November 7, 2019-Disney Trip Day 10

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Where to begin? It is kind of hard because most days so far on this trip, I have been able to sit down and blog for a bit before laying down at night. Today we were gone from 7 until 8 so there was no middle of the day blogging. 

This morning was Extra Magic Hours at Epcot, so we were stirring right at 6. The boys were already awake before then when Robby went to get in the shower. Maybe they were both excited about our day.

We left right at 7 and found a wonderful parking spot. The bag check line was fairly minimal, but the line to get in was long. The others, who left after us, still managed to beat us into the park. That was fine though because we were all stopped at the rope. Most everyone was headed to Test Track again while some of the group went to Frozen. We never made it to Frozen, but it is still on my list for later.

We jumped in the Test Track line which moved fairly quickly. The kids loved it so much that we sent them on through the single rider line. Reagan opted to take Whitman to the ball ride which seems to be one of his favorite rides. He loves the part at the end where you design “your future world.” 

The others all went on Mission Space while Reagan then took Whitman to Soaring. We met back up with everyone at the ball ride for one more go of it. Then we mosied on over towards Soaring where our first FastPasses began.

Everyone was able to ride together. Robby and I enjoyed watching Maia on the ride. It was her first time on the ride-she might have been a bit scared, but having Reagan and Alyssa there talking her through it helped. It was also fun watching those girls take care of their little buddy.

And speaking of kids, the waitress tonight mentioned how polite the kids were, but time and time again we have seen that ourselves. Campbell had tried her hardest to entertain Gabriel and even push his stroller to help out. The big boys have given up seats, held doors open and helped people in and out of rides. Reagan has made sure all of the little girls are with us and entertained them. Couldn’t be prouder of my kiddos.

After Soaring, we sat and ate our lunches. It was early to pull out lunchables, but we had eaten breakfast early, plus we would have an early supper. Then we went to the Nemo ride. We have been to the parks that during the day, Nemo was only 5 minutes or so-not today. The line was near an hour-good thing for our FastPasses where we didn’t have to wait.

The kids all enjoyed going through the aquarium afterwards, and we had time to kill before our Turtle Talk with Crush. During that show, Crush did talk to Whitman and to Robby. The same thing has happened before-Crush talking to one of our kids and then Robby. Everyone got a big kick out of that.

When we finished Turtle Talk, we headed towards the countries. We didn’t have too long before we had to begin making our way to our 3:30 supper. (Disney dining-you just take the time you can get.) We breezed through Canada even though I do want to come back and watch the movie.

Then we saw Winnie the Pooh in the UK. The kids played in the maze in the back which they do every time we come here. It is a such a peaceful and shaded spot. After we left that area, we were quickly reminded that November in Florida is not like November at home. It was hot and sunny-very, sunny.

We walked through the next few countries-we even looked around in France. Robby toyed with the idea of buying a baguette but couldn’t easily find one. By now, the countries were really, really hot so we started trucking through them towards the boat back to the front of the ball.

We happily made it to the boat to find out that they weren’t floating right then. Eeek! So what did we do? We drug the kids around the world-literally. Well, the only kid we were really dragging was Whitman. By this time, he was hot, exhausted, and the most grumpy that he has been on this trip. I kept digging candy out of my bag to keep him going.

Since our supper was at the Polynesian Resort, we did have quite a ways to travel and needed to move swiftly, and that we did. We hauled! By the time we made it to the monorail, I was soaking wet with sweat. Of course my back where my backpack hangs was drenched, but so was everything else that I had on.

We then rode the monorail for one stop to get to the resort. Traci and I checked in, and despite my many calls they didn’t give us much hope to be sitting together or even near each other. Imagine our surprise, when we were called to our table after the Crafts and were directed to their table-they had plenty of room for all of us. It worked out wonderfully well, actually couldn’t have been better.

Our O’hana meal started out with salad, then dumplings, lo mein noodles (my kids favorite), chicken wings, then lots of meat on a stick-chicken, steak and shrimp. I probably should have picked up a menu or something so I could have listed the actual names of the food so they would sound more appealing. I’ll do better next time-though with Disney prices, the next time that we can eat out is in 2025.

The meal was really good-I had never tried a dumpling, but it was sure yummy. They also said that they are called potstickers. I have heard of that, but also have never had those. I urged the kids to all try something new, but most of them were sitting pretty far away from me so I am not too sure that happened. I even tried the bread pudding-not for me. The waitress did bring a plate of rice krispy treats to supplement the kids dessert since they didn’t touch much of their bread pudding.

After we ate, since we were still wearing our leis from dinner, we stayed in the Hawaiin mode and walked to the back of the Polynesian. All of my kids but Campbell stayed and played cornhole while the others went to look at the water and beach area. It is a pretty area, and it is on my bucket list to stay at that resort.

Then it was two monorails to get back to Epcot. They were all full which made for some pretty long rides. I am not sure where all of these people have come from, but I hope that they stay home the next time I am at Disney. 

Our evening plans bounced around a lot-we couldn’t really decide that we wanted to do. We did end up just taking it kind of easy. We went to Mexico with the crafts to ride the Donald boat ride. Then Whitman used his “gift card” (though he really didn’t have one) to buy a bubble light up wand. Reagan used her gift card and some money to buy a sweatshirt. Now everyone had bought something except for Anderson.

We pulled out the 1 liter that Robby had been lugging around all day to have ourselves a little drink before we headed back to the camper. It didn’t take long for us to arrive back at the camper. Everyone else was still out so we had some downtime before bed. Graham and Keaton fell asleep before we even turned the lights out, and everyone but Reagan were asleep minutes after we turned the lights out.

November 6, 2019-Disney Trip Day 9

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Once again I never woke up last night, and when I went into the kitchen and looked and Keaton and Whitman, they were still sound asleep. All of these miles that we are walking must be tough on their little legs and feet. I know that my feet our super sore.

We jumped in the car and headed to Animal Kingdom. Today was our first time this trip to go to this park. As we were walking into it, Whitman asked if he had ever been here. He knew it looked different than the others. Animal Kingdom used to be my favorite park; I still enjoy it, but it isn’t my favorite anymore. Though I don’t know exactly which one is my favorite now.

We walked a good ways in Animal Kingdom before finding the spot that we needed to rope drop for the Safari. Most everyone was rope dropping the new(ish) Pandora ride. Once the park opened we shuffled to the Safari ride.

It didn’t take long at all for us to be on the ride. The animals were super active on the ride. We were all focused on them and didn’t even notice that the kids had stuff, dirt probably, all over the hands from whenever they put their hands on the outside of the vehicle. I had wipes in my bag so we were soon focused on the animals again.

We then went to our Tusker House breakfast. We had reservations at 9:40, and the others had theirs a bit later. We were almost finished but they did end up sitting right by us which was super fun. 

The characters were at our table almost as soon as we sat back down with our food. Cambpell already had her autograph book out so she was ready. There was Mickey first, then Donald, Daisy and Goofy. No matter how old you are, it is always fun when they come to your table.

We ate our fill at breakfast-my favorite was the chocolate chip croissants. Whitman ate at least a dozen doughnuts. Anderson agreed that the doughnuts were delicious. We stayed for a good while before leaving to further explore Animal Kingdom.

Oh, and yes, I did have a ziplock baggie with me. I put two Mickey Waffles in there for a snack for later! Ha! Now, what would have really been good would have been if they had cheese-then I could have loaded up with some ham and cheese croissants for later. We ate so much breakfast that we didn’t need lunch of any kind this afternoon, and we barely ate supper.

The next stop was Mt. Everest. The single ride line was short so we went everyone but Whitman on. It was warm by now so we sat in the shade waiting on the others to come. Then it was time to use our FastPasses for that ride. I heard that Whitman loved it. I had forgotten that it is really a pretty good roller coaster-especially, the part in the dark. I kept asking Graham if we had gone over the big drop yet-I guess I missed it. I also missed the Yeti-I saw his shadow but not him. 

The next stop was dinosaur land. We rode the Triceratops Spin which is a fun little ride. Then it was on to the Dinosaur ride. Poor Whitman looked terrified on the ride. I think that he actually did enjoy it, but his picture sure doesn’t look like it. 

Everytime we take a break or even walk down a path, my kids are asking me to find their pins. They are all (except for Whitman) into pin trading. Anderson and Graham are collecting Star Wars. Keaton is collecting Mickey and Minnie. Reagan is gathering one type of cartoony princesses. I have forgotten what Campbell is doing, and Whitman could really care less. They have so much fun doing it, that I feel certain that they will get some more pins for Christmas.

Our next stop was the show It’s Tough to Be a Bug. I am sure that the show it exactly the same as it has been years past, but things sure seemed new to me. It is really one of my favorites shows here at the parks.  

When the show was over, we met up with all of our people for the Lion King show. This show is one of Robby’s favorite shows. Whitman sat in my lap and loved every minute of it-and I put my head up against his and closed my eyes for a little bit. Seriously, this Disney World stuff is exhausting.

The kids then tried to do the Kali River Rapids. The jumped in the line when the wait was 45 minutes which wasn’t too bad. However, the time on the sign and ap quickly shot up to 70 minutes. That is just a bit too long to wait, so they came out of the line. Now, this made some of them not too pleased, but we did offer to come back to Animal Kingdom another day.

Somewhere at this point of the day, the kids claimed their snacks for the day. There were lemonade slushes, dole whip floats, a mickey ice cream bar and even a Starbucks drink. We are living it up!

Also at one point today, two ladies came up to me and asked if I had bought my shirt on this trip. I smiled and said that I made it. They told me that I could sell it! Ha! That was so incredibly fun. I should have given them my email and offered to make one for them. 

The weather was looking dicey so we hurried over to the Pandora land to use our last FastPass of the day. Again, I have not seen the Avatar movie so I am sure if I had seen the movie then I would be even more impressed. The land is beautiful and one person walking by me said that it was really neat all lit up. Maybe we will have to come back to see it at night.

Now, let’s talk about the Avatar ride. It was pretty spectacular. It was more intense than Soaring but pretty much the same concept. Really, it is much more intense. The kids all came off saying that it was one of the best rides here. I might even have to agree with that. 

We then hightailed it to the car. It started raining on our way and sprinkled on us pretty good. We did ride the tram just to get out of the car, even though we could see the car! By the time we made it back, the rain had let up, but it was still dark and cloudy.

It was just perfect for a snooze. Robby ran to the office and put in our laundry. I rested (about 20 minutes) until the kids asked to go to the campfire again. I loaded up stuff for our s’mores and off we went. They again ate their weight in s’mores. After Chip and Dale left, they started a movie. Whitman was really into it so we were surprised when he was agreeable to go back for a shower. 

Soon everyone had taken turns in the showers down the road. There just would be no way to quickly shower everyone here. And that water pressure is laughable in this rig! When everyone was clean, we ate some supper. Since we were still full from breakfast, we just pulled out leftovers tonight. 

Then it was time to dig into the ice cream that Robby and Graham bought. The freezer isn’t that great so the ice cream was more like soft serve. It was still delicious, and we just about finished off a container of Blue Bell. 

We called it an early night tonight because tomorrow is going to be an early morning!

November 5, 2019-Disney Trip Day 8

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Another good night of camper sleeping until my alarm rang. The bed isn’t that big so I immediately knew that Robby was gone. I assumed correctly that he was at the showers taking a shower. He said that last night before bed he had planned so carefully and had everything ready for himself when he got down there. At least he thought that he had planned well, he had to come back for a towel!

The kids woke up very well this morning, and all began eating their breakfast. This morning choices were a sausage biscuit bowl, yogurt and granola, sausage pancakes on a stick, poptarts and a pancake. It is just about like a hotel breakfast up in our camper. Robby did say that we brought the right amount of stuff, but I reminded him about our plethora of food. It is all things that we can bring home, so it’s all good.

We pulled out for Hollywood Studios right at 8 this morning. It didn’t take long for us to arrive at the gate. Our parking would have been perfect-we were on the perfect row, but we were about a mile the wrong way down that perfect row!

We were there before the park opened and stood for a few minutes. The sun was hot, and the day would have been miserable if the afternoon clouds did not show up. We and about a hundred thousand of our closest friends all shuffled through the park, through Galaxy’s Edge and to Smuggler’s Run, the new Star Wars ride, when the park opened. 

It was a wild because there were so, so many folks. It got a bit warm there for a minute when ever we would stop in the sun. Whitman would just sit down wherever we stopped-he started off the day exhausted. The other night we used the fast pass queue so the line wasn’t too themed, but today the whole waiting area which was massive was incredibly themed. 

Of course all of the theming meant nothing to me since I haven’t seen the movies. Anderson and Graham were soaking it all in and taking pictures of everything that they saw. Within 40 minutes after the park opened, we were off the ride so the wait wasn’t too incredibly long.

I was on the ride with Alyssa and Reagan as the pilots, one of them had no idea what they were doing. Campbell and I were the gunners and Sophia and Keaton were the engineers. The other night when I rode on the ride, it was incredibly smooth like flying easily through space. Today was not like that at all. We jerked and bumped and crashed, and while all of this was happening the girls squealed and screamed and hooted and hollered. It was so entertaining.

As soon as we left the ride and joined the others, I realized that I didn’t have my phone. I tried to blame the boys, but they didn’t have it either. I am probably the one who did leave it though-when I sit down it falls out of my pockets. I went to the front to ask about it, and they were already bringing it to the front. Right as we were leaving there, they noticed that Charlotte had lost her Magic Band. They dealt with that as we walked on.

We ran into some more of our buddies in the new Toy Story area. It was fun, and hopefully we will be able to do all of the rides over there. But we were headed to our first FastPass-Rock N Roller Coaster.

The hope had been that Whitman would be tall enough to do it. We had steadily been tracking his height at home. He had even been doing stretches. However, it was all in vain-he just wasn’t tall enough yet. Thankfully, Whitman is so easy going that he didn’t really care at all. 

We did a child swap which basically meant that I could go again later with him, plus take two other kids with me. That worked out well for Reagan and Anderson who went the second time with me. 

The others all went with Robby on the ride while Whitman and I had a snack. He didn’t really seem to care that he couldn’t ride, just was happy eating his candy. We were even sitting in the sun at one point and I tried to get him to move, but he said he didn’t want to.

When they returned, it was time for me to ride that ride. I didn’t want to, but since we were at Disney after all, I had to. Reagan and Anderson rode with me-I sat by Anderson and tried not to grab his leg as we shot off. I do not like the shooting off part of the ride. After that, I am fine but the ride is just not really for me.

When the ride was over, we met up with the others at Indiana Jones Stuntshow. We weren’t too crowded and watching Whitman jump and gasp was worth it. Everyone had another FastPass together at StarTours. It is quite entertaining watching people gasp when we say that there are 21 in our party. We quickly found our seats and set down for the ride.

I think that most everyone liked it. It is a simulator which Robby usually doesn’t do too good on. I think that he got a bit hot on the ride today but bounced back just fine. From there, we went to eat our lunch. Reagan wasn’t too hungry because she had used her Dennie snack credit to buy a Starbucks drink.

Robby bought a drink and fries which we devoured in no time flat. The kids ate their lunchables while Robby and I had our cheese, sausage and crackers. We stayed there and cooled off enjoying our refillable cokes for a while.

Then we hauled it back to the other side of the park for our Tower of Terror FastPasses. Campbell had already decided that she was scared of this ride, and before we even put on our seatbelts she was tearing up. Gracious me! I talked to her through the whole ride telling her what would be next, but that just didn’t help at all. She was crying as loud as Maia did during Star Tours. 

After TOT, as Whitman calls it, Graham was able to use my Magic Band from earlier since I had the child swap because we couldn’t take Whitman on the first go around. He loved his second ride. Meanwhile, everyone else started cashing in on their snacks. Anderson and Campbell bought ice cream and ate it while waiting on Graham. Robby then jumped back in the line to buy ice cream for Graham-he didn’t want to buy it too early where it would be melted. 

Keaton and Whitman chose cotton candy for their snack. We took a few pictures on the main street area before Robby bought our snack. We bought a s’more covered brownie-Doesn’t that sound big? Nope, remember the Where’s the Beef commercials? That is how I felt when Robby handed me my half of the dessert. Kind of made me sad. I am going to google “biggest snacks in Disney” when I have a minute.

I did buy my first Christmas ornament of the trip-and forgot to ask for my passholder discount. Ugh! From there, we headed to the car, and just as we arrived at the car Reagan realized that she didn’t have the spare phone, yep, that was our second phone to lose today!

She quickly realized that she had just left it in the bathroom after we left the park. We then ran back down the long, long parking lot to that bathroom. Her phone was there and all was well, but I was exhausted after that long haul.

We joined the others in the cool car and headed back to the campsite. The kids played volleyball, drove the golf carts while Whitman made a stink bomb by filling a bag full of stinky leaves. It was nearly 5, when we finished playing (and I had finished working on the blog-first round), and we started on our supper. 

Tonight’s supper was chicken roll ups which is a Dennie family travel favorite. They were easy to make since the chicken was already cooked. We heated up the panini and had ourselves a yummy meal. As soon as we were finished, we loaded back up for Hollywood Studios. 

It was nearly 6 when we left the campground. Robby and Graham dropped us off there and went to Epcot to park since that is where we would be tonight. Their plan was to walk through the park and easily ride the new SkyLiner to Epcot. Things don’t always go as planned! Ha!

By the time they made it to the back of Epcot, it was raining on them-also lightening so no SkyLiner and no boat. They debated what to do. And yes, here is where I should mention that we opted not to bring our bag tonight, the bag with the ponchos. Robby didn’t really realize that he had big and little ponchos in the car. He did however look to see about bringing an umbrella but opted not to.

Meanwhile, the rest of us where at Hollywood Studio when the rain started. We quickly found shelter and decided what to do. Our first stop was Tower of Terror. My plan was to sit with Campbell and Whitman and wait on Keaton, Reagan and Anderson. Though Campbell headed off with the others to ride the ride so I quickly convinced Whitman to ride it. They both rode it this time and absolutely loved it-I am so glad that they tried it again.

About this time, Robby and Graham decided to walk the short .7 mile hike to Hollywood to catch up with us. The walk was pretty Robby said, and it was only misting on them. However, when they made it to Hollywood, it started pouring. 

Robby and Graham caught up to us while we were meeting Chewbacca. That was all inside so we stayed there as long as we could for him to dry off. We also met that little round Star Wars robot thing along with Darth Vadar.

By this time, we walked towards our next FastPass. First we did stop at the twirling alien things. Robby did drop his phone on that ride-we really shouldn’t even be allowed to have phones on this trip. It fell in the car, and they quickly scooped it up. This was a good ride for Robby to help dry his shirt.

On the Toy Story Mania ride, we all held tightly to our phones. It was a really fun ride. Anderson did beat me by a few thousand points, but everyone enjoyed it-except our arms were really tired. Maybe we need to start doing arm exercises for when we come back.

Then it was on to the new Slinky Dog ride. The rain had caused it to stop, but by this point it had stopped, and the ride was running again. It was a really fun ride, and I am glad that we will be able to do it again. I think that the whole area was much more fun to see at nighttime. 

We did close that park up riding Slinky Dog, however, we weren’t done yet. We met up with Traci, Abigail, Candice, Alyssa and Caroline and headed off to Epcot. They were having Extra Magic Hours until 11. The boats looked full so we caught a bus. Keaton was thrilled with this because she got herself some more transportation cards. 

We arrived there about 9:45 which left us little time left to play. The single ride line at Test Track was only 10 minutes so we jumped in it...however, it wasn’t really 10 minutes. We ended up waiting in the line for the rest of the evening. We did finish the line about 3 minutes before the park closed at 11. The kids hurried to try to make it to Star Tours (or whatever that ride is called), but they did not. 

We then had to wait a few minutes on Robby and Whitman. Since Whitman couldn’t do the single rider line for Test Track, they went to the ball ride. Whitman had been asking about going back on the ball all day long. He was perfectly pleased. Then they were able to get on Soarin right before the park closed and sit on the front row.

Everyone piled into my car on the way home. It was well after 11 when we made it home and nearly midnight when the kids went to sleep. Robby and I were up much later blogging, working and getting things ready for in the morning. It was another good, exhausting Disney day-maybe tomorrow will be slower.

November 4, 2019-Disney Trip Day 7

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Robby woke up around 4:30 this morning, but thankfully he didn’t get out of bed until 5:30. He left to go and take a shower since he didn’t want to be rushed this morning. I woke up when he got out of bed because I must have been just as excited as he was to head to Magic Kingdom for our first official day.

The kids started stirring just as soon as we started making noise this morning-even Reagan woke up on her own. As soon as everyone was ready, we started passing out breakfast. Graham had a bagel, Reagan and Whitman had their cereal, Campbell and Keaton had poptarts and Anderson had a pancake on a stick. 

We were the first camper stirring outside, but as soon as we arrived at the boat dock, everyone else was right behind us. We were told that the boat to Magic Kingdom wouldn’t begin until 30 minutes before the park opened. So we planned on floating to another stop, however, the boat that was there was for Magic Kingdom-couldn’t have been any perfect-er.

We beat the crowds by quite a bit this morning. We were near the front of the line for Space Mountain. We were with Whitman, and he again loved the ride. We didn’t have to wait long there so we jumped on Buzz Lightyear before the crowds got too thick.

After Buzz, we caught up with everyone else. So everyone went to ride the Tomorrowland Speedway. I drove with Whitman and everytime I would have to take my foot off the gas, he would bang his head on the steering wheel. He wasn’t too pleased with this, but still enjoyed driving, and he will need lots of practice before I’ll ever ride with him anywhere.

From the speedway, we had to head across the park for our first FastPass of the day-Splash Mountain. We were a bit warm by then and needed some refreshment so we stopped for some water. Then breezing through the fast pass line did cool us off as well, but not as much as getting wetter than Saturday on the ride. We weren’t bathtub wet, but still wet. 

The next Fastpass was Jungle Cruise. We rode it with half of the Craft family. We were pretty squeezed in, but the ride was still fun because it had been changed to the Jingle Cruise because Christmas holiday celebrations are in full swing around here.

We were here on Saturday and there were a few hints of fall still left. However, today the huge Christmas tree was up along with garland and beautiful Christmas decorations everywhere. The Jingle Cruise was pretty decorated as well. I do think that the jokes are better when it is not Christmas-y.

After the cruise, we were hungry. So it was time to use some “Dennie Snack Credits.” Reagan, Anderson and Graham all had Dole Whip. Keaton had a Mickey pretzel, Campbell picked out a Lemonade Slush. Whitman chose popcorn-we were planning on buying a popcorn bucket anyway and just refilling it for 2 dollars at a time, so him choosing that snack worked out well. 

Our next stop was Mickey’s Philharmagic. All of my people always enjoy 3D movies-Campbell kept trying to grab the things floating through the air towards us. After the show, it was time for our lunch-all we do is eat!

Robby is carrying the ice chest backpack so he passed out lunchables for the kids, cheese, meat and crackers for us along with pouring some drinks for everyone out of a 1 liter-once again, doing lunch at Disney right. Ha! This lunch cost us less than 10 dollars!

We had our third FastPass at Thunder Mountain after lunch. We fought the crowds to get over there and rode the ride. Gracious, I am not sure why so many people are here right now-don’t these people have to go to school or work? It is pretty crazy. After riding rides all summer at Silver Dollar City, my kids don’t want to wait in any line over 30 minutes-we might be just a bit spoiled.

After Thunder, we napped at The Hall of Presidents. I mean we watched it-well, Graham, Campbell and I didn’t see much of it. I had to physically wake Graham up at the end. Robby even took my picture snoozing a way during the show. However, after ou rnap, we were ready to go again and headed off to Small World. 

The Crafts had waited in the real line and ended up in a boat right near ours after we zoomed through the line with our fast passes. Small World is always interesting-full of plenty of things to see. After the ride, we walked down through super crowded Main Street back to the boat. The boat was right there waiting for us so it was again perfect transportation.

Back at the camper, we vegged for a few minutes-Anderson did some of his Legos that he got in his goody bag from yesterday and Whitman worked a puzzle also from yesterday. Robby and I worked on our computers, but soon everyone was changed into the swim suits.

We golf carted over to the swimming pool. It is a pretty big swimming pool area with a nice slide. Robby bought a drink cup which we refilled a few times. While the kids swam in the misty rain, we huddled under an umbrella with our computers in our lap. Soon the rain stopped. We ended up swimming for about an hour and a half before heading back to our camper. 

The original plan was to just swim for an hour but the friends showed up so we stayed longer than planned. Once back at the camper, we went to work-Robby heated up our supper which was chili while I worked inside getting the rest of supper out (finding things in the fridge is a challenge) plus I straightened this place a bit (though I need to sweep.)

We ate outside before loading up on the golf carts to head to the boat back to Magic Kingdom. The Crafts were already there and the Heltz missed the boat by a bit. When we approached the castle, it was incredibly beautiful-the castle looks like Elsa’s castle would look. Everything was lit up, and it was just beautiful. You could hear Christmas music playing in the background-makes me want to set up our trees when we get home.

Our first ride tonight was Haunted Mansion. Whitman grabbed on to me like he was terrified, but it didn’t really bother him at all. Then we met up with the Heltz and rode the Mermaid ride together. Then it was another turn on the Tomorrowland Speedway. 

After the speedway, we had time to pick one last ride-Space Mountain was chosen. We hustled over there and almost walked on the left side. We had heard that the sides were different and indeed I do think that they are. The left side did seem very more thrilling. That isn’t my favorite ride to ride with little people-I don’t like not sitting beside them. How can you know if they fall out? I always put my hand on Whitman or turn around to see him on that ride.

We finished the ride and walked out as the fireworks were playing. It was just magical. We stood and watched them for a second and then off we went. We went this way and that way through the crowds headed out of the park. I carried Whitman some so he could see those fireworks shoot off. 

My big boys joked that they never get to see fireworks at Disney-and indeed they do not, especially when we are at Magic Kingdom. We did see them from the campground last night, but that is not nearly the same. 

We were able to make it on our boat as the last fireworks went off, if we had stuck around to see the fireworks, we probably would still be trying to catch the boat back tonight. From the boat, we were able to see the Electrical Light Parade that we wanted to see last night which worked out well.

Then it was on to the campground. We already had our clothes and soaps bagged and ready to go. I may have to build campground bathrooms at our house-man, it sure does save time. No one has even taken an shower in this camper yet-maybe tomorrow. I do love a shower in the morning, and I don’t plan to get up early enough to mosey down the road for a shower.

The kids had cookies while Robby put the clothes in the washing machine. We took lunch orders and worked on their trading pins before brushing teeth. It was a fairly long day...and I still have laundry to fold!

November 3, 2019-Disney Trip Day 6

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Since last night was time change, we were expecting the hotel room clocks to not change. When I did wake up at 6, I checked my phone, checked my watch and then checked the hotel clock, and they were all the same. I just hoped that we did wake up at the right time-and we did.

By 8:05 we were pulling out of the hotel parking lot on our way to pick up our McDonalds breakfast. We just had 2 fast passes this morning so we weren’t in too much hurry to beat the crowds-we are saving that for the next few days. 

Our McDoanlds breakfast was plentiful. We ended up saving one sausage biscuit, a pancake and eggs. And you better believe that we wrapped those babies up for later. We all finishe dup our breakfast just about the time that we arrived at Epcot.

The crowds were pretty thick, but we didn’t have any problem since we were heading right to Mission Space. Whitman and I did the green version (mild) the other day, but he was anxious to ride the orange (not so tame) version. I however was not anxious at all for that so I sent him on with his brothers and sisters. Robby and I sat our and enjoyed the park-there was no crowds and the weather was pleasant. It was perfect just like we hope February will be.

Reagan was not too pleased with the ride, but the others were. She thought that it was a bit too much for her. Poor Whitman won’t have anyone to take him on that orange ride again, though I will try to take him on the green version once more.

From there, we went to pick up our passholder magnets. The kids weren’t too thrilled with standing in the line, but it moved quick and now I have 8 passholder magnets for my car. Kidding, I won’t be putting them on my car-I’ll be selling them on ebay.

Then we used our first fastpass-the kids were excited to scan their magic bands for the first real time. The ball ride was fun. I rode with Whitman, and as usual I could hear Robby telling Campbell as I was telling Whitman about the jobs that Grannymom and Nonna have that are represented in the ball.

After the ball, we had a few minutes until our next Fast Pass so some of the kids did their shopping. Campbell and Graham both bought a pair of Crocs. His were black and hers were white. Instead of round holes, they have Mickey Mouse shaped holes. They both put them on as soon as they were able and have not taken them off yet!

Then it was time to ride Test Track. Whitman was so excited to do this knowing that the others had already done it. It was a fun ride, and everyone cheered as the car that they designed showed up on the leader board. 

People were pouring into the park as we were exiting which is just kind of odd. By this time in the morning, we had already found out that our campsite was ready and had the number. We also had the number of everyone else. Traci had called and requested a loop and requested that we were all together, and it worked.

The Crafts and Heltz are across the street from us and Traci’s parents. We are all right next to each other. We are also right near the bathhouse (3 campers down) which has laundry in it! We used the bathhouse tonight to take showers because taking 8 showers at a time is much quicker than one at a time and then waiting on the hot water to heat back up. Also this campsite is near the pool, playground, Chip and Dale area and not a long drive to the marina where we will catcht the bus tomorrow. This location could not be any more perfect.

We arrived just as the Clarks (Traci’s parents) arrived. Their camper was being delivered and so was ours. Half of the Heltz were already here setting up camp, and within a bit the Crafts were on their way as well. The people that we rented the camper from were super nice. The showed us around, and we soon had the lay of the land.

Our camper has a bunk room in the back with 2 regular size bunks plus 2 that are a bit larger than normal (Keaton and Whitman are sharing one tonight.) There is a bathroom, plus a u-shaped dinette which is where Graham is sleeping now. In the back or is it the front, there is a bedroom for Robby and I.

Now, this place is nice and all, but really there could be so much more storage. I wasn’t even able to pack all of our food. Hopefully, we will eat through some of it and things will get roomier in here. 

After learning about our camper, Robby had to go pick up our golf carts. While he was gone, I unloaded everything that I could. It was like I was on a race tv show for unpacking groceries. I finished only to remember that I still had boxes to go except they were all in the car that Robby had taken. 

He delivered the golf carts-one has a Cadillac symbol on it with massive off roading tires. The others is just a plain gold carts. The boys went to work on adding the pool noodles to decorate the carts while Reagan added greenery to them. 

Robby then ran to the store with Graham. And let me just tell you-24 Lunchables just about fills up a camper’s fridge. Ha! We then started unpacking groceries along with working on our goodie bags. Since we first started talking about Disney, the girls have wanted to do goodie bags for all of their friends. It just started wtih a pair of ears, but became a huge stocking like bag full of goodies. We decided that the adults couldn’t be left out so everyone ended up with some fun things. 

They were so much fun to make, shop for and talk about. My kids could not wait to pass them out, and they were thrilled that they had their own goodie bags waiting for them as well. It was so much fun passing them out. 

Before the goodie bags were passed out, we did work on decorating the camper just a bit as well. We stood up our Santa, and once I could get him to stand up, he is pretty cute. Robby also hung some lights around the camper as well. We made this place pretty homey!

The Heltz had supper for us tonight. It was taco salad and was delicious-probably because I just brought my water and my lawnchair over and didn’t have to do anything. Did I mention that there is a basketball court just on the other side of the Crafts? So the kids spent time there and everywhere else.

The kids just had a blast this evening running around and playing with their friends. We all did load up on the golf carts for the Chip and Dale campfire sing along. First was roasted our marshmallows and made s’mores. That alone was fun.

Then a man came out and sang campfire songs with everyone. Next Chip and Dale came for everyone to take their pictures with. Next they started a movie-we did briefly lose Whitman (not really, but just couldn’t find him). We found him sitting right in the middle of the screen-cutest thing ever.

Back to the camper we all drove, though we could have easily walked. We played for a bit more-this time in the dark-until it was time for the fireworks across the water at Magic Kingdom. We were able to see them from the waterfront. The kids enjoyed watching them but they also enjoyed playing in the sand. 

After the fireworks, we stayed around to see the Electric Boat Parade….which was cancelled. No worries on that because we can probably catch it another night. This did make for a late night. So once we returned to the camper, we found our clothes and went to the showers.

This is just such a small space that man it is tight. It took Robby and I a while to get everything in a home before we settled in our spots for the evening. I am not too sure we can go full time in a rig like this-where will I put my 4 crock pots? Today was a great day-tomorrow is Magic Kingdom with friends so it should also be loads of fun!   

November 2, 2019-Disney Trip Day 5

(click here for today's pictures)

I sure slept great last night, despite Reagan and Keaton both talking in their sleep during the night. Also, I am not too sure how Keaton slept since when Robby came in our room at 7 to use the bathroom, she was sleeping on the floor.

We quickly got ourselves ready and ate breakfast in the car. I did laugh as I was pouring cereal in the middle of the parking lot. Not a gourmet breakfast, but decent enough. We missed our turn a few times going towards the parking lot.

Robby even ended up dropping us off, before heading off to try to find the parking lot. While he was getting un-lost, the rest of us walked to the Transportation and Ticket Center and jumped in the line.

I had to go through the bag check line which was a bit long-very. Then we mosied up to the Monorail and waited on Robby. It wasn’t too long before he showed up, and we joined the monorail line. Keaton has started collecting cards from the transportation people so everyone that she sees she asked if they have a card.

The park opened at 8, and we arrived a little bit after 9. Obviously, we would have liked to have been there when they opened but were still pleased with our time. We needed some rest last night and tonight’s time change should help us as well.

Our first stop was Splash Mountain. Everyone enjoyed it-Campbell talked to me the entire ride, and it is a very long ride! Then we went on Thunder Mountain. It was a lot tamer than I remembered. Whitman however left shouting that Thunder Mountain was better than Powder Keg at Silver Dollar City. Powder Keg is the crazy ride at SDC that I will not ride!

We then returned to Splash for one more go of it. This ride was a little bit shorter because there was less boats in front of us. Keaton had already spotted what she wanted to buy so we went there after the ride. 

She found a black hat with a Mickey Mouse on the front. It is a cute hat, and she really looks cute in it. She also quickly noticed that it was a Nike hat and kept telling me that her hat was “Nike.” I guess I will have 3 kids that infatuated with brand names. 

Seconds after we bought her hat, we walked by Splash Mountain and saw someone lose their hat on Splash Mountain. That was probably a good reminder for her to be careful with that new hat. 

The next ride was Pirates of the Caribbean. Everyone enjoyed it, and we decided that it would be good line to wait in when it was hot outside because the line is cool and shaded. After the ride, we walked to a nearby shaded table for a snack.

This snack was just items from my bag-oatmeal cream pies or vanilla sandwich cookies. I have quite the snack collection remaining in my bag today. My park bag is at least 15 pounds-2 water bottles, 8 ponchos, snacks, a package of tortillas (more on that later), plastic bags, everyone’s trading pins, bandaids (which we used today), our pass cards plus a ton of other things-this makes for a heavy bag but one prepared momma.

Next up was the Laugh Factory show. Campbell was not excited about going to a show. She only wanted to ride rides today and got a bit cranky about us not only doing that. During the show, Anderson’s face did pop up on the screen saying that he needed a hug. He was pretty pleased to have made the big screen. 

Our next plan was to ride the People Mover, but the line was incredibly long-long like we had never seen it before. We opted not to do that even though it is one of my favorite Disney rides. We did end up at the Carousel of Progress. It was a good spot to close my eyes for a little bit-I mean learn about history stuff. I did snooze for a few minutes, but managed to see most of it. 

Afterwards, we thought surely that the People Mover line would be shorter-it wasn’t. Strangely enough, the Astro Orbiter line was almost a walk on. That is one ride that we usually don’t even get to do because the line is always so long. The reason we were criss crossing the park today was because we didn’t have fastpasses today. Tomorrow will be our first day with fast passes, but we couldn’t even get 3 because we can’t stay at the park too long.

We were slowing down immensely by this point. We needed a pick me up-lunch. It was well after lunch time, but the crowds were still thick at Pecos Bills. Robby was super pleased that he fed the family lunch for 30 at Disney World. How you might ask? Well, he bought 4 sides of chicken, a side of beans, and a side of cheese dip (which turned out to be unnecessary.) Pecos Bills has a bar where you can then go and get things you need for your meal so we loaded up on cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, and a delish corn salsa. Plus I pulled out that bag of tortillas-I surely did! And don’t be surprised that later in the week I plan to bring buns to another place.

After we refueled, Robby ran to a guest service place to check on something. The rest of us walked to Small World. The kids were sweet; they were concerned with Robby being able to ride with us. I told them that he was fine, and we went on in the line. We had to wait about 10 minutes which wasn’t too bad. 

Then it was on to Gaston’s to “look” at the cinnamon rolls. The kids are going to get to pick a snack each day-they will have a Dennie snack credit to use. So Robby wanted to show them what a good snack would be. Of course, just looking at a “good snack” let to Robby buying one for us to sample. We devoured that baby! 

Dumbo was our next ride. The line was so short that they were not even making people play on their indoor playground. Poor Whitman really wanted to play on the playground though. He was fine when we did get on Dumbo. I do enjoy Dumbo but wish that it was still near the castle. Years ago, I can remember being on Dumbo with Reagan while watching the fireworks above the castle. It was magical. Well, I think it was Reagan-it was some Dennie kid.

We then went on the Tomorrowland Speedway. Again, who knows why the People Mover had a crazy line while the speedway had a short line. The speedway is usually a crazy hot and long line. Today, it was not. We were soon heading around the track. My big 4 all could drive themselves, Reagan took Whitman with her, Keaton was with Robby and that just left me. I offered to go with Graham, but he didn’t want for me to go with him. 

We then walked to the exit of the park and boarded the resort monorail. We went to the Polynesian for some Dole Whip. Robby bought both kinds-he liked the all pineapple the best while I liked the vanilla and pineapple better. It was all good and the scenery was gorgeous-just like Hawaii. I have always wanted to stay at the Polynesian.

Then we walked towards the car. On the way to the trams, Reagan twisted her ankle and Whitman fell and needed a bandaid. It was a pretty traumatic few minutes. When we finally did get to the tram, Keaton was able to score a few more cards for her collection.

We left around 4 or possibly 5, so we began a driving tour. First we drove by our February house-well, the neighborhood because we couldn’t get in the gate. Then we scoped out the campground for tomorrow’s fun. The kids had their ipads and were silent so we then went to Disney Springs. Robby bought a card that will give him a percent off on food at Disney (though we already know how to work the system-see above.)

Next up was the grocery store-I ran in with Robby, and we did some shopping for tomorrow. We will have to return to the store for some more cold things, but did stock up on some necessities for this week-including lots of tortillas. 

Then it was finally to the hotel. The kids started their showers while I started heating up our BBQ meat which Robby smoked at home. Supper was delicious; we ate it with pringles and cookies. 

Currently, it is 9:30 and the dryer is on it’s second cycle. We are crossing our fingers that this one dries our clothes. The kids have all showered-well, Keaton is showing now. Tomorrow will be another busy day full of new things-like staying in a camper.

November 1, 2019-Disney Trip Day 4

(click here for today's pictures)

The more I think about yesterday, the more I think that we will not be able to top it. The kids had so much fun at the beach, with their friends and trick or treating (even though it was a bit different than other years.) I think that Robby and I had just as much fun as the kids though, but I will admit that beach days are exhausting. Hopefully, the next few Disney days will be much more relaxing. 

We were planning on sleeping until 8ish or after, but I was awake much earlier-Campbell did turn off her alarms on her watch, but some of them were still going off early this morning. We loaded up which took a little bit. We were mostly loaded by the time that we finally woke Whitman up. We stirred him, he put on his clothes and gave him his medicine before he went outside to eat his non-sandy poptart (yesterdays was sandy since he ate it on the beach.)

The girls walked to the Crafts camper to tell them bye. Then they all came back to our cabins to tell Reagan bye. They even brought Gabriel to tell Anderson and Graham bye. As we drove out, we pulled by the Crafts to say our goodbyes. Then it was back over the causeway headed towards Disney Springs.

As we were driving over the bridge, Anderson shouted “A yellows Volkswagen!” With that shout, Keaton and Campbell completed the scavenger hunt. Everyone else still needs a deer crossing sign. They will keep watching for that while they are eating their candy rewards.

A second later, Campbell was then shouting “Dolphins.” Indeed I was able to see a few dolphins as well. Now, I am not too animally, so I did ask if they were dolphins or sharks. Campbell assured me that they were dolphins. 

It didn’t take us too long before we arrived at Disney Springs. We quickly found the Lime parking garage and walked to pick up those passes. Robby had bought our passes about 360 days before knowing that they expire in a year. We knew we were correct on the dates, but those dates were still a bit too close for comfort. 

It all worked out fine, and it was no problem at all. Soon we were leaving with our passes in hand. We did first walk by the NBA experience which Graham thinks he wants for Christmas. Then it was to the Star Wars store and the Lego store to please Anderson. 

In the parking garage, we made our lunches and repacked a few things. Then it was on to Hollywood Studios. We really didn’t know where we wanted to go today and had no real plans. It ended up being a pretty fun day.

We parked and thought about going into Hollywood Studios, but the bag check line was long enough that we changed our minds. So we took the Skyliner, our first ride, all the way to Epcot. It was really neat and didn’t take long at all.

As soon as we entered the back gates of Epcot, we walked right into the Mickey Mouse line. Whitman was so happy to hug Mickey. That is what he has wanted to do on this trip, and he can now check that off of his list.

Next up was Minnie. Keaton really wanted to see MInnie, and that line moved fairly quickly. Whitman didn’t want to see Minnie, but whispered to me as we left that Minnie kissed him. He was so embarrassed about this!

The crowds were pretty thick at Epcot, but we walked right on the Figment ride. It was fun-especially watching Keaton and Whitman on this ride. Then we went to the Land Pavilion and rode Living with the Land. It was neat to see, and the kids enjoyed shouting out the veggies that they saw.

Then we took a little break at Sunshine Seasons (or whatever the name is). We split an M&M cookie, a cheesecake and a really fancy cupcake. It was all really yummy. We enjoyed the little break, and the cup that we bought which could be refilled was refilled about 10 times while we were sitting there. It was just for one day, and we quickly got our money’s worth.

We walked towards Test Track. The plan was to ride in the single rider line, however, we quickly discovered that Whitman needed to be 7 to be a single rider. Everyone else went on that ride, while he and I went on Mission Space. 

I was a bit worried about Mission Space, but it was just fine. Whitman didn’t just think that it was just fine, he thought it was the best ride ever. He was ecstatic after the ride. He is really the perfect age for all of this. 

The others came back just as pumped from their Test Track ride. Our plan was ever changing so we decided to ride the monorail to Polynesian Resort for some Dole Whip. However, once we got to the monorail line, it was closed. 

So we walked back through Epcot and headed to Hollywood Studios via the Skyliner-except it was also closed. Ha! We jumped in the what looked like a super long line for the boat, but we were surprisingly on the very next boat. We were a bit crowded on the boat, but the 30 minute ride was a good chance to rest our legs-except for Anderson, Graham and Campbell who never got a seat.

I am not really sure when it became dark, but sometime between our boat ride and when we made it to Galaxy Edge, the new Star Wars area in Hollywood Studios. This was all for Anderson tonight. The new area is absolutely huge-we walked and walked and almost walked out the other side missing the Smuggler’s Run ride.

The wait was too long for everyone, but we did see that Single Rider line. Campbell and Keaton weren’t too sure about the ride, so they opted to go with Robby and Whitman. The plan was for them to ride on “some spinning ride” (Campbell’s quote), but it stopped working so they were able to see The Little Mermaid Show. Robby did say that Whitman said that he was ready to leave in the middle of it-about when scary Ursala popped up. 

Our line moved pretty well, but was fairly long. We did all end up on different ships, but everyone was please. I went first-we were given our job and color and then sent to a holding area. The others came soon after me with different colors, I offered to change if anyone wanted, but they all had what they wanted. Anderson wanted to be the gunner and was. Graham was the pilot and Reagan and I were engineers. 

My ride was so fun. The people were laughing and shouting during the whole thing. It is definitely one that I would like to ride again. We finished right before Robby and his crew, but all met right outside of the gates. 

It was then a short ride to pick up some pizza-enough for tonight and later in the week. Then at our hotel, we had ourselves a feast. We are in two rooms, and things were going smoothly. Well, we went to open our door while all weighed down with our suitcases and bags-I looked in the window and saw the room was a mess. Robby checked the number again, and we were on the wrong floor.

That would have been funny if that would have been all that happened-nope, as Whitman was pottying before his shower, the toilet was clogged up. It was not his fault since he doesn’t do his own wiping. Robby had to think quick since it was pouring out on the floor-and had to use the ice bucket. 

Bless it, the floor was soaking wet and things were a bit crazy. Thankfully, there was a laundry cart down the way. Robby grabbed enough towels to clean his floor and all was soon well again-except that they couldn’t use their potty! We are right next door, and they have our key in case they need to.

The plans for tomorrow are about the same as today-we are really sure yet! Kind of nice to have plans like that-except that our “no plan” day turned into a day with 20 thousand steps.