Heidi Commerford - April 2006 - Pop Century

Time of Year: Spring
Travel Method: Plane, shuttle
Resort: PCR
Accommodations: Standard room
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Pre-Teen, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran

Heidi Commerford -- April 2006 - Walt Disney World (PCR)

WDW-April 11-24th—2006---Pop Century

The Cast

Heidi-38—26th trip to WDW
Jim-42—16th trip
Jimmy-12---15th trip
Cameron-10---14th trip
Grammy-63---around 40 trips but we are losing count!!!!!
December: We bought our tickets on Southwest for $214.00, although Jim’s was the bargain price of $134.40!! He is flying home on the 18th,, so his ticket ended up being much cheaper.

January: We made reservations at the Pop Century for $99.00 a night, using an AAA discount. We hoped to get a better rate with our AP’s, but it was not to be. There were no rates for Easter week.

February: We made reservations at Boma and O’hana.

March: Made a reservation for Jim to do the Segway tour at Epcot. I did this as a surprise, but told Jim about it right before we left.

Gram ordered a Disney Dining Experience card. She put it in my name, so it would get the maximum use.

Introduction: We have gone on a trip to Disney every April for the last 11 years, so this trip is as natural for the boys as breathing air. This trip will be our first April trip without Dad, so I am sure there will be sad moments. I am hoping that since we were there without him in November, that the sadness wont be too bad. We did so many firsts without Dad on that trip.

We are so EXCITED to ride Expedition Everest. Well, I should rephrase that. Jim, Jimmy and I are so excited. The jury is still out whether Cam will ride or not. Not sure about Grammy, either. She has a bad back and is not sure how smooth a ride it is. She does fine on Thunder Mountain and has ridden Rock and Roller Coaster with no problem, but can’t do Space Mountain. I have suggested she wait until the last day to ride. That way, if it bothers her back, we will be leaving the next day. I wouldn’t want her spending any of her vacation in pain.

Jimmy and Cam are excited to collect even more pins, especially lanyard pins.

I know the crowds are going to be huge for the Easter week. Luckily, we were just there in November and we are returning in June/July, so there really isn’t anything that we “have” to do. (Except Expedition Everest)

April 7th- We have our annual Disney party at Mom’s house, with our cousin’s. The Carters have a really good trivia game and a crossword puzzle that has all Disney answers. I would have finished first, and been the winner, if I could have just remembered that the boat at Epcot is called the Friendship! I did an I-Spy game with over 30 Disney items that we have collected over the years. We also did a “name where that picture was taken” game, with photos from Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge. Your answer had to be specific on where it was taken; was it the Meadow Trading Post, the Outpost, or the Lobby at the Lodge. We also had a Yankee Swap. The price limit was $5.00, which was a HUGE challenge. Everyone did well and we had a good variety. (We bought our gifts in Nov. when we were there. The Carters bought theirs in February.) It was a great party and we all had lots of fun!

April 10th- At 8:30pm, I mentioned to Jim about getting our boarding passes on-line. I thought I had recently heard that Southwest had changed from allowing people to print them out at 12:01am, to being able to get them 24 hours in advance. Jim went to the computer and was indeed able to print them out. Unfortunately, we got the ”B” boarding pass.

April 11th- The big day is here!! Unfortunately, I woke up at 3:30 AM not feeling well and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was excited for the trip, but also missing Dad so much. I kept looking out the window, hoping I would see a deer. In the eight months that Dad has been gone, I have seen a deer when I was especially missing him. I drove Jimmy to the bus stop and lo, and behold, a deer bounded right out in front of us. I took it as a sign that Dad would be with us in spirit on this trip. Throughout the day, I did last minute packing and cleaning. I also ran all our garbage to the transfer station and have come to the conclusion that we produce more garbage than anyone else on the face of the planet!!!!

Mom arrived around 2:30 and I put my stuff in her car. We drove down to pick Cam up from school. Cam is SO EXCITED and happy that the school day is behind him! We meet our friends, the Cookinghams, (they are coming with us for two weeks and two days this summer) and give the girls some small Easter gifts. They, in turn, give Jimmy and Cam three large boxes of gummy candy and two large Easter eggs with $5.00 in Disney money. Jimmy had baseball practice after school, so we drove the 30 minutes north to pick him up. We got to watch a half hour of the practice. Jimmy came to bat and made a hit. He eventually rounded all the bases (making a great slide at third) and made it home. He also played second base, where he made a few plays. When the practice ended, Jimmy ran into the locker room and changed, before running to our car. He had a huge grin on his face, knowing that Disney was only hours away. The two baseball coaches walked over to the car. I introduced myself to Mr. Smith, who is also Jimmy’s math teacher. He told Jimmy that he had permission to “wrap toilet paper around Mr. Geary’s room” (Mr. Geary is Jimmy’s Social Studies teacher.) Mr. Smith said that Mr. Geary is also staying at the Pop Century. Jimmy added that two other classmates were also going to Disney for vacation. Jimmy said it was hard to concentrate at practice, because he was so excited! We then continued on to Concord, where we met Jim, who had our van, with all of our luggage. We are all excited as we begin the thirty-minute drive to the airport. Jimmy and Cam keep saying that they can’t believe we will be in Disney tonight. The time has flown since our last trip in November! I think we were so busy, with an especially grueling hockey schedule this year, that all we did from December right up until Jimmy’s last game three days ago was hockey, school, homework and sleep!!!

We had a quick drive to the airport. There was no wait to check in the luggage or go through security. Both Gram and I had to have our carry-on checked by security. I am sure all of our trading pins were cause for concern when seen by the x-ray machine! The whole process was quick and easy. It made me appreciate the fact that we only live 45 minutes away from such a great airport that offers direct flights to Orlando!

Since we had the “B” boarding passes, I was concerned about us all sitting together. We went directly to the boarding area and sat on the floor. (If I didn’t have kids I wouldn’t bother doing that, but we need to sit together.) Jim and the kids went to McDonalds and brought the food back, where we had a picnic on the floor! After we finished eating, the kids watched “The Shaggy D.A.” on the portable DVD player. I had just purchased the movie, so it was their first time watching it. The boys and I had just seen the new Shaggy dog movie, starring Tim Allen, at the theater. I had seen “The Shaggy D.A.” as a kid and I loved it. I was surprised when I went into Toys R Us and saw a good selection of the old Disney movies. I bought several for the trip. While hanging out, I realized that I forgot my watch and Cam’s baseball hat.

Before we knew it, it was time to board. Both Gram and I noticed a girl around Jimmy’s age, who was crying in the pre-board line. Her parents were putting on brave faces, but the Dad looked mighty sad. When the girl finally boarded, the parents continued to stand there looking terribly sad. I wondered if the girl was going to see her grandparents. I hoped things would go well for her.

We boarded and had to go almost to the back of the plane, to get seats together. Jim sat with the boys, while Gram and I sat right behind them. The plane was pretty much full, when a family of four boarded. There were four single seats available, including one next to us. The mother refused to be separated from her young son. The flight attendant asked for volunteers to move, so they could sit together. She then asked either Gram or I to move, so there would be two seats together. I said “no” because my kids were right in front of me. She then asked Gram to move. Gram clearly didn’t want to move. The flight attendant said the plane wasn’t moving until one of us got up!! Gram got up and moved four rows in front of me. This was a HUGE mistake and I should have refused for both of us. I will NEVER let this happen to us again!!! I certainly don’t blame the Mother for not wanting to be separated from her son. I never would have wanted to let that happen, either. However, the BIG difference is, I am responsible enough, to take steps so I am not in that position!! I would NEVER let my poor planning affect someone else! First of all, when the boys were younger, there were numerous times when it was just the three of us flying together. I wouldn’t fly Southwest, because of the fact that they don’t do assigned seats. I would never have put myself in the position of that Mother. I gave up the convenience of a direct flight to Orlando on Southwest, for the security of assigned seats on another airline. When we did start flying Southwest three years ago, I would arrive at the airport three hours early to ensure that we got the “A” boarding pass. When it changed so you could print your boarding pass at home, I would ask Jim to stay up until 12:01AM, to print them off. On this trip, I was concerned with the “B” pass, which is why we sat on the floor for 1½ hours. I wanted us in the front of the “B” line! Consequently, I was extremely frustrated that we had taken every step possible to be seated together and this Mother’s poor planning affected us!! Perhaps in another few years, it would be a non-issue. But, for this trip, both Gram and I were feeling sad about Dad’s tragic death. We were on our way to Dad’s favorite place in the whole world, without him, on what was always our annual April trip together. On top of all of that, Gram doesn’t like to fly and would have been more comfortable next to me. So instead of visiting with Gram, I spent the flight worrying about her. Like I said, NEVER again will I let someone else’s poor planning affect my vacation! So people, either fly an airline that does assigned seating, get your “A” boarding pass in the 24 hour window, get yourself to the airport early and plop your butt down and wait in your category, or deal with the consequences of your poor planning. DON’T EXPECT someone else to deal with it!!!!!!!

Under the circumstances, the flight went well and we arrived safely in Orlando at 11:15 PM. Gram, Jimmy and I went to get our luggage, while Cam and Jim went to get the rent-a-car. Our luggage came out quickly. I was disappointed to see that the pull-out handle on my suitcase was broken. It certainly made it hard to pull! We went downstairs and found Jim in a LONG line to get the car. While we waited, the kids had fun gliding around on their “heelie” sneakers. There were lots of energetic kids around, which was funny since it was now 11:45 at night! Finally, Jim was waited on and we headed out to get our car. It was a white Mercury Grand Marquis. We had so much luggage that it was a challenge to fit everything in!! Everyone, except for Jim, who was driving, held a piece of luggage on their lap. We had an easy drive to the Pop Century. One of the features on the car was that it told you the compass direction you were driving. The kids thought that was pretty cool! The car also had an indoor, outdoor thermometer. (We ended up using this everyday to check the temp. Now that we are home the kids wish we had that feature in our van!)

Jim dropped us off at the Pop Century and went to park. Gram and I were in line behind six other people. We were quickly waited on. The key system was down, so we were given temporary keys for tonight, with instructions to return tomorrow morning to get new keys. We were in the 50’s section, building 3, room 3454. We parked and began the long process of dragging our exhausted bodies and all of our luggage, while trying to locate our building. It was now 1:15AM. I had been up since 3:30 AM and was feeling the effects! Once on the elevator, Gram realized she was missing her credit card. Once we unloaded our luggage off the elevator, Jim went right back down to search for it. He found it on the path and soon returned. (Thanks Jim!) We were thankful that we had adjoining rooms. Jimmy slept in Grams room. It felt great to lay my head down on my pillow. Originally, we were going into Animal Kingdom in the morning. However, when I looked at the schedule, I read that it opened tomorrow (er, today) at 7:00AM. It was now 1:30am. We decided we were not going to get up at 6:00 to catch a bus at 6:15! Sleeping in was the plan!! (I finally fell asleep around 2:30AM. I had been up for almost 24 hours!!!)

Wednesday April 12-high of 82 degrees

I woke up at 5:45!!! Talk about a short night!! If there was one thing I could change about my body, it would be that I could sleep in when I really needed it!!! I laid in bed for awhile, before getting up to head to the lobby. I needed to get our new keys. I was able to get Gram’s as well, so that was great. I meandered over to the gift shop and food court. There was a whole table full of chocolate bunnies, peeps and other Easter items. It was funny seeing all the Easter stuff, because for, us it almost felt like Easter was over. Over the years, there have been many Easters that have coincided with our Disney trip. When that happens, we usually celebrate Easter on Palm Sunday. We write a note to the Easter Bunny, asking him to come early, since we will be away. (It worked, he always did!) We get together with my family and have the traditional Easter ham dinner and Easter egg hunt. Since we did all this three days ago, I have to remind myself that Easter really hasn’t happened yet! There was another table, also set up, where CM’s would make Easter baskets for you, with whatever you picked out from the store. I went into the food court and filled up my water bottles with water from the beverage machine. I drank an entire bottle before I even started the walk back to the room. Pretty much the only thing I drink is water, except for an occasional lemonade. I love water!!! I had been dying of thirst since last night, but drinking the tap water in the room was out of the question!

Back in the room, everyone slowly woke up between 7:30-8:00. As is usually the case, I came up with a plan for the day. We drove to Downtown Disney/Marketplace. (It will always be the Village to me.) We were all parked by 9:20, and waiting for the stores to open at 9:30. First, we walked to the Christmas scene, where I took several pictures of the boys for our annual Christmas card. The boys were, of course, up for some pin trading! I had bought 150 pins on e-bay for trading. They were lower quality than I had realized. I suggested that the boys trade those off first. (They had absolutely no trouble trading these.) Jim and Cam paired off, while Jimmy and Gram did. This freed me up to be by myself, which I enjoyed immensely! The plan was to meet in an hour at the Lego store. I wandered through all the stores and enjoyed how uncrowded they were in the early morning. I bought some Yankee Swap gifts in the $10.00 and under store. (This store reminds Jimmy of a yard sale!) I also spent quite a bit of time in the big pin store, checking out all the new pins. I bumped into Jim and Cam outside of the World of Disney store. Cam was VERY excited. He had traded for many new lanyard pins. His favorite trade was a pirate and stitch lanyard pin. I snapped a picture of the huge statue of Stitch over the door to the World of Disney store. He was wearing bunny ears and holding a giant Easter egg. He was also squirting water on unsuspecting passerby’s! At this time, Gram and Jimmy joined us. I took a picture of Jimmy and Cam next to a statue of a pirate. Next, we all went into Ghiradelli’s to get a free sample (Yummy), before going our separate ways again. I went inside the World of Disney and checked out the new pirate-themed area. Kids could fill a chest or a skull with all sorts of trinkets. When Jimmy was little, he was CRAZY about pirates. He would have absolutely LOVED this area!

It started to sprinkle a bit, but the weather was so comfortable, it didn’t matter! On my way to the Lego store, I spotted a CM talking to a custodian. When I got closer, I noticed that his lanyard was filled with lanyard pins. I stopped to get a closer look and nearly fainted!! He had the Donald Disney dollar pin from the series 3 lanyard set. Neither Jimmy nor Cam have it. In fact, we have never even seen this pin!!! This pin goes on e-bay for $60.00-$70.00. I, of course, traded for that and for a treasure chest lanyard pin. I waited for everyone to arrive, and when they did, excitedly showed them my amazing trade!! No one could believe I traded for the pin, especially Jimmy and Cam, who knew how truly rare it was!!!

We returned to the big pin store. Cam made some more great trades (Donald on a bike lanyard pin). The store was having a promotion. If you spent $25.00, you could then buy a lanyard pin for $1.00. There were ten different pins and they matched sets that were available in the very first lanyard set. Jimmy and Cam would like them all, but they each got one (U CAN FLY license plate). They each spent $25.00 on Limited Edition Easter pins and something for my upcoming birthday!

Suddenly, the skies opened up and it began pouring. It was perfect timing, as we were just heading into the Earl of Sandwich for some lunch. Jimmy grabbed us a table, Gram brought Cam to the bathroom, and Jim and I stood in line. Jim and I shared the All American and roast beef sandwiches, Gram had the All American and the kids shared a pizza sandwich. As always, the sandwiches were great. They are the absolute bargain at around $5.00!

We returned to the car, to drive to the Premium outlets. It’s been a few years since I have been to one of Disney’s outlet stores, so I was glad to have the opportunity to go. Once we parked, Jimmy and Jim headed to the Nike outlet. Jimmy desperately needed a new pair of cleats for baseball. He had gotten a new pair last year and I didn’t realize how much his foot had grown. He suffered through the first week of try-outs with his old ones, until we could get to a store to get a new pair. We went to the Disney store. It was very crowded. Twice, I witnessed an overtired parent spanking or yelling at their overtired child. That wasn’t pleasant! I went on to buy some great bargains. The following is what I bought:

“Where the magic lives” window cling. Reg. $6.00, I paid $.99
“Test Track” postcards. Reg. $.60, I paid $.08.
“Countdown to Christmas” calendar. Reg. $28.00, I paid $9.99
“Animal Kingdom” notepad. Reg. $6.00, I paid $3.00.
Magnet. Reg. $4.00, I paid $99.

“Tower of Terror” playing cards. Reg. $4.00, I paid $.99.
Mickey playing cards. Reg. $4.00, I paid $.99.

Cinderella pillow (a gift) $12.00, I paid $6.00.

Pins. Reg. $6.95, I paid $2.00.

All in all, some great sales, and I was glad we went. We met up with Jim and Jimmy, who had bought a great pair of cleats. The cleats went up the ankle a bit, which Jimmy loves for the extra support. He said they were very comfortable and the price was good at $29.99 plus tax!

We drove to another nearby Disney outlet. This one was a real dump. I did buy some trading/collecting Disney cards. While waiting to pay for them, I witnessed a very odd encounter. A man had spread around 300, or so, coins on the counter. They all appeared to be covered by a fine white dust. He picked out some coins to make a purchase. He then stepped to the side of the counter, where he stood, leaving the mess of coins on the counter! The woman in front of me was waited on and then it was my turn. At that point, the clerk spoke to the man in Spanish and pointed at the mess. The man reached forward and began picking up the coins and putting them in a baggie. He then continued to stand there leaving a mess behind on the counter, where his pile of coins were. It was very strange! I left with Cam and we met everybody at Borders. Gram bought Jimmy a new book, “The Wish List”, by Eoin Colfer.

We drove to the Wilderness Lodge, in hopes of seeing CM Sandra. We had a gift bag for her. In November, we gave her a basket filled with N.H. products. This time, with Easter only a few days away, we went with the Easter theme. I bought a large glass mug and filled it with chocolate. Gram made a beautiful Easter sugar egg. It was all in a gift bag, although I forgot the tissue paper at home. Jim pulled up in front of the Lodge and Gram, Jimmy and Cam jumped out. I wasn’t quite ready, so I walked in with Jim. I went to the pin cart and Sandra looked up and recognized me right away. Even though we have gotten friendly, it amazes me that she recognizes us, since she meets thousands of people! We gave each other a hug and a quick update. I was somewhat shocked that Gram, Jimmy and Cam were nowhere to be seen! Sandra said she hadn’t seen them yet. I had no idea where they had gone. Finally, the rest of the family showed up and there were hugs all around. They had gone into the gift shop first. We had lots of fun trading pins with Sandra. We even traded for three of the lanyard pins that are being sold at the Marketplace. After a nice visit, we said goodbye, knowing we would see her again on this trip.

We drove back to the Pop Century. I was exhausted from lack of sleep. When I told Jim how tired I was, he was surprised, wondering how I could be tired, with the vacation just starting! I found his response astounding!! I had woken up yesterday at 3:30 AM, and gone to sleep last night, or rather this morning, at 2:30 AM. (I had been awake for 23 hours.) In addition, I woke up this morning at 5:45! So, in the last 36 hours, I had slept a measly 3 hours and 45 minutes!!!!! Ya Jim, you really have to “wonder” why I am tired!!!!!! Jim brought the boys out to play catch with their gloves and a baseball. They also went swimming. I sunk into the bed. I am not a napper, never have been, although I wish I could. However, today I fell asleep and felt wonderful when I woke up.

Before we left this morning, I had left a note for housekeeping to please leave two extra pillows. Sure enough, we did have the two extra pillows, however, Gram mentioned that the two extra ones she had had on her shelf were now gone!!! Can you spell L-A-Z-Y!!!!

I suggested that we go for a drive, to try and find the Orange Lake Resort that we will be staying at in two months. I had printed off someone’s trip report that had stayed there, for reference. After one wrong turn, we found our way there, with no problem. We didn’t go onto the property. I just wanted to make sure we knew how to get there this summer. As we were leaving, my cell phone rang. It was Carolyn! What a coincidence, since she is the friend we are coming to Orange Lake with this summer!! She was equally surprised when I told her we had just been by Orange Lake! Carolyn was calling us with baseball news. When Jimmy had left practice yesterday, the coach said the teams would be posted today. I had asked Carolyn’s daughter Jen to check and see if Jimmy had made a team. She reported that Jimmy’s name was on the roster for the “B” team. (Maybe a “B” boarding pass is no good when flying Southwest, but the “B” baseball team in Middle School is great!!!! Good job, Jimmy!!!) Carolyn and I chatted a bit. I updated her on what we had been doing, so far. I also told her we were in the 50’s section at the Pop Century. We had been in the 70’s section with Carolyn two years ago! I told her to tell the girls tomorrow morning, when she was bringing them to school, (between 8:00-8:15) that we should be riding Expedition Everest at that time! She wished us a good trip. I told her to thank Jen again for checking the roster, and we said goodbye.

We drove to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Jim dropped us off and parked. (Thanks, Jim!) We all went into the gift shop, where Gram and the kids pin traded. Next, we went downstairs to the food court. Both Jimmy and Cam eagerly purchased a package of zebra domes! I love these too, but figured I would have my fill when we ate at Boma later in the week! Gram and I bought a turkey roll-up to share. It was ok, but had some type of red sauce spread on the entire thing, which wasn’t my favorite! We walked back out through the HUGE crowd waiting to be seated at Boma, and returned to the car.

We stopped at Coronado Springs on the way by. (This is why I love having a car, to visit the other resorts!) The kids had more fun trading pins in the gift shop.

We drove back to the Pop Century. The security guard insisted on seeing a photo I.D. of Jim. A room key and our parking pass on the dash was not enough!!! It was funny, because we had just breezed through the Animal Kingdom Lodge and Coronado with a wave of the hand! When the guard looked at Jim’s license and noticed we were from N.H., he said he was returning to N.H. in a week! We were back at the Pop Century in time for dinner. Jim had a chicken dinner, Gram and I shared a piece of vegetarian lasagna, Cam had a hotdog and Jimmy had a slice of cheesecake! (That’s my kind of dinner, Jimmy!!)

We returned to the room. Jim and the boys went for another swim. We all went to bed around 10:00. It had been a full day on little sleep! Animal Kingdom tomorrow; I sure hope we can get Cam on Expedition Everest!

Thursday April 13th -80 degrees

I was up before the alarm at 5:45, feeling completely rested and ready for fun! Jim headed to the food court for coffee and when he returned at 7:00, he called for us to come look. So we did. We saw 12 hot air balloons. They looked stunning over the horizon. They were just above the sign on the 50’s building that said “One Giant Leap for Mankind”!

We headed out at 7:15, and decided to drive, instead of taking the bus. After a quick drive, we were in the parking lot. The following was a very strange experience, indeed! We were waved along by parking attendants, as is tradition in Disney parking lots. However, we were caught by surprise when they waved us through the grass! We were then directed to pull up right behind a whole line of cars parked on a strip of grass. This was strange; why weren’t we in a parking space on pavement? The attendant wanted us to pull right up to the car in front of us, possibly, leaving us boxed in, so Jim refused. I hopped out and asked for assurance that they weren’t going to park another line of cars next to us, leaving us boxed in. He said we were fine. It seemed very odd. I couldn’t imagine why Disney, with all of its pavement, was parking us on a strip of grass!! I sorta felt like I was at a County Fair, as we walked through the wet grass!!!

We breezed through the bag check and only waited a few minutes for the park to open, before we went inside. Cam spotted a CM, whose lanyard was filled with lanyard pins. Everyone, except me, made a trade. (Even Jim made a trade!) I was trying to collect everyone’s tickets to put away. At first, Jimmy couldn’t find his, which made Jim panic. It wasn’t a big deal, since we could get the AP replaced. However, Jim panics often, and, in doing so, becomes my third child! Jimmy found his ticket in his pocket and we were on our way. We walked to Expedition Everest with a mass of humanity!

We got in to what appeared to be a very long line, but actually moved right along. We were walking so quickly, we breezed right by all of the interesting things to look at! In less than five minutes, we were on the ride. Cam was REALLY nervous and I wondered if he would change his mind, but he didn’t. Cam insisted on riding with me. (I guess he figured Mom could protect him from the Yeti!!!) Jim and Jimmy rode next to each other, which left Gram in front of me. I felt bad that there was no one to ride next to her. What can I say, the ride was awesome!!!! The four of us LOVED it and all the effects. Cam said, “ I think the Yeti needs a haircut!” Gram said once was enough for her! It made her dizzy when it went backwards. It also made her sad. We all knew how much Dad would have loved this ride. The last couple of years, we had all watched it being built and eagerly anticipated its’ opening. When we got off the ride to look at our ride photo, Cam realized that he had left his lanyard, loaded with pins, on the train. I told the woman in charge of the ride photos what had happened. She said to wait with her, that it would take about 15 minutes for that train to return. Jim waited, while the rest of us went to get FP’s for another ride on Expedition Everest. As I inserted my ticket into the FP machine, the CM standing next to the FP machine asked how many I was getting. I replied five. She handed me four passes to go with the one that came out of the machine. Cool! When I met up with Gram, I gave her the tickets so she could get more FPs, since only one of my tickets had been scanned. She did, and returned with five more FP’s! Once the FP’s were put away, we went back to meet Jim and to see if the lanyard had been turned in yet. It hadn’t, and Jim looked less than thrilled to be waiting there. I told him I had just gotten ten FP’s, but even that didn’t seem to cheer him up! Since Gram didn’t want a second ride on EE, I suggested she wait for the lanyard, while the four of us rode EE again in the stand by line. This made Jim happy and we all jumped back in line. As we were riding, the lanyard was returned to Gram. After our second terrific ride on EE, I suggested we walk over to Dinoland to ride the Primeval Whirl. Stand-by line was only ten minutes, so Jim, Jimmy and Cam got in line, while I snagged us some more FP’s. I used the three tickets that hadn’t been used to get the ten FP’s at EE!!! Pretty good deal! With the Primeval Whirl FP’s, I also received a “surprise” FP that was good for Dinosaur. (The same thing happened on our November trip!)

Jim, Jimmy and I went to ride Dinosaur, while Cam and Gram went pin trading and shopping. We didn’t really need a FP, as there wasn’t much of a line. Jim hadn’t been on this ride in years and barely remembered it. I laughed to myself when I glanced over at Jimmy during the ride. He was covering both of his ears with his hands!! I don’t think he has ever ridden this ride without covering his ears!!! We met up with Gram and Cam. Cam showed us some more great pin trades he had made. Next, I asked the kids if they wanted to play in the bone yard and they did, so we headed in. I have great memories in here. The very first time we came here was on our family trip back in 1998, with my brother and his family, as well as Mom and Dad. Animal Kingdom had just opened, although it wasn’t officially open yet. (A week after we got home from that trip the official opening was on T.V.) All ten of us were in the boneyard crawling up the nets and going down the slides. My nephew Dan was only 11 years old and my niece Ally was 10. (They are both in college now!) We all thought it was such a neat playground! Anyway, Jimmy and Cam had a great time playing hide-n-seek. Jim even joined in for a game! At 10:00, we returned to the Primevil Whirl, to use the FP’s. I told Jim that he and the kids could ride, while I hiked over to the Kali River Rapid ride to pick up FP’s. We would all meet at Expedition Everest. On my walk over, Jim called to say that the Primeval Whirl had broken down. I continued on to Kali, to get the FP’s. When I was getting them, I realized that Gram hadn’t given me her ticket, so I could only get four FP’s. I returned to Everest to meet everyone. I told Gram I couldn’t get her a FP, because she had her ticket. Since she wasn’t riding EE, I suggested that she walk over and get a FP, while we rode twice with the ten FP’s. She said “no”, she didn’t want to ride Kali and get wet. We breezed right through the FP line, trying to take in as much as possible. When we got to the end of the line, the CM asked me how many people were in our group. I answered four. She turned away and ten seconds later, she again asked me how many people were in our group. I again answered four. She turned to the single rider line, than turned back to me, and proceeded to ask me for the third time, in less than thirty seconds, how many people were in my group!!!! Again, I said four. (Apparently, she thought the Yeti had climbed down from the mountain and snatched up one of us, therefore reducing the number of our group!!!) We were seated on the train. Jimmy and Cam rode together, sitting in front of us. Every time I ride this, I continue to see new things. This time I noticed the Yeti footprints in the snow, where the train track is destroyed. We had another great ride! Cam told me that he ducks down when he goes under the Yeti, because he doesn’t want the Yeti to touch him!!!! We used our FP’s for a fourth ride. We all really enjoy this new ride. It’s not scary, like I had imagined, but it sure is a lot of fun!! After our fourth ride, we gave the kids Gram’s two FP’s. The two of them went for a fifth ride. It’s funny to think how nervous Cam was this morning about going on this ride, now he owns it!!! Gram continued to sit on a nearby rock, while Jim and I went to the viewing area, to see if we could see the kids come down the big drop. Jim thought he spotted Cam, but it is hard to tell.

We all get together to walk to the Kali River Rapid ride. On the way over, I notice a CM handing out FP’s for the Flight of Wonder show. We had planned on seeing the 11:30 show, so I stepped up and got us five FP’s. It was now 11:00, and Gram wasn’t sure if we would get to the show in time. Since she had been talking about seeing this show for months, I suggested she head on over to the theater. Meanwhile, we would ride the Kali. If we didn’t make it on time, we would meet her at the exit, after the show. We never stopped walking through the FP line. I had four ponchos with me and asked if anyone wanted one. I don’t mind getting wet, but I don’t care about getting so soaked you can wring your underpants out!!! I also had on jean shorts and those are heavy and uncomfortable when they are soaked! I got myself a poncho, Jimmy said he wanted one, while Cam said he was fine. Jim said “only wimps wear ponchos”!!! Uh, ok, call me a wimp! Just as we were getting down to the platform to load, the “guy” that just called us “wimps” wanted a poncho!! Sorry, too late, my hands were full and I was trying to zip up my backpack! Only a minute ago, Jim laughed at Jimmy and I for putting them on. I secretly hoped Jim would get SOAKED to the bone!!!!!! Jim ended up taking off his shirt and sneakers and stowing them under cover in the middle! I knew you weren’t supposed to take off your sneakers, but I didn’t bother to say anything. (When Jim got off, a CM spoke to him about it.) As it turned out, Jimmy and I went down the drop backwards and the water crashed over us! Thank goodness for the ponchos!!!! I was shocked when we got off the ride and I saw how SOAKED poor Jimmy was, despite having the poncho on! He was wearing a poncho that I had gotten in a free goodie bag from one of the many road races I have competed in. Apparently, the water must have gone right through the thing!!!

After surviving the rapids, we walked over to the Flights of Wonder. We went right in with our FP’s and seated ourselves. Only about ¼ of the theater was filled. (It did fill up by show time) I spotted Gram in the front row. Her row was full, but we got seats just three rows behind her. I spoke to Grammy and told her to come sit with us. She shook her head no and stayed where she was. We sat down and Cam wondered why Gram didn’t want to sit with us. I wasn’t sure myself. (Gram said later that she wanted to view the show from the front row and not have to look over people’s heads. Since the show is put on a stage we had a good view, too.) The show was great! Educational and funny! The birds were amazing, flying through the theater, right over people’s heads! It’s amazing that we had never seen this show before. I am glad we did today! When we exited the show there were people EVERYWHERE!!!! We had done everything we had planned, so we headed out. We walked back through the grass and to our car!!!

We ate lunch at the Pop Century. Jim and I each had a Mediterranean Chicken sandwich on flatbread. Grammy had a meatball sub. Jimmy had chicken nuggets, while Cam had a sundae. Since the dining experience card is in my name, Jim and I stood in line with everything. I told Cam to go sit down with his Sundae and I would pay for it. The women rang up the lunches and I told her I also had a sundae. I just happened to notice that she rang up a “brownie sundae” for $4.99. I knew that Cam’s was suppose to be $3.99. I told the CM that we didn’t have a brownie sundae, just a regular one. She turned her register keys toward me and said that was the way she had to ring it up. There were two keys, one said sundae and the other said brownie sundae. Again, I said we did not have a brownie sundae. She countered with “did the sundae have sauce on it?” I answered “yes”. She then responded with “ a brownie sundae is a sundae with any sauce on it. A sundae is three scoops of ice cream with nothing else”!! I said that three scoops of ice cream sounded like a bowl of ice cream, not a sundae, and a brownie sundae would include a brownie!!!! She said “this time I’ll let you have it for $3.99”. It was very strange! After we ate, I went over to the ice cream counter to look at the menu board again. Sure enough, it said hot fudge sundaes for $3.99. It even showed a picture of a sundae with sauce, whipped cream, nuts and a cherry, all for $3.99. It didn’t even show a brownie sundae on the menu board! That CM was clueless! She acted like she was doing me this BIG favor by “only” charging me $3.99 for my sundae!!! Gee whiz, since when do you have to fight to pay the advertised price of an item? (I have to add that we consumed many, many sundaes on this trip. Each and every time we were charged $3.99. I never again heard the ridiculous subject come up ever again, that every sundae was a brownie sundae and a sundae was three scoops of ice cream with nothing else!) Everyone was happy with their lunch, except Gram, who had the meatball sub. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t like it, possibly because it was too spicy.

We left through the gift shop. Jimmy bought a “surprise” pin of Captain Hook.

Back in our room, Jim laid down and promptly fell asleep! He was the one yesterday, when I said that I wanted to go to bed around 9:00PM, (because I had only gotten 4 ½ hours of sleep in 38 hours) said “Go to bed at 9:00, our vacation is just beginning! I was tempted to push him out of bed, to go and enjoy his vacation, but I didn’t!! Jimmy read his new book that Gram had bought him at the Borders outlet, Cam watched a DVD and I worked on the trip report. When Jim woke up, he brought the kids out to play catch and swim. I tried to fall asleep, but I couldn’t. It did, however, feel good just to lay down and let my mind wander.

When I got up, I wandered down to the food court. Jim and the boys were there. They were just getting to the register with a drink and French fries. I ran over with the Dining Experience card to save 20%. After I paid, a woman walked up behind me and asked “how much did those smoked chips cost?” pointing at the French fries! I told her $2.02. When we sat down, we all snickered over French fries being called smoked chips!!! I went to get myself a hot fudge sundae. No confusion over the price this time. She charged me $3.99, just like the sign said!!

I sat down with the guys to eat. Jimmy decided that he wanted a sundae too, so he went to get one. Cam decided he wanted chicken nuggets, so he went to get those. I hopped up with the card when they were both ready to pay. That little card is sure adding up! (Thanks Gram!) The bonus was after I paid, I noticed a CM stocking the plastic utensils wearing a lanyard. I was shocked to see that he had on one of the lanyard pins that you can only get after buying $25.00 worth of merchandise at the Marketplace. That was a great trade!!!

I returned to the room to put my backpack together, since we were heading to Epcot. Gram called David and Kathy, to update them on our fun. I spoke to them, because I knew they would share my excitement over the Donald Disney Dollar pin, and they did!! They also wondered what we thought of Expedition Everest. I, of course, told them that we loved it!

We drove to the Boardwalk to park. Jim dropped us off and we met him in the General Store. The plan was to walk around World Showcase. The kids were dying to go to Japan, to buy some candy.

I have to mention the weather. It is beautiful and breezy, I think the high today is 84 degrees. We walked the boardwalk, stopping to admire a beautiful chocolate Easter egg in the window of the bakery. We also stopped in the ESPN club. Cam bought himself a new baseball hat. It was red and white and said ESPN baseball on it.

We walked in through the International Gateway. (I noticed that darn Friendship boat!!!! I would have won that game at the Disney party, if I only could have remembered that it was named Friendship!!!) Jim went to England to buy his favorite beer, while the four of us walked to France. As we browsed the shops, I came up with an idea for a game at our next Disney party. We could take several photos in each country. I could then take those photos and make a multiple choice game. Everyone would have to identify which country the picture was taken. This was a lot of fun for everyone, as we tried to find an interesting spot to take a photo in each country! The kids bought their candy in Japan. Out front, I bought a strawberry Gaki Gori to share. We all loved it! In America I debated about watching the 7:30 American Adventure show, as I LOVE that show. Ultimately, I decided against it, because by the time we came out it would have been too dark to continue taking pictures around World Showcase.

We had a nice time during our leisurely stroll around World Showcase. The weather was gorgeous and we were just happy to be at Disney, my most favorite place on the face of the planet!!! In Mexico, the kids wanted churros, so Jim went with them to get some. Gram and I continued on to England, for some fish and chips. There was quite a line. Gram generously offered to wait in line, while I browsed the shops. My friend Pat has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor and her prognosis is quite grim. She has always loved England and has vacationed there many times. In fact, she had made preparations during the past year, to vacation there, this past February. However, shortly before she was to go she was diagnosed. I looked for things to buy, that I could bring home to her. I settled on a lovely hard covered book of London, that was filled with before and after pictures, showing all the changes over the years. I also purchased a Mary Queen of Scots pewter figure, lavender soap, tea, mints and chocolate. I pray she is well enough when I get home to enjoy it. (She was and she did.)

Jim and the boys were watching the British Invasion band. Gram and I joined them with our fish and chips. Gram thought they were a bit greasy, but I absolutely LOVED mine. The boys ate most all of the French fries. (Or “smoked chips”!!) The band finished their set and we returned to the Boardwalk. I considered getting an ice cream cone at Sea Shore Sweets, but when I saw the impressive line, I quickly changed my mind! Jim went and got the car and pulled up, to pick us up. (Thanks again Jim!)

We had a quick drive back to the Pop Century. It was around 9:00. I organized stuff in the room and repacked my backpack. Jim and the kids went swimming. They returned in an hour or so. Perhaps the most fun was had with Cam running up to the 4th floor and dropping his tiny stuffed Mickey to Jim and Jimmy’s waiting arms below!! They had a blast doing this and it was all I heard about!! It goes to show that often times, it’s the simple stuff that is the most fun. Lights out at 10:30. Epcot tomorrow with Jim going on the Segway tour.

Friday April 14th –84 degrees

I was awake at 5:45, wishing I could have slept a little later. At 7:00 I walked down to the Concierge desk to get signed up for Magical Express, since I hadn’t done it at home. I got a 3:30AM pick up time on the 24th, Ugh!!!! I went to the food court to fill my water bottles and walked back to the room. On the walk back, I spotted 12 hot air balloons in the sky!! When I returned to the room, Jim had already left to drive to Epcot for his Segway tour. He had to be there by 8:15. Cam was watching a DVD and Jimmy was still sound asleep. He finally woke up at 7:59. He quickly got ready and we left the room at 8:05. We walked right onto a waiting bus. We were all able to get seats, just not together.

Once at Epcot, we were pleased to see that the bag check had moved to a more appropriate place, farther back from the ticket turnstile. When the CM looked through my bag, he said, “all the good stuff is in here!” in reference to all the snacks that I had packed! We waited in line. The man behind us noticed the boy’s Red Sox lanyards, t-shirts and Jimmy’s hat, and asked where we were from. I answered N.H., and he wondered where in N.H. He said he was from outside of Hartford, Connecticut. We talked about when our respective school vacations were and how much school our kids were missing for this trip. (I can’t even begin to remember the numerous conversations I have had with people, that began because of a Red Sox or Patriots shirt. If you like to meet people, whether you like sports or not, throw a hometown team shirt on yourself or your kid and you’ll make 100 new friends!!)

At 8:45, we were let into the park, to wait at the next rope drop. Before long, we were “escorted” to Soarin. It was really funny when we were all herded into The Land. All of the food court workers were standing down below, wildly cheering, for all of us coming in!!! They were extremely enthusiastic, clapping, waving their hands and yelling!!!! I have run in between 30-40 road races, and it was exactly like running the home stretch!!! It was VERY funny!!! I grabbed the FP’s, then we all hopped into the line. We pretty much kept moving and were soon at the load area. I asked for row one and the CM happily obliged. We were in row one, in the third section. As usual, it was a great ride. For the first time I smelled the ocean when we went over it. For me though, the smell isn’t nearly as strong as the orange or pine scents. When we exited the ride, the wait was 65 minutes!!!! (For all the people who don’t bother to get to the parks when they open, you can see what a difference it makes. In this case, even an extra 15 minutes made the difference between walking on, or waiting for an hour. For us, we can sleep in at home. We can eat out for breakfast at home. When we are at Disney, we are going to get to the parks at opening and not spend our whole day waiting in line. I can’t imagine that would be too much fun!!)

I suggested that Gram, Jimmy and Cam go to Turtle Talk with Crush, while I went to get FP’s for Test Track. However, neither of the boys cared about it. Gram wanted to see it, so off she went. We pin traded in Mouse Gear before picking up the FP’s. The line at Test Track was long. The single riders line said 20 minutes, so I asked the kids if they wanted to do that. I didn’t think Cam would, but he surprised me by saying “yes”! Cam is so shy that this is a great step toward independence. We all went in and there was no wait at all. We, of course, all landed in different cars. Cam, was only two cars in front of me. I actually spotted him a couple of times on the ride. It was kinda funny, as we got in our cars and were riding up to have our seatbelts checked, I heard the following announcement: “Please supervise your children at all times”. It was amusing that they offer a single riders line to split up families, but still have an announcement to watch your children!!!! I would have to watch Jimmy and Cam in spirit!!! We all met at the ride photos and headed out.

Both kids wanted to ride Mission Space, so we walked over. On the top of my mind was the woman who died after riding Mission Space two days ago. However, I figured we had a better chance of getting killed in a car accident, choking on a piece of food, or getting struck by lightening, than dying on this ride. We have all had physicals in the past year and don’t have any of the health risks that you are warned repeatedly not to ride if you have. (I read that the women who died had extremely high blood pressure.) We did the single rider line again, with no wait. We were all split up again and, fortunately, all survived our Mission to Mars. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw both Jimmy and Cam waiting for me. I so rarely let them out of my sight, so that part is nerve wracking for me!

I called Jim when I got outside. He had just finished his Segway Tour and was on his way to The Land to meet us. I also called Gram. She was waiting outside of The Land, having never seen Turtle Talk with Crush. She waited 45 minutes, then found out they were having technical difficulties! Thank goodness Jimmy and Cam didn’t want to go!

Jim had rave reviews about the Segway Tour. He said they started off by watching a short film about riding Segways. Next, they spent about 45 minutes riding the Segways inside of a building, learning how to maneuver them. Then they went outside into World Showcase. World Showcase was still closed, but Jim said there were many workers spraying down the walkways and cleaning each country. Jim loved the whole experience and said he would love the opportunity to do the tour again!

Gram and I both had lunch at the food court inside The Land. I had a Chinese combo plate, with four different things. The beef one was outstanding. Gram enjoyed hers as well. The kids each ordered a scoop of ice cream.

We had four FP’s to Soarin, so I told the four of them to go on. Gram insisted I ride, but I said I was fine and would ride Soarin another time later in the vacation. I walked outside into the beautiful sunshine. Very rarely am I without a kid to cater too, so I took advantage of some quiet time by myself. I had noticed a lot of the Topiaries were up for the upcoming flower and garden Festival, so I headed to World Showcase. I photographed Snow White and Dopey, Bambi and Thumper, Mickey and Minnie, Beauty and the Beast, Lady and Tramp, Tinkerbell and Lumiere. It was fun to wander around by myself. (In a few more days, when the temperature and humidity soared, this would not have been so much fun, but it sure was this day!)

I waited for everyone at Test Track. While I was waiting, I noticed it said a 70 minute wait for the stand by line. Then I heard a woman walk behind me and say “20 minute wait, that’s not too bad” Huh!!! I glanced up and sure enough it said 20 minutes, where it had just said 70 minutes!!! Single rider line said 30 minutes. Now that seemed strange, for the single rider line to be shorter than the stand by line! However, as I was looking at the signs trying to make sense of it, the stand by line flipped to 95 minutes! and the single rider to 40! The poor people who got in line thinking it was a 20-minute wait! (I can’t imagine who would wait in line for 95 minutes! Oh ya, the people who slept in, and went out for a nice breakfast!!!)

The family showed up and Jim, the kids and I used the FP’s for the ride. Gram headed to the front, to locate the picture of Jimmy and Cam on the Leave a Legacy Tile. Even with FP’s, we waited 15 minutes to get on. Basically, it was the worst ride I have ever had on Test Track. The audio didn’t work and we jerked to a stop in the cold room. That actually felt heavenly and I thoroughly enjoyed it! We started up again, went a little further then suddenly stopped for a second time. We started up again, but again jerked to a stop, where Jim hit his knee again! Ouch!!! Jim has had three major surgeries on his knee, so this was not fun!! We finally finished the ride. Thankfully, we did not have to make any additional stops on the outside loop. When we got off, Jim overheard a CM explaining to someone that all the stops were to load a wheelchair. It’s hard to imagine that being true! They stop the cars already, for loading and unloading, and that doesn’t cause the ride to stop. I can’t imagine that Disney is going to have a “thrill” ride that is interrupted for the 100 or so people on the ride, to load a wheelchair. Besides, the audio never worked, what does that have to do with a wheelchair? The irony is that if that was the true reason, those three jerky stops could have injured Jim’s sensitive knee, putting him in a wheelchair!!!!

I went to meet Gram at the exit, while Jim and the kids took a detour to stop at Club Cool. (I guess Jimmy even had a taste of Beverly!!! The kids were disappointed to find all the Vega Beta machines were closed.) I met Gram and she showed me Jimmy and Cam’s picture. We had it done five years ago and it is a cute picture!

Soon enough, the boys showed up and we walked out to the parking lot. At first, Jim couldn’t find the car, but he hit the button on the key chain and made the car honk!

We drove to the Wilderness Lodge, hoping to see CM Sandra. Unfortunately, she was out sick, so we returned to the Pop Century. We went directly to the food court. Gram and I had sundaes, Jimmy and Cam had cheesecake, while Jim had a cheese steak sub. We returned to the room and kept with tradition for the third day in a row. Jim laid down on the bed and promptly fell asleep, Jimmy read his book, Cam watched a DVD, and I worked on the trip report. About an hour later, the three boys headed out to play catch with their swimsuits. (Those gloves are certainly getting a workout!) I didn’t see them again for a couple hours. I continued on my trip report, organized the kids pins, and, although I didn’t sleep, I laid down in the cool, semi-dark room and rested my head. (It’s really nice for Jim and the boys to have some one-on-one time. I have been so fortunate to have never worked since Jimmy was born. During the year, especially during the summer months, it’s me and the kids. So, it’s nice for them to spend time with Dad, without me being there.)

At 5:00, we all piled into the car to go to the Contemporary for the kids pin trading night. We had no problem parking there. We weren’t even given a three-hour parking pass, which was a surprise. Jim was nice enough to drop us off and go park. The plan was for Gram and the kids to wait in line for the pin event, while Jim and I had time together. Gram kept saying at home that we were so good to include her on our vacation, but that we didn’t need to be together all the time. This is very nice thinking on her part. The kids and Gram went upstairs, while Jim and I got juice for them in the food court. Once upstairs, I brought both Jimmy and Cam to the bathroom. (One time, after waiting 1½ hours for the event to start, Cam had to go “bad” right when it was his turn to trade.) When I returned with Cam, a man who is always at this event was talking to Jimmy and Gram. This made Gram nervous about me leaving, because she thought he might take advantage of the kids with a pin trade. I tried to reassure Gram that both Jimmy and Cam know enough about pins that they would be all set. Besides, we only had extra traders with us anyway. All the favorite pins were either at home or in the room. Finally, Jim and I were able to leave.

We caught the monorail. Our section of monorail was empty of people, but I was surprised at how much garbage, as in spilled food and food wrappers, was on the floor. Originally, we had planned on visiting the resorts on the monorail loop. However, I thought that if we went into the Magic Kingdom, we might be able to get FP’s for the kids to ride something after the pin trading event. Additionally, the Magic Kingdom is my favorite park and I am just happy to walk down Main Street!

We quickly went through the bag check and were in the park. I was surprised it wasn’t more crowded. (The tip board showed considerable waits of over an hour, but it certainly wasn’t wall to wall people like I have seen it!)

Jim offered to go to Space Mountain to try and get FP’s, so I could spend time on Main Street, which is one of my favorite things to do. I browsed the many shops, checking out all the things that I would like to buy if I won the lottery. I also checked out CM lanyards as I meandered about. I found a couple of lanyard pins, but was especially happy to find some pins for trip report writer Stacey who trades for the boys when she is here. Meanwhile, Jim walked over to Thunder Mountain for FP’s, after he found out all the Space Mountain ones were gone.

Jim and I met in front of the camera center and rode the monorail back to the Contemporary. The first four kids were just being let in for pin trading. Jimmy and Cam were 6th and 7th in line. They told me that after the pin trading, they were doing an Easter egg hunt in the gift shop. Once all the eggs were located, you turned in your sheet and would be given an egg with a pin in it. They also told me that they had made five pin trades, with the man they were talking to, as I was leaving an hour ago. The best trade they made was probably for a Dinosaur Fast Pass pin. Grammy had met two nice ladies in line. (We almost always meet someone nice there!) One lady lives in Celebration. She told Gram about a huge Disney liquidation sale that was being held in the Middle School gym next weekend. Gram introduced me to the lady, who also told me all about it. It sounds unbelievably good!!! I think we may try to go. We won’t have a car then, so it will take a little planning. As the three of us were talking, the lady noticed another woman guiding her son to the front of the line. (In front of Jimmy and Cam who had waited for 1 1/2 hours!) Suddenly, the two women had words with each other. Our new friend was accusing the other mother of cutting in front of everyone. The other mother said there were “special circumstances” that allowed her to do this. There were a few more words spoken back and forth. (I can’t imagine what the special circumstances were or if she was lying. I don’t think Barbara <our friend who runs the event> or the other CM even knew she was cutting) Gram told me later, that this same lady had tried to cut in front of the boys earlier! Jimmy and Cam had their turns. Usually, they find five new lanyard pins that they need fairly quickly. However, tonight they spent quite a bit of time looking. I think, because they have so many lanyard pins already, that there weren’t any there that they needed. Cam did find the orange monorail pin that he needed, so that was good. He said there were only two and he actually traded for both. He gave one to Gram, which was very sweet. The other pins they traded for were limited edition pins. Once they were done trading, they went to do the Easter egg hunt. They each had a sheet of paper that was numbered 1-20. In the store, all the hidden eggs were numbered. When you found an egg, you wrote down on the sheet where the egg was located. The eggs were displayed out of reach, so they wouldn’t be disturbed. It was really fun, and we adults enjoyed it as much as Jimmy and Cam!! They finished the hunt and turned in their sheets. They each picked an egg out of the basket. Cam’s egg contained a lanyard pin of Pluto on a mug. Cam already had this pin, so he gave it to Jimmy, who needed it. (What a nice boy!) Jimmy’s egg had two pins, a series three lanyard pin that both boys already had, and a Sleepy parking lot lanyard pin, which he needed. We thanked Barbara and said good-bye, before catching the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. When we got off the monorail, an older couple noticed Cams Red Sox shirt. We talked to them for a minute and found out that they are from Plaistow, N.H.

It was definitely more crowded now than an hour ago, when Jim and I had left. We hopped on the train. I love riding the train at night. We disembarked in Toon Town and wandered around, before heading to Fantasyland. There was no wait at Mickey’s Philharmagic, so we stopped in for a show. Poor Donald, will he ever learn to listen to Mickey?? We walked over to the Haunted Mansion. This also had no wait and we walked right into the stretch room. As always, it was a great ride. Spectro Magic was in full swing when we came out. We walked on the walkway behind the main road, to make our way over to Thunder Mountain, so the kids could use the FP’s. Gram decided to go directly to Adventureland, to get a Dole Whip.

The kids hopped on Thunder Mountain, while Jim and I waited out front. I counted the number of kids I saw wearing “heelies”, roll by me. (7, not including Jimmy and Cam!) We met the kids and started toward Adventureland. Apparently, every person in the entire park who had just watched the parade, were now descending on Splash and Thunder Mountains!!! As we were crossing the bridge in front of Splash Mountain, we were swallowed up in a crush of people coming toward us! It actually was a bit frightening. Anyone who was even slightly claustrophobic probably would have passed out. I can now fully understand how people can get trampled! Never in my life have I ever experienced anything like that! Finally, we got out of that mess and met Gram at the Dole Whip stand. I had the Dole Whip float, while the others had a Dole Whip. Just as we finished, Wishes started, so we walked down to the Crystal Palace to watch the show. As always, a great show, my favorite!

We walked to the Contemporary to get our car. As we neared the parking lot, Jimmy wiped out on his “heelies” and scraped his elbow and knee! He was a trooper about it and just covered it with band-aids. We had a quick ride back to the Pop, where we were in bed by 11:00. Tomorrow, we will be up early for extra magic hour at Typhoon Lagoon.

Saturday April 15th-87 degrees

I woke up at 5:30. Grrrr, why can’t I sleep later?? I got up, showered and packed up the bag with towels, goggles, snacks and sunscreen. I glanced over the lanyard sheet and was stunned to see that Cam only needed 6 more lanyard pins, to complete series four and Jimmy only needed 9!

I woke the boys at 7:25. I hated to wake them, because they looked so peaceful. Gram opted not to go with us and to spend the morning at the Pop Century.

Jim and Jimmy went to get the car, while Cam and I headed to the food court. We got coffee for Jim, lemonade for the kids, and water for me. We pulled into the Typhoon Lagoon parking lots and parked with seven other cars!!!! Love these extra magic hours!!!! We were let in at 8:05. (Not sure why they were five minutes late. All of the CM’s were just standing around. I hope they don’t let the non-resort guests in until 9:05!!!)

We walked into a deserted park and grabbed a perfect front row spot in front of the wave pool. It gave us a little privacy, because on both sides of us was a wooden fence. We went straight to Crush n’ Gusher. What a GREAT time we had!!!! We rode it 8 times in rapid succession. Running up those stairs to go again and again brought back memories for me of playing J.V. basketball! Our coaches favorite drill was to bring us into the school and have us run up and down the flight of stairs until we were ready to vomit! (Yes, wonderful memories!) We went on all the fruit slides, banana blaster, coconut crusher and I can’t remember the third one! It was funny, because on each and every ride we were instructed to “keep your bum up and hold on”. Its good to know that Disney has so much concern for our “bums”!!!

After the 8th ride, the three boys went to Humunga Kowabunga, while I returned to our spot. I like Humunga Kowabunga, but in November, I somehow twisted my neck on it, and I didn’t want to repeat that with another week left of vacation! While waiting for the guys to return, I watched a total of (yes, count them) 7 people in the wave pool!!! At this time, I came to the conclusion that extra magic hour ROCKS!!!!! I really hope Disney continues this perk, at least until after we come back in June!

I called Gram to check in on her. She answered on the 5th ring and whispered she would talk to me later. She was getting food at the “hippity-hoppity”. I had no clue as to what that was, but I quickly said goodbye! (I found out that night that she was getting food in the food court! The pool is called the hippy-dippy pool. I guess that is where the confusion came from!) The boys returned after having had over ten rides down Humunga Kowabunga. Jimmy, Cam and I made a mad dash for the nearly empty wave pool. All I can say is that it was AWESOME!!! We practically had the wave pool to ourselves. We rode wave after wave, with no one around us. It was fantastic not to have to worry about bumping into anybody. We rode for a long time, until Jimmy got hungry and needed a snack. (When Jimmy is hungry, we stop everything to eat. He barely weights 80 pounds, soaking wet.) After a snack of chips and brownies from our snack bag, we returned to the wave pool. We stepped into the wave pool and we all said a collective Brrrrr!!! What the heck happened in the short time we were out? We all rode the waves, countless times. Sometimes, we swam way out deep, other times we were at the black line, and sometimes we were further in. We discovered the ride was the best if we didn’t go out to the black line. Jim and Jimmy returned to the spot first, because they were cold. (Who’s the wimp now Jim!!!) Cam and I continued to ride the waves, until Cam decided he wanted to go in the lazy river. We stopped to get Jim and Jimmy on the way. Jimmy said he was still too cold. Poor guy, he really is nothing but skin and bones. When he gets cold, he is cold!! As we were leaving, Jimmy changed his mind and decided to join us. Well, we had a wonderful surprise as we stepped into Cast Away Creek. It was as warm as bathwater and felt heavenly!! The three of us just looked at each other and grinned! We went around the loop twice. One new thing I noticed was a net to hold trash, as in all the picture bracelets that people discard. Only problem was, there was only one, they need about ten or so. Both times the kids had their picture taken, there was no trash around for the little square piece that you take off, to put the bracelet on. We returned to our spot and Jim offered to go get us a dozen of the mini donuts and a strawberry slush. (Thanks Jim!) The donuts were wonderful, but the slush was terrible, it hardly had any strawberry taste! It was a terrible, waterlogged, mound of slush, with barely a hint of strawberry! Jim brought the kids on the Lazy River while I sat and relaxed. During this time I wrote down some observations from the morning in my notebook. Here goes!!

Don’t wear a two-piece bathing suit if you weigh over 300 pounds!
Don’t have a splashing fight with your friend in the lazy river, soaking anyone who happens to be within 30 feet of you!
Funny observation: a couple in their 60s running to Crush and Gusher at 8:30 in the morning as we were leaving. What enthusiasm!!!
Overheard someone say: “I don’t want to get my hair wet!” Err, maybe a water park is not for you!!!
Extra Magic hour from 8:00am–9:00am is the smartest thing that Disney has done in years.
Don’t arrive to a water park during Easter week at 12:00 and think you will find a chair!
A man wearing a Speedo is not an attractive sight!
When the boys arrived back, it was a little after 12:00. That was about the time we had planned on leaving. Cam and I had one more quick dip in the wave pool and then we gathered up our stuff. While we did this, I observed countless families wandering by in a daze, looking for a place to put their stuff. By now the place was absolutely packed, with every spot taken. I often wonder what people are thinking. All these people missed the fantastic time we had in the morning. Now the place is packed and the lines are long at all the slides. How can that be a fun experience? As we gathered up our belongings, two women asked if we were leaving. I said “yes” and they quickly claimed our spot. They were so thankful to have a place to sit and to put their things down. I am sure they felt like they had hit the jackpot with us leaving! I told them to have a good time and we headed out.

When we were heading for the exit, a security guard told me that if we left, we would not be able to get back in. They were close to capacity and were getting ready to stop letting people in. Our car was stifling! The thermometer read 109 degrees inside the car and 87 outside. We headed out of the park and saw an unbelievable sight. We easily drove out, but it was absolute gridlock coming into the park! There didn’t appear to be any parking places left. The whole road coming in was backed up out to the main road. Cars were all just sitting there. Those poor, sorry folks were stuck. The saddest part was when, and if, they ever got in to park (which was questionable!) the park wouldn’t be letting more people in!!!! “These are the people”, I said to Jim and the kids “that come to Disney and have a terrible time, because all they do is encounter crowds”. I always tell people, get up early to go into a park and have a plan. If you choose to sleep in, fine, but happily deal with the consequences that these poor people were now dealing with! We, on the other hand, had one of the best mornings of our vacation so far. Being in the park with a handful of people, was SO MUCH fun!!!! (As I am typing this at home, I have to say the highlight of the whole vacation for me was this morning at Typhoon Lagoon!)

Back at the Pop Century, Cam and I returned to the room, while Jim and Jimmy went to the food court to get lunch. On the way back to the room, Cam looked at me and said “Mom, I had so much fun this morning”. I agreed with him, it was great.

I was surprised when I opened the door. Housekeeping hadn’t done our room, but they had done Gram’s adjoining room hours ago! (They did show up about 1 ½ hours later. We were all resting, so I just had them empty the trash and give us some clean towels.)

After some rest, Jim brought the boys out to play catch. They also went for a walk, to the bridge that was made to connect to the unfinished nearby Pop Century. (I tell you, those building are UGLY!!! We referred to them as the bomb shelter the entire vacation!)

Around 3:00, Gram and I walked down to the food court to fill our water bottles. We met the boys, who were just returning to the room to get their swimsuits. It has been so nice for the three of them to spend so much time together, playing catch, going for walks and swimming. Like I mentioned before, I have never worked. Consequently, I have been spoiled, by getting to spend so much time with the boys, and going on so many adventures together!

At 4:00, we left to drive to the Polynesian for our dinner at O’hana. We arrived early and checked out the different shops. I took my annual picture of Jimmy and Cam in front of the waterfalls. (This is the tenth consecutive year I have taken this picture. All the pictures are framed and boy, have the boys grown!!!) I checked us in and we were soon seated by “cousin Wanda”. She told us she had just flown in today after a visit home. I asked where home was and she said N.C. She said her ears were still plugged from the flight. Jim could sympathize with that, because his ears give him A LOT of trouble when he flies!

O’hanas has changed a bit since our visit last year, but continues to be outstanding. We started off with the salad, which was wonderful. Next, was the shrimp and chicken wings, those were my favorite part of the whole meal! I LOVED them! I also LOVE the peanut dipping sauce. I wish I could buy a barrel of the stuff and bring it home!!! We all really enjoyed our meal. Neither Jimmy nor Cam ate the O’hana buffet. Instead, they ordered food off the kid’s menu. This worked out well, because instead of paying $25.99 plus tax for food they wouldn’t eat, they were able to have mac n’ cheese and chicken strips, which they loved, for $5.50 each!! They were happy, and we saved a considerable amount of money! Just as we were finishing up eating, and waiting for dessert, I heard Gram yell out “Cam”! I looked up to see Gram rising out of her seat and then I looked over at Cam, just as he “deposited” two cups of chocolate milk in his lap! He then took a breath and did it again! To put it mildly he was covered! He was quite startled over what had happened, but said he was fine. We grabbed every available napkin and put it in his lap, in an attempt to clean him up! Gram and Jim did the bulk of the cleaning. (Thank you SO MUCH!!!) I am terrible with that sort of thing, so I offered encouragement from afar! Gram took Cam to the bathroom and Jim went to the gift shop downstairs, to buy a new t-shirt for Cam to put on. About five minutes later, Jim returned with no t-shirt! He wasn’t sure what size to buy! (Come on Jim!) I ran downstairs, grabbed a t-shirt, paid for it and hurried back up to the bathroom. Gram had Cam cleaned up as best she could. She returned to the table, while I helped Cam put on the new shirt. When we returned to the table, Jim, Jimmy and Gram had pretty much polished off the dessert. I never even tried any, oh well, next time! The original plan was to hop on the monorail and visit the other resorts on the loop. However, Cam needed to get out of those shorts so we returned to the resort. Jim brought the boys swimming and we had an early night.

Tomorrow is Easter. We are going to our beloved Fort Wilderness to spend the day. Gram has reserved a golf cart for us to use. We also have some type of scavenger hunt to do that our cousins, David, Kathy, Keith and Jenny have put together for us.

Sunday April 16th-high of 89 degrees

I slept until 6:50. That is late for me and I almost jumped for joy!!! The Easter Bunny had come during the night and left candy and plastic eggs scattered around both rooms!

When the kids woke up, they ran around both rooms, finding candy and placing it in a pile on the bed. They had a great time. The favorite candy appeared to be white chocolate Lindt balls! Jimmy called cousin Jenny to tell her that the Easter Bunny had left something for her and Keith, on the washing machine at Gram’s house.

We left the room at 9:00 and drove to the Marketplace. We figured we’d shop, pin trade and buy sandwiches from the Earl of Sandwich, to bring with us to Fort Wilderness for lunch.

Cam and I looked around together, while Jim and Jimmy did. Gram was happy to be on her own, so she could pin trade. I purchased an Easter pin and pin book at the large pin store. With that purchase, I could buy one of the special lanyard pins for $1.00. I paid with my Disney Visa card. The CM then showed me two pins that only Disney Visa cardholders could buy. So, of course I did. This also increased my total, so I bought another special pin for $1.00!

Gram took the boys to Ghirardelli’s for a sundae, while Jim and I went to the Earl of Sandwich to buy our lunch. I briefly left Jim, to run to the gift shop of the Rain Forest Café. I bought some small items, to put in Jimmy and Cam’s advent calendar at Christmas.

We all met up and headed to the car. We drove to Fort Wilderness. On the way to the bus stop, the wheel on Cam’s “heelie” got jammed with a stone. Gram asked a man at the bus stop if he had a jack knife, to get the stone out with. He had a knife and he got the stone out, with many thanks from us! When the bus came, everyone hopped on, except me. I wanted to walk to the bike barn. I wanted a little quiet time, in what has always been my favorite place in the whole entire world. All I could think of was how much I missed Dad. It is just so unbelievable, that just one year ago, we were here at Fort Wilderness, so happy, having a great time. None of us could have ever imagined then, that we’d lose Dad, who was the picture of health, in a few short months. I still love Fort Wilderness, but it will never be what it once was. It’s almost a painful reminder of all that we have lost.

When I arrived at the bike Barn, Cam and Gram were in line. Jim and Jimmy were securing us spots at the pool. I have to say, Disney can move crowds more efficiently than anybody. HOWEVER, the Fort Wilderness Bike Barn runs slower than molasses, they always have and I guess they always will!!!!! FINALLY, Gram got waited on. After ten more minutes of talking, getting instructions, and signing papers, we were on our way! We picked up Jim and Jimmy, who had been playing catch near the pool. Now, it was time to begin the scavenger hunt from the cousins. We opened up the first envelope. The instructions were to find all five pressed penny machines, located throughout the resort. We had specific instructions to find the machine that pressed a penny with the Fort Wilderness logo, of Mickey with his musket. We were all given two quarters each and a penny with our birth year. We could pick our favorite design. This was such a cute idea and I was touched that they went through all the work to set it up. We found all five machines. Gram, Cam and I all selected the musket Mickey design. Jimmy picked a Donald Duck and Jim picked Happy from the seven dwarfs.

The next challenge contained a picture of a Fort Wilderness trashcan with the logo on it. Our mission was to locate every trashcan at the resort with that logo on it! We soon found out that some had the logo and some did not! The hunt was on!!! We drove all around, yelling out when we saw one. Gram was in charge of writing the location down. (Throughout the day, Gram would call the cousins and give them updates on our progress!) As we were working on this challenge, we opened up another envelope. This envelope contained two pictures of trashcans. They were very different from all the other trashcans we had been seeing. One had what appeared to be bamboo or palm leaves on it. The other was a green one that said River Country. Well, we found the first one almost immediately. It was at the end of a walking path, on the beach, near the old River Country. The River Country one was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t even begin to imagine where it was, or why it was still around, considering that River Country has been closed for quite some time. Gram called cousin David and asked if it was near the old River Country, and he said “no”. Hmmm, where could it be?

We went to the pool. Jim, Jimmy and Cam quickly got into their suits and went swimming. Gram and I returned to the golf cart and just enjoyed riding around. We found more trashcans and Gram wrote them down. We thought there might be some out by the dam. The only problem is, you can’t drive the golf cart out there. Gram dropped me off and I walked out there. I looked all around that area and the beach. Nothing! Boy, was it HOT walking around, but we were determined to succeed in finding that River Country trashcan!!!!!!!!! I met Gram at the Trading Post and we rode around a few more loops. We checked out the cabins, before returning to the pool. We met up with the guys and opened our next challenge. This challenge was the “amazing Disney race”. The instructions were for us to split up into two groups. One group would catch the boat to travel to the Wilderness Lodge. The other would travel by bus. Each group was given a pin in the envelope. Once at the Lodge, you had to trade the pin and return to the campground. Jim and Jimmy headed to the dock, while Gram, Cam and I headed to the bus stop. We only waited about two minutes and we were on the bus. We went into the Lodge where Cam quickly made a trade. As we were walking to the bus stop, I saw a Fort Wilderness bus pull up. We started running (well, Gram didn’t run!) to catch the bus. We were quickly back at the campground. It took us a total of 21 minute’s. We easily beat Jim and Jimmy! When they returned, they said that their boat didn’t go directly to the Lodge, but it stopped at the Contemporary first. Once they arrived, they sprinted inside. Jimmy made his trade with the man at the DVC desk. They then sprinted back outside. (I wonder if people wondered what the heck they were doing!!!) There was a boat waiting and it brought them directly back to Fort Wilderness.

We rode around some more in the golf cart, before returning to the pool. We all swam, before deciding to call it a day. As we were leaving the pool area, there was a group of CM’s giving out beautifully decorated Easter cookies and punch. You could also choose a plain cookie and decorate it yourself, with frosting and sprinkles. It was wonderful and it was FREE!!!!

Gram called the Carters once again, to get a hint on that River Country trashcan. They said it was near the outpost. Once out in the parking lot, we split up to search. (Are we determined or what?) Jim ended up finding it and called us on the cell phone. We all went to see it and take a picture of everyone around it. (Yes, I can only imagine what people were thinking!!! Thankfully, we don’t live our lives by what other people think!!!) It really was odd to see the River Country stamp on the trashcan, considering that River Country has been closed for 6-7 years!!!

We plugged in the golf cart for Gram and Cam to use tomorrow (Jim, Jimmy and I are going to MGM) and we piled into the car. Back at the Pop, we grabbed a quick bite to eat.

Jim and I left at 7:15 for Pleasure Island. We planned on seeing the 8:15 and the 9:00 show at the Comedy Warehouse.

Well, both shows were a disappointment. There were funny parts for sure, and we had some laughs. We, however, didn’t think they were nearly as funny as they were years ago. The other problem was they were difficult to understand at times when they did there singing skits. (Which there was a lot of.) Perhaps the strangest thing that happened was after the show. Jim had to use the bathroom. There, lined up were about 20 port-a-potties!!!! Who uses a port-a-potty at Disney?? If someone had asked me if Disney relied on port-a-potties, I would have said “NO”. For the second time on this trip, we felt like we were at the Country Fair!!!! We both agreed that we didn’t need to come back to Pleasure Island for another ten years or so!!!

Returned to the Pop and crawled into bed. Tomorrow is Jim’s last full day. MGM in the morning.

Monday April 17th—High of 91 degrees

We were up and out the door at 7:15. MGM had the extra magic hour this morning and was opening at 8:00. We dropped Cam and Gram off at Fort Wilderness, to use the golf cart and have fun there. Gram realized, when she got up, that she couldn’t find her prescription sunglasses. Hopefully, they will turn up!

We parked at MGM and quickly walked into the park. We only waited a few minutes to get in and for the rope to drop. I sent Jim and Jimmy to ride the RRC, while I picked up FP’s for the TOT. With that accomplished, I looked in a few shops before going to the RRC gift shop to meet the boys. They came out all excited, because they had gotten the very front seat. Our favorite! Next, we did the stand-by line for the TOT, waiting about 15 minutes. We got the front seats on the elevator. (Also our favorite!) I absolutely LOVE this ride. When we got off, we were going to use our FP’s for our second ride, but we noticed that there wasn’t much of a stand-by line, so we waited in a short line for another ride. We scored front row seats again! When we exited, we rode for our third time with the FP’s. All three rides were fantastic!

We walked over to the Millionaire Show. We had a short wait before we were seated. The first fastest finger winner was a 13 year old boy from N.Y. He looked so excited to be sitting there! He made it to the 8,000 point question. The next contestant was a 15 year old boy from Boston. He did great and made it to the 32,000 question. The host told us that the youngest person to ever sit in the hot seat was a two year old girl!!!! The youngest person to ever win the cruise was an eight year old girl!!!!! Wow, amazing!!!!

We returned to the RRC and used our FP’s. We spotted a bunch of kids from Kearsarge High School. They were with the band, to perform later in the week. I reminded Jimmy that if he stuck with the trombone, he would be able to play at Disney, too! We hopped into our limo and we were off. Being at this attraction made me hope that Steven Tyler is ok. About a month ago he canceled a concert in N.H. We then heard that he needed surgery. Hopefully it isn’t too serious.

We pin traded our way out of the park and returned to the car. Once in the car, I called Gram. She said she and Cam had had fun in the golf cart and had played a game of shuffleboard at Fort Wilderness. They were at the Wilderness Lodge, finishing a visit with CM Sandra. I offered to come pick them up. Gram had planned on going into the Magic Kingdom for a Dole Whip, but Cam was ready to return to the Pop Century. Gram decided to come, as well.

We went directly to the food court at the Pop Century. A cheese steak sub for me, Parmesan crusted chicken for Jim, and chicken tenders for the boys. For some reason, I felt exhausted just sitting there eating. I was glad to return to the room. In keeping with tradition, Jim and the boys went to play catch and swim. I laid down to rest. My head was really throbbing and the cool, dark room felt soothing.

Around 4:00, everyone returned and we got ready for our dinner at Boma. We arrived at 5:00 and were quickly seated. Between my headache and our late lunch, I wasn’t particularly hungry, which was disappointing. I did, however, sample a little of a huge variety of foods. Jimmy and Cam LOVE buffets, so they had a ball serving themselves. They stuck to the kid’s buffet and the dessert buffet. The final count of zebra domes consumed by Jimmy was 9 and Cam ate 10! Jim thought the buffet was great and ate a ton of food. Gram was like me, not too hungry but enjoyed trying a variety of food. On the way out, Cam traded for a Horizons license plate pin from an extremely friendly CM.

We drove over to Animal Kingdom. In the parking lot, Jim was driving the wrong way, trying to get a spot close up! We parked and went in. At the first gift shop, Gram bought a pair of sunglasses, to clip onto her glasses. Hopefully, her prescription sunglasses will show up soon! I ended up buying a pair of socks. (I had left a pair in the car, but Jim had brought them into the room, so I was left without any.) Cam traded for two lanyard pins, Donald in a Hawaiian shirt and a Space Mountain Fast Pass. We were surprised, because we thought all of the lanyard pins would be gone for the day.

We walked over to Expedition Everest for FP’s. However, we found out that the FP machines were closed until 8:00, when the extra magic hours began. We walked over to the nearby Maharaja Jungle Trek, but discovered that it closed at 7:00. (It was 7:05.) Cam really wanted another ride on Expedition Everest, and so did Jim, before he had to leave tomorrow. They decided to stand in the stand-by line. (The sign said a 40- minute wait, but according to Jim, they only waited 20.) Gram wanted to see “Its Tough to be a Bug”, so she headed to that. Jimmy wanted to go to Conservation Station. He had his “hidden Mickey” book and was intent on trying to find some. We walked over to Africa and were happy to see that it was still open. We caught the train and enjoyed seeing all the buildings that house the animals at night. (The last time I rode this train to Conservation Station was when the park first opened in April of 1998. Cam was two and Jimmy not quite five. Consequently, Jimmy didn’t remember it at all! We were not impressed with the attraction, which explains why it took us almost eight years to return!!!!)

We walked into the main building and began our search for hidden Mickey’s in the mural. Some of our favorites included hidden Mickey’s in the eye of both the ostrich and owl, on the body of a butterfly and snake and on an opossum. We spent at least 20 minutes in here looking for them. My stomach was a little rumbly and my head hurt a bit. Luckily, there was a nearby restroom. (Unfortunately, piped into the bathroom were rather LOUD animal noises, which did nothing for my head. On a brighter note, as I was sitting on the toilet, I could read interesting facts about animal poop posted on the door to the stall!!!!!!! This is what I learned: Rhinos eat seeds, then deposit them in middens <piles of poop> from there the seeds sprout and grow into trees! Where else in the world can you go to the bathroom and learn about animal poop!!!!) I left the restroom bursting with new knowledge!!! Jimmy and I went into the main room. The room was practically empty. All by themselves, were Rafiki, Pocahontas, and Stanley from Playhouse Disney. Jimmy was good enough to let me take his picture with Rafiki and Stanley. We found lots more hidden Mickey’s in the trees and on the cockroaches. Our book said there was a hidden Mickey on a fly. Jimmy and I searched and searched, but couldn’t find it. I finally enlisted the help of Pocahontas. (I told you there was NO ONE there!!!!) How many people can say that they have had Pocahontas’s undivided attention, to help them find hidden Mickey’s!!!! She knew right where it was and pointed it out to us. (As a side note, she seemed to be something of an expert about where all of the hidden Mickey’s were in that building!!!) The hidden Mickey was REALLY TINY, located on the back of a fly! I think this hidden Mickey is one of my absolute favorites, right up there with a hidden Mickey that we saw two years ago on a bar of soap on the Pagoni Forest Exploration Trail. We walked over to the exhibit windows and a CM handed Jimmy a large round item to hold. She then told us it was elephant poop. Jimmy quickly handed it to me!!!! She then picked up some small pieces of poop and had us guess what animal it came from. She gave us a hint that although it was small, it came from a large animal. I guessed correctly with giraffe poop!!!! (We learned a lot about poop tonight!!!) We then found another hidden Mickey. It was of three dimes, situated to form Mickey’s head and ears. The dimes had been surgically removed from a bird.

Jim called a second time, to say that he and Cam were riding Expedition Everest for the third time. Gram also called and said she was going to the Lion King show. As we were leaving, a CM asked us if we had park hopper passes. I told her we had annual passes. She responded by asking “what’s that?” I explained that we could go into a Disney park everyday for 365 days. She said “oh, really”. I was glad I could enlighten the CM about the tickets that her company sells!!! Jimmy and I got on the very last train out of Conservation Station. We talked about what a great time we had together. It was almost surreal being almost the only ones out there. Our walk back to Expedition Everest was “different”. It was dark with not much lighting. Since that part of the park was closed, everything was deserted. We didn’t see another soul once we left Africa, until we got over to Expedition Everest! It was a neat experience!!

We met Jim and Cam and we all went on Expedition Everest together. We loved it at night. It almost seemed like a different ride! After the ride we walked to the exit. The Tree of Life looked great all lit up. I have always wanted to see it at night, so I was happy to have the opportunity.

I called Gram to see if she had left yet. She said she was at the bus stop. I told her that we were leaving so she could ride with us. She declined the offer and said she was going to ride the bus. We all arrived back at the Pop Century at the same time. Another great day comes to a close. Tomorrow night Jim flies home. In the morning, we meet CM Barbara to go to Disney Quest.

Tuesday April 18th-High of 89 degrees

Everyone slept in today, getting up between 7:00-8:00. Jim flies home today. (Bummer!) Wish he could stay longer. Gram checked out of her room, as she is now sharing a room with us.

We left around 10:00. We wanted to make one more stop at the Premium outlets to go to the Disney outlet store. Gram wished she had purchased more of the trading pins for $2.00. I also wanted more, since the kids had traded all of the ones that I had bought last week! I wasn’t sure if they would have any of the pins left, but they did!

We arrived, and sure enough, they still had the pins. The pin had a symbol of all four parks, with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy on it. On the bottom, it said either I LOVE YOU or Orlando. I checked again to make sure they were still $2.00, and they were. The clerk reminded me that you couldn’t trade these pins. I just nodded my head, not bothering to tell her that the kids just traded 40 with no problem!!! I bought another 25 along with more Test Track postcards for 9 cents and a T-shirt for Jen. Gram bought herself some pins as well. Jim ran to the Nike store to pick up some Livestrong bracelets, but they only had youth sizes.

We met CM Barbara and her husband Frank in front of Disney Quest. We had a nice chat, before going to the ticket window. I was planning on buying myself a ticket. Barbara could get in the three boys and Gram had a Premium Annual pass. Just as I was about to buy my ticket, Barbara said to hold on a minute. In the end, she was able to get four tickets. This truly was a HUGE gift!!! Disney Quest tickets are $35.00 plus tax, so it would have cost us around $150.00 to go! Barbara also gave the boys cast exclusive pins, of Expedition Everest, that they loved!!

Once inside, the three boys set off to explore, while Gram and I talked with Barbara. It was fun to talk to her and get to know her a little better. Meanwhile, poor Frank was waiting outside for her, as they were headed to Epcot. As we were talking, a CM came by wearing a lanyard. I asked to see it and the CM stopped. He said I couldn’t trade for his favorite pin, a pin of Figment. I mentioned his Ariel lanyard pin and he told me that I couldn’t trade for that, only kids could trade for the lanyard pins!!!!! I replied “isn’t that what the green lanyards are for, just for the kids to trade from?” He said “no, the green lanyards only have lanyard pins on them”. This, of course, was totally and completely false. (It can get SO ANNOYING, when CM’s come up with their own personal rules, then tell the guests that their rules are facts!!) Barbara was rolling her eyes, saying he was completely false. She was shocked by the whole encounter. She did say she would talk to her manager about it, who in turn could alert Disney Quest, about the fact that this man was making up his own set of rules!!! We could have visited with Barbara all day, but she was off to Epcot with her husband. We said goodbye to Barbara with many, many thanks!

We found the boys in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Gram and I did the Jungle Cruise ride. Although we laughed throughout the ride, it did nothing for us. I was so unimpressed, I wouldn’t even bother with it on a future visit to Disney Quest! Next, we went to Cyber Space Mountain, which I had heard good things about. Both Gram and I created our own roller coaster. The CM told us that if you include loops, you will go upside down. Since I wasn’t sure what to expect, I made a pretty tame ride. Both Gram and I finished and went to ride them. The CM told Gram that the coaster she made would be like a slow monorail ride!!! We had a good chuckle over that!!! We got in and rode Grams first. (Yawn!!) Mine was also pretty unexciting, although I did have some upside down loops. Gram also rode mine and survived intact!! I wanted to try it again, so I could make a more exciting ride. The boys arrived, so Jimmy and Cam made one, while Jim and I did. We both tried to make as exciting of a ride as we could, but we only got a 4 out of 5 on the scary scale!! We all rode our rides and LOVED it! It was also fun to stand outside and watch the kids ride their ride on a special screen. It was obvious how happy they were and what a great time they were having! We did this five times and finally reached our goal of 5 on the scary scale! It really was fun!!

Jim and the kids continued exploring, while Gram and I ordered some lunch. The guys rode the Buzz Lightyear bumper cars twice, some type of Comic ride and, of course, more rides on Cyber Space Mountain. Meanwhile, I ordered the kids a hotdog meal to share and a teriyaki chicken roll-up that Jim and I shared. Everything was great. Gram even had a piece of cheesecake, but I was too stuffed!

We left around 2:30 to return to the resort. The kids didn’t want to leave, but with Jim needing to catch his flight out, we stayed for as long as we could!

We filled the car up with gas in preparation for returning it to the airport, along with a quick stop at the Crossroads to get more juice.

We drove back to the Pop Century for our last time with the rent-a-car. (Boo Hoo, we will miss having a car. Of course, we will miss Jim, too!!!) Jim and I went to get drinks in our re-fillable mugs. Then we hung out in the room for about 45 minutes, until Jim had to leave. We hated to see him go! However, we were still on vacation, so after goodbyes, the kids, Gram and I caught a bus to Animal Kingdom!

Jimmy really wanted to return to Conservation Station, to show Gram and Cam all of the hidden Mickey’s that we had found last night. We pin traded as we walked to Africa. By the time we arrived there, we had pretty much traded off all of the pins we had bought this morning! (Those are the pins that the clerk said: “you can’t trade these”. Good thing I know more than the workers do!!!) I even traded for a Gargoyle pin that Barbara had been searching for!

We caught the train to Conservation Station and, right away, Jimmy started pointing out all of the cool, hidden Mickey’s to Gram and Cam. There were more people here tonight, but still not that many. I snapped a picture of the three of them with Rafiki. We went into one of the sound booths and put on earphones, to listen to “the sounds of the rainforest”. This was EXCELLENT!!!! It was SO REAL that during the rainstorm I half expected to get wet!!! I actually jumped when there was a crack of thunder. When the various animals growled or breathed, you almost felt like they were right behind you!!! At one point, there was a snake softly hissing in your ear and then a bird flies in and snatches up the snake!!! When the chainsaws were cutting down trees, you felt like they were falling right behind you!!! It was amazing how realistic the sounds were. In fact, it was so real, that it spooked Cam. He took off his earphones a couple of times!! You really felt like the action was happening all around you!! In the main room, we all petted a snake. The CM said the snake was 14 years old and was very used to people touching her. We stopped, for just a second, at the petting farm, before catching the train back to Africa.

We were going to eat at Tusker House, but were disappointed to find it closed. We also tried the Pizza safari, but that was closed, as well. After looking at the tip board, we found out that the Flame Tree barbeque was open. I have always wanted to eat here and finally got my chance!! I ordered a pulled pork sandwich, while the kids had hotdogs with frozen lemonade. Gram also had a frozen lemonade. As I waited for the food, the CM told me all about the trees in her view, and how they change over the course of the year. I asked how long she had worked here and she said three years. My sandwich was great! As it turned out, the frozen lemonades weren’t frozen, they were more liquid, not even slushy, they were a LONG TIME from being frozen!! I returned them and the CM went to another cooler to get frozen ones. We ate them on the way out. The skies were looking rather dark and we were expecting the skies to open up at any moment. However, they didn’t and we didn’t see any rain. We hopped on the bus and had a quick ride back to the resort.

Gram talked to both Dan and David, updating them on our day. Tomorrow is Extra magic hour at Animal Kingdom. The boys and I are going to have a marathon hour of riding Expedition Everest!!! Gram is going to pass!!! Lights out at 10:00.

Wednesday April 19th-high of 89 degrees.

I was sound asleep when the wake-up call came at 5:45! I crawled over Cam and picked it up on the second ring. No one else moved a muscle! I got ready and let the kids sleep, until the last possible second! They wished I had woken them up five minutes earlier, so they could lie in bed for a few minutes!!! Oh well!! We were out the door at 6:15. We walked in the early morning darkness to the bus stop. A bus pulled right up and we hopped on. The bus ended up being filled to standing room only. Evidence, that lots of people woke up early like we did! As the bus stopped at Animal Kingdom, the driver made the following announcement: “the buses are running about every 25 minutes. At 11:00, Animal Kingdom will take over the buses and then they will run about every 15 minutes”. Made me wonder who is in charge of the buses from 6:15-11:00!!!

We entered the park and (this is DISGUSTING!!) saw a pile of vomit, then a trail of it, then another pile and so on! There was a CM out there trying to cover it, but at least half of the entrance was covered!!! Just a quick glance at the mess sent me into dry heaves. I grabbed the kids and practically ran to the far side of the entrance to get away from it!!!! I can sympathize with someone being sick, but PLEASE, is it necessary to cover such a large area???? At least deposit it all into one pile, not scattered over such a large area!!!!

The kids spotted a CM wearing a lanyard on the other side of a closed ticket turnstile. When Jimmy and Cam went forward to see the CM, there was almost an audible “whoosh”. It was a crowd of people following Jimmy and Cam to what they thought was an opening of a new turnstile! The CM did, in fact, open his turnstile, but it was a funny sight to see Jimmy and Cam’s expressions when all these people descended on where they were standing!!!! It was comical to see all those adults following the lead of a 10 and 12 year old!!!! As a side note, the kids never did get to see the CM’s lanyard!!

Once we were settled in line, I called Jim to see if he had made it home safely last night. As we were talking, I heard the CM say that Expedition Everest wasn’t open for the Extra Magic hour!!! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!! The only reason we were even here was to ride EE!!!! Now if it opened at 8:00, there would be a huge line, all the EMH guests and everyone else that arrived at 8:00! About ten minutes later, we overheard another CM say that it was indeed open! (This is one of my pet peeves with WDW. So many CM have misinformation that they confuse the guests with it!) 7:00 came and went, all the CM’s were scurrying around with ink and stamper’s. Everyone with a paper ticket would have to have it stamped!! Sounded odd, but we got our AP stamped!! I wonder what the reason behind that was?

We speed walked to EE and ended up in the very first train of the day! That was fun! We had another great ride. We looked at our pictures when we got off. Once outside, Cam said, although he knew it wasn’t really her, he thought he saw Mrs. Weatherbee in one of the ride photos!!! (Mrs. Weatherbee is taking care of our cats, so I sure hope it wasn’t her!!!) We grabbed FP’s and got right back in line. We went on to have four rides in rapid succession. One of the times through, I overheard a man behind me say to his son, who had just asked when they could ride Mission Space, “We will not be riding Mission Space, it is a VERY dangerous ride”. Jimmy and Cam heard that and glanced at me. When we got off the ride I reminded them, that they visit their doctor every year and do not have any of the health risks associated with the ride. Unfortunately, they most likely have a greater risk playing hockey, downhill skiing, or riding to school in the morning!! After the fourth ride, I told Jimmy and Cam to try the single riders line while I browsed the gift shop. I ended up buying Jim, Jimmy and Cam EE T-shirts. I also purchased a Limited Edition book about EE, as well as a toy train car with the Yeti and Mickey riding in it. I met up with the boys about 15 minutes later. Basically, they didn’t save any time by going in the single riders line, as opposed to the stand-by line. We rode another two times by waiting in the stand-by line. We waited about ten minutes both times. (On our last ride, the lady behind me was talking on her cell phone in a loud, booming voice. Apparently, she had trouble with her rental car and all she did was complain, complain, complain, blah, blah, blah!!!!!! I don’t have a problem with cell phones, but she was annoying as heck!!!! Tone it down lady!!!)

After another seven rides on Expedition Everest, we walked over to Dinoland. The stand-by line for the Primeval Whirl was 10 minutes, so the boys got in line, while I got us some FP’s. I called Gram, who was doing laundry. (Thanks Gram!) I met the boys and we went to the Boneyard for about 20 minutes. It was HOT and the humidity was HIGH. I, however, positioned myself near a fan and was downright comfy!!! The kids played hide-n-seek and were having a great time, until someone got too close to Cam on the slide and bumped heads with him!!!

We all rode the Primeval Whirl one more time with our FP’s. For extra excitement, Cam closed his eyes during the whole ride, he liked being surprised by every dip and turn!! On the way out of the park, we stopped at a cart and Cam bought a small stuffed dinosaur for $6.00. Next, we stopped at the Flame Tree Barbeque and bought two frozen lemonades to eat on the way out.

We arrived back at the Pop Century around 11:15. (At the same time as tons of people were heading out to a park to begin the day!!) We visited with Gram for a while, then headed to the pool. The water felt refreshing and was so comfortable. We swam for over an hour then, I got out and went to the food court, to get lunch for everyone. Jimmy and Cam shared chicken strips and Gram and I shared Chicken Alfredo, yum! The kids swam again after lunch, before we returned to the room.

We left the room around 4:00. First, we stopped at the food court, where everyone had either a sundae or cheesecake. We then caught the bus to the Magic Kingdom. Cam actually fell sound asleep on the bus ride over!

The entrance wasn’t crowded at all and we went right in. Cam and I went pin trading down one side, with Gram and Jimmy on the other. I ended up buying Gram a Mother’s Day present. (It was a pin <not the trading kind> that said Grandma, and you could buy birthstones in the shape of Mickey to go on it. I bought four birthstones to represent the four grandkids. I think she will really love it. I never saw it for sale anywhere else.) Cam and Jimmy finished trading off all of Grams $2.00 pins. Yes, these are the same pins that the clerk told me “you can’t trade these”!!! Ya right, guess we proved her wrong!!!

At the tip board, I asked the CM if any FP’s were left for Space Mountain. She checked and said there were, that the passes would be good between 8:30-9:30. We weren’t planning to stay in that late, so we went to Thunder Mountain, instead. I sent Gram and the boys to ride Pirates, while I went to get FP’s. The passes were good for 6:20. I waited for the three of them, while sitting on a curb outside of Pirates. I called up Jim and talked to him, while I watched the world go by.

Next up was the Haunted Mansion. Another ten-minute wait and we were visiting the 999 happy haunts!!! I snapped a picture of Gram, Jimmy and Cam all pointing at the wedding ring imbedded in the walkway. The Carters haven’t been able to find it, so now we will be able to show them exactly where it is located!

Before we rode Thunder Mountain, we made a pit stop for yet another Dole Whip!!! (We don’t want the place to go out of business, so we are supporting it as much as possible!!) Thunder Mountain was fun, as always.

Since Jimmy’s legs were aching and we were all hot, we went to visit the Presidents! The blast of air conditioning when we went into the building was heavenly! We all enjoyed the show. There was a lot of clapping for both Bush and Clinton, even some applause for Lincoln. Jimmy finds it comical that people would actually clap for audio-animatronics!!!!

We made a stop on Main Street for Jimmy to buy the new book “Kingdom Keepers”. (This book has 324 pages and Jimmy was all done reading it by Friday night!!!) At the end of Main Street, I took a picture of the boys and Gram with the statue of Roy Disney and Minnie.

We caught the bus back. Once we sat down, I heard a woman’s voice say: “hey pin traders!” I turned around and there was a mother and daughter that we had met Friday night at the Contemporary. We chatted with her on the whole bus ride back.

We stopped at the food court where Gram and I shared another chicken alfredo. We returned to the room and turned the lights out at 9:15. The plan for tomorrow is to leave the room at 6:10, for the Extra Magic hours at the Magic Kingdom.

Thursday April 19th-high temperature, 90 degrees!

I, again, was in a deep sleep when the wake-up call came through. I stumbled out of bed and picked up the phone. Jimmy popped his head up, but neither Cam, nor Gram, stirred! I got ready, then Gram followed suit, groaning with almost every step!

We left the room and, again, walked in the dark quiet to the bus stop. One other family was waiting, and the bus pulled up. Two other families joined us for a quiet ride to the Magic Kingdom.

We had a historic moment here, where we were first in line at our ticket turnstile!!! We were also first yesterday at Animal Kingdom, but have never come close at the Magic Kingdom!!! We had a nice chat, with a CM working at the turnstile. He was an older man who was originally from upstate N.Y. He has been living in Florida for 38 years. He told us that, his son lives outside of Seattle, so he spends two months during the summer there. He went on to talk about the extreme drought that has plagued Florida. The exact opposite of the weather pattern in Seattle! He wished he could take one day of Seattle rain, in exchange for one week of Florida sunshine!!! The turnstiles opened and we went through. We stood under the train station for the opening announcement.

We had a fun walk down Main Street. It was probably the least crowded that I have seen it in a long time! That was a good sign!! The kids and I went straight to Space Mountain. We were rather disappointed, but not surprised, to see a line outside. I asked the CM if it was open and her response was “we are running a little behind, it should open in about ten minutes”. The way Space Mountain operates is, in my opinion, TERRIBLE!!!! I think it is the most inefficient ride, in all of Disney World! In the past few years, since we have had AP’s, we have spent many mornings at the Magic Kingdom. We always go to Space Mountain first. In almost every instance, it is either not running when the park opens, or only one side is operational. Having only one side open creates super lone lines right away. Since the ride only moves six people at a time, you would think it would be of the utmost importance to start the day off, with both side up and running. (I mean, this is Disney for goodness sakes, not Six Flags!!!) This is my theory: if you offer Extra Magic Hour in the morning, and Space Mountain is one of the rides offered, have it ready to go at opening!!! Sounds pretty simple to me!!!!

We decided to leave the line, so we went to ride Buzz Lightyear. Great ride as always! We then returned to Space Mountain and rode it four times. I asked one of the CM’s if they knew when the left side would open and he replied: “when the technical difficulties are resolved”. I did notice that by the fourth ride, the line was considerably shorter than the line was on our first and second rides.

We took another whirl on Buzz before we headed to the Teacups. The kids were so cute to watch, as they were laughing hysterically. I took a few pictures and I am hoping that their happy smiles come out. I called Gram, to tell her where we were, and she walked over to meet us. The boys went for a second spin, with Gram watching. I walked over to Frontierland to get FP’s. I got two for Splash Mountain and two for Thunder Mountain. Meanwhile, Gram brought the boys into Toon Town, for a ride on Goofy’s Barnstormer. I returned and met them in the County Bounty tent.

We returned to Space Mountain, where the boys used FP’s for another ride. Afterwards, we returned to Buzz for another ride. Cam hit a HUGE points target in the first room and was very excited! We then went for a ride on the Tomorrow Transit Authority. As always, it was a very relaxing ride and we all enjoyed it.

Our next stop was, where else?, Adventureland, to get Dole Whips!!! I left Gram and the boys here and walked over to get more FP’s for Thunder Mountain. The pineapple juice in our floats was warm. Additionally, there were cracks in both mine and Grams cups. Gram brought them back up and the CM just plopped them into another cup. When I returned, my ice cream was pretty melted. More from the warm juice, than from the heat of the day. The floats were good, but certainly not the best we have ever had!!!!!

We stopped at Shrunken Ned’s Junior Jungle Boats, near Jungle Cruise. We had heard grown men raving about these on a podcast, so we figured we’d give them a try. I bought 6 tokens for $5.00. As I was getting the tokens, Jimmy stepped up to a vacant steering wheel. As he did, another lady reached for the wheel and shot daggers at Jimmy. She said she was using that wheel! I stepped forward and told Jimmy that was fine, we’d use the empty one right next to it. Then, the women responded in a snotty tone, saying she would use the other wheel. I stepped back and told Jimmy we were going to go to the opposite end and let the lady use both wheels!!! It was very odd behavior! I sure hope that driving the boat was a rewarding experience for her!!! Both Cam and Jimmy got wheels side by side. Jimmy maneuvered his boat all around, but Cam’s didn’t seem to be working. Gram came to the rescue and found a CM who refunded us two tokens. Both Jimmy and Cam were having a great time. I left and went and got FP’s for Splash Mountain, with plans to meet everyone at the end of Main Street.

I stopped at the candy store and bought a piece of peanut butter fudge, along with a chocolate covered Mickey pretzel. I have read other people’s trip reports, where they rave about the fudge. I figured, it was high time we tried it! I met Gram and the boys. Cam had some VERY exciting news! He had traded for an extremely hard to find lanyard pin, from series three. It was the tiki statue with the palm on the left side!!!! WOW!!!! Cam was grinning from ear to ear. We were all excited for him!!

We were headed to the Wilderness Lodge to see CM Sandra. We sat in the shade on the dock, waiting for the boat to arrive. The four of us shared the piece of fudge and chocolate covered pretzel. The fudge was good, but our local mall has really good fudge, so this was nothing special. Our boat arrived and we were on our way. Along the way, we passed a tree that had about 50-60 sneakers hanging from it!!!! Very funny!!!

The air conditioning in the Lodge felt heavenly! I easily could have sat in one of the rocking chairs, in the lobby for an hour!! We had a nice visit with Sandra and traded some pins with her. Cam went into the gift shop and traded for a Stitch lanyard pin that Jimmy needed. Way to go Cam! Now Jimmy only needs one more pin to complete his series four lanyard set! The one he needs is the Chip and Dale with the tye dye cheesecake. We said goodbye to Sandra, knowing we would see her in June. (We fly back down on June 23.)

We went into Roarin Fork for lunch. This was our first time eating here, since it was refurbished. It is definitely a big improvement! I think the flow of people will be much smoother. I loved the new food offerings. I had a roast beef sandwich and it was one of the best meals of the trip!

With our bodies completely recharged from the air conditioning, we headed back out into the hot air. We rode the boat back to the Magic Kingdom and walked to the bus stop. A man walking behind us commented on Cams Tom Brady football shirt. We talked to him for a few minutes and found out that he is from Maine.

Back at the Pop Century, the kids and I got into our bathing suits and headed down to the pool. We were going to swim in the bowling pin pool, but it had just closed. Instead, we went to the Hippy Dippy pool. This pool was very crowded, but we got right in. It seemed like everybody was throwing some type of ball around. Despite the crowd, we stayed at the pool for about one and a half hours. I bought a couple of sundaes and we shared them at the pool. Gram arrived and we went for a swim with her, before returning to the room.

We caught the bus to the Magic Kingdom, with plans to stop by the Contemporary first to see Barbara. I wanted to give her the pin that, I had found for her Tuesday night. Once at the Magic Kingdom, we caught the monorail to the Contemporary. We found Barbara in the gift shop. She thanked me for the pin and gave me an Easter pin in return, which was so nice! She was quite busy, so we didn’t stay long. We stopped at the pressed quarter machine and noticed that one of the machines had all of the Cookingham girl’s favorite characters. So we pressed Cinderella for Jamie, Dopey for Jillian and Chip and Dale for Jen.

On the monorail ride to the Magic Kingdom, Jimmy complained about his legs aching. Both kids looked wiped out. We had FP’s for Splash, Thunder and Space Mountains. I asked the kids if they wanted to use them or just head back to the room. I thought they would pick to go back, but they both said they wanted to go into the park, so we did.

We caught the train to Frontierland. It was a nice ride and it saved Jimmy’s poor legs! Gram and Jimmy went to Splash Mountain, with four passes, so they could ride twice. Meanwhile, Cam and I went to Thunder Mountain, with four FP’s so we could also ride twice. Cam and I scored the very last seat both times. Have I said that I love this ride at night? We noticed that you couldn’t see the burning cabin on Tom Sawyer’s Island. As we were pulling into the Train Station, my cell phone rang. It was Gram saying that Jimmy wasn’t feeling well. He felt so terrible, that they were not using the second set of FP’s. We hurried around to meet them. Just looking at Jimmy, confirmed the fact that he didn’t feel well.

We caught the train back to Main Street and I had a bag ready just in case Jimmy was sick! Fortunately, Jimmy didn’t need it! We waited about ten minutes for the bus. Luckily, we had seats, because both Jimmy and Cam fell asleep on the bus ride back. I was entertained by the bus driver, when he announced that the ride “will take 3 hours and 15 minutes and sometimes the bus will simulate Test Track”!!!!

Back in the room, both kids were back to sleep in about ten minutes. I knew, then and there, that there would be no wake up call for tomorrow. The kids needed rest, so we were sleeping in!!

Friday April 21-92 degrees

I slept until 7:00, which is late for me. At 8:00, I went to the food court and bought, the kid’s pancakes for breakfast. The crowd in the food court only reinforced how much easier it is, to bring your own food and eat in your room!!! It is both a HUGE money and time saver!

The kids woke up at 8:30. They ate breakfast, than crawled back into bed. Cam watched a DVD and Jimmy read his new book, Kingdom Keepers. He read for an hour, until he finished the book. We can’t keep the kid in books!!!!

Gram debated on when she would leave for Epcot. Epcot was unveiling the U.S. postal service new stamps. I debated about going for a walk. Gram said she would sit in the room with the boys for me. I reassured her that if she was ready to go to Epcot now, to go ahead and go. The only reason I thought about going for a walk was because I didn’t think she was ready. I didn’t need to go for a walk. I just wasn’t up for all four of us to be sitting around the room!! I can sit around any time. I’m only at Disney for a few weeks out of the year!

Gram headed out and I worked on the trip report. The kids really needed the chance to sleep in and to hang around the room. We have been so busy since we have been here!

Around 10:00, we headed down to the pool. It was pretty quiet and the kids had fun swimming around. I called Jim and we had a good talk. He said it was 40 degrees in N.H. and rainy. It was expected to get colder this weekend!!! With the 90 degree heat here, it sure is hard to imagine the cold weather. I also called fellow trip report writer Stacey and had a nice visit with her. We played in the pool for a couple of hours, before returning to the room.

We decided to go to the Marketplace for lunch. On the walk to the bus stop, we walked near a family of three, a mom and her two boys around age 6-8. The two boys talked to us non-stop! They asked where we were going, what we were going to ride, what we had done yesterday, and the day before. Then, they told us where they were headed, what they wanted to ride and what they did yesterday. We parted ways when they went directly to the bus stop and we went into the food court to get drinks. Throughout the whole walk, when the boys were chattering away to us, the mother never broke stride, never looked our way and never said a word. When we stepped into the food court, Jimmy said, “I guess that mom doesn’t pay any attention to her kids”!!! I was thinking the exact same thing. Whenever someone talks to my kids, I usually join into the conversation, or, at the very least, smile or nod my head. I hoped those boys had a fun day!

A bus arrived and we hopped on. There was standing room only, but that was fine with us. As we started up, a man that I was standing near told his son, who was in his late teens, to stand up so I could have a seat. I assured him I was fine, but he insisted, so I sat down! It wasn’t necessary, but it was a nice gesture. We stopped at Typhoon Lagoon first to drop off a bunch of people. The first thought that came to my mind was “suckers!!” These poor people won’t even find a spot for their stuff, let alone go down a slide, without waiting forever!!!!

Once at the Marketplace, I called Gram to ask her to join us for lunch at the Marketplace, if she had accomplished all she wanted at Epcot. She said she would meet us there. The kids and I browsed around. In the candy store I bought one chocolate covered strawberry. It was huge and looked delicious, unfortunately it cost $2.50, so I only bought one. The three of us shared it, and it was yummy! The kids also bought some sour spray.

I noticed a sizable line at the Earl of Sandwich, so I had the kids get a table and I stood in line. I knew what Gram wanted, so I figured I would order and have everything all ready