Surprise! We're NOT going to Disney! 9/18-9/25 <<Update 3/24 Page 21>>

[that's nice]

I'm here I'll be back to read after I get out of the pool I have to be sure if you say anything about me that it's nice and not mean.

Now would I ever say anything mean about you???

A Tim trip report and lots of pics of the cute additions to his family , now that is one trip report that is not to be missed.

Hey Karin! Thank you for the kind words and thanks for joining!!!

Tim; I'm back...as promised.

Great introductions. I love the pic from your honeymoon...Mel hasn't aged a bit...and this despite being married to you. You know I had to get a dig in, didn't you?

Oh yes… I'm sure this is the first dig of many. But I must say, she does look great doesn't she?

Now who would complain that you didn't do a TR last year? Certainly not sweet, innocent me.

No… not you.

I just cannot believe how the kids are growing. Before you know it, you'll be sending Ana off to college.

Tell me about it… only 10 years away.

Thanks to Kathy, I'm here!

Jill in CO

Hey Jill! Thanks for reading!

 

[that's nice]

I'm also here thanks to Kathy! You have a beautiful family

Thank you!!! Thanks for joining in!

I'm here. Glad you didn't break the DIS. Great intro!

I think I did break it…. someone just fixed it.

Thanks for reading!

Following Kathy over here you have a gorgeous family!! Can't wait to hear how you were NOT doing Disney

I see a trend…. all Kathy's readers are here. Great. Now I have to try to stay civil towards her.

Thanks for reading.

OMG you started a trip report Joining in

I love the last three pics of the kids. I loled!

Hey Emma! Thanks for reading!

Taking pics of the 3 of them at once is practically impossible.

 

[that's nice]

Here by way of Kathy posting a link.

Hey Pat! thanks for reading. I didn't send out the bat signal yet… I was trying to get all my info and thoughts together first. Kathy just couldn't help herself.

Here

Hey Mary!!! Thanks for reading!

I'm in! And good call on not going to Hawaii. You'd have to be a moron to take so many kids all the way to Hawaii.

Hey Mark!

I've learned by the mistakes of my fellow DDC brothers. Plus I couldn't chance going to Hawaii with 5 and coming back with 6.

Love the intro Tim. Looking forward to reading about your trip. I just commented on Kathy‘s trip report that I saw you guys at MK last week! You have such a cute family. Will be reading this till the end.

Oh no kidding! You should of stopped and said hi! I can't promise when the end will be but hopefully will be in the year 2014.

I am here! Finally a trip report I may not get behind on!......maybe

You know my reports…. I'm not a slow updater. I'm just… ummmm… methodical. Yea, that's it! Thanks for reading!

 

[KatMark]

I see a trend…. all Kathy's readers are here. Great. Now I have to try to stay civil towards her.

No, you can tell them all the bad things about me...go ahead.

 

[that's nice]

Following along as well......

Welcome!!!

Wow, a top thread poster posting on my thread! I feel honored!

Hi there, Tim! I wandered on over from KatMark's latest TR. Following along now!

Welcome!! Thanks for joining in!

Joining in, thanks to Kathy's referral! Your kids are too cute. We have a 16-month old, as well!

Thanks for reading!! Congrats on the baby! They are a lot of fun… and a lot of work too.

I'm IN!

Following along with the masses from Kathy's report!

You have a beautiful family!! this is going to be fun. as i love reading all of you guys going back and forth!

Hello!

If it wasn't for Kathy, I'd have no readers.

I'm sure you see plenty of back and forth in this report.

Hi Tim!!

Glad to see a new report in the making! The family is as beautiful as ever.

Hey Sheresa! Thanks for reading and for the kind words!





OK, I promised 1 post of our trip last year. I am 1/2 way done with it. I might just break it up into 2 posts but I will have something up tonight. Thanks for being patient!

 

[that's nice]

No, you can tell them all the bad things about me...go ahead.

SWEET! I CAN'T WAIT!!! Plus I have it in writing!

 

[that's nice]

After our trip over Halloween last year, I decided not to write a TR. We had a lot of stuff going and I just didn't get to it. I'm going to sum up a 6 day trip in one(EDIT: make that 2 errrr.....3) post(s) then we will get to the current trip.


We originally booked POR from Oct 17th- Oct. 21st but due to a wedding we were invited to, we changed our dates to Oct. 30th-Nov 5th. I called our TA early September to change the reservation. She told me that there was a special rate at AKL for pool view rooms and it was only going to cost a little bit more than our room at POR. I jumped on the AKL room. Melody & I have talked about staying there but we just couldn't justify the price difference staying deluxe…. BUT there was one thing I forgot to do after changing our reservation- TELL MELODY. She obviously knew the days we were going but she had no idea we were staying.

We rented a car from MCO and I had the address to AKL in the GPS. Once we got onto Disney property, she kept saying. 'Turn here.' 'We should be going that way to get to POR.' 'You have no idea where you are going.' I just kept saying, 'I'm following the GPS honey.'

As we were passing Animal Kingdom, she said your GPS is really messed up. As we pulled up to the stoplight at the entrance of AKL, Melody just turned and looked at me. I had a big grin on my face. She was like 'Noooo.. really? We are staying here?' I just kept smiling and she started crying. It was so sweet. She had no idea and my surprised worked.

We checked in and they gave the girls crowns (good idea) and gave Christopher a sword(bad idea). We grabbed some flat bread pizza for lunch, walked around the resort for a while checking out the animals, and let the kids blow off some steam on the playground.



I got a text that our room was finally ready so we dropped off our luggage and hopped on a bus headed to MK!

One of the first rides we did was the people mover… you think the kids (us too) were happy to be back in Disney?



Gabby's first WDW ride!



Oh no…. locked up again!



Staying alive in Advertureland!



We had a great afternoon in MK. When we arrived back in the room we had a present waiting. We opened the card and Kathy & Mark sent us some treats and a really cool cooler bag to take with us to the parks.



Thanks again Kathy for the treats! You are too kind to us!


The next day was Halloween.

Melody's cousin lives 20 minutes from Disney and we planned go trick-or-treating with them in the evening so we needed a park we could do in a 1/2 day. We chose Animal Kingdom.

We enjoyed sitting on our balcony and just taking in the sights. The kids were ready to go!



It was pretty hot and the kids decided they weren't going to wear their costumes to the park.



We ate breakfast at Tusker House and it was really good.



Gabby didn't even mind the characters… (when she wasn't looking at them)



There weren't many Halloween decorations around the park but there were a few strategically placed pumpkins.





The Mickey head lollipops are a kid favorite!





We hit all the major rides but didn't see any shows. Juliana is my daredevil and we rode EE a few times.





We saw some characters and CMs were handing out candy bags to all the kids which was a nice touch. This is my favorite picture of the trip.



After a great day in AK, we went to Mel's cousin's for trick-or-treating. This is one of the only pictures I have of all three kids in their costumes.




Up next… the rest of WDW 2013

 

[that's nice]

Friday Nov. 1st- looks like a DHS day!



Sitting through the Disney Junior show. The little ones really like it and don't let Juliana fool you- she likes it too.



This was one of the best character interactions we have ever had. We were walking through DHS and came up to a Green Army Guy. Christopher always played with cars in the stroller. When Christopher saw the Green Army Guy he got scared. The GAG grabbed one of his cars and started playing with it on the ground. Then grabbed another car and then another car. Christopher was watching him play with his cars and got suck a kick out of it. His mood changed and was more intrigued than scared.



After about 5 minutes, another Green Army Guy came over and started playing cars too….



It was really a great experience and Christopher even asked the Green Army Guy to sign his autograph book.

We finished touring DHS. Saw some old friends…..



…and even stopped for a Mickey Bar.



We could of stayed in the Studios a few more hours but we let the kids decide whether to stay or head back to AKL to swim for a nit before dinner. Well, what did you think they wanted to do?

Yup. You guessed it. Pool.

Juliana loved the slide. However, I thought it was very short. The slide at CSR blows this one away.



Ok Juliana, time to get ready for dinner.



We had reservations at Boma, which is now one of our favorite restaurants in WDW. The soup is worth it alone. The kids aren't too adventurous but they will try new things from time to time. Of course they loved the kids buffet. Somehow after having numerous bowls of soup and more than one plate of food I was able to have a few plates of Zebra Domes. So many, in fact, I believe I got drunk off of them.



The kids begged us to go swimming again since they only had a short time in the pool before dinner and we gave into them.



Saturday Nov. 2

This was a very important day. The day we were going to get to eat at Be Our Guest for the first time. We did our normal morning routine and went down to the bus stop. It was raining lightly. Now I'm not scared to get a little wet, but considering we now had 3 kids in tow, not to mention one of them was only 5 months old, touring MK in rain didn't seem like a great idea. The bus arrived and we hopped on. The rain was light until we pulled up to the MK bus stop. We got off the bus and the skies were just open. We stood there looking at each other thinking this wasn't a good idea.

It would of been easy to change a few plans around but our Be Our Guest reservation wasn't secured by us. A friend saw it online and snagged it for us. Any guess who that friend was? So if we didn't show up, our friend's credit card would get charged for our no show. Melody and I were discussing all of this standing under the bus stop while the rain kept pouring down around us. Melody called her cousin and the kids baseball game was canceled so we were more than welcome to go there today instead of our planned day on Sunday. Good. It seemed like a great idea. We would watch the weather and if it kept raining, I owed our friend $50 for a dinner we didn't eat. If it cleared, I had to buy a 1 day pass to MK because Juliana didn't have an AP and only had 1 day left on her pass. Anyone know how much a 1 day child pass is to MK? About $100. YIKES!

Well, the rain wasn't letting up and I checked the radar and it looked like it was going to rain for a while. We got back in line and caught the bus back to AKL. It was kinda comical. We drove over and spent the afternoon with Melody's cousins. As the afternoon went on the rain started letting up and we said our goodbyes. Back to MK we went...



$100 for a child's ticket and a short walk to Fantasyland, we arrived at BOG! The restaurant was amazing and while it was 'new' last year, I'm sure most of you have seen 100's of pics and probably eaten there yourself.





I took a short walk around to check out the different rooms. When I got back to our seat, I went to take a picture of the kids and the shutter button on my camera was missing. All that remained was a small hole. I couldn't believe it. I was really bummed. Dinner was really good and after eating we rode a few rides but we headed back to AKL pretty early. We got the 2 little ones to bed, then I took Juliana down to the pool and hot tub for a while. Melody was watching us from the balcony. After a short swim, Mel got Juliana to bed while I ran to the bar to grab a few drinks. It was great to be able to sit out on the balcony while the kids were sleeping. Normally, we have to go to bed when the kids do. It was during one of these nights on the balcony when the DVC discussion was started. Could it be possible? Could we actually be members? I guess only time would tell.

 

[that's nice]

Sunday Nov 3rd.

We were supposed to spend the day with Melody's cousin but after we swapped days we were heading back to MK. While Mel was getting ready, I figured out a way to get the camera to work. I had a paperclip in my backpack and it using it, I could get the camera to take a picture. It was a pain and required using both hands but it worked.

Don't forget to tip your mousekeeping!



It was fun trying to explain to someone who didn't speak English how to use our modified camera.



We had a great day in MK. We rode a ton of rides, watched the parade, and ate dinner at the Plaza for the first time. There wasn't too many pictures because taking them was a pain. But if you ever want to lose your lunch, ride the teacups with these 2 knuckleheads.



I wish this picture wasn't blurry but Christopher was so cute when we visited with the princesses.




Monday Nov. 4

What do you do when your child doesn't have a park ticket and you and your wife's AP expired the day prior? Make your last day in WDW a non-park day. We ate breakfast at Kona then hung around for a while at the Poly. The kids were checking out a SeaRaycer.



There is a castle in this picture... somewhere....



We rode the monorail and stopped at the Grand Floridian for a little shopping, then headed over to DTD.





In the evening, we roasted marshmallows at AKL while watching the animals on the savannah. The kids really loved this.







Our dinner was a 6:45 ADR at 1900PF. the food was good and the characters were great as always. It is hard to see but there was a table of 4 ladies next to us and they were celebrating a birthday. Lemme say they were a trip, and drunk too. Not obnoxious but they were having a good 'ol time.





After the kids were in bed, Melody & I enjoyed a few drinks on the balcony. Our trip was over in the morning when we had to fly home.

Tuesday Nov. 5

We packed up the room and took one last view from the balcony...





...our trip came to and end. We had another great time in WDW!!!!!



Now that that is out of the way, we can get to the TR!

 

[disneygirlll]

Nice recap of your trip. Sweet pictures you will treasure in the years ahead. I’d imagine you got the reaction you were hoping for from Mel’s surprise. (I actually had a tear when reading that)

So cool the kids got to do the traditional trick or treating.

Great GAG interaction with Christopher.

I’ve never gone to BOMA. One day though. Seems everyone likes that place.

I feel your pain at handing over $100 for a one day ticket, Yikes.

I’m curious to see how Gabby reacted to the characters now that she is older.

I’m expecting to read about rain on this recent trip too.

Non park days, sitting out on the balcony with drinks in hand…Doing Disney is not just about the parks. I love the other things just as much.

 

[Chicago Mo]

my head is swimming! that was one of the fastest run through of Disney!

again your family is just adorable! Loved Halloween and of course the little guy dressed as a CHICAGO BEAR!

AKL looks amazing.

the Green army men are a favorite!!! so much fun! last time they kept following me around and scaring the bejesus out of me. don't know how they can sneak up on someone with flap on their shoes. Or i am Mrs oblivious.

YAY Pixi Dust from Kathy! she seriously is the sweetest person.

I had to take a double look at Ferb or is it phineas? with the hat on his nose!



Sitting back relaxing can't wait for the next update!

 

[jedijill]

Wow! The kids are growing so much! Too bad about the camera mishap but it sounds like a great trip overall.

Jill in CO

 

[vleeth]

Joining!

We were there for Halloween as well and we were wishing it were warmer because the evenings were too cold for us to swim. I guess it depends on what part of the country you're from.

 

[schmass]

Great recap of your trip! I love that you kept the hotel change a surprise!

I hope that you were able to fix your camera once you got home!

 

[petals]

Luvin the mini trip report.

Luvin how you surprised Melody.

OMG Ana looks so little in the Halloween pics she's grown up alot in the last year.

I love the pic of Gabby's first ride. Too cute. and loled at the bit where she didn't mind the characters when she wasn't looking at them

That's such an awesome meet and greet with the green army dudes!

 

[pas130]

I see a trend…. all Kathy's readers are here. Great. Now I have to try to stay civil towards her.

No, you can tell them all the bad things about me...go ahead.

Holy update Batman I LOVE how you surprised Melody with AKL!!! AWESOME!! The pumpkins at AK are super cute!! All your pics are great, and your kids are adorable Your 2013 Halloween trip looked like fun and a success! I agree that sometimes it's WAY too hot for costumes at WDW..Halloween or not!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Joining in. You have such a beautiful family. I'm looking forward to hearing about your Anniversary trip.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining this TR - and great recap of your last TR. Love how your surprised your wife with the resort change!

We also live on the East Coast and would love to do Hawaii some day but am really scared of that flight with 3 small kids. Some day though ...

What a great trip and loved your kids costumes - especially little Gaby's!

Love hearing about character interactions like with the green army men - just love when they get down on to the kids level like that.

Sounds like a really fun non-park day as well!

Can't wait for the next update

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Nicely abbreviated Tim!

I cannot imagine how you rigged that camera to work. I would've just used my phone until I got back home and pleaded with the camera shop to help me!

When you sum it up, what's important is that you had a fantastic family experience. Also, the room at AKL did hurt (zebra domes are like manna from heaven).

I'm intruiged to find out how that DVC discussion ended.

 

[afwdwfan]

Tim's returning to the world of TR writing???? This, I've gotta see. Try to have it done before you disappear for wedding season next spring.

I forgot about your camera trouble last year. I like your handy repair job. Kind of Mac Gyver-ish.

Congrats on pulling the AK surprise for Melody.