Our last first birthday - Part 14

[IloveJack]

Our last first birthday
We've taken each of our kids to the World for their first birthday. Penelope, aka "Eppy," is our last. We decided to make it super-special, so we're spending two weeks at Disney, with 10 days in the parks.

Cast:
Susan, (me), 36, 11th trip
David (DH), 31, 9th trip
Sammie (DD), 8, 7th trip
Lily (DD), 5, 5th trip
Joey (DS), 3, 4th tip
Eppy (DD), turning 1, 1st trip

Friday, December 23
Today marked the end of our trip, so we were up at 6:30 to tear down the tent and get it and the bedding packed. The kids were literally in holes of pillows and blankets, but as we'd be driving through the night, we figured they'd be comfortable anyhow. As it was still early, and we were driving to the park, we stopped at Port Orleans Riverside to eat. Finally, options other than eggs and sausage... sort of. We all went to the omelet bar and had bacon and fried potatoes, as well. They were good, and a bit of a change of pace. We left there knowing that we had more meals than we could use, and still plenty of snack credits, also.
We were at the Animal Kingdom at 9:20. For the first time, we got on the tram to ride through the parking lot, as the space we got was a good walk from the gate. As we were getting off, David stood up too fast and hit his head on the roof, almost knocking himself out. He gave himself a good headache, and was nauseated most of the rest of the day from it. We met Rafiki before ever entering the park, and then Russell just as we went in. Russell's friend told me that Dug wouldn't be meeting, when I asked why he wasn't there, but alas, we saw him later in the day when we couldn't stop.
We got new Wilderness Explorers books and began again, making this the main point of the day. Then we headed to Everest before the crowds arrived. We got to ride twice before the line backed up, then we headed toward Africa, stopping at every WE location along the way. We did Pangani (again), used our FP to ride the safari (much better this time around, lots more animals out), then we walked Maharajah. It was at that point that David started getting annoyed at the crowds. There were huge groups and families traveling together, and it was so crowded that I was tempted to park the strollers and leave them. It was almost impossible to maneuver through the crowds (and here I'd thought AK would be the easiest park to deal with the Christmas crowds).
To escape for a bit, we went to Yak 'N Yet to get a table, but even then, David had to fight for a table. Three times he was walking toward on when someone ran up and sat down before he could get to it. Finally an older couple noticed and offered him their table. I'd been the one to order, so when I brought the food out, I found him in the far back corner of the seating area. Lunch was good, but small compared to most of the meals we'd had.
Then it was on to Dinoland and then back to Rafiki's planet so that we could continue the WE badges. More than once we ran into a WE CM who'd been stationed somewhere else earlier in the day, who remembered our kids and helped them complete a new badge. We were racing to be completed by 4:45 when the program stopped for the day, and it was almost impossible to get through the crowds around any major attraction. We raced back to the tree for the last two badges and finished up less than a half hour before it closed.
I was disappointed to see that the "great reward" was simply another sticker. I was hoping that with all that, it would be a real badge, but the kids had great fun doing all the activities, and they learned a ton of science (good for homeschoolers) along the way. We definitely weren't disappointed with the day.
I had promised them that we would return to the dino dig after we finished, so we headed straight there. David's head was pounding, so he sat and watched the older kids while Eppy and I went to visit Santa Goofy. The line was about 15 minutes long, but there was a DJ nearby with a dance party, and Eppy was obviously enjoying the music. An Australian mom and daughter laughed at her kicking her feet, and begged me to video it, as it was "the cutest thing." I thought they were, as the mother was probably in her late 80s and in a wheelchair, but when it was their turn to meet Goofy, she danced up to him and with him. I had tears in my eyes it was so sweet.
We got our pictures and went back to meet up with the others, and then we headed back to Everest. Sammie had been begging to get a t-shirt with the Yeti on it, so while she rode with David, I bought it and hid it. Using child swap and our last FP of the trip, she got to ride four times.
I found a family of 5 with smaller children like ours and made their day by handing them all our unused paper FP/child swaps (5-6). I asked how long they would be at Disney and the mom said 5 more days, so I handed her the stack. Her jaw dropped and the dad asked what it was. She asked if I was sure, and I said, "Yep, we're leaving today and can't use them. Have fun!" and walked off. They were still grinning when I walked back by later.
Lily started breaking out and itching all over. There must be some insect or plant at Disney that she is incredibly reactive to, because she was getting huge places like what caused the black eye. When David and Sammie got off the ride that time, I told him we were ready to go. We let our Dinosaur FP expire, having never ridden it on this trip (but it's not a favorite anyhow), and we headed toward Zuri's sweets to burn lots of snack credits.
But first, we needed to get dinner. David had really enjoyed the chicken fried rice, so using 10 snack credits, we each got a drink and an order of rice to go.
At Zuri's, we bought cookies, more fudge, pre-packaged candy, suckers, and more cookies. With 5 CS meals and 1 TS meal left over, plus the snack credits we hadn't used, we got 29 items. The strollers were loaded down with treats to take home!
We wandered into the next store and picked up a plush Lion Guard toy for Lily, as she'd been looking at it all day, and a remote control Mickey safari jeep for Joey, and hid those.
For the first time ever, we walked out of the park feeling completely satisfied with our time at Disney. The crowds were more than we wanted to deal with, we were exhausted (my feet wouldn't heal for days), and we didn't mind leaving an hour before park closing. Our trip had been enough.
We got to the car and found room for all the snacks, buckled the kids in, and gave them the toys and shirt. Sammie had really thought we weren't going to get it for her, and she got really happy when she saw it. She even wore it to our family Christmas the next day, just to show it off. Everyone got a drink and a box of rice, and we sat in the car until I finished eating.
I called Mom to let her know we were headed out, and we left Disney at 7:30pm. The kids were asleep before we ever made it to the turnpike, and I drove until we were well into Georgia. When I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, I woke David and he drove till just north of Chattanooga. Then he stopped, I fed Eppy, we switched again, and I finished the drive home. We pulled into the driveway at 6:59am, the older kids having never made a sound.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

What a great last day! I am very impressed that you completed the WE book in one day! We still have two activities left, for our third day at AK ... maybe we're just slow.

I'm sorry about Lily's itching. We have more allergic reactions at Disney than home, we've actually started carrying chewable Benadryl with us, so we don't have to stop when the itching and hives start. We can never figure out what causes it.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Wow that's a lot in one day but sounds like a great trip

[faline]

You packed a lot into your last Disney day!! I can imagine the crowds would have been very heavy given it was just a couple of days before the holiday!!

[deedee73]

You did really well with those snack & meal credits. Much better than I ever have. Truly have enjoyed reading your TR; sorry to see it come to an end.

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[IloveJack]

What a great last day! I am very impressed that you completed the WE book in one day! We still have two activities left, for our third day at AK ... maybe we're just slow.

It required a good bit of determination to finish it in one day. We literally only did this and our two FP rides, other than eating. But it also forced us to do and see all the smaller things that AK has to offer. Everyone calls it a half-day park, but I think that's because they only visit the major attractions. There's no way anyone's doing all those smaller things in a half day.