Wanted: Fast Pass to Toy Story Midway Mania

With several things still left on our to do list as our last day approached we decided to spend the day at Hollywood Studios. We had high hopes of getting fast passes to get in to see Toy Story Midway Mania without having to wait in the 60-120 minute long standby lines that we had seen on our previous visit (even during extra magic hours), but by the time we arrived at the park at 10am fast passes for the ride for the remainder of the day were long since gone.

We decided to grab an early lunch at the Sci-fi drive in theater and managed to catch the Lights, Motors, Action show. Afterwards we opted to brave the standby line now boasting 2 hour wait for Toy Story.


Luckily for us despite Mr. Potato head's warning we managed to get through the line in about an hour. The ride was one of our favorites. We wished it had a shorter line as we would have really liked to have ridden it again. But alas... we ventured off to the backlot tour, and then decided to let the kids play for 20 minutes or so in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground where we once again lost track of one of the boys for a little while and 20 minutes turned in to a whole hour of playing. And I am not sure we could have even dragged them out then if it weren't for the fact that the playground were closing.

The boys exhausted from the long day and hard play took a nap as we made our way over to be seated for the Fantasia show. Luckily we were able to take the stroller almost to the top and managed to pick the boys up out of the stroller and carry them in without waking them fully up. They slept for the almost hour that we sat waiting for the show to begin. After the Fantasia show we attempted to get into several restaurants with no luck. We ended up calling reservations and managed to get in at Ohana again as my mom (with the food poisoning) and great grandmother had missed it the previous night. Despite having a later reservation they were able to get us in within about 5 minutes of our arrival. The food was delicious and we even caught the Mickey's Christmas Celebration fireworks from over the water at Magic Kingdom while we ate. It was a wonderful end to the evening.

The boys first roller coaster ride

We spent the day at Magic Kingdom. We took the train, and caught the Dream along with Mickey and Move it Shake it shows in front of the castle while enjoying treats from the Main Street Bakery before heading off to cover most of Fantasyland before breaking for lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus which turned out to be a big mistake as mom my came down with a case of food poisoning from the meatball sub.


After the Country Bear Jamboree we sent her and Great Grannie back to the hotel to recuperate and took the boys on to Mickey's Toon Fair to ride their first rollercoaster - The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farm. We screamed and held our hands in the air. And when it was over we ran back to get in line to do it again before going on to check out Mickey's House, the playground and Donalds' luckily dry boat. With just minutes to spare before close and fireworks we managed to squeeze in the It's a Small World ride. As we came out the fireworks had begun. Our vantage point from near the carousel was an interesting one as the larger fireworks were well off behind us, but the smaller incredibly bright ones were in front of us coming from nearby the castle lighting up the whole area with dazzling light. A piece of string from one of the nearby fireworks landed on Connor's head as he sat in the stroller watching the fireworks display.

After the fireworks we made our way towards the monorail only to find a train come in, disembark it's passengers, but not open its doors to take on new ones. An announcement came on regarding technical difficulties, and as we waited 3 trains came and left on the other line before another train finally creeped its way in to our depot once again. The once long line which we were towards the back of had been dwindling, and we decided it was time to find an alternate route as well. We caught a boat over to the Polynesian for our late dinner reservations at Ohana. We were treated to the water show of dragons and sea creatures along the way. Despite the almost 45 minute delay waiting on the monorail we managed to make it dinner only 5 minutes late for our reservation. Dinner at Ohana was as wonderful as we remembered from our previous visit. We will definitely add it to our list of all time favorites.

Popsicles take the day off

After practically freezing to death yesterday at Animal Kingdom we decided vs. spending another animal less day there we would take the day off, have a leisurely breakfast and visit downtown Disney.

We ended up having lunch at TRex. The food was excellent and the theming was absolutely amazing.

We took the boys back to the room for a nap. An hour later they were still wide awake and had figured out they could get out of their pack n plays (something which doesn't bode well for nap and bedtimes to come I am sure) we gave up and decided to take advantage of the slightly warmer weather to check off a few more attractions at Epcot including the fireworks show.

Animal Kingdom: Antarctica

We spent the day at Animal Kingdom. An unexpected cold front blew in dropping temperatures to record lows keeping the animals snug in their beds out of the elements such that the only critters we saw all day were a lone alligator, a boa constrictor hiding out in his water bowl, and some frisky tigers. We were however able to catch some wonderful shows like It's Tough to be a Bug, The Lion King, and Finding Nemo.


As the boys took their now customary nap in the stroller we managed to ride Everest and find a spot curbside for the Jammin Jungle Parade. We also got in some shopping. I found ornaments for everyone and some cute Christmas 2010 shirts. We closed the park down dancing at the goodbye show and headed off for our dinner reservations at Chef Mickeys to have dinner with Mickey and friends.

Toy Story

We spent some time this morning visiting the Toy Story section of the resort.


We headed off to Epcot for the rest of the morning. The boys enjoyed the Finding Nemo ride while I particularly enjoyed Living with the Land. After a hibachi lunch at Teppan Edo where Ryan showed off his chopstick skills we hit a few more rides before heading off to Hollywood Studios for the evening. The boys were zonked again so I talked my mom into riding the Tower of Terror. Afterwards we saw the Osborne Spectacle of dancing lights before enjoying a few more rides and some extra magic hours.

Hollywood Studios: Honey, I Lost the Kids.

We spent the better part of Day 3 at Hollywood Studios where we caught the Drew Carey Show, Indiana Jones, lunch at Mama Melrose's, the Muppets, pictures with Lightening and Mater, and half a dozen other things. Though the thing I will remember until my dying day is that I spent 15 of the most terrifying moments of my life in Honey, I Shrunk the kids. Only it should be more aptly named "Honey, I lost the kids."

Despite knowing there is only one way in, and one way out it is still terrifying to watch your two year olds dive in opposite directions and disappear into itty bitty tunnels that go who knows where. I dove in after one and promptly lost him as I attempted to crawl as he ran through the warren of tunnels shrieking and giggling at the pursuit as he went. I eventually caught up with him and dragged him back out to his father with strict instructions not to let him out of his sight, before spending the next 10 minutes waiting and watching for sight of a 3ft tall blond head in the mass of kids darting here and there. I finally caught sight of him across on the far side climbing some stairs that disappeared past the mushrooms into another series of tunnels. I dove in after him and came up with a shoe full of laughing giggling child who was having the time of his life completely oblivious to my near panic at not having caught sight of him during all that time.

We chased them around the tunnels for a while before finally corralling the two of them in the toddler area with one of us stationed on each side watching them run, crawl and frolic in the tunnels, ramps, stairways, and slides. It was by far their favorite playground ever.

They were so tuckered out after their hour of play that they passed out in the stroller as we wandered around the park before heading off to the Magic Kingdom for dinner, the Main Street Electrical Parade, and Wishes Fireworks Display.

Magic Kingdom

We spent our first full day at Disney World at the Magic Kingdom.


In the morning we made our way through Tomorrow Land including favorites like Buzz Lightyears' Space Ranger Spin, and the Tomorowland Indy Speedway. After lunch the boys zonked in the stroller. While they napped Great Grannie kept an eye of them while the rest of us rode Splash Mountain, and the Thunder Mountain railroad.

Once they woke up we headed into Adventureland to ride one of the boys' absolute favorites the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, before catching the Enchanted Tiki Room Show, and taking a tour of the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house before it was time to head off to our Dinner reservations.

The Happiest Place On Earth

I tell Kevin all the time that's it all a matter of how you look at it. A positive attitude makes all the difference.

Case in point - instead of concentrating on the fact that I had to work part of the day, the insanity of transporting 4 people and 9 bags through the airport, dealing with a damaged gate checked bag, 2 bags that never made it on to the flight, a ridiculously long wait for transporation, a 3 hour online (for QUICKER resort check-in!!!) check in fiasco, the guests who forgot to check-out, and the handicapped room located as far as humanly possible from the lobby, dining, and transporation I instead choose to focus on the fact that we arrived. At the Happiest Place On Earth.

We also managed to enjoy a ride, a fantastic dinner at the Garden Grill (seriously 5 stars - I highly recommend it), and the evening's fireworks.

I was giddy with excitement. I couldn't wait to share with the boys the magic of Disney. For the very first time.

How to Pack for an Army

I packed like mad today. And this isn't even all of it. 5 uprights, 5 "personal items," and a stroller, too. We will be checking the largest two bags, but otherwise will be toting all the rest through the airport like a travelling circus.

The good news is that one of the bags contains almost nothing except disposable items (diapers, breakfast, and snacks) so in theory we should have plenty of room for souvenirs on the way back. :)

2011 Calendars

I managed to get at least one version of my 2011 calendars done. The kind where you pick the photos and the software fits them to a page. This one doesn't have all the birthdays and anniversaries, but it does have pictures of the boys throughout the year. I always try to pick photos from that month from the previous year. So January 2011 has pictures from January 2010, and so on. It is always fun to see just how much they have grown over the past year. Though with over 100 birthdays and anniversaries to keep track of I will certainly miss having them on the calendar.