We Traveled 1000 Miles To See McNabb When The Linc Is 10 Minutes Away! COMPLETED!

[Mousermom]

Well...we're home now!:sad1:

I'll start off by saying that we had a wonderful time and I can't wait to go back!

I'll re-introduce us for those of you who don't know:

Me - Mary Beth - 35 - planner extrodinnaire!

DH - Tom - 42 - Laid Back Man!

DS - T.J. - 13 - became a teenager in the World!

I started a pre-trip report, but there wasn't much interest in it. Hopefuly, I can keep people awake for the actual trip report itself!:rotfl2:

We were originally suppossed to do a land-sea package this coming May. However, the cost of it was WAY out of our budget. We also considered a cruise only vacation, but there is no way I was going to be in the vacinity of WDW and not go there! It just wasn't happening!:lmao:

So, we thought about our options. Last year, we went to WDW during ESPN Weekend and we really enjoyed it. We were still on the fence about what we were going to do. Then...we saw the commercial for ESPN Weekend and saw the one person on the screen that would seal the deal for all of us...Donovan McNabb!

For those of you who read our trip report last year, we are die-hard Eagles fans! The fact that McNabb was going to be in WDW was the topper in our decision in going there this year!

So...let the obsessive-compulsive planning begin!:thumbsup2

As was the case last year, we booked the trip with our income tax. A friend of mine works at a travel agency. She really hooked us up! (Love ya, Sabrina!) She got us an incredible deal on airfare! We stayed at POFQ again and did the Magical Express. I love ME! Even though there were only three of us, we packed a lot of stuff! I tend to over-do it!:rolleyes1

Here's my luggage! Don'tcha love it!

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The flight to WDW from Philly was uneventful. We got through security with no problem and in a rather timely manner. However, about 5 minutes before we were to board the plane, I started to get a pain on the right side of my head and neck. I get migraines quite often...I always pack pain reliever everywhere I go. But...it was in my checked luggage!:scared1: I just had to grin and bear it! The flight was not good for me! I tried to take a nap but it just didn't happen. Also, when we started to decend into Orlando, my ears were KILLING me! The funny thing was, as SOON as we touched down in Orlando, all pain was GONE! Head, neck, AND ear pain! Is my body trying to tell me something or WHAT????? I NEED to be there on a regular basis! For my physical well-being at the very least!!:lmao:

Gotta go!

Next up: Magical Express and check-in at POFQ!:yay:

[Mousermom]

When we got to MCO, we headed straight for the ME counter. There was no line and we walked down the little red carpet to our bus to POFQ. Last year, the video on the bus was either not working or the driver just didn't want to show it at 2:30 in the morning! But, watching this video was one of the things I was excited about! It gets you in the Disney spirit right away.:cool1:

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I tried to take more pics of the video, but they all came out fuzzy!

The bus stopped at Saratoga Springs and Fort Wilderness before getting to POFQ. I didn't mind because I was so excited to be at WDW. SSR is very nice. I have more on that later.

We arrive at POFQ and there was no line for check-in. I had ordered a gift basket for T.J.'s birthday from Peggy (I think she is on the DIS, that's how I found out about her.) I wanted to surprise him with it when we got there. Thankfully, while we were waiting in line, T.J. wanted to check out the arcade. So, it was a perfect opportunity to snag the basket! The initial plan was to give him the basket after I decorated the room window, but Tom and I were too impatient! We just gave it to him as soon as we walked in the room. I know...we are complete DORKS!
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T.J. was very surprised and thrilled by the gift basket. It contained a Goofy plush dressed in a football uniform, an ESPN trivia book, an autograph book and pen, a refillable mug, and a birthday button. I was very pleased with it. Peggy did a wonderful job! I sent her an e-mail to thank her for it. If anyone is interested in geting a gift basket, please PM me and I'll give you the info.

We decided to go down to the food court first thing and purchase refillable mugs for Tom and I (T.J. already had his!) These are a great deal. We waited until the third day to get them last year. That was a big mistake! They pay for themselves after four fill-ups! No-brainer!

After filling up, we went back to our room and watched Stacy for a bit and went to bed.

Next up: Day 1 of ESPN The Weekend...and running into a friend of mine!

[Mousermom]

Day 1 ESPN The Weekend Disney's Hollywood Studios

We got up around 7 a.m. to get ready to go to Hollywood Studios. I'm having a hard time not saying MGM. We went down to the food court for some delicious bengiets. My husband had been dreaming about those things for a year!

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[Mousermom]

Day 1 Cont'd

Those beniegts are good...but they are messy! There was powdered sugar all over the table!!!

So we get on the bus and we head for Hollywood Studios. Either this event really caught on or these people saw the same commercial I did because there were a lot of Eagles fans there! I was so proud!

Of course, we were dressed in our Eagles best as well!

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There were thousands of people waiting in line to get in. I noticed another line was opening, so we ran over to it. There was a woman standing in front of me talking to her husband about the Eagles and Philly. I didn't think anything of it because as I said earlier, there were a lot of them. The woman bent down to say something to a child that she was with. I heard her speak, and I recognized her voice right away. It was my friend from work, Donna and her family.

She had mentioned that she would be in WDW the same time I was, but she was leaving the day after I arrived. She didn't know about ESPN and McNabb until I mentioned it to her. She said she would try to rearrange her plans to go to Hollywood Studios with her grandsons. And here she was standing directly in front of me in line! We both started laughing and I said, "No one is going to believe this in work!" So, I took a pic to prove it!
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So, the rope drops and we go down Holywood Blvd. to RnRC and ToT. We rode both within 15 minutes. There was time to kill befor seeing McNabb, so we saw MuppetVision 3-D and the Great Movie Ride. Two of my favorites! Then it was lunchtime! Tom had a turkey leg. T.J. and I had McDonald's fries. No big deal, but it satisfied our appetites. Tom loves those turkey legs!
Sorry, no pics of this meal!!

Finally, it was time to see McNabb on the big stage! All of the Eagles fans crammed the front of the stage. T.J. included! He was very excited to see him in person! When he came out, you could hear the Eagles chant loud and clear!

E-A-G-L-E-S...EAGLES!!!!!!!!!

McNabb was pumping his fists in the air!! It was really cool! He seemed to be impressed that there were so many Philly fans there. He seemed really nice and he answered a few questions from the crowd.


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After we saw our QB, it was time to head out for the day. We'd be back for the next two days so there would be other opportunities to see him again.
Besides, we were going to O'hana at the Poly for dinner that night and T.J. wanted to go swimming.

Next up: Dinner at O'hana and Day 2 of ESPN The Weekend

[Loriann70]

NJ here! Joining in! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to read more!

[OhMari]

Enjoying your report. A family from my hometown went down ESPN weekend. Her son got to play basketball with a few BB players at the ESPN club on the boardwalk. Did Andy Reid finish out the year coaching? I only read when he took time off, to help his family out. I didn't see anything after that. I am a packer fan, and he used to help coach the Packers.

[Mousermom]

NJ here! Joining in! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to read more!

Somone responded! Yay!:cool1: Where are you from in Jersey?

[Mousermom]

Enjoying your report. A family from my hometown went down ESPN weekend. Her son got to play basketball with a few BB players at the ESPN club on the boardwalk. Did Andy Reid finish out the year coaching? I only read when he took time off, to help his family out. I didn't see anything after that. I am a packer fan, and he used to help coach the Packers.

I'm glad you are enjoying it! Did that family enjoy it as much as we did? In my next installment, I'll talk about T.J.'s interaction with the Harlem Globtrotters! Andy Reid did finish out the season with the Eagles. And, as far as I know, he'll be back this year. His son's are having run-ins with the law. Personally, I think he should take some more time off.

Keep reading!:thumbsup2

[Momof2princess]

Great start to your TR:thumbsup2

I know everytime we go to WDW we always see someone we know. Even though you would think the odds would be against it.

Can't wait to read more!!!

[holcomb-mania]

Then...we saw the commercial for ESPN Weekend and saw the one person on the screen that would seal the deal for all of us...Donovan McNabb!


Is this the commercial where he stops the parade for the lady on the phone?

We were in MGM on Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 (IIRC ;) ), and they were filming this commercial right in front of Villians in Vogue. We watched for a bit, and I was within two steps of McNabb. I just happened to be channel surfing a few weeks ago and saw the commercial. I was able to save it on our DVR. :thumbsup2

[Mousermom]

Great start to your TR:thumbsup2

I know everytime we go to WDW we always see someone we know. Even though you would think the odds would be against it.

Can't wait to read more!!!

This wasn't the first time I ran into someone I knew. I saw old neighbors of mine the first time I ever went there in 1995. It was at the same park, too.

Thank you for reading!:lovestruc

[Mousermom]

Is this the commercial where he stops the parade for the lady on the phone?

We were in MGM on Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 (IIRC ;) ), and they were filming this commercial right in front of Villians in Vogue. We watched for a bit, and I was within two steps of McNabb. I just happened to be channel surfing a few weeks ago and saw the commercial. I was able to save it on our DVR. :thumbsup2

It IS the same one! That's cool you got to see him. Can you see yourself in the commercial?

Stay tuned!:)

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

Hey there, welcome back! Enjoying your TR so far...keep it coming! One question, what building did you stay in at POFQ? We will be there in 44 days!

[Mousermom]

Hey! It's the lady who works near T.J.'s school! We stayed in building 1 in a standard room. Farthest away from everything. But, it's a small resort so it's not a long walk to anything. We loved POFQ. You will too...I'm sure of it!! Hope you have a good time!:thumbsup2

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

Hey! It's the lady who works near T.J.'s school! We stayed in building 1 in a standard room. Farthest away from everything. But, it's a small resort so it's not a long walk to anything. We loved POFQ. You will too...I'm sure of it!! Hope you have a good time!:thumbsup2

Yep that's me! Oh we love POFQ...my dh is dreaming about those beignets!

[Mousermom]

Day 1 Cont'd.

I'm having trouble posting pics from photobucket. As soon as I get that problem fixed, I'll post more, I promise!

We went swimming at the POR pool in the afternoon. The water was pretty warm considering the weather was cool a few days before we arrived. The pool at POFQ was closed during our stay. A bit of a bummer, but not much because we took the boat over the POR. That boat is very relaxing and the scenery is beautiful! The boat goes to DTD from POR and POFQ, also.
There is a nice marina at POR that you can rent Sea Raycers and paddle boats. You can also rent two or four-seat surreys to ride in around the resort.

I discovered a new drink at the Port Orleans resort last year...Pina Colavas. They are delicious! Tom and I had a few of them while we were sitting by the pool.

After our swim, we got ready for dinner at our favorite restaurant...O'hana!
This is a tradition for us. I love the Poly resort! It is so beautiful there. Especially at night when they have the tiki torches lit.

Again, there were changes to the menu from last year. They got rid of the wontons and replaced them with coconut bread. I wasn't thrilled with that. Tom doesn't like coconut at all, so he didn't even try it. We all like the addition of the dumplings. They were tasty. However, I am NOT happy that they are doing away with the scalloped potatoes. They stil had them when we went this time, but they are already gone now. WHY? They are replacing them with Thai noodles in some kind of peanut sauce. Oh well...something new to try next time we go. The meats on the skewers were all good as usual. I'm glad they brought the shrimp back on the skewer.
And of course, the bread pudding with bananas foster sauce was delicious!

So...I ordered a custom cake from the cake hotline for T.J. It was supposed to be a 8" white chocolate cake with white chocolate icing and filling. When we checked in at he restaurant, I reminded the woman at the desk about it. And of course, there was no record of it. She said to let my server know about it. Half way through dinner, I had to chase this guy all over the place to tell him about the cake because I didn't want to mention it in front of T.J. He said that he was glad I told him because no one let him know. He came back to the table with a generic cake that was FROZEN SOLID!!!:eek:

Needless to say...I was not happy! They didn't even write his name on the cake! They wrote "Happy 13th Birthday T.J." on a gold paper plate in PINK gel icing!!! You couldn't even see it! I have to say though, that our server was very apologetic and he took the price of the cake off our bill and he said we could take the rest of the cake with us. I wrote his name down along with other cast members that I thought provided good service to us, but do you think I can find it now!!! I'll try to find it later. I'm still mad that I can't post pics!:confused:

We'll still go to O'hana...we love it too much!

Next up: T.J.'s run-in with celebrity athletes!:cheer2:

[Mousermom]

Pics of us at POFQ before we went to O'Hana. Don't you just adore the matching shirts!

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Cake that I DID NOT ORDER!!

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[Mousermom]

I knew I would get the pics up and running! These are of the POR pool and Tom and I drinking Pina Colavas!!!!!



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[Mousermom]

Yep that's me! Oh we love POFQ...my dh is dreaming about those beignets!

I didn't realize in your signature that you'd been there before. What building were you in last year? We were in building 7 last year...on the opposite side of the resort. The beignets are good, aren't they? They remind me of funnel cakes!

[MeLaNie9]

I am so happy to find your TR. I am a HUGE Browns fan, season ticket holder, and generally an NFL fan. DH is more into college sports as he went to Ohio State. I recently mentioned to him that maybe we should try ESPN The Weekend so I am really excited to hear all about it!!! Maybe give me something to convince him to go???;)
And, we almost stayed at POFQ last trip but changed to CSR. My only inital problem with this was missing the beignets because I wanted to try them - and your picture makes me so sad to have missed them. We didn't really enjoy CSR but are considering POFQ again for our next trip.
So sorry about the cake - that really stinks, but I am glad that they ultimately tried to remedy the situation. We were planning on going back to Ohana, but all of the things that you said they have replaced are the things we really liked - particularly the wontons which I just loved with the dipping sauces and the potatoes! DH hates coconut so wouldn't have tried the bread either. We may have to cross this one off of our list for next trip:(
BTW, your title had me laughing out loud!:happytv:

[Mousermom]

I am so happy to find your TR. I am a HUGE Browns fan, season ticket holder, and generally an NFL fan. DH is more into college sports as he went to Ohio State. I recently mentioned to him that maybe we should try ESPN The Weekend so I am really excited to hear all about it!!! Maybe give me something to convince him to go???;)
And, we almost stayed at POFQ last trip but changed to CSR. My only inital problem with this was missing the beignets because I wanted to try them - and your picture makes me so sad to have missed them. We didn't really enjoy CSR but are considering POFQ again for our next trip.
So sorry about the cake - that really stinks, but I am glad that they ultimately tried to remedy the situation. We were planning on going back to Ohana, but all of the things that you said they have replaced are the things we really liked - particularly the wontons which I just loved with the dipping sauces and the potatoes! DH hates coconut so wouldn't have tried the bread either. We may have to cross this one off of our list for next trip:(
BTW, your title had me laughing out loud!:happytv:

Hi there, Melanie! You should have gone this year. There was a player from the Browns there. I'm sorry... but his name escapes me right now. I'll have to ask my husband when he gets home from work. It's defenitely a great experience for all sports fans. Believe me... I'll write much more about it. There wasn't much of a representation of college athletes, though. One of the main reasons we went back to POFQ was the beignets! My DH and DS love them! Me too! I was upset about the cake, but T.J. was surprised and happy with it and that's all that matters. He snacked on it all week! We'll go back to O'hana because it's a tradition with us and DH wants to try the noodles! We'll see how it turns out! I'm glad you liked the title. I wanted it to be a title that would grab people's attention. It made you read it...so mission accomplished!:thumbsup2

BTW...both of my brothers are big Ohio State fans as well!

Keep reading and hopefully our experience with ESPN Weekend will help in your decision to attend the event!

ADDENDUM: The name of the player from the Browns was Willie McGinnest.

[Loriann70]

HI - I'm in Hamilton NJ. Mercer County. What part of Philly are you in?

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

I didn't realize in your signature that you'd been there before. What building were you in last year? We were in building 7 last year...on the opposite side of the resort. The beignets are good, aren't they? They remind me of funnel cakes!

We were in bldg 5 last year - very convenient and close to everything. This year we requested bldg 2, 4, or 5.

[Mousermom]

HI - I'm in Hamilton NJ. Mercer County. What part of Philly are you in?

I live up the far Northeast. Near Academy and Red Lion Roads, if you are familiar. I grew up in Southwest Philly near the airport. My husband is from the Northeast. We have to live in the city because he is a city employee. I wish they would get rid of that rule!

[Mousermom]

We were in bldg 5 last year - very convenient and close to everything. This year we requested bldg 2, 4, or 5.


I hope you get the room you want. I'm sure it would be more convenient to be closer to everything because you have little ones. Let me know if it happens for you!:thumbsup2

[trekkie518]

Great trip report, thanks for sharing. I'm getting ready for a trip, in 178 days, and can't wait, must have pictures, and stories. :lmao: Thanks again, keep up the good work.

[Mousermom]

Day 2 of ESPN Weekend

We had our beignets for breakfast and headed back to Hollywood Studios!

We were going to try to go to the shows that McNabb was in and check out the Interactive Zone. They had all kind of sports activities that people could try...baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, even dirt bikes!!!

My baby was in heaven back there!!! The Interactive Zone was located in back of Holywood Studios where RnRC is. When we got to the entrance, the very nice employees from Dick's Sporting Goods (who were sponsoring the event) were handing out autograph books to all the guests. With the amount of times we went back there, we came home with about 15 of them!!:lmao:

There was also a stage where they would broadcast ESPN shows live and do interviews with athletes. Tom and T.J. really enjoyed themselves back there.
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I have some Photopass pics in my e-mail of T.J. riding a dirtbike, but I can't upload them and I am not paying 13 bucks for a 5x7!!!

Then...THESE TWO crossed my inocent young son's path!!!!:scared1:

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I'm not ready for this yet!!! I've already got screechy little girl voices on my voice mail! HIIII TEEEEE JAYYYY!! UGH!!

He looks a little TOO comfy with these chickies!!!

I'm just kidding! They are a couple of Jacksonville Jaguar cheerleaders that were doing an autograph session in the Interactive Zone. They were very nice and sweet to T.J. I think he was a little embarrased. So..mommy took advantage of this and preserved the moment for posterity!!:lmao:

Also on Day 2, while Tom and T.J. were standing in line for RnRC for 30 minutes, the ride was experiencing technical difficulites and had to be shut down. Twice!! This is one of T.J.'s favorites. I'm sure he was a little disappointed, but he didn't let on.

After Interactive Zone, it was time to catch the show with McNabb called "Stump the Schwab". This was an indoor show. We stood in line for this for about 20 minutes. Well...you can probably guess what happened. We didn't get in! They sent everyone away when there were about twenty people ahead of us. BUMMER!

When these types of events are going on at WDW, they should have a head counter of some kind at the BEGINING of the queue area, instead of having a turnstile when you are about to enter the theater. So, everyone who gets into the queue area is guaranteed a seat. Just my two cents on the subject!!!

[MikeAidanEoinMom]

NJ here! Joining in! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to read more!
Another NJ Eagles fan here reading!!:) My 16yr old DS was invited down that weekend and could not make it. He was NOT happy LOL Nephew is a CM and a diehard and wanted to take him to see Mcnabb.

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

I live up the far Northeast. Near Academy and Red Lion Roads, if you are familiar. I grew up in Southwest Philly near the airport. My husband is from the Northeast. We have to live in the city because he is a city employee. I wish they would get rid of that rule!

This is so funny because I work right at Comly and Decatur. I sometime shop at the ACME at Academy Plaza and go the Wachovia there. We should get together for lunch!! Also, a few people I work with their kids go/went to St. Marthas.

[Mousermom]

Another NJ Eagles fan here reading!!:) My 16yr old DS was invited down that weekend and could not make it. He was NOT happy LOL Nephew is a CM and a diehard and wanted to take him to see Mcnabb.

That's a shame!!! He would have had a great time!!! I'm jealous of your nephew!! I wanna work at WDW someday! Where in Jersey do you live?
I see your sig says South Jersey. I have relatives in Bellmawr and of course we frequent the shore every summer.

Thaks for reading!:thumbsup2

[Mousermom]

This is so funny because I work right at Comly and Decatur. I sometime shop at the ACME at Academy Plaza and go the Wachovia there. We should get together for lunch!! Also, a few people I work with their kids go/went to St. Marthas.

This is also where I shop and bank!!! We've probably crossed paths a million times!!! Just let me know when and where and I'll be there!

[Mousermom]

Great trip report, thanks for sharing. I'm getting ready for a trip, in 178 days, and can't wait, must have pictures, and stories. :lmao: Thanks again, keep up the good work.

Thanks, trekkie! Looking forward to your trippie when you return! It'll be here before you know it!:goodvibes

[Mousermom]

Day 2 Cont'd.

We were disappointed that we didn't see McNabb on Day 2. Oh well... there was one more day left to try again.

We went swimming again at POR and had dinner in the POFQ food court. After dinner, we went back to Hollywood Studios to see Fantasmic!!!

We love this show!!

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I'm gonna backtrack a little bit. I forgot to post a pic of the room window. I decorated it for T.J.'s birthday!! I stole Mickey head paint samples from Home Depot. (Thanks, Disers!) I also printed out clipart that I requested from varoius Dis Signers! Thanks to all who gave me these ideas! I think we were the only ones in the resort with a decorated window. Quite a few people stopped to admire it!!

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Next up: T.J. plays B-ball with the Harlem Globetrotters! And...do we get to see Number 5 again?

[Momof2princess]

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Love your window:thumbsup2 Very cute.

That was awful about the cake at Ohana's, I would have been so mad.

Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

[Mousermom]

Day 3 ESPN Weekend

OK...We've been in WDW for 3 days now and we've only been in one park!!!:lmao:

That's okay...because I planned it that way!:rotfl2:

We went to Kona for breakfast on Day 3. We'd never been there and I heard so many good things about it. I was trying to decide between the Tonga Toast and the Macadamia Pineapple pancakes. I decided to go with the pancakes, so I practically FORCED T.J. to order the Tonga Toast!!! I just wanted one bite to find out what all the fuss was about!!! Althought I really didn't have to force him, because he wanted to try it anyway!!!:lovestruc

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Everything was delicious! The Tonga Toast tasted different than I thought it would. I just wanted a bite of it because I really don't like banana that much. It wasn't overpowered with banana. Also, the bread had a flaky texture when it was fried that way. Highly recommended!

The pancakes were heavenly!!! I love macadamia nuts and pineapple, so this was right up my alley. They gave you syrup for them, but it was unnecessary. Tom got the Big Kahuna breakfast...which consisted of eggs, breakfast meat, potato wedges, and silver dollar macadamia nut pineapple pancakes. He loved his as well. We also got the Press Pot Kona Coffee. Strong...but GOOD!! Tom likes his coffee...he was HAPPY!!:thumbsup2

T.J. proudly displayed his birthday button all week. (I know you are probably not supposed to do that, but he was 13 now. Becoming a teenager is a big deal, right? ) Anyway, the server at Kona, a very sweet youing lady, (still can't find the book with the names in it) came to the table with this cute little dessert for T.J. for FREEEE!!!!!

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It was a vanilla and chocolate cream puff! Can you see Lilo and Stitch etched in chocolate at the top of the plate? Very cute indeed!! I was so touched that this girl did this for him. It's gestures like this that make you want to return to WDW again and again!

Ok...back to HS we go!:laughing:

We rode the TOT twice today. I love this ride. I could go on it all day and not have the same experience. After that we kind of strolled around at a leisurely pace since we'd been there the previous two days. We went back to Interactive Zone again. When you first walked in, there was a table there for parents to sign waivers for their children to participate in the activites. In other words, Disney covering their "butts" in case someone gets in an accident. I can understand that, but the area around this table was mass CHAOS! Again, Disney needs to be more structured in handling these events. (That's 4 cents now!!!:lmao: )

So, T.J. was shooting hoops again and all of the sudden, the Harlem Globetrotters show up and start playing with all the kids!! It was so cute!! They were messing around with the kids and signing autographs. Those guys are so talented!! Of course, I didn't take a pic of this! I'm and idiot, I know.
I do have this pic, though.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture027.jpg

This pic was taken as we were getting off ToT. We were watching ESPN later that day and they showed a highlight of them riding ToT. It was funny! We were screaming at the T.V..."We saw them!" DUH!:rotfl2: I wish that woman wasn't in the way!

So...again we are in search of McNabb. We found out there was going to be a motorcade and interview at the main stage at 2:00. Tom and T.J. stayed at Interactive Zone and I staked out a spot near the stage. I told them to meet me at the stage at 1:45. I waited. And waited. And waited. No sign of them. I called their cell phones. They rang. And rang. And rang. When Tom finally picked up, the motorcade had already started. So...I'm annoyed that they didn't meet me, they didn't answer their phones, and the motorcade has started which means there is VERY loud music playing all over the park...so I had to leave my very good staked-out spot in front of the stage so I could hear Tom on the cell. People were crowding around so they could see the cars coming down the street. So now I had a crappy view of McNabb in the motorcade! I was so MAD!!! When they finally did meet up with me, we had to stand off to the side of the stage where the Brown Derby restaurant is. I told both of them not to talk to me for the rest of the day!:headache:

Needless to say I did NOT get any pics of the motorcade! I did manage on shot of him on stage again.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture080.jpg

That was it! I really wanted a pic of him in the motorcade riding in the car with Mickey! Oh well...what can I do? At least I got to see it. Tom and T.J. didn't. And THEY are supposed to be the big Eagles fans!

Again, McNabb was very nice and funny. I love when he does his T.V. interviews and shows back home. He always hams it up for the camera. I hope he doesn't leave our team any time soon!

And so ends our ESPN experience this year. Overall, it was a great one. I hope you don't think that Donovan is the only athlete we saw. There were plenty of others. We saw many from all kinds of sports. It was a genuine thrill to see them all. We see these men and woman all the time on t.v. and seeing them in person was awesome for us. For a die-hard sports fan, this is a must-do at least once. We were lucky enough to do it twice.

Up next: MK EMH and SpectroMagic...FINALLY another park!

[OhMari]

The family from Wisconsin really enjoyed their weekend. There was a convention for the dad, so they flew down on a whim that weekend and found out it was ESPN weekend.

Love the pictures.

[Mousermom]

Love your window:thumbsup2 Very cute.

That was awful about the cake at Ohana's, I would have been so mad.

Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! I brought Christmas lights with me to light up the window at night, but I never bothered to put them up. We had too much going on during the day, and at night...I was just too tired!:lmao:

I was mad about the cake, but at least I didn't have to pay for it! T.J. and Tom snacked on it during the week, but it wound up having whipped cream icing on it and I don't like whipped cream on cakes. I'm a good old fashioned buttercream icing kinda girl!:thumbsup2

Thank you for reading. Stay tuned!:love:

[Mousermom]

The family from Wisconsin really enjoyed their weekend. There was a convention for the dad, so they flew down on a whim that weekend and found out it was ESPN weekend.

Love the pictures.

I'm glad they had fun! Thanks, I took a lot of them so you'll see a lot more!

[MikeAidanEoinMom]

That's a shame!!! He would have had a great time!!! I'm jealous of your nephew!! I wanna work at WDW someday! Where in Jersey do you live?
I see your sig says South Jersey. I have relatives in Bellmawr and of course we frequent the shore every summer.

Thaks for reading!:thumbsup2

My DH grew up in Bellmawr...I live in Burlington County right over the Tacony Palmyra Bridge from Philly. Nephew LOVES working there it will be almost a year since he started FULL time.(after graduating college) He did the College program 2 times and kept his seasonal status by working on his breaks. We are going in July for his Disney wedding . My 2 oldest are in the wedding I can't WAIT!!! With him working there I am sure DS will get to go sooner or later hopefully at an equally cool time.

[Mousermom]

My DH grew up in Bellmawr...I live in Burlington County right over the Tacony Palmyra Bridge from Philly. Nephew LOVES working there it will be almost a year since he started FULL time.(after graduating college) He did the College program 2 times and kept his seasonal status by working on his breaks. We are going in July for his Disney wedding . My 2 oldest are in the wedding I can't WAIT!!! With him working there I am sure DS will get to go sooner or later hopefully at an equally cool time.

It's a small world after all...:) If the liquor stores are closed, and we need beer or something for a party, we ALWAYS go to Roger Wilco's over the Tacony Palmyra. Do you go there?

I don't know if you are allowed to ask this, but...what does he do there? As you can see in my siggie, I want to plan Disney weddings! That is my ultimate dream job at WDW!:lovestruc However, I'd be satisfied doing any job there, as long as I got to be there every day!:goodvibes Make sure you do a TR about the wedding!

[Mousermom]

Day 3 Cont'd.

We went swimming again at POR and we went to MK for SpectroMagic and EMH!!

MK is my favorite park. Every time we visit WDW, I make sure to schedule at least two visits to MK. When I walk down Main Street USA and look up at that castle, it gets me every time! I just love it!!!

As soon as we got there, I staked out our spot for the parade. I'm like a hawk seeking my prey! I have to have a good seat for this parade!:rotfl:

Luckily, I did find a spot that was ideal. It was in the area where the Walt Disney statue is across from the railroad station. We parked our fannies on the curb and waited patiently. T.J. ran over to the Confectionary to grab some snacks. I forgot to mention that T.J. got the chance to earn Disney money during the months before the trip. Tom and I got him a $30 Disney gift card for Christmas. Every week he would do chores and earn additional money to add to the card. He also received money from relatives. All in all, he wound up with around $160.00. Not bad, IMO! I have to say he was pretty good with his money all week. There were a few times he would buy something that I thought was a little wasteful, but like my mom would say...

"Don't come crying to me when you run out of money!":lmao:

This is what he came out of the Confectionary with:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture041.jpg

Cotton candy and a JAWBREAKER!! I could feel my OWN teeth rotting!!!! Just a little observation here...why is he wearing his sunglasses at night? So he can, so he can!!!

Anyway...on with the show!!!

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture075.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture081.jpg
ht[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture104.jpg
[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture096.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture109.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture111.jpg

After the parade, we grabbed a bite to eat at CHH. It was okay. The good thing was the restaurant was EMPTY so no lines. I had a ham sandwich, T.J. and Tom had fish and chicken platters. Like I said...no big deal. But, we were starving because it was near 8:00 and we hardly ate anything since breakfast! With dinner finished, we got our wristbands and rode a few rides during EMH. Buzz, Tommorowland Indy Speedway, and I got the brilliant idea to ride Splash Mountain. I said to Tom and T.J. "I heard it's fun to ride Splash at night. The view is supposed to be nice!" Open mouth...insert foot!

We got on with no wait. That part was good. Once you go on the ride, you go around a litle bend in front of the "big drop". I forgot that sometimes, when a log goes down, they shoot out a big spray of water. It hit all of us and we got SOAKING WET!!! Our clothes and hair were drenched!! My butt was completly soaked as well. I'm glad I had my sweatshirt with me so I could tie it around my waist so no one could see my wet hiney!!:rolleyes1 But, of course, now the rest of me was freezing...but I was not taking that sweatshirt off from around my waist!:laughing:

We left MK around 11 p.m. We enjoy EMH. When the park empties out at night, it feels like you have the park all to yourself!princess:

Next up: Day 4 at AK

[MeLaNie9]

Great updates - I love your Spectro pictures! Mine never turn out too good! Ooooh - I would have been SO MAD about having to leave my staked-out parade spot! :mad: I would have also told the family to not talk to me for the rest of the day!
Love the Corey Hart reference :rotfl2: - I can always appreciate a little retro in a TR;) ;)
That spot in Splash Mtn is the real killer - that's exactly where we got drenched. Luckily we rode during the day - we were so soaked that I can totally appreciate how cold you must have been at night!
Um - I think that jawbreaker is the biggest jawbreaker I have ever seen! In Disney, that must've cost like $25!!!:rotfl:

[Mousermom]

Great updates - I love your Spectro pictures! Mine never turn out too good! Ooooh - I would have been SO MAD about having to leave my staked-out parade spot! :mad: I would have also told the family to not talk to me for the rest of the day!
Love the Corey Hart reference :rotfl2: - I can always appreciate a little retro in a TR;) ;)
That spot in Splash Mtn is the real killer - that's exactly where we got drenched. Luckily we rode during the day - we were so soaked that I can totally appreciate how cold you must have been at night!
Um - I think that jawbreaker is the biggest jawbreaker I have ever seen! In Disney, that must've cost like $25!!!:rotfl:

Thanks for sticking with me, Melanie! I'm surprised MYSELF that the pics turned out so well! Must have been the fact that we were sitting in such a good spot that I was able to get such good shots!:laughing:

After what those two pulled on me at HS with the motorcade, I told them in a very stern way not to MOVE while we were waiting for Spectro!!!:rotfl2:

I'm glad someone else got the reference! You must be an 80's music lover like me!:lovestruc

Every other time we'd been on Splash Mountain, we've never been soaked like that!! They must have been tweaking around with it a little bit, because I don't ever remember that happening to us before! Well...I learned my lesson on that one! Only ride Splash during the day!:lmao:

I don't know how much that jawbreaker cost, but he bought 3 or 4 of them during the course of the week. Whatever they did cost, it's not even going to come close to what I'm going to have to pay in dental bills!!!:rotfl2:

Take care and keep reading!popcorn::

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

Hi there! I just got caught up on your TR. I love the Spectro pictures. Sadly, we didn't get to see Spectro on our last trip although we did see Wishes. I am hoping to see it this time around though.

[MikeAidanEoinMom]

It's a small world after all...:) If the liquor stores are closed, and we need beer or something for a party, we ALWAYS go to Roger Wilco's over the Tacony Palmyra. Do you go there?

I don't know if you are allowed to ask this, but...what does he do there? As you can see in my siggie, I want to plan Disney weddings! That is my ultimate dream job at WDW!:lovestruc However, I'd be satisfied doing any job there, as long as I got to be there every day!:goodvibes Make sure you do a TR about the wedding!
Do not go to RW but live VERY near there. DH works at Bj's and they have liquor and beer there. Nephew is in Merchandising ..he started out at AK and now is at MK. He said it is AWSOME to walk down main street every day to go to work :) I can't WAIT to see a disney wedding and I will share.

[Mousermom]

Hi there! I just got caught up on your TR. I love the Spectro pictures. Sadly, we didn't get to see Spectro on our last trip although we did see Wishes. I am hoping to see it this time around though.

We try not to miss Spectro. We didn't see Wishes fro Main Street like we usually do, but we were in Fantasyland while it was going on. The fireworks were right above our heads. I prefer watching them from Main Street. I was craning my neck the whole time, and my husband was bugging me to help him look for a place to smoke a cigarette the whole time they were going on.:headache:

[Mousermom]

Do not go to RW but live VERY near there. DH works at Bj's and they have liquor and beer there. Nephew is in Merchandising ..he started out at AK and now is at MK. He said it is AWSOME to walk down main street every day to go to work :) I can't WAIT to see a disney wedding and I will share.

Love Bj's. I don't get there as often as I would like. As I said, your nephew is a lucky guy. I love reading the wedding TRs. I want to have a Disney vow renewal someday. Tom said maybe for our 20th anniversary. Even my mom, who doesn't like Disney, is encouraging me to do it.

What do you think?;)

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

We try not to miss Spectro. We didn't see Wishes fro Main Street like we usually do, but we were in Fantasyland while it was going on. The fireworks were right above our heads. I prefer watching them from Main Street. I was craning my neck the whole time, and my husband was bugging me to help him look for a place to smoke a cigarette the whole time they were going on.:headache:

Are you sure we're not married to the same guy?? ;)

[Mousermom]

Are you sure we're not married to the same guy?? ;)

I'm telling you...why was it so urgent to smoke a cigarette at that particular moment? I can't stand when he does that crap!:scared:

I'm guessing your hubby does that to you also!

[MikeAidanEoinMom]

Love Bj's. I don't get there as often as I would like. As I said, your nephew is a lucky guy. I love reading the wedding TRs. I want to have a Disney vow renewal someday. Tom said maybe for our 20th anniversary. Even my mom, who doesn't like Disney, is encouraging me to do it.

What do you think?;)
I think you should go for it !!:) DH and I just had our 20th anniversary trip without kids trip OMG we had so much fun. We were supposed to do Disney for our honeymoon and we just did not have the money....we were so young :) and in love. I keep telling him at 25 yrs I want to do the renewal thing but since we have a 16 yr old then a 5 and 2 yr old it may be 30 yrs before we can do it LMAO....it is ok whenever we can do it it will be cool!!:)

[Mousermom]

I think you should go for it !!:) DH and I just had our 20th anniversary trip without kids trip OMG we had so much fun. We were supposed to do Disney for our honeymoon and we just did not have the money....we were so young :) and in love. I keep telling him at 25 yrs I want to do the renewal thing but since we have a 16 yr old then a 5 and 2 yr old it may be 30 yrs before we can do it LMAO....it is ok whenever we can do it it will be cool!!:)

When we got married, we paid for the whole wedding ourselves, so we didn't even have any money to go on a honeymoon at all. Luckily, my wonderful bridesmaids paid for us to go to Altantic City for a few days. I was only 21 when we got married...I'd never been to the casinos before! We would have had a good time anywhere because as you said...we were young and in love!:love:

As you can see in my signature, We'll be returning to WDW for our 15th anniversary next year. I have more on that later!:goodvibes

[Mousermom]

Day 4 Animal Kingdom

Months before the trip, like any good Diser, I planned out a very detailed itinerary with what days we would visit what parks. I had gone over this list again and again, making sure the plans were correct. I wrote down ADR reservation numbers and everything. I even memorized it...or so I thought!

I woke up that morning and said...it's Epcot day! Even at WDW, it's tough to rouse T.J. out of bed!!! TEENAGERS!!! (I can't believe I'm saying that now!:rotfl: )

All through breakfast I was saying "Yea, Epcot" I really enjoy Epcot...I love the attractions in Future World, and World Showcase...two words...the FOOD!

As we were waiting for the bus, I decided to pull out my trusty piece of paper, and guess what...today was EMH at AK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:scared1:

I'm glad I looked at it! I would have been really pissed if we got all the way to Epcot and had to wait around for an hour for it to open! Let's not get into what Tom's reaction would be!! He's Mr. Laid-Back, but he's VERY impatient!

So, we walked two feet over to the other bus stop and waited for the bus to AK.

I don't like AK.

Sorry.

I wasn't even going to go to AK with Tom and T.J. I had originally made plans to meet up with a friend of mine who lives in the Orlando area on this day. However, I never heard from her and I never got her phone number to call her to meet up with me at DTD. I know, stupid!:confused:

So, I didn't want to hang around all by myself all day, so off to AK I go!

Tom and T.J. ran off to EE. I've never gone on this ride. Looks too scary for me. Since it was EMH, they were able to ride it twice in the span of ten minutes! I love EMH!! After their experience with the Yeti, we went to the safari. Last year, the safari was no big deal for me, but this year I have to say the animals were a little more active, probably because we were there early in the morning. Who knows.

Tom and T.J. went on Dinosaur next. I don't like this attraction eithier. SCARY!:scared1: I know...I'm a big baby! When they are experiencing an attraction without me, I usually wait for them in the gift shop. I spoke to some really nice ladies in the dinosaur gift shop. Then...a survey woman approached me. I ALWAYS get asked to participate in surveys. I always fill them out, too. If Disney wants to know what I think, then I'm happy to oblige them!:thumbsup2

After Dinosaur, we saw the Nemo stage show. It was very cute and the actors were very good. I think it was geared more towards little ones, though. T.J. was playing around with his cell phone the whole time, and Tom looked like he was ready to fall asleep!:headache:

Next time, I don't think I'll be going to AK again. I just don't enjoy it all that much. I understand what Disney was trying to do in building this park, but I grew up visiting the Philly Zoo. My father was a zookeeper for 40 years, I've seen enough animals to last me a lifetime. He died in 2004. I guess it makes me sad to go there because I think HE would have enjoyed it if I'd had the chance to bring him there.

Sorry for bumming everybody out, I'll be happier next post, I promise.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture098.jpg
Pic while Tom and T.J. were on EE. That's the only pic I took while at AK. I wanted to take pics of the Nemo show, but no flash photography was allowed.

Next up: Dinner at LeCellier!!!!:goodvibes

[jcc0621]

HI, another Phily person checking in:thumbsup2 Roxborough by way of South Philly and the Northeast:thumbsup2

We have to live in the city because he is a city employee. I wish they would get rid of that rule!

Me too:headache: but it will never happen:sad2:

[Mousermom]

HI, another Phily person checking in:thumbsup2 Roxborough by way of South Philly and the Northeast:thumbsup2



Me too:headache: but it will never happen:sad2:

I think you responded to my last TR. Good to hear from you again!

Why does it matter where we live? It doesn't affect how you do your job! I guess it's to keep money in the city's coffers!

Stupid, stupid rule...IMHO!

Keep reading!:goodvibes

[jcc0621]

I think you responded to my last TR. Good to hear from you again!

Why does it matter where we live? It doesn't affect how you do your job! I guess it's to keep money in the city's coffers!

Stupid, stupid rule...IMHO!

Keep reading!:goodvibes

If they let us city workers move out of the city they would lose their whole tax base:rolleyes: DH is a teacher, but he doesn't have to live in the city:mad:

[tubachick]

love the pics and your TR can't wait to hear about EPCOT!!!

popcorn::

[swhelan310]

I live up the far Northeast. Near Academy and Red Lion Roads, if you are familiar. I grew up in Southwest Philly near the airport. My husband is from the Northeast. We have to live in the city because he is a city employee. I wish they would get rid of that rule!

Loving your TR, I also am a former Southwest Philly neighbor!! It really is a small world!! I moved out in '99.

[Mousermom]

If they let us city workers move out of the city they would lose their whole tax base:rolleyes: DH is a teacher, but he doesn't have to live in the city:mad:

Can I ask what you do? DH is a police dispatcher.

[Mousermom]

love the pics and your TR can't wait to hear about EPCOT!!!

popcorn::
Thanks, tubachick! Epcot is up next...stay tuned!

[jcc0621]

Can I ask what you do? DH is a police dispatcher.

I'm a Probation Officer, DH is a teacher!

[Mousermom]

Loving your TR, I also am a former Southwest Philly neighbor!! It really is a small world!! I moved out in '99.

OK...when I lived in SWP, there was a Whelan's deli on the corner near Elmwood Avenue and...I'm going to say, 74th street. For a while, we lived on Ashford Street off of Elmwood. Is that you? Also, my brothers went to school with Whelans, I think. My maiden name is Cepregi. My brothers names are Stephen and Bunky.

It is a small world, isn't it? Where do you live now?

[Mousermom]

I'm a Probation Officer, DH is a teacher!

Dh has been a city employee for 11 years. He just has to hang in there for a few more years and he'll be eligible for the DROP program. Then, it's off to sunny Florida for us...hopefully!:thumbsup2

[jcc0621]

Can I ask what you do? DH is a police dispatcher.

Dh has been a city employee for 11 years. He just has to hang in there for a few more years and he'll be eligible for the DROP program. Then, it's off to sunny Florida for us...hopefully!:thumbsup2

Lucky you..unfortunately by the time I am eligible they probablyu won't be offering DROP:sad2:

[Mousermom]

Lucky you..unfortunately by the time I am eligible they probablyu won't be offering DROP:sad2:


I'm crossing my fingers that they'll still have it when DH retires, too!

[swhelan310]

OK...when I lived in SWP, there was a Whelan's deli on the corner near Elmwood Avenue and...I'm going to say, 74th street. For a while, we lived on Ashford Street off of Elmwood. Is that you? Also, my brothers went to school with Whelans, I think. My maiden name is Cepregi. My brothers names are Stephen and Bunky.

It is a small world, isn't it? Where do you live now?

I actually know the owners of Whelan's deli, but i'm not related...my father is friends with the owner and my sister was very good friends with the owners daughter. I have to ask my husband if he knows either of your brothers what school did they go to and how old are they?). We lived on 67th st. between Buist and Dicks...do you remember Pizza Villa? we lived right down the street. We live in Havertown Pa. and we love it, but I have to say I loved growing up in SWP.

[Mousermom]

I actually know the owners of Whelan's deli, but i'm not related...my father is friends with the owner and my sister was very good friends with the owners daughter. I have to ask my husband if he knows either of your brothers what school did they go to and how old are they?). We lived on 67th st. between Buist and Dicks...do you remember Pizza Villa? we lived right down the street. We live in Havertown Pa. and we love it, but I have to say I loved growing up in SWP.

My brother Stephen is 34 and Bunky is 31. We all went to St. Barney's and West Catholic. Of course I know Pizza Villa. I grew up at 68th and Buist. What is your maiden name? I have to know you somehow! I loved growing up in SWP, too. It's a shame the neighborhood turned out the way it did.

[Mousermom]

Day 4 Cont'd.

We left AK pretty early, so we decided to go over to POR. Earlier in the week, T.J. wanted to rent a 4-seat surrey and a Sea Raycer. We promised him we'd be back to check it out. So...this was the day!:thumbsup2

Renting these things was pretty expensive...at least that's what I thought. It was 19 bucks for a half-hour for the surrey, and 45 bucks for a half-hour for the Sea Raycer!!! Too rich for my blood!!!!!:eek:

Since T.J. had a limited amount of money to spend, Tom made a deal with him. T.J. would have to pay the full amount for the surrey, and Tom would split the cost of the Sea Raycer with T.J.

I would not have struck such a deal! My response to him would have been the one I posted earlier in the TR.:confused3 Birthday or NO birthday...we still had 3 days to get through!:goodvibes

So, we rented the surrey first. These things are harder to maneuver than you would think.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture133.jpg

Birds and ducks and geese better scurry, when I take you out in my surrey, when I take you out in my surrey, with the fringe on top.... (Stupid When Harry Met Sally movie quote...I have WAY too much time on my hands!:happytv: )

Now, I have to tell you...Tom's knees are in really bad shape. I fear that in the VERY near future, he is probably going to need knee replacement surgery.

Now here is a weird little Disney rule. You have to be over 18 to be on the driver's side of the surrey, but you only have to be 12 to drive the Sea Raycer. Does that make any sense to you? Me, neither!:confused3

So...Tom has to drive the surrey. OK...so you really don't drive the surrey... there is a steering wheel and a break on it, but you are basically pedaling it the whole time. You have to get into a rhythm when you are pedaling, and we never quite got into it. Poor Tom! He was pedaling with all his might! There were a few times when we had to go uphill a little, and he was in pain! I felt so bad! For what was supposed to be a quick spin around the resort, we had to take numerous breaks so he could rest his knees. I don't think he'll be doing that again anytime soon!:scared:

Now it's time to rent the Sea Raycer. I'm starting to get tired at this point myself, so Tom said he'd take T.J. out on it. I headed back to POFQ. All I asked of them is that they take lots of pics...and they did!:thumbsup2

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture123.jpg

htt[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture078.jpg

[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture078.jpg[/IMG

They both said that they had a good time. T.J. said a bigger boat came by and some water got in the Sea Raycer. Tom had my bag with him and luckily, he grabbed the bag and the camera before they got WET! Thank God!

Next up: Dinner at LeCellier! Yummy!:love:

[MikeAidanEoinMom]

Day 4 Cont'd.

We left AK pretty early, so we decided to go over to POR. Earlier in the week, T.J. wanted to rent a 4-seat surrey and a Sea Raycer. We promised him we'd be back to check it out. So...this was the day!:thumbsup2

Renting these things was pretty expensive...at least that's what I thought. It was 19 bucks for a half-hour for the surrey, and 45 bucks for a half-hour for the Sea Raycer!!! Too rich for my blood!!!!!:eek:

Since T.J. had a limited amount of money to spend, Tom made a deal with him. T.J. would have to pay the full amount for the surrey, and Tom would split the cost of the Sea Raycer with T.J.

I would not have struck such a deal! My response to him would have been the one I posted earlier in the TR.:confused3 Birthday or NO birthday...we still had 3 days to get through!:goodvibes

So, we rented the surrey first. These things are harder to maneuver than you would think.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture133.jpg

Birds and ducks and geese better scurry, when I take you out in my surrey, when I take you out in my surrey, with the fringe on top.... (Stupid When Harry Met Sally movie quote...I have WAY too much time on my hands!:happytv: )

Now, I have to tell you...Tom's knees are in really bad shape. I fear that in the VERY near future, he is probably going to need knee replacement surgery.

Now here is a weird little Disney rule. You have to be over 18 to be on the driver's side of the surrey, but you only have to be 12 to drive the Sea Raycer. Does that make any sense to you? Me, neither!:confused3

So...Tom has to drive the surrey. OK...so you really don't drive the surrey... there is a steering wheel and a break on it, but you are basically pedaling it the whole time. You have to get into a rhythm when you are pedaling, and we never quite got into it. Poor Tom! He was pedaling with all his might! There were a few times when we had to go uphill a little, and he was in pain! I felt so bad! For what was supposed to be a quick spin around the resort, we had to take numerous breaks so he could rest his knees. I don't think he'll be doing that again anytime soon!:scared:

Now it's time to rent the Sea Raycer. I'm starting to get tired at this point myself, so Tom said he'd take T.J. out on it. I headed back to POFQ. All I asked of them is that they take lots of pics...and they did!:thumbsup2

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture123.jpg

htt[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture078.jpg

[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture078.jpg[/IMG

They both said that they had a good time. T.J. said a bigger boat came by and some water got in the Sea Raycer. Tom had my bag with him and luckily, he grabbed the bag and the camera before they got WET! Thank God!

Next up: Dinner at LeCellier! Yummy!:love:
HAHAHA we rented one of those torture carbikes down the shore NEVER again. Can't wait to read about Lecellier ...my FAV

[MeLaNie9]

DH and I rode in one of those surrey bikes in Virginia Beach and you're right - it was hard!
Poor Tom, I know how bad knees can hurt with pedaling - I've got me some bad ones as well!:eek:
Hmmm...I'm with you, I don't get those rules about "driving" the bike vs. the sea raycer???:confused:

[Mousermom]

HAHAHA we rented one of those torture carbikes down the shore NEVER again. Can't wait to read about Lecellier ...my FAV

I like your description of them!:lmao: Where do you vacation down the shore? We go to Wildwood every year. We'll be there again in July.

My LeCellier post is coming!:thumbsup2

[Mousermom]

DH and I rode in one of those surrey bikes in Virginia Beach and you're right - it was hard!
Poor Tom, I know how bad knees can hurt with pedaling - I've got me some bad ones as well!:eek:
Hmmm...I'm with you, I don't get those rules about "driving" the bike vs. the sea raycer???:confused:

I think Tom was ready to punch both of us in the face! All we did was yell at each other the whole time! Ahhhh...TOGETHERNESS!:rotfl2:

My guess is that kids would rent them and mess around and end up breaking them or something. Now...that's just a guess, but why else would they make this rule.:confused3

[MikeAidanEoinMom]

I like your description of them!:lmao: Where do you vacation down the shore? We go to Wildwood every year. We'll be there again in July.

My LeCellier post is coming!:thumbsup2
We usually go to Sea Isle City. The last 2 years we went to OBX NC Though. This year we are not going but spending 10 nights in Disney WOOOHOOOO

[Mousermom]

We usually go to Sea Isle City. The last 2 years we went to OBX NC Though. This year we are not going but spending 10 nights in Disney WOOOHOOOO

Years ago, my brother was a Fudgie-Wudgie Man in Sea Isle. How are NC beaches? Wow...10 nights!!! I'm jealous. I want to see a TR about that trip!:thumbsup2

[Goofy22]

I am formerly from South Philly and growing up had a few friends that lived in South West Philly! (They went to Good Shepard then West Cathloic) And now I live IN South Jersey only minutes from Wildwood! I'm not really into sports but was of course when I was younger! Never really a football fan but of course rooted for the Eagles because they were my home town team! I was a FLYERS Fan! But your thread brung me back to my days of growing up a lil! Funny how you post on these boards and find so many people with in miles of one another! :)

[Mousermom]

I am formerly from South Philly and growing up had a few friends that lived in South West Philly! (They went to Good Shepard then West Cathloic) And now I live IN South Jersey only minutes from Wildwood! I'm not really into sports but was of course when I was younger! Never really a football fan but of course rooted for the Eagles because they were my home town team! I was a FLYERS Fan! But your thread brung me back to my days of growing up a lil! Funny how you post on these boards and find so many people with in miles of one another! :)

Names, please!:goodvibes PM me if you feel uncomfortable posting names on the thread. I know a lot of people from GS. And...my brothers were more popular than I was, so...they know EVERYBODY!!!:laughing: My husband is a BIG Flyers fan. Me...not so much. I'm looking forward to getting "downashore" this summer. Please keep reading it... I'm not done yet!:thumbsup2

[jcc0621]

I am formerly from South Philly and growing up had a few friends that lived in South West Philly! (They went to Good Shepard then West Cathloic) And now I live IN South Jersey only minutes from Wildwood! I'm not really into sports but was of course when I was younger! Never really a football fan but of course rooted for the Eagles because they were my home town team! I was a FLYERS Fan! But your thread brung me back to my days of growing up a lil! Funny how you post on these boards and find so many people with in miles of one another! :)

Where in South Philly?

[Goofy22]

Where in South Philly?

Right around the corner from St. John Neuman High School! 28th & Morris !

[Goofy22]

Names, please!:goodvibes PM me if you feel uncomfortable posting names on the thread. I know a lot of people from GS. And...my brothers were more popular than I was, so...they know EVERYBODY!!!:laughing: My husband is a BIG Flyers fan. Me...not so much. I'm looking forward to getting "downashore" this summer. Please keep reading it... I'm not done yet!:thumbsup2

They were both guys Tom North and Matt Weldon and that's going back some years lord I was in grade school and ill be 36 in July! OOUCH! There were a few more but I can't quite remember the names but i meant them through the 2 I mentioned.

[jinxrx06]

Temple Graduate here subbing! :thumbsup2

[Mousermom]

They were both guys Tom North and Matt Weldon and that's going back some years lord I was in grade school and ill be 36 in July! OOUCH! There were a few more but I can't quite remember the names but i meant them through the 2 I mentioned.

Those names don't sound familiar to me...I'll have to ask my brothers. I'll be 36 in September, so I'm right behind you!

[Mousermom]

Temple Graduate here subbing! :thumbsup2

Thanks for checking it out!:goodvibes I see you are leaving in less than 2 weeks! Very exciting!:)

Have fun...looking forward to your TR!:thumbsup2

[jcc0621]

Right around the corner from St. John Neuman High School! 28th & Morris !

I think we may have "talked before". I gre up on the 1600 Block of 28th Street. Graduated from King of Peace

[Mousermom]

Day 4 Cont'd.

After Tom's poor knees took a beating, I subjected him to more walking!:scared:

He didn't care though because we were going to LeCellier for dinner at Epcot!:woohoo:

We were really looking forward to this dinner. We'd never been there before and I heard so many good things about it by reading reviews on the Disboards! I became a litle obsessed with the dining reviews on here. A lot of people felt that the tables were too close together. We didn't feel that way at all. Of course...when we went, the restaurant was not crowded at all. And...it was a 7:00 reservation. IMO, that it a prime dinner time in WDW.

This time, I DID remember our servers' name. It was Jen. She is from Victoria, British Columbia. When she came over to the table, she told us some interesting Canadian trivia. It was something along the lines of:

"Did you know that there are more caribou per square mile in such-and-such a territory than there are people?"

I thought this was cute. A little Canadian trivia never hurt anybody!;)

I wanted to have a glass of wine with dinner. Now...I am not a wine drinker. However, occasionally I will have a glass of White Zinfendel. They didn't have any. So, Jen recommended a house white wine that was delicious! Do you think I can remember the name that was on the bottle? No...of course not!:sad2: Tom had Canadian beer. Sorry...drawing a blank on that one too!:confused3 T.J. had a juice blend of some kind with a light-up Captain Hook thingy attached to it.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture139.jpg
Can you see T.J? I have to say...it was a little dark.

For appetizers, Tom had a sausage dish with polenta and onion jam. I had the cheddar cheese soup, amd T.J. had beef and barley soup. Tom's appetizer was delicious! But...the sausage was a little too spicy for me. The beef and barley soup was really good, too. There were HUGE chunks of beef in it. I'm used to Campbell's soup. No chunks in there! And my cheese soup... Yummy! Also...the PRETZEL BREAD!! OMG...to DIE for! We asked for seconds of those!

I know what you are thinking. "You all ate each other's appetizers!" Trust me...we have good table manners!:laughing: We passed them around very nicely and used our own utensils!:rotfl2:

Main Course: I had the maple glazed filet, Tom had prime rib and T.J. had pasta with scallops and shrimp. I know mine was good...I don't know about the other two because I wasn't letting anyone touch my steak!:lmao:

We were too stuffed for dessert, BUT Jen brought this out for T.J.:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture149.jpg
Again, I was so thrilled that WDW does this for their guests! Of course, we all had to take a bite of it! It was tasty!!!!:)

We were all too full to stick around and watch Illuminations, so we just went back to the room relaxed a bit before we went to bed.

Next up: Epcot and an event that would change our lives!

[jcc0621]

He didn't care though because we were going to LeCellier for dinner at Epcot!:woohoo:

:yay:

We were really looking forward to this dinner. We'd never been there before and I heard so many good things about it by reading reviews on the Disboards! I became a litle obsessed with the dining reviews on here. A lot of people felt that the tables were too close together. We didn't feel that way at all. Of course...when we went, the restaurant was not crowded at all. And...it was a 7:00 reservation. IMO, that it a prime dinner time in WDW.

We didn't think the tables were too close together when we were there in August, but again we went at an off time and it wasn't too crowded. I could see if feeling close when every table is full though.

This time, I DID remember our servers' name. It was Jen. She is from Victoria, British Columbia.

I think we had the same waitress...she was fabulous!:thumbsup2

I thought this was cute. A little Canadian trivia never hurt anybody!;)

Also...the PRETZEL BREAD!! OMG...to DIE for! We asked for seconds of those!

And coming from Philly it takes alot for us to like any kind of pretzel "from the outside";)

Next up: Epcot and an event that would change our lives!

Dream Team meeting:confused3 popcorn::

[Mousermom]

:yay:



We didn't think the tables were too close together when we were there in August, but again we went at an off time and it wasn't too crowded. I could see if feeling close when every table is full though.



I think we had the same waitress...she was fabulous!:thumbsup2







And coming from Philly it takes alot for us to like any kind of pretzel "from the outside";)


Dream Team meeting:confused3 popcorn::

1. Good restaurant. I'd recommend it to anyone!

2. I don't know if I'd go to LeCellier during a crowded time of year. Although, the time of year we usually go to WDW is supposed to be crowded, so who knows!

3. Jen was cute. I'm glad I remembered SOMEONE's name. Very attentive.

4. Ain't that the truth!!! Us Philly people appreciate a good pretzel!!!

5. You'll see!

[MikeAidanEoinMom]

We usually go to Sea Isle City. The last 2 years we went to OBX NC Though. This year we are not going but spending 10 nights in Disney WOOOHOOOO
We LOVED NC beaches and the people..the drive I could do without though....I will write a TR!!:) Maybe even when we are there

[Mousermom]

We LOVED NC beaches and the people..the drive I could do without though....I will write a TR!!:) Maybe even when we are there

Sounds good to me! :thumbsup2

[Goofy22]

I think we may have "talked before". I gre up on the 1600 Block of 28th Street. Graduated from King of Peace

Yes! I believe we did you knew some of my cousins even though i lived directly around the corner from you on the 1600 block of Marston st! Ha! Maybe if I seen a pic i would reconize you from the neighborhood but I knew I couldnt put a name with a face.:)

[Goofy22]

Those names don't sound familiar to me...I'll have to ask my brothers. I'll be 36 in September, so I'm right behind you!

I believe they were like a year or two younger than me and Matt was an only child and Tom had an older sister I forget her name though sometimes I have a bad memory! If I remember her name I'll let you know. So one of youre brothers may know them.

[Mousermom]

I believe they were like a year or two younger than me and Matt was an only child and Tom had an older sister I forget her name though sometimes I have a bad memory! If I remember her name I'll let you know. So one of youre brothers may know them.

My brother is coming to visit today so I will definitely ask him. He was very popular in school. Even though we went to a different school (St. Barney's), he knows everyone from the neighborhood!

To this day, if I see someone from the old neighborhood, they'll say..."Aren't you Stephen's sister?" And...I'm the older one! Pisses me off! I was a choir nerd in high school! Nowhere near the popular one.

I'm not bitter...am I?:rotfl2:

[GiGiJoeysMom]

Your trip report is great. My husband and I are also Southwest Philly alumni. Your title is what grabbed me.

Kim

[Mousermom]

Your trip report is great. My husband and I are also Southwest Philly alumni. Your title is what grabbed me.

Kim

Thank you, Kim!:thumbsup2

Now, the obligatory questions:

Where did you live? What school did you go to? If you've read my replies, you'll know I went to St. Barney's and West Catholic, I'll be 36 in September, and my brothers had more friends than I did!:lmao:

[Mousermom]

I believe they were like a year or two younger than me and Matt was an only child and Tom had an older sister I forget her name though sometimes I have a bad memory! If I remember her name I'll let you know. So one of youre brothers may know them.

I told you my brother would know them!! He said Matt played basketball for GS. My brother played all sports for Barneys. Everywhere we go, my brother knows someone! I think he should run for mayor!:lmao:

[GiGiJoeysMom]

Thank you, Kim!:thumbsup2

Now, the obligatory questions:

Where did you live? What school did you go to? If you've read my replies, you'll know I went to St. Barney's and West Catholic, I'll be 36 in September, and my brothers had more friends than I did!:lmao:


You are my age. Our Lady of Loreto. Except I went to Padua Academy, I did however go on senior week with your class to Cancun. Did you play basketball? My dad was the coach of Loreto girls. I know a lot of folks from your year at Barney's, that is if you graduated in '86 and '90. So cool, I have been a lurker for over two years on the Dis. I do not post much.

So nice to talk to someone from the neighborhood with an extreme disney obsession. My husband (St. Mary's and Roman Catholic) has to remind me we are an every other year family trip to the World. If I had it my way we would go every year.

Talk to you soon.

[Mousermom]

I did play basketball. I wasn't very good, though. I had one point my entire career!!:rotfl2: One of my best friends played for Loreto. (Although I wasn't friends with her at the time) We used to call her a "ringer" because she was so tall! We thought she was at least 3 years ahead of us in grades! It turns out, she was younger than me!:lmao:

I'm very glad to talk to you. Did you used to go to the St, Mary's dance? I went every Friday night! God, I am REALLY showing my age now!

I am looking forward to hearing about your trip when you were a bridesmaid at the WDW wedding. Make sure you do a trip report, OK? I want to do a vow renewal for our 20th anniversary. That's a while off, though.

Take care.

[swhelan310]

My brother Stephen is 34 and Bunky is 31. We all went to St. Barney's and West Catholic. Of course I know Pizza Villa. I grew up at 68th and Buist. What is your maiden name? I have to know you somehow! I loved growing up in SWP, too. It's a shame the neighborhood turned out the way it did.

Sorry for the late reply, I was busy preparing for easter and then I got sick and am still under the weather :sick: You grew up right around the corner from me! I used to work for Lou at L&L Market Basket in the store and the Lottery machine. My sisters might know your brothers they are 30 and 31. They probably know my dad if they played football because he coached just about every cyo team in SW:cheer2: PM me and i'll tell you what my maiden name is, I don't have enough posts to pm anyone:confused: . I went to Our Lady Of Loreto for 7th and 8th grade then West Catholic. Oh well, gotta try to get some rest(yeah right!!):sad2:

[Mousermom]

Day 5 Epcot EMH

I love Epcot!

We got up at 6:30 and had breakfast again at POFQ food court. Beignets! Again!! An older gentleman who was one of the CM in the food court said he'd been watching us all week and we were "folks after his own heart" because we ordered them every morning for breakfast and he didn't see too many people doing that too much lately. I don't know why? Those things are AWESOME!!! We'd order a half-dozen of them and have two each! Most of the time, I'd wind up giving one of mine to T.J. So good but like I said...so MESSY!

When we got to Epcot, there weren't that many people in line ahead of us, so we leisurely walked over to the land for SOARIN'!!!! I love this ride!!!

We walked on it! No wait!! Unfortunately, we were in the second row, so we had feet dangling in front of us. Last year...we were spoiled! We sat in the front row. IMO, there is no other way to ride this attraction! After the first ride, we decided to get fastpasses for another ride later in the day. Those things are GENIUS! And...I never feel the least bit bad that I am walking by hundreds and hundreds of people to ride an attraction! THEIR FAULT!!! (Just kidding!) After Soarin, we went on the Living with the Land boat ride. I hadn't been on this since my very first trip in 1995. It was very educational and interesting to me. And T.J. I told him to take notes on this ride, because his teacher might find it informative. Whether she did or not..I don't know. I never saw a mark for his journal.



We went on Nemo next. Now...I like this ride, Tom and T.J. not so much. They practically fell asleep on it. Whatever. I like it and were doing it!!! Although, T.J. saw some dolphins in the aquarium and enjoyed seeing them. He tried to take pics of them, but they didn't come out right.

Next was Mission Space for T.J. Not me..NO WAY!! The tight-spaces- confined thing is not in the cards. Also...Tom was not interested this time around either. So, we let him go on his own. Now, Mommy Mode kicks in. Come right back. We'll be at such-and-such a place. Meet us there. Blah. Blah. Blah. Turns out, we waited for him in the dump area after the ride. I can't help it...he's my only child and I'm sorry, but WDW is a big place. I don't care how old he is !!!:lmao:

We went back to Soarin' after this. FRONT ROW BABY!!! Love it!:thumbsup2

We decided to check out Club Cool and "make" Tom and T.J. try "Beverly"!! As you can probably guess...they HATED it!!! I'm so sneaky!!!!:confused3

Test Tack was next. I always forget about the part when the truck almost crashes into you! Can you say...HEART ATTACK!! The boys thought my reaction was hysterical! Me...not so much!:eek: The dump area of Test Track has brand new General Motors cars in it. I should have known we couldn't just walk right through it without stopping so my men could check them out.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture145.jpg

This is going to be my child in 3 very short years when he is eligible to get his driver's license. OH....THE HORROR!!! I don't even want to think about this right now. It's right on par with him DATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing you can do about it, I guess. I wanna cry!!!!!!!:sad1:

At this point, we were finished what we wanted to do at Future World. On to World Showcase. One of my favorite parts of WDW!

Next up: World Showcase and the life-changing event!!:yay:

[Goofy22]

I told you my brother would know them!! He said Matt played basketball for GS. My brother played all sports for Barneys. Everywhere we go, my brother knows someone! I think he should run for mayor!:lmao:

Yeah! Maybe! LOL!:lmao: That's funny! It's been quite some years! :)

[MeLaNie9]

Day 5 Epcot EMH

This is going to be my child in 3 very short years when he is eligible to get his driver's license. OH....THE HORROR!!! I don't even want to think about this right now. It's right on par with him DATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing you can do about it, I guess. I wanna cry!!!!!!!:sad1:


Ha - I already have DS3 saying that he won't drive until he's 18 and won't date until he's 21;)

I love Epcot and Soarin too!

[Mousermom]

Ha - I already have DS3 saying that he won't drive until he's 18 and won't date until he's 21;)

I love Epcot and Soarin too!


That is one smart boy you have there!:rotfl: Let's hope he feels the same way in 10 years or so!:lmao:

[Mousermom]

By now we are heading over to WS.

I really wanted to take my time around the different countries. Which we did, and we sampled some goodies along the way as well!:thumbsup2

First stop was France. I love the replica of the Eiffel Tower. One of the best things about walking around WS is when you reach the end of one country and get to another one there is a change in music. I just love that so much!:goodvibes

We went to the patesserie for our first snack of the afternoon. I had a cream puff and Tom had a chocolate croissant. T.J. wasn't all that interested...so he just had a cookie. The cream puff was surprisingly light. I thought the cream inside was going to be really heavy, but it wasn't. Tom enjoyed his croissant so much that he refused to let me take a bite of it!:lmao:

We walked around the other countries a bit and looked at some of the menus that seemed interesting for a future stay.

Next stop was Norway. We rode Maelstrom. I'd never been on this before. Now I know why. It wasn't all that good. Does anyone know why there is a fastpass for this? I guess it's nostalgic for a lot of people, but not very entertaining for me at least. After that ride, we got our next snack of the day. I had to have me some school bread! I'd heard about it from the foodies on the Dis as well. It did not disappoint! Delicious! I had to eat it with a fork because it was so big!!! At this point, the ducks were becoming very friendly with us!!! People who were siting on the bench next to us were feeding them...and I guess they thought that we were going to be next to feed them! Uh...no! Mommy paid $3.50 for this...she's gonna eat it all by herself!:rotfl2: Tom had Norwegian beer. Surprise!! T.J. didn't have anything because he wanted this:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture162.jpg

Kaki-Gori from Japan! Last year, this stand was closed and T.J. was very disappointed. Thank God it was open this year. I was watching the lady make the shaved ice. It was very cool to watch because it's this huge peice of ice and it winds up being the very super-thin shavings. I enjoyed watching that a lot more than riding in a boat with a bunch of Vikings...I'll tell you that much!!!:lmao:

Now...we are heading towards the American section. As we are sitting down to relax for a few minutes, a fife and drum band dressed in colonial period clothing came out and asked for kids to be volunteers in a parade celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As I've said earlier, the previous times we'd been to WS, we hadn't had the time to "stop and smell the roses"...so to speak. I'd never seen this show before eithier. As this was going on, I spotted one of the booths for DVC. I would glance over at it from time to time as the show was going on. Wonder if Tom would want to check it out?

Meantime...T.J. volunteers to be one of the kids in the parade. He is one of the oldest ones to participate, but he didn't care. It was cute and the members of the band were very good.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture167.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture168.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture170.jpg

After the show, I asked Tom if he wanted to check out the booth. We had toyed with the idea of taking a tour of the DVC resorts, but we didn't know when or if we'd have the time, since I'd had everything planned down to the second...pretty much.:thumbsup2

Well, this was the day since we didn't really have anything solid planned for the evening except going to DTD to eat at Earl of Sandwich and doing some window shopping. So, we signed up for a tour.

The CM who was working the booth had a van pick us up and take us over to SSR. This place was beautiful!!! There was a waiting area where you could help yourself to coffee or lemonade and cookies!

One of the DVC representatives took us back to his office to explain to us about DVC. Then...the tour!!!

We were shown models of the SSR studio and 1 bedroom units and the brand new AKV studios and 1 bedrooms as well. I fell in love! Tom was impressed as well. It takes a lot to do that BTW.

The rep took us back to his office to crunch the numbers. We didn't have all the money up front that was needed to put down for the down payment. I think he figured that out, so he made us a deal that we could not pass up. Like the Godfather.:laughing:

So...we are now proud owners of DVC. SSR 160 points. Woo Hoo!!

I'm upset that I didn't take any pics! I was just so excited that we were taking this huge step. It's a big decision but for huge DIsney lovers like we are...it was a no brainer!

I like the fact that if something happens to me or Tom, it gets passed down to T.J. So I have something to leave him. He ain't getting much else!!!:thumbsup2

That's it for now.

Next up: DTD and MK again!

[jcc0621]

:cool1: :cool1: Congrats on the DVC. My plan is to plan a tour for me and my DH while we are there in August:rolleyes1

[Mousermom]

:cool1: :cool1: Congrats on the DVC. My plan is to plan a tour for me and my DH while we are there in August:rolleyes1

Thank you very much! We are looking forward to our first DVC vacation! 4 nights at an AKV studio BY OURSELVES for our 15th anniversary!!! T.J. is not happy...but we will hopefully be going back near the holidays to the Boardwalk or WL. Take the tour. You will love it! I forgot to mention that at the end of the tour, you get FREE ICE CREAM SUNDAES!! And...the van will take you anywhere you want to go on property when your tour is over.

[swhelan310]

My kids LOVED that shaved ice. We came home from Disney and were trying to find it somewhere and believe it or not Pirates Cove Amusement park On O.C. N.J. boardwalk had them. :woohoo:

[Mousermom]

My kids LOVED that shaved ice. We came home from Disney and were trying to find it somewhere and believe it or not Pirates Cove Amusement park On O.C. N.J. boardwalk had them. :woohoo:

I'm gonna have to check that out this summer!!!:thumbsup2

[MeLaNie9]

OMG - Congrats on DVC! I had the DVD sent to me but DH is totally against it. He would never let us take a "quick tour"!!!! I think the cost just seems overwhelming to him and I don't totally get how it works yet to I can't talk him out of his position.

I know - I don't get the FP for Maelstrom either. If there's a long line we just skip it, no big deal!

[Mousermom]

OMG - Congrats on DVC! I had the DVD sent to me but DH is totally against it. He would never let us take a "quick tour"!!!! I think the cost just seems overwhelming to him and I don't totally get how it works yet to I can't talk him out of his position.

I know - I don't get the FP for Maelstrom either. If there's a long line we just skip it, no big deal!

If he went on the tour, maybe he'd change his mind. You never know!!!:confused3

[Mousermom]

After our life-changing decision, what better way to celebrate than to spend MORE MONEY!!!

We went to DTD for some dinner and SHOPPING!!!:rotfl2:

I love DTD! We especially love taking the boat ride from POFQ!! It's relaxing and scenic. Our ultimate goal is to someday retire to the Orlando area and the job that Tom wants to do more than anything is to be a boat captain!!!:thumbsup2 I, on the other hand, will do anything there...I'm serious!!!:lovestruc

We decided to eat at Earl of Sandwich. We ate here last year and enjoyed it very much. The sandwiches are good,and for Disney standards, CHEAP!!:thumbsup2

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but we were not on the DDP. I know it is a good deal for a lot of people, but we didn't want to spend that much time at TS restaurants. We'd rather spend more time at the parks and just grab food as we go.

Tom had jerk chicken, T.J. had roast beef and I had turkey. They were all good. This place started to get really crowded while we were there. We finished our food and I wanted to go to Pin Traders really bad!!!:)

This was the first time that T.J. and I got interested in pins. I could spend hours in this place! I went to NYC this past October to visit my brother and I HAD to go to the WOD store in Manhattan. While I was there, I bought a pink lanyard and two Mickey pins. One was Steamboat Willie (my favorite) and the other was mickey in all his different incarnations over the years. This is where the addiction began!!!:rotfl:

I bought a few more pins for myself at the Disney Store and they were selling lanyards as well. I bought one for T.J.and a few pins and asked him if he would be interested in pin trading with me while we were in WDW. He said he was, but he wasn't as excited about it as I was....at the time.;)

It took him a day or two, but once he started trading...it became a little bit of an obsession for him, too! Then, I made the mistake of telling him about the Hidden Mickey pins. Forget about it!! He was searching for them left and right!!! He did enjoy trading and he did end up with some really nice ones!!

So we are in Pin Traders and I bought a Port Orleans pin with Mickey holding a fishing pole. Then, T.J. comes up to me and he said he was going to buy me a Minnie pin that says "Mom" on it. That was so sweet of him. Even though it's his money, he always manages to buy me something. Love that kid!:love:

We head out and we went to WOD. I love this store as well, but the sheer size of it is enough to intimidate anybody. Plus, it was packed!!! There were so many people in there that I couldn't concentrate on what I was doing. Also, I was trying to keep track of where T.J. was. I just browsed in here for a bit and then we went to the Christmas store.

This is another place I could spend some serious cash!! One day, I am going to have a tree decorated entirely in Disney stuff! I like that even though it's not Xmas time, they still play Disney Xmas movies in the store!!

I decided before we went to WDW, I wasn't going to but souveniers for the extended family. I just did that last year, and I spent way too much money! I just bought candy for my nephews and a bib for my neice at the Ear Port store at the airport. I know...I'm a bad aunt!!!!!!!!!!:laughing:

So, for the most part, I just window shopped! I do that when I go to the mall at home anyway!!:lmao:

We went to Goofy's Candy Co. for a snack. I got a caramel apple last year and I learned my lesson. I didn't get one this year. They are so huge and you can't fit your mouth around it to take a bite of it!! I decided to get a cookie instead. Tom got a cookie as well but T.J. did get an apple. Three-quarters of it had to be thrown away!! He also got MORE CANDY!! I should know better than to let him loose in a candy store with his own money!!:rotfl2:

After Goofy's, we decided to call it a night. We took the boat back to POFQ and sat in the lounge for a few and listented to the musician and had a drink. T.J. ran ahead of us to the room. We called him to come down to the lobby, but he didn't want to because he said he was already in his pajamas!!! See...even Disney tires HIM out!!! He did come down though...in said PJ's!!! I could tell he was tired so we just stayed for the one drink. The musician was good, too! I wish I could remember what his name was. Maybe one of you DISers can help me out on that one!

Next up: Our last day at WDW...get out the hankies!!!!:sad1:

[jcc0621]

I can't believe you are at the end already:sad1:

WoD always overwhelmes me...when it is crowded it can get downright scary:scared:

I think I am the only one in the world who doens't lie Earl of Sandwich:confused3

[Mousermom]

I can't believe you are at the end already:sad1:

WoD always overwhelmes me...when it is crowded it can get downright scary:scared:

I think I am the only one in the world who doens't lie Earl of Sandwich:confused3

Why on Earth don't you like Earl of Sandwich? It's one of our favorites!!!!

[JoePa4Ever]

All-Philly sports fan joining in VERY LATE!! I've really enjoyed your report. I especially appreciated your review of the Kona Cafe - I've always wondered about the Tonga Toast too. Glad to hear you really like Earl of Sandwich - we're planning on trying that for the 1st time this year.

[Mousermom]

All-Philly sports fan joining in VERY LATE!! I've really enjoyed your report. I especially appreciated your review of the Kona Cafe - I've always wondered about the Tonga Toast too. Glad to hear you really like Earl of Sandwich - we're planning on trying that for the 1st time this year.

Thanks for reading Joe PA!! We loved Kona!!! We're going to start a new tradition by going there again on our next trip! Earl of Sandwich is really good too. I think I'm going to try their hot PB&J next time!

[jcc0621]

Why on Earth don't you like Earl of Sandwich? It's one of our favorites!!!!

Just wasn't my thing...Now if theywould open a Geno's or Pat's there, now we'd be happy;)

[Mousermom]

Just wasn't my thing...Now if theywould open a Geno's or Pat's there, now we'd be happy;)


Do you know I've never been to eithier one of those places!!!:scared1: I know...I shouldn't call myself a real Philadelphian because of this!:confused3

[Goofy22]

Do you know I've never been to eithier one of those places!!!:scared1: I know...I shouldn't call myself a real Philadelphian because of this!:confused3

OMG! MOUSERMOM!!!!!!!:scared1: You need to do this!!!! Do you know what you are missing? This is the one thing I truely miss about S Phila! What about Tony Lukes??????????? ever been there????:)

[Goofy22]

Just wasn't my thing...Now if theywould open a Geno's or Pat's there, now we'd be happy;)

I would Love that also!!!!!!

[Mousermom]

OMG! MOUSERMOM!!!!!!!:scared1: You need to do this!!!! Do you know what you are missing? This is the one thing I truely miss about S Phila! What about Tony Lukes??????????? ever been there????:)


Can't say that I have! I'm going to have to do this one of these days!

[tazdev3225]

Loved the TR. Another NE Philly gal here and we are neighbors, I'm at Academy and Morrell. I am sure I have seen you around because your faces look familiar. We are also city employees and hate the rule about living in the city. I am a retired crossing guard (at Hancock School) and my DH is a Dep. Sheriff. He is eligible for the DROP in a couple of years and I am already planning my yearly trips to Disney. We will be down there in Oct. Can make my ADR's tomorrow which makes my trip 181 days from today. WooHoo :banana: :banana: :banana:

[Mousermom]

Loved the TR. Another NE Philly gal here and we are neighbors, I'm at Academy and Morrell. I am sure I have seen you around because your faces look familiar. We are also city employees and hate the rule about living in the city. I am a retired crossing guard (at Hancock School) and my DH is a Dep. Sheriff. He is eligible for the DROP in a couple of years and I am already planning my yearly trips to Disney. We will be down there in Oct. Can make my ADR's tomorrow which makes my trip 181 days from today. WooHoo :banana: :banana: :banana:

My son went to Kindergarten at Hancock. Also, one of my best friends used to live on East Crown Avenue on the other side of Morrell Avenue. I used to live at Frankford and Grant and I had to walk my son to Hancock. Whew!!! That hill on Morrell was a killer!!! I hope the DROP is still available when my husband retires so we can take advantage of it!!!:thumbsup2 If we can...we want to MOVE to Disney! Keep your fingers crossed!!! Good luck with your ADRs. 180 days out...you can probably get everything you want!

[tazdev3225]

That is why you look so familiar. I was the crossing guard at the corner in front of the kindergarten yard at crown and whitehall. I retired 3 1/2 years ago so I was still there when your son was in school there. I had the corner for 13 years. I hope the drop is there for you, we are really looking forward to it. My DH celebrated his 25th aniv. with the city today and has 5 years left.

[Mousermom]

That is why you look so familiar. I was the crossing guard at the corner in front of the kindergarten yard at crown and whitehall. I retired 3 1/2 years ago so I was still there when your son was in school there. I had the corner for 13 years. I hope the drop is there for you, we are really looking forward to it. My DH celebrated his 25th aniv. with the city today and has 5 years left.

Congratulations to you your hubby!!! Tom was the Dispatcher of the Year for his platoon this year!!! We are so proud of him!!!:love:

Take care, neighbor! Keep reading!

[Goofy22]

Can't say that I have! I'm going to have to do this one of these days!

You definitely have to at least once:thumbsup2

[MeLaNie9]

I can't believe you are at the end already:sad1:

WoD always overwhelmes me...when it is crowded it can get downright scary:scared:

I think I am the only one in the world who doens't lie Earl of Sandwich:confused3

Um - I'm with jcc0621 on all accounts. WoD is indeed scary when crowded - we were there on a weekend night during holiday shopping season!:scared1: We also didn't like EoS, although it does seem that it usually gets very favorable reviews. And...I am sad to see your report ending, Mousermom:sad2: How sweet is your son - he bought you a pin!:lovestruc

[Mousermom]

Um - I'm with jcc0621 on all accounts. WoD is indeed scary when crowded - we were there on a weekend night during holiday shopping season!:scared1: We also didn't like EoS, although it does seem that it usually gets very favorable reviews. And...I am sad to see your report ending, Mousermom:sad2: How sweet is your son - he bought you a pin!:lovestruc


I don't think I'll ever go to WoD during the holidays...any holiday for that matter!:goodvibes

I'm sad that this is ending soon, too!

My son has his moments:)

[Mousermom]

Day 6 MK

Here it is...our last full day at WDW!!!:sad1:

Our last order of beingets for the trip!! Boo Hoo! I can taste them right now!

I always like to spend our last day at MK. So my last image can be of that beautiful castle and I can say those famous words that Mickey says...

"See ya real soon!"

We started out in Tomorrowland. We decided to get Fastpasses for Space Mountain. We (rather I) decided to experience attractions in the particular "land" that we had a fastpass for, instead of wandering over to another part of MK and having to trek back over to Tommorowland to ride Space Mountain. So, in the time we had to wait we rode Buzz, TTA, Indy Speedway, and Astro Orbiter. Not bad. Also, we ran into this guy:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture155.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture181.jpg


http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture178-1.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture163.jpg

The CM put this sign on the back of the car at the Indy Speedway. Cute, huh?

Space Mountain was great as always. Does anyone else feel the need to duck down because they feel like they are going to bang thier head on the tracks? Or, is that just me?:rolleyes1

After Space, we went to Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. First time for this as well. I LOVE Mike Wizowski. And...Roz cracks me up!!! The show was cute and funny. There was a guy sitting next to us that kept getting shown on the screen and they were teasing him a lot. He looked a little embarassed but he was a good sport about it.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture175.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture174.jpg

With Tommorowland finished, we got pretzels for a snack. There was something wrong with the register and the CM kept apologizing to us. I felt bad for him. His name was Joe. I hope he didn't think we were mad at him...because we weren't. He noticed our lanyards and he gave us the Tink YOAMD pins that only the CM give out. I thought that was very sweet of him. Later in the day, I saw a young woman who was sitting on a bench fixing all the pins on her daughter's lanyard. (I found myself doing this all week as well.) I offered one of my pins to her. She thanked me about 50 times. Just trying to spread the pixie dust around. :wizard:

On to Fantasyland. The only attraction we did here was Mickey's Philharmagic. IMO, this is the best 3-D show at Disney. Classic. Peter Pan's Flight was closed for refurbishment the week we were there. Bummer! I enjoy this ride myself. The boys...they can take it or leave it. Whatever. We decided not to ride IASW because the line was so LONG!!!! We didn't do Winnie the Pooh eithier because it is "too babyish"...according to my son. Again...whatever.

Next was Liberty Square. We had to get the obligatory pic at the guillotine. This is how my husband and son should be!!!!:rotfl2:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture173.jpg

The Haunted Mansion was next. I love the new additions. The guys didn't notice them. Then again...they are not savvy on the disboards like I am!:thumbsup2

By this time...we were ready for some lunch. So, it was time for Frontierland and Peco's Bill's. We'd never been here before eithier and we were eager to try it. I had a burger, Tom had a pulled pork sandwich, and T.J. had a chicken wrap. That wrap was HUGE!! It was bigger than him!!! I noticed (along with a lot of you) the change in the hamburger buns. It tasted fine to me. The fixings bar is great here. I'd definitely go back. As we were eating, Woody's Cowboy Camp came out and did their show. I was half-tempted to get my cowgirl on...but my child gets embarassed when Mommy has FUN...IN PUBLIC!!!:scared1: Then again...I used to get embarassed when my mom used to do that too. But...my mom danced like Laverne DaFazio from Laverne and Shirley!! That WAS embarassing!!!:rotfl2:

We then tackled the other two mountains in MK. Splash and BTMRR. We didn't get as wet on SM this time around. Although it was getting hot out and getting splashed would have been refreshing that day. Figures. BTMRR has some of the best theming WDW has to offer. But...the ride goes too fast to appreciate it.;)


http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture190.jpg



The ducks were out in full force today. They were very friendly...especially to those people who were eating something.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture180.jpg



On to Adventureland. Pirates had no wait. Cool. We caught the tail-end of the tutorial. It was funny. Where do they find these CMs? The dude looked and sounded just like Captain Jack.

It was getting really hot by now. Momma needs a Dole Whip!!!:woohoo:
We all decided to get Dole Whip floats.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture194.jpg

This is the first time we tried these as well. OMG!!! Heaven!!! Tom loves him some pineapple!!! For those of you reading this from my area...don't you wish they had these on the boadwalk down the shore?:idea:

After our refreshing snack, Tom and T.J. wanted to leave. WHAT??? The afternoon parade was just about to start. Uh, I don't think so. I wanted to watch the parade!! I wasn't ready for it to be over yet. NOOOOOO!!! We kinda sorta on purpose got "stuck" in the Walt statue area during the parade, so we had nowhere to go anyway. What's a gal to do? Sneaky, huh? The afternoon parade is very nice. While watching it, I started to get upset. I knew that this was the last day and I wanted to stay forever. Doesn't everybody?

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture197.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture199.jpg

I had to take a pic of this plaque at the bottom of the Walt and Mickey statue. What a wonderful statement. I'm glad that man was born!:thumbsup2

After the parade was over, we took the long walk back down Main Street. I was MISERABLE!!! The guys know not to talk to me for at least a half-hour. I sulked on the bus all the way back to POFQ. I know we'll be back...but it's just sad when you leave for the last time on that particular trip.

We were going to go to check out the Boardwalk that evening and have dinner.

Next up: The Boardwalk and going home.:sad2:

[JoePa4Ever]

Day 6 MK

The CM put this sign on the back of the car at the Indy Speedway. Cute, huh?

On to Fantasyland. The only attraction we did here was Mickey's Philharmagic. IMO, this is the best 3-D show at Disney. Classic. Peter Pan's Flight was closed for refurbishment the week we were there. Bummer! I enjoy this ride myself.

Next up: The Boardwalk and going home.:sad2:

Thanks for the update - That's really cool about the birthday sign at the Indy Speedway. I'm interested in how the birthday sign came about - is this something that can be requested or did someone at the attraction just spontaneously do this on their own after speaking to you? I agree with you about Philharmagic - it is the best 3-D show & we usually see it more than once. I also really enjoy Peter Pan too - sorry it was closed while you were there - that's another multiple ride attraction for me.

[Mousermom]

Thanks for the update - That's really cool about the birthday sign at the Indy Speedway. I'm interested in how the birthday sign came about - is this something that can be requested or did someone at the attraction just spontaneously do this on their own after speaking to you? I agree with you about Philharmagic - it is the best 3-D show & we usually see it more than once. I also really enjoy Peter Pan too - sorry it was closed while you were there - that's another multiple ride attraction for me.

Your welcome! Up until this trip, I'd never seen that sign before. My son was wearing his button, and the CM noticed it and simply asked if he wanted the sign on the back of the car. As people were driving by, they were wishing him a happy birthday. It was a nice touch.

Philharmagic ROCKS!!! Hopefully, Peter Pan will be open next time we go!:thumbsup2

[Mousermom]

I have an update on next year's vacation...

I have a friend who lives in Lake Tahoe in California. I've recently gotten back in touch with him through Myspace. He is a very old and dear friend that I grew up with in Southwest Philly. I came up with an idea to visit him next year in Tahoe for a few days and then take the drive down to DL while we are in CA.

My friend thought this was a great idea.

We've never been to DL before and we'd like to check it out.

From what I understand, it is about a 6 hour drive to DL from Tahoe. I've seen pics that my friend has shown me and it looks beautiful out there.

Maybe something different fro a change.

We're going to look into it.

This means a whole new obsession on these boards!!!!:goodvibes

[jcc0621]

Great MK day. I have never tried a Dole Whip..shocking I know. It is on my things to try in August. I have seen that Birthday sign before..it's cool:thumbsup2

[Mousermom]

Great MK day. I have never tried a Dole Whip..shocking I know. It is on my things to try in August. I have seen that Birthday sign before..it's cool:thumbsup2

OMG Janet...they are so good! It definitely lives up to the hype built up on these boards! You have to try one on your next trip. The sign was a cute idea. It's the little things like that that make me want to go to WDW every year!!

[Mousermom]

This is it...the end of the trip!:sad2:

We went to the Boardwalk for our last evening. We'd never been there before and of course, we want to stay there in the very near future.

We hadn't decided before hand what we were going to do for dinner(shocking, I know!) So we were going to play it by ear. We walked around looking at all the different menus and decided that maybe we might give ESPN Club a try. Forget it! It was way too crowded. I also looked at the menu for Spoodles, but it is mostly tapas items, and the boys wanted real food...whatever that means. So...we wound up eating...chili dogs!!!! They were pretty good, too! So, we just sat around looking at the water and refecting on what a wonderful trip we had and how sad we were that it was almost over.

There were magicians performing on the Boardwalk and T.J. was enjoying the show. Tom and I decided to go in the Boardwalk general store and browse for awhile. I saw a cute pair of sneakers with a litlte Mickey logo on them. I looked at the price tag and guess how much they were....

$8.99!!!!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:thumbsup2

I didn't care if they fit me or not!!!!! I was buying those suckers!!!!!!!:rotfl2:

So, we just walked around a litle bit more and caught the bus back to POFQ.

Our flight back to Philly was for noon the next day. So, Magical Express picked us up at 9 a.m. Right on time. Here's my son on the bus back to the airport:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture064.jpg

The flight was fine and I had no aches or pains or illnesses. Go figure.

Well, that's it, folks! I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip as much as I had writing about it.

And...as you know... to quote "AHNOLD"...

"I'LL BE BACK!!!":lovestruc

[jcc0621]

THanks so much for sharing your trip with us.:thumbsup2

[Goofy22]

Day 6 MK

Here it is...our last full day at WDW!!!:sad1:

Our last order of beingets for the trip!! Boo Hoo! I can taste them right now!

I always like to spend our last day at MK. So my last image can be of that beautiful castle and I can say those famous words that Mickey says...

"See ya real soon!"

We started out in Tomorrowland. We decided to get Fastpasses for Space Mountain. We (rather I) decided to experience attractions in the particular "land" that we had a fastpass for, instead of wandering over to another part of MK and having to trek back over to Tommorowland to ride Space Mountain. So, in the time we had to wait we rode Buzz, TTA, Indy Speedway, and Astro Orbiter. Not bad. Also, we ran into this guy:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture155.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture181.jpg


http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture178-1.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture163.jpg

The CM put this sign on the back of the car at the Indy Speedway. Cute, huh?

Space Mountain was great as always. Does anyone else feel the need to duck down because they feel like they are going to bang thier head on the tracks? Or, is that just me?:rolleyes1

After Space, we went to Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. First time for this as well. I LOVE Mike Wizowski. And...Roz cracks me up!!! The show was cute and funny. There was a guy sitting next to us that kept getting shown on the screen and they were teasing him a lot. He looked a little embarassed but he was a good sport about it.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture175.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture174.jpg

With Tommorowland finished, we got pretzels for a snack. There was something wrong with the register and the CM kept apologizing to us. I felt bad for him. His name was Joe. I hope he didn't think we were mad at him...because we weren't. He noticed our lanyards and he gave us the Tink YOAMD pins that only the CM give out. I thought that was very sweet of him. Later in the day, I saw a young woman who was sitting on a bench fixing all the pins on her daughter's lanyard. (I found myself doing this all week as well.) I offered one of my pins to her. She thanked me about 50 times. Just trying to spread the pixie dust around. :wizard:

On to Fantasyland. The only attraction we did here was Mickey's Philharmagic. IMO, this is the best 3-D show at Disney. Classic. Peter Pan's Flight was closed for refurbishment the week we were there. Bummer! I enjoy this ride myself. The boys...they can take it or leave it. Whatever. We decided not to ride IASW because the line was so LONG!!!! We didn't do Winnie the Pooh eithier because it is "too babyish"...according to my son. Again...whatever.

Next was Liberty Square. We had to get the obligatory pic at the guillotine. This is how my husband and son should be!!!!:rotfl2:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture173.jpg

The Haunted Mansion was next. I love the new additions. The guys didn't notice them. Then again...they are not savvy on the disboards like I am!:thumbsup2

By this time...we were ready for some lunch. So, it was time for Frontierland and Peco's Bill's. We'd never been here before eithier and we were eager to try it. I had a burger, Tom had a pulled pork sandwich, and T.J. had a chicken wrap. That wrap was HUGE!! It was bigger than him!!! I noticed (along with a lot of you) the change in the hamburger buns. It tasted fine to me. The fixings bar is great here. I'd definitely go back. As we were eating, Woody's Cowboy Camp came out and did their show. I was half-tempted to get my cowgirl on...but my child gets embarassed when Mommy has FUN...IN PUBLIC!!!:scared1: Then again...I used to get embarassed when my mom used to do that too. But...my mom danced like Laverne DaFazio from Laverne and Shirley!! That WAS embarassing!!!:rotfl2:

We then tackled the other two mountains in MK. Splash and BTMRR. We didn't get as wet on SM this time around. Although it was getting hot out and getting splashed would have been refreshing that day. Figures. BTMRR has some of the best theming WDW has to offer. But...the ride goes too fast to appreciate it.;)


http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture190.jpg



The ducks were out in full force today. They were very friendly...especially to those people who were eating something.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture180.jpg



On to Adventureland. Pirates had no wait. Cool. We caught the tail-end of the tutorial. It was funny. Where do they find these CMs? The dude looked and sounded just like Captain Jack.

It was getting really hot by now. Momma needs a Dole Whip!!!:woohoo:
We all decided to get Dole Whip floats.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture194.jpg

This is the first time we tried these as well. OMG!!! Heaven!!! Tom loves him some pineapple!!! For those of you reading this from my area...don't you wish they had these on the boadwalk down the shore?:idea:

After our refreshing snack, Tom and T.J. wanted to leave. WHAT??? The afternoon parade was just about to start. Uh, I don't think so. I wanted to watch the parade!! I wasn't ready for it to be over yet. NOOOOOO!!! We kinda sorta on purpose got "stuck" in the Walt statue area during the parade, so we had nowhere to go anyway. What's a gal to do? Sneaky, huh? The afternoon parade is very nice. While watching it, I started to get upset. I knew that this was the last day and I wanted to stay forever. Doesn't everybody?

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture197.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/mbluecke/Picture199.jpg

I had to take a pic of this plaque at the bottom of the Walt and Mickey statue. What a wonderful statement. I'm glad that man was born!:thumbsup2

After the parade was over, we took the long walk back down Main Street. I was MISERABLE!!! The guys know not to talk to me for at least a half-hour. I sulked on the bus all the way back to POFQ. I know we'll be back...but it's just sad when you leave for the last time on that particular trip.

We were going to go to check out the Boardwalk that evening and have dinner.

Next up: The Boardwalk and going home.:sad2:


So are the DOLE WHIPS everwhere or just certain places? Now you make me need to try one! And do you know are these a snack credit on the DDP? And what about those beneits?(Hope I spelled that right!) What are they like whats in them? They look really good looks almost like funnel cake in pieces?(Are these snack credits too? I know I have alot of questions!) are they from hollywood studios or where? And also Thanks for the TRIP REPORT it was GREAT while it lasted!!!

[Mousermom]

THanks so much for sharing your trip with us.:thumbsup2

Your welcome, Janet. I appreciate you sticking with me throughout the entire TR. I'll do another one for my trip next year...you can count on it!:thumbsup2

[Mousermom]

So are the DOLE WHIPS everwhere or just certain places? Now you make me need to try one! And do you know are these a snack credit on the DDP? And what about those beneits?(Hope I spelled that right!) What are they like whats in them? They look really good looks almost like funnel cake in pieces?(Are these snack credits too? I know I have alot of questions!) are they from hollywood studios or where? And also Thanks for the TRIP REPORT it was GREAT while it lasted!!!

The only place I know of to get a Dole Whip is in Adventureland at MK. I believe they are a snack credit. Anything under $4.00 for snack credits. I'm not 100% sure about that because I've never used the DDP. The beingets are hollow in the middle. They smell and taste exactly like funnel cake. And...they are equally as messy! I know they are a snack credit. When you go to WDW, at the food courts, there will be a little symbol next to a food item on the menu letting you know if that item is on the DDP. The only place you can get the beingets is at the POFQ resort. I have not seen them anywhere else on property.

I also thank you for reading. I kept a few people interested at least!:)

[Goofy22]

The only place I know of to get a Dole Whip is in Adventureland at MK. I believe they are a snack credit. Anything under $4.00 for snack credits. I'm not 100% sure about that because I've never used the DDP. The beingets are hollow in the middle. They smell and taste exactly like funnel cake. And...they are equally as messy! I know they are a snack credit. When you go to WDW, at the food courts, there will be a little symbol next to a food item on the menu letting you know if that item is on the DDP. The only place you can get the beingets is at the POFQ resort. I have not seen them anywhere else on property.

I also thank you for reading. I kept a few people interested at least!:)

No problem I am now aware of some interesting snacks that look and sound good also! Thanks for sharing!

[always on vacation]

Hi Philly Girl...It's Bensalem Girl ( can I still be a girl at 59:hippie: ) Glad to hear that you had such a wonderful time & congrats on becoming DVC members. We usually stay at OKW & have visited SS..the boat runs between the 2 resorts & Downtown.

Never had Pat's or Geno's:eek: how about Steve's Prince of Steaks..in your neck of the woods..just as good & messy IMHO

18 days & we're off to LA for 3 nights & then 7 night on Disney Magic :banana:

[Mousermom]

Hi Philly Girl...It's Bensalem Girl ( can I still be a girl at 59:hippie: ) Glad to hear that you had such a wonderful time & congrats on becoming DVC members. We usually stay at OKW & have visited SS..the boat runs between the 2 resorts & Downtown.

Never had Pat's or Geno's:eek: how about Steve's Prince of Steaks..in your neck of the woods..just as good & messy IMHO

18 days & we're off to LA for 3 nights & then 7 night on Disney Magic :banana:


Hey Bensalem Girl!!! :goodvibes So glad to hear from you! We are still undecided as to what we are going to do next year. Either AKV or DL and Lake Tahoe with friends of mine. Decisions...decisions!! What a hard one to make, huh?:rotfl2:

The truth is...I don't eat cheese steaks that often. I've never been to Steve's either. I know...SCARY!! :scared1: Usually, if I do eat a cheese steak, it's from a corner joint or something like that.

If I don't hear from you, have a good time on your trip. Now, we can go on cruises too with the DVC. So exciting! Let me know how the trip goes!!:wizard:

[MeLaNie9]

Mousermom...
I am trying to catch up on all the TRs I was engrossed in now that I am back on the mainland;)
So sorry yours is all done! Great pics from MK on your last day! Thanks for all the info on ESPN the weekend, we are currently discussing our next trip, so maybe...
Thanks for sharing!

[Mousermom]

Mousermom...
I am trying to catch up on all the TRs I was engrossed in now that I am back on the mainland;)
So sorry yours is all done! Great pics from MK on your last day! Thanks for all the info on ESPN the weekend, we are currently discussing our next trip, so maybe...
Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for your interest throughout my TR Melanie! I'm not quite sure, but I think around Christmas time is when they announce what athletes will be attending ESPN Weekend. If you do decide to go, I'm sure you will have a good time. We sure did!:thumbsup2 I hope my TR was helpful to you.

Thanks again!:)