Scrapbook Pages

Scrappin this trip is going to be a labor of love that requires many months! I figured I would share some of what I have done so far:

Survey says, Part 2

1. What is your name? Scott
2. What is your favorite vacation memory? The Smiles on childrens faces even Megan
3. Which Disney park was your favorite? Hollywood Studios
4. Which "non-Disney" park was your favorite? Seaworld
5. Which water park was your favorite? Typhoon lagoon
6. Which character meal did you enjoy most? Crystal palace
7. Which restaurant had the best food? Mama rosa’s
8. What was your single favorite ride? Rock and roll a coaster
9. What is your favorite souvenir? Memories
10. What was your favorite part of the train trip? Getting back to Boston

1. What is your name? Rachael
2. What is your favorite vacation memory? There were so many great memories... my favorites were all the magical moments... Dane waking up Tinkerbell, meeting 50 characters, pictures in front of the castle, Dylan's new lanyard from a cast member when he lost his
3. Which Disney park was your favorite? Magic Kingdom
4. Which "non-Disney" park was your favorite? Seaworld
5. Which water park was your favorite? Typhoon Lagoon
6. Which character meal did you enjoy most? 1900 Park Fare simply because of the # of unique characters not easily found elsewhere
7. Which restaurant had the best food? Mama Rosa’s- I love Italian!
8. What was your single favorite ride? Rock N Roller Coaster
9. What is your favorite souvenir? Pins!
10. What was your favorite part of the train trip? It's a great transition from reality into fantasy and back!

1. What is your name? Megan Elizabeth Giallongo
2. What is your favorite vacation memory? the castle
3. Which Disney park was your favorite? Its a tie between Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios
4. Which "non-Disney" park was your favorite? Sea World
5. Which water park was your favorite? Typhoon Lagoon
6. Which character meal did you enjoy most? I like the one with the ugly step sisters, prince charming, cinderalla, and the mean mother
7. Which restaurant had the best food? Mama Something. the Italian restaurant
8. What was your single favorite ride? Manta!
9. What is your favorite souvenir? The Minnie Ears
10. What was your favorite part of the train trip? Meeting the guy with the whale and dolphins

1. What is your name? Dane
2. What is your favorite vacation memory? The pin Trading
3. Which Disney park was your favorite? Hollywood Studios
4. Which "non-Disney" park was your favorite? Universal
5. Which water park was your favorite? Typhoon Lagoon
6. Which character meal did you enjoy most? The Pooh one
7. Which restaurant had the best food? mama melroses (norway had the best water)
8. What was your single favorite ride? Rock n Roller coaster
9. What is your favorite souvenir? My Shamu Tail
10. What was your favorite part of the train trip? The weird people

1. What is your name? Dylan Giallongo,
2. What is your favorite vacation memory? All of it,
3. Which Disney park was your favorite? magic Kingdom,
4. Which "non-Disney" park was your favorite? Seaworld,
5. Which water park was your favorite? Thyphoon lagoon,
6. Which character meal did you enjoy most? The Winnie the pooh one,
8. What was your single favorite ride? Rocken Rollercoaster,
9. What is your favorite souvenir? Pins,
10. What was your favorite part of the train trip? Meeting weird people

(Shayna's survey was not completed at the time of this post! It will be updated if I receive it.)

Hollywood Studios

Today we dedicated the entire day to Hollywood Studios! We made it in time for the rope drop and went immediately to Rockin' Rollercoaster. Dane experienced his first roller coaster earlier this week at Magic Kingdom and was quite nervous about going on a roller coaster that goes upside down. The ride was every bit as fabulous as I remembered and everyone loved it. Dane wasnt quite sure at first but when we went to get Fast Passes to ride again later in the day, he got one for himself, too!


Dane has been obsessed with the Sorcerer's hat and was thrilled when we got to meet Mickey Mouse in that costume today.


We were also thrilled to meet 3 of the characters from up! Thanks to a close eye on the day's scheduled, we were 2nd in line to meet the characters even before they came into the room. I think everyone's favorite was "dug", the dog.


One of our other "must do's" was Toy Story Mania... this pic was taken as we were in the Fast Pass line. I was confident that I would score highest with a tip from Dr Northcutt, but I couldn t find the bonus hit and somehow Shayna managed to beat me! LOL


We were super excited to come out and meet Buzz & Woody! They were some of the most personable in the park!


While the girls and Dylan went on Tower of Terror, Scott, Dane and I went over to check out eh Jedi Training! The scrapbooking side of me convinced Dane to jump up and down to be selected for Jedi Training and he obliged. I was super excited when he was chosen and he loved getting a certificate of completion.


We ate at Hollywood & Vine for lunch! The food was pretty good and of course we were excited to meet more characters, even though we were not quite as familiar with them because they are a part of the newer generation!

During lunch, Sharmaine came by with her friend Brittany! We were super excited to see her even though we wouldnt meet up with her till later in the day!

I would love to finish up the full day's story, but I am totally drained. I fell asleep during 2 rides today if that i any indication of the lack of sleep I have been receiving! TTFN!

Orlando Check In #2

Two more busy days have passed since my last update! Our vacation is whizzing by, just like our vacation countdown did!


Thursday morning we did, in fact, go back to Blizzard Beach! The weather was fantastic and we really enjoyed the day! Megan and Shayna both did the Summit Plummet- a free fall slide where speeds average 50-60 MPH! Their faces- as they climbed off the slide- were priceless! I am eager to see the Photopass pictures so we can see the look of terror mid-way during the drop!


We stayed at Blizzard Beach until about 2pm, then came back to the hotel to change and move to Hollywood Studios! We took the bus over and just as we climbed off the bus, it began to rain. Hard. Very hard. It lasted for about 5 hours and really put a damper on the night. :(




One of the bright spots was a great character spot where we were able to meet Jafar, Mr & Mrs Incredible and Frozone!


We had dinner at Mama Melrose's... the food was great and the service was even better! The kids even asked our waiter, Ken, to sign their autograph books!


It finally stopped raining after dinner so we were able to get a few rides in and see the Fantasmic show. I was able to capture this photograph after dark! Dane is enamored with the Sorcerer's hat!


The weather forecast this morning predicted more rain for tonight, so we changed up our water park plans and decided to go to Epcot this morning. This allowed us to get in some rides we missed the other day as well as gather the remaining 6 countries in our passport without being drowned in monsoon-like rains.

Scott took the kids over to Disney Quest tonight for some gaming fun! I stayed behind at the hotel and did some laundry (and iced my ankles)- lucky me! LOL

Since the rain has effected 3 nights so far, we decided to add an extra day to our park passes for the whopping price of $3 per person! Can you imagine? After 4 day passes, the prices really drop!

Tomorrow we plan to visit Hollywood Studios again. If we are able to wrap up our list of "must do's", we may go to Typhoon Lagoon and/or Magic Kingdom! TTFN!

Live from Walt Disney World!

I had hoped to blog each night about our adventures, but unfortunately I have learned the hard way that a vacation at Disney leaves very little time for anything but fun.... that includes blogging and sleeping!

We kicked off our trip on Sunday morning with a limo ride into Boston! I had researched and found a fairly good deal. I cracked and told the girls, but we were planning to surprise the boys. Everyone did a great job keeping the secret until just before the limo was to arrive... Shayna stated "I hope the limo has AC"! ROTFL The boys eyes lit up as they question us about what she said. Within just a few minutes, the limo arrived and we scurried to finalize gathering everything we needed for the trip! I think we look pretty darned good considering these pics were taken at 415am!





The train was long and uneventful. Everyone survived despite their grumblings, LOL We arrived in Orlando around 10:15am on Monday. We were met by a van and driven to the All Star Music Resort where we were pleasantly surprised to find that our room was ready! We checked in, got settled and headed out to Downtown Disney! Our first stop was to get Mickey ear hats! :) We each got a different style, which I think lends itself well to the fact that we all have such different personalities yet we all still coordinate!


Once we had accomplished that, we hit the pin stores where Dane announced "Pin trading is my favorite thing about Disney"! This was before he even stepped foot in an official park, LOL We shopped around and took in all the sights and sounds and then headed to Cap N Jacks for lunch! We ended a delicious meal and were treated to blinking pins and a card from the staff to celebrate the first trip for the boys to Walt Disney World! It was definitely a fun surprise!

Next we were off to Magic Kingdom for our first look at Cinderella Castle! Just as we walked in, we happened to catch a parade right down Main Street USA! It was a great way to start our evening!


The Story Time with Snow White was fabulous! There were only 4 families in attendance so this allowed Snow White a lot of time to interact with each of the kids!


We finished the night with a little swimming in the pool (it doesn't close till midnight!)!

Tuesday we were up by 6am to get prepared for our first full day. We chose to spend the day at Magic Kingdom! I had read online that the first child to run into Tinkerbell's shop in the morning got to "wake her up", so we planned to arrive early and RUN to find that location! If you can imagine, despite hearing other families talk about the same thing while waiting in line, Dane managed to find the store and received the wonderful honor of ringing the bell to wake Tink! He and Dylan both received a special certificate to commemorate the occasion!


Thanks to the Extra Magic Hours for guests who stay on WDW property, we were able to enjoy 5 rides and meet 2 characters before the park even opened to the public! This was a HUGE benefit! Our day at Magic Kingdom was, of course, magical. We went back to the hotel in the afternoon for a quick swim and then went back to MK for the Wishes Dessert Party and fireworks.

This morning we slept in (all the way to 730am, LOL) and then spent most of the day at Epcot! I think our favorite ride of the day was probably Test Track! We also got our "Passport" signed by 5 of the 11 countries in the World Showcase.


We decided to change things up and put off Disney Quest and go to Blizzard Beach instead tonight. One can only endure the Orlando heat for so long & still stay sane! As we boarded the bus, the sky darkened. I was convinced it would be the usual Orlando rain and pass just as quickly as it came. We arrived at Blizzard Beach and the rain began. Then the thunder. And the lightening. One strike was within 3o feet from where we stood sheltered. That one scared us, but otherwise it was just another part of the adventure! LOL (BTW, the rain never did stop and the park never did reopen, so we didn't get to do anything at Blizzard Beach other than watch the rain! LOL)

Tomorrow's plans include a trip back to Blizzard Beach and then our first visit to Hollywood Studios! I will post again when I can!

Please forgive any typos! It's late and I am going to bed! I will correct them at a later date, as well as add more photos and details! :)

Counting down...

We have started to count down by the hour now. Currently we are at 40 hours till our train pulls out of South Station! Everyone has begun packing (besides Scott, who likes to stress me out). I have scheduled one more little surprise... I cracked and told the girls... the boys will find out at 4:15am on Sunday! I can't wait!

Documents are in da house!

We picked up the Disney documents from AAA yesterday! What a relief to have them in hand and have all the details of the trip confirmed.

We decided to get VISA travel cards for the kid's spending money. It's safer than carrying cash but will still allow them to be responsible for their own spending money.

The trading pins arrived yesterday. We rolled the dice to see which order we would choose in and then each of us got 4 pins for trading! I currently have a cute collection of Muppets with Mickey ears, but will likely trade them in the parks.

7 days till we leave!