Disney 2011 Day 9 – “The Long Ride Back”

The whole crew packed up to go our separate ways. This is the way to do it tho, it was really fund with the whole family.

Davis had gotten so used to the rides that he raised his hands as we went arount the big curve to get back on the Florida's turnpike. Woahhhhh!!!!! he cried excitedly. Fun times.

ASLEEP at last.

Disney 2011 Day 8 – “Winding Down at the Magic Kingdom”

Our last day...I remember how bad my feet hurt. So bad...Sam's picture on Space Mountain below. One of the first rides we go on was the Tea Cups to ride one last time. This time I asked Sam and Davis if they wanted to go fast..."YEAH" they both said. And I spun it fast. Do you want to go Super Fast..."Yeah" they said a little softer and I spun it super fast. Do you want to go super dooper fast?...Sam again replied "yeah", but not so confident...then Davis just screamed "AHHHHH Slower".

We found this fun Picture Spot below while waiting on a christmas ornament. It was right next to a coffee shop that has the best french vanilla iced coffee.

And we finally made it to Tom Sawyer Island. I don't remember ever stepping foot on this portion of the Magic Kingdom. But to Sam and Davis, this was great...Davis had guns to shoot for hours, and Sam had secret tunnels to explore. Magan and Belle watched the Liberty Belle steamboat go around the island.

Davis ventured out and rode Splash Mountain above, and I forgot to mention that the previous day he tried out Test Track. Both of these were a little too intense for him as he basically screamed the whole ride in terror. But as you can see, Sam had absolutely no problems with these rides.

One of our last rides I let Anabelle ride with Sam on the Peoplemover. He took good care of her the whole time, as he always does. She is his good buddy. But she did come over to dad during the long space mountain tunner. It was a little too scary. Time to say goodbye to Disney...Always sad...even with throbbing feet.

Disney 2011 Day 7 – “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow”

We toured Future World earlier during this trip, so we planned to make our trip around the world on this day. But we did begin our day with Colby making an excellent run for fastpass tickets to Soarin. He broke past so many people...it made me proud. Going down the exit lane, then acting like the confused tourist as he bypassed hundreds of Disney novices by using the sidelines to bypass the actual line. Beautiful, just beautiful. :)

This was actually the day that Davis had some stomach issues, and I believe Colby somehow ended up with him, Ben and Sam at Journey to the Imagination, while I was in the Land with a sleeping Belle. I then saw Colby come in with both Ben and Davis in his arms and Davis was crying. He needed to poop (or was it puke...it sounds the same when they are crying). So quickly I pass Belle off to Colby as I take Davis to ... poop. And as he was pooping, he began to puke. We seem to always have this happen sometime at Disney...So I leave him pooping as I go to wash off his clothes hit by some puke. I am just happy for Colby that there was no blowout on the long walk over to the Land.

We tried the new restuarant Via Napoli for an early dinner with everyone. It was great. Dad came in with his battle bandages from an earlier fall in the day. Target Zero message for the day - do not try to cross areas that are chained off. :)

I bought some Hungry Hippo chocolate in Germany that Belle really enjoyed.

This is probably my favorite picture of the whole trip (above). And below is a picture we just have to take every trip to Norway.

It was a fun day. The picture above is about 1 minute from Sam getting punished for being crazy...definately needed a nap by this time, and he was out-o-control. Davis ended up riding Soarin with Me, Magan and Sam. Both him and Sam Loved it and kept talking about the cool Jets that went flying by.

Disney 2011 Day 6 – “We made it to Hollywood”

We made it to Hollywood, and found out very quickly that there is much Mania for the ride "Toy Story Mania". For a planner like myself that has each ride and our day somewhat mapped out, this day was difficult. It began with us finding a 1 hour line just to get a fastpass ticket for Toy Story Mania...so the decision came to get in the regular line for the ride. But then the Buzz and Woody Picture line starting forming for the picture you see above...What to do, What to do? We ended up getting in both lines, then found that to be a mistake as the Buzz and Woody character line is much much slower. So anyway, the fast moving group left the Junkin's with kids and did their own thing, while I waited in the Toy Story Mania line with Sam. The others got to see Buzz and Woody. Note to self...When encountered with this long fastpass line, start the line for the Buzz and Woody characters and be the first to see them when it opens shortly after the park opens. Then immediately get in the stand by line. The stand by line moves very fast until 1 hour after the park opens, then the fastpassers slow it down.

Granddaddy just has to get them all a toy. Here he gave belle her little Minnie Baby.

Look at the close seats for the Indiana Jones Spectacular. Can you believe it? We had planned to watch this with the entire group, but they announced that it was standing room only. Magan and I have been in this before when standing room only is announced. The key is to sit right behind the handicap section. If there are still seats available when the show begins, they open these sections back up. So Magan and I left to try it out. A young cast member noticed us and said that we had to move back against the wall, so we picked up all the kids and shifted over that way...I guess the perspiration and winded looks on Magan and I made him feel pity, so he told us to wait right there. We did...then he came back to escort us down to the third row. AWESOME. Then I noticed this guy in red sitting in front of us talking to another cast member about how to get picked for the show...I looked at Magan and said "Are you OK with the kids if I go in the show?" I then handed Belle to Magan. When they asked for volunteers, how could they not pick the guy in the gumby shirt screaming next to a guy in a bright red shirt.

This was a great experience. Neat to go out on the set and do something I have never thought I would get to do. Cons are that I did not get to watch the kids faces during much of the Indiana Jones act. Me and Sam also got to do something else super cool, we got our picture with Indiana. Dave got a little stage fright...I think of the 7 foot guy standing beside me.

This is where Davis also got his Indiana Mickey that he takes everywhere. Or did take for awhile everywhere. I don't have any pictures of the many characters we saw at Hollywood studios. They are in the photopass pictures, which at the rate I am going, will not be blogged about this year. But there was a sad story of Davis. Now Davis loves the Incredibles...and his favorite is Mr. Incredible. So Hollywood Studios has one big area to meet characters and that is where we got to meet Lotso (Sam's Favorite) and Sorcerer Mickey. Davis did not care a bit for Mickey, he was just very excited to see Mr. Incredible come out. So Magan got in line for Mickey and as soon as I could get to her, I took Dave to the Mr. Incredible line. Davis was bouncing he was so excited. Flexing his muscles and smiling the whole time, cause not only was it Mr. Incredible, it was also Sub-Zero (??) his friend. As we got to number 2 to see him...a terrible announcement was made...He would be leaving. This is usually not to bad as they go away for 5 minutes then come back...but then they announced that coming back would be Mrs. Incredible. His shoulders sunk, slow tears came to his eyes as he watched Mr. Incredible walk right past him and out the mysterious door to character land. I looked up to see even Magan shedding tears for our little guy. It is so hard for him...having to make it through 8 days of Disney joy riding rides and having adventures each day...but could not see Mr. Incredible. OK, I was sad for him too, but like all 4 year olds, 30 minutes later he could not even remember who he was in line for.

Star Tours was closed, but we did use the force to get Mom to take this picture.

We had a great night as Granny and Granddaddy watched the kids while everyone else went and rode the Rockin Roller Coaster 2 times. Fun fun Fun...and I realized as that coaster sped off from a stop to 60 mph in about...heart attack seconds that I am getting old.

Sam rode the Tower of Terror when he was 3 last time we were here, and I believe it may have been giving him nightmares for the last 2 years. But he was a trooper, and wanted to ride again, so off we went. I think Magan and I just held on to him the whole time to make sure he was OK. He said he loved it, but didn't really ever want to ride it again.

Sam had been asking ALL day for a strawberry smelling LOTSO bear, and on the way out of the park I found one in about the third store I went in. That bear is his buddy, and has been his buddy ever since. I am writing this blog in July, and he still has it with him every night.