Well, vacation time has come and gone here in Layton Land. We had a wonderful trip to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg - even Hannah had a good time! I should go ahead and tell you all now - I hardly took any pictures. I only had my camera with me on Friday in Gatlinburg (we didn't want to take it in to the parks since we had to leave the stroller unattended during rides), so don't expect a ton of pictures!! That being said, here is a recap of our vacation:
Sunday, 6/8 - Pick the kids up in LR at 2 PM and drive like crazy to Pigeon Forge. We did stop in Jackson to go to Sam's (buy a Nintendo DS game and a floatie swimsuit for Hannah) and to eat at Cracker Barrel. Other than occasional pit stops, we drove straight on thru to Pigeon Forge. With the time change, we got to the hotel right at 1:00 AM Eastern Time. Everyone was in bed by 2:30 - even little Hannah Banana, who stayed up as late as anyone playing around in the big hotel room.
Monday, 6/9 - We all slept in a little and got up and around just in time to catch breakfast down at the restaurant. After that we all went swimming before getting cleaned up to go to the Dixie Stampede. We decided that we had a little time before we needed to get to the show, so we took a drive to Gatlinburg to let the kids see what was in store for them on Friday. We got hung up in traffic on the way back to Pigeon Forge - they were resurfacing the road - and Maddie got to chat with a girl from Kentucky on her DS (which we all thought was way too cool!).
Anyway, we got to the Stampede in time to have our picture taken before the show and then settle in to our seats on the South side (who wants to be a darn Yankee??). Hannah woke up right after we sat down and had a hard time adjusting to being in a different place than she was when she fell asleep, so she threw a little fit, but she settled down nicely after the horses appeared. We are going to have to buy this little girl a pony or something, because she was absolutely fascinated by the horses in the show. She danced to the music and pointed at the animals and just thoroughly enjoyed herself. We had a really great time and plan to do Dixie Stampede again.
Tuesday, 6/10 - Dollywood here we come! I was amazed that the kids slept as late as they did on our first day in the parks, but at 9:15 I went into their room to find Maddie and Noah fast asleep (Hannah slept in a crib in our room). I hollered out "Oh - excuse me - I must have this room confused with another room of kids that want to go to DOLLYWOOD!" They both shot out of bed and said "Which shirt do we wear today?"
We had breakfast in the room (I had packed cereal and pop tarts so we could just eat in the room every day) and then loaded up for the park. We had a diaper bag and a backpack FULL of stuff, but thankfully we had a stroller!! When we got to the park, I headed over to get my season pass (so that we got discounts in the parks) while Jeff and the kids headed on through the turnstiles (I had printed off their 3-day passes at home).
Once we were all inside, we headed straight on over to the QBot counter to get our wonderful little Q-Bot. This thing is great - you just tell it what ride you want to ride and it will tell you what time to be there. When you get there you are put immediately on the ride! We were doing parent swap so that someone could stay with Peanut and it worked out great - we never had to wait in line for any of the big rides, and we got front and center seats reserved for us for the two shows we went to see. It was awesome!!
Anyway, the first thing we rode was the river rapids ride, and we all got SOAKED. So after that it was off to find a roller coaster to dry us off. The first coaster we rode was Mystery Mine. It was AWESOME!! It goes STRAIGHT UP, and I do mean straight up. It felt like we were going to fall out of the tops of the seats!! I rode with Noah, and he liked it, but said he didn't want to ride it again (he did later in the week). Maddie rode with Jeff and it scared her really bad (the going straight up part).
After that, we rode the Thunderhead, which is the wooden roller coaster at Dollywood. The kids both loved it, and Jeff and I did too! Then it was time for lunch and a show. We got to the show in time to enjoy a few minutes of air conditioning before it began (have I mentioned that it was HOT??). Hannah danced and wiggled to the music for a few minutes and then promptly fell asleep in my lap and slept for the entire show!
Speaking of the show, we went to the Great American Country show. We all really enjoyed it - they did covers of all the current popular songs. Then they bring out a music star (we saw Jan Howard, who I have never heard of!). If we had gone one week earlier, we would have seen Jimmy Fortune! The kids were very bummed that we missed him (so was I!), but we still enjoyed the show (and REALLY enjoyed the air conditioning!).
After the show, it was more rides and then some more rides. We rode Blazing Fury, which is like Fire in the Hole in Branson. We also stopped off and let the kids play in Dreamland Forrest - they got SOAKED! Hannah cried when we took her out of the geysers. Then we rode the Tennessee Tornado, and we LOVED it!! Three loops and a couple of twists and you really feel like you're in a tornado! By the time we finished the Tornado, it was close to closing time and Hannah had had just about enough of the park. So we decided to hit River Battle on our way out. We were surprised to learn that Hannah could actually ride this one with us. After an entire day of being passed THROUGH rides and never getting to actually ride them, she was VERY excited when she got to stay on this one! She wiggled and giggled and smiled so big I thought her face was gonna split in two! We all got VERY wet, so the only thing to do was hit Mystery Mine on the way out! The kids didn't want to ride it again yet, so they stayed with Hannah while Jeff and I rode. This was the only time we got to ride a ride together the whole trip!
So we managed to close down the park Tuesday and had tons of fun. We had to run to Wal-Mart that evening, and we ended up eating at Pizza Planet (which we won't do again!). When we got to Pizza Planet, I realized that I didn't have my Dollywood season pass. We figured I lost it at Wal-Mart, so after dinner we went back and I looked for it and asked about it, but it was nowhere to be found. We planned on getting to the park early Wednesday to get it replaced (and pay the wonderfule $15 replacement fee!). Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for another day in the parks - but this time it was Splash Country!!
Wednesday, 6/11 - Splash Country here we come!! I called ahead to make sure I could have my pass replaced at Splash Country, and it turns out that they forgot to give it back to me in the gift shop on our way out on Tuesday, so it was waiting for me at Guest Services at Dollywood. So we had to sit in the line to get to Dollywood, but we saved the $15! After we picked up my pass, we swung on over to Splash Country and went straight to our Waterside Retreat. Let me tell you, this is ABSOLUTELY the way to go! We had a TV, a fan, shades, a table with six chairs, room to set up Hannah's little tent-bed thing, a sun deck, and ROOM SERVICE!! That's right - you call and they will bring you food right to your retreat! No lines and no waiting in the sun! We enjoyed the retreat so much that we didn't even hardly ride any rides! The lines were long and the little area we were in was so nice for the kids that we stayed around our retreat most of the day. Then a storm came and they shut down early, but we still had a great time.
Thursday, 6/12 - And back to Dollywood we went. And again, we got the Qbot. We had only intended on getting it Tuesday, but it worked out so well that we decided to do it again! We started out with Daredevil Falls this time (basically the log ride), and even though we couldn't Qbot this one, we still had no wait. There is a bridge over the splash area that I stood on with Noah and Hannah (I stayed in the relatively dry area) while we waited on Jeff and Maddie, and Noah and Hannah got DRENCHED! Hannah loved it. We rode the big thrill rides quite a bit more on Thursday, but we also took in the Dreamland Drive-In show (which was even better than the Country show we saw!) and the Country Fair area (which had lots of rides for Hannah Banana!). We all rode the Lemon Twist together, which is very similar to the Teacups at WDW. We were really crammed in the cup, but we had a lot of fun riding together. They had to close the rides for a while as a storm passed by the area, so we rode bumper cars and played fair games (I beat everyone, even Jeff, at the shooting gallery!) and Noah hit the arcade. Before long it was only an hour before closing, but we managed to hit the Tornad and Mystery Mine and then Thunderhead twice (except Maddie, who rode it three times!) before we left. The last ride on Thunderhead was actually after the park was closed!! We also hit the Emporium on our way out of the park to let the kids get some last minute Dollywood souveniers. We had a blast!
Friday, 6/13 - Gatlinburg, here we come!
The kids were very excited about Gatlinburg. They knew there were three things for SURE that we were going to do - go to the Ripley's Aquarium, get an old-timey-picture taken, and go to Fannie Farkles!! We got to Gatlinburg, parked close to the Aquarium, and then set out to walk the town. We didn't get very far before the kids wanted to stop at the Mirror Maze, which was actually kinda fun! Then we had lunch and went in search of the perfect air-brushed shirts for the kids. Noah decided against getting one, but Maddie got a really cute Tinkerbell one!
Then it was time for FANNIE FARKLE'S FAMILY FUN PARLOR!!! Noah went straight for the arcade games, but after a game or two of skeeball, I settled down at the Pop-a-ball machines (it is now tic-tac-toe rather than poker). Hannah stayed with me and helped me push the pop button. Maddie quickly noticed that I was getting up to 30 tickets a game, so she started playing too. I sent Jeff off to get $20 in quarters (yeah, really!) and spent all but 50 cents of it! Of course, Hannah was playing on my quarters too. Before long, Noah came and joined in!
I don't know how many tickets Noah ended up with, but Maddie, Hannah, and I accumulated 15,700 points (each ticket was 5 points, so 3140 tickets). We got Hannah two bears that say Fannie Farkle's, a bear for Maddie, various pens and pencils for Maddie, playing cards that say Fannie Farkle's, and a couple of mugs! It was a blast!!
Then it was time to get some ICE CREAM! Let me just say, I've never had ice cream this good. And judging by the ice cream all over Noah's face, he hadn't either!
Hannah slept through this event, though.
We decided to postpone the old-timey pictures until Saturday since we were all tired and sweaty, so next we were off to the Aquarium.
It really was amazing. There was a tunnel that you go through where the water is all around you and sharks are swimming overhead! They also had a stingray show and a place where you can actually touch the stingrays! I tried to take pictures, but it was hard since I was taking them through glass!! And before we left the Aquarium, we all (minus Hannah) 'took off our feet' (love you, Mom!) and waded in the creek!!
After the Aquarium, we went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Even Hannah enjoyed herself, and even wiggled to the music a little bit!! By the time dinner was over, we were all exhausted. But I still had a night of packing ahead of me. It was hard to pack up - we had had so much fun that I didn't want to leave! But pack I did - until the wee hours of the morning...
Saturday, 6/14 - we got up and got all our last minute packing done. Then it was time to load the van and check out of our hotel. We headed down the strip to get our picture done, which turned out GREAT!
We had the best one framed in an antique looking frame. Then it was time to leave Pigeon Forge. The kids were already talking about wanting to go back in two years!
We stopped and had lunch at Cracker Barrel in Sevierville on our way out, then drove all the way to Memphis. We had dinner at Chili's and then went to the hotel and let the kids swim. The pool was VERY noisy and a little wild, so we didn't stay long.
Sunday, 6/15 - Off to the Memphis Zoo! We were very excited to see the pandas! They have two - Yaya and Lele. So cute! Hannah even got a stuffed panda bear! But it was hot and we were very tired from our time in Pigeon Forge, so we only stayed a couple of hours. Hannah seemed to enjoy seeing all the animals - this was her first trip to the zoo!
Then we were back in Arkansas. We stopped at one last Cracker Barrel for lunch in West Memphis and then drove on back to LR where we dropped Maddie and Noah off with their mom. Our vacation seemed much too short, but we really enjoyed all of it!!
I have to take just a minute to brag on my little girl. She was absolutely amazing on this vacation. She slept well, she laughed a lot, she played a lot, she danced a lot, and she was an absolute joy to be around (92% of the time!)!! We were amazed that a little 18-month-old girl could be so much fun when it was so hot and she was cooped up in a stroller for much of the time, but she was great!!
Until next time...