~ Curse YOU indoor plumbing!!! ~ Sept 2009

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

oh my I was laughing so hard picturing the bathing suit I would have knocked my husband out for that one Thats a man for ya. Maybe he secretly liked it.

The pics of the sting rays and dolphins were so awesome. What a great experience. I loved the comment about it being really filthy in there His one liners are cracking me up.

Cant wait to hear more.

Yes, men......what can you do Gabriel had quite a few moments that were very funny and it's hard to share them because he is so quirky you kind of had to be there....but I will try my best to share them all

Your trip is coming sooooooon!!!!!

 

[MouseTriper]

Awww, I just stumbled on your TR and am loving it so far. Your son sure is a handsome little guy. Discovery Cove looks like so much fun. I really want to swim with the dolphins sometime.

Sorry to hear abour POP...I would hate the "flushing" all night too! Uggg!!!

Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[KathyRN137]

and then

Look at that happy boy!


Kathy

 

[joy13]

Discovery Cove looks just awesome! Gabriel looks so happy riding the dolphin What a cool experience for all of you.

Glad you had your cover up along! That's the worst thing when you first realize a swimsuit has seen it's last days - that never seems to happen at home

 

[Gabes_mommy]

Carol = you poor thing - I can't believe your booty was exposed and you had no idea. Your DH definitely deserves a little revenge.

I love the pictures of Gabriel at DC - he looks so happy.

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

Awww, I just stumbled on your TR and am loving it so far. Your son sure is a handsome little guy. Discovery Cove looks like so much fun. I really want to swim with the dolphins sometime.

Sorry to hear abour POP...I would hate the "flushing" all night too! Uggg!!!

Can't wait to read more!!!

Thanks and if you get the chance to do Discovery Cove....Go for it! It was fun!

Look at that happy boy!


Kathy

Discovery Cove looks just awesome! Gabriel looks so happy riding the dolphin What a cool experience for all of you.

Glad you had your cover up along! That's the worst thing when you first realize a swimsuit has seen it's last days - that never seems to happen at home

Yes, why do these things always happen AWAY from home?

Carol = you poor thing - I can't believe your booty was exposed and you had no idea. Your DH definitely deserves a little revenge.

I love the pictures of Gabriel at DC - he looks so happy.

Gabriel had so much fun....not too much in the cold lagoon with the rays but with the Dixie and in the fresh water lagoon.


I just got back from the beach and I am so behind in everything!

I haven't even gotten to our first Disney day yet!

Hope to update tomorrow......gotta put this house to sleep for the night.

Oh and BTW

GO RAVENS

 

[mousescrapper]

The pictures of Gabriel w/ the dolphin are just priceless....how wonderful!

 

[lklasing]

I'm signing on! Love your TR! I may just have to bite the bullet and go to Discovery Cove next trip - those pictures are wonderful!

Looking forward to more!

Leslie

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

Day 3

My original plan was to hit HS on this day but Peter wanted to do Animal Kingdom instead.

We were up early and headed up to grab a quick bite before we got in line for the bus but the AK bus was already there. The buses seemed to be there when we didn’t want them to be and then not be there when we wanted them. Although, the wait for buses really never was bad. They were standing room only most of the time and Peter grumbled because he gives his seat up every single time to the “ladies” or kids. Gabriel ate something back at the room so I figured we could get something once we enter the park.

Peter's holding our empty mug


Once at the park - I went over to Guest relations and got Gabriel’s GAC card. We were there for their version of rope drop. While waiting I got Peter a danish and a Coke (he doesn’t drink coffee and that is his am pick me up). I wanted to get Gabriel a drink but all the snack place had that I thought he may drink was this Blue Slurpee like drink. His favorite color is Blue and I thought that may keep him cool as it was already pretty steamy. As we watched the little opening show…Peter put Gabriel on his shoulders. People were a little bit rude trying to push to get up front.

Gabriel wanted to know where the truck with Minnie and Goofy went. He loves to “hunt” for things. He was very cute checking the map (Dora the Explorer like) to see where Minne and Goofy could have gone. I told him it went to the Safari.

Intently checking out the map

You notice the Blue drink isn't in sight.....well I thought he had tasted it when we got it. I don't think he actually got any up the straw because it was so thick. It had melted some on the way to the safari ride so as we were walking through the line when he actually got a sip.....which he immediately spit out into his hand. Luckily I come prepared with handy dandy wipes for these occasions. In the trash the Blue drink went....it was much too sweet for Mommy and Daddy to drink it.

I never get any really good animal pictures during the safari. Well, of the ones that I want to get. I always get the animals that are so so to me. I like the giraffes and lions.

After the Safari I said maybe Minnie and Goofy went to the rapids (you get the idea). I put a poncho on Gabriel and figured I would chance it. Well we did the rapids and just take a guess at who was in the soak seat?!. Peter had sat with Gabriel and I was by myself. Yep, me and myself were drenched. Gabriel wanted to ride again so I figured what the heck…..I was already wet. On our way to ride it again, Peter realized he left his backpack in the center of the ride. It had his wallet with everything in it and his Ipod. Luckily it was there with the CM’s.

Peter got it the next go around but not nearly as bad as I had gotten it. It was very hot that day so the soak actually felt good, although walking in wet clothes did not.

On the way to EE we saw Flick and Gabriel stopped for a picture. At the end he said “Hey Flick, do you know where Dory is?”

We have a very good Photopass pic of this but I don't have the CD yet.

Gabriel must own 1000 plush animals and they are very important to him. For some reason the animal he wanted this trip was Dory. We were kind of making it like a hunt for Dory and I knew we would find her over by the Nemo Musical.

Flick tried to steal Peter’s Coke and the CM‘s were saying “no no Flick”. Gabriel thought that was funny.

Then Peter went on EE and I grabbed two fast passes for him later. Gabriel wont ride most of the big rides so I took him to get an ice cream.

The ice cream stand

I had told Peter to meet us over at the Boneyard after riding EE so we started in that direction.

On the way we saw who we were looking for.

Of course once we purchased her……he has to put in his mind who he needs next. He says we have to get Gil and Peach next……I was pretty sure that we wouldn’t be able to find them but if they existed that maybe Epcot would be the place. I told him we would have to talk to Crush to find those two. We had never done Crush so I was happy that he seemed into going on that as well as the Nemo ride. He didn’t want to see the musical at AK though. I probably should have pushed him a little to see if he would have like it. It was just so hot that I guess I wasn’t in the mood. Shows and Gabriel don't mix.

Peter came to relieve me as soon as we got to the Boneyard so I could get on Dinosaur.

I got Peter a FP while I rode standby. I always hate when I see a parent pushing their kids on Dinosaur. There was a mom that was telling her about 4 yr old that was crying,“it’s not scary!”.

After traveling to prehistoric times…….I found my boys just getting ready to get pictures with Goofy and Pluto.

Goofy stole his hat and they of course noticed Dory too.

We went and rode PW which was a first for us and boy is that ride herky jerky.

Gabriel was very nervous about this ride.

Then we were off to eat lunch at Flame Tree BBQ.

It was okay, but I just wasn't that hungry.

After lunch Peter went to go ride EE again and Dinosaur and I took Gabriel to see Pooh and Friends. There was a women in front of us with 3 kids and she was holding the line up by unwrapping her autograph books for the kids and then they wanted a ton of picutures and autographs. We all patiently waited

Tigger liked Gabriel's hat

Gabriel makes sure his new friend Dory is looking at the camera

I told Peter we would meet him in the wooded park in front of Dinosaur.

We all met up and decided to leave the park and get back to the resort. We had reservations at Ohana’s at 5:30 and so we made it back to Pop 2pm. I took Gabriel for a quick swim to let him cool down and get some activity in. The pool water was not very refreshing. It’s was kind of like bath water.

We hopped a bus to Epcot and then hit the monorail to get to the Poly. We walked to the Poly from the monorail stop. We should have waited for the MK bus at Pop because I think that Monorail stops right there in the Poly.

Ohana’s was a mad house. We had some crazy buzzer issues but were seated pretty quick and had a view of the Castle. I had put my camera batteries in the charger and grabbed the ones that I charged at home. Well, apparently they don’t hold a charge long because they were dead! So no castle view pictures for us or any other pictures the rest of the night for that matter.

The food was very good as usual. They brought mac n cheese for Gabriel and he wouldn’t eat “this” kind and he wouldn’t even eat the ice cream because it had vanilla bean specks. Luckily, I had his PSP to keep him occupied.

Wow - we were just stuffed to the brim and I hadn‘t really eaten that much. I think something was wrong with Peter and I. Neither one of us had an appetite the ENTIRE trip! It was very hot and maybe that played into it. I personally had a twinge of nausea every day. When I would eat, it seemed that I would be full immediately. Not sure what was up with that.

The entertainment was literally RIGHT next to us. We were good sports about it and the guy doing the limbo and playing the music made a funny little comment like “that wasn’t too bad was it” when it was over. It was all good in the hood though.

Alright, we should have headed back to the resort but noooooooo.

We were so close to MK and it was EMH that I had to go over there. Plus we needed to walk off our food!

So we hopped on the Monorail, entered MK and proceeded immediately to WTP, of course, then to Toontown. Barnstormer was packed as was Toontown in general. Gabriel was tired and kind of in a daze(I had pushed him too far this day). He wanted to go in Donald’s boat for a bit and then we did the Teacup ride for the first time. I made Peter promise he wouldn’t spin it. My food was still not settled. What do you think he does as soon as it starts? He was just messing with me but it was stressing me out.

Then we went to do Astro orbiter and Peter opted out. He was bummed SM wasn’t open. Once we got up to the elevator I told Gabriel “Don’t worry buddy it’s almost starting and you are doing such a good job waiting”. He said “Then why does it feel like the end?”. I don’t know what that meant but it was funny and kind of pitiful at the same time.

It took us 45 minutes(this ride is absolutely not worth waiting that long but Gabriel likes it- he calls it the Purple Planet) to get up to the top and then Gabriel who was being awfully quiet said "Mommy?" and pointed to his stomach. I said “what?” and he says “I’m sick”.

To quote Nemo......."This is bad Dory - really bad."

Normally 99% of the time this means puke is near. This happened just as we were getting ready to board. I wouldn’t let him get on the ride because well could you imagine? I tell the CM and she is like - sorry the elevators don’t open until the next group or something. I try to explain he is going to hurl and she is of no help. There is nothing up there and nowhere to go. I took him to the edge and thought uhhhh that’s not good...poor unsuspecting people below. We just waited while my blood pressure probably did the Astro Orbiter. My stress level is off the chart at this point.

I pray to sweet Jesus that he doesn’t puke up there. We finally get on the elevator crammed with other people and I am still praying…..it must have worked because this was one of those 1% times. Thank you Jesus.

Peter finds us and asks how it went. He can’t believe how long we waited and that we didn’t even get to ride.

We were done for the day and as I said ….I pushed Gabriel too far this day.

Up next - Blizzard Beach and Epcot

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

The pictures of Gabriel w/ the dolphin are just priceless....how wonderful!

The video is so funny. At the end I basically had to drag him off of Dixie.

I'm signing on! Love your TR! I may just have to bite the bullet and go to Discovery Cove next trip - those pictures are wonderful!

Looking forward to more!

Leslie

Thanks - I really loved Discovery Cove but we are water park people anyway so it was especially nice with it being hot and not having to worry about the crowds in the park. They only let a certain amount of people in and I heard that there were 900 people in the park that day.

I am enjoying your report too.

 

[Gabes_mommy]

Great update!!!

My Gabriel got that same Dory on out trip.

I am so sorry that Gabriel got sick waiting for the Astro Orbiter.

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Hi! I am loving your trip report. I have laughed outloud several times. (bathing suit) You are good at writing tr. Your pictures are wonderful and your little guy is so adorable. I can't wait to hear more. Thank you for sharing with us.

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

Great update!!!

My Gabriel got that same Dory on out trip.

I am so sorry that Gabriel got sick waiting for the Astro Orbiter.

It is strange the plush toys he gets his mind set on. Now he wants Santa to bring him the Over the Hedge plush toys

Thankfully, he really didn't get sick but I didn't know that puke wasn't going to come so I was freaking out. He must have just had gas He doesn't know how to tell me the difference.

Hi! I am loving your trip report. I have laughed outloud several times. (bathing suit) You are good at writing tr. Your pictures are wonderful and your little guy is so adorable. I can't wait to hear more. Thank you for sharing with us.

Hi and thanks for reading along

 

[Dizneydawn]

He must have just had gas He doesn't know how to tell me the difference.

I wish my kids would point at their tummy and say they felt sick when they might have gas! It would be a great warning vs our usual - silent but deadly delivery!

I will get my TR updated tonight girl! You make me want to write!

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

I wish my kids would point at their tummy and say they felt sick when they might have gas! It would be a great warning vs our usual - silent but deadly delivery!

I will get my TR updated tonight girl! You make me want to write!

Well, usually he justs lets it rip

He has no concept of what is socially acceptable so I always try to show him how shocked I am and make him say "Excuse me". He actually does pretty well with his manners.

The other day he did it and I quickly jumped all over him and said "GABRIEL! - SAY EXCUSE ME!"

He said "But Moooooooommmmmm, I'm not finished yet" Well, he had me there.


I hope you are getting things worked out with the school. There would be a smack down if I had to deal with that. I am pretty sure I will have to learn how to homeschool once middle school starts. Unfortunately, I don't feel like the school systems deal with those kind of problems very well.

Maybe I should post an update about Gabriel and his brand new bus transportation Nothing bad happened but some of the bus drivers comments to me had me seriously double think letting him out of my mother hen claws

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

We decided to sleep in on this day to maybe recharge our batteries. We probably headed to breakfast around 9 -9:30.

WOW - What a ZOO! It really does make a difference if you get to the Pop eatery early. Of course I could see Peter hating Pop by each and every second

We scooted out as fast as we could and caught the AK/BB bus. The line was very long for that bus and I was checking out the people in line. Not many seemed to be headed to BB. It was very hot already and I had to feel so sorry for everyone heading to AK that day. I was so happy we chose to do BB.

BB was the first stop and with the bus packed to the brim….only us and another couple got off. That made me happy because I felt that was good way to guage the crowds.

We headed in and got towels and a locker. The lockers come in two sizes and the largest one is still kind of small. In the past, we had not gotten a locker but for some reason I thought we may want to start. (I also used our room safe for the first trip ever) Maybe it’s the economy but I just feel like I would rather not put the temptation out there.

We hit the ski lift up to Summit Plummet…..no, not to ride that!

You take the ski lift up to get to the family raft ride as well. We just love this ride.

The view at the top

Going down!

A drop of water got on the lens as you can tell


While in the very short line for the ski lift…..Gabriel was doing something strange. He is normally always mumbling, humming or repeating some line from a movie/show. But along with whatever it was he was saying he was posing in this freaky position like a statue. I had to finally ask him what he was doing since he was making quite the scene. He was saying “No” and then he would pose in this crazy position. I didn’t get it and then he points to this……

Says "NO!"




And does this…..

Ahhhhhh, it all makes sense now

I was cracking up. He takes everything so literal. I was actually watching a show about the man the movie “Rain Man” was made after. They were showing a study about how his brain doesn’t work like ours (duh - wonder how much they spent on that study) Anyway, they were showing how incredibly amazing this man’s (Kim Peek) mind is but he could not grasp a metaphor. For example they would ask him what it meant “to get a grip on yourself” He would then grab himself. They asked him “what would it mean if I said - “That George Bush sure is no Rocket Scientist” and Kim Peek replied that he wouldn’t be able to get to the moon or something. Anyway, that phenomenon applies to Gabriel so far in his life too.

We rode the family raft ride twice in a row and then did Runoff Rapids a couple times and then did the lazy river.

This shack used to make a sneezing sound and then spew water.....I guess maybe it wasn't politically correct anymore I thought it was cute.

Gabriel pushing Daddy

The lazy river is not lazy when you do this with Gabriel. He basically runs the entire river without a tube - like it's a race or something. So, it's not that relaxing but he loves it

I believe we ate lunch after that. We probably got on the family raft ride again but I’m not sure the order of everything.

I just know we had a very fun day.

Up next Epcot for dinner at Chefs de France

 

[KathyRN137]

Aaahhhh! A much more relaxing day! I was worried for a minute when reading about your close call at Astro Orbiter!

I completely get the literal-to-the bone characteristic; Billy is the same way.

Today someone asked him what his dog looked like and he replied,
"A dog."

The water park looked so nice and uncrowed . . . I'm glad you had such a nice time!

Love the puzzle piece lanyard, too!

Kathy

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

We headed back to resort to get the bus to Epcot for Chefs de France. We had never eaten here and it was a last minute ADR addition.

We did Soarin (MY FAVORITE) first when we got to the park. All Gabriel could talk about was talking to Crush to ask him if he knew where Peach and Gil were.

After we did Soarin - which I love - we head off to dinner. I was trying to scoot by the Finding Nemo attraction but Gabriel spied it and I had to explain we would head there after dinner. He gave me a little bit of lip but not so bad. The funny thing is that he wouldn’t go near the attraction last visit because of those birds “Mine, Mine, MINE!“ in the front.

Dinner was blah. Again, I wasn’t hungry and felt a bit queasy. I ordered the French Onion Soup and the Mac n Cheese and the pastry puffs with the chocolate sauce. Peter ordered the Chicken dish. He said he could have gotten the same dish at Boston Market for $7. I didn’t order Gabriel anything because I knew from reading the DIS that the Mac n Cheese would not be up to par for him.

I watched as the little boy next to us was served his Mac n Cheese and you should have seen the kids face. He was like WTH! I think they ended up bringing plain noodles out for him.

I wouldn’t eat here again….it wasn’t awful or anything but especially if I was paying out of pocket(pricey)…it just wasn’t memorable.

We headed back quickly to Turtle Talk and Finding Nemo. It was 8pm by this time I think. We did the Nemo ride and caught the last Crush show for the night (thank goodness)…..that may have been another “this is bad Dory” moment.

Okay, we sat in the Crush room and Gabriel plopped down in the front. I couldn’t get a seat right by him so I was a couple feet away. I knew he wanted to ask Crush some questions but I had butterflies in my stomach because you just never know what he is going to say. Most times, further parent explanation is needed. He started just blurting out to Crush and I had to shush him (I hate doing that). He realized the other kids were raising there hands so he did the same. He never did get called on and I was sad and relieved at the same time. He was okay with it though so that was good. Then we quickly checked out some of the aquariums.

We thought about doing Illuminations but figured it may be better to just head out before the mad rush. We were beat.

On the way out a lady stopped us for a survey. Of course, Peter doesn’t want to offend so we start answering questions. One of which was “how old are you?” I realized that at that moment - it was the last time I was going to be able to say “39”! Well, we went on with the questions and here comes the first wave of peeps…..so we ended up BEHIND the mad rush when we finally finished.

The Pop bus stop is the furthest away. Peter and I joked that we were like 2nd class citizens or something. It was such a trudge when you are already beat. When we finally got to the stop it was crazy and when the first bus left without us on it Gabriel said “Now we’re stuck at Epcore!”. Another bus came fairly quickly but again Peter gave up his seat and had to stand.

When we got back to Pop I called for a 6:30am wake up call. Yes, lesson learned. We had our 8:05 ADR at CP for my birthday the next day!

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

Aaahhhh! A much more relaxing day! I was worried for a minute when reading about your close call at Astro Orbiter!

I completely get the literal-to-the bone characteristic; Billy is the same way.

Today someone asked him what his dog looked like and he replied,
"A dog."

The water park looked so nice and uncrowed . . . I'm glad you had such a nice time!

Love the puzzle piece lanyard, too!

Kathy

Isn't it funny how they answer some things? Such honesty in them too. Which can be good and bad as well

I had gotten those lanyards three years ago. I had hoped they would be like some notice to others about why he was the way he was being. That really didn't work. Even the pin I got him is kind of hard to read and people would bend down to read the pin outloud and struggle. When they finally realized what it said....they were kind of weird. Maybe they just felt bad for making such a big deal out of the pin and then realizing what it said

It's kind of like when you walk up on a mother and a baby and you bend down to say awwwww what a cute baby and you get half way into your sentence and you notice she is nursing and you have her face in her B**b

I don't know. I guess I need a pin that is easier to read

 

[Gabes_mommy]

Great updates!!!

I love your BB pictures - we have never been to either water park so I love seeing what they're like. The picture of gabriel mimicing the sign is so cute.

That's too bad that you didn't enjoy Chef's de France. It seems like to TS restaurants at WDW are really hit or miss.