Caleb's Make A Wish DisneyWorld/Universal trip 1/29-2/7/15

[chcmama]

Day 3: Epcot

We got up had breakfast at GKTW and then headed to Epcot, once again got to park in medical overflow right up front We managed to get there at 9:30…pretty close to rope drop Got some fun pictures after we were in.



We headed straight to Soaring, then Living in the Land, Journey to Imagination and the Nemo, we were going to do Turtle Talk with Crush but it wasn't working…I mean they couldn't find Crush because he was out surfing or something But I did take this pic, i had one from the last time we went to WDW and I was feeling a little sentimental so took one here again.

There were lots of people waiting and the sun made it hard to see what the picture was like, so i didn't notice 14yo dd had her eyes closed. Here is the one from our other trip

Now that the journey down memory lane is done, the kids were all starting to get a little crabby. Caleb was hungry, I don't remember the deal with the other kids so we thought now would be the perfect time to try out our special pass to get in the Siemens lounge in Spaceship Earth. Once we found the entrance and went in, it was a great place to regroup for a bit, they had a soda machine, coffee machine, hot water, tea, hot chocolate, cold water, clean nice bathrooms and some fun interactive screens. One of the employees that was there for a meeting showed us how to use the screen. Here are a few pictures from inside, I know others planning MAW trips are interested in seeing these.



The blocks on the floor behind the kids in this pic you can change the color on one of the screens there, the kids had fun changing them to their favorite colors. There was another thing on that screen called magic mirror (I think) and they all had fun playing with that



After some time to relax and regroup, use the bathroom, get a drink, look through all their pins, we were ready to head out again and when you leave the lounge you can get a VIP entrance into Spaceship Earth so that is where we headed next. After finding out what we would be doing in the future, we had a need for speed and went to Test Track

Then dh wanted to do Mission Space, I opted out of this ride, I knew that I wasn't up for the spinning side and I recall that the other side was kind of boring, so dh took the kids and I sat out and enjoyed the sun. I did forget to mention to them about the 2 sides as I knew dh wouldn't remember and the kids don't pay too much attention, I was a little concerned that 14yo dd would not feel good if she went on the spinning side. Eventually they came out and dh took them all on the spinning side and sure enough 14yo dd did not feel good. Caleb was still hungry and really complaining now so we decided to head into world showcase…but first a stop at club cool. I really liked some of the new flavors they had since the last time and just for fun, my family all tried Beverly again just so I could take a picture…I could not believe they would willingly do this, I distinctly remember dh saying it tasted like skunk spray the last time he tried it

Once finished there we decided it was time to travel the world and find some food. I had been dreaming about the school bread in Norway since our last visit so we headed toward Mexico, passed right by and went to Norway. 17yo dd and I both had school bread

I guess I was so excited I didn't take a picture of what anyone else got…but can you blame me? 14yo dd had some kind of cream horn I think and dh had the lefse, his mom used to make it so it is very sentimental to him. Caleb wanted nothing here, he wanted meat, this is what my boy wants when he is hungry. So after we finished that we headed to Germany to find the boy a brat. While dh was getting him that I was perusing the Karamell-Kuche because one thing a love is caramel.

The girls decided to get some kind of cheesy potatoes or mac and cheese or something there while Caleb got his brat and he was finally a happy boy again (although not in this picture).

DH and I went in and got some delicious caramel selections, I got the milk chocolate salted caramel (seriously heaven right there), he got a caramel smore, and 17yo dd wanted a caramel. I couldn't resist the caramel popcorn so we got a bag of that too. Now that we all had some nourishment we were on our way traveling the world again. We walked our way around and in the America showcase 17yo dd saw the funnel cakes and really wanted one, we walked a little bit further to Japan and found place to sit, I got Caleb and 14yo dd kaki gori and went back and got 17yo dd a funnel cake.


We continued walking around the world, stopped in the United Kingdom for a bit.


My soccer playing girl wearing a soccer hat
Of course we had to take one in the phone booth

Next in Canada

Since we pretty much skipped Mexico, we went back and rode the ride and tried on hats.

Caleb had seen a boy playing with a Chinese Yo-yo while we were sitting in Japan and he really, really wanted it, so we made the quick trip to China and bought him the yo-yo. Now we were done being world travelers and decided to head back to test track for another ride.

We were going to ride again and were in where you design your car and the ride quit working so we left. Everyone was done for the day so we decided to head back to GKTW but first one more pic.


We had a busy evening at GKTW so I will continue that in the next post

 

[chcmama]

Day 3 cont…

I was a little sad to leave and miss Illuminations but it wasn't for a few hours and everyone was tired, lots of walking at Epcot and I knew there was stuff to do back at GKTW. This was the night there was supposed to a Big Splash Bash and poolside cookout so we were going to check that out, we drove by the pool and there was no one there so we just went to the Gingerbread house for dinner. We decided this was a great night for Caleb to decorate his star and the kids to get their pillows. We headed to the Castle of Miracles and Caleb decorated his star.



Then he put it in the chest for the fairy to put up on the ceiling with the thousands of other stars from all the other special kids who have been at GKTW before

I know this is a blurry picture but it gives the idea of how many stars there are on the ceiling…and this is just one room, there are way more than this there.

Next the pillows


Then Caleb wanted to ride the carousel.




Then Mayor Clayton and his wife joined the fun


I was the keeper of the pillows

I finally convinced them to leave to get ice cream after about 30 minutes of riding…I really had no idea they would have so much fun riding this. When we got to the ice cream palace, Caleb didn't want ice cream, he just wanted some m&m's, they had some there for topping so he asked if he could just have some of them and they gave him a bowl full He was excited

The girls wanted to go to teen night, but since we had reservations for breakfast at Kona Cafe in the morning, we wanted to make sure we got up in time, we couldn't be late for that! The gift that was left in the room today was a large plastic cup with lid and straw for each of the kids. Tomorrow is Magic Kingdom

 

[PJ]

Love all the pictures! And I'm glad to hear that Caleb's 2nd day GKTW surprises didn't include any more Princess items. Looking forward to the rest of your report. And to answer your question - there are more than 130,000 stars in the Castle at GKTW!!!

 

[blondieboo]

Wow you're children have really grown up from the other TR I read! It looks like you guys had sooooo much fun I love the carousel pictures....you're never too old for that

 

[chcmama]

Love all the pictures! And I'm glad to hear that Caleb's 2nd day GKTW surprises didn't include any more Princess items. Looking forward to the rest of your report. And to answer your question - there are more than 130,000 stars in the Castle at GKTW!!!

Thanks! yes, he never got another "girl" toys the rest of the trip.

 

[chcmama]

Wow you're children have really grown up from the other TR I read! It looks like you guys had sooooo much fun I love the carousel pictures....you're never too old for that

I know, they are so big now. The carousel at GKTW cracked us up because they have such funny animals on it, a snail, 2 seater chickens, it was hilarious

 

[chcmama]

Day 4: Magic Kingdom

We had reservations for breakfast at Kona Cafe at 8:50 and I did not want to be late so we got up and on the road with plenty of time. We parked at the MK parking and took the monorail to the Polynesian and even got there a little early I had read so many things about Kona Cafe I was so excited to try it! And it did not disappoint. DH and I started off with the french press of Kona coffee

Caleb had Mickey Mouse pancakes and sausage

DH and I both had the macadamia pancakes (I wanted him to order the Tonga toast and share but I guess I forgot to mention that to him)

14yo dd had the red velvet pancakes with a cream cheese topping, it was a special for around valentines day

17yo dd got the big kahuna

It was all so good, but we all only were able to eat about half of what we ordered…except 17yo dd, she ate almost every last bit of that big kahuna breakfast We looked around the gift shop here for a little bit before heading out on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. It wasn't long and we were inside.

We saw my favorite sign

and we were on main street with a view of the castle (with a crane next to it…)

We headed down mainstream and then took a left towards adventureland and the first stop was the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse then the magic carpet ride. I was surprised at how much the kids liked this one, I sat in the seat that controlled going up and down and Caleb was behind me, I had fun making it quickly change from up to down and back, . We then went on the jungle cruise and then pirates of the caribbean. I have been to Disneyland more than WDW and I enjoy this ride so much more at Disneyland. But the kids liked the pirate gift shop.

Now that we had conquered adventure land it was time to explore Frontier land, first up was splash mountain, but I knew before coming it had been in refurb and wasn't expecting it to be running…but it was

This is really one of my favorite rides and you can see in the picture dh is trying to keep Caleb's arm from getting wet (one downside to doing IV's and having a PICC line in on vacation) But his arm stayed dry and we all enjoyed it, I was especially excited because I really thought it was going to be closed. Next up was big thunder mountain, after the ride was a photographer that took a ton of time with us and lots of pictures.





We headed to Liberty square and the Haunted Mansion. One thing that kept happening was Caleb wanted to ride alone on most of the rides and not sit with anyone, and this one he really wanted to go alone on, but with so many people wanting to get on and the doom buggies are big enough for all of us, we wanted him to ride with dh and I, and in the process of getting him in with us, I almost ran out of moving sidewalk to get in our doom buggy and this was the one time I didn't have the backpack off before hand so they were trying to close up the bar and I was trying to get my bag off and was almost stuck. But, it all worked out and we were off. I really like the new ghosts at the end that hitch a ride.

Fantasyland was next and we start with Small World and the peter pan. We went to Mickey's Philharmagic next, this is my favorite 3d show there is, loved it! Caleb was starting to get hungry and we know what happens when the boy gets hungry so we decided to head to Gaston's tavern because we also wanted to meet Gaston. Gaston did not disappoint, he was so funny.


We also had some good food, instead of turkey legs they had a pork shank here, it was tasty and satisfied caleb's meat craving. I don't remember what else he got here, dh was the one who went in and ordered and i didn't take great notes, but I do remember it was all good. I think he got a chocolate croissant too. We saw this shirt in the store and Caleb said it was fitting for him last year…6 girls liked him apparently

We went back and rode the Seven Dwarves mine train, it was fun but I was hoping for a little more, not quite as fast as I was wanting, but still fun. 14yo dd really wanted to ride the carousel so we went to that and then caleb tried his hand at freeing the sword

We rode on Winnie the Pooh ride and the kids wanted to ride the teacups, I can't ride this ride so we let the kids ride. Caleb wanted to drive the cars at the tomorrowland speedway so we went that way and I can't remember why but dh went to do something and was going to meet us there. I really didn't plan on riding it, but caleb wasn't tall enough to go alone so I had to go with him. This ride needs an overhaul in a big way but Caleb enjoyed it. I was excited to see Space Mt ahead and for Caleb to take his first ride on it. We all went on and then dh, Caleb, and 14yo dd went on again. My foot had been bothering me and at this point in the day, I just didn't want to walk all the way back into the ride. We decided the People mover was a good thing to do next, just sit and relax for a bit. We had only been on a few minutes and it stopped, we sat there maybe 10-15 min and then it started again, dh even fell asleep waiting. Once we finished that Caleb and 14yo dd wanted to go on the Astro Orbiter so we waited while they did that. We finished out Tomorrowland with the Buzz lightyear ride. As we were walking back toward the castle we got these pictures taken, some of my favorites.



I wanted to go back to Adventureland for a dole whip since it was too early and we had just had breakfast when we were over there earlier in the day. They are just as good as I remembered, we took one last ride on Aladdins magic carpet ride and everyone was done for the day. I had wanted to stay for the fireworks but no one else was really interested in staying and really we did a lot so I was fine going back and relaxing and I figured we could watch the end of the Super Bowl. We did want to stop and look at getting another day for our tickets. GKTW gives a 3 day pass and I was pretty sure we wouldn't be able to add a 4th day but thought we could at least ask, since we extended our trip we still wanted to do one day at Animal Kingdom. As I suspected they couldn't add a day and it was hard to choke down the cost of 5 1 day tickets, but we went ahead and bought them and set up our FP's for our day at AK. We went back and I think we ordered pizza again and watched the sad ending of the game. When we got back to the room we had the special GKTW edition of Candyland waiting for us. Tomorrow is our first day at Universal and Caleb was beyond excited for the hulk roller coaster.

 

[WendyLou]

Loving this TR! Sounds like you had a great trip!

 

[wiscbugs]

Can't wait to hear about your trip to Universal!

 

[chcmama]

Day 5: Universal Island of Adventure-the quest to be 54 inches tall

This was the day Caleb had been waiting for since we first started planning this trip and he had hoped to grow a couple of inches so he could ride the Incredible Hulk roller coaster, seriously THE most important thing to him. Since we can't speed up the growing process, cowboy boots were able to get the job done.
We started off the day with breakfast at GKTW and then we were on our way to Universal! We got free parking here as well and they sent us to handicap parking to park, we were very close to the moving sidewalks that take you to the universal city walk. If you have never been here before, it is a distance from the parking garage to the entrance of the parks, no way around it. We got our tickets and were in the park and the first stop was hulk, we put our stuff in the lockers and we were in through the express pass entrance and on the ride in minutes. Caleb loved it! We went right back on it and Caleb was in the front row. He is such a daredevil. After we got our stuff and Caleb changed his clothes (boots and jeans aren't comfortable for all day) we ran in to Wolverine and they put us right in the front of the line.



Caleb was so excited, he loved meeting the superheroes, right after we had our pictures with him, all the superheroes jumped on their quads and were gone.


We headed to Dr. Dooms free fall, Caleb was a little worried about this one. We all found this ride a little disappointing, we have been on similar rides elsewhere that were much more thrilling. Oh well, we marked it off the list and as we were leaving we ran into the green goblin.

We went into one of the gift stores right there to look at the superhero stuff and spiderman was there doing a meet and greet. His pictures were in front of a green screen and then they added a comic book background to make it look like you were on the cover of a comic book, we used our free picture to get one of these but I don't have it scanned it so maybe later I will be able to share it.


Then right outside was dr. Doom

All of a sudden alarms started going off and all the bad guys left and the good guys came riding in again, we were right next the roped off area and right by where Capt. America parked, he came over to Caleb and told him thanks for keeping the streets safe while he was away and to come down and talk to him. So they all ran off down the street and we walked along until we found him and they let us right in the front of the line. Capt America was awesome, he spent a lot of time talking to Caleb and really made him feel special



Capt America gave all the kids hugs and we were on our way…however my 17yo dd was fanning herself and I was asked her if she was a little twitterpated, she just smiled and my 14yo dd said "I am, he is so hot! and he hugged me" So my girls have a thing for Capt. America…can't' blame them
Next we rode the Spiderman ride and it was really cool, we thought that this ride was one of the best. We were looking around the Spiderman store and I noticed it was starting to get really crowded…then I noticed why, it was POURING outside. I was deterred though, I had packed ponchos, pulled them out, we all put them on and we were off to an empty park. Next we headed toward the Jurassic Park ride, Caleb was starting to get hungry so dh bought them some chips (we planned to have lunch in Harry Potter World) and we found an overhang to eat the chips under. we figured now would be the best time to ride the Jurassic park ride since we were already wet, once we got on the ride, it wasn't really raining too much anymore but we were glad to have the ponchos on for the ride otherwise we would have gotten soaked. We went over to the pteradon gliders next and didn't realize it was really for smaller kids so Caleb went 3 times and dh and the girls each took turns going with him. Then Caleb wanted to go on the Jurassic park ride again so dh and 17yo dd went with him while 14yo dd and I waited.
Now came the moment 17yo dd had been waiting for…Harry Potter world and butter beer. We went to the Three Broomsticks, ordered 2 frozen butter beers, a turkey leg and a kids chicken meal. Once we order they send you over to someone to seat you and dh told them 5 people and I was back waiting for our food and when they came back to seat him, they asked someone else if they were the party of 5, they said yes and took our table (there was only 3 of them) and once the people working realized what happened, they felt bad but then weren't sure if they would have a space for 5 available anytime soon. Luckily something opened up quickly (it was really for 4 but we managed to fit 5 of us in it) but really rude of those people for taking our spot and not very observant of the workers either, but it all worked out. Can I just say, that frozen butter beer is amazing, we really got the 2 for the girls so dh, Caleb and I just tasted it, Caleb thought it was just ok but dh and I loved it. As we were eating our chicken and turkey, Caleb said "we sure are a family of vegans"



We wanted to go on the Harry Potter ride next so Caleb changed back into his boots and jeans and we zipped through the castle to ride. The castle is so cool and I wished we had spent more time looking around but dh was in the front and he was on a mission. I did not like this ride, it made me feel so sick I did not want to go on it ever again, if it wasn't for that, it was a cool ride. Next we went on the Flight of the Hippogriff and then the dragon challenge. We started on the red side then went right back on to the blue side. this was a fun ride! Caleb needed to do his IV's so we sat outside and dh went and bought him and I some butter beer. It was back to being nice again so we took off our ponchos and packed them away. 17yo dd wanted to look in the candy store, she really wanted the chocolate frog but I convinced her it wasn't worth the money and she picked out a package of chocolate flies. I was disappointed they tasted like cheap nasty chocolate, but 17yo dd and Caleb enjoyed them and ate them on the way to Seuss Landing. We went on the high in the sky Seuss Trolley Train ride and then the cat in the hat ride. Caleb really wanted to go on hulk again so we walked over there and they all went on it 2 more times, my stomach had not recovered from the HP ride so I just waited. Caleb loved the Hulk car that was there.

We decided to do the spiderman ride one more time and then go to the superhero store and make some souvenir purchases. We pretty much closed the park down and went back to GKTW for dinner and the Halloween fun. They gave us some fun Halloween headbands (looks like they were from Mickey's not so scary Halloween party) the kids all trick or treated around the street of dreams. We had dinner then went back out for some of the fun. Caleb loved the science booth where they made flubber and blew up a sandwich back with vinegar and baking soda. He also had fun getting his hair colored with a green and silver spiral

We got back to the room and one of these Mickey's was waiting for each of the kids, it has a switch and lights up.

It was another tiring day and tomorrow is the other Universal park

 

[potsiemom]

Loving this trip report.I am so excited cant wait for our trip

 

[blondieboo]

I really love all your pictures and details It makes me more excited for our trip

 

[chcmama]

Loving this trip report.I am so excited cant wait for our trip

THanks, I hope you have so much fun on your trip!

 

[chcmama]

I really love all your pictures and details It makes me more excited for our trip

Thanks, it was a lot of fun! your trip will be here before you know it

 

[chcmama]

Day 6: Universal Studios

Today's report doesn't have very many pictures, I guess we just rode more rides and had less things to take pictures of, but we did have a fun day
We had breakfast at GKTW as usual. DH decided to try the waffles and they guy there told him to sit down and he would bring him his specialty. He ended up with waffles with peanut butter, sliced bananas, whipped cream, chocolate syrup and maple syrup…dh loved them

We finished breakfast and were on our way to Universal. We rode Despicable Me first, it was fun and we got a few picture with the minions

They didn't come out great as it was dark in there.
Next we went to Rip Ride Rocket Rollercoaster, 17yo dd decided to sit it out. We loved this, it became caleb's favorite ride. We decided to go again and this time 17yo dd decided to join us. Next we headed towards the Transformer ride and ran into Bumblebee, honestly these were pretty cool, impressive that they have someone in these costumes.

We rode the Transformer ride and then walked over to the mummy ride. We didn't really know too much about this and it took us by surprise, it was really fun…so fun we rode it a 2nd time. Here are my silly kids pretending to be mean

Next on our path was Twister. Not sure what I expected this to be, but this was not it, you just stand and watch a scene that is like a twister happening. For some reason 17yo dd was really worried about this, I think she thought we would be in the tornado, rain and wind. I wouldn't bother with this again. We were going to do Terminator 2 next but didn't realize it was a timed show so we passed it by and planned to go back (but we never did get back to it) and we went on the Simpsons ride. This ride took a long time, even with express pass and it made me nauseous, really a lot of these 3D simulator rides have that effect on me and Universal is full of them. Caleb was starting to get hungry and as we know now, he is not pleasant once he is hungry, we now know we need to have some jerky or something with us so he can snack on that. He hasn't been like this before. We decided to do the Men in Black ride before heading into Harry Potter since we planned to eat in that area. We enjoyed that ride and then made our way into the Harry Potter section, we saw the Leaky Cauldron but dh wanted to pass it up and look and see if there was any other food there. Daigon Alley is kind of like a maze, really, little passages here and there and Caleb is starting to lose and and dh isn't really seeming to notice the urgency in finding him some food so I just took over and led us back to Leacky Cauldron and got us a table. I thought we would find similar food here to Three Broomsticks but it was more English Pub type food. The girls shared fish and chips, Caleb got chicken and mashed potatoes (we had to ask if he could just get a chicken breast and they said that was fine, he doesn't like anything on his meat, not breading, no sandwich just meat) Dh and i shared Bangers and Mash and then we each got a frozen butter beer. It was all good and now that Caleb was fed and the beast was tamed we were on our way to Ollivander's wand shop. 17yo dd really, really wanted to get wand, she also really really wanted to be picked at Ollivanders to have the wand choose her and she really didn't want one of her siblings to be picked (to be fair the other two don't care that much about Harry Potter) We went back to the room with our group, 14yo dd was trying to hide behind the others because she really didn't want to get picked. The lady that did the wand choosing had her back to the room and turned and almost immediately pointed to 14yo dd to do the wand choosing. The lady was really intimidating and dd is pretty quiet and she was too intimidated to say pick my sister or anything so she went up. The lady had her try a few different wands and do different spells (which was horrifying for dd, she does not like to be the center of attention) and they all didn't perform right until the last one. I wish i had videoed it because when she described the kind of person that this wand would choose, it was really fitting for my dd. Afterwards they asked if we wanted to buy it, but it was an interactive wand and she isn't in to Harry Potter and I couldn't really justify it so we didn't get it. Meanwhile 17yo dd is steaming that she didn't get picked but she still wanted to buy a wand so she spent a lot of time looking around the store trying to decide which one she wanted. Now Caleb has gotten sucked into the whole thing and he wants a wand too. If I felt that it was something he really wanted and would like for a while i would have got him one, but we knew it was just a want of the moment so I had him and dh wait outside as the little shop was pretty crowded. 17yo dd finally settled on Lunas wand and we escaped the wand shop with one wand and a little less money Then we went to Gringott's and it was an enjoyable ride. We had seen what we wanted to in this park and wanted to ride Hogwart's express so we decided to do that now. The express pass got us past a little bit of the line but we still had quite a wait to get on the train. We finally did and it was fun, I didn't realize the windows were like tv screens and had the whole storyline of trying to get to Hogwarts, it was fun. I am curious what it is like going the other direction but we never got a chance to try that. Once we got to the other park, 17yo dd decided she wanted to exchange her wand for the other one she was trying to decide between, so she went and did that, then they all went on the Harry Potter ride (I just couldn't do it again and my stomach wasn't feeling great from all the simulator rides we had already done), then we did both sides of the dragon ride again and of course had to finish it up with Hulk. I was feeling done with rides and so was 17yo dd so we stopped at some tables across from starbucks and I went and got some coffee, it was getting cool out. The rest of them rode Hulk two times. We decided to go back over to the other park and ride Rip Ride Rocket again but we didn't realize it closed earlier than Islands of Adventure so we got over there and everyone was leaving . So we went back to the car and went back to GKTW Here is one pictures I took of the City walk area, i thought it was pretty at night

We got back and had dinner and ice-cream (of course) and then had to get some stuff packed up as it was our last night at GKTW and we were moving to our next resort tomorrow. There was a little stuffed Mayor Clayton for each of the kids.

 

[chcmama]

Day 7: SeaWorld

We got up and packed all our stuff and barely made it to breakfast before it was over. We enjoyed our last morning and one of the volunteers wanted to make breakfast even more fun





Not sure why the ones dh took came out blurry, wish they had come out better… After breakfast we went to the Castle of Miracles to find Caleb's star.

It is in one of the circles at the very top.

We went to the gift shop and bought a few things and then went to check out. They gave us a cd with pictures they had taken during the week, a theme park passport good for the next year, and another star for caleb to have at home. Told us we could come back any time we came back and visit for the day. Then we said goodbye, it was sad to leave.
Our next adventure of the day was to get Caleb's PICC line removed. He had finished up his antibiotics and we could get it taken out now so he could get wet (swim). The home infusion company told us when we left that we could take the orders to an ER and they would remove it, dh and I were concerned that it would take a long time to wait at an ER so we called a Infusion center and asked about bringing him in, they said that was fine to fax over the order and we had done that the day before. So dh took him in while I waited in the car with the girls. Turned into a big fiasco and was going to take forever, the lady we talked to didn't really give us accurate information, we still had SeaWorld to get to too. We left after wasting a half hour or so and didn't accomplish anything. We decided to go to our resort and check in so we could put our luggage in the room before we headed to Sea World. We were staying at the Sheraton Vistana Resort, we had a fairly newly renovated room right across from the little store so convenient too. Finally off to SeaWorld. We got handicap parking again right across from the entrance. It was really not crowded so it was pretty nice. We headed straight to the Manta roller coaster. 17yo dd decided not to ride and was hungry so I got her the popcorn bucket with cheaper refills and we all went on the ride. Since this was still our last day of our wish trip Caleb was still wearing his GKTW button so we got to skip the lines Hardly any wait and we were on, I loved this ride! so fun! We went on it one more time and then the girls and I got some more popcorn and headed to the dolphin show while caleb and dh rode it again. Once they got there we got to sit in the reserved seating in the middle of the stadium. It was a great show and once it was over we went to ride Kraken, we rode it 3 times and then the family wanted to ride Atlantis. It wasn't that warm and I did not want to get wet so I sat out, while they went on it 3 times.

After they had their fill of Atlantis, we decided to try out the Antarctica: Empire of the Penguins. 14yo dd and i decided to wait for them and they were freezing when they came out because they were wet from Atlantis. We walked our way around the park

Caleb really wanted to check out the sharks so we spent some time there and then went to watch the Orca show. Caleb and dh wanted to sit in the splash zone so the girls and I stayed up where it was dry and watched. After the show was over we booked it over to Manta to ride it for the last 30 minutes, got in 2 more rides and tried to go for 3 but ran out of time. 17yo dd did decide to go with us once and hated it.
We shopped in the the gift shop for a bit and then headed back to the resort and to dinner. Bahama Breeze is close by the resort and we always enjoy that so we went there for dinner. Once we got back to the resort, 14yo dd wanted me to do laundry for her, I asked her why she didn't have me do more of her clothes when we were ate GKTW the night before when I was doing laundry. I never got a real answer but I looked all over the room for detergent and there wasn't any. We called the front desk and they said they no longer provided detergent. I found this a little surprising because all the timeshares we have stayed in have provided it and they provided it last time we stayed here. But oh well
The next day we were planning on going to Animal Kingdom but since it closes early we wanted to get an early start. So dh and I walked over to the little store and bought a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast the next morning, we were exhausted and were ready for bed.

 

[chcmama]

Day 8: Animal Kingdom

Our last park day and our first day with no special front of the line access. We started off the day with our Krispy Kreme donuts and dh and I walked across the street to the little store for coffee (there was a Starbucks inside) Once we were fueled we headed off to the park.

We paid for parking and went in and parked in the regular parking area (so sad but luckily not crowded) and then took the tram to the entrance

We were a little nervous how the day would go without our super duper genie pass but I picked this park this day because it was supposed to be a crowd of 2/10 and I would say it probably was or possibly even 1/10. We got a few photos on our way to our first FP, Expedition Everest.

Then we were on the ride. My family really enjoyed this ride and we rode this ride 3 times and only one was with a FP, the wait said 5 minutes.


We decided to go on the Forest Trek next and it started to rain, and again I was happy we brought our ponchos.

Somewhere along here we said something about antelope and Caleb said, don't say antelope because that makes me think of cantaloupe and that makes me hungry! (he is such a goofball)
We had a FP for dinosaur so we made our way over there (it was really raining hard too) After the ride had fun in the gift shop. Found a shirt fitting for Caleb

and this one I just thought was funny

Caleb was getting in his hungry mode now so we decided to stop for lunch. We went into Restaurantosaurus and we didn't see anything Caleb really wanted but we did see a chicken breast sandwich, we asked if we could order just a side of chicken breast, nothing else and they said sure but you will have to pay $10 (the same price as the sandwich) Umm, no I don't think so. So we decided to order the girls food (I think they shared a hamburger or they each got one, I can't remember) and dh and I left the kids there and went and found a turkey leg booth and bought us a turkey leg to share and Caleb a chicken leg kids meal. We brought it back to him and once we were done he was a happy boy again. We had our next FP and primeval whirl so we headed there next, the kids enjoyed that one but the line was long enough we didn't want to wait and do it again right then. We went on Triceratops spin (Caleb LOVED this ride when we came when he was 2 I don't even know how many times we rode it that trip) Once we were done with that we decided to head over to the Safari. On the way we passed a booth selling ears and 17yo dd was so excited because they had the graduation ears and she had been looking for them everywhere, so we had to stop and buy those.

We didn't have too long of a wait for the safari, like 10 minutes I think, it was great and an ostrich walked right up next to our vehicle, we saw lots of animals. Then we headed on the Pangini Trail and saw the baby gorilla, it was so cute!


We had fun with animal skulls



We went back to Everest and the kids rode it two more times

We had done most everything we wanted to do so we decided to head out of the park but I got to thinking how we hadn't stopped to see Mickey in any of the parks. So we stopped to see Mickey before we left the park.


As we were walking out of the park Caleb all of a sudden says "that is disgusting especially for a kids place" I ask him what he is talking about because I didn't see anything. He gets all flustered and he says " that lady, her boobs were popping out of her shirt!"
We got a few more pictures after we left the park.


We had 7:50 reservations at Whispering Canyon Cafe so we decided to stop at Downtown Disney for a little while (it was about 4) I didn't realize that the parking was going through some construction over there so we parked in the current marked lot and walked over, just didn't realize we were going to have that much of a walk and the kids were dragging a little. Since dinner wasn't for a couple hours we decided a snack at Goofy's Candy Company was in order.



then Caleb had to check out the lego store


We were done with DTD for now, we planned to come back tomorrow to do some more shopping, and we headed to Wilderness Lodge even though we were a little early for our reservation. We hung out in the lobby and the kids checked out the pins that were available there for trading, and we looked at the shop while we waited. Eventually our time came and we were seated. We had fun last time we were here so we were looking forward to it. Our waiter wasn't the most engaging but the waitress at a table next to us was hilarious and it was fun to watch her with some of the groups.
Right after we got seated they had the men come up and sing I'm a little teapot, it was pretty funny and dh was a good sport and joined in.
I ordered a large diet coke because I remembered the kids getting a kick out of it last time

DH and I got the AYCTE bbq basket with chicken, brisket, pulled pork, and sausage, it came with mashed potatoes, cornbread, corn on the cob, and beans and it was good but the sausage was our favorite. 17yodd got ribs, 14yo dd got an appetizer that had chips with salsa, cheese dip and chili, Caleb got a grilled chicken breast kids meal. DH and 14yo dd got the bottomless milkshake too.


They had all the kids do a stick horse race and Caleb joined in.

Not a great picture but you get the idea. We enjoyed ourselves again and I am sure we would eat here again, at least for the fun. My favorite part of dinner though was when we were all joking around with each other and Caleb said "I love this family"
We were all pretty tired at this point so we happily went back and went to bed. No big plans for the next day, our last day, so we didn't have to get up early.

 

[potsiemom]

wow that diet coke is huge

 

[chcmama]

wow that diet coke is huge

and they have free refills

 

[potsiemom]

with a side of free insulin.I could go for a heaping dose of caffiene this morning