Samuel's Make A Wish Trip (July 10 - 17, 2017)

adamsloco

Mouseketeer
Joined
Dec 10, 2006
Introduction

Hi! My name is Adam, and I am Samuel's father. This is my trip report for our Make A Wish (MAW) trip! When I was in the planning stages, I noticed that there didn't seem to be any up-to-date Trip Reports from people who went with MAW, or stayed at GKTW (Give Kids the World), so I decided that I would write one myself. I had done several posts as a pre-trip report, which can be found Here.

Before I get into the trip proper, there are a couple of things I want to mention about this trip report. First and foremost, it was a wonderful trip. But the purpose is to help those who will be doing future trips, so there may be a bias towards the minor problems that we had, the solutions we tried, and how successful they were. Saying "Hey, things went great!" doesn't help as much as "Hey, we had XX happen, we tried YY and that worked a bit, ZZ probably would have been better."

The other thing I want to mention is that I am undergoing a major depressive episode for the past 5 years, and that I am clinically depressed. Since US Border Patrol has been known to turn away depressed people in the past, I did not want to mention this earlier. I'm mentioning it now because I might focus more on how I felt since I'm the one writing the report. I didn't enjoy the trip, because of the depression. The rest of the family loved the trip. I'll try to focus on that, but if I slip, you'll know why.

Lastly, I hope to add a new post every 2-3 days until I'm finished. I hope you find it helpful for your trip!

Adam
 
July 9 - Pre-departure

Our trip actually started one day before our flight down to Florida. We live in a small village almost half way between Kingston, ON and Ottawa, ON. Our flight was for just after 8 am, and to go from our house would mean leaving at 4:30 am or so. Because of this, Make A Wish decided that it would be better to pay for a hotel for us the night before, rather than providing transportation from our house. That way, we could leave at 5:30 am, or so. An extra hour of sleep.

So, after Mass on Sunday, we had lunch, and I did a final run to the dump. We didn't want to leave the garbage and recycling to stink up the house while we were gone. Especially since I turned off the A/C for the duration of the trip. It was a bit of a balancing act, to leave late enough so the kids wouldn't have time to be bored at the hotel, but early enough to ward off the impatience everyone was feeling to get going. Anna told me that Alicia was marking the passage of time very VERY carefully, but in a more playful way than with impatience.

Samuel, my youngest and the Wish Child:
Samuel - Getting ready to leave.jpg

Rachel, my youngest daughter:
Rachel - Rachel pre Disney.jpg

Alicia, my eldest daughter:
Alicia - Alicia pre Disney Trip.jpg

Johnathan, my eldest:
Johnathan  - Johnanthan pre-disney.jpg

And Anna, my wife:
Anna - Anna pre Disney.jpg

The kids, ready to leave:
In the car - The kids in the car ready for disney.jpg

Our luggage:
Packing - All of our stuff for the Disney Trip.jpg
Well, it worked out well. We had a smooth drive with not too much traffic and we arrived at the Day's Inn Ottawa Airport in good time to have supper and head off to bed. For supper we drove to a nearby Swiss Chalet. My kids are terribly picky eaters, and Swiss Chalet (and Pizza Hut) is a place we know they can find something to eat.

Arriving at the Days Inn
At the Hotel - Unpacking the car at our hotel.jpg

So, a special thank you to Days Inn - Ottawa Airport for providing us the two connecting rooms. One king, and one double queen. The kids didn't make any fuss about having to share a room all together. As we have two boys and two girls, the sleeping arrangements worked out fine. I found it difficult to sleep, the mattress was rather lumpy on my side, and I always have difficulty sleeping in a new place. We were all in bed by 08:00 pm, as we had to catch the airport shuttle at 05:30 the next morning.
 
July 10 - Flight and Arrival Part I
Distance Walked - approx 7.3 km (4.5 miles)

We were up and ready to go in plenty of time to catch our 5:30 am shuttle from the hotel to the airport, even though I slept badly, as I mentioned in the last post. The Days Inn had a nice continental breakfast available. It had a very nice selection of fruit, which I liked a lot. After a quick bite, we all got into the shuttle. One thing I had forgotten about was having some cash on hand to tip the driver. Fortunately, I had a few US singles. I used a couple of those for the tip.

We were met at the door by Tracy, our WestJet guide. Tracy was very friendly and informative. The first in a long line of representatives we would meet and appreciate. With her help and guidance, we sped through the check in procedures. We found out from her that we would be doing security here in Ottawa, and customs (and security again) in Toronto.

Thanks to Tracy, we were able to skip the lines. But we had one hiccup in Security. Johnathan had forgotten that he had a small jackknife in his wallet. This was confiscated, although we were told we could pick it up at Lost and Found upon our return to Ottawa. No one in our group was selected for a pat down, although Anna and Samuel and my camera bag were swabbed for drugs. Yep, those 7 year olds are known for their drug use. :)

Well, we finished checking in and got to the gate at 6:10 am, for our 8:00 am flight. (Boarding was listed at 7:20 am So we had some time to kill. Our kids, though were very patient through out. A fellow passenger offered to take our picture while we were waiting:
Family - At gate 22 Ottawa Airport.jpg

While we waited for our flight, we watched some other planes take off, and watched our plane arrive at the gate. Here is the plane for the first leg of our journey.
Our Plane - The plane we will fly on out of Ottawa.jpg
On this trip, we got to fly on a propeller plane and a jet plane. Although this plane was much smaller (watch your head on boarding!), I found that it really didn't make a difference to the flight. It wasn't any noisier or rougher than that jet we flew later.

We were able to board early, and meet the Pilot and First Officer. They invited the younger kids to visit the flight deck, and I was able to take some photos:

Samuel and Rachel - Samuel and Rachel on the flight deck.jpg

So thank you very much to Dave (Pilot) and Christine (First Officer) for allowing us to visit. We then settled into our seats. Here's Samuel, ready for his first flight.
Samuel  - Samuel on his first airplane.jpg And here is a picture of all of us, taken by one of the wonderful Cabin Crew.
Ready for our flight - All of us on board and ready to fly.jpg

Our kids were very excited about taking their first flight, and they had wonderful time. We didn't have any problems with turbulence. The flight from Ottawa to Toronto is only about an hour long, so they didn't have time to get bored.

As we arrived in Toronto, I found that I could hold my phone above Samuel's head, and take the following shots: Obligatory Cloud Shot, Downsview Airport, with Toronto Skyline in the background, and a very amusing shot of the propeller on our side of the plane.Clouds - Flying over the clouds.jpg Downsview Airport - Downsview Airport with Toronto skyline as we approach Pearson.jpg Propeller - CMOS sensors do funny things to spinning objects.jpg

Our flight from Toronto to Orlando, and arrival at Give Kids the World will be in the next post.
 
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July 10 - Flight and Arrival Part II
Distance Walked - approx 7.3 km (4.5 miles)

When we arrived in Toronto, we were 10 minutes early. Unfortunately, there was another plane at our gate and we had to sit on the taxiway for a while until that plane left. We then got off the plane and were met by our next WestJet rep. I'm very very sorry, but I have forgotten her name. That's very unfortunate, because she helped us through the most difficult part of the trip!

(Aside: Because of the depression and ECT, my memory does not work nearly as well as it used to, and I try to take notes of things I need to remember. I thought I had recorded her name, but it doesn't seem to be there.)

Pearson Airport is a veritable maze especially while it is under construction, and I am sure we wouldn't have found the door to go from domestic arrivals to International check in. But our rep knew the way, and ushered us through to our next security check point. Here again, none of us were selected for the pat down, but I was swabbed for drugs. I should also mention that while I didn't have to take off my shoes and belt in Ottawa's security screening, here I had to do so. After we went through this screening, we had the second biggest problem on the trip.

You see, one of our checked bags had gone missing. And US Customs policy is that you cannot board the plane until they have inspected your checked baggage. In other words, we were stuck. Even more so because the bag had been processed under Samuel's name. I think that if it had of been in my name, the others could have gone on while I waited. But because it was Samuel, we couldn't really do anything.

But our Rep could! She was quickly talking to the other WestJet staff, and the security agents, urging them to track down the bag quickly. All of the staff was helpful, but she went above and beyond to get it done. Fortunately, the bag was located, and we went through the rest of the Customs stage quite quickly. We then dashed off to what seemed like the other end of the airport, arriving in time. I suspect they would have held the plane for us, but it wasn't necessary. We thanked our rep, and took our seats. We had a whole row on this plane, seats 8A, B, C, D, E, F. They are just behind the plus seats. Since we were rushed (and stressed) they gave us free headphones, and several bottles of water.

After we pushed back from the gate, they announced Samuel as a special guest, and had everyone on the plane clap for us. They had done that on the flight from Ottawa to Toronto as well, but I forgot to mention it. Like on the previous flight, the cabin crew was very friendly, and provided us with extra attention, including free food. This was a very good thing, as we had originally planned to eat in Toronto while waiting for our connecting flight. My advice to people with connecting flights: DON'T EXPECT TO EAT IN BETWEEN FLIGHTS. We had something like an hour and forty minutes, and even without the suitcase incident, there wouldn't have been enough time.

Anyway, this flight wasn't as smooth as the previous. We ran into some unexpected turbulence, which was strong enough that the flight crew not only turned on the 'fasten seatbelt' sign, but ordered the cabin crew to strap in. Fortunately, it didn't last too long -- about 15 minutes, I think. But it did mean that I felt rather queasy for the rest of the flight. Because of that, and not being able to reach the window, I didn't take any inflight pictures on this leg of the trip.

When we landed, however, the flight crew invited us to visit the cockpit once again. And since the flight was over, Sam and Rachel (and Anna, as it turns out, we able to SIT in the Pilot's chairs. Here is Captain Samuel
Captain Samuel - Samuel in the Captain's seat after arriving in Florida.jpg
and First Officer Rachel:
First Officer Rachel - Rachel in the First Officer's seat after arriving in Flordia.jpg

Anna got to sit in the First Officer's seat as well:
First Officer Mommy - Anna in the First Officer's seat after arriving in Florida.jpg

And lastly, Samuel and Anna as the Captain and First Officer:
The New Flight Crew - Samuel and Anna on the flight deck of the jet that took us to Orlando.jpg

Thank you very much again to Jamie (Captain) and Nadar (First Officer) and the whole flight crew!

We got off the plane and made our way through the automated shuttle to the main building where we were met by out Give Kids the Word guide. Again, I don't remember the name! Grrrr. He helped us get our luggage, and showed us where to go to get the rental car. Our company was National, and they told us that everything was covered, including extra insurance. We had a full tank of gas, and were told to return it as near as empty as possible. If we did need to buy gas, to only buy $5.00 or so. Just enough to get us by.

On the back of the welcome sign were the directions on how to get from Orlando International Airport to Give Kids the World Village. The directions were clear, and we had no trouble navigating. It was getting close to 3:00 om by this time and we were all getting very hungry again, as well as tired, so it was just as well that Give Kids the World instructed us to park, and come in and eat something. It was rather a shock to the system to have so many volunteers offering to do so much for you. Including getting your food and/or drink, or carrying your tray. Dare I say it, they were almost 'too' helpful.

Once we had eaten we were taken to our villa, and given a tour of the resort as well as our villa. Our guide also sat down with Anna and I, and did the orientation with us. It seems that they have been doing it individually on arrival for a year or so, but the Make A Wish groups still tell their clients that there are two a day, which they need to attend on the first day. It was a lot of information to take in, but it was very helpful to know. It included the procedures for each park, and how to claim the tickets from Universal. There was information for Seaworld as well, but we skipped over that, since we weren't planning on visiting that park.

After the orientation, we unpacked, and then took a little break. I think that we might have gone to the pool or splash pad, because it was so hot, but there was a major thunderstorm going on, and everything was closed.

Later on that evening, we went to the Hallowe'en Party -- one takes place every week -- and then on to dinner. The parking area was full, so I ended up driving everyone over, driving back to the villa, and then walking back. There is a shuttle service in GKTW that we used to get home, but I didn't know about it for going over for dinner the first night. Not only did they have trick or treating, but they had several activities for the guests to do. Here is Samuel doing the Archery:
Bows and Arrows - Samuel shooting an arrow at one of the activity stations at GKTW.jpg Good Shot - Samuel lets one fly at the archery station.jpg

And here is Rachel's turn:
Ready Aim - Rachel lining up her shot at the archery station.jpg
Then we went over to the Dining area to eat:

Sitting down to Eat - Rachel with pizza at GKTW dining room.jpg
Alicia's first GKTW meal:

French Fries and Apple Juice - Alicia's first meal at GKTW.jpg
And last but not least, Samuel at the GKTW dining hall:
Samuel Takes A Bite - Samuel eating at GKTW.jpg The next posts will be our first park day, Magic Kingdom!
 


July 11 - Magic Kingdom Part I
Distance Walked - approx. 12.2 km (7.6 miles)

I forgot to mention in the previous post a life-hack that worked very well for us. We were checking in two bags for the flight. They were standard soft sided suitcases, one grey, one black, that you see by the dozens. To make them easier to pick out on the carrel, I wrapped a piece of white tape around the end of each black handle. That worked really well, as there were indeed several suitcases that looked like ours. We were able to wait back a bit from the crush, and step forward to grab ours.

Give Kids the World provides 3-day park hopper passes to Disney, and 2-day park hopper passes for Universal. After much thought, we decided that the Magic Kingdom would be our first stop, so that we would have time to go back if something happened, such as the weather not co-operating. If we left it to the end of the trip, it could get shut out.

After dinner the night before, we had gone to Walmart to do a little shopping. We were mainly picking up granola bars and water for in-park snacks and drinks. It also allowed us to show the kids the souvenirs available at Walmart, so they wouldn't be so attracted to the same (but more expensive) items at the parks. Turns out for our family, it wasn't really necessary. They were much more interested in ride specific souvenirs, and not in the basic Disney stuff.

We were trying to get to the park at rope drop, or just after. Not to beat the crowds -- we had the Genie Pass, after all -- but to try to beat the heat. Breakfast, though, was an issue. GKTW breakfast items don't start until 7:45 am for the continental stuff, 8:00 am for the full breakfast. In other words, about the time you have to leave if you want to get to the Magic Kingdom by 9:00am. Breakfast was nice, and the buttermilk biscuits were great!, but it meant we were later leaving the village than we wanted.

The drive to the parks from Give Kids the World is uncomplicated, and practically the same for every park. Turn left out of the village, and then turn left on 192 (at the Walmart). Drive 7.6 miles, exit right, and follow the signs to [insert Disney Park here]. At the parking, they scanned my ticket, and then saw the Genie pass. They told me to follow the blue line for the handicapped parking. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't. The handicapped parking is as close as possible to the Ticket and Transportation Center, but is still rather a far walk, under a bridge and around the unloading zone for the trams. Especially if you are toward the far end of the zone, as we were.

Anyway, we made it to the TTC and had our bags checked. Then we went down to the ferry boat. That was the way I first came to Magic Kingdom when I went as a child, so I wanted to repeat the experience for my kids. Although we were far back, one boat was all we needed to wait.
Crowds - Waiting for the ferry at the TTC.jpg
Here is a view of the Castle from where we stood:
Magic Kingdom - Castle from the Ferry Landing at the TTC.jpg
Once on board the ferry, it was busy, but I was able to get a picture of this safety sign.
Life Vest Sign - Mickey's Life Vest Sign on the Ferry Boat.jpg
And that was the last picture that I took on this day. Between the heat and humidity, the crowds and injury's sustained on Space Mountain, I couldn't manage to carry the camera bag and push the stroller while manipulating the full sized DSLR. The rest of the pictures from today are either on ride shots from Disney, or from my daughter Alicia, who was using her tablet to take some photos. For the rest of the trip I used my water-proof point-n-click, which I could use one handed, and weighed practically nothing.

Samuel's main goal was Space Mountain, so we worked our way down Main Street and went right into Tomorrow Land. I was successful in getting on to the Laugh Floor as we passed, but after that we went directly to Space Mountain, bypassing the Ranger Spin.

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I had a lot of trouble on Space Mountain. As you can see, I'm a big guy, and had to work hard to squeeze under the lap bar. Technically, the bar was open for the whole ride, as I could not get even one click. They asked me to lift up on the bar, which of course did nothing, and we were cleared for launch. The first jolt at the bottom of the lift hill felt like I had put my back out, and the ride went downhill (literally and figuratively) from there. But everyone else loved it!

Here is (front to back) Johnathan, Samuel and Anna:
MK_SPACEMOUNTAINB_20170711_8069803398.jpeg
And (front to back) Me (Adam), Rachel and Alicia
MK_SPACEMOUNTAINB_20170711_8069802043.jpeg

It was decided that the Ranger Spin would be the next ride, and we worked our way back across Tomorrow Land to it. I was teamed with Rachel, Samuel went with Anna, and Johnathan and Alicia were the last team.

MK_BUZZLIGHTYEARRIDE_20170711_8069814999.jpeg MK_BUZZLIGHTYEARRIDE_20170711_8069817523.jpeg MK_BUZZLIGHTYEARRIDE_20170711_8069816603.jpeg
[continued]
 
July 11 - Magic Kingdom Part II
Distance Walked - approx. 12.2 km (7.6 miles)


Samuel had had a lot of trouble with the trigger on his gun, and was very disappointed with his score. So I took him on again, and operated the trigger for him while he aimed.
MK_BUZZLIGHTYEARRIDE_20170711_8069824364.jpeg

That went much better for him, and he was happy with the new score. It was then time for lunch. We ate -- well, they ate -- at the Starlight Cafe. It was insanely busy. Anna was taking everyone's orders, but missed mine because I had to take Sam around to the nearest bathrooms. The ones in the Starlight Cafe were closed. Speaking of the bathrooms, these ones were rather in bad shape. The whole floor was wet, and who could say if it was sweat, water or pee? Anyway, when we got back we found a small table with room for 5 at a pinch. As we were six, I didn't have any food, nor did I want any enough to stand in the long line again, I waited outside while everyone else ate. Samuel, and I think Rachel didn't finish theirs so Anna brought out their leftovers and I ate that. It was just standard chicken fingers and french fries, nothing to write home about. And I drank a good liter and a half of water.

Perhaps I should mention our water arrangements. If you read the pre-trip reports, you may remember that we received a nice Mickey Mouse Cooler bag. Into that we packed 6 frozen bottles of water, and 6 unfrozen bottles (500ml, 16 oz each). It wasn't enough. We had to refill several bottles at the water fountains to have enough for the day. For the future days, we took the 6 frozen, and 12 unfrozen. That worked better, but was very very heavy to carry from parking lot to where we could pick up our stroller.

Speaking of stroller, Samuel walked most of the time. When he was feeling a little nauseous from the rides, or at the end of the day if he were really tired, he rode. But mostly we used the stroller to carry the water.

After lunch, we decided that our best bet was to cherry pick the rides that we wanted, hitting other rides as we passed by. Our next important ride was Haunted Mansion, so we headed off that way, stopping in at Mickey's Philharmagic by way of a breather and break from the heat. The kids really enjoyed both attractions. Samuel had been worried a little bit about the Haunted Mansion, I think, but enjoyed it greatly. Rachel decided to name her hitch-hiking ghost "Henry". I don't know why.

Our next picked ride was Splash Mountain, and our heat break was at the Country Bear Jamboree. I feel slight pride in that I have been able to see all three iterations of this show -- Christmas, Jamboree and Vacation Hoedown. Of the three, Jamboree is my least favorite, but it was still enjoyable. I have the music from the show as an mp3 in our car, and kids were happy to see the show that it came from. Incidently, I think they have shortened the show, cut some stuff out, but I'm not sure.

On our way to Splash Mountain, we were interrupted by a parade. We only caught the last part of it, but Alicia was able to grab these two pictures
One of the dragon:
-_-5.jpg

And one of Mickey Mouse
-_-6.jpg

We made it to splash mountain, and we all got wet. Alicia still finds this ride a little creepy. A note about relative size: I sat with Rachel for this ride, and because of my big belly, the bar did not come down very far at all. In fact, I would say that there was no restraint for Rachel at all. The ride isn't very rough, and won't throw anyone out, but there was nothing to prevent Rachel from climbing out. Nothing except the wrath of Disney, of course.

First Splash Out.jpg

Samuel really wanted to do the ride again, as did Rachel, so Anna took them through a second time while I waited with Johnathan and Alicia. Here's their second time. Unfortunately, Rachel's arm got in front of Samuel's face for the picture.

Second Splash Out.jpg

I noticed that the time was getting late if we were to go back to Give Kids the World for supper, and return for the fireworks later in the evening. So, we started making our way to the front of the park. We couldn't resist, however going on the Pirates of the Caribbean as we went by.

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We then made our way to our home away from home. After supper, we again drove back to the Magic Kingdom. The parking kiosk was closed, so we drove on and parked near where we parked this morning. Then we made our way to the Magic Kingdom by way of the ferry, which was just about to depart.
-_-9.jpg

Then we ran into a snag. I found that I had forgotten my ticket in the car, because I had taken it out to pay, but hadn't needed to. Because time was short, and the line up at Guest Services was too long, I sent everyone else in to watch the fireworks, and set up near the Will call booth to try and record at least the fireworks above the castle. Unfortunately, the action cam I was using does not work well in low light conditions. But everyone else enjoyed the show immensely. So much so that they really wanted to see it again, from a better position. So Anna and I talked it over, and we decided to drop EPCOT because there were so many more rides at Magic Kingdom that we wanted to do, plus a repeat of the fireworks.

Waiting for the fireworks, courtesy of Alicia
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The fireworks (Alicia)
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As we were leaving, the electrical water pagent was just setting out for it's show. Alicia caught this picture of the sea serpent
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My next post will be our first day at Universal.
 
July 12 - Universal Resort Part I
Distance Walked - approx. 7.2 km (4.5 miles)

Universal Logo - At the entrance to the park.jpg
I woke up this morning with a raging Migraine, the kind that under normal circumstances would have me trying to sleep it off in a cool, dark, and above all, QUIET room. Instead, circumstances forced me to go to Universal Studios -- bright, hot and above all, loud. Exactly the opposite. The first thing I did was drive to Walmart -- which is open 24 hrs -- and bought a bottle of Advil, my medicine of choice for migraines. While I was doing that, Anna got the kids up and ready for the day. Unfortunately, the Advil did little to help, and I had to drive (I was the only one registered for the rental car) and pick up the tickets (they were saved under my name).

We got off in good time, and were at the park just before opening. We got a good spot by the escalators, and headed toward the Resort. Even with the moving sidewalks, it is quite a hike from the parking garage, through the security bag check, through what I've taken to calling the Foregate (I think it's called City Walk officially) to the entrance of Universal Studios. There, I had to wait in line for Guest Services to pick up our tickets. It was extremely hot, as the line was full in the sun, with no fans, and indeed no breeze. Once it was my turn I had no trouble turning getting our tickets. We then made our way to the entrance.

Comparisons between Disney and Universal are inevitable, and here is one place where Disney beats Universal. Disney's tickets are like credit cards -- plastic, and with some stiffness to them. They also have a range of pictures on the front, so it is easy to tell them apart. Universal's are paper, and they look all the same. Both Disney's and Universal's tickets are non-transferable, and are linked to a fingerprint. So it's harder to make sure everyone had the right Universal ticket unless you write names on the back, which is what we did.

Once in the park, everyone was being met with a red carpet experience. Here is our family (Samuel is hidden in the back) exiting the red carpet.
Red Carpet - Leaving the Red Carpet.jpg

Our first stop was Minion Mayhem, as Samuel loves the Despicable Me movies, and loves to play Minion Rush on the computer.

Entrance  - The Entrance to Minion Mayhem.jpg

Some of the family were highlighted during the pre-show. I won't say how, exactly, to avoid spoilers. Samuel was disappointed that he was not one of the highlighted people, though. Everyone but myself rode the show. Because of my migraine and the aches from Space Mountain, rode the benches for this one. Samuel really enjoyed the ride, but he said it made him feel slightly nauseous, and didn't want to ride it again. For the same reason, he didn't want to ride Shrek, yet.

So we headed on through the park to the very back, where the Harry Potter section is located. After stopping to buy Samuel a bubble wand toy that he wanted, the first Harry Potter-esque scene we encountered was the Knight Bus. Here it is, in all it's glory next to the 'Eros' Fountain from Piccadilly Circus. (Of course, it's really a statue of Eros' twin brother, Anteros, but you probably knew that.)

Bus and Fountain - The Night Bus with Eros Fountain in foreground.jpg

I also snapped a picture of the girls standing behind the bus.

Posing - By the rear of the Knight Bus.jpg

After a quick snack stop, we found the entrance to Diagon Alley, and went in for a look. Here's a photo of the family entering for the first time.

The Entrance - Entering into Diagon Alley.jpg

A street scene picture of Diagon Alley featuring the Owlery (tall building right of center).

Diangon Alley - Featuring Owlery.jpg

And of course, Gringott's, with the dragon perched on top.

Gringott's Dragon - Spewed fire intermittently, didn't catch it.jpg

The dragon shot fire out of it's mouth fairly frequently, but I never did catch a good picture of it on camera.

After buying some frozen Butter Beer all round to cool off, we started visiting the various locations of Diagon Alley. One of the first places we visited was Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, and did some more shopping at Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, where Alica and Anna bought shirts. Here is Alicia's (taken back at the Villa)
Alicia's New Shirt - Alicia wearing her new shirt.jpg
The quote reads "I can see them too. You're just as Sane as I am" Luna.

Anna got a phoenix shirt.
Anna's New Shirt - Anna wearing her new phoenix shirt.jpg
No quotes on this one.

After the shopping, the family went on Escape from Gringott's. Except for me. I had decided even before the migraine that I wasn't going to ride any thrill rides, after the debacle of Space Mountain. Besides, the chances are excellent that I wouldn't fit. I did, however, do the pre-show with the family exiting just before the ride proper. And it was perhaps a good thing that I did. At that point, they told us that bags weren't allowed, and so I was laden with all of the bags -- Alicia's and Anna's purse, and some souvenir bags -- along with everyone's hat to carry. So I took them down the exit, and returned to where we had parked the stroller. I dumped everything inside, and found a place to sit. I texted Anna -- a stupid thing to do, as I had her phone in her purse -- to let her know where I was. During the time I was waiting, there was a stage show nearby featuring "Celestina Warbeck" the show was so loud I couldn't understand anything she was singing.

Fortunately, Johnathan spotted me after they finished their ride. We decided that it was time for lunch, and the Leaky Cauldron was close.
[continued]
 


July 12 - Universal Resort Part II
Distance Walked - approx. 7.2 km (4.5 miles)


I think that the Leaky Cauldron was our best meal experience of the whole trip. Not only was the decor marvelous, it had the best system for buying AND seating. Upon entering you wait in line, where you receive a menu card. The only bit of criticism that I have is that the menu card doesn't include drinks. The line also snakes past a window display that shows all the food choices. Once at the front of the line, a greeter directs you to the food window where you order, pay, and collect your drinks and candle stick. The candle sticks have a number on them. You take your candle stick to other greeter, who then finds you a table. The food is delivered shortly afterwards. The wait was not long, and although it was busy, our food came rather quickly. There was no rush to finish eating, but it seemed that people were always finishing in time for the next set of diners to sit. It was actually kind of relaxing. And the food was good. Most of us had the fish and chips, which were well cooked, not over done, and not very greasy. The fries were also very good. Anna had the soup and salad, which she enjoyed very much. Samuel had the chicken which was also very good.

The view from where I sat.
Leaky Cauldron - The interior of the Leaky Cauldron.jpg

I had been hoping that eating would lessen the migraine somewhat, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. The family decided that they wanted to visit Hogsmeade, so we headed on out of Diagon Alley to visit King's Cross, and catch the Hogwarts Express. A word of warning: Since the Hogwarts Express connects the two parks, you need to present your ticket -- that's the Universal Park Hopper Ticket -- in order to ride it. When she asked for my ticket, my migraine addled brain was stuck on train ticket ... but it's not a real train, so what ticket is she talking about? Loop. Once I got straight what she wanted, we got out the tickets, and made our way on board. Oh, and the strollers get turned in. You keep the nameplate from the back of it, and at the other end you give them that and they give you another stroller. I'm not sure what happens if you have your own stroller, though.

Here's Anna, Johnathan and Samuel waiting for the Hogwart's Express.

More Waiting - We'll get the next one.jpg

I was kind of disappointed that although it looks like a steam train, the Hogwarts Express at Universal is actually a Cable Railway. Here's a picture of the drive cables.

Drive System - It's not a train, it's a cable car.jpg

The ride was very good. It's different depending on which way you're going. I thought the version for going from London to Hogsmeade was the better of the two, although both are well done.

Arriving at Hogsmeade.

We've Arrived - Hogwart's Express in Hogsmeade Station.jpg

At this point it was just afternoon, and Hogsmeade was HOT. Unlike Diagon Alley, which has a roofed (and therefore shaded) section, as well as Knockturn Alley which is air conditioned, Hogsmeade has no protection from the sun. Coupled with the 'snow' covered roofs, it was practically unbearable for me, and uncomfortable for the rest of the family. It was decided to take a look around, see what was there, and then head for home. The weather was also starting to look threatening, which I'm sure influenced our decision.

I did take this photo of Hogwarts Castle before leaving, though.

Hogwarts Castle - The Castle of Hogwarts.jpg

We got a little turned around trying to make our way to the front of the park, and ended up looping around one section. It was on this walk back that, for the only time this trip, I had to request a stop to rest. The migraine was pounding so bad that I could hardly see. Then as we continued on, the rain started. We had warned the kids that we wouldn't let the rain stop us, and they were all fine with being out in the rain. Frankly, it helped cool us down, and they liked it. But it did make navigation more difficult. Near the entrance, there was an arch going over the pathway. Under that arch was a literal wall of people sheltering from the (not very heavy) rain. Getting through the wall was very difficult, as no one wanted to give way, and risk getting a rain drop on them. But we pushed through and made it finally to the exit. By the time we got to the car, we were dry. For the record, we left about 2:30 pm. I think it was the right time, as the kids were starting to show some warning signs.

Once we got back to the villa, I went to bed to try to sleep off the migraine that had been plaguing me all day. Anna took the kids to the ice cream shop, and the GKTW staff took this picture.

IMG_2623.JPG

After that, they went to get their special pillows from the Pillow Tree, and for Sam to decorate and turn in his star. I'll have pictures of his star in a couple of days, when we went to see where it had been placed, but here are the pillows that this kids made.

Rachel's.

Pillow - From GKTW.jpg
Alicia's

Monkey Business Pillow - From GKTW.jpg
And Samuel's

Doggie Pillow - From GKTW.jpg

After that, everyone but me, I was still sleeping, went to dinner. Since the meal card was for the whole family, I had been worried that there would be a problem getting food for an absentee family member. But after the family had eaten, Anna had no problem ordering a large pizza to be delivered to the villa for my dinner once I felt up to eating. When I woke, the migraine was much reduced, although not gone. I enjoyed the pizza, and we all headed off to bed.

You know, with so many sources of pictures for this report: Alicia, Disney, Universal and myself, it's easy to miss something that you wanted to share. So let me go back to our first day and share this picture of the family standing outside our villa, our home away from home. Unfortunately Mickey got in front of Samuel's face, but you can see how happy he is. Samuel. Not Mickey.

DSCN0387.JPG
 
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July 13 - Typhoon Lagoon Part I
Distance Walked - guesstimate 5 km (3.1 miles)

In our original schedule, today was a free day, where we had no parks scheduled. But due to a generous donation from my parents, and another from our Neighbors, we decided to chip in a little of our own money and visit Typhoon Lagoon. Typhoon Lagoon is not one of the locations you can visit through GKTW, so for this day we were just regular tourists. But Samuel loves Water Parks as well as Rides, and this was something that's been on my bucket list from my teen years. Besides, it would be the closest we could get our kids to real ocean type waves. Two hours one way was just to far to travel to get to either coast.

Because Typhoon Lagoon doesn't open until 10:00, there was plenty of time to get ready this morning. We had time to go to the Town Hall and have breakfast. Samuel and I were done eating quickly, so I took him over to meet a couple of Disney Characters. He met Belle, from Beauty and the Beast.

Sam and Belle - Posing with Belle.jpg

And he met someone he could really relate to, I think. Goofy.

Stike a Pose - Posing with Goofy-2.jpg

The rest of the family finished their breakfast, and we all had our picture taken with Mickey Mouse, who had also come to visit Give Kids The World.

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Then we headed off to Typhoon Lagoon. We got there well before Rope Drop, and had time to park (and we had a great spot, too) and buy our tickets before joining the line. There weren't too many people ahead of us, and we were able to snag some chairs in the shade. I was surprised to find that the area around the chairs was actually white sand. That had benefits and drawbacks, as we got sand in the Sunscreen, which made it difficult to apply. We all got changed, and headed off. I had sat with our stuff until everyone else changed, but nobody had waited for me while I changed. I did meet up with Anna and Samuel in the Surf Pool.

I have decided to call it the Surf Pool as opposed to a wave pool because it is such a different beast. While it does do the waves you see in a regular wave pool, for 90 minutes at a time it has a wave approximately 6 feet high every 90 seconds. Here is Anna and Samuel braving such a wave.

Hold On - The Wave hits Anna and Samuel.jpg

That's past the throat of the wave pool, where it widens out considerably. So the wave is smaller, but not much smaller. Here is Alicia and Rachel on another wave.

Hit - Alicia gets it in the back and Rachel is overwhelmed (Center) by the Wave.jpg

You'll have to take my word for it that the head in the center of the shot is Rachel as she is inundated by the wave. In between waves, there was time for fun and pictures. Here is Samuel splashing my fortunately waterproof camera.
Next Splash - Splashing the waterproof camera.jpg

And Rachel, with Miss Tilly perched atop Mount Mayday in the background.

Rachel in the Surf Pool - With Miss Tilly and Mount Mayday in the background.jpg

After the waves finished their first cycle, the rest of the family went off to do some water slides, but they found that the lines were getting too long very quickly. I went back to our spot for some water, and then returned to the Surf Pool as the waves started up again. After all, that's why I had come. I'm kind of proud of this next picture. I had swum out just about as far as they let you, and turned to face the beach area. As a wave lifted me up, I took this picture of the crowds in the pool.

Surf Pool - Taken from the top of a wave, facing the beach area.jpg

After a while, everyone just drifted together and we decided it was time for lunch. As I walked back to our spot, I snapped this scenery shot.

Surf Tree - Surfboard smashed through a tree.jpg

For lunch, Samuel had some Shrimp and Chips, Alicia had a Caesar salad that she didn't like. (She wasn't feeling well at this point.) I had a Chicken Wrap, and Johnathan and Rachel had Fish and Chips. Anna? She had the Pulled Pork. After eating, I splurged on a Sand Pail. Because it was melting so fast, not to mention the kids were digging in right away, I didn't get a picture. But I found this one on the net, courtesy of the Magical Fantacism Tumbr.

sand pail.png

It is filled with chocolate and vanilla soft serve, with layers of waffle pieces, cookie pieces, hot fudge and caramel sauces in the middle. It is topped with a mountain of whipped cream, and decorated with Mickey Mouse Head sprinkles, and a cherry. It costs 15 dollars, but split among 6 people it was a very reasonable and tasty dessert. All 4 kids enjoyed 'mining' for the good stuff in the center. And you get to keep the shovel and Pail.


[continued]
 
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July 13 - Typhoon Lagoon Part II
Distance Walked - guesstimate 5 km (3.1 miles)


After lunch, we decided to do the Lazy River as a family. We made our way over, and grabbed tubes for everybody. It is a long way around, but it was quite enjoyable for everybody. Here is Johnathan, laid back and enjoying the ride.

Rafting Johnathan - On Castaway Creek.jpg

And here is the only 'hidden' mickey picture that I took on this trip. Totally Tubular, though.

Hidden Mickey - Tubular Hidden Mickey on Castaway Creek.jpg

As we reached the end of our circuit of the lazy river, it started to rain. As we reached the wave pool, the heavens opened up, and a deluge began. Unlike most people, we were fine in the rain because, hey, we were already wet. But because of storms in the area, they closed down all of the attractions. We sat in our chosen spot for a while, and discussed what to do. Alicia still wasn't feeling well, and it wasn't long before we would have to leave to eat dinner and attend the Christmas Celebration at GKTW. Since we didn't know how long the storm would last, it seemed wiser to pack up and head home now. It was a challenge to navigate all the people hiding from the storm, get to our locker, get our clothes out and change. without getting all of that too wet. But me managed, and headed back to the Villa. While we waited for the start of the Christmas Celebration, I took this picture of everyone on our porch.

Parker Family - At their Home Away from Home.jpg

We then went over to the Town Hall, where Samuel, Rachel, Anna and I met with Jolly Old Saint Nickolas.

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Afterwards Samuel and Rachel got to pick out a present. Sam chose a Mousetrap game

Found One - Samuel with his Christmas Gift Choice.jpg

And Rachel picked out a My Little Pony

Found One Too - Rachel with her Christmas Gift Choice.jpg

After dinner, we went over to the Castle of Miracles to see where Samuel's star had been placed. He had decorated it earlier on the trip, and it was now added to the over 140,000 stars they have. Each star represents a wish granted, and each are decorated by the Wish Child. Samuel decided to draw a guinea pig on his, with a 'g' on the top.

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The castle of miracles is a very impressive sight. Here is the roof as you enter, and this is just some of the stars.

Castle of Miracles - The roof, showing just some of the 140,000 plus stars.jpg

If you go through the room on the left and follow it around, you will come to a tower, where Samuel's star is located. His is in the bottom row of the center circle of stars, above and to the right of the exit sign.

More Stars - More Stars in the Castle of Miracles.jpg

And here is a closeup of his star in situ. It's hard to make out, but it is the bottom one in the middle.
-_-4.jpg

All in all, this was one of the best days of the trip. We put the kids to bed early, so that Anna and I could run to the Walmart and pick up some need medicaments for Alicia, and some breakfast stuff for the family. We decided that we would skip EPCOT after all, and do Animal Kingdom tomorrow during the day, and Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios tomorrow evening.
 
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July 14 - Animal Kingdom & Fantasmic Part I
Distance Walked - approx. 12.4km (7.7 miles)

Today we went to the Animal Kingdom. Our morning routine established, we arrived at the front gate just about rope drop. Rope Drop for the Non-Disney guests, that is. Animal Kingdom had Early Morning Hours for the Resort guests this day, and were able to go in early. No matter. We had our list of attractions that we wanted to see, Kilimanjaro Safari, Everest, Finding Nemo, and Pandora. That's all we were planning on doing today. Here is the family, just after entering the park.

The Family - Arriving at Animal Kingdom.jpg

As we crossed the bridge into the African area, I snapped this picture from the bridge, looking left.

African View - A View of Africa from the bridge.jpg

The day was already almost unbearably hot, and the kids wanted some ice cream. We had been doing very well on our budgeting, so we said, sure. No problem.

Eating Ice Cream - Waiting for Samuel to finish his ice cream.jpg

We then made our way onto the Kilimanjaro Safaris. We saw lots of animals, although some were rather difficult to make out. But I managed to get a picture of a Giraffe,

Giraffe - In the trees.jpg
A baby elephant,

Baby Elephant - Hasn't learned to present only it's butt to the safari.jpg
And the most elusive of all animals on the Kilimanjaro Safari, a human.

Bridge - Human crossing bridge on Safari Ride.jpg
This one seems to have grown some sort of black tail from the center of his back. Perhaps it's some sort of safety feature.

After we did the Safari, we made our way over to Asia. I got this picture of the Tree of Life on the way.

Tree of Life - A View of the Tree of Life as we move from Africa to Asia.jpg

And as we walked by, I snapped these two pictures of wall art, or advertisements, I guess.

Asian Coke - The drink not the drug.jpg

And

Fichwa! - Apparently Fichwa is hidden in Swahili.  So this is a hidden mickey.jpg

The last one is kind of interesting. When I was editing the pictures, I decided to see if I could find out what the sign said. The way it was written, I assumed it was some kind of greeting. Sort of a "Hello! Fellow". But it turns out that 'Fichwa' means 'Hidden' in Swahili. So, this is a Hidden! Fellow. And therefore it follows, that this is a Hidden Mickey. Huh, didn't realize it at the time.

As we stopped to use the bathrooms, and check on the schedule of things, I grabbed this shot of Samuel and Rachel. I'm not sure why Rachel feels she needs to make a silly face nearly every time I try to take a photo, but there it is.

Sam and Rachel - Looking happy and shocked.jpg

But it's such a good expression on Samuel's face, I thought I had to include it.
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July 14 - Animal Kingdom & Fantasmic Part II
Distance Walked - approx. 12.4km (7.7 miles)


After the bathroom break, I pointed out that the next showing of Finding Nemo The Musical was soon, and then there would be a long break over the lunch period. I suggested that we go and see that show next, and then come back to Expedition Everest, even though that would mean back tracking. Anna and agreed, and that's what we did. With the Genie Pass, we were escorted to the reserved seating. It was just to the left of center, down beside the ramp that the actors use during the show. Which was both good and bad. It meant that there was stuff that happened behind us that we couldn't see well, and being right beside the ramp meant we could see the actors (puppeteers?) legs REALLY good.

Here's Rachel and Alicia before the show. Remember what I said about Rachel making silly faces?

Rachel and Alicia - Shocking picture of Rachel I guess.jpg

Back in the day, I used to do a lot of theater stuff, so I couldn't resist snapping a picture of the Sound Booth on my way out.

Sound Board - The Sound station for the Finding Nemo Show.jpg

We then went back to Expedition Everest, which was enjoyed by all who rode. I sat it out. As I mentioned before Space Mountain had done me in, and I wasn't going to ride any thrill rides, regardless of whether I could fit out not. After the ride, I grabbed this photo of the kids.

Kids on a Rock - Kids Waiting for Anna to come back in front of Expedition Everest.jpg

It was an exciting rock, for some of them. And while I had been waiting for them to ride, I got this fairly nice picture of the ride as it went up the lift hill. Maybe they were on that train, I don't know.

Expedition Everest - Going up the First Hill.jpg

After Expedition Everest, we decided it was lunch time. We decided that the best choice for our lunch was Restaurantosarous, as all the kids are picky eaters in one way or another. Here I decided to try the pre-ordering service on the app. My advice to others in one word -- Don't. At least don't try if you are relying on the wifi in the parks. Even standing just outside the restaurant, the signal was all over the place, from all the bars, to no bars, to half way, to completely lost. And when I lost the connection, the app crashed. And when I restarted the app, it had lost all of the order information I had put into it. Instead, I just made a note on the phone of everyone's order, and took Johnathan in line with me to help with the trays. Anna and the other kids went to find a place to sit. That worked out fine. The only other minor complaint is that I only got one slice of bacon on my burger, where everyone else (who ordered burgers) got two.

After lunch the kids were still hungry and hot, so we got some more ice cream and frozen bananas for them. I got myself a chocolate milkshake, too.

Snack on a Bridge - Having some ice cream and frozen bananas at Animal Kingdom.jpg

After lunch we headed off to the new land of Pandora. Predictably, it was busier than the rest of Animal Kingdom. We managed to work our way through to the Na'vi River Journey. Here are a couple of pictures of the landscape and floating rocks of the Pandorian Landscape.

Floating Rocks - In the Pandora Area.jpg
And
Floating Rock - In the Pandora Area.jpg
The attention to detail in these lands (and in the rides) is beyond amazing. For example, the line for the Na'vi river ride winds through a cave. The rocks look like they are damp, as rocks in caves often are. It's fake, though. The rocks aren't wet at all, just look that way, and I had to touch it before I knew for sure. In fact, I thought that they would be damp. Although, I suspect that they take it too far sometimes. I mean, in the Flight of Passage Ride, you go through an old military complex, and Disney has gone out of their way to make it seem industrial -- and dirty. Maybe let up on the dirt, methinks.

Industrial Queue - The detail for the queue for Flights.jpg

But the outdoor part of the queue was wonderful. I especially liked this waterfall, of which I was able to grab a picture.

Waterfall  - As seen in queue for ride.jpg

According to the family, this was hands down, out and away, head and shoulders above the rest, the best ride that they went on all trip. Samuel proclaimed it his favorite ride of the whole trip. I wish I could have gone on it (and enjoyed it if I had) but it was not meant to be.

After that, we decided that it was time to head back to the Village. Besides it was starting to rain, and we had accomplished everything we had set out to do. And we were doing Fantasmic that night, and it would be a good idea to get some rest, since it would be a late night.

We had planned to leave about 7:30pm to go back to Hollywood Studios, but since dinner was done early, we left early. We got a good parking spot near the tram stop, and made our way in. Since we were early, and the Great Movie Ride was close, we jumped on that to kill some time. Not one of the cherries, but I thought, why not. In a way, I'm glad we did since Disney announced that this ride is closing in less than a month (at time of writing.) Although the kids knew hardly any of the movies, they still really enjoyed the ride.

It didn't look like there was going to be anything special for the Genie Pass at Fantasmic, but then one of the ushers told us that we should point out the genie pass to one of the people wearing XXX color shirt (which I can't remember) when we got there. We did, and were placed in the reserved seating for the show. Again, it was just right of center, but near the back. Which was perfect for us, as Samuel likes fireworks, but wasn't sure about getting wet from the water screens. The show was wonderful, and we even got to see a bit of the fireworks from EPCOT which were just visible to the left of the Fantasmic stage. We got a passing photopass photographer to take our picture before the show.

Family - The family at Fantasmic Show.jpg

Maybe not the best expression on Samuel's face, but in the other one, people's eyes are closed. I supposed I could digitally edit it, but I'm feeling lazy.

All in all, one of the better days.
 
July 15 - Universal Day 2 Part I
Distance Walked - approx. 7.3km (4.5 miles)

Today we went back to Universal to finish up. We think that if I had been feeling better, we could have crammed it into a single day, but on the whole, it worked better to spread it out. We had a slightly later start than I really wanted, and we thought that we would make it up by eating breakfast in the park. We have been doing excellent on our expenses, and could afford to do so. Turned out to be a big mistake. The place we chose to eat, one Croissant Moon Bakery, was a very bad choice. The servers were green, and seemed to have no idea what they were doing. There was only one smallish group in front of us, and it took a very long time for them to get their orders filled, and then for them to get their orders filled correctly. It took a long time for our orders to be filled as well. They also told us that they were out of Chocolate Croissants. The park had just opened, and they are already out of Chocolate Croissants. Finally a manager, or at least a more seasoned employee, arrived and took charge. She quickly got things back on track, and we got our food. But we found that they had also charged us for food we hadn't received.

After eating, we made our way back through Seuss Landing, to where this fellow stood on guard for the Lost Continent Area.

Statue - The Lost Continent Statue.jpg

We made our way directly into Hogsmeade (without getting lost this time), stopping only to take the family's picture with the Hogwart's Express,

Hogwart's Family - The family poses in front of the Hogwart's Express.jpg

and to grab another picture of Hogwart's Castle.

Hogwart's Castle - The famous School Castle.jpg

As we made our way up the express line for the Forbidden Journey, I grabbed this photo in the Portrait Room

Room of Paintings - Part of the queue for the Forbidden Journey.  Painting move and talk.jpg

The kids really enjoyed this ride. Anna felt that they had tried to cram too much in, and that the ride suffered for it. Perhaps because we weren't raised on Sesame Street, with the constant switch of focus, she said she couldn't keep up with the sudden rapid shifts.

After they came out, we went across the way for the Flight of the Hippogriff. Samuel does like rollercoasters, but is too short yet for the big ones like dueling dragons. This one, though, was just the right size. In fact, Samuel and some others went on it twice.

Ride of the Hippogroff - Some of the family riding the Hippogriff.jpg

After the Hippogriff riding was finished, we walked back through Hogsmeade, on our way to the train station to catch the Hogwart's Express back to Diagon Alley to do more shopping and eat lunch. On the way back, we found this snow witch and owl.

Snow Witch - Snow witch or snow man with owl.jpg

And here is the Hogwart's Express arriving in Hogsmeade.

Train Arriving  - Hogwart's Express arriving in Hogsmeade.jpg

Once back in Diagon Alley, I suggested that we eat first. In hind sight, it was a mistake, because almost everyone wasn't hungry yet. But no one said that they were to full to eat. I had made the suggestion because if we were going to do some souvenir shopping, it was going to be difficult to manage the packages and bags while we ate. The Leaky Cauldron is a great place, but it still crowded, and there is no extra space to pile purchases. And I didn't want to leave them unattended with the stoller. No sense putting temptation out there. But people hardly ate anything, and we ended up wasting a lot of food. It really bugs me when that happens, especially at a restaurant. Anyway, the food was as delicious as ever. I ended up having the Steak and Lamb stew, and lots more fish, as I ate some of what the kids didn't eat. Rachel, Alicia and I decided to start our souvenir shopping here, buying the souvenir Butterbeer Mug. I noticed this sign as we were leaving the Leaky Cauldron.

Sign - A sign in the Leaky Cauldron Restaurant.jpg

We then did our souvenir shopping. I forgot to make a list of what everyone bought, but I do remember that Samuel bought a stuffed Scabbers. I bought a blanket of the Hogwart's Express, which I plan to hand a la a tapestry, in my den once we move. Once we were done shopping, we headed back towards the front of the park, looking to stop at the Shrek 4D ride, which we had also missed the previous visit.

Leaving London - The family leaving London and Universal.jpg

As I was riding the 'benches' for this ride I could easily bring the bags of souvenirs and store them at our feet, which we did. When the ride was over, Samuel said that he wanted to ride the Minion Ride again. So we went across the street and rode that once more. Again, since I rode the non-moving benches, I could handle the souvenirs. After the ride, Rachel and Anna told me that Rachel had forgot her hat on the Shrek 4D ride, so I left everyone else to handle a bathroom break while I went back to Shrek to see if I could retrieve that hat. I was lucky to talk to the right Cast Member, who immediately recognized the description of the hat, and went to retrieve it. While I was waiting, I wondered around the gift store, and was surprised to find these -- tasty, I guess -- Crickets and Larvet Snacks.

Crickets and Larvets - Shrek would love 'em  Come in different flavours too.jpg
Despite them having my favorite flavor, Salt and Vinegar, I was not tempted to pick up any of these treats. Now finished with Universal, we headed back to Give Kids The World.

[continued]
 
July 15 - Universal Day 2 Part II
Distance Walked - approx. 7.3km (4.5 miles)


Once back at Give Kids the World, I took some more Advil, and went to bed. The migraine had started to make another appearance on the drive home. Normally, if I take Advil quickly enough, a couple hours rest and I'm good to go again. Fortunately, this time it worked. While I was sleeping it off, Anna and the two younger ones went to the Splash Park and Pool at GKTW. Anna took the camera with her, and was able to grab some pictures for me. The first one was of the Harry Potter Hydrant on the way.

Harry Hydrant - You're a Hydrant, Harry not a wizard a hydrant.jpg

I guess the only thing to say is "Aquamenti !!!!"

The kids had a ball in the splash pad and pool. The pool, which incidentally has a zero depth entry area and is wheelchair accessible, is salt water. So over the course of the trip, they got to experience Ocean sized waves, and salt water, but not at the same time. Here is Sam playing in the fountains.

Fountains - Samuel playing in the fountains.jpg

And a ringed Samuel floating in the pool

Ringed Sam - Samuel floating in a ring.jpg

Here is Rachel standing on a step just inside the pool.

Rachel in Pool - Must be taller than 3 ft 6 in.jpg

After they were done swimming, and I had taken my nap, we headed off to church. Going from Monday to Monday as we did made choosing a Mass time difficult for us. It was important to make time to go to Mass, but on the other hand, we didn't want it to eat up a lot of the day. We had always planned on going to a Saturday Vigil Mass, but originally were thinking of a Church closer to Universal, as we thought we would still be there at Mass time. Instead, we opted to go to Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine, because it was close to Give Kids the World, and they had directions in the information book on how to get there.

We left later than we should have, perhaps. The traffic was especially bad, the worst we had seen all trip. We ended up arriving a little late. I dropped the family off by the front of the church, and then drove around to find a parking spot near the back of the lot. I then walked back to the Church, grabbing this picture of the front as I did so.

Mary Queen of the Universe Church - The entry of the Church.jpg

There is something to be said for a point n' click for grabbing pictures while you are in a hurry. After mass, we returned to GKTW for supper. Thankfully, the traffic had died down considerably for the return trip, and didn't take nearly as long as the drive to Church.

I haven't really talked about the dining at Give Kids the World. It is basically a cafeteria style, with each area called a different restaurant name. Cafeteria - Each station has it's own name which lead to confusion for us the first time we came.jpg

So in the Village Guide where it talks of Katie's Kitchen, Merry's Pizzeria and Nancy's Kitchen, they are referring to the left, right or rear of this serving area. At first I thought that they were talking about different locations/restaurants in the building, and that made it confusing for me. But except for the Ice Cream Parlor, which is in a seperate location, all the food comes from right here. From this location, the dining room is to the right, and the drink station is directly behind you.

In the dining room, there are booths down one side of the room, and lots of tables and chairs.

Table and Chairs - Standard table and chairs at Give Kids The World.jpg

Those table and chairs are kid sized, though. To give a sense of scale, here is the same table and chairs, with Johnathan standing beside them.

Johnathan with table and chairs .jpg

If you are on the tall side, as Johnathan is, or on the large size, as I am, it is almost impossible to get into and out of these chairs. Fortunately, the booths that I mentioned running down one side of the dining room, are full sized.

Stuffie Row - A sense of just how many stuffies Give Kids the World has.jpg

Give Kids the World has an impressive -- almost scary -- collection of stuffed animals, characters and toys which are displayed on glassed in shelves behind all of the booths. Oh and BTW, that's my family sitting in the Yellow Booth. I think we sat in that booth for all - or nearly all our meals.

After dinner, we started packing up, focusing mainly on the souvenir's and things we wouldn't need tomorrow. Tomorrow would be our last day, and with the late night fireworks coupled with having to leave early for our flight, we wanted to get as much of it down now as we could to keep the stress down the next day. I did, however, go out and grab a quick shot of the nearest hydrant, a Minion. It was in my mind to go around and take pictures of all the painted hydrants, but it never happened.

Minion Hydrant - A Fire Hydrant painted as a minion.jpg

Our last day will be at MGM and the Magic Kingdom
 
I love the hidden Mickey you found at Animal Kingdom. How clever! We also did a MAW trip, in 2011. GKTW has changed a bit since we went. There was no cafeteria style space--it was a buffet. And we also had a sandwich shop next to the ice cream parlor. Anyway, I'm sorry about your depression, and that it kept you from enjoying the trip. I hope your son is doing well.
 
Where did the last day go? Glad you guys.... well most of the family had a great trip. Quick question how much luggage did you go down with and how much did you come back with?
 
Where did the last day go? Glad you guys.... well most of the family had a great trip. Quick question how much luggage did you go down with and how much did you come back with?

The last day is still forthcoming. The depression bogged me down, and we are moving in a couple of weeks, so I've been really stressed out over trying to get the last two posts out. (Last day at Hollywood Studios/Magic Kingdom and Flight Home Day.)

To answer your question, though. We checked two bags on the way down. One of those bags actually had the smaller suitcase inside it. Inside the smaller suitcase were the clothes. Coming home, we ended up checking 4 bags -- the original two, the smaller one that had been packed inside, and the Disney Cooler bag which you can often see in the stroller. Everybody also had their carry on bag.

Hope that helps!
 
Thanks Adam for taking the time to write up this report. So glad your fam had a great time. I've enjoyed reading your TR. I've only read one other TR that had anything with GKTW but those folks were just volunteering at the ice cream shop there, not a family getting to experiance it.

Yeah Space mnt can be jerky sorry it hurt.


UOTE="adamsloco, post: 57989377, member: 132650"]
kids-on-a-rock-kids-waiting-for-anna-to-come-back-in-front-of-expedition-everest-jpg.258076
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I love this pic of the kids.


Disney has gone out of their way to make it seem industrial -- and dirty. Maybe let up on the dirt, methinks.
Yeah my husband said that too.

I am looking forward to your upcoming updates.
 
July 16 - Disney Studios/Magic Kingdom - Part I
Distance Walked - approx. 12.4km (7.7 Miles)


Today was the last day of our vacation, since we were flying out first thing tomorrow. We got off to a good start, and arrived just about Rope Drop here at Disney Studios. Here's Samuel, excited to head on in.

Samuel - Happy Samuel.jpg

We had a very definite plan of attack for today -- there were three attractions we needed to see. Tower of Terror, Muppet Theatre, and Star Tours. So we made our way towards the Tower of Terror. As we drew near, Samuel started to feel unsure. The tower certainly looks imposing as you walk toward it down Sunset Blvd. But, once we got near the entrance (and the building is hidden by the trees), he was ready to give it a go. It ended up being one of his favorite rides. Alicia wasn't willing to go on, but the rest of us rode it twice. Here's an on-ride shot.

-_.jpg

The second ride shot was better -- except that the person sitting in front of Samuel decided to do a selfie, and completely blocked Samuel from the shot. We spent some time in the gift shop, bought some souvenir's. I would have really liked to get myself the black bathrobe with the Hotel Logo on it, but it was rather too much for my souvenir budget. And since I had to set a good example for the kids ... I had to pass. After the Tower, we made our way back up Sunset Blvd, and I stopped to take a picture of my favorite window in the whole world.

I.B.S.A.D. - (We're standing behind you.).jpg

The IBSAD window. The offices of the "International Brotherhood of Second Assistant Directors". It speaks to me, although I haven't figured out if the byline, "We're standing behind you" are words of encouragement, or an admonishment. As we reached the corner of Sunset and Hollywood, it was decided it was time for some ice cream.

Eating Ice cream - The family stops for a bit of Ice cream.jpg

While everyone was eating, I took some time to get some photos in the nearby area. Especially the vintage Railroad Map on the back of the kiosk, the fountain in front of the Kiosk, and the Director's Monument.

Director Statue - At Disney Hollywood Studios.jpg

The plaque just visible in the lower left-hand corner is the only place I know of in Disney Studios where the old name and logo (Disney MGM Studios) is still visible.

After eating, we made our way around to the Muppet Vision Theater looking to go by Star Tours on the way out. It was felt that giving the ice cream time to settle was a good idea. This area felt really crowded, given the reduced space due to the construction that is happening at the park. But we successfully made our way into the show, and the kids really enjoyed it. On our was to Star Tours, we stopped to take pictures at the speeders from the Endor Moon. It was a really popular spot, and we had to wait our turn to get the pictures. I took a couple of Samuel to add to the family collection that I took the last time we visited.

Sam's Turn - Sam finally gets a turn on the speeder.jpg

And one quick one with all the kids gathered round.

Family Speeder - All the kids posing around the speeder.jpg

The family then went on Star Tours. This ride I chose not to participate in, and instead walked around the gift shop while I waited for them to go on. It seemed to take a rather long time, compared to other rides, but eventually they did come out. Anna wasn't very impressed with this version of the ride. She commented that it didn't make sense, as they kept jumping forward and backward in time. Also, she felt that they tried to cram too much into the ride, and it would have been better to focus on the story, rather than the effects.

Since that accomplished our list for Disney Studios, we made our way back out of the park. We had parked in the handicapped zone here, and here, unlike the Magic Kingdom, it worked well.

Staring at Dad - Leaving the Studios, staring at Dad.jpg
We headed back to Give Kids the World for our final meal, and stopped in for some ice cream before heading back to the villa to finish packing and take a nap. Here is the a wall decoration at the Ice Cream Palace in Give Kids the World.

Wall Decoration - Wall Art inside the Ice Cream Palace at GKTW.jpg
After making sure that we were ready to head out early early early tomorrow morning, we piled back into the car, and made our way to the Magic Kingdom for our final visit to the theme parks.

Family Pose - Posing at the entrance to Main Street.jpg
 
July 16 - Disney Studios/Magic Kingdom - Part II
Distance Walked - approx. 12.4km (7.7 Miles)


This time we decided that we would walk up the left side, that is to say, the Adventureland side of the Magic Kingdom. Our first stop was the Tikki Room. Call Anna and I weird, but we much preferred the "New Management" version (with Iago and Zazu) over this, the original version. In the New Management version, there is a goddess who rises from the center part, but in this show, there was nothing there. It seemed, well rather anti climatic. We continued on, and went on one of my favorites, the Jungle Cruise. I have ... I guess you could say studied this ride, and am familar with just about all of the jokes. Our skipped had added a new one to me, though. Going into the cave ruins, she pointed to the wall where there were tree roots growing on the side of the wall, and said that this was the scariest part of the ride for adults, because look! Root Canal. Leaving the jokes aside, I snapped this picture of a baby elephant in the bathing pool. (He's just a little squirt.)

Little Squirt - Elephant in the bathing area.jpg
After the Jungle Cruise, we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean again. Not wanting to use a flash and annoy other guests, I didn't get any usable pictures from that ride.

Given the heat of the day, and how much he loved it the previous time, it wasn't surprising that Samuel wanted to do Splash Mountain again. Johnathan and Alicia were both not interested in riding again, so I had to keep the numbers even, and so Rachel wouldn't have to sit beside a stranger. Anyway, the two younger ones enjoyed it, and well the water did provide a brief respite from the heat.

-_-2.jpg

As an aside, if you're a big person, or have long legs, there is a bit more leg room in the front of the log as compared to the second row seat.

Samuel expressed interest in riding again, but we convinced him to go a little further along and try Big Thunder Mountain first. This was on his list of to-do's but timing to get dinner before the fireworks was beginning to get tight, and I wanted to make sure that he got a chance at this wonderful rollercoaster. It wasn't one that I was going to be able to go on, and Alicia also wanted to sit it out. So Anna, Rachel, Samuel and Johnathan made the journey. While they were on, I took this picture of some of the track side scenery.

Scenery  - Some of the scenery  at Big Thunder Mountain.jpg

And while I was hoping to catch thier train, the angle of the sun made it difficult to recognize people on the train in time to take a picture, so I took a chance and snapped this shot as a train was passing.

Cruising the Mountain - Winding around the Big Thunder Mountain.jpg

Samuel really enjoyed the ride, so much so that when given a choice of riding Splash Mountain once more, or Thunder Mountain, he opted to go on this one again. Johnathan decided to sit the second ride out, due to the lack of leg room, so Rachel, Samuel and Anna went round again. When they came out, we were able to catch a Disney photographer, who took the following couple of shots.

-_-3.jpg

And of just the kids:

-_-4.jpg

It was now time for dinner if we were going to eat, and still have time to snag a good spot for the fireworks. Having looked through the app beforehand, I knew that the nearest place where my picky kids might eat something was at Pinocchio Haus, we made our way there. Along the way, I was able to take this picture while on the move.

Harper's Mill and Sawyer's Island - Looking across to Tom Sawyer's Island with the Liberty Bell.jpg

As we were finishing up on food, the kids couldn't resist using their Mom as a hat stand.

Hat Stack - Anna finally notices the stack of hats on her head.jpg

At this point, she's wearing every hat but mine. Rachel and Samuel then spotted something interesting out the window, but I can't remember what it was.

Sam and Rachel - Samuel and Rachel looking out the window.jpg

After everyone was done eating, we made our way back around through Adventureland to find a spot in the Castle Foregate to watch the fireworks. Although we were still rather early, the area behind the castle had been cordoned off to prepare, and we weren't able to take a short cut through the castle itself. Oh well. We found a rather good spot in one of the 'park' sections just in front of Casey's. While we were waiting, I took Alicia over to get a caricature done. We weren't able to do it right away, and had to make an appointment that would overlap the fireworks. We went back and updated the rest of the family. Then we went back over to the booth, just in case something came open earlier. We were lucky, and an artist was available. So Alicia was able to get her picture done before the fireworks. It was difficult to get back to the family, though. Since it had become too busy, they had closed off the walkway leading to the park area we were in. It took a little bit of charm and finagling to get through. But I managed it, and we were in place, in time for the show.

I tried to film the show using the action cam that we received from Give Kids the World, but I have since learned that an Action Cam does not work well for dark scenes, and it did not turn out. I will have to resort to Youtube for a good rendition to save for the kids to re-watch. But I did grab this shot with my other camera.

Castle at night - Better focus on this one.jpg

Everybody enjoyed the show, and we made our way out of the park. We found out that one of the ferries was broken, and so we were directed to the bus depot to take the overflow bus back to the ticket and transportation area. It was probably the longest line we had to endure, but really it wasn't that long. We got back to the TTC, took the tram to the car, and so back to the Villa. We got to bed as quickly as possible, because we needed to be up early for the flight back home.
 

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