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View Full Version : Family Fun Time, Day 4



BrerGnat
01-10-2012, 10:22 AM
Cast:
Me
DH
DS7 Max
DS5 Lucas

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Today is DH's 33rd birthday! :party: We woke up rather early this morning and did the usual breakfast in the lounge routine.

Today was DH's to choose where we went and what we did. He chose to start off at DHS, because he's a Star Wars nut, and he definitely wanted to ride Star Tours on his bday. So, off we went, onboard the boat right around 8:40. The boat was rather crowded and we were the last family let on. There was nowhere to sit together, so we put the boys on the ends of some benches, and DH sat behind one of them. I made my way up to the front of the boat, where there was a row with only one guy sitting in it. He was smack dab in the center of the seat, arms outstretched to either side of him. I politely said "excuse me" and he gave me this look of pure evil, huffed and removed one arm from the back of the seat (he didn't scoot over, though). I sat at the very edge of the seat, and I swear, the whole boat ride, he was all huffy and acted like I was really cramping his space, although he had a good 2 feet of bench between him and the window. As we got off the boat, DH, who had been sitting like 5 rows back from me, said "what was up with that guy next to you? Did you see his face when you sat down?" Okay, so I hadn't been the only one who noticed it. DH was like, "geez, it's not like he paid for that seat."

As we made our way to the park entrance, it was not yet 9am. There was a team of CM's set up with a stunt car, driver, and video camera, and they were asking for volunteers to make a "commercial" for LMA stunt show. DH took the boys over that way because Lucas wanted to see the "super cool racecar" while I went through the bag check. By the time I got over there, they were ready to shoot the thing, and everyone had already memorized the line (it was another family and us). We had some fun doing this, as DH totally screwed it up the first time and everyone laughed about it. My kids had no idea what was going on, and didn't do the line, but whatever. It was funny. By the way, it was a blatant attempt to get people over to the show. The "director" CM told us so. He came right out and said "we need to get more people over to the show...most of the time, the stadium is empty and we'll have to cancel more daily shows if we can't bump up attendance." After shooting the "commercial", the CM directed us over to another CM, who had a stack of Fast Passes for the 11:00am show, and who handed us a bunch, and asked us to hand them out. Weird. We didn't have any plans to see this show, although Lucas would have probably loved it; Lucas also is extremely noise sensitive, and after the boating incident the day before, I wasn't about to test his limits again.

So, we headed in with the plan for DH and Max to head over to Toy Story Mania using the GAC, and Lucas (who does not like that ride, due to the air canons and water squirts used) and I headed over towards Muppets 3D, stopping along the way to grab some Star Tours FP. I told him we were going to see the Kermit movie, and he was all for that. In all the years we lived in CA, we never took the boys to see Muppets 3D, primarily because I find it boring (sorry, but I do...I love the Muppets, but this movie is lame). But, since Lucas had developed such a sudden obsession with Kermit, I gave in. We arrived to a nearly empty waiting room, and Lucas had fun for about 10 minutes running around and looking at all the props. We were finally let in and the show started. Lucas was stunned by the 3D, but not in a good way. He had on the glasses, and as soon as the first gag appeared, he ripped them off so fast, and had this look like "what the...?" He would put them back on every once in awhile, and then remove them just as fast. He did enjoy seeing Kermit, and seemed to like the show well enough, but I don't think he loved it. He started to get a bit freaked out during the "bombing", but it was over fast enough.

As we exited the show, DH and Max were waiting for us, and we headed into the Muppet(ish) gift shop. What a disappointing selection of merchandise here...there were NO child sized Muppet t-shirts. Lame! But, Lucas gravitated towards a Kermit plush that became his best friend for the rest of vacation. We bought it for him and went on our way. Next up was the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground. I had also never been in here before (we skipped DHS on our first trip with the boys). The boys LOVED this playground. They had a ball in here, and it was a really nice, cool, shady spot. It was very empty too, so I just parked it by the entrance/exit while DH ran around with the boys. I was starting to get a headache, so I took some Tylenol (or so I thought).

Once the boys had had enough, we headed over to Star Tours. Max: "We can skip that one!". So, DH took the FP I had obtained for him prior to going to the Muppets movie, and the boys and I headed to the tables outside to wait and have a snack. I started to feel really dizzy, and got a weird taste in my mouth, and I soon realized I had taken one tylenol, and one of my prescription migraine pills, instead of two tylenol. Oops, although not a big deal, drug wise. It's just that I didn't have a migraine, only a mild headache, so I didn't mean to do that. So, that meant that I'd be feeling a bit dizzy for awhile. At least I figured it out, because it would have been worrisome to feel so dizzy for no reason. When DH returned, I was supposed to ride Star Tours, but told him what I'd done, and that I was NOT going to ride that while I was already feeling dizzy, so we decided we were done at DHS, but DH wanted to take the boys into the Star Wars giftshop. He went that way, while I went on search of a snack. I was hungry and I'm not supposed to take that medicine on an empty stomach, because it makes the dizziness worse, so I grabbed a banana (nothing else was open yet) and went to meet the boys in the shop, where Lucas promptly demanded my banana and ate about half (I never say no when Lucas asks to eat something healthy). DH bought Max a Boba Fett blaster gun, which Max loved, and we headed towards the entrance. I was still hungry, and getting crabby. DH was also hungry, so we stopped at a little stand right by the entrance and I grabbed a chocolate muffin, a bag of pita chips, and a gingerbread man cookie that Lucas begged for. I bought the cookie, because I had promised him before the vacation that he could get one, so here it was. Since he is SO picky, I basically assumed I had just thrown away $5 (because DH and I hate gingerbread). However, he and Max surprised us both and split the cookie and ate every crumb! Weird. Max also ate a bunch of my chocolate muffin. This might not seem like something worth mentioning, but when you have kids with autism who have been eating the same foods for the past 5+ years, it's HUGE when they try something new.

We left DHS with the plan to go to Epcot, but we took the bus since we wanted to start off in Future World. The bus took a long time to show up (I think only ONE bus runs this route), but we were at Epcot shortly. Upon arriving at Epcot, Lucas needed to make a pit stop in the bathroom, so I sent DH and Max ahead since Max wanted to do the Great Piggy Bank adventure game, and this is something that's a bit over Lucas' head. They went ahead, Lucas took his sweet time, and we followed into the park awhile later. ;) Lucas and I stopped in the Art of Disney store and I saw that they had the Jim Shore Mickey train in there, and made a mental note to tell DH. We met up with DH and Max, who were still doing the game, and we sat and waited for them to finish up. When that was done, we rode Spaceship Earth again, and then started making our way to WS for lunch. DH wanted tacos, and Max was requesting Macaroni and Cheese (it had been a couple days since he'd had some...usually a daily staple for him, so he was getting rather desperate). We planned to go to the American Adventure for the boys food, and then backtrack to Mexico for DH and I. However, once we got to Mexico, I didn't want to keep going further. I was STARVING (headaches do that to me) and so was DH. I felt like I hadn't eaten in ages, so I told DH to just get in line and get our food, and the boys could wait. I took the boys into the pavilion to do the boat ride, which they were not impressed by, but it passed the time and we got to sit down and rest. DH texted me during the ride that the restaurant had chicken tenders and cheese empanadas, so I told him to get an order of each for the kids. We exited the ride, found DH, who had just gotten the food, and found seats inside La Hacienda. This ended up being a very good lunch. Lucas was happy with the real, full sized chicken strips here, and Max enjoyed mostly his nachos, grapes, and milk. He tried the empanada, but didn't love it. I thought it was good, though. DH and I both had chicken tacos, which were very good! DH also got a margarita which he enjoyed very much. I really enjoyed eating in here. It really is a lovely restaurant.

BrerGnat
01-10-2012, 10:23 AM
After lunch, we made our way through WS and DH grabbed a Grey Goose slush in France. We did not want to leave the park, as we had an ADR at 4:50pm at Via Napoli. So, we went back to Future World. Another spin on Spaceship Earth. Walked over to Imagination and let the boys play in the jumping fountains while DH napped on a bench for about 20 min. We decided to ride Imagination (which I haven't been on since 1999?). This ride is SO stupid, it makes me angry. In particular, the ending, where it gets pitch black and there is a HUGE loud air canon blast. Holy smokes! That scared the you know what out of ME. Lucas was an absolute wreck. DH and I agreed that many people need to be fired for THAT disgrace of a ride. We cheered Lucas up back outside with some more fountain play. At that point, we started making our way back to WS, towards Italy. It was still early, so we stopped in Germany to watch the trains, and I went into my caramel heaven. :cloud9: They were making popcorn fresh, but the line was INSANELY long. I waited about 30 min in that line, and the lady in front of me got the last bag of caramel corn. :mad: I made do with some dark chocolate and sea salt caramels, but I was sort of miffed that I waited that long only to be told that it would be "another 30 min" for more caramel corn. Oh well. I found DH and the boys, and we decided to check in early for dinner. We arrived at around 4:30, and asked if they could seat us early, and they were happy to do so.

Our waiter at Via Napoli was Roberto, and he was GREAT! He was so funny, really made our dinner special. DH and I split a medium sized sausage pizza, and the boys split a pepperoni one (from which I removed the cheese for Lucas' portions). The pizza was amazing, as usual. DH and I ate all but 2 slices of it. Really, though, we could have just split a smaller one. The "medium" is akin to a "large" at most pizza chains. Roberto and the rest of the staff surprised DH with a small yellow cake with raspberry sauce and sang Happy Birthday in Italian, which thoroughly unhinged Lucas, because they sang it "wrong". He kept yelling at them "ALL DONE! BYE BYE!" and then when they left, he sang it the right way. :blush: The staff laughed it off, though, because I told them to just ignore him. After dinner, DH and the boys headed back to the resort, and I stayed behind to settle the bill and followed behind them. Lucas was beyond cranky at that point (too much walking today, and I think his feet were literally hurting him), so DH decided to go ahead with them, as Lucas behaves better when I'm not around. ;) I took my time, stopping at the Crepe kiosk in France to get a soft serve ice cream cone (that was SOOOOO good...oh my gosh...best soft serve I've EVER had, period.) When I arrived back in the room, I decided to do some laundry, since it was still early. Upon returning to the room from laundry, the boys were showered and in bed, and DH mentioned that he had been rather sick in the bathroom for the past hour. Uh oh. He spent the rest of the night in a lot of stomach pain. I felt awful for him. I went down to the Marketplace to get him some meds and a forehead thermometer just in case he started running a fever. He never did, though. By the next morning, he was still feeling off, but not too bad.

I'll spare you the details, but it turns out, DH is lactose intolerant. I've been suspecting this for quite some months now, but he's a hardened Marine, and he never listened to me. At dinner, though, he had basically just eaten WAY too much cheese, and it drove the point home. For the rest of the trip, I advised him to avoid dairy, and when we got home, he started taking lactaid before having any dairy, and he's been totally free of intestinal issues ever since. Moral here: LISTEN TO YOUR WIFE! :D

So, DH's birthday ended up being pretty good overall, but all he can remember of it was how awful he felt all that night. Poor guy, but it was still a good day overall, and we all really enjoyed it. Poor Lucas, though, had a NASTY blister on his toe...I knew his feet were hurting. We bandaged it up and he was fine the next day.

wildernesslady
01-10-2012, 10:47 AM
You sure accomplished alot today. We also love Via Napoli. It is great when kids decide to try new foods. Also, husbands do need to listen to us. Will they ever learn.

princessgirls
01-10-2012, 11:45 AM
Great day Natalie!!!

Thanks for sharing!

Julie:mickey:

MississippiDisneyFreak
01-10-2012, 01:22 PM
Thanks for the report.

I can't stand the Imagination ride either, it is horrible...I also do not like LMA at DHS and they were trying to hand out fastpasses to people when we were there in December and nobody wanted them. I think its time for a new attraction here.

mouseketeer mom
01-10-2012, 01:38 PM
The man on the boat story is crazy. People.:confused:
Anywho, I liked this whole day, minus the headache situation. And also minus the caramel popcorn situation. I live for that place and if they didn't have what I stood in line for I'd be pretty upset.;) Once we got out of Germany where we had dinner, and I was waiting for those caramels all day, and they just closed!!!! I think I actually cried a little!!
We agree, Via Napoli rocks. Sorry about Mr. lactose intolerant. Not pleasant for anyone!! haha!!!

BrerGnat
01-10-2012, 01:43 PM
I think its time for a new attraction here.

Agreed.

buzznwoodysmom
01-10-2012, 03:02 PM
What a great day Natalie. Your boys sure did great for such a long day. So sorry your hubby was so sick on his birthday.

We tried Via Napoli and the caramel shop in Germany for the first time in Dec. and both were amazing!!!! We loved everything we ate at both locations.

Totally agree about LMA. The one and only time we've seen this attraction was way back in the summer of 2006, when it was fairly new I think. My boys have never asked to go back to it again. I'll even ask on every trip if anyone wants to check it out again. I get a great big round of "NOs" each and every time. It seems like such a huge waste of space! And we also HATE the Imagination ride in Epcot. That's another attraction we did once and never even considered going back to.

SBETigg
01-11-2012, 05:31 PM
Listen to your wife! Always. Isn't it amazing you can be married so long and they still don't automatically do this? ;) Poor guy, though. I'm glad he recovered a bit by the next day. Don't you wish you could have just said something like "all done, bye bye" to the guy hogging the seat on the boat? Incredible how some people can't just share graciously.

I can smell the caramel corn now. I had a cupcake from Karamel Kuche on my birthday and I still think about it. Sigh. Now I'm longing for World Showcase! Great report.

faline
01-11-2012, 07:10 PM
Sort of a mixed day with some very lovely moments and some not so good ones!

I'm not a huge fan of Lights, Motors, Action. It's the sort of show that you certainly don't need to see every trip. However, my 4 year old nephew LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this show - both when we attended on the trip when he was 2 and again this time (last month). I know that he went at least twice on this last trip and had hoped to attend a third time which didn't work out due to timing issues between shows.

Love how Lucas sang "Happy Birthday" the right way for his dad!!

Melanie
01-12-2012, 09:56 AM
Why on earth don't they keep caramel corn on the ready at all times? So sorry you ended up not getting any. I love that shop! For someone who loves caramel and could take or leave chocolate, that is my heaven!

I'm so sorry your hubby got so sick. Ugh. On his birthday no less. But at least you got to the bottom of it and all is well now.

LMA is a once every six months kinda thing for us. My youngest in particular is a fan, although we haven't seen it since Lightning has been included in the show.

Great day, and thanks for sharing!

BrerGnat
01-12-2012, 11:00 AM
Why on earth don't they keep caramel corn on the ready at all times?


Well, I guess because when it's not fresh, it's not that good. What I wonder is, why don't they make larger batches? The batch they made was actually pretty small. Plus, people were getting multiple bags at a time. If they can't make it fast enough for demand, then they should either make more, or put a limit on how many bags per customer.

vizsla
01-14-2012, 05:57 AM
Thanks for the report.