholy Nice to know that there will be a return trip someday.

Yeah that cousin is really sweet, and very pretty too, but her voice was really annoying this night. If they could break the activites up a little bit I think it would have been better.

Originally Posted by KMB733

Sorry Ohana wasn't the greatest meal, but getting to watch Wishes and the Electrical Water Pageant from your room was certainly magical!!

YES!!! That sure was magical!

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Sorry you weren't feeling 'Ohana, and that Arnaud was still feeling sick! Great pictures!

Thank you

Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark

Sorry that Ohana was slow and fast. I know what you mean though. The food comes out so fast, you want to keep up. You just have to pace yourself.

Love the pics of the kids watching the parade and Wishes. That would be so cool, to be able to see that out your window.

That really was I think what we enjoyed the most, was relaxing in the room or on the balcony watching our favorite nightime shows!

Originally Posted by honeybee723

Josie and Hope should get together than. I'd say at least once a day Hope says, "I wish we could go back to Disney World". When a Disney commercial comes on it's the same thing. I told her we just got back, and she says, "No...it's been a while". Kids...just gotta love them.

Ohana sounds a little off to me as well. I'm glad you were able to make the most of the situation, but it seems there were too many "off" factors to make the night go any better. Hoping that breakfast makes up for it though.

Josie is at that age where I wish I could let her go off and do those fun little activites, but I don't know if she would find her way back to our table without freaking out. Plus I want to watch he too, eh. I think if Arnaud wasn't feeling so sick he would have had no problems eating everything that was on the table

Originally Posted by OhToodles!

Dylan fits right in with Hope & Josie (and I'm sure Dawn will add her boys later too ). Lucky kid will get to go back before his parents though (in-laws are most likely taking him in April).
Besides Arnaud feeling under the weather that night (& after dinner) sounds pretty perfect.
Can't wait to hear about breakfast, but not the flying home part.

Awww, Dylan is lucky!!! Yes, the flying home part......never fun

Originally Posted by Cam22

We've had some favorite restaurants at WDW have an off night or we've had an off night. Bummer when it happens! Watching Wishes from your very own room at the end of a great vacation is priceless!

That sure was priceless. It will never happen again, so we took full advantage of that view!!

Originally Posted by mommapants

Sounds like you all had a really amzing trip and that room - still gets me how perfect that was. Remind Josie about your cats and you'd have to get them so they don't get farted on. - oh wait that was her toy wasn't it, and by daddy and baby brother. I don't know why I remember that just now.

LOL.........yes, she wanted to take baby Rapunzel with us becase if she left her home, they would fart on her. Classy!

Originally Posted by OCEANGRLLG

Finally got back on here (can only get on while at work when its a slow day) computer at home not working so its keeping me away from the boards more then I like . This have been a great TR and I have really enjoyed reading. Sorry this trip is coming to an end, but the one good thing at the end of each trip.....you know that you will be coming back!!!

You are correct! We will be back, and sooner than ya think too

[Linnynad]

Wednesday Sept 19th

This morning was an early one; LOL…..weren’t they all??? We had an early ADR at Ohana’ and then I needed to come back and finish some last minute packing and head out for DME which was picking us up around noon.

We set off for Ohana’ and realized we had one of the first ADR’s of the day, so as the restaurant wasn’t open yet we sat and waited a few minutes. Then next thing ya know ALL the servers come out front and they start playing “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride” and they are all singing along. Well Josie took this as her golden opportunity to showcase all of the hula dancing she had learned from this trip, and ALSO mimicking the Hawaiian girls from IaSW!!! She was on a roll and the whole place was cheering her on and clapping. I was quite impressed!











From there the restaurant was opened and we all started to get seated. Breakfast here is always great and I do love the family style buffet. We had great interaction with the characters too and Josie was happy to finally see Lilo!!
















Soon we were finished and headed back to the room to grab our bags and take one last look at the wonderful view from our room. As we headed out I stopped in the lounge area to give all the CM’s there a box of Atlantic City’s famous salt water taffy. I had brought that box along to give to Mel……………so sorry Mel. I think the CM’s were pretty happy though.

We made our way out to RAC and got settled to wait for DME. Now being on the DDP and also being upgraded to CL, I knew we were going to have some left over credits, but I had planned on going up to the gift shop to cash in on some snack credits before the bus came. Uhmm, to my surprise we had 15 snack credits left!!!! OK, I can browse around in here to see what I can get, but everything I kept grabbing at, the CM said it wasn’t on the plan. Then I remembered Arnaud’s love, and Josie’s now too, for gummy Goofy’s. I grabbed a bag and asked if they were OK. CM told me they were, so there I went, franticly grabbing 15 bags of gummy Goofy’s. Yes, you heard me correct………….15 bags!!!!!

I ran back down to the main entrance and the DME was just pulling up as I got back. A quiet and quick ride to the airport we had. The ride back is always so quite isn’t it???? I felt like it took us forever to get through TSA and to our gate. I had to go get a ticket from the desk for my single stroller I had and also state I had a lap baby, well the lady got real snippy with me and asked to see Andre’s ID. I was so annoyed by her snappiness, I brought on the charm and told her No problem let me go get that for you. I came back with his passport and she looked at it, then up at him, that back down again and made a snarky face. I told her thank you so much and have a really nice day. I understand my son looks big for his age, but there is really no need to get sharp with me over it.

We soon boarded and were off in the air. The flight was annoying because Andre would sleep, then want to eat, then switch laps, then watch a show, then go back to the other person…..yadda, yadda. Finally we had landed in Philly, grabbed ALL our bags, thank god, and were loading up into the car.

The ride home from the airport is about 45min to an hour, and we made great time and of course the kids fell fast asleep then. We pulled up to the house and pulled into the driveway and just let out a big sigh of “ Uhhhh, we are HOME!” we sat there for a minute and then Arnaud hit the garage door opener and we both looked at each other and were all like “Oh man, what is that sound???” after about a minute or two we realized it was our house alarm!!! I jumped out of the car and ran inside as fast as I could to try and shut it off. Try coming home from a 10 day vacation and having to remember your code to the alarm so quickly. I shut it off and just thought to myself, well now that’s a big ol’ back to reality for ya.

[Linnynad]

Final Thoughts:
OMG, please………for me to say this trip was beyond magical would be a huge understatement. Words could never truly describe what this trip meant to this family!! We have never been upgraded before and to be upgraded to CL is one thing, but then to have the best TPV I think in all of Disney World is in a whole different league. Wishes has always been my most favorite nighttime show to watch and to have been able to see it every night from the comfort of our own room with a cocktail, my man and my babies, will be some moments that I will NEVER forget!


Family of the Day at CMM!! Geez, how adorable was that. So totally random and also what a big deal it truly was. With the flag ceremony, walking with Mickey, the greet with Pocahontas and then the VIP viewing of Lion King!! I mean really, talk about grinning ear to ear for almost an hour. The PP photogs were so wonderful in capturing all of the fun moments with my family. What a special treat that was.


Now I know this might surprise you all but I have to say riding the Tea Cups with Alice and White rabbit had to be our most magical moment. As soon as this all started, it was over in a flash. It was such a really random moment, and so intimate with just them and us riding and spinning together. Josie, and myself could not stop smiling and laughing the whole time and again to have a PP photog capture the whole thing, amazing! Josie talks about that all the time and I so have to remind her that was a special treat and will not always happen.


Food. Well, we tried a few new places this year and the outcome was great. We loved LTT and I didn’t think I would, GG was always good. But hands down we had some killer meals at CS this year, with making healthier options too. SS in Epcot was terrific and the same for Y&Y at AK. The Asian chicken sandwich was to die for. We will always be making stops at those places from now on. Kona café was another great meal, but as I have said before, it always is!! I am happy we did get to try out CL as it has always been something we talked about, and now after having it, we can never go back. That really suits our needs so much better than the dinning plan.


Transportation. As Kelly has mentioned before, I’m a monorail girl, always will be. So that of course was always great and the buses weren’t so bad this year either, although we didn’t use them a whole lot. As for DME handling our bags, I think I’m done with that. I just really like to have my things when I want them, I never feel settled until I have everything unpacked.


SO where do we go from here? How can we ever top this trip, how could we even try?? I think we have come up with a good plan. After lots of discussing we have decided our next trip to Disney needs to be as far away from the Poly and any view of the MK. We do like to spend lots of time at our resort and also like to be close to a park. So BC seemed like a no brainer. We have decided to go in May for the F&GF and so we booked a BC room CL too!!! Our main focus will be spending lots of time at Epcot and getting to love Illuminations as much as we love Wishes. I think this will be a good complete opposite of our last trip, and view that we had. I will always cherish this past trip that room was once in a lifetime. I love all our Disney trips, but this one was extra, extra magical. I’m really glad I could share this all with you. Thanks for following along.

[lfredsbo]

Thanks so much for sharing! It was a truly magical trip, and I am such a sap as I just shed a tear for you while reading your wrap up!

Can't wait to hear about the next trip!

[cubfancolleen]

Great wrap up. But wow, 15 bags of gummies? You'll be eating those until the next trip!!
Thanks for sharing!

[Cam22]

Wonderful wrap up! Thanks for taking us all along on a super magical trip!

[OhToodles!]

Oh! I love that Josie put on her own show at Ohana. I think we're going to try O'hana breakfast this year since we're not visiting the parks.

What a truly magical trip. I got teary just reading your final thoughts. Now, will you end up loving BC as much as Dawn & Melissa? That is the question.

And will you girls be buying me some AC salt water taffy in about a month?!

[lfredsbo]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Great wrap up. But wow, 15 bags of gummies? You'll be eating those until the next trip!!
Thanks for sharing!

Ooh.....that could make for a good countdown!

[lyn213]

Linny, Thank you for sharing your magical trip and sweet family with us! What an amazing experience ya'll had! We also will be at the BC in May. Looking forward to hearing all about your next trip!

[mcc0313]

I am sorry Arnaud was not feeling well on your last night but even with the no so perfect meal at O'Hana it sounds like the perfect evening to wrap up this amazing trip.

Loved your final thoughts...there was so much magic and I have no doubt the magic will find you again no matter where you are...I think you will love the BC, to me there is something so magaical about walking to Epcot and while I love Wishes...Illuminations to me is just perfect. I think watching it from the bridge near France and then walking leisurely back to your resort will definitely be added to your last of favorites.