Have a Happy Birthday - Part One - Updated 9/30 COMPLETE About This Page:

[amandal]

Originally Posted by pamcarey

That update just went on and on! I loved it.

I think because this TR is on the heels of a PTR . . . . . . .

[ilovedisney247]

Wow! Stroller Mania . . . amazing that you recovered yours both times!! Great day! Keep Going!

[zacksmom_1993]

Jill, I'm finally all caught up (just in time for part deux! ) Love the report, the princess-ness, the funny dialougue of darling Maddie, and your hubby's stroller competitiveness. But the cherry on top for me? If I'm ever having a hard day, I'll just imagine the look on Thom's face when Mary Devall announced that she should get a "stand for everyone who wants my autograph" and laugh. And laugh. And laugh. See? I'm doing it right now. Can't wait to hear more from my favorite South Carolina family! (And yes Eileen and Sharon, I know more than one.)

[bethf]

I love the updates - especially the picture of Maddie with those 3-D glasses! So glad that you got the stroller back, I can't wait to read about your last day (and your next trip )

[Jillybean]

Saturday, August 2 Day Five

Even though Thom and Mary Devall had not made it back from MK EMH until 4 a.m., Mary Devall had asked me yesterday to make sure that I woke her this morning for breakfast. She really wanted to draw at Artist Palette one last time before we left. I tried not to wake Thom, but he woke up anyway and decided to come with us.

Maddie went with her tried and true kids breakfast platter while Mary Devall and I each had a waffle and Thom had the crumb cake that I had the morning before. I enjoyed catching up on the stroller adventures from the night before while the girls drew. We wrapped up our morning out with a little shopping before we headed back to the room to get ready and pack.

We had already forewarned Mary Devall the day before that she would not be able to wear her princess dress today since we would need to pack it. I guess that three days straight was enough because she was okay to just be back in little girl attire today.

When a CM from Bell Services arrived to take our luggage to storage, he offered to give us a ride too. Thom thought that we needed to check out at the Carriage House, so that’s where we were taken. I always ask for express check out, so we just ended up walking back to the bus stop. Oh well, it was a nice thought.

We began our trip with AK, so Mary Devall wanted to end it there also. An AK bus showed up right away and we were soon walking through the gates. After we grabbed FP’s for EE, Thom decided that it was lunch time. He wanted to try Tusker House this time, so we headed for Africa and were immediately seated. When I was helping the girls fix their plates, I couldn’t help but look at the PB&J bar and think of Zack with his peanut butter and chocolate pudding sandwich.

This was our second trip here and we really enjoy the atmosphere and the food. I couldn’t help but overhear our server talking to a couple at the table beside us. She was from India so he told her that he was very interested to hear how she liked it since so much of the food was from Indian origins. After the meal, you could almost feel the server let out a sigh of relief when she said that she truly enjoyed the food. The server then turned to her dining companion who said “I did not like it at all . . . I loved it.” Whew!

After our yummy lunch, we were able to walk right on a safari. When we were in our truck, Maddie turned to me and asked “Will we see a lion again?”

I asked “What do you think?”

She thought for a moment and then answered “Yes, on the rock.” Just like her sister, she has an amazing memory (that often comes back to bite Thom and me ).

We had a very wild driver who was extremely animated, liked bumps, and kept the pedal to the metal. Although we didn’t see the lioness on the rock again, the girls giggled throughout as we hit each and every bump.

Mary Devall had been asking about face painting our entire trip and I thought it was a perfect time after our safari. Thom was on the phone with a friend, so I lead the girls over to the display and let Mary Devall make her choice - - Desert Beauty once again. Maddie was closely studying the different face paintings, but she never said a word.

Mary Devall hopped up in a chair and let the CM know her selection. While Maddie and I were watching, another CM asked if Maddie wanted her face painted. I had never even thought of this possibility, but when I asked Maddie her face just lit up. It nearly broke my heart that she had wanted to do this so badly, but had never asked.

She crawled up into the chair and announced that she wanted to be a lion (she even knew exactly what she wanted to be). The CM told me that the lion was a full face painting and questioned if I wanted that for her, but I told him to go ahead.

I was amazed at how incredibly still that Maddie sat. She did not move a muscle. I looked over at Thom on the phone and he had the biggest smile on his face watching her. She was so very proud of her lion face.





Continued in next post . . .

[Jillybean]

Once our girls had their painted faces, we went back to Dino Land for Dinosaur FP’s. We had to laugh at Maddie because every so often we would catch her raising her hands (paws) and swiping at the air just like her beloved Simba. She was really taking her role of lion seriously.

On our way to Dino Land, we stopped to watch these guys and Mary Devall was pulled into the action.



Continued in next post . . .

[Caldercup]

Heeeeeee!

This.... is the most hilarious picture evah!

Can't wait for more!
Eileen

[Jillybean]

Before we picked up Dinosaur FP's, we decided to take a family picture. I think it's apparent in the second picture who the real actress in the family is (and it's not Drama Queen 1&2 ).



After picking up the Dinosaur FP’s, it was time to use our EE FP’s. Mary Devall and I headed for the line first, but what we found looked more like the standby line - - on a bad day! The people around me assured me that yes, this was the FP line. We just stood there for a couple of minutes, so Mary Devall and I finally baled and went back to Thom and Maddie. Thom went to investigate and found out that there had been a glitch with the FP machine and too many FP’s had been issued for this time. He sent us back to the line which quickly started moving and we were riding within 10 minutes.

When we got back outside, Maddie was and telling me that she wanted to sit on my lap and ride EE. Bless her heart! We sent Thom to ride while the three of us headed back to Dino Land. I had an idea of what might brighten Maddie’s day.

We stopped at the frozen lemonade stand and bought one for each girl. Our purchase was held up because someone approached the CM at the stand and told him that another woman needed a wheelchair because she was sick. He tried to contact someone on his walkie talkie, but they were no help so he sent her to a CM with apparently a bit more pull at the Finding Nemo show. I have never been at Disney when so many people were getting sick, but then again, this was our first visit in the hottest part of the summer.

With lemonades in hand, we took them to the benches behind TTS to enjoy. The girls enjoyed relaxing with their snacks and they even occasionally shared with me. From our location, we were able to flag down Thom and he was soon enjoying a leftover lemonade himself.

While Mary Devall and I went to ride Dinosaur, Thom and Maddie stayed behind to ride TTS. We were seated with a big family who were having the best time together. The girls sitting in the row with us high fived their mom in the front seat and then of course Mary Devall had to high five me. When the mom saw her do this, she immediately gave Mary Devall a high five too. I think we had just been adopted into the family. Mary Devall absolutely loved squealing throughout this ride with the girls beside us. The family sitting behind us even got a kick out of her excitement.

After an awesome ride, we came outside and immediately spotted a FP turned upside down on the pavement. I’ve learned to always look because you never know (plus you can’t hang around Eileen for too long without feeling the urge to keep Disney clean ). I turned it over and saw that we had a valid FP for Dinosaur in our hands. Mary Devall was super excited because now she would get to ride with her dad.

When we spotted Thom and Maddie outside of TTS, I let Mary Devall run up to Thom and give him the good news. After they took off to ride, Maddie and I spotted Pluto, but he soon left. A lady in front of us told us that Goofy was coming out, but Maddie didn’t want to wait for Goofy. As soon as she spotted Goofy moments later, she wanted to go back to the line. Thankfully, we didn’t lose our place. When it was Maddie’s turn, she wasn’t exactly excited to take pictures with Goofy. She didn’t want to touch him and she didn’t want to be beside him. Instead, I nearly had my shirt ripped off as she attempted to get away from him.



Up next . . . our final hours at AK and my final thoughts!

[Caldercup]

What fun on Triceratops Spin!! And the whole meeting with Goofy had me howling -- you can just see how much she wants to be at least 6 more inches away from him!

But this had me laughing out loud!!

Originally Posted by Jillybean

(plus you can’t hang around Eileen for too long without feeling the urge to keep Disney clean )

Yep, that old Disney Dip thing... I see it, I bend, I scoop and I throw it away. In your case, your Dipping had a karmic outcome -- an FP!!


Eileen

[Colexis Mom]

Love the face painting What a great last day at AK!! More please

[Meggera]

The face painting looks fabulous! Maddie is too precious as a lioness. I it. It just made my day. And congrats on keeping AK clean and snagging an awesome FP, too.

[Luvsun]

All caught up! What an amazing day you guys had! I am glad that Thom got to ride RNRC! Your meal at Sci Fi sounds soooooooooo good! I just love eating there!
What a crazy fiasco with the stroller! I am glad you got your own stroller back after all of that!
I tell ya - that Mary Devall is some late night (or should I say early morning) party girl! Up until 4 a.m.!!!! Well, why not? After all, it is her birthday trip!
I love the face painting! That little Maddie is just too cute!
Great updates!
I know that you are getting ready to go yet AGAIN! What fun you guys have!!

[tinker_me_happy]

Your girls are adorable with their face paint! I'm so glad Maddie was able to get hers done! May they never feel "too old" for a good old fashion face paint! (Mine didn't!)


I think Mary Devall's face paint would have looked wonderful with her princess dress!!
Sad this trip is coming to an end, but I think there is another birthday trip you will be writing about very soon?

[Jillybean]

I was trying to wrap this up earlier, but I had to run off to cooking class! I'm back now and ready to finish . . .

Maddie didn’t want to ride TTS again, so we found a cool spot in the nearby store. She played with the fluffies (her name for stuffed animals ) until I spotted Thom and Mary Devall outside. It was time for us to be heading back to SSR, so we started walking towards the exit. We took the slow way out because we still wanted to do a little shopping. Mary Devall ended up buying a Camp Rock backpack for school and Maddie chose a red Walt Disney World shirt that she wears about every other day.

Maddie had a bit of a meltdown at the bus stop because she wanted to wear Mary Devall’s backpack, but I think it was more from being overtired because she conked out on Thom’s lap as soon as the bus started moving. At one of the stops at SSR, our CM friend from the other night hopped on and started chatting with us. He was headed back to work at MK (he also informed us that our bus may have come from AK but it was now going to MK ) that evening and he said that his family was wearing him out. I can’t imagine having to work those hours and entertain your family at the same time. He confirmed with me that the bus pulled up in front of MK instead of the T&TC (funny that I had to give a CM advise - I so felt like Eileen ) and then we said goodbye to him at our stop.

Once back at the Carriage House, we asked for our bags and a taxi to be called. We then sat and watched the “taxi drama” unfold before our eyes. A family of six (a mom, dad, grandmother, and three children) appeared to have been waiting a while for a taxi. One finally showed up and they all piled in, but the taxi driver was irate. He went to the bell stand and just blessed them out for calling him for a family of six. The poor family had to get back out of the taxi, but they were soon whisked away by a CM in a Disney van.

Meanwhile, the irate taxi driver was still there and I was terrified that they were going to try to put us in the car with them. Thankfully, two little old ladies walked up and just helped themselves to the taxi.

In no time, a taxi van arrived for us and we were off. We were at the train station in about 20 minutes and we had less than 30 minutes to wait for our train. Another nice thing about taking the train instead of a plane is that we could wait until the last minute to leave for the train station. With no lines and no security, there was really nothing to do once you arrived at the train station but wait so we were in no rush to get there. It’s in an area of town with absolutely nothing to do - - except maybe go to the dentist - - so we timed it with that in mind. Once there, Thom got our tickets and checked our luggage and then we waited about 10 minutes in the station itself. It is in a beautiful old building that is mainly filled with benches that look more like church pews.

When the train arrived this time, the sleeper cars were right in front of the station so all we had to do was walk straight on the train. Once again, we had sleeper car B (even though this was a different train) but we still thought it cool to have the same one. This one also had a chair that the first one didn’t have, so that excited us to no end (and I’m not being sarcastic here - - it really did excite us ). Our car attendant gave us the low down on our sleeper and told us that he had made 7:30 dinner reservations for us. Cool - - especially since it was already a few minutes past 7 p.m.

Not too long after the train started moving, we headed for the dining car. Luckily for us, it was the next car over on this train. They had a table ready for us within minutes and we were soon sitting watching the world go by. The servers on this train were even nicer than the first. Our server was an older gentleman and he immediately suggested that the girls share an adult meal. For some reason, you only get three free meals with a sleeper car, so we had paid for an additional breakfast going down to Orlando. This man was having none of that though and wanted a solution for us where we didn’t have to pay extra.

I ordered a glass of chardonnay, but he told me that they only sold half bottles of chardonnay. When I told him that was fine, he said that he would bring an extra glass for Thom. I told him not to bother and that I could handle it myself. He got a good laugh out of that. Thom was apparently in a festive mood because he strayed from unsweetened ice tea and ordered a beer.

For entrees, I ordered the vegetable lasagna while Thom ordered steak and the girls split the roasted chicken. The food was surprisingly good! We spent over an hour enjoying our food and reminiscing about how much fun we had over the past several days. I think we have finally found the perfect way to alleviate those “going home” blues because the train ride in itself was an adventure.

For dessert, Thom and I split a piece of cheesecake while the girls each had a small container of Haagan Daas ice cream which thrilled them to no end. I only took a bite of the cheesecake because I had a half bottle of wine to finish. I just enjoyed sitting there sipping my wine because we weren’t rushed at all.

It was probably close to 9 p.m. before we headed back to our sleeper. The attendant had turned down our beds and we were soon piled in them. Mary Devall fit perfectly in the little overhead compartment and Thom slept right below her in the upper bunk. Maddie and I shared the larger lower bunk this time which worked out perfectly for everyone. I read for a little while, but I think we were all by 10 p.m.

The train was scheduled to arrive in Columbia at 4 a.m. and we had asked our attendant to wake us up about 15 minutes before we arrived. The next thing we knew, he was knocking on our door telling us that we would be in Columbia in 5 minutes. Time to get up and get going!

As we were getting off the train, the attendant told me that we were almost 3 hours late getting into Columbia but instead ended up being a few minutes early. This is one of the few times in life that I wouldn’t have minded being late!

My parents had left the car the night before in the parking lot for us, so while I took the girls to get the car Thom went to get our luggage. By the time that we pulled up to the station, Thom and our luggage were waiting. I drove us the short 10-minute ride home with Mary Devall asking the entire way if she had to go back to sleep.

Once we got home, it wasn’t hard to convince the girls to lay back down for a bit. Thom and I were actually able to go back to sleep also, but I was back up at 8 a.m. because . . . believe it or not . . . we were leaving for Hilton Head in a few hours. We had made plans a year ago to take my best friend and her family with us to the Disney resort in Hilton head and we were meeting them later that morning for the drive down. A shower and a couple of cups of and I was good to go.

Going to Hilton Head for a few days allowed us to unwind from the hustle and bustle of the parks, but still keep a bit of that Disney magic . . . sort of like a “half way house.”

This trip had its origins in jealousy (of course, that could describe many of my trips ), but it ended up being the birthday of a lifetime for a 7-year-old little girl. The only problem is that I really can’t see her wanting to spend her birthday any where else from here on out, but that’s not really a problem, is it?

Up next . . . final thoughts

[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by Jillybean

I ordered a glass of chardonnay, but he told me that they only sold half bottles of chardonnay. When I told him that was fine, he said that he would bring an extra glass for Thom. I told him not to bother and that I could handle it myself. He got a good laugh out of that.

This reminds me of my recent experience getting a couple bottles of wine the other day -- I came up to the counter with two bottles of white merlot and a big bottle of Marsala and told the cashier that I'd prefer not to have a bag (I'm on a campaign to not have much plastic in my life!). His response.... "would you like a straw then?""

Heeeeee! Can you just see me swilling all this al-kee-hol on the way to the car?!

Anyhew... that was a great TR, Jill and had so many magical moments in it. Your lovely birthday girl seemed to have had a blast and the Simba-lovin' munchkin doesn't look like she suffered at all either!

Can't wait for your final thoughts -- and I'll be on the look-out for the NEXT pre-trip report!


Eileen