Trip Reports

April 22-26, 1999

Me; 41 stay at home mom to 3 boys. We are DVC members but have yet to stay there. I went to DL as a child, WDW for a day about 12 yrs ago while I was in the Navy, stayed at the Barracks (I DON'T recommend these off site lodgings), 1997 at WL, 1998 at BC.

Son, Clayton, age 5 1/2, handsome, not in kindergarten yet, well-mannered, smart, older brother to twin 3 year olds.

It all started with us buying a resale DVC. There were just a few points left for 1999 and I wanted to use them to go in Dec. and see all the decorations. My husband said he would rather see me take Clay in the spring. Of course then I wouldn't be able to see the Christmas decorations. Then he surprised me by saying why don't you do both. The reasons just Clayton and I are going are many. I could not handle all three at a place like WDW. My husband cannot leave work and lastly we decided that Clay deserved a little time for himself. He sometimes get overlooked by strangers and family alike being the older brother of adorable, identical twin brothers that are wild and crazy.

Let the planning begin.

When to go? I was going to Houston in late April for the Texas Mothers of Multiples convention and my mother-in-law was going to watch the kids. I felt it wouldn't be fair to impose on her twice this spring so I decided to go during convention time. I also can use my convention money towards the trip helping cut down expenses.

I wanted to stay at WL but when I called they were booked. They did have a great rate for AP holders at the Contemporary so I decided to go for that. I didn't need the AP for my Dec trip as I get "free" passes with my DVC but considering the money I would save I went for itl

I called a travel agent and got our tickets on American for $320.00. The best they could do. I purchased the airline tickets and started to go over schedules. The next day I started telling my husband I wish we could stay for one more day. He said go ahead. But I had already bought the tickets and it would cost $75.00 to change them. "Go ahead" he said. Well, I rushed to call the travel agent. When she told me I didn't have to pay the extra money I was happy. Then she was able to get me on Delta, which I wanted in the first place, and the tickets had gone down in one day to $242.00. Woo Hoo. By adding a day I was able to pay for the extra night with the money saved on plane tickets.

My travel agent then asked me where I was staying. I said the Contemporary but we really wanted WL. She was able to get me a room and including LOS passes, Mears transfers and a flex feature (which we will use on a character breakfast that I was planning anyway) it was about $50.00 more so I took it. I feel WL enable us to walk less compared to the garden wing at the Contemporary. I really like the fact that everything is in one building.

I don't want to spend a lot of time at sit down meals so I have only planned one character dinner the first night and a breakfast for the day we leave. I think we will be eating at Roaring Forks alot and grabbing burgers and snacks, also. I really liked the idea of going to Chef Mickey's the first night and I really want to take my son to MK for his first park. The only problem is we arrive about noon on a Thursday which is EE. I hope it isn't too crazy. I also learned that a good friend of my son's, they are on the same soccer team and go to pre-school together, will be there Thurs and Fri. We are going to meet his family for dinner at Chef Mickeys the first night. I'm not telling Clayton so it will be a fun surprise for him. I also think it will help him when he is meeting the characters for the first time. He hasn't been crazy about it in the past. But he says he wants to get autographs and meet Mickey Mouse so we will see.

Here is my tentative schedule right now. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

Thurs: Arrive, check in, catch 3:00 parade at MK. Dinner at Chef Mickey @ 5:45. Back to MK and see fireworks.
Fri: Be at AK for opening. Tour Park. Break and Lunch. MGM for afternoon. See Mulan parade and Fantasmic in evening.
Sat: EE for MK. Stay for 2 - 3 hours. Lunch and break. Go to Epcot. Buy passport. See Illuminations.
Sun: Go to MGM EE in not too tired. Downtown Disney for short time. Break and lunch. Back to Epcot for FW. If there is a Adventures Club meet this night I will try to convince my son that the Cubs Den is a must do. If no luck we will play it by ear.
Mon: Breakfast at Artist Point. Pack. Catch whatever we have missed or redo Claytons favorites. Probably go to MK. Catch plane.
I am so excited about being able to spend this alone time with my oldest son. We will go on his schedule. Trying not to get too tired and not rushing from one thing to another.

Planning Update

I started reading up on everything. I have been to WDW 3 times. For just 2 days back in the late 80's and with my hubby in 97 and 98. This was Clayton's first visit. I had a rough schedule done and posted it on Brian Bennetts site. I guess seeing it in print brought me to my senses. I had us doing EE and late nights. I realized my son would never make it and changed almost everything.

We also found out that a good friend of my son's was going. His father had a convention he was attending and his wife Keri decided they should all go. We thought just our first two days would overlap with their's but as it turned out they would be arriving at WDW the same day as us. They have never been before so I was excited because it gave me another trip to plan. We changed our PS reservations to include everyone. Funny thing, we were going to have dinner the first night at Chef Mickey's. I called to add the four of them and was told that 8:30 PM was the only time open. Ours were at 6:30. I kept calling and calling. There was never anything open. Finally about a week before I called and I asked when a party of 6 could be seated. I told her just to tell me anything that was available. She informed me that they opened up at 5:00 and that the whole evening was open. I told her about the difficulty I had been having and she had no explanation for me. Oh well, I was just glad to get the time.

The couple of weeks before our trip a lot of kids in my son's pre-school were getting sick. I prayed Clayton wouldn't be one of them. My kids haven't been sick in over a year. So, the night before I was to take the twins to their grandparents (they live 2 1/2 hours away) Garrett gets a fever of 102=B0. Great. I call grandma and she says bring him anyway. She figured she could take care of him just a good as I could. Dad would be joining them in a couple of days to help out so we just continued on with our plans.

Wed. morning, Clayton went to pre-school and I drove the twins to Waco. We met their grandparents there to save me a total of two hours driving time. Have I mentioned my in-laws are the best? I drove back home, picked up Clayton, and got us packed. We all went to bed early as we would have to get up early to catch our flight. Clayton went right to sleep, which surprised me. After taking a minute to taunt everyone on the Wed night chat that I was leaving in the AM it was off to bed for me.

April 22. Day of Departure

Cast of characters: Laurie, mom and Clayton, 5 YO son.

I have the alarm set at 5:30. I'm awake at 4:30 so I get up and get ready. I wake up hubby at 5:30 and at 5:45 wake up Clayton. He says he doesn't want to get up and will meet me later. I remind him of the airplane and WDW and he agrees to get up. We make our flight from DFW with no problems. Our friends that we are meeting there are taking a later flight that connects in Atlanta.

I always love to hear people talk about WDW. One man came back to his family/friends that were sitting near us telling them about what to do and see. A lot was misinformation and I tried not to eavesdrop. But when he said they had to see Jungle Book I had to interrupt. My husband hates it when I do that so thank goodness he wasn't there.

A few minutes before the plane lands I see Keri and her son, Jacob (our friends) heading to the bathroom. Turns out their plane had to make an emergency landing before arrinving at DFW airport and they managed to squeeze them on our flight at the last minute. Their luggage wouldn't make it, tho. Jacob sat with us for the landing. He and Clayton had a great time looking out the window and saying things like we were going to crash!

We went to get our luggage and not only was ours there but so was our friends. They were renting a car so we parted ways after confirming we would see them at Chef Mickeys that evening.

While Clayton and I were in line at Mears the two guys in front of us asked if we had ever been to WDW. It turns out they hadn't. They had been on our plane and were probably in their early 20's and brothers. When I asked them where they were staying they sort of got a blank look and then said they thought it was the Mountain Lodge. They meant the WL...Turns out one of them had won the trip from his company and had his choice of hotels. He just picked one out of the hat. We were on the same Mears shuttle so I filled them in on the most pertinent info. They mostly wanted to know where the bars were!

A couple of days before we left I had called WL and put in my room requests. When we checked into WL, not only had they met all the requests but our room was ready. Woo Hoo. I wanted a non-smoking room, bunk beds, facing MK and 6th floor. Room 6012 filled all requirements.

Clayton and I got our luggage to the room and immediately set out for AK. The bus stop for AK was #2. Bus after bus went by. One pulled up to #3 and then one pulled up behind it. After everyone got off the busses left. Turns out the very last one was to AK. I hollered and waved but he just continued. I talked to a bus driver at stop #1 and he said he would call it in. He also told me that AK stop was #3. I said they needed to change the signs then because it clearly says #2. During our long wait I mentioned to Clayton at least it was nice weather. Clayton looked at me and said "WDW always has nice weather." After waiting about 35 minutes an Ak bus comes and stops at #2. I told the driver what happened. He said he heard it over the radio and the other driver insists he stopped at the correct spot. This driver assured me #2 was correct.

We were the only ones on the bus so he gave me the low down on buss service for the resorts. He said that each resort requests how many busses they need. I was interested in the bus situation at OKW since we be there from now on. He sais he thought it was so-so but in his opinion he said the All Star resorts have the best service.

When we arrived at AK and started walking in Clayton said he didn't think WDW looked much like he had expected. After we walked thru the main gate he looked around and said "now this is more like it!"

We went to ITTBAB first. We loved looking at all the animals in the tree. We sat at the far left which was a good thing. Clayton was sort of handling the whole thing until the stink bug. Then he wanted out. He wasn't loud or hysterical but I knew he meant business so out we went. Once outside he told me he saw Hopper and that's what scared him.

Both of us were hungry since it was now 3:00 PM and we hadn't eaten since 6:00 AM. I took Clayton to Restaurantosaurus. Clayton got the Happy meal and I had the grilled chicken salad and a large drink. Total: $12.24. My salad was fantastic and Clayton enjoyed his meal. He did say it didn't look much like a McDonalds.

We then went to Lion King. Clayton loved it and even clapped along. He normally doesn't clap much at all but all thru our trip he started clapping thru all shows (at appropriate times) and clapping at the ending.

The whole time Clayton had been wanting to go to Splash Mt. So finally I decided to leave. We did see the limited edition watches they had for sale. It was AK's one year anniversary and they were selling the watches for one day only. They were $200. I almost got one but changed my mind. I can't wear watches and I already own about 5. As we were leaving I saw the wait for the Safari was 10 min. I convinced Clayton we had to go see it and he convinced me I had to carry him on my shoulders.

He loved the Safari. In preparation for the trip I had reminded him over and over things were just pretend and I wouldn't take him on anything that would hurt him. When the bridge starts to give way he grabbed onto me for dear life. I whispered it was pretend. He looked at me, let go, laughed and started looking over the side to see what was happening. When they start shooting the poacher, Clayton looked at me and said it was probably not real and that he wasn't worried.

Clayton was so excited about the safari that he walked all the way to the bus stop, forgetting that I had said I would carry him. We grabbed the first monorail resort bus that came. We arrived at the Poly and went to the monorail entrance. We sat up front from there to the Cont. for our PS at Chef Mickeys. After getting our co-pilots license we headed for dinner. We arrived at 6:15 and met our friends. Rick, Kari, Jacob (4 1/2) and Natalee (15 months). We had our pictures taken and waited for just a few moments.

Dinner was great. Clayton hardly ate. He did get autographs and pictures. I was wondering if he would. He has never gone up to any in the past at Six Flags and such places. I wanted to do this first so he could take time with them and become at ease. It worked. He would not swing his napkin, tho. At home I can barely convince him to leave his place mat down and now when its allowed to be crazy he won't.

After dinner our friends went to the observation deck to see the fireworks as they did not have park passes for that day. Clayton and I has LOS passes so we went over to MK

Clayton was thrilled with his first view of Main Street and the castle. He still wanted to do Splash Mountain but I convinced him we would do it first thing in the AM. We sat down on the sidewalk at the top of Main Street just a few minutes before Tinker Bells flight. It was wonderful just sitting there with my first born in my lap and taking in everything. It was the first of many times that the tears welled up.

We fought the crowds and caught the boat back to WL. After a bath and a story Clayton's much anticipated moment came. He got to sleep in a bunk bed and the top to boot, for the very first time.

What a trooper my son was. He was up from 5:45 AM until 10:00 PM and never really complained.

Clayton's best: Lion King Worst: ITTBAB Laurie's best: FIreworks with my son. Worst: waiing in the heat for AK bus. Have I mentioned how hot it is?

Friday April 23

I had requested a wake up call for 7:30. I got up at 7:00 after a terrible nights sleep. I had forgotten how thin the walls are at WL. I made sure Clayton was awake before 7:30 and asked him to answer the phone if it rang. He said "I don't know anyone who would call me here." Of course at home I have to race him to the phone. I told him you never know who might call. When the phone rang he answered it and just sat there with his eyes wide open. He hung up the phone and said "Mom, it was Mickey Mouse!" I asked what he said and he told me Mickey had told him to get up and get going. So he did.

After breakfast in the room (bagels and breakfast bars) we headed down to the lobby to meet our friends. It was a little early so Clayton played video games. When we got to the lobby there was Kari, Jacob and Natalee waiting. Turns out they were early and had been waiting about 15 minutes. Oops.

We caught the boat to MK and made it to the rope drop at about 8:45. After the announcement we headed to Splash Mountain. Having a stroller and two little boys with us slowed us down so when we arrived it already had a wait of 20 minutes posted. Kari and Natalee waited for us at the play area while I took Clayton ad Jacob. Clayton was so excited. His dad had built up this ride so much that he could barely contain himself. He kept bumping into the man in front of us. I kept telling him to settle down but every time the line moved Clayton would move forward and bump into the man. Finally the man turned around and quite rudely told him to back off. I'm sorry but if I see parents trying to settle down their children I can tolerate a lot more from the kids. And he wasn't being that bad. The man was with his two teenage kids. I wonder if he can remember how they behaved at 5. Well, Clayton almost cried. He is a very well behaved boy and a little shy so to be chastised by a stranger was a little to much for him. He was very subdued until we got to the log and then he perked up again........ until we hit the drops in the dark. Both of the boys had their heads way down in the log. I had to convince them to look up at everything. They survived the big drop just fine and said they loved it. The picture was priceless. You couldn't even see Clayton he was ducked down so far and Jacob had a look of pure terror on his face.

Even though they said they loved the ride when we met up with Kari both boys said they did not want to ride again. BTW the whole thing took 10 minutes despite the posted 20 minutes.

It was off to BTMR. We were able to get on with little wait. Both boys loved it. It was the first time I had ridden it during the day and I think I like it better at night. We then went to IASW so Natalee and Kari could ride something.

This was Natalee's and Kari's first ride ever at WDW. Natalee wasn't sure what to think (she's 15 months) and the boys thought all the dolls were a little lame. It didn't help Clayton's enjoyment having his mother sing thru the whole thing : )

We went on Peter Pan next. I convinced Clayton that we were really flying. He said we were on a track but I pointed out the ships in front of us had nothing underneath them and he never thought to look up. He told me it was the pixie dust!! After Peter Pan we saw the Lion King. Everyone loved it. I have always loved the show and it is made even better due to the fact you can sit in air conditioning. The boys wanted to ride Dumbo next and would not listen to me when I said the wait would be less if we came back later. It had a posted time of 50 minutes. Well they insisted so I decided to wait with them and when they started to complain we would bail and it would teach them to listen to me regarding long lines. Would you believe we did wait for 50 minutes and they never once complained! I guess they taught me a lesson Plus, they said the wait was worth it. Go figure.

After walking around a bit and having a Dole Whip, we took the boat back to WL to have lunch and swim. As soon as we arrived we found out the kiddie pool was closed. Great. I promised Clayton that when we got back that night we would go swimming.

We had a burger and a wonderful chicken salad sandwich ($10.29). Kari's family had the same. Our drinks were courtesy of our refillable mugs that I had purchased on a previous trip.

We went to our room so Kari could call her husband. His computer equipment was due to arrive that day for their convention. More on that later. Kari left a message that we were going to the Studios. We caught the bus and arrived at 2:50. Just in time for the Mulan parade. We sat on a curb right at the beginnning of the parade route and were able to get some great pictures because they would pause as they came out. Clayton had said before the trip that he didn't want to go to any parades but he told me he loved it.

We went on Star Tours next which was a walk on. Kari went in first with the boys while I held Natalee. She is not fond of being away from her mother so I was trying to find something to distract her when we spotted the monitors at the CM station. It was so fun being able to watch everyone on the ride. When the ride was over I got on and Clayton stayed with me and Jacob and Natalee went with mom. Both of us loved the ride.

Muppets 4-D was next and we all enjoyed it. Clayton was a little leary after his ITTBAB experience but he really enjoyed this one. He decided it was his favorite 3-D movie. This being the second one he has seen in his life! We got in line for Doug Live! We waited about a half hour but it was well worth it. The actors did a fabulous job. They sounded just like the characters on TV. If they hadn't been wearing microphones I would have bet they were lip synching the whole thing.

We got to Indiana Jones right when it was starting. They picked a teenager out of the audience that was so funny. I thought maybe they had a new "plant" in the audience but no, he was just a funny kid.

It was dinner time so we made our way to Pizza Planet. The pizza wasn't as good as last time IMHO but the kids loved being there so they didn't care what the food tasted like.

We decided to see if we should get in line for Fantasmic. When we got there we decided to go in. We got to the entrance at 7:10 and after we parked the stroller and found some seats (way to the left in Hades (the section that is)) it was 7:40. Kari went to change Natalee's diaper and the boys just amused themselves while we waited. All day the boys had been great. Hardly complaining and keeping up with us the whole way. Even Natalee at 15 months hardly even got fussy. We couldn't have asked for 3 better kids. The show scared Jacob and he did cry a little. Natalee fell asleep and Clayton just covered his ears at the loud parts. I am sorry but I was not impressed. I havn't seen the DL one but I tell you I enjoyed Sorcery in the Sky much better. I think the animated parts are too long. I am so glad I hadn't been waiting for over 2 hours like some people or standing the whole time like others. After the show ended we took our time leaving and getting to the stroller parking lot. We took the bus back to WL and Kari and her kids went to their car. They were staying off site BTW.

It was 10:00 when we arrived at WL and Clayton's feet were so tired. But when he saw the pool he reminded me of my promise that he could go swimming when we got back. I said "OK, we can walk ALL the way to the room and get our suits and walk ALL the way back to the pool." Clayton said "Never mind.."

Once in the room I checked our messages. Kari's husband had called saying the computer equipment didn't arrive yet and he would wait in the room for her so they could have dinner. Turns out he sat in the room and watched 5 movies and had a pop-tart for dinner. Oops

It was lights out at 10:30 and we slept like logs.

Clayton's favorite of the day: BTMR Least favorite: He couldn't think of one!

Laurie's favorite: Doug Live! Least favorite: Having a bad man talk mean to my son : (

Saturday April 24

We woke up, had breakfast in the room and headed to Epcot. I decided to rent a stroller today for two reasons. I knew Clayton would not be as excited about Epcot and it is a lot of walking.

We arrived about 9:05. We were told TT had been running since 8:30 so the wait was 50 minutes. Oh well. There was no wait for Spaceship Earth so we went on it. Clayton really enjoyed looking at everything. We left the building and were so turned around. What a nightmare trying to find the stroller. At least I was not the only one lost. There were a couple of us looking all over. We finally found it and were on our way.

We went to Wonders of Life next. The coaching station only had a couple of kids waiting so we decided to do that. There was a boy about 7 or so that did golf. He kept missing the ball but after the coaching part he hit the ball a little better. Next was a boy who was maybe 5 or 6 that did baseball. He didn't hold the bat right and was having a hard time hitting the ball. After each person the CM running the attraction would say "Let's all clap for so and so." Well, then Clayton stepped in.........

Proud Mother Mode ON

He took that bat and stepped up to the plate and when it was time he hit the ball really hard. Rod Carew (sp?) was the coach and he said you have a really nice swing but you should bend your knees a little. When it was time to swing again, Clayton hit that ball so hard it just went flying. All the dads standing around were oohing and aahing. They were all impressed. And everyone strarted applauding. The CM told Clayton that he did such a good job that she didn't even need to tell everyone to clap.

Proud Mother Mode OFF

We then saw Cranium Command. Clayton enjoyed it but it was pretty loud. You don't realiize how loud things are until you see kids in the attraction. The little boy that had been batting before Clayton was in there and he was crying and begging to leave.

The past few weeks Clayton had been asking more and more how babies are born. He wasn't satisfied with my pat answer of "You go to the hospital and the Doctor helps." Not knowing how much information I should give to a five year old I decided to take him to The Making Of Me. He paid attention thru the whole thing. A couple of times I started thinking maybe it was too much but when we left he told me he now knew how babies were born and hasn't asked any questions since. I guess I made the right decision to take him.

When we left the building it was 11:00. I headed to World Showcase. Clayton has a series of books that have Mickey and the gang going to different countries and telling about the different places. We have been reading these getting him prepared for WS. I got to Mexico with hopes of meeting Paragon when Clayton declares he does not want to go to any countries. I drag him into Mexico thinking when he got inside he might get a little interested. No way. He did NOT want to go to any countries. I left and went to Norway. "Want to play on a VIking Ship" "NO." I got my rice kreme and headed out. We just walked along until we got to the Kaki Gori place. We stopped and got a small strawberry for Clayton and a strawberry, tangerine combo for me. She only charged me a $1.00 for the small one which I thought was nice.

During our wait they announced the first showing of The International Storybook show and Clayton actually said he wanted to see it. Finally. We both enjoyed the show. We continued walking around enjoying the flowers. The place smelled great with all of the flowers blooming. When we got to Great Britain we went thru the shops. We then saw the maze and walked thru it. Then Capt. Hook come out. He was the one person Clayton had said he did NOT want to meet. But when he saw him he decided to get his authograph. We went up to him and talked for a minute. Mr. Smee took my camera and took our picture. Then we were off.

In Canada, Clayton bought a leather bracelet with his name on it and one for Jacob and his best friend at pre-school. We then got a Beaver Tail and sat in the shade to eat it. Clayton decided Canada was his favorite country! Let's see, shade, sitting, food, presents......I guess I know why Canada is his favorite.

As we crossed over to FW I said a quick prayer for da old troll and his family. Even tho I had never met him I thought of him alot during our time at Epcot.

One other thing. Half way thru the countries I remembered the passports but it was too late to buy one by then. I don't know if that would have helped Clayton's mood or not. Also the kidspot places were not open until 1:00 so I was disapointed in that. Oh well, next trip! Clayton spotted the fountains to play in so we took of his shoes, socks and shirt and he started playing. I am amazed at the number of people that let their kids play in their shoes. I bet they were miserable later walking in wet shoes. Clayton had the time of his life and I enjoyed watching him play. All of a sudden a jeep pulls up and Goofy gets out. He's in his swim trunks and ready to play in the water. I tried to get Clayton to stand next to him for a picture but he wouldn't. Clayton didn't want to get near him. He went off to the side and was laying on his stomach waiting for a burst of water when Goofy came over and sat on him. Clayton looked up and just flew up when he saw who it was. It was priceless. I took a picture but they were both standing by the time I got the picture. Oh well.

We did have PS for 3:00 at the Garden Grill for the ice cream social courtesy of our Magic Delivery but I had forgotten the coupon. Doh! Oh well it was about 2:00 and Clayton was ready to go. We were meeting our friends at the Lego Store at 5:00 so I thought maybe Clayton could get in a nap.

We headed back to the room. Clayton watched TV and I took a bath and got ready for the evening. He never did nap. We caught the bus to Downtown Disney and Clayton promptly falls asleep. He was still asleep when we arrived. It was not easy carrying him off that bus but I did.

We met our friends at the Lego Store and let the kids play a bit. Then we went to McDonalds for dinner. I had the pizza which was over cooked. Clayton had a hamburger happy meal. Then Kari and I left to go shopping and go to PI. Rick, Kari's husband had offered to watch the kids so we could. He took them back to the WL. They went swimming, played video games, saw the Electric Water parade (or whatever it's called) saw the MK fireworks and had a great time. The boys went to bed at 11:00. Jacob was spending the night with us because he was going to go on the Family Magic Experience tour with us the next morning.

Kari and I shopped and shopped. It was so nice to be able to look around not worrying about the kids. We had all our packages sent to my room. The CM at the WOD even let Kari get a discount from my MKC card which I thought was nice, Then we headed over to the Adventures Club to meet Laura (TIgger). We were a little early so we ordered our Kungalooshes. I normally love this place but tonight I was not into if for some reason. Anyway,we met Laura, Lee and Kenny. I finally met someone from RADP. I was wearing my pin the whole trip but never saw anyone else with one except for Laura. We had a nice chat but Lee was desperate for food so we all called it a night at AC.

Kari and I walked thru the West Side then caught a bus back to WL. RIck had everyone asleep. He was not asleep thank goodness because I could not find my room card. I looked everywhere and never did find it. After Rick , Kari and Natalee left I called the front desk and they said they would cancel the old one and I could pick up a new one in the morning. I got ready for bed, got into bed, turned off the TV and the Nightmare began.

It was Grad night at MK both Friday and Saturday nights from 11:00 PM until 5:00 AM. I didn't hear a thing on Friday but it was a different story tonight. I could hear the booming music. I thought it might be from the pool it was so loud but a call to the front desk confirmed it was grad night. It was 1:00 AM and it was so loud I couldn't sleep. When I called the front desk they offered us breakfast. We were going to MK first thing so that was no good. I already had PS for mon breakfast so they gave us a voucher for that. But it still did not make up for a nights sleep. It was after 2 when I finally fell asleep and I kept waking up the rest of the night. The only thing that consoled me was thinking of the people at the monorail resorts. If it was that loud across the lake just think how loud it was for them.

Clayton's favorite of the day: Playing in the fountains Laurie's favorite of the day: Watching Clayton playing in the fountains and seeing Goofy sit on him.

Sunday, April 25

I managed to get the boys up and going by 8:00. I didn't know if we would make our tour since they were up until 11:00 and I was up most of the night. We did get up and after breakfast in the room we headed downstairs. I picked up my new room card and got a voucher for breakfast the next morning. We took the boat to MK and made our way to CIty Hall. We were going on the Family Magic Experience Tour courtesy of the Magic Deliverly package. Clayton did NOT want to go. Once again all he could think about was riding BTMRR. I convinced him to give it a try but I was convinced that we would end up leaving the tour before it was over. At 9:30 the CM in charge of the tour said we were missing a couple of people and that we would give them a few minutes. I'm busy muttering to myself to get the show on the road. Jacob and Clayton were tired and Clayton kept pulling on my arm to leave. The CM went inside for a couple of minutes then came back out. She said "It looks like the other people aren't going to show, but we are going to have to cancel the tour anyway." I couldn't believe it. I had been arguing with my child all morning and they are going to CANCEL!!!! She then said "There seems to be a problem. Captain Hook has had his hook stolen and if he didn't get it back in two hours he was going to tear the castle apart. So I need to go help find his hook." And my dear Clayton, who did NOT want to go on the tour said "I'll help." With that the CM had everyone's assurances that they would also help. It was a lot of fun. We went all over, to the barbershop, we snuck past Sunny Eclipse, after making sure we were invisible by throwing pixie dust on ourselves. Basically, all over the park. In Liberty Square we went to a nice little shaded area that is out of the way. I don't even know if I could find it again but it is a really nice spot to rest. Anyway, Peter Pan showed up. Turns out he had the hook all along and had been following us all over. After pictures and autographs he led us thru the park to his ride and we got to go to the front of the line and ride his ride. It was great fun and both boys loved it despite the fact that it was hot and they were tired. We met Jacob's family outside the ride at 11:00. We took the skyway to Tomorrowland. It was quite a wait and the ride broke down right as we got on. 40 minutes later we were at Buzz Lightyear. The queue does move quite fast and before you knew it we were shooting targets. I don't know what Clayton hit but we had barely started shooting and he had over 50,000 pts. I wouldn't have been so amazed if I hadn't read so many trip reports that said the kids didn't get any pts. Clayton ended up with 57,000 pts and I had 57,600. We went to lunch at Starlight Cafe. What a messed up system that is. I was in line when I realized all they had was chicken. Someone told me they had hamburgers at a different window. Clayton wanted a hamburger and there was little there I wanted but I got a hot dog. It was very crowded and not many tables. We never did find our friends until after lunch. We sat down and I look up and there in front of me was the section with salads, etc. The things that looked good. Well being alone with a small child this system really bites. It would have taken me a half hour to stand in both lines to get what we both wanted. it was too crowed to have Clayton sit by himself. Why can't you go to one window and have the option of getting anything thats offered there. Not to mention that my hot dog was terrible. Anyway, there's my complaint for the day. We then met up with our friends, who had the same complaint, thank you very much, and headed to Tom Saywer Island. The kids had fun running around. The adults had fun sitting! It was getting close to parade time so we hurried into Pirates of the Carribean. Clayton and I went on with Kari and Natalee. Clayton was just a litlle afraid until I started pointing out funny things to him. The hairy legs on the guys, the dog with the keys to the jail, etc. Pretty soon Clayton loved it. When we got off we bought pirate hats, patches and daggers for him and his brothers. When we left the parade had just ended. Drat. I have never seen the 3:00 parade. I'm usually not in the park at that time and now that I am I miss it by shopping. Oh well, next time. We saw the tiki birds next. The kids were a little afraid of the thunder but they survived. I even got a red feather from a certain red bird that explodes!!! We explored Swiss Family Robinson next. Clayton loved the movie, so he was especially interested in seeing it. By then Clayton decided he wanted to spend time with just me so we bid our friends good-bye after arranging a time to get together tomorrow. Clayton and I headed over to Astro-Orbitor but changed our minds at the last minute. We went on TTA. It looked to me like Space Mt. is back to being very dark. Am I imagining that? We then raced around the track at the Speedway. Clayton was a crazy driver, and he wanted me to go faster and faster. I think I ended up with whiplash We managed to ride Goofy's Barnstormer twice in the very back row. Clayton loved this but was disappointed it was so short. He then played at Donald's boat some. We caught the train to the entrance and went to the monorail platform. We took the monorail to TTC, and then on to Epcot. After sending some e-mail's to dad and friends, we went to HISTA. I made sure Clayton sat with his legs up. When the cat becomes a lion I covered Clayton's eyes until it was over. He looked up at me and said "Thanks, mom." I guess you had to be there but it was so sweet the way he said it. He enjoyed the movie but he covered his eyes thru most of it. We went to the Land for dinner. Clayton had the P,B, & J kids meal that had enough PB and J on it to feed 3 kids. After I scraped most of it off he ate it. I had a chicken fajita stuffed baked potatoe that was wonderful. It was much easier to go to different areas to buy food because it wasn't crowded. We then walked up to Great Britain to watch Illuminations. Clayton enjoyed it. I missed most of it because I was watching him to see his reactions. While we walked to the bus we looked at the lights in the sidewalks. I would love to have those at my house. Clayton had been such a trooper all day. I know he was dead tired and his feet must have been killing him because mine were but he didn't complain. Our bus was waiting for us. We sat down and Clayton said "It sure feels good to rest my feet but I think I could go on 10 or 11 more rides." He managed to stay awake until we got to our room. But no sooner had he laid his head down on his pillow he was out. Clayton's favorite: Goofy's Barnstormer Laurie's favorite: Seeing the children's faces when Peter Pan showed up.

Monday, April 26

I woke up around 7:00. I checked for my Express Checkout. They had charged me for the two Animal Kingdom boxes that I had used our flex features for. The boxes are really nice and both Clayton and I decided we would use them to keep our special treasures in. A quick call to the front desk remedied the situation.

I had a hard time waking Clayton up today. He knew it was the last day and there wasn't much to motivate him.......until I whispered Big Thunder Mountain Railroad over and over. He jumped out of bed. He couldn't wait to ride it again. A quick breakfast and we were on our way.

It was an EE morning for MK. We arrived at Fantasyland at 8:15. What did Clayton want to do first? Dumbo, of course. After a medium wait and a thrilling ride we exited at 8:45. Off to the rope drop. The CM's started at about 8:50. Walking us a short way, stop, short walk, stop. It looked like we could have quite a wait at BTMRR but no, everyone ran to Splash Mt. We rode the second train of the day in the third row. Clayton could not stop saying Woo Hoo! He was one happy camper.

I wanted to go to HM. Clayton said no. I urged and pushed and cajoled. We got to the gate when he really put his foot down. I told him we did not have to go and started to walk away. So he has a small fit and says he'll go. Okay great. We walk a couple of steps and he says no. I convince him it is okay to say no and we go off in search of Buzz.

We rode Buzz again. I can't remember the score. It wasn't as much as last time but it was somewhere in the 30K's.

Clayton looked over at Astro-Orbitor and decided he had to do it. It was one of the rides on his "must do" list before we left home. We had a short wait and then took off like rockets. Clayton absolutely loved it and I got just slightly nauseous.

It was time to head back to WL to have breakfast with Winnie the Pooh. We walked towards the castle and sat a minute just looking at it. Then Clayton waved and said "Good-bye Castle." He started saying goodbye to all the things we had enjoyed so much the past 5 days. I joined in, and for the whole walk down Main St we said goodbye. I spotted the Cigar Store Indian and remembered from a trip report that a family always took a picture with him and the kids to compare with each trip. I thought that was a great idea so I took Clayton's picture.

As we reached the train station we both turned around, waved and said goodbye to Main St. Then with tears in my eyes we caught the boat to WL.

We arrived at Artist Point for breakfast and the place was practically empty. Our server's name was Laurie. When Clayton saw her name tag he told her her name was the same as mine. I was impressed he recognized this since he doesn't read yet. All thru our meal Clayton was all smiles and saying please and thank you. He was such a gentleman. Laurie commented on his manners several times. Oops, I forgot Proud Mother Mode On and Off. Clayton had a great time with the characters. Hugging them and being silly. Here was my little boy that just a short 5 days ago would not look a character in the eye let alone hug. The food was excellent and way too much. They brought us bottled water to take with us and a container to take all the fruit that was left over. Since we were leaving that day I figured I could give it to Kari. We had a voucher for our meal so I'm not sure how much it was but we gave Laurie $5.00, which Clayton insisted on giving right to her. We then headed up to our room.

I had requested a late check out and I was so glad. I finished packing and both Clayton and I just relaxed for little bit. We then sent our bags down and went to the lobby and met Kari and her kids. Of course the whole way down Clayton was saying "Goodbye room 6012, goodbye video games, goodbye WL."

Kari had kindly offered to drive us to the airport so we could stop at the Belz Outlet for a minute. We found some great deals and some last minute gifts. Then off to the airport. After a tearful goodbye ( I'm terrible at saying goodbye, especially to someone who is staying for 5 more days at WDW) we went into the terminal.

We had an uneventful trip home but our flight was delayed about 30 minutes. Hubby had said he would wait at the curb with the twins but when we got off the plane they were waiting for us. I was surprised and just looked at the 3 of them and no one else. As it turns out, Bill Bates from the Dallas Cowboys was waiting for his family. His wife and kids were on our plane. He has triplets. When he saw my husband with the twins he struck up a conversation. He was next to Rick when we got off but I never saw him. But for the next week, Allan and Garrett didn't care that Clayton had been to Disney World. All they could talk about was Daddy talked to a Cowboy at the airport.

There are probably a lot of lessons learned I could talk about from our trip but I am getting tired of typing and I've probably bored people sick if they have stuck with me. I know we criss-crossed the parks a lot. We could have done more things. There are probably lots of things I should have done different but I wouldn't change a thing. The time alone with my son was wonderful. He had the time of his life. He is totally Disney Addicted now <evil laugh> much to his dad's chagrin. And today he gave me a Mother's Day card he make in Pre-school and it said his most precious memory's are of the time he spent with his mom at Disney World.. Now how could I ever top that?

Thanks Clayton for being a wonderful son. I love you. Allan and Garrett, you're next!!!

Laurie Johnson

randlj@webtv.net

__________________
You just read a trip report that was originally published in our MousePlanet Trip Reports column.

Reader-submitted trip reports have always been an extremely popular feature here at MousePlanet. In order to improve the search functionality and shorten the time from when you submit a trip report and the report gets published, you can now post your trip reports directly to our Trip Report forums. The forums are moderated, but reports should become available for reading very quickly.