A Hop, NO Skip, and Many Mishaps to a Disney Dream

[jenseib]

Gorgeous pictures, I still love the detail in all these updates you do!

 

Thanks. it is taking me forever to get through though. I leave for Disney again in 13 days, so I know I won't get this finished by then, but I WILL finish after I get back and then start a new one. LOL!

[jenseib]

This is awesome....Makes me want to go back and spend my money on all of the Disney goods!

 

Thanks. I know, it's hard to NOT spend money there, but I really try to limit myself on what we get.

[jenseib]

We were led into the stretching room and Claire’s eyes were wide open. I think it’s been at least 3 years since she’s been on here, so I don’t think she remembered anything from any previous rides.

 

 

 

I held Claire close to me and kept reassuring her it was all pretend. She seemed to be OK though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The part where you get a ghost hitchhiker was different. I guess they have done something different, but I don’t know what (or if it’s done yet). But we enjoyed it still, though I can’t remember exactly what they did different there this time around. (My memory is fading after a few months time) I do know it looked like construction there and had a big screen over the area. I think the hitchhikers were just standing there waving their thumbs or something. Maybe someone else can help jog my memory.

 

The good news is that Claire did fine!

 

 

I asked Claire of she wanted to leave now and she said no way. She still needed to ride the Carrousel. Ok then! So we headed back that way. The whole time she talked about how brave she had been on Haunted Mansion and how she just kept telling her mind that it was all pretend and it wasn’t scary then. She liked it. BUT, I’m not sure she would run back to go on it again anytime soon! LOL!

 

We got to the Carrousel and we had just a small wait. Basically waiting it for it to stop to unload the guests on and then it was our turn. I asked the CM for the Cinderella Horse. I was told it’s no longer there. It was taken away for refurbishment. She suggested another “special” horse. We looked for it and couldn’t find it at all. It was not where she said it was. So she restated again where it was, and we looked. Nope, nothing special at all! The horse was about the ugliest one on the thing! So we asked again, in the meantime a very pretty horse had been taken. I am wondering if that was the one she meant, though it wasn’t in the area she had said. This time she walked us to the horse, the same horse we had looked at. Claire got on it, but there was NOTHING special looking about this horse at all.

 

While we went around, I took a few more shots.

 

 

 

 

 

After the wonderful spin on the Carrousel we saw Donald was out by Mickey’s Philharmagic, so we went over to see him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We strolled over to the sword in the stone and Claire decided to take a try at it. Now I was 99% sure it wouldn’t come out at such a late hour, but I guess you never know. Claire was determined to get it out. She even asked if I would help her try after it wouldn’t release.

You can almost read her thoughts!

 

“lets give this a try”

 

 

“I wonder if anyone else around here knows how to do it?”

 

 

“Ok, I need to put my whole body into it”

 

 

“Come ON! Pull out!”

 

 

“Must….Come…Out!”

 

 

By this time she had asked me to come help her, but I told her I wasn’t any stronger and it wasn’t meant to come out for us.

 

 

At this point we debated on staying. It was now 2:30. We would have to wait at least 15 more minutes for the characters to come over to Dumbo. Honestly we were sooooo tired and sore. I had been up for a good 20 hours now and Claire wasn’t too far off on that number either. Every muscle ached. I could feel every step I took and all the stair climbing I had done on the cruise was catching up to me. We made the decision to leave. I hated to do it, but I just couldn’t go any longer. And of course we still had to walk all the way up front AND out to the bus stop yet.

So off we went. And yes, I still took a few pictures along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we stopped for a few photopass as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see by the time on the clock that we were about to turn into Pumpkins! It took us close to 15 minutes to walk up towards the front. We were exhausted, but we still stopped for more pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The camera got packed away then. As we walked out of the park, everyone would say “Good Bye Princess” to Claire She was riding in her royal carriage, just like a Princess should, but she didn’t reply to anyone. I would say think, and sorry, she’s very tired, and they would say back “I can see that”. Well after about the 3rd “good bye Princess” I looked over at her to tell her to say thank you. I now knew why there were no replies. She was out COLD! He head was flopped onto her chest and she was just zonked out totally. It had happened in about 2 minutes time. I guess the day had caught up with her.

We headed out to the bus stop and a bus was loading right then. I got her up and told her she had to walk onto the bus and she did while I carried the stroller on. She sat down and went right back out. And her head did the bob the whole way back. I tried to hold it in place the best I could so she wouldn’t get whiplash. Some people were laughing at her because she looked so funny.

We soon arrived back at Pop and I got her up again and she made it off the bus and sat immediately in her stroller. She mentioned she was very thirsty, and I told her I would get her something after we got back to the room.

She slept for the long hike to our room. I know if I EVER get this location again, I WILL ask to be moved. It was so far out. For one night it was OK for us, but we like to be much closer to the action.

We got back to the room and Dad was having a fit that we were out so late. He was sure something happened to us. Mom had told him we were fine and knew what we were doing.

I got Claire undressed and ready for bed. She started crying. It was late and she was tired. She said she knew she was beautiful, but needed to have her hair taken out because it was too tight on her head. I was shocked. Last trip she wore the hairstyle for a WEEK. I actually took it out one day and washed her hair and put it back in.

I was a bit sad to take it out, but it made her happy to have feeling on her head again. LOL! I told her it was OK, she was still beautiful without it.

She told my Dad all about her encounter with Chip and Dale before she went to bed then. She was so excited about it.

I grabbed our mugs and ran up to the food court with out thinking. Yes it was locked up tight. DANG IT! So I hike all the way back to the room again, not such a happy camper at the moment. Grabbed some money and got a couple of drinks out of the vending machine. Claire was sound asleep by then, but I knew it would be good to have something there for her in case she woke up dying of thirst.

I soon was off to dreamland myself.

It was a wonderful day. We had a few mishaps, but nothing major. We woke up on the Dream and went to sleep in Disney World. Who could ask for more!

And that concludes day 5! We still have 2 more fun filled days of vacation!

[jenseib]

Day 6 ~ April 4th, 2011, Monday

 

Another early day for me. I don’t know why I can’t sleep, but why try and fight it. I believe I didn’t actually lie down till 4 AM the night before.

I didn’t write down what time I got up, but I know my first picture was taken by 8:30. I am pretty sure when I got up I showered before going out, so I would say I had to be up no later than 8. Yeah, that would equal about 4 hours of sleep.

I grabbed my mug and went up to get a refill. I took pictures along the way, and also called Skip to see how things were going at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a look across the lake at Art of Animation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then headed back to the room to make sure the family was starting to stir. Also we had to be packed AGAIN! We were moving over to Residence Inn near Sea World today. In the future, I don’t know if the money we saved going there (it was free with my Moms rewards points) is worth the moving. It became tiresome. And I have just found that I really like being immersed in all things Disney while staying on property.

My Dad got up and tried tip toeing around so Claire could sleep longer. My Mom let him know that a bomb could go off and Claire wasn’t going to budge. LOL!

As I packed I plugged in my camera battery into the outlet under the table. I had 2 batteries for my SLR and one was pretty low, so I thought I would give it a quick charge so it would be ready when needed. I also gave my phone a little extra charging as well. My phone seems to love to eat the power! I charge the heck out of it and it seems to die fairly quickly when you use it a lot.

 

It finally came time to start getting Claire up. My plan was to wash her hair this morning. She had all that gel in it from the day before. Claire had other ideas about waking up, and I have to say, I don’t blame her. She was up very late the night before.

I would’ve let her sleep longer, but we had a very important breakfast to attend. I knew when I made this ADR, that it was going to be really pushing it to get there, but I also knew it was going to be well worth it.

We were going to 1900 Park Fare. A breakfast with characters….and not just any characters, one we REALLY wanted to see…..Mary Poppins!

Claire finally got moving and it was now getting late. Dad was loading the van with everything not needed at the moment as I got Claire moving. It was now too late for a bath or hair wash. That would just have to wait till tonight.

Claire was cranky and actually complained when I put her dress on. She didn’t understand how special her dress is and thought she would rather go in just regular clothes today. I am pretty easy going when she wants to change out of costumes, but this time I didn’t give in to her way. She ONLY had to wear this dress to breakfast and then she could take it off…forever if she wanted to.

I kept watching the clock and started to get a little panicky. I struggled with putting on Claire’s boots and I think the sweat was pouring off me at this point. Sometimes getting a 6 year old dressed is a major workout.

I did a VERY quick look around the room as I stood to leave and rushed out the door. That is NOT how I usually leave anywhere. I am one of those people who usually looks under the beds, under tables in drawers, in the shower, etc. before I leave. I just didn’t have the time and I soon regretted not taking that extra look around.

My Dad has a sarcastic since of humor and soon was joking with Claire on the way over to Grand Floridian. Claire, not being in a chipper mood at the moment, was NOT happy with is comments. I don’t think he understood the deal with dressing up for a breakfast at all either, nor just how special her dress was.

As we approached Magic Kingdom, I got confused about which lane I was supposed to be in for the resorts. I asked at the booth and they told me to cut ALL the way across and follow that road on the other side. That was a treat, but I did it!

Soon the Grand Floridian was in sight and Mom Oohed and Ahhed at the sight of it. She declared this was a place she most definitely wanted to stay at someday.

We still had time to spare for our 10:45 ADR. Yes, we made it!!!

I pulled to the gate and the CM working was kind of snooty. I gave him our name and told him where we were going. He acted like we just weren’t good enough or something. He asked if we wanted to Valet park. I said no, just the regular lot would be fine. He told me to follow the signs then. I did. DUMB mistake. I strongly suggest paying the extra money and using the Valet parking. We kept driving and driving and soon came back around to the road. We saw that regular parking was across the street. We almost went back around to Valet, but we didn’t want to deal with Mr. Snooty again.

Now on this day, my body ached the worst! It hurt to even think, that’s how sore I was.

So this walk to 1900PF seemed like 100 miles away. Plus with the walk, I started to worry once again that we would be late.

As we walked up to the entrance one of the CM’s standing there told Claire that she was the most beautiful girl he had seen all day. My Dad started to eat this up. I told Dad then that the dress Claire was wearing was a creation of mine. This dress was not sold at any stores and a very rare thing to see at Disney.

Claire on the other hand scowled. I think she was a bit embarrassed by the attention, but she soon got over that.

We made it! And checked in right on time. We asked if we could add a 4th to our table. (Remember I had only made ADR’s for 3 people, because it was supposed to be Skip, Claire and I) They said yes, gave us a pager and we went out to the lobby. Mom looked the place over and again ooh and ahhed. I wanted some pictures of Claire.

She kept giving me silly faces and poses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon our buzzer went off and we went back to the check in area.

We had some pictures taken before going in. They really liked Claire’s dress and made such a big deal over it. They did say there was another girl as Mary Poppins inside already too. What are the chances that we show up wearing a Mary dress and someone else is too. LOL!

I did buy the pictures. I just had to have them. And then we had photopass access to all they took.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were then led back to our table and guess what? We were seated right next to the other little Mary Poppins. And I have to say her dress was very cute as well. I think I like Claire’s better, but I might be bias. Claire’s was full, while the other girls was more straight lined, but still very cute.

 

I don’t know what it is about 1900 PF, but we always seem to have the worse service here. Nothing super terrible, but just SLOW. If you need something, it seems to take forever to find your waitress. We had slow service again this time around, but we still had a great meal.

Claire got her autograph book out and waited for someone to come see her.

 

 

I went and got her some food so she could get started and warned her to be careful and not spill on herself.

 

 

 

Soon our first friend came around.. One of my all time favorites…Winnie the Pooh!

 

 

 

 

Alice was next!

 

 

 

[jenseib]

Tigger was next and he was great fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I almost felt we were slightly rushed with the characters. It wasn’t bad, but not the best we have had.

 

We had a little wait so I took a picture of Claires waffle. I guess it was too cute to eat.

 

 

Then came the lady we had been waiting for and interaction was great!

 

 

I was bummed this one came out so blurry.

 

 

Claire was very shy throughout the whole meet. She would nod her head. We couldn’t really hear what they were talking about, but it seemed they were enjoying themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

Claire had a lot of pictures with her mouth wide open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary was so nice. She said they had a wonderful conversation and Claire just kept nodding, but she didn’t think Claire actually spoke at all. LOL!

Claire was over the moon with the meet. And my Dad thought Claire was so beautiful standing there with Mary.

 

 

The Mad Hatter made it to our table. I have heard how fun he can be, but he wasn’t. I don’t know if it was because we had such a late ADR and he was tired or if he just wasn’t into tricks today, but he was rather boring.

 

 

Claire was a little intimidated by the Mad Hatter. At first she had said she wouldn’t want a picture with him or perhaps only one with someone else in the picture with her. I was surprised because she had gone to the Wonderland Tea Party last trip and just LOVED the Mad Hatter then. She did eventually warm up to him and we got the best smiles out of for these pictures.

 

 

 

After the characters rolled through I finally made an effort to eat. I had only gotten a little bit at this point and time, though Mom and Dad were pretty much finished. I got more watermelon for Claire and I dove into what I wanted.

While up at the buffet I ran into the Mom of the other Mary Poppins. I told her how cute the dress was and asked if she made it. She had a friend make it for her. She then went on to tell me about how “some lady” also sells them on ebay for over $300. LOL! I told her I knew “that” lady and she does an excellent job.

I finished up eating and the characters all came around one more time. The place was emptying out now. We said hi to them and Claire talked a bit, but I didn’t pull the camera back out for more pictures.

It took awhile to settle our bill. Mostly because out waitress kept disappearing. At one point I had actually asked another waitress for ketchup, because we couldn’t find ours.

I have to say I left her a very minimal tip, but more than she deserved.

 

We then set off. I wanted to take some pictures of Claire outside. I wasn’t sure how the mood would be, (she can be iffy about getting posed pictures) but she did let me!

 

We told her to pretend she was flying like Mary.

 

 

I tried to get her to pose with the nice CM who had commented on her beauty on the way in, but she refused to.

We took her over to the cars and carriages to have pictures too. We got a lot of not so nice faces. Also it seemed to be the same idea for others and we had a hard time getting shots without someone else in the background. I would try to be courteous of their shots, but they didn’t always repay the favor.

 

 

 

I wish she had a better smile in this one and then it would’ve turned out pretty good.

 

 

 

Dad had been walking around a bit and quickly came over excited. He said he had found a Mary Topiary (which I knew about) and Claire MUST have her picture taken in front of it!

 

I think I took like 10 pictures here, but the light was awful…too bright, and Claire had awful faces. And then for some reason just about every picture either cut something off or was tilted one way or the other. LOL!

 

 

 

 

Back over to take pictures by the car.

 

 

 

 

 

Claire was done with photos at this point and time so we made the LONG hike back to the car. I did take time to stop and smell the roses though!

 

 

 

 

 

One last look back as we make our way to the car.

 

 

I could tell this was going to be a long day already. My body was NOT holding up well. I was so sore from all the walking. The worst was the bottom of my feet. I walk hard and ruin shoes all the time, I also get blisters easily and have wide feet. Luckily I didn’t get blisters this trip, but it felt like the bottoms of my feet were bruised. I did a stupid thing too. I rotated shoes that day and wore more of a sandal shoe type thing. They have no cushion in then and later in the day I was regretting this.

 

We got loaded into the car and made our way over to Residence Inn to check in. Our plan was to check in fast and head straight over to Sea World. Didn’t quite work out that way though.

[jenseib]

We found our way easily enough and got off at the correct exit. As we approached the Residence Inn, I actually passed the road. As we went along with the flow of traffic through the light I realized it and pulled into a parking lot and made my way over to the correct road. As we turned around I made the comment that I really couldn’t see the traffic light well. When I had to make my left turn onto the correct road, again I noticed the light was so dim that I basically couldn’t see it. Traffic wasn’t bad and when I saw that no one was coming, I made the turn.

We pulled into Residence Inn and I was going to go and check us in. Dad was talking about his bathroom schedule again and said he would go in to use it after I got the all clear. I was going to take Claire into the bathroom and change her and we were going to go straight to Sea World then. Not even bothering to take our bags to our room.

Of course when I jumped out of the van again I forgot to put in park. I quickly caught it and said a few choice words. I don’t know why I had such a heck of a time getting this thing in park. LOL!

I went in and noticed that the door was propped open and the sliding doors were not working. It hit me then. Power was out in this area. No wonder I couldn’t see the traffic lights.

 

I walked in and asked if the power was out and they said yes. They also said they couldn’t check us in without power but took my phone number and name and said they would call us as soon as they could. I let them know that we were going to Sea World and would be back later then. I noticed that they still had a few emergency lights on, so I asked if we could use the bathrooms. They said yes, there was a little light in each one. I ran back out to the van and let the family know what was going on. Claire jumped out and we found her clothes to change her into. Dad made a beeline for the bathroom.

 

The bathroom was still pretty dark, but still enough light to actually get changed if you weren’t in a stall. Claire worried that someone would come in and “see” her. I assured it if someone did come in, it would be a girl. We got all dressed and then made a potty stop ourselves. The lights Popped back on as we were finishing up. Claire and I went to the desk and they were able to check us in at that point.

 

We headed back the van and waited for Dad…and waited…..and waited…..and waited.

 

I guess I took this picture while waiting because it’s the next one on my card.

 

 

Finally Dad emerged. We did the old joke (and disgusting joke at that) of “Did everything come out ok?” ….Well, no it did not!

This is going to be a little graphic, and I will write it as delicately as I can, but it is hilarious as well.

 

Dad came out and said the Men’s bathroom didn’t have any light. The emergency light had died. So he came out and asked a maintenance guy where another bathroom was. I questioned this right away. “You can’t go to the bathroom in the dark?” Dad said no, it was pitch black and couldn’t see his hand in front of his face….again I thought what do you really need to see….just go! LOL!

So he was directed to another bathroom. Again, the lights were out. So he came out and told the guy it was too dark in there as well. So the guy asks Dad if he would like him to shine a flashlight over the top of the stall while he went. And Dad said yes…..

OK, here I stopped him again….. “”What kind of guy offers to hold a flashlight while another guy is going to the bathroom?.. .and THEN what kind of guy says YES!” Well I guess I just found out!

So Dad proceeds to tell us how once he got in there the launch sequence became interrupted. He couldn’t go with the guy standing on the outside of the stall….well DUH…I could’ve told you that. So Dad told the guy it wasn’t going to work and came back out.

I have to say my Mom and I are dying with laughter at this point and time. I think we had tears streaming down our face. Claire even found it funny.

Dad thought we were crazy for laughing. He was mad now because he missed “his” time and things would be messed up now. And it was. He couldn’t go for a couple of days after. We began joking around each time he came out of a bathroom, asking if he was able to put in the launch code again, etc. We kept using space terms for everything and cracking ourselves up. Yes, we are happy with cheap and disgusting insults at my own Dads expense. When we got home I relayed the story to both of my sisters and both stopped me in the story at the same time “What? Wait, HUNH? Tell me you’re joking, He said yes to having a guy shine a flashlight while he went? AND what kind of guy offers to do that?”

 

He said the lights finally came on and he gave it one more try, but by that time it was too late!

 

We drove over to where our room was located and took out our bags and went to the elevator. For some reason Dad just looked at us like a deer in headlights and totally missed getting on the elevator. Mom was worried he would get lost and have no clue where to find our room. So Claire and I went back down to see if he was waiting. He wasn’t and I assumed he took the other elevator. When we got to the room, he was there, so I guess he found his way.

We freshened up a bit. I was feeling very tired at this point. I mentioned that for dinner this evening I wanted to do something very quick and get us to bed early. Mom said fine, but no fast food. I could already envision that we would be up later than I wanted to be.

I don’t know why we ended up taking our time, but for some reason I started looking at my pictures and organizing my cards. I realized one of my CF cards was missing. The one from the first few days. ….. With a LOT of cruise pictures.

I searched my camera bag, I searched my laptop bag…..I just couldn’t find it. I was panicking. Dad made some sarcastic remark about what a shame it would be for me to lose my millions of pictures. I said “it might not mean a lot to you, but to me it’s very important”. I was on the verge of tears (lack of sleep), so I grabbed Claire and took her down to the van. I was going to take a look through and see if it fell out. I looked and found nothing. I just sat on the van floor with the side door open, looking out and feeling so awful. I had my camera bag with me and I opened it up again, and low and behold that stupid card was there. In the spot I had already looked 3 times!!!! I was relieved and mad at myself.

We went back up to get Mom and Dad and told them the card was found. Mom said she was so happy because I would not be a very pleasant person to be around if it wasn’t found…and that is probably true….

We loaded back up in the van and FINALLY made our way to Sea World.

 

It was close to 2 PM before we got to Sea World. I had wanted to get there earlier than that. I knew time was limited there. The park was closing early that night for a private party.

We had absolutely NO wait to get into the parking lot. We paid and found a fairly decent spot not too far away. We headed up and presented our tickets and went in.

The sun was hot and bright and I was tired. I took a lot of pictures, but sometimes I wonder why I took some and why I didn’t take some of other things…like the entrance? LOL!

 

I did get this, and I believe this is when you walk in.

 

 

Dad was on a mission to buy a new hat. The hat he had with him wasn’t very airy and his head was sweating. So we got that right away and worked our way into the park.

 

These are some of the 1st shots I have from Sea World.

 

 

 

We took a look at the map. This park layout was very confusing to me. We used to have a Sea World in Ohio and it was much easier to navigate. Of course I had been there several times growing up, so I was used to it as well.

We looked at the time guides and found that coming in the afternoon is not a good choice if you want to watch shows. Most of them are on in the morning with very limited showings in the afternoon. I decided we should head to the Sea Lion/otter show. This looked to be very similar to what they used to have in SW Ohio and my older 2 always loved this show, so I figured Claire would too.

 

I guess I took this in route.

 

 

We headed that way, pretty much getting lost on the way over and then climbed the MASSIVE hill to get to the seats. Yes, my feet were starting to scream at this point. I told the family to keep going and I was behind them and would call if I got lost. It kind of became a joke that day about how sore I was. I really think it was mostly due to shoe choice.

 

I took a quick shot.

 

 

 

Claire was thirsty and we still had time so I headed out and got some drinks.

 

 

I made it back with plenty of time to spare and started to take some pictures.

 

I took this one on my phone and sent it off to facebook.

 

 

I zoomed into another stadium across the way, I think it might be Shamu Stadium.

 

 

There is a pirate mime that comes out before the show. He is HILARIOUS. He will ask people how many in their party, but miming of course, and then act like he is going to seat them, only to lead them out to the exit on the other side. He did all sorts of funny things and I thought my Dad was going to fall over from laughing. I took this REALLY short video. I don’t know why I didn’t take more or why I didn’t get anything good.

 

 

Soon it was time for the show to start. It was good. Very similar story line to the one they used to have in Ohio, but a few things were changed or added. Claire was in awe. She had never seen a show like this and really enjoyed it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is some short video of the show.

 

 

 

This otter kept running through and he was hard to actually capture on film. I would always see him last minute.

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

 

I finally got that Otter!

 

 

 

 

This part was funny. The guy was reaching into the hole to chase after the Otter. A hand comes out the other hole to make it look like his. Only the guy had his sleeved rolled up when he stuck his hand in and didn’t have green trim. I assume this was not a mistake, but part of the fun. And it was funny. So he mentions how it was weird as he though he had his sleeve rolled up and pulls it out and checks and then the hand comes out the next time with the sleeve rolled up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The show was over then and we loved it.

My Dad is a big fan of shows, so immediately he pointed out another show…the dolphin show… and said lets hurry over there. I didn’t think we would have enough time to make it, but he insisted we did.

We headed over to that stadium. Claire became the map holder and shouted out directions. Now I don’t really think she had a clue, but we pretended like she was giving us correct info. (I still was holding a map as well.)

We made it over to the correct stadium and it was pretty packed. We found some open seats up towards the top and settled down. I looked back and Mom and Dad had decided to sit a few rows behind us and over a bit.

As we waited for the show to start I looked over the schedule. I saw another show that would be starting shortly after this one, and I did NOT want to see it. At least at that time. I wanted to do other things besides shows. So I told Claire that we would go find the dolphins next because I was sure Adda and Papa would be heading to the next show. She said OK, and it sounded like fun.

 

Soon the show started. I have to say I was not a fan of this show. I wanted all dolphins and this had a lot of divers in it and other performers. It was much to long and the music was about to put me to sleep. Now they were good at what they did, don’t get me wrong, but that was not the kind of show I was looking forward too. The Sea World in Ohio used to have a fabulous Dolphin show, and that is what I thought this would be like. I felt like the dolphins were not really much of a feature here. They focused more on the people.

It didn’t stop me from taking a lot of pictures though. And I was lucky enough to have a nice pole in my line of shot!

 

 

 

 

 

It was so hard to get the dolphins in mid air. I never knew where they were under water and they would just all of a sudden appear in the air. And then I would get them as they were going down, or cut half the bodies off from turning and shooting to quick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

I am leaving for Disney on Sunday, I will also be gone most of the day Sat. I am working on 1 more small update before I leave and then I'll finish back up when I get home. I'll also starte a new report about this trip once I get his current one done.

[jenseib]

The divers came out next. They were pretty cool, but again, not what I was there to see, so it kind of irked me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They also randomly released birds. Again very hard to capture with the camera, especially since I usually never saw them till too late. LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

Finally some more dolphins!

 

 

 

Finally I got a picture with several dolphin “mid flight”!

 

 

The finale had lots of stuff going on and more birds flew around…which I pretty much missed, and soon it was over.

 

 

Claire and I sat and waited for the place to clear a bit before working our way to Mom and Dad, but they worked there way to us. Sure enough, Dad said he wanted to go to another show, the one I figured he would try for. I think it was diving? Or something like that. I told him we would separate, as Claire and I were going to go and see if we could feed the dolphins. Claire then started crying. She said Papa would get lost without her reading the map for him. Mom said she could come with them and be the map reader. She was Ok then. I felt betrayed by my own little girl!!!!! LOL!

I did let her know that I was going to the dolphins and if feeding was open, I was doing it. There may be no other chance for her to do it, and she was fine with that.

We handed Claire a map.

 

 

And took off on our separate journeys. We were going to meet up later for the last Shamu show of the day.

 

I stopped and sat on a bench to rest and call Skip. Today was HOT. I mean MEGA hot. It was definitely the hottest day of the trip. Now this could also feel that way because at Sea World you are outdoors all day, not many inside things to do, so you really notice the heat.

 

 

Skip and I talked about the weather and he warned me that tomorrow was supposed to be rain in Orlando again. I told him I had seen that, but was hoping it was a short rain. Of course, because he wasn’t with us, he was giving me gory details of how awful it was going to be, and how much rain was coming. LOL!

 

He was having a hard time at home with his one brother. The brother works for him and is not part of the business. He hated working for Skip and his other brother and things were getting tense. He has since quit and things have been much quieter and running smoother now.

After I was done talking to him, I talked to a few people sitting near by. Some were from the area, while others were on vacation like us. Everyone was worried about the rain and even the locals said it was probably going to be a strong rain the next day….darn it! I asked one guy if he knew where the pick a pearl spot was.

Claire’s note this morning was this. She also received a coach shaped pearl cage, and one for me as well.

 

 

 

I figured we could do the pearl pick either here at Sea World or at Epcot tomorrow.

The guy told me where it was and I was still clueless. LOL! I wasn’t sure we would have time anyways, but this experience seemed more fun. They actually dive in a tank for your pearl at Sea World.

After talking a bit, I headed over to the dolphin feed area, which was very close. They were selling food and feedings were going on! YAY me!

I bought my stinky fish and got in line. I chatted with a Mom and her DD while waiting. The little girl was so cute and I knew if Claire had been in line, they would’ve become instant friends.

 

Soon we were let in and they gave us directions.

 

I took a little video while they were giving them. One thing they told us that we couldn’t set our fish tray on the wall as the dolphin would come and take the whole tray off and eat them. LOL!

 

 

After the instructions, we began feeding them!

[jenseib]

Feeding time began. We were warned not to leave our tray of fish on the ledge, as the dolphins would come along and take the tray and all and eat it and then your feeding experience would be over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This little guy was watching and I tried to get a picture of him.

 

 

I got a tap on my shoulder and received two slips of paper with a code. That meant they had taken pictures of you while you were feeding.

 

 

 

 

It was then that I noticed my battery was running low, so I just switched to my point and shoot since I had already gotten several dolphin pictures.

 

 

 

 

The feed was pretty much over now, so I went to the kiosk to enter my codes and see my pictures. It kept saying invalid and I asked a Worker and she said sometimes it takes a bit to load, so just come back in a bit. OK, so I went off to the side to change my camera battery and then it hit me….I left the battery charging in the room at POP! And we had checked out!!! How could I be so stupid? So I called the Disney line and got transferred to someone who could help…yeah right. They said lost and found had just closed at 4…and I believe it was now 4:15. They couldn’t do anything till the next day and they gave me a number to call.

I called the number right away and got some run around, but eventually was connected to a very nice CM who actually tried to help me. She said if Mousekeeping found it, it would be turned in and taken over to the resort lost and found. I would have to wait till 9 the next day to know for sure if they had it. I asked if there was a way to have someone check the room and after I asked several times, she did say she would send someone. I felt so panicky. I was pretty sure it had been found, but what if it hadn’t. I wasn’t about to NOT have my SLR for the last day. I had that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach…and what made it worse was because I did such a stupid thing and never double checked the room before we left. I didn’t care so much about the battery. I still had 1, but I just couldn’t charge it.

The CM told me she would call me back if it was found in the room and if not to call a certain number at 9 AM to see if it had been turned in.

I hung up with her and tried my luck with the picture Kiosk again. It now told me that my code was expired. So I went to the desk where you pay and had them look them up. Well the 1st picture wasn’t even of me. It was the lady next to me and I wasn’t in the picture what so ever and the 2nd…well lets just say it was one of the worst pictures ever taken of me. LOL! I did NOT purchase it.

I headed out and started making my way over to the Shamu Stadium. The CM called and let me know that it was not found in my room. She was really nice and I really appreciated her help. My Mom also called to let me know they were getting seats for the Shamu show and they would wave to me when I got there.

It was a very long walk, and I took a few pictures on the way over.

 

 

 

These were the pinkest Flamingos I have ever seen.

 

 

 

 

Did I mention it was a LONG walk over to Shamu stadium? It was and my feet were screaming. But I kept going. At one point, Mom called again to be sure I was on my way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to say I find Sea Worlds layout confusing. I even said that to my parents at one point in time and my Dad said he found it much easier to navigate than Disney…go figure. But of course he had Claire’s map reading skills to get him around.

 

I did finally make it to the stadium and I couldn’t find them, so I called and we kind of talked each other through the people and I saw them waving. I went up to take my seat, but Claire insisted sitting next to Dad, so I moved down a bit next to Mom and we waited for the show to start.

[jenseib]

The big news before we set sail on the Dream was that the whale that had killed a trainer had finally been let back into the show. I was a little leery on this. I don’t see why it had to be let back in. I thought I had originally heard that this whale wasn’t in many of the shows to begin with and I didn’t get all the hype about this. I personally think the whale should’ve not been let back in the show…I don’t think it should be put down, or anything like that, but they have had trouble with this whale in the past, which to me means he is just meant to interact with humans.

 

The show started and right away I can tell you I was not super impressed. Again I am used to Sea World Ohio when they used to get in the tank and the show was fabulous. I wasn’t a fan of the storyline, and I had read many others didn’t care for it either, but that wasn’t to matter much longer, because I think a few weeks after they premiered their new show.

The whales are impressive beast though. There was also a baby (though he wasn’t very baby looking. LOL) and he was so cute, sticking next to his momma. I took some very short video clips and pulled out the SLR and used some of the last of the battery left.

 

 

 

video…

 

 

 

 

 

 

More video…and remember, I am NOT very good with video; I usually make myself motion sick when I watch it. LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

There’s the baby!

 

 

I think this is the baby as well…isn’t she tiny. LOL! She was born in Oct, so that would make her about almost 6 months at the time.

 

 

 

 

I have done some research on some of the whales since our trip. I am amazed at how many are still “wild”, meaning they were actually captured years ago, many from Iceland area. The Mom of the baby was one of the captures and I think she is 34 years old. I think she has had 7 calves. The father of that baby is the one who killed the trainer, I think his name is Tillikum, and he was also captured and it sounds like at times he was given only a small pen to stay in (not with Sea World, but another park) I believe he has fathered something like 10 calves. Sea World FL also had one that could only interact with Tillikum as she was very aggressive (and I believe she was born in captivity). She has attacked other whales and even her own calves. It was kind of funny, but they say she is now on birth control so she can’t have any more since she has tried to injure all her children. She has since then gotten pregnant one more time and died last summer with a stillborn birth complications.

 

Tillikum is the biggest whale in the entire world in captivity. I believe he is 12000 pounds. (pictures of him later)

 

 

 

 

And then we had an unscheduled guest appearance. LOL!

 

 

 

 

Spinning Shamu! He didn’t light up like the spinning Mickey’s do though. LOL!

 

 

 

[jenseib]

The bad boy came out next. Now they didn’t say it was Tillikum, but we ‘knew’. All the trainers got off the stage and platforms and came to the ground in front of the tank. This guy was HUGE and he knows how to throw some water, as you can see in this video.

 

 

You can hear a little of Claire squealing in the background. I think she was actually saying something about wishing she was in the rows that were getting wet…I on the other hand am very thankful we were up high!

 

 

 

 

Like I said before, I have done some research on the whales since I have been home. It’s kind of depressing. I can’t believe the number of whales that are performing that were actually captured. I guess I assumed all were born in captivity now. (they no longer can actually go out and capture them anymore) And it’s really sad, as many whales they first captured lived a very short time. Some only days. And they would actually kill other whales while trying to get to the babies they wanted to capture. And I didn’t know this, but only 1 whale was actually named Shamu. And then one was called Baby Shamu, but I don’t think it lived very long.

Many whales that are born in captivity don’t live very long lives either. For a long time they could get them born, but they would die with in a few days. Now they do live longer, but still a lot seem to dye much earlier than they do in the wild.

And then I researched good Ol “Free Willy” and that is a very depressing story. Basically the movie story of him being in a seedy marine park with a tank too small was the truth. He was very sick and not till after the movie was he taken to another park and was able to gain weight and get some of his health back. But as you may or may not know, he was set free, near Iceland, but didn’t want to be free and swam to Norway and tried to interact with Humans. He ended up dying.

 

OK, enough depressing whale stories. It was nice to see the show, and I will not be doing depressing research again after watching something like this.

 

One more of the big guy!

 

 

The show ended and we decided to just sit back and let the place empty a bit before trying to fight our way out. But that didn’t last long. Claire had to go potty….NOW! So I told Mom and Dad that we would go and find them later. We fought our way down, but I wasn’t familiar with the area. From the map I had, I thought I knew where the bathrooms were, but I actually went the wrong way and couldn’t get to them once I got outside.

I headed towards the Happy Harbor and figured there had to be some there. And there was! Disaster was averted and Claire felt much better.

Now for the task of finding Mom and Dad. We hung around the area and took some pictures while waiting. I believe Mom called me and they eventually made their way to us.

 

 

 

Mom and Dad joined us. I think it was about 6:30 now and the park closed at 7 for a private party. Dad was on a mission to leave NOW. I told him we would walk the long way back and do some browsing and shopping. That got a bit of grumbling, but I had the car keys. LOL!

We stopped off and made a few purchases. I got Claire a keychain that she picked out that looked liked a flipflop. Mom bought Claire some bracelets to give to the girls in her class. I think they were 2 for $5 and we got 10. We should’ve gotten an extra packet though. Claire wore hers that day and then put it back in the bag. When we got home, I sent all of them to school with her. There are 9 other girls in her class. Well Claire gave them all out and then one to the teacher, which I told her NOT to do. But it was my fault as well, as I didn’t specifically tell her that her bracelet was still in the bag either. One girl in her class lost hers right away, so the teacher gave hers to her. Claire came home and told me about it, and then I had to break the news to her that her bracelet was in the bag as well, and now she didn’t have one. Of course that produced a lot of tears. Actually a bit of a tantrum. I told her next time we go we would get her one again. I think that is one of the reasons she keeps asking to go back to Sea World.

My goal was to find a small Shamu plush for Claire, but so far all we could find were ones that talked (or made some sort of noise), ranging in the $25 price. That was more than I wanted to spend. So we kept looking.

Mom did a bit more stopping than us in the shops (Dad was thrilled, LOL) and I took a few pictures while we waited on her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw this guy, and he looked so cute, so I took a few pictures. We had seen squirrels all day, and I kept joking that it was the same one following us around because we looked like such a fun family. Dad thought it was dumb to be taking a picture of a squirrel and as soon as he said it, another lady came up and took one too.

 

 

 

We found a rather big store closer to the entrance to the park and that had a small Shamu. Claire gave it lots of love and was happy. I believe Mom started going crazy here too. I think she bought some stuff for Paige, maybe a t-shirt and shorts. We left the store with a little less money in our pockets, but happy. I was sad that we had to leave already; I really missed a lot of the park. There were parts I had said were must dos that I never even saw, let alone have the option to do. There is always next time!

 

A few departing shots!

 

 

 

We made the walk out to the van and got situated. We decided to head back to Residence Inn and ask where a Best Buy was near by. I don’t like Best Buy at all. I think they are usually over priced, and I really don’t like that they are always pushing warranties on you. I actually bought my first computer from them many years ago and got the warranty, but when I brought it in to be fixed, everything they said “would” be covered was not. Since that time, I actually pretty much boycott them if possible. I do know they have gotten better over the years though. I chose Best Buy though, because I knew they would be the best chance of finding a charger for my battery. I didn’t want to jump from store to store looking and hoping to find one. Remember, I wanted it to be an early night. HA!

We took off out of the parking lot and I went to turn left. Dad swore I was going the wrong way. I told him no, our Hotel is just over that way, you can almost see it, we’re so close. Nope, I was wrong and he was right….in his mind. I went with my way though. And I was right. We were just around the corner basically and in no time we pulled up to the front of Residence Inn. I jumped out and went up to the desk and asked for a near by Best Buy and if there were places to eat near there as well. The guy gave me directions, and also named a few restaurants in the area. One he named was the Cheesecake Factory. I had never been there, but I have read some reviews of it, and it sounded great….just what I would like. I hopped back in with the family and suggested that to them. Mom said fine, but Dad said he ate at one in Chicago once and wasn’t thrilled with their version of cheesecake. I guess we kind of ignored him. LOL!

 

We started out of RI and quickly realized that there wasn’t an on ramp to the expressway for the direction we wanted to go….something the guy at the desk didn’t mention. Oh well, we just kind of followed the highway till we found one. Soon we found the Mall (which I am having a blank on the name right now). I parked and ran into Best Buy while the family sat out and waited. I think Claire wanted to come along, but it would’ve just slowed me up.

I asked a worker where I could find a battery charger for the battery of a Canon 50D. He helped me look and we found one….the VERY last one they had……and the price…..drum roll please!................ $70.00….yep, it was that much. I asked if a battery came with it too, and he said no, but it was a double charger and could do 2 batteries at a time. It also had attachments to do several kinds of batteries, none of which I own. And it also could be charged in your car as well. So to put it lightly, it came with a bunch of cords and attachments……...which for me means more things to lose. LOL!

I sucked it up and paid for it, of course with tax it came up even higher. And of course, as luck would have it, I had to wait in line forever. There were 2 registers open and both had troubled customers. One was doing a bit of arguing about something, while the other was having some sort of problems with how she wanted to pay, so it was rang up, then canceled out, rang up partially then she used the wrong credit card, canceled again, etc.

Finally I was checked out and I ran back to the car, with a grumbling Claire waiting for me.

I think Mom about fainted when I told her how much it was. I think she felt bad, but there was nothing I could do, I needed it and I wasn’t sure my other had been found.

We drove the quick drive over to the mall and I dropped the family off at the Cheesecake Factory. I went in search of a parking spot. This Mall was hopping and open spaces were far and few between. I did finally find one though. And I seem to notice a pattern throughout Florida. The parking spaces seem much narrower than I am used to in Ohio. I squeezed her in a spot with very little room to actually open doors. I then opened up that million dollar charger and found the correct attachments and started charging the battery I had with me.

I was happy now that I had one battery on its way to being charged for the next day. I grabbed my point and shoot and went in the restaurant to find the family had already been seated.

We browsed the menu….which was more like a book. I swear, it was like 20 pages. So hard to make a choice, but we knew Cheesecake was going to be ordered for sure. We figured we take that back to the hotel with us. Yes, we were looking at Dessert first….Nothing wrong with that!

I decided on pizza. Mom wanted to share, and that was fine by me. She also wanted quesadillas, so we decided to share those as well. Note to self…that was way too much food!

 

I think Dad had a steak. I didn’t take a picture of his. I have to admit again, that the lack of sleep was catching up to me, and I would forget to take pictures sometimes, or the camera was becoming heavy! LOL!

 

The bread was REALLY good here. Claire was going to town on it, and would yell at us if we went for some. We asked for more and some went back to the room with us as well.

 

 

Our quesadilla after we had already started to attack it.

 

 

It was good. Not the best one I have ever had, but still very good.

 

Claire went with the corndog and fries. She loves corndogs (after all it is in the hotdog family) and really enjoyed this meal.

 

 

Our pizza arrived and we attacked it before I even thought to take a picture. It was very good.

 

 

 

We boxed up half of the quesadilla and the pizza and received our cheesecakes to go. We were stuffed, and I couldn’t even imagine how we were going to eat those wonderful desserts. And sadly I never took a picture of them. I got Reeses Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake and it was fabulous and rich. Dad got UltimateRed Velvet CakeCheesecake™ and Claire got strawberry cheesecake. All were great, though it took us 2 days to eat them!

 

I don’t know what this cost. Mom paid for us all. I offered to pay the tip, but she told me not to worry about it since I had just spent some money (much more than I wanted to) at Best Buy. I was very happy to try this place. I wish there was one close to me. I will definitely try to find one in my travels in the future.

 

After we were super stuffed (and Dad actually loved his food), we rolled out and back to Residence Inn.

Well coming back I missed the exit for Sea World because it was NOT the exit for our hotel. And sure enough there wasn’t an exit for our hotel, so I got off at the next one. My Dad was having a fit. Why did I miss the one, we should’ve known from when we left there wasn’t an exit from that direction, etc. I asked him if he had t obe anywhere at a certain time, and he said no, then I said, why care about it. We will just take a nice leisurely drive through Orlando and see the sights and in the mean time work our way back to the hotel. LOL!

And we did make it!

 

 

I had kind of hoped to take Claire for a quick swim before going to bed, but it was pretty late at this point, (I think around 9:30 or 10) so we skipped that idea.

We got her bathed and a good hair wash and got her into bed. But she was FULL of energy. I couldn’t believe it. The room we got here had a bedroom with 2 queen beds and then the living room/kitchen area. (I did eventually take pictures of it)

My Dad was watching TV and my Mom and I went down to start some laundry. I couldn’t believe she was still hopping around in the room when I came back up, so we shut the door on her and told her she had to sleep and she went out then.

The laundry was washed and Mom and I each threw our loads into the dryer. It was taking forever to dry. I had just had it for the day. Again, I had very little sleep the night before, so I was running out of gas fast. I told Mom that I was just going to leave my laundry in the dryer till morning. There were many dryers and I highly doubted someone would need the one I was using in the middle of the night.

I hit the sack and went out fast. I think it was around midnight then. The bed were very comfy here as well and I slept like a rock!

 

And that is the end of Day 6. Only one more full day left……Boo Hoo!

[WFChris]

Is it weird to say that I almost feel like I am vicariously vacationing with you when I read these? Thanks so much for your very detailed reviews

[jenseib]

Is it weird to say that I almost feel like I am vicariously vacationing with you when I read these? Thanks so much for your very detailed reviews

 

I'm glad you feel that way. It means I am doing a good job describing it then.

[jenseib]

April 5, Tuesday ~ Day 7

 

Sadly, this was our last full day. I got up bright and early and showered. I took a few shots of our room, which was quite messy at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

I then went for breakfast. Like the other Residence Inn, this one had a buffet with a good selection as well.

My original plan was to be at Epcot at opening, but that plan went out the door, since I had to wait till 9 to talk to the lost and found for Pop. Mom and Dad did not want to go for Rope Drop, nor did they want to stay till closing. I let them know that I was going as soon as I could, they could come or get a shuttle or taxi. Mom said something about just leaving early and I could take them back. Again, I knew how precious our time was going to be and I told her they could take the Van back and then come back and pick us up later, or take a taxi back.

But at this point in time, my whole family just kept sleeping, which drove me nuts.

I wandered around outside after breakfast and called Skip, who didn’t answer. So I called Paige and told her about the trip so far. As we were finishing up I got a call waiting beep and answered it. It was about 8:50 now.

And it was a CM from Pop Century, I think her name was Lisa. She was really nice and let me know right away that the charger and battery had indeed been found and turned in. I am so happy, but I do think they need a better system for this.

She told me I could go over to Pop and pick it up (she was sending it back over there.) If I had been staying on property, they would’ve sent it to my resort.

She also said, “I notice you are from Swanton, OH”, and I said yes, and she let me know she was from there too. She told me the road she used to live on and I was familiar with the area. Small World.

I went back to the room and told the family that I was going over to Pop to get the charger and if they weren’t going to get up…Claire included….then I was heading over to Epcot and they could call me when they got up.

Mom let me know she had finished up the laundry last night and brought it all back up. (she was up till 2 AM!)

Dad just kept saying it was going to rain and my reply was, I don’t care, I’ll wear a poncho. I wasn’t going to sit in a hotel room all day because of rain.

They decided they would get up and ready and then eat breakfast and I could come back and pick them all up after I got the charger.

I left and the skies did look a bit awful. Skip called me and he also mentioned the rain….I guess I may melt if the rain touches me?

Of course the minute I hang up with him, the sky opens up and just starts pouring. As I pulled into Pops parking lot it did lesson up a bit.

 

 

 

And of course, the ponchos were left in my bag back at the hotel. I scrambled around the back of the van and found Moms coat that had a hood.

I went to the desk and asked about the charger, she made a call and went to the back to fetch it. I talked to 2 other CM’s while waiting, they both said the rain should be done by noon. Yay! That was a relief!

The CM came back with a bag of my goodies and I signed for them and took a quick look around the gift shop.

I headed back and the family was just about ready when I returned. We hit the road to Epcot and arrived with it just lightly raining. I think it was about 10:30 by now. Claire and I were going in, but Mom and Dad were going to wait for the rain to slow up more.

Now here is where things went downhill, but I didn’t really know it at the time.

I got ponchos on Claire and myself, and Claire is evidently a poncho snob. My cheap dollar store ponchos weren’t cutting it for her. She said they were ugly and complained about wearing it. I told her to wear it till we got in the park and then I would fix it so it could cover the stroller. At the same time my Dad was asking….over and over…if I had my phone. YES, I had the dang phone! I finally got us situated and made our way to the tram and hopped aboard. I was amazed at how close we had actually parked to the entrance. It has been many years since I have actually parked at Epcot ( and then my ex had a handicap parking permit, so we parked very close) and I wasn’t familiar with the whole parking lot thing. We finally got in and we stopped for some photopass pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a few of mine.

 

 

 

 

 

We looked for the lockers and I got one for my bag. Claire had decided to bring along her Mary Poppins dress again, in hopes of seeing her again. So we shoved all that gear in the locker. I then bought her a Disney poncho, as that one was “OK” for her to wear.

The plan then was to head over to Soarin and get Fast Passes. I took a few pictures on the way over.

 

1 was OK, I go smiles!

 

 

I guess the 2nd one was pushing it a little. LOL!

 

 

 

Again, I think I was pushing it with a 2nd picture.

 

 

 

We got FP’s for later that afternoon, but I didn’t write down the time, that I can see at this point. I am think it was like 4:20?

 

Claire was a little hungry and since I wasn’t sure how much she actually ate for breakfast, we stopped off for a pretzel.

And I think this shot was from the pretzel cart area.

 

 

It was now when I realized that I did NOT have my phone in my pocket!!!!! I was pretty sure I had it when I left, after all Dad kept asking me, but I was slightly stressed too, so maybe I didn’t. I decided we should go back to the van and see if I did indeed leave it out there. After all, if I didn’t find it, how would I get in contact with Mom and Dad later on?

 

Claire and I headed off to the front to see if my phone was left in the van. Now this phone was only about 7 months old and the nicest phone I have ever owned as well, a droid, so I worried even more about finding it. I have insurance, but I have no clue what it covers, plus all the lost info on it.

As we got near to Spaceship Earth, who should I see coming out of the bathroom….my Dad! I hollered over to him, then made a few rude comments about whether or not the launch sequence had started and then asked if he saw my phone in the van. He didn’t and of course gave me a bit of a hard time (jokingly) about me saying I had it when I left. Mom came out of the bathroom and I asked her as well. No, she didn’t remember seeing it either. I said I was going to go check, but she told me to just take her phone since Dad had his and we could communicate that way. Now this was stupid on my part. I just was too lazy to walk back out to the van to go look and I just forgot about it for the rest of the day. Also, just because I had her phone, didn’t mean I knew how to use it. LOL! I had a heck of a time trying to figure that bugger out.

We decided that since we were together we would ride Spaceship Earth.

 

 

The line was kind of long, but it moved quickly.

 

 

And then I had them pose for a family shot. I took 2 and neither turned out too great.

 

 

 

 

Soon we were on our journey. I rode with Dad. I took a lot of pictures, some turned out OK, while others not so much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got a few pictures of Dad and I. We were laughing at how dumb we (mostly me because I purposely made that face) looked.

 

 

 

I love this one! LOL

 

 

 

I guess I never took one of Mom and Claire. But I did get a pic of Dad and I on the big screen as well.

 

 

I believe we separated after this. I reminded them the time and where to meet for lunch and off Claire and I went.

 

 

 

I believe we headed over to the Seas next.

 

 

Tronorail sighting!

 

 

On to the Seas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The line was pretty much walk through. I tried to grab a few shots, but I was moving to fast to get anything good.

 

 

 

We soon had our journey on the clamobile and exited. We also made a stop to talk with Crush. Claire was disappointed that she wasn’t picked to talk to Crush this time around. (she was last trip and it turned on me and I had to talk to him as well) I let her know that other kids get to have a turn as well and she seemed fine with that.

We totally skipped the picture with Bruce. I guess I forgot.

We did stop and take a few outdoor pictures though.

 

….But first a trip down memory lane……

 

Claire in 2007

 

 

2008

 

 

2009

 

 

And on to 2011!

 

 

 

We decided to head over to Figment next. Claire had made a comment that last trip we totally missed it, so I wanted to be sure she did ride it this time.

 

I tried to get the butterfly topiary on the way over.

 

[jenseib]

Figment was walk on.

 

 

 

 

I took this one because Skip’s real name is Dean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then decided to head over to Test track and get FP’s. On the way over I realized that the Visa meet and Greet would be going on so we stopped off and got in line. The CM said it was only a 5 minute wait. I looked at the line and then at her and said really and she said yes. So we got in line and after 5 minutes we had not yet moved one step. I gave up. It was getting closer to our ADR time and we still had to get Claire changed. We grabbed the clothes and headed over to Test Track to grab some FP’s and then went to the bathroom to change. It seemed like time had really sped forward again and we were rushing to get her changed. Those darn boots were a pain again and by the time we left the bathroom I had worked up a sweat.

On the way over to Le Cellier Mom had called (and it took me a minute to figure out how to answer her phone) and she wondered where we were. She had checked us in and I told her we were a few minutes away.

We made it finally. I was feeling a bit frazzled with the rush, but soon enough I was more relaxed and hungry. While we waited, I took Claire over to the Kidscot area in Canada and she had her passport stamped and signed.

 

I’m not sure if I posted it here or not, but I bought it on ebay before we left and it was customized to her.

 

 

 

 

Soon our name was called and we were led to our table at Le Cellier.

This was a place I really debated over. I had a 4:10 dinner ADR. But once the new pricing came out, I just couldn’t see spending that kind of money and cancelled. I wanted to try lunch to see how much we really would like it before committing to the high prices. I would look daily and nothing ever came up. The morning we were leaving (March 30th) I gave one last look and guess what? There was a 2:10 opening for April 5th. I booked it.

 

It took a little while to order. We soon found out we had a slow waitress. She was very nice, but just not speedy at all.

Claire went right to coloring.

 

 

Claire was having a hard time deciding what to drink. She just kept making faces and wouldn’t decide. I finally just said get her a Red Maple, which is a Raspberry smoothie with a splash of Sprite. I tasted it and it was very good. There was a lot of debating on what to drink from everyone for some reason.

Dad and I both ended up with the Strawberry milkshakes that were absolutely fabulous as well!

 

 

Our bread arrived soon after we ordered. I have to say I was NOT impressed. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. I had heard how wonderful the pretzel bread is, and to me it was no big deal. I think the soft pretzel we had earlier was better. I guess I didn’t understand the hype about this bread when you could just go buy a soft pretzel somewhere. LOL! The other breads weren’t anything special either. And all were pretty hard. I’m not sure if they are supposed to be or not.

 

 

Claire ordered Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup, hot dog and the kid’s sundae. She did not want the soup, but I ordered it anyways, and figured I would eat it as it was something I had wanted to try after all the rave reviews.

 

 

I was NOT impressed with it! It wasn’t awful, but not great either. I hear so much about this soup, and it was a major let down. First off, it’s called Cheese soup…..why? I didn’t even taste cheese flavor in it. And second, it was sooooo salty. For me to say that is something too. I love salt…… I salt almost all of my food. But this was just way too salty even for me. Now I had read that some people thought the food here was too salty, but I never thought it would bother me. I’m queen of the salt.

Now if they could do away with the saltiness, this wouldn't be too bad at all. Actually it wasn’t bad at all,….. it just didn’t live up to the legend. I have been reading mixed reviews of this place since then as well. And those who give it a thumbs down seem to mention the salt as well.

 

Mom and Dad ordered Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon. Instead of risotto, they both got Gruyere-Yukon Gold potato gratin. Dad is picky and was worried he wouldn’t like risotto. He had never heard of it before and didn’t know what it was. Let’s just say we had a long conversation about what he should get…..to the point of it being a bit annoying….. He said the potatoes were not what he was expecting, but he still liked them.

Mom and Dad really enjoyed this meal. They talked about it quite a bit.

 

I got Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon with wild mushroom risotto, white truffle and herb butter sauce.

Again, not impressed. WAY TOO SALTY! Now the food was very good except for the fact that it was just so dang salty. It’s hard to explain. I could tell it tasted good, but I knew it could be better without all the salt. Mom also mentioned her food was a bit too salty too. And she said she heard another table mention something about the food be extra salty.

I still ate every drop on my plate. Like I said, it was good food, it was just not perfect.

 

And I am sad to say that I had put my camera away at this point and forgot to pull it out for the main course, so no pictures.

 

I remembered to take out the camera again and got Claire’s half eaten meal.

 

 

Claire is the only one who got dessert. Her meal came with it, and we were all much too full. I had wanted to get the Mousse, but there was just no possible way to fit it in! LOL!

 

Claire enjoyed her Sundae and we all did take a nibble at it.

 

 

I think for Claire and I, the bill was just over $50 including the tip. I had left my rewards card with my Mom to pay with and Claire and I left to get in line to see Mary Poppins.

 

This is the pretty scenery outside of the restaurant. I don’t think I have ever even walked back here before. It was nice to see some new things.

 

 

 

 

We made our way over to Mary’s line and were one of the last families allowed in before they cut it off.

 

 

A few people noticed Claire’s dress and Oohed and Ahhed.

 

A few pictures of the area.

 

 

 

Almost time!

 

 

Our Turn!

 

 

As Claire went up to Mary, several people stopped to watch. One guy behind me kept saying...”turn around little girl, I want to see your front”… And he had his camera ready.

 

 

 

A shy moment.

 

 

And the pose…this is what I wanted…both parasols open!

 

 

 

 

I really like this close up one.

 

 

And of course, who couldn’t love this one?

 

 

 

 

Claire came back all smiles. This was one of the best meets she had (along with Chip and Dale). She was in the mood to pose now! I love those moods!

[jenseib]

Once we were done with Mary, Mom called and we met up just down the road. She told me that my card I had left with her had nothing on it, so she paid my bill. OMG! I gave her the empty card. I had 2 rewards card, one was used, while the other still had a lot on it…and I gave her the wrong one. I went to pay her back, but she told me not to worry about it. She was going to pay for the gas to refill the van the next day before we returned it and she said that I could just do it instead.

 

We stopped to take a few more pictures of Claire.

 

 

 

 

We separated again. Mom and Dad were going back towards Future World. I forgot to mention, that during dinner, Dad was telling us how he refused to go much further into World Showcase. He said it was way too much walking. I also mentioned having FP’s for Soarin’ and Test Track and he thought that was the dumbest thing ever…why would you walk to a ride, get a FP and then ”wait” and do other stuff and walk ALL the way back to that ride. He was convinced only fools would do that and I was one of those fools! LOL!

He did say they might try to get on Test Track and I told him the stand by line was probably long, but if they didn’t mind being separated they could do the single rider line. Mom didn’t care, but Dad said he couldn’t ride it without Mom.

 

Claire and I headed off towards future World.

 

 

Is this a spider?

 

 

We stopped for some photopass.

 

 

 

 

 

And continued on.

 

 

We came upon another photopass photographer near the Cinderella Topiary. We stopped and waited our turn. There was a couple getting theirs done, but I really didn’t pay too much attention to them.

After they were done, we walked up and got a few pictures. I did kind of notice that the couple was still standing in the area……kind of watching. I didn’t think too hard on it, but figured either they liked Claire’s dress and were watching or they wanted some special shots and were letting us go ahead of them.

 

 

 

 

We got our card scanned and the gal of the couple came up to me and asked if I was Jen. I probably gave her the deer in the headlights look. LOL! I think I managed a yes. And she told me her name, which I didn’t recognize. But then she told me her Dis name and I knew that one. It was “dekkerdisneydreamer” (Sheresa). How she recognized us, I have no clue. It either had to be by Claire’s dress (which was in my signature on Dis for a long time) or my crazy two toned hair.

 

 

We chatted a few minutes and then left. I can’t believe I didn’t think of having a picture taken together, once again! We were even right next to a photopass photographer so we could’ve all been in it, but my mind was just not thinking straight! She and her DH were very nice and I am so glad to have met her.

 

I had Claire then go in front of the Cinderella topiary for a few pictures.

 

1st one without her. It was hard to get them because on this side you couldn’t see their faces and on the other the light post and flag were in the way.

 

 

 

We spotted Marie in France and quickly made our way over only to find her leaving!

 

 

We were assured Marie would return soon, so we decided to wait. We had never met her before, nor had we ever even seen her in the parks. Claire had also bought the baby Marie plush at MK a few days before, so she was even more excited to actually meet her. She was really impressed that she wore a “pink” bow.

 

A few shots while waiting in line.

 

 

 

 

I have to say the wait was a bit longer than I expected, but eventually Marie came back out........

 

Marie returned, but we still had a bit of a wait till it was our turn. She’s a popular girl!

Once it came to be our turn I had Claire wait a second before going up. There was a family with a scooter in front of us, and basically the scooter was parked in front of the meet, where I wanted to stand to take pictures. But the CM was not so patient and barked an order to keep the line moving and so Claire went up and met her. I did my best to get some shots, but she had killed my picture taking mojo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All done!

 

 

As you can see by the smirk on her face, it was a good meet!

 

I wanted to get some of the topiaries in the area, but ended up only getting a few. Aurora was meeting right near the Beauty and Beast one and the line made it impossible to get a good shot. Claire did not want to wait for her, so I just took a few shots and on we went.

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped off for a few photopasses as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I kind of thought about getting chocolate mousse in France, something I had wanted to try for some time, but the line was long and I just was still too full.

 

 

Claire was now ready to change out of her dress and it was also our FP time for Soarin’. (It was around 4:20 now) I decided to just head up front and do that next. I debated on stopping for a Grand Mariner or Grey Goose slushy, but I figured I wouldn’t be able to drink it fast enough and passed on that too.

 

We got Claire changed and got in line for Soarin’. The standby line was closed down. The FP line looked long too. We ended up waiting for a good ½ hour or more before getting on our flight. We talked to a few people in line who had been in the standby line. The couple said they had been waiting 2 hours. She said they had ADR’s that they were missing at this very moment and were trying to call and get something else, but couldn’t get a signal in there. She said something had happened earlier in the day that backed the whole thing up. They got to the point that they would only allow 10 stand by guest in on each flight and the rest were FP riders.

 

We enjoyed the flight. Claire squealed and giggled. It was our 2nd time ever riding it and we really like it. BUT…again we did not smell anything. I keep hearing of the smells, but have yet to smell anything. The only thing I can think of is because both times we have rode, I have sat at the very end seat. Maybe the smells just don’t float out there so well?

 

With that done, we headed back to World Showcase.

 

On our way back we stopped for a snack. I don’t think I was really hungry, but I had yet to get a Mickey Bar this trip for myself, so it was a must do!

 

 

 

And then we stopped to enjoy our treats and I took a look at the sand sculpture.

[jenseib]

There was a photopass photographer in the area, so we got a few more shots.

 

 

 

 

And then I took some pictures of the sand sculpture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then moved on to the World Showcase.

 

 

We only stopped at a few countries to get Claire’s passport stamped. We kept forgetting we had it.

 

 

 

We took a peek at the dancer in Morocco.

 

 

 

We then made our way towards Japan.

 

 

 

 

We were on a mission! Our first pick a pearl adventure!

 

We weren’t exactly sure where the pick a pearl was. I only knew in Japan and in a store. LOL! So we parked the stroller and headed into the 1st store I saw. After walking towards the back, we saw the crowd of people and knew we were in the right spot. I asked what to do and went and paid and got our number.

We watched as others did it. We wanted to see, but then we also didn’t want to get in others way. I did see a family that hung around the front a lot, a lady with her son…and they were NOT doing pick a pearl, just watching. And I have to say she kind of annoyed me. She was in the way a couple of times and didn’t seem to realize it. At one point I said to Claire, loud enough for that lady to hear, that we should move back and allow those getting pearls to have room. She took the hint and moved back too.

We eyed a few oysters and Claire had 1 picked out.

We watched about 4 families before it was our turn. Now the girls make a big deal over this whole procedure, but honestly I could hardly understand a word they said. And they had smiles plastered on their faces. I noticed they switched out after a few pearl picks…I think they had to go rest their face from smiling. LOL!

 

Here are a couple of very short videos to show you what I mean.

 

 

 

It was our turn and Claire and I picked out a pearl each. I have heard that the uglier the oyster, the better the pearl…but in my opinion they were all pretty darn ugly.

I had mentioned to Claire that sometimes they have 2 in one, and she was hoping for that. I personally was hoping for a blue one.

 

 

We opened Claires 1st.

 

 

 

 

As soon as I saw Claire’s pearl I knew it was big. The sizes that had come before us were in the 6.5-7mm range. Claire’s was 7.5mm. (which really is a lot in pearl size) Of course the CM was all excited and made a big deal about it.

 

 

Mine was next and I took another quick video. I prayed there was only one in there. If I had 2 and Claire didn’t…there probably would be crying…of course I would’ve given her my second one.

I sound really dumb in this. I was trying to sound really excited along with Claire.

 

 

My pearl was smaller, but she said it had a nice pink tone to it. OK, sure, it looked white to me, but what do I know?

 

 

Mine measured a 7mm. That made Claire very happy. It was important for hers to be better than mine.

We got the drums to celebrate.

 

 

 

 

We got our pearls and then headed out of the store and onto a bench. We pulled out our necklaces and I went to work putting them in. Sounds like it would be easy…right? Well it wasn’t so much for Claire’s. Her pearl was big and I really had to work to get her pearl cage closed and then still get the chain through the link. Of course this made it even better in her mind.

We did get them in the cages and put them on.

 

 

I had never really looked in Japan much, so I took a few minutes to look and take a few pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then we moved on.

[jenseib]

We found these topiaries and I took some more pictures.

 

 

 

 

And then Claire insisted on getting in on this one. You will notice she is posing like the topiaries…this become a theme for the rest of them.

 

 

Claire was full of energy and excitement now that we did the pick a pearl and chattered a mile a minute.

We kept moving and taking pictures and getting a few passport stamps here and there when we remembered to.

 

 

 

 

I thought I should take a flower picture…after all it was the flower and garden festival!

 

 

 

This is Claire posing like the dogs. I guess her arm hanging is supposed to be a long ear. LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did remember to get our passport stamped here in Italy and Claire got in line.

 

 

 

 

 

And on we went again.

 

 

 

Next stop was Rapunzels tower. Claire has her head tilted so her long hair is flowing out too.

 

 

And one without Claire.

 

 

Doesn’t this Donkey’s eye look real?

 

[jenseib]

We continued on through Germany. I thought about stopping at the Karmel store, but I was still full and Claire wanted to keep on moving.

 

 

 

And Claire is posing like Snow White.

 

 

 

 

 

Claire was really getting into it!

 

 

On to China!

 

 

 

Claire’s hand is out like that because she is pretending she is holding bamboo.

 

 

And then Norway!

 

 

 

And some more flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

And then on to Mexico. We had fast passes burning a hole in our pockets for Test Track, so the plan was to walk through Mexico quickly and head towards TT, then come back and ride the Mexico ride….well you know how plans go….

 

 

And this is a bird face. LOL!

 

 

 

 

On to Test Track!

 

 

 

 

Of course about 2 seconds after we got in line, Claire had to go potty. I told her we should go, and she said she would be ok as long as the ride didn’t go fast…well duh…we left the line and went to the bathroom!

 

We quickly made a potty stop and went back into the fast pass line.

We had a little wait, even with fast passes, but not too bad. Nothing like the Soarin’ wait was.

 

 

 

 

I think we were moving at a fairly decent pace and that’s why my pictures are so crappy…or at least I’m gonna blame it on that reason.

 

 

 

 

Soon we were in our car and off to race around the track. We had a young girl in our car with us. She had said she rode the ride about 10 times in a row. She just kept going back in the single rider line and getting right back on. Claire was a little nervous. She couldn’t remember riding the ride from the last trip too much.

 

 

 

And here we go!

 

 

After Test Track, Claire decided she wanted to ride spaceship earth one more time. We went to cut through Mousegears and Claire spotted a swirly pop and I had told her she could eventually get some sort of sucker on the trip, so now was the time.

We also started doing a little more shopping. I had realized that I still had quite a bit of money left. I guess I over budgeted (not a bad thing) and I started eyeing the Dooney and Bourke purses. At first I just kind of casually looked at them, then I started touching and feeling…and THEN I got a sales lady involved and I was hooked. I had a real hard time deciding. The ones I liked best, I wasn’t impressed with the style or texture. Well I really like the 40th anniversary ones best, but those prices were much higher. I was in there forever looking at stuff and Claire was very patient.

 

I went through the purses and I finally decided on this one. At first I didn’t like the pattern at all, but REALLY liked the style….but after looking a bit, the pattern grew on me and I decided on it.

 

 

The lady went to the back for a minute and that was a bad thing. I started looking again and then found another on a top shelf that I liked as well. It was bigger…..really big actually, but I liked the pattern more. The price was only about $5 difference, so I couldn’t really decide by price. When the lady came back she laughed and we started the process all over again. We had a male CM come and look at the purses and tell me which he liked better. He liked the bigger one. I decided to ask Claire and she liked the bigger one, so that is what I got.

 

 

 

Now if you remember WAY back to Easter, I ended up ordering the other one when I got home and Easter Bunny brought it to me!

 

 

I have to say I REALLY love the big bag….so much so that I have yet to switch over to the black one yet. I think I will do it soon. I just love all the room in the big one. I can just throw stuff in it and go. I kind of use it like a tote at times.

 

So back to Mousegears. I bought the big white purse and then I threw my camera bag inside of it and used it right then and there. My Mom called and after I figured out how to answer her dang phone, she asked where we were. I let her know that we were going to take a spin on Spaceship Earth and then head to World Showcase for Illuminations. They had a spot in Canada already.

 

Claire and I got right on Spacehsip Earth and enjoyed our ride. I took no pictures that time around. I just enjoyed the ride.

 

When we came out, Claire found a Daisy topiary and had to have a picture.

 

 

We made our way towards World Showcase.

We stopped for one last photopass.

 

 

 

 

We could smell popcorn and it smelt soooo good. Claire wanted some, but the line was long and we were running late.

As we got closer to Canada, I pulled out the phone and tried to figure out how to dial it. I just couldn’t get it. Luckily it rang and it was Mom. She told us how to get to them and soon we found them. They did have an excellent spot for viewing.

[jenseib]

The spot they chose was not crowded at all. I knelt along the railing so anyone behind us could see and also to use the railing to steady my camera.

 

 

 

 

 

I haven’t seen the show since 1999. It’s very different than from what I remember. It was awesome, I must say.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the show we all started our way up front. Now I knew it was going to be a mad rush, so I told Mom and Dad that Claire and I were going to go slowly and also shop a bit more. Claire still had money burning a hole in her pocket and I told her we could look one last time…..after all she was patient with my shopping.

 

This was the last picture I took that night.

 

 

Claire and headed into Mousegears once again. She looked around and picked a stuffed baby Bambi and a stuffed Dug that talked. We paid for the purchases and saw “our” sales lady and she came over to talk and ask how I was liking the bag so far…EXCELLENT! I told her!

 

After we worked our way out of the store (it was a mad house) we walked over to the lockers and got my backpack out and then went and had the $5 deposit refunded.

At this point in time I was just dead tired. I had the last day blues now. Nothing more to look forward too, the lack of sleep was catching up. I totally just gave in. Little did I know that my biggest mishap was about to unfold.

It’s hard to be happy when you have to get up bright and early the next day to go home. The only good thing at home was my husband.

 

Claire and I headed towards the tram. I must say I really dislike the tram. It just doesn’t have the same feeling to me as riding the buses back to the resort. We got on, with my arms filled. Claire had her new purchases; I had a big Dooney, a backpack and a stroller. I crammed myself into a row and just went into a daze.

A few minutes later I realized a CM was talking to me. Claire was sitting on the outside of the tram and she needed to switch with me. I didn’t even know this was a rule. So I tried to move, but it seemed next to impossible as I was wedged in and the people to my right weren’t moving either. Luckily the guy in front of us grabbed the stroller so we could switch. We made the short trek out to the parking lot and got off.

Mom and Dad had moved the van from where I had originally parked it earlier in the day. So I searched for the new number and walked down that row. We got almost to the end with no luck. We started walking back and still couldn’t find it. We finally got a call from them and they told me the row number again…same row I was in…but no van. So they flashed the lights and I found them….several rows over.

We moseyed over there and I got in the van and immediately looked for my missing phone. It was NOT to be found. I used Moms phone to call my phone and it went to voicemail immediately. NOT Good. That meant someone had turned it off. I panicked!

I told Mom we had to go back into the park to report it lost and then I started crying….not just crying…..but sobbing like a big baby. The week had caught up to me and I was wiped out.

We decided to drive up to the front, but I had no clue where to go…and the whole time I am trying to figure this out my Dad is sitting next to me saying things like “Why are we going to the front”, “We need to get back to the hotel”, “Whats going on?”. My Mom just yelled at him….”She’s LOST her $250 phone and we NEED to find it” How he missed this piece of info, I have no clue.

So then they start to tell me to drive towards a security car. Where? I don’t see one. Mom tells Dad he should drive since I am upset and I shouted a big NO! That would make me more upset. LOL! So they keep telling me to go to the security car and I couldn’t still see it. Well it was behind a big truck and pole, so from where I was sitting it was next to impossible to see it.

We did make it over to him and through my tears I told him my story and he basically had no clue what to do. He said go to the gates and ask there, so we did.

As we got up there Mom told Dad to go with me, and again I said no. I parked in a handicap spot and jumped out and made my way up to the gates and talked to another security officer. These 2 guys were much more knowledgeable. They told me where to go and what to do. The one asked me if I had an Iphone and I said, no, a Droid, and he said, he wanted to warn me that it was very likely I would never get it back. Those kinds of phones are very popular and people will find them and keep them to sell or convert to their own use. So of course I cried some more.

They got me in the gates and then directed me to guest services. I went there and tried to dry my tears as I made the walk. But that was useless…the week had caught up to me and I just couldn’t stop. I went in and a guy asked if he could help me. I first said I was sorry that I was crying, but it had been a long trip traveling with my parents…he seemed to understand. LOL! I told him I lost my phone and wondered if it had been turned in. He asked the color, and I was at a blank. I spitted out that it was black or grey, a droid, Nextel, and it had a white sleeve on it.

He said he would go to the back and look. I waited only a minute and her returned holding my phone in the air~! I could’ve jumped over that counter and kissed him! He had me turn it on to be sure it was mine…and of course it was. He said it had been turned in that morning and was found in the parking lot…which meant that someone found it within minutes of me dropping it. It also had no water damage( remember it had been raining that morning), so whoever found it, found it fast! I was so happy that that person took the time to turn it in. There are some honest people out there!

The guy told me not to feel bad because there were several phones back there from just that day!

I had to sign a form that said I picked it up and then I made my way back out to the parking lot. I called Mom on my way back out and she was soo happy that it was found. She said that Claire had said a prayer that it was found. Claire was worried why Mommy was so sad. Aww….my wonderful little angel!

 

We drove back to the hotel and Dad was pretty quiet. I think My Mom might’ve given him a little lecture while I was gone. LOL!

We were exhausted when we got back, but we hadn’t eaten any supper, so I warmed up the leftovers from The Cheesecake Factory and we finished those off. Claire ate a bit of her cheesecake too and then I put her to bed. We told her she had to get right up the next day, no fussing, because we had to get to the airport and then we would be seeing Dad.

I went and took a walk outside and called Skip. I told him about the days events and all about my phone. (which he thought was funny) He was missing us a lot and couldn’t wait for us to get him.

 

I finished off my cheesecake and a little bit of Claires too and did the final packing and crawled into bed as well.

I set my phone alarm for around 6 and was out pretty fast.

 

And that’s the end of Day 7. It was a very fun day with a few bits of Drama. Even though I lost the phone, it all worked out for me in the end…and I probably needed that cry. LOL!

[jenseib]

Day 8,~ April 6, 2011

 

The alarm went of at 6 AM. I jumped out of bed and went to turn it off. I about jumped out of my skin when I turned back and ran into Claire. She was right up and at my heels. She said she was excited to go home and see Daddy. This was the kid we had to shake awake all week long!

 

Claire’s note for today (and I can’t remember the gift)

 

 

And I don’t think I posted the one from the day before.

 

 

She got a muppets pencil, eraser and pad of paper set this day.

 

I also believe that Dad finally had lift off this day! LOL!

 

We all got ready and went down for a quick breakfast.

When we returned I took a few last pictures of the room…and yes it is very messy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was time to go. We packed up the van and also hoped all our bags would be under the weight limit. I had put some of my stuff into Mom and Dads bag to distribute the weight better.

We made the drive to Sanford and Claire started having tummy troubles again. Since I needed gas and we were fairly close I made a stop at a gas station. Dad was having a fit again. He said that I had told him I always got gas at the same station every year. One that was right next to the airport and why weren’t we going there….well because my daughter was having tummy troubles, so lets kill 2 birds with one stone…..

So Mom ran Claire in and I filled up the van.

Mom and Claire returned with no success. Like I have said before, sometimes it takes a few tries for Claire before she can actually go. I did go in and buy a roll of Tums and gave Claire one.

 

We took off for the airport once again and of course Claire’s tummy was still troubling her. When we got to the airport I dropped the family and bags off. Mom ran Claire to the bathroom again and Dad was going to wait with the bags till I got back to help.

 

I took the Van to the drop off lot and made the long trek back to the airport. Mom and Claire were coming out at the same time I arrived and we had success! Claire’s belly no longer hurt! YAY!

We went to check in and I decided to put one carryon through this time. They had the free carryon offer again and I was sick of luggage at this point in time. I set my 1 bag up and it weighed only 35 pounds. I was amazed. I thought for sure it would be much more. Then my 2nd bag….50.5…UH ooH! It was over, but the lady said she wasn’t going to worry about ½ pound. Good! We also checked the stroller in this time. We did not need it again so no need to actually gate check it.

 

We went through security, which if I remember right, had quite a long line, but moved swiftly.

One thing I realized after I got my stuff back was that I had sent a hand sanitizer strapped on my camera bag through…not in a baggie. They never said anything about it…just let it go.

Off to the gate, with a stop at Cinnabon for a few minis. We found some seats and Mom, Claire and I headed off to the gift shop for some drinks and Claire talked Mom into a coloring thing for the plane.

 

 

We all used the potty one last time and soon it was time to board again…of course with all those people without seating assignments standing in the way of those who have 1. I understand they want to get a decent seat, but honestly, if you wanted a really good seat, then you should’ve paid for one.

 

We took off pretty much on time. Claire colored, and I wrote up some more notes from the trip.

I did take a few shots as we were flying.

 

 

 

And a few shots of my best traveling buddy.

 

 

 

 

After a bit Claire was a little bored and I told her I was tired and she was most likely too, so why didn’t she lean against me and sleep and I would take a nap too and we did. I think she went pretty much out and I dozed pretty good myself….for a good 40 minutes or so.

We landed and Claire and I made our way off the plane. Mom waited for Dad since he was several rows back.

 

Skip and I had joked that when I got off the plane and saw him, I would come running to him and jump into his arms and wrap my legs around him…like in the movies. Of course he has had his hip replaced…twice….so that wouldn’t work. He then had said he would do it to me instead! LOL! Well we never actually did that.

We came down the steps to see Skip waiting for us. Claire was soooo excited. He on the other hand pretended not to see us and Claire was having a fit. She ran and hugged him and then he pretended like he just realized we were there. I had to laugh, because Skip likes to be a clown at times….and he didn’t disappoint. He had on his most raggedly pair of work pants on….ones with a hole right in the crotch….Yep! ……Everyone, you can’t have him….that’s MY man….the one with a huge hole in the crotch of his pants. He’s a keeper!

Claire and I took a potty break and then met up with Mom and Dad and went on to claim the luggage.

We headed home, which is only about 10 minutes away from Toledo airport and I started the wonderful task of laundry.

I also loaded my pictures on the computer and that is when I discovered that I had lost a card. At first I thought I was messing something up, but it soon dawned on me that one of my SD cards was missing. Thankfully it was MOSTLY video, but I still did lose some good pictures. I think I also loaded my photopass that day or the next as well.

And then Claire and I slept. We were VERY tired and I swear it took me weeks to recover from the trip. I wanted to nap all the time and I couldn’t get energy. I guess that was the Disney blues too.

I did take a few pictures of the goodies we brought home as well.

 

Here is some of the Fish extender loot.

 

 

The glasses from the cruise.

 

 

I don’t think I ever took a picture of the watch Claire got, but here is a lot of her other goodies.

 

 

 

 

This trip was fantastic. Not perfect…and yes we …mostly me…had our share of mishaps, but in the end, it was still great fun. Now I need to try and talk Skip into going on another Disney cruise next year….so he can actually go on one. Claire talks about it still. She enjoyed her Disney time, but the cruise was very memorable for her.

Little did I know when I came home that I would be going back to Disney in just a few months time and also visiting the Dream as well! This year has been very good to me and I am grateful. I hope the pixie dust keeps flying this way!

Thank you all for reading and hanging out with me for these past few months!

[greatfundeals]

Thanks for the great TR...

[jenseib]

Thanks for the great TR...

 

Thanks for reading along. I hope to start my next TR in the next week.

I do have a "cute" Phineas and Ferb" adventure TR I am writing on another board. I may post it here for fun too.

[jenseib]

I have started me next trip report for anyone who is interested.

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=60682

 

On a side note, does anyone know how to close this stupid popup box from Vista print. It's in the way for posting and driving me bonkers.