Should I or Shouldn't I....post a trip report? Updated 11/2 [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

MEK

08-16-2008, 11:21 AM

I actually became a Mickey groupie thanks to my DH. In 2002 he suggested that we take our first family trip to disney. My kids were finishing 1st and 3rd grades and they were about the only kids in their classes who had never been to WDW.

I was hesitant to go. I told my DH that I would probably "hate" Disney. Cringe! Yes - I used the word "HATE". I couldn't imagine loving, or even liking, some place crowded and hot. I was sure it would be super crowded, because that's what people told me. I was sure it would be super hot, because isn't florida supposed to be super hot, especially in the summer?

So, reluctantly, I planned. I don't know if the DIS board existed then. I didn't join for several more years. But I did search the internet like crazy. I did learn that many people preferred onsite over offsite, but since I didn't know the difference, I planned an off site trip. It was 7 nights staying in a Comfort Suites. I had planned the crash course to Orlando - 4 days Disney, 2 days Universal/IOA, and 1 day to see the friends in Daytona. It was supposed to be one of those once in a lifetime trips to Florida.

I learned two things on this trip - 1: I had only barely skimmed the surface of the giant Disney meca, and 2: there was something indescribably magical about Disney - I couldn't quite put my finger on it and I felt this sense of unfinished business - I had to go back!

I learned a couple of other things, too - Orlando wasn't any hotter than the midatlantic region in the summer and I doubted I would ever want to spend a week at crowded Rehobeth Beach again.

Are you sensing that I am going somewhere with this???????

Not surprisingly, we returned to Disney in the summer of 2003. I used the rationale - we have to go back - there is a lot we didn't see yet. That rationale worked. That and the late summer promotion - Pay for 4 nights at an onsite resort and get 3 nights free, plus unlimited park hopping and water parks.

OK - now I was getting it. I started to totally understand why people stayed onsite. The magic was seamless. I don't just want disney at the parks, I want it up until the time I go to sleep at night. Nice room, nice pools, nice landscaping, nice cast members, stacy on the TV - and it was mine, all mine!

We stayed at POR and we had a fantastic time! I seriously think that resort is the perfect first time Disney resort. It holds such fantastic memories for me. I felt so sad and let down when I left that trip. I remember thinking - what the heck is wrong with me?????? I can't freak'n live there. Can I?

In 2004 we went back to Orlando, but this time we stayed at Daytona and Uinversal studios. It was a fun trip, but it just wasn't Disney. Yeah - I was beginning to think that someone was brainwashing me. Was something in the water?????

I realized that I had reached the Disney point of no return at a very unexpected place and time. I remember clearly, in Feb of 2005, floating on my back in an outdoor heated pool in the Canyons, Utah, while little snowflakes danced around my head, thinking......"I really miss Disney and I wish I was there right now" WHAT - EXCUSE ME????? Could you repeat that? Yeah, that's right - I miss Disney. Here I am having a great time in Utah skiing and I miss Disney?????

That's when I decided to give into my addiction and just go for the ride.....

When I return, I will tell you more about my Disney journey to my 2008Welcome Home trip!

MEK

08-16-2008, 11:28 AM

I must post a couple pics from the Vero Beach part of my stay. Every true Disney addict should spend a couple days here. It has the great Disney hospitality.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008029.jpg
The view from our room!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008019.jpg
More view

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008023.jpg
Imagine waking up to this!!!!

TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum

08-16-2008, 11:55 AM

[QUOTE=MEK;26957209]I am really torn - trip reports are a lot of work. I enjoy reading others, but I don't know if I have the commitment to post my own.....You see - I am not very good with computers. I've never had to be because I don't use them in their full scope for my line of work. I only know how to do the simplest tasks..../QUOTE]

popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

Tuning in.

I feel your hesitation. I too have not posted a TR & because I don't have a digital camera I decided it would be boring without pictures.

Congrats on figuring out how to post your pictures! They look great :)

P.S. I do not think you look saggy in the least bit....matter of fact you look great :hug:

adsrtw

08-16-2008, 12:24 PM

Beautiful pictures! You are doing great. I can't wait to read more.

bayoumama2

08-16-2008, 01:37 PM

I am totally new to this, but am quickly becoming obsessed. Your doing a great job and my new goal is to learn how to post pics and want to attempt to do a trip report hopefully while there, but if not, when we return.
We're going 11/22 - 11/29. Haven't been in 10 years. We are so excited. It will be myself, DH, DD20, & DS15

Keep going. I'm enjoying your story.

MEK

08-16-2008, 02:48 PM

Thanks for tuning in......

Now let's see where was I - oh yeah - in that pool at the Canyons in Utah thinking about my next trip! Not surprisingly I planned a trip for late August 2005. Now for all you historians (disney and otherwise), two very important things happened in late summer 2005. Does anybody remember what? :rolleyes1 Anybody?????

Well, the first really great thing that happened was.... Ta Da.....The first summer of FREE DINING! My trip was already planned when I got the pin card notice. I jumped at the chance to add free dining to my trip. I quickly became obsessed with ADR's. Eating table service every evening took our Disney trip to a whole new level. We planned a week at CBR right before school was due to start. I got fantastic airfare rates and we had an awesome trip.

The other historial thing that happened during that trip was Katrina. Although we were not directly affected, our hearts broke everytime we turned on the TV in our room. While we were eating enough food for 4 families, we saw people who didn't even have water. It was very sad and it made us really count our blessings.

We returned as a family for a Thanksgiving 2006 trip. I have a coworker who turned me on to the whole DVC thing. She has two contracts with about 400 points and she had a new baby at the time - so the points were available for rent. We planned a week stay at SSR and added the dining plan since I was now an ADR junkie and a disney dining food critic.

After I planned the DVC trip, another round of free dining was announced. Of course, that was too good of an offer to pass up so the kids and I went without DH in August 2006. My DH likes Disney, but one trip a year is all he can manage. So, we asked a friend and her kids to go and we stayed at POP. I learned that a stay at the values with your kids is really a lot of fun. Kids actually like the values because they enjoy all that hustle and bustle. We had a fabulous trip.

Here are some pics of POP and the years my kids were born.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008085.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008086.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008087.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008088.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008094.jpg

I went back to Disney for one more round of free dining in 2007. I went with DS 13, because my older DS had to start pre season high school soccer. This year, DS 13 started pre season soccer as well. So, needless to say, my days of free dining are over. But to be honest with you, last year was so crowded, I have no regrets. I am happy for all of you who will be partaking, I am just not disappointed I can't.

So ----The changing event that happened to me in 2007 was the DVC tour. My DS and I arrived two night before free dining started. So, we basically had a day to kill with no park tickets. We decided to go to DTD. It was hot and a bit crowded, so we sought refuge in the shade of a DVC kiosk. The rest is history. We were wisked away in a golf cart over to Saratoga for our tour. We had lemonade, cookies, an ice cream sunday, a great tour, and a ride back to our resort. What more could two park ticketless disney junkies ask for.

Here are some pics of DTD that fateful day:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007012-1.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007009.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007021.jpg

My new home off in the distance

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007017.jpg

Here's a pic of Chef Mickey's later that evening....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007034.jpg

I think he's happy because he knew I wanted to buy DVC. Of course, without my DH there, I was not in the position to purchase that day. But when I returned home we decided to purchase a resale, because the points were cheaper and we knew we wouldn't use it until this summer.

Which just about brings me up to date!

FreFam5

08-16-2008, 02:54 PM

Great start - I can't wait to read more!!!!

MEK

08-16-2008, 07:19 PM

I hope no one thinks I am impulsive. I didn't decide to buy DVC because they fed me sundays, cookies, and lemonade. Oh, and because they gave me fast passes. I had actually been considering DVC for about a year or so. I finally decided that I didn't want to be looking for the best code for every future vacation. In addition, I wanted to start staying in some resorts that were considered "deluxe" without breaking the bank. Since my first trip to Disney, I had already watch the price of the mods climb. What would I be doing 10 years from now when I was hooked on the poly????:confused3

Of course, I know most Poly fans would never compare SSR to the Poly. They really are two different classes of resorts. But I wanted something with more room and separate sleeping quarters for my kids. Plus, I like the idea of prepaying future vacations. I sold a 1/6 share of a beach house in Dewey Beach a few years back. My profits basically paid for my DVC. I look at it this way - when my kids are in college my DH and I can go anytime of the year we want. We can stay in a studio and keep the points low and hopefully visit all the DVC resorts on site. I really, really want to stay at the Beach Club!

And we almost did on this trip - well at least for one night.

So my trip - well I actually took one 4 night solo trip in Jan before our family trip in June. Solo - yeah, by myself - 4 nights - no DH, no kids. I got super cheap air fare and I was really hoping that I would get to stay DVC, but my points weren't in the bank until after I reached the 45 day mark of a resort stay trip I had previously planned. I didn't want to pay any cancellation fees, so I traveled by myself back to POP for 4 nights in Jan.

Here is the view from my room:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008097.jpg

I know I must have been in a preferred room. I was steps from the lobby and food court. It was a sweet spot, but I had terribly noisy neighbors who got home at 2am every morning.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008096.jpg
The front of the 70's building where I stayed.

So why did I do a solo trip ----- Well this is a little hard to admit, but now that I am getting older my body is starting to change, or should I say, go through the change. Yes - it is happening to me. I never thought it would, but it's another thing I'm along with for the ride. So, to make a long story short....My sudden shift of hormones precipitated a bit of an anxiety disorder. I suddenly starting having trouble sleeping and I started having panic attacks. Not fun. Definately not fun when traveling. At any rate, I decided that in order to beat these attacks, I needed to face them head on. So I took the plunge and decided to travel by myself. That is a scary proposition when one has trouble sleeping and it prone to panic. Naturally, I planned a trip to my happy place.

My trip was interesting and there were several things I liked about the solo trip. One was that I got to do exactly what I wanted when I wanted. Another was taking the Keys to the Kingdom tour. The next was taking lots of great pictures. The best was becoming an AP holder.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008101.jpg

Here is a picture of the teacups. I always wanted to ride the teacups and none of my family would ever ride with me, so I rode by myself. Yeah - just me alone in a teacup. Did I feel a little strange - yeah for a quick second and that was it. Then I spun myself so hard I almost puked. :lmao: Seriously - just kidding!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008122.jpg

Here's some pics of the fireworks. I found a table and waited for the fireworks to start. My family would never do that with me. They would never take the time.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008126.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008129.jpg

I love fireworks!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008006.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008022.jpg

Here's a few pictures of the Jungle Jammin Christmas Parade (or whatever it's called). As soon as I hit the resort I hopped on the bus and got to AK in time for the parade. I think it was Jan 5th and the last day of the parade.

SO ANYWAY - I digressed - I am supposed to be telling you about my family trip and instead I told you about the quick solo trip I did. It was basically in preparation for my family trip 6 months later. I was afraid if I went too long between traveling I would be too afraid to go anywhere since my anxiety stuff was messing with me.

Let me close with a few more pics of that trip and the I will start my family trippie! :wizard:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008027.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008042.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008040.jpg

KyDerbyMan

08-16-2008, 07:22 PM

Those are great pics!! :)

MEK

08-16-2008, 07:48 PM

popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

Tuning in.

I feel your hesitation. I too have not posted a TR & because I don't have a digital camera I decided it would be boring without pictures.

Congrats on figuring out how to post your pictures! They look great :)

P.S. I do not think you look saggy in the least bit....matter of fact you look great :hug:[/QUOTE]

Hey thanks! Digital cameras are awesome. Even though this is our second it has taken me about 3 years to learn how to download and post them.

Now I need to resize them so the trippie is a bit more readable!

MEK

08-16-2008, 07:50 PM

Those are great pics!! :)

Thanks KYDerbyMan. I am pleased with how they are looking. I took a lot of them, but in my real trippie we will see my DH's handiwork. He used some crazy settings. I don't know what he was thinking!:rotfl2:

TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum

08-16-2008, 10:22 PM

Your fireworks pics came out great - I'm so impressed!

Keep em' coming popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

wigdoutdismom

08-16-2008, 11:30 PM

I'm subscribing. We must be on the same biological clock, same symptoms! :upsidedow I don't think my dh would ever let me go solo though......

adsrtw

08-16-2008, 11:57 PM

Good for you facing your fears head on! I have had panic attacks in the past and they are not fun. Awesome pics! I'm really enjoyng your report.

MEK

08-17-2008, 07:25 AM

As I mentioned, we purchased DVC through a resale. If you want instant gratification with DVC, don't do a resale. Our first contract did not pass Disney's Right of first Refusal, meaning Disney essentially bought those points back. The owner of the next contact we bid on did not want to accept our price, so we needed to do a little negotiating. Not too bad. Our points were finally in the bank sometime after last Thanksgiving. I started the process in early September 2007. AS SOON AS THE POINTS were there, I called to make our first reservation. I was at 6 1/2 months out from June and I really wanted to stay at Hilton Head. I'm not sure how I got this idea. Oh yeah - I didn't have my AP yet and I thought a non WDW trip might be a good change of pace. :rotfl:

I'm laughing because I quickly found out that HH is nearly impossible to get in the summer. Gee - Wonder Why??? :laughing: So I asked about Vero Beach. There were no 1 bedrooms at Vero, so I booked a garden view inn room and waited listed for a 1BR.

If you ever go to Vero and you forget everything else people have told you, remember one thing - You really want an OCEAN VIEW INN ROOM! I had my choice between both, but I'm not a big view person. In other words, having a view of something does not make or break a trip for me. However, once I started reading about Vero on the boards I found out that I should have used the couple extra points to book the ocean view room. Too late! :headache: Taking the garden view room was extremely frugal and downright stupid. Oh well - live and learn. :rolleyes1

Since I had 3 nights at Vero, I decided that 5 nights at the world would be a good ending to the trip. So I booked 5 nights in a studio at Old Key West. Even with a weekend included in my stay, I was well within my 200 point allotment. I was secretly hoping that I would be able to stretch my points into a second stay at a studio, perhaps during Thanksgiving. I knew my kids weren't going to be happy about sharing a bed in a studio, so my plan was to purchase an aerobed when we arrived. Then I was going to get an Owner's locker to store it.

Ok - so my trip was nearly planned, or so I thought.

Well, one afternoon I got this bright idea. We were due to arrive in Orlando about 5pm on Saturday and drive to Vero on Sunday. What would happen if I did a big point splurge on an Epcot resort for one night?????? :idea: Would that be possible????? So I called "Ahhh - I was wondering, do you have a studio available anywhere on Saturday June 7th.... perhaps at the Beach Club Villas?" CM - "Hmmm, let me check"

Tick tock, Tick tock (What am I doing - that is 34 points! :scared1: )

CM- "Why, yes, I actually do. Would you like to reserve it?"

Me - "YES"

:cool1: I was super excited about the thought of staying at BCV, even if it was only one night and even though my flight did not get into Orlando until 5pm. I could still see Illuminations and spend the better part of the evening in SAB. Then, I could spend the better part of the morning there before we left for Vero.

Wow - I couldn't wait to tell my DH and kids. Some of the magic was definately lost on them. I don't think they really cared, at least not that much. All my DS 15 kept asking was, "Can't I take a friend?" Gee - well not in a studio, dear.

About 5 or 6 weeks before our trip was scheduled to begin, we started talking to our Daytona Beach friends. We always let them know when we plan to visit Orlando because we usually hook up with them for a day. Our plan was to drive to Daytona for a day to visit them and go to the beach.

Imagine my surprise was our DF said, " I think we'll come to disney for the weekend to see you. Can we stay were you are staying and pay cash for it?"

Our DFs have lived in Daytona for quite awhile. I want to say about 13 years. They have no kids. In 1989 (the year DH and I got married) they left Solomon's Island Md to sail around the world. No lie - the two of them sailed a 42ft sailboat around the world. To this day I am totally amazed that they had the guts and know how to do that. When I was pregnant with DS 15, my DH and I actually spent two weeks with them in New Zealand. They spent 6 months there as part of their amazing adventure. That was one great trip. I wish I had some pics of that, but that was definately pre digital. DH and I also spent a few days in Tahiti on the way home. Very beautiful, but the food was a little scary for consumption while gestating.

Anyway, our DF's have never been to Disney World. They settled in Daytona because they could not stand the thought of returning to the midatlantic region after experiencing so much warm weather for so long. Little by little their family has been moving from NY state to florida. They have friends from all over the US and the've said, "We know so many people who go to Disney World, I guess we need to see it for ourselves" Heck yeah ----- Especially with Florida Resident passes!

I was excited they were going to join us, but now I had some serious replanning to do. There was no way I wanted them to pay cash for a studio for one weekend. I knew they wouldn't understand why a room at Disney costs so much. So I set about rebooking on points.

I called member services and asked if Old Key West had any 2BR's. Nope - "OK what about SSR?" The surprised CM said yes. Wow, she said, someone must have just canceled.

So now we had a 2BR at Saratoga for 5 nights (including a weekend). You do the math. I still can't because it makes my brain hurt. Just give it to me straight - how many points do I have to borrow???????

Well, right after we giantly upgraded to a 2BR ,our waitlist for the 1BR at Vero came through. So for those 8 nights my total point expenditure was 310! Oh - and what about BCVillas? Obviously I canceled that. That was a point splurge I could no longer afford. Just to make a comparison - that one Saturday at BCV would use more points that the 3 weekday nights I have planned at SSR in December.

I was a little worried about using so many points on our first trip. And remember, I already have a bit of a worry disorder. But, by God, I was going on that trip whether I had a panic attack every day for the next 6 weeks!

We had one final addition to our trip. We did allow DS 15 to bring a friend. But - just to the Orlando leg of the trip. His mom was a bit hesistant about having him fly to Orlando himself, but we assured her that we would be waiting for him at the airport when he arrived. We almost weren't :scared: But I will tell you about that when the time comes!

Up next - Part I of our trip -VERO Beach! Oh - and where do you think we ended up staying for one night instead of BCV. I'll post a pic and you tell me!

MEK

08-17-2008, 07:28 AM

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007008.jpg

Can you tell from this resort window where we stayed?

KyDerbyMan

08-17-2008, 09:52 AM

Ah.... "music" to my ears to hear about a great Disney trip.

:)

MEK

08-17-2008, 04:12 PM

KyDerby Man - you are sooooo right!

That window was actually from last year's trip when DS 13 and I went for free dining. That was last year's window decoration. I love decorating the windows in the values and mods and miss it at SSR.

MEK

08-17-2008, 04:15 PM

Last year we stayed in Broadway. This year........

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007145.jpg

We rocked!

Note: Unknown people who I just happened to photograph!

MEK

08-17-2008, 04:52 PM

We left Philly on June 7th. It was hot as blazes that day. We haven't had a huge amount of hot weather this summer, but that day was memorable because:

1. We were leaving for Disney
2. We didn't have time to acclimatize to the heat & humidity

Wow - I couldn't wait to get to Florida for the cooler weather.

I purposely planned a later flight. Since I became a trip insomniac I never plan early flights. The worst thing to do when you don't sleep well before a trip is to plan a flight where you have to get up at 5am. On work days I always get up at 5am. But if I know I HAVE to be somewhere early, I can't sleep.

So - I planned a 3pm flight. I really wanted an earlier one, but this flight was $79 and I was able to rebook it for $59 on SWA. Yeah - I know - it would have only cost $80 more for all of us to fly in a couple hours earlier, but I had nowhere to be that evening, except ASMu. Plus I used my SWA credit to buy my DS's friend's flight. I should mention that my DS spends a huge amount of time at this kid's house. It is a gorgeous new house and since my DS's friend is allergic to cats (and I have 3), he rarely comes to visit. So I treated my son's friend to the trip. I refused to take any $ from his folks.

It turned out that the 3pm flight was also smart because I didn't have to wake my kids up. They got up right before it was time to leave for the airport.

We had an uneventful flight to Orlando and landed at 5:15pm. Within minutes our luggage was on the belt and we were waiting for the Thrifty car rental van.

Side note - I have rented from Thifty three times. Each has been a good experience. The rates are low and you get your car fast. Fast is good. I can remember one trip waiting 45 minutes at Alamo. Everyone and their brother must have had the same code I did. For those reasons, I highly recommend Thrifty.

So once we were in the car the "I'm hungry, let's eat now" began. How hungry can you be? - You just ate at Burger King 2 1/2 hours ago in the Philly airport. Paaaleeeze! Didn't you carry your bag with leftovers onto the plane??? I wanted to get to the world, but majority rules so we ended up at some Wendy's attached to a convenience store. The service was painfully slow. As it turns out - it was probably smart that we ate. It was 6pm and I had eaten very little that day, so I felt better with a full belly. Even if it was a crappy salad from Wendy's.

Check in at AsMu was uneventful. We stayed in the back part of the Rock n Roll section. Our room was close to the parking lot and that is basically all I cared about.

I like AsMu. I think it is very cute. I actually like all the All Stars. I think they are nicely sized and they are full of eye candy. Now, I can remember the days when I thought I would never stay at a value because they looked so horrifically gaudy in pictures. Once I visited POP for the first time, my impression of the values changed. I took full advantage of the proximity of ASMU to AS Movies and Sports. I probably have pictures of every building and I will post a few so you can see.

I also enjoy running in the morning and the All Stars are a great place to do that. The sidewalk out in front of the buildings makes running very safe.

So once we arrived and found our room, the kids and I hopped a bus to DTD. DH claimed he was "too tired" to go anywhere. DS 15 wanted to go to MK, but I hadn't slept much the night before (so what else is new) and I wasn't quite ready to hit the crowds. One bad thing about the All Stars is that they are a bit far from MK and DTD and we had to stand the whole way. Oh well!

My trip to DTD proved very useful as I waited in a very short line to purchase my Disney Dining Experience card. That $60 was well spent. I should mention that I wanted to purchase the DDP for our SSR stay, but since my Daytona Beach friends were only staying with us for two nights, we couldn't purchase. You know the rules - everyone on the reservation must be on the same number of days of the dining plan. So, DDE was a good alternative.

The kids and I browsed through a few of the shops, but we didn't stay long. DTD was pretty crowded, so we walked to the opposite end of the complex and caught the bus home. Another long ride standing up.

When we got back we decided to get off at AS Sports. I wanted to show it to DS 15 who had never seen it. He said, "Hey mom, why didn't we stay here? It's tight". I said, "IDK".

We made a quick stop in the Sports dining hall and I used my DDE card! Yeah me! I forget who was hungry, but we all shared some food. Then back to Music and off to bed. Only the travel insomniac had a hard time settling in for the evening. Thank goodness for Benadryl.

Up Next... Why Do teenagers sleep so darn late?????

MEK

08-17-2008, 08:54 PM

Anyway - here are some pics of All Star Music and Sports......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007131.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007133.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007139.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007140.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007153.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007156.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007158.jpg

TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum

08-17-2008, 09:37 PM

I just love seeing your pictures! We just got back Tues from WDW & stayed at ASsports plus visited the ASMu pool. I think the values are great to stay in. They really are a lot closer together than you think from looking at maps. The piano pool at Music has so many pretty flowers around it. Keep your wonderful pictures coming - I'm lovin' your report. :) :)

adsrtw

08-17-2008, 11:00 PM

Wow, awesome deal on your airfare. ASMu looks cute. Can't wait to hear more.

MEK

08-18-2008, 08:19 AM

ASMu is very cute! Compared to POP I think it has a much less hectic feel. When I stayed there last August the Piano pool was rarely crowded. When I stayed at POP in the summer - WELL...... let me just say I went in the pool for one hot second and that was about it. Way too crowded for me. I am going to post a few pics of ASMovies soon!

ArmyWife3-4

08-18-2008, 08:21 AM

I'll get caught up when I get to work today, but just wanted you to know I'm joining in! :)

MEK

08-18-2008, 08:39 AM

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007426.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007427.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007428.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007429.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007430.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007434.jpg

MEK

08-18-2008, 09:37 AM

Welcome back!

So, even though I wanted to wake up here on June 8th....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007325.jpg

I woke up here....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007144.jpg

MEK

08-18-2008, 09:50 AM

But it was all good!

Instead of spending the morning at SAB, I had me a little
All Star Eye Candy. I can't say it enough - All Stars is a
fun place to run in the morning. I saw....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007143.jpg

and this....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007147.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007149.jpg

Before I passed this.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007148.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007155.jpg

and this.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007157.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007160.jpg

then I looped over to Movies for this....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007423.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007431.jpg

and this....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007435.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007437.jpg

then back to Music for this....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007440.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007445.jpg

MEK

08-18-2008, 10:02 AM

After I ran, I was really hoping to go back and shower and get my kids up. I secretly hoped that we would be able to spend the morning at AK before heading to Vero.

But alas, that was not to be. My kids would not get up. Honestly, when they were little I used to keep calling them until they got up. But I just didn't have it in me. So I showered and DH and I went to use my DDE for some breakfast at the food court.

When we got back my kids were still sound asleep. This was pretty amazing since DS13 ended up on the floor near the door in a sleeping bag. I brought it just incase. Remember - I flew, so in order to pack a sleeping bag I had to bring the absolute lightest one I had in the house. It basically had no padding. Despite that and the number of times I opened and closed the door, my DS would not get up. (Note to self: next time we stay in a resort before a DVC trip, book 2 rooms and go to the park yourself!)

All hopes of the morning at AK went out the window. I really wasn't too disappointed. I've been to Disney enough that I don't approach the parks in a commando manner anymore. But I secretly wanted to use my AP just to say I got an extra day on it.:lmao:

Dh and I packed the car and went back to food court to get the kids some breakfast. When the smell of food hit the air, they finally got up. I know you probably think I am a pushover, but that was the last time I waited on my kids during this trip. My motivation - if we weren't going to visit AK, then let's get going to Vero. I was looking forward to catching a little ocean breeze!

TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum

08-18-2008, 10:26 AM

MEK

08-18-2008, 11:47 AM

Next time just sneak out to AK & go by yourself. I did that one morning -rode EE3X's, KRR & Dinosaur all before 11am. Me, myself & I enjoyed ourselves!

Love the All Stars pictures....did you take them while you were on your morning run?

Next time I will go by myself. But since I knew we were leaving for Vero, I decided to just go with the flow and not try to push it.

I actually took the pictures while walking through the various resorts. I took them after I ran!

KyDerbyMan

08-18-2008, 12:41 PM

Next time I will go by myself. But since I knew we were leaving for Vero, I decided to just go with the flow and not try to push it.

I actually took the pictures while walking through the various resorts. I took them after I ran!

I was gonna say...you have a steady hand while running! :laughing:

I haven't had a problem yet waking my kids on a trip...esp. my youngest. Great TR so far, though!

Pinkpony

08-18-2008, 12:44 PM

MEK

08-18-2008, 01:22 PM

Hi,

I'm enjoying your report! Beautiful pics! And from one forty-something mom to another, I applaud your bravery for going on a solo trip. I think my family would whine too much about not going with me, but it would be nice to try someday.

Question: How many people in your party can you use the DDE discount for when you're at a table service restaurant?

Thanks Pink Pony! My family thought it was weird that I went by myself. I sent a lot of text message pics to my kids. My DS 15 always has his phone on at school, in some mode that only kids can hear. He got a bit jealous when I sent him a pic of EE at AK. Otherwise he just thought I was crazy! :confused3

You can use DDE on parties of 8 or 10. I forget what the max number is. Our max party size was 7. I like that they add the gratuity and that it includes alcohol. I really did pay for itself. I tell you more about my yummy dinners in upcoming posts.

Harters2WDW

08-18-2008, 02:24 PM

Subbing...I really enjoy your TR.Wonderful photos!

MEK

08-18-2008, 04:14 PM

We left ASMu slightly before check out. I guess we should have put
the "Do Not Disturb" sign on our door because the mousekeepers
kept coming back every 5 minutes to see if we were gone.
Since I "No Hablo Espanol", I don't think I communicated our intentions very well.

It took about 1 1/2 hours or so to get to Vero Beach.
Note to all travelers - there is a rest stop just below Melbourne on I95,
so if you or anyone in your
party is in need of a bio-break,
you don't have to get off at a random exit (like we did)
to look for a rest room. :goodvibes

We arrived at Vero before 1pm. Disney's VB resort is actually about 20 mins
north of the touristy part of Vero Beach. It is located in a very quiet area on A1A.
As you know - I haven't stayed at the Beach Club (yet!!!),
but the lobby decore
reminded of the Beach club.
Of course, I've only eaten there,
so my memory might be a bit hazy.

Here's a few pics to give you the idea.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008187.jpg

DRIVING UP

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008186.jpg

The front porch

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008185.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008183.jpg

The lobby

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008179.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008178.jpg

The back porch

Our room was not ready when we checked in, but we were provided
with a map of the area and they offered to hold any perishable
items for us. The CM also gave us the "first time visit"
buttons, since technically this was our first visit!
So we set off in the direction we came from, in order
to find the local Super Walmart.

We only rented a midsize car and it was still full of our luggage. After
our trip to the Super Walmart, it was full of a lot more! We stopped
for some Taco Bell lunch (my personal FF fav)
and returned to the resort around 2:30.
They told us what building ourvilla we would be in, so we parked
in the garage and took off to tour the resort. Since it was close to 3pm,
I called and found our room was ready! Yeah!

Our room was sweet with the most gorgeous view of the ocean.
I completely did not expect the view we had.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008124.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008123.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008122.jpg

This was the view from our room. It also explains why I will never
go back to the Delaware beaches even though I only live
a little over an hour away.

Once we were done unpacking, we finished our tour of the resort. It
looks like a big resort on paper, but it is actually pretty compact.
Everything is close. It is a short walk from any room on property
to the pool and to the ocean.

We visited the beach and took a quick walk to collect a few
shells. The sand is somewhat grainy, but the shells are nice.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008132.jpg

The entrance to the beach!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008145.jpg

One of the resort pathways.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008091.jpg

The view of our balcony from the beach! Like I said, sweet!

Once we explored a bit and took a swim in the pool, we decided to purchase
the unlimited pass to the minature golf course. After a few rounds,
we went back to the room to finish unpacking and plan for dinner.

The kids started to watch what I call "Soccer unlimited" on TV. They must have
more soccer channels at the Disney resorts then what we have
at home, because my kids could sit in front of the TV
watching soccer for hours. Sometimes I can't pull them away.

We got some take out for dinner and watched the sun set from our balcony.
Ahh - a glass of wine for mom, a beer for dad and some pizza, antipasto, and
chicken wings. It sure doesn't get any better than that!
Before I knew it, it was time to hit the hay. Wow, this day flew by!

Let me post this now and I will post a few more pics a bit later. Then I will
add Day 2 of the Vero Beach part of our stay!

MEK

08-18-2008, 09:18 PM

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008046.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008044.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008040.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008029.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008043.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008041.jpg

KyDerbyMan

08-18-2008, 09:33 PM

How many DVC points to live there??

:)

adsrtw

08-18-2008, 10:56 PM

Wow! Beautiful pictures. Now I have ideas about a weekend stay at Vero.

ILuvCrush

08-18-2008, 11:20 PM

TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum

08-19-2008, 02:45 AM

So beautiful & it looks so private and up to the usual Disney standards. Thanks so much for posting. I am so enjoying you TR :)

MEK

08-19-2008, 05:29 AM

How many DVC points to live there??

:)

Three nights in a 1 BR for 6/8 - 6/11 was 66 points. I actually think that's a pretty good deal. I think the Ocean view Inn room was 13 a night for early June.

They list the rack rates in the room. I forget what a 1BR was, but I think the inn room was about $189/night. Slightly more than one of the mod resorts, but so worth it (IMO).

MEK

08-19-2008, 05:33 AM

Wow! Beautiful pictures. Now I have ideas about a weekend stay at Vero.

I really recommend Vero. It seemed like many of the people there were either coming from or go to Disney!:wizard:

MEK

08-19-2008, 05:39 AM

I'm so in!!popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::
I am loving your TR..you're doing a great job!

DH and I have been discussing joining DVC..I think the Vero pics might help my cause!!! He loves the beach, so if that could be a perk for a couple day add on to WDW... hmmmm Oh HONEY!!!COME SEE THE PURDY PICTURES!!!:rotfl:

I love the pics too keep em coming!!

Paula

Thanks. Before we went to Vero I viewed a ton of pictures on the DVC planning board. As soon as I saw them I knew it was going to be a great stay!

So far we are very happy with our decision to buy DVC. My only wish is that we had more points. But since our kids will be in college before we know it, we decided to go with fewer and make these stretch. Next time you visit the world, make sure to take the tour or at least visit the models at Saratoga. And also check out the TimeShare Store Info on this website. They specialize in resales and you can learn a lot just by checking out the DVC planning site here and the Time Share Store.

MEK

08-19-2008, 05:40 AM

Subbing...I really enjoy your TR.Wonderful photos!

Thanks Harters. I got a few more pictures to come.

MEK

08-19-2008, 06:29 AM

I woke to the smell of freshly brewed DD coffee and
the sight of my DH on the balcony
taking sunrise pictures.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008022.jpg

Sunrise looked like this!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008154.jpg

and this!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008162.jpg

and this!

We took pictures on two consecutive
mornings, so its hard to remember if
these were Monday or Tuesday pictures, but
you get the idea!

Our bedroom looked like this after
being slept in.........

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008163.jpg

You can see out to the balcony.
I liked having both rooms access the balcony.

Now, I have read a few posters say that
the furniture in Vero needed a bit of a face
lift. I will agree with that. The pieces were a
bit worn, but clean and functional. The living
room area is actually very spacious. I suspect
that the floor plan is similar to OKW, although I
don't know for sure since I never stayed there.

Here's a pic of my kids with the couch still pulled out:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008169.jpg

I think they should add a pull out sleeper chair like
they have at AK villas to make the occupancy 5.
There really was enough room for this, although you
can't tell from this picture.

So after some coffee, I laced up my sneakers and went
for a run. The property has a tunnel which goes below
A1A to the other side of the street. Over there is a
small pond with paths and picnic tables. There is also
a half basketball court and 2 tennis courts. I did not
take pictures of these. I ran around over there for awhile, then
I ran through the resort and out on A1A a bit.

Of course I passed the infamous sign......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008146.jpg

Here's a shot of the inn facing the ocean.......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008148.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008144.jpg

It's hard to get a full on view of the inn, since there is
only a small grass area in front of it.

After my run, I showered (good thing!) :laughing: and my
DH and I decided to drive to the McKee Botanical
Gardens. Needless to say, my kids were still sleeping.
I told them we were leaving, but we were in the car
all of ten minutes when one of the called to ask,
"Where are you?" Figures. My only instructions -
wait till we get back to go swimming on go on the
beach.

Of course I didn't need to worry about that, they
had plenty to watch on the Soccer channel.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008142.jpg

This is the grassy area right in front of the inn. Beyond
that is the ocean. The soccer ball, courtesy of Eb and
Flo's, the on site center where you sign up for activities
and get all various types of sporting equipment generally
free of charge.

Unfortunately, we got all the way to the McKee botanical
gardens only to find it was closed on Mondays. :headache:
Drat! We did stop in the touristy shopping district of
Vero and got out and walked around a bit.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008055.jpg

Just looks like a typical street to me.
But I did take a picture of this little guy:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008057.jpg

Sea turtles are very big in VB
and I saw several other guys like this,
but I was in the car and couldn't take
their pictures.

So since our well conceived plans to see the
botanical gardens failed, I had to find a few
botanicals for myself back at the resort.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008053.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008054.jpg

When we returned we decided to hit the
pool and the beach. The pool was already
pretty crowded by now, but I was able to
find a someone shady chair. I regret not
taking an pictures of the actual pool, but here
is the slide:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008048.jpg

WARNING: This slide is FAST! I thought it would
be pretty tame, but I think I forgot the laws of
physics. Once I laid back and started, I took off
like a bat out of hell - literally! I tried to sit up to
slow myself down, but guess what happened next.
My head just sort of slammed back and hit the wall.
:eek: Ouch. Then I ended up in the pool with
a mouth full of water and a sore neck and head.
Minny concussion action!

I said to DS 13, "Why didn't you tell me that thing was
so rough?"

His reply, "Mom - the heavier you are the faster you
go" "Oh - not that your fat or anything".

Too late - damage done! :rolleyes1

Needless to say, I avoided that slide like the plague
for the rest of the trip. I avoided that slide and
all others for the remainder of the trip! In fact,
I still may never go on another water slide!

ArmyWife3-4

08-19-2008, 07:16 AM

DVB resort is beautiful and looks so relaxing! Is it only available to DVC members now? I would love to check out the Hilton Head resort, but we're not DVC.

vdarrell

08-19-2008, 07:33 AM

Loving your TR and the pics are wonderful. This(Vero) is definetly a place we need to check out.It is so beautiful.
Ready to read more.

MEK

08-19-2008, 01:03 PM

DVB resort is beautiful and looks so relaxing! Is it only available to DVC members now? I would love to check out the Hilton Head resort, but we're not DVC.

DVB and HH are available for cash only (non DVC) reservations. I don't know what the rates are like at HH, but I thought the cash rates were pretty resonable at DVB. I think a studio or inn room was about $189 night during the time period I was there. I think early June was still somewhat of a resonable season.

MEK

08-19-2008, 01:05 PM

Loving your TR and the pics are wonderful. This(Vero) is definetly a place we need to check out.It is so beautiful.
Ready to read more.

I can't say enough good things about Vero. It's Disney hospitality at the beach. It should be on the list of everyone who wants to visit all the disney resorts. It's probably ideal at the end of a WDW vacation and next time I might do just that!

MEK

08-19-2008, 02:23 PM

After my traumatic brain injury on the water slide from hell I
tried to catch a lit R&R on my perfectally positioned lounge chair.
Right as I was getting good and comfortable, and after I decided that
I did not have numbness from a spinal cord injury, my DS 15 started
nagging everyone to go to the beach. "That's why we came here
mom, to swim in the ocean, not the pool".

"Beach, what beach? You mean that thing with sand? I didn't know
there was a beach here. You're kidding about the beach, right"?
Sometimes by DS 15 can be like Reese on Malcolm in the Middle.
I don't think he got my attempt at humor! :happytv:

But, he was right. Just because I am not crazy about lots of sand and
really bright sunshine, doesn't mean he should suffer. So I did want any
mom would do, I purchased the very expensive lounge chair(s) and
umbrella waiting there just for me. Actually $30 including tax and tip was a
good investment of my hard earned $. The lounge chair was super
comfy and the umbrella blocked the direct sun out of my face. In fact,
there was a bit of a breeze in my little haven on the beach and I settled in for some relaxation.
I was sitting right near a sea turtle's nest. I never would have know that, except the CM's had that area carefully roped
off.

By kids had a great time on the beach. They did lots of this.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008077.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008082.jpg

and some of this.......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008088.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008071.jpg

and a little of this.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008069.jpg

It was nice that we could walk back to the villa for
lunch. I took lots of break. The view from the villa was awesome,
so it was hard to leave once I went back.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008028.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008174.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008119.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008120.jpg

And the view from the room to the balcony.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008176.jpg

But I managed to drag myself back to the beach and I stayed there until 4pm. That's pretty good for me, since I am not inclined to long hours
on the beach.

When we had our full of surf and sand we returned to the room for showers and some minature golf. Actually, I got a glass of wine and hit the whirlpool tub. It was very therapeutic. I could see blue on the horizon through the windows. Ahhhhh perfect.

We were sort of torn as to what to do for dinner. I would have been perfectly happy to eat at Shutters, especially since it was
covered by my DDE, but we decided to go into the business
district of Vero and eat at a chain restaurant. My DH thought t
he kids would like the better and we were all a bit curious to see
what was in the vicinity. We ended up eating at a Ruby Tuesday.
The food was fine. DH and I had the Father's Day special which
included an entree and a shared appe and dessert.
I had sometype of fish which was decent. It's just that it was
like eating at any other R.T. and I could have been right
back here in Delaware.
Next time - Shutters

By the time we got back it was getting late. We decided to rent a couple
movies from the gift shop. I can't remember the title of the movie
we watched, but it was about a fictitious Alaskan Ice Hockey team
that played a real NHL team. Not a bad disney movie.

Up next ... Day 2 of Vero with more pics

TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum

08-19-2008, 11:07 PM

Lovely pictures. Makes me wish I were at the ocean right now! :lovestruc

MEK

08-20-2008, 05:46 AM

I will try to get a quick post done before I head off to work. I was off for the last few days, so it made posting a bit easier.

Honestly, Day 2 of Vero is a bit of a blur. Everyone got into the lazy mode. I still got up and ran, but I basically lazed around the rest of the day. DH didn't feel like going back to the botanical gardens, and neither did I. Around 10am DS 15 and I went to Eb & flo's and got tennis rackets and balls. They are free of charge to DVC members. We played tennis for about 45 minutes. At least that's how long we had the court. I think I took a shade/water break about every 5 minutes. Soooooo out of shape. Anyway, I'm sure those courts are great when it's a bit cooler.

We spent the morning at the pool and then had lunch and Ruby Tuesday leftovers on the balcony. My kids wanted to go back to the beach after lunch. I wasn't going to rent the chairs again, so I brought a cheap $10 chair I got at Walmart. It actually got pretty overcast in the afternoon, so it was perfect for me. Still warm, but not overly sunny.

My DH managed to turn into a grump today. I don't know what his problem was, but he hardly left the room all day. He kept saying, "why bother when I have a great view from here". I have everything I need - beer, a TV, and a beach front view. I guess he had a point, albeit a weak one. "Whatever"!

So I collected some more shells and my kids had some nice beach time. I took another relaxing bath in the whirlpool tub and had afternoon drinks on the balcony. What more could you ask for? I'm pretty sure we played another round of mini golf.

More Vero pics:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008058.jpg

Sunrise on Day 2

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008059.jpg

Wow!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008122.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008129.jpg

More Views!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008151.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008099.jpg

More beach!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008111.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008102.jpg

More soccer!

I have one really good picture of the Inn that I am going to search for and post. Hope I can find it.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008052.jpg

Here it is!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008047.jpg

And one more!

We couldn't seem to agree on what and where to eat this evening. Everyone was pretty full from lunch, so we kept delaying the decision. My DH ended up going to some take out place and brought back a variety of items including ribs, salad, cheesesteak, and more wings. So much for healthy eating. Like I said, no restaurant anywhere could have improved on the view we had, so why bother.

After dinner I wanted to go to the campfire that they have on property. We walked over around 8:30pm, just as it was about to start. Wow - everyone on property must have been there. There were no seats left and the dreaded bugs were starting to bite. The kids and I decided not to stay. We couldn't even see from our standing room only spot. So, we did what came naturally and went to the gift shop to rent a few more movies.

Earlier in the evening we did sit on the back porch on the inn and listen to a man play banjo. I didn't have my camera, so I couldn't take his picture. But I did enjoy his music, particularly since I play the guitar.

Oh - there was one thing I forgot to mention. While we were in the gift shop we found the perfect father's day present for DH. It was a grumpy beer glass. It fit his personality perfectly. :laughing:

Up Next: Day 3 of Vero and off to SSR. We were due to pick up DS's friend at MCO at 5pm. Did we make it?

ArmyWife3-4

08-20-2008, 09:35 AM

Sounds like such a wonderfully relaxing start to a vacation. Even though we just got back last Thursday from WDW, I'm ready for another vacation! :rotfl:

MEK

08-20-2008, 06:23 PM

Sounds like such a wonderfully relaxing start to a vacation. Even though we just got back last Thursday from WDW, I'm ready for another vacation! :rotfl:

I know how you feel! As soon as I come back from on Disney trip, I am ready for another. This is the first year in a long time that I haven't gone to the world in late August. I am having withdrawal and this trip report is making me want to go back .....NOW!

MEK

08-20-2008, 06:25 PM

Thanks Harters. I got a few more pictures to come.

Hey Harters - I noticed tonight that I called you haters. Oooopppppss - I went back and changed it.

MEK

08-20-2008, 07:27 PM

Weds June 11th.....

So hard to believe it is our last day at Vero. It was a little sad getting up and knowing we had to leave in a few hours. Fortunately I still had the Disney world part of my trip to look forward to. If I was leaving to go home I would have been doubly sad.

Three days was probably enough for my kids, but if I ever go back (and I will)I would like to stay longer. I really liked the relaxation part of the trip. My DH and I like to explore, so if we had more time I would have tried to get back to the botanical gardens and the manatee center. I would also have signed up from some of the various activities they had for adults - like wine tasting and sea shell art. I would have liked to go on one of the turtle walks.

There were also lots of poolside activities for kids, pre teens, and teens, but I guess my kids were "too cool" to participate.

So after I got up, I went for a run (as usual). I was feeling a bit stiff because this was my 4th day in a row running. This morning my DH decided to go with me. I guess he finally decided he needed to get outside and get rid of his grumpies.

I met a man the day before who told me about this shaded, dirt path that was located near the resort. I think it was more suited for biking, but DH and I ran off to find it. I wish I had found it sooner. It was pretty shady at the beginning, but the shade cover quickly disappeared and then it got sunny and hot. My favorite! :rotfl: I hate out and back runs. They are fun on the way out, but s--k on the way back. I was glad I had company. When we got back I ran right into the inn lobby to cool off. As I was looking at some pictures on the lobby wall I met this scary lady named Helga or Olga who asked me if I was there for the 9:30 yoga glass. Not me. I was done with physical activity for this morning. So I went out for a last look at the beach and back to the villa to pack.

In the lobby I saw these guys...
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008184-1.jpg

I also made a last stop in the gift shop...

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008181.jpg

And I took a last look at the lobby...

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008183-1.jpg

When we got back to the room I was hoping to fold some laundry that was left in the dryer, but I found out the power was off throughout the resort. This could be a problem, since I had put the laundry in before we left to run and IT WASN'T DRY! Crap - how was I gonna take a shower, fold laundry, get packed, and get on the road with no electricity.

The power did eventually come back on, but it delayed our departure. Our housekeeper was so nice. she said, " Don't worry. Take your time. If you're not out of here on time, that's OK. I have other rooms I can clean first. "
Niceness = good tip!

Wow - that was great. The pressure was off. We did manage to get out of the villa shortly after 11 am. Seemed like we would have plenty of time to get to SSR, unpack, hit the grocery store, and pick up DS's friend by 5:30ish. Or so I thought! That was one thing I worried about. What if something happened and we didn't get to the airport on time to pick up DSF? Oh, what could go wrong, I reassured myself. :confused:

We stopped for lunch on the way back. We also got a bit lost on one of the highways. I was not paying attention and DH went in the opposite direction of WDW and towards central Orlando. I was fooling around with my cell phone and when I looked up, I realized we were heading in the wrong direction. Drat!

Fortunately our room was ready at SSR when we arrived. So we unpacked the car and checked out our new digs. The 2BR at SSR was really beautiful. It seemed very upscale compared to Vero. It was super spacious. I will post a few pictures in my next post.

Well once we were settled in, we decided we should probably leave a bit early to pick up DSF. We would leave DS13 at home and stop at Target on the way to the airport.

The DH said, "Have you seen the car keys?" Ummm, NO!

A few minutes later, "I can't find the keys"

A few more minutes later.... opening and closing of all the drawers and looking all over for keys. To kids, "Have you see the car keys?" Nope - too busy watching the soccer channel.

Now I am starting to get nervous, especially after DH returned from his second trip outside to find the keys. So I get this bright idea.... time for a backup plan....... I called the front desk and asked if I could talk to someone from ME. We had a situation here and we might need ME to come to our rescue. Sorry .... no can do. ME will not allow 15 year olds to travel by themselves. They must be 16 to travel unaccompanied. But they said I could catch the next ME bus at 4:50pm and meet him at the airport. Great.... that would make me very late to pick him up!

My conversation with ME involved a lot of "on Hold" time. When I was placed on hold for the 3rd time, my DH came running in and said, "i FOUND THEM LET'S GO" "I did drop them outside" Well I waited for the ME lady, told her thank you, and off we went. We weren't quite at the airport when DSF texted to say he was getting off the plane. Uggghhhhh - were not gonna make it, were not gonna make it! (My favorite line from Dinosaur).

Well DH did a drive by drop off and DS and I got to the luggage carousel about 2 minutes before DSF arrived. Phew... we made it, we made it! :woohoo: My first words....."Did you call your mom and let her know you got here OK"?

Next up .... Our first night at MK! :wizard: Let the Magic Begin!

MEK

08-20-2008, 07:38 PM

Here we are at SSR
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008581.jpg

Our View...
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008191.jpg

The MBR...
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008196.jpg

The MBR BR
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008197-1.jpg

The Kids' room - this was really a huge room....
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008194-1.jpg

DS 15 checking out the view....
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008192-1.jpg

And Acting Goofy....
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008193-1.jpg

Another Outside view... near the bus stop
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJune2008580.jpg

bayoumama2

08-20-2008, 10:47 PM

Great storytelling....sounds like a wonderful vacation so far. Excellent pics.

TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum

08-20-2008, 10:58 PM

He kept saying, "why bother when I have a great view from here". I have everything I need - beer, a TV, and a beach front view.

Sounds like something my hubbie would say :rotfl2:

MEK

08-21-2008, 05:27 AM

Great storytelling....sounds like a wonderful vacation so far. Excellent pics.

Thanks bayoumama.

I turned the camera over to DH when we got to the world, so IMO the quality of the pictures is about to decline, :lmao: but I will sneak some of my own in from my previous trip(s).:rolleyes:

MEK

08-21-2008, 05:29 AM

Sounds like something my hubbie would say :rotfl2:

I knew there had to be other DH's out there with the same point of view! :confused3

KyDerbyMan

08-21-2008, 06:22 AM

Great TR! Looking forward to the Dis pics! :)

fireworks fan

08-21-2008, 07:56 AM

MEK

08-21-2008, 11:07 AM

I am really enjoying your trip report. I am thinking seriously about a DVC resale myself, and its great to hear about your first DVC trip. My kids are 3 and 6, so we would have plenty of time to enjoy DVC with them:goodvibes Now, to find the cash:lmao:

Fireworks fan:

I hear ya! I think it's supposed to be most economical if you have the cash upfront as opposed to financing. The nice thing about resales is you can purchase smaller point amounts, although I think Disney is lowering their minimum purchase points.

MEK

08-21-2008, 10:10 PM

I wasn't going to post tonight, but my trippie has been bumped to the second page. I need to keep it going. Thanks for everyone who has been reading. If this is your first read, join in and leave me a comment - good, bad, or indifferent.

So where was I - Oh yeah - we almost didn't get to the airport in time to pick up DS's friend. But now that everyone was safe and sound and in the car, we decided to make a Super Taget run. I really like super Target. We do not have them in Delaware. In fact, the closest Target to me is about 35 minutes. So when we stopped, we stocked up on everything we would need for the next 5 days. I did not want to run out of water or gatorade and I wanted lots of breakfast foods. Plus Beer - we needed beer!

Mission accomplished..... then on to a quick Chik-fil-a stop for take out....then back to SSR. Time to suck down some food, hand out some park tickets, and get to MK :wizard: I gave my kids the lecture about not losing their tickets and not losing their room keys. I gave my kids charging privledges because I knew they would need food and we didn't have the dining plan.

DS15 and his friend were the first out the door and on the bus. DH, DS 13, and I caught the next bus. Here we are getting ready to enter the MK.http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008200.jpg

DH has a bad habit of photographing my a--. One year we watched all the pictures on a wide screen TV. I lost 15 pounds on weight watchers after that! (and I put it back on, too!)

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008205.jpg

Again

After we arrived we went right over to Space Mountain, but the FP's were either out for the day or the return time was right at park closing. So we skipped Space and rode my favorite - the Blue Line - I love it. It's so relaxing and always puts me in the right mood. Except that one time a few years ago when we got stuck on it in a hot, humid tunnel - not fun, except we got to escape through Star Traders.

After The blue line we went on Carousel of Progress. I have never seen this attraction before. I think it's because it is usually closed when I visit. Well it was neat in a nostalgic way. I liked the dog, grandma, and the exploding oven. Oh.... and the tune was kinda catchy too...."It's a great big beautiful tomorrow".

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008206.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008208.jpg

I'm gonna cut this post short because I am pretty tired.... but I will continue again tomorrow. Stay tuned.

bayoumama2

08-22-2008, 12:17 AM

Your welcome. We're going 11/22 - 11/29. Probably last just us family vacation, you know without extras. We haven't been to the World in 10 yrs as a family and I can't wait. Staying on the grounds for the first time. :woohoo:

The first time I went to WDW was in '72 the year after it opened. I've watched Carrousel of Progress change with the times and that has been interesting.

ILuvCrush

08-22-2008, 04:33 PM

I Love CoP.. so do my kiddos!! I actually scoured the CD shops to find that song....

It's a great BIG beautiful Tomarrow!!!...

It gives me warm fuzzies!!:love:

Paula

MEK

08-22-2008, 07:02 PM

After CoP I coaxed DH into the Buzz Lightyear ride.
DH doesn't like any ride that has an outside queue.
I convinced him that "this line moves" and it did.
I texted DS15 to see where he was - he was off doing
one of the three mountains. I had a pretty decent score
on Buzz. I think I scored around 160,000, which is good
for me because I usually stink! I only scored over
200,000 once and that was because I shot Zurg right
as he was ready to blow!

I wouldn't be surprised if we hoped the blue one more time
before leaving tomorrowland. I think we probably took a
quick stop in the castle and then on to IASW. DS 15 HATES
this ride - always has, always will. So we took a quick ride
while he wasn't there to complain.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008105.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008106.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008107.jpg

In case you were wondering, he doesn't like clowns either.

After IASW it was parade time, so we tried to find a spot
over in Frontierland. DS 13 and I found a good spot sitting
on one of the stone walls, but DH wouldn't join us. I
nstead he took pictures like this because he wouldn't move to
get a clear shot......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008226.jpg

Really crappy shot. DH also doesn't check his photos after he
takes them, so I ended up with quite a few pics in need of deletion.
Let's see if I can find some with better quality.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008242.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008244.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008248.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008249.jpg

OK - these pictures are bad. I vow to get better pictures in
December. Not only did DH let way too many people in front
of him, he must have had the camera in some weird setting.

We watched the parade until close to the end, but
we knew we needed to ride some mountains, so as hard
as it was to tear myself away, we went over to Splash
and big thunder just to check ride times. Amazing - splash
was a 10 minute wait, so we got on right about the time
DS and DSF were getting off. They tried to get back in line
with us, but we never did get together. Splash was closed
when I did my solo trip in Jan and I didn't ride it last August
because I got sick one afternoon at MK and missed it and
then I never got around to riding it. So it had been 1 1/2
years since I went to the laughing place. I LOVe THIS ride
.....ESPECIALLY at night. I know it's my imagination, but
the inside always seems darker at night and the beady
little eyes on the bats always seem brighter at night.

We actually got pretty wet on Splash - we got the front
seat and I forgot to duck until too late. I was mesmorized
by the castle as I was screaming ...ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

After splash we hit BTM. I also LOVE this ride EXPECIALLY
at night! It seems way cooler and way faster at night.
The fireworks started while we were in the inside queue.
Oh well - we saw a few flashes while we were on the train,
but not much. So b/c I basically missed the fireworks this night,
I will post a few absentism photos.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008117.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008121.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008132.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008129.jpg

Can I get an "oooohhhhhhhhh" and an "ahhhhhhhhhhhhh"

I think we were getting pretty tired by the time we
got off BTM. My disney spirit wanted to keep going,
but it's funny how a full morning at Vero, a long run, a 2 hour drive, unpacking a full car, almost abandoning a 15 year old at MCO, and
a crash shopping trip to Target will make your body say, "Time for
sleep".

So we texted the older boys that we were leaving.
Ironically they were either already on their way home
or leaving right after us.

Here's is a quick shot as we are leaving Frontierland...

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008257.jpg

MEK

08-22-2008, 07:04 PM

I Love CoP.. so do my kiddos!! I actually scoured the CD shops to find that song....

It's a great BIG beautiful Tomarrow!!!...

It gives me warm fuzzies!!:love:

Paula

Well sung! Paula

MEK

08-23-2008, 06:16 AM

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008079.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008081.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008110.jpg

Castle Night!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008115.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008099.jpg

Castle Day!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008112.jpg

MEK

08-23-2008, 04:02 PM

I think I figured out how to post a link to my trip report, so keep on reading no matter where you see me! :cool1:

I'll be back later tonight with more pics once they are uploaded. :surfweb: Up next... Animal Kingdom!

MEK

08-23-2008, 04:03 PM

Oh darn .... I don't think it worked, have to try again!

MEK

08-23-2008, 04:07 PM

Yeah - I think I got it, I think I got it!

MEK

08-24-2008, 05:12 PM

On Thursday June 12th we all managed to get up at a decent hour. Well, I always get up at a decent hour, but you know how teenagers are. It can be hit or miss. We were staying in the Carousel building and I wanted to see how far the closet quiet pool was, so I ran in that direction. It was pretty close, but also fairly small. The last time I stayed at SSR it was in the congress park section, right across from DTD, and I recall that the pool seemed larger. Perhaps I was wrong? Maybe I better go run over there and find out. Yup - the pool in congress park is a tad bigger, with a much better view. Yeah - a view of DTD. I really liked the congress park section. It would normally be my first choice, but since I got such a fab view at Vero Beach, I certainly wasn't going to complain about the Carousel section and the lack of a DTD view.

DH, DS 13, and I planned the day at AK. DS 15 and DSF had other plans. They were off to the Studios. I knew we would be going to DS over the weekend, so we decided to go AK today. We definately wanted to show our Daytona Beach friends DS. How could they miss ToT and RRc?

I guess I thought that the one park our friends might want to skip would be AK. As it turns out, I was wrong. So I actually ended up going to AK a second time during this trip.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007087.jpg

AK used to be my second favorite park. I think MK has always been my first. MK is just so Walt. It is the prototype for all fantastic theme parks, so it's hard for it to not be my favorite. I think AK is now my 3rd fav park after Epcot. Studios is my least fav. I'm not sure why, because it has two of my absolute favorite rides - ToT and RRc. But if it wasn't for those two rides, I don't think I would ever go to Studios. I think I just don't like it's overall design and I'm not a huge fan of high school musical, which always seems to be taking up space.

Well it would have been nice to get to AK at rope drop, but that would be asking way too much for a 13 year old who would rather sleep and watch soccer than get up at 8am. But I think we got there before 9:30, which was pretty good. We drove there and parked in the AAA lot which was already almost full by the time we arrived. Of course we headed straight to......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007081.jpg

to get our FP's. The stand by line was already to the FP machines. With a little over a hour to kill we decided to head to one of my favs - Dinosaur! I have probably ridden dinosaur as many times as the Blue Line at MK. Well almost as many times. When I first started to go to AK I could ride this 4 or 5times a visit. IDK why - I guess because the ride seems different everytime I sit in a different seat. Each seat has its own feel and perspective.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007079.jpg

There was no wait for dinosaur and I could easily have ridden it again, but I knew DH would want to do something else. Some people don't like to ride the same ride more than once. I respect that - to a point. So we headed over to Primeval Whirl (I think I spelled that wrong). This was our longest wait of the day, since the second side wasn't opened yet. I was a little worried about how my neck would take it. Remember - my traumatic brain/spinal cord injury on the VB slide. :rolleyes1 Well, I made out just fine.

Since we killed some time waiting for PW, we were ready to head back to......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007080.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007082.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007084.jpg

OK - I'm not gonna lie - I took these pictures last year. DH decided not to bring the camera to the park. DS 13 was only 12 then and there is a definate difference in his appearance. BTW - the CM's really don't like when you take these pictures. I don't know why they care, since it's hard to get a picture of good quality. If I really wanted one, I would have bought it!

Two other side notes:

1. The best picture I have of EE is actually on my cell phone. It is my background. It greats me everytime I open my phone. I texted it to my son when I was on my solo trip and it made him very jealous. Recently, I met the cutest 9 year old boy on line for a rollercoaster while I was chaperoning a band trip to King's Dominion. His dad told me he knows everything about every coaster, even though he is too young to ride some of them. So I got out my phone and said, "What coaster is this?" EE at AK at WDW he replied. Cool kid.

2. EE measures in at 195ft. It is the tallest of all the mountains and taller than ToT. I think it beats ToT by 5 or 10 feet. The reason it is 195 ft, you ask???? Because Florida has a law that anything 200ft or taller has to have a beacon on it for low flying aircraft. (I learned that on the KTK tour). Can you emagine EE with a beacon?????

After EE I took one for the team and decided to walk over and get our Safari FP's for after lunch. Here I noticed something very interesting..... The standby time for Safari was about 45 minutes. The FP return time was about 50 mins. :confused3 I seriously would not be standing in the stand by line.

After I walked back to find DH and DS I decided that I could not stand my feet, and the sneakers they were swelling in, any longer.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008203.jpg

There is a picture of me in my sneakers. I am to the right of the security guard. My sneakers were very cute and clearly designed for a person of youth. The have a very flat sole and my feet felt like they were going to explode.

So.... I did something I swore I would never do.....I bought a pair of crocks. :lmao: Yeah, right there on the spot. I said to DH, "I'll be right back" and I walked over to a vender and asked, "How much are these (overpriced) Mickey crocs?" Oh, I think they were like 40 some dollars with tax. :sad2:

Here is why I never owned crocs - I am a nurse, actually a nurse practitioner. I work in cardiac surgery in a hospital. I have spent many hours in plastic clogs, long before crocs became a huge trend. And I swore I would never buy plastic clogs to wear outside of work. Well, guess what? At that moment I totally didn't care about my vow of never buying over priced plastic clogs to wear outside of work. All I wanted was a little fresh air for my feet. So I bought them, right there on the spot, without a morsel of regret.

Any you know what ... they are actually very comfortable and I have walked many miles in them since. I even bought a mickey face to put in one of the holes. I figured once I hit the point of no return, there was no going back.

Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of my overpriced plastic mickey crocs. But they are tan. I wear a lot of tan and I was in AK, so it seemed like the right color choice - nice and neutral.

After I bought my crocs we went to watch It's a Bug's Life. I never get tired of this show and I like how the lines are so short since EE opened.

After IABL we went to eat at Pizzafari. I definately needed some AC with my lunch. I have been wanting to try the Yak and Yeti, but when I look at the menu it just seems like too much food for the middle of the day. One thing I want to avoid is post lunch lethargy while visiting AK. My DDE was actually good for Pizzafari, so I saved a little $ on lunch. But Pizzafari was very crowded. I don't think there is enough indoor counter service at AK now that Tusker House is a table service. I always liked TH and I was sorry it turned to TS.

Can you guess where we went after lunch?????

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007051.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007061.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007070.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007073.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007077.jpg

We got a really good driver who really played the part well. I thanked him when the ride was over and told him he was one of the best I've ever had. He appreciated that and it made me vow to compliment people more often. I am a church musician and I know how much I appreciate it when someone complements me for doing a good job.

I think safari is one of the most immersive attractions in all the parks. I can't even begin to appreciate all the work that went into that ride. I am amazed by the details and one of these days I will take one of the back stage tours. Or, if I ever get to stay AK villas conceirge, I will take one of the private safaris.

After safari we were all a bit hot and tired. I really wanted to go back and ride dinosaur again, but it was so freak'n far away, so we left. Yeah we really didn't do all that much, but honestly, I've done everything at AK before so I didn't feel too bad about not staying longer. Plus the crowds were pretty thick by now so it was a good time for a break.

And little did I know we would be back in a few days to hit Nemo and ride my favs again.

Up next - an evening at Epcot and our first ADR!

adsrtw

08-24-2008, 05:50 PM

I'm catching back up. I haven't read the posts I have missed, but I did see a Target post. I too am a Target lover ~ can't imagine living 35 minutes away from one. That must be tough!

KyDerbyMan

08-24-2008, 06:28 PM

Great so far!! I think I would have had to go for a flashy color on the crocs...just for the heckofit! :)

Looking forward to the Epcot tale.

MEK

08-24-2008, 09:04 PM

I'm catching back up. I haven't read the posts I have missed, but I did see a Target post. I too am a Target lover ~ can't imagine living 35 minutes away from one. That must be tough!

Yeah - it's rough living so far from Target. When I do shop there I look at everything in the store. I spend at least 1 1/2 hours there so I don't overlook anything. I live sort of far from everything. It takes me 15 minutes just to get to the grocery store I like. There is finally a Kohl's 15 mins from my house and soon there will be a superwalmart. I am living larger now!

MEK

08-24-2008, 09:08 PM

Great so far!! I think I would have had to go for a flashy color on the crocs...just for the heckofit! :)

Looking forward to the Epcot tale.

Oh, I would have gone for the pink or blue ones, but I've already had all those colors for work. I think I've had just about every color but purple! When you wear blue scrubs everyday, you need some color to brighten things up!

TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum

08-24-2008, 09:54 PM

MEK

08-25-2008, 02:34 PM

Your Safari pictures came out so good! You're doing a great job. Thanks for sharing your TR. :)

My DH is also a one time rider like yours so yet another thing they have in common....he would have stayed in at VB with the view, TV & beer if you recall...

But not me....I will ride over & over or when I'm forced to leave :rotfl2: Ds & I did that on our trip 2 weeks ago (after DH had left for the day - tee hee)

Thanks TDTD -

I think my DS took a lot of those Safari pictures. I can't tell you how many Safari pics we have taken over the years. I hope I have time to post a new installment tonight. My kids started school today and I have to work for the next 6 days so time is a precious commodity.

Yeah - Our DH's sound a lot alike. I have an upcoming short trip planned for Dec with just DH and I. Hopefully we will be in synch for the same actitvities. At least I know he can get up for park opening! :rotfl:

MEK

08-25-2008, 09:05 PM

I must preface this chapter of my trip report by saying..... Today was the first day of school for my kids. :teacher: I know some people love when the kids go back to school, but it makes me kind of sad. Even though summer is not over, at least according to the calendar, it feels over to me because I know the cooler weather is right around the corner. I feel sad everytime I see a tree with colored leaves in late August. I also feel sad because this is one of my favorite times to be at the world. I was there the past 4 out of 5 Augusts. My kids usually don't start school until after Labor Day, but every once it a awhile they start a week early. It has something to do with the number of weeks they count back from the June graduation date. I like having the last kids to go back to school after Labor Day. The kids also have 2 weeks off over Christmas this year. Great for them, but I seriously can't afford to go anywhere over Christmas. It is just too expensive for me.

But I digress...... So after DH, DS 13, and I returned from AK, we decided a swim was in order. DS15 and DSF were still at HS. They did ToT twice or three times and RnR twice. They also stood in the standby line for Toy Story Mania. It was exactly 90 mins from the time they entered the line, until the time they got off. That is far too much line time for me, but I guess they just text messaged the time away.

So as soon as DH and I get to the quiet pool, they closed it down for bad weather. I think I managed to jump in for 1 quick second before they closed it down. It never did rain. The skies just got really dark. So DH and I just sat there for about an hour, watching the clouds, and drinking whatever concoction we put in our Disney mugs. I think it was some kind of rum drink. Just as the sun started to emerge, it was time for us to get ready for dinner. We had our first real ADR tonight. Now you are probably hoping for some really great ADR, but I know this restaurant is NOT one of the favs on the boards. That's OK, my kids LOVE this place. I mean - Love it - :love: They want to eat there everytime we go to the world. Why do they love it so much? I am not sure. :confused3

So were in the world did we eat????? I'll give you a hint - yes it was in Epcot.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008264.jpg

Here I am with my "pooky" look. It's my "hurry up our ADR is in 5 minutes and we have to walk to the world showcase. Now is not the time for pictures" look. It's also my "maybe I really didn't need that rum drink at the pool" look. I guess it might also double for my "I can't walk another step, my feet hurt" look. See, a picture really does speak a thousand words.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008263.jpg

Here is the back of DS15 and his friend. This was one of the few times we saw them on the trip - morning, bedtime, and dinner. As you can see, they had no interest in smiling for the camera.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008269.jpg

Why am I all alone at this table????? I don't remember. Did all the boys take a BR break?

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008273.jpg

I do think the San Angel Inn has a pretty good atmosphere and I think the food is fine. Some people think it's too authentic, some think it's too TexMex. I like it. I have never had a bad meal, so I will return when my kids request it. It's no Le Cellier, but its a heck of a lot easier to get an ADR there.

After dinner Ds 13 went with his older brother and friend, while DH and I hung out together. We rode the ride in Mexico first, then DH and I rode Spaceship Earth followed by MS. I always worry about claustrophobia, but once the ride starts I am fine.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008275.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008276.jpg

Then we rode Ellen. If the CM reminded us one more time that the ride lasted 42 minutes, I was going to scream. As I told us, sometimes I am prone to anxiety, so I really don't like being trapped on a ride and I was starting to feel like I was entering the point of no return. I only felt that way because the CM kept reminiding people over and over again that they couldn't get off the ride once it started. Duh. OK, I think we got it the first 10 times you said it. I don't know how that ride is 42 minutes because it seems to go pretty fast. I like to ride it every 2 or 3 years especially when there is no wait.

After we got off Ellen we could see Illuminations in the background.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008286.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008293.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008292.jpg

We didn't actually watch Illuminations because we had that planned for when our Daytona friends arrived. I have some really good pics, but you'll have to wait to see them.

After Illuminations we went to ......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008300.jpg

I tried to text the kids, but my message would not send until I got out of Nemo. The kids were already on the bus to go back to the resort. I think they probably rode soarin and left.

DH and I decided to do a quick run through Figment.

After that I decided I really was too tired to do anything else. I really wanted to ride TT at night, but my dh will NOT go in the single rider line. He refuses everytime I ask. But you know what - come Dec if I want to ride TT from the single rider line in the dark, I am going without him. So there!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008299.jpg

Wow - I was really tired. It was a little after 10pm and I was draging. Still, it was the perfect night, weather wise. I was starting to love these June nights, if only I could stay awake later.

So DH and I headed home together. Do you think DS15 and DSF were there when we got back to SSR???? NO they had decided to head over to the High Rocks pool. I found out later it was because they met a couple "hotties" over there. So I had to stay up and wait for them to get home. A mother's job is never done.

Up next .... touring our Florida friends through the world.

AInWonderland

08-25-2008, 09:51 PM

Great trip report, you have made me decide that I need to do vero next year. I also have teenagers and can totaly relate to the late sleeping!!

MEK

08-26-2008, 07:46 AM

Great trip report, you have made me decide that I need to do vero next year. I also have teenagers and can totaly relate to the late sleeping!!

Vero is great! I will definately go there again, but probably not next year. In all the trips I've taken to disney, I have not seen Sea World. I have to do that next time.

Gotta love those teenagers! I sometimes wish I was on their sleep/wake cycle. It would be nice to sleep away the morning :cloud9: and stay up late at night in the parks. But that darn sun keeps waking me up! :goodvibes

ILuvCrush

08-26-2008, 04:34 PM

great Update! i've wanted to try San Angel, but til now I haven't. I usually can't make it past the margarita stand:lmao:

Paula

MEK

08-27-2008, 09:53 AM

great Update! i've wanted to try San Angel, but til now I haven't. I usually can't make it past the margarita stand:lmao:

Paula

They do have VERY TASTY Margaritas!

MEK

08-27-2008, 01:06 PM

On Friday June 13th our Daytona Beach friends were coming to the world for the weekend. :flower3: Hard to believe they've lived in Florida for over 12 years, but the've never set foot in Disney. :confused3 They don't have kids, so I guess they never saw a reason to visit. :rotfl: Plus people don't always appreciate what's in their own backyard.

I decided that DH and I would give our Dear Friends Keith and Trina (DFK, DFT) the MBR and we would move to the pull out sofa. The living rooms in the Saratoga villas do seem a bit small, but I was more than willing to make the sacrifice. I needed to put my tour guide hat on. :wizard: or does this hat look better....pirate:? oh, no... I think this one is best....:smickey:

I went to get DF's room cards and parking pass and then I set out for a run. Today I went through the grandstand section of SSR. I don't have any pictures, but I really like this area. The pool is fairly large and the whole red/white motif appeals to me. I also like that this pool has its own bar. Nice.

DH and I decided to stay put until our DF's arrived. I knew thay weren't in any rush to get to the world, but I thought it would be rude to be in the parks when they arrived. Remember, this was their first visit. :flower3:

They arrived a little later than expected because they stopped at a store to get lunch food and then they got lost. They ended up at the entrance to MK before they realized they were quite lost. OOOOPPPPPSSSSS!

When they arrived, we set out for some quality pool time. We went to the quiet pool near the Paddock and had the whole place to ourselves. Nice. :goodvibes It was perfect pool weather and a nice change from the usual routine. I often don't get to the pool until late afternoon, and we all know what happens in Florida in the late afternoon....... RAIN!

DS15 and DSF went to AK and DS13 stayed in to watch .... ta da.....soccer.
It was a nice morning.

By about 2pm we were ready to head into MK. MK had to be the first stop on our DF's tour. Plus we had dinner ADR's at Ohanas.

I started texting DS15 about an hour before we left. When he didn't return several of my texts (which is very unusal), I tried to call him only to find out that his phone was dead. I did not like this at all. :scared: So I texted DSF. I was in near panic mode before he finally texted me back and said "Mom WE are fine". When DS15 finally called me I told him he better keep that phone charged in the future or he was not going off on his own ever again. :headache: I love texting - to me it is like having a GPS on your kid. I don't like when they let the kids let their phones die. I told DS15 he better GET BACK TO SSR AND CHARGE HIS PHONE!

When we arrived at MK it looked deserted

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008310-1.jpg

We headed right to Tomorrowland and grabbed FP's for Space Mountain. I was so excited we would get to ride Space before dinner. :cool1: :thumbsup2 :cool1: :thumbsup2
Obviously once we were in the park, things were a tad more congested, but not bad at all.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008317.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008320.jpg

Here's DS 13 looking a bit embarrased by the old folks!

DH made an executive decision to take us to CoP. Can you believe it???? I was the tour guide and he was leading us towards this ride first. DH is a few years older than I am, so maybe there was something magically nostalgic for him. (It's a great big beautiful tamorrow) He loved this ride and tried to visit it a third time this trip. To that I responded, "No freak'n way!"

After CoP we hit the blue line then we jumped on Buzz. From Buzz we walked right into the Monsters Inc. Comedy Club. I was secretly hoping that DH would get to be "that guy". DH has a full head of grey (actually white) hair. I was hoping that would be suitable criteria for the "that guy" selection.

Well DH did not get picked as "that guy", but yours truely unwillingly ended up with a cameo role in the show. When we entered the theatre I followed DFT across the center isle and ended up on an end seat about halfway up the theatre. Next thing I know this bright light is over my head and DFT starts laughing, "Mary Ellen it's you...hahahahahaha".

OMG - talk about major stage fright. :scared1: I started laughing so hard that I could not even speak. :laughing: I could feel my cheeks turning bright red and my throat got dry and my heart was racing. I could hardly even remember my name, let alone say it. All the time I was thinking, "why me, out of all these people" and "I am about to make myself look like a fool. HELP". Honestly, I don't even remember what I had to do. :idea: I know it had something to do with guessing or picking a number. If anyone can remember, PLEASE TELL ME!!!!!! :idea:

Seriously, I can't remember the last time I got that nervous. I talk in front of people and sing/play music in front of people all the time. But I was so NOT prepared for this. Something about being caught off guard set me for a tizzy. Plus I was supposed to be the cool tour guide. I wasn't supposed to be turning red in front of a room full of people. Sheeshh :scared:

So after my moment of embarrasment, we left tomorrow land and headed to frontierland. We had a few more adventures along the way, which I will telll you about when I return with pics!

MEK

08-27-2008, 09:59 PM

I've got lots of great pics for this part of the post, so I think I am going to sum it up quickly.

We left tomorrowland and headed for Philarmagic. I figured our DF's should see at least one 3D movie, and this one is probably the best. I know DFT liked it cause she laughed alot.

After Philarmagic we took a ride on a Doom buggy. This is acutally the longest line I've ever stood in for HH.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008321.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008322.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008333.jpg

After HH we took a few pics in Frontierland.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008329.jpg

There's DS 13 with the old farts again (DH is taking the picture). After our fabulous photo session we turned around to see the boat (I forget her name) pull into dock.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008330.jpg

So we decided to hop aboard. I have not been on this boat since my very first trip to the MK. AT first I was reluctant but then I thought, what the heck, if that's what everyone wants to do, I'll go along. I soon realized that I was about to experience a great photo op. Here are some pics I took from the boat:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008336.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008339.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008340.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008343.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008345.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008346.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008354.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008350.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008352.jpg

I vowed I wouldn't wait another 6 years before I rode that boat again. Darn what is that boat called ..... The River Belle????? Help me out here people. :confused3

I also want to make sure I visit Tom Sawyer's island before another 6 years go by.

After our exciting boat ride, we managed to grap a quick ride on Big thunder. I could hear DFT laughing - cool :woohoo:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008331.jpg

I have NO IDEA why I am running here, but I posted it anyway. I figure I will remember why sooner or later.

By now it was time for our FP for Space. While we were in line for space, DS 15texted me to say they were broken down on the blue line right at the loading platform for Space. But by the time we got there, the blue line was up again, so we missed them.

One nice thing about 5 people together on Space..... Somebody in your party is bound to get the front row, and that somebody was ME!!!!!! I love the front row and I could hear DFT laughing through the whole ride.:woohoo: Another fun attraction. I'm so glad my friends were having fun!

After space we met up with the older boys and we all left MK together to eat at Ohana's. I had to split our ADR into 2 parties - 4 people at 8:15pm and 3 at 9pm. Fortunately, when we checked in they said they would be able to sit us all together. So, by the time we all finished one super yummy ice cream drink and listened to the man in the lobby play Hawian music, it was time to be seated.

I love Ohana's. My favorite part of the meal is the shrimp, which is always served last. As is true to form for me, I got partially full on the appetizers and I was already a tad full by the time the meat was served. But the time the shrimp came, well you get the idea. I really had to work to keep eating all the shrimp. Ouch - major stomach stretch! It was DFK birthday and they brought him a cupcake with a candle.

We finished dinner right before 10pm. I guess we could have stayed at our table longer, but we were on the side of the room opposite the window, so we decided to watch Wishes from the beach. DS15 and DSF left to go back to SSR. At the time I was wondering what their rush was, but as I already told you, I found out later they were in a hurry to go see the hotties at the pool. Apparently these girls were from Miami and they leaving the next day to go home. DS did show me a pic of one of them and she was quite cute, so now I understand their rush to get there. :rolleyes1

Meanwhile, we saw Wishes from the Poly Beach.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008392.jpg

This cool pic was taken by DH and I don't think he had any idea how he got such a cool pic.

Well, by 1230 I think everyone was home from the pool and ready to sleep. Another adventurous day comes to a close.

Next up....HS and Toy Story Mania ...or Not!

fireworks fan

08-28-2008, 09:21 AM

I love all your pics. And I think the boat is called the Liberty Belle, but I have never been on it before:)

ArmyWife3-4

08-28-2008, 10:18 AM

Great photos of HM and the Liberty Boat....Makes me want to go back right now! :)

MEK

08-28-2008, 09:34 PM

I love all your pics. And I think the boat is called the Liberty Belle, but I never been on it before:)

Thanks fireworks fan. I did enjoy taking those pics from the boat. And I think you are right, it probably is the Liberty Belle. That make sense. It's weird how I forget the names to some of these attractions. It's like my mind suddenly goes blank. :rotfl:

MEK

08-28-2008, 09:35 PM

Great photos of HM and the Liberty Boat....Makes me want to go back right now! :)

I agree. But the next time you go back, I want it to be with your DH! I can't wait to read about that trip! :thumbsup2

MEK

08-28-2008, 09:46 PM

I would add another post tonight, but I am just too tired. I did go in and edit last nights post because I made a bunch of typos.

More tomorrow!

MEK

08-29-2008, 09:48 AM

I am saving this spot for an addendum to my last post. I thought we all went to bed when we got home from Ohana's and the pool, but I was wrong. When I went to download more pics I remembered that something else happened before our evening ended.

But.....I can't tell you want until I post the pics. Let's just say we did something a tad silly before we all retired for the night! :rotfl:

OK - here it is. I remembered that we didn't go to bed right away. the older boys were at the pool and DFT got this great idea to go "embarrass them".. All of a sudden she started pulling daytona beach tee shirts out of her bag - biker shirts, spring break shirt. She had more clothes in there than a bag lady has in her paper bag.

So we dressed for success.... or should I say ....to embarrass the boys at the pool. We were going to head there and start heckling them. Aren't we a lovely group at midnight. I think my circles speak for themselves.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008402.jpg

We never made it to the pool. As we were walking there, the boys passed us on the side of the road. They didn't even recognize us until we started to laugh. I guess our disguises worked.

Check this one out. DS13 would kill me if he knew I posted it!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008405.jpg

MEK

08-29-2008, 02:00 PM

On June 12th we planned for an early assault of HS. That is the 5 of us. DS15 and friend were going to Blizzard Beach.

There was just one problem ......the boys would not get up (for a change) and they locked their door. Try as I might to bang loud enough for them to hear, they couldn't because their beds were way too far from the door.

Well, DFT wasn't having any of this nonsense. She picked the phone up and called the front desk to ask them to send someone to unlock the door. A maintenance man was there in, oh .... maybe 2 minutes. He showed us a quick trick to correct any future episodes of inappropriate door locking we might encounter.

When he was leaving I said, " How much for you to go in there and scare the crap out of those kids so they don't lock the door again"? :scared1: He laughed :laughing:, but I was sooooo serious.

So what time do you think the dynamic fivesome arrived at HS?
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008183.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008144.jpg
Well - not too bad. We got there around 9:30am. It could be worse, a lot worse. While we grabbed a locker DS13 went to get FP's for RnR. They only problem was he didn't tell anyone that he was going to come all the way back to the lockers to get us. Hey, we're old and slow, BUT NOT THAT SLOW. So we missed him. When we got to RnR, he was nowhere. About 10 minutes later, and after a brief episode of panic on my part, we were reunited. Honestly, I can't remember what we had FP's for. All I know is we rode RnR first and I know K & T loved it. We did not tell them what to expect, so they were completely surprised. I figured they could handle it. After all, they went on some horrific, highly unsafe, uninspected thrill ride named "EL Chucko" while they were in Venezuela. And they lived to tell about it. Infact, after DFK returned to the states, he told us about this ride several times, so it obviously left a lasting impression.

I think we had time between RnR and ToT, so we headed over to TSM. But the FP return time was already 5:45pm :scared1: What?????? I knew it would be late, but I couldn't help but hope for a miracle. So, I realized I took one for the team and we would not be riding TSM this vacation. I just don't do standy by, so if that means I skip a ride....well.....it will always be there when I go back. That is what I love about Disney :love: There is always something to look forward to.

OK ....gotta go .....will post later tonight with pics.

KyDerbyMan

08-29-2008, 02:31 PM

Yeah...we got to TSM about 9:30am ourselves and FP return time was already out to 5:30pm. Definitely hit up that one first!

Love the bit about having the maintenance guy scare them! lol!!

MEK

08-30-2008, 05:36 AM

Yeah...we got to TSM about 9:30am ourselves and FP return time was already out to 5:30pm. Definitely hit up that one first!

Love the bit about having the maintenance guy scare them! lol!!

Gotta love it. Guess what.... they didn't try to lock that door at night anymore!

MEK

08-30-2008, 05:58 AM

I have to work today. I normally don't work weekend. I really wanted to work on my trip report today and post some pics. I am uploading some now.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008421.jpg
Here's K&T enjoying the RnR theme:

So with TSM clearly off the radar,we took a spin on the Great Movie Ride before our FP's for ToT. I agree that this ride needs a bit of an update. The first time I did it 6 years ago, I thought it was great. Now it is starting to get a bit old. But K&T liked it, so I think it still has a lot of appeal for first time riders.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008148.jpg

Finally - time for ToT.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008160.jpg
OK - I gotta tell you. I love this ride, but it scares me at the same time. There is always one drop in the sequence where I don't know whether I am going up or down and I get totally disoriented. This freaks me out a bit, because I am only a thrill ride junkie wanna be. I love rides when they are over, but the anticipation ---- well! So the whole time we are in the boiler room I don't talk at all, because I am nervous. Once those doors close ......the point of no return. And when that elevator hits that hot spot when it leaves the air conditioning - Watch out! :scared1:

This ride sequence was not bad at all. In fact, to be honest, I haven't been on it with a real scary sequence in awhile. So, if it's true that they calmed the ride down, I believe it. One thing for sure, you would have to pay me a lot of money to go on this ride by myself. Needless to say, I skipped it while I was on my solo trip.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008424.jpg

I don't know how well you can see this pic - but I am in the second role with DFT. The boys are in the front row. What I like is that DFK is clearly smiling! It takes a lot to impress him!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008425.jpg

OK - there's that smile!

More later - gotta go to work ughhhhh

MEK

08-30-2008, 05:42 PM

I have to keep shamelessly self promoting my trip report since I only have a few faithful readers. And believe me, I appreciate each one of you!

I forgot to post this pic earlier. It is DS13 and DFT in the gift shop after RnR Coaster.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008422.jpg

Here are some more HS pics......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008146.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008166.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008163.jpg

Well ToT was lots of fun, but we still had a few more things to see at HS. It was actually starting to get hot and crowded. It was Stars Wars Weekend and the activities were in full swing....

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We went to visit One Man's Dream.

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That is a great place to go when it's hot and crowded. I think every disney fan should visit this attraction once. I love the movie about Walt Disney's life. He had such humble beginnings and he went broke more than once, but he really believed in a dream! What a visionary he was. Too bad he smoked himself into an early grave!

Close to One Man's Dream is another attraction I enjoy browsing through. It's........

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008147.jpg

I got some really cool pictures while in there. Here's a few....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008150.jpg

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So by now we are getting a bit hungry. We actually packed our lunch and kept it in a locker. I have never done this before, but we had lunch meat left over from yesterday's poolside lunch. I was still hoping to duck into one of the AC counter service places and grab a soda. DFK and DFT suggested that we find a place to sit and eat outside. K and T are "hard core". They live in Florida. They are used to heat. I am not! But I decided a little outdoor lunch in 88 degree weather was not going to kill me.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008426.jpg

At least we found shade.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008427.jpg

A little post-lunch lethargy, perhaps????

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008429.jpg

After lunch DH and K & T went to see Indiana Jones. I like IJ, but it is one of those "hot rides" I just had lunch outside, I needed an indoor attraction. Plus, I saw this show less than a year ago, so I declined.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008433.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008434.jpg

I have a cool pic I took last year....Let's see if I can find it in the archives.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/Disney2007111.jpg

I love this part of the show - classic!

While they folks were watching IJ, DS and I went to the Muppets. I needed a nice cool attraction and the line for Star Wars was 40 minutes. No can do! I only do Star Wars when there is no wait. We walked right into Muppets. :woohoo: Yeah - AC and Miss Piggy.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008158.jpg

After Muppets DS and I decided to hit the road. I didn't want to do an outdoor attraction, the line for Star Wars wasn't any shorter, and we couldn't do TSM.

On the way out we stopped in this cool little store than the entrance. They had all kinds of framed pictures, many were photos of celebrities. Near the cash register I found some really cool post cards. One had Walt over his drawing board with a modern day Mickie superimposed on the pic and looking at what Walt had on the paper. The other had Walt superimposed on an old photograph of the Disneyland castle. The post cards are really good quality and I framed one. Very inexpensive souvenior.

Here's a few more HS pics, before I sign off.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008167.jpg

My Favorite Place to eat at HS!

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http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008411.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008418.jpg

Disclaimer: some of these pics are from Jan 2008. I used them to help complete the story. DH was slacking with the photography!

adsrtw

08-30-2008, 07:08 PM

I enjoy ToT too! The guy that loaded my group had a little jingle to give out our seat numbers ~ got us even more excited about the ride. Looks like you had some fun.

Twingle

08-30-2008, 09:02 PM

Love all your photos - and thanks so much for including Vero in your TR, I don't know that much about it, and it looks lovely.

Thanks so much for sharing your trip - please don't stop now! :)

MEK

08-31-2008, 02:22 PM

I enjoy ToT too! The guy that loaded my group had a little jingle to give out our seat numbers ~ got us even more excited about the ride. Looks like you had some fun.

adsrtw -

I think that would be fun. Of course, I am usually so nervous by that point that I wouldn't be listening clearly.

MEK

08-31-2008, 02:24 PM

Love all your photos - and thanks so much for including Vero in your TR, I don't know that much about it, and it looks lovely.

Thanks so much for sharing your trip - please don't stop now! :)

Thanks Twingle! I don't intend to stop trip'in yet! I have a couple more days to go!

MEK

08-31-2008, 02:54 PM

I will start this post, but I need to end early because I am outside with no AC and not much battery life.

Our plans for this evening were Epcot. Since my friends were only staying two nights, I knew I wanted to show them Wishes and Illuminations. Plus, what better place to find a place to eat but in the World Showcase. When I found out our party size would be 7, we were only about 5 weeks from the trip. So what better place to seat a party of 7 in the World Showcase, but the Biergarten. I had never eaten before, but one coworker, who is also a coDiser, said it was one of her favs. And the surgeon I work with, who has also visited several times, highly recommended it. So biergarten it was to be. We got a decent ADR time (6:30pm) and I was looking forward to the entertainment.

Back soon....technical difficulties

DisneyTiger

08-31-2008, 07:31 PM

adsrtw

08-31-2008, 10:29 PM

Oh, I can't wait to hear about Biergarten!

wdwnomad

08-31-2008, 11:40 PM

Great report. Just wanted to let you know that you have another loyal reader. I have been following along since the begining. Keep it up. Can't wait to read more!

MEK

09-01-2008, 09:03 AM

All caught up and subbing! I love everything so far. You had me laughing out loud with your mishap on the slid at DVB! I loved how you made sure you didn't have a spinal cord injury. Too funny.

This is such a great trip. My DH and I joined DVC last November and we're using it for the first time next month. We're staying 8 nights at, drum roll please, Beach Club Villas!!! I know you want to stay there badly so I will have to give you a full report when we get back.

Also, we are sooooo doing a DVB / WDW trip in the future, maybe when the kids get a bit older - they are 3 and 18 months now. Anyway, I love everything, especially how you are so flexible. I am really trying to get out of that "commando" mind set for our trip and just let things happen. You are an inspiration to me:lovestruc Keep on writing. This is such a nice distraction for me since we have a hurricane knocing on our door! I can't wait to read more:)

I also have a PTR going that many people read but few post. I am happy to post on yours because it looks like you have put a lot of time into it, and it's worth it!!!

Disney Tiger - Why did you have to remind me about the slide at Vero.....All I can say is....Don't lie flat the first time you do it! Ooooooouuuccchhhhh!

BCVillas - Oh I am so jealous. I hope you have a great trip. I had a work friend who just stayed Beach club and LOVED it! Everyone does. If DH and wanted to go in Jan it was available, but I wanted to go before my AP expires Jan 5th! My kids are at an age where everything revolves around their schedule, but in a few years I know we will make it there off season.

Please post about your trip when you get back! Thanks for reading! and I will look for your pre-trippie!

MEK

09-01-2008, 09:13 AM

Oh, I can't wait to hear about Biergarten!

Food was good! Beer was probably better. I'll have to ask DFT since it cause her to have a little accident later in the evening!

More to come soon. I actually have to work on a project for our church music ministry today, so I have to get crack'in on that. I have to burn some CD's for a project we recorded. Maybe I'll be able to burn and post at the same time. We'll see!

MEK

09-01-2008, 09:16 AM

Great report. Just wanted to let you know that you have another loyal reader. I have been following along since the begining. Keep it up. Can't wait to read more!

Thanks Nomad and fellow Delaware Valley Inhabitant. I will definately post more later today! Isn't the weather fabulous here today!!!!! Doesn't get any better than this!

fireworks fan

09-01-2008, 11:09 AM

Still here :goodvibes We were there for Star Wars Weekend this summer too:thumbsup2 We liked the Stars Wars parade, but that was the only SWW event we did.

MEK

09-01-2008, 03:12 PM

Still here :goodvibes We were there for Star Wars Weekend this summer too:thumbsup2 We liked the Stars Wars parade, but that was the only SWW event we did.

Welcome back. I did not see the Star Wars Parade. I never seem to stay for the parades at HS. I either get too hot or it gets too crowded. A lot of people think AK is the hottest park, but I get the most overheated at HS. I've only seen the Stunt show twice because I hate sitting in the heat. I think I need some more winter trips - Oh yeah - I have one coming in December! :rotfl:

MEK

09-01-2008, 03:51 PM

OK - I'm outside again - same time as yesterday with little battery life. My AC adapter is starting to fail on my laptop and my battery is only half charged. I bought a refurbed IBM about a year ago (after my expensive HP laptop bit the dust), but I know the guy I bought it from and he should be able to fix this. It's just annoying.

So - we had ADR's at Biergarten. I wish I could remember the exact time, but I can't. I also wish I could remember what I did when I got home from HS. I hope I did a little pool time. I like pool time with an afternoon cocktail. It probably sounds like I'm a lush, but I'm really not. I just like to have an afternoon drink or two while I'm on vacation and when I can leave the driving to someone else.

The older boys decided to take the bus to Epcot and the Dynamic fivesome set off in the rental car. Like I said before, the AAA parking at Epcot is really convenient. DS 15 couldn't quite understand why we made it to the World showcase before him, when we left after him. Duh????? DS 15 is actually pretty bright, but he had these Duh moments. :confused3

There was quite a line at Biergarten, but I realized that half the line was actually the outdoor beer line. Duh?????? Biergarten .... not sure what that translates to, but I bet it has something to do with Beer .....lots of beer. I actually split a big beer with DH because I was ready to do some eat'in and I thought a big beer drunk all by myself would fill me up!

I liked the food, it was good. I wish I could remember specifics, but I can't. I would have to look at the menu. All I know is the salmon was good. But I always think the salmon is good, cause I like salmon. BUT MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE WAS THE SNITZEL. Is is venier snitzel or wenier snitzel????? OMG - I really have to check the menu so I can find the correct name. :rotfl2: It was breaded, fried pork or some kind of meat. Help me out here! Gosh - I don't know what it was, but it was really good. It was probably the most fattening, least healthy thing on the buffet. But I couldn't stop eating it. The desserts were pretty good, too. Everyone else seemed to enjoy the prime rib, but I am not a huge prime rib fan. All the salads were tasty. Would I eat there again.... Sure! But I still have some other world showcase restaurants I haven't tried yet. Oh, and the entertainment ....very good and fun. I wish I had pics. I think DH left the camera at home.

This was a slow buffet, by the way. This was actually the first time I've seen DH get annoyed in a buffet line. DH was behind some mom who was walking her DD, who could barely reach the buffet table, let alone hold a plate, through the buffet line. The mom was letting this child make all the decisions about what to eat. Do you want to try this? .....pause.....waiting......pause......How about this?.....pause.....waiting...... pause. :confused3 And so on and so on. Well, I thought DH was going to lose it by the time he got back to the table. :scared1:

So funny, because DH never gets inpatient. If it was me, I would have just walked right around that mom and gotten my food. Not DH, he would rather suffer! :rolleyes1 He doesn't want to be rude.:idea:

After Biergarten we had time to see the last show of the American Adventure. We just missed the Voices of Liberty. If I didn't already tell you this...I love the Voices of Liberty. They are so awesomely talented. I wish I could do that. I almost think I might be able to, but with a lot of training. I was not a voice or performing arts major, just a solid recreational musician. I can read music and sing parts, but being part of an 8 or 9 piece acapella group - Not sure if I could do that. They are so flawless. I would always be the one in rehearsal they would all turn to look at. "Opps! My bad. Another wrong note" Anyway - if disney ever offered me a dream job for a day, that would be mine - to sing with the Voices of Liberty.

I also like the American Adventure, but it always makes me cry a little. I get really emotional when that folk song about the two brothers comes up..I forget the words, but something about "One wore blue and one wore grey ...all on a beautiful morning". I like that song because I'm really into folk music. I also like the final song... America.....! I write music and if I could write anything close to those two songs, I would be so proud! I think they are both so well written and each one brings a tear or two to my eyes. That is a sign of a well written piece of music!

Well ....next we head to Illuminations...here's where the fun begins (remember DKT has an accident of sorts). But I have to plug in now and then post some Epcot pics with my next installment.

MEK

09-01-2008, 04:00 PM

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More to Come.....

adsrtw

09-01-2008, 04:57 PM

I'll help you out ~ 7 years of German classes had to have benefited me somehow! Biergarten literally translates to beer garden. Weiner Schnitzel is traditionally made with veal, but many places now use pork instead. It is quite yummy if made right. As far as the diet value ~ it's fried, but you are walking, walking, walking...

Thanks for the review!

MEK

09-01-2008, 09:33 PM

MEK

09-01-2008, 10:04 PM

After AA it was time to stake out a spot for Illuminations. We starting walking in the direction of France. I was hoping we could watch near the bridge between France and England. I wanted to stand on that lower level near the bridge, but it was roped off for a special event. There were two cast members guarding the entrance. They said we could sit or stand in front of the white line, but we could not go over it. OK. So I plopped down right in front of the white line and waited for the show. DH was standing off to the side and I had no idea where DS and dear friends were. When I first sat down there was no one near me, but by the time Illuminations started there were lots of other people sitting.

So....I did my good deed for the day. There was a cute little girl, probably 7 or 8 years old, sitting behind me. I knew she couldn't see, so I said, "Would you like to sit in front of me?". Naturally, she said yes. I asked her where her mom was and told her to ask first before she moved. She did and then she got comfortable in front of me. She had a really good view and so did I because I could see right over her head. She thanked me when the show was over and said it was great! It was her first time seeing it.

DH did not take any pics, but I have some good pics from last year. I got passes to a special viewing area last year when my Teppan Edo ADR had to be changed because it hadn't opened yet. I totally did not expect that, but I'm glad I got them.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007232.jpg

Here we are right up against the fence in front of the lagoon.

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When Illuminations was over DS13 and DFT suddenly show up....laughing....ummhhh ......."what were you up to?", I ask

"Well, you see T got this idea to hop the little fence back there so we could get a better view and everything would have been fine, except when I turned around to see where T was, she got stuck on the fence and ended up rolling down the hill clutching her ankle......There she was, rolling and clutching her ankle. I kept saying...GET UP! :rolleyes1 So some other people came over to help her, but she just layed there and couldn't get up. That's when the Disney people saw us and said we weren't allowed in there. They asked us to leave. " :eek:

OK - you have to know DFT. I could totally see her trying this stunt and I guess DS13 figured he shouldn't leave her alone. Well, when DS told me the story, I laughed so hard. In fact, I laughed straight from France to Spaceship earth. He kept retelling the story with slightly different variations and each time I would laugh harder. I finally had to sit down near Spaceship earth because my side hurt so bad from laughing. :rotfl2: Yeah - this was pretty much me. If I could have laid down to laugh, I would have!

So our day ended after our Epcot adventures. It was a fun day and I was quite ready for cloud 9 :cloud9: Up next.....Father's Day at AK!:cloud9:

spencers_girl

09-02-2008, 12:47 AM

I just found your TR and have read the whole thing to get caught up. Can't wait to read more.

island cricket

09-02-2008, 03:20 AM

Joyciemc

09-02-2008, 10:42 AM

Just found your report and read the whole thing (what better way to spend the morning when I have the day off?). Can't wait for the rest!

MEK

09-02-2008, 03:57 PM

Just found your report and read the whole thing (what better way to spend the morning when I have the day off?). Can't wait for the rest!

Joyciemic -

Thanks for tuning in! I know I can spend a long time reading these boards. One day I was REALLY SLOW at work. I think I had only one or two patients on my service. I read an entire trip report (a long one - ten days) and couldn't wait to get home so I could look at the pics :laughing: (No pics at work).

MEK

09-02-2008, 03:59 PM

Aloha! i am on board and enjoying your TR! I'm jealous that we're so far away, to take the family is about the same as a down payment on a home, however, i do like my views... love your writing, you look great and am looking forward to the rest of the show! thank you for sharing!!popcorn::

Hawaii - very cool! Although I must admit, it is nice to be only a two hour flight from the World. I just wish I was only a 2 hour drive! ;) Thanks for reading my trippie - more to come soon!

MEK

09-02-2008, 04:01 PM

I just found your TR and have read the whole thing to get caught up. Can't wait to read more.

Thanks Spencers girl.....It looks like you have a trip ready to start in a few days....NICE! That's something we can all be jealous of!:wizard:

MEK

09-02-2008, 04:23 PM

Before I begin, I must post a few more Illuminations Pics......

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Well Father's Day didn't turn out exactly as I had originally planned. But that's OK. I was the tour guide and my job was to be F L E X I B L E!

I was really surprised when dear friends K&T announced they wanted to go to AK on Father's Day. The needed to leave mid afternoon to go have Father's Dinner with their relatives. I thought for sure, especially after our abbreviated evening at Epcot, that they would want to spend the morning there. Come on - there was sooooo much they hadn't seen.

But Alas, DFK had in his mind that he wanted or needed to see AK. I love AK, don't get me wrong, but I wanted to get to Epcot at park opening. I actually even toyed with the idea of going back to HS on my own right at park opening just so I could ride TSM. So I went out for a run and contemplated.

Running didn't help. I had run for 8 straight mornings and my legs were heavy, heavy, heavy with lactic acid. It was actually more painful than meditative. It became downright depressing when I passed this spry young blonde in fantastic shape trotting alone like a race horse, happily listening to something in her ipod, while I limped along. I was very careful to make sure she ran in a different direction from me because I knew there was NO WAY I could keep up with her.

Back from my run - decision made - I would go to AK. I tried to get the boys up to see what they wanted to do, but they all decided they were going to sleep in. OK - at least I wouldn't have to wait for slow poke DS13.

It was nice to get to AK right after park opening. I guess you can figure out where we went first - Oh Yeah - EE!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007080.jpg

Sorry - I know I already posted this picture, but it never ceases to amaze me how REAL this looks! Imagineering at its best.

I'm having trouble finding more of my AK pics. I may need to upload some more and now I have to take DS13 to soccer, so I must depart. See ya real soon (I hope)!

MEK

09-04-2008, 09:39 AM

I couldn't post yesterday because I was far too busy. I decided to trade posting for an earlier bed time. I feel well rested this am ;) , but I am at work now and trying to sneak in a post.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007045-2.jpg

So instead of the dynamic fivesome, the dynamic foursome had arrived at AK. After getting FP's for EE, we headed over to the next logical stop (and one of my personal favs, as you know) - Dinosaur. We got right on the search to find "our dino". I use that phrase alot at work. Since most of my heart surgery patients are in the same general area of the hospital, sometimes people think all the patients in that unit are mine. They will start to ask me questions about other patients, like ...."Can Mr. Smith have an order for pain medicine?". I find myself responding, "Not my dino....ummmm..... I mean, not my patient".

I think K&T liked dino....I mean dinosaur. What's not to like? :confused:

After dinosaur, we headed over to Nemo. I wasn't sure whether they would like this show. I didn't know whether they had even heard of Nemo. We barely got into Nemo. Our timing was perfect. We were one of the last twenty or so people to enter the theatre. Seats were going fast. It was at this point that I had a nasty encounter with another parkgoer. This lady was on the step above me and couldn't seem to make up her mind which row to go into. She seemed to be in one of those "I need to get my whole party of 10 in the same row" modes or the "even though there are only about 20 seats left, I need to find the perfect one" mentality.

So when I didn't see her move, I tried to take our party into the empty seats in the row where I was stopped. As soon as she saw me move, she turned around and shot me this glare that added new meaning to the phase "If looks could kill". I immediately recognized I had entered her personal territory. Apparently she had already marked those seats with some unknown scent that I couldn't detect. I calmly said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were going to sit there". (How could I? .....you were turned in the opposite direction). :rolleyes1 She didn't say a word, but HMMMPPPPHHDDDD here way into the row where I was standing. I didn't lose my cool. But I had that adrenaline buzz that one gets one a good fight is about to ensue.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007048-2.jpg

Fortunately Nemo started promptly and my fight or flight response calmed. I sat back and enjoyed the show. I loved this show. It's so unique and quite an imersive experience for me. K, who is especially hard to impress, was surprised at what a high quality performance it was. He said he loved it! :woohoo: Alright, I was back in high gear tour guide mode!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007047-2.jpg

Twingle

09-04-2008, 04:46 PM

Ohh - never been on Dinosaur in my 15+ trips! Have to make it next time. What about it do you enjoy? And, which one is "your" dino?

Inquiring minds and all that.

MEK

09-05-2008, 09:19 AM

Ohh - never been on Dinosaur in my 15+ trips! Have to make it next time. What about it do you enjoy? And, which one is "your" dino?

Inquiring minds and all that.

Hey Twingle....

Thanks for subbing in. I like Dino cause its dark and a bit bumpy and I always remember the "surprise ending" from the first time I rode the ride. You've got to try it and then you'll know which one is my Dino!

MEK

09-05-2008, 09:50 AM

DFK and DFT loved EE :thumbsup2 DFT is a screamer. She screams, laughs, screams again. Yeah, she was wooping it up on EE. :rotfl:

I can't remember exactly what happened after EE. I know at one point I went to get Safari FP's for all. I can't post pics now (because ....shhhhh.....I'm at work), but I promise to add some AK/Safari pics later for your continued viewing pleasure.

Ahhhhhh!
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008491.jpg

So the fabulous foursome hit Kali River Rapids while there was NO LINE! I always want Kali to be twice as long. It's well themed, but it's just too darn short! I don't know what the Imagineers were thinking when they designed that attraction. There must be a reason for its length! :confused3 I would like to know what it is! So, DFT and I put ponchos and we stayed comfortably dry, while the boys got wet! :rotfl: You know no man is going to put a rain poncho on for a water ride! :rolleyes1

After KRR we hit Bug's Life.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008490.jpg

Oh yeah - what was DFT's reaction to the end....Scream, Laugh, Scream! K & T laughed the Tree of Life. Of course - who doesn't.

It was lunch time, but we decided to skip lunch because:
(1) We had been snacking on stuff T brought
and
(2) We just didn't feel like taking to time.

It was right smack in the middle of the lunch crowds, so we used our FP's for Safari. And who do you think I saw on the way over to Safari.......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008497.jpg

There she is.......and Again.......

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On Safari we sat in the very last row. I have never sat past the second or third row, so it was quite a shock to my system when we hit the first bump :scared1: It actually made for a somewhat uncomfortable safari, but we endured. Taking pics was almost pointless. But I did manage to have a few turn out.....

Here is the view from the last row of the vehicle....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008499.jpg

Note: I think Disney should have a contest to see who has the most Safari pics. I must easily have taken 500 over the years. Winner gets a free personalized sunset or sunrise Safari!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008502.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008504.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008518.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008520.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008523.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008527.jpg

DO YOU SEE HIM???? What a Great Life!

After Safari we were all feeling a bit hungry, but K & T needed to leave to pack up and drive home for their Father's Day dinner.

On the way out I decided to stop at guest services to see if I could change my evening ADR. I had an ADR at 4:45 pm at Teppan Edo. I really wanted to eat there, but if you've been following along you know that we've already eaten at Epcot 2 other evenings. I was going to hit Epcot in the morning, so I decided we should go to MK again tonight. I tried to get any dinner ADR I could at MK, but it was hopeless. So I canceled my Teppan Edo ADR. Yeah - I know - but I just couldn't muster the energy to walk all the way to the back of the World Showcase just for dinner.

While I was in guest services I handed the CM my DH's park ticket and asked, "How much to upgrade to a DVC AP?" It was $130. Before my DH had a chance to object, I said, "Let's do it". The CM was new and he originally gave my DH an expiration date of 6/18. In actuality the expiration date should have been 6/10. I told him I thought he was wrong, so he checked with a senior CM and changed it. Yeah - it would have been great to get the extra week. It would have meant a definate trip next June, but I was so afraid the AP wouldn't work that I wanted the situation fixed right then and there. I was super psyched that DH and I both had AP's, because there is only one thing a couple can do when they BOTH have AP's - yup - plan another trip! :woohoo:

Up next... another MK evening and surprise pics from Space Mountain!

Twingle

09-05-2008, 10:33 AM

Hey Twingle....

Thanks for subbing in. I like Dino cause its dark and a bit bumpy and I always remember the "surprise ending" from the first time I rode the ride. You've got to try it and then you'll know which one is my Dino!

Very good - will check it out next summer!

MEK

09-05-2008, 10:51 PM

The few, the proud....

I was going to add pics tonight, but instead I am uploading them (again).I have tried twice and thought they uploaded the last time, but I couldn't find them. So I am trying again,

I took my DS15 to the movies tonight and decided to go shopping instead of going home. I knew I would never go back out. So I am crazy tired tonight. I will definately post pics tomorrow.

ILuvCrush

09-06-2008, 07:23 AM

Patiently trying to wait!!!
popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

MEK

09-06-2008, 07:44 AM

finally....so new AK pics!;)

ILuvCrush

09-06-2008, 04:24 PM

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008520.jpg

WOW...That one of the BEST Safari Elephant pics I've seen on the boards or anywhere... definately one to enter in a contest on the photography boards!!!

Paula

MEK

09-07-2008, 06:22 AM

Thanks I LUV Crush!

That was a total luck shot. I was bouncing around so bad at the back of the safari vehicle, I was basically just snapping pictures haphazzardly! I'm surprised any of the pics turned out!

xoktenox

09-07-2008, 11:25 AM

i love reading these!

MEK

09-07-2008, 02:35 PM

i love reading these!

Thanks. Get ready, cause you have to write one with your next trip! :thumbsup2

nutz2notz

09-07-2008, 04:01 PM

Hi MEK

I found your trip report this morning and just finished reading through the whole thing. What a great time you are all having. I've enjoyed all your pictures as well. :hippie:

Looking forward to the rest of your report. :thumbsup2

MEK

09-07-2008, 04:51 PM

Boo hoo! Our last evening at Disney was here. Oh, wait a minute....I should not be crying, rather I should be happy :lmao: because my DH just got an AP! Not falling down, crazy happy :rotfl2: , just very contented and feeling the magic :cool1:

When I last left off, we were leaving AK with matching AP's. We returned to the villa to have some lunch. Hard to believe that we went straight through lunch. We did about 6 attractions in a little over 4 hours....Dinosaur, Nemo, EE, Kali RR, Bug's Life, & Safari. Not too shabby!

It was probably smart that we were eating at the villa. We still had a good amount of food/beverage that needed to be consumed before our departure. Can you believe the boys hadn't even left the villa? :sad2: They were still watching.........well, you should know by now what they were watching! :laughing:

After lunch, K&T packed up to head back to Daytona. I'm sure I probably started doing some prepacking :laundy: I actually did :laundy: three times during this trip. It's true what everyone says about having the washer and dryer in the villa......too convenient! And it's true that coming home with most clean clothes is GREAT!

DH and I decided to hit the High Rocks Pool (I'm still not sure if that's the right name). This was my 12th night (between two trips) at SSR and it was the first time I had ventured to the main pool to actually swim. It was fairly crowded and most of the chairs were taken. We managed to find a few. Not surprisingly, the skies continued to get more overcast by the time we arrived at the pool.

A little side note here - I really prefer crystal clear blue pools to the natural pools. I know it is for effect, but they always seem a little dirty to me. I don't have a pool at home, nor do I belong to one, so swimming in a nice clear blue pool is a treat to me. It's always been my vision of what a pool should look like. I do, however, like the zero entry of the main pool at SSR. Very nice. I'm getting to old to be hauling my butt over the side of a pool, which is what I often do if I'm not near the ladder.

Well, darn, it was getting a little chilly, so DH and I hopped into one of the hot tubes. Ahhhhhhhhhh! We started talking to this really nice young couple with 2 preschool kids. They had just arrived at SSR after 4 nights at Vero. The couple had surprised their kids with the Disney part of their stay. I kept wondering if I was talking to a fellow Diser during our conversation, because she seemed pretty knowledgeable about all things Dis. Maybe she's out there on the boards. :confused3 Definately had a real southern accent and I think they had driven from Louisiana or Mississippi or one of those southern states that I have never been to. I know they had a prior stay at SoG. If you're out there sub on in!

Anyway, such a nice couple who didn't seem to be bothered by talking to us old farts!

When the wind really started to pick up, I actually felt like I could use a sweatshirt. So we packed up and went over to see if we could take a tour of the AK villas. My DH has never seen them and I thought it might get him interested in a stay there. Unfortunately, the villas did not open until 5pm for general viewing, so we decided to go back and get changed for our evening.

So with our teppan edo ADR cancelled, and no dinner reservations, we decided to head into my favorite night time park.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007271.jpg

It's no surprise where we went. The boys went with us, but, of course the older boys went on a different bus! Heaven forbid that they ride with us.

When we arrived we did our typical first arrival ritual......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007099.jpg

We got FP's for Space with a return time of 10:15pm. That was cool. We could do space and then watch the 11pm parade - perfect.....or so I thought.:rolleyes1

So what do you think DH asked to do next?????? OMG....he said, "Let's go on CoP"? I said.....Hey wait .....I think you already know what I said, "NO FREAK'N WAY!" Twice was enough and I will surely go on it in December, but not tonight. It was my last night in MK, I had rides to ride and things to see! So I think we rode Buzz and the Blue Line. Sheeesh ......we were getting soooooo predicatable!

We actually ate dinner in the Noodle Terrace. I have never eaten there before and was curious about the food, so it seemed like a good choice. The lady in the line in front of me ordered a bunch of food. She had like 6 or 8 sodas. When her order came, something was definately amiss. All I remember is she kept saying, "That is the only reason I came here" . I kept wondering, what was the only reason she came there?????? Tell me, please!!. What could have gone so horribly wrong with her food that she demanded a full refund on her entire order????? I had to know! I never did find out, but I do think all the CM's involved took the whole thing in stride. They were very gracious and did exactly what she asked. It just was hard to see all the food and those beverages go to waste. :sad2: I hope it wasn't a food allergy thing. I guess I'll never no.

So who do you think shows up to eat at the same time ????? Oh yeah, DS15 and DSF. Do you think they sat down and ate with us? Of course not! They only tolerated us when we went for the good TS meals! Where was the love? :hug:

OK - I am going to post a few random MK pics and I will be back to post later. I still have some pics to upload and I can't do that on this computer. I am using the really nice HP laptop that we got DS for his birthday. It just didn't work out well for him because of the Vista and because of some mechanical problems. DH obviously got HP to fix it, because it is working like a charm now. Wow, I wish I could keep this computer, but the vista won't interface with all my music recording and notation software. But I digress....Back later tonight or tomorrow!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007098.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007097.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007095.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007096.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007267.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007270.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007272.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007277.jpg

MEK

09-07-2008, 09:27 PM

xoktenox

09-08-2008, 08:17 PM

Thanks. Get ready, cause you have to write one with your next trip! :thumbsup2

I'm contemplating starting a PTR but everyone on here is so good I don't know if I can match up. Keep up the good work! :banana:

ILuvCrush

09-09-2008, 08:50 AM

I'm contemplating starting a PTR but everyone on here is so good I don't know if I can match up. Keep up the good work! :banana:

Go For It!!! I'll be happy to come along for the ride!!

Paula

DisneyTiger

09-09-2008, 01:35 PM

xoktenox

09-09-2008, 08:14 PM

great TR i sit at my computer and read it in a daze lol:lmao:

pl'smama

09-09-2008, 09:57 PM

Just caught up with your great TR MEK and it is wonderful! You have such a great sense of humour. Love your photos!

Suz

MEK

09-10-2008, 10:06 PM

Yay! I'm back and all caught up! What a great report. You are getting me so excited for my trip, now that I don't have to worry about Ike! I love all the pics. Looks like y'all had great weather. Thanks so much for sharing.

So how was the noodle station? I have it as a maybe for us to eat there!

Thanks for checking in. this is the longest I've gone without posting because my life has suddenly taken a turn towards crazy! I haven't even had a hot second to update at work.

The Noodle station was fair. I don't think it's as good as Peco Bill's or columbia Harbor house as far as counter service goes. But I'm glad I tried it and I would eat there again.

MEK

09-10-2008, 10:09 PM

great TR i sit at my computer and read it in a daze lol:lmao:

I promise an update is coming. I am in a marching band (yeah I'm an adult band geek) and we have a competition this Saturday, so I've been practicing. Plus I am singing in a wedding next weekend and I am trying desperately to learn some songs without the sheet music. I think have too much on my plate right now. I do have some cool surprise pics that I really need to post. I know I can do it soon!

MEK

09-10-2008, 10:11 PM

Just caught up with your great TR MEK and it is wonderful! You have such a great sense of humour. Love your photos!

Suz

Thanks pl'smama. I am glad you are enjoying it. I started it so long ago that I really should go back and look at some of my pics because I can't remember which ones I've posted. :rotfl:

The exciting conclusion will be here soon!

MEK

09-12-2008, 10:23 AM

Phew....it has been a rough week! :surfweb: This is one of the few moments I have had to sit at the computer this entire week. September is always a tough month for me - school starts, soccer starts, marching band competition, choir starts, ect.

I can't wait until I have carefree Septembers again. As soon as I do I plan to spend one quiet week at the Delaware beaches and one fun week at the world! I can't wait to go to the world in September, because it is my favorite weather month of the whole year!

So, when I left off last we had just finished eating dinner at the Noodle Terrace. We left there and walked through the castle. In there I took a picture of one of the tile pictures on the wall.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008543-1.jpg

When I took the KTTK tour we learned something interesting about this tile picture. I just can't remember what it was. :confused3 I was hoping that taking the picture might jog my memory. In three months it has not, so I guess I will never be able to share that little trivia factoid that is stored somewhere in my pre-geriatric brain.

I know it has something to do with one of the Imagineers that worked at WDW. In fact, most of the details at MK have something to do with former Imagineers. All those names that you see in the windows were former Imagineers. Pretty cool, I think, to have your name live on eternally in the MK.

I hate to admit this, but most of my last evening at MK is blurry. I'm not sure why - I think it has something to do with it being my last evening, so events are running together. I do think we visited HH again, because HH is always a do-over in my book. I force myself to look for Hidden Mickeys in HH because I know there are several. Of course, the only one I ever seem to find is the last place setting on the left in the Dining Room. I wish I could find more, but my brain just isn't programmed at looking for details. Some people see every detail - I see none. "Did you see that butterfly over there?" :hippie: "Huh, what butterfly?" "Oh, that one". :sad2:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008334.jpg

After HH I know we HAD to go on one the mountains again. I just can't remember if we did both or one mountain. I want to say that we did BOTH mountains again, because that makes me sound more hard core than if I had only done ONE mountain.

I do know that we never did POC or the Jungle Cruise. I wanted to do the JC at night. I don't particularly care for the ride during the daytime, because it's just a bit campy. But I really wanted to ride it at night time. I thought it would take on a whole new feel. But the wait time was posted at 45 minutes. :confused3 The wait time for JC is always long. Why is the posted time always so long??????? And is the wait really that long?????? Anyway, I am riding JC at night when I go in December. No matter what the wait time, I am doin' it!

I'm pretty sure we did the Hall of Presidents. DS13 likes this and so does DH. I think the animatronics are great in this attraction, so I do enjoy it for its educational value. I like to the educational attractions. I like this attraction because it always makes me feel a bit more Patriotic!

When I return later to night, I promise to post some pics. I've been promising for several days, but I'm really gonna do it tonight.

I also want to tell you what happened when we finally made our way back to our final ride on Space! But you're gonna have to wait to find out! popcorn::

heaven2dc

09-12-2008, 01:07 PM

MEK

09-14-2008, 06:29 PM

I just found this report again and love it! I hate to see it end :sad1: I hope to take my DS15 on my December trip (I'm saying hope because it originally was going to be just me and my DBFF but we're not "best" of friends anymore and not sure if she is still planning to go or not. I really want to take my DS15 since he hasn't had a chance to go yet. I think he'd rather take a friend too but maybe I can convince his brother (21) to go. I'd really like some mom/son time with DS15 since he is growing up so fast and still is in the liking-his-mom mode).

I'm going to do it again and ask a silly question but what is CoP and the Blue Line? I'm terrible with abbreviations!

Heaven2dc - Oh you should definately take your DS15. He will love it if he has never gone before. He shouldn't need a friend for a mom/son trip. My DS15 has been to the world many times, so now he thinks he is just too cool to go with just his parents. The last time we went as a family, before this trip, he was really a PITA. We got so sick of him one day, we left him home alone in the room. By the time we got back from the park he was happy to see us!

CoP - Carousel of Progress

Blue Line - That's what I call that little monorail type thing in tomorrow land. I think it is also called TTA - Tomorrowland Transit Authority?????? and sometimes I've heard it referred to as the peoplemover.

Thanks for stopping by my trippie!

MEK

09-14-2008, 07:03 PM

Gosh - I missed my trippie!

My week has been ridiculous crazy. My band competition is over. Yeah! I did not go to the after party, so I don't know whether we won or not! Isn't that terrible. I hope we did, cause if we didn't I don't want it to be my fault! :lmao:

So, I uploaded some more pics and I realized that we did do BOTH mountains that night! How do I know.....check out this pic. It could have only been taken on our last night! I am certified hard core. :laughing:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008546-1.jpg

DH is big for taking pics inside of Splash. No pics of the inside of BTM, but I know we did that one.

So after our trip through advertureland we decided to head back to Space. Our FP's were for 10:15 and it was 10:30 when we got there. Here are some cool night time pics courtesy of DH.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008538-1.jpg

OK - not exactly night time, but you get the idea!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008537-1.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008540-1.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008542-1.jpg

And, of course, ta da.........a few more fireworks!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008550-1.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008551-1.jpg

Wait.....here are the real night time pics.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008572-1.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008569-1.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008568-1.jpg

So we finally made it over to tomorrowland and we got a text from DS15 that said they were on the blue line and Space was down. Not only was space down, but ............

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008565.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008566.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008554.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008563-1.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008564-1.jpg

I think you know what these pics mean.....THE LIGHTS WERE UP! I have never seen that before. I know it happens, but its never happened to me. I figured lights up meant that the ride would be down for a while. So we jumped on the blue line and rode it a few times to get pics of space mountain in the light!

By the time we got off the blue line, it was time for the 11pm parade to start. DH, DS13, and I were beat. We did not want to wait to see if space came up again, so we went out to main street to watch the parade. We found a nice family of 4 and offered them our FP's, just in case Space readied itself for riders. Yeah - I know we only had 3 FP's, but I figured one of the parents would give up their ride for their kids. That family looked like they were there for the duration b/c they had their EMH bracelets (which no one seemed to be checking yet!)

We watched a bit of the parade and called it a night. Word of note - the 11pm parade is much better to watch than the 9pm parade. I didn't think 2 hours would make a difference, but it did. From now on, I will only watch the late parade.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008562-1.jpg

This is a picture of Buzz, taken from the blue line.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008570-1.jpg

Here is DS13 in one of his final poses!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/th_DisneyJune2008552.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/?action=view&current=DisneyJune2008552.flv)

Here is a link to a 5 second video!

MEK

09-15-2008, 08:45 AM

When we got home from MK I really wanted to go right to sleep, but DS15 and friend were still at MK. Ugggghhhhhh! I was so tired that I could not wait up for them. As soon as they texted me (12:35pm) that they were on the bus, I went right to dream land. :worship: :cloud9: :worship:

Our last day came early, at least for me. I wanted to get packed and to the parks. I also needed to add a final day to each of the kid's park tickets. That took all of 5 minutes and about $12. What a bargain.

I finished the laundry and packed and packed and packed and threw out trash and food. It is really difficult to pack up a villa, especially when the kids won't get the heck up and out of bed. DSF was up and packed early, but my kids would not get up.

Breakfast was an ordeal because we tried to eat everything in sight, pack some food for the park, and throw out the left overs. I hate to waste food, so this was hard for me. We had some soda and water left over that I gave to some lady in the parking lot who was just checking in. We had what we needed for the parks and we couldn't take it to the airport.

The car was packed! I mean packed! I had made arrangements for DS15, DSF, and I to take ME back to the airport, while DH and DS13 returned the car. We did not have to be back for ME until 5pm b/c we had a very late flight (8:30pm).

So what time do you think we actually made it to the parks...... And which park do you think we went to? :confused: Any guesses?

MEK

09-15-2008, 01:44 PM

We decided to go to Epcot for our last day, since we had only be to Epcot in the evening. I still held out hope that I would be able to get a Soarin FP, but I soon realized that would be impossible since we did not get to the park until almost 11am. :scared: Freak'n kids! :sad2: This is when I decided that I definately needed a trip with DH sans kids.

When we arrived in the future world everything had long wait times and the FP return for Soarin was 5:30. We would be well on our way to MCO by then. Wait times for TT were 60 mins and probably 40 mins for MS. Even Living with the Land had a 40 min wait time (except the wait time on this attraction is never correct).

We decided just to head straight to the World Showcase. DS15 and his friend went another direction. I was a little bummed because it occured to me that I missed several of my fav rides this trip - Soarin, Test Track, Star Wars - and of course, Toy Story Mania - because my timing was bad for FP's and I don't do Stand by lines. I tried to just suck it up - this trip wasn't all about me. I've done commando trips. I've done a solo trip. This time I did a - lets please a larger group trip. I consoled myself by recognizing that this was not my first trip to Disney, nor would it be my last. I'LL BE BAAAACCCCKKK! I told myself.

We hit the Maelstrom in Norway. There's some cool scenery in this ride and I think I would like it much better if it was just a little longer. The movie at the end of the ride was broken and they apologized for that????? I think they should apologize for putting the movie at the end of the ride! I actually felt like this :woohoo: when I realized I got to skip the movie!

DH had never been to the movie in China, so we headed there next. I like this movie - the scenery is great. I actually like all the movies in the World Showcase. Even when I have to stand. I just can't get enough of the magical scenery.

We went into the gift shop at the conclusion of the movie. I work with some health nuts, so I decided to puchase some green and white teas to take back to work. I also found this beautiful glass hummingbird that I bought for the neighbor who feeds my cats. I usually get her something in Germany, but everything was way too expensive this trip. I used to be able to find some reasonably priced china or Christmas ornament, but not anymore. Anything nice was well outside of my price range. My neighbor usually gives me a hard time when I bring her back a gift, but that doesn't stop me. Three cats X 9 days of boarding - well....you do the math. Not to mention that I onced boarded Max, my favorite cat, b/c he was on medicine, and he was super stressed out when I picked him up. He has long black fur and it was just falling out in huge tufts. So, I bought my neighbor this really pretty hummingbird (b/c she has h-bird feeders all over her backyard) and I got her a lovely hanging plant. I think she liked the hanging plant better than the hummingbird, but that's OK. It really was a nice planter and I almost kept it for myself. Ha ha!

After China we went over to eat burgers at USA. I actually brought a sandwich with me from our left over food, but DH and DS13 bought food. The line was ridiculously slow - I think DH waited over 1/2 hour. I think it started to rain while we were in there and the place filled up with people trying to escape the rain.

After our very slow, long lunch we set out to see the rest of the world showcase. Back soon with pics!

MEK

09-15-2008, 09:57 PM

Well, heck my trippie almost over and I've had some nice readers. I appreciate that. I really do! Now I am going to post a couple of Epcot pics and bump my report to, hopefully, get another reader or two before the exciting conclusion.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007203.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007207.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007350.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007349.jpg

More to follow

wdwnomad

09-15-2008, 10:05 PM

Can't wait to hear the rest of your report. I've really enjoyed reading it. So sad when it all has to come to an end....

wdwnomad

09-15-2008, 10:16 PM

So, when I left off last we had just finished eating dinner at the Noodle Terrace. We left there and walked through the castle. In there I took a picture of one of the tile pictures on the wall.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008543-1.jpg

When I took the KTTK tour we learned something interesting about this tile picture. I just can't remember what it was. :confused3 I was hoping that taking the picture might jog my memory. In three months it has not, so I guess I will never be able to share that little trivia factoid that is stored somewhere in my pre-geriatric brain.

Ok so I pulled out my handy little Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom to see if your mosaic was any where in it. Guess what? It was! I can only hope that this is what you are trying to remember. In it is says, "The tile mosaic in the Castle breezeway was designed by Dorothy Redmond. It features hundreds of thousands of tiles, including over 500 different colors plus 14K gold and real silver. There were even colors developed for the red rouge of the jealous stepsister and green for the envious one." In the bottom left hand corner there are the stepsisters.

I hope this is what you wanted remember. I always hate when that happens.

pl'smama

09-15-2008, 11:00 PM

Can't wait for the exciting conclusion and I am happy to know the secret of the tile mosaic!!

Suz

DisneyTiger

09-15-2008, 11:12 PM

I sure am going to miss you. I love this report.:sad:

MEK

09-16-2008, 08:41 AM

Ok so I pulled out my handy little Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom to see if your mosaic was any where in it. Guess what? It was! I can only hope that this is what you are trying to remember. In it is says, "The tile mosaic in the Castle breezeway was designed by Dorothy Redmond. It features hundreds of thousands of tiles, including over 500 different colors plus 14K gold and real silver. There were even colors developed for the red rouge of the jealous stepsister and green for the envious one." In the bottom left hand corner there are the stepsisters.

I hope this is what you wanted remember. I always hate when that happens.

wdwnomad -

You rock! I'm sure this is what the tour guide told us, but I think I was suffering from postlunch lethargy at the time. wow - 500 different colors, that is so cool.

Thanks so much for the information! :thumbsup2

MEK

09-16-2008, 08:42 AM

Can't wait for the exciting conclusion and I am happy to know the secret of the tile mosaic!!

Suz

Thanks for pl'smama. I am just about reading to wrap this puppy up!

MEK

09-16-2008, 08:44 AM

I sure am going to miss you. I love this report.:sad:

Disney Tiger:

Thanks. I'm so glad you like my report. I am a bit sorry that things are coming to a close, but you give me inspiration to write a new trip report when I do my "adults only" version on WDW in December! Plus I know exactly what type of pics I want to take for that report! ;)

fireworks fan

09-16-2008, 11:29 AM

No-its almost over:guilty: More, More:) :)

heaven2dc

09-16-2008, 03:57 PM

MEK

09-16-2008, 09:55 PM

No-its almost over:guilty: More, More:) :)

I'm trying to think of a creative way to drag this out! :idea:

MEK

09-16-2008, 09:57 PM

Oh man!!! It can't be over (well almost but still....) :sad1: I've had such a great time reading (and relating) to your TR and love your pics. But at least there will be another TR from your next trip, right? :worship:

Thanks heaven2dc. Having readers like you guys made writing this so much more fun! I'll definately do another trippie! In fact, I may start a pre trippie soon!

MEK

09-16-2008, 10:35 PM

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007003-1.jpg

By the way - This is Max, my favorite cat. I think he is much prettier in real life. I adopted him from the SPCA. He was already a year old when I got him. He is probably the nicest cat I've ever had. He has a dog's personality.

So, after the rain, we headed out of America and bopped over to Morocco and then France. Since DH had never seen the France film, I coaxed him into it. He was really more interested in seeing the film from this country.....

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007471.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008033.jpg

Here are some more pics of the world showcase......
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008030.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008032.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008034.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008036.jpg

I do like that Canadian film, even with Martin short in it! I am surprised at how many famous Canadians there are (they show them at the end of the film, but there is no Sarah Maclachlin - who is my fav singer/songwriter even though I can't spell her name)

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008037.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008038.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008046.jpg

This pic was taken from China......

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007396.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008029.jpg[/IMG

[IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008054.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008056.jpg

It's hard to believe that we spent the enitre afternoon in the world showcase watching the films, eating, and shopping, but now it was almost time to head back to the resort to pick up ME.

On our way out we did go through spaceship earth one more time. I like the refurbed version of this ride, although I still think its a bit stuffy in certain parts of the ride. Stuffy as in claustrophobic.

I like entering my hometown at the end of the ride, but this time I royally messed up and somehow entered that I was from Virginia Beach. How the heck did I do that????? Any way I noticed the largest precent of people were from the midatlantic region, where I live, or New York city area. I guess this is not surprising.

After SpE we hopped a bus back to the resort to get our luggage out of the car. We were just pulling up to the ME loading area when it arrived. Not much time for good byes - DS15, DSF and I headed back to MCO via ME. We got there soooooo early for an 8:30 pm flight. Did I mention I got a fabulous price on this flight and could not rebook it for an earlier flight at the same price.

When we got to the airport DS15 and friend decided that they needed to eat. They ordered their food and left with me with just enough cash for a slice of pizza and a drink. I was missing my magical room key/charge card already.

DH and DS13 went to DTD to pick up a last minute gift for another neighbor and his son. They did not arrive at the airport until a much more reasonable time.

Next up .....Did our flight leave on time????? What do you think???? Followed by a recap of the highlights of my trip! :thumbsup2

ILuvCrush

09-16-2008, 10:35 PM

Thanks heaven2dc. Having readers like you guys made writing this so much more fun! I'll definately do another trippie! In fact, I may start a pre trippie soon!

Yay!! a pretrippie!!! I'll need it to keep my #hours on DIS up above 5/day!!:lmao: :lmao:

Paula

MEK

09-17-2008, 10:07 AM

Yay!! a pretrippie!!! I'll need it to keep my #hours on DIS up above 5/day!!:lmao: :lmao:

Paula

Yeah - me too!

MEK

09-17-2008, 10:17 AM

So..... our flight did leave on time! But it almost didn't! When we arrived it was On Time, then it mysteriously got delayed to a 9:45pm depature. Not good - I was planning on working the next day and I was due at work at 7am. I knew if the flight got pushed back any further, we would be spending the night in Orlando. Not that I have a problem with that, mind you, but I would need to tell my coworkers.

So we sat in the terminal and I decided to kill time by checking my 200 plus emails that I had left unattended all week. I brought my computer with me with the intention of using the free internet service for DVC members, but I never did. I just never felt like taking the time. I guess if I had a 2 week trip planned I would eventually need to use my computer. But there was no need during this trip and I was sure a peek into my inbox would ruin the magic!

No sooner had I deleted the majority of my 250 emails, we got the announcement that our flight would be leaving on time afterall.....we were rescheduled for 8:40 which was only about 15 mins late. Yeah!!!!

The funny thing was....that earlier 6pm flight that I had coveted for so long and wanted to rebook for $59, but never could b/c I could never get all 5 flights for $59, ended up leaving right before us. So, I'm glad I saved the $100! (Phew - talk about a run on sentence).

Our flight home was uneventful. In fact, we actually ended up landing earlier than our posted arrival time. Gotta luv SWA :love: they rock!

MEK

09-17-2008, 10:54 AM

Now that I am done my trip report and it took me about a month to write it, I have decided to recap some of the highlights of my trip. I think I may even go back and do a little pictorial recap so I can throw in a few more of my 800 photos.

So here are some of the HIGHLIGHTS of my trip.......

1. Joining DVC - I am so glad I joined. The customer service, accomodations and ease of use are wonderful. I feel so connected to Disney just by knowing I belong to DVC and that I can, theoretically, plan a trip anytime I desire.

2. Vero Beach - I loved this resort. I definately think all Disney lovers should incorporate a VB stay into one of their trips. I look forward to returning. My idea of a great trip would be to spend 4 or 5 nights at Vero (let's say Sunday night to Friday am), leave and spend 2 nights (Sat/Sun) at the Contemporary MK view or the Poly, and then 4 or 5 nights in another 2 BR villa anywhere on property. Awesome - I hope I get to do that some day!

3. My DH purchasing an Annual Pass - that was a sweet moment! and a reason for my next trip!

4. Staying in a 2BR Villa - I don't care what anyone says, the 2BR villas are super sweet. They are so spacious and such a great, comfortable way to vacation. I will always stay 2BR from now on when I am with my kids. It gives me so much flexibility.

5. Bringing a friend for DS15 - priceless. Allowing my son to have his "freedom" while still under my thumb in my favorite place was great. I had no safety concerns and the text messaging communication worked great.

Now for some "Best Of" moments......

1. Best New Attraction ..... I like to try at least one new attraction in any park during each trip. My BEST new attraction should have been Toy Story Mania - but we all know what happened there. No standby line for me, so no TSM. So, the only new attraction I did this trip was Carousel of Progress. By default, CoP wins...."It's a great big beau......Ahhhhh, forget it!"

2. Best New Restaurant......Well, I was supposed to try 2 new TS's this trip, but since I canceled my ADR to Teppan Edo, Beirgarten wins by default. I did like Beirgarten, but I will probably try all the other TS in Epcot before I go back again, except for possibly the beer

3. Best Overall New Experience......Discovering late nights and EMH at the MK. Since I usually travel in late August I was never exposed to the late side of MK and the 11pm parade. I really had no problem with just doing MK by night. It was fun and I got to do all the rides I wanted (although I really wanted to ride Space a second time)

4. Best Old Restuarant .... Ohana's....this meal was great. My favorite was the chicken wing appetiziers and the shrimp! Super yummy!

5. Best Old Attraction..... ToT .....I think I enjoyed this ride alot because of the group factor and b/c I could see how amused DFK was when I captured his smile on the group photo.

6. Most Magical Moment.....for me it was when I made room for that little girl to sit in front of me during Illuminations. I know she never would have had such an unobstructed view of the show if I hadn't moved to make room for her. I felt pretty good about doing that, b/c I know there are a lot of adults who wouldn't. :wizard:

7. Most Annoying Moment .... Probably was when I got into that near altercation with the women at Nemo, the musical. I don't know why I let that kind of stuff bother me, but I do. :rolleyes1

8. Most Painful Moment.....when I gave myself whiplash on the slide at Vero Beach. Ouch!

9. Most Peaceful Moment.....lying on the beach chairs under the umbrella at VB vs. the quiet pool at saratoga springs

10. Most Hysterical Moment....When DFT and DS13 hopped the rope into a restricted area of Illuminations and DFT tripped and rolled down the hill into a CM.

11. Moment I Would Most Like to Forget.....Dressing up in biker tee shirts to embarass DS15 at the High Springs Pools. :sad2:

Well, I think that is most of moments, although I am sure I will think of more. I will be back to post a few more pics and a few final thoughts including the prologue of my December mini trip!

pl'smama

09-17-2008, 10:45 PM

Great, great TR!! I am sad it is over. Thanks for taking us along on your wonderful vacation. I can't wait to see the new PTR!!

Suz

MEK

09-18-2008, 09:09 AM

Great, great TR!! I am sad it is over. Thanks for taking us along on your wonderful vacation. I can't wait to see the new PTR!!

Suz

Thanks pl'smama. I am really glad you stuck with me to the end. I am going to include a pre itinerary to the end of this report. I still want to post a few additional pics, but I got so tired last night I fell asleep holding my lap tap. :rotfl:

pl'smama

09-18-2008, 10:13 PM

Thanks pl'smama. I am really glad you stuck with me to the end. I am going to include a pre itinerary to the end of this report. I still want to post a few additional pics, but I got so tired last night I fell asleep holding my lap tap. :rotfl:

I will be waiting and watching! Thanks for the heads up.

Suz

MEK

09-22-2008, 02:56 AM

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007045-2.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007238.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/Disney2007269.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/DisneyJan2008160.jpg

MDMagicMom

09-22-2008, 04:12 AM

Sorry to join in at the end but for some reason, I love to read about the whole trip at once. Sounds like you had a great time. Makes me excited for my trip. 29 days!:goodvibes

MEK

09-22-2008, 08:47 AM

Sorry to join in at the end but for some reason, I love to read about the whole trip at once. Sounds like you had a great time. Makes me excited for my trip. 29 days!:goodvibes

MDMagicMom ---- I hope you have a fantastic trip! I look forward to the time when I can go to the world during the Halloween festivities!

MEK

09-22-2008, 10:26 AM

I can't help myself, but I have to tell you a little about my upcoming trip! I think it ties in with my June Trip report, because if it wasn't for my June trip, I wouldn't be planning a December trip! :thumbsup2 When my DH upgraded to an AP, that was all the extra incentive I needed to start planning. This trip was to be a bit different though, NO KIDS! ;) NO KIDS for 2 Reasons.....Kids go to school in December and Kids sleep too freak'n late (as you well know if you have been reading my trip report).

Actually 3 reasons for no KIDS- KIDS are more points and since we already borrowed a bunch of 2009 points for our first trip, we literally could not "afford" more points for a December trip, especially if we want to return next summer for a 2BR stay. We will already be borrowing next years points for life.

I think I started calling member services about a week after I got home from the June trip. I really wanted to go back the week after Thanksgiving or the following week. I thought that would be best. Soccer season would be over and we wouldn't be leaving too close to Christmas.

Apparently every other DVC'r had the same idea, because when I called there was absolutely nothing available for 3 midweek nights during the first two weeks of December. The helpful CM told me that January was "wide open"! Boy that was tempting, except for one small problem - my AP expired 1/5/09. That would mean I would have to leave 1/3 in order to get 2 1/2 days on my AP. I wanted to come home on 1/7, which meant 1 1/2 days with no AP. :eek: Sure, I could renew, but I wasn't planning on getting another AP until summer. What was a girl to do? :rolleyes1

Well I thought about it, then thought about it some more, then I called to check for openings again. Nothing during those first two weeks. So I said to the CM, "What about 12/14-17?" I fully expected a negative response, but lo and behold, those dates were available at SSR. I'll take it! :woohoo: :yay: :woohoo:

I really didn't want to leave so close to Christmas, but hey, I think I can make the sacrifice. Maybe I will just have to do a little less Christmas decorating around the house. Maybe I will only do music for one Christmas mass, instead of the usual three. I will make do!

So, that's the skinny - DH and I are flying to MCO on 12/13 and staying one night at POFQ at the AP rate and then 3 nights at SSR - hopefully with the requested DTD view! We have two special dinners planned - one at The Brown Derby and one at the California Grill! We also have one character breakfast planned at the Crystal Palace (one of my personal favs because I love the characters). We may also go the Christmas party, although we are still undecided. We also have one meal planned at the Plaza. I hope to see Illuminations and catch a showing of Fantasmic! I can't wait to ride TSM and make up for the few rides I missed in June. I may also take DH to see the Christmas parade at AK. It's one of my personal favs!

So, thanks folks for tuning in. I want to post a few more pictures tonight and then I am signing off.

ILuvCrush

09-22-2008, 10:49 AM

yay!! pretrippie notes!!! It sounds like you and DH will have a wonderful kiddo-free couple of days:hug:

Paula

bayoumama2

10-02-2008, 11:16 PM

Finally catching up on your TR since the end of August. Have been MIA since the two hurricanes. We almost had to cancel our 11/22 - 11/29 trip, but was able to make that final payment. :woohoo:

You're a wonderful writer and could relate to many things you said and LMAO several times. I can only hope that I can do as a good job if I decide to do one. I really enjoyed your TR and am looking forward to the adults only version.

MEK

10-04-2008, 11:04 AM

Bayoumama -

Thanks for checking back in on my trippie. I never did update with more pics. My bad. I just sort of ran out of steam! I appreciate your kind compliments. I hope you do decide to do a trippie in the future. I will be curious to go back and read mine as more time passes and I hope to do a report on my Dec trip. I want to take ALL the pics this time. My DH will have to get his own camera!

ILuvCrush

10-06-2008, 07:53 AM

Have you started a PTR for December trip yet??? I keep looking, but havven't come up with anything .....

Paula

MEK

10-07-2008, 09:33 PM

No. I haven't. I guess I am afraid I don't have that much to say yet, but what the heck, maybe I will.

Hey - you only have a few more days until you leave, right???? I hope you have a fantabulous time! I can't wait to read your trippie. I really, really want to go to the Halloween party, so I am so jealous, but this is the absolute worst time of year for me to travel.

Oh - you know what occurred to me today - I think DH and I return from our trip on the same evening as my son's fine arts festival at school. That's too bad, cause we're gonna miss it.

kschafer

10-26-2008, 09:21 PM

Hi MEK! :wave2:
I promised I would come over and check out your TR, I've slowly been working my way through it and enjoying it so much.

Your pics are really quite beautiful. Vero beach sounds wonderful and relaxing. I would enjoy this after several crazy days at WDW. SSR also looks wonderful.

I got such a kick out of this comment from you! :lmao:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee279/mekopp/More%20disney/DisneyJune2008264.jpg

Here I am with my "pooky" look. It's my "hurry up our ADR is in 5 minutes and we have to walk to the world showcase. Now is not the time for pictures" look. It's also my "maybe I really didn't need that rum drink at the pool" look. I guess it might also double for my "I can't walk another step, my feet hurt" look. See, a picture really does speak a thousand words.

I will join you in that rum drink by the pool!

I also just read that you work in cardiac surgery and I wanted to say how much I admire you. My DS4 was 2 weeks old when he was diagnosed with a heart defect and had surgery to repair it. It was a frightening, confusing time and his nurses were wonderful! I have so much admiration for health care workers.

I just read further and realized we were in Epcot of the same evening (Not sure if there were not dates before or I just noticed them) That was a beautiful night at Epcot! We were not onsite yet so we couldn't ride anything but we sure enjoyed walking around world showcase after Illuminations on our "date night"

faerieprincess

10-29-2008, 04:19 PM

MEK

11-01-2008, 06:53 AM

Hi MEK! :wave2:
I promised I would come over and check out your TR, I've slowly been working my way through it and enjoying it so much.

I also just read that you work in cardiac surgery and I wanted to say how much I admire you. My DS4 was 2 weeks old when he was diagnosed with a heart defect and had surgery to repair it. It was a frightening, confusing time and his nurses were wonderful! I have so much admiration for health care workers.

I just read further and realized we were in Epcot of the same evening (Not sure if there were not dates before or I just noticed them) That was a beautiful night at Epcot! "

Thanks for reading! Epcot was great that evening. I am glad that your DS4 is doing well after his heart surgery. I only worked in pediatric open heart briefly, but I really liked it. The parents were awesome! I just had so much more experience with adults that I focused on adults when I became an NP. I've always wanted to go back and work with kids, but I am content doing what I do now.

MEK

11-01-2008, 06:55 AM

Okay, i haven't gotten very far but i have to say the fireworks photos in Post 72 are amazing!! i'm enjoying what i've read so far - luckily it's a quiet afternoon at work so i get to keep reading for a while! :woohoo:

Hey, thanks for reading! If you like my photos, you need to check out I Luv Crush's solo trip report. Her photos are simply amazing! They have me inspired to take more photos when I go in December and I am keeping the camera away from DH. He lets too many people in front of him!

ILuvCrush

11-01-2008, 07:16 AM

Hey, thanks for reading! If you like my photos, you need to check out I Luv Crush's solo trip report. Her photos are simply amazing! They have me inspired to take more photos when I go in December and I am keeping the camera away from DH. He lets too many people in front of him!

:blush: Awwww you're making me blush!!
Paula

MEK

11-01-2008, 07:25 AM

Hey Paula -

I was just checkin for your trippie and your checking mine! Nice!

Oh yeah - you are the best with the camera! :worship:

MEK

11-02-2008, 05:05 PM

I'm not sure what the rules are for trip reports. Perhaps I am going to break a rule by posting a December pre-trip update. I can't believe its been 4 1/2 months since my June trip. Time flies. And for that reason, I only have 45 days (minus one or two) until my December trip.

Yeah, I thought about doing a pre trip report, but I am superstitious. I don't want to jink my trip by writing about it before it even happens. So, if I sneak a little bit of info into this trip report, that doesn't count....Dpes it?

Well, the good new is soccer season is almost over. My DS 15's team will play in the first round of the state tournament on Wens night. One thing about living in a small state, if the team is decent, the school has a better than average chance of making the top 16 teams. My son's school plays a team from DelMar High School. I have never heard of this team before. Just by the name, I suspect the school is located on the delaware/maryland border. Doh!

My younger son (DS13) plays JV soccer, so his season is done. His traveling team has one final game next weekend. Their season was dismal, so they won't make it to the play-offs. Drat! :laughing:

One thing about taking a June vacation ...... you really don't feel like you've had a summer vacation. It's over before summer really starts. Then by the time school starts, you are seriously ready for another vacation. This Friday - November 7th- would be our 7 month booking date if we are to do another early June vacation. I think everyone is still pretty undecided about whether they want to visit so early in June. Everyone, but me. I really want to call on Friday and try to get AK villas. Actually, I really want BCVillas, but I doubt I will be able to get 5 nights without waitlisting. I'm just curious to see what's available. If we go in June, we can only stay DVC Sun - Thurs night. I can not spend any points on the weekend. I just don't have enough. Remember, I borrowed well into 2009 for my 2008 trip, plus DH and I are borrowing another 33 points to go in December. That leaves me with about 70 points for 2009. In order to stay BCV or AK I would need to borrow another 120 - 130 from 2010.

I guess my other choice would be to stay at OKW. It is considerably less points and I have heard the 2BR villas are really biggest. But I have heard mixed things about OKW. I think some people don't like it cause its spread out and because it may be starting to show some wear. Spread out is fine with me. I actually like that. Showing its wear - well VB's furniture was showing its wear a bit, and I still loved it there. So who knows.

Anyway - I am going to help DH hang a new picture I got for the kitchen. I am trying to update my kitchen a bit, without actually having it remodeled. So I am ditching my country stuff and going for so more modern wall trimings. I got this thing at Khol's for 80% off, making it $11.99. I think that is a pretty good deal for a metal wall hanging. I think it looks Ok, too, in my formerly country kitchen. So here goes.......