5 posts tagged “parade”

Cody is smiling and playing the cymbals.  I was surprised at the tears that sprang to my eyes but he just looks so old!

 

 

Things I Dislike:

1.  Yesterday morning, Lily fell backwards off our bed and hit her head really hard. I still had her go to swim lessons thinking it would take her mind off things.  She did fairly well until the last 5 minutes when she got out.  She was nauseous.  When we got to the house, she curled up on the bed under a blanket and said she just wanted to go to sleep.  That's when alarm bells started going off in my head so off to the ER we went.   She threw up when we were in the ER and then really perked up. The Dr. said sometimes the adrenaline from an injury makes someone nauseous and tired but he didn't think it was a concussion. Whew!
2. Cody had a horrible migraine yesterday.  I don't know when he'll learn to watch for the early signs so he can take medicine early enough to head them off.  He ended up throwing up twice, slept from 5:30-9:00 on the bathroom floor, and then Ray moved him to bed.  He's still sleeping.
3. Movie companies taking kids' toys and making movies about them that are not appropriate for the kids who play with the toys!  "Transformers 2"

Things I Like:

1. I think we'll be ordering our cabinets next week.  We're almost done with the design.  They're the Maple Glaze ones.  http://www.pinnaclehomeproducts.com/Cabinets_c_1.html
2. We've also got most of our light fixtures chosen and hope to order them next week.
3. Today is the Town & Country Festival in town.  We'll be taking in the parade, free lunch, games, and other entertainment.
4. Three days until we see our neighbors from back in Jamestown!!
5. The theater in town just reopened after being closed for a year.  Now, if they could get a PG movie that would be great.
6. Spending a 99 degree day at the pool with friends.    
7. Jace made Cody's All Star soccer team!  He'll be a sub but he's still doing awesome considering most of the kids are 11 or 12 and he's just 9.   
8. I had my first hair cut & color here yesterday.  It's scary for me to go to someone new.  I just about fainted when she told me the price.  It was $60.  In Jamestown, I paid $120!!                                                                                      

 

We woke up Friday morning to pouring rain and the forecast predicted it to continue throughout the day.  So, I gave in and went down to the resort gift shop to spend $40 on 5 rain ponchos.

Our game plan for Magic Kingdom was to conquer the things we missed the 1st day and revisit our favorites.  The 1st thing on my list was to go see The Little Mermaid as we hadn't seen her and she's my favorite!  We bypassed Pluto near the entrance and told Jace we'd catch him on the way out.  The boys went to Space Mountain while we were seeing her.  It was a short line.  I'd left my digital camera in the backpack with Ray because of the rain so just took a picture with my water camera but it didn't turn out well.  Luckily, I got some good ones on my Photo Pass so I'll share those when I get them purchased.

Next, we met up with the boys to go see Mickey & Minnie.  You can't go to DW and not see them!!  Mickey wasn't sure what to think of Jace's shirt. 

Then, we had another quick ride on the Barnstormer Coaster before hopping on the train to Frontier Land.

There was a short line to see Goofy so we decided we'd better do that. Goofy loved Cody's hat.

On our 1st day, we didn't get to Adventure Land at all so decided we go there and hit the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which we've heard so much about.  I think we were all a bit disappointed when compared to lots of the other rides and attractions. 

The next Jack Sparrow?

Then, we went on the Jungle Cruise.  I was nervous in this little boat because there were more people on my side and it was leaning too much for my comfort.  Seriously, the water was practically at the edge of the boat!  Some of the sights from the "cruise".

I've never been at the back of a waterfall before.

 

The kids went on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin kiddie ride.  Then, we went into the Enchanted Tiki Room for its musical revue.  Let me just say, "waste of time"! 

For lunch, we ate at Pecos Bills Cafe in Frontier Land.  I think it was one of our favorite meals the whole week.  Afterward, we took another ride on Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain.  We boarded the train again to take us back to Tomorrow Land for another ride on Space Mountain.  I think it was a big favorite for the group.  Unfortunately, Lily wasn't tall enough for it.  We also went on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin again.

The sprinkles were basically on again off again all day.  Basically, they were on the minute I took off my poncho and off the minute I put it on.  Everyone thought I just need to keep it on!  The good thing about the rain was it really kept the lines small.

By 3 pm, we thought we'd start back to the hotel as we had to get up very early to catch our flight the next day.  I happened to open our map and see that Pluto stopped seeing people at 2:30 pm.  Crap!  The character Jace most wanted to see. 

On the way out, we ran into the Disney Dreams Come True Parade.  By luck, we had a pretty good spot to watch even though we got there right at 3.  Lily watched the 1st part from dad's shoulders. 

But when the princesses started coming, she said "put me down, I have to get closer".  Being a tiny person, she managed to snake her way right up to the front.

 

 

 

This particular Little Mermaid and Prince were the worst look alikes of the trip.

 

Pluto spotted Jace's hat so looked right at him and grabbed his own ear.  At least it was something since we blew Jace's chance to meet him.

I felt so awful that Jace was the only one who didn't get to meet his favorite character.  I'd seen Pluto at Epcot so decided he and I would take the monorail there while everyone else went back to the resort.  Just about the time we were arriving at Epcot, I realized that Ray had our "keys to the world" aka park passes.  Double crap!  I thought surely they had some way of checking the computer to see that we were legit.  The man at the window was very helpful and sent us to Guest Relations.  It was a slow moving line but they were able to print us off 2 new passes after I called Ray and got the numbers off of them.  We took our passes back to the entrance but they didn't work.  The woman said we'd been to MK already today and we didn't have Park Hopper passes.  I explained our situation and that we'd just had these reprinted and they were supposed to be Park Hoppers.  She went and got a little, old guy who said the same thing and that "these are not printed here".  Excuse me?  I just had them printed right over there 2 minutes ago!!  I was already tired after a week of DW and a bit on edge from the off and on rain.  This guy literally sent me through the roof.  It was bad enough that he told me they were wrong but to try and tell me they weren't printed there?  Give me a break!  I said fine that I would go back to Guest Relations where I had to stand in the slow moving line again.  The woman looked up on her computer and said we were at MK this morning.  I said yes but we were supposed to have Park Hoppers.  Apparently, we did not and since we hadn't tried to tackle more than one park in a day before, hadn't come across the issue.  We booked our trip months before so I honestly couldn't remember.  She said that we could pay extra but I didn't think Pluto was worth another $40, especially since I thought we'd probably missed him after wasting so much time.

Jace & I sauntered back to the bus and I promised him some time in the resort arcade to make up for it.  I still feel like a loser mom, though.  Deb also thought we had Park Hoppers but we do remember discussing whether we'd want to go to more than one park in a day so I guess we'd decided against it.  We had a quick supper and tried to get to bed early but the kids were up later than they had been all week.

Wednesday morning it was off to Magic Kingdom.  It was all decorated for Halloween.

As soon as we were inside, we spotted Snow White, Chip & Dale, and Pluto.  The girls got in the Snow White line while the boys split up between the other two.

The latter characters went on break before the guys could get to them so we decided to move on and come back to them later.  That would turn out to be a mistake.

Cinderella's castle

Our 1st stop was Tomorrowland where we went to the "Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor".  It was fun but we were slightly disappointed after hearing rave reviews from Tyler's family.  They use audience members and I guess we just had duds.  It was still worthwhile, though.  Next, it was the "Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin".  As you can see, we defeated Zurg.

We ran into Stitch.

So then went to "Stitch's Great Escape".  We all found it rather odd but I'm not a big Stitch fan to begin with so maybe it was just me.  Afterward, we split up.  The boys headed to "Space Mountain" and the "Indy Speedway" while the girls hit Toontown to see the princesses.  We were told it would be about an hour wait so we were presently surprised when it was closer to 45 minutes.  It is sooo worth the wait!  They just let a few families in at a time so you really get a chance to visit with the princesses.  Lily started with her favorite, Belle.

Then, it was onto Cinderella. They took turns seeing how their dresses twirled.

Last was Sleeping Beauty who I found to be the most entertaining.  She asked us what kingdom we came from and said that must've been a very long carriage ride unless Tinker Bell had given us some fairy dust to fly.  Then, she was talking about what rides we were going on and said she'd probably need Prince Phillip to go on scary rides with her.  She played it up beautifully.

Of course, I had to get in one of the pictures.  I went with Sleeping Beauty because, seriously, could we have coordinated any better?

Minnie Mouse's house was next door so we took a tour through it.

 

Such a poser.

Next, the girls went on the "Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farm", a kiddie coaster that was right up my alley!  Then, it was off to the "Mad Tea Party" teacup ride which I avoided as there was way too much spinning.

We met back up with the boys.  They actually got Cody onto "Space Mountain" and he loved it!  However, they all declared the "Indy Speedway" to be a total dud and waste of time. 

Fantasyland was next where we stopped briefly at "Pooh's Playful Spot" for an ice cream snack (we had those daily).  Then, we stopped at Tinker Bell's store where the girls got charm bracelets and hats.

We walked through the castle where the "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique" is housed.  Again, I used all the self control I could muster to just keep on walking.  It was hard when you saw little girls with the hair all fixed up and princess gowns all over the place.  However, I just couldn't get myself to pay $250 for it and poor Deb would've had 2 girls to pay for.

So, we sauntered over to Liberty Square and the "Haunted Mansion" ride.  This is the best haunted house ride I've ever seen.  You were moved throughout 2 floors and there were sculptures and pictures that followed you, dancing ghosts, skeletons, etc.  There was so much detail that you could easily go through it several times and see something new each time.  The eyes on this tombstone outside would open and then move around.

The men got into some trouble after we left the mansion.

In Frontierland, we ran into Donald Duck.  He took Lily's mouse ears off for the picture LOL.

"Splash Mountain" was a big favorite for all.  It's by far the longest ride we went on at Disney.  The detail along the route is so amazing.  Here's a video of someone going on it.Spash Mountain Video  There's a 5-story drop near the end.  I got wetter than I anticipated sitting near the back.  This is our whole group.

Next to that was "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad", a runaway train coaster.  Lily was tall enough for this one so we all went on it.  It was another favorite for all.  Thunder Mountain Video

At this time, we thought we should find a place along the route for the "Disney Spectro Magic Parade".  Unfortunately ,we were all pretty hungry and the parade got delayed 15 minutes but we were glad we stayed.

 

 

The crowd was nuts to get out of the park when the parade was over.  There was a fireworks show but we wanted to see the one at Epcot instead so skipped it.  We still saw quite a bit since it took so long to get out.  The castle was gorgeous at night.

We had a quick supper back at the resort and then fell into bed.

We arrived in Pittsburgh around 6:30 Friday evening.  We were pretty exhausted from traveling so decided to eat at the hotel Pub.  While there, we found out that the Steelers stay at our hotel the night before every home game.  We got instructions on where to be and at one time for some possible autographs.

Saturday morning, we slept in and had brunch at the hotel.  I sure forget how expensive cities are as the brunch buffet was 17.95 per person!!  I didn't even think it was that great but the waiter was very charming.  Afterwards, we got directions to locate Steelers merchandise downtown so headed on our way.  We stepped out of our hotel into the middle of a Veteran's Day parade.

We continued onto the free subway.  Surprisingly, Ray had never been on a subway and I'm pretty sure my last time was NYC in 4th grade.

The city had some amazing sights to offer.

 

 

Our first stop was to

This was an 11 floor Macy's.  I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  Add to that holiday season and lots of clothes with sparkles and I could've spent the whole day.  However, I was very restrained and only bought Lily a set of shiny headbands and a Steelers scoreboard clock for Cody.  Next, it was onto Burlington Coat Factory as we thought their jerseys might be cheaper than Macy's.  We scored there and got each of the boys a new jersey for $10 less a piece than Macy's.  Also, we got Lily a few outfits for her birthday and Christmas.

We were still disappointed with the amount of Steelers stuff we were finding.  Most of it was clothes but I wanted to find some stuff for Cody's future Steelers bedroom.  Turns out, there was a sports store 2 blocks away and we hit the jackpot!

We bought some new terrible towels, Steelers tattoos for the boys' Christmas stockings, a penant for Cody's room, a new cheerleading outfit for Lily, and footballs to have autographed.

Next, it was back to the hotel to catch the shuttle for Station Square.  It's an old RR depot that's been turned into a big tourist location.  We started by getting some ice cream and looking through the shops.  We quickly discovered that we'd wasted our time downtown (though it was a good experience) because they had Steelers galore!

There was a store for kids and for women!  I bought myself a new Steelers rhinestone shirt.  Also, got Lily some pom poms and another sign for Cody's wall.  Then, we found the main store and there was the Steelers punter, #9 Daniel Sepulvada, signing autographs!  Just in case our plan for the hotel didn't turn out, we decided we'd better take advantage of this opportunity even though you had to pay for them.  We had him sign a picture for each of the boys and then we got a picture taken with him.  Pretty cute, eh?

I still can't believe I touched a Pittsburgh Steeler.  I was wishing I'd put my new shirt on.  After that, we went up the back of Station Square to the incline.

The incline takes you to the top of Mt. Washington which overlooks the city.  I couldn't believe what great fall colors they still had as we don't even have any leaves left on our trees.

Heinz Field (our hotel is just to the right of the fountain)

Headed back down the incline.

We hustled back to the hotel and got into all of our Steelers fan gear to wait in the lobby for the players to arrive.  It was slightly disappointing.  We waited for 1 1/2 hours and got pictures of a few players but they wouldn't stop for autographs.

Chris Hoke

Kicker Jeff Reed behind the plant!

We were about to give up when one player stopped for some autographs outside the door.  I was so mad because we were following the rules waiting in the lobby behind the ropes.  Finally, one more player started coming in and I told Ray to run outside with the footballs.  He got them signed by the kick returner, #30 Rossum.  The boys don't know we got that autograph so we're saving those for Christmas.

We concluded the evening with supper at Benihana's.  Japanese twice in one month.................mmmmm!!