*** I am adding to this post day by day.... scroll down for more.... **** :)
Second go-round for an August Disney trip. Last trip was in August 2013.
This time, we took my parents and a family friend. Mom and our friend Joan took the train and had left the day before. (my mom didn't want to fly... this figures in later... so stay tuned.). My dad flew with us.
The morning of, I made us some mouse-eared pancakes!
Off to the airport..... sailed through luggage checkin and security... only to find out flight was delayed for two hours due to weather in Florida. Little did we know, this was only the tip of the "delay" iceberg! More on that later...
At 12:30 instead of 10:30, we finally got on the plane. Off to Neverland!
Around the time I felt like we should be landing in Orlando, my dad noticed the plane was doing an AWFUL lot of turning. I thought it was just a runway approach.... dad pulled out his phone compass and saw we were heading northwest.
?!
A few minutes later, the flight attendant got on the speaker and explained that we had been in a holding pattern and should have landed in Orlando awhile ago, but that the airport was shut down for weather and we were running out of gas and had to reroute and go land in Jacksonville, about 120 miles north.
He went on to say that we did not know how long this would be, or whether we could get off the plane when it landed in Jacksonville... oh, and that they would be turning off the a/c when the plane landed, so close the windows and turn off the lights.
Mercifully, for this fearful flyer, we landed safely in Jacksonville where we sat waiting to see if they would give us a gate. The flight attendant, who at this point was ONLY the bearer of bad news, came on and said it could be 20 minutes, could be 2+ hours... also that we had no gate, so we'd be sitting on the plane for an indefinite period of time.
Lovely!
Ultimately, it ended up being about 45 minutes. The kids were great. Every kid on the plane (and, it being a flight to Orlando, there were a lot of them) was great. We took off and finally were allowed to land in Orlando close to 5p.m., about four hours after we were supposed to.
The baggage claim took forever because, since all flights had been delayed coming in, EVERYONE was coming in at the same time... also Orlando's airport baggage claim situation is a nightmare on a NORMAL day anyway.
Our rental car wasn't quite ready, so there was more sitting and waiting.
FINALLY... finally... we made it to our Disney villa around 7p.m. The kids were such troopers. No one cried or complained. :) I, on the other hand may have done both.
We met up with my mom and Miss Joan who had taken the train and were already there. Said hello, put our things down and then went to have a quick dinner by the pool. :)
After a good night's sleep, we were all ready for a park day!
Jonathan spent breakfast watching the attractions channel. LOL.
After everyone was ready, we set off for the Magic Kingdom and our first monorail ride!
We had a tight schedule, trying to cram a TON of Magic Kingdom into our morning. Touring Plans did not fail us and we managed to hit ten attractions in 3-1/2 hours. WOO!
Got a little wet.... but had ponchos on hand. ;)
We ended the morning with Minetrain, which caught my parents by surprise. LOL. Loved that ride! It was our first time on it since it wasn't open yet last time we went. This was the first of Jonathan's favorite rides! Simon was not a fan. Ben still isn't sure.
That night, we headed into Epcot for dinner at the Rose and Crown. Everyone was hanging in there nicely, so we stayed for the fireworks! First fireworks for us in a LONG TIME. :)
Here's my mom in the red telephone booth in the UK. ;)
On the way into Epcot, we stopped at Guest Services to get our Tables in Wonderland card. Something went wrong with the computer and it took awhile, so the guy gave us two free fastpasses! We only had time to use one, but we all got to hit Soarin that evening. So fun. Simon was nervous (so was my dad)... but everyone ended up having fun!
The next day, we took a day off from the parks. The kids and Tom and I were changing rooms to be closer to my family. As you can see, the boys amused themselves while we packed up. (sigh)
My parents and Joan and I hit the grocery store. (it had been raining so much the previous two days and with the late flight and all that, we just hadn't had time) After we were all stocked up, we hit Downtown Disney for a little shopping and some lunch. For those who go to Disney frequently, Downtown Disney is kind of a mess right now. I don't especially recommend a visit, however, the crowd wasn't too bad the day we went.
I bought a couple new pairs of earrings, mom bought a Malificent sweatshirt, Joan shopped for her granddaughters, and dad got a Ghiradelli's milkshake. The boys spent some of their vacation money in the toy store. :) Jonathan had a little birthday giftcard from Aunt Debbie and bought himself some Lego guys. (which we then had to keep track of the rest of the trip, but I'm pretty sure we came home with all the pieces! WOO!)
Later that night, we hit the Hoop Dee Do Revue, one of our favorites. We hadn't been in a long time and really wanted my family to see it. As usual, it was a blast!
Even more exciting, Ben got picked to go on stage! SO funny. Jonathan was also recognized for his birthday! :) Best time ever at the Hoop Dee Doo!
The next morning, we were off to Epcot BRIGHT and early. Several members of our troop are not morning people, but they were troopers. ;)
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| Grandmom and Poppy with Ben and Simon |
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| Bruuuuuuceeeee!!!! |
Ben chickened out of Test Track (not sure why, he has ridden it before), as did Simon (same!).... so my parents sat out and Tom, Jonathan, Joan and I rode. Jonathan LOOOOoooOOooooved it!
Ben waited patiently for our stop at Club Cool, his favorite.
That night, my parents and Joan had a reservation at Narcoosee's, and we headed off for dinner in Mexico and visiting the countries.
The Pokemon section of the Japanese store very nearly caused Ben's head to explode.
Simon played a little Agent P in Germany and I discovered a fantastic grapefruit beer while we waited....
Dinner in Mexico was fantastic! Jonathan approved! :)
The next morning, we hit Disney Hollywood Studios....
Jonathan rode Tower of Terror for the first time. He came out and this was the only photo he would let me take. He claimed he didn't like it, though since we have been home, he has changed his tune. Nevertheless, he was the only one of my kids (and me) brave enough to ride! So, hats off to him!
Everyone loved Toy Story Mania! :) So excited they are making a whole Toy Story area soon!
The next day, we gave the other adults the morning off. They were most grateful. It was HOT and we were ALL exhausted. We would have skipped Animal Kingdom too, except the kids were pretty insistent about going to ride Kali River Rapids. It's one of Ben's favorites. Simon was wary, but ended up loving it. Jonathan thought it was awesome.
Ran into DeVine on the way in. Jonathan was the only one brave enough for a photo. (shaking my head...)
Two out of three were in the REALLY wet seats. LOL!
We rode Dinosaur, Ben and I rode Primeval Whirl, and Jonathan and I rode the Tripceratops Dumbo ride ripoff and then we left... really not feeling the heat that day and we had a big evening planned at the Magic Kingdom!
Did the Enchanted Tales with Belle for the first time. Cute, but probably won't do it again. Kids weren't that into it. Pretty magical though! Ben was a horse and got his photo with Belle. ;)
Posing with the gargoyles while waiting for our table at Be Our Guest. :)
We were seated in the West Wing this time. Super cool. Neat special effects all over! Dinner was delicious, Jonathan and I tried the grey stuff. It was delicious. Mom got her photo taken with Beast. ;)
Jonathan, Joan and Tom rode Splash Mountain (J loved it, of course) The rest of us did the Hall of PResidents, much to Tom's dismay. LOL. I promised him we'd see it again next trip.
Headed for teacups!
