Everything is Satisfactual - A TR (9/22-9/31) Updated 12/9 Last Day

[If U Had Wings]

After many calls back and forth with my family in Florida a date for the funeral was finally set for Saturday 8/23. While normally we fly into West Palm Beach when visiting my relatives, my parents chose to keep their original flight into Orlando and just drive down from there so they wouldn't get hit with a charge from the airline. From there they would rent a car, drive to Port St. Lucie, attend the funeral, and drive back to Orlando Saturday evening. My brother had already told my mother he was not going to the funeral. They would be leaving Thursday morning for their drive, arriving in Orlando Friday evening. That left me. :confused:

While theoretically I had a choice, really it didn't feel that way. Part of me was tempted to just fly down and head to the resort for 2 days of peace and relaxation by myself. Very tempted. ::yes::

On my pre-trip report I said that my feelings about my Uncle were pretty non-existent. I hadn't seen him since a family wedding back in 2003, and truthfully he had been virtually non-existent my entire life. He'd occasionally breeze into town when he needed money and then disappear again. No one ever knew where he was or what he was doing. I honestly had zero interest in going, but there was my mother and my grandmother to think about. My mother at least had good memories from childhood of him, and as the only son in a very traditional Italian family he was my grandmothers not so secret favorite child. I had to go, no way around it. :sad2: Sadly, I called Disney Dining and cancelled our ADR's for the Crystal Palace, and the Hollywood Brown Derby, and then CRO to cancel our first night at POFQ.

Thursday arrived quickly, and I really wasn't feeling the excitement of the trip any longer. :worried: The funeral had definitely put a damper on our enthusiasm. Plus my mother had managed to her siatic nerve the previous week, and it wasn't feeling much better. She was getting tingly pains down her leg, and stomach cramps. Not necessarily good for a trip to Disney. Nonetheless they were all set when I got to their house about 7pm that night. (Which reminds me - I'm never working a full day before I leave for a vacation again. Way too stressful). We loaded up the car, made a detour to Costco to pick up my new glasses that just came in that afternoon and stopped for a bite to eat before hitting the road.

We arrived at the La Quinta Inn in Armonk, NY about 10 pm, which was a relief. The GPS was leading us on some very dark, windy roads in the middle of what felt like nowhere. We were nearly convinced that we were driving in circles. The La Quinta was nothing fancy, but they had a good stay and park for the week package that was cheaper than taking a chance at parking in the airport lot. When we checked in they tell us that since we need to park for 10 days, we would have to pay an additional $30. I had thought that up to 10 days was included, but it was only 7. Of course that was the one piece of paper that I hadn't brought with me. :mad:

Next morning we caught a 7am shuttle to the airport for our 8:20 flight. It was a quick drive, and much more relaxing than when we leave from home and have to leave the house at about 5:30 am. (Really bad traffic!)

White Plains airport is very small. There are about 2 gates, a tiny coffee shop, one baggage claim belt, and a small check in area. That's about it, so it was nice not to have to wait too long around the airport. There was a Jet Blue flight boarding right before ours and they were actually calling people by name who hadn't boarded. :lmao:

They started to board early, and as we were waiting in line a child with the family in front of us (about 5-6 years old) throws herself down on the floor and starts throwing a temper tantrum. Ugh! :headache: I swear it happens to me every time on a trip to Florida. I end up with a screaming and/or kicking child in back of me the entire trip. This time was no exception. The tantrum child ends up behind me where she proceded to scream the entire trip to Florida. I think what I found most annoying was that the parents did nothing to tell the child to stop or to remedy the behavior. I get less annoyed if I see parents trying to take control of the situation and failing. These two were flat out ignoring their child as if the behavior would miraculously go away. It didn't. I got to enjoy 2 1/2 hours of non-stop screaming.

We arrived in Orlando, and I wistfully watched the majority of people heading off to the Magical Express window. Not us. :sad1: We trudged off to baggage claim and the car rental counter.

We hit the road and had about a 2 hour drive down to my grandmothers house. The remanants of Faye were all over the place on the drive. The toll booths were actually all free because the automated system had shut down, and their were rivers running along side the roads from all the rain.

We arrived in Port St. Lucie around 2/3 and headed right over to my grandmothers house, where my cousins all stopped by to visit with us. It was horrible that it took such a circumstance to get us back together, but it was wonderful getting to see my family again. :) Growing up we spent so much time together it was like having additional brothers and a sister. I miss them all terribly. One of them had been pretty sick for awhile, so it was great being together. We were up half the night sitting around the table chatting and laughing, just like old times. :goodvibes

It was up early the next day for the funeral. It made for a long day, and I tried to help keep my cousins kids occupied when I could. One of my cousins and I sat discussing how sad the whole event was. Not because of his death, but by the fact that no one showed up for the funeral other than our immediate family. No one, even his roomate didn't show up. It just struck me as awfully sad that he had lived his life without making enough of an impact on anyones life that they would want to show up to pay their respects to you. :sad2:

We went back to the house and stayed until about 4pm or so when we decieded to head back up to Orlando. The rain was starting again and we wanted to get there before it started getting dark. We said our goodbyes and hit the road. About half way there it started to pour. The kind of rain where you can't see anything in front of you kind of rain. Very scary! :eek: That's also about the time that we lost our GPS signal and had to dig our the old fashion written directions. Just as we were arriving at POFQ the rain finally stopped. :rolleyes:

Ahhh!!! Home. I adore POFQ. :) I keep saying one of these days I'm going to try another moderate, but in the end keep coming back here. It's my Orlando home away from home.

When I had made the reservation back in March I had requested a ground floor room. At check in I mentioned it again to the cast member. With my mom's nerve problem, now this was even more important to us, as steps where a problem for her. We ended up being assigned to a 2nd floor room in building 1 (one of the furthest buildings away). I was not happy :mad: , especially as I had put the request in so early. We weren't really concerned about the being in building 1, as POFQ is so small it's really not that much further away. For me being on the 2nd floor wasn't really an issue as I have to walk up more steps to get in my apartment, but my mom was getting an attitude as she hates elevators and with her leg couldn't walk up the stairs. I ended up riding the elevator with her all week so she wouldn't have to ride alone.

I tried to talk with the CM, and was told that if we didn't want to change our room when we checked in for our 2nd reservation the next morning this was the best she could do. The majority of 1st floor rooms in many buildings were undergoing renovations. Our reservation was probably messed up when I had to cancel our first night as my travel agent had cancelled the entire reservation and made a replacement one.

After the drama our room was very nice. We only had enough towels for 2, but after a quick call to mousekeeping they brought us a huge stack of towels and told me to have a magical day. pixiedust: Very nice. We had eaten after the funeral at my grandmothers, but were starting to get a little bit hungry so we headed over to the food court where I introduced my mother to beignets. (I don't know how she ever managed to not try these). Yum!:tongue:

Mickey (who was now on my mothers *&?! List for not going to the funeral) showed up to drop off a case of water in exchange for our parking permit and to make our plans for the next morning.


After the long day, we all crashed that night watching Stacy's top 10 on the tv. Tomorrow we'd be seeing the princesses and heading to the Animal Kingdom!

- Sorry this entry was so long, but I didn't want to have to waste 2 entrys on all this pre-park stuff. Much more entertaining stuff to come!

[MRYPPNS]

I'm glad you got to spend so time sitting around the kitchen table with your cousins....that is always fun.

[Hedy]

popcorn:: popcorn::
Glad you got there in one piece.

[Lady Lallie]

Oh, I want to stay at POFQ or Riverside....so badly. I can't wait to hear more about the resort. I didn't think POFQ had elevators!

[MiaBella05]

popcorn:: subscribing popcorn::

[If U Had Wings]

I'm glad you got to spend so time sitting around the kitchen table with your cousins....that is always fun.

We grew up so close, it's always funny not having them around any longer. They've been living in Florida for ages now. One of them I see occasionally since she makes it up to CT to drop her son off with his father, but the other two I miss.

It's amazing how it always feels like no time has passed when we see each other again. It makes me a bit sad that I haven't provided any cousins for my nieces. They will never get to have that extended family that I had.

popcorn:: popcorn::
Glad you got there in one piece.

Thanks. The drive was a bit harrowing! I was playing co-pilot and was so afraid I was going to miss a turn or something because of the rain.

Oh, I want to stay at POFQ or Riverside....so badly. I can't wait to hear more about the resort. I didn't think POFQ had elevators!

I love POFQ. When I stayed there the first time in 1992 I was disappointed because I had my heart set on a mansion building at the then Dixie Landings. Once I stayed there I was so happy for that Dixie Landings had been sold out. POFQ was just fit me perfectly. It's smaller too so that no matter where your room is your not that far away from the main buildings and bus stop.

I keep saying one day I'll try another moderate, but when I try to chose they all look so big and none of the theming really appeals to me. I just rebook POFQ. Other than a balcony it has everything I want.

I think I'm just going to give up claiming I'm going to try somewhere new! :)

popcorn:: subscribing popcorn::

Welcome!

[If U Had Wings]

Sunday morning came and I think we were all about ready to start our vacation, even my mom. A little princess therapy would do us all good. princess:

We needed to check out of our room only reservation this morning and check in for our free dining package before we could do anything though so we would have passes. I had thought, from my research on the boards, that we'd be able to check in at about 7am. My father headed down between 6 and 6:30 (he always has to be first), and was told they weren't going to start until 7:30 :headache: . They had a special line set up just for people continuing stays with the free dining plan. Luckily they were ready early and he was able to check in just before 7am. When we left for the parks the line was starting to get pretty long.

We met up at the Sassagoula food court for breakfast before splitting up. Pa Grumpy needed to return the rental car to the car care center before 9am, so Ma Tink and I deceided to head over to Animal Kingdom and wait for everyone there. We could sit and relax, and partake in one of her favorite activities - people watching. I don't consider myself to be a morning person at all, but even I enjoyed sitting back and watching everyone wander up the gates to start their days. We'd sit and laugh when we saw a few women entering with heels on, and watch in amazement at a couple coming in wearing long sleeve sweaters and jeans:eek: . (It was about 90 degrees out already. Were do you live that your cold at 90 degrees?)

princess: Finally the princesses arrived! princess: Along with Minnie and Pa Eeyore.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01055_opt.jpg

Did I mention that today was our first doofus dress alike day? :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: (That's what Mickey was calling it). We were hoping the power of the matching shirts would bring us luck today.

Mickey, who can be a bit of an airhead, had forgotten the tickets in the car so had to walk all the way back. Lots of big hugs to go around. The girls were overjoyed to see everyone. Pa Grumpy finally made it to the entrance as well, just about when Mickey arrived from his return trip to the car. He had a bit of difficulty finding the car care center and it had put him into a mood :( , but some princess hugs seemed to do the trick. (For the moment at any rate).

We headed up to the gates, where we rented a wheelchair for Ma Tink for the week. She wasn't happy about it, but didn't want to take the chance of walking around all day with the bad nerve. Princess Cin tried to talk us into letting her push Ma Tink around.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01056_opt.jpg

Cin is tiny, but mighty. :) She managed to push the wheelchair for several feet even with the parking brake on. Definitely a menace to the sidewalks though, as she couldn't see where she was going.

Once we got in the park we split up. The grandparents headed over to Dinoland, while Mickey, Minnie and I hustled over to Everest to pick up FP's. What a mess over there! :scared1: There was no organization at the lines whatsoever at Everest. The lines for fast passes and the ride itself had all merged into one crazy, maniac line. We wormed our way into line for fastpasses and then made the dubious decision to sneak in a ride before heading back to everyone else. It ended up being a pretty bad decision.

We ended up getting stuck in line for 20 minutes, and the grandparents were calling us wondering where in the world we were. We told them to take the girls on a few rides, but obviously they didn't hear us or something because when we got back they were all sitting on a bench doing nothing. :headache:

The girls didn't want to ride anything without us, and the grandfathers had gotten into a bit of a tiff when Pa Eeyore had made a bit of a derogatory, racist comment and my dad told him off. Poor Princess Jasmine, our peacekeeper, was asking everyone to be nice to one another. :grouphug: Yes the day was off to a lovely start, and it was only 9:30.

We soothed things over and headed over to Dinosaur for our first ride. I sat next to Princess Cin, who promptly told me that she was a bit scared of this ride, but if she could hide on my shoulder she'd be fine. I don't think she saw much of the ride, but she said she had fun.

When we got off Pluto and Goofy were nearby for a photo op.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01058_opt.jpg
I love this picture. That was Cin for the entire vacation. Every time she saw a camera she would race over and pose with a big hammy grin. Pluto was trying to get her attention and play with her, but she only had eyes for the camera. She'd be quite put out if you told her that you didn't necessarly want her in a particular picture.

We headed over to Kalli after Dinosaur to find out that it was closed down temporarily so we picked up some FP's. Pa Grumpy was really living up to his name by this point because he hadn't been on any "real" rides yet. :furious: To keep him quiet and happy we headed over to Everest after dropping Pa Eeyore, Ma Tink and Cin off at the Maharaja Jungle Trek. After a ride on Everst Pa Grumpy was much happier, and was pleasant for the rest of the afternoon. We still had 3 more FP's for Everest so while Mickey, Minnie and Grumpy rode again I hung out in the Everest gift shop with Princess Jasmine whose tummy was bothering her a bit.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01062_opt.jpg
She got a big kick out of the Yeti hats and slippers.

We met back up with the rest of the group and headed over to Flights of Wonder where a show was just starting. I had never seen the show before, and was pleasantly surprised. Although I had an Alfred Hitchcock moment when one bird flew a bit to close to my head for liking. Princess Cin loved the show, and at the end when they brought out some birds to see up close she took off leaving me chasing after her. Turns out she had a bunch of questions to ask the CM.

We headed over to Kali River to use our FP's. Jasmine decieded to pass because her stomach was still bothering her. Of course it was bothering her because she hadn't really eaten any breakfast that day. Ma Tink stayed with her while the rest of us rode. Cin however loved this as well. She kept telling me she wanted me to get soaked, so I got a good laugh at her when she ended up the wettest on the raft. She wanted to reride, but we only had 2 FP's and the line was getting long. The day was getting pretty hot, and it seemed everyone wanted to cool off a bit. She told us the ride was way too short. I went to show her the squirting elephants on the bridge as we were exiting, but they've been shut down. So sad. I always got a kick out of trying to squirt people. I don't know when they shut them down, I know they were working last September.

To come lunch, cheetahs, and sleepytime.

[Hedy]

The girls didn't want to ride anything without us, and the grandfathers had gotten into a bit of a tiff when Pa Eeyore had made a bit of a derogatory, racist comment and my dad told him off. Poor Princess Jasmine, our peacekeeper, was asking everyone to be nice to one another. Yes the day was off to a lovely start, and it was only 9:30. :scared1: popcorn::

[Lady Lallie]

Wow. I can feel the drama brewing!

I love your matching t-shirts! So cute. If I remember correctly you said Mickey ordered them off of ebay?

Princess Jasmine in the Yeti get up is too cute!

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I love your matching shirts, they turned out really great. :thumbsup2

[MRYPPNS]

I had no idea there would be so much drama on your trip!

[skier_pete]

We needed to check out of our room only reservation this morning and check in for our free dining package before we could do anything though so we would have passes. I had thought, from my research on the boards, that we'd be able to check in at about 7am. My father headed down between 6 and 6:30 (he always has to be first), and was told they weren't going to start until 7:30 :headache: . They had a special line set up just for people continuing stays with the free dining plan. Luckily they were ready early and he was able to check in just before 7am. When we left for the parks the line was starting to get pretty long.

That's funny...I had to do the same thing at POFQ that morning. I asked the night before about how early I could check in, they said "anytime". I woke up at 6 AM and went down there. (Guess I beat your dad.) I was all by myself with a single CM working the desk. The separate line was set-up, but he checked me right in no problem. I would have been PO'd had they told me to come back later. FYI - The CM told me there were 400 rooms that we checking in that day, and POR had over 800 rooms checking in. If you assume over 16 hour period (7 AM to 11 PM), that's someone checking in every 1.2 minutes at POR. :scared1:

SkierPete

[micandminforever]

Everyone looks great in their matching shirts. Sounds like the princesses are having a great time, hope the adults catch the magic soon.

[Donald is #1]

The girls didn't want to ride anything without us, and the grandfathers had gotten into a bit of a tiff when Pa Eeyore had made a bit of a derogatory, racist comment and my dad told him off. Poor Princess Jasmine, our peacekeeper, was asking everyone to be nice to one another. :grouphug: Yes the day was off to a lovely start, and it was only 9:30.


:scared1: This does not bode well for the trip!

[If U Had Wings]

I had no idea there would be so much drama on your trip!

Everyone looks great in their matching shirts. Sounds like the princesses are having a great time, hope the adults catch the magic soon.

:scared1: This does not bode well for the trip!

There was more drama, all dealing with my brothers FIL. The rest of us are a bit afraid that he single handedly managed to kill any future family trips.

Wow. I can feel the drama brewing!

I love your matching t-shirts! So cute. If I remember correctly you said Mickey ordered them off of ebay?

Princess Jasmine in the Yeti get up is too cute!

Yes, the seller is ta-dye 4. Ours were actually a special order so we could all get the sizes and styles we want. I think they were only $15 apiece. Quite a deal and better than having to deal with the mess myself.

I love your matching shirts, they turned out really great. :thumbsup2

Thanks. They were very eye catching. I'm normally not a tye dye type of girl, but I really liked these.

That's funny...I had to do the same thing at POFQ that morning. I asked the night before about how early I could check in, they said "anytime". I woke up at 6 AM and went down there. (Guess I beat your dad.) I was all by myself with a single CM working the desk. The separate line was set-up, but he checked me right in no problem. I would have been PO'd had they told me to come back later. FYI - The CM told me there were 400 rooms that we checking in that day, and POR had over 800 rooms checking in. If you assume over 16 hour period (7 AM to 11 PM), that's someone checking in every 1.2 minutes at POR. :scared1:

SkierPete

Wow, that's alot of rooms. I was so afraid that we were going to get stuck in some kind of crazy line. I had heard horror stories from the year before.

[Charleston Princess]

I think the matching shirts are adorable!!!

[Donald is #1]

Yes, the seller is ta-dye 4. Ours were actually a special order so we could all get the sizes and styles we want. I think they were only $15 apiece. Quite a deal and better than having to deal with the mess myself.



Hmm, I guess that it is time to check out EBAY. :thumbsup2

[If U Had Wings]

By now we were all getting a little bit hungry so we headed off to lunch at Flame Tree BBQ where it took awhile to find enough seats together. Luckily we found two tables tucked into a corner that had some shade. They really need some more covering for the seats in this area. So many of the seats have no covering in this area and was so hot in the sun. :sunny: It's a big area, but whenever I eat there I always find it hard to find a seat. Princess Jasmine wanted to sit with me at lunch, but I ended up sitting with Mickey, Minnie and Eeyore so that we could keep the two grandfathers separate. I'm sure they would have behaved as they had been fine since the morning, but this made for a less tense lunch. I'm not a huge BBQ fan so I had the fruit plate, which the princesses were gracious enough to help me finish up. Very yummy! I wish more places offered something similar. It makes for a nice light lunch.

After lunch we headed over to the Kilamajaro Safaris. Usually we hit this earlier in the day, so we were hoping the animals would be braving the heat so we could see a few. In line for the safari's was when I started to realize I was going to have my own personal shadow for the week.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01064_opt.jpg
Princess Cin and I were having a good laugh in line. :love2: She had me pick her up, where she would proceded to try to blow in my face. I'd threaten to drop her, and then blow in her face. Everyone was turning around to see what had us giggling so loudly. :lmao: It made the line move quickly. For the rest of the week she went everywhere with me, wanted to ride everything with me. We had a blast.

Cin loves the safari. Jasmine merely tolerates it. Cin really enjoys watching the animals and could spend hours just sitting there watching them go about their business. While driving on the safari, Cin turned to me and told me that she didn't think that cheetahs liked Disney World. Why? Because it's too hot. :lmao: It ended up being a pretty good safari. This was the first time that I've ridden it when the driver wasn't going full speed so that you saw the animals in a blur. For once it was going slow, with lots of pauses where you could actually really look and take pictures of the animals. It was a nice change. However, I didn't bother taking any pictures this time. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. I have tons of pictures from my previous trips so didn't really think that I needed more.

When we got off we took a look at the show times and realized that we were only going to be able to catch one show Nemo or Lion King. I prefer Lion King, but the kids wanted Nemo so that's where we went. I didn't think I was really all that tired, but sitting there in the dark with the a/c, and Princess Jasmine curled up next to me and I was catching myself nodding off. :surfweb: If Jasmine didn't keep chatting with me I would have been out. She made me promise to ride Primevil Whirl with her. I'm not a huge fan of Whirl, as I always get off feeling beat up from being slammed around the car. :sick: Jasmine looked at me with her big eyes, and told me if I loved her I would. (My brother is evil for teaching her that trick). :lovestruc I caved and promised I'd ride with her.

In the end, I didn't ride Primevil Whirl. Cin was too tiny to ride Whirl so she needed someone to ride Triceratop Spin with her. I was elected after a discussion between the two princesses. :hyper2:

We had to stop of course for some Everest pictures with our matching shirts.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01074_opt.jpg

Notice, once again Cin is posing like a champ. She is definitely not shy.

By the time we got done, the park was already closing. The day flew by so quickly. We had to say our goodbyes to the princesses as they were going back to their rental house and we were headed over to Boma for dinner. Being princesses they had to put on a show saying their goodbyes. Jasmine was being dramatic kissing our hands, and waving like a starlet. princess: Cin was giving us quite a performance as well complete with phony tears and clutching us goodnight. :sad:

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01070_opt.jpg

Other than the early morning melt-down we had a fun day. While they hadn't brought us any dream squad mojo our matching shirts had been a huge hit. Everywhere we went we were stopped by other guests and CM's to find out where we had got them. Minnie deceided we should do a second matching day with the shirts later in the week.

The bus line for AKL was pretty long, but it moved quickly. Back in 2003 we had received a courtesy upgrade to the Animal Kingdom Lodge after they closed POFQ a week before we were due to check in. It was a short trip, but my mother and I fell in love with the resort. It is still a favorite of mine, and I like to find reasons to come back every trip. Boma is the perfect excuse and has become my favorite place to eat after a day at the Animal Kingdom. Checked in and were seated nearly immediately at Boma. Dinner there was excellent. I'm a huge fan of the soups. I tried all of them this time. Loved the ginger carrot, and the sausage lentil. Didn't really care for the chicken corn chowder though. Way too sweet. I love Boma because it lets me live a bit dangerously and try things I normally don't eat. I tried some banana wrapped salmon this trip and it was delicious. Normally I don't eat seafood at all. The zebra domes were delicious for dessert, as was the bread pudding with vanilla sauce. Yumm!!! :thumbsup2 It's making me hungry just thinking about it.

My dad really likes Boma as well, as he is always up for trying new things. I'm not sure that my mom is as big of a fan as she tends to like to stick with things she knows and loves. Still she was able to find enough things that she liked to keep her happy. With her back still bothering her, and making her stomach upset she wasn't really eating much anyways.

We caught the bus back to Downtown Disney with the intention of doing a bit of shopping. We headed over to the pin traders so I could look at the pins. I always pick up a few on my trips.

I picked up this one as it was a rewards exclusive:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Chase_opt.jpg
Supposedly they had a Tinkerbell one too, but they had run out of them. :guilty:

This one I had to get as I'm a huge Roger Rabbit Fan:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/RogerRabbit_opt.jpg

A CM had also given us all one of these earlier in the day:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/GrandGatherings_opt.jpg
Very cute.

My father picked up a few cars he wanted at Once Upon a Toy before it started raining. :umbrella: My parents were both looking pretty tired, so the decision was made to head back to the resort before the rain got really bad. I was feeling wide awake and ready to go, but went back with them anyways. Sadly I never made it back to Downtown Disney to do some shopping. Better for my wallet though I guess.

We headed to the food court for some drinks and beignets before heading to the room. My parents crashed while I caught the end of Harry Potter. I guess I have a bit too much energy for my companions.

Finally turned off the light. I needed to be ready for a full day at Epcot the next morning!

[Hedy]

The princesses are adorable!

I love those gethering buttons, I wanted to suggest getting them, but I it didn't seem worth it to trek to Guest relations in the pouring rain.

[If U Had Wings]

I really liked the Incredibles pins. I think that getting them was actually the cause of arguement that morning, but wasn't around to witness it so I'm not exactly sure.

I don't know if I would have gone over in the rain either!

[Lady Lallie]

That picture of you and Cin is so adorable, very nice!

It sounds like you accomplished a lot of MK and I love the picture of the gang in front of Everest.

I have also decided that Boma is going on the ADR list for our next trip!

[trixiequilts]

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01064_opt.jpg

This pic needs to be in a frame in her room (and yours)! It is beautiful!

[Tinkerbellarella]

We met back up with the rest of the group and headed over to Flights of Wonder where a show was just starting. I had never seen the show before, and was pleasantly surprised. Although I had an Alfred Hitchcock moment when one bird flew a bit to close to my head for liking.

This is one of my very favorite things in the AK.


http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01064_opt.jpg

This is such a gorgeous picture! I love it!

And I love the shirts! They came out really cute.

Can't wait for more!

[MRYPPNS]

Great update! I always get the Visa card pin too on my trips.

[Charleston Princess]

The princesses are just sooo cute!!!

Quick question: how unbearably hot is it to eat at Flame Tree?

We love Boma -- love, love, love it! My favorite soup is the chicken pepperpot -- and those zebra domes -- mmmmm! Can't wait to be back there!

I would love to hear more of your thoughts on your 2003 stay at AKL -- that is where I would really like to stay next time.

[If U Had Wings]

That picture of you and Cin is so adorable, very nice!

It sounds like you accomplished a lot of MK and I love the picture of the gang in front of Everest.

I have also decided that Boma is going on the ADR list for our next trip!

This pic needs to be in a frame in her room (and yours)! It is beautiful!

This is one of my very favorite things in the AK.




This is such a gorgeous picture! I love it!

And I love the shirts! They came out really cute.

Can't wait for more!

Thanks everyone! I got some really great pictures this trip of me with the girls. I'm very lucky they love the camera.

The princesses are just sooo cute!!!

Quick question: how unbearably hot is it to eat at Flame Tree?

We love Boma -- love, love, love it! My favorite soup is the chicken pepperpot -- and those zebra domes -- mmmmm! Can't wait to be back there!

I would love to hear more of your thoughts on your 2003 stay at AKL -- that is where I would really like to stay next time.

I always time Flame Tree badly and go when everyone else is there. All the nice shady seats are always taken and I get stuck sitting in the sun, or partial sun. If you time your meals right you should be able to get a seat on one of the covered pavillions.

It is definitely much warmer than the indoor places, even in the shade.

AKL was really great when we stayed there. We got the upgrade from POFQ to AKL standard view, and when we checked in we were upgraded to savannah view which really made the entire trip. This was really due to the fact that the resorts still hadn't recovered from 9/11 yet, and were really slow.

I would highly recomend a savannah view if you do stay there. Every night my mother and I would sit on our balcony and enjoy a cup of coffee while watching the giraffes eat. They put lots of feeding areas near the viewing areas to be sure that you get to see animals. Our room wasn't facing the main savannah, but it was still really nice.

One word of warning though is that there can be lots of walking from your room to the common areas and the bus stop. Best to ask for a room close to the lobby.

There were all kinds of activities going on in the lobby, but unfortunately as our trip was short I didn't really get to enjoy them. I also remember that we had to agree not to bring balloons onto the property. If you are caught with a balloon they can kick you out, also they can if they catch you dropping anything off the balconies.

Any questions let me know, I'd be happy to try to answer them.

[If U Had Wings]

I just realized that I had two more Animal Kingdom pictures that I forgot to post so here they are a bit late. There are better ones on our photopass, but we haven't quite finished making our changes yet to order it.

Anyways, the princesses and my parents -

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01066_opt.jpg

Me and the princesses -

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01067_opt.jpg

The tree was actually in the background of these pictures, but got cut off. When I eventually get the disk I'll post pics.

[Charleston Princess]

I always time Flame Tree badly and go when everyone else is there. All the nice shady seats are always taken and I get stuck sitting in the sun, or partial sun. If you time your meals right you should be able to get a seat on one of the covered pavillions.

It is definitely much warmer than the indoor places, even in the shade.

AKL was really great when we stayed there. We got the upgrade from POFQ to AKL standard view, and when we checked in we were upgraded to savannah view which really made the entire trip. This was really due to the fact that the resorts still hadn't recovered from 9/11 yet, and were really slow.

I would highly recomend a savannah view if you do stay there. Every night my mother and I would sit on our balcony and enjoy a cup of coffee while watching the giraffes eat. They put lots of feeding areas near the viewing areas to be sure that you get to see animals. Our room wasn't facing the main savannah, but it was still really nice.

One word of warning though is that there can be lots of walking from your room to the common areas and the bus stop. Best to ask for a room close to the lobby.

There were all kinds of activities going on in the lobby, but unfortunately as our trip was short I didn't really get to enjoy them. I also remember that we had to agree not to bring balloons onto the property. If you are caught with a balloon they can kick you out, also they can if they catch you dropping anything off the balconies.

Any questions let me know, I'd be happy to try to answer them.

I am just so not a big fan of eating outdoors, but I want to try Flame Tree one of these days!

Thanks for all the thoughts on AKL -- I love the idea of having coffee on the balcony and watching the animals. That would be so much fun!!!

Love the new ticker! :thumbsup2

[Lady Lallie]

I love your new ticker!!

[If U Had Wings]

I love your new ticker!!

I am just so not a big fan of eating outdoors, but I want to try Flame Tree one of these days!

Thanks for all the thoughts on AKL -- I love the idea of having coffee on the balcony and watching the animals. That would be so much fun!!!

Love the new ticker! :thumbsup2

Thanks! I'm still thinking I need a Christmassy one though. For now it will do.

CP, if it's a nice day Flame Tree would probably be really nice. There is usually some ducks wandering around, and the seating feels spread out and non-packed. I just tend to always be at AK on the most humid days of the year.

[ILuvCrush]

Very much enjoying you TR!!! The girls are beautiful! I wish my girls had an awesome Auntie like you!

Subbing and waiting for updates!!

Paula

[If U Had Wings]

Very much enjoying you TR!!! The girls are beautiful! I wish my girls had an awesome Auntie like you!

Subbing and waiting for updates!!

Paula

Thank you. I keep telling my brother and SIL that they need to provide me with a nephew now, but they told me I'm on my own for that one. :lmao: I tend to think of being a single aunt as the greatest job. I get to spoil like a grandparent, yet I didn't have to suffer through any teen years to do it. ;)

[If U Had Wings]

Bright and early the next morning (6am :scared1: ) the alarm went off. My father snores terribly, so when on vacation I need to use ear plugs or I'd never get any sleep. With the plugs I don't hear a thing, and had one of the best nights sleep ever. We had a quick breakfast and headed off to the bus stop.

This was one of the few mornings that we actually stopped at POR for pick ups. Nearly every day we took the bus we would head directly to the parks even if the buses weren't completely full. I don't know if this is something new, but it was much nicer than the jammed buses. This morning though we made all stops, but no one got on at any of the POR stations. They were all empty. Very odd! I don't think I've ever seen that before.

We had the coolest bus driver this morning. As soon as we were off and rolling he turned off the new pre-recorded spiel that they run now, proclaiming that he had been with Disney for nearly 20 years and could do a better job than any recording. He was a complete hoot! Kept us entertained the entire drive over to Epcot by telling us jokes, and stories about Disney just like the bus drivers used to. It was so much nicer and more fun than the new regimented recordings. One of the requests he made from us was "No Pole Dancing on the Disney Buses." Disney, he told us frowns on that. :)

We made it to Epcot and made the hike over to bag check. I wish they would move a bag check closer to the bus entrance. At Epcot it really felt like they made you hike out of your way a bit to get to the bag check area. (MK too). It's a small thing, but it would make things so much easier. We met up with the princesses just through the gate.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01078_opt.jpg

They were wearing the other t-shirts that I had made for them, and forgot to take pictures of before. "Little Miss Sunshine" really is our Jasmine, although "Little Miss Chatterbox" would probably have been a bit better. She has a very sweet, empathetic personality so it was perfect for her. By the same token Cin really is our "Little Miss Trouble." When I gave her the shirt she was so excited. She ran to put it on immediately and modeled it for all of us. She loves when we call her trouble. :maleficen Odd child, but we all love her anyways. :love:

They were all excited to see us, and ready for a new day. Jasmine could think of nothing but Soarin and Cin couldn't wait to go on Test Track. My parents had a present for Jasmine though. Before we left for Disney she had been telling them that she was going to dress as Snow White for her castle lunch this trip, because her Jasmine costume didn't fit her any longer. She was sounding a bit sad about it :sad1: , so my parents deceided to surprise her with a new Jasmine costume instead of buying her some other souveniers while on the trip. While she was thrilled to get a new costume, what we weren't expecting was her telling us that she couldn't wear it to the lunch, but she still needed a red hair bow for her Snow White costume. I think at this point my mother was wondering why she spent $65 on a costume the kid wasn't going to wear now. :confused3 We were a little baffled, as she adores Jasmine and was so sad before the trip that she didn't have a costume to wear.

I went over to chat with her and try to find out what her little mind was thinking. Turns out she was worried about her hair. :rolleyes: Our Jasmine is a stickler for details. If she is going to dress up as a princess, she has to have the hair of that princess. Now that her long hair had been cut off for Locks for Love she no longer had Jasmine hair. It was short, it was dark…she would have to be Snow White. I love Jasmine, but sometimes she really needs to go with the flow a bit. :goodvibes

I ended up having to spill the beans about my surprise for them later in the week, or she'd never wear the new costume. I told her that I was taking them to the Fairly Godmother's salon to have their hair and make up done and that they could make Jasmine's hair look nice and long again so that she could look like a proper Jasmine. She looked a bit dubious, and wanted to know if they would do her hair exactly like Jasmine's. :rolleyes: Finally she was looking excited about her new costume. Ma Tink told Princess Cin that she could pick out her own present while on vacation since she didn't need a new costume.

Once the gates opened Minnie ran off to Soarin while the rest of us walked leisurely to Test Track to wait for her. Minnie is the shortest adult of the group, but the fastest. I was perpetually amazed on this trip how fast she could move leaving the rest of us trailing behind. :eek: It took her only 12 minutes from gate opening to run to Soarin, get Fastpasses and meet back up with us at the entrance of Test Track.

While we were waiting, our drama queen Jasmine, had to show us how hot she was under the nearby misters.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01079_opt.jpg

Test Track was a favorite of everyone. Even Princess Cin, who rode with her head buried on my shoulder for the entire outdoors portion of the ride, loved it. The rest of the family went off to Mission Space next, but Princess Cin (who was too short for Space) and I hopped in line again for Test Track. There was no line so we got right back on. On her request we did take a few pictures of Cin with the dummy drawings on the wall outside the pre-show area.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01082_opt.jpg


http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01083_opt.jpg

She's pretty close to the average size 4 year old girl drawing.

More day 3 to come!

[Hedy]

Jasmine sounds like Mordie with the details (fully tongue in cheek-I'll swap you Ferdie for Cin, how's that :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: You get a nephew, I get a little neice )

[Lady Lallie]

I love their shirts. So cute.

I can't believe what a stickler for details Jasmine is. Too funny. Even I am not that bad and I'm a DISer! :lmao:

[If U Had Wings]

Jasmine sounds like Mordie with the details (fully tongue in cheek-I'll swap you Ferdie for Cin, how's that :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: You get a nephew, I get a little neice )

Your brave! Cin is a complete handful. I think you'd regret that trade. :rotfl:

I love their shirts. So cute.

I can't believe what a stickler for details Jasmine is. Too funny. Even I am not that bad and I'm a DISer! :lmao:

She's more of a worrier and fanatic than my 93 year old Italian grandmother. Instead of making lists she's the queen of detailed drawings and diagrams. I just know that there is a compulsive planning Diser in her yet.

[Tinkerbellarella]

"No Pole Dancing on the Disney Buses."

Mental Note for Upcoming Trip: CHECK! ;)
(particularly on those, ahem, tipsy, busrides back from PI)

I went over to chat with her and try to find out what her little mind was thinking. Turns out she was worried about her hair. :rolleyes: Our Jasmine is a stickler for details. If she is going to dress up as a princess, she has to have the hair of that princess. Now that her long hair had been cut off for Locks for Love she no longer had Jasmine hair. It was short, it was dark…she would have to be Snow White. I love Jasmine, but sometimes she really needs to go with the flow a bit. :goodvibes

I was like this as a child too. Too ease your mind, I turned out ok! :rotfl:
Control issues aside, of course!

Great update!

[If U Had Wings]

I was like this as a child too. Too ease your mind, I turned out ok! :rotfl:
Control issues aside, of course!

Great update!

Whew! That's a relief. We all get a bit worried over her sometimes with her control freak issues. When she was a toddler I'd play "tea" with her. If I'd ask for sugar she'd tell me I couldn't have any, so I'd act like I was putting it in myself. As soon as I was done, she'd look me in the eye, and pour my pretend tea all over the floor. :lmao:

She hasn't really changed much since then. :)

[Lady Lallie]

Whew! That's a relief. We all get a bit worried over her sometimes with her control freak issues. When she was a toddler I'd play "tea" with her. If I'd ask for sugar she'd tell me I couldn't have any, so I'd act like I was putting it in myself. As soon as I was done, she'd look me in the eye, and pour my pretend tea all over the floor. :lmao:

She hasn't really changed much since then. :):lmao: :rotfl: :rotfl2: That is the greatest!

[If U Had Wings]

After getting outselves all depressed watching the Circle of Life it was still a bit early, but we deceided to just have our lunch now since Sunshine Seasons is a favorite stop of ours, and we were already there. I had the italian sandwich which was very good, and Strawberry Shortcake for dessert. Yummm!!! :lovestruc I have a definite sweet tooth, and Sunshine Seasons has the best desserts on the meal plan for counter service as far as I'm concerned.

After lunch we rode Soaring one more time before heading over to see Nemo. Of course we had to stop for some pictures in front of the pavillion with the fish.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01119_opt.jpg

Sorry none of me. I don't know what it is about taking pictures with those fish, but everytime I take a pictures there I look horribly fat in all of them. :scared1: Maybe it's the height of the wall, and they way I sit, but I looked just horrible in all of them. Actually, any time I've ever had pictures taken there they make me look like a whale. Which I guess fits in with the theme of the pavillion, but is really sad, because there were some cute ones of me and the girls. I need to play around with the crop on a few of them and see if I can salvage some good face shots of us out of them.

The clam mobiles were one of the few rides when I was feeling a bit crushed in my seat. I ended up riding with Cin and Pa Eeyore where the CM put us all in one clam. :crowded: Very smooshy. I was able to put Cin in my lap so it was a bit better. Good thing she's tiny.

When we got off we headed over to meet Crush, and found we had just missed a show. We deceided to just wait for the next one. This is probably the one time on our trip that we dealt with a bunch of really rude people. As the doors were about to open, people where suddenly pushing their children toward the front of the line pushing people over to get in first. Then once in theater, no one would move to let anyone in or make room for anyone on the benches. So rude! :mad: Cin was a bit disappointed that she wasn't picked to ask Crush a question as she wanted to know where Squirt was.

Jasmine had to stop for some Bruce pictures.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/IMG_1436_opt.jpg

Of course, as usual, Cin had to jump in front of her. I'm hoping my SIL got some better shots of Jasmine.

Again this was one of the few spots where we dealt with some rude guests. Instead of waiting paitently in line to take pictures, there were a few guests who cut the line and pushed their kids in for pictures. They were the ones too, who stopped for what felt like about 100 pictures while there was a huge line of kids waiting for their turns. Disney could really use a CM or two to monitor this area and keep some control.

We left the pavillion and headed over to the Imagination Pavillion.

This is what I get for telling the girls to look amazed at the fountains.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01132_opt.jpg

As usual there was no line at the Imagination ride. :figment: It's such a shame how they ruined this ride from the original with Dreamfinder and a non-annoying Figment. This version of the ride just annoys me. I can't even imagine how terrible the brief non-Figment version was of this ride. I never saw it, but if this ride is an improvement it must have been pretty bad. It's just an utter shame that a company that has "Imagineers" working for them can't come up with a good ride about Imagination.

We stayed to play with the toys for awhile in the labs. The girls were having fun leading the orchestra, and Minnie and I joined them for the musical squares that you step on and they play different instruments. We made some funny pictures with the photo labs, but unfortunately they weren't working correctly so we couldn't send email a copy home. :sad2:

We went to see Honey I Shrunk the Audience :3dglasses , were I showed Cin how to sit cross-legged in her seat so she wouldn't have to feel the mice running through the audience. I don't blame her, I hate that part myself! It always makes me scream a bit even though I know there is nothing there. It's such an ick factor I guess. Here are the girls acting cool in their 3-D glasses.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01134_opt.jpg

We were all anxious to see the new Spaceship Earth, so we had a little pit stop before heading over. Cin was being her normal goofy self so decieded to have a seat on Pa Grumpys knapsack.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01136_opt.jpg

I get the biggest kick out of that picture. That is the true Cin, always doing something for a laugh.

While we were waiting for everyone to finish up in the restrooms, a cast member in a dream team costume came wandering over and started chatting with Mickey and me. I think we both realized who she was and were looking at each other out of the corner of our eyes. Hopefully we were about to be granted a dream!

She was super friendly and kept chatting with us as the rest of the party finally joined us. She asked if we knew where the wheelchair entrance was for Spaceship Earth, and then walked us over and brought us into the building and all the way over to the ride.

Then she left.

Sigh. A bit disappointing, we were so convinced we were going to win something - dream ears, a fast pass, DVC - anything. Nothing. She was really nice though and very helpful. I don't know if we would have found the handicapped entrance otherwise.

We got right on the ride. We followed the CM's tip to make funny faces when it took our pictures :crazy: , and were so glad we did. At the end of the ride it was too funny when they showed us on the ride. I won't ruin it for anyone who hasn't ridden it yet since the refurbishment, but making funny faces adds a bit to it. Princess Jasmine thought it was so funny we could here her laughing 2 cars away. I think the unexpectedness of it really added to it for her.

The sky was beginning to get pretty dark and ominous looking, but Cin wanted to ride Test Track one more time. We had one last group of FP's so we headed over there hoping to get on the ride before the rain started. While we were in line they started making announcements that bad weather was approaching and that the line could be shut down at any time. We just made it on before they shut down the ride. She was getting to be an old pro by now and didn't bury herself in my arm the entire time.

To come .... will we make it to dinner before the downpour begins???

[Lady Lallie]

I love that picture of Cin on the backpack. How cute is that!?!

I agree with your on Figment. I love the stuff after the ride, why can't they convey that kind of coolness into the ride? Sigh.

[micandminforever]

Great EPCOT pictures.

[castmemberb4]

Cassie I am loving your TR, as the childless Aunt of many nieces and nephews who are all adults now I totally identify with you. Mine still come over and hang out with their old aunt & uncle ocasionally, I'm sure Jasmine and Cin will too. They are both adorable BTW. Jasmine's pefectionism and little Miss Cin being the constant comedian must be a great source of amusment. We leave for WDW in 11 days and our youngest Niece & Nephew are going along with several other family members, We are all so excited to be going together, your TR has me that much more excited.

I think I have the Tinkerbell pin you missed getting, it is the cardmember exclusive Tinkerbell pin from last year. The background card is different and says "The Disney Club" and there is no year on the pin. I am not really collecting that series and would be more than happy to mail it to you if you want it. You can PM me with your address if you're interested. I also have what I think is the first pin from that collection It's Mickey from Fantasmic, do you have that one?

I've gotten pretty long winded on your TR but I also have to say i mourn the loss of the original Journey Into Imagination too. I sometimes worked in that pavilion (the Land was my primary location) and knew the Dreamfinder character. I was heartbroken hen they changed that attraction, be glad you missed the 'without Figment one' but the current one is just about as disappointing.
Lynn

[If U Had Wings]

Great EPCOT pictures.

Thanks. I actually had thought I had taken more, but it must have been my SIL. :lmao: Our family has so many cameras going you never know who is snapping one.

Cassie I am loving your TR, as the childless Aunt of many nieces and nephews who are all adults now I totally identify with you. Mine still come over and hang out with their old aunt & uncle ocasionally, I'm sure Jasmine and Cin will too. They are both adorable BTW. Jasmine's pefectionism and little Miss Cin being the constant comedian must be a great source of amusment. We leave for WDW in 11 days and our youngest Niece & Nephew are going along with several other family members, We are all so excited to be going together, your TR has me that much more excited.

I hope they keep wanting to hang out with their aunt as they get older. It's really amazing how fast they are growing up! When they get a bit older I'd love to take them on trips separately. Your going to have a great time with your niece and nephew. My favorite Disney trips are the ones I've taken with them.


I think I have the Tinkerbell pin you missed getting, it is the cardmember exclusive Tinkerbell pin from last year. The background card is different and says "The Disney Club" and there is no year on the pin. I am not really collecting that series and would be more than happy to mail it to you if you want it. You can PM me with your address if you're interested. I also have what I think is the first pin from that collection It's Mickey from Fantasmic, do you have that one?

That would be wonderful! I'll send you a pm, thanks so much. If you collect pins I'd love to swap you for it. I have a pretty good collection of New York edition pins. Just let me know if you collect any special types. I must have missed the Fantasmic one too. I never knew about the Disney Visa pins before.


I've gotten pretty long winded on your TR but I also have to say i mourn the loss of the original Journey Into Imagination too. I sometimes worked in that pavilion (the Land was my primary location) and knew the Dreamfinder character. I was heartbroken hen they changed that attraction, be glad you missed the 'without Figment one' but the current one is just about as disappointing.
Lynn

That's so cool that you worked for Disney. I wish I had known about the college program when I was in school. I would have been there in a heartbeat. My brother actually worked for the company, but the ESPN portion here in CT. I miss Dreamfinder so much in that ride! I'm glad I didn't miss anything with the non-Figment ride.

[castmemberb4]

Hey Cassie
I'm not going to quote you here since my last one was so long. I'm more than happy to send you the pins. I used to collect them before it was so popular, actually started with Hard Rock pins back in the 80s when you got them free with your check, now I've pretty much gotten out of it b/c the market is so saturated with pins it's not much of a challenge any more.

I'm sure Jasmine and Cin will always be willing to hang out with you because you're a cool aunt, even when mine were in the teenager years they still were willing to go on family vacations, of course it helped that I the "cool Aunt" worked at Disney World and they could get in free :thumbsup2

I was there for 5 years and loved it, but in the end it's still a job. The best thing about my time there is it's where I met DH. Going back now is so much better b/c as a castmember i couldn't afford to eat in the TS restaurants and now I can.

Lynn

[castmemberb4]

Crissy !
I just realized I keep typing you name Cassie!
I'm so sorry! There is no excuse for getting someones name wrong!

Lynn

[If U Had Wings]

Crissy !
I just realized I keep typing you name Cassie!
I'm so sorry! There is no excuse for getting someones name wrong!

Lynn

It's okay, really. I hadn't even noticed. :)

[If U Had Wings]

When we got off of Test Track it was starting to drizzle a little bit. We needed to get over to Germany for our dinner ADR, so it was everyman for themselves as we sprinted across World Showcase. Jasmine was sitting on Ma Tink's lap in the wheelchair directing Pa Grumpy to jog. :lmao: I was with Cin, and she kept urging me to run faster. (I am soooo not a runner). How out of wack am I that a pipsqueak of a 4 year old girl can out run me? We ended up just making it! As soon as we got there it started pouring complete with earth shaking thunder and lightning. It was a bit scary. We were wasting a bit of time in the shops before our time, and it felt like the lightning was striking right outside in the courtyard.

Dinner was at Biergarten. It's not my favorite restaurant, but only because the menu is heavy on meat and I'm not a huge meat eater. The food that they have is very good, there just isn't a lot that really appeals to me. I did love the tomato salad, and the potato leek soup. The pretzel bread was delicious too. I had some chicken too that wasn't bad, and I tried a bit of the sausage, but found it rather tasteless. It really needed a bit more spice. Desserts were okay, but nothing that really stood out as special or outstanding.

My brother though was in meat eaters heaven.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01143_opt.jpg

I swear he ate about 3-4 plates filled with nothing but meat, a huge jumbo stein of beer, and then another big plate of dessert. I don't think any veggies crossed his plate. It made my tummy hurt just watching him eat all that meat. Ugh!

The best part of Biergarten though, and what really makes it worth it as an ADR is the entertainment. They have a band that comes out and plays some German music. They then invite all the kids up to take part and dance. The shows run on the hour, so we were able to catch two of the performances. Both times the shows were a little bit different, so if you see more than one, your not hearing the same songs. The girls love it and couldn't wait to get up and dance. Here is a little film clip of Cin and Grumpy, and Jasmine and Mickey dancing to the band.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/th_MOV01146.jpg (http://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/?action=view&current=MOV01146.flv)

As you can see, as usual Cin is looking more at the camera than bothering with her dancing.

That was during the first show. When the second show came around I suggested to Cin that she ask Pa Eeyore to dance. She flat out refused. :confused3 I don’t know exactly what was going on there, but I had noticed over the course of the day that neither of the girls where asking to ride with him. They'd go to me, or my parents but not him. He tends to take these things very personally, so I had tried a few times to get them to ride things with him. It was kind of standing out and even though I don't particularly like him I felt bad. Cin flat out refused to dance with him. My father, who was going to ask her to dance again, wisely decieded against it, so as not to make Eeyore feel worse. Cin went and did the chicken dance with her dad and Jasmine instead.

We left the restaurant after the second show. It was about 8:45, so we were just in time for Illuminations. Perfect timing! There was no crowd at all around World Showcase, and we were able to walk right up and get a prime viewing spot right along the railing. The show was nice, but it was without the globe which was down for refurbishment. The show felt incomplete without the globe, something was definitely missing. I didn't really notice an increase in fireworks, which supposedly they added. It felt like we were watching the center of the lake, and really not seeing anything. I know so many people love Illuminations, but for me it's my least favorites of the end of day shows even with the globe. I much prefer Wishes and Fantasmic, and if I had to pass on one end of day show this would be the one.

The humidity was really building on the walk back. The girls were exhausted, and Pa Eeyore's bad knee was locking up on him. His asthma was starting to bother him, so we had to make a few stops before with hit Future World so he could catch his breath. Meanwhile Minnie and Mickey were walking as if they were in the Olympics and left all of us in the dust while we were waiting for her father. :confused: We eventually made it to the bridge between World Showcase and Future World. Pa Eeyore was having more and more difficultly breathing. Ma Tink gave up her wheelchair to him so that we could get out a bit faster. We practically had to force Eeyore into it, but we made it out with any more stops.

An even bigger big drama queen goodbye was waiting for us tonight from the girls as we weren't going to be seeing them the next day. They were going off to Gatorland, and Mickey and Minnie had decieded not to join us at Ohana for dinner. I was a bit annoyed, as Ohana was my one dinner plan for all of us was being cancelled, yet I had been game and had agreed to dinner at two places I didn't particularly like, Biergarten and Hollywood & Vine. When your traveling with my brother and SIL though, you just to realize that any plans that will be cancelled won't be theirs. ;)

Coming next - Ahhhhh some free time to myself!

[Lady Lallie]

Okay. I would have been so frustrated if I was waiting for my SIL's Father to make sure he was okay and making it out of the park and SIL was speeding ahead.

You are a better person than I! :hug:

[trixiequilts]

And I.

[If U Had Wings]

Okay. I would have been so frustrated if I was waiting for my SIL's Father to make sure he was okay and making it out of the park and SIL was speeding ahead.

You are a better person than I! :hug:

And I.

Our last family trip back in 2006 was even worse. We were all staying at the same hotel, so they didn't care if they lost SIL's father, because they knew we'd take him back. They'd leave, and we'd get stuck waiting for him all over the parks.

This trip, it was one of the main reasons why we didn't want to stay off-site with them again. (The other being we just love being on-site). We didn't want to have to babysit him the entire trip again. This time they had to wait for him.

I don't particularly like the man all that much, and he irritates me to no end, but I always end up feeling bad for him so I try to be as nice as possible.

[Lady Lallie]

Our last family trip back in 2006 was even worse. We were all staying at the same hotel, so they didn't care if they lost SIL's father, because they knew we'd take him back. They'd leave, and we'd get stuck waiting for him all over the parks.

This trip, it was one of the main reasons why we didn't want to stay off-site with them again. (The other being we just love being on-site). We didn't want to have to babysit him the entire trip again. This time they had to wait for him.

I don't particularly like the man all that much, and he irritates me to no end, but I always end up feeling bad for him so I try to be as nice as possible.
This leads me to my next question. As much as I would love to lose MIL at WDW never to be found....ahem. Why would they take him on vacation? :confused:

[If U Had Wings]

I don't think they realized, quite what an annoyance he could be over a course of a vacation.

In 2006 my mom, dad and I got stuck with him all the time. My brother and SIL would leave the parks early, around 2-3 o'clock, and he'd stay with us. We were ready to do him in by the end of the week. Our last day that trip we wanted to hop around quite a bit, which we knew he wasn't up to doing, so we had to intentionally tell my brother they needed to take him with them that day.:sad2: They were all well and good, since they only really had to deal with him for a few hours in the morning, and then at night while sleeping. (They had shared a suite). We kind of acted like buffers.

This time they could't do that. They had to take him with them when they left the park since we were staying on-site. It was family togetherness for them 24/7. Not good. (For them anyways. My parents and I were very happy). Everyone needs a bit of time apart, even on a family trip.

The boiling point is coming soon, I promise. :thumbsup2 I just need to upload the pictures to photobucket.

[Lady Lallie]

I don't think they realized, quite what an annoyance he could be over a course of a vacation.

In 2006 my mom, dad and I got stuck with him all the time. My brother and SIL would leave the parks early, around 2-3 o'clock, and he'd stay with us. We were ready to do him in by the end of the week. Our last day that trip we wanted to hop around quite a bit, which we knew he wasn't up to doing, so we had to intentionally tell my brother they needed to take him with them that day.:sad2: They were all well and good, since they only really had to deal with him for a few hours in the morning, and then at night while sleeping. (They had shared a suite). We kind of acted like buffers.

This time they could't do that. They had to take him with them when they left the park since we were staying on-site. It was family togetherness for them 24/7. Not good. (For them anyways. My parents and I were very happy). Everyone needs a bit of time apart, even on a family trip.

The boiling point is coming soon, I promise. :thumbsup2 I just need to upload the pictures to photobucket.
I am really anxious to see what happens. Truly. That way I can show DH and say "See. This is why we won't vacation with family." :rolleyes1 I think it will work too since he met you in "real" life. :thumbsup2

[If U Had Wings]

Honestly, for the most part it was fine. (At least for us). I would never do it again though all staying together. I think the key is separate accomodations, and some free time for everyone.

It's nice for my brother and SIL to have some other adults there, so they can have a bit of a break from the girls. My brother especially likes a little down time. He's a stay at home dad and likes to get to socialize with some tall people sometimes. :lmao:

[Tinkerbellarella]

It was about 8:45, so we were just in time for Illuminations. Perfect timing! There was no crowd at all around World Showcase, and we were able to walk right up and get a prime viewing spot right along the railing. The show was nice, but it was without the globe which was down for refurbishment. The show felt incomplete without the globe, something was definitely missing. I didn't really notice an increase in fireworks, which supposedly they added. It felt like we were watching the center of the lake, and really not seeing anything.

The globe was back in commission on my trip and the new LEDs make a HUGE difference. I hope you get to enjoy it on your next trip. I was happy to see it there on our visit as I knew I'd feel that "empty spot" too if it hadn't been.

[If U Had Wings]

Wow it's been awhile since I posted a trip report update. Unfortunately real life has been getting in the way and my dis' time has been seriously diminished. Work has been crazy busy, and they keep leaving us firm wide messages on our voice mail discussing the poor economy and what's going on with the firm. I'm trying to take it as a sign that we simply won't be getting raises this year, and not that I'm about to be downsized from my third job in 8 years. Honestly I can't take that again. I've been working late to keep up with my work, but since the firm won't okay overtime I'm basically doing it for free. I've been exhausted and a bit cranky lately. This week has been better, so I'm hoping that it stays like this for awhile.

And if I didn't have enough stress in my life at the moment, I had the brilliant idea to knit myself a new sweater to wear to the sheep and wool festival I was planning on attending next weekend. I am one of the slowest knitters in the world yet I started thinking that I absolutely needed to have a new sweater for my trip. I came up with this bright idea about a week and a half ago. This too has seriously infringed on my dis time. So far I finished the back, and am half way done with the front pieces. If I can get that done by the end of the week there is slight chance that I can get the sleeves completed in time. It was supposed to be a hoodie, but there is no way a hood will be finished in time. I'll have to settle for a plain collar, and put the hood on later if I'm so inclined. I had been hoping to go up overnight the day before so I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive up to New York, but all the decent hotels were almost $200 a night. I was tempted to just book it, but kept thinking that my reservation next year at the Wilderness Lodge is not much more than that - and that's a beautiful resort at Disney. I realized I'd rather save the money now, and either move up to POFQ for my first 3 nights next year, or add on another day or two at the WL. (Or just buy myself more yarn at the festival).

Anyways there is an update post coming up here. Just wanted to let you know I will be updating, just a bit slower than I would have liked. At least until next week when the festival is over and I hopefully have a finished sweater.

[If U Had Wings]

I was really looking forward to my day 3. :sad1: Sadly I was without the princesses today as they were off to Gatorland with Mickey, Minnie and Pa Eeyore. Ma Tink and Pa Grumpy had their own plans, but at least I was free to have some glorious solo time to myself. I had already been toying with the idea of taking a solo trip to Disney next year, and had planned some free alone time into this trip to see if I liked it or not. Plus, when traveling with extended family, a little bit of time apart is best for everyone. ;) Keeps everyone from getting on each others nerves, and gives everyone some much needed space.

For my free morning I was taking the Keys to the Kingdom Tour at the Magic Kingdom. :cool1: I had been dying to do this for a few years now, but had never been able to squeeze it in. The rest of the adults in my party had already taken the tour, so luckily I was on my own for the morning.

I wanted to enjoy my day to the fullest, and it was still early in the week, so I was up and ready to go very early. I was at the food court before it opened at 7am, and had to wait patiently so I could get my breakfast. I enjoyed my peaceful breakfast alone this morning. While I loved having company for all my meals all week, I'm just not used to it. I'm single and am used to having quiet time during my meals. All the togetherness on vacation was already starting to feel a bit alien to me. It was nice to have some time that felt more like a normal morning for me. I took my time over breakfast and as I headed out the front doors to the buses I thought about how much I miss the old Bonfamilles Restaurant at POFQ. It's such a shame that there is no full service restaurant there anymore, because really POR is a bit too far to walk for a sit down meal in the morning (at least for me). I had been to Bonfamilles back on my first stay at POFQ back in 1992 and had really loved it. Really a shame. :sad2:

The bus stop was a bit crowded this morning with people heading to the Magic Kingdom. I was a bit surpised, as it was pretty early. I guess everyone had to make it there for breakfasts with Pooh and Cindy. This was the first time this trip I noticed that there were lots of cast members wandering around with clipboards monitoring the bus arrivals and departures. We would end up seeing this quite a bit on this trip, as well as lots of cast members taking random surveys with guests. I had never seen them out doing this in such force before.

Even with the crowd I got on a bus right away and was at the gate at 8 am. I didn't have to check in to my tour until 8:45, but it was such a beautiful non-humid morning, I took the oppourtunity to just sit back and relax for awhile. I sat back under a tree near the entrance and watched the people arriving. It was about this point that I knew that I needed to head to Disney for a solo trip. I felt relaxed, peaceful, and it just felt right. I took out my little pocket notebook and started jotting down note about what I wanted to do on my solo trip. :rotfl2: Besides when else can you get a shot of the flower Mickey out front with no one in your shot?

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01150_opt.jpg

I headed in to the park at about 8:30. In hindsight I wish I had headed in a bit earlier to enjoy empty Main Street a bit more, and to take advantage of the quiet shops. Next time I'll know better. I headed over to City Hall to check in, and to choose my lunch. They had our name badges all ready for us:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/NameTag_opt.jpg
We also were given our backstage passes and tour passes.

I still had free time so I wandering around Main Street, enjoying the near solitude of it. It's worth making an early morning ADR or tour reservation, just to enjoy having Main Street to yourself.

I am envious of Lady Lallie. She used her time on a quiet Main Street to get some really great pictures. I took a few, but in typical me fashion I regret not taking a few more. I spent most of my time just wandering and soaking in the atmosphere. I did take a few pictures though of the statues.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01156_opt.jpg


http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01157_opt.jpg


http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01160_opt.jpg

The photopass guys were out so I took advantage of having a solo shot taken in front of the castle.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/MainStreet_opt.jpg

The photopass photographers were the one downer to my solo morning. As I was walking up Main Street they seemed to be going out of their way to stop families and ask them if they wanted their picture taken. I practically had to bop one of them on the head to get his attention, and when I did finally get him to take the picture he really looked like he didn't want to be bothered. I wanted to have my picture taken with the partners statue further up, but the woman who was stationed near there actually turned her back on me. I was a bit tempted to get in her face a bit about it, but I needed to get back to City Hall for the start of my tour. Phewy!!

More to come.....

[Lady Lallie]

What a wonderful update! :goodvibes

I want to take a solo trip someday too. Although, I shouldn't really complain because Marc is so go with the flow, I call all the shots. :lmao:

I can't wait to hear about the Tour. I really want to take on eof those though I am hesistant. I can't wait to hear your opinion. :thumbsup2

You got some great early morning shots!

[If U Had Wings]

What a wonderful update! :goodvibes

I want to take a solo trip someday too. Although, I shouldn't really complain because Marc is so go with the flow, I call all the shots. :lmao:

I can't wait to hear about the Tour. I really want to take on eof those though I am hesistant. I can't wait to hear your opinion. :thumbsup2

You got some great early morning shots!

Maybe try a solo morning then the next time you go. (If there are no nuggets involved of course, but even then maybe you'll want a little alone time. :) ). I really think that sometimes it's nice just to explore a bit on your own. I love going with my family, but a little down time is wonderful. Even if it's only for an hour or two. I was talking to my brother about it later in the trip, and he was telling me he loves spending time alone in the park. He's gone while my sister-in-law was at a conference at the Contemporary for work. She wasn't so happy he was living it up in the parks, but he told me it was the best time he's ever spent at Disney.

SIL was not too happy when she heard that. He made a quick cover though and told her nothing was ever as good as when he went with her. :)

[MRYPPNS]

Your solo morning sounds lovely. I actually scheduled one for myself for my upcoming trip.....I'm shopping in peace at Downtown Disney without DH and DS....heaven!

[If U Had Wings]

Your solo morning sounds lovely. I actually scheduled one for myself for my upcoming trip.....I'm shopping in peace at Downtown Disney without DH and DS....heaven!


Shopping in peace is always a really good thing. I don't even really buy that much, I just like to do it at my own pace.

[If U Had Wings]

My group met up in the small courtyard outside of City Hall and met our tour guide Mark who gave us headphones so we could all hear him clear as a bell during the tour. Our first stop was the Minnie/Roy Disney statue, which I had never noticed before today. (I feel like a really bad Disney fan for saying that:headache: ). He gave us a little background on Roy, and how it was really due to him that the Magic Kingdom went on after Walt died. I had never realized that Roy died so soon after the park opened - December 1971 - only 2 months after the park opened.

As we started heading up Main Street, Mark started telling us about the 4 keys that Disney is based around - Safety, Courtesy, Cleanliness and Show. I loved the details he gave us about the backgrounds of the windows, and the vents where Disney pumps out the smell of baking cookies. Hmmm…. I wonder if they pump out hotdog smells for Caseys? 5 minutes into our tour and I'm already even more convinced that I need to take a solo trip to just sit back and really look at things like window details.

We head past the Crystal Palace to Adventureland, where Mark pointed out the architectural, foilage and musical changes that cause a gradual change from one land to another without being jarring or out of place. He also explained to us that the Tiki Room thatched roof was actually made from strips of aluminim. He went over and knocked a part of the roof, and sure enough you could hear it rattle. Pretty neat!

We were on our way to ride the Jungle Cruise, when my mother made me jump about a mile when she came and tapped me on the shoulder. Her and my father were wandering around adventureland when they saw me walking by. It was interesting to ride the Jungle Cruise without the monologue. Mark told us that the water was really only a few inches deep, and that many of the animals in the water were just heads. Obviously that makes sense, but after years of riding it you never really think of it that way. We all got a big laugh when he pointed out to us that the background music near the head shrinking trader guy at the end says "I Love Disco". I can't believe I had never caught that before.

After that we were headed to the backstage production area, and who should we see wandering by -
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/IMG_1444_opt.jpg

Luckily my camera was handy. I immediately thought of TK and Tink. The thought crossed my mind that perhaps Jack should be warned of their impending arrival, but alas he was on his own. I had backstage stuff to see!

Before entering into the backstage production area near Frontierland we had to solemly swear that we wouldn't tell anything that we saw. A Disney vow is a bit of a sacred vow, so sadly I can't share too many details. (I don't want the Disney police coming after me or anything)! ;)

I can tell you that we did see the parade floats area which was pretty neat, and were told how many of the floats were recycled from one parade to the next. It made me a bit sad to see the Spectromagic floats as we weren't going to be able to see the parade during our trip at all due the Liberty Square bridge being repaired all week. We also got to see Goofy practicing for the Boo To You parade, which again, sadly wasn't going to be running until a week after I left. The Boo to You parade is hands down my favorite parade so it was a bit sad to know I was so close to seeing it. Mark said it was good to hear the music for it again, but that give it a week or two and he'd be absolutely sick of it. I can so relate. I feel the same way about Christmas music at my part time job. I love it at first, but about a week before Christmas I am completely sick of the Christmas music loop they play. At that point I'll flip out if I hear Bing Crosby singing Christmas in Killarney one more time!

We discussed the Mountain ranges and lighting rods a bit, saw some ride details for Splash Mountain and then headed back on-stage. We walked towards Liberty Square where he explained the evoultions in the arches on the Liberty Square buildings, and how they get progressively older as you walk away from Frontierland. (Never knew that before). He also pointed out to us the changes in the sidewalks, and how in Liberty Square areas of the pavement are made to look like dirt roads that have gotten muddy and have water running through them. Little details I never really noticed before, certainly not as being signifigant if I had.

The Haunted Mansion was our next ride. We entered in through the servants entrance for the ride, where I again ran into my parents. They were entering just in front of us through the handicapped entrance. We were given a little detail about the mansion which was modeled after Hudson Valley mansions. I went to college right in the area of the Hudson Valley mansions, and once they told us that it immediately clicked. They also pointed out the roof of the mansion is dotted with chess pieces. Again, I never really picked up on the fact before that they looked like chess pieces, but once it was shown to me I couldn't believe I had missed it before.

Before boarding we were given a little background on hidden Mickeys and given 3 to look for while riding. (I only found 2 - I didn't see the one in the graveyard scene). There was no commentary while on the ride, like on the Jungle Cruise, we got to sit back and enjoy the ride. On the way out, Mark pointed out to us the Mr. Toad statue in the pet cemetary.

Lunch was at the Columbia Harbor House. In all my years going to Disney I had never eaten there before. I was surprised at how big it was inside. They had our food set up for us in a little corner of the second floor. It was so quite and peaceful there even though it was the middle of lunch. Definitley a place to visit again when I need some quiet time at lunch. It was much more relaxing than my usual Pecos Bill or Cosmic Rays stop.

Waiting for us with our food were some special pins:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/KeysKingdom_opt.jpg

I was seated with a couple from Boston, and a guy on his first ever Disney trip from NYC. I tried to start a conversation with them while we were eating since we had been seated together. The couple was nice, just not very chatty. It was interesting talking to the guy about his impressions as a first time Disney guest. He said he was having fun other than the leaky ceiling in his room at the Wilderness Lodge. :scared1:

After lunch we were off to the utilidors, the part of the tour I was most looking forward to seeing. We entered the backstage area at the end of Main Street, near the Plaza Restaurant. Again we had to take the solem vow (evoking Walt's memory no less) that we would not tell what we saw. As I was wearing Dis tags on my bag, I'm not budging. They'll know where to find me. The Dapper Dan's were heading backstage as well so they joined in on the oath as well - but sang it for us. I love the Dapper Dans' so it was a nice treat.:goodvibes

Suffice it to say that after a peak backstage I want to work for Disney even more badly than I did before. Sadly Walt Disney World is not leaving Florida any time soon, and until I'm rich enough to have separate homes in Florida for the winter and Connecticut for the rest of the year I'm going to be up north. While I have my moments where I think being down there year round would be a good idea and/or fun, I get reminded that healthwise it's not such a good idea for me. (There will be more on this later). I may need to look into working for Disney's theater/Broadway division though. ESPN isn't far from me either, although for that I'd have to start driving to work again, and ESPN doesn't really scream Disney to me.

Before we had entered the utilidors, Mark asked us several times if anyone needed to use the restrooms. Several times. He reiterated that once we got backstage there were no public restrooms available for us to use, and that it would be about 45 minutes or so until we came back onstage to use the restrooms. Sure enough as soon as we got into the utilidors one of the couples with our group started asking about a restroom. :headache: I swear it wasn't more than 2 minutes after the last time he told us. He told them they were going to have to wait, but they did keep asking a few times. As a result our tour did feel a bit rushed once we hit the utilidors.

Once we were done in the utilidors, we headed back to City Hall to wrap up the trip. It had been about 4 hours, but the morning had just flown by. I can't recommend the tour enough! If anyone is at all thinking of doing it, just go. I think it's a must for any real Disney geek. Our tour guide was so knowledgable it was wonderful to hear everything he told us, and to get to ask all kinds of questions. My parents and brother and sister in law had Matthew as a tour guide last year, and they all had a fantastic time as well.

My only concern going into the tour was that it would "ruin" some of the magic for me. After doing the tour, I don't feel like it ruined anything. If anything I am more appreciative about the magic, and honestly once your in the parks you become immersed in the experience. For the rest of my trip I found myself really taking in even more of the details than usual. The tour really made me more aware of everything that makes Disney so wonderful.

With my tour over how would I spend the rest of my day? Hmmm.....

[Lady Lallie]

That tour sounds fantastic! You did a wonderful job of explaining it. :goodvibes I am going to have Marc read about it, so I can convince we should do it next time if we are able too.

[If U Had Wings]

That tour sounds fantastic! You did a wonderful job of explaining it. :goodvibes I am going to have Marc read about it, so I can convince we should do it next time if we are able too.

It was definitely worth it. I'm seriously considering doing the daylong 3 park tour next time. My whole family has really loved the tour.

[Charleston Princess]

The tour sounds sooo neat -- I can't wait until the kids are old enough and then we can do it!

[Tinkerbellarella]

lots of cast members taking random surveys with guests. I had never seen them out doing this in such force before.

We actually took one of these surveys in the MK, on our Food & Beverage experience that day.

I sat back under a tree near the entrance and watched the people arriving. It was about this point that I knew that I needed to head to Disney for a solo trip. I felt relaxed, peaceful, and it just felt right.

Ah, yes. A feeling I know all too well. You will SO enjoy your solo trip!

The photopass photographers were the one downer to my solo morning. As I was walking up Main Street they seemed to be going out of their way to stop families and ask them if they wanted their picture taken. I practically had to bop one of them on the head to get his attention, and when I did finally get him to take the picture he really looked like he didn't want to be bothered. I wanted to have my picture taken with the partners statue further up, but the woman who was stationed near there actually turned her back on me. I was a bit tempted to get in her face a bit about it, but I needed to get back to City Hall for the start of my tour. Phewy!!

I found, even as part of a pair, we had to get in some of their faces. So, it definitely wasn't just you!

5 minutes into our tour and I'm already even more convinced that I need to take a solo trip to just sit back and really look at things like window details.

The ability to take in the details and be as thorough as you want is one of my #1 reasons for solo trips!

We all got a big laugh when he pointed out to us that the background music near the head shrinking trader guy at the end says "I Love Disco". I can't believe I had never caught that before.

Me EITHER! That's hysterical. I want to go back to Disney RIGHT NOW to hear that!

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/IMG_1444_opt.jpg

::sigh:: :cloud9:

I immediately thought of TK and Tink. The thought crossed my mind that perhaps Jack should be warned of their impending arrival, but alas he was on his own.

Hehehe.

They also pointed out the roof of the mansion is dotted with chess pieces.

ANOTHER one I didn't notice. Seriously. I need to be Orlando-bound NOW.

With my tour over how would I spend the rest of my day? Hmmm.....

I can't wait to hear about the rest of your solo tour!!!

[If U Had Wings]

I found, even as part of a pair, we had to get in some of their faces. So, it definitely wasn't just you!

I'm so glad it wasn't just me. I'm thinking that maybe it had more to do with the fact that so many cm's were brand new down there when I was visiting. It seemed like there was lots of training going on.



The ability to take in the details and be as thorough as you want is one of my #1 reasons for solo trips!

It was wonderful. I'm so used to going commando to the parks. While I enjoy that I'm really feeling up to relaxing vacation in Disney.



Me EITHER! That's hysterical. I want to go back to Disney RIGHT NOW to hear that!


ANOTHER one I didn't notice. Seriously. I need to be Orlando-bound NOW.



I loved hearing all the little details. I really want to take the 3 park tour next year so I can learn even more. I'm just having a hard time reconcilling the cost. Of course it does include park admission for the day, so I'd be saving money on that. Decisions, decisions!

[If U Had Wings]

My original plan had been to go around and hit some rides after the tour was over. That had been the plan at any rate. The beautiful mild morning was gone and was being replaced with a day that was becoming unbearably hot and humid by what felt like the moment. I called by parents to see if they were still in the park, but they were on the bus heading back to the resort. The resort pool was sounding like the best bet so I planned to head out to the buses. After a bit of thought though, I deceided that hot though I was, I couldn't leave without visiting Jack. It was my first day at the Magic Kingdom. I had to ride something! I headed back over to Pirates where they had posted a 5 minute wait. Perfect! Actually I think it was only a 5 minute wait because it took 5 minutes to make the hike to the boats. I was able to board as soon as I got there. Sadly the Davy Jones effect was not working.

As I headed back to Main Street I had to stop for another first for me. My first Dole Whip. (Honestly, I don't know how I've missed these things before I started dissing). While I like pineapple, I don't like it in overwhelming quantities so I went with the Dole Whip soft serve instead of the float. So good! The taste was so mild and refreshing. Delicious! It felt wonderful on my throat that was feeling slightly scratchy. I should have paid more attention to that, but ignored it and headed out of the park.

On the way out I wandered through a few stores. Blissfully enjoying the fact that I could look at whatever I wanted, for as long as I wanted without anyone bugging me to hurry up. Glorious! I deceided that I absolutely needed to buy myself a pair of classic Mickey ears with my name on them to replace the ones I had when I was four.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/MickeyEars1974_opt.jpg

That would be me in the middle wearing the ears I stole from my crying brother. Only fair since my cousin next to me stole mine. My brother still remembers this vividly, and will often ramble on about the pschological damage I inflicted on him by stealing his Mickey ears. Maybe I should have bought him a pair?

I headed over to Le Chapeau shop for my ears. While I was waiting for them to embroider my name on the back of my ears I was poking around the store when I noticed an old fashioned phone on the wall.

Curious. I don't know what drove me to touch the phone, as I am not usually someone who goes around touching things like that, but for whatever reason I felt driven to pick up the earpiece of the phone. I was surpised to hear actually voices on the phone! There was a funny party line call going on when I picked it up.

Try it if your in there. It's just one of those little details that makes Disney, Disney and not Six Flaggs or someplace like that.

By this time the stores were getting a bit crowded so I finally headed out to the buses. I must have just missed the last bus because I had to wait about 25 minutes of so for the next one to arrive. I was alone in line for the majority of the time. A man and his kids got in line when I had been waiting about 15 minutes or so. After standing there for less than 5 minutes he asked me how long I had been waiting, and then said he wasn't going to wait around anylonger. He was going to get on the monorail to the TTC, transfer to the Magic Kingdom line and head home from there. No lie, I think my face looked a bit like this :eek: I said they usually run every 20-25 minutes or so, but he said his way would be faster. As he wandered off I got a good laugh. About 2 minutes later the bus showed up. Go figure.

A few other families hopped on the bus as well, but it was quiet and virtually empty for the ride back to POFQ. I whipped out my pocket notebook to start making a few notes about the day when the man next to me called me by name and started talking to me. I looked quickly to see who in the world I knew on a Disney bus. It was my first dis meet! :) I knew Skier Pete was staying at the same resort, but with all the drama going on before I left we had never set up a time to meet. Who would have thought that we'd meet on a bus in the middle of the day? It was fun getting to meet Pete and his family, and hear how their vacation was going. It's a bit odd meeting other Dis members in person. You are meeting them for the first time, yet it feels like you know them so well already.

When I got back to the resort, I ran off to my room, changed and headed down to the pool. My parents had staked out a nice quiet somewhat shady spot right behind the serpent's head. A nice swim, and some lounging time and I felt like a new girl. (That just made me think of a friend of mine who hated being referred to as a "girl", in any way whatsoever. I have no issues obviously). A little rest was just what I needed before heading over to the Poly for our dinner ADR at Ohana.

Hopefully Ohana would be as good as last year.

[MRYPPNS]

Who brought 2 pairs of Mickey Ears for 3 kids????????

(I think you brothers really upset because of that jumper he's wearing)

[Hedy]

I'm glad to hear Keys to the Kingdom didn't ruin the magic for you...

[Donald is #1]

! I deceided that I absolutely needed to buy myself a pair of classic Mickey ears with my name on them to replace the ones I had when I was four.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/MickeyEars1974_opt.jpg

That would be me in the middle wearing the ears I stole from my crying brother. Only fair since my cousin next to me stole mine.

Hmm, you don't look too happy in the picture either. Your cousin on the other hand looks extremely pleased with taking your ears.

[If U Had Wings]

Who brought 2 pairs of Mickey Ears for 3 kids????????

(I think you brothers really upset because of that jumper he's wearing)

My cousin actually got to go to Disney World, while we got stuck at home. I think I'm upset because of that awful pink outfit with clashing red shoes. It's probably the cause for why I hate red shoes to this day.

I'm glad to hear Keys to the Kingdom didn't ruin the magic for you...

Not a bit. It was one of the highlights of my trip.

Hmm, you don't look too happy in the picture either. Your cousin on the other hand looks extremely pleased with taking your ears.


That picture is my cousin in a nutshell. Always the one causing trouble and feeling happy about it.

[Lady Lallie]

I'm glad you rode Pirates after you Tour. :thumbsup2

I'm intrigued with O'hana. I am excited to see what you thought about it.

[Charleston Princess]

That picture is a riot! I know I shouldn't laugh at crying children, but I can't help it right now! :rotfl:

Glad you rode Pirates and was able to enjoy browsing without being rushed.

[skier_pete]

HA, I couldn't ask for it, but I was hoping you would give me a shout-out. It was great chatting with you too. It IS weird how you can sit down next to someone you've never met and have a full-on conversation like you've known eachother for weeks or months. (Which I guess we sort of did.) I was a little disappointed we didn't run into each-other again the rest of the trip...we were around the resort quite a bit, but I guess that's the way it goes at Disney. Anyways, great TR so far, I'm enjoying the read.

Skier Pete

[If U Had Wings]

I'm intrigued with O'hana. I am excited to see what you thought about it.

You'll have to wait and see. :) It had been one of my favorites from my 2007 trip. I was really looking forward to eating there again.

That picture is a riot! I know I shouldn't laugh at crying children, but I can't help it right now! :rotfl:


I laugh everytime I see that picture, even now. I think it's my cousin's self satisfied look while my brother is so miserable that makes me laugh.

HA, I couldn't ask for it, but I was hoping you would give me a shout-out. It was great chatting with you too. It IS weird how you can sit down next to someone you've never met and have a full-on conversation like you've known eachother for weeks or months. (Which I guess we sort of did.) I was a little disappointed we didn't run into each-other again the rest of the trip...we were around the resort quite a bit, but I guess that's the way it goes at Disney. Anyways, great TR so far, I'm enjoying the read.

Skier Pete

I know I was surprised that I didn't see you again either. I guess since our rooms were on either ends of the resort. Maybe the next trip to Disney we'll bump into each other again!

[If U Had Wings]

In 2007 when I went to Disney with a friend of mine the one restaurant we were not able to get an ADR for when we booked our room at 110 days out was Le Cellier. (I know…big surprise:sad2: ). I had chosen all of the other restaurants, so I made my friend pick our last one. She chose Ohana. I had never eaten there before, and was anxious to try it even though some of the reviews I had read were making me a bit nervous about the choice. Happily we ended up loving the place, and it made our top 3 list of favorite restaurants. It was #3, right behind Brown Derby and Boma just so you have an idea of our tastes. It was definitely one of my must-do's for this year's trip.

That's what makes this review so painful to write. :sad: I was so looking forward to Ohana's again and it turned out to be so disappointing, really living up to the negative reviews. Originally this was supposed to a family dinner, but my brother and his gang had bailed on us the day before, so I was also a bit disappointed that the one family night I had planned was a bust.

We made really good time getting from POFQ to the Poly so we were able to check in pretty early for our ADR. They had no problems adjusting our reservation for 8 to one for 3. We had plenty of time to explore and enjoy the Great Ceremonial House. The Poly will always have a special place in my heart as it is where we stayed for my childhood visits to the world. I was taken with the idea that the fountain in the middle was much smaller than it used to be when I was a kid. As I was thinking it, I figured that it was probably the same size, but it just seemed smaller now that I was an adult. Then my mother came up asking what in the world they did to the fountain, and I felt better knowing it wasn't just me. It's still beautiful, just not quite as tall and lush.

We were seated relatively quickly and given a table right near the dance/activity part of the room. (Actually it was the exact same table I sat at last year with my BFF). There was a kid's activity wrapping up while we were being seated so there was a lot of hubaloo going on around our seats. (As an aside, our table was a table for 3 so Ohana is one of those few places at Disney that actually has tables for 3 and not just 4).

As the hostess sat us at the table she left us with a board of fresh baked bread. No plates, no butter, just bread. :worried: I've heard praises of the delicious bread and butter at Kona and can't imagine why they can't send some of the butter on down the hall to Kona. :confused3 We were hungry and there was no waiter in sight so we ended up sharing the board as a dish.

Our waitress finally showed up, explained how the food was served and took our drink orders.

And we waited.

And waited some more. Nibbling on our plateless dry bread hoping they'd eventually feed us something.

Finally they brought plates, salad and dipping sauces. Last year they had given us those crunchy fried noodles with the dipping sauces. (I'm not sure exactly what they are called). This year just the dipping sauces. Weird. We didn't quite get what the dips were for without the noodles. If they were supposed to be with the bread, it would have been nice if they had been served together. Our bread was long gone at this point.

The upside though that the salad was delicious. The dressing on it was light and refreshing. The three of us had no problems finishing off the entire bowl of salad.

Then we waited.

Again.

We would have asked our waitress what was going on, but she had conviently disappeared. Our table was right near the fire pit area in the middle of the restaurant, and we didn't see her come by once.

After about 15 minutes had passed our waitress finally made a reappearance and brought us honey chicken wings, peanut noodles and broccoli. Now before making any comments about the food itself I just want to comment on how they serve the food at Ohana, because they served it the same way both times I've been there. I don't understand why they don't serve the sides with the meat at the same time. Both times I've been there now they serve the sides first, then the meat. I like having both at the same time, but if you try to wait at Ohana inevitably your sides start getting cold by the time your meat arrives. (And that's even without the poky waiter service).

The peanut noodles were okay, but I didn't like them quite as much as I had loved the Maui potatos last year. I probably would have loved the noodles more, if I wasn't subconciously comparing them to the potatos in the back of my mind. (The potatoes were to die for). The noodles were good, but I didn't leave there thinking I absolutely had to have more.

In 2007 they had been serving delicious green beans, instead of the broccoli but the broccoli was just as good if not a bit better. It was perfectly cooked - just a little bit crisp, not soggy at all, and was covered with a touch of a very light teriyaki sauce. Delicious. The wings were good too. Not spicy at all, but flavorful.

We were eating pretty slowly, hoping our meat would show up while we still had some sides, but that never really happened. We were finishing the last of our wings and noodles when they brought us peel and eat shrimp and some dumplings. I'm not normally a big shrimp eater, but this shrimp was excellent. It was the one spicy item we had and so good. The dumplings were everyone's favorite part of the meal. Like the broccoli was cooked perfectly and utterly delicious.

We finally realized that there was no way we'd be able to push off finishing our sides until the meat arrived so finally just finished what we were eating. When we were done someone came to completely clear away our plates.

And we waited.

About 10 minutes or so later they finally started bringing us the meats. Everything was okay, but defintely not as juicy as last time. The turkey and pork were good, but the steak which had been so delicious last year was quite dry this year. They had done away with the sausage, but as it was the one meat I really didn't like last year it wasn't missed at all.

As we were eating our long awaited meat the next show was starting on the floor next to us. I wish I could say that the entertainment was so wonderful that it made up for the rest of the issues that we were having.

Really I would.

Last year the entertainment had been a Don Ho like guy with a ukelele singing. He was actually pretty good and it had been fun while everyone was waiting to watch Wishes. This year we got to see the female entertainer. If your planning on trying Ohana on your next visit, really try to go when the guy is performing. The lady talked in a very phony, cloyingly sweet voice while tottering around in a pair of 80's wooden Candies shoes leading the kids in hula dancing and coconut races. It was the syrupy sweetness that was irritating because it was coming across as utterly phony. My mother and I were getting really silly, laughing while watching over the show.

Unfortunately with our seats so close to the dance floor area we were also subjected to a multitude of parent's rear ends in our faces as they practically sat on our table while filiming and photographing their kids doing the hula. I understand wanting to capture the moment, but really have some courtesy for the other guests at the restaurant. When I actually said something to one woman who was uncomfortably close to me while I was eating, she gave me the dirtiest look and moved off with a disgusted huff.

Dessert was the only thing that arrived without a huge wait, but again I was a bit disappointed. My last trip, the bread pudding with the banana foster sauce was my absolute favorite dessert. I dreamt of the yummy deliciousness that was that dessert. My bff and had I polished off the plate of it all by ourselves and felt only minorly guilty, until we saw the guys at the table next to us finish off a family size plate each of the pudding. It was that good. This time…meh. It was still pretty good, but it wasn't quite the same. The waitress did mention it containing pineapple, which I don't really remember from the year before. (It could have been, I just don't remember anybody mentioning pineapple last year). So maybe it's been changed slightly. I didn't think it was quite as good anymore. I was happy this time with a small normal serving. Again, like the peanut noodles, if I wasn't comparing I probably would have liked it much better.

Overall, the sides were pretty good, but the meats this time were kind of dry - not inedible but not wonderful either. I wasn't very happy with the menu changes, but my parents who didn't have the old stuff to compare it to seemed to like everything well enough. It was really the service and the entertainment that ruined the night. We felt like we spent much of our time sitting around staring at empty plates. If the waitress had been a bit more forthcoming and had just said "I apologize for the delays were a bit short handed today" or something like that we would have been more understanding. Her method of just disappearing and not coming near our table was annoying. I'd like to say that she was new, but I think she had mentioned that she had been there for a fairly long period of time.

I don't know if I'll be going back to Ohana any time soon. I was honestly feeling guilty for being the one who chose the place with such lousy service. Maybe if someone I was traveling with really wanted to eat there I'd give it one more try, but it's definitely been taken off my must-do list. Sad as it had been a favorite.

After dinner we deceided to head over to the MK. We had been hoping for a bit more time there this evening, but after spending over 2 hours at Ohana we didn't really have a lot of time to get too many rides in. We headed over to Tomorrowland where the lines were fairly short. I got an embarrasingly low score on Buzz, rode Space Mountain with my father, and watched the Carousel of Progress. We had a bit more time before we needed to stake out a spot for Wishes so we hopped on the TTA. I wish I had taken a picture. As we were riding around the track you could see a humid haze just hanging over the park. It was spooky looking. The air quality that night was horrible.

After our ride we headed back to the castle to claim our Wishes spot. I always stand in the same place. It offers a great clear view of the castle and Tinkerbelle during her flight, and you never get anyone standing right in front of you. It's a nice little spot, that doesn't fill up right away, but I don't like to take my chances of someone finding my spot on me. I love, love, love Wishes and was thinking how much the nieces would love to see them, but unfortunately my brother and SIL never plan for any Wishes nights for the girls. There was an English family standing next to us who annoyed me when at the end of the show they left all their cups and empty chip bags all over the sidewalk where they had been standing. Left them there and just walked off. How difficult is it to carry them to the garbage can for petes sake???:confused3

We walked slowly towards the exit, doing a bit of shopping while we were poking in the stores. When we got out to the buses we were shocked by the mess that meeted us out by the bus stops. :scared1: In all my years of going to Disney I've never seen such a disaster as the bus stops were that night. I don't know what in the world was going on, because the park hadn't even been that busy but it seemed as if all of humanity was waiting for a bus to one of the Disney resorts. I've never seen lines that big before. You would have thought that the bus drivers had all walked off the job or something.

The line for POFQ is at the very end of the bus stops on the left side, on the right side of the station. It was nearly impossible to make our way through the crowds to get to our station. The line for the Boardwalk/Swan/Dolphin stretched all the way down past the resort stop in back of it, nearly to the directional signs. We couldn’t tell which line was which and where any of the lines actually ended. I put myself in my best New York City walker mode and told my parents to stick close. I bobbed, weaved, and twisted by way through the crowd and finally made it to the POFQ holding pen where there was absolutely no line whatsoever. :banana: Can I say how much I love the fact that the Magic Kindom has separate lines for POR and POFQ? I don't know why they don't do this at the other parks.


I felt horrible for the people trying to get to POP and the All Stars on the other side of the pick up area. If I thought the crowds on our side were bad, it was even worse over there. When buses showed up, people would actually start to cheer.

We were at a park nearly every night until closing, and never saw a mess like that again. I don't know what caused it, but I'm hoping I'm never there again for such a disaster.

We all crashed early that night as we had a long day planned with the girls the next day at MGM.

Will too much family togetherness finally catch up with us? Stay tuned.

[MRYPPNS]

Well at least you enjoyed most of the food at 'Ohana's...except for the dry meat.....that's what the dipping sauces are for. It seems that every skewer of meat is different in how it's cooked. Sort of like the Good, the Bad and the Ugly! I don't mind how they serve the food in sections....but then again I'm not shy with flagging down any server or manager to get us more wheather it's emtpy or just cold. Do you think maybe because your neices weren't there like you had planned that but a damper on the dinner? I really do think it was rude for your DB and SIL to cancel.

I've seen that bus mess after Wishes....and once was enough for me...now I wait close to an hour before leaving after Wishes....it's a good excuse for some ice cream or popcorn!

[If U Had Wings]

Well at least you enjoyed most of the food at 'Ohana's...except for the dry meat.....that's what the dipping sauces are for. It seems that every skewer of meat is different in how it's cooked. Sort of like the Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

I didn't even think of using the sauces. The last time everything was so tender it would have been a shame to put anything on them. I think my biggest issues were comparing it to my prior trip. Nothing was really living up to what I had been expecting.

I don't mind how they serve the food in sections....but then again I'm not shy with flagging down any server or manager to get us more wheather it's emtpy or just cold. Do you think maybe because your neices weren't there like you had planned that but a damper on the dinner? I really do think it was rude for your DB and SIL to cancel.

The service was really bad this time. We were looking for our waitress to complain, but she'd be nowhere around. She'd drop the food off and run.

Honestly I was expecting my brother and sil to cancel on me. They had been wishy washy about the reservation for awhile, and I know enough to know that means they will probably cancel. You learn to expect it after awhile. What ends up being annoying is when they lie. They told us they deceided to just cook and eat at the house, but the girls told us the next day all about their dinner at Bahama Breeze. Really, just tell the truth.

I've seen that bus mess after Wishes....and once was enough for me...now I wait close to an hour before leaving after Wishes....it's a good excuse for some ice cream or popcorn!

What a mess is right! Wow! We had actually waited a bit doing our shopping so were really shocked that it was that bad.

[skier_pete]

After our ride we headed back to the castle to claim our Wishes spot. I always stand in the same place. It offers a great clear view of the castle and Tinkerbelle during her flight, and you never get anyone standing right in front of you.

We walked slowly towards the exit, doing a bit of shopping while we were poking in the stores. When we got out to the buses we were shocked by the mess that meeted us out by the bus stops. :scared1: In all my years of going to Disney I've never seen such a disaster as the bus stops were that night. I don't know what in the world was going on, because the park hadn't even been that busy but it seemed as if all of humanity was waiting for a bus to one of the Disney resorts. I've never seen lines that big before.

The line for POFQ is at the very end of the bus stops on the left side, on the right side of the station. I bobbed, weaved, and twisted by way through the crowd and finally made it to the POFQ holding pen where there was absolutely no line whatsoever. :banana: Can I say how much I love the fact that the Magic Kindom has separate lines for POR and POFQ? I don't know why they don't do this at the other parks.

We were at a park nearly every night until closing, and never saw a mess like that again. I don't know what caused it, but I'm hoping I'm never there again for such a disaster.



See..we must have almost ran into eachother again here...we were just south of the hub for Wishes. The difference is we booked out the second the fireworks ended. (DW wanted to leave before, but I couldn't do it.) We bobbed and weaved through the crowd, and the bus queues had not yet gotten crowded. We got on the first bus, and were in our room by 10:35 PM. I agree the evening buses are the WORST in general...and MK is really bad.

SkierPete

[trixiequilts]

Do you ever share the location of your great spot for Wishes? DD6 loves Tink and will absolutely FLIP when she sees her. I haven't told her about it because I don't want her to be disappointed if we can't see her. If you do want to tell me, maybe you should PM me so the whole world doesn't know! :rolleyes1

[Tinkerbellarella]

Sadly the Davy Jones effect was not working.

For us either. :sad2:

My first Dole Whip. (Honestly, I don't know how I've missed these things before I started dissing). While I like pineapple, I don't like it in overwhelming quantities so I went with the Dole Whip soft serve instead of the float. So good! The taste was so mild and refreshing. Delicious!

I actually would be willing to bet you'd like the float too. There's not too much juice and I'd worried it might end up being heavy...not. one. bit. :goodvibes

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/MickeyEars1974_opt.jpg

LOVE. IT.
CLASSIC.

I always stand in the same place. It offers a great clear view of the castle and Tinkerbelle during her flight, and you never get anyone standing right in front of you. It's a nice little spot, that doesn't fill up right away, but I don't like to take my chances of someone finding my spot on me.

I found a spot like that this year. Once I write about it, you'll have to tell me if it's the same spot as yours. This one also has an excellent view of the castle, Tink flies right overhead and we were there about 45 minutes early and it didn't start to really fill up until about 10 minutes out. Oh. And if you're early enough, there are real, honest to goodness SEATS. :goodvibes

Sorry to hear O'hana didn't turn out so well. We'd originally had it booked but canceled it when we scheduled the dinner with TK. Now, I'm not missing it so much!

[If U Had Wings]

See..we must have almost ran into eachother again here...we were just south of the hub for Wishes. The difference is we booked out the second the fireworks ended. (DW wanted to leave before, but I couldn't do it.) We bobbed and weaved through the crowd, and the bus queues had not yet gotten crowded. We got on the first bus, and were in our room by 10:35 PM. I agree the evening buses are the WORST in general...and MK is really bad.

SkierPete

Too funny. Normally we move out faster when we are with the girls. I think this time we fell into a weird middle area. Not fast enough to be one of the first people out of there, and not slow enough to get caught in the crowds. I've learned my lesson.

I actually would be willing to bet you'd like the float too. There's not too much juice and I'd worried it might end up being heavy...not. one. bit. :goodvibes

Something new to try next time.

I found a spot like that this year. Once I write about it, you'll have to tell me if it's the same spot as yours. This one also has an excellent view of the castle, Tink flies right overhead and we were there about 45 minutes early and it didn't start to really fill up until about 10 minutes out. Oh. And if you're early enough, there are real, honest to goodness SEATS. :goodvibes

They must be close, but no, no seats in our area although there is a fence to lean on. A good spot is key. I don't mind sharing my spot with any of my Dis friends, just don't want to let the secret out too much. I don't want to have to start holding down my spot 2 hours before wishes. ;)

Sorry to hear O'hana didn't turn out so well. We'd originally had it booked but canceled it when we scheduled the dinner with TK. Now, I'm not missing it so much!

I think that I felt worst that it was going so badly because I had waxed poetic on it so much previously. Being left in charge of all the details I wanted everything to go perfectly.

[If U Had Wings]

I'm in the middle of writing up my next day trip installment. It's almost done. I've been trying to wait for my brother to burn me a copy of his pictures to fill in the blanks, but he is really taking his time. They were all over my house on Saturday, and no disk was brought. At least he brought me a copy of the photo pass pictures, so to keep you entertained until the next installment is ready I'll fill you in with a few photopass pictures from the days I've already posted.

From the Animal Kingdom, a group shot near Everest
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/akeverestgroup_opt.jpg

And near the tree of life
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/aktreegroup_opt.jpg

One of those silly shots they love to have you take -
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/arms_opt.jpg

Princess Cin with Simba
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/akmrsimba_opt.jpg

Princess Jasmine with Simba
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/akmssimba_opt.jpg

Me and my two favorite girls
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/aktreemegirls_opt.jpg

From Epcot Princess Cin scared on Test Track. That's me next with my arm around her, and Pa Eeyore on her other side. Pa Grumpy, Jasmine and Ma Tink are in the back seat.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/EpTTscared_opt.jpg

A few more rides on Test Track, and she's feeling all happy and telling us where to look for our photo op. Again, she's in the front with Mickey and Minnie. I'm in the back with Eeyore and Jasmine. Jas wanted to ride with Ma Tink and me, but we had to pull her aside and tell her not to exclude Eeyore.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/EpTTfun_opt.jpg

Ma Tink and Pa Grumpy for a Soarin photo op.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/EpSoarinparents_opt.jpg

We had another one of these taken with the entire family. Everyone came out really cute, but the dopes at Disney never put in the handglider. So the picture just has all of us looking up at nothing. I think I need to find someone who can photoshop the glider on.

I promise a new installment will be up soon!

[Lady Lallie]

Those are great pictures.

I love the Test Track photos.

Disney forgot to add in one of the enhancements and I emailed them and the next morning it was in there. :thumbsup2

[If U Had Wings]

Those are great pictures.

I love the Test Track photos.

Disney forgot to add in one of the enhancements and I emailed them and the next morning it was in there. :thumbsup2

Hmmm that's what I get for leaving my brother in charge of photopass.

[If U Had Wings]

I should have taken it as a sign when I woke up at 4:30 am with a horrid burning throat. :sick: That little scratchy throat I had while having my Dole Whip the day before had developed into a full fledged sore throat. Really sometimes little things like that are like blaring sirens that the day is going to have a few issues. It should have been mine. While the day wasn't completely horrible, it was definitely a hump day. Family togetherness was taking a beating for a few members of our party and those individuals really could have used a bit of time apart. :headache: Unfortunately that time apart wasn't on the plan until tomorrow.

As much as I love Disney, there are reasons why I could never live and work there. The perpetual sore throat/asthma attacks that I get while I'm down there are the primary reason. Everytime I go to Disney I wake up one morning about midway through the week weezing and feeling like my throat is on fire. Then I spend the rest of the week having coughing fits every time I try to say more than 3 words in a row. Up here in CT I get hit with this about once a year or so right at the beginning of summer, in Florida it hits whatever time of year I go down.

This year was the worst it's ever been, but it's the first time I've ventured down to Florida in August. You could feel the humidity, and the clogged quality of the air so it was really just a matter of time for me. After I woke up at 4:30 I could not get back to sleep. I laid around to about 6:30 or so mentally berating myself for not bringing anything with me for sore throats. (One would think I'd learn eventually).:rolleyes2

Another quick breakfast at the food court and we were off to meet up with the rest of the gang at about 8:30 am at MGM, or as we fondly referred to it - doofy matching shirt day #2.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/totfamily.jpg

We all wore our stick figure t-shirts which oddly enough became a bit of a Dis board calling card. I was a bit surprised, but was stopped several times by people recognizing the design from the Dis boards. The rest of my family had no idea what in the world these people were talking about. I enjoyed getting to meet some other Dissers, but sadly didn't catch any names. I think next time I might have to carry a few extra LGMH to use like calling cards or something. The shirts weren't quite as big a hit as the tye dyed ones, but still we were stopped all over the park. As doofy as we felt wearing the shirts around the resort, they felt perfectly right once we got into the parks. They made it really easy to pick each other out of a crowd, and I think we all liked the bit of uniformity they gave to the group shots.


I've been going to Disney since I was a kid, and I haven't seen anything like the rope drop at MGM since the Magic Kingdom only had Space Mountain as a headliner ride. When the rope drope everyone headed directly towards Toy Story Mania. Everyone. :jumping1: I don't think I'm exaggerating a bit here. If someone was vering off to go on something else I certainly didn't see them. A giant mass of humanity was working itself around to Toy Story Mania. It was oddly entertaining. As we passed by the giant hat Daisy and Minnie were standing there waving at them :wave2:, yet no one was paying them a bit of attention. Single minded in their focus, everyone kept plowing around to the ride.

In hindsight we should have been a bit more organized and had more of a plan, but we eventually decieded to send Minnie to get FP's while the rest of us waited to get in the standby line. We wasted some valuable time. As we waited just at the entrance to Toy Story Mania for Minnie to return, we could watch the wait time clock getting longer and longer. It took longer to get the FP's than we expected so we held back in the line just outside of the building door to wait for Minnie. We waited there letting people go in front of us, when Pa Eeyore starting going on about how people were going to think we were cutting the line since we were standing there. He thought we should leave the line altogether and get back in when Minnie showed up. Pa Grumpy lived up to his name sake, and snapped on him telling him no one was going to think that since we were already in the line and letting people go ahead of us, and if anyone thought that they were an idiot. Eeyore copped and attitude, and went standing off by himself. :mad: Yep, we were off to a great start this morning.

Things only got better as we continued to wait for Minnie. Pa Grumpy, now riled up, was getting even grumpier as he hadn't been on a major ride yet. He was muttering to himself, and anyone who would listen that we were wasting time, why the he** weren't we going on the ride, why bother with fastpasses etc., and if it was going to be like this all day long he was just going to go back to the room. Utter drama queen. And we wonder where the girls get it from. :rolleyes: I am a true libra, and strife and agitation bother me a lot. This morning it was actually making me feel physically ill, which coupled with the sore throat and asthma was making me a very unhappy camper. Normally I just let things pass and try to make peace by skirting around the issue, but this morning I was in no mood so I pulled my dad, Grumpy, off to the side and flat out told him we were getting the fast passes for the girls, and that waiting 10 minutes or so now would make them very happy later on when they got to ride again without a 2 hour wait. I might have mentioned he should cut the nonsense about returning to the room, I can't be positive, then I stomped off to wait with the girls. He seemed to get the message, and at any rate kept quiet after that. Once he got on the ride he was fine again. We learned a valuable lesson that the key to his happiness was getting him on a major ride within his first 15 minutes of being in a park. :thumbsup2

Cin waiting patiently for Minnie to come back:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/leghug.jpg


Both grandfathers behaved themselves a bit better after that. Minnie showed up and we all headed in. The sign had posted a 45 minute wait when we entered, but we waited longer than that. The line was fun however and the girls were getting a big kick out of the oversized props and toys.

The girls
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1458_opt.jpg

The girls with their beloved Ma Tink.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1454_opt.jpg

Mickey and Cin
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1450_opt.jpg


Jasmine
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01184_opt.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01175_opt.jpg


Minnie, Jas and Me
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/tsmline.jpg


Some shots of the props
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/monkey.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/Wanted.jpg


They are complete hams, and we had a lot of fun doing a bit of a photo shoot as we walked through the line.

This is probaby where we should have been sending the grandfathers.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01183_opt.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01182_opt.jpg

This is what happens when the girls amuse themselves with the cameras.:rolleyes:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/kissbutt.jpg

It scares me sometimes how much they are like my brother.

Of course we had to stop for some pictures with Mr. Potato Head.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01186_opt.jpg


The girls loved TSM. I rode with Cin and was getting a bigger kick out of watching the look of utmost concentration on her face than from the ride itself. She didn't do particularly well, but we lied a bit about how she did so that she didn't think she had done so much worse than everyone else. They wanted to ride immediately, but the standby line was up to about an hour and a half so we were going to have to wait for the fast pass return time which was at about 11 o'clock or so. The return time for passes being given out when we got off the ride was already up to 5:30 pm! Crazy:crazy:

Coming soon...How will Princess Cin take to being dropped 13 stories?

[Lady Lallie]

I have no idea how I missed your Ohana review! Where the heck was I??

I am sorry you didn't like it as much as last year. I have been contemplating doing Ohana's for breakfast, have you ever been for that?

I am so glad you were able to enjoy the TSM queue. I am going to suck it up and stand in the line next trip so I can see Mr. Potato Head. We really saw none of it with our Fastpasses.

[If U Had Wings]

I have no idea how I missed your Ohana review! Where the heck was I??

I am sorry you didn't like it as much as last year. I have been contemplating doing Ohana's for breakfast, have you ever been for that?

I am so glad you were able to enjoy the TSM queue. I am going to suck it up and stand in the line next trip so I can see Mr. Potato Head. We really saw none of it with our Fastpasses.

I might have to give Ohana one more try. My primary problem this time was with the service. (And the cheesy entertainment). I'd defintitely try to go when the guy was performing.

It was worth it to check out the line at TSM. If you go in, and go directly in it probably wouldn't be that bad. We waited about an hour, but we wasted quite a bit of time getting our fp's. Still with the girls we were happy to get 2 rides in. Since it was first thing in the morning they were pretty okay with waiting to ride it. They loved it so much they were actually volunteering to wait again.

[If U Had Wings]

My absolute favorite ride in all of Disney is Tower of Terror :lovestruc , so I was thrilled when we started heading over to it. I love the drops, and I adore all the detailed theming of the ride, especially the decrepit gardens out front. I was actually happy that there was a bit of a line so that I could stop and walk through the gardens a bit. I forgot to take my camera out to take a few photos. :headache:

First though we had to stop for a few photos, including one with Stitch.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/stitch.jpg

This was going to be Cin's first ride on Tower of Terror as she was finally tall enough to ride. Jasmine doesn't really like it all that much, so Pa Eeyore waited with her. Cin is a daredevil, but I wasn't sure how this was going to go over with her. She wanted to sit between me and her daddy, so as we rode up the elevator and through the weird images we tried to prep her as much as possible, so she would know what to expect. So far, so good she really was enjoying all the spooky images. Then again this is the kid who thinks Haunted Mansion needs more ghosts :rotfl: so I wasn't really worried she was going to be scared by ghosts in ToT.

I loved the look on her face after we dropped the first time. It was a wide open, silent scream, nothing was coming out. Much like this skittle :scared1: or this one :eek: . I think she was floating above her seat the entire time. I wish that I had a picture of it. Minnie rednecked the photo, but my brother hasn't burned me a copy of their pictures yet. Still she is so tiny that you couldn't really see her in the photo, all you saw was the rest of us watching her. I thought for sure after seeing her face that she hated it and that there would be some crying when we got off. Nope. As soon as we got off she wanted to ride again. She completely adored it, and now thinks it funny that we love the same ride. Unfortunatley the wait was now up to 40 minutes so we passed on riding again, and headed over to Rocking Rollercoaster. The line there was over an hour too, so again we passed and headed over to the Great Movie Ride.

Lines were crazy all over MGM, I'm guessing it was from all the people waiting for their FP return times. I haven't seen it that busy at MGM in ages. It was the only time that our UG plans didn't really seem to save us that much time. While we were on the Great Movie Ride, Jasmine started complaining about a tummy ache. :sick: Of course this was caused by the fact that she hadn't eaten her breakfast that day, but she didn't care. She told us, very matter of factly, that riding Toy Story Mania again would make her tummy feel much, much better. :lmao: Always a manuever with that one. Luckily our return time was ready so she could ride again and get rid of that pesky tummy ache. :thumbsup2 I did better, but I really stink at the ringtoss portion.

Cin loves Ursuala so after TSM we headed over to the Little Mermaid show. Even when she was only 2 she loved Ursuala, and while all the other kids were crying and screaming when she came out, Cin would be sitting there happy and laughing waving at Ursuala. She's a bit weird for a kid. During the show Jasmine, who is usually not a huggy kid at all, wanted to sit in my lap where she snuggled up with me, making me wrap my arms tighltly around her while in my lap. :cloud9: I'm so easy to please, I just ate it up. I love that Disney makes her more huggy.

After the mermaid show we split up for a bit. Mickey and Minnie brought the girls over to the Playhouse Disney show while the rest of us went to sit for awhile and have a snack at the Backlot express. The grandfathers were looking a bit peaked from the heat and humidity, and needed a rest. The humidity was just terrible. Grumpy wandered off to do a bit of shopping, and Tink and I got an earful about what was really going on with everyone else over at the rented house. Tensions were running high over there. :( They were given no towels, so they had to go shopping to buy some. The screened enclosure for the pool had a hole in it so they had to borrow a skimmer from the neighbor to get the bugs out of the pool, and the lovely little lizards that are everywhere in Florida were getting in. They also had some issues with a few things being broken. Eeyore was telling us how for him, it just wasn't feeling like a vacation. Not relaxing.

Plus they were all getting on each others nerves over at the house. A bit of background, back in 2006 when we all went to Disney together for the first time, we all drove down and stayed off-site at the same hotel. I shared a suite with my parents, and Eeyore shared a suite with Mickey, Minnie and the girls. Usually my bother and sil would leave the parks early, have dinner off-site and have the girls in bed by their normal bed times. Since we were staying together, Eeyore would just stay with us for dinner in the parks and head back at park closing. By the end of the trip my parents and I were sick of Eeyore and all of his racist, biggoted opinions. :furious: My brother and sil though were living the good life, as they only had to deal with this nonsense for a few hours in the park each day. This trip though was payback for the last trip. They were getting no escape. Since he didn't have his own car, and they were all off-site, he was stuck with them like glue. They couldn't pawn him off on us while they went and had a nice peaceful dinner by themselves.

Anyways, all was not going well at the house. Eeyore didn't like the way they were treating him, and we got an earful of his complaints. When he got up to use the bathroom, my mother and I said how greatful we were that we were staying nowhere near all that mess. Give us our room at a Disney resort anytime!! Honestly the best decision we made this entire trip was to stay at a different place from the rest of the family. :thumbsup2 Primarily because of Eeyore.

About 2 pm we all met up again, and headed over to the Backlot tour. We wanted to volunteer my brother to be in the show so that we could all get a good laugh at his expense. :lmao: (Because really that’s the kind of family we are). Unfortunately Lights! Motors! Action! Show had just exited, and the backlot tour was flooded with people. It seemed to be the way things were destined to go at MGM.

Instead of waiting with the crowed, we headed over to the Muppets. Princess Jasmine wanted to show me where the key was under the door matt. I had been looking for it the last time, and had missed it. It’s such a cute touch. It’s just a shame that they a turnstile right in front of the mat making it so hard for people to discover.

From there we headed over to Star Tours. With Ma Tink in the wheel chair we got to bypass the line. Sweet! Princess Cin loved this one. The whole thing captivated her. The Star Wars characters really fascinated her. :darth: :yoda: :chewy: I told Mickey he’d have to show her the movie when they got home. It was really amazing to see her face light up. It’s a ride I pretty much take for granted, and it was such a joy to see her enjoy it so much.

Both of them really enjoyed getting to have their pictures taken with the Star Wars props outside the ride.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01195_opt.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/starwarsgirls2.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/starwarsgirls.jpg

By this time we were off to Hollywood and Vine for our very early ADR. Eating at 3:30 just seems so wrong to me, too early for dinner, yet a bit late for lunch. Nevertheless that’s the time we had to take for a Fantasmic reservation.

[Lady Lallie]

Great update!!

Sorry you had to get an ear full from Eeyore. I wouldn't have the patience for that, personally.

Even though the lines were long, it seems like you were able to get a lot done at MGM. :thumbsup2

The pictures of the girls on the Star Wars stuff is really cute!

[If U Had Wings]

They really love the photo shoots. They are both complete hams.

Eeyore is the most annoying person in the world to travel with. The worst is I end up feeling like I'm dealing with in-law nonsense, and I'm not even married. Shouldn't have to deal with in-law nonsense.

[Lady Lallie]

They really love the photo shoots. They are both complete hams.

Eeyore is the most annoying person in the world to travel with. The worst is I end up feeling like I'm dealing with in-law nonsense, and I'm not even married. Shouldn't have to deal with in-law nonsense.You totally shouldn't have too!! :headache:

[If U Had Wings]

I'm always amazed at my brother's ability to tune him out completely. His patience is amazing. I'd have flipped out ages ago dealing with it.

[Lady Lallie]

I'm always amazed at my brother's ability to tune him out completely. His patience is amazing. I'd have flipped out ages ago dealing with it.I think it's easier for men to tune out their inlaws than us women.

[Donald is #1]

After the mermaid show we split up for a bit. Mickey and Minnie brought the girls over to the Playhouse Disney show while the rest of us went to sit for awhile and have a snack at the Backlot express. The grandfathers were looking a bit peaked from the heat and humidity, and needed a rest. The humidity was just terrible. Grumpy wandered off to do a bit of shopping, and Tink and I got an earful about what was really going on with everyone else over at the rented house. Tensions were running high over there. :( They were given no towels, so they had to go shopping to buy some. The screened enclosure for the pool had a hole in it so they had to borrow a skimmer from the neighbor to get the bugs out of the pool, and the lovely little lizards that are everywhere in Florida were getting in. They also had some issues with a few things being broken. Eeyore was telling us how for him, it just wasn't feeling like a vacation. Not relaxing.

Plus they were all getting on each others nerves over at the house. A bit of background, back in 2006 when we all went to Disney together for the first time, we all drove down and stayed off-site at the same hotel. I shared a suite with my parents, and Eeyore shared a suite with Mickey, Minnie and the girls. Usually my bother and sil would leave the parks early, have dinner off-site and have the girls in bed by their normal bed times. Since we were staying together, Eeyore would just stay with us for dinner in the parks and head back at park closing. By the end of the trip my parents and I were sick of Eeyore and all of his racist, biggoted opinions. :furious: My brother and sil though were living the good life, as they only had to deal with this nonsense for a few hours in the park each day. This trip though was payback for the last trip. They were getting no escape. Since he didn't have his own car, and they were all off-site, he was stuck with them like glue. They couldn't pawn him off on us while they went and had a nice peaceful dinner by themselves.

Anyways, all was not going well at the house. Eeyore didn't like the way they were treating him, and we got an earful of his complaints. When he got up to use the bathroom, my mother and I said how greatful we were that we were staying nowhere near all that mess. Give us our room at a Disney resort anytime!! Honestly the best decision we made this entire trip was to stay at a different place from the rest of the family. :thumbsup2 Primarily because of Eeyore.



Wow! I agree with you. Your own hotel room is much better than sharing a house or an RV! During my Oct 2006 trip, my sister, her husband, their kids and her in-laws also went. In order to save my sister and her husband the cost of a hotel room, her in-laws drove their RV down and stayed at FW. My sister, her husband, the kids and I then flew down. I had my own room at WL while everyone else stayed in the RV. By half way through the week, my sister and brother-in-law were jealous of my hotel room! With 4 adults and 2 kids in 1 RV, they were driving each other crazy.

[If U Had Wings]

Wow! I agree with you. Your own hotel room is much better than sharing a house or an RV! During my Oct 2006 trip, my sister, her husband, their kids and her in-laws also went. In order to save my sister and her husband the cost of a hotel room, her in-laws drove their RV down and stayed at FW. My sister, her husband, the kids and I then flew down. I had my own room at WL while everyone else stayed in the RV. By half way through the week, my sister and brother-in-law were jealous of my hotel room! With 4 adults and 2 kids in 1 RV, they were driving each other crazy.

I definitely would never make it with that many people in a RV. That is way too much family togetherness.

[If U Had Wings]

I had been feeling bad for my poor mother. The pain in her back and the medication they had her on had left her unable to eat practically anything for our trip so far. Our MGM day was the worst. She had practically nothing but a bit of bread for dinner. :sad2:

As for me, dinner at Hollywood and Vine was okay. Nothing there really stood out as excellent. I had been looking forward to the yummy pot roast that they had the last time I was there. It was the same pot roast that they had at the 50’s Prime Time Café, but unfortunately there was no Pot Roast to be found on the menu when we were there. :sad2: I normally don’t eat much meat, and with the past few meals at Ohana and Biergarten, my stomach was in meat revolt so I bypassed any of the red meat. The salads were pretty good, the tomato/mozzarella salad in particular. I had a lot of those, and a bit of ginger chicken.

There really wasn’t much to chose from in the way of main courses. The buffet seemed heavy on the breads/rices to me. The desserts were okay, but again no signature dessert that stood out. I’ve eaten here a few times, and always walk away with the same bland feeling. It’s not good, not bad just … meh – average. There were some issues going on with Mickey/Minnie and Pa Eeyore at the other end of the table, but as I was on the other end of the table, I ignored them. Somewhere along the line they stopped talking to each other.

After our meal we sat down with the times schedule and realized that there was no way we were going to be able to catch the Indy show and the Backlot tour that day. We had a democratic vote, and my brother and I lost. Indy won. The girls ended up loving it. Cin wanted to take part so badly, and was hoping around when they were asking for volunteers. :goofy: She was a bit put out when I told her this show really wanted grown-ups to help.

When Indy was done it was another hike across the park , back to Rock and Roller Coaster. Of course, we had to stop for some photos. (No one in this family is ever going to be accused of being camera shy).

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/hatfamily.jpg

I love this one with a bit of "Star" attitude.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/kisseshat.jpg

No Pa Grumpy or Ma Tink, because they had walked ahead and refused to come back for photos. :confused: When we got the photopass disc back though, all my mom wanted to know was why she wasn't in any of the pictures. She's drawn a bit of a mental block about the stubborness.

The plan was for the grandparents to take the girls to see Beauty and the Beast while the rest of us rode the rollercoaster. Once we got over there the girls didn’t want me to go. They began a little begging campaign to have me stay with them. :lovestruc What can I say I’m a softy! I passed on Rock n Rollercoaster to watch the show with them.

Mickey and Minnie went off for their thrills.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/guitar.jpg

Yep, no camera shy people in this family.

The rest of us headed towards Beauty and the Beast.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01241_opt.jpg

It ended up being fun watching the show with the girls. Again, with the wheelchair, we were taken right down to the front of the theater. Princess Cin was so excited for me that I was so close to my favorite princess that she’d poke at me excitedly every time Belle was on the stage. It was so funny that she was so happy for me. I took out my camera to take some pictures of the show and the Beast came right up in front of me and growled right at the camera. Unfortunately I had the settings wrong and the picture came out as a big blurr. Did get a few others though.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01212_opt.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01226_opt.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01236_opt.jpg

At the end the girls were beyond excited when Belle blew kisses right at them during her bows. She gave the rose to another little girl sitting a row over, but my princesses didn’t care. They had kisses from a princess. :cutie:

By the time the shows were over we deceided to hit ToT one more time before it was time to head over to save our seats for Fantasmic. Only Cin and I had to use the bathroom, which was an entertaining experience. We shared the stall, and when it was my turn to go, I told her to look away while I went. She told me nope, she wanted to see what I looked like, down there. I think I heard the lady in the stall next to my giggle. I don’t blame her, I had to laugh too.

By the time I got back out to the rest of the group, the tension of the day had finally erupted. :furious: :furious: Just as we got back, Pa Eeyore had gone stomping off and my SIL was furious. My brother was trying to play mediator, and my parents and Jasmine were hanging back trying to stay out of it. I don’t really know what happened. (And truthfully am glad I missed it, and that Cin didn't have to witness it). All I managed to pick up was that Eeyore didn’t think that Mickey and Minnie were carrying around enough water for him, he didn’t like their attitude, he wanted to go home, they were the reason the girls didn’t want to spend any time with him on this vacation and pretty much Minnie was out of the will. It was more directed towards my SIL, as there was even some comments thrown in that Mickey had to deal with her nonsense too. Obviously this was something that had been brewing and had finally hit the hot point. My SIL who normally never lets anyone see her angry like that was livid. She went off to try to make a bit of peace, and try to stop her father from getting on the first flight home. Poor Jasmine was taking in the whole thing, and was asking why can’t everyone just be nice to each other. Cin could have cared less, especially as Pa Grumpy was buying her an ice cream to keep her occupied.

After a brief discussion, Minnie and Pa Eeyore came back. A feeble truce had been declared. :chat: The grandparents headed off towards the Fantasmic theater with the girls, and me, Mickey and Minnie headed to ToT for one more quick ride. That’s when I realized just how annoyed she was. She was ranting about how she worked too hard all year to have her one main vacation ruined with this nonsense with grown men acting like spoiled children. Honestly I don’t blame her. :sad2:

I think that Pa Eeyore effectively ruined any further family vacations for the rest of us, which frankly ticks me off. :mad: Before this trip my brother had been mentioning that a Disney cruise with the whole family would be a lot of fun, and that we should look into it when the girls are a bit older. I don’t think that is going to happen any longer thanks to Pa Eeyore’s anctics. Ma Tink and I were none to happy about it.

While we were waiting for Fantasmic to start, my mother decieded to spring her idea for some itinerary changes on Mickey and Minnie for the next day. The plan that they had devised was that the grandparents would take the girls to the character spot at Epcot while the rest of us took our Segway tour. Ma Tink, however wanted to spend the morning at POFQ, using the pool and relaxing before meeting up with us after our tour. Since we know that this plan would have been shot down immediately if we had brought it up earlier, or plan was to spring it on them the day before. I think Mickey and Minnie realized that some decompression time was in order for everyone and readily agreed to the plan.

Everyone enjoyed Fantasmic, but the girls were really starting to get pooped from the day, and I think we were all happy to see the day come to an end. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the buses. Lines were long, but the busses were being sent regularly, so they were moving. When we got back to the resort Ma Tink's stomach was feeling better so we headed to the food court for our nightly beignets. They are just so addictive!

Coming up - Day 5 - Around the World with Sore Feet.

[MRYPPNS]

I don't even know what to say about all that drama....except that there will be none on your solo trip!

[Lady Lallie]

I am really really hoping for all of your sakes that the mood with Pa Eeyore starts to turn around. What a vacation bummer! Maybe with a bit of time Mickey & Minnie will want to do that cruise!

[If U Had Wings]

I don't even know what to say about all that drama....except that there will be none on your solo trip!

None! I am so looking forward to it. No wonder my brother says that his favorite trips to Disney were when he was alone while my SIL was in work conferences.

I am really really hoping for all of your sakes that the mood with Pa Eeyore starts to turn around. What a vacation bummer! Maybe with a bit of time Mickey & Minnie will want to do that cruise!

He's so miserable. I have to do the family thing and go to his birthday party on Saturday. I am so not happy about it. The only good thing is that I'll see the girls.

I hope they change their minds about the cruise, but I really don't think it's going to happen. I've never seen my SIL so angry. None of us needed our vacations ruined with this stuff. He did behave much better after that. Or kept quiet at any rate. He's just one of those "never happy" people.

[Lady Lallie]

He's so miserable. I have to do the family thing and go to his birthday party on Saturday. I am so not happy about it. The only good thing is that I'll see the girls.

I hope they change their minds about the cruise, but I really don't think it's going to happen. I've never seen my SIL so angry. None of us needed our vacations ruined with this stuff. He did behave much better after that. Or kept quiet at any rate. He's just one of those "never happy" people.
This is SIL's father, right? I am surprised you go to his Birthday party. I hardly ever see my brother's inlaws.

This is why I have a feeling family vacations with my inlaws will not be happening, I imagine things like this would happen. :sad2:

[If U Had Wings]

This is SIL's father, right? I am surprised you go to his Birthday party. I hardly ever see my brother's inlaws.

This is why I have a feeling family vacations with my inlaws will not be happening, I imagine things like this would happen. :sad2:

I know, it's weird. My SIL is an only child. Her parents separated when she was really young and she was raised by her father. He's also an only child with no other family except his daughter. (Her mom is around, but really isn't a part of her life much). As a result we get brought in for these family events all the time. We've gotten used to having him there all the time, and since he's by himself we've taken to include him in our holiday/birthday celebrations. I'm probably the worst. Since I'm single, I try to include him, because I know how lonely I'd probably be if I didn't have my family. He's still a test of my patience though.

[castmemberb4]

Oh Wow sorry about all of the drama on your vacation, family can be taxing at times, especially when it's not even your family. Like you said before you solo trip will be :cloud9:
Oh a happy note, can't wait to hear about your Segway tour, DH talked me into doing it last trip and I loved it !
Lynn

[If U Had Wings]

Oh Wow sorry about all of the drama on your vacation, family can be taxing at times, especially when it's not even your family. Like you said before you solo trip will be :cloud9:
Oh a happy note, can't wait to hear about your Segway tour, DH talked me into doing it last trip and I loved it !
Lynn

Thanks. I really hate the drama too. I'm very true to my Libra sign. Complete peacekeeper.

[Tinkerbellarella]

Loving the updates and sorry to hear about all of the family drama. I know that I haven't properly quoted and commented but will do in the future once I'm all caught up!

[If U Had Wings]

Loving the updates and sorry to hear about all of the family drama. I know that I haven't properly quoted and commented but will do in the future once I'm all caught up!

That's okay. Just good to see that unpacking and work haven't completely buried you!

[Tinkerbellarella]

That's okay. Just good to see that unpacking and work haven't completely buried you!

Oh no.
Make no mistake.
I AM completey buried, my dear. It's just, I believe they call this state - denial.

[Sarilas]

How did I miss this! DID I miss this? Man, I'm behind! I've got some catching up to do!

[Charleston Princess]

All caught up again -- sorry about the family drama -- aren't you glad that you have a solo trip coming up? Maybe Mickey and Minnie will still invite you to go on the cruise with them.

[If U Had Wings]

How did I miss this! DID I miss this? Man, I'm behind! I've got some catching up to do!

I always feel that way about falling behind with my trip report. I was nice and caught up, now I'm behind again because I need to upload pictures. Vicious circle.

All caught up again -- sorry about the family drama -- aren't you glad that you have a solo trip coming up? Maybe Mickey and Minnie will still invite you to go on the cruise with them.

We'll have to see. Until this weekend I was convinced that it was a definite no. Minnie through a birthday party for her dad this weekend, and all seemed to be much better. He was now declaring her to be "the best daughter a man could have." That day at MGM she was a horrible daughter who was out of the will. While he was giving his she's wonderful speech at the party this weekend my mom was giving me kicks under the table. She nearly made me start giggling out loud. :laughing:

[Charleston Princess]

That's actually pretty funny -- too bad someone didn't raise their hand and say, "Does this mean that Minnie is back in the will?" :lmao:

[TarzansKat]

I'm here! I'm late. But I'm going back to read! :goodvibes

[If U Had Wings]

That's actually pretty funny -- too bad someone didn't raise their hand and say, "Does this mean that Minnie is back in the will?" :lmao:

Which is why my mom and I are dangerous to have next to each other. She's bad at giving me those kicks that set me off laughing. She used to give them to me when we'd be in church too. Annoyed my father to no end. At the party though I was sooo tempted to ask. ;)

I'm here! I'm late. But I'm going back to read! :goodvibes

All the drama of my TR. The nonsense makes me so glad I have no inlaws!

[TarzansKat]

All the drama of my TR. The nonsense makes me so glad I have no inlaws!

First of all, your nieces: ADORABLE! I love the little camera hog. She's pose-y, but in such a good way. With my son, I get big cheesy grins, if he feels like it. So it's nice to read about some girliness.

As for family drama, I'm right there with you. We've had it and not had it. Blow out fights and little ones, and then getting along. Traveling with family is tough. It just is. But so rewarding too, because you got to spend all that time with those little peanuts! :goodvibes

[If U Had Wings]

It was getting to be that point in the week. Exhaustion was beginning to take over and all I really wanted to do was stay in bed. :sad1: My asthma was getting worse, and the a/c in the room was causing me to wake up rasping with a raw throat every day. :sick: So not fun. My Segway tour was scheduled for this morning so no sleeping in today.

I was up early and went off to have breakfast at the food court by myself. My parents were waiting to eat with the girls when they arrived. It was nice having a few peaceful moments to myself.

Me and mom outside building #1
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1460_opt.jpg

My cough was still pretty awful so I ran off to the gift shop to pick up some medicine before heading back to the lobby to meet up with my brother and SIL. They were right on time. They dropped the girls and Eeyore off with my parents and the three of us drove over to Epcot.

The morning apart, with a less structured day was just what the doctor ordered for everyone. The grandparents and the girls had a blast spending the morning playing in the pool at POFQ. :) Eeyore seemed more relaxed, and was really enjoying being in a real resort instead of a rental house. He said it was much more relaxing and vacation like. This was the first time the girls had ever been to a Disney resort and they adored it. Jasmine especially told her parents later that they needed to stay at the hotel the next time they went to Disney. She thought it was so much better, even though they didn't have their own private pool. The hot tub, slide and cool figures more than made up for it. Plus there were Mickey waffles for breakfast. :thumbsup2

Here's a few pics from the day at the pool.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1482_opt.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1481_opt.jpg

What were their favorite parts of the resort?

Jasmine loved the hot tub. She practically had to be dragged out of there. She is definitely a kid who loves to be pampered a bit. She's 7 going on about 90, and that's being generous. Sometimes she acts older than my 93 year old grandmother.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1476_opt.jpg

And Cin? She loved the shower. Go figure.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1478_opt.jpg

[If U Had Wings]

While they were playing in the pool, Mickey, Minnie and I were off to Epcot for our Segway tour. I don't mind the buses at Disney usually, but this morning it was really nice hoping in a car and getting right to the park. We had our AAA parking pass, so we had a fantastic spot that was literally just steps from the front gate.

I had done the Segway tour last year and loved it. It was easily my favorite moment from that trip. :thumbsup2 Here's a pic from last year:

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/2007OctoberDisney-Segway2.jpg

I couldn't stop telling everyone about it. The only down point last year was that my friend that I had traveled with had to bow out of the class midway through the training. It was bothering her feet a lot, and she didn't think she could make it through the whole thing. I think if she had made it out to the park she would have been fine, but I ended up being alone for most of the tour. It was still a blast, but it would have been more fun having someone to share the experience with. This year I was looking forward to having Mickey and Minnie with me. Mickey especially had been wanting to take the tour.

We arrived at the front gate with the princess breakfast people and were directed to check in at the guest relations building. After we got our name badges our tour guides for the day, Irvine and Brian, showed up and brought us over to the Segway area of the Innoventions building to the training room. We watched a very brief video that was mostly a sales pitch from Segway. After a brief overview of the controls, they brought us out to the Segways to get started. They take you through everything very thoroughly. The CMs had us practice getting on and off the Segway, then moving forward and backward in a straight line. Once everyone gots the hang of that they split the group into two mini groups. The first group went off to practice riding around obstacles, going over obstructions, and ended with a mini slalom course. The second group practiced going up and down hills. Once everyone was adept, the groups switched places. The instructors were great. There were a few people in the tour who weren't picking up on it as fast and they worked with them individually. Once everyone was done we received a bit of training on how to do a proper princess/prince in case we ran into guests. We were told that for the length of the tour we were honorary cast members. :lovestruc

With proper waves in place we finally headed out of the building (only to go to the other Innoventions building) to use the restrooms before heading to World Showcase. They had us ride in single file, with one of the cm's at the front to the line, and the other one at the end. My brother lucked out and was first. As we first started heading to World Showcase, Minnie who was directly in front of me, nearly wiped out. :scared1: She had started going too fast. The Segways used in the tour have a speed lock on them so the fastest you can go is about 6 mph. If you hit 6 mph the unit "pushes" back at you gently to warn you to slow it down. This happened to Minnie, and instead of leaning on her heels a bit to slow down she got nervous and leaned forward. This caused her to speed up again and lose control. She nearly ran into a planter. The CM caught her before she actually wiped out or anything. (Mickey managed to miss all of this, but thought it was pretty entertaining when he found out later).

As we headed toward Mexico, it was obvious that Minnie was feeling a bit gun shy now, and was going really slowly holding up the rest of the line. The CM's were super, and the guy at the end of the line came up, pulled her aside, and helped her get back on track again by explaining what had happened, and how to avoid it. They were really great. Once we got to the part of World Showcase that was still closed to guests the CM's let us have a little more leeway. As long as we stayed fairly together, and followed the lead CM we didn't have to ride single file. :woohoo: I don't think this is the norm, as last year we had to ride single file the entire time, but it was great. We went through all of the pavillions, sometimes they'd have us weave around pillars, or go up and down inclines. At some pavillions they'd stop and give us some background and history or they'd point out hidden Mickeys. It was a lot of fun.

When we got to the Italy pavillion they had a roped off area near the water were we could have some free time. The CM's also were great about snapping pictures for everyone. I was really hoping to have my brother and SIL's pictures before writing this post since we used their camera for the majority of the pictures, but when I saw them this weekend he forgot again. So all your going to get from our Segway tour is my my one sad picture. I was not happy that I forgot my sunglasses back in the training room. I was squinting in everyone of my pictures.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01246_opt.jpg

The free time was fun. My brother was having a blast. I think he would have liked to bring the Segway home with him. There was one woman in our group though, we'll call her "Bernice", who was truly a menace to the roads. She wasn't going to fast, and she had pretty good control, she just never watched where she was going. I don't know how many times I had to make a sudden swerve because all of a sudden Bernice's wheels were coming dangerously close to mine. As we headed out Mickey and I tried to zip up to the front to avoid her at all costs as we headed back to the Innoventions building. She was very scary.

By the time we returned to Innoventions to return the Segways, my poor feet were in complete and utter pain. :headache: The Segways are awfully tough on your feet. You wouldn't think it, but they are. All that standing in one place and controling your movement with just the balls of your feet, and your heels gets painful after awhile. Last year had been bad with my regular sneakers on, but this year with my cushionless Keds was absolutely horrendous. For anyone thinking of doing the Segway tour, wear the most comfortable, cushiony shoes you have! Your feet will thank you for it later. I would never where my Keds again for a Segway tour. Not enough padding or support in them. They've never bothered me walking around the parks all day long, but standing in one place for 2 hours was just too much for them. My SIL wasn't faring much better. She was wearing her Tevas, which hadn't bothered her all trip, but for the Segway they were horrible. My brother, the only one of us wearing cushioned running shoes was fine. (Comparitively) Still the sore feet were well worth it for the Segway tour. I can't recommend it enough. As we left, we received special Segway pins.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/Segway_opt.jpg

There was a CM in the building who was asking us how we liked the tour as we were leaving. We stopped to talk to him for awhile. He told us to keep our eyes open, because supposedly Disney is going to be starting a new Segway tour in the future. Cool! :thumbsup2 I want to try the Fort Wilderness one as well. He also told us that no, your feet never really stop hurting on the Segways. You just get used to it. :sad2:

I was going to finish up day 5, but realized I never uploaded the pictures from the rest of they day, so it's going to have to wait until I get home. :sad2: I don't know what I do with my mind sometimes.

[Hedy]

Glad you had a fun tour.

[If U Had Wings]

Glad you had a fun tour.

I love the Segway tours. I wish I could have one at home to cruise around on.

[Lady Lallie]

That Segway Tour seems like so much fun!! I am glad that you had some time away from the big family group, sounds like you enjoyed it a lot! :goodvibes

[MRYPPNS]

I would have never have thought that Segways would hurt your feet....good tip!

[Donald is #1]

By the time we returned to Innoventions to return the Segways, my poor feet were in complete and utter pain. :headache: The Segways are awfully tough on your feet. You wouldn't think it, but they are. All that standing in one place and controling your movement with just the balls of your feet, and your heels gets painful after awhile. Last year had been bad with my regular sneakers on, but this year with my cushionless Keds was absolutely horrendous. For anyone thinking of doing the Segway tour, wear the most comfortable, cushiony shoes you have! Your feet will thank you for it later. I would never where my Keds again for a Segway tour. Not enough padding or support in them. They've never bothered me walking around the parks all day long, but standing in one place for 2 hours was just too much for them. My SIL wasn't faring much better. She was wearing her Tevas, which hadn't bothered her all trip, but for the Segway they were horrible. My brother, the only one of us wearing cushioned running shoes was fine. (Comparitively) Still the sore feet were well worth it for the Segway tour. I can't recommend it enough.

I had a similar problem when I did the Segway tour 2 years ago. I loved the tour, but by the end of the 2 hours, my feet were cramping! I was glad that it was only 2 hours because I couldn't have done it for much longer.

[If U Had Wings]

That Segway Tour seems like so much fun!! I am glad that you had some time away from the big family group, sounds like you enjoyed it a lot! :goodvibes

It was fun to have some grown kids time. I think my brother and SIL really liked having a couple of hours away from the kids, and grandparents too.

I would have never have thought that Segways would hurt your feet....good tip!

It's horrid. I really think it's because of the standing in one place for two hours. I used to get the same way back when I was in high school working in a fast food place. I always worked the drive thru window and at the end of a shift my feet would be crying. If I did something where I got to move around I was fine. Lesson learned though, I'm bringing the super comfy padded sneakers next time.

I had a similar problem when I did the Segway tour 2 years ago. I loved the tour, but by the end of the 2 hours, my feet were cramping! I was glad that it was only 2 hours because I couldn't have done it for much longer.

This time was much worse than last time. I'm thinking it was the shoes. Hope you had a great trip! I can't wait to hear all about it!

[Charleston Princess]

The girls look like they had a great time at the POFQ pool -- we so love that resort and the pool.

I really like your Segway pin -- alas, I don't think I could be coordinated enough for the tour itself.

[If U Had Wings]

Honestly if that woman Bernice could do it anyone could. It's actually very instinctual. You barely move once your on it.

I'm debating on what tour to do next year when I go. The Fort Wilderness Segway tour may have to be my choice.

[Charleston Princess]

Honestly if that woman Bernice could do it anyone could. It's actually very instinctual. You barely move once your on it.

I'm debating on what tour to do next year when I go. The Fort Wilderness Segway tour may have to be my choice.

That would be a good idea since Fort Wilderness is right next door to Wilderness Lodge. :thumbsup2

[If U Had Wings]

That would be a good idea since Fort Wilderness is right next door to Wilderness Lodge. :thumbsup2

Exactly what I was thinking.

[If U Had Wings]

Okay, I still am being monitored at work. :sad2: But I have a bit of free time on my lunch today to get an update posted. It's a nice break from work. The attitude around here is pretty lousy what with the monitoring and the announcement yesterday that we weren't getting any bonuses this year, and that there would be lots of cutbacks and changes next year. Is it wrong that my first thought was that if I lost my job (yet again) that I'd have to cancel my Disney trip? :rotfl:

Anyways -
After the Segway tour Mickey ran back to guest relations to pick up the stroller and Minnie and I headed over to Club Cool for some drinks, while we called the rest of the gang to find out if they had made it into the parks yet. Honestly all the two of us wanted was to sit and get off our poor feet. Once Mickey got back, we headed over to The Land Pavillion for a bit of lunch and to meet up with everyone else. The morning apart really worked like a balm to ease all the bad juju from the day before. :) Mickey and Minnie looked much more relaxed and happy, and they weren't even caring that the grandparents hadn't brought the girls to see the characters that morning. When the grandparents showed up with the girls they were looking much happier too. Never underestimate the power of a little pool time:thumbsup2

The girls weren't very hungry after having a late breakfast, so we left the grandparents at The Land and headed over to the character spot so the girls could meet the characters.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/CreevysWaiting.jpg

I think it may have been the longest line we waited in all week. It was moving though, and the girls didn't seem to mind waiting so it wasn't too bad. Cin was having fun driving me nuts and trying to climb up me like a telephone poll. Jasmine was giving her helpful boosts up. While we were there, I made sure to get myself into a few pictures. I hadn't had my picture taken with Mickey since I was about 8. I wasn't going to waste my oppourtunity.

We met the big cheese himself -
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/GirlsMickey.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/FamilyMickey.jpg


His favorite girl -
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/GirlsMinnie.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/FamilyMinnie.jpg

His best friend -
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/GirlsPluto.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/FamilyPluto.jpg

His…well, whatever Goofy is we met him too.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/FamilyGoofy.jpg

And Chip and Dale -
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01261_opt.jpg

I was really hoping Donald would be there, but no such luck. Another trip gone by without seeing my favorite man. He always alludes me. Jasmine told me she was sad that he wasn't around for me to get my photo with. Having the characters all together like that is really wonderful for photo ops. So easy! One line and it's done.

[If U Had Wings]

After the photos we met back up with the rest of the gang and headed towards World Showcase so the girls could cool off in the fountain for awhile. Before the girls got all soaked we stopped for a few more family shots with Spaceship Earth in the background. Some of my favorite shots from the trip were from those shots.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/FamilyEpcotFavShot.jpg

And our missing Soarin' shot.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/FamilyEpcotMissingSoarin.jpg

Once we were done with that the girls put on their suits to play in the fountain. It was so hot that I was wishing that I could hop in with them. I can't be the only adult who secretly wishes she could hop around with the kids. They were having a blast. The pictures make me laugh. It's a good thing they are young, because they look so unladylike playing around there:lmao:

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01276_opt.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/MeganFountain.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/GirlsFountain.jpg

While they were playing around I snuck into Mousegears to do a bit of shopping for myself. I used by Visa rewards points to pick myself up a few goodies. I forgot to take pictures of my treasures, so maybe I'll just add them on to my final post. I love being able to take advantage of being able to send the stuff back to the resort. I love not having to cart everything around. It's such a wonderful benefit for staying in the parks. Although, I don't know what happened during shipping, but I was never left a message letting me know my stuff was ready to be picked up. That is the first time that's ever happened.

The one thing that I regret not picking up was a scrapbook. There were a few I had my eye on, but I figured that I'd just buy one when I got back home in NYC. They had them out before I had left for Disney, but when I got back they had pulled all of their scrapbook stuff. Figures. That's one of the bad points about World of Disney in NYC, the stock rotates really fast.

After the fountain we headed over to Mexico to ride the boat ride. The A/C felt like heaven, so we stayed to do a bit of shopping, and what's a stop at the pavillion without taking pictures wearing the silly hats?

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/GirlsMexico.jpg

After that we headed back to Canada to see the film. We stopped along the way to feed the girls because they were suddenly ravenous. There is a little Mickey D's booth along the way, and chicken nuggets and french fries are always a safe bet with them. We sat around relaxing for awhile, munching on fries. The girls decided to steal my sunglasses and play around with them. They both love my sunglasses (the rhinestones and pearls on them are a big hit). I have to keep my eye out because they are both always trying to steal them on me.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01279_opt.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01280_opt.jpg

Cin likes to think of herself as very glamorous when she wears them, and was entertaining us with a little "ohh la la!". I had taken a little video clip of her dancing for us, but unfortunately I managed to film it sideways, and can't figure out how to rotate the shot. Very annoying.

We have no idea where she came up with the ohh la la bit, but my money is on my brother. He's not fessing up though.

After the film we headed back for our FP ride on Test Track. We were one of the last groups to get on before they shut it down due to impending rain.

As we got off, it was sadly time to say goodnight to Mickey, Minnie and the girls. They were off to eat outside the park and my folks and me were off to Le Cellier for dinner. By this time my feet were killing me. I was trying so hard not to complain, but every step was beginning to feel as if I was walking on shards of glass or something. My asthma was kicking in again too, so by the time we reached Le Cellier I was in no mood, and was really trying to hide that. My mother had an appetite for the first time this trip, and I didn't want to ruin her first enjoyable meal.

We arrived 15 minutes or so early for our ADR to find the area swarming with people. I don't know what had happened, but word going around was that they were running up to 45 minutes behind for seatings because no one was leaving. There was one woman who we watched coming out of the restaurant ranting that she couldn't get in to eat at all because she didn't have an ADR. She was furious. Needless to say she wasn't getting any sympathy from any of the people waiting around who did have ADRs. We waited around the back, near the film exit for awhile, but kept thinking we were going to miss the hostess looking for us so we headed back to the main entrance again.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1488_opt.jpg


A seat near the hostess stand finally became available, but I let my mother have it because of her back. I kept standing outside leaning on the railing trying to take as much pressure off my feet as possible. After over half and hour of waiting, I swear I was ready to just go and eat at the nearest counter service place just so I could sit down. A little before the 45 minute point we were seated. What a relief!

I had been planning on having the mushroom filet, but once I was there at Le Cellier I just wasn’t in the mood for beef. While we were there they were testing a new fixed price menu with certain items. You had a choice of several appys (including the cheddar cheese soup, several non-steak entrée's and dessert. Even if you were on the DDP you got to get the appy free of charge. I decided to take advantage so I went with the cheddar cheese soup, a chicken dish and the maple crème brulee. Everything was delicious! It was my first time having the cheddar cheese soup, and I definitely see what the fuss is about now. My mother had an appetite for the first time all vacation, so it couldn't have come at a better time. She said her mushroom filet was to die for.

By the time dinner was over my feet were feeling back to normal again. I guess they just needed an extended seating break. Illuminations was starting as we started heading back to the entrance, so we managed to avoid the crowds on the way out. We got back to the resort earlier than usual, so we hit the pool and hot tub for awhile. It was the perfect way to wind down the day. The next day was going to be our last day with the princesses, and it had us a bit sad that our trip was coming to a close so quickly.


Coming soon - the best $100 I ever spent, and is it possible to outtop your best Disney day?

[Lady Lallie]

What an enjoyable update.

Your neices are freaking adorable. I like your sunglasses too.

There must have been something up with the both of us during our Le Cellier ADR's since we were both cranky! You were in foot pain from your Segway Tour and I was cranky from touring WS. I didn't even get to try the soup so at least you got to do that. ;)

[Donald is #1]

Coming soon - the best $100 I ever spent, and is it possible to outtop your best Disney day?

A great update plus a cliffhanger! popcorn::

[Charleston Princess]

Great Update! All the family photos turned out super cute! Sounds like you need to schedule one of the character meals that feature Donald -- he is at Tusker House, Cape May Cafe, and Chef Mickey's. :goodvibes

I hope you don't end up being one of the cutbacks -- you need that money for Disney in December! ;)

Le Cellier sounds delicious -- I hate that you were feeling rotten by then, though.

[If U Had Wings]

What an enjoyable update.

Your neices are freaking adorable. I like your sunglasses too.

There must have been something up with the both of us during our Le Cellier ADR's since we were both cranky! You were in foot pain from your Segway Tour and I was cranky from touring WS. I didn't even get to try the soup so at least you got to do that. ;)

Thanks. The two of them keep me laughing. They are complete camera hogs. They always ham it up for the cameras.

A great update plus a cliffhanger! popcorn::

The last day was my favorite day. My treat for the girls just made the entire vacation.

Great Update! All the family photos turned out super cute! Sounds like you need to schedule one of the character meals that feature Donald -- he is at Tusker House, Cape May Cafe, and Chef Mickey's. :goodvibes

I hope you don't end up being one of the cutbacks -- you need that money for Disney in December! ;)

Le Cellier sounds delicious -- I hate that you were feeling rotten by then, though.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. They haven't mentioned layoffs yet, but it's in the air. I'm starting to look around a bit just to be on the safe side.

[Hedy]

Looking forward to the best $100.

[If U Had Wings]

I could tell that it was getting to be the end of the week because I woke up exhausted. The alarm went off and I dragged myself awake. My asthma and my fathers snoring that could wake the dead had kept me up half the night. We had a rope drop to be up for, so hanging around in bed was not an option. Today was going to be our last day all together and it was my first real day at the Magic Kingdom. I had never waited so long in my vacation before visiting the MK and it was making me antsy to get there:yay:

We met the rest of the gang at rope drop and headed over to Tomorrowland so the girls could have a few rides on Buzz. It is embarrassing how bad I am at Buzz. We hit Laugh Floor next and Eeyore was picked to be "That Guy". Of course he still managed to embarrass us when one woman in the audience was asked to name a country and she said "Africa" and he felt the need to insult her and correct her in the middle of the show. What an idiot! Just ignore it. Of course when his vice Presidential candidate came out with the same dopey comment he didn't find it as stupid anymore. :rotfl:

When we were done with that we headed over to Adventureland, but we made a pit stop for some castle Photopass pictures first. I love that little alcove they have. It's nice to get some pictures without lots of other people milling around in them.

The whole family. I'm sporting my stylish new Mickey ears. I think at least 10 CM's called me Mouseketeer Crissy that day. :thumbsup2
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/FamilyCastleGoodAngle.jpg

I think this was the best photopass photographer we had all week. Even though there was a line a people waiting for photos, he took the time to get a bunch of different shots. After the whole family shot he started asking who belonged to who, and pulled my parents and my brother and I over for a photo of just the four of us. We must have been looking a bit bewildered, because he laughed at us and commented that it must have been a long time since we had one of those photos taken. I think it's one of my favorites.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/4CreevysCastle.jpg

The day was starting to get hot out, and we were already feeling a bit pooped. That's a recipe for my brother to start getting silly, which is how we end up with pics like this:

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1490_opt.jpg

Is it any surprise that my nieces are as goofy as they are?
When we got to Adventureland we headed directly to Pirates. We had the boat to ourselves, and the line was virtually empty so I took a few pictures while on the ride. I like to give the nieces a chance to give in to their drama queen tendencies so I told them "Act Scared of the Pirates". This is what I got. *********************

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01298_opt.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01297_opt.jpg


****************** They keep me so entertained! Cin curled up against me for the majority of the ride, and kept asking questions throughout. Why were the pirates in jail? Why did Captain Jack get all the gold at the end? She definitely liked Jack. Good taste.

After the ride we made a potty stop, rode Aladdin and then headed over to the Jungle Cruise. It was about then that I realized that I my sunglasses were missing. I was so upset. I told everyone to go ahead and ride the Jungle Cruise and I'd meet them when they got off. I wanted to backtrack a bit and see if I could find them anywhere. I love them too much to just let it go without an effort to find them.

Luckily they were at the first place I looked - the restroom. They must have slipped out of my pocket. The attendent in there had put them away. I was very happy, and had some free time now before I thought I had to meet the family. I decieded to head over to the Swiss Family Treehouse. The treehouse is one of those attractions that is a personal favorite of mine, that the rest of the family can do without. Since I was on my own, it seemed like a good time to go through. The treehouse was actually kind of crowded, which I wasn't expecting so I didn't get to go through as leisurely as I would have preferred. I did take a few pictures from the top, where I'm claiming the bedroom if I ever get the chance.


http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01309_opt.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01310_opt.jpg

I started heading over towards Jungle Cruise, thinking I'd hang out and wait for the rest of the family, only to find them all sitting there. The time had increased for the ride, so they had decieded to just wait for me. I felt a bit guily about not coming right back, but everyone was happy that I had found my sunglasses. Of course that meant Cin had to steal them immediately.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01311_opt.jpg

We stopped for a snack break, and they girls stole my ears. I probably should have bought them their own.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01315_opt.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01312_opt.jpg

Mickey and Minnie went off with Ma Tink and Jasmine to do a bit of shopping so I brought Cin over to meet Wendy who was over my the Pirates of the Carribean shop. By the time we got to the front of the line Jasmine was back. They girls liked meeting Wendy, and Cin was a complete chatterbox, asking her where Peter was (he was with the Lost Boys) and where Captain Hook was. She was really good with them. I wanted to slug Eeyore as he stood behind me making dumb Wendy's hamburgers jokes.***************

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01308_opt.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/GirlsWithWendy.jpg

[If U Had Wings]

It was about time for what I had been waiting for all week long. It was time for the girls to be princessified at the Bippiddi Boppidy Boutique. I think I was more excited than they were. We showed up at the desk, and checked in. The girls were given their pamphlets so they could look them over and pick out their hairstyles. Jasmine knew exactly which style she wanted - the long one like her idol Jasmine. Cin was less sure. I thought she was going to pick out the one with the more wild hair, but she came over and asked me which one I would pick if I was getting my hair done. We sat together and she chose the one with long hair too so that she'd look more like Belle.

The place was pretty crowded, so we had a bit of a wait before they were ready for the girls. We played around outside the entrance taking a few "before" pictures.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1502_opt.jpg

They finally called us in and led us back to the dressing room. They have such extensive collections of princess costumes that we had opted to bring ones from home. The CM's at the BBB treated them just as wonderfully as if we had purchased the more expensive package.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01319_opt.jpg

Minnie and I got them into their dresses and they were already ready for the girls. I wasn't even able to get a picture of Jasmine in her costume before her makeover.

[If U Had Wings]

I started sitting with Jasmine as they put her apron on and started working on her. She looked so serious for most of it. They kept the girls backs to the mirror while they worked, so they had no idea what was going on. The girls picked out their hairstyles, and then the hair color and sat back to enjoy. Jasmine's FIT was actually fellow Disser AngieBell. She saw my lime green Mickey ears and we started chatting.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01320_opt.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01329_opt.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/MeganBBBMid.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01331_opt.jpg

Cin had been sitting with Minnie, but was waving at me across the room every so often. Then I noticed that Minnie had moved over and was sitting near me watching Jasmine being made up. I know that Mickey and Minnie don't really have favorites with their kids, but they often tend to favor Jasmine a bit more. Maybe it's because she's the oldest, but I'm always a bit concerned that Cin might become aware of it. I didn't want her sitting alone, so I went over and sat to watch her transformation. She looked so tiny in the big chair.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1507_opt.jpg

She was definitely enjoying her makeover. Everytime I went to take her picture, she'd flash me a huge smile. She picked out all her things carefully. Her haircolor, her makeup, her jewelry. She was eating it up.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01330_opt.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01332_opt.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/MichaelaBBBmidSmile.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01335_opt.jpg

[If U Had Wings]

It was fun sitting there watching them sit there so patiently. All the little girls in the room sat there with the same patient expressions. If I ever move to Disney to get a job, I want a job as a FGIT. It must feel magical to put smiles on little girls's faces all day long. Both Jas and Cin had wonderful FGIT's. Before we knew it, it was time for their pixie dust and the big reveal. Jasmine was ready first.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/MeganBBBAlmostDone.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/MeganBBBTurnaround2.jpg

The look on her face was priceless. She just sat there looking at herself speechless and amazed before she broke out in a huge smile. She loved herself.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/MeganBBBDone.jpg


Then it was Cin's turn. She too was rendered a bit stunned by herself.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01346_opt.jpg

I feel horrible that something happened to her reveal photo. I'll try to upload it again later, but for now it's gone missing out of my photobucket account. :confused3

[If U Had Wings]

Once they were turned around, they got to sit in the princess chair for some special pictures. Jasmine really ate up the pose when she got to rest her cheek on her hands. She ended up posing that way for the rest of the day. :lovestruc

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01351_opt.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/MeganBBBChair.jpg

I think this one was my favorite one of Jasmine. Her smile looks so honest, sweet and natural in this one. I think it captures the true her.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1510_opt.jpg

Then Cin's turn. Again, she had no problems turning on the big grin.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01348_opt.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/MichaelaBBBChair.jpg

On the way out we had to stop for some "after pictures"
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01352_opt.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1512_opt.jpg

Me and the girls posed trying to imitate the Cinderella in the mural behind us.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/IMG_1514_opt.jpg

And just because they are princesses doesn't mean they aren't a bit devilish still. You can put a dress on them, but at heart they are still the same.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01353_opt.jpg

I was so thrilled that I had been able to make them so happy, with such a small thing. I had made their trip, and had put two of the biggest smiles ever on their faces. That made me feel like a kid again more than anything on this vacation had. It was hands down the best $100 I ever spent in my life. If anyone reading is ever on the fence about doing it, just go ahead if you have a little girl who loves the princess thing. My nieces ate it up. They loved the pampering and the attention, and they loved being the center of attention. I only went with the most inexpensive package and it was perfect for them.

Here's a pic of me with my two favorite princesses.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01354_opt.jpg

[If U Had Wings]

The girls were off to have lunch in the castle afterwards. Not me though. :sad1: They told me all about it when we met up afterwards though. The "real" Jasmine was asking my niece if she had been borrowing clothes from her closet. :) I was thrilled that they both got to see their favorite princesses at the meal, although Cin wasn't happy that Belle only had on the blue dress, not the gold one she much prefers.

And then it was time to say our goodbyes. Mickey, Minnie, Eeyore and the princesses were heading off out to get some packing done before they were going to be leaving first thing in the morning. I think we all had lumps in our throats as we gave the girls big hugs and said goodbyes. Poor Cin wasn't taking it well either. She kept asking when she was going to see me again, why weren't we going too, and couldn't she just stay with me. :sad1: I hated having to say goodbye. After a week of being surrounded by everyone they love, neither of the girls wanted the vacation to end.

Before we started getting all emotional.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01360_opt.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/DSC01362_opt.jpg

Before they left completely though, Mickey and Minnie brought the girls over for a photo shoot in their princess gear. Again, my nieces really love the camera and ate up the fact that they got to sit for an official photo shoot. Here are a few of my favorites.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/Meganphotoshootdreamy.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/MeganPhotoshootstanding.jpg

If that other one of Jasmine is my favorite one of her because it captures her sweet smile, than this is my favorite one of Cin, because it really captures the true her. A lot of the other pics they took made her look too sweet, and that's not the true her. This pic - so her.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/MichaelaPhotoshootdevilish.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/MichaelaPhotoshootStanding.jpg

After our goodbyes were said, my parents and I were feeling a bit blue so we headed over to Adventureland to sooth our rumpled feelings with Dole Whips. We had Fastpasses for Space Mountain, but we gave them away and headed out of the park to MGM. Originally we had no plans for dinner this night, but we had somehow managed to snag a last minute ADR a few days earlier at the Hollywood Brown Derby. We were thrilled, as our Brown Derby ADR was one of the ones we had cancelled due to our trip changes and were really sad about missing.

Luckily my mother had an appetite for the second night in a row, so we all really enjoyed our meal. It is really one of my favorite places. I love the crab cakes! I tried the grapefruit cake this time, and thought it was okay. I'm not sure if it lived up to the hype. I much preferred the white chocolate, banana, toffee thing I had last year.

We thought to hit TSM on the way out, but it was still posting an 80 minute wait so we passed. We rode the Great Movie Ride (and got the Mobster scene again), hit a few stores, and headed for the exit. We all just wanted a shorter night.

We went back to POFQ and used the pool and hot tub, had our now routine beignets and hit the sheets early.

We had one last day before we had to return to the real world, and we had the ADR we were looking forward to most.

[skier_pete]

Great pictures and story...looks like they totally love it...your neices are both so adorable! And, looks like they BBB did a wonderful job on them both.

Our DD, who is 5, has no interest in princess dress-up, so I don't know if she will ever want to do the whole BBB thing. She likes the princesses and all, but doesn't seem to want to be one. She wanted to be Lara Croft (from Tomb Raider Videogame) for Halloween this year - guess the blame on that one falls on me! We did put together a really cute costume for that. All indications point that next year she will be a witch. (She decides these things very early.) But, at least she said she wants to be "A pretty witch, not an ugly witch." We have been trying to convince her to be Tinkerbell, so that we can do a family costume (Peter Pan, Wendy, Tinkerbell) but she won't do that either. :confused3

Anyways, I'm enjoying your trip update - trying in my head to remember the weather for each day and what we were doing - I think your Day 5 at Epcot coincided with ours - that was a brutal hot day until the storm rolled in the evening. On Friday (your MK day) we were at AK. We didn't "hit the wall" until Saturday!

SkierPete

[Hedy]

I love the picture of Cin, so cute!

[trixiequilts]

Is it just me or does that Wendy not look Wendy-ish enough? :confused3 I've seen much better. And now everyone may feel free to criticize my appearance! :lmao:

[skier_pete]

Is it just me or does that Wendy not look Wendy-ish enough? :confused3 I've seen much better. And now everyone may feel free to criticize my appearance! :lmao:

I noticed that too! The Wendy we got (don't have a picture handy, sorry) was near perfect, as was Peter.

SkierPete

[If U Had Wings]

Great pictures and story...looks like they totally love it...your neices are both so adorable! And, looks like they BBB did a wonderful job on them both.

Our DD, who is 5, has no interest in princess dress-up, so I don't know if she will ever want to do the whole BBB thing. She likes the princesses and all, but doesn't seem to want to be one. She wanted to be Lara Croft (from Tomb Raider Videogame) for Halloween this year - guess the blame on that one falls on me! We did put together a really cute costume for that. All indications point that next year she will be a witch. (She decides these things very early.) But, at least she said she wants to be "A pretty witch, not an ugly witch." We have been trying to convince her to be Tinkerbell, so that we can do a family costume (Peter Pan, Wendy, Tinkerbell) but she won't do that either. :confused3

SkierPete

That's too funny. My younger niece, while she likes her princess costumes, will dress up as anything. Last year she was insistent that she had to dress up as an ugly, scary witch. I even double checked to be sure she didn't mean a pretty witch, but no ugly witch it was. Actually I think she'd be in heaven if we came up with an Ursuala costume for her. I love the Lara Croft idea though. She must have really attracted attention as that. It's so different!

I love the picture of Cin, so cute!

Thanks. I had to blow that one up to replace an older one of her I keep on my desk. It never fails to make me smile.

Is it just me or does that Wendy not look Wendy-ish enough? :confused3 I've seen much better. And now everyone may feel free to criticize my appearance! :lmao:

Thank you. I was thinking the same thing when I saw her. Part of my brain was looking thinking she looked nothing like Wendy. I'm glad I'm not the only one checking these things out.:rotfl:

[Lady Lallie]

Wow! What a wonderful time you had at the BBB makeovers. :cloud9:

They are seriously too cute!! They look adorable and like they had the time of their little lives, I am sure that is something they will always remember. :goodvibes

I'm glad you got to eat at the Brown Derby since you had missed it earlier in the week.

[Charleston Princess]

I have to agree with all the previous posters about Wendy -- she doesn't look like Wendy. However, did she sound like Wendy? Last June we were in Adventureland and walked by Wendy and overheard her talking -- she had a New Jersey accent! :scared1: I have nothing against that accent, but not on Wendy! She's British!!!

The girls are adorable in the BBB finery! When Chelsea did it a couple of years ago she loved every single minute of it -- it was one of our favorite memories of the trip -- so magical!

Can't wait to find out what the ADR you were most looking forward to was!

[TarzansKat]

Okay, I love my son, right? I love the world of boy. The cars, the trucks, the trains, the action figures, the pirates, the ARR MATEY!

But, oh my goodness. To see those sweet little princesses! Oh, that makes my heart sing, it truly does. Glad you got to give them such a wonderful moment. I bet they'll remember it for the rest of their lives. :thumbsup2

[Lady Lallie]

The girls are adorable in the BBB finery! When Chelsea did it a couple of years ago she loved every single minute of it -- it was one of our favorite memories of the trip -- so magical!
Sorry to hijack but how come we have not seen pictures of Chelsea at BBB??? Hmmmmm?? :goodvibes

[Charleston Princess]

Sorry to hijack but how come we have not seen pictures of Chelsea at BBB??? Hmmmmm?? :goodvibes

We did it in June 2007. I will include some in my PTR later on if you want. Chelsea, of course, ate the whole experience up -- and it was a total surprise for her!

[Lady Lallie]

We did it in June 2007. I will include some in my PTR later on if you want. Chelsea, of course, ate the whole experience up -- and it was a total surprise for her!

Of course! That sounds like so much fun. :goodvibes

[If U Had Wings]

Wow! What a wonderful time you had at the BBB makeovers. :cloud9:

They are seriously too cute!! They look adorable and like they had the time of their little lives, I am sure that is something they will always remember. :goodvibes

I'm glad you got to eat at the Brown Derby since you had missed it earlier in the week.

The smiles on their faces were so huge. I can't express how overjoyed I was to be the one who made them that happy. It was really my favorite moment of the entire trip.

My brother finally gave me a copy of his pictures this weekend. ( I had to barter use of my monthly train pass to get it.) He got some adorable ones of them having lunch with the princesses. I may have to post a few of those. There is one really great one of my Jasmine and the real Jasmine.

I have to agree with all the previous posters about Wendy -- she doesn't look like Wendy. However, did she sound like Wendy? Last June we were in Adventureland and walked by Wendy and overheard her talking -- she had a New Jersey accent! :scared1: I have nothing against that accent, but not on Wendy! She's British!!!

The girls are adorable in the BBB finery! When Chelsea did it a couple of years ago she loved every single minute of it -- it was one of our favorite memories of the trip -- so magical!

Can't wait to find out what the ADR you were most looking forward to was!

A New Jersey accent? That is so wrong??? How difficult could it be to get a decent Wendy? If they can't do a British accent, at least find someone with no accent.

Okay, I love my son, right? I love the world of boy. The cars, the trucks, the trains, the action figures, the pirates, the ARR MATEY!

But, oh my goodness. To see those sweet little princesses! Oh, that makes my heart sing, it truly does. Glad you got to give them such a wonderful moment. I bet they'll remember it for the rest of their lives. :thumbsup2

My nieces actually enjoy boy world quite a bit too, which is alot of fun. Their other obsession, other than the princesses, is the Disney Cars. They have tons of those things, and will spend hours pushing them around. Maybe it's because my brother is the one at home with them, but I love that they feel comfortable playing with both.

I should introduce them to the world of pirates. My younger niece is such a pirate at heart.

[TarzansKat]

My nieces actually enjoy boy world quite a bit too, which is alot of fun. Their other obsession, other than the princesses, is the Disney Cars. They have tons of those things, and will spend hours pushing them around. Maybe it's because my brother is the one at home with them, but I love that they feel comfortable playing with both.

I should introduce them to the world of pirates. My younger niece is such a pirate at heart.

That's awesome! I love it when kids break down the gender boundaries and are interested in different things, you know? Because I never told my son he had to like cars, and trucks, and that stuff, but he's naturally pre-disposed. We have tons of those Disney character cars, and he loves them. But he's just as happy with the little toys from McDonald's, you know? He has the ones from Madagscar right now, and loves to play with those.

And...

shhh....

Don't tell, okay? Mom and I have noticed he really likes "dollhouses." In the sense that he likes where things go and all that jazz, and likes that the people fit in the rooms. This is is a kid who can leave a messy path of destruction, but with certain items, they must be in the right place, savvy? So my Mom got him a Little People "playset" for Christmas. It's a house. It's got Little People with it. Is it a dollhouse? Meh. Who can say? ;)

[If U Had Wings]

I definitely understand. They are more pre-disposed to the girlie stuff, but it's fun to see them feel comfortable with both.

When my older niece was about 4 years old all she wanted for Christmas was 2 Drills and a baby. :lmao: She was thrilled when she got her set of toy power tools for Christmas and a new doll. She still loves those tools, and is always playing that she's fixing her house. That is definitely my brother's influence.

I used to love those Little People houses when I was a kid. Of course the old ones look nothing like the new ones. My brother and I used to play for hours with that house.

[TarzansKat]

I definitely understand. They are more pre-disposed to the girlie stuff, but it's fun to see them feel comfortable with both.

When my older niece was about 4 years old all she wanted for Christmas was 2 Drills and a baby. :lmao: She was thrilled when she got her set of toy power tools for Christmas and a new doll. She still loves those tools, and is always playing that she's fixing her house. That is definitely my brother's influence.

I used to love those Little People houses when I was a kid. Of course the old ones look nothing like the new ones. My brother and I used to play for hours with that house.

That's too cute! DS loves his tool set too! And he loves all his little people playsets. He has the farm, and the pirate ship. Who's surprised? :lmao:

[If U Had Wings]

They have a pirate ship one? That is too cool. I may have to pick up one of those for my friend's sons for Christmas.:)

[TarzansKat]

They have a pirate ship one? That is too cool. I may have to pick up one of those for my friend's sons for Christmas.:)

Oh, I can't tell you how many times we play pirate ship! It was hard to find last year, not sure if it's that way now, but Mom got it for him, and he loves it.

[If U Had Wings]

I just realized that I had never finished my report of my last day. Honestly, after we said goodbye to the girls it felt like the trip was over. It's not that I didn't have a great last day, it was just that something was missing. Or two somethings were missing.

An early night, and a bit of extra sleep and I wasn't feel quite so exhausted on my last day. With the girls gone it really felt like the end of vacation, and I was feeling a bit blue. At least I still had my Dis meet today, so even though it was a sad last day at Disney, I was happy for something to look forward to.

I was really feeling the need for some alone time. In the real world I live alone. At the end of the day I usually find myself in a quiet place, where I can really relax and destress a bit. I'm not used to being around people 24/7. I love my family, but really needed to have a bit of alone time on my last day. I think my folks were a bit disappointed that I didn't want to spend my day with them, but I really wanted to take things slow today and soak up my last bits of Disney on my own. Soak ended up being the operative word there.

I decieded to head to the Magic Kingdom on my last morning since I had missed half the park the prior day. Heading over to MGM for one last ride on TSM was tempting, but once I thought about it, I realized that I had no desire to deal with the hoards of people running for the ride. I caught a bus right away, and without really making an effort made it to the gates just as they were opening.

What a sense of freedom heading through the park alone! For the first time this trip I was unencumbered by wheelchairs, strollers and slow walkers and was able to walk at my naturally pretty brisk pace to Fantasyland. I'm a pretty fast walker regularly, and since I've been working in NYC I've been even speedier. The slow walking had been starting to get to me over the week. It was nice to be going at my pace for a little while.

I made it to Fantasyland in no time, and managed to hit nearly everything in a little over an hour. No having to stop, park a stroller, figure out who was riding with who on each ride. No having to run back to the stroller for snacks, drinks, the forgotten cell phone etc. Just me walking from ride to ride, hopping on and enjoying myself. Wonderful! Just about everything was a walk on that morning or a 10 minute wait at most.

I started heading over to Pirates for one last ride, and I stopped to catch the end of the Woody Show going on. There was no line for Pirates, so I got in one last ride. When I got off it was just starting to rain ever so slightly, but the morning before that had been beautiful.

I headed over to Main Street, enjoying the halloween decorations which had sprung up over the course of the week, to do a bit of shopping. It was nice being able to just wander through the stores without worrying if everyone else was getting impatient for you to finish. I picked up a few souveniers - I'll try to post my goodies later.

For me no trip to Disney is complete without a stop for ice cream on Main Street, so I picked some up and took it out to the side street near the bakery to enjoy. While I sat eating it, I entertained myself reading the windows, and listening for the tap and singing lessons behind the windows. I had never known of them before I came to the Dis, and it was wonderful to find these little touches that had alluded me before, because I had never had the time to stop and listen. There was a CM cutting out silhouettes near me, which was fascinating to watch. It was such a wonderful, peaceful morning for me and I can't say enough how much I enjoyed it. I didn't feel lonely, or sad because I was alone. It really convinced me, along with my other alone times this trip, that I really, really, really needed to start planning a solo trip.

[If U Had Wings]

I decieded to head to Epcot. I was meeting LL there later in the day, and Epcot seemed to be the perfect place to while away the rest of my day. As soon as I got off the monorail the rain started back up again.

I rode Spaceship Earth again, and again decieded to enjoy the fact that I could do whatever I wanted so I headed over to Innoventions to poke around. I spend quite a bit of time checking out the historical Epcot display they had set up. It was really funny seeing the old CM uniforms they had on display, and a bit bittersweet seeing the displays for beloved extinct rides like Horizons and the World of Motion. I had wanted to see the display last year when I was there for Epcot's 25th anniversary (which had to be one of the coolest events I've ever been at Disney for), but had missed it then. If your at all a fan of Epcot it's definitely worth taking a few minutes to check out.

The rain was starting to pick up and come down harder now, but I headed toward World Showcase anyways. I hadn't really had the chance to explore the countries yet this trip. I stopped at Mexico for lunch first where I ran into my folks who were heading toward the Land for lunch. They tried to get me to come with them, but I tried to make them understand that I was happy spending my day alone. I don't mind it. They just don't understand I guess that being alone sometimes can be wonderful. Even though the rain was coming down fairly hard, I had a dry spot under an umbrella to sit and enjoy my lunch. I had some kind of chicken tacos which were kind of meh. Not bad, but something about the texture of the chicken was kind of icky to me. The churros were excellent though. Yummy!

As I was finishing and getting ready to leave, it started to pour. Rain falling like a faucet had been turned on type of pouring. I put the poncho on, and headed out anyways. My feet were soaked! It was fun wandering around the countries, and I was only thinking of how much more fun it would be if I had more $$$ to spend. I got a laugh out of a little girl at the Morocco pavillion who was trying to convince her mom and dad to buy her a belly dancing kit. :lmao: They weren't going for it.

The rain started getting even worse, just as I started making my way from France to the UK. (Right at the biggest stretch without shelter, of course). The poncho was keeping most of me dry, but the rain had gotten so bad that the part of my shorts that stuck out under the poncho looked like I had been in a swimming pool.

I made it to Innoventions finally, looking like a semi-drowned rat. I was feeling a bit bedraggled, and tried to put myself back together somewhat in the ladies room. I didn't want to look to horrible when I met LL. My original plan had been to head over to The Land to try to ride Soarin one last time, but had no desire to go into the rain again, so I just sat down and rested a bit, checking my e-mail on my cell phone. I finally called LL and set up a time and place to meet. The rain had finally slowed to a drizzle, and I was dry enough again so that I didn't squish when I walked.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/Disney%202008/dismeet_opt.jpg

LL looked just like her pictures, and it was fun getting to meet her and Marc. We rode on Spaceship earth, and chatted about her trip so far. I wished I could have stayed longer, but needed to get back to POFQ to pack for the trip home tomorrow and to get ready for dinner.

[If U Had Wings]

I didn't have any problems packing my stuff up to go home, as I my bags hadn't been competely full. My parents on the other hand, were having lots of difficulties getting their bags zipped. We all got a bit dressed up for dinner tonight (well dressy for Disney - sundresses for my mom and me, and slacks and a polo top for dad), and headed over to the California Grill. This was the ADR that we were looking forward to the most. It's Mickey and Minnie's favorite when they go to Disney without the girls and they couldn't stop raving about it the last time they went. When we needed one more ADR for our trip mom picked CG. I always get a bit nervous going to places that people rave about, but we were hopeful that it would live up to expectations.

It took us an hour to get to the Contemporary. We hopped on the first bus that showed up, headed to MGM and then caught a bus to the resort. Next time I'll just pay for the cab. When your dressed for a nice dinner, it really takes away from it to be crammed into a bus with a bunch of people who are soaked from the parks. Plus it was just way too time consuming. I had worn a pair of low heeled sandals with my dress, and they were already getting very uncomfortable. I don't know why, because I've never had any problems wearing them before. This trip though my feet were sliding too far forward in them, and the little thong between my toes was digging in. Ugh!

We made it to the Contemporary finally and checked in at the desk on the main floor. Our ADR was at 9pm, and we checked in at about 8:30 or so. I was afraid from other trip reports that everyone would be lingering and we'd be lucky if we made it upstairs before the fireworks at 10pm. No problems though. We actually got seated a bit early. We had just stopped at the restrooms when our buzzer started going off. We headed over to the express elevator, and once we hit the top floor were seated immediately.

I had been hoping for a window seat, but I hadn't bother actually making an offical request. I know everyone can go out on the deck, but with the rainy weather, I was really hoping I could sit from the comfort of my own chair inside the restaurant and watch. As our host went to seat us, she told us congratulations you got a window seat. As she brought us to the corner of the restaurant nearest the outdoor pation, I was thinking WOW! We didn't get just any window seat, we got the best window seat in the entire place. A fact that our server confirmed for us when he came over and told us we had the best view in the place. :tinker: We felt like we'd been sprinkled with a whole bucket of pixie dust. After all the stress leading up to this vacation with the funeral and everything, it felt wonderful. It was still raining outside, so the view wasn't the clearest as the windows were quite wet, but still we had the best head on view of the castle in the restaurant.

Things only got better when they started bringing us our food. We all ordered different flatbreads for our appetizers, and divied them up so we all got to try all three. All three were delicious. So good that I'd go to California Grill just for a dinner of the flatbreads. I had the heirloom tomato flatbread, which was utterly devine. It was probably the lightest of the 3 and the flavors of the tomatos and provolone was delicious. My father's roast chicken flatbread was even better. I didn't think I was going to like it, as it had a lemon mayonaise on it and I detest mayo. I decieded to live dangerously and try a bite anyways. I'm so glad I did. The flatbread had no mayo taste at all though. It was delicious, and I'm glad that I tried it anyways. My mom's was pretty good too. She had the Sicilian flatbread. It was the only one of the 3 that was a bit spicy, but really good.

We all had the oak fired filet for dinner. Soooo good! You could cut it with a butter knife, or just your fork. The whole thing was drizzled with this fabulous teriyaki bbq sauce that I wanted to lick off the plate with I was done. I somehow held back, but used my delicious mashed potatos to sop up every last bit of the bbq sauce.

We all tried different desserts. I had the chocolate temptation, which was really good. The chocolate gelato was to die for. My father had the banana butterscotch buzz which he adored. He's a use crème brulee fan, and while he didn't like it as much as the maple crème brulee at Le Cellier, he still really loved it. My mom had the year of a million dreams honey crunch cake. Her favorite part was the ginger ice cream that it came with. It was delicious! The taste was so light and flavorful.

The fireworks started perfectly between courses. The rain finally stopped, and the window started clearing right before the fireworks started. It was amazing watching them from that view. I never realized before quite how far behind the castle some of them were set off. You could really tell from that vantage point. As we finished our meal we could see the Main St. Electrical parade lights twinkling in front of the castle. It was really a lovely night, and more than lived up to our expectations. Our server was phenomenal too. There when you needed something, but not hovering over you. Nothing was rushed. It was perfect. Brown Derby was my favorite Disney restaurant, but CG may have come out a bit on top after this trip. Mostly because it's much more of a leisurely meal. BD will have to be my favorite in-park restaurant.

We took our time finishing up and heading back to the monorail. We made it back to POFQ at about 12.15, and finished up our last minute packing.

We had a midday flight out the next day, as my nice evening flight had been canceled so we didn't bother getting up to go to the parks in the morning. We just took it easy around the resort, had a late breakfast, and then sat around in the lobby listening to jazz for awhile.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z126/Seastorm2/DSC01372_opt.jpg

The flight home was uneventful, and we made good time on the drive home from the airport. The good thing about a mid day flight home is that your not completely exhausted when you get home. I was unpacked and the laundry started by 8:30 pm. While it was sad that our vacation was over, I was happy to see my own bed, and my car again.

And that's it. My trip report is done. I'll try to post a few last thoughts and my goodies to wrap things up.

Now all I have to do is come up with a witty, intelligent, creative title for my new pre-trip report. The stress! Who knew posting on the Dis could be so creatively taxing!

[MRYPPNS]

I so love your description of your solo time on this last day. Makes me wait to run away to Disney right now by myself.

[If U Had Wings]

I so love your description of your solo time on this last day. Makes me wait to run away to Disney right now by myself.

It was so nice, after the crazy week to just decompress a bit. I don't think I've ever really had the time to just sit and watch people like that before at Disney.

[TarzansKat]

I'm with Heidi.

That description of your morning alone sounds like heaven. :cloud9:

And something I'd like to do! :thumbsup2

[MaryAz]

What a great aunt you are!! Thanks so much for posting all those pics from the BBB. I am planning on taking my girls there during our trip next Nov. They will love checking them out. Have fun planning your solo trip.

[Lady Lallie]

I thought I already commented on this! :headache: Bad LL!

It seems like forever ago that we had our DIS Meet! It did bring back all those horrendous memories of the torrential downpours that day. :lmao: I really can't wait for our December 2009 trips, and I am really really looking forward to our Princess Meal! princess:

Yesterday Marc & I went out to lunch and two little girls walked in and I had to do a double take because they both looked exactly like your nieces, especially the younger one. I think I found their twins because I had to think about it for a minute to convince myself that it wasn't them. :laughing:

[If U Had Wings]

I'm with Heidi.

That description of your morning alone sounds like heaven. :cloud9:

And something I'd like to do! :thumbsup2

It was a great way to wrap up the week. I can't wait to spend a week doing it!

What a great aunt you are!! Thanks so much for posting all those pics from the BBB. I am planning on taking my girls there during our trip next Nov. They will love checking them out. Have fun planning your solo trip.

If they love dress up even a bit I'm sure they'll love it. The look on the girl's faces was worth every penny I spent. I'm so glad I got to do it for them, while they were both still into the princess thing. My older niece is already starting to lean towards Hannah Montana, so the time passes quickly. Of course, I'm still into the princess thing so it's not really purely by chronological age. :rotfl:

I thought I already commented on this! :headache: Bad LL!

It seems like forever ago that we had our DIS Meet! It did bring back all those horrendous memories of the torrential downpours that day. :lmao: I really can't wait for our December 2009 trips, and I am really really looking forward to our Princess Meal! princess:

Yesterday Marc & I went out to lunch and two little girls walked in and I had to do a double take because they both looked exactly like your nieces, especially the younger one. I think I found their twins because I had to think about it for a minute to convince myself that it wasn't them. :laughing:

It defintitely wasn't them yesterday. They had their church pagent, which sadly I had to miss since I had to work.:sad1:

I can't wait for our princess meal either. I'm so glad the kid in me is still going full force.

[TarzansKat]

It was a great way to wrap up the week. I can't wait to spend a week doing it!


You know, I never would have dreamed going solo until reading about some of the DIS board trip reports from our crew. And after December, it just sounds like heaven.

A nice long weekend.

:cloud9: