IloveJack
12-16-2013, 11:26 AM
I got in line for the Candlelight Processional with DS at 5:40, expecting to sit there for 2.5 hours, while DH took the DDs to ride. They rode the Grand Fiesta Tour twice and Imagination once, and ran around taking PP pics. DH had told me, in secret, last night, that he and ODD had been taking pictures together when they went off to ride, to surprise me when I looked at the PP CD later.
He texted and asked about dinner and I told him to take them to the Electric Umbrella and bring me something back. They ran into a bit of an issue with an irrate customer, who was cussing the CMs out about being allergic to fries. DH asked her to stop cussing twice before she calmed down, but it caused them to not have time to sit and eat. They met me back in line at 7:40 with food in hand. Since they had to carry it, I didn't get anything. I wasn't hungry, and decided I'd deal with dinner later.
Wow! This was amazing! We got seats right behind the reserved section, on the center aisle, so we had no trouble sleeping. The DDs slept through it, though. Whoopi was great! When she was finished, she sped-read through the blurb that Disney wanted read, then said her own things to us. It was funny and sweet at the same time. It was worth the wait in line, as this was one of the main things I'd wanted to do, and it was awesome.
We had to almost run back to the FP location for Illuminations, and it was so crowded, we could barely see. Don't waste a FP+ on this. They don't limit the number given out enough, and we ended up standing four deep. I actually walked back up the hill so I could see over everyone, and talked to one of the CMs while I was there. I asked about them cleaning the pipes at the end of the night, and was told that they don't do it anymore. Bummer, it was really cool to see the one time we happened upon it.
We walked back into WS to use the potties at the UK. I came out to DH laughing at a drunk girl. It took her four tries to get a picture of the phone booths, because she couldn't stand up straight. Her boyfriend wasn't any better, and I hope they made it out of the park okay.
We didn't want to leave yet, but weren't interested in staying around for EMH, so we got in line for as many PP pics as we could find. We got one in front of the Christmas tree, I got one with DS in front of the Mickey and Minnie Christmas topiary. Then DH and I got one with the back of the ball and the fountain behind us. I had laid DS in ODD's lap while getting the last one, and they were both asleep and so cute. The PP photog saw them and asked if he could take their picture. He said, he thought she was holding a baby doll.
When we got out to the car, it wouldn't start, so DH walked over to the security tent and asked them to come jump us off while I got the kids situated for the ride home. It didn't take long, and we were on our way. Goodbye, Disney!
I tried to use my phone's map app to bypass the tolls, but we ended up wasting an hour driving out of the way, and used much more gas than the tolls would've cost us. Oops. By now, we were both struggling to keep our eyes open. After a couple of veers out of our lane, we switched drivers, but that still didn't last long. We stopped at a gas station to air up the back tire (with the plug in it), as it was causing the car to be hard to drive, and I couldn't stay awake just that long. We pulled over into the parking area and I set the alarm on my phone for 1.5 hours. We were out before a minute passed.
When we awoke, we hoped we'd be able to drive at least to the Florida line before having to stop again. However, we were so exhausted, that after another hour's drive, we stopped at a rest stop and slept for another 3 hours. My mother would have a fit if she knew we'd canceled reservations at a hotel and slept at a rest stop, but we'd have never made it to Lake City anyhow, and we never felt in any danger at all. When we woke up that time, the sun was up, so I grabbed the overnight bag (that was supposed to have been for the hotel), and took the girls inside to change clothes and freshen up.
We'd thought about driving straight home, but my parents had warned us not to cross Monteagle mountain with the ice storm that was coming through, so we planned to take I-10 across to Alabama and go up I-65. Our original plan had been to stop at the beach, but with the bad weather headed for home, we were going to skip it and drive on. We plan to be back in 6 months, anyhow. However, the closer we got to Alabama, the more DH was itching to see the beach.
He started playing with his map, and found out that we could go to Pensacola without going much out of our way at all. He neglected to check the weather.
We drove across the humongous bridge to the island and stopped to get out. Oops, we were all still in shorts and t-shirts, and it was a very windy 47 degrees. DH got out in the cold to dig through the suitcase and get us all jeans and jackets. We walked along the beach for an hour, collecting shells and getting our feet wet (hey, the water was warmer than the sand!), and getting stared at by the very few people that were out. I guess we were crazy, but it's not often we get to go to the beach.
However, it was soon evident that YDD was freezing, so we headed back to the car, got out of our wet jeans, and started the drive home. Between DS being hungry, and tired of the car seat, and the DDs being hungry, and having to potty, we never drove more than 1.5 hours without a stop. We arrived at 11pm, a full 24 hours since we'd left Epcot.
He texted and asked about dinner and I told him to take them to the Electric Umbrella and bring me something back. They ran into a bit of an issue with an irrate customer, who was cussing the CMs out about being allergic to fries. DH asked her to stop cussing twice before she calmed down, but it caused them to not have time to sit and eat. They met me back in line at 7:40 with food in hand. Since they had to carry it, I didn't get anything. I wasn't hungry, and decided I'd deal with dinner later.
Wow! This was amazing! We got seats right behind the reserved section, on the center aisle, so we had no trouble sleeping. The DDs slept through it, though. Whoopi was great! When she was finished, she sped-read through the blurb that Disney wanted read, then said her own things to us. It was funny and sweet at the same time. It was worth the wait in line, as this was one of the main things I'd wanted to do, and it was awesome.
We had to almost run back to the FP location for Illuminations, and it was so crowded, we could barely see. Don't waste a FP+ on this. They don't limit the number given out enough, and we ended up standing four deep. I actually walked back up the hill so I could see over everyone, and talked to one of the CMs while I was there. I asked about them cleaning the pipes at the end of the night, and was told that they don't do it anymore. Bummer, it was really cool to see the one time we happened upon it.
We walked back into WS to use the potties at the UK. I came out to DH laughing at a drunk girl. It took her four tries to get a picture of the phone booths, because she couldn't stand up straight. Her boyfriend wasn't any better, and I hope they made it out of the park okay.
We didn't want to leave yet, but weren't interested in staying around for EMH, so we got in line for as many PP pics as we could find. We got one in front of the Christmas tree, I got one with DS in front of the Mickey and Minnie Christmas topiary. Then DH and I got one with the back of the ball and the fountain behind us. I had laid DS in ODD's lap while getting the last one, and they were both asleep and so cute. The PP photog saw them and asked if he could take their picture. He said, he thought she was holding a baby doll.
When we got out to the car, it wouldn't start, so DH walked over to the security tent and asked them to come jump us off while I got the kids situated for the ride home. It didn't take long, and we were on our way. Goodbye, Disney!
I tried to use my phone's map app to bypass the tolls, but we ended up wasting an hour driving out of the way, and used much more gas than the tolls would've cost us. Oops. By now, we were both struggling to keep our eyes open. After a couple of veers out of our lane, we switched drivers, but that still didn't last long. We stopped at a gas station to air up the back tire (with the plug in it), as it was causing the car to be hard to drive, and I couldn't stay awake just that long. We pulled over into the parking area and I set the alarm on my phone for 1.5 hours. We were out before a minute passed.
When we awoke, we hoped we'd be able to drive at least to the Florida line before having to stop again. However, we were so exhausted, that after another hour's drive, we stopped at a rest stop and slept for another 3 hours. My mother would have a fit if she knew we'd canceled reservations at a hotel and slept at a rest stop, but we'd have never made it to Lake City anyhow, and we never felt in any danger at all. When we woke up that time, the sun was up, so I grabbed the overnight bag (that was supposed to have been for the hotel), and took the girls inside to change clothes and freshen up.
We'd thought about driving straight home, but my parents had warned us not to cross Monteagle mountain with the ice storm that was coming through, so we planned to take I-10 across to Alabama and go up I-65. Our original plan had been to stop at the beach, but with the bad weather headed for home, we were going to skip it and drive on. We plan to be back in 6 months, anyhow. However, the closer we got to Alabama, the more DH was itching to see the beach.
He started playing with his map, and found out that we could go to Pensacola without going much out of our way at all. He neglected to check the weather.
We drove across the humongous bridge to the island and stopped to get out. Oops, we were all still in shorts and t-shirts, and it was a very windy 47 degrees. DH got out in the cold to dig through the suitcase and get us all jeans and jackets. We walked along the beach for an hour, collecting shells and getting our feet wet (hey, the water was warmer than the sand!), and getting stared at by the very few people that were out. I guess we were crazy, but it's not often we get to go to the beach.
However, it was soon evident that YDD was freezing, so we headed back to the car, got out of our wet jeans, and started the drive home. Between DS being hungry, and tired of the car seat, and the DDs being hungry, and having to potty, we never drove more than 1.5 hours without a stop. We arrived at 11pm, a full 24 hours since we'd left Epcot.